Wednesday, September 29, 2010

International Sunday School Lesson for October 3, 2010

What’s in a Name?
By
Jed Greenough



Psalm 8


O LORD, our Lord,
       how majestic is your name in all the earth!
       You have set your glory
       above the heavens.
 From the lips of children and infants
       you have ordained praise
       because of your enemies,
       to silence the foe and the avenger.
 When I consider your heavens,
       the work of your fingers,
       the moon and the stars,
       which you have set in place,
 what is man that you are mindful of him,
       the son of man that you care for him?
 You made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
       and crowned him with glory and honor.
 You made him ruler over the works of your hands;
       you put everything under his feet:
 all flocks and herds,
       and the beasts of the field,
 the birds of the air,
       and the fish of the sea,
       all that swim the paths of the seas.
 O LORD, our Lord,
       how majestic is your name in all the earth! 

When was the last time you read through all the Psalms?

Once having done so, you come away with a treasure chest filled to the brim with jewels for your daily walk.

There are some that enlighten you, some that educate, some that frighten and some that comfort.

You might want to break out in song like I did when I put today’s Psalm spontaneously into a musical praise to God, something that was originally done with this psalm, and I came away feeling better for having done it and I am confident that it was pleasing to God.

Today’s psalm also has much to say in only a few short verses.  David in praising God manages to remind me that not all hold God in high esteem or regard Him at all for that matter.

Right now as I write this I am in a place that for me is as easy as breathing to see God’s majesty by the things He has wrought, Jackson Hole Wyoming.

This day I will see snow capped mountains, picturesque streams, the smell of sage and spruce and pine will invigorate me and I will wonder in awe at God and I will praise Him and thank Him for these blessings.

But as I said not all who view these things will as David said consider the “heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars,” or that He made us “ruler over the works” of His hands.

In Romans 1:18-20 we read, “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

We all are and always have been without excuse if we do not acknowledge and praise and serve God for He is apparent, if nothing more than, by the things He has made.

One need not be in the shadows of the Tetons; look around, look at your spouse, your children.  An example of God in those we love should be the most apparent example of Him since we are made in His image.

David wrote how majestic God’s name is and in the study Bible that I am using on the note for Deuteronomy 12:5 it says, “in the ancient Semitic world “name” often stood for the essence of the thing named, God’s Name is equivalent to His presence.”

We stand surrounded by “His presence” so may we end this discussion as today’s psalm both begins and ends, “O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”






Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

International Sunday School Lesson for September 26, 2010

Do You Question God’s Justice?
By
Jed Greenough

Exodus 34:1, 4-10

“The LORD said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.”

So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the first ones and went up Mount Sinai early in the morning, as the LORD had commanded him; and he carried the two stone tablets in his hands.  Then the LORD came down in the cloud and stood there with him and proclaimed His name, the LORD.  And He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin.  Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished; He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

Moses bowed to the ground at once and worshiped.  “O Lord, if I have found favor in your eyes,” he said, “then let the Lord go with us.  Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wickedness and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.

Then the Lord said: “I am making a covenant with you.  Before all your people I will do wonders never before done in any nation in all the world.”

Whoa!  This is awesome and scary at the same time!

If you missed last week’s lesson and you are not familiar with what is going on here then I suggest you go back for that short lesson in which we saw the newly liberated nation of Israel whose representative Moses had just received the 10 Commandments for them, quickly turn their backs on those and everything that they had promised to God.  They had created a Golden Calf, an idol to which they gave worship, and if not for Moses interceding on their behalf, Israel would be no more.

So here we are with Moses and an understanding of why there is this discussion of a 2nd set of stone tablets.  Furthermore, we can see why God is proclaiming His compassion, grace, patience, love, faithfulness and forgiveness.

Traits like those are easy for all of us to accept and last week maybe we wanted to see a little bit less of those traits from God due to our disappointment with the people of Israel but what follows might be a little less palatable for some of us, “He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”

This is one of those lessons where I would rather we were sitting together because the questions, statements and looks of shock would speak volumes.

Statements would be forthcoming like, “My God is a loving God, He would never do anything like that.”  Many people want God to fit into a nice, neat, easy to swallow package.  Their God I guess is one who only gives and isn’t allowed to expect anything in return.

Well I am sorry, but OUR God is a holy God and a holy God must have justice.  In God’s eyes one sin is the same as the next, there are not levels of sin and all sin must be answered for.  Sometimes it takes an entire Bible view of God to see this and accept it.

Notice I said accept not necessarily understand.

God lets things happen sometimes.  Choices that we make create consequences rather like ripples in a pond when we choose to throw a rock in the water.  As we have all been “punished” down through the generations since Adam so to were subsequent generations of Israelites “punished” after the sins of their fathers.

Are we all punished to the extent that we receive damnation?  No, not if in our living we live as God would have us live.

Let’s skip ahead in time roughly 900 years to the book of Ezekiel and read chapter 18

“The word of the LORD came to me:  "What do you people mean by quoting this proverb about the land of Israel:
       " 'The fathers eat sour grapes,
       and the children's teeth are set on edge'?
  "As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, you will no longer quote this proverb in Israel.  For every living soul belongs to me, the father as well as the son—both alike belong to me. The soul who sins is the one who will die.
  "Suppose there is a righteous man      
       who does what is just and right.
  He does not eat at the mountain shrines
       or look to the idols of the house of Israel.
       He does not defile his neighbor's wife
       or lie with a woman during her period.
  He does not oppress anyone,
       but returns what he took in pledge for a loan.
       He does not commit robbery
       but gives his food to the hungry
       and provides clothing for the naked.
  He does not lend at usury
       or take excessive interest.
       He withholds his hand from doing wrong
       and judges fairly between man and man.
  He follows my decrees
       and faithfully keeps my laws.
       That man is righteous;
       he will surely live,
       declares the Sovereign LORD.
  "Suppose he has a violent son, who sheds blood or does any of these other things (though the father has done none of them):
       "He eats at the mountain shrines.
       He defiles his neighbor's wife.
  He oppresses the poor and needy.
       He commits robbery.
       He does not return what he took in pledge.
       He looks to the idols.
       He does detestable things.
  He lends at usury and takes excessive interest.
      Will such a man live? He will not! Because he has done all these detestable things, he will surely be put to death and his blood will be on his own head.
  "But suppose this son has a son who sees all the sins his father commits, and though he sees them, he does not do such things:
  "He does not eat at the mountain shrines
       or look to the idols of the house of Israel.
       He does not defile his neighbor's wife.
  He does not oppress anyone
       or require a pledge for a loan.
       He does not commit robbery
       but gives his food to the hungry
       and provides clothing for the naked.
  He withholds his hand from sin
       and takes no usury or excessive interest.
       He keeps my laws and follows my decrees.
      He will not die for his father's sin; he will surely live. But his father will die for his own sin, because he practiced extortion, robbed his brother and did what was wrong among his people.
  "Yet you ask, 'Why does the son not share the guilt of his father?' Since the son has done what is just and right and has been careful to keep all my decrees, he will surely live.  The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be charged against him.
  "But if a wicked man turns away from all the sins he has committed and keeps all my decrees and does what is just and right, he will surely live; he will not die.  None of the offenses he has committed will be remembered against him. Because of the righteous things he has done, he will live.  Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?
 "But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin and does the same detestable things the wicked man does, will he live? None of the righteous things he has done will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness he is guilty of and because of the sins he has committed, he will die.
  "Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' Hear, O house of Israel: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust?  If a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits sin, he will die for it; because of the sin he has committed he will die.  But if a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life.  Because he considers all the offenses he has committed and turns away from them, he will surely live; he will not die.  Yet the house of Israel says, 'The way of the Lord is not just.' Are my ways unjust, O house of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?
  "Therefore, O house of Israel, I will judge you, each one according to his ways, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent! Turn away from all your offenses; then sin will not be your downfall.  Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, O house of Israel?  For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign LORD. Repent and live!

It is not hard to see what God was saying in Exodus 34 about the sins being revisited on the subsequent generations but for some it is.  Immediately blinders go up and they are uncomfortable.

We should not pick and choose what we like or what we will study from the scriptures but many do it including some of the most esteemed of Biblical commentators.  Check it out and you will see how they will gloss over or ignore verse 7.

Others misinterpret verse 7 in such a way as to use it as an excuse and that is what the people of Israel did for years and why the prophet Ezekiel was used by God to bring clarity and why we cannot just look at one difficult verse and expect to understand it without looking at other scripture for our own clarity.

As I stated earlier the actions we take today both good and bad can affect those that follow us.  They might be raised up in a house with God as it’s head or in one that is Godless, regardless it is how each individual lives their life within that framework that determines where their soul spends eternity for it is in fact the soul that sins that will die for our God is just.






Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

International Sunday School Lesson September 19,2010

The Golden Calf
Exodus 32:1-10

"When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who will go before us.  As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."

Aaron answered them, "Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me."  So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron.  He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool.  Then they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."

When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, "Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord."  So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burn offerings and presented fellowship offerings.  Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt.  They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf.  They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, 'These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.'

"I have seen these people," the LORD said to Moses, "and they are a stiff-necked people.  Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them.  Then I will make you into a great nation."  Exodus 32:1-10


Many are aware of this story if they have been a Christian for very long and most probably shake their heads in wonderment.  I for one can never read this without picturing the Cecil B. DeMille movie where I think he so brilliantly captured this particular part of the story.  I remember how bothered I was, even as a child, when I saw the movie or read this passage and saw how the people and Aaron turned so easily and so quickly from God.

But that was just a movie and this just a short ten verses out of the big story so let's go back a few chapters and flesh out the background just a little.

In the 19th chapter of Exodus we can see that 3 months had passed since the Israelites had left Egypt and now they arrived at the Desert of Sinai.  Moses went up the mountain to speak with God and here God made a promise to Moses that this people would be a holy nation to God.  He gave them the Ten Commandments that they were to keep and many of the rules that they should follow to worship God and to live organized lives.

During all this time the people of Israel heard the thunder and the incredibly loud trumpet sound.  They saw the cloud over the mountain as well as the lightning and the thick smoke.  And they felt the mountain as it trembled violently and they were in fear of God and according to Moses, this was how God wanted them to be so that they would not sin.

In the 24th chapter of Exodus we read that Moses was accompanied by the leaders of Israel, including his brother Aaron and at this point these leaders were granted the great privilege of seeing a magnificent representation of the glory of God.

Here Moses leaves his brother and these elders and as he left them the cloud covered the mountain and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai for six days and on the seventh God called to Moses and "To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.  Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain.  And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights."  Exodus 24:17-18

It was during this 40 day period that God gave to Moses the instructions for the tabernacle but it was evidently 40 days too long for the people of Israel which brings us to today's scripture that we started with.

All the people of Israel had heard the Ten Commandments and all had heard God's proposed covenant with them.  They had experienced the generations of slavery under Pharaoh, had witnessed and lived the miraculous deliverance from bondage.  These same people had seen water delivered to them from rocks, had been fed day and night because of God's manna.  Finally as we just read they had recently seen, heard and felt the glory of God on Mount Sinai.

But it wasn't enough for them.  Their main leader's absence was all they needed to forget all the wonderful things that the Father had done in delivering and taking care of them.  In not much more than a month's time they had forgotten the commands they had agreed to follow as we read back in Exodus 20:1-5a "And God spoke all these words: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.  "You shall have no other gods before me.  "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them;"

As we read in Exodus 24:17 "To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain" when Moses entered the cloud.  It only stands to reason that if he was still with God this cloud and consuming fire was probably still before their eyes and yet they and Aaron still sinned against God!

Makes you mad doesn't it?  But should it?

Stop to think about the fact that the people of Israel did not receive God's wrath even though they deserved it.  He still made them into a holy nation that He would set apart for Himself.

And Aaron, with everything you know about God, would you have been surprised if God would have instructed Moses to strike him down?  But He didn't, God still made a priestly line that began with Aaron.

The people of Israel and Aaron actually still had the futures that God had originally planned for them because of His great grace!

And how about you, have you ever seen God's miracles, heard God's voice, recevied blessing after blessing, how about a healing or things you cannot put into words and still you sinned against Him, sometimes even after barely a month's time?

Yet, God will still give you His grace.  Like Moses who interceded on behalf of the Israelites, so do we have the Great Interceder and not a man but Jesus who sits at the right hand of God, but only if we have accepted Him as our Lord and Savior.

If you haven't, you have no one to intercede on your behalf with the Father, and if you have, what are you doing to share the gospel with others who have not?

Share the gospel!





Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 Biblica. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.