God Cares About Our Obedient Listening

Isaiah 6:1-8; 2 Peter 1:16-21; Mark 9:2-8

Mark 9:2 And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, 3 and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. 4 And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. (Luke adds: 9:30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure (literally, exodus), which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.) 5 And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 6 For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. 7 And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” 8 And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.

British Bible scholar Christopher Wright, in his marvelous recent book, The Mission of God’s People, notes a pattern running through the Bible of assuring us that what the Bible is promoting is not a human-invented religion or philosophy, but the result of actual historical events that contained within them evidence of divine presence and revelation, reported in human words that were shaped by the Holy Spirit. He does not mention today’s text, but for the three disciples, the transfiguration was clearly one such event that gave them evidence of divine presence and revelation. We have Peter’s word for it.

Wright gives examples of two texts about such divine events, one from Deuteronomy and the other from Acts. Deuteronomy presents Moses addressing the people of Israel on the verge of entering the land of promise, and reminding them of the witnessed events of their history: ‘Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes? (as happened in the exodus)’ ‘Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived?’ (as happened when they received their divine covenant at Mount Sinai).” The founding events of Israel as a people, their deliverance from slavery in Egypt and their being given a divine covenant at Mount Sinai, were utterly unique events, not because God liked Israel better than other nations, but because God chose to use them to reveal his character for all nations to see. What Israel knew about God that other nations did not yet know, it knew based on the undeniable facts of its historical emergence as a nation. God had acted in unique, undeniable, knee-knocking events, and Israel would not have existed as a free nation unless God had in fact acted.

Wright notes a similar pattern in the Acts of the Apostles. Peter and John have effectively proclaimed the healing of a man lame from birth, a man who had been a well-known lifelong beggar of alms from visitors to the Jerusalem temple, and Peter has taken advantage of this situation to say that the healing is one more compelling piece of evidence that Jesus, who had been crucified not long before, was now raised and exalted, and that the healing had been done in his name and by his effective authority. The healing of the lame man was now a signpost to all who beheld it of what God could do to bless them if they would repent and believe.

The religious leaders in Jerusalem, who had arranged for the death of Jesus, could not ignore that this was a direct challenge to their authority. They had Peter and John arrested, held overnight, and brought before them the next day. Even overnight the church was growing because of what had happened. The religious leaders asked Peter and John by what authority they had acted. Peter’s inspired answer was, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead—by him this man is standing before you well. 11 This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. 12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Now the religious leaders had an even bigger problem. They had two uneducated, common men standing before them, speaking with compelling boldness and eloquence. Clearly this was due to the effect that Jesus had on them. Further, the man who had been healed was known to all temple attenders, and his healing was an undeniable fact that they could not hide. The most they could do was to try to pressure Peter and John into silence. But no matter what they said and threatened and did, Peter and John kept giving answers such as, “4:19b Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, 20 for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” Or, again, “5:29b We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him.”

What Peter is saying here is that tangible evidence of God’s action in history cannot be rightly ignored. Peter believes that, if the religious leaders were at all open to the truth, they would already have all the evidence they needed to believe that Jesus had been raised from the dead and was actively at work through his followers, that they had sufficient basis for being called to faith and repentance, and that their failure to repent and believe in the face of clear evidence was serious evidence in itself of their actual spiritual condition.

Fast forward thirty plus years ahead when Peter, knowing that he is up against a set of political leaders in Rome who are not going to allow him to live much longer, is writing to an audience to whom he has written before, most likely the churches of what is now northern Turkey. He is writing to encourage them to stand firm on their faith and calling, and to persist in their spiritual growth, so that they might become ever more fully the partakers of the divine nature.

As Loretta read earlier in the service, Peter recalled the events on the mount of transfiguration as an assurance that his faith was true: 16 For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. 17 For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

Peter went back to an event that had come at a crisis point for him. He had left everything to follow Jesus. He had concluded that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the living God. Then Jesus began to talk about his coming crucifixion, and Peter could not get his head around that. How could the Christ, the anointed agent of God’s reign, be crucified? It made no sense. Had he backed the wrong horse?

Jesus took the very troubled Peter, James, and John up on a high mountain with him. There they beheld Moses and Elijah, representatives of the Law and the Prophets, talking with Jesus. Luke tells us that they were talking about Jesus’ coming exodus which he was to accomplish at Jerusalem. No doubt, if the three disciples had been in a mood to absorb the content of the conversation, they would have heard why the crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus were necessary to God’s plan for redeeming all creation, as indicated by a careful reading of the Law and the Prophets. They were not ready to understand this until much later when the risen Jesus took them back through the Law, the Prophets, and the other Old Testament Writings, showing them what had sailed right past them on the Mount of Transfiguration. Peter however, years later, could recall that event on the mountain as a time when the three disciples had beheld the glorious eternal majesty of Jesus. They did not yet understand, but they had seen something they could not deny, which would keep them following Jesus until they understood far more. The Mount of Transfiguration was one of those undeniable events that told them that grand and divine things were afoot through Jesus…no matter how much the events were outside their ability to comprehend.

The point of the events on the Mount of Transfiguration was not so much to give them wonder tales to tell later, but to convince them that they needed to continue to follow, to listen to, and to obey Jesus, even when they did not understand him, even when his way of doing things did not fit with the way their worldly minds were sure that things should be done.

Tradition tells us that Mark’s Gospel reports the memories of Peter about Jesus. Mark tells us that Peter remembered hearing the divine voice saying, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” Years later, Peter still remembers hearing that divine voice as an assuring moment in his faith journey, one of those undeniable events to which we can turn for assurance that God is part of the directing of our lives. And Peter was now passing this memory along to his readers who were about to be deprived of leaders like Peter and Paul. He wanted them to know that the gospel would not be undone by the passing of their first apostles. He wanted them to know that their faith was on solid ground guaranteed by multiple divine events.

I have a string of such events in my life, those unbelievable and undeniable occurrences, big and small, that can only be signs of God’s presence and involvement. Those events keep me listening to and following whatever I can sense of God’s leading even when my mind objects, even when my heart rebels, even when the journey is scary or painful, even when I am not hearing anything fresh, but merely having to cling to the last thing that I knew for sure long after I am less certain that it still applies. But I continue to listen, I continue to cry out, “God, if you want me to change directions, you are going to have to make it clear to me.” I find that God does not waste words, but that God is quite capable of getting my attention when necessary, often when I least expect it. I recognize that I am utterly dependent, but that my dependence is on a faithful and powerful God. It is humbling.

But I know that my life—or at least the portions of my life that count for ultimate purposes--depend on my obedient listening to what God says in Scripture, to what God says through the Holy Spirit, to what God says through Spirit-led saints, to what God says through events where he is most undeniably present and active. And I am most certain that it is God speaking when what I hear is holy, steadfast love, redeeming, restoring, and purifying the lost, the last, and me.

What about you? For what are you obediently listening? How is it sustaining you on a journey of faith? What step of faith is God asking you to make today? How does it all fit in the plan of what God is doing in Berryville, AR, today?

Volunteers Needed!

FCC Volunteers on Loaves & Fishes Friday Ministry

Volunteers Needed

Volunteers from First Christian Church Berryville work at Loaves and Fishes, our local food bank, Every Friday from 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM. Volunteers needed now are:


Intake Coordinator: Interview new food shelf customers and take down basic contact and eligibility information. Qualifications needed are legible handwriting and a friendly face for people in a hard place.


Data Entry Coordinator: Transfer intake information from file cards into a computer data base. Qualifications needed are very basic data entry skills.


If you can volunteer please contact Elaine West. Thank you!

Thank you Dave & Shelley Buttgen!

Trash...into Treasure!

Dave and Shelley Buttgen were busy as bees deconstructing an old dog house this week and were thoughtful enough to contact our Community Gardeners to see if they could use the materials for our new Children's Garden. The answer was a resounding yes!

We were able to take some of the material--all green treated lumber--and turn it into durable planters which we'll fill with sweet potato vines and use as markers to the new garden's entrance. Pictured below is one of the planters.

If you have old building materials laying around--lumber, landscaping rock, railroad ties, or fence posts--please let your Community Gardeners know. We can use them! And, we'll be glad to give you a Letter of Donation to document your gift for the IRS. Thanks, Dave & Shelley!

It's a Sign!

Because our church's strategic plan includes a focus on recruiting new members there has been some conversation about getting a new sign for our church. We would like you to join that conversation. Do you think we should get a new sign? Or, can we recondition our current sign and make it more visible? Finally, is the sign okay just the way it is?

Following are photos of signs from other churches around town:

If you have an opinion about getting a new church sign, or ideas about what it might look like, please talk with a member of the sign committee: Loretta Tanner, David Bell, Dave Buttgen, or Dan Krotz.

Lettuce Eats Bunny Poop

Any parent knows that fairness is a big deal to kids. How many times have you heard them say, "It's not fair!" or "I always have to do it! Why can't she do it!" For once, Child Development experts agree with parents: fairness and justice are really important to kids.

Among those Child Development experts are planners and managers of children's gardens. A consistent piece of advice they give is "Let each child have their own garden space, and keep those spaces very small."

Their reasoning is that children are often overwhelmed by large garden beds and have a difficult time feeling ownership of commonly used space. Large space don't allow them to measure progress, and it is difficult for them to take pride--or to complete assignments--when "everyone" is responsible for everything.

That's why we've taken the approach--shown above--of making very small raised beds that can be assigned individually to kid gardeners. Each child will have one or two distinct spaces in which to grow plants or flowers, and because the spaces are small, they won't feel overwhelmed by planting, weeding, watering, and fertilizing.

You might recognize the blue rings that make up some of our raised beds. Yes, these are made from the blue barrels that a kind and generous soul donated to the community garden two years ago. Initially, our plan was to collect rain water off the roof (still a great plan!) but we weren't smart enough to figure out all of the necessary piping and connections and the barrels weren't used for the planned purpose. And last year, well, there just wasn't any rain.

Yet, how lucky we are to have these barrels! They make great raised beds that are exactly the size that Child Development experts say are appropriate for children under age 8. And, we'll be able to set up drip irrigation that confines and conserves water in each blue raised bed. We feel really blessed that we're able to use everything that folks are generous enough to donate.

Pictured above is a load of wood chip mulch that we'll put down on the children's garden as soon as the raised beds are in place. Many thanks to Bill Hudspeth for arranging for Carroll Electric to deliver the mulch!

Next week we'll be constructing some larger raised beds for older children, then we'll lay down the mulch in trenched pathways. Finally, we'll start putting up the picket fence surrounding the garden.

Oh, about that bunny poop: a good friend donated 10 gallons of rabbit manure for the children's garden. We think that, when the kids start planting they'll learn a good lesson about the fact that plants that we eat have to eat too. What better way for them to learn than by applying the rabbit manure on their own raised bed?

God Cares About Shalom

Matthew 5:43-48; 1 Peter 2:11-17; Jeremiah 29:4-14

Coming to a head in the 1950’s, some would say sooner, resurgent mainline churches in America, at their denominational leadership and seminary teaching levels, tried to use their influence to advocate for scriptural values of peace and justice, of help for the poor and the discriminated against. But entering the political arena, they soon supported causes more closely linked to higher education and the Democratic Party than to scriptural values, especially in throwing their weight behind the revolution in sexual ethics in the past fifty years. They not only lost their influence, but also lost many of the people sitting in their pews. The downward trend has continued steadily ever since.

In the 1970’s and following, surging evangelical churches, through megachurch pastors, leaders of parachurch organizations, and media personalities tried to use their influence to advocate in line with scriptural values for the sanctity of life, marriage, and family. But entering the political arena, they soon supported causes more closely linked to big business and of the Republican Party than to scriptural values. Their churches have stalled and have begun to decline. Their own offspring view them as too political, too self-righteous, too hypocritical, too hostile, and not sufficiently Christ-like. The downward trend is not likely to reverse itself.

I was already convinced of all this when our daughter insistently and persistently told me that I had to read a book, To Change the World, by University of Virginia sociologist James Davison Hunter. When our daughter was small, she did what I told her to do. Now I do what she tells me to do. I suppose that is fair. She earned her influence.

Hunter analyzes the problems of both Christian Left and Christian Right as idolatry of the power of the state. He is not anti-government and is not opposed to Christians voting their convictions and involving themselves in government, but he is opposed to idolatry of politics and of any attempts by Christians to use government to dominate the culture. It sends a false message about what we think is powerful. The false God of political influence has not been good for the church of Left or Right. Indeed, it has not been good for the church to be divided into Left and Right. Political combat does not meld well with Christian mission.

Although the majority of Americans have generally identified themselves as Christian, Hunter says that America has never in any spiritually serious way been Christian. The fact is that we do not live in a Christian culture and are not likely to do so any time in the near future. We live in an ever-shifting, pluralist culture, and it is likely that we will do so for the remainder of the lifetimes of everyone present this morning. The question is not, “How can we make this culture Christian?” but, “How can we rightly represent Christ while living in this constantly changing pluralist culture?” This is not a reason to despair. Indeed, our position is rather like that of the first century church representing the gospel to the Greek culture of the Roman Empire.

Let me mention three scriptural points that Hunter makes.

Scriptural Point 1: Our Great Commission is to make disciples, not just people who believe a certain doctrine and attend church, but people who are coming under the discipline of Jesus Christ, who are being conformed to the image of Christ. He says that Christians in our culture largely believe the doctrines of Christian faith, but that we have not, Left or Right, been formed to live distinctively, creatively, with Christ-like character, in our varied social environments. That is what we can do that will make a real and positive difference.

So our primary mission must be rooted in a strategy of forming Christians who can live faithfully in their cultural circumstances, in their various fields of endeavor. What counts is that we bring distinctive Christian contributions to the overall well-being of our various social environments, to home, to work, to school, to community activities, to the arts, to benevolent activities, and so forth—yes, in limited ways even in politics—not throwing our churches behind particular legislative, electoral, or partisan causes, but quietly expressing our Christian character and values in our varied ways.

Scriptural Point 2. Hunter suggests that the Hebrew word shalom covers the valid value concerns of Christians of all stripes and that we need to let this word govern our efforts to work for the common good.

Shalom means far more than its most frequent translation as peace. Combining what Hunter says with what my Bible reference materials say, I came up with this list of synonyms for shalom:

Peace

Order

Harmony

Fruitfulness

Abundance

Wholeness

Beauty

Joy

Well-Being

Completeness

Fulfillment

Rest

Blessing

Provision

Prosperity

Welfare

Health

Goodness

and more!

One word of caution: While God’s desire to see shalom embodied in our lives includes prosperity, we must understand that greed and selfishness are forms of idolatry that lead to devastating social consequences, undermining shalom itself. So, those who desire to pursue true shalom must be spiritually formed, spiritually discerning, and spiritually mature.

Shalom is rooted in the goodness of creation and in the endtimes hope of new creation. But the Old Testament prophets saw shalom as relevant to present day social patterns, of how we arrange our daily lives and business. Hunter correctly asserts that Jesus’ central proclamation that the kingdom of God is at hand points to the present realization of shalom in daily experience. Jesus demonstrated that God’s reigning power is available to enable his faithful disciples to experience and embody shalom in all dimensions of life even to the point of enabling us to love our enemies.

Scriptural Point 3. We must accept that we Christians operate in this culture as aliens, sojourners, and exiles, but that we must constantly be seeking the resources of our faith that can be exercised for the common good. He suggests that, if we learn to practice faithful presence in all areas of our culture, we will gain influence that does not depend on our dominating government or on our using government to dominate culture. Others will begin to look to spiritually formed Christians as people who know how to make life better.

Our path for doing that here at First Christian Church is, “The 9 Ways of Spiritual Growth”: In order to maintain a process of ongoing transformation into greater and greater degrees of likeness to Jesus Christ, we seek to: 1. Pray Daily; 2. Study the Bible Daily; 3. Worship Weekly; 4. Fellowship Regularly; 5. Serve Regularly; 6. Give Honorably; 7. Share Your Faith Intentionally; 8. Show Compassion Regularly; 9. Be Spiritually Honest

Hunter goes to two scripture passages for examples of living as exiles. The NIV rendering of Jeremiah 29:11 seems to be one of the most widely quoted verses in the Bible: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Certainly, this verse is the true and reliable promise of God, but we need to read it in context.

The extension of the Babylonian Empire’s power into the area of the Holy Land can be dated from 609 through 539 B.C., roughly 70 years. There were three exiles of citizens of Judah to Babylon during this period, a small one in 605 that included Daniel and his friends, a medium sized one in 597, and a massive one in 586, at which time Babylon destroyed Jerusalem and its temple. Jeremiah is writing from Jerusalem after the middle exile in 597 B. C. He is writing to the 597 B.C. exiles in Babylon where they were receiving encouragement from false prophets that they would soon be returned to Jerusalem. Jeremiah knew that the destruction of Jerusalem with its much worse exile was yet coming, and that no exiles would return until the seventy year period was over in 539 B.C.

Jeremiah is assuring the exiles that God does indeed have good plans for them, but that the good plans will be in Babylon, not in Jerusalem. Indeed, if the return will not happen until after 539 B.C., then Jeremiah and the vast majority of the people to whom he is writing will no longer be living at the time of the return. Jeremiah urges the refugees to devote themselves to the well-being of the Babylonian empire where they will be raising their children, grandchildren, and perhaps great grandchildren. Even though the return will not come soon, even though they will be living in an alien culture not friendly to the ways of faith, God has plans to prosper them in that situation.

The key phrase in Jeremiah 29:11 is plans to prosper you Other translations have, plans for welfare, plans for wholeness, plans for peace, plans for good, plans to take care of you. In the Hebrew original, the key word in the phrase is none other than shalom. Jeremiah was saying to the exiles that, as they live for shalom in this alien empire, they will themselves receive shalom.

Jeremiah is not counseling them to compromise their faith or their moral values, far from it! As Daniel and his friends who had been exiled in 605 had shown, there is a time to stand uncompromisingly for the requirements of one’s faith. But one may not impose those requirements on others. Jeremiah is simply urging these exiles to become known as people who work for the common good while observing the personal disciplines of their faith. As they show shalom to others, they will receive it from God.

Hunter invites us to hear this passage as guidance for how the church might live faithfully and winningly in our pluralist culture: 4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare(shalom) of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare (shalom) you will find your welfare (shalom). 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord. 10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare (shalom) and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

This is not just an Old Testament perspective. Hunter rightly sees its carry-over in 1 Peter. Peter’s audience are probably Christian Jews exiled by the Emperor Claudius from Rome to the remote and very pagan provinces of what is now Northern Turkey where the exiles receive a hostile response. Peter is urging them to live distinctively holy Christian lives, but to do so in ways that are not hostile. Rather, they are to devote themselves insofar as possible consistent with their faith to the good (the shalom) of all, thereby winning respect for their faith.

They need to accept that, “I will bring you back,” may well refer not to themselves individually, but to their great grandchildren; nevertheless, even in their own time, they will be blessed.

Hunter believes that we can win respect for Christian faith by living in our various places of influence, even as in exile, with the value of shalom, seeking the common good. He believes that Christ is our master teacher as we seek to do this. This is a call to discipleship, to the discipline of Jesus. Who will take a new step on the journey of following Jesus?