Good Morning Friends,
A hot topic in politics is the immigration of people belonging to another country. People call them foreigners or perhaps more derogatory terms…implying people not like us. And frankly sometimes they are not like us. Because of this bias/reality, and perhaps a desire to control the boundaries of an electoral constituency in their favor and other, mostly of economic factors, some politicians are now considering the merits of a skills based, not a genetic or place of birth-based means test to qualify for residency in the United States. But as this reality and future unfolds, we are to realize that as God’s people, we are aliens in a spiritual sense. And this is not a new event. Friends, the people of God in the Old Testament were also aliens. And like the people of Judah, we are surrounded by few things that are godly. We are aliens on this earth, and we need to know what to do and how to live in Babylon. For us today who are committed to Jesus we must wonder if we too came from the heavens for we are told to be in the world but not of it. Does Your Family Feel Like Resident Aliens… Strangers Living In A Strange Land?
Scripture: For this reason he is the mediator of a new covenant, so that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance, because a death has occurred that redeems them from the transgressions under the first covenant. For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. Nor was it to offer himself again and again, as the high priest enters the Holy Place year after year with blood that is not his own; for then he would have had to suffer again and again since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the age to remove sin by the sacrifice of himself. And just as it is appointed for mortals to die once, and after that the judgment, so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.
Hebrews 9:15, 24-28 (NRSV)
Beloved, I urge you as aliens and exiles to abstain from the desires of the flesh that wage war against the soul. Conduct yourselves honorably among the Gentiles, so that, though they malign you as evildoers, they may see your honorable deeds and glorify God when he comes to judge.
1 Peter 2:11-12 (NRSV)
Then all the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron, and said, “Look, we are your bone and flesh. 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.” 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. David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. At Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and at Jerusalem he reigned over all Israel and Judah thirty-three years.
The king and his men marched to Jerusalem against the Jebusites, the inhabitants of the land, who said to David, “You will not come in here, even the blind and the lame will turn you back” —thinking, “David cannot come in here.” Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion, which is now the city of David. And David became greater and greater, for the Lord, the God of hosts, was with him.
2 Samuel 5:1-7, 10 (NRSV)
And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, “He has Beelzebul, and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” And he called them to him, and spoke to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but his end has come. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered. “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter; but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— for they had said, “He has an unclean spirit.”
Mark 3:22-30 (NRSV)
And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and all were judged according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire; and anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 20:13-15 (NRSV)
Message: Abraham as the father of the nation of Israel, was celebrated initially, not so much the fact that he was father of many nations but that he was the genealogical root of Israel. The Bible has a lot of lists of names making these genealogical links. It would take Paul to map that out the importance of Abraham to our faith as Gentiles beyond this focus. The religious leaders that claimed Jesus was possessed would have claimed Abraham in the nationalistic sense. They thought in terms of an earthly kingdom. But their timing and focus was off. The Son of God came to save the whole world. So, this whole idea is more revolutionary than we might think. We can easily miss the shock of what is going on here. We miss the revolutionary nature of Jesus’ retreat into the wilderness of the mountains – up a mountain, alluding to key moments in history, like Moses and Abraham – to inaugurate a new Nation, a new Twelve. We miss the culturally seismic declaration of Jesus in ignoring his family and declaring what constitutes his true family. You see the Jewish family was the local expression of the wider Jewish family of God. You were who you were in God’s kingdom because of your family. The family was your means of salvation. You did not disrespect the family, and that is one of the shocking aspects of the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Remember that one of the defining moments of Jewish identity was the yearly family meal of Passover. Once the lamb had been slain in the Temple, the family would gather and eat together, doing this in remembrance of the Great Escape from Egypt and looking forward to a greater rescue. Not only does Jesus radically redefine the key family meal of Passover around himself, but Jesus redefines those who he calls family not along blood lines or ancestry but as whoever does God’s will. That is why the book of Revelation indicates another book of names that is about the faith family not a genealogy linked to Abraham. This is radical stuff and should make us pause and reflect on what this really means about how we are to live.
And So, if I had lived as a Jew in Israel and had heard Jesus first hand, I might well have expected the restoration of a Jewish King, the rededication of the temple, the liberation of the land from foreign rule and the archiving of proper census results as to people’s ancestry and claims of nationality. And if you told me that this King would have the heart of a shepherd herding a flock ushering in a new covenant, I most definitely would have thought of the reign of King David who brought all the tribes together. I would not have likely thought that Jesus had come to help all the Gentiles of the world, at least until I had heard Paul’s eloquent explanation or read the promises to Abraham in a new way. Indeed, I might have thought Jesus a little crazy to greet his relatives with a new understanding of family. Jesus does not waste too much time in the early part of His ministry to set the tone for what is and what is not acceptable. He had been doing many wonderful things such as healing the sick, forgiving the sinners and casting out demons when He encounters a group of nay-sayers from Jerusalem who come to dispute His authority. Instead of slinking away from them and the issue, Jesus meets it head on. Not only does He confront them, but He states something that was a clear warning to everyone who would think about Him and follow Him. He delivers a shot across the bow of those who would dare to diminish His work and neutralize it.
Distinguishing the difference is important and the key to that is whether there is forgiveness…love in our hearts. Forgiveness is essential if we are to build up anything including the Body of believers. Without it our senses are altered and impaired. The key to understanding what is happening in us when we are angry is to confront our unwillingness to conform to God’s will. This unwillingness is what puts us in such a terrible inner trauma. The truth is hard to swallow. Being human is no excuse. God made us this way so that we might ready ourselves to forgive ourselves, to forgive others…to be forgiven. Payment is required that we might break the cycle of hate and begin rebuilding our lives, our families, and our fellowship of believers, our community and country. So, admit, believe, confess…. forgive…rebuild. Know that Christ has paid the price so that we might live by seeking and finding the will of God and to do it. But having no will but that of God is not easy to attain for His ways are not our ways. We like to claim the path as our own. We desire the freedom to choose our own path. Our own willfulness and narcissism tend to oppose God’s will as we seek our own dreams rather than those of God. We often do not know God’s will at all. Then even if we get it right, sometimes things seem to get worse when we follow the will of God. So how do we unravel the mystery of being a disciple of Christ? How can we know God’s good, pleasing and perfect will? How do we get on and stay on the right path? How do we submit to God? The answer… we might just discover is this… when we abide in the Holy Spirit we abide in the will of Christ and when we are in the Spirit’s will we therefore are in the will of God. Friends do not be afraid or hard hearted when you encounter Jesus this way. Allow the Spirit to help you in your weakness. Allow God to search your heart and intercede according to the mind of the Spirit. Know that the process that prompted the denial of the Messiah by Israel is still at play in our lives and cultures today. Thankfully for us today that price has been paid. Can you feel the love? Are you prepared to follow Jesus from the perspective of an alien?
Pray we realize the importance of not rejecting Jesus. Pray we honor the importance of family and especially our spiritual family as children of God. Pray we help rescue people from places of darkness. Pray we be the concrete realization of God’s covenant promises to Abraham. Pray we show ourselves to be in the family by our love for Jesus, our love for each other and by doing God’s will in the power of the Spirit. Pray our family is an eternal family that calls us to a deeper allegiance than blood or nationality. Pray we see true resurrection power at work in us as we do our part in bringing more names into the Book of Life that document those who are part of the eternal family of God. Pray we give thanks for the gift of life in being born and reborn. Pray we rejoice as part of the family of God redeemed by the Word made flesh. Pray we live as servants of God. Pray we know when to seize an opportunity but also know when to forego an advantage. Pray we pass the test. Pray we love the Lord with all our hearts, minds and souls. Pray that we break out of bondage and forgive as we have been forgiven.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 