Good Morning Friends,
When King Hezekiah received a message of an impending attack by Assyrian terrorists, he did not succumb to fear but instead shared the experience with God. Good King Hezekiah did not waste time worrying over it, he knew where to take things that were bigger than he was. He laid it all out before the Lord. We too can learn from the hard and long road of submitting to God’s plan. With that thought we look at a variation on the golden rule and Abraham’s example in its use related to his family. The rule teaches us just how hard it is live into the best of the world to come. And I guess if you had to summarize the whole Jewish law standing on one foot it might suffice. But it is too easy a thing to say and such a difficult thing to do whether one is a king or not. It is difficult to do what God would have us to do. So, Do You Have The Right Metal Guiding Your Behavior On The Journey To Salvation?
Scripture: When the king heard concerning King Tirhakah of Ethiopia, “See, he has set out to fight against you,” he sent messengers again to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus shall you speak to King Hezekiah of Judah: Do not let your God on whom you rely deceive you by promising that Jerusalem will not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria. See, you have heard what the kings of Assyria have done to all lands, destroying them utterly. Shall you be delivered? Hezekiah received the letter from the hand of the messengers and read it; then Hezekiah went up to the house of the Lord and spread it before the Lord. And Hezekiah prayed before the Lord, and said: “O Lord the God of Israel, who are enthroned above the cherubim, you are God, you alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; you have made heaven and earth. Incline your ear, O Lord, and hear; open your eyes, O Lord, and see; hear the words of Sennacherib, which he has sent to mock the living God. Truly, O Lord, the kings of Assyria have laid waste the nations and their lands, and have hurled their gods into the fire, though they were no gods but the work of human hands—wood and stone—and so they were destroyed. So now, O Lord our God, save us, I pray you, from his hand, so that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that you, O Lord, are God alone.” Then Isaiah son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I have heard your prayer to me about King Sennacherib of Assyria. This is the word that the Lord has spoken concerning him: She despises you, she scorns you— virgin daughter Zion; she tosses her head—behind your back, daughter Jerusalem. for from Jerusalem a remnant shall go out, and from Mount Zion a band of survivors. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. “Therefore thus says the Lord concerning the king of Assyria: He shall not come into this city, shoot an arrow there, come before it with a shield, or cast up a siege-ramp against it. By the way that he came, by the same he shall return; he shall not come into this city, says the Lord. For I will defend this city to save it, for my own sake and for the sake of my servant David.” That very night the angel of the Lord set out and struck down one hundred eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians; when morning dawned, they were all dead bodies. Then King Sennacherib of Assyria left, went home, and lived at Nineveh.
2 Kings 19:9b-11, 14-21, 31-35a, 36 (NRSV)
“Do not give what is holy to dogs; and do not throw your pearls before swine, or they will trample them under foot and turn and maul you. “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets. “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the road is easy that leads to destruction, and there are many who take it. For the gate is narrow and the road is hard that leads to life, and there are few who find it.
Matthew 7:6, 12-14 (NRSV)
Now Abram was very rich in livestock, in silver, and in gold. Now Lot, who went with Abram, also had flocks and herds and tents, so that the land could not support both of them living together; for their possessions were so great that they could not live together, and there was strife between the herders of Abram’s livestock and the herders of Lot’s livestock. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites lived in the land. Then Abram said to Lot, “Let there be no strife between you and me, and between your herders and my herders; for we are kindred. Is not the whole land before you? Separate yourself from me. If you take the left hand, then I will go to the right; or if you take the right hand, then I will go to the left.” Lot looked about him, and saw that the plain of the Jordan was well watered everywhere like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, in the direction of Zoar; this was before the Lord had destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. So Lot chose for himself all the plain of the Jordan, and Lot journeyed eastward; thus they separated from each other. Abram settled in the land of Canaan, while Lot settled among the cities of the Plain and moved his tent as far as Sodom. Now the people of Sodom were wicked, great sinners against the Lord. The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, “Raise your eyes now, and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward; for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth; so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted. Rise up, walk through the length and the breadth of the land, for I will give it to you.” So Abram moved his tent, and came and settled by the oaks of Mamre, which are at Hebron; and there he built an altar to the Lord.
Genesis 13:2, 5-18 (NRSV)
Message: We live in a time when people tend to choose their own version of reality. Some people believe in the rule of an iron fist. Some think in the negative like the Silver Rule, to not do unto others that which they would not want to be done to them, instead of the Golden one which is much more positive. But perhaps there is a platinum rule or a rule of a metal yet to be fully discovered. Those who are guided by a belief in power believe that might makes right and the rule of an iron fist. But it is a mistake to think of God in those terms and it is an egregious mistake to deify one’s physical prowess. That is what Cain was doing in killing Abel. Perhaps this is what was at play in the death of George Floyd. Anyway, there is a more precious metal than the rule of an iron law and survival of the strongest. Unfortunately, too few follow the Silver Rule much less the Golden Rule of his life. Most fail to guard what is holy. Too few take their concerns to God. Too few see the pricelessness of Christ and the metal of his character. Part of the problem is that society’s methods of dealing with fear are not the ways of God. We have a culture of high anxiety that needs a better way. Sure, discipline is required for those that would enter the Kingdom of God. The way of faith is narrow. Religious acts here are not done for self-aggrandizement but to glorify God through our sanctification and purification. But where is our metal if we are not extending our love. The balance here is mind boggling for it is great to be inclusive and diversification is important in culture and community, but the path to deliverance on a personal basis is narrow. We seek a unified law that may not exist. We are told by society that the road is so wide that there may be many independent tracks in it and even multiple universes, and the sinner may find a path to suit their liking. And there is some truth in this and that is why people do not keep growing. But unfortunately, even though God’s love is universal, and God can save the whole world, our metal in response to God’s love is often more iron rather than of silver, gold or even platinum. The moralist may pick a clean path all the way, while the immoral rascals may wade up to their knees in mire and others not think it odd that the sewage stinks. The easy path does not require any effort to travel. So, on the journey sinners might agree that they are opposed to God, but they do not seek a better solution of love. Too many follow the way of the world. Included are many who said one day they will commit to Christ, but they never do. Yes, the way to Hell is paved with good intentions. Many self-professing Christians are traveling the broad way and think they belong to Jesus, yet they missed the narrow road of true salvation. How do we know for sure? Well, we do not save the revelation of the Holy Spirit. For we cannot find the way on our own. We have no ability in and of ourselves to find God and the will of the divine. We are not worthy and never will be. Still somehow with grace and the help of the Holy Spirit and that spark of faith in others we must find the metal to persevere in the hope the character and metal of Christ will prompt our repentance and strengthen our resolve to do what is right in the eyes of God.
And So, because God is love, the Holy Spirit comes looking for us to show us what we must do if we but come to Jesus with our problems. God includes us if we seek to include God. The yoke is easy, but the way is hard. You have heard it said that we are to follow the Golden Rule and, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Moral philosophy has barely taken notice of the golden rule in its own terms despite the rule’s prominence in commonsense ethics. But what we have in today’s scripture is this basic principle given in purely negative terms. This is sometimes called the silver rule and it can be found in the writings of cultures and religions around the world. The principle is an important part of right human relations, but it falls short of God’s perfect standard. The goals of Christians might be reduced to loving the whole world, but my experience is that everyone permits themselves animosities within their immediate world and believe me sometimes it seems justified. The way is narrow. Loving the whole world can only be done by loving person by person, one by one in a world that is not so distant. It is foolish to say we love humanity when the evidence suggest that it is the very same people that inhabit it that we cannot stand. Sometimes we do not even love ourselves and by this I do not mean a self-centered and self-absorbed love that is a godless kind of gratification so much as a love about self-preservation. Our desire to be treated humanely is the essence of the standard I think scripture is promoting. We are supposed to want to live simply so others might simply live. Still some people are so lacking in love that they cannot even do that. We need God’s help. So, this morning we ask God to help us demonstrate the kind of love that changes the world. We ask God to help us repent of anything contrary to God’s standard. We ask God to guide our behavior where we are and when we are.
Pray we embody the rule of Christ’s love in us so we might reflect the best of life. Pray we care for others as we would like others to care for us realizing that we cannot succeed on our own but need God’s strength received through acts of our faith and God’s grace. Pray we help others on their projects and speak kindly and forgive. Pray we are concerned about others and others are concerned about us. Pray we embrace the narrow way of love. Pray we realize that the grace of God is for everyone who will receive it and that our actions should reflect that reality in our relationship with Jesus and others. Pray we realize that our neighbors are not perfect but that we are to love them anyway. Pray we do unto others as we would have them do to us as well as not do unto others as we would hope they would not do unto us. Pray we realize that if the direction our life is achieved with little thought or intention, then we may be on the wrong road. Pray we realize that if there is no challenge then we are probably on the wrong road. Pray we realize that if we are doing what everyone else is doing and we are heading in the same direction, then we are probably on the wrong road. Pray we overcome our fears. Pray we face the challenge of change. Pray we realize that the devil is a liar. Pray we take the road less travelled. Pray God is with us on the journey. Pray we have the very presence of Christ within us. Pray we realize that the narrow way may have pitfalls. Pray we become more like Jesus each day and realize that we can make it with God’s help. Pray we become holy in service on the journey to deliverance revealed.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 