2007-11-09
Good Morning Dear Ones,
As a way of looking at Christ's Sermon on the Mount teaching on mammon in MT 6: 24-34, we are examining the consistency of God's will in this matter by going through an OT passage, the ideal woman from PR 31: 10-31. Remember that through common usage, mammon, which originally was passive, meaning "wealth entrusted to another's possession," came into it's active modern usage, meaning "that in which trust is placed." Mammon is the material things of earthly life and has no place in eternal life. While this Proverbs passage originally describes the ideal wife, in the context of this discussion, it can describe the ideal person, regardless of sex or marital status. As happens often in the OT, the 22 verses of PR 31: 10-31 each stand of a letter of the Hebrew alphabet. We have already examined aleph, beit, gimmel, and dalet, verses 10-13, which have revealed the ideal person to be: valuable; trustworthy; righteous; industrious. Today, we begin with the fifth letter, hay, which is applied to PR 31: 14, "She brings home food from out-of-the-way places, as merchant ships do."
Remember that in MT 6: 24, Christ tells us that we can't serve two masters, God and mammon. In (27), we are told we can't add another day to our lives by worrying, and in (33) He tells us to concern ourselves first with the Kingdom of God and what He requires of us. This is exactly what the ideal person in Proverbs is doing. Bringing food home from out-of-the-way places has some subtle messages to me. 1) This is a person who is not lazy and is willing to go to some personal inconvenience for the good of his family. Isn't that exactly what Christ did for us when He eschewed living in material comfort [MK 12: 17] and finally went to the cross for us [JN 3: 16]? Isn't this what God does when He gives faith to and extends grace to people who were His enemies [RO 5: 8-11; EPH 2: 8-10]? 2) This is a person who loves his family so much that he is willing to value their well-being over his own, i.e. makes sacrifices for them. I can't help thinking about one of the most poignant events in the Scriptures, the picture of our Lord Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane uttering, in LK 22: 42, "Father, if You will, take this cup of suffering away from Me. Not My will, however, but Your will be done.'" Christ's words here are not all; He follows them with obedience. All of this begs us to ask ourselves, how willing to forego personal comforts are we to see to the needs of our families? Moreover, how willing are we to put God's priorities first in serving Him as a part of the Body of Christ, His church?
The adage, we must bloom where we are planted, certainly applies. Some of us will serve God with distinction right in our own homes with the efforts we go to in raising our children to love the Lord. A family very close to me is making huge personal sacrifices, things like working two jobs and running around with extra carpooling, to see to it that there is enough money for parochial school tuition. This is food for the human spirit to give it maximum opportunity to be open to the Lord's Spirit. Other families have sent members or gone as a whole to serve on missions far from home. Still others send youth on summer short-term mission projects. All of this fits the description of stepping out of one's comfort zone to serve God and raise people to love Him. When a group of individuals are living this ideal life that Christ modeled for us is together in a congregation, wonderful things happen. Our own congregation has sent a number of groups to Ocean Springs, MS, to work on Hurricane Katrina relief, for example. While I couldn't go there personally, I've had the honor to pray for these groups and lead our prayer chain to do the same. Members of our congregation are encouraged to mature and conform to God's standards by sharing in their material possessions for the good of the Kingdom of God. 2 COR 9: 7, "Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver." Groups like the "Katrina Hope" teams, other mission work, centering family and congregational lives on the word of God, are all examples of living up to MT 6: 33, putting the Kingdom of God as one's first priority.
It isn't necessary to travel far from home, although that does happen, in putting God's Kingdom first. We are reminded of an important question that was asked of our Lord Jesus in LK 17: 20-21. "Some Pharisees asked Jesus when the Kingdom of God would come. His answer was, 'The Kingdom of God does not come in such a way as to be seen. No one will say, 'Look, here it is!' or, 'There it is!'; because the Kingdom of God is within you.'" Think about it, "The Kingdom of God is within you." The moment that we came to faith and repented of our sins was the moment we were no long "slaves to sin" [RO 6: 11]. That was the moment we could choose to align our priorities with God's, that we could be the person who goes out of his way for his human family, his church, and the One and only true God. It was the moment we could demonstrate our love by godly use of our material wealth. 1 COR 13: 13 is an appropriate way to close today's message. "And these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love." Remember the love that our Lord Jesus has for each of us. Doesn't He surely deserve the same from us?
PRAYER: O Lord, You call upon us to examine our own lives to see how far out of our comfort zones are we willing to go to put Your priorities first and foremost in our lives. This is not easy to do. But, we must never forget what a loving and forgiving God You are for us. We must never forget the greatest of all sacrifices that You made for us, one that allows us to have faith in Your Son, Jesus Christ. It gives us the hope of the resurrection [RO 3: 24-25]. Our placing the matters of the Kingdom of God first, something Christ spoke of often during His earthly ministry, is so small in comparison to the giving of His life on the cross. We have the choice, Dearest Abba, of making the material things we have a curse that leads to spiritual death, or a blessing in making the way for Your Kingdom to flourish. That choice wouldn't be available to us had it not been for the Lord Jesus going to the cross for us. There are times when we are called upon to either travel on a mission, or do some other difficult, inconvenient task for You. We should never complain. Sometimes we must make sacrifices of our time, money, and efforts, so that young people can be raised to love You. As You told us in GA 5: 16-17, the things of the Spirit are in opposition to the things that human nature wants. The two are enemies. Our natural selves desire sin, waste, and idols. We learn what the fruits of the Spirit are in GA 5: 22-23. "But the Spirit produces love, joy, peace , patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control. There is no law against such things as these." There are times when we must remember our responsibility to tithe, to donate money or volunteer time or supplies for relief, to sometimes travel away from home to help others in need, or to take time to pray for others. The tasks for the Kingdom to which You call us matter, and they should be done with love and thankfulness to You for giving us grace, salvation, and the Holy Spirit. We dedicate our lives as living sacrifices to You, ones of service, worship, adoration, thanks, and praise. In Christ's holy name, we pray. Amen.
Next week, we will look at PR 31: 15, a verse on self-discipline, applying it to the subject of mammon. This one will represent the Hebrew letter, vav. All the while that the Holy Spirit was giving me these words to write to you this morning, He was reminding me to mention the issue of forgiveness. Because I came from traditional Judaism, I didn't know that the Holy Spirit was calling me to believe in our Savior, Jesus Christ [Yeshua] until I was 25 years old. Once I realized that was the plan that God has for my life, the Spirit led me to recognize I have been forgiven. Holding grudges against others, involving myself in what I call "family intrigue," was no longer acceptable behavior. What I'm saying here actually applies to each person who has true faith in Jesus Christ. Each of us has a great deal for which we have been forgiven. COL 3: 13 gives us God's will in the matter of why we should be forgiving. "Be tolerant with one another and forgive one another whenever any of you has a complaint against someone else. You must forgive one another just as the Lord has forgiven you." Part of the "family intrigue" is making money the center of our lives, being judgmental of others who don't have it, refusing for forgive real or imagined debts owed, and so on. True believers in Christ are released from all that "intrigue" and live in real freedom because of their obediently-carried-out faith. They share God's agenda to make His Kingdom flourish. They experience Christ's words of JN 8: 31-32, "If you obey My teaching, you are really My disciples; You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." Be encouraged, Dear Readers! Praise be to Him!
Grace Be With You Always,
Lynn