05 JUL 09
SENT WITH POWER
SENT WITH POWER
OPENING PRAYER (ADAPTED FROM PSALM 48)
ONE Great is the LORD and greatly to be praised in the city of our God. His holy mountain, beautiful in elevation, is the joy of all the earth, Mount Zion, in the far north, the city of the great King. Within its citadels God has shown himself a sure defense.
ALL Great is the LORD!
ONE Then the kings assembled, they came on together. As soon as they saw it, they were astounded; they were in panic, they took to flight; trembling took hold of them there, pains as of a woman in labor, as when an east wind shatters the ships of Tarshish.
ALL As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD of hosts, in the city of our God, which God establishes forever.
ONE We ponder your steadfast love, O God, in the midst of your temple. Your name, O God, like your praise, reaches to the ends of the earth.
ALL Victory fills the LORD’s right hand.
ONE Let Mount Zion be glad, let the towns of Judah rejoice because of your judgments. We shall walk about Zion, go all around it, count its towers, consider well its ramparts; go through its citadels, that we may tell the next generation this is God, our God forever and ever.
ALL The LORD will be our guide forever
INTRODUCTION
Living in the fullness of God’s powerful and loving presence is a faith-filled journey.
God calls and sends us to do the work of the Kingdom.
We respond based upon a trust that God sends us where we are needed.
The lectionary readings for today invite us to discern God’s wisdom as we move forward, embracing challenges and hurdles with hope and imagination.
Keeping in mind that yesterday was Independence Day, our greatest civil holiday, the lectionary readings also have relevance to the role of Christians in, and under, governments.
What authority do governments have?
What is our duty to our governments?
Focus To consider the dynamics of hearing and proclaiming the gospel.
2 SAMUEL 5:1 – 5, 9 - 10
TEXT
1 Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and said, “Look, we are your bone and flesh.
2 For some time, while Saul was king over us, it was you who led out Israel and brought it in. The LORD said to you: It is you who shall be shepherd of my people Israel, you who shall be ruler over Israel.”
3 So all the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron; and King David made a covenant with them at Hebron before the LORD, and they anointed David king over Israel.
4 David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
5 At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.
9 David occupied the stronghold, and named it the city of David. David built the city all around from the Millo inward.
10 And David became greater and greater, for the LORD, the God of hosts, was with him.
DISCUSSION
Last week’s Old Testament lection related how David led his own victorious troops in a lament over the deaths of Saul and Jonathan.
In the interim between that lection and the one for this week:
David was anointed king in Judah (which would later become the Southern Kingdom) and began ruling in Hebron.
Saul’s son, Ishbaal, was crowned king over Israel (the ten northern tribes) with the support of his general, Abner.
Saul and Ishbaal waged war against each other in order to establish the rightful claimant to the throne of the entire nation.
Feeling disrespect by Ishbaal, Abner defected to work for David.
Shortly thereafter, David’s general, Joab, killed Abner. David publicly reprimanded Joab for killing Abner.
Other assassins killed Ishbaal, probably hoping for a prominent place in David’s court.
David had these assassins executed and dismembered, thereby distancing himself from the death of Ishbaal.
This lection for this week relates
The elders of Israel (the ten northern tribes) recognized David’s military leadership on their behalf during Saul’s reign.
The Philistines were still powerful and active; therefore, these elders recognized they needed a war leader.
The elders of Israel approached David to become king over the northern kingdom.
David captured Jerusalem, rebuilt and expanded the city, and made it the seat of his government.
Verse 9
The Millo
May have been a rampart the Jebusites built prior to the Israelite conquest of the city.
The King James version footnotes Millo as The Landfill.
The New International version translates Mill to supporting terraces.
The New Revised Standard version suggests Millo (filling) was probably a built-up ravine that provided a natural defense.
Solomon also worked on the Millo.
Because God was with David, he became greater and greater – more powerful.
Scholars generally consider that David reigned from 1000 – 900 BC.
Holy Scripture continued to refer to Israel and Judah as separate kingdoms/territories, although David ruled over both. (Can be confusing.)
The consent of the governed rather than David’s military power was the key factor in establishment and continuation of his unified government. (US Declaration of Independence)
The elders of the northern tribes initiated the covenant with David; but, did not come to David because of a command performance from him.
David would have to be faithful to the elders of the northern tribes and, by extension, to all the people of Israel.
God, not only David’s inner circle, witnessed the covenant between David and the northern elders.
Biblical views on earthly governments (summary)
Governments can be of God as shown in Exodus 19:6.
You shall be for me a priestly and a holy nation
Deut 17:14 – 20 permits the establishment of monarchy (government) in Israel so long as the monarch (governmental ruling authority) is prudent and law-abiding.
When you have come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,” you may indeed set over you a king whom the LORD your God will choose. One of your own community you may set as king over you; you are not permitted to put a foreigner over you, who is not of your own community. Even so, he must not acquire many horses for himself, or return the people to Egypt in order to acquire more horses, since the LORD has said to you, “You must never return that way again.” And he must not acquire many wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; also silver and gold he must not acquire in great quantity for himself. When he has taken the throne of his kingdom, he shall have a copy of this law written for him in the presence of the levitical priests. It shall remain with him and he shall read in it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the LORD his God, diligently observing all the words of this law and these statutes, neither exalting himself above other members of the community nor turning aside from the commandment, either to the right or to the left, so that he and his descendants may reign long over his kingdom in Israel.
Romans 13:1 – 2 states that everyone should submit to their governments because God instituted them.
Let every person be subject to the governing authorities; for there is no authority except from God, and those authorities that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists authority resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
Inappropriately used to justify the Divine Right of Kings.
1 Peter 2:13 – 17 also says we should accept the authority of our government.
For the Lord’s sake accept the authority of every human institution, whether of the emperor as supreme, or of governors, as sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to praise those who do right.
In contrast to these generally positive views, the Book of Revelation represents the Roman Empire as a beast who came from Satan and persecuted God’s faithful followers because Christians professed Jesus, rather than the Emperor, as lord and master.
Holy Scripture makes a realistic assessment of human governments. They
Provide protection and stability (i.e., feed Jesus’ sheep).
Demand support and loyalty.
Have precious gifts that seem God-given.
Sometimes (often?) exhibit failures sufficiently serious to call into question the idea of having God-given authority.
From the Biblical perspective, therefore, the ultimate danger of governments is that they will come to see themselves as supreme, demanding worship and making claims appropriate only to God.
Relevance of this lection to our Independence Day celebrations
If, for the sake of this discussion, we leave aside any consideration as to whether or not the US is (or behaves like) a Judeo-Christian nation, Holy Scripture can be interpreted to provide a compelling rational for our War of Independence.
The English Empire did not act toward its American colonists according to Biblical principles defining a holy or God-ordained government.
Holy Scripture
Does not point to American Independence as the fulfillment of Biblical prophecy.
May in some ways critique the American experiment while calling us to final loyalty in God’s reign in Jesus Christ.
We can take justifiable pride in our Independence Day celebrations as long as we keep in mind the Biblical view of the ultimate sin of a government.
As Judeo-Christians with primary allegiance to Jesus Christ, we must strive to ensure our government acts in manners always consistent with these Biblical principles.
Our tactics in working toward this goal, however, continue to bedevil us.
MARK 6:1 - 13
TEXT
1 He left that place and came to his hometown, and his disciples followed him.
2 On the sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands!
3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.
4 Then Jesus said to them, “Prophets are not without honor, except in their hometown, and among their own kin, and in their own house.”
5 And he could do no deed of power there, except that he laid his hands on a few sick people and cured them.
6 Then he went about among the villages teaching.
7 He called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.
8 He ordered them to take nothing for their journey except a staff; no bread, no bag, no money in their belts;
9 but to wear sandals and not to put on two tunics.
10 He said to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave the place.
11 If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”
12 So they went out and proclaimed that all should repent.
13 They cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them.
DISCUSSION
This lection offers two related stories:
The rejection of Jesus at Nazareth.
The sending of the twelve to announce and show signs of God’s kingdom across the surrounding villages of Galilee.
Verse 2
Jesus astounded the people at Nazareth with his wisdom and deeds of power performed in other places.
Verses 3 - 4
The people of Nazareth couldn’t get over their previous image of Jesus as an ordinary person who had grown up in their midst.
Verse 5
The lack of faith from the Nazarenes prevented Jesus from illustrating God’s power and the arrival of God’s Kingdom.
Recall from last’s discussion: In the synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke), Jesus’ miracles are demonstrations of power meant to help people in need and to show that the Kingdom of God is soon to appear.
Jesus requires belief/faith in order to do deeds of power. These deeds are not miracles to prove Jesus’ divinity.
Verse 6
Rather than allowing frustration over the lack of faith in Nazareth to inhibit him, Jesus taught in other villages.
Relevance to Independence Day: American colonists tried several approaches to get the British Empire to do “the right thing” but finally had seek a more viable option through force of arms.
Verses 7 - 13
These verses offer an example of effective tactics in proclaiming and illustrating Jesus’ power and the coming of the Kingdom of God.
Importantly, we must recognize that, if we encounter failure, we must not abandon our mission but move on to more fertile locations.
Jesus sent the disciples to villages (people), not congregations.
He gave the disciples specific behavioral instructions without doctrinal precepts.
He instructed the disciples to show the power of God’s kingdom and to proclaim repentance wherever they went, day in and day out.
The disciples’ deeds of power and way of living were the chief proclamation that some new power had arrived.
The work of the disciples illustrated Jesus’ missional strategy, which was primarily incarnational.
Not about convincing people on doctrinal grounds.
About demonstrating, in the flesh (witnessing), that God’s reign had come, thereby opening the way for dramatically changed lives.
2 CORINTHIANS 12:2 - 10
TEXT
2 I know a person in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows.
3 And I know that such a person--whether in the body or out of the body I do not know; God knows—
4 was caught up into Paradise and heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat.
5 On behalf of such a one I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses.
6 But if I wish to boast, I will not be a fool, for I will be speaking the truth. But I refrain from it, so that no one may think better of me than what is seen in me or heard from me,
7even considering the exceptional character of the revelations. Therefore, to keep me from being too elated, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, to keep me from being too elated.
8 Three times I appealed to the Lord about this, that it would leave me,
9 but he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” So, I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
10 Therefore I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ; for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.
DISCUSSION
Summary of this lection:
After describing his ecstatic experience of being caught up into Paradise, Paul tells us that his real spiritual revelation came from the assurance of the sufficiency of God’s grace in the midst of Paul’s struggles and suffering.
Need to be extremely careful about how we interpret and apply this text.
Paul does not enunciate a principle but states a conclusion reached through his own struggles with God.
Focusing on the text as a principle may lead those of us struggling with weaknesses, physical or otherwise, feeling guilty because, if we had more faith, we could circumvent the problems or they would be removed.
Paul precisely affirmed his problem (thorn in the flesh), and came to realize over a long period of time that God’s grace provided what Paul needed, even in the midst of the struggle.
Paul does not say that, if his faith were sufficiently strong, God would remove the weakness.
Paul does testify that God’s grace would allow Paul to do God’s work despite whatever infirmity Paul suffered.
CLOSING PRAYER
Gracious God, make us eager to hear your call to serve in grace and hope. Be with us as journey with the message of your powerful and saving love for all your children. We pray in the name of Jesus Christ and through invocation of the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen
