Ministry Matters of Nashville,Tennessee, United States "Behavior or belief? | The Johnson Amendment | What's wrong with being right" for Monday, 27 February 2017-------
Behavior or belief? by James A. Harnish
Bigstock/arsen mercSo, which is more important? What we believe? Or how we behave?
It’s a lot like breathing. Which is more important? Exhaling or inhaling? As a person who lives with asthma, I can tell you that it all depends on which one you did last!
Belief and behavior both matter. What we believe shapes how we behave and how we behave demonstrates what we believe. For a healthy life, they need to be in sync with each other. Even our bodies rebel when what we say we believe and how we behave are not consistent. They both matter.
And yet…
My problem with Jesus
Over the past few weeks, the lectionary gospel readings have focused on Matthew’s collection of Jesus’ words we know as the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:1-7:28). Most people who say they believe in Christ would agree that these passages are the essential core of what Jesus taught.
The problem is that Jesus has almost nothing to say about what we believe. He focuses entirely on the peculiar way he expects his followers to behave. It’s the same when you turn to Jesus’ parables. Most of them are not about what we affirm as the content of our faith, but what we do and how we live. His parables of the final judgment are painfully clear that what will matter is not what we say we have believed, but the way we have behaved. (Matthew 25:1-46)
John’s Gospel is the only gospel that puts a major emphasis on belief, but even it concludes with Jesus saying, “This is how everyone will know that you are my disciples, when you love each other.” (John 13:35). Paul’s epistles are the bedrock of what Christians believe, but every letter points to the way what we believe shapes the way we behave.
That’s not to say that belief is unimportant. If it were, I wasted a lot of time and energy across the past four decades attempting to help folks get clear about what they believe and why they believe it. What is unimportant is belief that doesn’t transform our behavior. The goal of Christian discipleship is not making sure that we get everything right in our heads, but that our hearts and lives are being shaped into the likeness of Jesus.
The problem for us
The problem for “so-called” Christians is that the world watches how we behave more closely that it listens to what we believe. Particularly the so-called “Gen-Xers” and “Millennials” can smell a hypocrite a mile away.
They may not understand all the complexities of Christian theology, but they know when people who say they believe in Christ behave in ways that are inconsistent with what Jesus teaches; when we manipulate the truth with self-serving exaggerations; when we accept economic policies that benefit the rich by denying the needs of the poor; when we vote for candidates whose life styles are a contradiction of the most basic standards of truth or personal morality; when we close our eyes to the subtle and persistent sins of racism, xenophobia, sexism and jingoistic nationalism; when we are quick to resort to violence and slow to walk in Jesus’ way of peacemaking; when we love to pray on street corners but fail to practice the disciplines of spiritual formation; when anger and old-fashioned meanness contradict the way of mercy and forgiveness; when we settle for our lives the way they are without stretching toward what they can become; when we say we believe the creed but behave in ways that don’t look like Jesus.
In times like these, Jesus words come with painful and penetrating clarity: “Not everybody who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will get into the kingdom of heaven. Only those who do the will of my Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21)
Walk the narrow way
David Brooks is just about the closest thing we have to a biblical prophet. I plan to reread his powerful book, The Road to Character during Lent and hope you will, too. In his recent sermon in the National Cathedral he reminds us that the teachers who made the biggest difference in our lives were not the ones who gave us an A+ because we walked in the door, but the ones who “started with a C- and loved us toward an A.”
That’s what Jesus does in the Sermon on the Mount. That’s what he meant when he said, “The gate that leads to destruction is broad and the road wide, so many people enter through it. But the gate that leads to life is narrow and the road difficult, so few people find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14) He calls us to a way of discipleship that leads us toward the complete integration of our behavior with our belief. He challenges us to face our failures and continue to grow toward what Wesley called “Christian perfection,” the completion of God’s work of love in our human lives.
The need for ashes
All of which is why we need to get our ashes in church next Wednesday. (Pardon the corny play on words!) The dirty smudge on our foreheads is the tangible reminder that we are all dust. We are all mortal. We are all imperfect people. But they are also the sign of the grace that meets us wherever we are and loves us too much to leave us there. Jesus accepts us with all our contradictions between what we believe and the way we behave and draws us toward the wholeness (holiness) of a life that is fully integrated with his will.
We follow the Teacher who meets us at a C- and loves us toward an A.
Jim Harnish is the author of A Disciple's Heart and Earn. Save. Give. He blogs at at JimHarnish.org.
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The Johnson Amendment by Mike Poteet
Bigstock/llhowardTargeting the Johnson Amendment
During remarks at the National Prayer Breakfast on February 2, President Donald Trump pointed to “the right to worship according to our own beliefs” as an important freedom in the United States. “That is why,” he said, “I will get rid of, and totally destroy, the Johnson Amendment and allow our representatives of faith to speak freely and without fear of retribution.”
The President was referring to a federal tax law he pledged to eliminate during his campaign. As a law, its elimination would require congressional action. At last July’s Republican National Convention, Trump told “the evangelical and religious community” he would strive to repeal the law, which he claimed “[prevents] you from speaking your minds from your own pulpits.” He said, “I am going to work very hard to repeal that language and to protect free speech for all Americans.”
Some preachers welcome Trump’s promise. The Reverend Michael McCarron, a Roman Catholic priest in Virginia, told a local reporter, “It would be good to repeal [the law], because I think it’s discriminatory against a particular group.” Others disagree, including the Reverend Erin Wathen, a Disciples of Christ pastor in Kansas, who told a local reporter, “If we start rolling some of those boundaries back then there are a lot of other things that could follow.”
Content and background
The Johnson Amendment restricts political activity by organizations that are tax-exempt under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code, a status churches automatically receive; other nonprofits must apply for it. These organizations cannot “participate in, or intervene in (including the publishing or distributing of statements), any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office.”
The IRS’s website specifies, “Contributions to political campaign funds or public statements of position (verbal or written) made on behalf of the organization in favor of or in opposition to any candidate for public office clearly violate the prohibition against political campaign activity” and may be punishable by the imposition of taxes or the denial or revocation of tax-exempt status.
The code’s provision doesn’t discriminate among nonprofits. It doesn’t single out churches or religious groups. In 1954, Senator Lyndon B. Johnson introduced the amendment because, as the Associated Press characterized him, “he was livid that a few nonprofit groups attacked him as a communist in a Senate campaign.”
Congress passed the amendment, and President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed it into law with, apparently, little to no controversy. “There is no record of the debate, if any,” law professor Michael Hone observed in a 1989 issue of Case Western Law Review. “The logical argument favoring such an amendment is that those corporations qualifying for the . . . tax subsidy should not be permitted to directly or indirectly use that subsidy to support candidates for office.”
Until recent years, the provision remained largely unchallenged and rarely enforced. Since 2008, the Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) — a legal nonprofit that, in its words, “advocates for the right of people to freely live out their faith” — has encouraged pastors to preach about political topics and endorse candidates as part of an annual “Pulpit Freedom Sunday,” then send recordings of their sermons to the IRS. The ADF claims “the IRS can use the Johnson Amendment to tell pastors what they can and cannot preach” and wants a test case in which the regulation could be ruled unconstitutional.
So far, no test case has emerged. In 2008, the IRS announced it would review one Minnesota church’s tax-exempt status after its pastor endorsed Senator John McCain from the pulpit; however, the IRS closed the investigation the following year due to an unspecified procedural issue. Some pastors who send tapes to the IRS receive form letters stating the information will be reviewed. Others receive no response at all. As Erik W. Stanley, the ADF’s senior counsel, states, “The IRS seems to have simply ignored Pulpit Freedom Sunday.”
Arguments against the amendment
Since its break from Great Britain and its refusal to establish a national church, the United States has practiced legal separation of church and state. The Johnson Amendment has been, as The New York Times called it, “one of the brightest lines” in that separation. But its opponents claim it infringes upon freedoms protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.
In this view, the Johnson Amendment prohibits political speech and action that necessarily belong to free religious practice. One ADF website points to what it calls America’s long history of preachers speaking “freely and boldly from their pulpit about the issues of the day, including candidates running for office” and asks, “Why should the IRS have control of your pulpit? . . . A pastor’s pulpit should be accountable to God alone.”
To its critics, the Johnson Amendment censors sermons and prevents congregations from taking political action incumbent upon them as communities of faith. Michelle Terry of the American Center for Law and Justice (a “doing business as” name for Christian Advocates Serving Evangelism) argues that U.S. law best upholds church-state separation “by allowing churches to fulfill one of the purposes for which they were created — to be involved in moral issues of the day and be a community for like-minded individuals.”
Arguments for the amendment
Supporters of the Johnson Amendment insist it only minimally restricts religious speech and practice. “We have a dazzling amount of freedom,” writes the Reverend Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, in the Los Angeles Times, “to express the most controversial viewpoints imaginable from American pulpits. We just can’t have sermons converted into political advertisements for candidates.”
Supporters remind critics that the law treats churches no differently from secular nonprofits and doesn’t involve the government in censoring sermons. Robert Tuttle, professor of law and religion at George Washington University, told Pew Research that the IRS “does not need to evaluate a sermon’s theological merit to determine whether the sermon promotes a politician.”
Some observers also believe the law’s prohibition of tax-deductible contributions to candidates promotes transparency in campaign financing. Attorney Andrew Seidel of the Freedom From Religion Foundation expressed concern in a newspaper interview that the law’s repeal might “turn houses of worship into political action committees.” Unlike secular nonprofits, churches need not report to the IRS the sources and uses of donations received. Without the Johnson Amendment, Seidel argues, “there would essentially be this informational and financial black hole for mega-donors to give money to and funnel to politicians tax-free, and then write it off.”
Theological considerations
Christians believe God rules the whole world and the whole of life. There’s no dimension of individual existence or of society over which God is not sovereign, including the political. Christians also believe Jesus commands the church to bear witness to God’s rule. But Christians disagree whether supporting and opposing specific political candidates faithfully bears that witness.
Many who encourage repeal of the Johnson Amendment see themselves standing in the tradition of the apostles, whose testimony to Jesus amazed opponents. Tony Perkins, national spokesman for Pulpit Freedom Sunday, quotes Peter, “We must obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29, RSV), in a video encouraging preachers to participate. “Your God-given right as affirmed in the First Amendment trumps any rule the IRS can use to try to silence you,” says Perkins.
Other Christians highlight how churches can and do speak and act politically within the law, and they ask whether endorsing candidates advances Christian witness and mission. In a recent blog entry, Branson Parler, a theology professor at Kuyper College, argues that making political endorsements distracts the church from its true purpose and nature. “If churches and pastors embraced this move,” he writes, “we would sacrifice our gospel unity on the altar of political power. . . . The more we proclaim our loyalty to earthly rulers, the less we bear witness to our true King.”
Be sure to check out FaithLink, a weekly downloadable discussion guide for classes and small groups.
What's wrong with being right by Rebekah Simon-Peter
Bigstock/KoldunovI can’t tell you how relieved I was to discover some 27 years ago, at the beginning of my journey to ordained ministry, that the United Methodist Church does not claim to be “the one true church.” That sort of certainty makes me suspicious. The more a religious body claims it’s the way, the truth and the life, the less room it leaves for being human. There’s simply limited space for curiosity, growth and discovery. Not to mention spiritual experiences that point in a new, uncharted direction.
Don’t get me wrong. Personally, I love being right. I enjoy beating my husband at Jeopardy or surging ahead of a friend in Words with Friends. The only trouble is, if I’m always right, always winning, that means they’re always wrong, always losing. As one super-competitive friend laughingly shared with me, Words with Friends becomes simply Words.
Bottom line: Being right is great for the people who believe that they are. But it’s hell on everyone else.
In matters of theology and human sexuality, conservatives and liberals alike have insisted for decades that we are right. We have each claimed God is on our side. We have each pointed to scriptures, experience, tradition and reason to back us up. We have each found the evidence we are looking for—no matter our stance. We have demonized the other side, however politely.
I see a similar process happening with our politics. A recent New York Times analysis suggests that rabid resistance to Trump is backfiring; the more vocal the resistance, the more it energizes his supporters. Even if they don’t approve of him 100 percent. We saw a reverse but similar dynamic under Obama.
It reminds me of the truth, “What we resist persists.” Could it be, in our insistence on being right, that we are exacerbating our own polarization? I’m talking to everyone here, no matter what “side” you are on.
What would it look like to give up being right, anyway? I’m not exactly sure. But here’s what I’m not suggesting. I’m not suggesting that a person have no opinion, no ethics, no morals, no theology, no worldview. That would be impossible anyway. I’m also not suggesting being uninformed or passive.
What I am suggesting is taking a more biblical approach to our differences. That is, letting differing opinions sit side by side. It’s interesting to me that the New Testament contains 4 Gospels. While many attempts are made to harmonize them, their differences remain. Not least of which is the list of disciples. Add to that the birth stories, and events surrounding Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. The four Gospels allow for significant differences of interpretation about Jesus and his followers. Yet somehow the codifiers of the Bible saw fit to keep all of them.
It’s a very Jewish way of approaching things. Appropriate, given Jesus’ own Jewishness. Check it out. The Hebrew Bible contains two creation stories, two flood stories and several competing strands in the Exodus account. Don’t even try to count how many times Moses went up and down Mt. Sinai to meet with God. They don’t add up!
Which account is right; which one is wrong?
In this case, that’s the wrong question. It’s not about who is right and who is wrong. It’s about how can we, like the Bible stories, coexist with integrity, side by side?
One of the beauties of Jewish textual interpretation is its comfort with diversity and multiplicity. The Talmud, a record of conversations about the Mishnah, is full of varying voices. In the Talmud, it’s the conversation itself that’s interesting and insightful. Not who’s right and who’s wrong.
What if we were to approach our own potentially divisive conversations that way?
I write this in light of the recent news that two very large United Methodist churches are leaving the denomination. “Both pastors cited their congregations’ frustration with the denomination’s long and acrimonious debate over the church’s sexual ethics and teachings on marriage,” writes author Walter Fenton. “Going forward, they said their congregations want to focus on kingdom matters so they are removing themselves from unproductive battles that distract them from their larger missions.”
I don’t know if that’s a cover for “being right” in a denomination they think has gone wrong. It may be. But even so, it points to a larger truth. Having to be right can kill the Spirit. So can always being made wrong.
Church, I think it’s time to give up these false dichotomies. In our theology, organizational structures and church meetings. While it would mean giving up the self-satisfaction of coming out on top, it would also mean giving up resignation, demonizing and back biting. Most importantly, it would mean giving up being stuck. In its place, there might just be room for the Holy Spirit to move us in new, unexpected, directions.
Rebekah Simon-Peter blogs at rebekahsimonpeter.com. She is the author of The Jew Named Jesus and Green Church.
Big picture ministry in a trivial world
By Todd OutcaltBigstock/SToriSome years ago Richard Carlson wrote a series of best-selling books based on the title, Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff. The books dealt with our proclivity toward negativity, toward worrying over horrendous possibilities, and our pull toward bad news. In short, Carlson simply wrote about the small stuff that tends to destroy our attitudes, or work, our relationships and even our faith.
Carlson essentially noted that most people are concerned with trivial matters when they should be focused on the big picture — which tends to be more optimistic and fulfilling. The trouble with trifles is that we can get bogged down in details, especially in ministry. And, while it is true that God is often in the details, it is more accurate to say that God is in the big picture when it comes to the future.
Church leaders would do well to be big picture people — visionaries who are not so concerned with listening to individual complaints, or concerns about trifling details which can stifle progress, but leaders who stay focused on the larger goals that God has put before them. This big picture mentality was certainly the case in John Wesley’s theology; he often warned his leaders not to “trifle away time” but to stay focused on “doing all the good they could.” A part of the Wesleyian heritage is centered on Big Picture approach: making disciples for the transformation of the world.
Still, trifles are very compelling, and we can often get lost in negativity, or complaints, or the focus on peripheral matters. We also live in a time when so many facts are available to us, so many opinions about the small matters, that we can feel lost in an ocean of conflicting reports, unconfirmed details and sound bites. Even our conversations with each other, or the manner in which we attempt to communicate with each other, can become rushed, hurried or wearied over a myriad of details.
Staying focused, and keeping other people focused, is one of the greatest challenges of leadership.
So, toward that end, here are three ways to move beyond the trivial and help us center on the Big Picture of God’s kingdom.
Create a Statement of Purpose
Statements of purpose were all the rage for organizations some years ago, but in many ways the spirit of purpose has carried over into leadership, too. Knowing why we are in ministry — reminding ourselves of the purposes and the call that compelled us into the ministry in the first place — can be powerful when we are bombarded with the trivial pursuits of pastoral work, in particular. So often pastors find themselves addressing issues related to mundane details of the church facility, long-standing animosities or trying to meet a litany of human needs. But while all of these needs may be legitimate or even pressing, these smallest of matters have a tendency to lure us away from the big picture purpose.
Leaders would do well to remain focused on the big picture and the outcomes/vision desired through the organization. Yes, details are a part of that big picture, and we should aspire to do all things well, but not at the cost of fulfilling our highest mandates.
A statement of purpose can help us focus on the call.
Set Goals
Being a writer, I have learned that setting annual goals is one of the most important steps in the creative process. Every January I set down my goals in writing, creating a plan to write the various books, articles and stories I hope to complete throughout the year.
I do the same for ministry.
Goals can be big picture in their inception but parsed throughout the year to make them more manageable and less daunting. Leaders should press themselves in new ways while also creating goals that are both practical and achievable. Likewise, at least one goal should be large enough that, without God’s help and the larger work of the church, it cannot be accomplished. Often these large, seemingly unachievable goals prove to be the most inspiring outcomes in ministry.
Whether large or small, goals are important to keep the trivial at bay while focusing on the big picture.
Center on the Positive
Increasingly, we live what many have described as a virtual reality (as opposed to actual reality). We can often encounter the virtual in church leadership when we are focused on theory rather than relationships, or focused on carrying forth goals via Facebook rather than face-to-face conversations (for example). These virtual methods often lead us toward less positive outcomes.
Big picture outcomes can only be achieved through courageous conversations, difficult discussions, and, at times, through the hard work of bringing others into the vision. Trivial matters tend to weigh us down while big picture work and motivations inspire and sweep us along toward positive ends.
Although it is often difficult for leaders to stay positive in a negative world, the best outcomes always come about through clearly articulated goals, teamwork and an energized effort.
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Be careful what you wish for
By Joseph YooBigstock/jlgoodyearThere are many things a church — particularly a declining church — wants. But they rarely ever think through how things might change if they actually get what they want.
A friend of mine was appointed as pastor to a church that was seeking a young person of color. I assume the church figured they could kill two birds with one stone. A young person would bring in young people and a person of color might bring more diversity.
To say that the church is predominantly Anglo is an understatement, and the church is also in a neighborhood that is predominantly white.
I know that “diversity” is something many of our churches strive for, but to be diverse for the sake of being diverse sometimes brings about more problems than solutions. Besides, it’s one thing to aim for diversity if your surrounding neighborhood is diverse. But if the neighborhood is mostly one ethnicity, I feel that it’s OK for your church to reflect your neighborhood’s makeup.
Like many churches that say they want change, this one wasn't really prepared for change and resisted it. They liked the idea of change but really they wanted everything to stay the same. As open to diversity as this congregation thought it was, it simply wasn't ready for the different kind of worldview that would come from a woman of color in her 30s.
(Here’s something I’ve noticed about some churches that want diversity just for the sake of diversity: They don’t seem to want persons of color to have opinions — or at least to share their opinions if they're different from the majority of the church. It's easy to check off “diversity” from a list of what we feel makes a church grow but not as easy to wrestle with the differing, sometimes even opposing thoughts and ideas that can come with that diversity.)
Everything came to a climax the Sunday after the U.S. presidential election. My friend preached on the legitimate fears that she and her friends were wrestling with in light of the election results. The heart of the message (which I was sent a copy of) was about rising above fear and being compelled by love, even if it goes against our common sense. It was a well written sermon. Unfortunately, all some people heard was an attack on the new president-elect. The most vocal folks were in an uproar. They threatened to fire her and questioned her loyalty: “How dare you speak about my president like that!”
One of the parishioners stormed into her office between services berating her while addressing her as “Girl.”
The church leadership eventually decided not to have her return to the church. It’s such a tragic ending because there was no chance of reconciliation; no chance of conversations and dialogue; no chance of walking things through together; no hope of healing. I’m certain that the grace of God would’ve won out and the outcome could've been different if they'd just been willing to work at it.
But like many churches, this one wanted change without change.
If we’re OK with the status quo, then let’s live with it; let’s be content. But if we say we want change and diversity, then we must be willing to make room for perspectives and thoughts that may be different from our own.
When we do, it just might fill a hole in our church we didn’t even know was there and we may find ourselves on a path that makes the Kingdom tangible for every nation, tribe, people and language.
Evangelicals can no longer speak as one voice
By John Fea / Religion News ServiceBigstock/badboo
(RNS) Seventy-six percent of white American evangelicals supported President Trump's recent executive order temporarily banning travelers from seven predominantly Muslim nations as well as all refugees, according to Pew Research (59 percent of all Americans disapproved of the order).
The strong evangelical support for Trump's action is telling in light of a recent letter sent to him and Vice President Mike Pence from 500 evangelical leaders who condemn the executive order.
The letter was signed by Tim Keller (author and pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church), Richard Mouw (former president of Fuller Theological Seminary), Max Lucado (author), Bill Hybels (founder of Willow Creek Community Church) and Shirley Hoogstra (president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities), to name only a few of the prominent evangelicals who endorsed its message.
The opposition of these evangelical leaders stems from what they believe to be their Christian responsibility to care for the poor and oppressed and to follow Jesus' command to "love our neighbor as ourselves." As the letter notes, "Jesus makes it clear that our 'neighbor' includes the stranger and anyone fleeing persecution and violence, regardless of their faith or country."
The fact that so many mainstream evangelical leaders opposed Trump's order, while 76 percent of their followers supported it, is further evidence of the way politics — particularly the Trump candidacy — divided American evangelicalism. (It might also suggest that few evangelicals in the pew are following the biblical exhortations of their pastors. They just might be turning to Trump or one of his ministerial supporters for advice on this front).
This is not the first time in American history that calls for unity among believers have been undermined by political matters.
The American Revolution brought division to 18th-century Christian churches. The issue of slavery split Protestant denominations in the years leading up to the Civil War. In fact, evangelical Christians can be found on both sides of nearly every major political and social issue in U.S. history. They have seldom spoken to American culture with a unified, prophetic voice.
But 76 percent is a larger number of evangelicals. It almost parallels the 81 percent of voting evangelicals who pulled the level for Trump in November. The evangelical grass-roots support of Trump's travel ban sheds light on two serious problems with the movement today.
1. Fear
Jesus counseled his disciples to "not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." (John 14:27) John had similar advice: "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4:18)
Fear is a natural response when human beings sense danger in their midst. Trump plays to these fears when he warns of imminent terrorist attacks from foreign Muslims. His campaign for the presidency was successful because he manipulated human fears for political gain and glory.
Yet, if I read the Bible correctly, the kind of fear that Trump flames is not an option for Christians. Or at the very least, this kind of fear is not a biblical reason for failing to show hospitality to the stranger or care for the poor and the oppressed.
The fear of American evangelicals is also misplaced. It is enhanced by the evangelical movement's second significant problem.
2. Anti-intellectualism
The fear that Trump has instilled in 76 percent of U.S. evangelicals is based on very weak evidence.
For example, most of the terrorist attacks that have occurred on American soil in the last 15 years have either come from ISIS sympathizers born in the U.S. or those who came to America from a nation that is not included in the recent travel ban.
Fear can easily be exacerbated by false information. And good information can often alleviate fear.
Trump is building an entire immigrant policy around a few isolated cases of undocumented immigrants who have come to the United States illegally and committed terrible crimes. The overwhelming majority of immigrants and refugees who come to the United States are productive members of society.
These are facts. They are backed by statistics, data and evidence.
Refugees coming to American shores are already heavily vetted. While it is always possible for a lone wolf to commit a terrible crime (as we have seen, sadly, of late), Americans have been relatively safe from foreign terrorism since Sept. 11, 2001.
Again, these are the facts. They are backed by statistics, data and evidence.
And as long as we are at it, Barack Obama is not a Muslim. And he was born in Hawaii, not Kenya.
Millions of undocumented immigrants did not vote illegally in the November 2016 election.
Muslim refugees in Bowling Green, Ky., did not stage a massacre of white people in 2011.
There was not a Muslim terrorist attack in Sweden.
These are the facts. They are backed by statistics, data and evidence.
It is time for my fellow evangelicals to take seriously what the Founding Fathers of this nation called an "informed citizenry." Better yet, it is time to counter fear with facts — a necessary starting point for worshipping God with our minds.
Preaching Ash Wednesday
By James C. HowellBigstock/czarny_bezAsh Wednesday preaching. It’s quiet, and brief. People come for the ashes, not a mountain of words. And yet we must preach. Perhaps such preaching should be poetic, and it wouldn’t hurt the preacher to ponder T.S. Eliot’s moving “Ash Wednesday” as mental and spiritual preparation.
I think a lot about the “mark of Cain” (Genesis 4:15); in negotiating his guilty status for killing his brother and being exiled “east of Eden,” Cain is marked by the Lord – as a sign of his guilt, but also as a sign of protection. Interacting with God on Ash Wednesday: we are guilty, and we are sheltered simultaneously by God’s mercy.
The mark of the gray/black cross on the forehead: I was struck the other day by an art exhibit we toured. An African-American painter, Leo Twiggs, produced a series of nine paintings dramatizing in commemoration of the vicious Charleston shootings of 9 church people by Dylann Roof in June, 2015. The series of 9 batiks begins with Mother Emmanuel church with an X as a target, then with a bloodied Confederate flag, which gradually through the series is transformed into 9 crosses soaring upward to heaven.
The Confederate flag is a grotesque perversion and abuse of the cross. And yet we all pervert and abuse the cross. Somehow Ash Wednesday is the beginning of the transformation of our perversion of the cross into the resurrection healing of Easter.
Of course, in our culture, it’s an uphill battle to persuade people they are in fact sinners. When I was in seminary a generation ago, I read the psychiatrist Karl Menninger’s astute book, Whatever Became of Sin?
He was right to ask. Through most of Christian history, you came to church to have your sins absolved; now people come to hang with people they like, and to see if the preacher agrees with their jaded views of the world.
And yet, as the preacher, you know it is futile to say You guys most certainly are sinners! Jonathan Edwards, in his “Sinners in the hands of an angry God,” would be theologically correct, but couldn’t muster much of a crowd in our day. How do we tease this out?
I love alternative images of sin to help people get the hang of things. Sin is trying to be Atlas, trying to be God (a la Genesis 3), hoisting the whole world on your shoulders… which is exhausting, isn’t it? Or you have blind spots. Or you are just self-indulgent, self-focused — and isn’t that exhausting? Wouldn’t it be a relief not to be the center of the universe? And we also flat out hurt other people, even those we love. This latter clarification is easy for people to identify with — and it’s crucial.
We have now in our pantheon of Presidents a stunning contrast you might just be daring enough to name. Donald Trump, while campaigning for election, was asked if he had ever sought forgiveness from God (video here). He shrugged, said “No,” and then clarified: “I don’t think in those terms. If something doesn’t work I try to make it right. I just try to do a better job.” Pastors might want to ding him – but really, he expressed in those words where the majority of mainline Christians live. We don’t think much about sin, and we really try to do better — missing the whole dynamic of sin / forgiveness / healing / empowerment!
Not surprisingly, Trump named Norman Vincent Peale as his favorite preacher. Peale’s Power of Positive Thinking was and is big in American religiosity… but it is most assuredly not biblical. As my American Church History professor Stuart Henry used to say, “Paul is appealing, and Peale is appalling.”
Contrast President Trump with President Jimmy Carter, who rather famously, back in the 70’s, acknowledged that he had committed adultery in his mind, that he had harbored feelings of lust (citing Matthew 5:28, which just appeared in the lectionary). He wasn’t bragging, but sorrowful, humble, admitting sin in need of forgiveness, correction and healing. This says more about our culture, and the demise of healthy Christianity, than anything I can imagine.
As I preached on that text, it isn’t that God is a ruler with a ruler — like a fastidious, harsh schoolteacher ready to swat us down for sinful thoughts. It is rather that we grieve a profoundly loving God’s heart — and you grieve your own heart, however unwittingly. Understanding what is sin, seeking forgiveness and then healing, is a liberation, being set free from the bondage that really is our undoing.
Sometimes I wonder if Ash Wednesday preaching is simply a stammering, a shudder over our mortality, our brokenness, and the preacher, hardly saying anything at all, stands in awe with everyone else, pondering the sorrow of sin and the enormity and tenderness of God’s mercy. You just mutter a few phrases, then move on to the imposition of the ashes…
This article originally appeared on the author's blog. Reprinted with permission.
Love In A Big World: Conversations
By Tamara FykeBigstock/imtmphotoPerhaps it is how we are made; perhaps words of truth reach us best through the heart, and stories and songs are the language of the heart.[Stephen R. Lawhead]
Like many of my fellow Nashvillians, I am a singer/songwriter. From a very young age, I discovered that music had a way of unlocking the secrets of my soul. Getting lost in lyrics and rhythm helped me find my way through the labyrinth of questions about faith and life. As a teen I knew I wanted to offer a safe haven for others through my songs. I remember one of my voice teachers telling me the job of an artist is to help people feel. Similarly, my childhood role model Amy Grant spoke of singers as storytellers whose job is to create a space for connection.
Not only does music provide a connection point, but stories do also. Stories help us dig into a topic that may otherwise seem too big, scary or uncomfortable. Bruno Bettelheim (1976) states, “Just because his life is often bewildering to him, the child needs even more to be given the chance to understand himself in this complex world with which he must cope…He needs ideas on how to bring his inner house into order…” A great story can help bring order and open the heart and mind. An open heart and mind is ready for conversation, for true dialogue about the thoughts and feelings evoked by story.
As both an educator and a parent, I have learned the importance of creating and cultivating conversations with my kids. Conversation is a teachable moment, a time when my kids share what they are thinking and feeling, a time when my kids are wide open to my guidance. We connect heart-to-heart. Most often these teachable moments begin as we listen to a song, watch a movie, read a book or hear a news story. Usually these conversations occur around the dinner table, on the couch or in the car. No topic is off-limits. We sort through feelings and opinions about everything from racial identity and crushes to homelessness and media messages.
My desire is to be a safe place for my kids to share their hearts. I want to hear about their day at school, their relationships with others and their experiences of this big world. More importantly, I want to process what is happening, good or bad. Siegel and Bryson, authors of The Whole Brain Child (2011), say, “When children learn to pay attention to and share their own stories, they can respond in healthy ways to everything from a scraped elbow to a major loss or trauma. What kids often need, especially when they experience strong emotions, is to have someone help them…make sense of what is going on.”
Anybody who knows me knows that I’m a huge fan of Gilmore Girls. Why? Because it beautifully illustrates inter-generational relationships, reminding us that kids are hungry for genuine connection with caring adults. My #1 job as a caring adult is to be intentional about making time to listen.
ReClaimed: Reducing Prejudice with Dave Fleischer
By ReClaimed PodcastCharles, Matt, and Gregg are joined by Dave Fleischer to learn about how deep conversation and sharing stories can break down prejudice, persuade people with different opinions, and change minds. David Fleischer is Project Director for the Leadership LAB at the Los Angeles LGBT Center and has worked in electoral politics for 30 years.
This Sunday, March 5, 2017
First Sunday in Lent: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11
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Lectionary Readings:
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Lectionary Readings:
(Courtesy of Vanderbilt Divinity Library)
Ash Wednesday, 1 March 2017
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Psalm 51:1-17
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
First Sunday in Lent, Year A, 5 March 2017
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Psalm 119:33-40
Psalm 32
Romans 5:12-19
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9
Matthew 4:1-11
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
Psalm 51:1-17
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
First Sunday in Lent, Year A, 5 March 2017
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
Psalm 119:33-40
Psalm 32
Romans 5:12-19
2 Peter 1:16-21
Matthew 17:1-9
Matthew 4:1-11
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Scripture Text: Ash Wednesday, 1 March 2017
Joel 2:1 “Blow the shofar in Tziyon!
Sound an alarm on my holy mountain!”
Let all living in the land tremble,
for the Day of Adonai is coming! It’s upon us! —
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick fog;
a great and mighty horde is spreading
like blackness over the mountains.
There has never been anything like it,
nor will there ever be again,
not even after the years
of many generations.
12 “Yet even now,” says Adonai,
“turn to me with all your heart,
with fasting, weeping and lamenting.”
13 Tear your heart, not your garments;
and turn to Adonai your God.
For he is merciful and compassionate,
slow to anger, rich in grace,
and willing to change his mind about disaster.
14 Who knows? He may turn, change his mind
and leave a blessing behind him,
[enough for] grain offerings and drink offerings
to present to Adonai your God.
15 “Blow the shofar in Tziyon!
Proclaim a holy fast,
call for a solemn assembly.”
16 Gather the people; consecrate the congregation;
assemble the leaders; gather the children,
even infants sucking at the breast;
let the bridegroom leave his room
and the bride the bridal chamber.
17 Let the cohanim, who serve Adonai,
stand weeping between the vestibule and the altar.
Let them say, “Spare your people, Adonai!
Don’t expose your heritage to mockery,
or make them a byward among the Goyim.
Why should the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’”
Psalm 51:1 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David, 2 when Natan the prophet came to him after his affair with Bat-Sheva:
3 (1) God, in your grace, have mercy on me;
in your great compassion, blot out my crimes.
4 (2) Wash me completely from my guilt,
and cleanse me from my sin.
5 (3) For I know my crimes,
my sin confronts me all the time.
6 (4) Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil from your perspective;
so that you are right in accusing me
and justified in passing sentence.
7 (5) True, I was born guilty,
was a sinner from the moment my mother conceived me.
8 (6) Still, you want truth in the inner person;
so make me know wisdom in my inmost heart.
9 (7) Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
10 (8) Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness,
so that the bones you crushed can rejoice.
11 (9) Turn away your face from my sins,
and blot out all my crimes.
12 (10) Create in me a clean heart, God;
renew in me a resolute spirit.
13 (11) Don’t thrust me away from your presence,
don’t take your Ruach Kodesh away from me.
14 (12) Restore my joy in your salvation,
and let a willing spirit uphold me.
15 (13) Then I will teach the wicked your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
16 (14) Rescue me from the guilt of shedding blood,
God, God of my salvation!
Then my tongue will sing
about your righteousness —
17 (15) Adonai, open my lips;
then my mouth will praise you.
2 Corinthians 5:20 Therefore we are ambassadors of the Messiah; in effect, God is making his appeal through us. What we do is appeal on behalf of the Messiah, “Be reconciled to God! 21 God made this sinless man be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with him we might fully share in God’s righteousness.”
6:1 As God’s fellow-workers we also urge you not to receive his grace and then do nothing with it. 2 For he says,
“At the acceptable time I heard you;
in the day of salvation I helped you.”[2 Corinthians 6:2 Isaiah 49:8]
3 We try not to put obstacles in anyone’s path, so that no one can find fault with the work we do. 4 On the contrary, we try to commend ourselves in every way as workers for God by continually enduring troubles, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, overwork, lack of sleep and food. 6 We commend ourselves by our purity, knowledge, patience and kindness; by the Ruach HaKodesh; by genuineness of love 7 and truthfulness of speech; and by God’s power. We commend ourselves through our use of righteous weapons, whether for pressing our cause or defending it; 8 through being honored and dishonored, praised and blamed, considered deceptive and sincere, 9 unknown and famous. And we commend ourselves as God’s workers headed for death, yet look! we’re alive! as punished, yet not killed; 10 as having reason to be sad, yet always filled with joy; as poor, yet making many people rich; as having nothing, yet having everything!
Matthew 6:1 “Be careful not to parade your acts of tzedakah in front of people in order to be seen by them! If you do, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 So, when you do tzedakah, don’t announce it with trumpets to win people’s praise, like the hypocrites in the synagogues and on the streets. Yes! I tell you, they have their reward already! 3 But you, when you do tzedakah, don’t even let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. 4 Then your tzedakah will be in secret; and your Father, who sees what you do in secret, will reward you.
5 “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites, who love to pray standing in the synagogues and on street corners, so that people can see them. Yes! I tell you, they have their reward already! 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
16 “Now when you fast, don’t go around looking miserable, like the hypocrites. They make sour faces so that people will know they are fasting. Yes! I tell you, they have their reward already! 17 But you, when you fast, wash your face and groom yourself, 18 so that no one will know you are fasting — except your Father, who is with you in secret. Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
19 “Do not store up for yourselves wealth here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and burglars break in and steal. 20 Instead, store up for yourselves wealth in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and burglars do not break in or steal. 21 For where your wealth is, there your heart will be also.
First Sunday in Lent, Year A, 5 March 2017
Genesis 2:15 Adonai, God, took the person and put him in the garden of ‘Eden to cultivate and care for it. 16 Adonai, God, gave the person this order: “You may freely eat from every tree in the garden 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You are not to eat from it, because on the day that you eat from it, it will become certain that you will die.”
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any wild animal which Adonai, God, had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You are not to eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat from the fruit of the trees of the garden, 3 but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, ‘You are neither to eat from it nor touch it, or you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “It is not true that you will surely die; 5 because God knows that on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it had a pleasing appearance and that the tree was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her; and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together to make themselves loincloths.
Psalm 119:×” (Heh)
33 Teach me, Adonai, the way of your laws;
keeping them will be its own reward for me.
34 Give me understanding; then I will keep your Torah;
I will observe it with all my heart.
35 Guide me on the path of your mitzvot,
for I take pleasure in it.
36 Bend my heart toward your instructions
and not toward selfish gain.
37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
with your ways, give me life.
38 Fulfill your promise, which you made to your servant,
which you made to those who fear you.
39 Avert the disgrace which I dread,
for your rulings are good.
40 See how I long for your precepts;
in your righteousness, give me life!
Psalm 32:(0) By David. A maskil:
(1) How blessed are those whose offense is forgiven,
those whose sin is covered!
2 How blessed those to whom Adonai imputes no guilt,
in whose spirit is no deceit!
3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away
because of my groaning all day long;
4 day and night your hand was heavy on me;
the sap in me dried up as in a summer drought. (Selah)
5 When I acknowledged my sin to you,
when I stopped concealing my guilt,
and said, “I will confess my offenses to Adonai”;
then you, you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Selah)
6 This is what everyone faithful should pray
at a time when you can be found.
Then, when the floodwaters are raging,
they will not reach to him.
7 You are a hiding-place for me,
you will keep me from distress;
you will surround me
with songs of deliverance. (Selah)
8 “I will instruct and teach you
in this way that you are to go;
I will give you counsel;
my eyes will be watching you.”
9 Don’t be like a horse or mule
that has no understanding,
that has to be curbed with bit and bridle,
or else it won’t come near you.
10 Many are the torments of the wicked,
but grace surrounds those who trust in Adonai.
11 Be glad in Adonai; rejoice, you righteous!
Shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
Romans 5:12 Here is how it works: it was through one individual that sin entered the world, and through sin, death; and in this way death passed through to the whole human race, inasmuch as everyone sinned. 13 Sin was indeed present in the world before Torah was given, but sin is not counted as such when there is no Torah. 14 Nevertheless death ruled from Adam until Moshe, even over those whose sinning was not exactly like Adam’s violation of a direct command. In this, Adam prefigured the one who was to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the offence. For if, because of one man’s offence, many died, then how much more has God’s grace, that is, the gracious gift of one man, Yeshua the Messiah, overflowed to many! 16 No, the free gift is not like what resulted from one man’s sinning; for from one sinner came judgment that brought condemnation; but the free gift came after many offences and brought acquittal. 17 For if, because of the offence of one man, death ruled through that one man; how much more will those receiving the overflowing grace, that is, the gift of being considered righteous, rule in life through the one man Yeshua the Messiah!
18 In other words, just as it was through one offence that all people came under condemnation, so also it is through one righteous act that all people come to be considered righteous. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man, many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the other man, many will be made righteous.
2 Peter 1:16 For when we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, we did not rely on cunningly contrived myths. On the contrary, we saw his majesty with our own eyes. 17 For we were there when he received honor and glory from God the Father; and the voice came to him from the grandeur of the Sh’khinah, saying, “This is my son, whom I love; I am well pleased with him!” 18 We heard this voice come out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.
19 Yes, we have the prophetic Word made very certain. You will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark, murky place, until the Day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts. 20 First of all, understand this: no prophecy of Scripture is to be interpreted by an individual on his own; 21 for never has a prophecy come as a result of human willing — on the contrary, people moved by the Ruach HaKodesh spoke a message from God.
Matthew 17:1 Six days later, Yeshua took Kefa, Ya‘akov and his brother Yochanan and led them up a high mountain privately. 2 As they watched, he began to change form — his face shone like the sun, and his clothing became as white as light. 3 Then they looked and saw Moshe and Eliyahu speaking with him. 4 Kefa said to Yeshua, “It’s good that we’re here, Lord. I’ll put up three shelters if you want — one for you, one for Moshe and one for Eliyahu.” 5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them; and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!” 6 When the talmidim heard this, they were so frightened that they fell face down on the ground. 7 But Yeshua came and touched them. “Get up!” he said, “Don’t be afraid.” 8 So they opened their eyes, looked up and saw only Yeshua by himself.
9 As they came down the mountain, Yeshua ordered them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Matthew 4:1 Then the Spirit led Yeshua up into the wilderness to be tempted by the Adversary. 2 After Yeshua had fasted forty days and nights, he was hungry. 3 The Tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, order these stones to become bread.” 4 But he answered, “The Tanakh says,
‘Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of Adonai’”[Matthew 4:4 Deuteronomy 8:3]
5 Then the Adversary took him to the holy city and set him on the highest point of the Temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “jump! For the Tanakh says,
‘He will order his angels to be responsible for you. . . .
They will support you with their hands,
so that you will not hurt your feet on the stones.’”[Matthew 4:6 Psalm 91:11–12]
7 Yeshua replied to him, “But it also says, ‘Do not put Adonai your God to the test.’”[Matthew 4:7 Deuteronomy 6:16]
8 Once more, the Adversary took him up to the summit of a very high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in all their glory, 9 and said to him, “All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me.” 10 “Away with you, Satan!” Yeshua told him, “For the Tanakh says,
‘Worship Adonai your God, and serve only him.’” [Matthew 4:10 Deuteronomy 6:13–14]
11 Then the Adversary let him alone, and angels came and took care of him.
John Wesley's Notes-Commentary: Ash Wednesday, 1 March 2017
Joel 2:1 “Blow the shofar in Tziyon!
Sound an alarm on my holy mountain!”
Let all living in the land tremble,
for the Day of Adonai is coming! It’s upon us! —
2 a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and thick fog;
a great and mighty horde is spreading
like blackness over the mountains.
There has never been anything like it,
nor will there ever be again,
not even after the years
of many generations.
12 “Yet even now,” says Adonai,
“turn to me with all your heart,
with fasting, weeping and lamenting.”
13 Tear your heart, not your garments;
and turn to Adonai your God.
For he is merciful and compassionate,
slow to anger, rich in grace,
and willing to change his mind about disaster.
14 Who knows? He may turn, change his mind
and leave a blessing behind him,
[enough for] grain offerings and drink offerings
to present to Adonai your God.
15 “Blow the shofar in Tziyon!
Proclaim a holy fast,
call for a solemn assembly.”
16 Gather the people; consecrate the congregation;
assemble the leaders; gather the children,
even infants sucking at the breast;
let the bridegroom leave his room
and the bride the bridal chamber.
17 Let the cohanim, who serve Adonai,
stand weeping between the vestibule and the altar.
Let them say, “Spare your people, Adonai!
Don’t expose your heritage to mockery,
or make them a byward among the Goyim.
Why should the peoples say, ‘Where is their God?’”
Psalm 51:1 (0) For the leader. A psalm of David, 2 when Natan the prophet came to him after his affair with Bat-Sheva:
3 (1) God, in your grace, have mercy on me;
in your great compassion, blot out my crimes.
4 (2) Wash me completely from my guilt,
and cleanse me from my sin.
5 (3) For I know my crimes,
my sin confronts me all the time.
6 (4) Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil from your perspective;
so that you are right in accusing me
and justified in passing sentence.
7 (5) True, I was born guilty,
was a sinner from the moment my mother conceived me.
8 (6) Still, you want truth in the inner person;
so make me know wisdom in my inmost heart.
9 (7) Sprinkle me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
10 (8) Let me hear the sound of joy and gladness,
so that the bones you crushed can rejoice.
11 (9) Turn away your face from my sins,
and blot out all my crimes.
12 (10) Create in me a clean heart, God;
renew in me a resolute spirit.
13 (11) Don’t thrust me away from your presence,
don’t take your Ruach Kodesh away from me.
14 (12) Restore my joy in your salvation,
and let a willing spirit uphold me.
15 (13) Then I will teach the wicked your ways,
and sinners will return to you.
16 (14) Rescue me from the guilt of shedding blood,
God, God of my salvation!
Then my tongue will sing
about your righteousness —
17 (15) Adonai, open my lips;
then my mouth will praise you.
2 Corinthians 5:20 Therefore we are ambassadors of the Messiah; in effect, God is making his appeal through us. What we do is appeal on behalf of the Messiah, “Be reconciled to God! 21 God made this sinless man be a sin offering on our behalf, so that in union with him we might fully share in God’s righteousness.”
6:1 As God’s fellow-workers we also urge you not to receive his grace and then do nothing with it. 2 For he says,
“At the acceptable time I heard you;
in the day of salvation I helped you.”[2 Corinthians 6:2 Isaiah 49:8]
3 We try not to put obstacles in anyone’s path, so that no one can find fault with the work we do. 4 On the contrary, we try to commend ourselves in every way as workers for God by continually enduring troubles, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, overwork, lack of sleep and food. 6 We commend ourselves by our purity, knowledge, patience and kindness; by the Ruach HaKodesh; by genuineness of love 7 and truthfulness of speech; and by God’s power. We commend ourselves through our use of righteous weapons, whether for pressing our cause or defending it; 8 through being honored and dishonored, praised and blamed, considered deceptive and sincere, 9 unknown and famous. And we commend ourselves as God’s workers headed for death, yet look! we’re alive! as punished, yet not killed; 10 as having reason to be sad, yet always filled with joy; as poor, yet making many people rich; as having nothing, yet having everything!
Matthew 6:1 “Be careful not to parade your acts of tzedakah in front of people in order to be seen by them! If you do, you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 So, when you do tzedakah, don’t announce it with trumpets to win people’s praise, like the hypocrites in the synagogues and on the streets. Yes! I tell you, they have their reward already! 3 But you, when you do tzedakah, don’t even let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. 4 Then your tzedakah will be in secret; and your Father, who sees what you do in secret, will reward you.
5 “When you pray, don’t be like the hypocrites, who love to pray standing in the synagogues and on street corners, so that people can see them. Yes! I tell you, they have their reward already! 6 But you, when you pray, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
16 “Now when you fast, don’t go around looking miserable, like the hypocrites. They make sour faces so that people will know they are fasting. Yes! I tell you, they have their reward already! 17 But you, when you fast, wash your face and groom yourself, 18 so that no one will know you are fasting — except your Father, who is with you in secret. Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
19 “Do not store up for yourselves wealth here on earth, where moths and rust destroy, and burglars break in and steal. 20 Instead, store up for yourselves wealth in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and burglars do not break in or steal. 21 For where your wealth is, there your heart will be also.
First Sunday in Lent, Year A, 5 March 2017
Genesis 2:15 Adonai, God, took the person and put him in the garden of ‘Eden to cultivate and care for it. 16 Adonai, God, gave the person this order: “You may freely eat from every tree in the garden 17 except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. You are not to eat from it, because on the day that you eat from it, it will become certain that you will die.”
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more crafty than any wild animal which Adonai, God, had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You are not to eat from any tree in the garden’?” 2 The woman answered the serpent, “We may eat from the fruit of the trees of the garden, 3 but about the fruit of the tree in the middle of the garden God said, ‘You are neither to eat from it nor touch it, or you will die.’” 4 The serpent said to the woman, “It is not true that you will surely die; 5 because God knows that on the day you eat from it, your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” 6 When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it had a pleasing appearance and that the tree was desirable for making one wise, she took some of its fruit and ate. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her; and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized that they were naked. So they sewed fig leaves together to make themselves loincloths.
Psalm 119:×” (Heh)
33 Teach me, Adonai, the way of your laws;
keeping them will be its own reward for me.
34 Give me understanding; then I will keep your Torah;
I will observe it with all my heart.
35 Guide me on the path of your mitzvot,
for I take pleasure in it.
36 Bend my heart toward your instructions
and not toward selfish gain.
37 Turn my eyes away from worthless things;
with your ways, give me life.
38 Fulfill your promise, which you made to your servant,
which you made to those who fear you.
39 Avert the disgrace which I dread,
for your rulings are good.
40 See how I long for your precepts;
in your righteousness, give me life!
Psalm 32:(0) By David. A maskil:
(1) How blessed are those whose offense is forgiven,
those whose sin is covered!
2 How blessed those to whom Adonai imputes no guilt,
in whose spirit is no deceit!
3 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away
because of my groaning all day long;
4 day and night your hand was heavy on me;
the sap in me dried up as in a summer drought. (Selah)
5 When I acknowledged my sin to you,
when I stopped concealing my guilt,
and said, “I will confess my offenses to Adonai”;
then you, you forgave the guilt of my sin. (Selah)
6 This is what everyone faithful should pray
at a time when you can be found.
Then, when the floodwaters are raging,
they will not reach to him.
7 You are a hiding-place for me,
you will keep me from distress;
you will surround me
with songs of deliverance. (Selah)
8 “I will instruct and teach you
in this way that you are to go;
I will give you counsel;
my eyes will be watching you.”
9 Don’t be like a horse or mule
that has no understanding,
that has to be curbed with bit and bridle,
or else it won’t come near you.
10 Many are the torments of the wicked,
but grace surrounds those who trust in Adonai.
11 Be glad in Adonai; rejoice, you righteous!
Shout for joy, all you upright in heart!
Romans 5:12 Here is how it works: it was through one individual that sin entered the world, and through sin, death; and in this way death passed through to the whole human race, inasmuch as everyone sinned. 13 Sin was indeed present in the world before Torah was given, but sin is not counted as such when there is no Torah. 14 Nevertheless death ruled from Adam until Moshe, even over those whose sinning was not exactly like Adam’s violation of a direct command. In this, Adam prefigured the one who was to come.
15 But the free gift is not like the offence. For if, because of one man’s offence, many died, then how much more has God’s grace, that is, the gracious gift of one man, Yeshua the Messiah, overflowed to many! 16 No, the free gift is not like what resulted from one man’s sinning; for from one sinner came judgment that brought condemnation; but the free gift came after many offences and brought acquittal. 17 For if, because of the offence of one man, death ruled through that one man; how much more will those receiving the overflowing grace, that is, the gift of being considered righteous, rule in life through the one man Yeshua the Messiah!
18 In other words, just as it was through one offence that all people came under condemnation, so also it is through one righteous act that all people come to be considered righteous. 19 For just as through the disobedience of the one man, many were made sinners, so also through the obedience of the other man, many will be made righteous.
2 Peter 1:16 For when we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, we did not rely on cunningly contrived myths. On the contrary, we saw his majesty with our own eyes. 17 For we were there when he received honor and glory from God the Father; and the voice came to him from the grandeur of the Sh’khinah, saying, “This is my son, whom I love; I am well pleased with him!” 18 We heard this voice come out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.
19 Yes, we have the prophetic Word made very certain. You will do well to pay attention to it as to a light shining in a dark, murky place, until the Day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts. 20 First of all, understand this: no prophecy of Scripture is to be interpreted by an individual on his own; 21 for never has a prophecy come as a result of human willing — on the contrary, people moved by the Ruach HaKodesh spoke a message from God.
Matthew 17:1 Six days later, Yeshua took Kefa, Ya‘akov and his brother Yochanan and led them up a high mountain privately. 2 As they watched, he began to change form — his face shone like the sun, and his clothing became as white as light. 3 Then they looked and saw Moshe and Eliyahu speaking with him. 4 Kefa said to Yeshua, “It’s good that we’re here, Lord. I’ll put up three shelters if you want — one for you, one for Moshe and one for Eliyahu.” 5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them; and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him!” 6 When the talmidim heard this, they were so frightened that they fell face down on the ground. 7 But Yeshua came and touched them. “Get up!” he said, “Don’t be afraid.” 8 So they opened their eyes, looked up and saw only Yeshua by himself.
9 As they came down the mountain, Yeshua ordered them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Matthew 4:1 Then the Spirit led Yeshua up into the wilderness to be tempted by the Adversary. 2 After Yeshua had fasted forty days and nights, he was hungry. 3 The Tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, order these stones to become bread.” 4 But he answered, “The Tanakh says,
‘Man does not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of Adonai’”[Matthew 4:4 Deuteronomy 8:3]
5 Then the Adversary took him to the holy city and set him on the highest point of the Temple. 6 “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “jump! For the Tanakh says,
‘He will order his angels to be responsible for you. . . .
They will support you with their hands,
so that you will not hurt your feet on the stones.’”[Matthew 4:6 Psalm 91:11–12]
7 Yeshua replied to him, “But it also says, ‘Do not put Adonai your God to the test.’”[Matthew 4:7 Deuteronomy 6:16]
8 Once more, the Adversary took him up to the summit of a very high mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in all their glory, 9 and said to him, “All this I will give you if you will bow down and worship me.” 10 “Away with you, Satan!” Yeshua told him, “For the Tanakh says,
‘Worship Adonai your God, and serve only him.’” [Matthew 4:10 Deuteronomy 6:13–14]
11 Then the Adversary let him alone, and angels came and took care of him.
John Wesley's Notes-Commentary: Ash Wednesday, 1 March 2017
Joel 2:1-2, 12-17
(Read all of Joel 2)
Verse 1
[1] Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
Blow ye — The prophet continues his exhortation to the priests, who were appointed to summon the solemn assemblies.
Verse 2
[2] A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
A day of darkness — A time of exceeding great troubles and calamities. And this passage may well allude to the day of judgment, and the calamities which precede that day.
As the morning — As the morning spreads itself over all the hemisphere and first upon the high mountains, so shall the approaching calamities overspread this people.
A great people — This seems more directly to intend the Babylonians.
Verse 13
[13] And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
And repenteth him — He turneth from executing the fierceness of his wrath.
Verse 14
[14] Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?
He will return — God doth not move from one place to another; but when he withholds his blessings, he is said to withdraw himself. And so when he gives out his blessing, he is said to return.
And leave a blessing behind him — Cause the locusts to depart before they have eaten up all that is in the land.
Verse 16
[16] Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.
The children — Though they understand little what is done, yet their cities ascend, and God with pity looks on their tears.
These that suck — Their cries and tears may perhaps move the congregation to more earnest supplication to God for mercy. So the Ninevites, Jonah 3:7,8.
The bridegroom — Let the new married man leave the mirth of the nuptials and afflict himself with the rest.
Verse 17
[17] Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
The porch — That stately porch built by Solomon, 1 Kings 6:3.
The altar — The altar of burnt-offering, which stood at some distance from this porch, and here are the priests commanded to stand, fasting and praying, whence they might be heard and seen by the people in the next court, in which the people were wont to pray.
To reproach — Famine, though by locusts is a reproach to this thine heritage; it will be greater reproach to be slaves to the nations signified by the locusts, therefore in mercy deliver us from both one and the other.
Psalm 51:1-17
(Read all of Psalm 51)
Verse 4
[4] Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Thee only — Which is not to be, understood absolutely, because he had sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah, and many others; but comparatively. So the sense is, though I have sinned against my own conscience, and against others; yet nothing is more grievous to me, than that I have sinned against thee.
Thy sight — With gross contempt of thee, whom I knew to be a spectator of my most secret actions.
Justified — This will be the fruit of my sin, that whatsoever severities thou shalt use towards me, it will be no blemish to thy righteousness, but thy justice will be glorified by all men.
Speakest — Heb. in thy words, in all thy threatenings denounced against me.
Judgest — When thou dost execute thy sentence upon me.
Verse 5
[5] Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold — Nor is this the only sin which I have reason to bewail before thee; for this filthy stream leads me to a corrupt fountain: and upon a review of my heart, I find, that this heinous crime, was the proper fruit of my vile nature, which, ever was, and still is ready to commit ten thousand sins, as occasion offers.
Verse 6
[6] Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Truth — Uprightness of heart; and this may be added; as an aggravation of the sinfulness of original corruption, because it is contrary to the holy nature and will of God, which requires rectitude of heart: and, as an aggravation of his actual sin, that it was committed against that knowledge, which God had wrote in his heart.
Verse 7
[7] Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Hyssop — As lepers, are by thy appointment purified by the use of hyssop and other things, so do thou cleanse me a leprous and polluted creature, by thy grace, and by that blood of Christ, which is signified by those ceremonial usages.
Verse 8
[8] Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Joy — By thy spirit, seal the pardon of my sins on my conscience, which will fill me with joy.
Rejoice — That my heart which hath been sorely wounded may be comforted.
Verse 10
[10] Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Create — Work in me an holy frame of heart, whereby my inward filth may be purged away.
Right — Heb. firm or constant, that my resolution may be fixed and unmoveable.
Spirit — Temper or disposition of soul.
Verse 12
[12] Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
The joy — The comfortable sense of thy saving grace, promised and vouchsafed to me, both for my present and everlasting salvation.
Free — Or, ingenuous, or liberal, or princely. Which he seems to oppose to his own base and illiberal and disingenuous and servile spirit, which he had discovered in his wicked practices: a spirit, which may free me from the bondage of sin, and enable me chearfully to run the way of God's precepts.
Verse 14
[14] Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
Thy righteousness — Thy clemency and goodness.
Verse 15
[15] O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
My lips — Which are shut with shame and grief.
Verse 16
[16] For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
Not sacrifice — This is not to be understood absolutely, with respect to David's crimes, which were not to be expiated by any sacrifice.
Verse 17
[17] The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
A broken spirit — This is of more value than many sacrifices.
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Verse 20
[20] Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ-we beseech you in Christ's stead — Herein the apostle might appear to some "transported beyond himself." In general he uses a more calm, sedate kind of exhortation, as in the beginning of the next chapter. What unparalleled condescension and divinely tender mercies are displayed in this verse! Did the judge ever beseech a condemned criminal to accept of pardon? Does the creditor ever beseech a ruined debtor to receive an acquittance in full? Yet our almighty Lord, and our eternal Judge, not only vouchsafes to offer these blessings, but invites us, entreats us, and, with the most tender importunity, solicits us, not to reject them.
Verse 21
[21] For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
He made him a sin offering, who knew no sin — A commendation peculiar to Christ.
For us — Who knew no righteousness, who were inwardly and outwardly nothing but sin; who must have been consumed by the divine justice, had not this atonement been made for our sins.
That we might be made the righteousness of God through him — Might through him be invested with that righteousness, first imputed to us, then implanted in us, which is in every sense the righteousness of God.
(Read all of 2 Corinthians 6)
Verse 1
[1] We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
We then not only beseech, but as fellow-labourers with you, who are working out your own salvation, do also exhort you, not to receive the grace of God - Which we have been now describing.
In vain — We receive it by faith; and not in vain, if we add to this, persevering holiness.
Verse 2
[2] (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
For he saith — The sense is, As of old there was a particular time wherein God was pleased to pour out his peculiar blessing, so there is now. And this is the particular time: this is a time of peculiar blessing. Isaiah 49:8.
Verse 3
[3] Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:
Giving, as far as in us lies, no offence, that the ministry be not blamed on our account.
Verse 4
[4] But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
But approving ourselves as the ministers of God — Such as his ministers ought to be.
In much patience — Shown, 1.
In afflictions, necessities, distresses — All which are general terms. 2.
In stripes, imprisonments, tumults — Which are particular sorts of affliction, necessity, distress 3.
In labours, watchings, fastings — Voluntarily endured. All these are expressed in the plural number, to denote a variety of them. In afflictions, several ways to escape may appear, though none without difficulty in necessities, one only, and that a difficult one; in distresses, none at all appears.
Verse 5
[5] In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;
In tumults — The Greek word implies such attacks as a man cannot stand against, but which bear him hither and thither by violence.
Verse 6
[6] By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,
By prudence — Spiritual divine; not what the world terms so. Worldly prudence is the practical use of worldly wisdom: divine prudence is the due exercise of grace, making spiritual understanding go as far as possible.
By love unfeigned — The chief fruit of the Spirit.
Verse 7
[7] By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
By the convincing and converting power of God - Accompanying his word; and also attesting it by divers miracles.
By the armour of righteousness on the right hand and the left — That is, on all sides; the panoply or whole armour of God.
Verse 8
[8] By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
By honour and dishonour — When we are present.
By evil report and good report — When we are absent. Who could bear honour and good report, were it not balanced by dishonour? As deceivers - Artful, designing men. So the world represents all true ministers of Christ.
Yet true — Upright, sincere, in the sight of God.
Verse 9
[9] As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
As unknown — For the world knoweth us not, as it knew him not.
Yet well known — To God, and to those who are the seals of our ministry.
As dying, yet behold — Suddenly, unexpectedly, God interposes, and we live.
Verse 10
[10] As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
As sorrowing — For our own manifold imperfections, and for the sins and sufferings of our brethren.
Yet always rejoicing — In present peace, love, power, and a sure hope of future glory.
As having nothing, yet possessing all things — For all things are ours, if we are Christ's. What a magnificence of thought is this!
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
(Read all of Matthew 6)
Verse 2
[2] Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
As the hypocrites do — Many of the scribes and Pharisees did this, under a pretence of calling the poor together.
They have their reward — All they will have; for they shall have none from God.
Verse 3
[3] But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth — A proverbial expression for doing a thing secretly. Do it as secretly as is consistent, 1. With the doing it at all. 2. With the doing it in the most effectual manner.
Verse 5
[5] And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
The synagogues — These were properly the places where the people assembled for public prayer, and hearing the Scriptures read and expounded. They were in every city from the time of the Babylonish captivity, and had service in them thrice a day on three days in the week. In every synagogue was a council of grave and wise persons, over whom was a president, called the ruler of the synagogue. But the word here, as well as in many other texts, signifies any place of public concourse.
Verse 6
[6] But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Enter into thy closet — That is, do it with as much secrecy as thou canst.
Verse 16
[16] Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
When ye fast? — Our Lord does not enjoin either fasting, alms-deeds, or prayer: all these being duties which were before fully established in the Church of God.
Disfigure — By the dust and ashes which they put upon their heads, as was usual at the times of solemn humiliation.
Verse 17
[17] But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
Anoint thy head — So the Jews frequently did. Dress thyself as usual.
Verse 19
[19] Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Lay not up for yourselves — Our Lord here makes a transition from religious to common actions, and warns us of another snare, the love of money, as inconsistent with purity of intention as the love of praise.
Where rust and moth consume — Where all things are perishable and transient. He may likewise have a farther view in these words, even to guard us against making any thing on earth our treasure. For then a thing properly becomes our treasure, when we set our affections upon it. Luke 12:33.
Verse 21
[21] For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Luke 11:34.
First Sunday in Lent, Year A, 5 March 2017
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
[15] And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.. 2. The command which God gave to man in innocency, and the covenant he than took him into. Hither we have seen God; man's powerful Creator, and his bountiful benefactor; now he appears as his ruler and lawgiver.
Verses 16-17
[16] And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: [17] But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Thou shall die — That is, thou shalt lose all the happiness thou hast either in possession or prospect; and thou shalt become liable to death, and all the miseries that preface and attend it. This was threatened as the immediate consequence of sin.
In the day thou eatest, thou shalt die — Not only thou shalt become mortal, but spiritual death and the forerunners of temporal death shall immediately seize thee.Verses 1-5
[1] Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? [2] And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: [3] But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. [4] And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: [5] For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
We have here an account of the temptation wherewith Satan assaulted our first parents, and which proved fatal to them. And here observe, (1.) The tempter, the devil in the shape of a serpent. Multitudes of them fell; but this that attacked our first parents, was surely the prince of the devils. Whether it was only the appearance of a serpent, or a real serpent, acted and possessed by the devil, is not certain. The devil chose to act his part in a serpent, because it is a subtle creature. It is not improbable, that reason and speech were then the known properties of the serpent. And therefore Eve was not surprised at his reasoning and speaking, which otherwise she must have been. (2.) That which the devil aimed at, was to persuade Eve to eat forbidden fruit; and to do this, he took the same method that he doth still. 1. He questions whether it were a sin or no, Genesis 3:1,2. He denies that there was any danger in it, Genesis 3:4. 3. He suggests much advantage by it, Genesis 3:5. And these are his common topics. As to the advantage, he suits the temptation to the pure state they were now in, proposing to them not any carnal pleasure, but intellectual delights. 1.
Your eyes shall be opened — You shall have much more of the power and pleasure of contemplation than now you have; you shall fetch a larger compass in your intellectual views, and see farther into things than now you do. 2.
You shall be as gods — As Elohim, mighty gods, not only omniscient but omnipotent too: 3. You shall know good and evil - That is, everything that is desirable to be known. To support this part of the temptation, he abuseth the name given to this tree. 'Twas intended to teach the practical knowledge of good and evil, that is, of duty and disobedience, and it would prove the experimental knowledge of good and evil, that is, of happiness and misery. But he perverts the sense of it, and wrests it to their destruction, as if this tree would give them a speculative notional knowledge of the natures, kinds, and originals of good and evil. And, 4. All this presently, In the day you eat thereof - You will find a sudden and immediate change for the better.
Verses 6-8
[6] And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. [7] And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. [8] And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
Here we see what Eve's parley with the tempter ended in: Satan at length gains his point. God tried the obedience of our first parents by forbidding them the tree of knowledge, and Satan doth as it were join issue with God, and in that very thing undertakes to seduce them into a transgression; and here we find how he prevailed, God permitting it for wise and holy ends. (1.) We have here the inducements that moved them to transgress. The woman being deceived, was ring-leader in the transgression, 1 Timothy 2:14 1. She saw that the tree was - It was said of all the rest of the fruit trees wherewith the garden of Eden was planted, that they were pleasant to the sight, and good for food. 2. She imagined a greater benefit by this tree than by any of the rest, that it was a tree not only not to be dreaded, but to be desired to make one wise, and therein excelling all the rest of the trees. This she saw, that is, she perceived and understood it by what the devil had said to her.
She gave also to her husband with her — 'Tis likely he was not with her when she was tempted; surely if he had, he would have interposed to prevent the sin; but he came to her when she had eaten, and was prevailed with by her to eat likewise. She gave it to him; persuading him with the same arguements that the serpent had used with her; adding this to the rest, that she herself had eaten of it, and found it so far from being deadly that it was extremely pleasant and grateful.
And he did eat — This implied the unbelief of God's word, and confidence in the devil's; discontent with his present state, and an ambition of the honour which comes not from God. He would be both his own carver, and his own master, would have what he pleased, and do what he pleased; his sin was in one word disobedience, Romans 5:19, disobedience to a plain, easy and express command, which he knew to be a command of trial. He sins against light and love, the clearest light and the dearest love that ever sinner sinned against. But the greatest aggravation of his sin was, that he involved all his posterity in sin and ruin by it. He could not but know that he stood as a public person, and that his disobedience would be fatal to all his seed; and if so, it was certainly both the greatest treachery and the greatest cruelty that ever was. Shame and fear seized the criminals, these came into the world along with sin, and still attend it.
The Eyes of them both were opened — The eyes of their consciences; their hearts smote them for what they had done Now, when it was too late, they saw the happiness they were fallen from, and the misery they were fallen into. They saw God provoked, his favour forfeited, his image lost; they felt a disorder in their own spirits, which they had never before been conscious of; they saw a law in their members warring against the law of their minds, and captivating them both to sin and wrath; they saw that they were naked, that is, that they were stripped, deprived of all the honours and joys of their paradise state, and exposed to all the miseries that might justly be expected from an angry God; laid open to the contempt and reproach of heaven and earth, and their own consciences. And they sewed or platted fig leaves together, and, to cover, at least, part of their shame one from another, made themselves aprons. See here what is commonly the folly of those that have sinned: they are more solicitous to save their credit before men, than to obtain their pardon from God. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day - Tis supposed he came in a human shape; in no other similitude than that wherein they had seen him when he put them into paradise; for he came to convince and humble them, not to amaze and terrify them. He came not immediately from heaven in their view as afterwards on mount Sinai, but he came in the garden, as one that was still willing to be familiar with them. He came walking, not riding upon the wings of the wind, but walking deliberately, as one slow to anger. He came in the cool of the day, not in the night, when all fears are doubly fearful; nor did he come suddenly upon them, but they heard his voice at some distance, giving them notice of his coming; and probably it was a still small voice, like that in which he came to enquire after Elijah. And they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God - A sad change! Before they had sinned, if they heard the voice of the Lord God coming towards them, they would have run to meet him, but now God was become a terror to them, and then no marvel they were become a terror to themselves.
Psalm 119:33-40
Verse 36
[36] Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.
Covetousness — He mentions this in particular, because it is most opposite to God's testimonies, and does most commonly hinder men from receiving his word, and from profiting by it: and because it is most pernicious, as being the root of all evil.
Verse 37
[37] Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.
Vanity — The vain things of this present world, such as riches, honours, pleasures: from beholding them, with desire or affection.
Quicken — Make me lively, vigorous and fervent in thy service.
Verse 38
[38] Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.
Stablish — Confirm and perform thy promises.
Verse 39
[39] Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good.
I fear — For my instability in thy ways; which in respect to my own weakness, I have great cause to fear.
Verse 40
[40] Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.
Longed — After a more solid knowledge and constant performance of them.
In — According to thy faithfulness.
Psalm 32
(Read all of Psalm 32)
Verse 2
[2] Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
Imputeth — Whom God doth not charge with the guilt of his sins, but graciously pardons and accepts him in Christ.
No guile — Who freely confesses all his sins, and turns from sin to God with all his heart.
Verse 3
[3] When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
Silence — From a full and open confession of my sins.
Old — My spirit failed, and the strength on my body decayed.
Roaring — Because of the continual horrors of my conscience, and sense of God's wrath.
Verse 4
[4] For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. /*Selah*/.
Hand — Thy afflicting hand.
My moisture — Was dried up.
Verse 5
[5] I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. /*Selah*/.
The iniquity — The guilt of my sin.
Verse 6
[6] For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
For this — Upon the encouragement of my example.
Found — In an acceptable and seasonable time, while God continues to offer grace and mercy.
Waters — In the time of great calamities.
Not come — So as to overwhelm him.
Verse 8
[8] I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
I will — This and the next verse seems to be the words of God, whom David brings in as returning this answer to his prayers.
Mine eye — So Christ did St. Peter, when he turned and looked upon him.
Verse 9
[9] Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
Will not — Unless they be forced to it by a bit or bridle. And so all the ancient translators understand it.
Verse 10
[10] Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
Sorrows — This is an argument to enforce the foregoing admonition.
Romans 5:12-19
Verse 12
[12] Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Therefore — This refers to all the preceding discourse; from which the apostle infers what follows. He does not therefore properly make a digression, but returns to speak again of sin and of righteousness.
As by one man — Adam; who is mentioned, and not Eve, as being the representative of mankind.
Sin entered into the world — Actual sin, and its consequence, a sinful nature.
And death — With all its attendants. It entered into the world when it entered into being; for till then it did not exist.
By sin — Therefore it could not enter before sin.
Even so — Namely, by one man.
In that — So the word is used also, 2 Corinthians 5:4.
All sinned — In Adam. These words assign the reason why death came upon all men; infants themselves not excepted, in that all sinned.
Verse 13
[13] (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
For until the law sin was in the world-All, I say, had sinned, for sin was in the world long before the written law; but, I grant, sin is not so much imputed, nor so severely punished by God, where there is no express law to convince men of it. Yet that all had sinned, even then, appears in that all died.
Verse 14
[14] Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
Death reigned — And how vast is his kingdom! Scarce can we find any king who has as many subjects, as are the kings whom he hath conquered.
Even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression — Even over infants who had never sinned, as Adam did, in their own persons; and over others who had not, like him, sinned against an express law.
Who is the figure of him that was to come — Each of them being a public person, and a federal head of mankind. The one, the fountain of sin and death to mankind by his offence; the other, of righteousness and life by his free gift. Thus far the apostle shows the agreement between the first and second Adam: afterward he shows the differences between them. The agreement may be summed up thus: As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so by one man righteousness entered into the world, and life by righteousness. As death passed upon all men, in that all had sinned; so life passed upon all men, (who are in the second Adam by faith,) in that all are justified. And as death through the sin of the first Adam reigned even over them who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression; so through the righteousness of Christ, even those who have not obeyed, after the likeness of his obedience, shall reign in life. We may add, As the sin of Adam, without the sins which we afterwards committed, brought us death ; so the righteousness of Christ, without the good works which we afterwards perform, brings us life: although still every good, as well as evil, work, will receive its due reward.
Verse 15
[15] But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Yet not — St. Paul now describes the difference between Adam and Christ; and that much more directly and expressly than the agreement between them. Now the fall and the free gift differ, 1. In amplitude, Romans 5:15. 2. He from whom sin came, and He from whom the free gift came, termed also "the gift of righteousness," differ in power, Romans 5:16. 3. The reason of both is subjoined, Romans 5:17. 4. This premised, the offence and the free gift are compared, with regard to their effect, Romans 5:18, and with regard to their cause, Romans 5:19.
Verse 16
[16] And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
The sentence was by one offence to Adam's condemnation — Occasioning the sentence of death to pass upon him, which, by consequence, overwhelmed his posterity.
But the free gift is of many offences unto justification — Unto the purchasing it for all men, notwithstanding many offences.
Verse 17
[17] For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
There is a difference between grace and the gift. Grace is opposed to the offence; the gift, to death, being the gift of life.
Verse 18
[18] Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
Justification of life — Is that sentence of God, by which a sinner under sentence of death is adjudged to life.
Verse 19
[19] For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
As by the disobedience of one man many (that is, all men) were constituted sinners - Being then in the loins of their first parent, the common head and representative of them all.
So by the obedience of one — By his obedience unto death; by his dying for us.
Many — All that believe.
Shall be constituted righteous — Justified, pardoned.
2 Peter 1:16-21
Verse 16
[16] For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
These things are worthy to be always had in remembrance For they are not cunningly devised fables - Like those common among the heathens.
While we made known to you the power and coming — That is, the powerful coming of Christ in glory. But if what they advanced of Christ was not true, if it was of their own invention, then to impose such a lie on the world as it was, in the very nature of things, above all human power to defend, and to do this at the expense of life and all things only to enrage the whole world, Jews and gentiles, against them, was no cunning, but was the greatest folly that men could have been guilty of.
But were eyewitnesses of his majesty — At his transfiguration, which was a specimen of his glory at the last day.
Verse 17
[17] For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
For he received divine honour and inexpressible glory - Shining from heaven above the brightness of the sun.
When there came such a voice from the excellent glory — That is, from God the Father. Matthew 17:5.
Verse 18
[18] And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
And we — Peter, James, and John. St. John was still alive.
Being with him in the holy mount — Made so by that glorious manifestation, as mount Horeb was of old, Exodus 3:4,5.
Verse 19
[19] We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
And we — St. Peter here speaks in the name of all Christians.
Have the word of prophecy — The words of Moses, Isaiah, and all the prophets, are one and the same word, every way consistent with itself. St. Peter does not cite any particular passage, but speaks of their entire testimony.
More confirmed — By that display of his glorious majesty. To which word ye do well that ye take heed, as to a lamp which shone in a dark place - Wherein there was neither light nor window. Such anciently was the whole world, except that little spot where this lamp shone.
Till the day should dawn — Till the full light of the gospel should break through the darkness. As is the difference between the light of a lamp and that of the day, such is that between the light of the Old Testament and of the New.
And the morning star — Jesus Christ, Revelation 22:16.
Arise in your hearts — Be revealed in you.
Verse 20
[20] Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
Ye do well, as knowing this, that no scripture prophecy is of private interpretation - It is not any man's own word. It is God, not the prophet himself, who thereby interprets things till then unknown.
Verse 21
[21] For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
For prophecy came not of old by the will of man — Of any mere man whatever.
But the holy men of God — Devoted to him, and set apart by him for that purpose, spake and wrote.
Being moved — Literally, carried. They were purely passive therein.
Matthew 17:1-9
(Read all of Matthew 17)
Verse 2
[2] And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
And was transfigured — Or transformed. The indwelling Deity darted out its rays through the veil of the flesh; and that with such transcendent splendour, that he no longer bore the form of a servant. His face shone with Divine majesty, like the sun in its strength; and all his body was so irradiated by it, that his clothes could not conceal its glory, but became white and glittering as the very light, with which he covered himself as with a garment.
Verse 3
[3] And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
There appeared Moses and Elijah — Here for the full confirmation of their faith in Jesus, Moses, the giver of the law, Elijah, the most zealous of all the prophets, and God speaking from heaven, all bore witness to him.
Verse 4
[4] Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
Let us make three tents — The words of rapturous surprise. He says three, not six: because the apostles desired to be with their Master.
Verse 5
[5] While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
Hear ye him — As superior even to Moses and the prophets. See Deuteronomy 18:17.
Verse 7
[7] And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.
Be not afraid — And doubtless the same moment he gave them courage and strength.
Verse 9
[9] And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.
Tell the vision to no man — Not to the rest of the disciples, lest they should be grieved and discouraged because they were not admitted to the sight: nor to any other persons, lest it should enrage some the more, and his approaching sufferings shall make others disbelieve it; till the Son of man be risen again - Till the resurrection should make it credible, and confirm their testimony about it.
Matthew 4:1-11
(Read all of Matthew 4)
Verse 2
[2] And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Having fasted — Whereby doubtless he received more abundant spiritual strength from God.
Forty days and forty nights — As did Moses, the giver of the law, and Elijah, the great restorer of it.
He was afterward hungry — And so prepared for the first temptation.
Verse 3
[3] And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Coming to him — In a visible form; probably in a human shape, as one that desired to inquire farther into the evidences of his being the Messiah.
Verse 4
[4] But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
It is written — Thus Christ answered, and thus we may answer all the suggestions of the devil.
By every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God — That is, by whatever God commands to sustain him. Therefore it is not needful I should work a miracle to procure bread, without any intimation of my Father's will. Deuteronomy 8:3.
Verse 5
[5] Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
The holy city — So Jerusalem was commonly called, being the place God had peculiarly chosen for himself.
On the battlement of the temple — Probably over the king's gallery, which was of such a prodigious height, that no one could look down from the top of it without making himself giddy.
Verse 6
[6] And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
In their hands — That is, with great care. Psalms 91:11,12.
Verse 7
[7] Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God — By requiring farther evidence of what he hath already made sufficiently plain. Deuteronomy 6:16.
Verse 8
[8] Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Showeth him all the kingdoms of the world — In a kind of visionary representation.
Verse 9
[9] And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
If thou wilt fall down and worship me — Here Satan clearly shows who he was. Accordingly Christ answering this suggestion, calls him by his own name, which he had not done before.
Verse 10
[10] Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Get thee hence, Satan — Not, get thee behind me, that is, into thy proper place; as he said on a quite different occasion to Peter, speaking what was not expedient. Deuteronomy 6:13.
Verse 11
[11] Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Angels came and waited upon him — Both to supply him with food, and to congratulate his victory.
(Read all of Joel 2)
Verse 1
[1] Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;
Blow ye — The prophet continues his exhortation to the priests, who were appointed to summon the solemn assemblies.
Verse 2
[2] A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
A day of darkness — A time of exceeding great troubles and calamities. And this passage may well allude to the day of judgment, and the calamities which precede that day.
As the morning — As the morning spreads itself over all the hemisphere and first upon the high mountains, so shall the approaching calamities overspread this people.
A great people — This seems more directly to intend the Babylonians.
Verse 13
[13] And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.
And repenteth him — He turneth from executing the fierceness of his wrath.
Verse 14
[14] Who knoweth if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?
He will return — God doth not move from one place to another; but when he withholds his blessings, he is said to withdraw himself. And so when he gives out his blessing, he is said to return.
And leave a blessing behind him — Cause the locusts to depart before they have eaten up all that is in the land.
Verse 16
[16] Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.
The children — Though they understand little what is done, yet their cities ascend, and God with pity looks on their tears.
These that suck — Their cries and tears may perhaps move the congregation to more earnest supplication to God for mercy. So the Ninevites, Jonah 3:7,8.
The bridegroom — Let the new married man leave the mirth of the nuptials and afflict himself with the rest.
Verse 17
[17] Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
The porch — That stately porch built by Solomon, 1 Kings 6:3.
The altar — The altar of burnt-offering, which stood at some distance from this porch, and here are the priests commanded to stand, fasting and praying, whence they might be heard and seen by the people in the next court, in which the people were wont to pray.
To reproach — Famine, though by locusts is a reproach to this thine heritage; it will be greater reproach to be slaves to the nations signified by the locusts, therefore in mercy deliver us from both one and the other.
Psalm 51:1-17
(Read all of Psalm 51)
Verse 4
[4] Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.
Thee only — Which is not to be, understood absolutely, because he had sinned against Bathsheba and Uriah, and many others; but comparatively. So the sense is, though I have sinned against my own conscience, and against others; yet nothing is more grievous to me, than that I have sinned against thee.
Thy sight — With gross contempt of thee, whom I knew to be a spectator of my most secret actions.
Justified — This will be the fruit of my sin, that whatsoever severities thou shalt use towards me, it will be no blemish to thy righteousness, but thy justice will be glorified by all men.
Speakest — Heb. in thy words, in all thy threatenings denounced against me.
Judgest — When thou dost execute thy sentence upon me.
Verse 5
[5] Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold — Nor is this the only sin which I have reason to bewail before thee; for this filthy stream leads me to a corrupt fountain: and upon a review of my heart, I find, that this heinous crime, was the proper fruit of my vile nature, which, ever was, and still is ready to commit ten thousand sins, as occasion offers.
Verse 6
[6] Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.
Truth — Uprightness of heart; and this may be added; as an aggravation of the sinfulness of original corruption, because it is contrary to the holy nature and will of God, which requires rectitude of heart: and, as an aggravation of his actual sin, that it was committed against that knowledge, which God had wrote in his heart.
Verse 7
[7] Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Hyssop — As lepers, are by thy appointment purified by the use of hyssop and other things, so do thou cleanse me a leprous and polluted creature, by thy grace, and by that blood of Christ, which is signified by those ceremonial usages.
Verse 8
[8] Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.
Joy — By thy spirit, seal the pardon of my sins on my conscience, which will fill me with joy.
Rejoice — That my heart which hath been sorely wounded may be comforted.
Verse 10
[10] Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.
Create — Work in me an holy frame of heart, whereby my inward filth may be purged away.
Right — Heb. firm or constant, that my resolution may be fixed and unmoveable.
Spirit — Temper or disposition of soul.
Verse 12
[12] Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.
The joy — The comfortable sense of thy saving grace, promised and vouchsafed to me, both for my present and everlasting salvation.
Free — Or, ingenuous, or liberal, or princely. Which he seems to oppose to his own base and illiberal and disingenuous and servile spirit, which he had discovered in his wicked practices: a spirit, which may free me from the bondage of sin, and enable me chearfully to run the way of God's precepts.
Verse 14
[14] Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.
Thy righteousness — Thy clemency and goodness.
Verse 15
[15] O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.
My lips — Which are shut with shame and grief.
Verse 16
[16] For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.
Not sacrifice — This is not to be understood absolutely, with respect to David's crimes, which were not to be expiated by any sacrifice.
Verse 17
[17] The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
A broken spirit — This is of more value than many sacrifices.
2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10
Verse 20
[20] Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be ye reconciled to God.
Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ-we beseech you in Christ's stead — Herein the apostle might appear to some "transported beyond himself." In general he uses a more calm, sedate kind of exhortation, as in the beginning of the next chapter. What unparalleled condescension and divinely tender mercies are displayed in this verse! Did the judge ever beseech a condemned criminal to accept of pardon? Does the creditor ever beseech a ruined debtor to receive an acquittance in full? Yet our almighty Lord, and our eternal Judge, not only vouchsafes to offer these blessings, but invites us, entreats us, and, with the most tender importunity, solicits us, not to reject them.
Verse 21
[21] For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
He made him a sin offering, who knew no sin — A commendation peculiar to Christ.
For us — Who knew no righteousness, who were inwardly and outwardly nothing but sin; who must have been consumed by the divine justice, had not this atonement been made for our sins.
That we might be made the righteousness of God through him — Might through him be invested with that righteousness, first imputed to us, then implanted in us, which is in every sense the righteousness of God.
(Read all of 2 Corinthians 6)
Verse 1
[1] We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain.
We then not only beseech, but as fellow-labourers with you, who are working out your own salvation, do also exhort you, not to receive the grace of God - Which we have been now describing.
In vain — We receive it by faith; and not in vain, if we add to this, persevering holiness.
Verse 2
[2] (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
For he saith — The sense is, As of old there was a particular time wherein God was pleased to pour out his peculiar blessing, so there is now. And this is the particular time: this is a time of peculiar blessing. Isaiah 49:8.
Verse 3
[3] Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:
Giving, as far as in us lies, no offence, that the ministry be not blamed on our account.
Verse 4
[4] But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
But approving ourselves as the ministers of God — Such as his ministers ought to be.
In much patience — Shown, 1.
In afflictions, necessities, distresses — All which are general terms. 2.
In stripes, imprisonments, tumults — Which are particular sorts of affliction, necessity, distress 3.
In labours, watchings, fastings — Voluntarily endured. All these are expressed in the plural number, to denote a variety of them. In afflictions, several ways to escape may appear, though none without difficulty in necessities, one only, and that a difficult one; in distresses, none at all appears.
Verse 5
[5] In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings;
In tumults — The Greek word implies such attacks as a man cannot stand against, but which bear him hither and thither by violence.
Verse 6
[6] By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,
By prudence — Spiritual divine; not what the world terms so. Worldly prudence is the practical use of worldly wisdom: divine prudence is the due exercise of grace, making spiritual understanding go as far as possible.
By love unfeigned — The chief fruit of the Spirit.
Verse 7
[7] By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
By the convincing and converting power of God - Accompanying his word; and also attesting it by divers miracles.
By the armour of righteousness on the right hand and the left — That is, on all sides; the panoply or whole armour of God.
Verse 8
[8] By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
By honour and dishonour — When we are present.
By evil report and good report — When we are absent. Who could bear honour and good report, were it not balanced by dishonour? As deceivers - Artful, designing men. So the world represents all true ministers of Christ.
Yet true — Upright, sincere, in the sight of God.
Verse 9
[9] As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
As unknown — For the world knoweth us not, as it knew him not.
Yet well known — To God, and to those who are the seals of our ministry.
As dying, yet behold — Suddenly, unexpectedly, God interposes, and we live.
Verse 10
[10] As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
As sorrowing — For our own manifold imperfections, and for the sins and sufferings of our brethren.
Yet always rejoicing — In present peace, love, power, and a sure hope of future glory.
As having nothing, yet possessing all things — For all things are ours, if we are Christ's. What a magnificence of thought is this!
Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
(Read all of Matthew 6)
Verse 2
[2] Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
As the hypocrites do — Many of the scribes and Pharisees did this, under a pretence of calling the poor together.
They have their reward — All they will have; for they shall have none from God.
Verse 3
[3] But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
Let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doth — A proverbial expression for doing a thing secretly. Do it as secretly as is consistent, 1. With the doing it at all. 2. With the doing it in the most effectual manner.
Verse 5
[5] And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
The synagogues — These were properly the places where the people assembled for public prayer, and hearing the Scriptures read and expounded. They were in every city from the time of the Babylonish captivity, and had service in them thrice a day on three days in the week. In every synagogue was a council of grave and wise persons, over whom was a president, called the ruler of the synagogue. But the word here, as well as in many other texts, signifies any place of public concourse.
Verse 6
[6] But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
Enter into thy closet — That is, do it with as much secrecy as thou canst.
Verse 16
[16] Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
When ye fast? — Our Lord does not enjoin either fasting, alms-deeds, or prayer: all these being duties which were before fully established in the Church of God.
Disfigure — By the dust and ashes which they put upon their heads, as was usual at the times of solemn humiliation.
Verse 17
[17] But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
Anoint thy head — So the Jews frequently did. Dress thyself as usual.
Verse 19
[19] Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal:
Lay not up for yourselves — Our Lord here makes a transition from religious to common actions, and warns us of another snare, the love of money, as inconsistent with purity of intention as the love of praise.
Where rust and moth consume — Where all things are perishable and transient. He may likewise have a farther view in these words, even to guard us against making any thing on earth our treasure. For then a thing properly becomes our treasure, when we set our affections upon it. Luke 12:33.
Verse 21
[21] For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Luke 11:34.
First Sunday in Lent, Year A, 5 March 2017
Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7
[15] And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.. 2. The command which God gave to man in innocency, and the covenant he than took him into. Hither we have seen God; man's powerful Creator, and his bountiful benefactor; now he appears as his ruler and lawgiver.
Verses 16-17
[16] And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: [17] But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
Thou shall die — That is, thou shalt lose all the happiness thou hast either in possession or prospect; and thou shalt become liable to death, and all the miseries that preface and attend it. This was threatened as the immediate consequence of sin.
In the day thou eatest, thou shalt die — Not only thou shalt become mortal, but spiritual death and the forerunners of temporal death shall immediately seize thee.Verses 1-5
[1] Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden? [2] And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: [3] But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. [4] And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: [5] For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
We have here an account of the temptation wherewith Satan assaulted our first parents, and which proved fatal to them. And here observe, (1.) The tempter, the devil in the shape of a serpent. Multitudes of them fell; but this that attacked our first parents, was surely the prince of the devils. Whether it was only the appearance of a serpent, or a real serpent, acted and possessed by the devil, is not certain. The devil chose to act his part in a serpent, because it is a subtle creature. It is not improbable, that reason and speech were then the known properties of the serpent. And therefore Eve was not surprised at his reasoning and speaking, which otherwise she must have been. (2.) That which the devil aimed at, was to persuade Eve to eat forbidden fruit; and to do this, he took the same method that he doth still. 1. He questions whether it were a sin or no, Genesis 3:1,2. He denies that there was any danger in it, Genesis 3:4. 3. He suggests much advantage by it, Genesis 3:5. And these are his common topics. As to the advantage, he suits the temptation to the pure state they were now in, proposing to them not any carnal pleasure, but intellectual delights. 1.
Your eyes shall be opened — You shall have much more of the power and pleasure of contemplation than now you have; you shall fetch a larger compass in your intellectual views, and see farther into things than now you do. 2.
You shall be as gods — As Elohim, mighty gods, not only omniscient but omnipotent too: 3. You shall know good and evil - That is, everything that is desirable to be known. To support this part of the temptation, he abuseth the name given to this tree. 'Twas intended to teach the practical knowledge of good and evil, that is, of duty and disobedience, and it would prove the experimental knowledge of good and evil, that is, of happiness and misery. But he perverts the sense of it, and wrests it to their destruction, as if this tree would give them a speculative notional knowledge of the natures, kinds, and originals of good and evil. And, 4. All this presently, In the day you eat thereof - You will find a sudden and immediate change for the better.
Verses 6-8
[6] And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. [7] And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons. [8] And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden.
Here we see what Eve's parley with the tempter ended in: Satan at length gains his point. God tried the obedience of our first parents by forbidding them the tree of knowledge, and Satan doth as it were join issue with God, and in that very thing undertakes to seduce them into a transgression; and here we find how he prevailed, God permitting it for wise and holy ends. (1.) We have here the inducements that moved them to transgress. The woman being deceived, was ring-leader in the transgression, 1 Timothy 2:14 1. She saw that the tree was - It was said of all the rest of the fruit trees wherewith the garden of Eden was planted, that they were pleasant to the sight, and good for food. 2. She imagined a greater benefit by this tree than by any of the rest, that it was a tree not only not to be dreaded, but to be desired to make one wise, and therein excelling all the rest of the trees. This she saw, that is, she perceived and understood it by what the devil had said to her.
She gave also to her husband with her — 'Tis likely he was not with her when she was tempted; surely if he had, he would have interposed to prevent the sin; but he came to her when she had eaten, and was prevailed with by her to eat likewise. She gave it to him; persuading him with the same arguements that the serpent had used with her; adding this to the rest, that she herself had eaten of it, and found it so far from being deadly that it was extremely pleasant and grateful.
And he did eat — This implied the unbelief of God's word, and confidence in the devil's; discontent with his present state, and an ambition of the honour which comes not from God. He would be both his own carver, and his own master, would have what he pleased, and do what he pleased; his sin was in one word disobedience, Romans 5:19, disobedience to a plain, easy and express command, which he knew to be a command of trial. He sins against light and love, the clearest light and the dearest love that ever sinner sinned against. But the greatest aggravation of his sin was, that he involved all his posterity in sin and ruin by it. He could not but know that he stood as a public person, and that his disobedience would be fatal to all his seed; and if so, it was certainly both the greatest treachery and the greatest cruelty that ever was. Shame and fear seized the criminals, these came into the world along with sin, and still attend it.
The Eyes of them both were opened — The eyes of their consciences; their hearts smote them for what they had done Now, when it was too late, they saw the happiness they were fallen from, and the misery they were fallen into. They saw God provoked, his favour forfeited, his image lost; they felt a disorder in their own spirits, which they had never before been conscious of; they saw a law in their members warring against the law of their minds, and captivating them both to sin and wrath; they saw that they were naked, that is, that they were stripped, deprived of all the honours and joys of their paradise state, and exposed to all the miseries that might justly be expected from an angry God; laid open to the contempt and reproach of heaven and earth, and their own consciences. And they sewed or platted fig leaves together, and, to cover, at least, part of their shame one from another, made themselves aprons. See here what is commonly the folly of those that have sinned: they are more solicitous to save their credit before men, than to obtain their pardon from God. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day - Tis supposed he came in a human shape; in no other similitude than that wherein they had seen him when he put them into paradise; for he came to convince and humble them, not to amaze and terrify them. He came not immediately from heaven in their view as afterwards on mount Sinai, but he came in the garden, as one that was still willing to be familiar with them. He came walking, not riding upon the wings of the wind, but walking deliberately, as one slow to anger. He came in the cool of the day, not in the night, when all fears are doubly fearful; nor did he come suddenly upon them, but they heard his voice at some distance, giving them notice of his coming; and probably it was a still small voice, like that in which he came to enquire after Elijah. And they hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God - A sad change! Before they had sinned, if they heard the voice of the Lord God coming towards them, they would have run to meet him, but now God was become a terror to them, and then no marvel they were become a terror to themselves.
Psalm 119:33-40
Verse 36
[36] Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.
Covetousness — He mentions this in particular, because it is most opposite to God's testimonies, and does most commonly hinder men from receiving his word, and from profiting by it: and because it is most pernicious, as being the root of all evil.
Verse 37
[37] Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.
Vanity — The vain things of this present world, such as riches, honours, pleasures: from beholding them, with desire or affection.
Quicken — Make me lively, vigorous and fervent in thy service.
Verse 38
[38] Stablish thy word unto thy servant, who is devoted to thy fear.
Stablish — Confirm and perform thy promises.
Verse 39
[39] Turn away my reproach which I fear: for thy judgments are good.
I fear — For my instability in thy ways; which in respect to my own weakness, I have great cause to fear.
Verse 40
[40] Behold, I have longed after thy precepts: quicken me in thy righteousness.
Longed — After a more solid knowledge and constant performance of them.
In — According to thy faithfulness.
Psalm 32
(Read all of Psalm 32)
Verse 2
[2] Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
Imputeth — Whom God doth not charge with the guilt of his sins, but graciously pardons and accepts him in Christ.
No guile — Who freely confesses all his sins, and turns from sin to God with all his heart.
Verse 3
[3] When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.
Silence — From a full and open confession of my sins.
Old — My spirit failed, and the strength on my body decayed.
Roaring — Because of the continual horrors of my conscience, and sense of God's wrath.
Verse 4
[4] For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. /*Selah*/.
Hand — Thy afflicting hand.
My moisture — Was dried up.
Verse 5
[5] I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid. I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the LORD; and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. /*Selah*/.
The iniquity — The guilt of my sin.
Verse 6
[6] For this shall every one that is godly pray unto thee in a time when thou mayest be found: surely in the floods of great waters they shall not come nigh unto him.
For this — Upon the encouragement of my example.
Found — In an acceptable and seasonable time, while God continues to offer grace and mercy.
Waters — In the time of great calamities.
Not come — So as to overwhelm him.
Verse 8
[8] I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
I will — This and the next verse seems to be the words of God, whom David brings in as returning this answer to his prayers.
Mine eye — So Christ did St. Peter, when he turned and looked upon him.
Verse 9
[9] Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
Will not — Unless they be forced to it by a bit or bridle. And so all the ancient translators understand it.
Verse 10
[10] Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the LORD, mercy shall compass him about.
Sorrows — This is an argument to enforce the foregoing admonition.
Romans 5:12-19
Verse 12
[12] Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:
Therefore — This refers to all the preceding discourse; from which the apostle infers what follows. He does not therefore properly make a digression, but returns to speak again of sin and of righteousness.
As by one man — Adam; who is mentioned, and not Eve, as being the representative of mankind.
Sin entered into the world — Actual sin, and its consequence, a sinful nature.
And death — With all its attendants. It entered into the world when it entered into being; for till then it did not exist.
By sin — Therefore it could not enter before sin.
Even so — Namely, by one man.
In that — So the word is used also, 2 Corinthians 5:4.
All sinned — In Adam. These words assign the reason why death came upon all men; infants themselves not excepted, in that all sinned.
Verse 13
[13] (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
For until the law sin was in the world-All, I say, had sinned, for sin was in the world long before the written law; but, I grant, sin is not so much imputed, nor so severely punished by God, where there is no express law to convince men of it. Yet that all had sinned, even then, appears in that all died.
Verse 14
[14] Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
Death reigned — And how vast is his kingdom! Scarce can we find any king who has as many subjects, as are the kings whom he hath conquered.
Even over them that had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression — Even over infants who had never sinned, as Adam did, in their own persons; and over others who had not, like him, sinned against an express law.
Who is the figure of him that was to come — Each of them being a public person, and a federal head of mankind. The one, the fountain of sin and death to mankind by his offence; the other, of righteousness and life by his free gift. Thus far the apostle shows the agreement between the first and second Adam: afterward he shows the differences between them. The agreement may be summed up thus: As by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; so by one man righteousness entered into the world, and life by righteousness. As death passed upon all men, in that all had sinned; so life passed upon all men, (who are in the second Adam by faith,) in that all are justified. And as death through the sin of the first Adam reigned even over them who had not sinned after the likeness of Adam's transgression; so through the righteousness of Christ, even those who have not obeyed, after the likeness of his obedience, shall reign in life. We may add, As the sin of Adam, without the sins which we afterwards committed, brought us death ; so the righteousness of Christ, without the good works which we afterwards perform, brings us life: although still every good, as well as evil, work, will receive its due reward.
Verse 15
[15] But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.
Yet not — St. Paul now describes the difference between Adam and Christ; and that much more directly and expressly than the agreement between them. Now the fall and the free gift differ, 1. In amplitude, Romans 5:15. 2. He from whom sin came, and He from whom the free gift came, termed also "the gift of righteousness," differ in power, Romans 5:16. 3. The reason of both is subjoined, Romans 5:17. 4. This premised, the offence and the free gift are compared, with regard to their effect, Romans 5:18, and with regard to their cause, Romans 5:19.
Verse 16
[16] And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.
The sentence was by one offence to Adam's condemnation — Occasioning the sentence of death to pass upon him, which, by consequence, overwhelmed his posterity.
But the free gift is of many offences unto justification — Unto the purchasing it for all men, notwithstanding many offences.
Verse 17
[17] For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)
There is a difference between grace and the gift. Grace is opposed to the offence; the gift, to death, being the gift of life.
Verse 18
[18] Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
Justification of life — Is that sentence of God, by which a sinner under sentence of death is adjudged to life.
Verse 19
[19] For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.
As by the disobedience of one man many (that is, all men) were constituted sinners - Being then in the loins of their first parent, the common head and representative of them all.
So by the obedience of one — By his obedience unto death; by his dying for us.
Many — All that believe.
Shall be constituted righteous — Justified, pardoned.
2 Peter 1:16-21
Verse 16
[16] For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
These things are worthy to be always had in remembrance For they are not cunningly devised fables - Like those common among the heathens.
While we made known to you the power and coming — That is, the powerful coming of Christ in glory. But if what they advanced of Christ was not true, if it was of their own invention, then to impose such a lie on the world as it was, in the very nature of things, above all human power to defend, and to do this at the expense of life and all things only to enrage the whole world, Jews and gentiles, against them, was no cunning, but was the greatest folly that men could have been guilty of.
But were eyewitnesses of his majesty — At his transfiguration, which was a specimen of his glory at the last day.
Verse 17
[17] For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
For he received divine honour and inexpressible glory - Shining from heaven above the brightness of the sun.
When there came such a voice from the excellent glory — That is, from God the Father. Matthew 17:5.
Verse 18
[18] And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
And we — Peter, James, and John. St. John was still alive.
Being with him in the holy mount — Made so by that glorious manifestation, as mount Horeb was of old, Exodus 3:4,5.
Verse 19
[19] We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
And we — St. Peter here speaks in the name of all Christians.
Have the word of prophecy — The words of Moses, Isaiah, and all the prophets, are one and the same word, every way consistent with itself. St. Peter does not cite any particular passage, but speaks of their entire testimony.
More confirmed — By that display of his glorious majesty. To which word ye do well that ye take heed, as to a lamp which shone in a dark place - Wherein there was neither light nor window. Such anciently was the whole world, except that little spot where this lamp shone.
Till the day should dawn — Till the full light of the gospel should break through the darkness. As is the difference between the light of a lamp and that of the day, such is that between the light of the Old Testament and of the New.
And the morning star — Jesus Christ, Revelation 22:16.
Arise in your hearts — Be revealed in you.
Verse 20
[20] Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
Ye do well, as knowing this, that no scripture prophecy is of private interpretation - It is not any man's own word. It is God, not the prophet himself, who thereby interprets things till then unknown.
Verse 21
[21] For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
For prophecy came not of old by the will of man — Of any mere man whatever.
But the holy men of God — Devoted to him, and set apart by him for that purpose, spake and wrote.
Being moved — Literally, carried. They were purely passive therein.
Matthew 17:1-9
(Read all of Matthew 17)
Verse 2
[2] And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
And was transfigured — Or transformed. The indwelling Deity darted out its rays through the veil of the flesh; and that with such transcendent splendour, that he no longer bore the form of a servant. His face shone with Divine majesty, like the sun in its strength; and all his body was so irradiated by it, that his clothes could not conceal its glory, but became white and glittering as the very light, with which he covered himself as with a garment.
Verse 3
[3] And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him.
There appeared Moses and Elijah — Here for the full confirmation of their faith in Jesus, Moses, the giver of the law, Elijah, the most zealous of all the prophets, and God speaking from heaven, all bore witness to him.
Verse 4
[4] Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.
Let us make three tents — The words of rapturous surprise. He says three, not six: because the apostles desired to be with their Master.
Verse 5
[5] While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.
Hear ye him — As superior even to Moses and the prophets. See Deuteronomy 18:17.
Verse 7
[7] And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid.
Be not afraid — And doubtless the same moment he gave them courage and strength.
Verse 9
[9] And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.
Tell the vision to no man — Not to the rest of the disciples, lest they should be grieved and discouraged because they were not admitted to the sight: nor to any other persons, lest it should enrage some the more, and his approaching sufferings shall make others disbelieve it; till the Son of man be risen again - Till the resurrection should make it credible, and confirm their testimony about it.
Matthew 4:1-11
(Read all of Matthew 4)
Verse 2
[2] And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Having fasted — Whereby doubtless he received more abundant spiritual strength from God.
Forty days and forty nights — As did Moses, the giver of the law, and Elijah, the great restorer of it.
He was afterward hungry — And so prepared for the first temptation.
Verse 3
[3] And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Coming to him — In a visible form; probably in a human shape, as one that desired to inquire farther into the evidences of his being the Messiah.
Verse 4
[4] But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
It is written — Thus Christ answered, and thus we may answer all the suggestions of the devil.
By every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God — That is, by whatever God commands to sustain him. Therefore it is not needful I should work a miracle to procure bread, without any intimation of my Father's will. Deuteronomy 8:3.
Verse 5
[5] Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
The holy city — So Jerusalem was commonly called, being the place God had peculiarly chosen for himself.
On the battlement of the temple — Probably over the king's gallery, which was of such a prodigious height, that no one could look down from the top of it without making himself giddy.
Verse 6
[6] And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
In their hands — That is, with great care. Psalms 91:11,12.
Verse 7
[7] Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God — By requiring farther evidence of what he hath already made sufficiently plain. Deuteronomy 6:16.
Verse 8
[8] Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Showeth him all the kingdoms of the world — In a kind of visionary representation.
Verse 9
[9] And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
If thou wilt fall down and worship me — Here Satan clearly shows who he was. Accordingly Christ answering this suggestion, calls him by his own name, which he had not done before.
Verse 10
[10] Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Get thee hence, Satan — Not, get thee behind me, that is, into thy proper place; as he said on a quite different occasion to Peter, speaking what was not expedient. Deuteronomy 6:13.
Verse 11
[11] Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.
Angels came and waited upon him — Both to supply him with food, and to congratulate his victory.
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The Upper Room Ministries
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DISABLING TEMPTATIONS by Brett Younger
Matthew 4:1-11
Most of the time, without any real thought, we do what we want to do and make inferior choices. We trivialize sin when we think of it as an error in judgment. Sin is a flawed approach to decision making that leads us to the worst decision with which we can be comfortable. In a thousand ways we get used to making lesser choices. We’re so used to choosing what’s easiest that deciding to become more than we are doesn’t occur to us.
Yet it’s always possible to be true to the higher calling. Jesus is baptized in the muddy water of the Jordan River. The voice from heaven proclaims, “You are my child, my beloved, in you I am well pleased.” Then Jesus goes to the middle of nowhere to decide what kind of child he’s going to be.
The wilderness is hot and barren. The hills are dust heaps. The rocks are jagged. The wind howls at night. Jesus is so weighed down with the burden of choosing the direction for his life that he doesn’t even think of food. It’s been days, weeks since he has eaten. It’s a great understatement when Matthew writes, “and afterwards, he hungered.”
The silence is broken when from somewhere there comes a voice—a whisper, a screaming whisper: “If you are God’s child, command this stone, so that it becomes bread.” Jesus remembers John, the River Jordan, the sky opening and the voice saying, “You are my child, the beloved.” Now it’s a different voice, “If you are God’s child.”
Jesus was the first person tempted by fast food. A rounded stone becomes a loaf of pumpernickel; a flat rock becomes a tortilla. Who will it hurt? If he is God’s child, then why shouldn’t he have what he wants?
We struggle with the attraction of doing what’s easiest. This first temptation is to make our decisions on the basis of what requires the least effort. We often pass on what’s eternally best for what’s momentarily satisfying.
We’re tempted to choose the easy way when we realize how hard it is to forgive the guilty, listen to the lonely, and share what we have with the poor. It’s much easier to settle for a tepid faith. We get so used to choosing what’s easiest that we seldom consider the hard way of sacrifice. We’d like to believe that an easy life is a sign of God’s approval, but if we’re comfortable, then we’ve missed what’s best.
Jesus understands the temptation of the easy way; “One cannot live by bread alone. Obedience to God is more important than my own comfort.”
Satan tries again like a con man with an arm covered with Rolexes. This time it’s from the steeple of the old First Church, “If you are God’s child, throw yourself down. You know that the Bible says, ‘God will protect you.’ ”
The first-century Jews believed that when the Messiah came, he would reveal himself from the temple roof. The tempter is reminding Jesus that he can be the Messiah the people want. He can be a great religious teacher and skip the hard parts. Jesus could have modified his ministry ever so slightly and been what they wanted him to be.
When Monty Hall offers us what’s behind door number two, it’s the temptation to look spiritual. We can keep up appearances even as we lower our expectations. In T. S. Eliot’s play, Murder in the Cathedral, the tempter comes to Thomas Becket and offers the temptation of being a martyr, a religious hero. Becket understands, “The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”
We’ve figured out that we can look religious without truly seeking God. It’s easy to meet people’s religious expectations. We know how to pretend that we are living as God’s children.
The screaming whisper returns with an offer of palaces and kingdoms, “Compromise and it’s all yours.” This is Frodo Baggins offering the one ring that rules them all. To worship Satan is to choose success. This third temptation is to want what everyone wants.
The evil one doesn’t appear for us in a readily identifiable red suit with a pitchfork. The tempter appears as reasonableness. Evil’s nagging voice is the desire for a little bigger house, a little more in savings, and a little better job.
Have you ever learned that someone who does the same job you do makes more money than you make? We know it doesn’t do us any good to think about it, but we keep thinking about the injustice of it all and what we would do with the extra money. We choose to hang on to greed until it starts to crowd out things that matter more.
O.A. Battista wrote, “You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity.” By that standard, most of us are still some distance from the summit.
Through cracked and bleeding lips, Jesus answers the master counterfeiter, “Bow down to God alone; worship only God.”
The adversary retreats temporarily, but Jesus never stopped being tempted to make it easier for himself. Jesus faced the same temptations to compromise that we face. We choose every day between what seems okay and what’s true to the gospel.
We need to remember this story of Jesus in the wilderness. There were no witnesses. Jesus must have told the disciples because he hoped that they would remember. Maybe you’ve had the experience of meeting someone so kind and caring that they made you want to be kind and caring, too. Remember that there was one who lived beyond comfort, praise, and affluence.
Remember whose we are. The voice at Jesus’ baptism was the voice of assurance, “This is my beloved child.” God has assured us that we too are God’s children. We come to this Lenten season of repentance confessing our longing for the paths of least resistance and asking for new and honest hearts.read more
WORSHIP ELEMENTS: MARCH 5, 2017 by Bill Hoppe
First Sunday in Lent
COLOR: Purple
SCRIPTURE READINGS: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11
THEME IDEAS
The central ideas for this first Sunday in Lent are temptation, sin, right and wrong, and how we respond to each. The familiar story of the temptation and sin of Adam and Eve is no less relevant today than when it was first told, and Paul uses this story as a primary foundation for his doctrine of Christ’s atonement for the sins of humankind. The psalmist sings of the joy and relief of forgiveness, which comes from
acknowledgment and confession. Finally, driven into the wilderness by the Spirit and armed with only God’s word, Jesus confronts temptation at the end of his forty days and nights of fasting without yielding to it.
INVITATION AND GATHERING
Call to Worship (Psalm 32)
Happy are those whose sins are forgiven.
Happy are those whose sins are cast away.
Rejoice in the Lord! Be glad!
Sing out! Shout for joy!
Rejoice in the Lord!
Rejoice! Amen!
Opening Prayer (Genesis 2, 3; Psalm 32; Matthew 4)
Holy One,
we are constantly bombarded
with temptations and enticements.
When we yield, when we fail,
who will help us?
You, Lord, have come to our aid.
You teach us, counsel us, and guide us
in the ways we should go.
We rejoice in your unfailing love. Amen.
PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE
Prayer of Confession (Psalm 32)
We keep silent before you, Lord—
we are afraid to confront our transgressions;
we are terrified to face the reality of our sin;
we feel as if the weight of the world
were upon our shoulders;
we no longer recognize ourselves
or what we have become
as we keep our failings and fears inside.
Help us admit our sins and accept our imperfections.
Why is that simple act so difficult for us?
Why do we hesitate, knowing that you stand ready
to wash away our guilt?
You are the sanctuary where distress cannot reach us.
In your steadfast love, forgive us.
In your healing caress, cleanse us.
In your Holy Spirit, restore us.
In the name of our Savior, we pray. Amen.
Words of Assurance (Psalm 32)
When distress and anxiety surround us
like an angry flood,
our pleas are heard.
The Lord hears the prayers of a faithful heart.
God has become our hiding place,
our refuge from trouble.
No harm can touch us here.
The Lord wraps us in the arms of salvation.
Shouts of deliverance enfold us.
Passing the Peace of Christ (Romans 5)
Abundant grace is God’s gift to us. Out of all proportion to our wrongdoing, we receive grace and forgiveness from God’s amazing love, revealed to us in Christ Jesus. Share this love, so freely given to us, with one another.
Response to the Word (Genesis 2, 3; Matthew 4; Romans 5)
The Tempter appears to us in many guises and always in the manner to which we are most vulnerable. We know right from wrong, yet we become complicit with the Tempter when we use the word of the Lord to justify our disobedience and transgressions. Yet in Christ, our sin is overcome with a single act of obedience to God: one just act has brought acquittal and life to all.
THANKSGIVING AND COMMUNION
Offering Prayer (Matthew 4)
In the hour of his temptation, when Jesus hungered,
he knew from where his sustenance came:
“One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes
from the mouth of God.”
Lord,
from the abundance of your grace,
your word has provided all that we need.
All that we have is yours.
Receive the offering of our hands
and the gratitude of our hearts.
In the name of our Savior we pray. Amen.
SENDING FORTH
Benediction or Words of Assurance (Romans 5)
Though we were condemned, we have found pardon.
Though death held dominion over our lives,
God’s grace and gift of righteousness
now lives and reigns within us.
We are free. We are forgiven. We are alive in Christ!
Amen!
CONTEMPORARY OPTIONS
Gathering Words (Psalm 32)
The eyes of God are upon us.
The Lord will guide us.
God will keep us safe.
No harm can touch us.
Praise Sentences (Psalm 32)
Shout for joy! Sing out! Sing aloud!
Women, men, everyone: Rejoice! Be glad!
Rejoice in the Lord!
From The Abingdon Worship Annual edited by Mary J. Scifres and B.J. Beu, Copyright © Abingdon Press. The Abingdon Worship Annual 2017 is now available.read more
WORSHIP CONNECTION: MARCH 5, 2017 by Nancy C. Townley
First Sunday in Lent
COLOR: Purple
SCRIPTURE READINGS: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11
The theme for Lent: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS AT THE CROSS
Each week a script will be provided, following the Gospel lesson, concerning those whom Jesus met.
First Sunday in Lent: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS AT THE CROSS: SATAN
CALLS TO WORSHIP
Call to Worship #1:
L: Happy are the people whose sins are forgiven!
P: God’s forgiveness is poured on them as a healing balm.
L: Happy are the people who place their trust in God.
P: God’s presence is their guide and their strength.
L: Come, let us worship the God who forgives and heals us.
P: Let us celebrate God’s presence with us each day. AMEN.
Call to Worship #2:
L: Today the journey begins. Are you ready?
P: There is so much I still have to do. I am not sure I’ll ever be ready.
L: Let go of those things THAT chain you to despair.
P: Lord, help me look and see the ways in which I have abandoned you.
L: Come, let us worship and feel the power of freedom in God.
P: Open our hearts today to receive your freeing love, O Lord. AMEN.
Call to Worship #3:
[Using THE FAITH WE SING, p. 2055, “You Are My Hiding Place,” offer the following call to worship as directed.]
L: The path is unknown to us, O Lord. We fear the journey.
P: There may be hidden dangers, discoveries that we dread.
L: Help us, Lord. Be with us.
P: Let us take the first step safely, we pray.
Choir: singing “You Are My Hiding Place”
L: You have been my hiding place.
P: Now you are calling me to leave this place and to take a risk
L: You sing to me of deliverance and hope.
P: Be with me, O Lord, I ask you.
Call to Worship #4:
L: We are people of impatient hungers.
P: We want to be filled with all good things immediately. We don’t want to wait.
L: We are people who seek power and authority.
P: We want to be in control, not to be controlled.
L: We are people whose individual safety is of highest concern.
P: Protect and guide us.
L: Stop our greed and selfishness, O Lord. Help us to listen to your words of comfort and hope.
P: Open us up to all the wonders of your love. Heal our hardened hearts. Give us lives of loving service to others. AMEN.
PRAYERS, READING, BENECTION
Opening Prayer
Lord, we are so tempted by everything we see; the glitz and glitter of the world and the get-rich-quick schemes are placed before us. We believe that if we just have enough money, enough friends, enough power, enough safety we will be OK. Show us how foolish we are to place our hope and trust in these things. Give us hearts for loving service in which we will find our strength, our courage, our security, our home. AMEN.
Prayer of Confession
God of infinite patience and love, we come to you this day, having just gone through the season of greed. We embark on this Lenten journey not sure if we want to make the spiritual trip. It is easy for us to get caught up in our own needs and our own anxieties. We are a people of great “want,” and we need to become a people of great “faith.” Stop us and remove us from the self-destructive journey on which we were living. Place us on your track of hope and salvation. Forgive our stubbornness, and heal our sorrowful souls. For we ask this in Jesus’ Name. AMEN.
Words of Assurance
You are loved by God! And in that love rests all safety, security, comfort, and hope. Rest in God’s love. Prepare yourself for service to God who is ever faithful to you. AMEN.
Pastoral Prayer
Lord, it seems as though Lent came too early this year. We wanted more time to recover from the activity and anxiety of Christmas, yet here we are: the first Sunday in Lent. Our hearts need cleansing, Lord. Our spirits need restoration and healing. During this season of Lent you send us on a journey to the cross with Jesus, and beyond the cross to the resurrection. We would just rather skip to the happiness of Easter and enjoy the flowers and all the trimmings, but you insist on the journey. We cannot truly understand the power of the resurrection until we have been to the cross. Today we travel to the cross where Jesus encounters Satan who flashes before him visions of power, wealth, and individual security. How shall we respond to those same temptations when they are presented so seductively to us? Help us, O Lord. Guide and restore us. Give us courage and strength as we journey to you. AMEN.
Readers' Theater: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS AT THE CROSS: SATAN
Each week a script will be provided, following the Gospel lesson, concerning those whom Jesus met.
[The large rough wooden cross is placed in the front of the chancel/worship area. Place burlap at the base to cover the stand. Have the same person read the part of Jesus each week. It should be someone with a good speaking voice. Each person who encounters Jesus will be wearing/carrying a length of cloth. When their encounter with Jesus is complete, they place the cloth over the arm of the cross and leave.
Today: Satan encounters Jesus. He will have a drape of black cloth over his shoulder, which he will place over the arm of the cross when the “temptation” is complete. Then he departs.]
Narrator: When Jesus had been baptized, he went to the wilderness to fast and pray. He fasted and prayed for forty days and forty nights and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and spoke to him. Satan: So you say you are the Son of God! You have been here a long time. You look hungry. How about a little bread? If you are the Son of God, you can command these stones here to become loaves of bread. Go ahead. Do it. It’s OK. It’s just a little bread, not a great feast. You will feel better when you have a little food in your stomach. Go ahead.
Jesus: It is written, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Satan: Quoting scripture, huh? Well, if that’s the way you want it. Stay hungry.
Narrator: Then Satan took him to the holy city and placed him on the highest point of the Temple so that he could see all of Jerusalem.
Satan: Well if you don’t want bread, maybe there is something you do want--assurance. Son of God, throw yourself down from this high point, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you” and “On their hands they will bear you up so that you will not even dash your foot against a stone.” How’s that for quoting scripture?
Jesus: Again it is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
Narrator: Again Satan took him up to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
Satan: How about it, Jesus? Want a little power and wealth? Look at this! This is all mine to give. I have control over it all, and I can give it to whomever I choose. I choose to give it to you, and all you have to do is to bow down and worship me. Nothing fancy, just a little spiritual commitment. You can have it all. Think of all you could do with this wealth. You would never have to worry; you could take care of millions of people. After all that’s what you want to do, right? Just bow down and worship me.
Jesus: Get away from me, Satan. For it is written, “ Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”
[Satan takes the black cloth from his shoulder and places it over the arm of the cross. He pats the cross and then walks away.]
Narrator: And Satan shook his head, and walked away for a time. And God’s angels came and took care of Jesus.
Benediction
Be with us, Lord, as we go from this place. Give us confidence in your loving presence, and help us witness to that love as we encounter others. AMEN.
ARTISTIC ELEMENTS
The traditional color for today is: Purple, however, I am using “character” colors to represent each Sunday. The worship center may be draped in purple, if you wish.
[The large rough wooden cross is placed in the front of the chancel/worship area. Place burlap at the base to cover the stand.]
FABRIC: Purple cloth may be draped over the worship center. It should come to the floor but not be “puddled.”
CANDLES: Two candles may be placed on the worship center on either side of an open Bible.
OTHER: Place an open Bible in the center of the worship table.read more
WORSHIP FOR KIDS: MARCH 5, 2017 by Carolyn C. Brown
From a Child's Point of View
Old Testament: Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7. Recent studies indicate that all people move through predictable stages or tasks as they develop moral reasoning. The stage of a worshiper's moral development greatly influences the understanding of this Old Testament story.
In the earliest stage, children accept rules as irrefutable. By the age of four or five, they realize that those who are biggest and most powerful set the rules. Decisions to obey or disobey rules are made in order to receive rewards or escape punishment from the powerful. To people who reason this way, this story says that God is the biggest and most powerful being in the world. Indeed, God created the world, and therefore God's rules are to be obeyed. There are serious consequences when one breaks the rules.
Most young elementary children begin to realize that a person's motivations for breaking or obeying rules are important. They struggle with the difference between meaning well and simply being defiant. They experience situations in which the right and loving thing to do requires breaking the rules. From that perspective, the defiance of Adam and Eve is the key to the Fall. Adam and Eve knew what was wrong to do, but they did it anyway, simply for their own satisfaction.
That defiance is further defined by older elementary children, who generally see the world as a conglomerate of groups and individuals, each with an assigned role. It is important to these children to be a "good girl," a "good scout," and so forth. Therefore, when Adam and Eve defied the rule and ate the forbidden apple because they wanted to be "like God," they were stepping beyond their place and role. They were not being "good" people. By stepping out of their role, they broke the trust and peace with each other and between themselves and God. Shame and division resulted.
The challenge to children at each level is that they not do as Adam and Eve did. The truth is that people of all ages often do.
Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11. The temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness are very similar to those children face today. The first temptation was to be selfish, to take care of his own wants and needs. This temptation confronts children in the drive to get the biggest piece of pizza, the best basketball, the prettiest clothes, the most video games, and so forth. Jesus insisted that there are better things to do than worry about how much we gather for ourselves.
Jesus' second temptation was to use his powers for attention--to show off. Children today must decide whether to use their talents and abilities to gain praise and attention, or to help others. Jesus refused to be a show-off.
The third temptation was to be king of the world. Kings make all the decisions. Everyone else does what the king says. Children often wish they could be king or queen and, for once, be in charge. Jesus, though he would have made the very best king ever, refused to take such power. Instead, he chose to obey God.
Matthew presents Jesus' response as a decision to live within the role of a "good" person, as God intended. He planned to obey God.
Epistle: Romans 5:12-19. Paul's highly abstract theology is beyond the mental abilities of children. To their literal minds, it is neither sensible nor fair that either Adam's disobedience or Jesus' obedience should affect them. Read this passable for the adults. The children will find more meaning in comparing the actions of Adam and Jesus.
Psalm: 32. A child's summary of this psalm:
Happy are those who are forgiven by God. When the psalmist tried to cover up his sins, he felt guilty and awful. When he finally admitted what he had done and apologized, God forgave him. He says that a God who forgives you can be counted on to take care of you in any situation. And you would be smart to listen to that God and do as that God teaches.
The sin vocabulary and poetic images make this psalm difficult for children to follow as it is read.
Watch Words
The Fall, to children, is simply a title for the story of Adam and Eve's disobedience. The theological significance of a fall from grace is beyond their literal thinking.
Temptation is a familiar word.
Let the Children Sing
To sing about resisting temptation, choose "O Jesus, I Have Promised" or "Take Time to Be Holy."
The connection between God's creation of the world and the battle against sin makes "This Is My Father's World" a good choice. Explore the meaning of verse 3 before it is sung.
Most children also know the creation hymns, "All Things Bright and Beautiful" and "For the Beauty of the Earth."
The Liturgical Child
1. Place an apple or an apple with a bite out of it in a greenery display in the worship center.
2. Matthew's account of the temptation is primarily a conversation between Jesus and Satan. As you read, take the two roles. Let the tone of Satan's sly superiority and Jesus' positive commitments be heard in your voice. Turn slightly toward one side while reading Satan's propositions, and toward the other side while reading Jesus' replies. Use your hands to point to the sweep of lands being offered, and to emphasize the suggested leap from the top of the Temple.
3. Focus confession on our tendency to be like Adam and Eve, rather than like Jesus:
Lord God, who created us, we confess that we are a lot like Adam and Eve. We too want to be "like God." We want to be in charge of everything, to know everything, to do everything our way. We are willing to break the rules and hurt one another to have our way. Forgive us.
Help us instead to learn from Jesus. Remind us that having what we want and need is not so very important. Tame our wild desires to be the center of attention, the star, the winner every time. Teach us to know your will and to obey. For we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Sermon Resources
1. Before the sermon, or before reading the Genesis text, give each worshiper a piece of wrapped hard candy, but instruct everyone not to eat the candy. During the sermon, describe different reasons for eating the candy as a springboard to exploring our responses to other temptations. At the end of the sermon, invite worshipers to eat the "teaching aid" if they wish.
2. Obey is a key word in the Genesis and Matthew stories. It marks the difference between Adam and Jesus. It is also something most of us do not like to do. Children do not like to obey, and they long for the day they will not need to obey anyone. Most brides no longer promise in their wedding vows to obey their husbands. In business, management techniques often stress group decision-making, rather than obedience to directives from the boss. Children appreciate having their feelings about obedience recognized and hearing about adult problems with obedience.
3. Tell stories about sinners whose experiences follow that of the psalmist (e.g., a child who called a sister a name that hurt badly—first trying to ignore what had happened, then feeling guilty before the sister and before God, finally apologizing to both and accepting forgiveness).read more
SERMON OPTIONS: MARCH 5, 2017
THE NATURE OF SIN
GENESIS 2:15-17; 3:1-7
The word sin isn't in the text, but sin is its theme nonetheless. In fact, this passage contains the familiar story of the origin of sin. Eve and Adam learned the hard way that sin delivers destruction into the lives of those who commit it. They had been warned by God that serious consequences would follow from their disobedience, but they paid no attention. Sometimes we may become careless in our attitude toward the consequences of sin. When that happens, we should beware. Look at the cycle of sin as described in the text.
I. We Become Aware of God's Gracious Will for Our Lives
Adam and Eve knew beyond doubt that the Lord was gracious to them. He provided them with every essential gift for fulfillment in life. He kept from them only one thing—the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He even explained to them the reason for that single prohibition: they would experience evil, and evil would issue in death. In that case death encompassed both spiritual death, which is separation from God, and physical death, resulting from their loss of access to the tree of life.
The couple also clearly understood God's will for them. Eve confessed such an awareness in her response to the serpent. His initial effort to mislead her was not successful because she detected his lie. Sin becomes a possibility for anyone who has insight into the nature and purpose of God.
II. We Are Tempted to Rebel Against God's Gracious Will
The serpent persisted in the temptation of Eve, and his strategy was successful. He first forthrightly accused God of lying. Then he himself told another lie. By that time Eve had already entered into the mentality that made her vulnerable. She doubted God's word. She doubted enough to consider the forbidden fruit, then she succumbed to its enticement and ate. Adam readily followed her lead. Satan has the uncanny ability to make evil inviting. From the urge to get more of this world's goods, to the drive to lust, to the inclination to cling to bitterness, we know that the devil has power to persuade us to sin.
However, we have an advantage Adam and Eve didn't have. We have revealed to us in this text and in other places in the Bible Satan's strategy and methodology. Understanding his tactics assists us in resisting temptation, and when we do, the devil will flee from us.
III. We Experience Conviction and Shame Following Our Sin
Normally, conviction of sin will hit the transgressor immediately after the act. Eve and Adam knew immediately that they had sinned. They felt guilty before God and shame before each other. A dedicated Christian confessed the guilt and shame she sensed following a verbal expression of hatred for a person who had hurt her. A young man told of the time he was so burdened with conviction of sin that he fell before God in a catharsis of repentance and confession. All of us have experienced similar feelings when we've failed the Lord.
The cycle of sin begins with an awareness of God's gracious will for us. Once we know how good God is and what God desires for us, Satan will entice us to reject God's purpose for our lives. When we fall to that temptation, we sin, resulting in a sense of shame before God. The cycle can be broken before it leads to sin.
It may be broken when we are tempted to reject God's will. Our Lord taught us how by example. When he was tempted in the wilderness, he resisted Satan by refusal to disobey God. As a result, Satan eventually left him alone for a season. As James wrote, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7) . (Jerry E. Oswalt)
BEING AN AUTHENTIC PERSON
ROMANS 5:12-19
The bold ideas of facing up to our sinfulness and placing our complete trust in the free gift of God's grace as given are not all that easy in a culture obsessed with ownership and earning. Paul, however, wants to make it clear that because we are human we sin, and that the only way out of our sinfulness is the acceptance of the gift of God's grace as shared in Christ. This passage can be a most helpful one in the season of Lent to broaden our understanding of self-examination and the difference God's grace seeks to make in and through such an experience.
I. Self-examination Helps Us See Our Need for God's Grace
The temptation with the idea of self-examination is to understand it as something we do for ourselves, out of a sense of duty and obligation to God, so that we can better serve God. Such a discipline, done in such a way, misses the point of Paul's understanding of the free gift of God's grace. Self-examination does not begin with us; rather, it begins as we see ourselves in the light of God's grace. Such grace given freely in the moments we live exposes the shadows of who we are.
In Paul's way of thinking, we can only be the humans God created us to be. Being human means we are sinners. If we are to truly be involved in a self-examination that will be honest, such an experience must begin with grace. With the emphasis in our culture on self-help, this becomes a most ambitious understanding to relate.
II. Self-examination Is Valueless without God's Grace
Paul clearly identifies where such thinking leads. Left to the self, we will be left with judgment, condemnation, and death. Any Lenten self-examination not rooted in the experience of God's free gift of grace will end up leading to a try-harder mentality so as to win the approval of God. To do so is to miss the whole point of grace and what graces does in us and through us. The Lenten experience must include feelings of sorrow and resolve, and it must also seek, to express with joy and thanksgiving the difference God's grace makes in our lives.
The underlying reason for the Lenten experience both begins and ends in grace. To focus on self to the point that we are going to do better, outside grace, is to miss the whole point of the Lenten experience. For Paul, the human experience must be lived from only one perspective: grace.
Katherine Ann Power lived a life of hiding. As a college student in the early seventies, she was involved in a bank robbery that led to the murder of a police officer. Just recently, she left the life she had created that included a husband, a son, friends, and a job to turn herself in to authorities after two decades as a fugitive. Emerging from the shadows into the light, she stated she did so "in order to live with full authenticity in the present ... with openness and truth, rather than hiddenness and shame."
That is what this passage and Lent are. It is a time whereby with the goodness and love of God's grace in Christ persons seek to live with full authenticity in the present ... with openness and truth, rather than hiddenness and shame. For Paul, the human experience must begin and end in God's grace. Anything less than that experience has somehow failed to find God's vision for each life. All God has ever wanted for us is to be the authentic human beings we are. Only God's grace will help make that so. (Travis Franklin)
IN THE WILDERNESS
MATTHEW 4:1-11
Lou Holtz, who coached football at Notre Dame, was interviewed after a Cotton Bowl game. People and the press were going on and on about the great impact of the game, and Lou said, "Wait a minute. The game isn't all that important. There must be three billion people in China who don't even care what happened." Sooner or later we must leave behind all our mountaintop experiences, and we must return to the valley below—down where the dangerous days are for life and for faith. The peril to faith and trust comes in the ordinary days when monotony and the commonplace stretch out, like forty days in the wilderness. The same Holy Spirit who brought Jesus the announcement of God's approval at baptism now leads him out into the days of temptation and letdown.
I. Temptation Often Comes in the Wake of Commitment
It is always true that once we have accepted a high challenge and made a great commitment, there comes the temptation to forsake the cause. There is always the temptation to give up the commitment to the best and settle for something less. Once we have made a commitment to be God's persons, there comes the temptation to compromise and to settle for something less than God's best. The long, difficult journey always brings the temptation to give up the painful pilgrimage to paradise.
II. Temptation Often Comes in the Days of Ordinary Service
If we are to be disciples of Jesus Christ, we have to recognize that such obedience is going to take us through long periods of wilderness, frustration, work, and the ordinary. We need to be prepared for that. That is why so much of the message of our consumerist economy is demonic. It is all part of the barefaced lie to convince us that we can escape the drab ordinary days of our lives by resorting to alcohol, new cars, trips to other places, new clothing, or sexual excitement. The devil tempts Jesus each time with the suggestion that he do something a little spectacular to escape the boredom of the day. Don't settle for soup and sandwiches—turn the stones into a real holiday buffet!
Jesus will not betray his commitment to God and humanity by escaping from our human limitations. Jesus knew that human life has its ordinary side. Jimmy Buffett sends his sweepstakes winner "Somewhere Over China" because it is his one chance in a million to "brighten up a boring day." But all of our human lives have drudgery and boredom.
III. God Gives Us the Grace to Defeat Temptation
Jesus was prepared for his long journey by his knowledge of Scripture. Everywhere along the way, Jesus' response to temptation was a response from Scripture. So it is with us. That is why the Christian community tries to spend so much time in making disciples by the normal means of grace—Scripture, prayer, worship, service, and giving—to develop the habits of faith to keep us faithful in the weary times.
It is not a matter of great feelings and passions. One suspects that Jesus did not glow with the great joy of being the Anointed of God out there in the wilderness being tempted. He was not being sustained by the warm spiritual glow or the power of positive thinking. It didn't matter whether he liked what he was doing or not. He continued in obedience and faith by his reliance on the promises of God in Scripture. The story gives us the promise that God will sustain us and minister to us along the way. After the forty days, angels came and ministered to Jesus. Somewhere along the painful pilgrimage to paradise as you stay faithful, suddenly and unexpectedly an angel of mercy, some act of kindness, some word of hope, some gesture of inspiration, will be given to you to minister to you and to encourage you in the midst of the ordinary days of temptation. Such is the promise of God's Spirit to those who are God's disciples. (Rick Brand) read more
MARCH 5, 2017 - JUST SAY NO by William H. Willimon
PULPIT RESOURCE
INSPIRING-HUMOROUS-EDGY-CONFRONTING-RELEVANT
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Welcome to the new Pulpit Resource from Will Willimon. For over three decades Pulpit Resource helps preachers prepare to preach. Now in partnership with Abingdon Press, this homiletical weekly is available with fresh and timely accessibility to a new generation of preachers.
No sermon is a solo production. Every preacher relies on inherited models, mentors in the preacher’s past, commentaries on biblical texts by people who have given their lives to such study, comments received from members of the congregation, last week’s news headlines, and all the other things that make a sermon communal.
No Christian does anything on their own. We live through the witness of the saints; preachers of the past inspire us and judge us. Scripture itself is a product of the community of faith. A host of now-forgotten teachers taught us how to speak. Nobody is born a preacher.
Pulpit Resource is equivalent to sitting down with a trusted clergy friend over a cup of coffee and asking, “What will you preach next Sunday?” Whenever I’ve been asked by new preachers, “How can I develop as a preacher?” my usual response is, “Get in a group of preachers. Meet regularly. Learn how to give and how to receive help. Sort through the advice of others, and utilize helpful insights.”
That’s Pulpit Resource.
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MARCH 5, 2017 - FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT by Sheila Bouie-Sledge
PREACHING ANNUAL
The Abingdon Preaching Annual includes:
The Primary Theme Fleshed out with brief, pithy nuggets of thought, idea jump-starters, or questions designed to spur the preacher’s imagination.
Secondary or Parallel Themes Two or three themes or streams of thought that are related to but separate from the primary theme offered.
Worship Helps Including Gathering Prayer, Collect, Pastoral Prayer, Congregational Prayer, Responsive Reading, and a Closing Prayer or Benediction.
Topical Essays These 700 word essays cover a variety of current and critical topics for the preacher—contributed by leading homileticians.
Full Sermons The full text from six to twelve sermons will be included. Additional are available online. These sermons will highlight best practices, unique approaches, and fresh voices.
Sermon Series Ideas This section will briefly outline and describe ideas for unique sermon series based on lectionary readings.
"As a weekly preacher, I often find that preparing for preaching and crafting sermons are spiritual disciplines for me. It is a time in which I try to quiet all of the other 'to do' lists that occupy much of my ministry. This resource from Abingdon Press will now be a partner in those conversations, almost like a new personal devotional guide. I am grateful for additional voices who can help me make space for God’s Living Word." - Shannon J Kershner, Pastor, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, IL
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DISABLING TEMPTATIONS by Brett Younger
Matthew 4:1-11
Most of the time, without any real thought, we do what we want to do and make inferior choices. We trivialize sin when we think of it as an error in judgment. Sin is a flawed approach to decision making that leads us to the worst decision with which we can be comfortable. In a thousand ways we get used to making lesser choices. We’re so used to choosing what’s easiest that deciding to become more than we are doesn’t occur to us.
Yet it’s always possible to be true to the higher calling. Jesus is baptized in the muddy water of the Jordan River. The voice from heaven proclaims, “You are my child, my beloved, in you I am well pleased.” Then Jesus goes to the middle of nowhere to decide what kind of child he’s going to be.
The wilderness is hot and barren. The hills are dust heaps. The rocks are jagged. The wind howls at night. Jesus is so weighed down with the burden of choosing the direction for his life that he doesn’t even think of food. It’s been days, weeks since he has eaten. It’s a great understatement when Matthew writes, “and afterwards, he hungered.”
The silence is broken when from somewhere there comes a voice—a whisper, a screaming whisper: “If you are God’s child, command this stone, so that it becomes bread.” Jesus remembers John, the River Jordan, the sky opening and the voice saying, “You are my child, the beloved.” Now it’s a different voice, “If you are God’s child.”
Jesus was the first person tempted by fast food. A rounded stone becomes a loaf of pumpernickel; a flat rock becomes a tortilla. Who will it hurt? If he is God’s child, then why shouldn’t he have what he wants?
We struggle with the attraction of doing what’s easiest. This first temptation is to make our decisions on the basis of what requires the least effort. We often pass on what’s eternally best for what’s momentarily satisfying.
We’re tempted to choose the easy way when we realize how hard it is to forgive the guilty, listen to the lonely, and share what we have with the poor. It’s much easier to settle for a tepid faith. We get so used to choosing what’s easiest that we seldom consider the hard way of sacrifice. We’d like to believe that an easy life is a sign of God’s approval, but if we’re comfortable, then we’ve missed what’s best.
Jesus understands the temptation of the easy way; “One cannot live by bread alone. Obedience to God is more important than my own comfort.”
Satan tries again like a con man with an arm covered with Rolexes. This time it’s from the steeple of the old First Church, “If you are God’s child, throw yourself down. You know that the Bible says, ‘God will protect you.’ ”
The first-century Jews believed that when the Messiah came, he would reveal himself from the temple roof. The tempter is reminding Jesus that he can be the Messiah the people want. He can be a great religious teacher and skip the hard parts. Jesus could have modified his ministry ever so slightly and been what they wanted him to be.
When Monty Hall offers us what’s behind door number two, it’s the temptation to look spiritual. We can keep up appearances even as we lower our expectations. In T. S. Eliot’s play, Murder in the Cathedral, the tempter comes to Thomas Becket and offers the temptation of being a martyr, a religious hero. Becket understands, “The last temptation is the greatest treason: To do the right deed for the wrong reason.”
We’ve figured out that we can look religious without truly seeking God. It’s easy to meet people’s religious expectations. We know how to pretend that we are living as God’s children.
The screaming whisper returns with an offer of palaces and kingdoms, “Compromise and it’s all yours.” This is Frodo Baggins offering the one ring that rules them all. To worship Satan is to choose success. This third temptation is to want what everyone wants.
The evil one doesn’t appear for us in a readily identifiable red suit with a pitchfork. The tempter appears as reasonableness. Evil’s nagging voice is the desire for a little bigger house, a little more in savings, and a little better job.
Have you ever learned that someone who does the same job you do makes more money than you make? We know it doesn’t do us any good to think about it, but we keep thinking about the injustice of it all and what we would do with the extra money. We choose to hang on to greed until it starts to crowd out things that matter more.
O.A. Battista wrote, “You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity.” By that standard, most of us are still some distance from the summit.
Through cracked and bleeding lips, Jesus answers the master counterfeiter, “Bow down to God alone; worship only God.”
The adversary retreats temporarily, but Jesus never stopped being tempted to make it easier for himself. Jesus faced the same temptations to compromise that we face. We choose every day between what seems okay and what’s true to the gospel.
We need to remember this story of Jesus in the wilderness. There were no witnesses. Jesus must have told the disciples because he hoped that they would remember. Maybe you’ve had the experience of meeting someone so kind and caring that they made you want to be kind and caring, too. Remember that there was one who lived beyond comfort, praise, and affluence.
Remember whose we are. The voice at Jesus’ baptism was the voice of assurance, “This is my beloved child.” God has assured us that we too are God’s children. We come to this Lenten season of repentance confessing our longing for the paths of least resistance and asking for new and honest hearts.read more
WORSHIP ELEMENTS: MARCH 5, 2017 by Bill Hoppe
First Sunday in Lent
COLOR: Purple
SCRIPTURE READINGS: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11
THEME IDEAS
The central ideas for this first Sunday in Lent are temptation, sin, right and wrong, and how we respond to each. The familiar story of the temptation and sin of Adam and Eve is no less relevant today than when it was first told, and Paul uses this story as a primary foundation for his doctrine of Christ’s atonement for the sins of humankind. The psalmist sings of the joy and relief of forgiveness, which comes from
acknowledgment and confession. Finally, driven into the wilderness by the Spirit and armed with only God’s word, Jesus confronts temptation at the end of his forty days and nights of fasting without yielding to it.
INVITATION AND GATHERING
Call to Worship (Psalm 32)
Happy are those whose sins are forgiven.
Happy are those whose sins are cast away.
Rejoice in the Lord! Be glad!
Sing out! Shout for joy!
Rejoice in the Lord!
Rejoice! Amen!
Opening Prayer (Genesis 2, 3; Psalm 32; Matthew 4)
Holy One,
we are constantly bombarded
with temptations and enticements.
When we yield, when we fail,
who will help us?
You, Lord, have come to our aid.
You teach us, counsel us, and guide us
in the ways we should go.
We rejoice in your unfailing love. Amen.
PROCLAMATION AND RESPONSE
Prayer of Confession (Psalm 32)
We keep silent before you, Lord—
we are afraid to confront our transgressions;
we are terrified to face the reality of our sin;
we feel as if the weight of the world
were upon our shoulders;
we no longer recognize ourselves
or what we have become
as we keep our failings and fears inside.
Help us admit our sins and accept our imperfections.
Why is that simple act so difficult for us?
Why do we hesitate, knowing that you stand ready
to wash away our guilt?
You are the sanctuary where distress cannot reach us.
In your steadfast love, forgive us.
In your healing caress, cleanse us.
In your Holy Spirit, restore us.
In the name of our Savior, we pray. Amen.
Words of Assurance (Psalm 32)
When distress and anxiety surround us
like an angry flood,
our pleas are heard.
The Lord hears the prayers of a faithful heart.
God has become our hiding place,
our refuge from trouble.
No harm can touch us here.
The Lord wraps us in the arms of salvation.
Shouts of deliverance enfold us.
Passing the Peace of Christ (Romans 5)
Abundant grace is God’s gift to us. Out of all proportion to our wrongdoing, we receive grace and forgiveness from God’s amazing love, revealed to us in Christ Jesus. Share this love, so freely given to us, with one another.
Response to the Word (Genesis 2, 3; Matthew 4; Romans 5)
The Tempter appears to us in many guises and always in the manner to which we are most vulnerable. We know right from wrong, yet we become complicit with the Tempter when we use the word of the Lord to justify our disobedience and transgressions. Yet in Christ, our sin is overcome with a single act of obedience to God: one just act has brought acquittal and life to all.
THANKSGIVING AND COMMUNION
Offering Prayer (Matthew 4)
In the hour of his temptation, when Jesus hungered,
he knew from where his sustenance came:
“One does not live by bread alone,
but by every word that comes
from the mouth of God.”
Lord,
from the abundance of your grace,
your word has provided all that we need.
All that we have is yours.
Receive the offering of our hands
and the gratitude of our hearts.
In the name of our Savior we pray. Amen.
SENDING FORTH
Benediction or Words of Assurance (Romans 5)
Though we were condemned, we have found pardon.
Though death held dominion over our lives,
God’s grace and gift of righteousness
now lives and reigns within us.
We are free. We are forgiven. We are alive in Christ!
Amen!
CONTEMPORARY OPTIONS
Gathering Words (Psalm 32)
The eyes of God are upon us.
The Lord will guide us.
God will keep us safe.
No harm can touch us.
Praise Sentences (Psalm 32)
Shout for joy! Sing out! Sing aloud!
Women, men, everyone: Rejoice! Be glad!
Rejoice in the Lord!
From The Abingdon Worship Annual edited by Mary J. Scifres and B.J. Beu, Copyright © Abingdon Press. The Abingdon Worship Annual 2017 is now available.read more
WORSHIP CONNECTION: MARCH 5, 2017 by Nancy C. TownleyFirst Sunday in Lent
COLOR: Purple
SCRIPTURE READINGS: Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7; Psalm 32; Romans 5:12-19; Matthew 4:1-11
The theme for Lent: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS AT THE CROSS
Each week a script will be provided, following the Gospel lesson, concerning those whom Jesus met.
First Sunday in Lent: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS AT THE CROSS: SATAN
CALLS TO WORSHIP
Call to Worship #1:
L: Happy are the people whose sins are forgiven!
P: God’s forgiveness is poured on them as a healing balm.
L: Happy are the people who place their trust in God.
P: God’s presence is their guide and their strength.
L: Come, let us worship the God who forgives and heals us.
P: Let us celebrate God’s presence with us each day. AMEN.
Call to Worship #2:
L: Today the journey begins. Are you ready?
P: There is so much I still have to do. I am not sure I’ll ever be ready.
L: Let go of those things THAT chain you to despair.
P: Lord, help me look and see the ways in which I have abandoned you.
L: Come, let us worship and feel the power of freedom in God.
P: Open our hearts today to receive your freeing love, O Lord. AMEN.
Call to Worship #3:
[Using THE FAITH WE SING, p. 2055, “You Are My Hiding Place,” offer the following call to worship as directed.]
L: The path is unknown to us, O Lord. We fear the journey.
P: There may be hidden dangers, discoveries that we dread.
L: Help us, Lord. Be with us.
P: Let us take the first step safely, we pray.
Choir: singing “You Are My Hiding Place”
L: You have been my hiding place.
P: Now you are calling me to leave this place and to take a risk
L: You sing to me of deliverance and hope.
P: Be with me, O Lord, I ask you.
Call to Worship #4:
L: We are people of impatient hungers.
P: We want to be filled with all good things immediately. We don’t want to wait.
L: We are people who seek power and authority.
P: We want to be in control, not to be controlled.
L: We are people whose individual safety is of highest concern.
P: Protect and guide us.
L: Stop our greed and selfishness, O Lord. Help us to listen to your words of comfort and hope.
P: Open us up to all the wonders of your love. Heal our hardened hearts. Give us lives of loving service to others. AMEN.
PRAYERS, READING, BENECTION
Opening Prayer
Lord, we are so tempted by everything we see; the glitz and glitter of the world and the get-rich-quick schemes are placed before us. We believe that if we just have enough money, enough friends, enough power, enough safety we will be OK. Show us how foolish we are to place our hope and trust in these things. Give us hearts for loving service in which we will find our strength, our courage, our security, our home. AMEN.
Prayer of Confession
God of infinite patience and love, we come to you this day, having just gone through the season of greed. We embark on this Lenten journey not sure if we want to make the spiritual trip. It is easy for us to get caught up in our own needs and our own anxieties. We are a people of great “want,” and we need to become a people of great “faith.” Stop us and remove us from the self-destructive journey on which we were living. Place us on your track of hope and salvation. Forgive our stubbornness, and heal our sorrowful souls. For we ask this in Jesus’ Name. AMEN.
Words of Assurance
You are loved by God! And in that love rests all safety, security, comfort, and hope. Rest in God’s love. Prepare yourself for service to God who is ever faithful to you. AMEN.
Pastoral Prayer
Lord, it seems as though Lent came too early this year. We wanted more time to recover from the activity and anxiety of Christmas, yet here we are: the first Sunday in Lent. Our hearts need cleansing, Lord. Our spirits need restoration and healing. During this season of Lent you send us on a journey to the cross with Jesus, and beyond the cross to the resurrection. We would just rather skip to the happiness of Easter and enjoy the flowers and all the trimmings, but you insist on the journey. We cannot truly understand the power of the resurrection until we have been to the cross. Today we travel to the cross where Jesus encounters Satan who flashes before him visions of power, wealth, and individual security. How shall we respond to those same temptations when they are presented so seductively to us? Help us, O Lord. Guide and restore us. Give us courage and strength as we journey to you. AMEN.
Readers' Theater: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS AT THE CROSS: SATAN
Each week a script will be provided, following the Gospel lesson, concerning those whom Jesus met.
[The large rough wooden cross is placed in the front of the chancel/worship area. Place burlap at the base to cover the stand. Have the same person read the part of Jesus each week. It should be someone with a good speaking voice. Each person who encounters Jesus will be wearing/carrying a length of cloth. When their encounter with Jesus is complete, they place the cloth over the arm of the cross and leave.
Today: Satan encounters Jesus. He will have a drape of black cloth over his shoulder, which he will place over the arm of the cross when the “temptation” is complete. Then he departs.]
Narrator: When Jesus had been baptized, he went to the wilderness to fast and pray. He fasted and prayed for forty days and forty nights and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and spoke to him. Satan: So you say you are the Son of God! You have been here a long time. You look hungry. How about a little bread? If you are the Son of God, you can command these stones here to become loaves of bread. Go ahead. Do it. It’s OK. It’s just a little bread, not a great feast. You will feel better when you have a little food in your stomach. Go ahead.
Jesus: It is written, “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”
Satan: Quoting scripture, huh? Well, if that’s the way you want it. Stay hungry.
Narrator: Then Satan took him to the holy city and placed him on the highest point of the Temple so that he could see all of Jerusalem.
Satan: Well if you don’t want bread, maybe there is something you do want--assurance. Son of God, throw yourself down from this high point, for it is written, “He will command his angels concerning you” and “On their hands they will bear you up so that you will not even dash your foot against a stone.” How’s that for quoting scripture?
Jesus: Again it is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.”
Narrator: Again Satan took him up to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor.
Satan: How about it, Jesus? Want a little power and wealth? Look at this! This is all mine to give. I have control over it all, and I can give it to whomever I choose. I choose to give it to you, and all you have to do is to bow down and worship me. Nothing fancy, just a little spiritual commitment. You can have it all. Think of all you could do with this wealth. You would never have to worry; you could take care of millions of people. After all that’s what you want to do, right? Just bow down and worship me.
Jesus: Get away from me, Satan. For it is written, “ Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him.”
[Satan takes the black cloth from his shoulder and places it over the arm of the cross. He pats the cross and then walks away.]
Narrator: And Satan shook his head, and walked away for a time. And God’s angels came and took care of Jesus.
Benediction
Be with us, Lord, as we go from this place. Give us confidence in your loving presence, and help us witness to that love as we encounter others. AMEN.
ARTISTIC ELEMENTS
The traditional color for today is: Purple, however, I am using “character” colors to represent each Sunday. The worship center may be draped in purple, if you wish.
[The large rough wooden cross is placed in the front of the chancel/worship area. Place burlap at the base to cover the stand.]
FABRIC: Purple cloth may be draped over the worship center. It should come to the floor but not be “puddled.”
CANDLES: Two candles may be placed on the worship center on either side of an open Bible.
OTHER: Place an open Bible in the center of the worship table.read more
WORSHIP FOR KIDS: MARCH 5, 2017 by Carolyn C. BrownFrom a Child's Point of View
Old Testament: Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7. Recent studies indicate that all people move through predictable stages or tasks as they develop moral reasoning. The stage of a worshiper's moral development greatly influences the understanding of this Old Testament story.
In the earliest stage, children accept rules as irrefutable. By the age of four or five, they realize that those who are biggest and most powerful set the rules. Decisions to obey or disobey rules are made in order to receive rewards or escape punishment from the powerful. To people who reason this way, this story says that God is the biggest and most powerful being in the world. Indeed, God created the world, and therefore God's rules are to be obeyed. There are serious consequences when one breaks the rules.
Most young elementary children begin to realize that a person's motivations for breaking or obeying rules are important. They struggle with the difference between meaning well and simply being defiant. They experience situations in which the right and loving thing to do requires breaking the rules. From that perspective, the defiance of Adam and Eve is the key to the Fall. Adam and Eve knew what was wrong to do, but they did it anyway, simply for their own satisfaction.
That defiance is further defined by older elementary children, who generally see the world as a conglomerate of groups and individuals, each with an assigned role. It is important to these children to be a "good girl," a "good scout," and so forth. Therefore, when Adam and Eve defied the rule and ate the forbidden apple because they wanted to be "like God," they were stepping beyond their place and role. They were not being "good" people. By stepping out of their role, they broke the trust and peace with each other and between themselves and God. Shame and division resulted.
The challenge to children at each level is that they not do as Adam and Eve did. The truth is that people of all ages often do.
Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11. The temptations Jesus faced in the wilderness are very similar to those children face today. The first temptation was to be selfish, to take care of his own wants and needs. This temptation confronts children in the drive to get the biggest piece of pizza, the best basketball, the prettiest clothes, the most video games, and so forth. Jesus insisted that there are better things to do than worry about how much we gather for ourselves.
Jesus' second temptation was to use his powers for attention--to show off. Children today must decide whether to use their talents and abilities to gain praise and attention, or to help others. Jesus refused to be a show-off.
The third temptation was to be king of the world. Kings make all the decisions. Everyone else does what the king says. Children often wish they could be king or queen and, for once, be in charge. Jesus, though he would have made the very best king ever, refused to take such power. Instead, he chose to obey God.
Matthew presents Jesus' response as a decision to live within the role of a "good" person, as God intended. He planned to obey God.
Epistle: Romans 5:12-19. Paul's highly abstract theology is beyond the mental abilities of children. To their literal minds, it is neither sensible nor fair that either Adam's disobedience or Jesus' obedience should affect them. Read this passable for the adults. The children will find more meaning in comparing the actions of Adam and Jesus.
Psalm: 32. A child's summary of this psalm:
Happy are those who are forgiven by God. When the psalmist tried to cover up his sins, he felt guilty and awful. When he finally admitted what he had done and apologized, God forgave him. He says that a God who forgives you can be counted on to take care of you in any situation. And you would be smart to listen to that God and do as that God teaches.
The sin vocabulary and poetic images make this psalm difficult for children to follow as it is read.
Watch Words
The Fall, to children, is simply a title for the story of Adam and Eve's disobedience. The theological significance of a fall from grace is beyond their literal thinking.
Temptation is a familiar word.
Let the Children Sing
To sing about resisting temptation, choose "O Jesus, I Have Promised" or "Take Time to Be Holy."
The connection between God's creation of the world and the battle against sin makes "This Is My Father's World" a good choice. Explore the meaning of verse 3 before it is sung.
Most children also know the creation hymns, "All Things Bright and Beautiful" and "For the Beauty of the Earth."
The Liturgical Child
1. Place an apple or an apple with a bite out of it in a greenery display in the worship center.
2. Matthew's account of the temptation is primarily a conversation between Jesus and Satan. As you read, take the two roles. Let the tone of Satan's sly superiority and Jesus' positive commitments be heard in your voice. Turn slightly toward one side while reading Satan's propositions, and toward the other side while reading Jesus' replies. Use your hands to point to the sweep of lands being offered, and to emphasize the suggested leap from the top of the Temple.
3. Focus confession on our tendency to be like Adam and Eve, rather than like Jesus:
Lord God, who created us, we confess that we are a lot like Adam and Eve. We too want to be "like God." We want to be in charge of everything, to know everything, to do everything our way. We are willing to break the rules and hurt one another to have our way. Forgive us.
Help us instead to learn from Jesus. Remind us that having what we want and need is not so very important. Tame our wild desires to be the center of attention, the star, the winner every time. Teach us to know your will and to obey. For we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Sermon Resources
1. Before the sermon, or before reading the Genesis text, give each worshiper a piece of wrapped hard candy, but instruct everyone not to eat the candy. During the sermon, describe different reasons for eating the candy as a springboard to exploring our responses to other temptations. At the end of the sermon, invite worshipers to eat the "teaching aid" if they wish.
2. Obey is a key word in the Genesis and Matthew stories. It marks the difference between Adam and Jesus. It is also something most of us do not like to do. Children do not like to obey, and they long for the day they will not need to obey anyone. Most brides no longer promise in their wedding vows to obey their husbands. In business, management techniques often stress group decision-making, rather than obedience to directives from the boss. Children appreciate having their feelings about obedience recognized and hearing about adult problems with obedience.
3. Tell stories about sinners whose experiences follow that of the psalmist (e.g., a child who called a sister a name that hurt badly—first trying to ignore what had happened, then feeling guilty before the sister and before God, finally apologizing to both and accepting forgiveness).read more
SERMON OPTIONS: MARCH 5, 2017THE NATURE OF SIN
GENESIS 2:15-17; 3:1-7
The word sin isn't in the text, but sin is its theme nonetheless. In fact, this passage contains the familiar story of the origin of sin. Eve and Adam learned the hard way that sin delivers destruction into the lives of those who commit it. They had been warned by God that serious consequences would follow from their disobedience, but they paid no attention. Sometimes we may become careless in our attitude toward the consequences of sin. When that happens, we should beware. Look at the cycle of sin as described in the text.
I. We Become Aware of God's Gracious Will for Our Lives
Adam and Eve knew beyond doubt that the Lord was gracious to them. He provided them with every essential gift for fulfillment in life. He kept from them only one thing—the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He even explained to them the reason for that single prohibition: they would experience evil, and evil would issue in death. In that case death encompassed both spiritual death, which is separation from God, and physical death, resulting from their loss of access to the tree of life.
The couple also clearly understood God's will for them. Eve confessed such an awareness in her response to the serpent. His initial effort to mislead her was not successful because she detected his lie. Sin becomes a possibility for anyone who has insight into the nature and purpose of God.
II. We Are Tempted to Rebel Against God's Gracious Will
The serpent persisted in the temptation of Eve, and his strategy was successful. He first forthrightly accused God of lying. Then he himself told another lie. By that time Eve had already entered into the mentality that made her vulnerable. She doubted God's word. She doubted enough to consider the forbidden fruit, then she succumbed to its enticement and ate. Adam readily followed her lead. Satan has the uncanny ability to make evil inviting. From the urge to get more of this world's goods, to the drive to lust, to the inclination to cling to bitterness, we know that the devil has power to persuade us to sin.
However, we have an advantage Adam and Eve didn't have. We have revealed to us in this text and in other places in the Bible Satan's strategy and methodology. Understanding his tactics assists us in resisting temptation, and when we do, the devil will flee from us.
III. We Experience Conviction and Shame Following Our Sin
Normally, conviction of sin will hit the transgressor immediately after the act. Eve and Adam knew immediately that they had sinned. They felt guilty before God and shame before each other. A dedicated Christian confessed the guilt and shame she sensed following a verbal expression of hatred for a person who had hurt her. A young man told of the time he was so burdened with conviction of sin that he fell before God in a catharsis of repentance and confession. All of us have experienced similar feelings when we've failed the Lord.
The cycle of sin begins with an awareness of God's gracious will for us. Once we know how good God is and what God desires for us, Satan will entice us to reject God's purpose for our lives. When we fall to that temptation, we sin, resulting in a sense of shame before God. The cycle can be broken before it leads to sin.
It may be broken when we are tempted to reject God's will. Our Lord taught us how by example. When he was tempted in the wilderness, he resisted Satan by refusal to disobey God. As a result, Satan eventually left him alone for a season. As James wrote, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7) . (Jerry E. Oswalt)
BEING AN AUTHENTIC PERSON
ROMANS 5:12-19
The bold ideas of facing up to our sinfulness and placing our complete trust in the free gift of God's grace as given are not all that easy in a culture obsessed with ownership and earning. Paul, however, wants to make it clear that because we are human we sin, and that the only way out of our sinfulness is the acceptance of the gift of God's grace as shared in Christ. This passage can be a most helpful one in the season of Lent to broaden our understanding of self-examination and the difference God's grace seeks to make in and through such an experience.
I. Self-examination Helps Us See Our Need for God's Grace
The temptation with the idea of self-examination is to understand it as something we do for ourselves, out of a sense of duty and obligation to God, so that we can better serve God. Such a discipline, done in such a way, misses the point of Paul's understanding of the free gift of God's grace. Self-examination does not begin with us; rather, it begins as we see ourselves in the light of God's grace. Such grace given freely in the moments we live exposes the shadows of who we are.
In Paul's way of thinking, we can only be the humans God created us to be. Being human means we are sinners. If we are to truly be involved in a self-examination that will be honest, such an experience must begin with grace. With the emphasis in our culture on self-help, this becomes a most ambitious understanding to relate.
II. Self-examination Is Valueless without God's Grace
Paul clearly identifies where such thinking leads. Left to the self, we will be left with judgment, condemnation, and death. Any Lenten self-examination not rooted in the experience of God's free gift of grace will end up leading to a try-harder mentality so as to win the approval of God. To do so is to miss the whole point of grace and what graces does in us and through us. The Lenten experience must include feelings of sorrow and resolve, and it must also seek, to express with joy and thanksgiving the difference God's grace makes in our lives.
The underlying reason for the Lenten experience both begins and ends in grace. To focus on self to the point that we are going to do better, outside grace, is to miss the whole point of the Lenten experience. For Paul, the human experience must be lived from only one perspective: grace.
Katherine Ann Power lived a life of hiding. As a college student in the early seventies, she was involved in a bank robbery that led to the murder of a police officer. Just recently, she left the life she had created that included a husband, a son, friends, and a job to turn herself in to authorities after two decades as a fugitive. Emerging from the shadows into the light, she stated she did so "in order to live with full authenticity in the present ... with openness and truth, rather than hiddenness and shame."
That is what this passage and Lent are. It is a time whereby with the goodness and love of God's grace in Christ persons seek to live with full authenticity in the present ... with openness and truth, rather than hiddenness and shame. For Paul, the human experience must begin and end in God's grace. Anything less than that experience has somehow failed to find God's vision for each life. All God has ever wanted for us is to be the authentic human beings we are. Only God's grace will help make that so. (Travis Franklin)
IN THE WILDERNESS
MATTHEW 4:1-11
Lou Holtz, who coached football at Notre Dame, was interviewed after a Cotton Bowl game. People and the press were going on and on about the great impact of the game, and Lou said, "Wait a minute. The game isn't all that important. There must be three billion people in China who don't even care what happened." Sooner or later we must leave behind all our mountaintop experiences, and we must return to the valley below—down where the dangerous days are for life and for faith. The peril to faith and trust comes in the ordinary days when monotony and the commonplace stretch out, like forty days in the wilderness. The same Holy Spirit who brought Jesus the announcement of God's approval at baptism now leads him out into the days of temptation and letdown.
I. Temptation Often Comes in the Wake of Commitment
It is always true that once we have accepted a high challenge and made a great commitment, there comes the temptation to forsake the cause. There is always the temptation to give up the commitment to the best and settle for something less. Once we have made a commitment to be God's persons, there comes the temptation to compromise and to settle for something less than God's best. The long, difficult journey always brings the temptation to give up the painful pilgrimage to paradise.
II. Temptation Often Comes in the Days of Ordinary Service
If we are to be disciples of Jesus Christ, we have to recognize that such obedience is going to take us through long periods of wilderness, frustration, work, and the ordinary. We need to be prepared for that. That is why so much of the message of our consumerist economy is demonic. It is all part of the barefaced lie to convince us that we can escape the drab ordinary days of our lives by resorting to alcohol, new cars, trips to other places, new clothing, or sexual excitement. The devil tempts Jesus each time with the suggestion that he do something a little spectacular to escape the boredom of the day. Don't settle for soup and sandwiches—turn the stones into a real holiday buffet!
Jesus will not betray his commitment to God and humanity by escaping from our human limitations. Jesus knew that human life has its ordinary side. Jimmy Buffett sends his sweepstakes winner "Somewhere Over China" because it is his one chance in a million to "brighten up a boring day." But all of our human lives have drudgery and boredom.
III. God Gives Us the Grace to Defeat Temptation
Jesus was prepared for his long journey by his knowledge of Scripture. Everywhere along the way, Jesus' response to temptation was a response from Scripture. So it is with us. That is why the Christian community tries to spend so much time in making disciples by the normal means of grace—Scripture, prayer, worship, service, and giving—to develop the habits of faith to keep us faithful in the weary times.
It is not a matter of great feelings and passions. One suspects that Jesus did not glow with the great joy of being the Anointed of God out there in the wilderness being tempted. He was not being sustained by the warm spiritual glow or the power of positive thinking. It didn't matter whether he liked what he was doing or not. He continued in obedience and faith by his reliance on the promises of God in Scripture. The story gives us the promise that God will sustain us and minister to us along the way. After the forty days, angels came and ministered to Jesus. Somewhere along the painful pilgrimage to paradise as you stay faithful, suddenly and unexpectedly an angel of mercy, some act of kindness, some word of hope, some gesture of inspiration, will be given to you to minister to you and to encourage you in the midst of the ordinary days of temptation. Such is the promise of God's Spirit to those who are God's disciples. (Rick Brand) read more
MARCH 5, 2017 - JUST SAY NO by William H. Willimon
PULPIT RESOURCE
INSPIRING-HUMOROUS-EDGY-CONFRONTING-RELEVANTDOWNLOAD A SAMPLE NOW
Welcome to the new Pulpit Resource from Will Willimon. For over three decades Pulpit Resource helps preachers prepare to preach. Now in partnership with Abingdon Press, this homiletical weekly is available with fresh and timely accessibility to a new generation of preachers.
No sermon is a solo production. Every preacher relies on inherited models, mentors in the preacher’s past, commentaries on biblical texts by people who have given their lives to such study, comments received from members of the congregation, last week’s news headlines, and all the other things that make a sermon communal.
No Christian does anything on their own. We live through the witness of the saints; preachers of the past inspire us and judge us. Scripture itself is a product of the community of faith. A host of now-forgotten teachers taught us how to speak. Nobody is born a preacher.
Pulpit Resource is equivalent to sitting down with a trusted clergy friend over a cup of coffee and asking, “What will you preach next Sunday?” Whenever I’ve been asked by new preachers, “How can I develop as a preacher?” my usual response is, “Get in a group of preachers. Meet regularly. Learn how to give and how to receive help. Sort through the advice of others, and utilize helpful insights.”
That’s Pulpit Resource.
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You now have the new option of subscribing to Pulpit Resource online to allow you easy access at any time. The print version is also still available for subscription. Simply pick the option that best meets your needs to subscribe today.
ONLINE ONLY SUBSCRIPTION – $70 PRINT SUBSCRIPTION – $70 ONLINE AND PRINT SUBSCRIPTION – $80
Alert! Subscribers to Pulpit Resource who purchased through Logos Productions:
If you subscribed to Will Willimon’s Pulpit Resource through Logos Productions before December 31, 2015, we have a record of your postal address and subscription expiration date, but we do not have your account in our system. To continue receiving Pulpit Resource for the life of your paid subscription, you must call customer service at 1-800-409-5346 or email subscriptions@ministrymatters.com. Your new account will not be charged until it is time to renew your annual subscription.read more
MARCH 5, 2017 - FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT by Sheila Bouie-Sledge
PREACHING ANNUAL
The Abingdon Preaching Annual includes:
The Primary Theme Fleshed out with brief, pithy nuggets of thought, idea jump-starters, or questions designed to spur the preacher’s imagination.
Secondary or Parallel Themes Two or three themes or streams of thought that are related to but separate from the primary theme offered.
Worship Helps Including Gathering Prayer, Collect, Pastoral Prayer, Congregational Prayer, Responsive Reading, and a Closing Prayer or Benediction.
Topical Essays These 700 word essays cover a variety of current and critical topics for the preacher—contributed by leading homileticians.
Full Sermons The full text from six to twelve sermons will be included. Additional are available online. These sermons will highlight best practices, unique approaches, and fresh voices.
Sermon Series Ideas This section will briefly outline and describe ideas for unique sermon series based on lectionary readings.
"As a weekly preacher, I often find that preparing for preaching and crafting sermons are spiritual disciplines for me. It is a time in which I try to quiet all of the other 'to do' lists that occupy much of my ministry. This resource from Abingdon Press will now be a partner in those conversations, almost like a new personal devotional guide. I am grateful for additional voices who can help me make space for God’s Living Word." - Shannon J Kershner, Pastor, Fourth Presbyterian Church, Chicago, IL
Ready to Subscribe?
You now have the new option of subscribing to the Preaching Annual online to allow you easy access at any time. The print version is also still available for subscription. Simply pick the option that best meets your needs to subscribe today.
ONLINE ONLY SUBSCRIPTION – $20.00 PRINT SUBSCRIPTION – $20.00PULPIT RESOURCE COMBO ONLINE SUBSCRIPTION – $86.75PULPIT RESOURCE COMBO PRINT SUBSCRIPTION – $86.75read more
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