Good Morning Friends,
Grace has been defined as “unmerited favor”. In human association, we have no greater example of grace than that shown to Jehoiachin. He did evil in the sight of the Lord. He was an adversary of Jeremiah but a favorite of the people. And ultimately despite grace the sin of Jehoiachin and the people of Judah had severe consequences. Judah was conquered and all but the poorest and infirm were taken captive to Babylon and Jehoiachin was imprisoned there. We must never forget that a man’s sin affects others well beyond himself. The temple was stripped of its holy vessels and ultimately the city of Jerusalem burned with fire. God allowed King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon to conquer Judah. But then after 37 years a new king graciously dealt with Jehoiachin and released him from prison and comforted him and set him on a throne and clothed him and honored him as part of the king’s family and even gave him an allowance. That is indeed an unmerited favor. But now today likewise the next challenge is rebuilding. So. Will We Have The Grace To Rebuild On The Right Foundation?
Scripture: Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign; he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his father had done. At that time the servants of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it; King Jehoiachin of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself, his mother, his servants, his officers, and his palace officials. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign. He carried off all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house; he cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord, which King Solomon of Israel had made, all this as the Lord had foretold. He carried away all Jerusalem, all the officials, all the warriors, ten thousand captives, all the artisans and the smiths; no one remained, except the poorest people of the land. He carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officials, and the elite of the land, he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. The king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor, seven thousand, the artisans and the smiths, one thousand, all of them strong and fit for war. The king of Babylon made Mattaniah, Jehoiachin’s uncle, king in his place, and changed his name to Zedekiah.
2 Kings 24:8-17 (NRSV)
In the thirty-seventh year of the exile of King Jehoiachin of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, King Evil-merodach of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, released King Jehoiachin of Judah from prison; he spoke kindly to him, and gave him a seat above the other seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. So Jehoiachin put aside his prison clothes. Every day of his life he dined regularly in the king’s presence. For his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, a portion every day, as long as he lived.
2 Kings 25:27-30 (NRSV)
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many deeds of power in your name?’ Then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; go away from me, you evildoers.’ “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had a foundation on rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not act on them will be like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell—and great was its fall!” Now when Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes.
Matthew 7:21-29 (NRSV)
Message: Perhaps how long we are willing to wait for grace depends on whether our faith is individually built on a foundation of rock instead of sand. Despite the shifting sands of the exile in Babylon, the book of Kings ends on a note of hope and provides a sense of confidence in God’s future redemption. The national experiment with Kings had come to an end and a new path was being forged. So too, one would think that the sins of our culture must be eroded away and the bedrock of our spiritual life, our moral life be built on the solid foundation of Christ’s law of love. This is the foundation that lasts. Unfortunately, our culture typically denies the truths of the faith and leads men and women and youth into living a life on shifting sands and the self-destructive behaviors that comes with that reality. Surprisingly we may find that instead of preaching doom and gloom on the street corners, it is more effective to pray, lead exemplary lives, and counsel the bewildered as we can with grace. God will work miracles in our day, but only if we listen to His call to love with a purpose built up in our hearts. The Day of Judgement will surprise many people. The thing is that we may never be ready for we are typically as lost sheep. Our hope is to build our lives on a good foundation. We must trust to God’s grace and love as best we can.
And So, in today’s text Jesus is speaking into a volatile Jewish culture occupied by a foreign power, the Romans, whom the people want to overthrow. They faced great uncertainty. In some ways it must have reminded them of the Babylonian captivity but also, I think, the hope of grace. Jesus compares it to a time of shifting sands and the wisdom of building one’s future on the rock of a relationship with God to withstand the coming storm. Here rock is a symbol for God and sand is a symbol for the ordinary. You see, there is a double meaning of the Hebrew word for sand. It means that which is secular and not set aside to be holy as well as the grains of broken shells on beaches and pulverized and burned stones of a building. Today we too have uncertainty and a need for holiness. We live in a time of shifting sands. And we have a choice to be bitter or better about what is happening to the way in which we live. But it is a time for out of the box thinking as it was during the time Jesus preached. Today, for graduating High School Seniors…for graduating College students the world has changed and they as we have a choice. Hopefully we all will discover wisdom. Hopefully we all will discover soon that beauty is sand. Reputation is sand. Popularity is sand. Money is sand. Career is sand. Health is sand. Talent is sand. Friends, Jesus is the rock upon which we are to build. We need to trust the right sources of information, so keep studying the Bible. It is the way to build your future. We are to build our life on the character and words of Jesus and keep trusting and loving actively in the hope of and the witness of the Grace of God in us. That is the way to withstand the coming storm even if all our homes in Florida are built on sand.
Pray we weather the storms of life. Pray we realize what foolishness it is to build one’s life apart from God. Pray we study God’s word each day. Praythat we believe that God will set us free from the penalty of sin if we believe. Pray we believe that God will give us authority and bring us into his house and supply all our needs. Pray we are not superficial in our faith. Pray our hearts become places of worship. Pray we practice the words of Jesus. Pray our faith is built on a belief in Jesus’ love and righteousness. Pray we have a living faith that is filled with God’s grace and the hope of a divine purpose revealed in holy history.
Blessings,
John Lawson
Daily Devotionals 