I am thinking about talking about the crisis in the Middle East and the end of days this Sunday.  Last night I interviewed 3 people in my training class about how they felt about what was happening in the ME. 

The first one was a young Pakistani girl.  She is 100% American with Pakistani roots, she was married in Pakistan, and she is Muslim.  She thinks the ME is important because it is the birth place of the 3 major religions.  She would like to live in Jerusalem because it would be interesting especially if she could live there in peace.  She doesn’t hate Jews and says her religion teaches peace among all people.  She believes that peace will come to the ME when the Messiah returns.  She thinks that the Messiah will likely be Jesus Christ.

The second person I interviewed specifically said that he didn't care anything about what the Bible said about the ME.  He was interested because he was in the National Guard and this was the next potential hot spot he could get deployed to.  He was hoping that the US would get more involved so he could go.  He doesn't think that the US has any moral imperative to be a police man around the world.  He feels that the US needs to be involved where things affect our economics and we need to choose our battles carefully.  It was interesting because he participated in my last interview too and then listened attentively as I recounted some of the things that are going to happen before the return of Christ.  He really was interested in the Biblical view of the last days. 

The last interview was with a Christian young man who has recently served in the military and would like to make military service a career.  He says that he is not concerned so much about what is going to happen in the ME because God has it all under control.  He is interested because that's where all the action will be.  None of the people I interviewed think there will ever be peace in the ME.  The last young man believes that the current conflict could be the one that starts the end but doesn't want to get into setting dates.  I found the conversations very interesting.  All three said I could use their opinions on Sunday morning and let me take their pictures to display as I talked about them.  I think it will be a fun discussion Sunday and maybe I got to plant a few seeds.

Lord’s Supper

The Wine

Matthew 26:27-29 is the place where we go to discover what Jesus had to say about the wine in the Lord’s Supper.  We discover there that the wine is the mark of the new covenant.  Actually it is the fulfillment of the promise of the old covenant.  The blood of the lamb was a foreshadowing or picture of what Jesus would do for us on the cross.  So let’s think for a minute about what has to happen to the grape to get wine.

The best vintage wines depend on more than the right kind of grape.  The best vintage wines are dependant upon the right plant, a plant that is healthy and has been tended in the proper fashion by the vine dresser.  The best vintage wine is dependant on the soil, the right soil with the right nutrients, the right acidity, the right water.  The best wine is dependant on the weather, the right amount of sun and rain, the right kind of drainage.  These are necessary things for the best wine but they are not more important than the process by which the wine is made or matures.  Today we will examine the wine of the life of Jesus and discover that it is the only application that can bring the new covenant with God, cover and indeed wash away our sin and empower us to do the work of God in the world today.

First consider the soil.  Looking back into Jesus past consider the preparation that God made for the coming of Jesus.  All of the history of Israel is preparation for this event.  We must invest a great deal of time in understanding past events to grasp the preparation that has gone into the perfect wine.  God has selected a people and worked with and through them for thousands of years to get ready for the coming of Jesus.  Laws history, background, revelation, miracles, wars, captivity, rescue have all played a part in making the world ready for the new covenant in Jesus’ blood, the wine.  The soil is perfect.  The path to the perfect soil has been hard.  The path has tested the faith of many people to the breaking point but the soil is ready.

Next consider the fruit.  Jesus was a special child, born in a special way to special parents that experienced special circumstances that demanded special faith.  Jesus grew and flourished drawing nurture from the Spirit that flowed through the vine into his life.  He demonstrated that he was an exceptional child early in his life as he taught the teachers in the temple.  When he entered his ministry he demonstrated that he was of truly exceptional vintage through the miracles and teaching he displayed to the crowds of people that came to be ministered to by him.  All of this preparation was necessary for the wine of the new covenant to be perfect.

Finally consider the process.  Let’s just accept a fact.  You can’t make wine without bruising the grapes.  The grapes are bruised when they are picked.  They are bruised again when they are dumped into the wine press.  Then they are crushed, they have to be crushed to release the juice.  Have you thought about what the grape looks like after it is crushed?  Have you ever thought about what it must be like to be a grape in a wine press?  Jesus had to be pressed out so that our sin could be covered by his blood.  The justice of God had to be satisfied by a blood debt so that sin could be forgiven.  Without the shedding of blood there can be no forgiveness of sin.  Jesus was bruised because we broke the law.  The price of the new covenant was the pressing out of his blood.  The process of his death was the way his blood became perfect for our forgiveness.

Crushing the grapes is just the beginning of the wine making process.  The gathered juice has to be stored and allowed to change into more than just grape juice.  The process surrounding Jesus’ passion was necessary for his blood to be perfect for our salvation.  The punishment, torture, crucifixion, death and three days in the tomb were all necessary for the blood to seal the new covenant.  It was also necessary for Jesus to rise from the dead.  His resurrection proves that his sacrifice was perfect for our need. 

He was crushed but he was not overcome.  He was poured out but he was not poured away.  The wrath of God was satisfied but he was not forgotten.  Jesus was the perfect sacrifice.  He had no sin and so death could not hold him.  When Jesus allowed himself to be pressed out for our sin he satisfied all the payment for all the sin that had ever been committed.  Jesus has paid it all.  There is no purpose for you to pay for your sin.  God will allow you to pay for it if you insist but it will cause to be separated from God for eternity in hell.  Christ has paid for your sin because of this we owe him everything.  Sin left a stain on your life, Jesus washed it away with his blood.  Accept this gift by making Jesus the Christ your Lord.

Jonah - The Reluctant Prophet

On A Hill Near By

Johan 3:10 - 4:11

So, last week we left our prophet in the city of Ninevah with the city repenting from its evil all around him.  I would think that something like that would really pump Jonah up.  I mean, who would guess that God would really be able or want to pull something like that off?  I am usually in pretty serious awe when God uses me for anything.  I want to be used by him in any way that he wants to use me.  I hope that I am different than Jonah … but there may be times that I am no different at all.  So, here we are, the people of Nineveh are in serious repentance and God is pleased.  In fact he knew this would happen.  Jonah is the one that was hopping that the people would ignore him.  So, who gets the glory?  Well, God of course.

Jonah 4:1 So, Jonah is displeased.  In fact he is not only displeased he is angry with God.  Can you see him?  He is talking to God as he walks out of town kicking the dust into the air.  V2  Isn’t this what I told you would happen God?  They repented, and I know you God, you aren't going to punish them are you!  No, you are just that kind of guy.  As mean and nasty as they have been to all the people of the world (the world was a smaller place back then) you are going to let them off the hook.

Have you ever felt that way?  Have you ever said that God may forgive but it will never make any difference what they do I won't forget?  I can think of scenarios where I can understand that attitude.  Sexual abuse, abandonment, really abuse of any kind, repeated raw deals, things like that are hard to forgive.  Israel had experienced things like this over and over.  Never mind that God warned them not how to live and what to do before they were taken into captivity.  Never mind that he gave them many repeated opportunities to straighten out before he brought judgment on them.  Jonah wasn't about to do anything that would make it easier on Nineveh.  He wanted to see Ninevah die.

Please understand something else too.  I am not trivializing the abuse that people have suffered.  I am pointing out that God knows when a person repents and forgives them.  God has the right and the ability to know and forgive anyone that really repents.

Something else that I find interesting is that Jonah is angry but God is compassionate.  The compassion of God is legendary.  If anyone has a reason to destroy all of creation God does.  Talk about abuse, we are abusive to God and about God.  God is gracious to us.  The sacrifice of his son on the cross is the ultimate example of the grace of God.  Giving us more than one chance to turn from our sin.  Jonah is angry but God is gracious.  Jonah is angry because he KNEW that god would be gracious.

V3  Jonah is so angry that he throws a fit.  How amusing, poor Jonah, he isn’t getting his way so he throws a fit.  Okay God, you are so good just kill me.  I don't want to be a part of a world like this.  Don't want to be a part of a world like this?  Come on!  This is exactly the kind of world that I need to be a part of.  I am Soooooo glad that God knows when to ignore us.  Can't you hear God?  V5  Jonah, do you really have any right to complain?  How about if I had let you die in the boat, or the fish, to the city when you were delivering the bad news.  Jonah, shouldn't I treat everyone the way I treat you?

V5&6  Creature comforts, yeah, those things that make life sweet.  Jonah's creature comfort was a vine that grew up over his hovel and shaded him.  Notice that God provided the vine.  Notice that Jonah was very happy about the vine.  Notice that Jonah was sitting outside the city watching to see what would happen to it.  He was still waiting to see if God would destroy Ninevah.

V7&8  What did God provide in these two verses?  The worm and the wind.  All of a sudden the creature comforts that Jonah had were taken away.  That worm, that nasty little worm, and the wind.  The vine might have lasted longer if the wind had not been blowing.  Comforts, sometimes that's all life is about.  When we lose our comforts life isn't worth living.  Remember that god provides the comforts.  He uses them to teach us about the world and about himself.

V8-11  Okay Jonah, I have had enough.  You were concerned about the vine.  You were happy when it was growing and now you want to die because it is gone.  You were concerned about the vine but you didn't care about the city.  How do you add things like that up?  What are you looking at?  What is most important to you?  Are you out for you or are you concerned about people around you?  Here it is easy to see what you should be concerned with.  When you get away, when you look into the private places of your life then the truth comes out.  Who is #1?  Most of the time it's me.  I'll care for you as long as it doesn't make me look bad or cause me to lose my comforts. … and there are millions that die every day.

Jonah, the reluctant prophet.  I can identify with him.  Unfortunately he is me far to often.  Lord forgive me.  Show me how to serve you and help me to follow.

Jonah – The Reluctant Prophet

From the Belly of the Fish

Jonah 1:17 – 2:10

Jon 1:17  Then the LORD appointed a great fish to swallow Jonah, and Jonah was in the fish three days and three nights.

Just when things could possibly get worse they did.  Man I have had those days too!  Faces with an impossible task I run, emotionally, mentally, and yes sometimes physically.  It seems that the task, especially when assigned by God, always pursues me and when it finds me the worst regularly seems to happen.  I suffer, people around me suffer, and I can only hope that God gets the glory.

Let’s look at Jonah.  He was headed for Tarshish.  God sent the storm and when the men in the boat finally gave up and threw Jonah overboard the storm stopped.  Jonah now has no hope of living.  He is in the water with no rescue in sight.  His fate is completely out of his hands.  Well, guess what Jonah, your fate was never in your hands to start with.  We are by fallen nature control freaks.  I am not sure that it is possible to learn to give up control.  At some point or points we always reintroduce the attempt to control things again.  God is in control.  Really, life is so much more pleasant when we allow him to control it and just follow along.  (easy thought hard practice)

I wonder how long Jonah tread water?  Apparently it was quite a while.

Jon 2:5  The waters engulfed me up to the neck; the watery depths overcame me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. 6  I sank to the foundations of the mountains; the earth with its prison bars closed behind me forever!

In time he got all wrapped up in “stuff” and sank.  Don’t you just wish that when bad things happened we could give up and they would end?  Why can’t I just die and end the suffering?  One reason may be that the suffering will just be beginning when we die, especially if we die without Christ.  You think life is bad here?  Don’t even think about life after death if you aren’t a believer.

Back to the story, Jonah is headed down to the sea bottom.  He KNOWS he is dead now.  BUT, he gets swallowed by a BIG fish.  Can is get worse?  Yes, it can always get worse.  I really can’t imagine the terror of being swallowed by a fish.  This is bad, really bad.  But it gets even worse.  He is in the fish for three days and nights, reminds me of Jesus in the grave.

I think that it is interesting to note that the prayer that Jonah records here is an after the fact prayer.  As Jonah looked back on what happened he recorded where he was and how he felt about it.  I think this because there is praise interspersed in the story.  I also find it interesting that Jonah is praying to the Lord after three days of imprisonment within the fish.

How long does it take you to turn to God when you need help?  Do you ever find it hard to turn to God when you know that the problem and damage that you are in and have caused are your 100% your own fault?  Is it possible to know you are sinning and getting yourself in deep trouble, running from God, and yet to not be sorry for the actions you have taken?  I think that this last situation is exactly where Jonah is.  I don’t think that Jonah ever came to peace with God’s call to Nineveh.  But Jonah does something here that we need to see.  Jonah turns to God anyway.

Jonah prays from the belly of the fish.

Jon 2:1  Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from inside the fish:

Jonah is in prison.  His freedom is about as limited as it can possibly be and yet he is free.  When all other freedoms are taken away from us we still have the freedom of access to God.  We seem to be most aware of our need for God when all other possible avenues of action are cut off.  God desires us to seek him.  Notice here that God had already rescued Jonah.  Jonah has not recognized it yet but it is so.  God does that frequently for us.  We have to have time to reflect on God’s wisdom and love to see that he has always cared for us even when we have run from him.  I believe that failing to seek God in our time of need is a tragic short coming.  Let me implore you to seek God.  Pray, seek his wisdom, repent from your sin and fulfill your vows to follow him.  No matter where you are he is positioning you for the challenges that the rest of your life will present.

When Jonah gets to the place, after three days in the belly of the fish, where he is willing to fulfill his vows God moves.

Jon 2:8  Those who cling to worthless idols forsake faithful love, 9  but as for me, I will sacrifice to You with a voice of thanksgiving. I will fulfill what I have vowed. Salvation is from the LORD! 10  Then the LORD commanded the fish, and it vomited Jonah onto dry land.