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Sunday August 15, 2010 "Why Did You Change, God?" Malachi 3:5-7a and John 14: 15-21 |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogBrad's Sermons |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 8/16/2010 1:40 PM | It’s funny where sermons can lead you.
And I’m not talking only about where they might lead people who hear them, I’m also talking about where the sermons sometimes lead the preacher.
It’s a little hard to explain, but this sermon series entitled “Questions for God” has led me to places I wouldn’t have expected. And that is a good thing. The fact is, this series has led to a reaffirmation of why I do what I do, why I believe what I do, and why I want so badly to share that with others. It isn’t that I have necessarily learned something dramatically new, but I have become reacquainted with some important truths, and I can’t tell you how much that excites me.
This week, maybe more than ever.
I think that there are about four different kinds of sermons. I tend to think that some sermons are primarily to inform; they are teaching sermons. Some sermons are intended to provoke someone to action. Some sermons are aimed at comforting and some are designed to inspire.
When I first began preparing for today’s sermon I had in my mind that it was primarily a teaching sermon, and these can be a little tricky. They can sometimes come off as a more of a lecture than I would like. But, I thought it was an important topic, so I forged on. As I continued my study in preparation for this sermon, I was quickly caught up in the fact that there was much more to this topic than just information: I began to feel a profound sense of comfort and awe at what I discovered.
A few months ago, when I asked people to submit their questions that they would like to ask God when they are standing in God’s presence, several came in around the same general theme: “Why did you change, God?” The question is aimed at the apparent difference between God of the Old Testament and God of the New Testament.
There is no doubt that a lot of contemporary Christians seem to believe that the God of the Old Testament was a God of wrath, mean-spirited and quick to anger, while the God of the New Testament is a God of love, patience and compassion. But when we truly take a good look at the whole Bible, it becomes clear that both “ideas” of God exist in both testament. In both testaments, a God of judgment and love is front and center in everything that is done. In fact, it becomes even clearer that judgment and love are two sides of the same coin, two attributes of the same God.
So where does this notion of a changing God come from? I think it comes first from the way we use the Bible. That is, how many of us have really read the whole Bible, cover to cover? What is more likely is that we study the Bible in pieces, seeking out and learning about different themes and lessons as we go. In my mind, it would be like reading only the love sonnets from Romeo and Juliet, but not reading the whole play. Or hearing only selected songs from a musical like Les Miserable, but not actually sitting through the whole presentation. The love sonnets in Romeo and Juliet are beautiful in and of themselves, but they become even more powerful and moving when understood in the context of the entire play. There are absolutely beautiful songs in Les Miserable, but they would not hold such power over me if I had never seen the entire production. We understand in context. Out of context, we only have part of the picture. In fact, out of context, we might actually miss the point entirely.
Let me give you an example: I have asked Jennifer to read part of our first scripture this morning, from the 3rd chapter of Malachi:
“I will draw near you for judgment, and I will be swift to bear witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against those who swear falsely, and against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me,” says the Lord of Hosts.”
What’s going on here? Well, on the surface of it, it sounds like God is angry. Who do you think God is angry at? Well, God is speaking to God’s chosen people, and God is letting them know in no uncertain terms that judgement will be quick for those who do not follow God’s commands. And that can’t be good.
This is the kind of reading of scripture that gets us to say, “Whoa…that God of the Old Testament was a little testy! Anger and retribution are the hallmarks of THAT God.
Let’s try another one: from the book of Jeremiah –
From the 15th Chapter:
“When the people say, ‘where shall we go?’, you Jeremiah shall say to them, ‘thus says the Lord’:
Those destined for pestilence, to pestilence, and those destined for the sword, to the sword; those destined for famine, to famine, and those destined for captivity, to captivity.
I will appoint over them four kinds of destroyers says the Lord: the sword to kill, the dogs to drag away, and the birds of the air and the wild animals of the earth to devour and destroy. I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth because of what King Mannaseh, son of Hezekiah of Judah did in Jerusalem.”
Wow. This is an angry God. But again, why? Because God’s people have not followed God’s commands.
Okay, just one more: ‘Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites…you serpents, you offspring of vipers how will you escape the offspring of vipers, how will you escape the judgment of Gehenna? Therefore, behold, I send to you prophets, wise men, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some them you will scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city; that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of the righteous Abel to the blood of Zachariah son of Brachiah, whom you killed between the sanctuary and the alter. Most assuredly, I tell you, all these things will come upon this generation.” (Matthew 23:29ff)
Now, that’s an angry God. Who knows where that is found in the Bible? In Matthew. Wait, but that’s the new testament, the home of the kind and gentle God. And who is speaking? Why, Jesus.
Are you starting to see my point? When we see only judgment and wrath in the Old Testament and only love and kindness in the New Testament, we are not getting an accurate picture.
But that inaccurate picture goes even deeper.
Let’s go back to the Malachi scripture: we heard the God of judgment tell the people of Israel that God’s swift retribution is about to be felt. But then, we read this line: “For I the Lord, do not change; therefore you O children of Jacob have not perished. Ever since the days of your ancestors, you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you.”
Yes, you have sinned, badly. But return to me, and I will return to you.
In Jeremiah, after condemning the people of Judah to all types of nasty ends, listen to what comes later in the 15th chapter: “Therefore, thus says the Lord:’ if you turn back, I will take you back, and you shall stand before me…for I am with you, to save and deliver you,’ says the Lord.”
And of course, Jesus’ entire ministry pointed to this same message: repent and be saved. In the Gospel of John, Jesus makes clear that even if we have trouble, God will provide an advocate, a Holy Spirit, to help see us through.
‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you for ever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. ‘I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.’ (John 14: 15-21)
There are not two different God’s. There are not two different messages. There is one God with one consistent message: a call to obedience and a promise of grace. But there is no denying that while the message is the same, at times it does seem like God is a little more aggressive, a little more strident in the Old Testament. I think that comes from three different things: first, these two volumes were written in two different languages, and two different cultures, a thousand years apart. So, some it may have been stylistic differences that lead us to view the two testaments differently.
Second, the Hebrew culture is very much a culture of community. God’s relationship to the Hebrew people was a relationship with the entire community. To this day, our Jewish brothers and sisters connect with God in the collective, not as individuals. Indeed, the idea that they could have a “personal relationship” with God is a very foreign concept.
So, when things neede to be corrected, the entire community, the entire people would be held accountable for judgment. It was the way they organized all the aspects of their lives and so God would deal with them in the same way: as a community.
By the time Jesus came on the scene, the culture was different. While there was still a community orientation, there was also an increasing Roman influence, even those it was a fledgling influence at best. This influence led to more individualism, and so the message that came through Jesus was aimed at this increasingly individualized culture. Yes, the community was still important, but now the people were open to a personal relationship with God, no matter what the powers that be might dictate in the larger culture.
Finally, I think that we may see these differences because at different times we need to be talked to differently. As a professor, one of the best lessons I learned early on was that not every student learned the same, and so if I committed myself to various methods, styles of presentation and testing, I would have a much better chance of getting through to all the students and therefore, they would all have a much better chance of succeeding, which of course, was the goal.
When it comes to living my life as God would have me live, sometimes I need to be hit over the head, hard and often, before I will truly get it. Sometimes I need to be cajoled. Sometimes I need to simply feel the loving embrace of God’s presence to be reminded what I need to do.
So, sometimes, I need the straightforward stern talk of the God of the Old Testament to get my attention. Sometimes I need the gentle words of Jesus message to get my attention. They are the same God telling me the same thing: Follow me, and things will be okay.
That is the teaching part of the sermon. It seeks to answer the question in front of us. But as I studied and read and pulled together the information that helps answer the question, I began to feel a sense of awe and comfort that I had not expected when I started.
I was awed by all that God has done, is doing, and is capable of doing. Think about it: this book we call the Bible continues to speak to us across the ages, some 5000 years after it’s first chapters were written. In its pages are revealed God’s mighty works and God’s presence with people of all times and all places. The stories, the poems, the history, the rules for living…all of it inspired, and all of it still living today! And then, I look around at God’s work in the world and I see that we are being called, just as our Hebrew ancestors were called, to be witnesses to God’s presence and love in the world. We are part of this story! We have a role to play! How awesome is that! The story that began when God broke into human existence continues today through you and me!
I also found a great sense of comfort in the reminders of the constancy of God. As I got further and further into this, once again I saw the truth of the fact that God is never changing, God is always present, God loves us and wants us to prosper. The God of creation, the God who breathed the breath of life into this world we know, the God whose power and might is completely and totally unfathomable also cares about us! You and me! Like a parent watching children grow, God sometimes have to be a little stern and direct with us. Sometimes God is more subtle. But always, ALWAYS, God loves us! And that is the most comforting thing I can imagine.
Earlier I talked about the 4 things sermons can do: teach, comfort, inspire and provoke to action.
I can only speak for myself, but I learned a lot in preparing for this sermon. I am comforted by the unchanging, immutable presence of God. I am inspired by God’s inclusion of you and me as instruments of God’s message and will. So there’s only one thing left: action.
When I sit back and realize that God loves me, that God desires only the best for me, and that God has work for me to do, it becomes clear to me that I am blessed. And part of that blessing is to share my relationship with God with whoever I come in contact with.
It means that I must put aside the petty problems that I am faced with and accept that without God I am nothing.
It means that I must lift my gaze up off the ground and look forward, always seeking to do God’s will in all I do.
It means that I must stop worrying about stumbling blocks in my way, and focus on the clear path that God has laid out before me.
It means that I must step outside my comfort zone and reach out to all who need God’s presence in their lives.
It means that I must let go of the self-centeredness of human life and focus on the true center of life, our almighty, holy and loving God.
It’s funny how sermons hit people. Almost every week someone will talk to me about how they have been thinking about the point I made about such and such last Sunday. And I think to myself, “Did I say that?”
For every sermon, there may be 50 different interpretations and 50 different “take aways”…and that’s the beauty of the whole process. These things hit each of us differently, where we each needs to be hit.
But here’s my takeaway from this sermon: God never changes…and we need to shout that from the rooftops!
Will you join me? There’s no time like the present.
Let us pray: O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, thank you for your constant love and presence. Thank you for the reminders of your holy scriptures that help us to understand who we are and where we come from. Thank you for the blessings of journeying together, each of us seeking your way and your will. And thank you for the gift of Jesus Christ, and for the advocacy of your holy spirit, guiding us to become the people you would have us be. It is in your holy name we pray. Amen. | | | Permalink | Trackback |
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