God Expects Love Not Revenge

Pakistan: Zeba

            “I will not repeat the verses. I am a Christian. I will always be a Christian.” With her family in poverty, Zeba was forced to work as a servant for a wealthy Muslim family. While she was working, the head of the household tried to teach her about Islam and coerced her to memorize verses from the Koran. On three different occasions Zeba refused, stating, “I am a Christian.” She was beaten each time she refused.

            Zeba’s employers then had her arrested, falsely accusing her of stealing from the family. After securing her daughter’s release, Zeba’s mother visited the Muslim family to take up her daughter’s defense. She was not welcomed.

            One of the family members screamed, “You are an infidel! Both you and your daughter are infidels and do not deserve to live.” They threw gasoline on Zeba’s mother and lit a match. Zeba never saw her mother again. Despite the tragedy, Zeba continued her walk with Christ and was recently baptized.

Today in Pakistan, a sewing machine school has been established so young Christian girls like Zeba will no longer have to seek employment as servants to help feed their families. Despite her pain, Zeba holds no grudges, and she dreams of sharing her faith with others in her country. She wants to become a Bible teacher.”[1]

Introduction

            After the events of the last few weeks, does this story still shock you? Honestly, do you know of anyone who sincerely believed or stopped believing something because they were being threatened with physical harm or even death? The premise that someone deserves death because they offended God or his “prophet” through their words, deeds or unbelief is evil foolishness. Is God’s psyche so delicate that he needs humanity to defend his honor? Furthermore, how can a “prophet’s” status be so elevated that his honor must be defended in the same manner as God? This is not the image I have of a God who, without any help, created the entire universe! Instead, the image of a God that constantly needs to be defended paints a picture of a petulant and helpless child stomping his feet wondering when someone will come to his defense because he is powerless to defend himself. Just look at the story above (and there are countless many more just like it) and decide which God you think is more worthy of following: A God that needs to be defended by requiring his followers to abuse or kill those who don’t believe in him or a God that can defend himself and requires his followers to love those who abuse and kill them for not believing the way they do? Which faith is worthy of serious consideration: A faith whose highest calling is death in the service of killing those who don’t believe the same thing they do or a faith whose highest calling is death to self so that others might have life?

            I’ve read countless stories about Christians like Zeba and I am always amazed at their perseverance and faith. But there’s one thing they all seem to have in common that I so often struggle with. Here’s how the story describes it: “Zeba holds no grudges.” She was beaten repeatedly and her mother was murder because of her Christian faith and she “holds no grudges.” Those words are like a punch to the gut! I know Zeba has the right attitude but that’s honestly not my first reaction. I’m not proud of it, especially after being a Christian my whole life, but my first reaction is that someone has to pay for that. But that’s a human reaction (and a sinful one at that) not a godly reaction. Instead, God Expects Love Not Revenge! But don’t take my word for it, let’s see what God’s Word actually says:

Romans 12:9-21

⁹ Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. ¹⁰ Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. ¹¹ Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. ¹² Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. ¹³ Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality. ¹⁴ Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ¹⁵ Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. ¹⁶ Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. ¹⁷ Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. ¹⁸ If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. ¹⁹ Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord. ²⁰ On the contrary: “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.” ²¹ Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Context

Paul is writing to the church in Rome as an introduction of himself and his message in advance of his visit there. The church in Rome was comprised primarily of Jewish believers with quite a few Gentile believers as well. The immediately preceding verses to our subject verses provide the perfect backdrop for our lesson as Paul instructs the church, and by extension us, that our spiritual act of worship that is holy and pleasing to God is to offer our bodies as “living sacrifices” (Rom 12:1). To what shall we offer our bodies? Paul tells us according to our gifting: to prophesy (Rom 12:6); to serve or teach (Rom 12:7); to encourage, provide for others, lead, or be merciful (Rom 12:8). It is unlikely that Paul intended the list to be exhaustive but, instead, intended to convey a sense that it is our duty to commit our lives to serve others in such a way that would benefit them. It seems fairly obvious that abusing or killing someone that does not believe the same thing would never be included as a “spiritual act of worship” that is “holy and pleasing to God!”

However, if there’s still any doubt what our attitude and behavior should be as Christians, then our subject verses should resolve those doubts. “As for the Christians’ mutual relationships and relationships to the wider world, the norm given is love. Paul illustrates what this will mean in practice…Here peaceable good-neighborliness must be the rule.”[2]

Text Explanation

            V. 9a introduces us to the overarching theme of these verses; Love. Sincere love should be the attitude and actions toward all people. But why does Paul emphasize that love should be sincere? Because Paul makes a distinction between love that is only words and love that manifests itself in beneficial actions toward others. Paul remains consistent with Jesus’ assertion that the greatest command is to love God and the second greatest command is like the first; that we should love one another (Mk 12:28-31). “Love for others, singled out by our Lord himself as the essence of the OT law and central demand of the New Covenant (John 13:31-35), quickly became enshrined as the foundational and characteristic ethical norm of Christianity.”[3] Grammatically, there is no verb in the Greek text in the first half of v. 9. Although adding the verb “to be” is not technically incorrect, the literal Greek is more like a heading for what is to follow. The heading would be “Sincere Love” and what follows is Paul’s explanation of what “Sincere Love” looks like.

            In vv. 9b-13 Paul starts off with an imperative parallel clause that acts as a guardrail with one rail being the command to hate evil and the other rail the command to cling to what is good; all attitudes and actions fall within the two. These particular verses apply to the believer’s personal attitude and the believer’s attitude and actions toward other believers. Paul exhorts believers to love one another in the same way as siblings would love one another. When Paul says that we are to honor others above ourselves (v. 10), he’s not saying that we are to be doormats for abuse. What Paul is saying is that we are to defer to other believers in our words and actions as an expression of genuine love toward them. Paul continues by exhorting them to maintain their zeal (V. 11). But zeal for what? Paul hints about it when he says that they are to keep up their spiritual fervor in their service to the Lord. Most of us know or have known someone “on fire” for God when they first become a believer. But as the years wane, the spiritual fervor that was once an inferno becomes only an ember or worse becomes misdirected. “Paul urges us to be ‘set on fire’ ‘in’ or ‘by’ the S/spirit. ‘Spirit’ can refer to the human spirit, but, in light of the reference to ‘the Lord’ in the next clause, it probably refers to the Holy Spirit, the agent who inflames our passion for the Lord and his work. Passion for the cause of Chris is exemplary, but it can be misguided and even harmful. Thus, Paul concludes the verse with the reminder that our spiritual passion must always be put in obedient service of the Lord.”[4] However, it can be difficult to maintain the zeal and fervor for our faith, especially in the face of difficulties, trials and tribulations which is why Paul exhorts us to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction and faithful in prayer (v. 12). “Paul, ever the realist, knows this; and so here, as he does elsewhere, he quickly moves from hope to the need for endurance. At the same time, we realize that our ability to continue to rejoice and to ‘bear up under’ our tribulations is dependent on the degree to which we heed Paul’s challenge to ‘persist’ in prayer.”[5] To conclude this section of verses, Paul exhorts us to share with believers who are in need and to be hospitable to other believers (v. 13). Believers too often rely on the church to be obedient to this particular command as part of their tithe. While that is certainly part of the church’s responsibility, the primary responsibility for this belongs to the Church. Therefore, if believers anywhere remain in need, it is primarily an indictment of the Church. As believers, we are called to both tithe to the church in order to perpetuate the services of the church and directly provide for the physical needs of believers when necessary. One of the needs that believers are called to meet is the need to be hospitable to other believers. “‘Hospitality’ was badly needed in a day without motels and restaurants. Traveling missionaries and ordinary believers depended on the kindness of other Christians.”[6] As is often the case, the English doesn’t really convey the gravity of Paul’s exhortation. Believers aren’t just supposed to “show” hospitality toward others, the Greek instead calls believers to “pursue” hospitality.

            Paul makes a transition, grammatically and topically, in v. 14 from dealing with believers (vv. 10-13) to dealing with an unbelieving world (vv. 14-16). Paul says that we are to bless those who persecute us; not curse them. This is beautifully consistent with Jesus’ words from his Sermon on the Mount recorded by Matthew where he says “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you” (Mt. 5:44). Paul depends more on Jesus’ teachings here in Romans than he does in any of his other letters. This verse, like the opening verse in the previous section, could be seen as a heading for this section of verses with the verses that follow illustrating how we can bless those who persecute us. Paul tells us that we are to rejoice or mourn with people as the occasion may dictate (v. 15). Don’t misunderstand Paul’s instruction here. Paul is not limiting our involvement with unbelievers to an occasion of joy or sorrow only. Instead, this is merism; a literary style intended to describe opposite extremes. In modern vernacular, Paul is telling us that we bless those who persecute us when we “do life” with them. This includes rejoicing with them, weeping with them and everything in-between. In v. 16 Paul instructs us to live in harmony with each other. Scholars are divided as to whether Paul is back to talking about Christians dealing with other Christians or whether Paul is still talking about Christians dealing with unbelievers. I actually believe it acts as another heading for the verses that follow that illustrate the ways in which we are able to live in harmony with other; whether they are Christian or not. We live in harmony with others in complete humility. We live in harmony with others by being willing to associate with them even if they are somehow considered inferior; socially, economically, educationally or otherwise. When Paul admonishes us to “not be conceited,” he “Probably inserted this echo of Proverbs (Prov 3:7) at this point because he recognized in the attitude of the man who is self-sufficient in his confidence in his own wisdom something particularly destructive of the harmony to which he has just referred.”[7]

            Vv. 17-21 are the culmination of the subject text noting that v. 9 references love while v. 21 references evil. Is Paul again talking to Christians or non-Christians? I think this is probably the case of both/and instead of either/or. V. 17 says we are not to repay evil for evil. This is again a lesson taken from Jesus’ teachings. Keep in mind that the Roman church was made up primarily of Jews so they would be quite accustomed to the law allowing for an “eye for an eye” and a “tooth for a tooth.” Therefore, this command is a radical departure from the way they have always thought and probably not too different from the way most other people thought as well. Throughout history, being wronged or offended, required justice; someone had to pay. But Paul’s instructions, like those of Jesus, reversed this teaching and custom and insisted that we should instead bless those who persecute us or commit some evil act against us. We are called to do what is right/good in the sight of everyone. This section is a bit more tricky as we try to discern what is right or good since this seems to be quite subjective; especially today. “Paul was well aware of the darkening of men’s minds (cf. Rom 1:21) and the need for the human mind to be renewed, if it is to recognize and approve the will of God (cf. Rom 12:2). The meaning is rather that Christians are to take thought to, aim at, seek, in the sight of all men those things which (whether they recognize it or not) are good, the arbiter of what is good being not a moral communis sensus {Latin: “Common Sense”} of mankind, but the gospel.”[8] V. 18 instructs us to live at peace with everyone and is in parallel to v. 16 where Paul’s instruction is to live in harmony with one another. However, v. 18 adds the qualifier to do so to the extent that it “depends on us.” “Christians are to do what they can to find approval with non-Christians and live at peace with them. But they must never seek approval with the world at the expense of God’s moral demands; this means that harmonious relationships with unbelievers will not always lie in our power to achieve.”[9] V. 19 takes the command to love to a level that makes Christianity so beautiful and yet so terribly difficult. Paul, again following Jesus’ teaching, says that we are not to take revenge on those who perpetrate evil against us. Instead we are to leave vengeance in the hands of God. Paul quotes God speaking about revenge when he says, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay.” These words would have been quite familiar to Paul’s Jewish audience because it comes right from the Song of Moses (Dt. 32:35). Moses prepared a song as an indictment against Israel for future disobedience. The song makes very clear that God needs absolutely no help to defend himself or his name from any offense. Paul’s audience would have known this song by memory so his reference to leave room for God’s vengeance would have made perfect sense to them. But Paul’s not done; it’s not enough to passively leave revenge in the hands of God, we are to actively bless those who have offended us by providing for their needs (v. 20). This serves a twofold purpose; first and most importantly, it demonstrates God’s unique love and the power of a transformed life and it magnifies the offense in a way that will reflect very badly on the offender. Paul uses and Old Testament idiom of “heaping coals on his head” to describe this. This idiom comes right from the wisdom literature of Proverbs 25:21-22. “What is usually implied is that our responding to evil with good will cause people to become ashamed of their actions and perhaps seek reconciliation with the Lord.”[10] Paul completes this section of verses with v. 21 and the admonition not to be overcome by evil but to go to the other extreme and defeat evil with good. “Evil can overcome us when we allow the pressure put on us by a hostile world to force us into attitudes and actions that are out of keeping with the transformed character of the new realm…By responding to evil with ‘the good’ rather than with evil, we gain victory over that evil. Not only have we not allowed it to corrupt our own moral integrity, but we have displayed the character of Christ before a watching and skeptical world.”[11]

Application

            This is such a difficult teaching in light of the recent events of September 11^th as well as the historical events of September 11^th and the ongoing attacks by Muslim terrorists. I know that many want to fight back but not necessarily for the purpose of future security. Many don’t even want to fight back for the purpose of justice. Instead, many want to fight back out of revenge. But, as Christians, we must resist this temptation. This evil is not defeated by seeking revenge. Instead, this evil, like all evil, is defeated by demonstrating a love that is only possible with God’s strength. As Christians, we know that God doesn’t need us to protect him or defend his honor. In fact, God doesn’t “need” us for anything! Instead, God wants us to be transformed through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

The principle of overcoming evil with good applies to all areas of our lives not just world changing events. Sometimes “evil” doesn’t really strike us as “evil” but more like a personal offense. Nevertheless, the principle remains the same. Maybe it’s someone who cuts you off in traffic. It might be someone who says something about you behind your back. It might be someone who purposely cheats you out of some money. It might be ugly words from a former spouse or hurtful words from an abusive boss. Or maybe it’s unfair criticism from a teacher. Whatever the case may be, it is our duty as Christians to respond to these situations by doing good to those who have harmed or offended us. This is the image of the God of the Bible. Think about it, throughout history, humanity has been sinful and all sin is first committed against God. God, in his perfect judgment, would have been perfectly justified to condemn and eradicate humanity. But God was not after revenge. Instead, God sent Jesus Christ to die on the cross to pay for humanity’s sin. In a sense, God took his revenge for humanity’s sin out on Jesus instead of us. Payment has been made, restitution for the offense against God for past, present and future sins has been made. So why did Jesus suffer and die in our place? I’ll let the Apostle John remind us: “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16). So if God loves us that much then is it any wonder that our first and highest calling is to love Him and love others? If God is not prepared to condemn humanity then what in the world gives anyone the right to condemn another person even if that person has somehow offended God? No! This is not what God expects. Instead, God Expects Love Not Revenge!

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[1] The Voice of the Martyrs, Extreme Devotional, (Nashville, TN: W Publishing Group), p. 193.

[2] Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, Daniel G. Reid, eds., Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), p. 849.

[3] Douglas Moo, NICNT, The Epistle to the Romans, (Grand Rapids, MI, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1996), p. 775.

[4] Douglas Moo, The NIV Application Commentary, Romans, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2000), p. 410.

[5] Moo, NICNT, Romans, p. 779.

[6] Moo, NIV, Romans, p. 410.

[7] C. E. B. Cranfield, ICC, Romans, Vol. II, (Edinburgh, Scotland, T & T Clark Ltd., 1979), p. 645.

[8] Ibid., p. 646.

[9] Moo, NIV, Romans, p. 412.

[10] Ibid., p. 413.

[11] Moo, NICNT, Romans, pp. 789-790.

Finding Grace in the Lost and Found

Introduction

            During my girls’ elementary school and middle school years, we made more than a few trips to the school’s lost and found. Unfortunately, more things remained lost than were found. However, there was great relief and sometimes joy when something of perceived value was actually recovered. I’ve heard friends tell me some great stories of finding something of great value they thought they had lost—a family heirloom, a pet, and even a wedding ring. However, absolutely nothing compares to the stories of personal redemption that people have shared with me. People lost in their substance abuse, lost in their sex addictions, lost in their abusive relationships and lost as they turned their back on God. Stories of how God never stopped waiting for them and looking for them and when they were at their lowest point and they cried out to God for help, how God came running to take them back and love them back to wholeness. This is the essence of Jesus’ story of the Prodigal Son. Do you know why I love this story? Because it’s my story! It’s probably everyone’s story to a certain degree—it applies to those who don’t know God yet eventually call out to Him when all else has failed them and it applies to those who have known and loved God yet have been entice by sin to turn away from Him. This week I want to take a close look at the story of the Prodigal Son and maybe you’ll see yourself in the story as I see myself in the story.

Luke 15:11-32

            ¹¹ Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. ¹³ “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. ¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. ²¹ “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate. ²⁵ “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ²⁷ ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. ²⁹ But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ ³¹ “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. ³² But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

Context

            It’s hard to keep track of what’s going on in these chapters of Luke’s gospel because Jesus begins to tell story after story after story. So let me remind you of the setting within which Jesus is giving us this teaching. Chapter 14 tells us that it is the Sabbath and Jesus has been invited to eat at the house of a prominent Pharisee. Well wherever there’s one Pharisee, there’s bound to be more together with teachers of the law, and this occasion was no different. But try and picture this, large crowds were traveling with Jesus and among them were tax collectors and “sinners” who gathered around Jesus to hear him speak. The fact that there were uninvited guests in the house was not necessarily unexpected. As stated in a previous lesson (See previous post—Title: “A Life Transformed,” Label: Pastoral Care, Date: 6/13/12) it was customary at high-profile gatherings such as this to leave the door open so that the public could enter or stand outside the door if there was no room so the discussions inside the house could be heard. Unfortunately for the Pharisees, those who usually followed Jesus lived unpopular, ordinary and usually very messy lives—I guess some things don’t change regardless of how much time passes. But it’s the perfect setting for the story of the Prodigal Son so let’s take a look at Jesus’ teaching.

Parable Explanation

            Jesus begins his story in vv. 11-12 by introducing us to a man with two sons. The young son insists that his father give him his share of his father’s estate. The younger son would customarily receive half as much as the older son. However, the father had the right to do whatever he wanted with his wealth. It was generally understood that inheritance would have been distributed upon the father’s death. However, exception to this practice could also be determined by the father. Nevertheless, Judaism frowned on the practice of inheritance distribution prior to death stating: “‘To son or wife, to brother or friend, give no power over yourself while you live; and give not your goods to another so as to have to ask for them again.’”[1] But don’t miss something very crucial in this exchange. The son is not just saying that he wants his inheritance, he’s in essence telling his father that he wishes he was dead! “The son clearly looks to sever his relationship to his father and go away.”[2] Think about the pain and insult the father must have felt. Nevertheless, the father honors his request and lets him go.

            In vv.13-16 we have the unfolding story of the son’s new-found freedom apart from his father. Come on! This isn’t too hard to imagine is it? Most experts believe that the young son is just a teenager. So now we have a teenager with a wad of money in his pocket and without the constraint of rules from his father’s house…what could possibly go wrong? Well we soon find out that a carefree life without rules is not always what it’s cut out to be. Nevertheless, the son leaves behind the familiarity of home for the adventure of a distant country. “‘A distant country’ already suggests the non-Jewish world, and this identification is helped along by the prominence of pigs, abhorrent to Jewish sensibilities, in the story.”[3] The text tells us that he squandered his wealth on wild living. The Greek word used for squander paints a picture of “Tossing one’s possessions into the wind.”[4] No sooner had he run out of money when a famine envelops the entire country where he is currently living. That’s when things go from bad to awful.

“Had he possessed his initial, relative wealth he might have been able to ride out the ensuing period of depressed economy. Having spent all he had, however, he had little recourse but to locate himself in a situation wherein he has not only shamed his father, but has plummeted from his status as the son of a large landowner to that of the ‘unclean and degraded,’ for whom even the life of a day laborer would be preferable.”[5]

            In our culture, it is difficult to see the gravity of the son’s situation. He was left with the choice of dying or herding pigs—as though one would be better than the other for a Jew. Pigs were an unclean animal. This represents the absolute bottom for him. He is so low that even the despised pigs are eating while he is starving. He would gladly eat with the pigs at this point if someone would allow it. Let me try and paint a picture of what his life looks like: He insulted his father, he has no money left, he’s starving, he has committed countless sins, he is working in and among unclean animals and no one will help him—he is all alone, he is at the end of the line, he has hit bottom.

            In vv. 17-20a we see that there at the bottom, he begins to realizes that something has to change. He recognizes the irony in his situation that his father’s slaves are better off than he is. They have more than enough food while he is starving to death. At this point he devises a plan to return home to his father—but after what he’d said and done, how could he?

“The struggling son decides to acknowledge his folly before God and to his father. This combination is a merism to indicate that he sinned against God and his father…The son will act quickly and humbly. He knows he has forfeited all rights to sonship and inheritance, but it is better to cast himself on his father’s mercy than remain in a distant land, living a life lower than the unclean beasts and suffering hunger. The confession pictures his repentance, coming to the father bearing nothing but his need…He accepts the consequences of his choices. There are no excuses, only confession and a humble request. The picture shows what repentance looks like: no claims, just reliance on God’s mercy and provision.”[6]

            The son acknowledges to himself that the “something” his father’s servants has is better than the “nothing” he has so he sets out on his way home.

            Vv. 20b-24 lead off with my favorite part of the entire story. The text says that while the son was still a long way from home, his father saw him and started running to him, when he reached him, he took him in his arms and kissed him. This scene touches my heart at the deepest level. As a father, I can recognize my girls from a long way off. I know how they look from the back, from the side and from the front even at a great distance. But that’s not what I want to bring to your attention. The text leaves us with the distinct impression that the father was watching for him. Maybe he happened to be in the right place at the right time or maybe he was regularly watching for him. Don’t forget, this is a parable, it is a story with a deeper meaning. I believe it paints a picture that the father is waiting, watching, always anticipating and hoping for the son’s return. I want you to notice something else in the text that we generally breeze right over—the father “ran” to his son. This may not seem unusual to you and me but in that culture, it would be quite rare to see a wealthy, respected and elderly man running anywhere! Add to this the public display of affection of the very son that had shamed him publicly and we see a beautiful picture of the father’s merciful and compassionate heart.

            The son, however, is not deterred from his plan. No doubt he recognizes the warmth and acceptance from his father but he, nevertheless, confesses his sins to his father with the deepest humility and no expectation to be treated as a son. I envision the scene in my mind as the father is holding his son’s face in his hands and looking at him intently as his son is speaking but acts as though he hears nothing his son says. Instead, even before his son is finished speaking, he directs his servants to drape the son with a robe, place a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. “The embrace, the kiss, and gifts of robe, ring and sandals—these are all emblematic of the son’s honorable restoration to the family he had snubbed and abandoned.”[7] Thereafter the father orders the celebration to begin and the party is on! But why? Why did the father make such a big deal out his son’s return? Well because the son’s shame and abandonment meant that he was dead to his father and family. He was lost, his father had lost a son. I can’t even imagine the anguish of losing a child spiritually or physically. Sadly, some of you have so you know very well what the father must have been going through when his son returned. What had been lost was now found and the only response was joy and celebration.

            In vv. 25-32 the older son re-enters the scene. There must have been some party at the house because the older son could hear the music and dancing from the field. When he asks a servant what is going on, he is told that his brother has returned and his father has ordered a celebration. He is incredulous! So much so that he won’t even go into the house. The older son tries to make a case for himself to his father as the faithful son who served him and honored him while his brother did neither. But it appears the older son, even while he stayed behind and fulfilled his proper duties, didn’t know his father very well. How could he not know that his father would react in this way to his brother’s return? The older son is angry—he sees himself as having done everything right while his brother has done everything wrong yet his brother is celebrated and he isn’t. He wants his own celebration, he wants his own fattened calf, he doesn’t want a celebration for his brother, he wants justice! The father addresses the older son gently, in love and understanding—the Greek is translated in our idiom as “my child.” But the father makes it clear that celebrating the younger son’s return in no way negates the value of the older son’s faithfulness.

“He affirms the faithfulness of the elder brother and his special place in his heart. He accepts that his son has always been at his side. He reminds the son that all he owns belongs to him; neither the father’s activity nor the brother’s return in any way diminishes the elder’s status…the elder should not lose sight of the benefits he has always had because of his access to the father. In a sense, he has always had access to the celebration. The animals are his!”[8]

But the younger son relinquished the benefits of being a son by turning his back on his father. He was already suffering the self-inflicted wounds of arrogance, pride, sin and disobedience. What would harsh justice/punishment by the father accomplish? Perhaps the father believed the consequences endured by the younger son were sufficient. In any event, the father’s focus was on reconciliation not on justice/punishment. The father refuses to focus on anything other than the fact that his son was once lost but is now found.

Application

            Although the story is known as the parable of the Prodigal Son it really should be titled the Loving Father because the father’s actions are really what stand out don’t they? I mean, many, if not most of us can associate very closely with the prodigal son, lots of us can relate to the older brother. Some of us can even associate our lives with both of them. But few of us can associate our lives with the father. The depth of the father’s love is just so foreign to many of us. We can relate to the prodigal son’s need for reconciliation, we can relate to the older son’s desire for justice, but can we relate to the father’s attitude of grace? We struggle with trying to determine exactly where forgiving sin and condoning sin intersect so that we don’t offend either.

“It was the music and dancing that offended the older son. Of course, let the younger son return home. Judaism and Christianity have clear provisions for the restoration of the penitent returnee, but where does it say that such provisions include a banquet with music and dancing? Yes, let the prodigal return, but to bread and water, not fatted calf; in sackcloth, not a new robe; wearing ashes, not a new ring; in tears, not in merriment; kneeling, not dancing. Has the party canceled the seriousness of sin and repentance?...The father not only had two sons but loved two sons, went out to two sons and was generous to two sons. Perhaps it is because of the competitive rather than cooperative spirit of our society, but the common thought is that there must be losers if there are winners. Hence, even in religion, it is very difficult not to think Jews or Greek, rich or poor, saint or sinner, publican or Pharisee, older son or younger son. But God’s love is both/and not either/or. The embrace of the younger son did not mean the rejection of the older; the love of tax collectors and sinners does not at all negate love of Pharisees and scribes.”[9]

The life of faith is in seeing people from God’s perspective not from ours. God is first and foremost in the business of reconciliation. Justice and punishment for sin is also very important which is why Jesus died on a cross to pay for all the things we did wrong so we could be reconciled to God. You see, God’s plan has always been about relationship and reconciliation to restore relationship not about justice and punishment. Justice and punishment are necessary in order to make reconciliation available. Now that Jesus has paid the price on the cross, the Father comes running to meet us as we turn back toward him. Justice has been served; punishment has been meted out. Repentance (turning away from sin and toward God) leads to forgiveness which leads to a party of reconciliation! I hope you might someday love the story of the Prodigal Son (or Loving Father) as much as I do. Sometimes we read these stories and we (ok maybe just I do) put a lot of thought into the theology of the story and miss the deep and gentle beauty of the actual story because we know it’s a parable with fictional characters that is intended to convey a deeper spiritual truth. So I wanted to share another story with you from Philip Yancey’s book, What’s So Amazing About Grace, about a teenage runaway. This isn’t a parable so you don’t need to think really hard about some deeper spiritual meaning. It’s a story about Finding Grace In The Lost And Found.

“A young girl grows up on a cherry orchard just above Traverse City, Michigan. Her parents, a bit old-fashioned, tend to overreact to her nose ring, the music she listens to, and the length of her skirts. They ground her a few times, and she seethes inside. ‘I hate you!’ she screams at her father when he knocks on the door of her room after an argument, and that night she acts on a plan she has mentally rehearsed scores of times. She runs away.

She has visited Detroit only once before, on a bus trip with her church youth group to watch the Tigers play. Because newspapers in Traverse City report in lurid detail the gangs, the drugs, and the violence in downtown Detroit, she concludes that is probably the last place her parents will look for her. California, maybe, or Florida, but not Detroit.

Her second day there she meets a man who drives the biggest car she’s ever seen. He offers her a ride, buys her lunch, arranges a place for her to stay. He gives her some pills that make her feel better than she’s ever felt before. She was right all along, she decides: her parents were keeping her from all the fun.

The good life continues for a month, two months, a year. The man with the big car—she calls him ‘Boss’—teaches her a few things that men like. Since she’s underage, men pay a premium for her. She lives in a penthouse, and orders room service whenever she wants. Occasionally she thinks about the folks back home, but their lives now seem so boring and provincial that she can hardly believe she grew up there.

She has a brief scare when she sees her picture printed on the back of a milk carton with the headline ‘Have you seen this child?’ But by now she has blond hair, and with all the makeup and body-piercing jewelry she wears, nobody would mistake her for a child. Besides, most of her friends are runaways, and nobody squeals in Detroit.

After a year the first sallow signs of illness appear, and it amazes her how fast the boss turns mean. ‘These days, we can’t mess around,’ he growls, and before she knows it she’s out on the street without a penny to her name. She still turns a couple of tricks a night, but they don’t pay much, and all the money goes to support her habit. When winter blows in she finds herself sleeping on metal grates outside the big department stores. ‘Sleeping’ is the wrong word—a teenage girl at night in downtown Detroit can never relax her guard. Dark bands circle her eyes. Her cough worsens.

One night as she lies awake listening for footsteps, all of a sudden everything about her life looks different. She no longer feels like a woman of the world. She feels like a little girl, lost in a cold and frightening city. She begins to whimper. Her pockets are empty and she’s hungry. She needs a fix. She pulls her legs tight underneath her and shivers under the newspaper she’s piled atop her coat. Something jolts a synapse of memory and a single image fills her mind: of May in Traverse City, when a million cherry trees bloom at once, with her golden retriever dashing through the rows and rows of blossomy trees in chase of a tennis ball.

God, why did I leave, she says to herself, and a pain stabs at her heart. My dog back home eats better than I do now. She’s sobbing, and she knows in a flash that more than anything else in the world she wants to go home.

Three straight phone calls, three straight connections with the answering machine. She hangs up without leaving a message the first two times, but the third time she says, ‘Dad, Mom, it’s me. I was wondering about maybe coming home. I’m catching a bus up your way, and it’ll be there about midnight tomorrow. If you’re not there, well, I guess I’ll just stay on the bus until it hits Canada.’

It takes about seven hours for the bus to make all the stops between Detroit and Traverse City, and during that time she realizes the flaw in her plan. What if her parents are out of town and miss the message? Shouldn’t she have waited another day or so until she could talk to them? And even if they are home, they probably wrote her off as dead long ago. She should have given them some time to overcome the shock.

Her thoughts bounce back and forth between those worries and the speech she is preparing for her father. ‘Dad, I’m sorry. I know I was wrong. It’s not your fault; it’s all mine. Dad, can you forgive me?’ She says the words over and over, her throat tightening even as she rehearses them. She hasn’t apologized to anyone in years.

The bus has been driving with lights on since Bay City. Tiny snowflakes hit the pavement rubbed worn by thousands of tires, and the asphalt steams. She’s forgotten how dark it gets out here. A deer darts across the road and the bus swerves. Every so often, a billboard. A sign posting the mileage to Traverse City. Oh, God.

When the bus finally rolls into the station, its air brakes hissing in protest, the driver announces in a crackly voice over the microphone, ‘Fifteen minutes, folks. That’s all we have here.’ Fifteen minutes to decide her life. She checks herself in a compact mirror, smoothes her hair, and licks the lipstick off her teeth. She looks at the tobacco stains on her fingertips, and wonders if her parents will notice. If they’re there.

She walks into the terminal not knowing what to expect. Not one of the thousand scenes that have played out in her mind prepared her for what she sees. There, in the concrete-walls-and-plastic-chairs bus terminal in Traverse City, Michigan, stands a group of forty brothers and sisters and great-aunts and uncles and cousins and a grandmother and great-grandmother to boot. They’re all wearing goofy party hats and blowing noise-makers, and taped across the entire wall of the terminal is a computer-generated banner that reads ‘Welcome home!’

Out of the crowd of well-wishers breaks her dad. She stares out through the tears quivering in her eyes like hot mercury and begins the memorized speech, ‘Dad, I’m sorry. I know…”

He interrupts her. ‘Hush child. We’ve got no time for that. No time for apologies. You’ll be late for the party. A banquet’s waiting for you at home.’”[10]

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[1] Darrell L. Bock, Luke, The NIV Application Commentary, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1996), p. 412.

[2] Darrell L. Bock, Luke 9:51-24:53, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1996), p. 1310.

[3] Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke, The New International Commentary on the New Testament, (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1997), p. 580.

[4] Bock, Luke, ECNT, p. 1310.

[5] Green, Luke, NICNT, pp. 580-581.

[6] Bock, Luke, ECNT, pp. 1312-1313.

[7] Green, Luke, NICNT, p. 583.

[8] Bock, Luke, ECNT, p. 1319.

[9] Fred B. Craddock, Luke, Interpretation, (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1990), p. 188.

[10] Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing About Grace, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1997), pp.49-51.

Scratch Those Itching Ears

Introduction

            As of this posting, it will be less than two months before the United States presidential election. If you’re not sick of all the rhetoric yet, give it another 30 days and you may very well be by then. Most of you know me well enough by now that I am not in the habit of pandering to the events of the day in order to entertain my readers. However, sometimes leaders generally and religious leaders more specifically say things that compel me to say something. When politicians pander for votes using cheap fabrications and misinformation, I’ve grown accustom to dismissing what they say as foolishness. When religious leaders do it in God’s name, I refuse to let fabrications or misinformation go unchallenged. The other day, I read something in support of a particular position of one of the two major political parties from Archbishop Desmond Tutu that I’d like to share with you. Here’s what Archbishop Tutu said: “I can’t for the life of me imagine that God will say, ‘I will punish you because you are black, you should have been white; I will punish you because you are a woman, you should have been a man; I will punish you because you are homosexual, you ought to have been heterosexual.’ I can’t for the life of me believe that is how God sees things.” The purpose of this writing is not to teach about what the Bible says about homosexuality. I will most certainly teach about that specifically and in detail in a future writing. For the purposes of this writing, I will simply stipulate that the practice of homosexuality is consistently condemned in the Bible as an abhorrent behavior most often described, in both the Old and New Testament, as either detestable or indecent (cf. Lev 18:22; Lev 20:13; Rom 1:26-27).[1] But that’s not the point of this particular teaching. Which was more pleasant for you to hear—what Archbishop Tutu said or what I just said? And that’s the point of this teaching! There are those who will read my words and be fuming with anger even though the words are not my own but instead come directly from God’s Word. Those same people read the words of Archbishop Tutu and praise his wisdom even though his words are at best grotesquely misleading and at worst flat out untrue. However, many people are itching to hear what they want and the Archbishop is scratching the itch! But Archbishop Tutu isn’t the first to Scratch Those Itching Ears.

2 Timothy 4:1-5

           

¹ In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: ² Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. ³ For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. ⁴ They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. ⁵ But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry.

Context

            This letter, known as one of the Pastoral Epistles, contains some very important lessons from Paul. You see, this letter was written by Paul from a Roman prison while he was awaiting his execution. There’s something about people condemned to death—they seldom mince words and Paul was no different. There was an ever increasing danger to the young Church that Paul was constantly battling in addition to outright unbelief: “They were increasingly endangered by a judaizing-gnostic countermission that included church leaders and probably coworkers. Some house churches were ravaged and near collapse.”[2] Paul’s letters to Timothy were not only intended to instruct but also to encourage Timothy to always be prepared to faithfully and diligently carry out his calling and to persevere in the face of coming hardships. Paul anticipated that there would be some who would abandon their faith. The Pastoral Epistles “Anticipate such behavior ‘in later times’ (1 Tim 4:1; cf. 2 Tim 3-4).  But they already know of false teachers who have ‘missed the mark with regard to the truth/faith’ and who ‘upset the faith’ of some in the church (2 Tim 2:18; 1 Tim 6:21). Some ‘will depart from the faith’ ( 1 Tim 4:1) and ‘will turn away from hearing the truth’ (2 Tim 4:4). Departure from the faith comes from accepting ‘teachings of demons ’” (1 Tim 4:1).[3]

Explanation

            For vv. 1-2, it’s important to remember that Timothy is Paul’s protégé and here we see that Paul is passing the torch on to Timothy to continue Paul’s work. The Greek that translates: “I give you this charge” is a technical term that has multiple meanings including the term for the official transfer of office. This is a solemn moment as Paul organizes his affairs in anticipation of his imminent execution. Paul invokes the witness of God and Christ in the deed with the reminder to all of the things to come. That Christ will return in the final days as the ultimate Judge of all things and the establishment of the Kingdom. “All of v. 1 is thus a shout to lean into God’s certain future that is even now becoming present. But the commission still needs to be filled out in practical terms.”[4]

The practical terms of ministry for Paul, and by extension for Timothy, are identified broadly as five elements: 1) Preach the Word; 2) Always be available and prepared; 3) Rebuke/correct; 4) Encourage; and 5) Minister with great patience and careful instruction. It is important to remember that these ministry elements are given to Timothy in the context of an oath. This is evident by the aorist imperative verb tense used. “Timothy is to preach the word. As it conflicts with the Ephesian heresy,[5] he will need to confront the false teachers and their teaching, rebuke those who will not listen to him, and exhort those who will listen and follow the true gospel…Timothy must have complete and total patience, and his teaching must inform his preaching, confronting, rebuking, and exhorting. While Paul is thinking of Timothy in this verse, what he says is true for all Christian ministers.”[6] There are many interesting Greek words found in this text but I’d like to focus briefly on one:  This is the word for “rebuke.” The word is used twenty-nine times in the New Testament but only once by Paul. It is an extremely strong word that is used by Jesus to rebuke demons. Paul tells Timothy in his first letter that demons promote false teaching. I’ll come back around to this at the end but remember where lies originate from and false teachings are nothing more than cleverly disguised lies.

Vv. 3-4 are at the heart of this week’s lesson. In v. 3 Paul warns Timothy of a time when people will reject proper and sound teaching. Actually, they won’t just reject sound teaching, the text says, “they won’t put up with it.” Instead, they will insist on surrounding themselves with teachers that will tell them what they want to hear. They don’t want teachers that will tell them the truth, they want teachers to make them feel good about themselves and the lives they have chosen to live. “In this case the problem is viewed more from the angle of weak, sinful believers who are willing to be duped. Paul ascribes those who have surrendered to worldly values and sinful passions of various sorts so much so that these things determine the kind of teaching they will listen to.”[7] Paul describes it as only wanting to hear what their itching ears want to hear. So they gathered about themselves only those who would Scratch Those Itching Ears! The term can be understood as a metaphor intended to “Depict an appetite for novelty that cannot be satisfied; the metaphor implies that the false teachers will ‘scratch’ (satisfy) the itchy ears for them.”[8] Or else it can mean “A pleasant tickling more than scratching of their ears.”[9] In either case, “This group has a curiosity so active and a craving for novelty so insatiable that they are driven to extremes without any discretion for judging between truth and error.”[10] As if rejecting sound teaching weren’t bad enough, they crave and pursue false teachings and myths instead.

V. 5 contains the closing instructions and encouragement directed at Timothy. Clearly Paul envisages some difficult times ahead for Timothy when a clear and level head will be needed for his sake and for the Church’s benefit as well. Paul is certainly familiar with the difficulties and dangers that come with ministry—particularly since he is writing to Timothy from prison. Thereafter, Paul’s instruction to Timothy to “do the work of an evangelist” seems a bit out of place here only because it hasn’t really been included in any part of Paul’s instructions to Timothy previously in this section of the text. But remember that Paul is turning over the ministry to Timothy and Paul, more than anything else, was an evangelist. In fact, he was known as the evangelist to the Gentiles. Timothy needed to receive and carry this torch as well from Paul. Finally, Paul generally restates his charge to Timothy in his final statement. V. 5 draws a dramatic distinction between the behavior of those who are unfaithful and the faithfulness with which Timothy is to carry out his ministerial duties in service to those already a part of the Church as well as those who may yet become part of the Church.

Application

            I don’t know about you but when I read these verses I have to shake my head in amazement that the words describe, with frightening detail, the events of our own days. Charismatic leaders, especially religious leaders, can say virtually anything they want without question. Truth is irrelevant! People only want to hear what makes them feel good about what they think is true or how they are living their lives. I have to tell you that I see this more and more every day and it breaks my heart. Let me remind you about a story from a long time ago. I’ll share the relevant part of the story:

            Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. (Gen 3:1-6)

Remember when I told you earlier where false teachings come from? Well here we have the father of lies doing what he does best—deceiving God’s followers! You might also note that Satan didn’t drag Eve kicking and screaming to the tree and cram the apple down her throat. No, I suspect her ears were itching and Satan was more than happy to scratch the itch.

So let me just say something to you from the deepest part of my heart—don’t be deceived! Please be willing to listen to the truth even if it is very difficult to hear and be willing to speak the truth even if it is very difficult to say. Don’t simply go along with what someone says just because it affirms what you believe or how you live. First see what God’s Word says and then think for yourself. I wish I could somehow convey to you how serious this matter is. My professors at Seminary used to say: “You have a duty as a follower to follow only the Truth even if it leads you to the cross and as a Pastor to teach only the Truth even if it means leading someone to the cross.” It won’t always be easy but sometimes we might have to have some very hard conversations with family and friends about the Truth of God’s Word. We must be willing to hear some very hard truths contained in God’s Word about our own lives and make the changes necessary to conform to those truths. The truth of God’s Word is life giving even if it is very difficult. Let me share an illustration with you about this principle that might help. I have friends who have a young son that was diagnosed with cancer in January 2010. Hearing those words from the medical professionals was certainly heart-wrenching but the hardest truths were yet to come when the doctors began educating them about leukemia and the grueling treatments that would be needed in order to save their son’s life. It has been a long and difficult road that won’t be complete until his final treatment in June 2013. However, last week he turned 15, got his driver’s permit and has been in remission since early 2010![11] Now what do you suppose would have happened if the doctors and nurses didn’t want to tell them the hard truth that their son had cancer or what if they didn’t want a doctor or nurse that would tell them the truth about their son’s condition? Well you can guess that for yourself. So next time you hear someone like Archbishop Tutu invoking God to try to draw an analogy between, race, gender and sexual preference as though God does not make a distinction between things that are morally neutral and things that are not, ask yourself if that person is seeking to convey biblical truth or whether it’s someone who is out to Scratch Those Itching Ears!

***Warning***

            Let me please offer you a word of warning. When dealing with unbelievers, you must first do the hard work of evangelism before trying to use the Scriptures to rebuke them. Remember that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to enlighten us and lead us to the truth. However, the Holy Spirit does not dwell in unbelievers so it is unreasonable to hold them to the same level of biblical understanding or ethical conduct as believers. If you don’t first lead them to Christ, you will only be beating them over the head with truths they don’t accept as true! This will not bring them closer to Christ but will instead drive them farther away. Don’t expect them to be clean before you bring them to the One who will “wash them white as snow” (Is 1:18). Don’t be afraid to associate with unbelievers or invite them into your churches. Unbelievers must hear about Jesus and see how he has worked in your lives. I’m not saying that biblical truth does not apply to unbelievers. I’m saying that the salvation of unbelievers should be the primary goal. Conformity to biblical truth for unbelievers (if that were even possible) in this life is irrelevant if they are lost forever.

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[1] Nowhere in Scripture is anyone’s race or gender ever condemned in this way by God.

[2] Gerald F. Hawthorne, Ralph P. Martin, and Daniel G. Reid, eds., Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), p. 661.

[3] Ibid., p. 44.

[4] Philip H. Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus, (William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, MI, 2006), p. 600.

[5] The Ephesian heresy was an aberrant form of Judaism combined with Gnosticism. It emphasized the Law but minimized Christ and faith. It taught the virtue of asceticism and denied the resurrection. It produced sinful lifestyles and was destroying the Church’s reputation in Ephesus.

[6] William D. Mounce, WBC Pastoral Epistles, (Thomas Nelson, Nashville, TN, 2000), p. 573.

[7][7] Philip H. Towner, 1-2 Timothy & Titus, (Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 1994), p. 205.

[8] Towner, The Letters to Timothy and Titus, p. 604.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid., pp. 604-605.

[11] September is childhood cancer awareness month—pass it on!