The Sacrifice of Obedience

Many times the impact of what Jesus said can be lost in our modern day.  The spiritual spin we apply to a verse by jumping to interpretation before we have carefully observed can remove the strength of emphasis which struck Christ's hearers.  For example, during the Sermon on the Mount Jesus employed a complete paradigm shift from what the Law said to what He said.  In doing so He claimed to be a greater authority than Moses, which was an unimaginable claim to the Jews!

Jesus said in Matthew 5:21-24, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' ²² But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire. ²³ Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift."  The Law said "Thou shalt not murder," but Jesus took it further.  He claimed the motives leading to murder to be as sinful as the physical act.  Cain's anger which led to murder was just as sinful as actually killing his brother Abel.  Even as a physical assault led to prosecution and judgment, so verbal attacks were equally sinful in God's sight and would not go unpunished.

Verse 23 emphasised the high value God places on reconciliation between men.  In the day of temple worship, men often traveled great distances to Jerusalem in obedience to the Law to present themselves before the LORD on days appointed and offer sacrifice.  Say a man traveled three weeks on foot to Jerusalem with his family and animals.  Jesus said if that man remembered even at the precise moment before offering a sacrifice to God someone had an unresolved quarrel with him, he should leave his offering at the altar "unoffered," and go all the way back home to earnestly seek reconciliation with his offended brother.  After doing his part to restore that relationship, he could return and offer his gift.  If a man did not love his offended brother enough to seek reconciliation with him, could he truly claim to love God?  1 John 4:20-21 says, "If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? ²¹ And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also."

Do you see the very high value God places on being reconciled to our fellow men - especially those of the household of faith?  We are called to love even our enemies, and God desires obedience over sacrifice.  God's love is sacrificial, and obedience always comes at a cost.  Can you imagine making the trek to Jerusalem, only to remember a conflict back home or in the synogogue?  I suppose I would easily justify sacrificing to God since I was already in Jerusalem and then seek reconciliation later - if I bothered to do so at all!  But Jesus stated plainly the importance of fostering unity with our brethren in our private lives over performing public acts of piety.  The sacrifices under the Law were holy and good, but the true words of Jesus cut to the heart.  If we love God, we will love our brother and seek reconciliation and restoration of relationship.  If we do not care to be reconciled to our brother, Jesus said not to bother with other unacceptable sacrifices.  Psalm 51:17 reads, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart-- these, O God, You will not despise."  God will not endure hypocrites, and it would be better to tie a millstone around our necks than to willingly offend one of God's little ones.  

The Lazarus Effect

God's ways are truly higher than ours.  Our vision is sorely limited and often focused on peripheral things, but God sees the whole picture at once.  This aspect of God is portrayed wonderfully in John 11 when Jesus raised His friend Lazarus from the dead.

Jesus received word that Lazarus was sick, yet He waited for two days before going to visit him.  Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, hoped Jesus would quickly visit them at their request to heal their dying brother.  What seemed like an unnecessary delay set in motion a pivotal moment with eternal consequences.  Lazarus died, and many Jewish mourners gathered to comfort Martha and Mary (John 11:19).  Jesus knew of the death of Lazarus before they began their journey to Bethany, and said in John 11:14-15:  "Then Jesus said to them plainly, "Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵ And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to him."

After meeting with Martha and Mary, both deeply grieved for their brother who had been dead four days by that time, Jesus asked to be shown where Lazarus had been laid.  John 11:31 again spoke of the Jewish comforters:  "Then the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, "She is going to the tomb to weep there."  Jesus wept, and His response showed His love and compassion.  Then, to the surprise of everyone, Jesus commanded the stone to be rolled away from the mouth of the tomb.  In verse 39 Martha protested:  "Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days."  And that was the point.  Yes, Lazarus was dead, and the decomposition process was already advanced.  John 11:40 says, "Jesus said to her, "Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?"

When the stone was rolled away, a foul stench wafted from the tomb.  I imagine eyes watered and noses were quickly covered in disgust.  The four days Lazarus laid in the tomb is reminiscent of the four barrels Elijah commanded be filled with water three times and poured on the sacrifice and altar on Mount Carmel when he battled the prophets of Ba'al in 1 Kings 18.  Elijah did this to prove beyond any shadow of doubt there was no trickery.  To consume the waterlogged sacrifice with fire was only possible through the power of the one true God worthy of worship, the One who answered with fire from heaven at his request.  Jesus lifted His eyes to heaven in the midst of the smell of rotting flesh with the same desire, that the people would believe He indeed had been sent from God.  Jesus called out, "Lazarus, come forth!"  As quickly as the fire fell from heaven on the mount, the figure of Lazarus bound with grave clothes appeared at the door of the tomb.  He had been miraculously resurrected, a clear sign Jesus was sent from God and is the Son of God, the promised Messiah.

Something I never noticed before was what Jesus Christ accomplished through the miracle of the physical resurrection of Lazarus:  He provided eternal salvation to the comforters who saw and believed.  They came to comfort, but it was they who were comforted with eternal life and rejoiced in the consolation of seeing Lazarus alive and well.  Their souls had passed from death to life, even as the physical body of Lazarus.  The body of Lazarus was raised to life and would someday physically die again, but all who trusted in Christ would never taste death spiritually, for Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life.  John 11:45 says, "Then many of the Jews who had come to Mary, and had seen the things Jesus did, believed in Him."  The miracle of the resurrection of Lazarus goes far beyond Lazarus, but the salvation of souls who recognised the glory of God by faith.  Isn't God amazing?  When all hope was lost, Jesus brought life and eternal hope to people who needed comfort only He could provide.  He still does this today!

Doing the Word

Many people sought Christ and heard Him gladly, but that was no guarantee they practiced what He preached.  Jesus was not the first who endured this treatment, and men continue in this pattern even in our day.  The books we read and recommend to others are not necessarily as life changing as they could be.  The views we cheer or espouse are not always reflected in our own lives.  The pastors we enjoy listening to often go unheeded by us.  Agreement or knowledge of right and wrong is not sufficient to transform our lives.

When God put words in the mouth of the prophet Ezekiel, people were interested to hear what he had to say.  It was not because they necessarily agreed with or believed him, but they enjoyed discussing and dissecting his remarks.  God told the prophet the truth in Ezekiel 33:32, "Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them."  If you go to a symphony to hear skilled musicians in an orchestra play Bach or Mozart, it is not because you necessarily agree with the political or moral views of the lead violinist or cellist:  you have gone to listen to music you enjoy.  Indeed, the personal views of those in the orchestra may be completely contrary to your own!  But the music they make can still bring a smile to your face and a tear to your eye.

The children of Israel were keen to listen to the "Word of the LORD" from prophets.  After hearing it, they would decide for themselves if it was worth heeding or not.  In Ezekiel's case, he spoke the truth but it was not believed.  He was like a famous musician people came from all over to listen to attentively.  They heard his voice, but they did not heed his words.  It would be like going to a concert with sound-cancelling headphones on.  Many people enjoyed the spectacle, the lights and atmosphere, but they did not heed God's word through the prophet.

Because this tendency is in all people, I realise the hearer who does not do God's Word could be me - and it also can be you.  James 1:21-25 provides a timely exhortation for all:  "Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. ²² But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; ²⁴ for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. ²⁵ But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does."  Most Christians have a preferred translation of the Bible:  are you being transformed by it?  We can have our favourite preachers or messages:  are you taking intentional steps to put into practice the changes they encourage?  Those books which you see fit to keep and read:  are they directly impacting your walk with Christ for good?

Let's not be like the children of Israel, prophet connoisseurs who enjoyed the show, were intrigued by new concepts and prophetic fulfillment, but weren't in any way changed by what they heard.  Let us put into practice the words we hear from God, for then we will be blessed in what we do.

Afraid of Heights?

The earliest version of the nursery rhyme "Humpty Dumpty" was written in 1797 by Samuel Arnold.  The first lines read, "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall.  Humpty Dumpty had a great fall."  The higher the wall, the greater chance of significant injury from a fall.  Humpty Dumpty is commonly portrayed as an egg, and considering his fragile condition he may have been better suited for a downy nest.  Once Humpty fell, irreversible damage was done.  There was no putting him back together again.

The well-known nursery rhyme has been around for centuries, but catastrophic falls for people and nations is nothing new.  This morning I read from Ezekiel 31, a passage where God spoke of how He had elevated Assyria as a towering cedar of Lebanon, the envy of the trees of Eden.  God had provided a tall, strong trunk and an ample water source to nourish the tree and cause it to grow.  Ezekiel 31:10-11 reads, "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: 'Because you have increased in height, and it set its top among the thick boughs, and its heart was lifted up in its height, ¹¹ therefore I will deliver it into the hand of the mighty one of the nations, and he shall surely deal with it; I have driven it out for its wickedness." God would make the nations shake at the sound of Assyria's fall - not because they had become mighty and were envied by others - but because the heart of the nation had been lifted up with pride.

When God lifts up a nation or elevates your status, a constant test is presented:  will our hearts be lifted up with pride or will we choose humility?  Humpty Dumpty it seems wasn't afraid of heights, and the Assyrians delighted in being the envy of nations.  They were lifted up with pride, and God brought the nation crashing down for their wickedness of pride.  God is not threatened or envious by the height of nations, for it is He who lifts them up.  Jeremiah 18:5-10 says, "Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying: ⁶ "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?" says the LORD. "Look, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel! ⁷ The instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up, to pull down, and to destroy it, ⁸ if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it. ⁹ And the instant I speak concerning a nation and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it, ¹⁰ if it does evil in My sight so that it does not obey My voice, then I will relent concerning the good with which I said I would benefit it."

God's power extends over all nations and over every soul which comprises them.  Though He was the Son of God, Jesus humbled Himself and took the role of a slave.  For this reason God exalted Jesus above all others (Phil. 2:5-11).  Pride for any reason leads to ruin, and the soul which vaunts itself God is able to abase.  The man who hears Christ's words and does them will be established and endure, but those who hear Christ's words and pay them no mind will have a great fall.  Pride always comes before a fall, but God will exalt the humble.