Choose each day
Commentary
When my son was about 4, he spotted my wedding ring on my finger and asked about it. I think he was also wondering why he didn't have one. So I got down our wedding album and showed him the pictures. One of those is a close up of our hands, side by side, wearing those rings. I told him this was something that people wore when they got married to help them remember the special promises they made to each other -- like to love, honor, cherish, respect, be faithful....
In every wedding ceremony I perform, I always say something like this in regard to the rings:
Wedding rings are very special. They are a visible symbol of your love and your commitment. Today you will wear them for the first time as husband and wife. Each day after this when you see them, let them remind you of the promises you have made each other before God. And each time you see them, renew those promises in your heart. For one of the secrets of a good marriage is falling in love each day.
When you think about it, all relationships are like this. They need constant attention and renewal.
A friend told me once, "Every day is my wedding day." You do not just become husband and wife on a certain day. You must also choose every day to be husband and wife, to love, cherish, honor, respect -- for life has a way of pulling you apart. You need to be able to re-say those vows, to reaffirm them in words and deeds each day.
You did not just become a parent on the day your child was born, but choose each day to be recommitted to that child, to love, protect, guide as a parent.
Friendships are the same way. They can get worn, tested. They need constant renewal and recommitment.
Did you know that our relationship with God is the same way? Martin Luther said of baptism that it is something we do in church one day but takes the rest of our lives to complete. Our relationship with God is a dynamic, growing communion that we are forever renewing and recommitting ourselves too.
Have you ever noticed that when someone is baptized we often also renew our baptismal vows? Why? Because we, too, need to be reminded of whom we are and whose we are. Being a Christian is not just something that happened to us some time ago but someone we are, someone we choose to be each and everyday.
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
In today's text Joshua is an old man. He had served God and his people faithfully. Now, near the end of his life, he wanted to do something further for God and for them, something that would continue on after him. What would it be? To renew the covenant with God first made with them under Moses at Sinai. Joshua must have thought, "What greater thing can I do now than to lead my people to renew their commitment to God? What greater way to help ensure their future and their prosperity?"
Joshua called the 12 tribes of Israel together at Shechem. It was an ancient Canaanite city located in the hill country of Ephraim (Joshua 20:7). The name of the city seems to mean "shoulder" or "slope," probably because it was located on the slopes of Mount Gerizim and Ebal. It was a sacred site for the Hebrews even back to Abraham (Genesis 12:6-7). It, along with Shiloh, would be the religious centers for them for many years.
Verses 2-13 are not included in the reading but are important. In them Joshua lists all the mighty things God had done for them. That is a wise thing to do, for they have short memories and it prepares them for what he's about to say.
In verses 14 and following, Joshua drives home his point. In light of all God has done (vv. 2-13), Joshua calls them to commit themselves totally to God. Joshua was actually reminding them of the very first commandment given to them (indeed, all of the commandments), but especially the first one. It was the one their parents had vowed to obey at the foot of Sinai: "You shall have no other gods before me...." Joshua is telling them that they cannot be like their polytheistic neighbors or even their ancestors. God tolerates no rivals. God commands complete and total allegiance.
It's important to note here that Joshua is not forcing them to choose God or renew the covenant. He says, "Choose this day...." They have a free will, just as their ancestors before them. As powerful as God was, God was not going to force their hand or compel obedience. It had to come freely from them. Choice here is a central theme of this passage.
Note also that Joshua sets the example for them. He plainly shows them the decision he makes, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
The people respond in kind (vv. 16ff). They remembered all that God had done for them and followed the example their leader set. They chose to serve God and it was a wise thing to do (a note that you might use in relating this to the gospel lesson today about the foolish and the wise maidens).
The people chose wisely that day but Joshua does not seem convinced that they realize fully what it is they are promising (vv. 19ff). So he warns them that this is a serious matter. If they do not follow through with their decision, then there will be grave consequences. But they affirm their decision. "Okay," Joshua says. "If you have made this decision, prove it. Follow through with it. There are foreign gods among you -- idols! Some of you have been worshiping them. Throw them away! Stop participating in the rituals and rites of worship of these gods. Turn to the Lord and the Lord only." Making the decision to follow and serve God is one thing, but following through with it in everyday life is a different matter.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
The Thessalonians lived in constant expectation of the return of Christ. In fact, some were obsessed with it to the point that they had stopped working for a living (see the verse right before this passage). Others were worried about their loved ones who had died. Would they be left behind when Christ returned? So Paul is writing to address these fears and questions.
Paul begins by reassuring them that he does not wish for them to be uninformed about this matter. Chances are some were teaching things that were misinformation and confusion causing (which sounds like much of the things being written and said still today about this topic). Correct teaching and thinking about this subject would bring them hope and peace, not anxiety and fear. Indeed, one of the things that sets the Christian apart is that we do not "grieve as those without hope." This is a reference in Paul's day to those who had no belief in life after death and who met death with a stony helplessness and hopelessness. But not so for the Christian.
In verse 14 Paul says all of this plainly. Jesus died, but Jesus arose! That's our hope too. All those who have died in him are not separated from him but are with him still, and he will bring them with him when he comes back. Though death may separate us from our loved ones, it cannot take them away from God. Nor, in the end, can it either take us away from each other, for we are the Lord's. The image of death here as a "sleep" fits this temporary nature of death. Death is often portrayed in the Bible as a kind of sleep (see John 11:11; 1 Corinthians 7:39; 15:6, etc.). And when Jesus is told that the little girl is dead, he says, "She is not dead. She is only asleep," and he proceeds to awaken her.
The point is not death-denying, that is, that death is not real. It is simply that death, when faced with the awesome power and presence of God in Christ, becomes no more powerful than a sleep from which we can and will be awakened. And, to reassure them about their loved ones, those who have fallen asleep, they will be the ones first awakened. The alarm clock will go off -- the cry (a kind of military command) from Christ himself, the archangel's call (maybe Michael -- see Jude 9; also, according to Jewish tradition, Michael would blow the trumpet which Paul mentions next). The result is that the faithful are all together again with the Lord. And what arises is not some divine spark, some disembodied soul but each person. The Bible does not teach immortality of the soul but resurrection of the body, that is, the whole person. Paul goes to great lengths in the letters to the Corinthians to explain how the resurrected ones are given a new body but are still the same persons (see 1 Corinthians 15 for example), but one created for the new life they are given.
We can get lost in the details here and lose the most important point -- that we belong to Christ, alive or dead, nothing can take us away. How, when, where all of this happens does not matter and is indeed a mystery to us. All that matters is that we are with the Lord and will be with the Lord ... always.
Matthew 25:1-13
Since Matthew 23:1, the teachings of Jesus have been on judgment. The parable in this text echoes the words in 24:44, "Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour." The message is that no one knows exactly when this will be, so constant vigilance and readiness must be maintained. Two groups are mentioned -- the wise who are ready and prepared (wise bridesmaids) and those who are not (foolish bridesmaids).
The custom in those days was for the female friends of the bride, at least 10 of them, to wait outside her house for the coming of the bridegroom. The man would come from his own house to get his bride and take her back to his own house for the ceremony. This involved great festivity as they walked through the streets, often taking the long way back to his house so everyone could bless them. The bridesmaids waited outside the house, even at night, for often the groom would come then. They would often use torches so that they could tell the bride the groom had arrived and then escort them with lighted torches through the town, back to the groom's house, and inside where they would be locked away for a joyous celebration. Often someone would go before the groom and announce that he was on his way. But even then it could be a matter of hours. So these women had to be ready and prepared for such a delay. Some were, for they had extra oil for their torches, while others had not thought about that. So when the bridegroom arrives suddenly, they are not ready. They want the other five to share their oil, but they refuse. Why? For it would throw the whole wedding procession into disarray and insult the groom and bride. There would not be enough oil, in other words, for the procession. So the five unprepared rush off to try to find oil but get back to the groom's house too late. The door has been shut. They were not ready and missed out on the celebration that was taking place inside.
At one level, this seems to be a parable of judgment on the scribes and Pharisees (who Jesus had been addressing for some time now). They, of all persons, should have been ready for the coming of the Son of Man. But most were not. The wedding took place and they refused to take part. But Christians are also addressed here. The warning is clear: The delay here is the delay in the return of Christ. Many, as we see in the 1 Thessalonians passage, expected the imminent return of Christ. But that had not happened.
What does it mean to be ready? How do you keep your lamps filled? To answer these questions we have to look at all of Matthew, but we are given insight in verses 31 and following of this chapter. We prepare by living a faithful life of discipleship each day, which often entails deeds of loving kindness to the needy.
Elsewhere Jesus describes this as being the employees of a wealthy landowner who leaves workers in charge with stated duties and says he will come back sometime to check on how things are going. The workers have no idea when that will be, but they have a choice. They can slack off and not do their jobs, hoping that they can catch sight of the owner and look busy when he gets back (like a bumper sticker I saw: "Jesus is coming back. Look busy.") or they can simply go about their duties steadily and faithfully each day. It is the latter attitude that Jesus commends. Faithful discipleship each day means you do not have to worry about when the master returns, for you will be ready. The ones obsessed with peering into the countryside of the future for hints and signs of the coming of the master are actually taking their eyes off the tasks at hand. Employees whose eyes are always on the door to see the boss' return have something to hide or reason to feel anxious. When the boss gets back, it's pretty obvious who has been working and who hasn't, as obvious as whose lamps are fully lit and whose are flickering out.
Application
Joshua called the people together at Shechem, a holy place, a place associated with God, to talk to them.
Our local place of worship is our Shechem. We gather there often to remind ourselves of whom we are and whose we are, to reconnect with God and one another. For in the world we are constantly being tempted to value and worship other gods, to make other priorities ours. But we come back to our Shechem regularly to be reminded that we belong to God. There is something about gathering together that renews that relationship with God. Worship, praise, fellowship, study, service together are like sunlight, water, and nutrients to a plant. Gathering at Shechem each week is one of the best ways to renew our relationship with God.
Joshua gathered them in Shechem to challenge them: "Choose this day whom you will serve." And he set an example for them by reaffirming his choice of God for him and his family. And they followed that example, at least for that day. (As we read the rest of the story into Judges, we see that they failed to continue making that choice.)
This choosing to serve God is not something we do one day. It should be the first thing we say each day and throughout the day: "I choose to serve God this day, this hour!"
"Choose this day whom you will serve ... as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." That should be written on places where we will see it everyday -- on our desk at work, on the dashboard of our car, as the screen saver on our computers....
This is also the message from the epistle and gospel readings today. How do we prepare for the coming of Christ? We choose each day to serve God, to live as faithful disciples. We do not have to be afraid about the future or worry about when Christ is coming if we are living and serving each day the way Christ calls us.
An Alternative Application
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25 and Psalm 78. There is a connection between these two passages that deserves a sermon. Joshua sets the example for the people in saying that he and his house would serve the Lord. In Psalm 78 we read how it is so important to set this example for our children and teach them to set their hope in God. "Teach Your Children Well," the words to a popular song, might also be a good sermon title. The sermon can help set forth how we can set a good example and teach our children well.
First Lesson Focus
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
Joshua 24 is the record of the very early covenant ceremony between Israel and God that Joshua, the successor of Moses, celebrated. Joshua conducted it at Israel's earliest central sanctuary in Shechem, which was located in the hill country of Canaan, between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. It was this covenant ceremony that first united the second generation of Israelites as one people, after their entrance into the Promised Land. The chapter therefore has the typical features of an ancient suzerainty covenant, which was a covenant between a sovereign and his subjects:
* preamble, v. 1;
* a rehearsal of the relation between the covenant parties, vv. 2-13;
* stipulations and requirement of loyalty, vv. 14-15;
* the subjects' vow of obedience, vv. 16-21;
* witnesses, vv. 22, 27; deposit of the document, vv. 26-27;
* consequences, v. 20.
Probably Joshua 8:30-35, which records the actual cutting of the covenant belongs between verses 27 and 28. Thus did the Israelites unite together as one people in common allegiance to the Lord, the one Sovereign God.
It is unfortunate that our stated text omits verses 3b-13 in the interests of time. Certainly the preacher will want to read and to speak in the sermon of those verses, for they are not only an ancient and valuable historical source of Israel's experience of God's deeds on her behalf; they also form the rationale of the covenant and of Israel's free agreement to it. God repeatedly worked his mighty acts of deliverance through at least 60 years of the people's history. (The exodus took place about 1280 B.C. and Israel entered the land by 1220 B.C.) God's love came first. God's overwhelming grace redeemed and guided this people to the land God had promised. God did everything for them in love. Now at Shechem they were being asked to love God in return by obeying his covenant command to worship and serve him alone (cf. Deuteronomy 6:4-15). On the basis of that grace, Israel freely agreed to be the God's obedient people. She vowed to serve the Lord and no other gods. She affirmed and responded to the gracious historical deeds that God had worked on her behalf.
So it is with us too, is it not, when we join the Christian Church? We recognize that God has done everything for us in his Son Jesus Christ, making himself known to us, forgiving us, redeeming us from the bondage of sin and the futility of death, promising to be with us always, even to eternity. And so we vow that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior and that we will worship and serve him alone. And we seal our covenant with him by sitting at his table to partake of the Lord's Supper.
But there is a surprising caution in our text. After the Israelites swear their allegiance to the Lord alone (vv. 16-18) Joshua tells them, "Be careful. Be careful what you promise. For the Lord is a holy God, a jealous God, who will put up with no rivals. And if you forsake him and turn to other gods and goddesses, God will consume you." That's very much like what our Lord Jesus also told us. He said if you're going to build something, you first sit down and count how much it is going to cost you, don't you? Or if a king is going to war, he first figures out if he has enough troops to overcome the enemy (Luke 14:28-33). So have we figured out how much it will cost us to be a Christian? Jesus Christ can take away our sins. But are we willing to have those taken away -- all those little idolatries of this world to which we give our hearts and efforts, all those dear little habits to which we are so accustomed, all those little compromises that we know are wrong? Are we willing to take up a cross and follow Jesus Christ all the way to Calvary? That is, are we willing to let our wills and our desires be crucified and to let Christ live in us instead? Are we ready for that, friends, ready really to be covenant partners with our Lord?
Joshua confronted the Israelites with such questions there at the sanctuary in Shechem. And indeed, Israel's time in the land was viewed as the time of her testing. Was she really sincere about worshiping and serving the God who redeemed her? Are you? Am I? Joshua prompts us to serious examination of our lives as followers of Jesus Christ.
But nevertheless -- nevertheless -- Christ mercifully bids us join him at his table. He still offers us his love and grace though none of us deserves it. And so perhaps there at the table, by receiving Christ's life anew from the Spirit, offered to us through the bread and the cup, we can truly, in spirit and in truth, find Christ living in us and be obedient.
Lutheran Option -- Amos 5:18-24
Amos was not a prophet or a member of a prophetic guild. Contrary to the usual stereotypes, he was a fairly rich man from the southern kingdom of Judah who owned large flocks and who had large groves of sycamore trees in the Jordan valley. But about 760 B.C., he testifies, the Lord jerked him out of his usual profitable enterprises and told him, "Go prophesy to my people Israel!" (7:14-15). So Amos traveled to the northern kingdom of Israel that was ruled over by Jeroboam II (786-746 B.C.). There Amos was given words from the Lord that upset both the government and citizens. God, Amos proclaimed, was going to bring an end, a total destruction, upon the northern kingdom (8:2, 10), because of Israel's unfaithfulness to her covenant with the Lord.
Amos pronounced those words of the Lord to a very prosperous and self-confident society. Wars with the Syrians to the north of Israel had subsided, and King Jeroboam II was free to expand both his territory and his economy. Consequently there grew up in Israel a lively commerce (8:5) that nourished a growing wealthy class. Sumptuously furnished dwellings were built by a growing leisure class who enjoyed a vita dolce. But the rich built their fortunes on the back of the poor. They took possession of the land owned by those who could not pay their debts and sometimes subjected them to slavery (2:6; 8:4, 6). They denied justice to the poor in the lay courts at the city gates (2:7; 5:10, 12). They cheated them in the marketplace (8:5). They engaged in immorality and debauchery (2:7-8; 6:5-6). But the wealthy reassured themselves that they lived in God's favor by engaging in elaborate worship rituals (4:4-5; 5:21-23). After all, they were prosperous. Did that not mean that God favored them? Does not prosperous America somehow believe that God looks kindly on it?
More than that, the upper class was sure that they were the forerunners of a glorious time in the future when God would bring what they called "the Day of the Lord." On that day, God would bring his judgment on all the earth. He would destroy Israel's enemies and exalt his rich and indolent people to rule over all other peoples. Such was the common gossip that circulated at wine-drinking soirees, those get-togethers that we would call cocktail parties.
Amos' words from the Lord turned the tables on all such expectations, however. God is not going to pass you by (cf. 7:8) when he judges all the nations (cf. Amos 1:2--2:6). Rather, his judgment will fall first on the household of God, on your temple (9:1), and the Day of the Lord will be not light for you, but darkness and gloom and death (5:18-20). Nor should you think that all of your piety and elaborate worship rituals are going to save you. "I will no longer accept your sacrifices," God thundered. "All of my senses will be closed to your phony worship -- my nostrils (the word "accept" in 5:22 is literally "smell"), my eyes (5:23), my ears (5:23). For I desire one thing from you, O Israel. Let justice cascade down like waters, that is, restore my order to your society and treat the poor and helpless with justice. And let righteousness flow like an ever-flowing stream, that is, fulfill your covenant obligations to me!" ("Righteousness" in the Bible designates the fulfillment of the demands of a relationship.)
Those are sober words to all of us prosperous folk gathered here together in worship, aren't they?
Preaching The Psalm
Psalm 78:1-7
This is the second time in this Lectionary cycle that Psalm 78 has made an appearance. Using verses 1-4 and 12-16, Psalm 78 was the Psalter for Pentecost 19 (see Emphasis, September 29, 2002), and there we noted that this "Wisdom Psalm" touts the importance of telling our children about our faith.
That theme is no different when reading verses 1-7; if anything, the addition of verses 5-7 strengthens it. Those verses tell of God's decree that the ancestors of the psalmist's generation were to teach their children the deeds and law of God (Deuteronomy 6:1-9, especially v. 7), "that the next generation might know them ... and rise up and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God."
Someone has rightly pointed out that "Christianity is always only one generation away from extinction," and this psalm affords you a good opportunity to remind your hearers of that stark reality. If our own children don't hear the testimony of faith, how will their children know to "set their hope in God"?
When I was a kid growing up in the Salvation Army, which was my church then, we had an item in the Sunday evening services called "testimonies." That was a time when worshipers were invited to stand up and speak about what God had done in their lives. Some people never spoke, others spoke almost every week and still others only occasionally, but the point was, we were encouraged to talk about our experiences of God so that others present might be helped in their own faith journeys.
I remember one older man named Larry Waldron. He had little formal education and had worked most of his adult life in the rough and tumble world of a paper mill in upstate New York. Evidently it had been a tough place to work. At one point, Larry had seen a fellow employee thrown to his death into one of the chemical vats during a labor dispute.
Late in his life, Larry found God and his life changed. During those Sunday evening testimony times, he would sometimes speak about the difference in his life since he had committed himself to Christ. I really don't remember his words, but I remember the sincerity and the conviction with which he spoke, and his witness had a bearing on my own Christian journey. In fact, one thing that helped me as a Christian was that I heard the adults around me, including my parents, talk about their faith.
Read Scott Peck's introduction to his 1997 book, The Road Less Traveled and Beyond. There, Peck, though only 60 at the time, says he is not in the best of health and feels worn out. He confesses a need to set his affairs in order and to share what he has learned. In the body of the book, he explains what life and faith have taught him. Although he does not say so in so many words, his book is a witness to readers of his own generation and those following.
Most of us will not have the opportunity to leave behind a published corpus of Christian testimony for succeeding generations, but we can learn to talk comfortably about our faith at the dinner table, where younger people are listening. I would change one word in the old gospel song:
If you cannot preach like Peter,
if you cannot pray like Paul,
go home and tell your neighbor [children]
that He died to save us all.
In every wedding ceremony I perform, I always say something like this in regard to the rings:
Wedding rings are very special. They are a visible symbol of your love and your commitment. Today you will wear them for the first time as husband and wife. Each day after this when you see them, let them remind you of the promises you have made each other before God. And each time you see them, renew those promises in your heart. For one of the secrets of a good marriage is falling in love each day.
When you think about it, all relationships are like this. They need constant attention and renewal.
A friend told me once, "Every day is my wedding day." You do not just become husband and wife on a certain day. You must also choose every day to be husband and wife, to love, cherish, honor, respect -- for life has a way of pulling you apart. You need to be able to re-say those vows, to reaffirm them in words and deeds each day.
You did not just become a parent on the day your child was born, but choose each day to be recommitted to that child, to love, protect, guide as a parent.
Friendships are the same way. They can get worn, tested. They need constant renewal and recommitment.
Did you know that our relationship with God is the same way? Martin Luther said of baptism that it is something we do in church one day but takes the rest of our lives to complete. Our relationship with God is a dynamic, growing communion that we are forever renewing and recommitting ourselves too.
Have you ever noticed that when someone is baptized we often also renew our baptismal vows? Why? Because we, too, need to be reminded of whom we are and whose we are. Being a Christian is not just something that happened to us some time ago but someone we are, someone we choose to be each and everyday.
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
In today's text Joshua is an old man. He had served God and his people faithfully. Now, near the end of his life, he wanted to do something further for God and for them, something that would continue on after him. What would it be? To renew the covenant with God first made with them under Moses at Sinai. Joshua must have thought, "What greater thing can I do now than to lead my people to renew their commitment to God? What greater way to help ensure their future and their prosperity?"
Joshua called the 12 tribes of Israel together at Shechem. It was an ancient Canaanite city located in the hill country of Ephraim (Joshua 20:7). The name of the city seems to mean "shoulder" or "slope," probably because it was located on the slopes of Mount Gerizim and Ebal. It was a sacred site for the Hebrews even back to Abraham (Genesis 12:6-7). It, along with Shiloh, would be the religious centers for them for many years.
Verses 2-13 are not included in the reading but are important. In them Joshua lists all the mighty things God had done for them. That is a wise thing to do, for they have short memories and it prepares them for what he's about to say.
In verses 14 and following, Joshua drives home his point. In light of all God has done (vv. 2-13), Joshua calls them to commit themselves totally to God. Joshua was actually reminding them of the very first commandment given to them (indeed, all of the commandments), but especially the first one. It was the one their parents had vowed to obey at the foot of Sinai: "You shall have no other gods before me...." Joshua is telling them that they cannot be like their polytheistic neighbors or even their ancestors. God tolerates no rivals. God commands complete and total allegiance.
It's important to note here that Joshua is not forcing them to choose God or renew the covenant. He says, "Choose this day...." They have a free will, just as their ancestors before them. As powerful as God was, God was not going to force their hand or compel obedience. It had to come freely from them. Choice here is a central theme of this passage.
Note also that Joshua sets the example for them. He plainly shows them the decision he makes, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord."
The people respond in kind (vv. 16ff). They remembered all that God had done for them and followed the example their leader set. They chose to serve God and it was a wise thing to do (a note that you might use in relating this to the gospel lesson today about the foolish and the wise maidens).
The people chose wisely that day but Joshua does not seem convinced that they realize fully what it is they are promising (vv. 19ff). So he warns them that this is a serious matter. If they do not follow through with their decision, then there will be grave consequences. But they affirm their decision. "Okay," Joshua says. "If you have made this decision, prove it. Follow through with it. There are foreign gods among you -- idols! Some of you have been worshiping them. Throw them away! Stop participating in the rituals and rites of worship of these gods. Turn to the Lord and the Lord only." Making the decision to follow and serve God is one thing, but following through with it in everyday life is a different matter.
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18
The Thessalonians lived in constant expectation of the return of Christ. In fact, some were obsessed with it to the point that they had stopped working for a living (see the verse right before this passage). Others were worried about their loved ones who had died. Would they be left behind when Christ returned? So Paul is writing to address these fears and questions.
Paul begins by reassuring them that he does not wish for them to be uninformed about this matter. Chances are some were teaching things that were misinformation and confusion causing (which sounds like much of the things being written and said still today about this topic). Correct teaching and thinking about this subject would bring them hope and peace, not anxiety and fear. Indeed, one of the things that sets the Christian apart is that we do not "grieve as those without hope." This is a reference in Paul's day to those who had no belief in life after death and who met death with a stony helplessness and hopelessness. But not so for the Christian.
In verse 14 Paul says all of this plainly. Jesus died, but Jesus arose! That's our hope too. All those who have died in him are not separated from him but are with him still, and he will bring them with him when he comes back. Though death may separate us from our loved ones, it cannot take them away from God. Nor, in the end, can it either take us away from each other, for we are the Lord's. The image of death here as a "sleep" fits this temporary nature of death. Death is often portrayed in the Bible as a kind of sleep (see John 11:11; 1 Corinthians 7:39; 15:6, etc.). And when Jesus is told that the little girl is dead, he says, "She is not dead. She is only asleep," and he proceeds to awaken her.
The point is not death-denying, that is, that death is not real. It is simply that death, when faced with the awesome power and presence of God in Christ, becomes no more powerful than a sleep from which we can and will be awakened. And, to reassure them about their loved ones, those who have fallen asleep, they will be the ones first awakened. The alarm clock will go off -- the cry (a kind of military command) from Christ himself, the archangel's call (maybe Michael -- see Jude 9; also, according to Jewish tradition, Michael would blow the trumpet which Paul mentions next). The result is that the faithful are all together again with the Lord. And what arises is not some divine spark, some disembodied soul but each person. The Bible does not teach immortality of the soul but resurrection of the body, that is, the whole person. Paul goes to great lengths in the letters to the Corinthians to explain how the resurrected ones are given a new body but are still the same persons (see 1 Corinthians 15 for example), but one created for the new life they are given.
We can get lost in the details here and lose the most important point -- that we belong to Christ, alive or dead, nothing can take us away. How, when, where all of this happens does not matter and is indeed a mystery to us. All that matters is that we are with the Lord and will be with the Lord ... always.
Matthew 25:1-13
Since Matthew 23:1, the teachings of Jesus have been on judgment. The parable in this text echoes the words in 24:44, "Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour." The message is that no one knows exactly when this will be, so constant vigilance and readiness must be maintained. Two groups are mentioned -- the wise who are ready and prepared (wise bridesmaids) and those who are not (foolish bridesmaids).
The custom in those days was for the female friends of the bride, at least 10 of them, to wait outside her house for the coming of the bridegroom. The man would come from his own house to get his bride and take her back to his own house for the ceremony. This involved great festivity as they walked through the streets, often taking the long way back to his house so everyone could bless them. The bridesmaids waited outside the house, even at night, for often the groom would come then. They would often use torches so that they could tell the bride the groom had arrived and then escort them with lighted torches through the town, back to the groom's house, and inside where they would be locked away for a joyous celebration. Often someone would go before the groom and announce that he was on his way. But even then it could be a matter of hours. So these women had to be ready and prepared for such a delay. Some were, for they had extra oil for their torches, while others had not thought about that. So when the bridegroom arrives suddenly, they are not ready. They want the other five to share their oil, but they refuse. Why? For it would throw the whole wedding procession into disarray and insult the groom and bride. There would not be enough oil, in other words, for the procession. So the five unprepared rush off to try to find oil but get back to the groom's house too late. The door has been shut. They were not ready and missed out on the celebration that was taking place inside.
At one level, this seems to be a parable of judgment on the scribes and Pharisees (who Jesus had been addressing for some time now). They, of all persons, should have been ready for the coming of the Son of Man. But most were not. The wedding took place and they refused to take part. But Christians are also addressed here. The warning is clear: The delay here is the delay in the return of Christ. Many, as we see in the 1 Thessalonians passage, expected the imminent return of Christ. But that had not happened.
What does it mean to be ready? How do you keep your lamps filled? To answer these questions we have to look at all of Matthew, but we are given insight in verses 31 and following of this chapter. We prepare by living a faithful life of discipleship each day, which often entails deeds of loving kindness to the needy.
Elsewhere Jesus describes this as being the employees of a wealthy landowner who leaves workers in charge with stated duties and says he will come back sometime to check on how things are going. The workers have no idea when that will be, but they have a choice. They can slack off and not do their jobs, hoping that they can catch sight of the owner and look busy when he gets back (like a bumper sticker I saw: "Jesus is coming back. Look busy.") or they can simply go about their duties steadily and faithfully each day. It is the latter attitude that Jesus commends. Faithful discipleship each day means you do not have to worry about when the master returns, for you will be ready. The ones obsessed with peering into the countryside of the future for hints and signs of the coming of the master are actually taking their eyes off the tasks at hand. Employees whose eyes are always on the door to see the boss' return have something to hide or reason to feel anxious. When the boss gets back, it's pretty obvious who has been working and who hasn't, as obvious as whose lamps are fully lit and whose are flickering out.
Application
Joshua called the people together at Shechem, a holy place, a place associated with God, to talk to them.
Our local place of worship is our Shechem. We gather there often to remind ourselves of whom we are and whose we are, to reconnect with God and one another. For in the world we are constantly being tempted to value and worship other gods, to make other priorities ours. But we come back to our Shechem regularly to be reminded that we belong to God. There is something about gathering together that renews that relationship with God. Worship, praise, fellowship, study, service together are like sunlight, water, and nutrients to a plant. Gathering at Shechem each week is one of the best ways to renew our relationship with God.
Joshua gathered them in Shechem to challenge them: "Choose this day whom you will serve." And he set an example for them by reaffirming his choice of God for him and his family. And they followed that example, at least for that day. (As we read the rest of the story into Judges, we see that they failed to continue making that choice.)
This choosing to serve God is not something we do one day. It should be the first thing we say each day and throughout the day: "I choose to serve God this day, this hour!"
"Choose this day whom you will serve ... as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." That should be written on places where we will see it everyday -- on our desk at work, on the dashboard of our car, as the screen saver on our computers....
This is also the message from the epistle and gospel readings today. How do we prepare for the coming of Christ? We choose each day to serve God, to live as faithful disciples. We do not have to be afraid about the future or worry about when Christ is coming if we are living and serving each day the way Christ calls us.
An Alternative Application
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25 and Psalm 78. There is a connection between these two passages that deserves a sermon. Joshua sets the example for the people in saying that he and his house would serve the Lord. In Psalm 78 we read how it is so important to set this example for our children and teach them to set their hope in God. "Teach Your Children Well," the words to a popular song, might also be a good sermon title. The sermon can help set forth how we can set a good example and teach our children well.
First Lesson Focus
Joshua 24:1-3a, 14-25
Joshua 24 is the record of the very early covenant ceremony between Israel and God that Joshua, the successor of Moses, celebrated. Joshua conducted it at Israel's earliest central sanctuary in Shechem, which was located in the hill country of Canaan, between Mount Ebal and Mount Gerizim. It was this covenant ceremony that first united the second generation of Israelites as one people, after their entrance into the Promised Land. The chapter therefore has the typical features of an ancient suzerainty covenant, which was a covenant between a sovereign and his subjects:
* preamble, v. 1;
* a rehearsal of the relation between the covenant parties, vv. 2-13;
* stipulations and requirement of loyalty, vv. 14-15;
* the subjects' vow of obedience, vv. 16-21;
* witnesses, vv. 22, 27; deposit of the document, vv. 26-27;
* consequences, v. 20.
Probably Joshua 8:30-35, which records the actual cutting of the covenant belongs between verses 27 and 28. Thus did the Israelites unite together as one people in common allegiance to the Lord, the one Sovereign God.
It is unfortunate that our stated text omits verses 3b-13 in the interests of time. Certainly the preacher will want to read and to speak in the sermon of those verses, for they are not only an ancient and valuable historical source of Israel's experience of God's deeds on her behalf; they also form the rationale of the covenant and of Israel's free agreement to it. God repeatedly worked his mighty acts of deliverance through at least 60 years of the people's history. (The exodus took place about 1280 B.C. and Israel entered the land by 1220 B.C.) God's love came first. God's overwhelming grace redeemed and guided this people to the land God had promised. God did everything for them in love. Now at Shechem they were being asked to love God in return by obeying his covenant command to worship and serve him alone (cf. Deuteronomy 6:4-15). On the basis of that grace, Israel freely agreed to be the God's obedient people. She vowed to serve the Lord and no other gods. She affirmed and responded to the gracious historical deeds that God had worked on her behalf.
So it is with us too, is it not, when we join the Christian Church? We recognize that God has done everything for us in his Son Jesus Christ, making himself known to us, forgiving us, redeeming us from the bondage of sin and the futility of death, promising to be with us always, even to eternity. And so we vow that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior and that we will worship and serve him alone. And we seal our covenant with him by sitting at his table to partake of the Lord's Supper.
But there is a surprising caution in our text. After the Israelites swear their allegiance to the Lord alone (vv. 16-18) Joshua tells them, "Be careful. Be careful what you promise. For the Lord is a holy God, a jealous God, who will put up with no rivals. And if you forsake him and turn to other gods and goddesses, God will consume you." That's very much like what our Lord Jesus also told us. He said if you're going to build something, you first sit down and count how much it is going to cost you, don't you? Or if a king is going to war, he first figures out if he has enough troops to overcome the enemy (Luke 14:28-33). So have we figured out how much it will cost us to be a Christian? Jesus Christ can take away our sins. But are we willing to have those taken away -- all those little idolatries of this world to which we give our hearts and efforts, all those dear little habits to which we are so accustomed, all those little compromises that we know are wrong? Are we willing to take up a cross and follow Jesus Christ all the way to Calvary? That is, are we willing to let our wills and our desires be crucified and to let Christ live in us instead? Are we ready for that, friends, ready really to be covenant partners with our Lord?
Joshua confronted the Israelites with such questions there at the sanctuary in Shechem. And indeed, Israel's time in the land was viewed as the time of her testing. Was she really sincere about worshiping and serving the God who redeemed her? Are you? Am I? Joshua prompts us to serious examination of our lives as followers of Jesus Christ.
But nevertheless -- nevertheless -- Christ mercifully bids us join him at his table. He still offers us his love and grace though none of us deserves it. And so perhaps there at the table, by receiving Christ's life anew from the Spirit, offered to us through the bread and the cup, we can truly, in spirit and in truth, find Christ living in us and be obedient.
Lutheran Option -- Amos 5:18-24
Amos was not a prophet or a member of a prophetic guild. Contrary to the usual stereotypes, he was a fairly rich man from the southern kingdom of Judah who owned large flocks and who had large groves of sycamore trees in the Jordan valley. But about 760 B.C., he testifies, the Lord jerked him out of his usual profitable enterprises and told him, "Go prophesy to my people Israel!" (7:14-15). So Amos traveled to the northern kingdom of Israel that was ruled over by Jeroboam II (786-746 B.C.). There Amos was given words from the Lord that upset both the government and citizens. God, Amos proclaimed, was going to bring an end, a total destruction, upon the northern kingdom (8:2, 10), because of Israel's unfaithfulness to her covenant with the Lord.
Amos pronounced those words of the Lord to a very prosperous and self-confident society. Wars with the Syrians to the north of Israel had subsided, and King Jeroboam II was free to expand both his territory and his economy. Consequently there grew up in Israel a lively commerce (8:5) that nourished a growing wealthy class. Sumptuously furnished dwellings were built by a growing leisure class who enjoyed a vita dolce. But the rich built their fortunes on the back of the poor. They took possession of the land owned by those who could not pay their debts and sometimes subjected them to slavery (2:6; 8:4, 6). They denied justice to the poor in the lay courts at the city gates (2:7; 5:10, 12). They cheated them in the marketplace (8:5). They engaged in immorality and debauchery (2:7-8; 6:5-6). But the wealthy reassured themselves that they lived in God's favor by engaging in elaborate worship rituals (4:4-5; 5:21-23). After all, they were prosperous. Did that not mean that God favored them? Does not prosperous America somehow believe that God looks kindly on it?
More than that, the upper class was sure that they were the forerunners of a glorious time in the future when God would bring what they called "the Day of the Lord." On that day, God would bring his judgment on all the earth. He would destroy Israel's enemies and exalt his rich and indolent people to rule over all other peoples. Such was the common gossip that circulated at wine-drinking soirees, those get-togethers that we would call cocktail parties.
Amos' words from the Lord turned the tables on all such expectations, however. God is not going to pass you by (cf. 7:8) when he judges all the nations (cf. Amos 1:2--2:6). Rather, his judgment will fall first on the household of God, on your temple (9:1), and the Day of the Lord will be not light for you, but darkness and gloom and death (5:18-20). Nor should you think that all of your piety and elaborate worship rituals are going to save you. "I will no longer accept your sacrifices," God thundered. "All of my senses will be closed to your phony worship -- my nostrils (the word "accept" in 5:22 is literally "smell"), my eyes (5:23), my ears (5:23). For I desire one thing from you, O Israel. Let justice cascade down like waters, that is, restore my order to your society and treat the poor and helpless with justice. And let righteousness flow like an ever-flowing stream, that is, fulfill your covenant obligations to me!" ("Righteousness" in the Bible designates the fulfillment of the demands of a relationship.)
Those are sober words to all of us prosperous folk gathered here together in worship, aren't they?
Preaching The Psalm
Psalm 78:1-7
This is the second time in this Lectionary cycle that Psalm 78 has made an appearance. Using verses 1-4 and 12-16, Psalm 78 was the Psalter for Pentecost 19 (see Emphasis, September 29, 2002), and there we noted that this "Wisdom Psalm" touts the importance of telling our children about our faith.
That theme is no different when reading verses 1-7; if anything, the addition of verses 5-7 strengthens it. Those verses tell of God's decree that the ancestors of the psalmist's generation were to teach their children the deeds and law of God (Deuteronomy 6:1-9, especially v. 7), "that the next generation might know them ... and rise up and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God."
Someone has rightly pointed out that "Christianity is always only one generation away from extinction," and this psalm affords you a good opportunity to remind your hearers of that stark reality. If our own children don't hear the testimony of faith, how will their children know to "set their hope in God"?
When I was a kid growing up in the Salvation Army, which was my church then, we had an item in the Sunday evening services called "testimonies." That was a time when worshipers were invited to stand up and speak about what God had done in their lives. Some people never spoke, others spoke almost every week and still others only occasionally, but the point was, we were encouraged to talk about our experiences of God so that others present might be helped in their own faith journeys.
I remember one older man named Larry Waldron. He had little formal education and had worked most of his adult life in the rough and tumble world of a paper mill in upstate New York. Evidently it had been a tough place to work. At one point, Larry had seen a fellow employee thrown to his death into one of the chemical vats during a labor dispute.
Late in his life, Larry found God and his life changed. During those Sunday evening testimony times, he would sometimes speak about the difference in his life since he had committed himself to Christ. I really don't remember his words, but I remember the sincerity and the conviction with which he spoke, and his witness had a bearing on my own Christian journey. In fact, one thing that helped me as a Christian was that I heard the adults around me, including my parents, talk about their faith.
Read Scott Peck's introduction to his 1997 book, The Road Less Traveled and Beyond. There, Peck, though only 60 at the time, says he is not in the best of health and feels worn out. He confesses a need to set his affairs in order and to share what he has learned. In the body of the book, he explains what life and faith have taught him. Although he does not say so in so many words, his book is a witness to readers of his own generation and those following.
Most of us will not have the opportunity to leave behind a published corpus of Christian testimony for succeeding generations, but we can learn to talk comfortably about our faith at the dinner table, where younger people are listening. I would change one word in the old gospel song:
If you cannot preach like Peter,
if you cannot pray like Paul,
go home and tell your neighbor [children]
that He died to save us all.
