Restoration Project

Did you see Skyfall, the last installment of the James Bond series? Do you remember the culminating fight at Bond’s family estate in Scotland? Do you remember the vintage Aston Martin being destroyed? I must admit, I winced some when that happened. I wondered for a moment if that was a real Aston Martin. Then I assumed it was a mock-up, model, or CGI creation. It would be hard to fathom, at least for me, a beautifully restored Aston Martin being blown up. Of course, others could care less if it was real and obliterated. “What’s so special about a car that you concern yourself with whether or not it’s blown to bits?” 

Perhaps Micah was similarly incredulous when God gave a word of hope to Israel after having excoriated them for their idolatry and social depravity (chapter 3). Yahweh had, for all intents and purposes, consigned them to the junk yard (3:12). But now he was promising that he would fully restore them, bringing them back to their former glory (chapter 4). Why? What’s so special about them?

The love that God had for Israel is undeniable. He acted again and again to keep them from being utterly removed from the face of the earth. The reason? He had a purpose for them that reached beyond their borders and bloodline. From Israel he would bring the Redeemer who would preside over a kingdom marked by truth, justice, and peace, a kingdom of restored humanity that would shine bright and beautiful like some remade vintage sports car.

The knowledge of God’s determined end affected Micah. He understood that if God resolved to bring this about (4:4), then all who “walked in the name of the LORD our God,” would have a place in that glorious kingdom (4:5). And knowing that that is what will be, then that is what should be, even now. 

By the power of the Holy Spirit, covetousness, greed, injustice, falsehood, indeed, all that brings the judgment of God upon his creation, must be put far away from his elect. We’re not yet fully restored, but the rust, decayed upholstery, and faded paint are continually being removed until in the new heavens and earth we will be a thing of beauty, a testimony to his mercy, grace, and life-giving power.

Speaking Truth to Power

Paul exhorts his young protégé, Timothy, to “preach the word . . . reprove, rebuke, and exhort . . . For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions . . .” (2 Timothy 4:2-4). Perhaps Paul had the prophet Micah in mind when he wrote Timothy, for his exhortation describes the context and content of the prophet’s ministry “to a T”. The days were evil in the last half of 8^th century BC Israel and biblical preaching was not welcome, however much it was needed. 

Micah’s was a stern word. After shooting down the wealthy (Chapter 2), he turned both barrels on the failed leadership of God’s people (Chapter 3). In vivid, even grotesque, language he delivers God’s verdict. In so many words Yahweh warns, “You’re all on the take and your appetite for gain is eating my people alive. The law courts are a despicable den of thieves, and your prophecies, conditioned by graft, are so much BS. Because you will not listen to the cries of the oppressed, I will be deaf to your pleadings when the Assyrians come calling. And because you offer words that I have never spoken, I will speak to you no more. You are a stench in my nostrils and I will blow you out like so much snot.”

Have I taken liberties in my characterization of the word that “came to Micah”? I’ll stand by it. God did not -- does not -- take kindly to people abusing his generosity. The authority that magistrates are supposed to wield is his authority; the wisdom that prophets are supposed to offer is his wisdom. To rule without justice and to prophesy without truth is an offense to the one who is the source of all justice and truth. 

Yet, who is responsible for maintaining God’s justice and truth in our midst? Those who, in God’s generous dealings, are placed in positions of power and influence. It is they who, in the words of the prophet, have the power to lead “people astray”. It is their abandoning of their God-given responsibilities that will cause any nation, as was Israel, to be “plowed as a field.”

Truthfully, we shouldn’t think that our nation will fare any better than did Israel if our nation resolutely displaces Yahweh’s will with it’s own. Let’s purpose to daily pray for those who seek to lead our nation, whether in government, religion, academia, or media. And let’s pray that the church offers God’s word to them for they take on a weighty responsibility to which God will hold them accountable.

Living in the Fear of God

John Adams, the second President of the United States, stated, “Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” The historical context of Adams’ observation allows us to assert that by “moral” Adams means informed by the ethics of the Bible, and by “religious” he means having a belief in and reverence for the God of the Bible. These were the personal and public commitments of John Adams. I believe the reason Adams felt as he did is due to the fact that our form of government allows for a great deal of personal freedom (particularly as conceived and practiced by the framers of the Constitution), and personal freedom demands personal responsibility. Adams believed that one was ultimately answerable to God and it is that truth that keeps a soul in check, even when no one is watching, so that government need not track or control every action of its citizens.

What happens when a people loses their fear of God, when the rightness of their actions are determined by an ethical standard that has no teeth in it, no ultimate consequences? Israel of the prophet Micah’s day provides a vivid example. Israel had abandoned singular devotion of Yahweh for a polytheistic religion that lowered the status of the one, true, and living God from the heights of creator, redeemer, and heavenly judge, to just one more deity in the panoply of pagan prospects. As a result, they began to violate the ethical expectations of God’s law and lived by the law of ardent and aggressive accumulation. Fueled by an insatiable covetousness, the wealthy and powerful schemed for more wealth and power because it was “in the power of their hand” (Micah 2:1). Since they could do it, and they wanted to do it, why not do it, who was to stop them?

A reverence for the holiness (unique otherness) of Yahweh brings with it a healthy fear of his power and ability to judge all wickedness and consign the impenitent to the torments of hell. The loss of that reverence unleashes a multitude of evils that brings with it nothing but sorrow. Not a good situation for the people of God; not a good situation for the people of the United States. If Adams is correct, then we should be praying for a revival of godly fear that the wicked impulses of the powerful will be checked not just by government regulations, but by an inborn reverence of God.

Yahweh Speaks

Our church’s Confession of Faith includes the following: “. . . God the Holy Spirit has fully revealed the doctrine of Christ and will of God in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, which are the Word of God, the perfect, perpetual and only rule of our faith and obedience.” Why do we give the Bible such authority in determining what we believe and do as a church? The first assertion in the statement gives the answer. We believe the Bible is the product of Divine determination. This is hard for most people to accept. Some might find the Bible interesting, or recognize its cultural and historical importance. Some might consider its writings elevating, even profound. But there are relatively few who would give the Bible the kind of “buck-stops-here” authority that the above statement claims. What makes a Christian think that the Bible is God’s word? Two principle reasons are often given: the Bible’s witness to itself, and the Holy Spirit’s witness to the Bible. 

The apostle Paul asserts that “all Scripture is breathed out by God” (2 Timothy 3:16). As such, Peter can say that Scripture was not “produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21). This process is evident in the opening words of the prophet Micah: “The word of the LORD that came to Micah of Moresheth . . .” Over and over again, the Bible witnesses to itself that it is of divine origin, not human. But the second of the two reasons offered above is what causes the Christian to trust that the Bible is uniquely God’s word. The Holy Spirit is tasked with teaching God’s people “all things,” and with guiding us “into all truth” (John 14:26;16:13). His agency is necessary for without his intervention we cannot receive the word of God. For, as Paul teaches, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned” (1 Corinthians 2:14). But with the Spirit’s help we experience in our encounters with the Bible the reality of Hebrews 4:12: “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.”

God has spoken. He continues to speak. Praise God for ears to hear.

A Persistent Issue

Tomorrow, January 22, is the 42^nd year since the Supreme Court opened the doors for unlimited access to abortion. In the succeeding years restrictions have been put in place in some states, but the fateful decision effectively rendered null and void laws that were on the books that treated abortion, in almost all cases, as a crime. Since that time over 56,000,000 abortions have been executed. It’s important to realize that surveys conducted by the Guttmacher Institute report that out of that number only 1% were in response to pregnancies caused by rape, and less than .5% in response to pregnancies caused by incest, and 7% of the respondents cited health reasons of either the mother or possible problem with the baby. The percentages for these particular reasons have remained consistent since 1987. If we assume that that is the case for the years 1972-1987, then we are left with a very heart-breaking number: 51,240,000 children died for reasons other than the oft cited “hard cases,” the ones given as a rationale for why abortion must remain available. 51,240,000 . . .

What should govern the Church's response to such a tragic reality? Historically, the Church looks to the Bible. There is no explicit biblical text that addresses the subject, but there are three (at least) strong pointers that help direct our response. First, we are told that life, each life, is created by God and given to human beings. Life, therefore, is not ours to destroy but rather, like stewards, to nurture. Second, untimely or unexpected pregnancies should be met with sacrifice and service not dismissed as an intrusion. This is not to be borne by the mother alone, however. The father, and community in which she and this new life lives, must be ready to come along side, Good Samaritan-like, to do their part. Third, given the fact that the Savior saw fit to begin his humanity saving mission as a fertilized egg in the womb of a woman, we cannot think of the developing child as anything less than human. As such, he or she deserves to be respected and protected with the same care as others who bear the "image of God."

Can we expect the world outside of the church to be governed by these biblical truths? 56,000,000 abortions says that we cannot. But within the Church, at least, we can be shaped by these realties to create a culture of life that witnesses to our neighbors and communicates that we stand ready to serve them when the presence of new life brings with it profound responsibilities.

Epiphany

The magi were men who studied the stars, poured over ancient manuscripts, and interpreted dreams. They were seers who were influential figures in their own cultures. While they were not kings (popular misconception, and there might have been more than three), they served kings. It's not inappropriate, however, to refer to them as wise men, as they represented the wisdom of their people. Additionally, they were Gentiles, non-Jews. These two facts are important for us to appreciate.

In his telling of the events it appears that Matthew wants his readers to understand the presence of the magi as signaling primarily two things. The first is the superiority and truthfulness of God’s wisdom to any other supposed wisdom. These men had come to some conclusions as a result of their research. Their likely familiarity with Hebrew writings, such as Psalm 72, led them to look for the coming of the one who would usher in a reign of universal peace and prosperity. And when they saw the star rise that heralded his birth they sought him out to pay him homage (wise men, indeed!). When they bow before him, it's as if they are laying down all of the world's wisdom at his feet. The second is the long-prophesied inclusion of Gentiles among those who benefit from the coming of the Messiah. From the very beginning, the coming of the promised one was “good news of a great joy . . . for all the people.” Salvation is not just for the Jews but for all who place their hopes in the one who was born of the virgin. 

Is it any wonder that when the magi entered the house “they fell down and worshiped him” and “offered him gifts”? Whether they were fully cognizant of what the coming of this child meant, their actions were appropriate. He was the King of Kings, the Savior of the World.

The Revealer of Hearts

Nearly all of us will pass through life unheralded. Our sojourn, while important to those with whom we have shared life, will likely not make it into the pages of history books. But there are those few who come into the world who go on to play a kind of super-human role in the destiny of their fellow human beings. And among such people there are those whose influence is so significant that they define categories by which we judge not only them but those who agree or disagree with them.  For instance, if Martin Luther King, Jr., is mentioned in a discussion one would likely discover what people think about him and, in turn, a lot about those involved in the discussion. The same could be said about Marx, Hitler, or Mandela. Such people become a benchmark, for good or evil, and their existence demands an opinion. As such, these oversized people have the power to reveal hearts.

To whatever extent this might be said of any particular person, it takes on eternal significance when it comes to Jesus. Simeon prophesied (Luke 2:25) that Jesus “was appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed” so that “thoughts from many hearts maybe revealed”. This is clearly demonstrated in an encounter at the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:36-50). Jesus had been invited to dine and from the moment he arrived and took his place at the table a woman, described as “a sinner” (a prostitute?), wiped, kissed, and anointed his feet. This extraordinary display of love and gratitude for Jesus laid bare, as Simeon had prophesied, the hard heart of Simon: “[W]hen the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.’”

Jesus is on a mission to save people. For those who receive him he gives “the right to become children of God” (John 1:12), for those who reject him he becomes “a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense” (1 Peter 2:8). The sinful woman was grateful, the Pharisee, scornful. As a result they were an eternity apart in their understanding of what his presence meant. That staggering consequence is still in play when Jesus is made known to people today.