Transcendent Praise

Matthew 26:52 “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.”

Does God care when a person becomes a victim of violence? Violence has and always will be part of the human condition. News about violent incidents spread with such ease and speed today, one can easily feel overwhelmed by it all.

In order to address this question for myself I have to look to Jesus’ identity and conduct for the answer. In referring to Jesus, Hebrews 1:3 states “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being ….” It is also significant that once when Phillip said to Jesus: “Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us.” Jesus replied: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:8-9).  So Jesus came to demonstrate the heart of God to mankind. We should also note that Jesus came to bring peace because when He was born the angelic hosts declared “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:14).

How then did Jesus handle violence against individuals? Two incidents come to mind. In John 8:1-11 an account is given of how a woman accused of adultery was dragged before Jesus to test him to see if he would uphold the Mosaic law which required that she should be stoned. Jesus gave a thoughtful response: “Let any one of you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Needless to say her accusers disappeared one by one and Jesus set the woman free with the words: “Then neither do I condemn you.” “Go now and leave your life of sin.”

The second incident occurred in the Garden of Gethsemane on the night of Jesus’ arrest. One of Jesus’ disciples (identified as Peter in John 18:10) drew his sword and cut off the ear of one of the high priest’s servants. “Put your sword back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52). Luke the doctor, in giving his account of the incident, records that Jesus touched the man’s ear and healed him. (Luke 22: 51). What grace!

It is clear to me at least that God does not condone violence against the individual even if it seems justified either by existing law, as in the case of this poor woman, or well-deserved as in the case of this servant. Just as he extended mercy and grace in these cases, I think we are called to be on the side of those victimized or violated.

John 15:8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

Never thought of yourself as a tree limb or branch, did you?  Well, Jesus in teaching his disciples told them they were to be exactly that. But Jesus also taught that he was the “vine” or the tree trunk, that part of the tree that is firmly rooted and grounded and feeds and sustains the branches so they can be vital and strong. To what purpose? So that they may bear fruit!

Jesus was always using symbols that were meaningful to his audiences and I love that. As a child growing up in the country with six brothers, I occasionally found myself up in a tree. There were huge mature branches that not only provided shade but were strong enough to sit on comfortably and read if I chose to do so. Then they were younger more supple branches that I could swing from when I was ready to come down. On the ground there would be those branches that had long been separated from the tree, withered and dry, which could be picked up as firewood.

So Jesus told his disciples: “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:4-5). And the result of remaining attached to the vine and bearing much fruit is that it glorifies the Father and shows that we are Jesus’ followers.

What does Jesus identify as the fruit that we will bear? Love! Just as the Father’s love was demonstrated in the Son, Jesus commands us to love one another: “Love each other as I have loved you.”(John 15:12) How will this love develop and be sustained or nourished? “If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remained in his love.” (John 15:10).

1 Peter 3:13-18 Who is going to harm you if you are eager to do good? But even if you should suffer for what is right, you are blessed. “Do not fear what they fear; do not be frightened.” But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander. It is better, if it is God’s will, to suffer for doing good than for doing evil. For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God…

It is sometimes said that no good deed goes unpunished. It may seem that way in the natural but that is not the truth of the matter, for here the Scripture says if you suffer for doing good, you are blessed. In fact, beginning with verse 8 this chapter of 1 Peter gives line by line encouragement on how to survive in a hostile environment. The over-arching principle is “do not repay evil with evil, or insult with insult but with blessing.”

The believer’s role is always going to be to de-escalate tensions, even if it means you have to shut up or in some way surrender your “rights”. Why? “To this you were called, so that you may inherit a blessing.” Still not convinced? Well, just think about it. “For Christ died once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.”

For someone reading this, being maligned, abused, or refused what was rightly yours has happened for no other reason than that you are a Christian.  What should be your response? “However, if you suffer as a Christian, do not be ashamed, but praise God that you bear that name.” (1 Peter 4:16)

Ephesians 4:25-27 Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. “In your anger do not sin”. Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

The apostle Paul was writing to believers at Ephesus encouraging them to transform their way of thinking and to live in the light of what they had come to know about Jesus. The Spirit of God transforms on the inside but you have to exercise free will to do as he leads in the natural. It is you who will have to decide in each circumstance that in your anger you will not sin. Yes, it is possible to state your feelings about the thing or the action of someone that makes you angry without diminishing the person involved. “You mean I have to think before I speak?” Precisely!

The phrase “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry” is often tossed at married couples as though it applies only to them. I get it! The proximity between couples makes anger very corrosive if left to fester. But it is a valuable principle for all relationships. Take a little walk with me. Imagine a time when life was less hurried and it seemed evening time merged more slowly into night. Perhaps the commute was shorter and less frantic, people were kinder and perhaps there was even someone home to welcome you. The myriad devices which intrude on relationships and conversations did not yet exist. Friends and couples alike valued each other more, so a rift was painful. They actually made the effort to mend fences and keep communication alive. That’s it: “effort” is necessary and more so if you are a child of God. And the reason is clear – if you do not, you give the devil a foothold in your relationship.

When I was a child I heard someone say the definition of “neighbor” is anyone with whom you come in contact. Ouch! Oh do you have a lot of work to do before sundown!

Hebrews 7:20-26 “… The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’” Because of this oath, Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant. Now there have been many priests, since death prevented them from continuing in office; but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Such a high priest meets our need – one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners.

The world is longing for priests who are holy and blameless. But God has already provided one – a Savior, one who exemplifies perfection. In every culture, language and ethnicity, people seek to serve, worship or pacify a deity. Some choose the planets, water, mountains or, in some cases, something they fashion with their own hands. In each instance there is the recognition that there is someone greater than themselves whose favor they need and who will forgive the wrong they do.

In the case of the Israelites, God chose them to be his people and to show them favor. God gave them leaders such as Moses and Aaron to teach them about his deity and what they should do to please him. Aaron was consecrated as priest together with his sons. (See Exodus 29) These men were to bring sacrifices to God first for their own sins and then for the sins of the people. But none of these men were perfect. Therefore, in time, God set aside this order and sent Jesus to die for the sins of all. In this way God grants access to his throne to everyone who believes that Jesus is his Son and will accept and worship him as Savior.

Christ’s priesthood is holy, pure, blameless, set apart and unchangeable as he died and was raised from the dead to sit at God’s right hand. In this capacity he is the Advocate of the believer. He is perfect because he had no sins of his own for which he had to atone; unchangeable because he still lives.  Jesus’ priesthood is permanent because God took an oath that he would be a priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek. (See Psalm 110:4).  See also Hebrews 7: 1 – 3 and Genesis 14:18-20 for more information on Melchizedek.

Ruth 4:13-17 So Boaz took Ruth and she became his wife. Then he went to her, and the Lord enabled her to conceive, and she gave birth to a son. The women said to Naomi: “Praise be to the Lord, who this day has not left you without a kinsman-redeemer. May he become famous throughout Israel! He will renew your life and sustain you in your old age. For your daughter-in-law, who loves you and who is better to you than seven sons has given him birth.” Then Naomi took the child, laid him in her lap and cared for him. The women living there said, “Naomi has a son.”  And they named him Obed. He was the father of Jesse, the father of David.

The story of this family recorded in the Book of Ruth is all-encompassing and totally human in all its detail. Everyone’s emotions and concerns are laid bare. Particularly poignant are the cases of Boaz and Naomi. He is at a point where he knows he is middle-aged. So is Naomi who feels life has not treated her well. They both experience this vulnerability. But life is not over, not by any means and not as God saw it. In fact, if there ever was a panorama of new beginnings, this is it.

Boaz marries Ruth and she gives birth to a son. In the process Naomi’s economic life and purposefulness are restored. We get to see that out of pain and difficulties the Lord not only sustains but enriches the lives of those who trust him. Above all, it becomes clear that God had a master plan for each of these people even as they were dealing with the ordinary events in their lives.  The child that was born to Boaz and Ruth was named Obed, the father of Jesse, the father of David. In Luke Chapter 2, we are told that when Mary was pregnant with Jesus, a census was decreed by Caesar Augustus requiring everyone to return to his own town to register. “So Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, because he belonged to the house and line of David.”

Who would have thought that out of Naomi’s mess, such glory could be revealed – the Savior of the world was born. Your life might not look like much to you, but in it and out of it, the Lord God can bring new life to you and to others in your sphere of influence.

Ruth 1: 22 So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabitess, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.

God does not lead us through difficult circumstances to destroy us and if we hold on to his promise that he will never leave or forsake us, then we have to grant that he is in the thick of the battle with us. Naomi had seen the good times with her husband and sons. Then she became a refugee, a widow and grieving parent. Naomi’s faith was temporarily derailed by her circumstances, but now she is home. She is adjusting and finding ways to embrace the changes in her life – a necessary step to wholeness.

Has God orchestrated the time of her arrival? Look, it is the beginning of harvest time!  Friend, if you have been faithful to God year after year, rest assured there will always be a harvest. The word of God gives repeated assurances of rewards, not just in heaven, but in this life as well. Not only is it harvest time but, in Chapter 2, Naomi discovers she has a relative named Boaz who will step up for her – a kinsman. He takes account of Naomi’s and Ruth’s losses. He is an observant man. He is wealthy, a righteous man, a man of influence, he is protective, he is a provider, he is kind and does not take his workers for granted, he rewards labor and he does so generously. This, my friend, is a description of some of the attributes of your Lord! Changes will come, but never think you have been abandoned.

Ruth 1:20-21 “Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full but the Lord has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

My recommendation to you is to read the Book of Ruth in one sitting. In Chapter One, we see that grief, loss, deprivation, and stress have all taken a toll on Naomi’s spirit. She speaks as one who has been battered by the circumstances of her life. Her husband Elimelech had taken her and their two sons Mahlon and Kilion from their home in Bethlehem to the country of Moab to avoid the effects of a famine. After a while Elimelech died and her sons married two Moabite women Orpah and Ruth. After they had lived there ten years the two sons died. What a state of affairs! Since her family had been refugees in Moab it is likely that their resources were depleted by this time. So Naomi’s decision to return to her native land and her instruction to Orpah and Ruth to go home to their mothers make perfect sense. Eventually Orpah stayed behind but Ruth refused to leave Naomi’s side and returned to Bethlehem with her. Wouldn’t every woman want a daughter-in-law like Ruth!

When Naomi and Ruth arrived in Bethlehem the town is abuzz with excitement to welcome them. Naomi however has changed. The Naomi they knew was true to her name: “Pleasant”. This Naomi wants them to call her Mara: “Bitter” because as she saw it “The Lord has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”

How human! Just like us, in her pain she blames it all on God. Grief, loss and deprivation will do that to you. Even as believers, we don’t take note of what we are saying. How do we say “The Almighty” and then fail to comprehend all that the name implies? It means the “All Sufficient One.” He is the one who nourishes, supplies and sustains, abundantly. He will make a way! But your enemy, the devil, would have you hold your head down in gloom, unable to see beyond your toes, rather than see you with your head up, hands raised, calling on The Almighty for his help in your time of need.

Proverbs 10:22 – The blessing of the Lord brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.

I believe any honest person would rather be rich than poor. Yet some of us believers have a real hard time reconciling wealth as blessing from God. In our society we are suspicious of the idea that a wealthy person can be godly at the same time because we equate wealth with worldliness. Yet this verse of Scripture seeks to open our minds to a great truth. Blessing or God’s favor is not the result of labor, it surpasses it. Abraham is a good example of God sovereignly choosing to bless someone both in the natural and spiritual realms.

If you believe that God is your good father, it becomes a lot easier to expect and appreciate that every so often he will surprise you with good gifts. We understand this principle in the natural realm, yet hesitate to accept it as a spiritual principle. Sometimes the gift is not stuff but an inexplicable turn of events in your favor. We even refer to good fortune as coming from “out of the blue”.  “Blessings crown the head of the righteous…” (Proverbs 10:6). That means it will come down and exceed your needs to flow outwards. If you are serving the Lord and find yourself wealthy, it is meant to flow to help those around you.

Instead of working longer and harder, God has given us his own financial plan: Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. “Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.” (Malachi 3:10). Am I saying that we must first give to God before he will give to us? Yes and no. We who know him should give in obedience and with delight, remembering that he first gave. Such is the heart of God that in mercy He gives daily even to those who do not honor him in any way, “He causes his sun to shine on the evil and the good, and sends the rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (See Matthew 5:45). And he allows a harvest for man’s toil. So no matter how you analyze it, God is always giving first.

Hebrews 7: 25 Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them.

In sending Christ to die for our sins, God put in place a better, surer and everlasting covenant with those who believe Christ died for them. In John 6:41-42 there was grumbling among the Jews who were questioning Jesus’ teachings about himself. He had just told them “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They wanted to know “Is this not Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? Jesus’ response was: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him and I will raise him up at the last day.”

Anyone who has been drawn by God and responded to his Son need not live in fear of losing their salvation in the sense of being “dropped” by God because of some wrong thing they may do afterwards. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9). So the believer has no basis to live in fear for himself or another believer who stumbles.  We should instead pray for and encourage each other.

To illustrate: I have a young friend who became a Christian not too long ago. Her history is one of confusion. Many “family issues” continue to create difficulties for her. She is growing in her faith but I consider her “fragile”.  There was a point when I was not hearing from her with any regularity and I became anxious. I prayed for her and, no sooner had I finished, the Holy Spirit reminded me of this: “I am able to save to the uttermost those who come to God by me.” In other words – Christ her Intercessor has everything well in hand. He is the one who has saved her and will keep her secure.