Following Jesus Son of God …

I am on vacation this week.  You have probably noticed more posting than normal.  It is great to have the time to do this.  Back to work next week however 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. Mon-Sat for the next few weeks.  Very happy to have a job; very thankful.

I wonder as I have been reading through Ezra this week if we couldn’t title the book – “The Good Hand of Our God Upon Us.”

The writings brim with God’s sovereign care for his people.

So much provision was necessary for the trip back to Jerusalem to establish God’s work.  Here Ezra looked around and saw there were no sons of Levi.  But the good hand of his God was upon him and God directed his search to Sherebiah.

(Ezra 8:18 ESV)  And by the good hand of our God on us, they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Mahli the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah with his sons and kinsmen, 18;

Providence.
Do you believe in the providence of God?  All things working toward God’s purpose, all the mess, all the complicated relationships between individuals and countries, all confusion and uncertainty, all the events of our lives, good and bad.  God really does have a plan, but his plan is not to execute our plan no matter how much we claim it or demand it.  Basically still believing Romans 8.28 when the bottom falls out of your life.

We don’t see God’s providence and sovereignty unless we are bowed before him.  Otherwise everything else, usually our personal agenda and perspective or that formed by the significant people in our lives, blurs reality.

Ezra after assembling his group was now ready to leave but he had to face the danger of the road ahead.  The king would have given him an armed escort.  He would have provided whatever was necessary, but Ezra had bragged up the goodness and care of his God.

So now it was time to trust and before trust comes humbling.  You see, faith isn’t about being strong and victorious as we so often make it out to be.  Faith is about trusting God, his power, his resources, his plan, his love.

(Ezra 8:21-22 ESV)  Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods.  (22)  For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.”

And God provided a safe journey.

I guess it just keeps standing out to me as I read Ezra – the good hand of our God.  So for all the “places” we can be, all the goals we can set, things to aspire to, it seems this is a pretty good one.  Am I in a place where the good hand of God is upon me?

Coaches talk about how they want to put their players in a position to win.  So, Coach, have you put yourself in a position to win in God’s eyes.  Remember as you look into the crowd, God is the one whose gaze you want to capture.  Just as a basketball player scans the bleachers for his old coach or his mother or father or brother or best friend, because in spite of the thousands watching, that is who he is playing for.

So who are we playing for?  Who am I playing for?  Who are you playing for?  The one person whose gaze you want to capture as you scan the crowd, who is it in your life?

“For the good hand of his God was on him.”

(Ezra 7:9 ESV)  For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him.

The news of wars on multiple fronts, a worldwide economic plunge, global warming, who won or didn’t win in the last elections, stem cell research and the ethics thereof, the prospect that the U.S. may not be as dominant as it has been in the past are all things that could and probably should bother all of us.

But we just cannot forget that God is God.

Ezra did not forget this; he made it a point to remember God and to be in a place where God could work in his life.  The hand of God was not on him by accident.  He lived in a foreign land under the rule of a pagan king and God used that king and his wealth to send Ezra back home for rebuilding his land.

The biblical accounts during the captivity of Israel, when God threw them out of the land for their disobedience and disloyalty, are to me some of the most powerful statements of a good and powerful God in the Bible.  Humanly speaking Ezra had no reason to expect anything that happened to him as far as going back to Jerusalem.

God did it.

And that is why I would like to encourage/exhort you and me to consider our priorities and maybe revamp our worry list.

How concerned am I about being in the right place spiritually where it would be written “the hand of his God was on him.”

News of the economy and politics and war and violence on our streets has too much sway because we forget where we are and who we are.

All of this is played out before God.  Everything is within his sovereign rule and providential care.  God is good and he is great.

(Romans 8:28 ESV)  And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

This is true, every word and more.  But you have to have be in the right place which is on a path following Jesus the Son of God, being led by and walking by the Holy Spirit of God, living by his words, trusting him, serving him, worshiping him.

But often we are not in a place to see and sense the presence of God.  Too much of life under the sun both good and bad distracts us from the greater things.

We do not see the sovereign care of God unless we are bowed before him.  We don’t sense his providence if we do not attend to our spiritual needs.  Our receptors are dirty and out of focus, or we have too much traffic from earth to hear anything heaven says.

Read the following and be amazed.  This would be like living in Iran today and having Seyed Mohammad Khatami, the current president, send us back home to the U.S. to evangelize the inner cities using money from their oil operations.

(Ezra 7:21-23 ESV  “And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province Beyond the River: Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, requires of you, let it be done with all diligence,  (22)  up to 100 talents of silver, 100 cors of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.  (23)  Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons.”

Nothing on Earth would have suggested that Ezra would be able to do what he did.  The politics were wrong, his geography was wrong, insufficient resources.  Poor fellow.  All he had was this – “the good hand of his God was on him.”

Shouldn’t we consider this a priority, to have “the good hand of his God” upon us.  Talk about seats at the 50-yard line!

Jeshua stands up again and this time his “posse” is with him.  Zerubbabel and the boys are also on line with the purpose of God.

(Ezra 5:2 ESV)  Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

Like yesterday, Jeshua arose, he stood up when it was time for him to stand up.  AND the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.  The spiritual leaders “had their back.”  Musketeers. . .all for one, one for all, glory to God most high.

Sometimes (often?) we miss these opportunities because we forget who we are.  Their enemies in the land tried to intimidate them, asking for their names so they could tattle on them to Darius the king.  But they didn’t budge.

Why or how did they stand up to this tremendous pressure?

1. They knew who they were, as they stated in Ezra 5.11:  “We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth.”
2. They were doing what God told them to do; they were honoring their calling.  “and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago.”

Maybe there is a couple thousand years in between their story and ours, but the issues are the same.  Will we stand up as the servants of the God of heaven and earth and bring him glory?

Will we stand up and embrace our calling?

Glory to you, O God!  Glory to you!

Then arose Jeshua. . .

• Ezra 3.2-3
• Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. 3 They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, burnt offerings morning and evening.

Something needed to be done, and his fear was not going to take his focus from God. 

What better can we do than draw closer to God when we are unsure and afraid.

So, I’m asking you.

When will you arise?  Then Dave arose. . .or Bill. . .or John. . .or Susan. . .or. . .

Will we rise to the occasion knowing that God is God?

That’s what I have told myself several times lately.

2 Timothy 1:7 (ESV)
For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.

Recession, war, personal relationships, health. . .

Not a spirit of fear.

The sky is not falling.  Chicken Little, get the heck out of here.

God says, “Not a spirit of fear.”

God is the most amazing recycler of all.  Today on the radio I heard about a successful toy company in which all their toys were produced from recycled milk jugs.

But God takes my fear as I lay it before him in faith and believe his words and makes courage.

I give God my fear and he gives me courage in return.

Groovy!

This thought just rattled around in my head at work this week.  How many times had I run into this, not with just poor little immature sheepies, but men who were supposed to be pillars of the church pushing aside the reality of God for the perceived reality they drew from their social and work life.

“Well, in the real world we need to. . .”

Yes.  Some would have us believe that God’s words need tweaked in certain “real world” circumstances, probably more people than you think or would care to admit.

You have heard this, haven’t you?  I certainly did both implicitly and explicitly while a pastor from other men in leadership.  Sometimes in the real world you have to adjust God’s truth.  You know, tweak it so it fits.  Adjust these figures on the budget or attendance so things look better.  We change our speech and our behaviors to fit the real world.  Alter our preaching in a certain way so we are not out of step.

Can’t get carried away with faith and the love of God and such, now can we?

Can you see how foolish this is?

We can’t stay the course with clear biblical teaching because it wouldn’t be understood or accepted.  Even in the church, where we have elders who fan the flames of gossip instead of insisting that people speak to the person who has offended them or they think has offended them.  We won’t sit down and talk face to face as that is too intimidating.  Instead we will handle this over the telephone and leave out the person being discussed.

We not only allow God’s truth to be shoved aside for our version of reality, but so often, we, as professing Christians are the ones to kick it to the curb.

I just can’t get over it.  “In the real world. . .”

Explain that one before the throne of God.

We have not been given a spirit of fear but these times could be fearful if we let them.

Men I have know for years who are shaken, and rightly so, because they have lost their jobs.

Worker guys, have worked for years, always worked, supporting themselves and their families, now no job.

And I am sure you have these people in your lives also, or maybe you are one of them.

Let’s pray for our friends.

(Ephesians 1:16-21 MSG)

I couldn’t stop thanking God for you–every time I prayed, I’d think of you and give thanks.

But I do more than thank. I ask – ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory – to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for Christians, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him – endless energy, boundless strength!

All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever.

It’s another world I wish I could communicate, at least that is how the thought came to me yesterday at work.

Life with God I mean.

Whether it would be communicating this to my two youngest sons who don’t realize what they are missing, living in a world where God is barely a conscious thought, or whether it would be communicating this to 90 percent of the people who fill the pews every Sunday but are distant to God because their religion and their daily walk keep him at arms length.  They don’t realize what they are missing with their words only Christianity.  They haven’t experienced the love and presence of God because they have kept their hearts at a distance.

In the world I wish I could communicate, God is real no matter our circumstances.  He is there, not just in concept or memory, but there there, living, breathing God of the universe.  And in that other world, I can go to God anytime for what I need, which so very often is mercy and grace to help me along the way.

He welcomes me to approach him, as he understands the enormity of the task, the pain of the road.  Don’t forget he lived here for over thirty years as one of us.

In the other world, a person spends a bit of time also looking toward the horizon knowing that life is more than what we see.  In this world of God, life is the moment and forever at the same time.

Many who have the world of God confused with the world of religion sometimes speak of “the real world” when living in the world of God means faith.

Think how ironic that is.  The world as we perceive it is “the real world,” but the world as described for thousands of years in God’s holy book is what?  Not real?  Pretend?  Good to a point and then we have to take over?

And to live in their “real world” certain things are necessary, like lying for the greater good of the local fellowship, misinterpreting the words of God for the sake of our agendas, misrepresenting the church budget so people will still give their money, using good business sense when faith doesn’t seem to be panning out.

We’ll stop there as this list is long and dark.

Yes, I think I’ll stay with the other world, the one God speaks of where loving God and loving our neighbor are not pushed aside for theology or agendas.  Forgiveness and mercy and grace mean something.  A world where righteousness and holiness are being built into and ground into our hearts and minds as God attends daily to our lives.

One last thought:  To live in this world of God demands huge resources.

Just like any expedition or adventure, you have to have adequate supplies.  And how unique is this journey?  We need provision for each day of our lives, and, then, when we expire here we need resources that continue forever.  We can’t arrive at the threshold of eternity having exhausted our resources.

So what a sigh of relief as we realize that we have everything we need in Jesus Christ.  Included in God’s offer of eternal life is abundant provision for each day of life on this Earth that continues when I cross the horizon to eternity.  Jesus paid it all as he shed his blood in full payment for our sins.

Jesus chose death so we could choose life.

So in Jesus Christ I can live now and forever in the presence of God.

I like God’s world better.

—————

Honor, vision, mission, sense of purpose – Glory to God!

That’s what this text is saying – Glory to God in our service to him.

How do I speak “as one who speaks oracles of God” except that I have a sense of vision and purpose as to what it means to be a servant of Christ and an instrument in the hands of Almighty God.

This statement gives us no call at all to self-importance but to God’s glory and our extreme obligation to honor him in every service and work he lays in our hands.

We bow down.  We embrace our calling as ministers and servants of the Most High God.  And then we serve.

So if I am called to speak, let it be the words of God.

Do you see how thrilling this is?  I can actually do this.  You can.  Anybody who is willing to bow before the throne and accept her or his calling can allow these hand-crafted works or our Redeemer to flow through their lives like a great rushing Wind.

So if I receive a work order from the King, then I carry it out as his servant, his steward, his minister, the person he has chosen for a specific task on the planet at this point in time.

If I have a vision for the work of God, then I can do the things he trusts me with in his strength, and even as I just now write that, I take a big gulp of mercy and grace and my heart is filled with gratitude that I can  actually be a part of what God is doing in his redemption plan.

Thank you, Father!