2nd Evangelical Free Church

Blogging Through Isaiah: Modern idolatry.

Isaiah 31 

Isaiah supplements the previous series of oracles with another one pronouncing woe upon those who trust in Egypt. Yahweh says plainly that He will fight for His people. He is the divine Warrior. Though His strength cannot be seen because it is in the realm of the Spirit, He is omnipotent and attacks with surprise and fear far greater than the “shock and awe” strategy that was so proudly proclaimed by the US military in Iraq. No human being who takes arms up against the Lord can ever hope to win. Trusting any person or thing or system other than the Lord is idolatry and must be rooted out.

It may be hard for us to think of idolatry except in terms of statues, idols, false gods and myths, but it actually takes many forms. Any person who does not submit every area of his or her life to the Lord is committing idolatry because he/she is not putting total allegiance or faith in the Lord. All those who rely primarily upon human government to secure and protect them is committing idolatry. Any person who does not seek the Lord’s counsel first in any issue or crisis is committing idolatry. Any person who values the opinions of any celebrity or politician, movie star or guru, friend or relative over the counsel of God is committing idolatry. Of course we tend to forget this in our media drive society. We compartmentalize our lives into work, relationships, leisure. Our relationship with the Lord does not influence how we act in these other areas of life. Yet this too is idolatry.

 

Blogging Through Isaiah: The Kingdom of God is like a banquet.

Isaiah 25 

Isaiah praises God for His glory. He is quite emotional and filled with awe as he enumerates all His wonderful attributes and all the great works He has performed and is performing as He establishes His Kingdom on earth. He describes the Kingdom in terms of a great banquet in which all the redeemed take part. This means that there will be no hunger or thirst. There will be rejoicing because there will be no shame or guilt. The banquet celebrates the comfort, peace, and freedom from pain, strife, anxiety and worry that the Lord brings. He has even conquered death and taken away that fear. 

The banquet of the Lord is a victory celebration. As with every victory there is a winner and a loser. The losers are those who are not redeemed. They rejected the Lord in favor of gorging themselves without limit in this life and so will miss out on the eternal feasting and rejoicing. With Isaiah we can rejoice in the glory of God and the wonders with which He blesses His chosen ones, but while here we will still mourn for the lost for many of them will be those we love and admire. Thus we must make every effort to ensure that our loved ones will not miss that heavenly feast. We must preach the gospel of salvation in Jesus alone not just in words but in deeds that demonstrate the saving power and love of Jesus. We must do this in spite of the opposition and ostracism which we will face. 

 

 

Blogging Through Isaiah: The curse.

Isaiah 24 

Isaiah has now finished his oracles against specific nations. The next 4 chapters address the world in general depicting judgments that will come upon the whole earth to usher in the Kingdom of God. God’s judgment has its origin in Eden, when Adam and Eve sinned and broke covenant with the Lord. What the Lord prophesied in Genesis 3 was a curse upon the earth, on all created beings as well, not merely on all human beings. In these verses, Isaiah shows that the curse comes to fruition in the judgment of the Lord. Major upheavals take place in the earth and the sky that cause anxiety and fear in all humans except for the remnant of believers. In the midst of travail they rejoice at the victory of the Lord.  

Perhaps we are experiencing the fulfillment of the curse in our own days. Even if the reports regarding global climate change are not true, there is no question that the weather and other “natural” disasters are causing devastating cataclysms the world over. The media and the world like to attribute such events to “mother Nature” an impersonal force that somehow people use to explain what ever is beyond their control. 

We Christians ought not to make such a mistake: the Lord is in control of all these events, not us. Yet some of these are man-made in the sense that we as humans have polluted the earth with all sorts of noxious waste. We have contaminated both land and water and are reaping the harvest of our folly. The Lord has been gracious in sparing us but if we are to believe the Bible, His judgment will come and it will not be pleasant or pretty.

 

 

Blogging Through Isaiah: Don’t place your trust in pleasure.

Isaiah 22

The valley of vision refers to Jerusalem and Judah. It was a misnomer, for in reality Judah lacked vision. She was blind to what the Lord was doing. The Lord was angry because the people, as a whole, failed to heed the prophecies Isaiah has just declared against the nations. If mighty Babylon was going to suffer a crushing defeat, how could little Judah survive? The Jews may have been filled with dread at this prospect, but this did not turn them to God for answers, help or comfort. Hezekiah may have repented but not the nation as a whole. They chose to follow other leaders who only led them astray. And, in the light of the doom that would come shortly they decided to seek comfort in sensuality and pleasure rather than in the Lord. 

Many of the people of our world are like this. Many are quite pessimistic about their lives and about the world in general. That feeling of dread and fear causes them to adopt lifestyles of hedonism and sensuality. All they have is the pleasures of the flesh. These delights numb them to the pain of life and block out their feelings of despair and grief but do not eliminate them. They reason that if this life is all there is, then it is vital to enjoy themselves by finding meaning and comfort in indulging fleshly appetites. But they lack vision. They do not see what God is doing; they fail to heed any of His warnings; they reject all of His loving invitations to come to Him and find rest. Non-believers lack vision because they are blind to their sinfulness, their need for repentance and their need for a Divine savior. The hope of the cross shines like a beacon in this dark world. Pray that many would see it and come to faith in Jesus. 

 

Blogging Through Isaiah: Political idolatry.

Isaiah 17

If we recall our history from II Kings we know that at one time Syria (Damascus) and Israel (Ephraim) formed an alliance against Assyria. They threatened Judah in an attempt to force her to join with them. Isaiah preached against it and King Ahaz refused any alliance. Thus the Lord then used Isaiah to pronounce an oracle against Syria and Ephraim, one which predicted their destruction at the hands of Assyria. The whole purpose of preaching this oracle was to warn Judah not to seek alliances with foreign nations. The problem with Ephraim or Israel, the northern kingdom, was that they did that constantly. What was worse was that they sought foreign gods as well. And so thry were destroyed by the Lord.

The Lord God hates all unholy alliances. It is easy to say that we will not seek them but in our day it seems we really cannot avoid them. We enter into unholy alliances by trusting in our government. Though our government blesses us as a force for good it also condones wickedness in the name of democracy. Democracy may be the best option for government as it is supposed to be rule by the people, in actual fact it has become rule by a select few. In addition, it is not God’s ideal. And though theoretically we have the ability to change those in govern us by exercising our right to vote, the choices often demand that we settle for some compromise candidate who says the right things to gain our trust, rather them someone who will seek to trust in god for guidance.  Nevertheless, we must pray for our government officials that they would seek to uphold God’s standard of holiness and not bow down at the altars of popularity, prosperity and pride.

 

Blogging through Esther: Haman, why so sad?

Esther 3

The events regarding Haman took place 4 years after Esther became queen. Haman was a descendant of Agag, an Amalekite king whom King Saul had failed to execute. Mordecai was descendant of Kish, the father of Saul. His refusal to bow to Haman may have stemmed from this age old feud and ethnic rivalry, not from religious conviction. This was not a question of worship but mere respect for all Mordecai had to do was to bow. This he refused to do and his stubbornness placed all the Jews in jeopardy. 

Haman cast the lot. Pur is the Persian word for "lot", which means he cast stones or dice to find out the best day to wipe out the Jews. In ancient times it was common practice to cast the lot in the first month of the each year to determine the course of action for that year. In this case we know, though it is not stated, that the Lord controlled the lot-casting giving the Jews almost a year to prepare for their conflict with Haman. 

Ahasuerus allowed his servant to carry out this foolish and costly request because he thought he would benefit financially. He was not even aware that the Jews were involved. He serves as the example of a leader or really any person who lets others control him rather than take time to think things out and make wise choices. If we want to make wise decisions we must rely on the counsel of the Lord and those who serve Him. We should never let ourselves act based on prejudice, lust, greed or the desire for vengeance, or for that matter, on the casting of lots.

 

The Kingdom Values.

Ezra 2

Here we find a record of all the people who responded to Cyrus' decree and returned to Israel. The list is of families and the towns in Babylon they came from. Almost all of these people could demonstrate their Jewish ancestry. As such, this list records those who belonged to the faith community divided into several subgroups: lay people, the regular citizens; priests; Levites who assisted in the Temple function rites; singers; gatekeepers; the Nethinim, which literally means those given, those dedicated to God, servants who assisted the Levites; and finally those who could not demonstrate their ancestry. This last group had to wait until the priests could later identify them properly.

Although the listing may seem dull and pointless because it is just a list of names, there seems to be a very good reason for its inclusion in the scripture. It reminds us of the importance of the purity of the community of faith. Those who say they belong to Jesus become members of His royal household. They must be able, however, to verify that relationship with evidence. What is required is not a genealogy of course, but the evidence of a changed life, one that has renounced the world completely and is marked by tangible acts of love and self-sacrifice.  

We Christians are often called on to provide the required proof, usually in the form of a testimony that gives evidence of a changed life. Once we were sinners. Now we are not. Once we valued all the world deems important. Now everything in the world, no matter how grand or glorious, no matter how heroic or noble, lofty or exalted, popular and fashionable, beautiful and talented, pales into insignificance before the love, mercy and righteousness of the Kingdom of God.

 

 

Blogging through Samuel: You say you love Jesus? Then why are your reading your horoscope?

1 Samuel 28:3-25

Saul was extremely distressed by the forces arrayed against him, not just the Philistines but David as well. He sought guidance and encouragement, but not from the Lord. He desired the counsel of his old mentor, Samuel, but in order to obtain his advice, he needed to consult a medium, a person who claimed to communicate with dead spirits. Most Biblical scholars believe that the Lord allowed Samuel to appear despite the woman’s fraudulent abilities.  Some maintain that a demon appeared masquerading as Samuel in order to dishearten Saul. Still others maintain that the woman fooled Saul into believing that Samuel was speaking for Saul only heard what Samuel had prophesied to him previously and which now confirmed his fears. 

Whatever the case, Saul sinned because he sought guidance about the future apart from the Lord. The Lord forbids all such means as mediums, spiritists, ouija boards, fortune-tellers and horoscopes and all those people popularized in the media who claim to see, channel or speak with the dead. We may think them harmless but all these things are insults and affronts to the Lord’s authority and wisdom. All who use them do not seek counsel from Him through the means He has ordained: the Scriptures, prayer and the church. 

In addition, those spirits which claim to be the spirits of the departed or “higher powers” or “enlightened entities” are in fact demons bent on deceiving gullible and vulnerable people and leading them away from the Lord into sin and eternal damnation. So Christians ought to shun mediums, fortune-tellers, horoscopes and even media “prophets” if they want to honor the Lord. They must even shun those who honor or promote them in any way.

 

Blogging through Judges: The deadly allure of sexual desire cripples leadership.

Judges 16

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have often wondered why Samson is even included in this book or even why he is considered so great. Perhaps it makes good entertainment, but Samson was a poor example of a godly man. He never prayed except once to satisfy his flesh. He never spoke godly wisdom for in fact he was quite stupid as we see here in the incident with Delilah. After the first three attempts he should have realized what she was up to. Perhaps he was blinded by his lust, a slave to sexual passions. Perhaps he began to think he was invincible, that the strength came not from God, or from his hair but from himself. When the hair was shaved, however, he had violated the last of his vows and the Lord left him.

None of Samson’s accomplishments freed the land from the yoke of oppression although the Philistines suffered serious setbacks especially in the end. One can only imagine what he could have accomplished if he had rallied the people of Israel and focused his attentions on doing the Lord’s will. Sadly, Samson learned these lessons at the end of his life. Only then he realized that he needed to depend on the Lord for strength, wisdom, in fact, for all things.

Many Christian leaders fall because they begin to forget they are servants of God not overseers. They begin to think they are special, in some way superior to the rest of believers. They rely on their own abilities to accomplish tasks and solve problems. Inevitably they fall and in the process damage the work of the Lord. All Christians, leaders or otherwise are called to be servants to obey the will of the Lord and seek His glory not their own. Many learn this lesson, like Samson, at a terrible cost.

 

Blogging through Judges: The allure of idolatry.

Judges 10

The next two judges, Tola and Jair are mentioned only briefly. The impression one would get is that they did not do anything that was impressive or important. Yet both men judged Israel for over 20 years each. But these periods were hardly a time of peace and calm, but of moral decay. Jair was influenced by pagan ways: he had 30 sons; he was a polygamist. His sons were fond of their position as they rode about like kings on donkeys. Israel nevertheless continued to deteriorate as she lapsed deeper and deeper into idolatry. The Israelites began to worship territorial gods, fertility gods, and those which demanded infant sacrifice. Rather than bringing them wealth, prosperity and pleasure these gods only brought slavery and oppression.

In the modern world we have seen a great turning away from the God of the Bible. People are running after other gods who endorse selfishness and immorality and promise wealth, fame, freedom and spiritual enlightenment. These gods allow people to fulfill their fleshly appetites and lusts without shame, accountability or fear. Unfortunately, like the Israelites, such people do not find liberation or enlightenment, but only slavery to their own passions and to the devil. 

This idolatry has also pervaded the church. The Jesus many Christians worship is a God of love and forgiveness but not a God who demands justice, sacrifice, commitment or repentance. Many Christians practice or promote fortune-telling, horoscopes. Many engage in or condone fornication, adultery, pornography and others sins of the flesh. Like the Jews under Tola and Jair, they think they are doing what they want, what will bring them happiness and contentment but they are enslaved to the world.

 

2nd Evangelical Free Church of Brooklyn