Genesis 19:1-20:18…
So this is a hard text in this day and age because it identifies the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah as men desiring other men – homosexuality. It’s not fashionable and it’s not politically correct to say it but, if we’re taking seriously what the Bible is saying, God is not happy with what they’re getting up to. He’s really not happy at all.
His angels (two of the three guys who’d visited Abraham yesterday) rescue Lot, his wife and his daughters from the city. And the angels instruct them not to look back. Now there’s an important point there… When God calls us to follow him or if he takes us in a new direction or whatever it might be we must never look back. Instead we’ve got to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and the direction he’s leading us in. The past is gone and we should never look back, wanting what’s gone before, when we’re with God. Lot’s wife did and she was turned into a pillar of salt – which can’t be good!
But what she looked back upon was God’s anger destroying Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding area for the sins committed there. ‘The Lord rained down burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah.’ He had shown his mercy to Lot and his household but the outcry against the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was so great and they had persisted in their ways so unswervingly that God chose to destroy them, much as he had done with the flood to the whole world.
The next section is equally disturbing. Lot’s daughters, having no men around, decide to get their father so drunk that he doesn’t have a clue what’s going on. Somehow, on consecutive nights, they manage to sleep with him – their own father?! – and get pregnant by him. Now there’s no criticism of them for doing this (though nowhere in the Bible do they get a pat on the back) but it is the case (as we’ll see) that the nations that come from them (the Moabites and the Ammonites) will repeatedly be found warring against the people of God – which might well be to do with the unconventional way (to say the least) that they were born.
And then we read on to Abraham doing the same thing to Abimelech as he did to Pharaoh a few chapters previously: telling the king that Sarah is his sister, not his wife, to save his own skin. It transpires that Sarah is his half-sister. But she is also his wife and he should, in my book, be up front about this. God, though, has prevented Abimelech from sleeping with Sarah and sinning against God. And, as weird as it seems, it all results in Abimelech and his people beginning a relationship with God. Abraham knew that there was no fear of God in that land (20:11). But by the end of the passage Abimelech is bringing gifts to Abraham, receiving prayer and getting healed – pretty cool. And perhaps it even makes Abraham’s tactics permissible.
Matthew 7:24-8:22…
The last bit of the Sermon on the Mount is the famous passage about the wise and foolish builders. In life – as in house building – storms come, hard times hit and the going gets tough and unless we’ve built our lives on the teaching of Jesus, we’ll fall apart. It’s exactly the same with a builder who has built his house on sand… when the rains came and floods waters rise, the house falls flat.
So, we’re to build our house on the rock and that rock is Jesus and his teaching. And the fact that Jesus says this at the end of the Sermon on the Mount suggests that the rock for our lives to be built on is everything he’s taught in the last couple of chapters. Difficult but solid things.
And in response to the Sermon a leper comes to Jesus for healing. And it’s always in response to Jesus and his word that men and women come to him for him to meet their needs. And notice the leper’s words – there’s no doubting. It’s not, ‘If you are willing, can you heal me,’ but, ‘if you are willing you ca heal me.’ That’s faith. And Jesus heals him. Just as he does with the centurion’s servant. The centurion understands Jesus’ power. He doesn’t need to be in the same place to heal someone, he simply says the word and it’s done. And because the centurion understood that – understood how powerful Jesus is – Jesus commends him for having greater faith than anyone in Israel. And Jesus then tells the people of Israel (the Jews) that many will come from the east and the west (that includes you and me) to take their place at the feast of Abraham (heaven).
And there are more amazing healings that take place at Peter’s house.
And Matthew’s structured it brilliantly – like any good writer. First you hear Jesus words and then we see that word accompanied with signs and wonders. And that’s still true today, if we hear Jesus words and respond then we will see amazing things happen. People are still healed in amazing and powerful ways. Miracles do happen. And we’ll see them as we follow Jesus.
But the cost of following Jesus is pricey. Like Lot leaving Sodom and Gomorrah, we can’t look back. We’re with Jesus now. Nothing else compares to that.
Psalm 7:1-9…
This Psalm echoes a lot of the themes in the other two readings today, namely of God’s protection and action on behalf of the righteous. He protected Lot and his daughters as Sodom was burning up. In Jesus, he acted on behalf of the leper and the centurion’s servant and countless others at Peter’s house.
The Psalm reminds us that there is wickedness in the world but that God is looking out for us… for those who don’t look back but who follow him with all our hearts. He will make the righteous secure.
So this is a hard text in this day and age because it identifies the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah as men desiring other men – homosexuality. It’s not fashionable and it’s not politically correct to say it but, if we’re taking seriously what the Bible is saying, God is not happy with what they’re getting up to. He’s really not happy at all.
His angels (two of the three guys who’d visited Abraham yesterday) rescue Lot, his wife and his daughters from the city. And the angels instruct them not to look back. Now there’s an important point there… When God calls us to follow him or if he takes us in a new direction or whatever it might be we must never look back. Instead we’ve got to keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and the direction he’s leading us in. The past is gone and we should never look back, wanting what’s gone before, when we’re with God. Lot’s wife did and she was turned into a pillar of salt – which can’t be good!
But what she looked back upon was God’s anger destroying Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding area for the sins committed there. ‘The Lord rained down burning sulphur on Sodom and Gomorrah.’ He had shown his mercy to Lot and his household but the outcry against the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah was so great and they had persisted in their ways so unswervingly that God chose to destroy them, much as he had done with the flood to the whole world.
The next section is equally disturbing. Lot’s daughters, having no men around, decide to get their father so drunk that he doesn’t have a clue what’s going on. Somehow, on consecutive nights, they manage to sleep with him – their own father?! – and get pregnant by him. Now there’s no criticism of them for doing this (though nowhere in the Bible do they get a pat on the back) but it is the case (as we’ll see) that the nations that come from them (the Moabites and the Ammonites) will repeatedly be found warring against the people of God – which might well be to do with the unconventional way (to say the least) that they were born.
And then we read on to Abraham doing the same thing to Abimelech as he did to Pharaoh a few chapters previously: telling the king that Sarah is his sister, not his wife, to save his own skin. It transpires that Sarah is his half-sister. But she is also his wife and he should, in my book, be up front about this. God, though, has prevented Abimelech from sleeping with Sarah and sinning against God. And, as weird as it seems, it all results in Abimelech and his people beginning a relationship with God. Abraham knew that there was no fear of God in that land (20:11). But by the end of the passage Abimelech is bringing gifts to Abraham, receiving prayer and getting healed – pretty cool. And perhaps it even makes Abraham’s tactics permissible.
Matthew 7:24-8:22…
The last bit of the Sermon on the Mount is the famous passage about the wise and foolish builders. In life – as in house building – storms come, hard times hit and the going gets tough and unless we’ve built our lives on the teaching of Jesus, we’ll fall apart. It’s exactly the same with a builder who has built his house on sand… when the rains came and floods waters rise, the house falls flat.
So, we’re to build our house on the rock and that rock is Jesus and his teaching. And the fact that Jesus says this at the end of the Sermon on the Mount suggests that the rock for our lives to be built on is everything he’s taught in the last couple of chapters. Difficult but solid things.
And in response to the Sermon a leper comes to Jesus for healing. And it’s always in response to Jesus and his word that men and women come to him for him to meet their needs. And notice the leper’s words – there’s no doubting. It’s not, ‘If you are willing, can you heal me,’ but, ‘if you are willing you ca heal me.’ That’s faith. And Jesus heals him. Just as he does with the centurion’s servant. The centurion understands Jesus’ power. He doesn’t need to be in the same place to heal someone, he simply says the word and it’s done. And because the centurion understood that – understood how powerful Jesus is – Jesus commends him for having greater faith than anyone in Israel. And Jesus then tells the people of Israel (the Jews) that many will come from the east and the west (that includes you and me) to take their place at the feast of Abraham (heaven).
And there are more amazing healings that take place at Peter’s house.
And Matthew’s structured it brilliantly – like any good writer. First you hear Jesus words and then we see that word accompanied with signs and wonders. And that’s still true today, if we hear Jesus words and respond then we will see amazing things happen. People are still healed in amazing and powerful ways. Miracles do happen. And we’ll see them as we follow Jesus.
But the cost of following Jesus is pricey. Like Lot leaving Sodom and Gomorrah, we can’t look back. We’re with Jesus now. Nothing else compares to that.
Psalm 7:1-9…
This Psalm echoes a lot of the themes in the other two readings today, namely of God’s protection and action on behalf of the righteous. He protected Lot and his daughters as Sodom was burning up. In Jesus, he acted on behalf of the leper and the centurion’s servant and countless others at Peter’s house.
The Psalm reminds us that there is wickedness in the world but that God is looking out for us… for those who don’t look back but who follow him with all our hearts. He will make the righteous secure.
1 comment:
I'm joining Brian Gunn as a member of the Hilton youth.... These are excellent posts that don't dodge the issues of today. God Bless you Jonathan with insight for the journey of BIAY.
Post a Comment