Youtube link... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zxJfkyKknc
 
Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021" 
Weekly Topic - “The Return of the Messiah” 
Texts – Matthew 24, 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17, Matthew 16:21, John 14:1-3
 
Many people turn to the book of Revelation when times get scary.  They want to know how things will end.  But there’s a problem with that.  John used a literary genre, apocalyptic literature, that no longer exists.  Though popular and well understood in his day, it is a writing style that is very difficult to sift through and ascertain what is metaphorical and what is to be understood literally.  Added to this difficulty is the instruction to John to write about, “things that are happening and things that will happen” (Revelation 1:19).  The book of Revelation isn’t just about ‘end times.’  It covers from John’s stay on the Island of Patmos to Jesus’ return; but knowing what events apply to what time period has proven difficult for many biblical scholars and disagreements are never-ending.
 
So, today, rather than trying to delve into the book of Revelation in our brief time together, I want us to focus on what Jesus tells us about His return and I believe we will leave with greater clarity.  But even with Jesus’ clear teaching, we may still walk away somewhat in the dark.  Take for example, Jesus’ words to his early disciples.
 
Matthew 16:21 – “21 From then on Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead.”
 
Jesus told his first disciples all about the crucifixion and resurrection long before they were a reality, but they still didn’t understand.  The first disciples thought they knew what the Messiah’s work would entail—freedom from worldly oppressors for the Jewish people; but they were wrong. 
 
He has also told us about his second coming...
 
John 14:1-3 – “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.”
 
Pretty straightforward, but still we are sometimes left confused.  Is some of our struggle to understand the future events of Jesus’ second coming just as muddied because of wrong expectations?  For instance, I have heard it wrongly said that believers will each receive a mansion in heaven; but that’s not what Jesus said.  His Father has one home in which there are many rooms.  That means that we’re all going to share! 
 
Jesus told his disciples clearly what to expect, but they were still surprised and confused when it happened.  Their presuppositions prevented them from comprehending Jesus’ very clear words…and from our vantage point we wonder how they could be so dense.  Easy for us looking backward, but we may be just as ‘dense’ however when it comes to fully understanding what the Bible tells us about Jesus’ second coming.  Today, we’re going to examine Matthew 24 in an attempt to better understand what to expect at the Messiah’s return.
 
 
It is good to note right from the onset that Jesus is describing a continuum of events that will take place between his ascension, when he returned to heaven, and his second coming when he will return to claim Lordship and judge the righteous and the disobedient.
 
“JESUS’ TELLS US WHAT TO EXPECT”
Matthew 24:1-2 – “As Jesus was leaving the Temple grounds, his disciples pointed out to him the various Temple buildings. 2 But he responded, “Do you see all these buildings? I tell you the truth, they will be completely demolished. Not one stone will be left on top of another!”
 
Which is exactly what happened in 70AD when Rome, lead by Titus the son of the emperor Vespasian, destroyed the city of Jerusalem after it had revolted from Roman rule.  The Temple was indeed magnificent, only just having been fully restored eight years earlier; when it was burned, it is said that the gold which had been used to cover the building melted and ran between the stones of the structure, which is why it was entirely dismantled, stone by stone—to collect all the gold.
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Matthew 24:3-8 - 3 Later, Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives. His disciples came to him privately and said, “Tell us, when will all this happen? What sign will signal your return and the end of the world?”
 
4 Jesus told them, “Don’t let anyone mislead you, 5 for many will come in my name, claiming, ‘I am the Messiah.’ They will deceive many. 6 And you will hear of wars and threats of wars, but don’t panic. Yes, these things must take place, but the end won’t follow immediately. 7 Nation will go to war against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in many parts of the world. 8 But all this is only the first of the birth pains, with more to come.
 
First there will be ‘birth pangs’ which are… [false Messiahs, wars and threats of wars, famines and earthquakes].  No baby yet, just the early stages of labour…but what’s next?
_____________
 
Matthew 24:9-14 -  9 “Then you will be arrested, persecuted, and killed. You will be hated all over the world because you are my followers. 10 And many will turn away from me and betray and hate each other. 11 And many false prophets will appear and will deceive many people. 12 Sin will be rampant everywhere, and the love of many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14 And the Good News about the Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so that all nations will hear it; and then the end will come.
 
The end will be preceded by… [persecution, apostasy—believers rejecting their faith in Jesus, traitors to the faith, all nations will hear the Gospel].  If we were completing a checklist at this point, we could see that all of these things have happened during the time since Jesus went back to heaven; his return could happen, quite literally, any day.  But the same could have been said many years ago as well!
 
But Jesus isn’t done and the next section is one in which we may find ourselves confused…
______________
 
Matthew 24:15-22 - 15 “The day is coming when you will see what Daniel the prophet spoke about—the sacrilegious object that causes desecration standing in the Holy Place.” (Reader, pay attention!) 16 “Then those in Judea must flee to the hills. 17 A person out on the deck of a roof must not go down into the house to pack. 18 A person out in the field must not return even to get a coat. 19 How terrible it will be for pregnant women and for nursing mothers in those days. 20 And pray that your flight will not be in winter or on the Sabbath. 21 For there will be greater anguish than at any time since the world began. And it will never be so great again. 22 In fact, unless that time of calamity is shortened, not a single person will survive. But it will be shortened for the sake of God’s chosen ones.
 
There is disagreement about the ‘sacrilegious object that causes desecration in the Holy Place’ and what Jesus meant.  Some scholars believe this is a reference to Rome’s sacking of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple.  Others believe it is a future event and refers to a new Temple built in Jerusalem.  But either interpretation of Jesus’ words isn’t clear.  Remember it is not Jesus’ teaching that is unclear, but our ability to comprehend.  There may still be events that need to take place for us to be able to clearly understand what Jesus was telling his followers…or we may have blinders on and are unable to know the truth because of the things we already think are true, but in fact may not be.
 
Whether this event refers to the devastation of Jerusalem by Rome or a future event, one thing that may help guide our understanding is the fact that God’s Temple is no longer a building, but is us, his chosen ones, so it wouldn’t make sense that the ‘holy place’ is a rebuilt earthly temple made of stone as some have supposed.  Just something to think about as we attempt to make clear what is, for now, unclear.
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Matthew 24:23-28 - 23 “Then if anyone tells you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah,’ or ‘There he is,’ don’t believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will rise up and perform great signs and wonders so as to deceive, if possible, even God’s chosen ones. 25 See, I have warned you about this ahead of time.
 
26 “So if someone tells you, ‘Look, the Messiah is out in the desert,’ don’t bother to go and look. Or, ‘Look, he is hiding here,’ don’t believe it! 27 For as the lightning flashes in the east and shines to the west, so it will be when the Son of Man comes. 28 Just as the gathering of vultures shows there is a carcass nearby, so these signs indicate that the end is near.
 
Jesus warns us that there are powers accessible to those wanting to deceive others…‘even God’s chosen ones!’  However, none of us should be that easily duped.  Aside from the fact that some pretty convincing cons—fake Messiahs and false prophets—will be able to use counterfeit power to perform signs and wonders, Jesus’ return will not be an event anyone will miss out on.  ‘As lightning flashes in the east and shines in the west,’ the Messiah’s return will be unmistakable.  You won’t need anyone to tell you…you’ll already know!
 __________________
 
Matthew 24:29-41 - 29 “Immediately after the anguish of those days, the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken.  30 And then at last, the sign that the Son of Man is coming will appear in the heavens, and there will be deep mourning among all the peoples of the earth. And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And he will send out his angels with the mighty blast of a trumpet, and they will gather his chosen ones from all over the world—from the farthest ends of the earth and heaven.
 
32 “Now learn a lesson from the fig tree. When its branches bud and its leaves begin to sprout, you know that summer is near. 33 In the same way, when you see all these things, you can know his return is very near, right at the door. 34 I tell you the truth, this generation will not pass from the scene until all these things take place. 35 Heaven and earth will disappear, but my words will never disappear.”
 
36 However, no one knows the day or hour when these things will happen, not even the angels in heaven or the Son himself. Only the Father knows.
 
37 “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. 38 In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. 39 People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes.
 
40 “Two men will be working together in the field; one will be taken, the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding flour at the mill; one will be taken, the other left.”
 
After a set of cataclysmic celestial events, Jesus will arrive.  The peoples of the world will experience deep mourning.  And then a trumpet blast will cause the angels to go out and collect Jesus’ followers.  This is no scene from the once popular ‘Left Behind’ books and television series.  No one is going to wake up someday scratching their heads and wondering where all the good Christians have gone.  There are not going to be unmanned cars colliding or airplanes falling from the sky as drivers and pilots mysteriously vanish.  When Jesus calls for his chosen ones, all will witness the events that follow.
 
However, no one knows when any of this will take place…not the angels, not even Jesus.  So, how foolish for us to try and ‘calculate’ the end of the world.  It will end, but only God the Father knows the day and time when the Messiah will return.  And when he does, it will be a surprise like the flood.  The people had been warned by Noah, but were completely unprepared!  Like an avalanche that buries an entire mountainside, a tornado that wreaks destruction for miles or a tsunami that grows from a fast-moving wave to a wall of water that swallows whole islands…that is the kind of intensity we can expect to come with Jesus’ arrival.
_______________
 
Some Bible teachers have taught that believers will be raptured out of a time of terrible calamity—the great tribulation—before the end; but from Jesus’ own teaching, it appears that he will return after things have become horrible for all people and especially his followers; He is in fact coming to rescue them!  He will rescue us when he brings an end to this sinful world as we know it and we will join him in this process.
 
1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 – “15 We tell you this directly from the Lord: We who are still living when the Lord returns will not meet him ahead of those who have died.  16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a commanding shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet call of God. First, the believers who have died will rise from their graves. 17 Then, together with them, we who are still alive and remain on the earth will be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Then we will be with the Lord forever.”
 
We will ‘meet’ him in the air, ἀπάντησιν (apantasin). The Greek word used here is not about our departure, but rather our joining the bridegroom on his way to his appointed destination.  We will ‘join’ Jesus in his coming to earth to bring about judgement and reward, not fly away to safety in a heavenly safehouse.  From Jesus’ teaching (and Paul’s), there is no evidence that believers possess a ‘get out of tribulation free’ card.
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And finally, Jesus makes it clear that we should be ‘caught doing good’ when he returns.
 
Matthew 24:42-51 – “42 “So you, too, must keep watch! For you don’t know what day your Lord is coming. 43 Understand this: If a homeowner knew exactly when a burglar was coming, he would keep watch and not permit his house to be broken into. 44 You also must be ready all the time, for the Son of Man will come when least expected.
 
45 “A faithful, sensible servant is one to whom the master can give the responsibility of managing his other household servants and feeding them. 46 If the master returns and finds that the servant has done a good job, there will be a reward. 47 I tell you the truth, the master will put that servant in charge of all he owns. 48 But what if the servant is evil and thinks, ‘My master won’t be back for a while,’ 49 and he begins beating the other servants, partying, and getting drunk? 50 The master will return unannounced and unexpected, 51 and he will cut the servant to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
 
Seeing that Jesus could return at any time, we would each be wise to examine ourselves and answer the question concerning our own readiness.  Are we doing all we can to love the people around us into God’s Kingdom?
 
 
So, on this fourth Advent Sunday of joy, what are some of our takeaways?
·         Though we may not know when, Jesus’ return is certain.  No matter how awful life on this planet becomes, we know that sin will not have the final say.  We can have hope and a peace that passes all understanding in the most difficult of circumstances because Jesus is coming back.
·         We must be cautious in assuming we know all there is to know—we can know what has been revealed to us by God, nothing more.  If another believer disagrees with us, we would be wise to engage in further discussion and study, not simply allow disagreements to divide us.  Jesus has told us that we are to live in the unity of the Spirit.
·         Trying to guess when Jesus will return is a waste of precious time and energy—when we live in never-ending readiness, it won’t matter.  Find ways to use your God-given gifts to encourage and grow the Church.
·         Our confusion concerning Jesus’ words is more an indicator of our need to study and wait, then of any lack of clarity on his part.  So study and ask the Holy Spirit to make the truths contained in the Bible clear.
·         As we wait for Jesus to return, stay busy serving him…better to be caught in acts of obedience when the king arrives, then risk being banished from his kingdom altogether!
 
 
For further study…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4UkAQOi3QPg (Desiring God - What is the Rapture?)
https://biblehub.com/greek/apante_sin_529.htm (Bible Hub - Concordance – ‘apantasin’)
 
Friday, December 24, 2021 @7pm – Christmas Eve Service – In-person and Online
Sunday, December 26, 2021 - Speaker: Donald Peck - In-person and Online
Friday, December 31, 2021 @7pm – New Year’s Eve Service at Faith EMC in Wasaga – In person only
Sunday, January 2, 2022 – 2022 Theme - “Growing Up Into Jesus” (Colossians 2:17) – In-person and Online
Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)
 
"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"

Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021" 
Weekly Topic - “The Work of the Messiah”
 Texts – Isaiah 11:6-9, Philippians 4:4-9, James 3:13-18, Revelation 21:1-7
  
Did Jesus come to bring peace to the earth or didn’t He? [responses]
 
When the angels announced the Messiah’s birth to the shepherds they declared, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.” (Luke 2:14)
 
However, Jesus Himself challenged His audience, “34 Don’t imagine that I came to bring peace to the earth! I came not to bring peace, but a sword. 35 ‘I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.  36 Your enemies will be right in your own household!” (Matthew 10:34-36)
 
So which is it?  Both!  For the one who chooses to believe in the work of the Messiah, He has promised peace with God, but the exact opposite is true of those who do not; their resistance to God’s truth robs them of the possibility of peace because they refuse to accept that obedience to God is the one and only choice that will result in a life well-lived. 
 
 
When the ancient Israelites thought of the Messiah, they fully expected that He would come to rescue them from all earthly conflict.  Isaiah paints a picture of an idyllic world.
 
“PEACE PROMISED”
Isaiah 11:6-9 – “In that day the wolf and the lamb will live together;
    the leopard will lie down with the baby goat.
The calf and the yearling will be safe with the lion,
    and a little child will lead them all.
7 The cow will graze near the bear.
    The cub and the calf will lie down together.
    The lion will eat hay like a cow.
8 The baby will play safely near the hole of a cobra.
    Yes, a little child will put its hand in a nest of deadly snakes without harm.
9 Nothing will hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain,
    for as the waters fill the sea,
    so the earth will be filled with people who know the Lord.”
 
The Messiah has come, but none of us has ever experienced Isaiah’s picture of peace.   What words would you use to describe our world today when it comes to peace? [destruction, anxiety, darkness, evil, greed, want]
 
The enemy of our souls, Satan and his demonic forces, did not surrender when Jesus defeated them through His death and resurrection…it simply revealed God’s great plan and set them into overdrive, determined to hit God where it hurt most—through the continued destruction of God’s creation and humankind.  The devil’s work to destroy is rooted in conflict—people against God and one another.  He uses our own resistance to God’s plan, our pride and our selfishness, to do his dirty work for him.
 
Peace is available to us, but it is not automatically given to all.  We must choose to look beyond what we see in our world today, so full of sin and corruption.  Some people think of peace as the absence of difficulties, but that is an impossibility this side of the grave.  So, what is the peace that Jesus has promised to be based on?
 
 “PEACE ACQUIRED”
Philippians 4:4-9 – “4 Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon.
 
6 Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7 Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
 
8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. 9 Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you.”
 
 
Peace is only possible as we live in obedience and relationship to God because He is the source of peace…anyway we might try to manufacture peace on our own can only produce cheap replicas and cannot last.
 
James 3:13-18 tells us, “13 If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you are bitterly jealous and there is selfish ambition in your heart, don’t cover up the truth with boasting and lying. 15 For jealousy and selfishness are not God’s kind of wisdom. Such things are earthly, unspiritual, and demonic. 16 For wherever there is jealousy and selfish ambition, there you will find disorder and evil of every kind.
 
17 But the wisdom from above is first of all pure. It is also peace loving, gentle at all times, and willing to yield to others. It is full of mercy and the fruit of good deeds. It shows no favoritism and is always sincere. 18 And those who are peacemakers will plant seeds of peace and reap a harvest of righteousness.”
 
To have peace, we must truly want it, promote it and stay connected with the source of peace. True Christ followers must accept their role as peacemakers—living at peace with others and telling others of the peace they can have with God through Jesus.  Jealousy—being envious of others—and selfishness—putting ourselves ahead of everyone else—work against peace; in fact, James tells us that if you suffer from jealousy and selfishness you are not filled with God’s wisdom, but rather are unduly influenced by things that are ‘earthly, unspiritual and demonic.’
 
What are some tangible ways that you cannot promote peace? [responses]
 
The fact that we can experience peace at all during our earthly lives is nothing short of a miracle, but in many ways, it will never compare to what is to come.
  
 
“PEACE REALIZED”
Revelation 21:1-7 – “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
 
3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
 
5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” 6 And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.”
 
Life in heaven will be one of complete and everlasting peace, but, remember, as elusive as it can be during our experience of life on planet earth, God’s peace is available to us in the here and now as well.  Prior to dying on the cross, Jesus told His disciples what to expect (even though they didn’t get it) …that He was going to die and rise again, return to heaven to make preparations for us to join Him and He would send the Holy Spirit.  He promised His followers, “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27).  As believers in Christ, we have available to us something the world cannot possess…that makes no sense to the natural mind in the midst of ongoing troubles…PEACE!
 
Follow-up - This week, think of one area of your life in which you are experiencing a lack of peace.  Use Philippians 4:5-6 as a prayer guide to talk to God about it.
 
 
So, on this third Advent Sunday of peace, what are our takeaways?
·         Jesus’ great work as the Messiah made it possible for us to experience peace with God… we no longer have to remain His enemies.  He has provided us with a choice
·         Christ-followers can experience peace even while surrounded by uncertainty and danger because the source of our peace is Him—not bank accounts, health, job security, promotions, a good reputation or even personal safety…all things that can be taken from us in a blink of an eye
·         Satan works to rob Jesus’ followers of peace…he may have lost our souls, but that does not mean he’s content to let us go without a fight; he continues to attempt to discourage us so that we will not share the possibility of true and lasting peace with others.  His handiwork takes the form of persecution and he is a master at sowing seeds of doubt
·         We can experience a ‘peace that passes understanding,’ a peace that makes no sense given the world in which we live, when we strive to fill the role of peacemaker as Jesus called us to do—living at peace with others as far as it is possible from our efforts and spreading God’s wonderful message that we can now live in relationship with Him as He intended at the very beginning
·         We have an amazing hope for the future…a peace that will be based on the absence of evil in a heavenly kingdom that will never be infected by sin’s destructive influence
 
  
For further study…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrzq_X1NNaA  (The Bible Project – The Gospel)
 
Sunday, December 19, 2021- “The Return of the Messiah” 4th Sunday of Advent – Angel’s Joy - In-person and Online 
Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)
 
"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"

​Youtube link... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQpaBN5EIyQ
 
HOPE CHAPEL - Sunday, December 5, 2021
 
Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021" 
Weekly Topic - “The Birth of the Messiah” 
Texts – Isaiah 11:1-5, Luke 2:1-7, Luke 2:8-20
 
 
When God sent His son as the Messiah, the Rescuer, His arrival went virtually unnoticed by the majority of people.  And the ones who were privileged to be given a sight of the newborn king, though quick to share the news, were quickly disregarded for the unbelievability of their message.
 
Today, we’re going to examine the birth of the Messiah…probably the best-known story contained in the Bible, outside of creation…but a story nonetheless that is often oversimplified and misunderstood.  Let’s begin with the promise God made to David…that his would be an everlasting dynasty and from him would come the greatest king of all—the Messiah.
 
 
 “JESUS’ LINEAGE”
Isaiah 11:1-5 – “Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot--
    yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.
2 And the Spirit of the Lord will rest on him--
    the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
    the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
3 He will delight in obeying the Lord.
    He will not judge by appearance
    nor make a decision based on hearsay.
4 He will give justice to the poor
    and make fair decisions for the exploited.
The earth will shake at the force of his word,
    and one breath from his mouth will destroy the wicked.
5 He will wear righteousness like a belt
    and truth like an undergarment.”
 
Based on Isaiah’s description, what kind of man did the Jewish people expect the heir to David’s throne to be like? [discussion]
 
Jesus was most definitely a descendant of King David and Bathsheba—both on Mary’s side and Joseph’s.  Matthew lists the descendants of Abraham through to Joseph and has Jesus’ lineage pass through Solomon, David’s son who succeeded his father to the throne.  Luke’s account on the other hand, passes from Adam to Mary and demonstrates a lineage that passes through Nathan, another of David and Bathsheba’s sons.  There is no question, Jesus came from the right blood line…but the right pedigree?  Far from it!
 
Jesus was born to ‘nobodies’ from a backwater town known as Nazareth.  The region of Galilee was viewed by those who lived in Judah much the same way that people from the country, or ‘hicks,’ are sometimes viewed by those from cities…‘nothing good comes from Nazareth’ (John 1:46) was the attitude of many.   And everyone from Mary and Joseph’s hometown knew what kind of people they were…she had gotten pregnant before they were properly married!  Mary and Joseph might both be able to trace their ancestry back to King David, but surely God would not provide His promised Messiah through an illegitimate union.  Never mind that Matthew assures his readers that Mary’s virginity is certain because Joseph refrained from having sexual relations with his wife until after Jesus was born (1:25); the gossip wheel had been set in motion years before.  Not to mention their lack of resources.  Would the Messiah, the future king, not need all the ‘advantages’ wealth could provide in His upbringing to prepare to rule the nation?  All the things Mary and Jospeh would not be able to provide.
 
The choice of Mary and Joseph as the parents of the Messiah, entrusted in His upbringing, made no sense at all from a human standpoint.  A future king should be born to a king…not a carpenter and his teenage wife!  Surely the Messiah’s parents would need wealth and positions to ensure that their son received the very best in preparation—including religious, academic and vocational training, opportunities to lead and influence over others.  What could the son of a carpenter hope for?  No, in the eyes of the world His prospects remained slim…especially considering His place of birth.
 
 
“THE PLACE OF HIS BIRTH”
Luke 2:1-7 – “At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. 2 (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) 3 All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census. 4 And because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home. He traveled there from the village of Nazareth in Galilee. 5 He took with him Mary, to whom he was engaged, who was now expecting a child.
 
6 And while they were there, the time came for her baby to be born. 7 She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.”
 
Yes, Jesus, the Messiah, was born in Bethlehem, David’s royal city, but in a barn…nothing remotely close to being suitable for royalty.  I don’t think we fully appreciate the nativity scene…our porcelain manger figurines just can’t do it justice.  For starters, we have to place ourselves in a barn, or rather yet more likely a cave or crude shelter.  There are no compact hay bales from which to make a bed for the labouring Mary, just the dirt floor covered in animal feces and loose bedding.  I’m certain that Joseph would have cleared a spot and thrown down fresh straw for Mary, but the birth of the Messiah happened on the stable floor…down in the muck!  And in all the portrayals of Jesus’ birth the sanitizing is not reserved for the barn alone. 
 
The night I gave birth to Shannan at the K-W hospital, 27 other babies were born.  In one room, one of the labouring mothers could be heard screaming.  As a woman from the middle-east she had none of the reserve that is engrained in those of us who descend from many of the countries in Europe.  In our imaginations, Mary is often required to endure a few minutes of groaning and sweat-drenching labour before…tada…out pops the baby Jesus, already cleaned and wrapped.  Now those of you who have never had or witnessed the birth of a child, you’ll have to trust those of us who have.  Labour is excruciating, often lasting for hours, messy, even scary outside the confines of a hospital surrounded by trained staff and the luxury of pain medications, especially for a first-time mom.
 
And what nonsense when we teach children to sing, ‘no crying He made,’ as though a crying infant is unnatural or beneath the Son of God.  Anyone who knows the first thing about newborn babies is that you want them to cry to clear out any amniotic fluids that may be blocking their airway.  The scene in the stable would not have been a serene peaceful affair, but filled with the noises and smells and natural human responses that accompany such a scene.  When we think of the night of Jesus’ birth, we have to take care not to rob it of its humanity and its mess in our attempts to sanitize it. 
 
Why do you think it is that we often ‘sanitize’ the events of that first Christmas? [discuss]
 
We need to resist the urge to reduce the full meaning of Jesus’ sacrifice, which ended at the cross, but began at His incarnation.  He fully experienced what it was to be human.  The Bible does not say without reason that we have an intercessor who understands us because He was one of us.  There isn’t anyone He can’t relate to…which brings me to the first visitors to the newborn Messiah—shepherds.
 
 “BIRTH ANNOUNCEMENT”
Luke 2:8-20 – “That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. 9 Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, 10 but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. 11 The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! 12 And you will recognize him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.”
 
13 Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”
 
15 When the angels had returned to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let’s go to Bethlehem! Let’s see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”  16 They hurried to the village and found Mary and Joseph. And there was the baby, lying in the manger. 17 After seeing him, the shepherds told everyone what had happened and what the angel had said to them about this child. 18 All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, 19 but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often. 20 The shepherds went back to their flocks, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen. It was just as the angel had told them.”
 
A heavenly chorus to announce the birth of the Messiah?  Now that makes sense!  Who better to make known the arrival of God’s promised Rescuer?  But to shepherds?  Why shepherds?  There is some thought that they were considered lazy, dishonest and dirty; however, like the view of Judeans toward their cousins in Galilee, it might just be that they were on the bottom of the societal ladder and were viewed as inferior by their fellow Hebrews.  When God chose to extend an invitation to visit the stable-turned-nursery it was to those on the hillside at night working to care for their sheep…to the working poor.
 
One of my greatest pet peeves with modern day depictions of the night of Jesus’ birth is the presence of the wisemen and at times the absence of the shepherds.  It’s like, subconsciously, we wish to give Jesus the greeting we feel is right for a king.  The gifts of the kings are given more importance than the visit by the shepherds.  How often have I seen the Nativity crèche with only one lonely little shepherd, a lamb slung over his shoulders, and three bejeweled wisemen kneeling and/or standing around the manger?  This is an entirely inaccurate portrayal.  While the shepherds were given a front row seat to the night of Jesus’ birth, it would take close to two years for the wisemen to follow the light of the star that began to shine the night that the angels sang their song to the shepherds.
 
The kings’ arrival with gold, frankincense and myrrh is fortuitous—God’s perfect timing.  I am certain that their gifts were put to good use when Joseph was forced to flee with Mary and Jesus to Egypt from Herod’s murderous attempts to eliminate this new king.  But we need to be careful not to reduce the full impact of God’s choosing shepherds, rather than royalty or the wealthy or even those considered ‘desirable’ from a human perspective as His guests of honour. 
 
What message was God sending through His choice? [discussion]
 
 So, on this second Advent Sunday of love, what are our takeaways?
·         The message should be clear…God has no favourites!  From His choice of Jesus’ parents, to the place of the Messiah’s birth, to His first invited guests to visit His Son…God will accept and can use anyone.
·         When God sent the Messiah, His Son, He did not work in such a way that made sense from a human perspective.  He turned what we consider the natural order of things on its proverbial head and showed us His plans…plans that stood in stark contrast to what the people were expecting.
·         Could the same thing be true of Jesus’ return?  Many got it badly wrong as they prepared for the coming of the Messiah.  Might we be holding to wrong-headed ideas about His return?  Just a question worth pondering that we will discuss in more detail on the fourth Sunday of Advent.
·         God’s plans and answers to prayer often do not look like the solutions we deem most desirable; we pray for one thing and He answers, but not in the way that we had thought or hoped.  One thing is certain, however, even in the face of our not knowing, we can trust the One who knows all.  It was true for the first century Hebrews and it is true for us today.
  
For further study…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OLezoUvOEQ (The Bible Project – Luke 1-2)
 
Sunday, December 12, 2021- “The Work of the Messiah” 3rd Sunday of Advent – Shepherds/Peace - In-person and Online 
 
___________________________________________
Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)
 
"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"

​Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021" 
Weekly Topic - “The Need for a Messiah”
Texts – various – Genesis 6:5, Romans 3:10, Romans 3:23, Romans 6:23, John 3:16, Romans 5:8, Romans 10:9-10,13, Romans 12:2, Isaiah 52:13-13:12
  
 When God first created the world and placed Adam and Eve in the Garden, He declared the finished product ‘very good.’  Unfortunately, people couldn’t resist the temptation to misuse His gift of freewill and chose to disobey the one ‘thou shalt not’ He had given to them as their means of having choice.  They were not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, but with a little persuasion from the serpent, they fell hard.  Their disobedience unleashed a most deadly virus—every single person, and the whole of creation in fact, is now hopelessly corrupted.  God’s ‘very good’ was no more.  And in Genesis 3, we find the first of God’s interventions on our behalf—promising the demise of the serpent, evicting the first people from their home thereby cutting off their access to the tree of life…yet also promising a coming Messiah who would bring the cure for sin.  At just the right time, the Messiah—God’s promised Rescuer—would come.
 
But time passed and it appeared that God had forgotten about His promise.  Humanity proceeded along doing what came naturally for a creation infected with a spiritual disease.  By the time of Noah, God knew that again, the time had come for Him to intervene.  “The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil…right from childhood!” (Genesis 6:5, 8:21).  So He sent the flood and began again.
 
A few short generations later, the people banded together to make a name for themselves in defiance to God and began construction on the tower of Babel.  But again, God knew that this course would lead to no good and intervened, causing the people to speak in different languages.  Their inability to communicate caused them to spread out and by doing so, they obeyed the plan of God to fill and take care of the whole of the planet (Genesis 11).
 
In Genesis 12, we read how God chose to intervene in humanity’s story by identifying the man through whom He would bring about His promised Messiah.  Abram heard God’s call and obeyed; then twenty-five years later God performed a miracle for this man, now 100 years old with a ninety-year-old wife, by giving them a baby boy named Isaac.  Theirs was a far from perfect family, yet we have read how God watched over this particular family—from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—leading them to the land of Egypt where they grew into a large nation over the course of 400 years.  A great nation, but a growing threat to the mind of the Egyptian pharaoh.
 
The people are enslaved and God intervenes for them…identifying them as His chosen people…and releasing them from their human slave masters.  They then wander in the wilderness for forty years until the people are ready to receive the land God had been promising to help them secure—the land of Canaan.  But again, their relationship with God was anything but a straight line of obedience and time after time, God intervenes to bring them back onto the track that will lead to the fulfillment of His plan for the Messiah.
 
In order to bring about some semblance of order to this unruly nation, God first sets judges then kings over His people to guide them as a nation.  But obedience to Him is always short-lived…the people, though an organized nation, cannot order the chaos created in their lives by the virus of sin.  He again intervenes and provides messages to men and women as His prophets to share with the nation.  The people cannot claim to be unaware of God’s expectations.  The prophets, though sharing messages from God, do not generally fare well in the arena of human opinion; while some are listened to, most are ignored or even silenced.
 
God’s next intervention makes it clear that the Jewish nation’s status as God’s chosen people, does not come with any sort of favouritism.  God raises up first the Assyrians and then the Babylonians…and the people are carted off into captivity.  They are allowed to return under Cyrus, but the years plod on, the Messiah is nowhere to be found…and the virus of sin remains very much alive.
 
From the time in the Garden of Eden to the time of the Roman empire, humanity had found itself set firmly on a self-destruct course; God’s interventions throughout the years are the only thing that have kept us from being successful in achieving our own demise.  But God wasn’t done.  What was taking so long for the Messiah to come?  I believe, in part, that God wanted us to recognize our own inability to bring about a solution to the virus of sin.
 
  “HOPELESS ON OUR OWN”
Romans 3:10 – “No one is righteous…not even one!”
Romans 3:23 – “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.”
Romans 6:23a – “For the wages of sin is death…”
 
Paul, who wrote the book of Romans, had trained as a Pharisee and knew the requirements of the Law better than most.  He understood that there was no hope for man apart from God’s intervention.  There was not a single human on the planet who could ever achieve ‘righteousness’ on their own; everyone has sinned, we cannot ever achieve the standard required by God to live in unimpeded communion with Him; the cost of our disobedience was our eternal souls…unless God intervened again!
  
Today is the first Sunday of Advent, but our Christmas celebrations of Jesus coming to earth are incomplete if we ignore the reason for His coming…to be made a substitutionary sacrifice for each one of us!  It is only because of this that we can have any hope at all.
 
“HOPE EXTENDED BY GOD”
Romans 6:23b – “…but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”
John 3:16 – “God loved the world so much, He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”
Romans 5:8 – “God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”
 
God’s gift to us, this gift of hope, came with an almost unspeakable price tag.  His intervention of providing a Messiah—not to rescue the Jewish nation from servitude to others, but the rescue of all peoples from the virus of sin responsible for our eternal deaths—required God to become human, to live the life of a helpless person amongst His creation, to die a most gruesome death on our behalf all the while having His sacrifice spat upon.  Who but God could have?  No one!
  
And the ease by which we are permitted to access this sacrifice is almost unfathomable.
 
“CHOOSING HOPE”
Romans 10:9-10,13 – “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved… For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
 
Make a declaration of Jesus’ Lordship, believe with all your heart that He is once again alive, then openly share your faith.  That’s it!  The gift is free, but it was not cheap.  Neither is it to be taken lightly.  Unfortunately, there are people who misuse this scripture and live as though a one-time confession is all that God requires from us.  But the price was too dear for us to defile it in such a way.  God demands more of us who choose to believe in His Son.
 
Romans 12:2 – “Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”
 
We are expected to become new, to love our enemies, to do the good work God has planned for us…not to simply bask in our ‘get out of hell’ free status while we wait for the final journey that will permit us to enter into the pearly gates like some gated community reserved for the elite.  Jesus’ followers are to live lives of obedience to God—serving both Him and others, demonstrating God’s love to all.
 
  
So, on this first Advent Sunday of hope, what are our takeaways?
·         Sin has thoroughly corrupted us, and there is no good thing in any of us or in the world around us apart from God.
·         God loved us, but justice had to be served; to simply ‘let it slide’ would have corrupted the justice of God.
·         The only sufficient payment for disobedience to our Creator, our Sovereign God, was capital punishment—the death penalty.  God Himself paid the required price for all sin through the death of Jesus.
·         It is then up to us whether or not we will choose the gift of hope offered.  Salvation through the forgiveness of sins is absolutely free, but don’t think that means there is no cost to being a disciple of Jesus.  He Himself told us, “You cannot be my disciple without giving up everything you own” (Luke 14:33).  He wasn’t merely talking about money and possessions, but also allegiances, desires, your reputation, your rights…all of it!  He will not allow anything or anyone to shove Him out of His rightful place in the lives of those who accept His gift.  To do so would be foolish—we need the Messiah!
  
For further study…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dEh25pduQ8 (The Bible Project – Messiah)
 
Sunday, December 5, 2021- “The Birth of the Messiah” 2nd Sunday of Advent - Bethlehem - In-person and Online – Communion Sunday
Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)
 
"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"

Youtube link... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEISkm0UdCE
 
HOPE CHAPEL - Sunday, November 21, 2021
 
Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021" 
Weekly Topic - “Going Home” 
Texts – Ezra, Nehemiah, Isaiah 45
  
Last week, we left the people of Israel and Judah having been taken captive by first the Assyrians and then finally the Babylonians.  They have been removed from their homeland and strangers have been moved in to take their place.  They are desperate to go home, but because of their sin, ‘the land has vomited them out’ (Leviticus 18:28), just as it had done to the earlier Canaanite inhabitants.  What has happened is exactly as was predicted; no one could claim, “I didn’t know.” However, as much as God was disappointed with His people, He was by no means done with them…and He had a plan to bring them back.  But, like many of God’s plans, this one comes with a couple of surprises.  And, years before God enacts His plan, He tells the people all about it.
 
Isaiah 45:1-6,13 - “This is what the Lord says to Cyrus, his anointed one,
    whose right hand he will empower.
Before him, mighty kings will be paralyzed with fear.
    Their fortress gates will be opened,
    never to shut again.
2 This is what the Lord says:
“I will go before you, Cyrus,
    and level the mountains.
I will smash down gates of bronze
    and cut through bars of iron.
3 And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness--
    secret riches.
I will do this so you may know that I am the Lord,
    the God of Israel, the one who calls you by name.
4 “And why have I called you for this work?
    Why did I call you by name when you did not know me?
It is for the sake of Jacob my servant,
    Israel my chosen one
I am the Lord;
    there is no other God.
I have equipped you for battle,
    though you don’t even know me,
6 so all the world from east to west
    will know there is no other God.…
13 I will raise up Cyrus to fulfill my righteous purpose,
    and I will guide his actions.
He will restore my city and free my captive people--
    without seeking a reward!
    I, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”
 
At the time of Isaiah’s prophecy, it wouldn’t have made any sense.  “Cyrus?  Cyrus who?”  Fast forward 150 years, give or take a few decades, and it becomes perfectly obvious.  God was going to work through a pagan king to bring His people back home to Jerusalem after the time of their punishment by exile was completed.  Jeremiah had told the people how long their exile would last, “This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again” (29:10).  And as we will discover today, God fulfilled His promise.
 
 Over the seventy years that the Jews found themselves enslaved in a foreign land, empires had risen up only to crash down hard.  The Babylonian empire, so great when it conquered Jerusalem, had fallen to the Persian empire under Cyrus the Great.  Unlike previous emperors, Cyrus had a respect for the customs and religions of the lands he conquered.  He is even credited by some with creating the first declaration of human rights as found on the ‘Cyrus Cylinder.’  Despite being a pagan king, God most obviously had an impact on the heart of this man.
 
“FREE TO GO HOME”
Ezra 1:1-3 – “In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah. He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it throughout his kingdom: 2 “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Any of you who are his people may go to Jerusalem in Judah to rebuild this Temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, who lives in Jerusalem. And may your God be with you!”
 
Can you imagine being amongst the captives when the word began to spread?  The new power of the land was going to let you return home, was going to encourage others to support your endeavours and was returning items stolen by earlier kings for the rebuilding of the Temple.  Sounds too good to be true.  But it was true!  The invitation was sent out and under the leadership of Zerubbabel a number of the Jewish exiles made the long journey home.
 
The events that follow as outlined in the book of Ezra and Nehemiah (originally written as a single piece by an author known as the chronicler), cover one hundred years and three groups of exiles returning home under three individuals.  God used each of the leaders to rebuild one major aspect of their home.  Zerubbabel, the first governor of Judaea, oversaw the rebuilding of the Temple.  Ezra, a priest, taught people the Law of Moses.  Nehemiah, a later governor assigned by the Persian Empire, oversaw the rebuilding of the walls of the city and implemented further reforms.  At times, the story reads a little bit like a ‘two steps forward and one step back’ narrative.
 
“REBUILDING THEIR HOME”
The Altar is Rebuilt – Ezra 3:2-3 – “Then Jeshua son of Jehozadak joined his fellow priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel with his family in rebuilding the altar of the God of Israel. They wanted to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, as instructed in the Law of Moses, the man of God.  Even though the people were afraid of the local residents, they rebuilt the altar at its old site. Then they began to sacrifice burnt offerings on the altar to the Lord each morning and evening.”
 
The Rebuilding of the Temple Begins – Ezra 3:7-8a – “Then the people hired masons and carpenters and bought cedar logs from the people of Tyre and Sidon, paying them with food, wine, and olive oil. The logs were brought down from the Lebanon mountains and floated along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea to Joppa, for King Cyrus had given permission for this.  8 The construction of the Temple of God began in midspring, during the second year after they arrived in Jerusalem.”
 
The Building is Paused – Ezra 4:4-5 – “Then the local residents tried to discourage and frighten the people of Judah to keep them from their work. 5 They bribed agents to work against them and to frustrate their plans. This went on during the entire reign of King Cyrus of Persia and lasted until King Darius of Persia took the throne.”
 
In verse 24, we read that the enemies of the Jews convinced the then king, Artaxerxes, of the danger of allowing the project to continue and he brought it to a full stop.  However, in the time of the next king, Darius, a more thorough search of the records was made and a very different directive given:
 
Building Resumes and Is Completed – Ezra 6:6-12 – “So King Darius sent this message:
“Now therefore, Tattenai, governor of the province west of the Euphrates River, and Shethar-bozenai, and your colleagues and other officials west of the Euphrates River—stay away from there! 7 Do not disturb the construction of the Temple of God. Let it be rebuilt on its original site, and do not hinder the governor of Judah and the elders of the Jews in their work.
 
8 “Moreover, I hereby decree that you are to help these elders of the Jews as they rebuild this Temple of God. You must pay the full construction costs, without delay, from my taxes collected in the province west of the Euphrates River so that the work will not be interrupted.
 
9 “Give the priests in Jerusalem whatever is needed in the way of young bulls, rams, and male lambs for the burnt offerings presented to the God of heaven. And without fail, provide them with as much wheat, salt, wine, and olive oil as they need each day. 10 Then they will be able to offer acceptable sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the welfare of the king and his sons.
 
11 “Those who violate this decree in any way will have a beam pulled from their house. Then they will be lifted up and impaled on it, and their house will be reduced to a pile of rubble. 12 May the God who has chosen the city of Jerusalem as the place to honor his name destroy any king or nation that violates this command and destroys this Temple.
 
“I, Darius, have issued this decree. Let it be obeyed with all diligence.”
 
Ezra and Nehemiah faced similar opposition when it came to cleaning up the priesthood, teaching the people to follow God’s laws and rebuilding the city walls; unfortunately, not all the backward steps were as a result of the work of their enemies who didn’t want to see the city rebuilt and prosper.
 
 At each stage of the rebuilding of their home, the various leaders reminded the people of the importance of serving God alone.  They did this through the retelling of their story, reading the Law of Moses, times of confession and sacrifice and times to celebrate with joy the new things that God was doing.  As we read through the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, it is impossible to miss the joy mixed with sorrow, the desire to move on but the calls for caution, the desire to be free yet constantly being restrained.  They may be home, but they are still not ‘free.’
 
“HOME, BUT NOT FREE”
Nehemiah 9:34-37 – “Our kings, leaders, priests, and ancestors did not obey your Law or listen to the warnings in your commands and laws. 35 Even while they had their own kingdom, they did not serve you, though you showered your goodness on them. You gave them a large, fertile land, but they refused to turn from their wickedness.
 
36 “So now today we are slaves in the land of plenty that you gave our ancestors for their enjoyment! We are slaves here in this good land. 37 The lush produce of this land piles up in the hands of the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They have power over us and our livestock. We serve them at their pleasure, and we are in great misery.”
 
Though free to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the city and inhabit the land formerly the sovereign territory of Judah, they remained a vassal state of the great Persian empire.  Over the course of the next five hundred years, Israel would find itself under the control of the Greeks, Seleucids and Romans as slaves to foreign nations.  They dreamed of the coming Messiah and the day when He would bring them freedom.  But there was another freedom that the early exilic leaders recognized that the people needed.
 
The returned exiles were quick to fall into old sinful habits:
·         Both Ezra and Nehemiah had to rebuke many, including leaders and priests, about marrying and making alliances with foreigners who worshiped other gods.  Wasn’t that a major reason for their captivity in the first place?  Idolatry had lead them into adultery against God.
·         Nehemiah came to the defense of the oppressed who were being mistreated by their wealthy counterparts; due to the large amounts of interest being charged, the people were having to mortgage their property and sell their children as slaves just to survive.  Nehemiah told them to stop it!
·         After returning to Babylon, having acted as governor of Judaea for twelve years, Nehemiah returned for a visit and found the Temple being used for storage space and those who were to be performing religious duties returned to the fields because the people were neglecting to pay them the agreed upon support.  He also found people selling and buying on the Sabbath.  Nehemiah once again put things back in order but you can hear the doubt in his words that it will last, “Remember this in my favor, O my God.”  He has done his best, but the people’s greatest problem persists…sin…and he doubts their ability to live fully obedient despite consequences.
 
They needed saving from themselves and their natural inclination to reject God in favour of other loves.  They needed another rescuer.  Not a pagan king, but God the King…and as promised He was coming, though as yet, they did not fully understand.  Just as Isaiah had promised the coming of Cyrus, he also told of a greater king to come…which brings us to Advent next week and our “Need of a Messiah.”
 
 So what are our takeaways?
·         When God makes a promise, we can trust Him to keep it, even when it doesn’t make any sense to us.  God-sense is anything but common sense.  If He could tell the people of a coming rescuer in the form of a pagan king years in advance, what reason do we have to doubt His promises?
·         When doing God’s work, we will face opposition.  We have an enemy who does not want us to succeed in our obedience to God.  But, when we hit roadblocks, it is up to us to continue in our obedience.  Our success is determined, not by numbers or bank accounts or even the approval of people…obedience to God alone will result in His ‘Well done, good and faithful servant.”
·         We all long for a home that is coming when we will no longer be slaves—slaves to the tyranny that comes from living on a rotting planet as well as the tyranny of sin that exists in each one of us.  But without God in our lives, we can never hope to know freedom, either on this side of the grave or the next.
  
 For further study…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkETkRv9tG8 (The Bible Project – Overview: Ezra-Nehemiah)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xSua9_WhQFE (The Bible Project – Exile)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bszz_ReGfXQ (Spoken Gospel – Ezra-Nehemiah)
 
Sunday, November 28, 2021- “The Need for a Messiah” 1st Sunday of Advent - Prophets - In-person and Online – Communion Sunday
_________________________________________
Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)
 
"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"

Youtube link...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ujWrHVULMQc
 
HOPE CHAPEL - Sunday, November 14, 2021
 
Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021" 
Weekly Topic - “God’s Unfaithful Spouse” 
Texts – Hosea, 2 Kings 17, 2 Chronicles 36 +
  
 Today, I want to begin with a story.  It’s about a man who others probably thought was a bit of a chump—easily duped and deceived—who married a woman with a reputation for being sexually promiscuous.  They had three children together, but it was obvious that at least two were not his own; in the face of her undeniable adultery, he remained faithful, providing for her needs and that of the children.  However, she left him and found herself in a very bad place; this man could have washed his hands of her, but instead he paid off the debts she owed to her lovers and brought her back into his home.  She was permitted to live with him once again, but this time he told her that she needed to remain chaste; he would care for her, but refused to play the game of pretending she was going to be his faithful wife and, for an undetermined amount of time, refused to engage in sexual relations with her.  Time would tell whether she was capable of remaining faithful…
 
What man, in his right mind, would agree to this kind of marital relationship?  The prophet Hosea, that’s who!  As unbelievable as it may seem, Hosea was following God’s directions.  God had directed him to marry a prostitute or ‘sexually promiscuous’ woman.  So Hosea married Gomer who he knew fit the requirement.  She did bear Hosea a son, who Hosea named Jezreel, but it soon became obvious that the life of a faithful wife didn’t suit Gomer.  She was soon to get pregnant again and gave birth to a daughter, who Hosea named Lo-ruhamah, meaning ‘not loved.’  And then, shortly after weaning her daughter, she became pregnant yet again, and Hosea named this second son, Lo-ammi, ‘not my people.’  Hosea knew these last two children were not his own, but he also knew that his life was being used for a much greater purpose.  God had already told him what to expect, that this woman he married would commit adultery and would have children that were not his offspring. 
 
So, why would God cause his prophet to suffer this way—why assign this faithful man to a life of such disloyalty, grief and to be treated as a laughing stock amongst his peers?  Because God was entrusting Hosea with a sacred task—to represent God’s own relationship with His chosen people.  God wanted to show His ‘wife,’ Israel, what it was like for Him to be their faithful husband in the face of their never-ending adultery.  Hosea’s story was God’s story.  Hosea’s life was to serve as a picture of what God endured and to serve as a warning that their sham marriage, on the part of Israel, was about to come to an end.  God was no longer going to abide the pretense.
 
 “GOD’S CHOSEN PEOPLE HAVE BEEN UNFAITHFUL”
Hosea 5:3-7 – ‘I know what you are like, O Ephraim.
    You cannot hide yourself from me, O Israel.
You have left me as a prostitute leaves her husband;
    you are utterly defiled.
4 Your deeds won’t let you return to your God.
    You are a prostitute through and through,
    and you do not know the Lord.
5 “The arrogance of Israel testifies against her;
    Israel and Ephraim will stumble under their load of guilt.
    Judah, too, will fall with them.
6 When they come with their flocks and herds
    to offer sacrifices to the Lord,
they will not find him,
    because he has withdrawn from them.
7 They have betrayed the honor of the Lord,
    bearing children that are not his.
Now their false religion will devour them
    along with their wealth.’
 
Unfaithfulness to God is no small matter!  From amongst all the peoples of the world, God had chosen Abraham through whom He would see His great plan revealed—the complete restoration of all that had been lost when sin entered into the world.  The Israelites were to God a people that He had chosen to reveal Himself for the benefit of all humanity.  He performed incredible miracles for them—rescuing them from Egypt, providing them with water and manna in the wilderness for forty years.  He led them in a pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night as well as helping them to accomplish the task of taking over possession of the promised land of Canaan.  He had chosen to dwell in their very midst—demonstrated through His provision of commands and the directions for the construction of a Tabernacle and later the Temple.  He had made a covenant with them that He hadn’t made with any other nation of the world.
 
The people were fully aware of what was required of them, yet failed time and again to remain loyal to God alone.  The seduction of other loves proved too much for them to resist. By the time of Hosea, God had begun to warn His people of coming judgment if they did not repent and return back to Him immediately.  In the time of the judges, God had allowed various nations to oppress the Hebrew people to bring them back to their senses and return to Him.  But, Hosea warned, a time was coming when God would choose to turn a deaf ear to their cries for help.  His patience was wearing thin.  God had remained ever faithful to them—providing all that they needed, giving them unmerited favour, forgiving them when they repented—but He also knew a time was coming…and had in fact arrived…when they would no longer come back to Him.  In order to restore the relationship, God was going to have to do something drastic.
 
 God was about to withdraw His protection from the people of the Northern Kingdom of Israel and was going to advance the Assyrians against them.
 
“GOD BRINGS PUNISHMENT”
Hosea 11:5-7 – “But since my people refuse to return to me,
    they will return to Egypt
    and will be forced to serve Assyria.
6 War will swirl through their cities;
    their enemies will crash through their gates.
They will destroy them,
    trapping them in their own evil plans.
7 For my people are determined to desert me.
They call me the Most High,
    but they don’t truly honor me.”
 
During Hosea’s day, the Egyptians and Assyrians were vying for territory and power. The chapter of 2 Kings 17 explains how Israel found itself first answering to Egypt, then details the events of Israel’s capture and the relocation of its peoples by the Assyrians in 722 BC.  The city of Samaria suffered a siege of three years before finally surrendering to the conquerors, who then displaced the people and moved-in other conquered peoples to the newly acquired territory. 
 
Later, in the days of Isaiah and Jeremiah, God gave similar warnings to the Southern Kingdom of Judah.  The Assyrians never were able to take over the kingdom of Judah, but the southern kingdom found itself required to pay tribute to Egypt after the death of King Josiah, much the way the northern kingdom had; however, after pilfering Judah, it appears that Egypt wasn’t that interested in retaining control and in 2 Chronicles 36 we read that the Babylonians, the new up and coming power from the north, captured Jerusalem in 586 BC.
 
Why would God mobilize enemy nations against His own chosen people?  And make no mistake…it was His doing.  In the prophet Habakkuk’s discussion with God, He reveals to the prophet, “I am raising up the Babylonians, a cruel and violent people.  They will march across the world and conquer other lands” (Habakkuk 1:6).  Habakkuk protests, “O Lord, our Rock, you have sent these Babylonians to correct us, to punish us for our many sins.  13 But you are pure and cannot stand the sight of evil.  Will you wink at their treachery?  Should you be silent while the wicked swallow up people more righteous than they? (Habakkuk 1:12b-13).  The prophet understands that God has allowed the Babylonians to conquer His people, but he cannot wrap his mind around the fact that God would choose to use an evil, pagan, cruel nation to bring about His justice.
  
In hindsight, we know that God had no intention of eliminating the people of Israel, despite what it looked like.  God tells Hosea that He simply cannot give up Israel entirely—though betrayed time and again by His faithless spouse, He continues to care deeply for His people.
 
“THE PEOPLE WILL RETURN”
Hosea 11:8-11 – “Oh, how can I give you up, Israel?
    How can I let you go?
How can I destroy you like Admah
    or demolish you like Zeboiim?
My heart is torn within me,
    and my compassion overflows.
9 No, I will not unleash my fierce anger.
    I will not completely destroy Israel,
for I am God and not a mere mortal.
    I am the Holy One living among you,
    and I will not come to destroy.
10 For someday the people will follow me.
    I, the Lord, will roar like a lion.
And when I roar,
    my people will return trembling from the west.
11 Like a flock of birds, they will come from Egypt.
    Trembling like doves, they will return from Assyria.
And I will bring them home again,”
    says the Lord.
 
God punishes, not merely out of fierce anger as a person might, but out of holy necessity.  If they never return to Him, they will be lost forever and so He intervenes…His care is too deep and His love is too strong to allow Him to sit passively by while His creation sets itself on a course for destruction.  And He is determined to see His plan fulfilled…He has promised the Messiah through the line of Abraham and His promises never fail!
 
 So, what did God want from His spouse? 
 
“WHAT DOES GOD WANT?”
Hosea 6:1-6 – “Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces;
    now he will heal us.
He has injured us;
    now he will bandage our wounds.
2 In just a short time he will restore us,
    so that we may live in his presence.
3 Oh, that we might know the Lord!
    Let us press on to know him.
He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn
    or the coming of rains in early spring.”
4 “O Israel and Judah,
    what should I do with you?” asks the Lord.
“For your love vanishes like the morning mist
    and disappears like dew in the sunlight.
5 I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces--
    to slaughter you with my words,
    with judgments as inescapable as light.
6 I want you to show love,
    not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me
    more than I want burnt offerings.”
 
God’s desire is to have a relationship with His people.  He wants us to have the same faithfulness to Him as He has toward us.  He is jealous for our undivided love; the kind of love that He has for us.  Why should He have to share our affection?  Why should the One we claim to know remain a veritable stranger?  We should not expect to enjoy good things from God if we aren’t also prepared to acknowledge their source.
 
God allows difficulties into our lives for a variety of reasons…sometimes to strengthen our faith in Him, sometimes to provide course correction, and sometimes to punish.  An undisciplined child turns into an entitled, selfish and rebellious adult.  God wants so much better for us.  In fact, the author of Hebrews echoes other authors in Scripture that tell us that God’s punishment is a demonstration of His love for us, “For the LORD disciplines those he loves, and he punishes each one he accepts as his child” (12:6).  Whatever the reason, the difficulties He allows into our lives always have a purpose, even if we cannot see it.  No discipline is enjoyable but it is capable of producing great benefits…for ourselves, personally, for others and for the fulfillment of God’s ultimate plan.
 
 So what are our takeaways?
·         The Bible tells us that the Church is the bride of Christ—God still views His chosen people, all those who believe in His Son, as being in a covenant relationship with Him that requires loyalty, fidelity and love
·         God still punishes us when it is required, but is quick to forgive any who repent. His punishment is not a sign of His hatred or apathy; it is because He cares too much not to provide us with needed motivation to encourage us off of our own self-determined destinations for destruction
·         God may choose to provide us with opportunities to grow, to change directions or for discipline through sources we don’t appreciate.  Habakkuk couldn’t understand God’s choice of the Babylonians to punish the people of Judah, yet seventy years later, God knew that the time would be ripe for the people to return to Jerusalem newly committed to serving Him.  Even when we don’t understand the plan, we can always trust the One whose plan it is.
 
Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)
 
"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"
 

Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021" 
Weekly Topic - “Actions That Follow Remembering” – IDOP & Remembrance Day 
Texts – 2 Chronicles 34-35, 2 Kings 20-23, Romans 12, Hebrews 13:3, Ephesians 6:18, Philippians 4:6-7
  
 
“Never Forget” – Gary LeVox ft. Jonathan McReynolds
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DRnTOdxCi2E
 
 
God gave the Israelites some interesting commands, one of which may seem particularly strange to us if we don’t read God’s purpose for it —the addition of four tassels of blue to the bottom of their garments.  God knew that the people would need a daily, moment by moment reminder of whose they were and to whom they owed their allegiance.
 
It is good to remember—remembering good things can keep us encouraged; remembering God’s help in difficult times can help us hang onto hope for the future in the midst of difficulty.  This week we will also take some moments to commemorate Remembrance Day, which is right and good for us to do.  However, we should never forget the fact that remembering the past does not automatically prevent us from repeating mistakes.  Just as remembering can produce hope in one person, it can produce bitterness in another.  While one might be encouraged to give thanks when remembering, another may become overwhelmed with the desire for revenge.  Remembering can both induce us to do good or evil.  Today, we’re going to consider some of the actions that follow remembering…both commendable and some that fall short.
 
  
“ACTIONS THAT FOLLOW REMEMBERING – VENGEANCE”
Romans 12:19 – ‘Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God. For the Scriptures say, “I will take revenge; I will pay them back,” says the Lord.’
 
Vengeance in the hands of humans never produces good results.  Why not?  Genesis 8:21 provides us with a clue from God’s perspective.  After the flood, Noah made a sacrifice to God and God was pleased.  He promised never to replicate the flood despite knowing we would soon mess it all up again; ‘And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things.”  And our history is full of moments when humanity has proven Him right and chosen not to wait upon God to exact His vengeance, and in the act of exacting our own have made matters so much worse.
 
This week, we will all have an opportunity to observe a moment of silence to commemorate Remembrance Day and the many lives that have been lost in the World Wars.  Remembrance Day began after WWI—the war which was to be the war that ended all wars.  And it might have had more of a chance of doing so except for the exacting of punishment by the winning side upon the defeated Germans.  By the time Germany invaded Poland in 1939—the event that would cause Great Britain and France to once again declare war against Germany—the punitive measures taken against Germany following WW1 had left them vulnerable to Hitler’s propaganda. “…The invasion was preceded by decades of political conflict. The Treaty of Versailles, signed at the end of WW1, placed some very harsh restrictions on Germany, which created a feeling of resentment among the Germans. Due to the financial depression of the 1920’s, Germany simply did not have the funds to pay the reparation fees demanded by the treaty.”  The desire for revenge by ‘the good guys’ was most definitely a contributing factor that landed them in another war that would envelop much of the globe in another epic struggle that lasted five years and cost millions of lives, both military and civilian—estimated at 63.5 million people in total, roughly 3% of the world’s population in 1939.
 
What might have happened if the ‘enemy’ had been met with a greater amount of compassion at the end of WW1 in 1919?  We’ll never know.  There will always be ‘Hitlers’ looking to assume power…but I think, there will not always be the level of support by others to make their dreams come true.  Forgiveness will always provide greater positive results than exacted revenge ever can.
 
 
Rather than leading us to seek vengeance, God’s desire is that remembering will cause us to consider the part we are called to fill in order to see His goodness restored.  Let’s now turn our focus to King Josiah, Judah’s last great king.
 
“ACTIONS THAT FOLLOW REMEMBERING - CORRECTION”
2 Chronicles 34:1-3,8,33 – “Josiah was eight years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem thirty-one years. 2 He did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight and followed the example of his ancestor David. He did not turn away from doing what was right.
 
3 During the eighth year of his reign, while he was still young [at the age of 16], Josiah began to seek the God of his ancestor David. Then in the twelfth year [at the age of 20] he began to purify Judah and Jerusalem, destroying all the pagan shrines, the Asherah poles, and the carved idols and cast images…
 
8 In the eighteenth year of his reign [at the age of 26], after he had purified the land and the Temple, Josiah appointed Shaphan son of Azaliah, Maaseiah the governor of Jerusalem, and Joah son of Joahaz, the royal historian, to repair the Temple of the Lord his God…
 
33 So Josiah removed all detestable idols from the entire land of Israel and required everyone to worship the Lord their God. And throughout the rest of his lifetime, they did not turn away from the Lord, the God of their ancestors.”
 
 
Under Josiah’s rule, the nation of Judah was set firmly back onto a corrected course—obedient to God, the land purified, and the Temple restored.  What caused Josiah to turn to the Lord the way he did?  His grandfather, Manasseh, who reigned as a king of Judah for 55 years, had done more evil than all the previous kings of Judah, despite the fact that his father, Josiah’s great-grandfather King Hezekiah, had been a good king and obeyed God.  Josiah’s own father was also a disappointment to God and ruled for a short two years before being assassinated.  The Bible doesn’t tell us why Josiah began to turn to the Lord at the age of sixteen, but I wonder if he didn’t have a little help from priests, older advisors and even his mother, who could recall the times of God’s favour during the reign of his great grandfather, Hezekiah. 
 
The stories they shared with Josiah, their remembrances, led him to seek God and four short years later he had set himself the task of purifying the land and bringing the nation back into a place of faithful obedience to the One true God.  The scroll found in the Temple had outlined the punishments that awaited the nation for their disobedience of God and the prophet Huldah had confirmed the message, but King Josiah’s reforms—the actions that he had taken as a result of being reminded of whose they were and how they should live—bought the nation some time.
 
But it wasn’t too last.  Within 25 short years of being killed by Pharaoh Neco in battle, Josiah’s reforms would all but be forgotten and the people of Judah would be taken captive by the brutal Babylonian nation from the north…just as the found scroll and the prophet Huldah had predicted.  But that’s another story for next week…
 
 However, there is one more action that should result from us remembering that I wish to highlight today…not events of the past, but of our current connection with the global family of God.  Today is designated International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP) and we too are called to remember…
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcIpDz4UCzw (Rome Reports – Report on Open Doors)
 
Will our ‘remembering’ produce God’s required response?  How should we respond to such a huge problem found throughout our world?
 
“ACTIONS THAT FOLLOW REMEMBERING - COMPASSION”
Hebrews 13:3 – 23 Remember those in prison, as if you were there yourself. Remember also those being mistreated, as if you felt their pain in your own bodies.
 
If it was you, who was in prison or being mistreated, how would you wish for others to act?  We are not provided the option to turn a blind eye—pleading ignorance at the judgment seat of Christ will not let us off the hook for the good things we should have done, but chose not to.
 
Ephesians 6:18 - 18 Pray in the Spirit at all times and on every occasion. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere.
 
Even when we cannot physically support other believers who are being mistreated in-person, we can still do the one thing that can bring about miraculous intervention of their behalf—pray!  But not just pray…we are also called to act in every way that is open to us on the behalf of our brothers and sisters in Christ.  God does not want us to tackle every societal problem because we cannot, but neither does He want us to throw up our hands in despair.  Stay alert…be persistent in your prayers…do the good things that are available to do to support those who face persecution because of their belief in Jesus.
 
Philippians 4:6-7 - 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
 
Pray the promises of God…for peace that transcends all understanding…into the lives of our spiritual brothers and sisters who face persecution so that their faith will remain strong amidst intense opposition.
 
To put this in perspective for us here in Canada, where we do not face full-scale persecution for our faith, I wanted to share an article I recently read in the Voice of the Martyrs weekly prayer bulletin about an incident that happened in India …
 
INDIA: Violent Attack During Worship Service
Sources: Indian Express, Hindustan Times
 
A frenzied mob of more than 200 people burst into a worship service on Sunday, October 3rd, and began beating Christians, vandalizing the building, and looting items belonging to the church. The violent incident happened in Roorkee, a city located in the northern Indian state of Uttarakhand.
 
Two women sustained injuries in the attack, one of whom was taken to hospital in critical condition. The attackers alleged that the Christians were involved in religious conversion activities. According to Pastor Priyo Sadhna Porter, many of those involved in the violence were known members of Bajrang Dal, a militant Hindu nationalist youth organization. Some of the militants had previously demanded that the church be shut down. When approached about the attack, a local spokesperson of the BJP political party condemned the incident but then later justified the mob's actions by saying that "residents of the locality have been cautioning against religious conversions."
 
Based on a complaint from the pastor, a police report has been filed against some of the leaders of the militant organizations, as well as 200 individuals whose names were not publicized…
 
[We are asked to] lift up to the Lord in prayer those who were wounded in this additional recent attack, asking Him to fully heal them of their injuries. Also prayerfully intercede for the ongoing ministry of this church as it continues to serve God and others in the midst of strong opposition. May He fill these believers with strength and courage as they remain beacons of the light and love of Christ among their opposing community. Pray that those responsible for this attack will be brought to justice and, of even greater importance, that they will realize the error of their ways, repent and accept Jesus as their personal Saviour and Lord.
 
What would we do if, all of a sudden, an angry mob stormed into our church building or one of our homes simply because they did not share our belief in God?  Would we not want the support of the Christian community?  Would we not want them to pray earnestly for us?  Would we not expect them to help us in any way possible?
 
Incidents of Christians being persecuted around the world—in India, Afghanistan, North Korea, Mexico, Sudan…the list seems never-ending—remind us of the battle we are all in.  A war that Satan is waging against God and all those who have chosen to side with Him.  And in this war, we need to remember who has already been declared the victor—Jesus!  But as we’ve seen today…whether global conflicts between nations, the goodness of God to those who live in obedience to Him, the persecution faced by those who remain faithful or the conclusive work of God in the death and resurrection of His Son to provide for our forgiveness and renewed relationship…our remembering should prompt us to action. 
 
Remembering comes with an expectation…that we will act with God’s love and compassion, that we stand up for justice and for all those being mistreated (Christian or not), that we will respond as directed by God and not simply as a knee jerk reaction that stems from a desire for revenge and that we will hang onto the sure hope of seeing God face to face someday as one of His children.
 
 
For further study…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_OlRWGLdnw (The Bible Project – Sacrifice and Atonement)
 
https://www.historyonthenet.com/world-war-2-facts (History on the Net – WW2 Facts)
 
Sunday, November 14, 2021- “God’s Unfaithful Spouse”- In-person and Online 
_________________________________________
Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)

​HOPE CHAPEL - Sunday, October 31, 2021 
Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021" 
Weekly Topic - “Corrupt Kings & Courageous Prophets” – Communion & Sharing Sunday
 
Texts – 1 Kings 16:19-22:40
   
__________________________________
 
The nation of Israel is now a divided kingdom—the tribe of Judah primarily making up the nation of Judah to the south and ten of the tribes making up the nation of Israel to the north.  While the southern kingdom of Judah was ruled at times by some very good kings, most were a disappointment.  In the northern territory of Israel, not a single one was ‘good’ according to the scriptures…and one of the worst makes it into our study today—Ahab.  During the time of the kings, God continued to provide directions, but as most of the kings were too busy worshipping the false gods of Baal and Ashtoreth, to name just two, God chose to speak through prophets to these wayward kings, including Ahab.  His reign sees a number of prophets speaking God’s corrective measures and it is during this time that we are introduced to one of the greatest prophets that ever lived—Elijah.
  
_______________________________________________
  
One of the best-known stories found in the Old Testament involves King Ahab and Elijah the prophet.  For three years it had not rained in Israel and things were getting desperate.  Elijah had announced the coming drought to King Ahab as directed by God, but had then had to go into hiding.  King Ahab had spent the ensuing years trying to track Elijah down in order to kill him.  This consequence for disloyalty to God had not caused the king or nation to repent, but rather to seek vengeance on God’s messenger.  At the end of the three years, God directs Elijah to come out of hiding—it is time to arrange a showdown with this idolatrous king.
 
“THE SHOWDOWN”
1 Kings 18:17-24 – “17 When Ahab saw him, he exclaimed, “So, is it really you, you troublemaker of Israel?”
 
18 “I have made no trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “You and your family are the troublemakers, for you have refused to obey the commands of the Lord and have worshiped the images of Baal instead. 19 Now summon all Israel to join me at Mount Carmel, along with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah who are supported by Jezebel.”
 
20 So Ahab summoned all the people of Israel and the prophets to Mount Carmel. 21 Then Elijah stood in front of them and said, “How much longer will you waver, hobbling between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him! But if Baal is God, then follow him!” But the people were completely silent.
 
22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only prophet of the Lord who is left, but Baal has 450 prophets. 23 Now bring two bulls. The prophets of Baal may choose whichever one they wish and cut it into pieces and lay it on the wood of their altar, but without setting fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood on the altar, but not set fire to it. 24 Then call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by setting fire to the wood is the true God!” And all the people agreed.”
 
 
The stage is set for one of the greatest contests in recorded history—450 prophets of Baal against one prophet of God.  The rules of the contest are simple—make a sacrifice on an altar, but do not light a fire to burn it up.  Instead, the god who provides the fire to burn up the offering is the one true God.  The people agree to Elijah’s terms and the prophets of Baal are forced to participate...whether they want to or not.  Elijah allows the large group of prophets to go first, permitting them first pick.  They choose a bull, sacrifice it, lay it on the altar then begin praying to Baal—from morning to noon.  Nothing happened.  Elijah begins mocking them—maybe they need to speak up, “You’ll have to shout louder,” he scoffed, “for surely he is a god! Perhaps he is daydreaming, or is relieving himself.  Or maybe he is away on a trip, or is asleep and needs to be wakened” (v.27).
 
In addition to making more noise, they also begin to cut themselves with knives and swords, a part of their usual worship of Baal, but their increased frenzy throughout the afternoon was met with silence.  Still, nothing happened.  So, just before the usual time for offering the evening sacrifice, Elijah calls for the people to turn their attention to him—the prophets of Baal have taken up enough time.  It’s Elijah’s turn.
 
He rebuilds the altar to God which had been torn down, using twelve stones to represent the tribes of the Israelite people.  He then dug a trench around the altar, piled on wood, then sacrificed the remaining bull and arranged it on top.  Then he did something extraordinary.  In a time of drought, he called for water and not just a little, but four large jars filled full to be emptied over the sacrifice and the wood…not just once…not twice…but three times.  There was so much water that the Bible says the trench around the altar was overflowing!  When all was ready, the Bible tells us that, “Elijah the prophet walked up to the altar and prayed, “O Lord, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, prove today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant. Prove that I have done all this at your command. 37 O Lord, answer me! Answer me so these people will know that you, O Lord, are God and that you have brought them back to yourself” (v.36-37).
 
God’s response was immediate.  Fire blazed downward burning up everything—sacrifice, wood, stone, water and even the dust.  The people’s response was just as immediate—throwing themselves prostrate to the ground, proclaiming that Elijah’s God was the only god.  When Elijah ordered that all the prophets of Baal be seized and killed, the people did not hesitate.  God had done the impossible and His prophet, Elijah, was the man of the hour!
 
______________________________________________
 
After such an incredible act of God, you might think that Elijah was riding a bit of a spiritual high.  However, almost immediately, Elijah once again finds himself running for his life.  Despite the incredible miracles God performed through Elijah, we would be incorrect to assume that the prophet’s life was all glamourous, prestigious and profitable…or even that his messages direct from God had any real lasting impact.  It’s beneficial to hear from this man of God himself to gain a better appreciation of what it was like to serve God as one of His prophets during this often-idolatrous time of the kings of Israel and Judah.
 
“THE LIFE OF THE PROPHET”
1 Kings 19:14 – “I have zealously served the Lord God Almighty. But the people of Israel have broken their covenant with you, torn down your altars, and killed every one of your prophets. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me, too.”
 
 
When we read the stories of the biblical prophets, today’s believers might feel a twinge of envy—imagine speaking directly with God and having Him respond audibly or in visions? Receiving messages to present before royalty?  Or being given the power to do miracles?  God still very much works in these ways, but it seems less so than what happened in the days of the prophets.  In fact, it might even sound too good to be true…until we realize that the life of many of the prophets concluded with martyrdom! Being chosen by God to be a prophet did not come with insurance for a life of ease or longevity.
 
The life of the prophets was often lonely, filled with deprivation and danger. After the contest with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, Elijah is emotionally and physically spent; he asks to be done.  “Elijah went on alone into the wilderness, traveling all day. He sat down under a solitary broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors who have already died” (v.4).
 
He feels alone and, having just completed what could be considered his final great act for God, he asks God to end his life.  But God isn’t finished with him yet.  He causes Elijah to take a forty-day trek to Mount Sinai, the mountain of God, and there provides him with some needed perspective.  Elijah may have felt alone, but God had 7,000 people in idolatrous Israel who had remained entirely faithful to Him.  He gives Elijah three final tasks—the last of which is to appoint his successor.  God is going to grant Elijah his wish, but not here—once Elisha has been trained and is ready to take over for Elijah, God sends a fiery chariot to take his faithful prophet to his final destination and reward.  After years of loneliness, faithful service, courageous obedience, deprivation and threats to his life, Elijah receives his “well done good and faithful servant.”
 
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But what of the king who was the recipient of God’s messages through the prophet Elijah?  The Bible tells us that there was no king who rivaled Ahab in the department of wickedness; he and his Sidonian wife, Jezebel, have become synonymous with evil still to this day.  And yet, even this man experienced the grace of God to whom he had shown such disloyalty.
 
One of the stories of King Ahab and Queen Jezebel that is often taught in children’s Sunday school involves a vineyard owned by a fellow Israelite named Naboth.  It was located near to the palace and Ahab wanted it for a vegetable garden.  Naboth refused to part with his ancestral land…and Ahab put on a king-sized pout.  When Jezebel learned the reason for her husband’s unhappiness, she simply directed their subjects to do away with Naboth—throw a party, have two men falsely accuse him of slandering God and the king, then drag him out of town and stone him.  When the deed was done, Jezebel informed Ahab that the land was now up for grabs.  However, as he was on his way to make his claim Elijah showed up.
 
Through Elijah, God pronounced judgement on Ahab.  All of his descendants, slave and free alike, would be wiped out just as the family of Jeroboam had been.  Ahab’s dynasty was going to come to a screeching halt—all would die and be consumed by dogs or vultures, including his wife, Jezebel.  Unlike with past warnings, this one was personal and the king does something he had never done before…
 
“ANOTHER CHANCE”
1 Kings 21:27-29 – 27 But when Ahab heard this message, he tore his clothing, dressed in burlap, and fasted. He even slept in burlap and went about in deep mourning.
 
28 Then another message from the Lord came to Elijah: 29 “Do you see how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has done this, I will not do what I promised during his lifetime. It will happen to his sons; I will destroy his dynasty.”
 
 
God withholds his judgement on Ahab—He has made His pronouncement concerning the demise of Ahab’s dynasty, but because of Ahab’s repentance (and we should assume that it was genuine because God doesn’t respond to alligator tears), God promises to hold off the promised judgment during Ahab’s lifetime.
 
Those of us who know Ahab’s story well, might be tempted to think that God’s grace was unwarranted…that God was not acting fairly by holding off deserved retribution.  If this is our response, we need to ask ourselves this question, “If God was in the wrong by showing grace to Ahab when he repented…as short-lived as it might have been…what right do we have to expect to be the recipients of God’s grace when we similarly repent of our disobedience?”  “Yes, but look at how bad he was!” might be the retort.  But the truth of the matter is that, if we think we’re any better from God’s perspective, we really don’t have a complete understanding of how repugnant all sin is to God or of His incredible love that He is so willing to lavish on every single one of us. 
 
God created humanity as His loved children and no amount of sin will ever cause Him to love us less.  However, as much as He loves us, He will not force a relationship or obedience to Him on us…we are free to make bad choices and suffer the natural consequence of eternal separation from Him.  However, don’t ever think that God wants people to suffer in hell.  He Himself, in the form of Jesus, made a way for us to receive His grace.  All we need do is repent, grow in a restored relationship with the Father and allow the Holy Spirit to transform us from being naturally disobedient to gratefully obedient…and we have much to be grateful for!
  
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Sunday, November 7, 2021- “Judah’s Last Great King” (1 Kings 16-22) - In-person and Online [Don’t forget Ontario’s time change…back one hour this week.  That means service will begin one hour later for those living in Saskatchewan and Barbados…so enjoy the extra sleep!]
 
Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)
 
"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"
 

Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021"
 
Weekly Topic - “Family Division”
 
Texts – 2 Kings 11:26-15
  
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David reigned over Israel during the nation’s early days—the wars that Saul had fought with the Philistines continued during David’s rule.  His job was to establish the people as a nation—loyal to God, secure from their enemies.  By the time Solomon took up the mantle of king, the nation was enjoying a time of peace.  During his reign, the nation enjoyed what has now become known as the ‘golden era’ of Israel’s existence.  Unfortunately, it was short-lived.  The man who asked for wisdom when granted anything he might desire, turned out to be quite the fool.
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“THE WISEST MAN’S FOOLISHNESS”
1 Kings 11:1-13 – “Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and from among the Hittites. 2 The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. 3 He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord.
 
In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been. 5 Solomon worshiped Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. 6 In this way, Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s sight; he refused to follow the Lord completely, as his father, David, had done.  7 On the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, he even built a pagan shrine for Chemosh, the detestable god of Moab, and another for Molech, the detestable god of the Ammonites. 8 Solomon built such shrines for all his foreign wives to use for burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.
 
9 The Lord was very angry with Solomon, for his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. 10 He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the Lord’s command. 11 So now the Lord said to him, “Since you have not kept my covenant and have disobeyed my decrees, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants. 12 But for the sake of your father, David, I will not do this while you are still alive. I will take the kingdom away from your son. 13 And even so, I will not take away the entire kingdom; I will let him be king of one tribe, for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, my chosen city.”
 
 
Solomon insisted on loving many different women—specifically contradicting God’s command to the Israelites—and became disloyal to God—the very thing God had warned would happen.  Anytime we choose to disregard any of God’s commands, there will always be consequences—maybe not immediately, but always.  Solomon had been warned about what would happen, but I suspect the high regard people held him in for being so wise, ended up going to his head and resulted in his downfall. 
 
Often times, the areas of moral strength we so unhesitatingly declare become the very things that trip us up.  Solomon, at least in his own mind, was too wise to ever act foolishly.  He took control over that area of his life—choosing to collect women like he collected horses, disregarding God’s very clear directions, and ended up losing the kingdom of Israel for his family.
 
In fact, God told Solomon that one of his staff would get the majority of the tribes of Israel to rule.  Only out of respect for Solomon’s father, David, did God allow the tribe of Judah, from which David traced his ancestry, to remain within his family’s rule.  God also tells Solomon, for the sake of David, He will not split the kingdom during his reign, but will do so during his son’s.
 
Solomon gets word, that the prophet Ahijah has anointed Jeroboam, one of Solomon’s very own officials—a skilled and industrious young man that Solomon had put in charge of part of the nation’s labour force—to become the king of ten of the tribes.  Of course, Solomon attempts to kill Jeroboam (much like Saul had attempted to do to David), but he escapes to Egypt.
 
God makes it clear to Jeroboam why He is choosing to divide the kingdom and take much of it away from Solomon and his sons—Solomon has been unfaithful to God.  So now God has chosen Jeroboam and He makes a promise to him, “I will place you on the throne of Israel, and you will rule over all that your heart desires. 38 If you listen to what I tell you and follow my ways and do whatever I consider to be right, and if you obey my decrees and commands, as my servant David did, then I will always be with you. I will establish an enduring dynasty for you as I did for David, and I will give Israel to you” (1 Kings 11:37-38).

 
Solomon’s life serves as a warning for us as well.  What things do we declare, “I would never do that!”  “Yes, I know I’m not supposed to, but I know my limits.”  “I got this…relax!”  The things we assume we have control over, especially when it comes to those things we know we should not engage in, will cause us unnecessary grief, loss and pain.  There is always a price for living outside the boundaries of God’s wisdom.  As God’s children, we are not to attempt to wrest control from God in any area of our lives…we are called to give Him our all and trust Him.  But, as Solomon demonstrates, that is often easier said then done…even for the wisest man who ever lived.

 
Eventually, Solomon dies and his son, Rehoboam ascends to the throne, but almost immediately the nation is thrown into chaos.
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 “ENTITLEMENT”
1 Kings 12:1-11 – “Rehoboam went to Shechem, where all Israel had gathered to make him king. 2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard of this, he returned from Egypt, for he had fled to Egypt to escape from King Solomon. 3 The leaders of Israel summoned him, and Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel went to speak with Rehoboam. 4 “Your father was a hard master,” they said. “Lighten the harsh labor demands and heavy taxes that your father imposed on us. Then we will be your loyal subjects.”  5 Rehoboam replied, “Give me three days to think this over. Then come back for my answer.” So the people went away.
 
6 Then King Rehoboam discussed the matter with the older men who had counseled his father, Solomon. “What is your advice?” he asked. “How should I answer these people?”  The older counselors replied, “If you are willing to be a servant to these people today and give them a favorable answer, they will always be your loyal subjects.” 
 
8 But Rehoboam rejected the advice of the older men and instead asked the opinion of the young men who had grown up with him and were now his advisers. 9 “What is your advice?” he asked them. “How should I answer these people who want me to lighten the burdens imposed by my father?”  10 The young men replied, “This is what you should tell those complainers who want a lighter burden: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist! 11 Yes, my father laid heavy burdens on you, but I’m going to make them even heavier! My father beat you with whips, but I will beat you with scorpions!’”
 
Rehoboam had grown up in the lap of luxury, in the golden era of the nation of Israel.  David had won peace for the nation through many battles and his son’s reign had seen a great influx of wealth for some, though still at the expense of others.  Solomon and his vast family of 700 royal wives, 300 concubines, their children and household staff at innumerable palaces and places of worship, as well as that of his officials, cost the people a lot in the way of taxes and slave labour. Solomon spared no expense…ever.  By the time his son came to power, the people were ready for a change.
 
The people asked that Rehoboam ease the burden on them, promising to be his loyal servants.  But Rehoboam has grown up with the notion that he was special and entitled—he’s in the class of people that rules and should therefore be supported by those being ruled.  He was the son of a king and he would accept nothing less than his father had enjoyed all his life.  But he tells the people to give him three days to think about it and goes through the pretense of getting advice.
 
The older advisors tell him the people’s suggestion is good and if he will work with them, they will prove to be loyal subjects.  Rehoboam quickly rejects their advice and looks for others who share his opinions.  He finds them.  The younger men he has grown up with—and one must assume enjoyed the same lavish lifestyle—tell him this is no time to make concessions.  He should not just maintain the standards his father established, but he should increase them—increase the taxes, increase the building projects, increase the opulence, increase the slave labour…increase their own personal wealth.  This is their time to reap the benefits of being in charge!
 
And that is exactly what Rehoboam does.  When the three days is up, Rehoboam again meets with the people to give his answer, “Think my father was tough?  He was a walk in the park!”  Rehoboam promises them more taxes, more slave labour, more perks for the king and his friends, all at the continued expense of the people.  Their answer is swift, “Take care of yourself…we’re done!”  And all leave the meeting.
 
Rehoboam doesn’t give up so quickly.  First, he sends Adoniram, who was in charge of forced labour, to restore order, but the people of Israel stone him to death.  Next, Rehoboam mobilizes an army of 180,000 from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to attack the other tribes and bring them back into compliance, but God intervenes.  He sends a prophet, Shemaiah, to tell Rehoboam not to attack, but to go back home, because what is happening, this splitting of the nation, is God’s doing.  Wisely, Rehoboam complies, otherwise the ensuing conflict may have resulted in a last man standing scenario.
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After Rehoboam had confirmed the people’s worst fears, they looked for an alternative…and there was Jeroboam.
 
“SHORING UP SIDES”
1 Kings 12:20, 25-32 – When the people of Israel learned of Jeroboam’s return from Egypt, they called an assembly and made him king over all Israel. So only the tribe of Judah remained loyal to the family of David…25 Jeroboam then built up the city of Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and it became his capital. Later he went and built up the town of Peniel  26 Jeroboam thought to himself, “Unless I am careful, the kingdom will return to the dynasty of David. 27 When these people go to Jerusalem to offer sacrifices at the Temple of the Lord, they will again give their allegiance to King Rehoboam of Judah. They will kill me and make him their king instead.” 
28 So on the advice of his counselors, the king made two gold calves. He said to the people, “It is too much trouble for you to worship in Jerusalem. Look, Israel, these are the gods who brought you out of Egypt!”  29 He placed these calf idols in Bethel and in Dan—at either end of his kingdom. 30 But this became a great sin, for the people worshiped the idols, traveling as far north as Dan to worship the one there.  31 Jeroboam also erected buildings at the pagan shrines and ordained priests from the common people—those who were not from the priestly tribe of Levi. 32 And Jeroboam instituted a religious festival in Bethel, held on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in imitation of the annual Festival of Shelters in Judah. There at Bethel he himself offered sacrifices to the calves he had made, and he appointed priests for the pagan shrines he had made.” 
  
God had promised to build Jeroboam an enduring dynasty, but there was a condition. [responses – remain faithful in service to and worship of God alone]
 
But for Jeroboam, God’s promise wasn’t enough…he wanted insurance.  His lack of trust in God sealed his fate and in fact, rather than having a lasting dynasty that began with his rule, Jeroboam’s family instead were cursed, “10 I will bring disaster on your dynasty and will destroy every one of your male descendants, slave and free alike, anywhere in Israel. I will burn up your royal dynasty as one burns up trash until it is all gone. 11 The members of Jeroboam’s family who die in the city will be eaten by dogs, and those who die in the field will be eaten by vultures. I, the Lord, have spoken.’” (1 Kings 14:10-11).  After only two years as king, Nadab, Jeroboam’s son is killed by Baasha, who we are told proceeds to kill the rest of King Jeroboam’s descendants—the entire royal family.
 
Do we ever hedge our bet?  Do we attempt to get both the assurances of God and attempt our own solutions at the same time?   If so, we really should not claim to trust God.  Trust removes the, ‘yah, buts’ and the need for a ready back-up plan of our own.  When we pray, do we trust God to provide the solution or do we set about to ensure the answer we most desire?
 
God is patient, but He will not tolerate disloyalty.  We cannot enjoy the benefits of a relationship with God, without actually having a relationship with God.  God requires loyalty to Him alone.  For Him, our relationship requires that we remain as a faithful spouse.  Can you imagine someone asking to have a relationship with you…until something better comes along?  We wouldn’t agree to those conditions, so why do we expect God too?
  
What can we learn from this story of kings, dynasties promised and lost, God’s chosen people—now a nation divided?
·         Obedience to God matters.  None of us is above His law and disobedience always bears consequences.
·         Those who choose to reject God or have areas of their lives where they refuse to comply, will ultimately experience regret.  God knows what is best.  The sooner we learn to stop fighting Him, the sooner He will begin to help us fulfill the purposes for which He created us.
·         We can choose to blame others—our parents, our leaders, even God—but the truth of the matter is that we are most often the masters of our own demise, just like foolish Solomon, entitled Rehoboam and faithless Jeroboam were.
·         In this story, we find God intervening, yet never removing freewill.  He responds to our decisions in such a way as to ensure that His good plans will be accomplished.  It is up to us whether or not we choose to remain a part of those plans or decide to do our own thing outside of His perfect will.
 
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When we choose God to be our Lord, He gives us a new purpose and identity.
 
Sunday, October 31, 2021- “Corrupt Kings & Courageous Prophets” (1 Kings 16-22) - In-person and Online – Communion & Sharing Sunday
Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)

"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"


--
Pastor Jane Peck, Hope Chapel
(Collingwood EMCC Church)

"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"

Teaching Series - “Our Family Tree–Through the Bible in 2021"
 
Weekly Topic - “A House Fit for God”
 
Texts – 2 Chronicles 7:1-3, 2 Kings 23:1-27, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Hosea 6:1-6
  
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A year into their sojourn away from Egypt, God gave Moses directions for building Him a Tabernacle—a sacred place through which the people could worship Him.  Directions for its construction, the installation of priests and the sacrifices required were precise.  And God wasn’t messing around about His expectations…when Aaron’s oldest two sons, Nadab and Abihu, attempted to burn incense using fire from a different source than had been instructed, fire came out from the Lord’s presence and they were consumed (Leviticus 10:1-2).  Years later, we read how seventy men from the town of Beth-shemesh looked inside the Ark and paid for their transgression with their lives when God struck them down (1 Samuel 6:19).  And yet again, in the process of moving the Ark to Jerusalem, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the Ark when the oxen stumbled and jostled the cart and, he too, paid the ultimate price for handling the sacred objects dedicated to God as commonplace furniture (2 Samuel 6:6-7). 
 
In the time of David, the Tabernacle was still in use at Shiloh.  But this man after God’s own heart was bothered that he should have a permanent place to call home, when they still used a tent to represent God’s dwelling amongst His people.  God was pleased with David’s desire, and even promised to build a great dynasty through him, but told him he would not be the one to build a Temple…his son, Solomon, would.  But why not David?  God told him that he simply had too much blood on his hands (1 Chronicles 28:3).  He was no doubt disappointed, but He respected God’s decision.  Once Solomon became king in his father’s place, he took up the task of constructing the Temple; it took a full thirteen years for the Temple to be completed.  It was a magnificent piece of architecture.  At its dedication, God showed up to give it His stamp of approval.
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 “GOD GETS A HOUSE”
2 Chronicles 7:1-3 – When Solomon finished praying, fire flashed down from heaven and burned up the burnt offerings and sacrifices, and the glorious presence of the Lord filled the Temple. 2 The priests could not enter the Temple of the Lord because the glorious presence of the Lord filled it. 3 When all the people of Israel saw the fire coming down and the glorious presence of the Lord filling the Temple, they fell face down on the ground and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying, “He is good!   His faithful love endures forever!”
 
Solomon was quick to recognize, however, the perplexing reality that the God of the universe could live in a defined space – “But will God really live on earth among people? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built!” (2 Chronicles 6:18).
 
But on that day of dedication, as impossible as it may have seemed, God made His presence seen and felt by all present.  God was in deed in their midst!
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 God gave the Israelites the incredible gift of His covenant with them—to dwell with them as long as they remained faithful.  But the Israelites were guilty of faithlessness time and again, in their treatment of God and of His sacred Temple.  By the time of King Josiah, major ‘house cleaning’ needed to be done.
 
“GOD’S HOUSE IS DEFILED”
2 Kings 23:1-27 – Then the king summoned all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem. 2 And the king went up to the Temple of the Lord with all the people of Judah and Jerusalem, along with the priests and the prophets—all the people from the least to the greatest. There the king read to them the entire Book of the Covenant that had been found in the Lord’s Temple. 3 The king took his place of authority beside the pillar and renewed the covenant in the Lord’s presence. He pledged to obey the Lord by keeping all his commands, laws, and decrees with all his heart and soul. In this way, he confirmed all the terms of the covenant that were written in the scroll, and all the people pledged themselves to the covenant.
 
4 Then the king instructed Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second rank and the Temple gatekeepers to remove from the Lord’s Temple all the articles that were used to worship Baal, Asherah, and all the powers of the heavens. The king had all these things burned outside Jerusalem on the terraces of the Kidron Valley, and he carried the ashes away to Bethel. 5 He did away with the idolatrous priests, who had been appointed by the previous kings of Judah, for they had offered sacrifices at the pagan shrines throughout Judah and even in the vicinity of Jerusalem. They had also offered sacrifices to Baal, and to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and to all the powers of the heavens. 6 The king removed the Asherah pole from the Lord’s Temple and took it outside Jerusalem to the Kidron Valley, where he burned it. Then he ground the ashes of the pole to dust and threw the dust over the graves of the people. 7 He also tore down the living quarters of the male and female shrine prostitutes that were inside the Temple of the Lord, where the women wove coverings for the Asherah pole.
 
8 Josiah brought to Jerusalem all the priests who were living in other towns of Judah. He also defiled the pagan shrines, where they had offered sacrifices—all the way from Geba to Beersheba. He destroyed the shrines at the entrance to the gate of Joshua, the governor of Jerusalem. This gate was located to the left of the city gate as one enters the city. 9 The priests who had served at the pagan shrines were not allowed to serve at the Lord’s altar in Jerusalem, but they were allowed to eat unleavened bread with the other priests.
 
10 Then the king defiled the altar of Topheth in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, so no one could ever again use it to sacrifice a son or daughter in the fire as an offering to Molech. 11 He removed from the entrance of the Lord’s Temple the horse statues that the former kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun. They were near the quarters of Nathan-melech the eunuch, an officer of the court. The king also burned the chariots dedicated to the sun.
 
12 Josiah tore down the altars that the kings of Judah had built on the palace roof above the upper room of Ahaz. The king destroyed the altars that Manasseh had built in the two courtyards of the Lord’s Temple. He smashed them to bits and scattered the pieces in the Kidron Valley. 13 The king also desecrated the pagan shrines east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Corruption, where King Solomon of Israel had built shrines for Ashtoreth, the detestable goddess of the Sidonians; and for Chemosh, the detestable god of the Moabites; and for Molech, the vile god of the Ammonites. 14 He smashed the sacred pillars and cut down the Asherah poles. Then he desecrated these places by scattering human bones over them.
 
15 The king also tore down the altar at Bethel—the pagan shrine that Jeroboam son of Nebat had made when he caused Israel to sin. He burned down the shrine and ground it to dust, and he burned the Asherah pole. 16 Then Josiah turned around and noticed several tombs in the side of the hill. He ordered that the bones be brought out, and he burned them on the altar at Bethel to desecrate it. (This happened just as the Lord had promised through the man of God when Jeroboam stood beside the altar at the festival.)
 
Then Josiah turned and looked up at the tomb of the man of God who had predicted these things. 17 “What is that monument over there?” Josiah asked.  And the people of the town told him, “It is the tomb of the man of God who came from Judah and predicted the very things that you have just done to the altar at Bethel!”  18 Josiah replied, “Leave it alone. Don’t disturb his bones.” So they did not burn his bones or those of the old prophet from Samaria.
 
19 Then Josiah demolished all the buildings at the pagan shrines in the towns of Samaria, just as he had done at Bethel. They had been built by the various kings of Israel and had made the Lord very angry. 20 He executed the priests of the pagan shrines on their own altars, and he burned human bones on the altars to desecrate them. Finally, he returned to Jerusalem.
 
21 King Josiah then issued this order to all the people: “You must celebrate the Passover to the Lord your God, as required in this Book of the Covenant.” 22 There had not been a Passover celebration like that since the time when the judges ruled in Israel, nor throughout all the years of the kings of Israel and Judah. 23 But in the eighteenth year of King Josiah’s reign, this Passover was celebrated to the Lord in Jerusalem.
 
24 Josiah also got rid of the mediums and psychics, the household gods, the idols, and every other kind of detestable practice, both in Jerusalem and throughout the land of Judah. He did this in obedience to the laws written in the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found in the Lord’s Temple. 25 Never before had there been a king like Josiah, who turned to the Lord with all his heart and soul and strength, obeying all the laws of Moses. And there has never been a king like him since.
 
26 Even so, the Lord was very angry with Judah because of all the wicked things Manasseh had done to provoke him. 27 For the Lord said, “I will also banish Judah from my presence just as I have banished Israel. And I will reject my chosen city of Jerusalem and the Temple where my name was to be honored.”
 
At the age of eight, Josiah had inherited the mess made by previous kings, his grandfather being one of the worst culprits to rule Judah.  In his eighteenth year as king, the scroll of the law was found and when it was read, Josiah recognized the very dangerous position his kingdom had placed themselves in through their disobedience to God.  He acted quickly and thoroughly, with a fully repentant heart.  His reforms affected the whole of the country, but today, I’d specifically like to focus on the work that had to be done in the Temple itself. 
 
What work did King Josiah have to order be done within and immediately surrounding God’s Temple? [discussion – the reading of the law; renewal of the covenant; destruction of idols to multiple gods; removal of the male and female prostitutes as well as the priests who had been disloyal to God; removal of altars to other gods; the reinstating of the Passover]
 
The Temple, though intended to be a sacred place of worship to God, had become thoroughly defiled.  The Israelites may have had a beautiful building, but they no longer understood its purpose and had been sentenced to judgment.
 
Josiah’s reforms didn’t change the fact that God had rejected the Temple in Jerusalem during his grandfather’s reign, but he did buy the nation time and a fresh start…and if the nation had continued to live according to the reforms Josiah had made, the promised destruction could have been stayed.  But true to human nature, the very next king, Josiah’s son, reverted back to the ways of his great-grandfather ensuring the soon coming destruction.
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 The time of the Temples that have stood in Jerusalem—Solomon’s and Herod’s—has long since passed.  But, today, God has a new house.  Paul, when providing the reasons for abstaining from sexual sin, draws his authority from the fact that each believer now has become a ‘temple’ of God’s.
 
“GOD’S NEW HOME”
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 – Don’t you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body.
 
Just as the Temple of old was a place for worship—our lives should demonstrate our reverence and worship of God.  The Temple was a place of sacrifice and service—we should spend our lives in loving, grateful service to God.  We must not fall into the same trap that the people of Israel did—believing that their acts of ritual sacrifice negated their need for full loyalty.  It was not good enough for the Israelites to make God one of many deities they worshipped.  And it is not good enough for us to choose to live as a ‘Christian’ one day out of seven!
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 The question must be asked, “How loyal am I?”  The words of Hosea are as much for us as they were for the people of Israel.

 
“SACRIFICES FOR TODAY”
Hosea 6:1-6 –“Come, let us return to the Lord.
He has torn us to pieces;
    now he will heal us.
He has injured us;
    now he will bandage our wounds.
2 In just a short time he will restore us,
    so that we may live in his presence.
3 Oh, that we might know the Lord!
    Let us press on to know him.
He will respond to us as surely as the arrival of dawn
    or the coming of rains in early spring.”
4 “O Israel and Judah,
    what should I do with you?” asks the Lord.
“For your love vanishes like the morning mist
    and disappears like dew in the sunlight.
5 I sent my prophets to cut you to pieces--
    to slaughter you with my words,
    with judgments as inescapable as light.
6 I want you to show love,
    not offer sacrifices.
I want you to know me
    more than I want burnt offerings.”
 
God’s first priorities for His children are that we show love and we come to know Him.  Any other priorities indicate a need for an adjustment in our loyalties and motivations.
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 What further implications might our new reality, of having the Holy Spirit reside within us, hold?
·         New Covenant - God has made a covenant with us today, too—to live with us through His gift of the Holy Spirit who lives in each one of us.  And just as the Temple of old was to be treated as God’s sacred dwelling, we as God’s temple are not free to load up the premises with garbage, either. As a follower of Christ, we are God’s temple—are we each a fit dwelling or do we have closets that need emptied, shrines that need torn down, loves that need removed?
·         New Purpose - Today, we’ve been reminded of God’s expectations of those who claim to love and serve Him.  We must repent of the ways we have been less than fully loyal; recommit ourselves to living in obedience to His covenant; then with the help of the Holy Spirit, do housecleaning on our personal lives and begin to obey God fully once again.
·         New Relationship - We must remain ever cognizant of the fact that, if we are God’s children, He has taken up residence in our lives—we are not our own, but owe everything we are and have and hope to be to Him!
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Sunday, October 24, 2021- “Family Divisions” (1 Kings 12) - In-person and Online
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"Learning and Living the Way of Jesus!"