BOOK REVIEW - "NOW AND NOT YET: THEOLOGY AND MISSION IN EZRA-NEHEMIAH" (NEW STUDIES IN BIBLICAL THEOLOGY) BY DEAN ULRICH

 

Is God's Kingdom on earth a reality of the present or a promise of the future? Yes.

Dean Ulrich looks into Ezra-Nehemiah and gives an excellent commentary on that book (or is it two? We normally divide it into two books, but it is just one book in the Jewish OT). His focus is that the post-exilic period shows both the Promise of the restored kingdom and the fact that things still aren't perfect. For example, Nehemiah 12 deals with the victorious celebration of the completion of the wall. However, it is followed by chapter 13, which deals with the various problems Nehemiah was dealing with.

I highly recommend this book.

SUNDAY PSALMS PART 25 OF 48 - PSALM 115:1-3

Bald Eagles (obviously), Louisville Zoo

 1   Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us,
    But to Your name give glory,
    Because of Your mercy,
    Because of Your truth.
2   Why should the Gentiles say,
    "So where is their God?"
3   But our God is in heaven;
    He does whatever He pleases.
          Psalm 115:1-3, New King James Version

Just as obvious as the fact that the birds I pictured above are bald eagles, it should be obvious that 100% of the glory belongs to God and the remaining 0% belongs to us, on a good day - typically, less than that.

This is Old Testament. In the Jewish mindset, the Gentiles (aka the Nations) were the outsiders of the Kingdom of God. In the church age, the doors to the Kingdom opened wide to the Gentiles. So let's forget using this in context with a nationality but with those who have not asked God for permission to enter His Kingdom. 

Yes, God is still in heaven. Yes, He still does whatever He pleases. But it is our job to give God the glory so people will know He's in charge and not just a myth.

 

ARE WE PURSUING BUILDING OTHERS UP? - A STUDY ON ROMANS 14 PART 9 OF 11

  

Cross at The River Community Church, Cookeville, TN

If you look at lists of spiritual gifts, you'll find there's one of encouragement (exhortation). However, there is no spiritual gift of discouragement, nor one of criticism. This might be news to some people.

How does Paul describe the Kingdom of God? "For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Romans 14:17, NKJV. Too often we get hung up either on enjoying the foods God created (see 1 Timothy 4:3-5) or on avoiding certain foods. But is either extreme what the Kingdom of God is? 

Consider "righteousness", "peace", and "joy" as equal parts of the Kingdom of God. Sometimes we focus on righteousness, and volunteer to be the one who assigns a definition to that word and usually nobody else has peace and joy. Others see righteousness as contrary forces, that you have to be miserable to be righteous. 

Peace is a quality that shows up again two verses later: "Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may edify another." Romans 14:19, NKJV. Is peace and building others up things that we pursue? 

Those who make their convictions a mandate for others are not following this verse. They might think they are, just as a tyrant may think conquering another nation would bring peace. Unfortunately, one party defines and enforces the requirements for there to be peace, which is that everybody else sees things their way. They may believe that they're building others up by proclaiming what they consider to be "the truth", but actually they are

Likewise, those who don't think you should judge them and misuse Christian liberty for their not-necessarily-godly desires are not paying attention to Romans 14:19. In fact, they're not really different than the above group. They may not demand unconditional surrender, but they aren't willing to give anything up for peace either. Likewise, they are more apt to build themselves up (or more accurately puff themselves up) than to try to strengthen someone else.

What are we doing, individually and corporately, to pursue the things which make for peace or to edify one another?

THE COMING KINGDOM OF LOVE - FOURTH SUNDAY OF ADVENT 2021

 

Nativity Scene we received from a friend; "Frame" by Sandra T. Monte

Once again, I'll mention that I connect Advent with the revolutionary concept in the Lord's Prayer: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." In the previous three weeks, I've looked at the advent of hope, peace, and joy, and how radical those aspects are. This week, I'll be looking at an Advent of Love.

I'm going to date myself (and may date the readers of this blog) by mentioning Jackie DeShannon's 1965 hit "What The World Needs Now Is Love" (written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach. Of course, I doubt many people would disagree, including those whose parents and maybe even grandparents weren't around when the song came out. But what do you mean by "love"? 

Maybe someone at this point has picked up their Bible and turned to 1 Corinthians 13, which gives a description of love. For those haven't done so, let me share verses 4-7: "Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no eveil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (NKJV)

Jesus said "By this the world will know you're My disciples, in that you love one another." He gave characteristics of what being a disciple looked like, but how many have the description, "By THIS, they world will know you're My disciples?" Just this one. I've actually heard a couple of people in more exclusive churches disagree with this. Why? Because there are people outside their little group that would qualify as Jesus' Disciples. God forbid that should happen!

We also need to remember God is love (1 John 4:8, 16). Note - don't try to reverse the word order or you're idolizing love. Also, don't make the mistake of separating love from God's attributes. When God calls us to be holy and when He gives the wicked what they deserve, He is doing that as a loving God. 

Too often, we want to have enemies to hate. We subconsciously realize that loving one another is a tough task, so we try to make "one another" as small a group as we can to make it manageable. But I consider love to be desiring others to turn to righteousness, to look for the good to encourage (anybody can find the bad to discourage, sometimes when it only appears to be bad). Love is sharing the gospel, not wanting anybody to go to hell but knowing everybody deserves it.

THE COMING KINGDOM OF JOY - THIRD SUNDAY OF ADVENT 2021

 

At Arlington Avenue Baptist Church, photo by Trish Walton

 

"It's beginning to look a lot like Advent."

I have mentioned before the connection I see between Advent and the radical petition of the Lord's Prayer, "Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done On Earth As It Is In Heaven."  You might not think an Advent of Joy is revolutionary. Or is it?

The pursuit of happiness is quite different from joy. Happiness is fleeting. It doesn't last. Joy is a different story. Plus, there are times the world at the least accepts and laughs at wickedness if not outright applauding and celebrating it.

But does Christ coming back and establishing His Kingdom give us joy? Before you quickly say "Of course," does it fit with how you live? Would you rather be at church with fellow believers even if you miss the football game? Does reading the Scripture excite you more than your favorite TV series?

I remembered a skit by a group called "The Lamb's Players." In it, there were two guys sitting at a table in a restaurant. The first guy was telling the other about the football game, with lots of energy and excitement, while the second nodded. Then, the second started telling about the worship service Sunday ... with the same exuberance as the other guy described the sporting event, and with the first guy looking nervous and urging his friend to tone it down.

Are you excited about the coming Second Advent, spending eternity with Jesus Christ? And does that thrill accompany your relationship with Him now between the Advents?

THE COMING KINGDOM OF PEACE - SECOND SUNDAY OF ADVENT, 2021

Peace Garden at Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Park

 

"It's beginning to look a lot like Advent."

Last week, in the first part of this series, I started with that quote, questioning where I picked that line up from. Actually, it was a frame that can could be added to your Facebook profile picture.

Also, last week I mentioned that the concept of Advent can be tied to the line in the Lord's prayer, "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." After all, Advent means coming, and Christians often refer to the Incarnation as the First Advent and Jesus' future returning to earth to reign as the Second Advent.

 There are different ways of referring to the four Sundays of Advent. The first variation dealt with different players in the first Christmas: Prophets, Angels, Shepherds, and Magi. A way I like better deals with important characteristics in our Christian life:
Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. If you weren't paying attention, I dealt with Hope last week.

I'll admit something that had me confused. The photos I'm using on the top of these blogs are also being used as my Facebook profile photo, and I've added a frame indicating the week of the post. I've seen two primary sources - Good News TV and Christy Gallinger. However, Good News TV had frames with the second week being Peace and the 2nd week as Love. What's more Christmassy than a bit of confusion?

Returning to my theme of the controversial and radical concept of God's Kingdom coming, we are looking for a Kingdom of peace, and there isn't much peace here. Everybody wants peace, as long as they get to define what peace looks like. For many, it's when their side wins that they  want peace, with their opponents throwing the white flag. For example, you notice how it's the winning party after an election that calls for the people to unify? 

Should we expect peace among unregenerate people? Of course not. But sometimes the place with the least peace are the Christians. Pick a topic: Sovereign Predestination vs. Free Will, whether we can lose our salvation, almost any element concerning the end times, style of music, Bible translations, and of course politics. In fact, I heard of a church that split over the question whether having a hat rack was Biblical or not.

One of the beatitudes is "Blessed are the Peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God." (Matthew 5:9). Note the difference between being a peacekeeper and a peacemaker. The former basically is a referee, trying to make sure the opponents behave themselves. The latter does his work when the opponents are not on good terms and labors to create a peace between the two that is presently non-existent.

What are we doing to establish God's Kingdom of Peace? It calls for peacemakers, because there's none in the world to keep.