Saturday, February 22, 2014

The promises of God 2-23-14 week 14 of THE STORY


·        Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye.
·        I’ll swear it on a stack of Bibles.
·        If I’m lyin I’m dyin.
·        I swear it on my mother’s grave.

People say all kinds of things to convince others that their promises are true. I suppose if we told the truth more often we would not have to work so hard to convince others that we are telling the truth now. Let me tell you about one whose word is always true.

First, some background.
We have to back up to Solomon’s chasing after other Gods. Remember, he had 1000 wives and concubines, many of whom were foreigners who brought their religion along with them. In the last paragraph of THE STORY chapter 13 God says, “Since this is your attitude and you have not kept my covenants and decrees which I commanded you, I will most certainly tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your subordinates.”
During the latter part of his life, Solomon engaged in a number of building projects in which Jerry (That’s Jeroboam for those of you who are not on a first name basis with him) Jerry proved to be particularly trustworthy. Trustworthy enough that Solomon put him in charge of all the forced labor. About that time, Ahijah the prophet met Jerry on the road. He tore his brand new cloak into twelve pieces and told Jerry to take 10 of them. It represented that he would become king of 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel. Jerry then rebelled against Solomon, trying to take those 10 tribes, which proved to be a mistake and he had to flee to Egypt.
When Solomon died and his son Rahoboam took over the kingdom, (we’ll call him Ray) When Ray took over the kingdom Jerry came back and requested on behalf of the people that he reduce the taxes and forced labor. Ray got both good advice and bad advice, but of course chose the bad advice telling the people that he would not reduce the taxes and labor but would in fact increase both. “You think you’ve got it bad now… just wait,” he says. Jerry took the people and seceded from the kingdom leaving Ray with only 2 tribes, just as Ahijah had prophesied.
The sad summary on page 195 of THE STORY half way down is, “Israel has been in rebellion against the house of David to this day.”
No king is going to let some yahoo walk off with 5/6ths of his kingdom so Ray naturally amassed an army and headed for the border. Then the word of the Lord came through a prophet who told him “Do not fight against your brothers, The Israelites. Go home every one of you, for this is my doing.”

“For this is my doing?” YES
In the lower story, this is a disaster. Ray is clearly the villain and Jerry a hero. There is this tragic civil war between the north and the south. The great kingdom has been divided. The great strength of the nation has been cut in half. The influence of the nation has been diminished. There is nothing good about this in the lower story.
The upper story, however has little to do with tyrannical leaders like Ray, or popular heroes like Jerry. The upper story has little to do with nations and politics. The upper story has little to say about the main characters here or the lower story events. The upper story lesson here is really pretty simple. I keep my word. No, cross my heart. No, mother’s grave or stack of Bibles because God has always kept his word.
God keeps God’s word because unlike us he is focused like a laser beam on one goal and one goal only. Seeing people live in perfect community with him and each other.
WE HAVE SEEN GOD KEEP HIS PROMISES OVER AND OVER IN THE STORY SO FAR.
God promised Abraham that his offspring would be a great nation. In spite of the fact that Abraham and Sari were way past childbearing age. Did God let them down? NO. God gave them Isaac who bore Essau and Jacob who became Israel. A great family indeed.
WE HAVE SEEN GOD KEEP HIS PROMISES OVER AND OVER IN THE STORY SO FAR.
God promised Moses that he would lead the people out of Egypt, did he keep that promise? YES. He promised Moses that if the people kept the laws they would be blessed, if they broke the laws they would be disciplined. Did they get disciplined when they broke the first two commandments? You bet they did. Did they get disciplined when they didn’t have faith in God? You bet they did that’s why they wondered for 40 years in the desert. Did they get blessed when they were faithful. Yes, with the promised land.
WE HAVE SEEN GOD KEEP HIS PROMISES OVER AND OVER IN THE STORY SO FAR.
He promised David that he would rule over a great nation and he did. He promised David that he could be forgiven if he came to God and confessed. He was. He promised David that his tribe and his family would rule forever. Is he keeping that promise? Yes. Even though in the lower story it doesn’t look that way.

YOU SEE GOD COULD NOT PUT UP WITH THE CONSTANT BREAKING OF THE FIRST TWO COMMANDMENTS as the people went chasing after foreign Gods. God could have justly destroyed the whole kit and caboodle of them, but promised Noah that he would never do that again. So he doesn’t.
GOD COULD HAVE GIVEN UP ON ISRAEL, but because he promised Abraham he doesn’t.
GOD COULD HAVE WALKED AWAY AND JUST FORGOTTEN RAY AND JERRY, but he had promised David. He has a promise to keep.
Why…? Why was the promise to David so important? Because out of David’s tribe- out of David’s family will eventually come the messiah. Joseph and therefore Jesus is “Of the house and lineage of David.” You see the whole story starts to make sense when you look at it from the upper story perspective. Rather than destroy, God split the kingdom into two in order to make sure that his promise would be fulfilled no matter what. Cross his heart and hope to die. Stick a needle in his eye.
In the lower story it appears that Ray, and the southern Kingdom are being punished for Solomon’s sins. One would guess at this point that it would fade away and be forgotten by history. It appears that the southern kingdom is being let go because Ray listened to the wrong advice. Except if the southern kingdom ceases to be… God is made out to be a liar. And God is no liar.
IN fact this is all about God keeping God’s word. We have to see that the southern kingdom is not being abandoned, it is paying the price for Solomon’s disobedience.  God is simply keeping God’s word.

God will see this through one way or another.
·        With Solomon or in spite of him.
·        With Rahoboam or in spite of him.
·        With Jeroboam or in spite of him.
·        With Israel or with Judah or in spite of both of them.
·        With the church or without the church.
·        With us or without us.
·        With you or in spite you… God will ultimately see his kingdom come.

Nothing stops God.
·        Not Abraham’s age,
·        or the people’s rebellion under Moses,
·        not David’s sin,
·        or Solomon’s idolatry,
·        not Rahoboam or Jeroboam.
·        Not Jonah’s escape into the whale,
·        or the invading armies of Assyria and Babylon.
Nothing can stop God.
·        Not the hard heartedness of the people toward the prophets.
·        Not the cruelty and abominations committed by the Greeks or the Romans.
·         Not the hatred in Herod’s heart,
·        or the blindness of the disciple’s eyes.
·        Not the not the betrayal by friends
·        nor the killing of God’s son can stop God from fulfilling his promise in Jesus Christ.

·        Neither the stupidity of the early church leaders,

·        nor the foolishness of today’s.

·        Neither the slowness of people to respond,
·        nor the distractions we have placed in God’s way.
·        Neither our reluctance to give our all,
·         nor our eagerness to take the credit ourselves will ever, ever, ever, keep God from fulfilling his promises.

The prayer says “thy kingdom come, thy will be done.” It doesn’t say they kingdom might come or your will may be done. There is nothing in all of creation that can stop God from fulfilling his promises of a new heaven and a new earth.
·        God will do it either with us or without us.
·        Either with the church, or in spite of the church.
·        Either with our cooperation or against our will.
·        Either with us or without us, God’s promises are being fulfilled.

Nothing harms the church more than when we reflect the wrong image of the God who is.
·        When we judge others or view their pain with apathy we are working against the kingdom of God.
·        When we show unkindness to others especially the widows, children and the poor, we are working against the kingdom of God.
·        When we fail to live the life of a witness for the kingdom either in word or in deed we are working against the kingdom of God.
·         When we treat our faith and our church with lack of interest or a sense of boredom we are working against God’s promises.

v God’s promises however, are a flood that is coming whether we are ready or not. It is slowly rising, and rising, and rushing and rushing and we can be ready or not. Either way it is happening

v God’s promises are like time. The baby is coming, the assignment is due, tax season is upon us, old age is creeping up on us and there is nothing we can do about it because time rolls on.

v Like the seasons rolling from spring into summer, into fall into winter and back into spring, God’s activity is slowly but surely changing the world and we cannot stop it.

God’s promises, however, will be fulfilled and you can fight it, you can stand by and watch, or you can be part of it.

God’s kingdom, however, is coming with you or without you. Wouldn’t you prefer that he do it with you?

What a privilege it is to be part of the great kingdom of God that is coming to transform the world and make all things new.
·        Imagine, knowing that the way you live today.
·        Imagine, the way you treat others today.
·        Imagine, the way you confront pain and disappointment today.
·         Imagine, the way you speak today.
·        Imagine, the way you serve today Just might be part of God’s kingdom work right here and now.
On second thought you don’t have to imagine. Because it is. Cross my heart.


AMEN

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