Good News?

Friday, September 8, 2023

And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent?  That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”  But not everyone welcomes the Good News, for Isaiah the prophet said, “Lord, who has believed our message?”  So faith comes from hearing, that is, hearing the Good News about Christ.  But I ask, have the people of Israel actually heard the message?  Yes, they have:  “The message has gone throughout the earth, and the words to all the world.”  But I ask, did the people of Israel really understand?  Yes, they did, for even in the time of Moses, God said, “I will rouse your jealousy through people who are not even a nation.           I will provoke your anger through the foolish Gentiles.”  And later Isaiah spoke boldly for God, saying, “I was found by people who were not looking for me.       I showed myself to those who were not asking for me.”  But regarding Israel, God said, “All day long I opened my arms to them, but they were disobedient and rebellious.”  Romans 10:15-21

At times obeying God’s commandments and calling can bring puzzling results, especially if you’re talking about preaching.  A wise philosopher named Forrest Gump said his momma told him life was like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re going to get.  It’s like that with some sermons.  One time I prayed over, and prepared diligently, a sermon that I thought would be a turning point for the congregation I was serving.  I imagined Billy Graham hearing it and stealing it for his next crusade.  I was wrong…it only made several members of my congregation angry…the rest probably never thought more about it than the fried chicken dinner they had after worship was over.  Fast-forward to another congregation, there was that Sunday evening service where I preached a sermon I hadn’t prepared well.  It was all over the place, from Genesis to Revelation, prophets, Moses, apostles, and even a digression into the Song of Solomon; when the invitation was given, the altar was full of weeping Christians.  So, who knew?

In today’s Scripture Apostle Paul makes the point that God had given Israel such Good News about God’s love and promised salvation, and given them the job of spreading that Good News to the world – including the nations of Gentiles – but Israel just dropped the ball.  Not the reaction you’d expect from people rescued from being slaves in Egypt, protected by a God who would let them escape Pharaoh’s army by walking on dry land through the Red Sea, fed by manna, wearing clothes that didn’t wear-out for forty years, and supernaturally blessed to possess the Promised Land.  If that isn’t strange enough, how about the best response to the Good News of God’s love coming from the “lost heathens”…the Gentile nations!  In the end, Forrest Gump’s momma was right…you never know.

For You Today 

The Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not tame news.  That’s because our God is no tamed pet; He is the LORD, creator of all we can see and know, and much more.  God’s plans are not predictable, but they are certain.  Our “job” as those who follow Him is to proclaim that Good News, and leave the results to God’s keeping.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,600 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road library. 

Title Images:  Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain. Unless noted, Scripture quoted from NLT^©   

God's Surprises

 

Wednesday, August 19, 2020

I will count Egypt and Babylon among those who know me—also Philistia and Tyre, and even distant Ethiopia.  They have all become citizens of Jerusalem!  Regarding Jerusalem it will be said, “Everyone enjoys the rights of citizenship there.”  And the Most High will personally bless this city.  When the Lord registers the nations, he will say, “They have all become citizens of Jerusalem.”  The people will play flutes and sing, “The source of my life springs from Jerusalem!”  Psalm 87:4-7

“As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain, so will you always be my people, with a name that will never disappear,” says the Lord.  “All humanity will come to worship me from week to week and from month to month.   Isaiah 66:22-23

And I tell you this, that many Gentiles will come from all over the world—from east and west—and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven.  Matthew 8:11

They are way too many to count, all those little hints in Scripture, that we humans are miles off-course when it comes to living out God’s plan for humanity.  These three little samplings of today’s readings (Psalm, Prophet, and Gospel) are a stark contrast to the way we see things in the 21^st century.  The cultural lens, particularly in government, colors everything in hues of friend or foe.  Consider the evidence:

          ·       Central Intelligence Agency, National Security Agency, Homeland Security

          ·       Republicans…Democrats…Libertarians…Independents

          ·       Born and bred in this region or that (and fiercely loyal within)

          ·       Citizens by birth – naturalization – or illegal alien

          ·       Black, white, Hispanic, Asian, whatever…

On the religious front there is also the kind of division that makes Heaven weep.  Friend or foe separation is endemic to belief systems.  Christians, Jews, Muslims, and atheists, along with the agnostics and indifferentists, are only a starting place.  From there we separate into what kind or brand.  In Christianity there is Calvinism, Arminianism, Free-will, Independent, Roman Catholic, and a thousand other choices. 

And don’t even start on the denominations within the brands.  And where did it all come from?  Our division comes from the perception that the other person is either just plain wrong, or just doesn’t get it ALL quite right.  And so you have people separating from each other, building bigger walls, wider divisions, longer tunnels of doubt and suspicion.

And then, there is God in Heaven, perhaps with a tear in His eyes, but unworried.  And what God said through the Psalmist, the prophet, and the Gospel writer, is that, someday God will bring together all those who have so successfully divided themselves from each other, and every dividing thought will melt into a wisp of thin air, every harsh idea will crumble like Babel’s tower, and brothers will be reunited like Jacob and Esau, falling on each other’s necks, glad to be together.  There will be singing of a new song, dancing to match the angel’s clapping time, and a newness to fellowship that will not disappear…ever.

This…is something we can never do here…all we can do is point to it, in faith, and lift our collective little voices and pray, even so, COME, Lord Jesus.

For You Today

After you’re done reading this devotional (or listening), take a few more moments to go back and read today’s full lection (Psalm 87, Isaiah 66 and Matthew 8).  As you read, open the lens in your heart that sees with the kind of love God has for everyone, and measure that against some of the things you’ve either been taught, or have come to believe about others.

And then, spend a little quiet time, not speaking, just being silent, and listening for that still, small, sound of sandaled feet coming near.  God has some surprises in store for us; don’t let the sounds of hatred, violence, and greed drown out the good news.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

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Title image Pixabay.com ∞  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For another post on God’s plan for the Gentiles see God Always Has a....Plan-B

 

God Always Has a Plan-B

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Tuesday, December 18, 2018

He had hardly finished speaking the words when the ground suddenly split open beneath them.  The earth opened its mouth and swallowed the men, along with their households and all their followers who were standing with them, and everything they owned.  So they went down alive into the grave, along with all their belongings.  The earth closed over them, and they all vanished from among the people of Israel.  All the people around them fled when they heard their screams. “The earth will swallow us, too!” they cried.  Then fire blazed forth from the Lord and burned up the 250 men who were offering incense.  Numbers 16:31-35(NLT)

He will give justice to the poor and make fair decisions for the exploited.  The earth will shake at the force of his word, and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.  He will wear righteousness like a belt and truth like an undergarment.  Isaiah 11:4-5(NLT)

So a time was set, and on that day a large number of people came to Paul’s lodging. He explained and testified about the Kingdom of God and tried to persuade them about Jesus from the Scriptures.  Using the law of Moses and the books of the prophets, he spoke to them from morning until evening.  Some were persuaded by the things he said, but others did not believe.  And after they had argued back and forth among themselves, they left with this final word from Paul:  “The Holy Spirit was right when he said to your ancestors through Isaiah the prophet, ‘Go and say to this people:  When you hear what I say, you will not understand.  When you see what I do, you will not comprehend.  For the hearts of these people are hardened, and their ears cannot hear, and they have closed their eyes—so their eyes cannot see, and their ears cannot hear, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and let me heal them.’  So I want you to know that this salvation from God has also been offered to the Gentiles, and they will accept it.”  Acts 28:23-28(NLT)

The authors of these passages, Moses, Isaiah, and Luke, were spread out over roughly 1600 years.  But their theme is consistent and foreboding:  God’s Plan-B!

Plan-B does not suggest Plan A was deficient; certainly not in God’s plans.  God only goes to a secondary plan because humans must find out how deficient we are in preferring God’s perfect will over our own.  Indeed, the Law, Moses’ stern collection of thou shalt not’s was only a teacher of how unable and unwilling we are to obey.

Moses’ passage in Numbers recounts Korah’s rebellion, how some of the Exodus Israelites wanted to usurp Moses being the leader.  God opened the mouth of the earth and swallowed them up.  Plan-B was severe!

Isaiah pointed to the Second Coming of Christ, when he will fix our broken justice system for all eternity.  Our plan A for being fair and honest with our fellow humans has been misused, abused and gridlocked for generations.

And Paul tried to reason with God’s Israelite nation that Jesus was the Messiah, only to meet with religious pride, arrogance and a debate from morning till nighttime.  He finally had to announce what made him an enemy of the Jews – God had blessed the Gentiles to receive His Son…Plan-B!  The Lord’s petulant Jewish family was in for a woodshed experience…again!

Different eras, same problems – God wants to bless his obedient children, but obedience goes lacking, and Plan-B is set in motion. 

Sounds pretty depressing for a Tuesday morning, but there is a silver lining in this cloud of despair; two silver linings, actually:

1.      Whenever Plan-B is necessary, repentance is also an option.  When we repent of sin, God is faithful to forgive and restore Plan-A benefits; the chief of which is a new-slate of relationship with the Father, and a chance to serve Him faithfully.

2.      There is also the reality of witness.  Each time God’s people mess-up in the obedience department Plan-B is a witness of God’s purpose and power.  Others get brought into the picture (like the Gentiles in Paul’s day), and God’s family is blessed in ways that may seem odd at first, but we will eventually understand the perfect will of God even in what looks weird to humanity.

For You Today

Scripture is abundantly clear that, ever since the Garden of Eden, humans have a real problem with Plan-A.  And, considering our track record, praise God He always has a Plan-B!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com