July 25th, 2010
Today’s scripture focus: Job 7:1-7
The sayings of the wise represent a distinct type of literature in the Old Testament. Moses and the prophets received their messages directly from God, but Wisdom authors looked to God’s creation to determine truth. The pursuit of wisdom was not a secular endeavor, for Israel believed that God placed the principles of wisdom in the created order. Foundational to wisdom is the belief that God created the world in justice and righteousness. By choosing the path of truth, one may suffer for a time, but eventually obedience will lead to a long life with prosperity. By contrast, the foolish refuse the disciplined life in favor of one governed by self-gratification. Job-Songs make up the Wisdom section of scripture.
The book of Job is named after its chief character. The actual author is not identified. We may be sure the author was an Israelite, since he (not Job or his friends) uses the covenant name for God (Yahweh; NIV “the LORD”). Job is one of the most difficult books in the Old Testament to translate. It uses a large technical vocabulary of words from astronomy, mining, hunting, and law. Job is a carefully crafted literary masterpiece. It contains prose, poetry, dialogues, laments, hymns, and proverbs. The main structure of the book is divided into three parts: a short prose prologue (chapters 1-2), a long section of poetic dialogue between Job and others (3-42:6), and a short prose conclusion (42:7-17)
In last week’s CrossWords assignment, we read how, after Job is afflicted with sores all over his body, his three friends came to minister and grieve. After seven days of silence, Job begins his lament, cursing the day he was born. In chapter four, his first friend, Eliphaz the Temanite responds. Teman was an Edomite town noted for wisdom (Jer. 49:7). The speeches of Job’s friends contain elements of truth, but they must be interpreted in context. The problem is with what the friends did not know: God’s high purpose in allowing Satan to buffet Job. Eliphaz tells a of a hair-raising dream he had which revealed the truth of Job’s situation. He tells Job to be thankful for God’s correction.
Today’s scripture focus begins the second half of Job’s response to Eliphaz’s speech. After appealing for sympathy in chapter six, he now addresses his complaint towards God in chapter seven. “Hard service” usually refers to military service, though it came to be commonly used to refer to the Babylonian exile. For post-exilic Jews in Palestine, suffering had become a way of life. Would relief only come in death? We all go through difficult times, but Job is especially meaningful to the chronic sufferer – those for whom life seems one long, sleepless night. During these times when we feel that our friends aren’t hearing us, we can take comfort that God is indeed listening. Surely He has borne our sorrows!
CrossGroups
• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.
• Let everyone who would like share anything exciting from their week.
• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as would like.
1) Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?
2) What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?
3) When is it ok to complain to God? How do we know God is listening to our troubles?
Today’s Sermon
- Job had a long night.
- We have those long nights, too.
- God was listening to Job in the night.
- God listens to us, too.
Assignment – Pray daily for the manifest presence of God in our worship.
July 18th, 2010
Today’s scripture focus: Job 1
The book of Job introduces us to the section of scripture known as “Wisdom” (or “the writings” in the Hebrew bible.) “Wisdom” is not intelligence, but a philosophy that produces success in life. Wisdom literature uses poetic forms to teach key truths about life, chiefly that happiness comes from worshiping God (The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom – Proverbs 9:10.) We treat wisdom writings a little differently than other parts of the Old Testament. Much like the parables of Jesus in the New Testament, the stories in this portion of scripture are not to be treated historically, but as conveying principles about how life works. The other Wisdom books are Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes.
The story of Job was an ancient epic that was probably popular during the same time as the events of Joshua and Judges. At that time, the story would have consisted of simply the first two chapters and the last chapter of the current book (bad things happened to Job, then good things happened to Job.) Centuries later – probably after the Babylonian Exile – the author of Job either collected or added the poetry section in the middle, thus giving us the book in its final form. The main concern of Job is the problem of suffering, or “Why do bad things happen to good people?”. Scholars refer to this issue as “theodicy” (theo – God, dice – justice).
In today’s scripture, we are introduced to Job of Uz, somewhere northeast of Palestine. Job is described as the most righteous and the wealthiest man in the area, and the two are portrayed as going hand in hand. Job acted as priest for his family, and regularly offered atonement sacrifices on their behalf, just in case they sinned! The action then moves to the heavenly court, where angels come and report to God. “Satan” here is not a name but an office (the Hebrew is literally “the satan” or “the accuser”). Satan is commissioned with testing Job, but after chapter two, he disappears from the book and God deals with Job directly. Though Job loses everything, he remains blameless (for now.)
In order to understand Job’s message, we must place it in the framework of covenant history. We learned about the covenant in Joshua and Judges. When Israel obeyed God, they were protected and blessed, but when they worshiped other gods, they were cursed. Over the centuries, though, it was observed that sometimes it seemed as though the righteous were cursed, while the ungodly prospered. How could this be? Job is an attempt to teach through poetic form that ultimately God is in control, and His ways are unknowable. Obviously we still wrestle with these same questions today. We, too, ask “where is God?”. Though often difficult to understand, Job offers light when journeying through the dark night of the soul.
CrossGroups
• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.
• Let everyone who would like share anything exciting from their week.
• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as would like.
1) Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?
2) What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?
3) Whose fault is it when bad things happen – ours? Satan’s? God’s? none of the above?
Today’s Sermon
- Job entered a time of darkness.
- We all go through times of darkness.
- God was on the throne.
- God is STILL on the throne.
Assignment – Pray daily for the manifest presence of God in our worship.
February 28th, 2010
Today’s scripture focus – Acts 7:2, 51-60
We might call Stephen the first church board member in scripture! He was one of the seven deacons chosen to oversee the church’s daily operations. Stephen’s powerful ministry attracted the attention of some radical fundamentalist Jews, who began to stir up trouble against him. They falsely accused him of speaking against Moses and the Temple. This would be the equivalent in our day to saying Paul was a false prophet and the Bible was not God’s word. These were serious accusations. Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin. This is their third appearance in Acts. First they strongly warned Peter and John not to speak in the name of Jesus. Then, they flogged the apostles for speaking in the name of Jesus. Their actions in this story will escalate to murder.
Most of chapter seven is taken up with Stephen’s self defense. At first reading, Stephen’s words seem to wander from Old Testament story to Old Testament story. He touches on Abraham, the patriarchs, Moses, David, etc. Stephen was establishing that his message in no way defamed Moses or his ministry. In fact, the good news Stephen preached was the fulfillment of Moses’ message. This part of the sermon probably drew some “amens” from the crowd. However, something happened when he began to preach that God had always dwelled in the hearts of men, and not in a hand made building. Apparently the Sanhedrin turned on Stephen at this point. Stephen turned the tables on his accusers and finds them guilty of rejecting God’s Messiah.
Immediately they carried Stephen out of their Temple in order to stone him. The (false) witnesses were required to cast the first stones. They removed their outer garments, possibly due to the gory nature of this particular execution method. Stephen looked up and saw “the Son of Man” standing. These words are only used to refer to Jesus as heavenly Judge. Stephen had already moved from the court of man to the heavenly court, and pleaded with Jesus to find his murderers “not guilty”. His death should have been agonizing, but the story says he simply “fell asleep”.
Mark Twain said “The past does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.” The full story of scripture is one of false accusations against the godly, often culminating in their persecution and murder. It happened to Jesus, to Stephen, and continues to happen to followers today. The good news is that God never wastes His children’s suffering. The death of Stephen resulted in the spread of the Church throughout Asia, and the planting of a seed in the heart of a young witness named Saul. Our attitude during times of suffering serves as our defense and rests our case when we suffer at the hands of the world.
CrossGroups
- Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.
- Let everyone who would like share anything exciting from their week.
- Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as would like.
1) Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?
2) What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?
3) Think of a time you were misunderstood or falsely accused. How did you handle it? If you were a Christian at the time, how did your faith in Christ help you?
February 21st, 2010
Today’s scripture focus – Acts 5:12-42
In order to fully understand Acts, we must understand the early believers were convinced that Jesus’ return was eminent. It was their mission to prepare the people of Israel. We see in the earliest days of the church a single minded devotion to that mission. In the last chapter, Peter and John had been sternly warned to cease speaking in the name of Jesus by the Sanhedrin, the established religious authority. Because of the urgency of their mission, the believers prayed for boldness in the face of opposition. God gave them this boldness, and chapter five finds them back in the Temple, speaking in Jesus’ name with supernatural power.
The religious authorities (the priesthood and Sanhedrin) were the ultimate, unquestioned authority in all matters of life and faith, and to defy them was perilous. They were not used to being disobeyed. Yet, they had to act cautiously against the disciples, for their miraculous power could not be denied. They tried warning the disciples. When that didn’t work, they put the disciples in jail. When that didn’t work, they had them flogged. Still, the believers spoke the full message of salvation even more boldly, with the result that more people came to believe in the name of Jesus.
Alice Thompson lived with her parents in rural southern Illinois. Besides a house and a tool shed, the other building on their small acreage was a chicken coop where the egg-laying hens roosted. When young Alice found some matches, she took them into the chicken coop to see if she could figure out how to strike one. She did figure it out, and held the burning wooden matchstick until it got too hot, then dropped it. Instead of burning out, the bit of flame fell on a piece of straw, which came alive with fire. Determined that no one know about the matches, Alice covered up the flame with readily available material — a handful of straw For a minute, it seemed to work, but then the pile began to smolder. She decided to smother the whole thing, so she scooped up a full armload of straw to bury the evidence once and for all. Satisfied that she had finally taken care of the matter, she ran out into the yard to play. Soon the chicken coop had burned to the ground (1.)
The religious authorities thought they could cover up Jesus by putting Him in a tomb. These same authorities tried to cover up the message of His disciples. Throughout history and on into our present day people, powers, governments, and systems have tried to stamp out the name of Jesus. Yet, the more it is oppressed, the further it spreads. Speaking the name of Jesus in boldness always results in two things – opposition, and revival.
1. http://www.religion-online.org/showarticle.asp?title=2185
CrossGroups
• Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.
• Let everyone who would like share anything exciting from their week.
• Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as would like.
1) Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?
2) What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?
3) What would it look like in our (nation, town, church, family) to obey God rather than people?
Scripture Focus: Acts 3:1-19
Today’s scripture focus builds on Acts 2:43 – “Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles.” Chapters 3-4 serve as a “for example” of this verse. The full story is told in chapters 3 and 4, and can be divided into four sections: 1) the healing of the paralyzed man, 2) Peter’s sermon to the crowd, 3) Peter and John’s arrest and trial, and 4) the believer’s empowerment to continue their mission. A better example of Acts 2:43 could hardly be given. This event possibly took place several months after Pentecost, during the Feast of Tabernacles. The Beautiful Gate was probably used to bring in ripe produce offerings (”beautiful” can also be translated “ripe”.) We see the believers continued to observed Temple worship, as the followers of Rabbi Jesus were still a small sect of Judaism. Notice it was not the faith of the paralyzed man that healed him, but the faith of Peter and John in Jesus. Paralytics were forbidden from entering the inner courts of the Temple, so we can imagine the joy of a man who is allowed to worship for the first time in forty years. His actions (walking, leaping, praising God) are consistent with the worship liturgy of Tabernacles, in which pilgrims danced around the altar following afternoon prayers.
It is said that Thomas Aquinas once called on Pope Innocent II when the latter was counting out a large sum of money. “You see, Thomas,” said the Pope, “the church can no longer say, ‘Silver and gold have I none.’” “True, holy father,” was the reply; “neither can she now say, ‘Rise and walk.’” Paralysis is the inability to move, and can come in many forms. As we take a cross view of the culture around us, we see a world filled with people paralyzed by fear, pride, lust, addiction, wealth or poverty, comfort or affliction. The world knows it is paralyzed, but it does not understand that its only hope is in following Jesus. For too long, Christians have tried to reach the world by offering them the “silver and gold” that crippled it in the first place. As disciples of Jesus, it is our job to take our culture by the hand and lift it up through faith in Jesus.
A crowd was now gathered around, and Peter took the opportunity to preach. He told the crowd they shouldn’t be amazed at what had happened, nor should he be given any credit. It was God who had given this sign. We must remember that the disciples believed that Jesus’ return, which would usher in the messianic kingdom (referred to as “the day of the Lord” or “that day”) was eminent. Any miracles that took place should serve as signs of “that day”. Isaiah had prophesied that in “that day”, the blind would see and the lame would leap! Peter warned the crowd they had murdered God’s messiah, but they had acted in ignorance and actually fulfilled God’s plan. In order to prepare for and usher in the day of the Lord, they must repent. Only then would God raise up Israel as He had done with the paralyzed man.
Like that crowd long ago, we gather together on a regular basis to worship. It seems we don’t expect much to happen. How refreshing it is when God breaks through, often when we least expect it! When God does the extraordinary in our lives, our community takes notice. Then, their hearts are prepared to hear God’s hard truth – we are sinners who must repent! By hearing and accepting that truth, we can prepare for days of refreshing from the Lord. The recipe for revival in this passage are witnessing God’s miracles and accepting God’s truth.
CrossGroups
* Go around the table and share prayer requests. Have someone lead in prayer.
* Let everyone who would like share anything exciting from their week.
* Ask these three questions. Let as many answer each one as would like.
1. Is there anything in today’s scripture that especially speaks to you?
2. What questions would you like to ask about today’s scripture?
3. Do we see miracles today? If so, what are they?
