What Are We To Do When The Rules Change?
Good Morning Friends,
Sometimes my kids play a game where they make up the rules as they go. It in effect throws out whatever one thought was the reality of rules and substitutes something completely different. Some think the Bible is a bunch of impossible laws to follow and in some ways this is true. However, today’s guideline from Chronicles instructs us to have a party. We are to wash up if we can but if not we are still invited. It begs today’s question. What Are We To Do When The Rules Change?
Scripture: For a multitude of the people, many of them from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar, and Zebulun, had not cleansed themselves, yet they ate the Passover otherwise than as prescribed. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “The good LORD pardon all who set their hearts to seek God, the LORD the God of their ancestors, even though not in accordance with the sanctuary’s rules of cleanness.” The LORD heard Hezekiah, and healed the people. The people of Israel who were present at Jerusalem kept the festival of unleavened bread seven days with great gladness; and the Levites and the priests praised the LORD day by day, accompanied by loud instruments for the LORD. Hezekiah spoke encouragingly to all the Levites who showed good skill in the service of the LORD. So the people ate the food of the festival for seven days, sacrificing offerings of well-being and giving thanks to the LORD the God of their ancestors. Then the whole assembly agreed together to keep the festival for another seven days; so they kept it for another seven days with gladness. For King Hezekiah of Judah gave the assembly a thousand bulls and seven thousand sheep for offerings, and the officials gave the assembly a thousand bulls and ten thousand sheep. The priests sanctified themselves in great numbers. The whole assembly of Judah, the priests and the Levites, and the whole assembly that came out of Israel, and the resident aliens who came out of the land of Israel, and the resident aliens who lived in Judah, rejoiced. There was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon son of King David of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. Then the priests and the Levites stood up and blessed the people, and their voice was heard; their prayer came to his holy dwelling in heaven.
2 Chronicles 30:18-27 (NRSV)
And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.
John 1:14 (NRSV)
Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.
Matthew 5:17-18 (NRSV)
In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.
Matthew 7:12 (NRSV)
In the last days it will be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. Even upon my slaves, both men and women, in those days I will pour out my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.
Acts 2:17-18 (NRSV)
Message: We are in that part of the liturgical year when the topic is the manifestation of God into human form. And in worshipping today there are lots of different styles and music that explore how God is manifested in the world. But if we seek revival the focus has to move from manifestation to God’s relationship with people. It is here the Golden Rule supersedes all the other rules and changes the game. When King Hezekiah invited all of Judah to worship many had forgotten how to worship. They needed a revival. Like today, many worshipped idols….even serpents. The people needed a call to worship, an invitation for all so that they might overcome the stumbling blocks that separated them from God. The barriers are many that keep people from worshipping. Some are ashamed that they have not been there in a while. Other places may not be inviting to people if they are not dressed up. But worship can and should bring a unity of the heart regardless of what we look like. Still leadership needs to prepare, for if we are going to worship we also need to come with a sense of service. For others it means coming as they are. When all are invited we get both. So in the weeks, months and year to come I hope you will experience “worship services” that welcomes you as you are…prepared or unprepared. I hope you will receive encouragement and rejoice in the joy that God always intended us to experience together. I hope we will be made glad in the unity of the Spirit made manifest but then exacted in relationships that obey God’s rule of love and thereby glorify God through our gifts. Friends, God revives and restores all who come to Him with a desire for renewal and a repentant heart. It starts with leadership but goes beyond the exacting of rules to the living of relationships as a rule of love. Some laughed in the face of God’s love appeal. Some will be bitter and refuse the appeal. But Jesus gives us a better way to worship…a better way to live. We just get a hint of it in the life of the good King Hezekiah who led from the top down and from the inside out.
Pray we are assured that God wants us to be full of life and love. Pray we respond to God with certainty of our salvation and the need for others to share in the experience. Pray therefore we seek holy lives where the Golden Rule rules. Pray we open the doors of the house of the Lord and get involved in worship in unexpected ways. Pray we look forward to an intimacy with God and long for it. Pray we offer a welcoming invitation for all to come into the presence of God. Pray we become holy from the inside out. Pray we are empowered to serve in relationships that honor God’s grace.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 