Journey through the Old Testament€¦ · Journey through the Old Testament Message Notes I. The...

Jeff Huber’s Sermon – March 27-28, 2010 - 1

1,900 B.C. 1,200B.C.

1,000B.C.

722 B.C. 586 B.C. 432 B.C.

165 B.C.

Journey through the Old Testament

Message Notes I. The Historical Background to Today’s Scriptures:

II. The Overarching Message of Today’s Scriptures:

III. What Do These Scriptures Tell Me About God?

IV. What Do These Scriptures Mean for Me?

Learning from the Rabbi

Sermon Scripture Passage:

Holy Space Anointing is an ancient tradition that set apart a person for service or

devotion. The priests of Israel (Exodus 29:1-9) and Kings (1 Samuel

10:1-8, 16:13)were anointed. The kings were called the Lord’s

anointed. In the Christian church, we still use anointing at baptisms

and for healing and as a sign to call on the Holy Spirit.

You are invited to come to our Maundy Thursday service this week

at 7 p.m. where we will have a time for prayer and anointing as part

of the service. We also will have Communion together. The service

will be held in the Wesley Parlor that night. On Good Friday this

week you can come to the Community Service which will be held at

Noon at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church on 3rd

Avenue and 11th

downtown. We will have our own Good Friday service here in the

Sanctuary at 7 p.m. which will be a powerful reverse Advent service

with participation from our Confirmation class. There also will be a

time for prayer an anointing at this service as well. Throughout the

week we encourage you to take your Message Notes and Meditation

Moments to a holy space and spend some time in prayer and

reflection this Holy Week. You can simply set up a corner in a room

with a candle; take some time with God this week as we prepare for

the final moments of Jesus’ earthly life and his resurrection which

changed everything.


Monday, March 29 - Read 1 Samuel 8:1-9

The ―elders of Israel‖ (v.4) have decided they want to be ruled by an earthly king ―like other nations‖ (v. 5). No longer will they follow the commands of God as communicated through God’s appointed prophets and judges. God knows this path is wrong and will ultimately bring disaster upon Israel, but tells Samuel, ―Listen to the voice of the people.‖ (v.7).

Sometimes the best learning we do is the learning that comes the hard way… through a direct, painful experience of the consequences of taking the wrong path. Think about a time this happened to you recently. Would you have listened if someone had sat down with you and spelled out the consequences you would face? How does the lesson learned from this experience continue to shape your thinking and acting?

Tuesday, March 30 - Read 1 Samuel 15:1-22 The prophet Samuel anointed Saul as the first king of Israel in chapter 9 of the book of 1 Samuel (because ―…he stood head and shoulders over everyone else‖ according to v. 2), but has rejected him by chapter 15. Why did God reject Saul? Do you think the seeds of Saul’s failure as a king existed even before Samuel anointed him? What does this story tell us about the qualities we should look for in our leaders? Begin reading chapter 16. This is the story of Samuel anointing the shepherd boy David as the next king of Israel while Saul is still alive and in power. What seems to be different about God’s choice of David as opposed to God’s choice of Saul to rule?

Wednesday, March 31 - Read 1 Kings 11:26-43, or chapters 11-12 for fuller context The kings of Israel find themselves captivated by power, money, and false gods rather than covenant faithfulness to God. They experience internal conflict and divide as a nation—with the northern kingdom, Israel, led by Jeroboam (12:20-24) and the southern kingdom, Judah, led by Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. Have you ever been part of a group that falls apart because of fighting within? What can we learn from this?

Israel rises and falls in 200 years, with most of its life spent fighting internal and external battles. Judah is more stable, living for 400 years under one dynasty, but ends with the fall of Jerusalem and the exile of the people in 586 B.C. These are the same people that followed Moses and pledged themselves to faithfulness. How do we, like the people of Israel, sometimes find ourselves way off course?

Thursday, April 1 – Read Amos 5 Amos was a herdsman called to be a prophet to the northern kingdom (see 7:14-15). During the monarchical period, several prophets were called by God to speak to the people, exhorting them to return to the covenant and to faithfulness to God. The prophets did not predict the future rather they spoke warnings to the people such as the one in 5:6. His message is essentially: if you stay this course, you will lose your land, be sent into exile, and your leaders will be killed.

Verse 24 says, ―But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.‖ This verse was quoted by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in speeches calling people to pursue racial and economic justice. Who are the people speaking prophetically to us today? How does God use the words of Amos to call us to return to faithful living?

Friday, April 2–Read Isaiah 53:3-9 This passage shows us a radically different picture of what a king might look like. It invites us into a deep and thorough examination of how God’s purposes are accomplished in the world. We want kingship to look like a throne, military muscle, and political power. God’s idea – as we see in this passage – is that the king who has been, ―wounded for our transgressions‖ is our rightful king. This is, of course, Good Friday, the day of Jesus’ death on the Roman cross. As we reflect on the events of this day recorded in the gospel accounts (Matthew 26:1-27:66, Mark 14:1-16, Luke 23:26-49, John 19:16b-42) let us pray for guidance and strength to live lives that more closely align with God’s vision of the kingdom come… on earth, as it is in heaven.

Meditation Moments


THEME: “Journey Through the Old Testament”

“Of Prophets and Kings” Sermon preached by Jeff Huber – base on a sermon series by Adam Hamilton March 27-28, 2010 at First United Methodist Church - Durango

Isaiah 1: 1-2 and 16-18 1 These are the visions that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and

Jerusalem. He saw these visions during the years when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah.

2 Listen, O heavens! Pay attention, earth! This is what the Lord says: “The children I raised and cared for have rebelled against me.

16 Wash yourselves and be clean! Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways.

17 Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.

18 “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.

VIDEO Blowing of the Shofar

SLIDE Of Prophets and Kings

The Shofar calls us to worship as we continue in a series of sermons that is taking us on a journey through the Old Testament. I want to invite you to take out of your bulletin your message notes in your meditation moments. The message notes are a place where you can write down things you want to remember and possibly think about in the days ahead. There also is a timeline at the top and I will invite you to fill in the blanks on the timeline. There should be pens on a chair in front of you so you might want to have that out and have it ready.


The meditation moments are an invitation for you to read the Scriptures on your own this week and take time for God to speak to you through the Hebrew Bible. The first three days you will read about the kings of Israel in the last two days you will be reading from the prophets of Israel. That is the theme for our message today as we look at the kings and the prophets of ancient Judah. Today we are going to learn a bit about them and then you will have a chance to do some reading from them on your own and I think you will find it to be powerful and a blessing if you’ll take the time to do that this week.

I can already hear the wheels moving in some of your head as you ask, “Are you kidding Pastor Jeff? This is Palm Sunday and you were going to preach about the Kings and the prophets of the Hebrew Bible? How does that fit together?”

Here is something important to note today. The events of Palm Sunday and the stories of the Kings of Israel and the message of the prophets of Israel are inextricably bound together. If we understand the Kings and the prophets then we can begin to understand what’s happening on Palm Sunday as Jesus entered Jerusalem and through the entire holy week that we begin today. I hope you find by the time we get to the end of this message how all of these things go hand-in-hand with each other.

I remind you that we began this sermon series 6 weeks ago and we have been taking a journey through the Old Testament. Our goal has been to give you a 20,000 foot overview of the Old Testament so we could understand its major themes, major players, major characters and major historical events. Hopefully this can help you understand how to read the Old Testament for yourself so as you read it you may have a fuller sense of what God is trying to say to you.

My hope is that at the end of each sermon you would say, “I can’t wait to go home and read this on my own and find out more of what is in here.” The truth is I am just scratching the surface for you during this series of sermons.

We began looking at the book of Genesis and in particular focused on Abraham and Sarah as the foundational story for the Old Testament. We moved it then to the story of the Exodus where Moses leads the people out of Egypt and slavery. Moses and the people receive the law and the 10 Commandments while they are in the wilderness and finally Joshua leads the people into the Promised Land. We learned about the time of the Judges which followed Joshua’s leadership. Then last week we turned our attention to the wisdom literature I preached to you about Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Songs.


After last week’s sermon many of you left quickly to go home and read Song of Songs!

Today we come to the end of our series where we look at the Kings into Israel and the Prophets that God raised up to confront the Kings and the people in the midst of their sin and their struggle to follow God. Let’s begin by filling in the timeline which will help all of us, especially if you have not been able to be with us over the last six weeks.

SLIDE 1900 B.C. – Abraham

We don’t know exactly when Abraham lived but a sometime between 2200 and 1800 BC. Remember that God made a promise to Abraham, a covenant in which he said, “I will bless you and make your descendents as numerous as the stars in the sky. I will bless you that you might be a blessing and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through you and your descendents.”

God made this covenant with Abraham and it really is the beginning of the Old Testament story. All of us spiritually, or our Jewish and Muslim friends believe physically, are descendents of Abraham. He is the father of the Christian, Jewish and Muslim faiths.

We fast forward to 1290 BC. The date is not on the top of the timeline but you might write it in.

SLIDE 1290 B.C. – Moses

This is the approximate time God called Moses to confront Pharaoh in Egypt. He confronted the Pharaoh in Egypt because Abraham’s descendents had become slaves in Egypt. Moses went to Pharaoh and said, “God says to lead his people go.”

You remember that it didn’t happen easily. Pharaoh didn’t want to let the Jewish slaves go because they provided his economic stability. So God brought plague after plague after plague upon the Egyptians. Finally, the last plague was the death of the firstborn children in Egypt. God sent the angel of death across Egypt one night and claimed the firstborn in every home.

To save the Israelites from this plague he gave them a sign. He told them to offer a lamb as a sacrifice and then take the blood of the Lamb and put it on the doorpost of your home. When the angel of death sees the blood of the Lamb he will pass over that house and go to the next one. The grief in Egypt was so intense


that night that Pharaoh told the Israelites slaves to leave immediately and go. The Israelites were set free from slavery and they left that land.

You may note that your Jewish friends remember that event every single year. They will start tomorrow night with the Passover festival and for seven days they will remember how, by the blood of the Lamb, the Israelites were saved and God delivered them from the hand of the Egyptians. Their homes were passed over and so they remember the Passover feast. This is the central saving act in the Old Testament. You have to know this story to fully understand what the Old Testament is all about.

SLIDE 1200 B.C. – Joshua

The next date on your timeline is 1200 BC and this is the approximate time of Joshua leading the people into the Promised Land. This time period also includes the Judges.

SLIDE 1000 B.C. – Kings Saul, David and Solomon

Around 1000 BC Israel Saul was chosen to be the first king of Israel. King David became the greatest King of Israel and he followed Saul. After David, his son Solomon became king.

Solomon dies in 930 B.C. Solomon built the temple and the palace and extended the reign and rule of Israel. After his death his son Rehoboam came to power. Rehoboam tells the people he is going to rule more harshly than Solomon. The people don’t like us very much and finally the northern tribes of the nation of Israel rebel against him. If you pull out the map in your bulletin you can see this a bit more clearly.

SLIDE Map – The Kingdoms of David and Solomon

You can see that under Solomon the territory of Israel expanded farther to the north. Under his son Rehoboam the territory was reduced to this un-shaded area inside the shaded area which is the territory conquered by David.

If you turn this map over you will find a second map which shows you what happened after the people rebelled against Rehoboam.

SLIDE Map – The Kingdoms of Israel and Judah

The northern tribes rebelled and formed their own kingdom. They retained the name Israel and their capital was Samaria. The southern kingdom was known as Judah and its capital was Jerusalem. He continued to have the Davidic king


which was Rehoboam who was a descendent of David. For the next 400 years one of the offspring of David would reign in Jerusalem. The nation of Judah would consider itself God’s faithful people. These two kingdoms coexisted from 930 BC until 722 BC. I and II Kings and II Chronicles contain the stories of the Kings who led Judah and Israel during this time period.

SLIDE 722 B.C. – Northern Kingdom of Israel destroyed by the Assyrian Empire

These next two dates are the two most important dates to remember as you read the Old Testament. In 722 the Assyrians sent their troops into the northern kingdom of Israel. They invaded the land and they destroyed every city. They killed thousands of people and carried away the rest as exiles throughout the Assyrian Empire. The Israelites from the northern kingdom intermarried with other Assyrians and once they intermarried they lost their identity. They began to worship other gods and soon they literally disappeared from the face of the year.

The Assyrians transplanted other conquered peoples to the land of Israel and those people intermarried with the straggling Israelites who remained. They became known as the Samaritans. You have heard the parable of the Good Samaritan and this is where the word comes from. Samaritans were Israelites and Assyrians left in this northern kingdom who co-mingled.

This was a national catastrophe in 722 BC for the Israelites. None of the Israelites could quite make sense of how God could allow them to be destroyed. 140 years later the southern kingdom of Judah falls.

SLIDE 586 BC – Judah falls to the Babylonians

Jerusalem is destroyed by the Babylonian empire. King Nebuchadnezzar leaped the Babylonians into Jerusalem and they destroy the temple and the palace. He takes the ruling king of Jerusalem who is from the line of David and places his two sons before him. He slaughters the king’s sons before his eyes and then he gouges out the king of Judah’s eyes so the last thing that he sees is the death of his sons. They put the king in chains and they humiliate him even further as he is led blind in front of all the people that they take away as slaves into exile into the land of Babylon.

Most of the Jews were taken to Babylon as slaves to live in exile. They did however learn a lesson from the Israelites in the northern kingdom who were taken away as exiles by the Assyrians. He realized that if they go mangled with the


Babylonians they would cease to exist. Instead, they insisted on marrying their own people. They formed synagogues in the land of Babylon so they could retain their faith and continue to worship God. They humble themselves before God and they asked this question, “Why did God allow the Temple to be destroyed? Why did God allow Jerusalem to be destroyed? Why did God allow us to become slaves?”

From that place in Babylon they look back over their long history and they began to rewrite their history. They began to look at history and explain how every time the Israelites and the Jews had turned away from God. This is why God had allowed this to happen to them.

Here is what is important to know from these two points of history where the Israelites and the Jews were carried off into exile as slaves. The Old Testament as you have it today was largely shaped by the events of 586 and 722 BC. The books of first and second Samuel, first and second Kings, first and second Chronicles were all put in their final form after 586 BC as a way of explaining what had happened to the people.

All 17 books of the prophets were written just before or just after the distraction of Israel or the destruction of Judah. A vast portion of your Old Testament was written during this period of time. Probably much of the rest of the Old Testament received its final form during this period of time. There was final editing during this time frame of 722 to 586 BC.

I tell you this because if you are going to understand the Old Testament you have to understand the events that took place in this timeframe.

50 years later the Persians conquered the Babylonians and they allow the Jewish people to go back to their homeland. The exiles were restored in the last books of the Old Testament tell the story of the restoration of Judah and the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah tell of this time period and also contain the words of the prophets who spoke to the people as they returned from exile. That brings us to the close of the Old Testament and its history.

For the time that remains today I want us to focus on the Kings and the Prophets and how they might speak to us today on this Palm Sunday. Let’s talk about the Kings first.

SLIDE The Kings – Saul, David and Solomon


We mentioned already that David was seen as the greatest King that Israel would ever know. To this very day he is the ideal of what it means to be a king. What is the national symbol of Israel? It is the Star of David. 3000 years later he is still looked to as the zenith of what it means to come to power.

David was a shepherd. He also was a songwriter and a singer who enjoyed music. He enjoyed women and dancing and pleasure. In general he enjoyed life. But more than anything, when he was at his best, he enjoyed loving and serving God.

David was a man after God’s own heart and he understood that being a king was a sacred trust from God. He saw all of the people as God’s sheep and his job was to tend to them and care for them. His responsibility was to ensure there was just this in the land. David made significant errors along the way and I would encourage you to read about his story because it talks about someone who falls short and then returns to God humbled.

David was the scrawniest of his brothers yet he was chosen to fight Goliath. There is much I would love to share with you about David but what is most important today is to remember that his example was the epitome of what it meant to be a king. God made a covenant with Daniel in 2 Samuel 7:16.

“David, I assure you that one of your descendents will rule after you on your throne for ever.”

The Jewish people never forgot this. They still remembered this promise. Tomorrow night, when your Jewish friends begin the Passover festival, the Passover liturgy will refer back to this promise. They are still awaiting the King from David’s royal line will become the Messiah. This idea of David as the pinnacle of being a king is very important.

That promised to sustain the Jewish people, even in exile. “God promised that David’s sons would rule forever and so God has to be restoring us at some point in the future.” For 3000 years people have held on to that promise.

David is mentioned in the Bible more times by name than any other person but Jesus Christ. He is mentioned more than Abraham or Moses. David is mentioned 924 times by name and Jesus is mentioned 960 times by name. That tells you something about how important David is in the overall scheme of the Scriptures.


After David came Solomon and after King Solomon the kingdom was split into two kingdoms. 1 and 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles tell the stories of all of those kings in the Davidic line that followed Solomon. I’m going to tell you in 60 seconds the message of those books. In those three books you will hear this phrase again and again. When the writers of these three books are assessing the history and the value of the various kings they are not interested in how they did economically. They are not interested in how they did militarily. What they want to know is if the king was faithful to God and if they cared for their people. Over and over again you will hear these words.

SLIDE “This King did evil in the sight of the Lord.”

This King did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. This King did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. Over and over again you will hear that phrase. In the northern kingdom of Israel not one of those Kings did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. Every one of them did the wrong thing.

The pinnacle of that was Ahab. You may not remember Ahab’s name but perhaps you remember his wife. She has become synonymous with evil and her name is Queen…. Jezebel. Ahab and Jezebel lived in an ivory palace with great wealth. They amassed great wealth by oppressing the people and by killing and taking what they wanted. They turned away from God and followed the various gods of the nations around them. They are a picture of what happened to all the other kings in the northern kingdom of Israel.

In the southern kingdom of Judah almost all of the Kings did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, with a handful of exceptions. There were a few kings who were known as reformers and they took serious bringing people back to their faith in God and remembering God’s faithfulness. Because of those kings the nation of Judah was allowed to exist for 140 more years longer than the northern kingdom of Israel.

Here is the big idea that we hear from the prophets who wrote during this time period. These two little nations were located on one of the most strategic pieces of land on the face of the planet during that time period. Remember that this is the major trade route that links Europe, Asia and Africa and every major empire wanted that piece of ground. The only way these two small, tiny nothing kingdoms could exist and hold on to that ground was if there was the hand of God sustaining them.


But when the people turned away from God, God basically said, “Well, if you want to go it on your own then so be it. You are on your own.”

After generation after generation ignored God and the people followed the other gods of the nations around them, God finally said, “Fine, I will turn away from you and I won’t watch. I will be responsible for what happens for you have turned away from me.”

That was the message of the prophets. It was a warning uttered over and over again. You two little kingdoms will find out what it’s like to be little and small in a world of great empires if you fail to have the hand of God protecting you. The prophets warned the nations of Israel and Judah that they would one day be destroyed.

SLIDE What happened to the Kings?

Let’s talk about the Kings for a minute. They started out on the right foot. They knew they were entrusted with the care of the people. God had commanded them and had laid out his laws. God had formed this nation and he had given them this land and set them free from slavery. How did they go so far astray? How did they come to follow all the other gods? How did the Kings failed to do justice for the people and their lands?

What happened to them happens to many of us. It is part of the human condition. The Kings became enamored with wealth and power, and they forgot the vision. They forgot why they existed from the beginning.

Many of you know that almost 5 years ago my wife and I traveled to Ukraine to adopt our children. Part of that process was working with a translator and a driver because we didn’t speak Ukrainian and we needed someone to assist us in the adoption process. Luda was our translator and Leonid, her husband, was our driver. Leonid often would stay with us in our room while Luda went and took care of paperwork. On one occasion we had Leonid for two days without Luda who had to another city to take care of some paperwork.

SLIDE Luda and Leonid

Add a great time with Leonid just talking about a history of Ukraine and finding out more about his country and the country of our children. On this particular night he took us to the grocery store to get some food for dinner and he also insisted having a “Russian Tea Party.” I said that sounded like fun and he went off into the store and I expected them to come back with a box of fancy tea.


But that’s not what he came back with. Do you know what he came back with? He insisted on buying us the specialty of his nation, vodka. It was only a quarter for a large bottle and he did insist.

After dinner in our apartment, Leonid broke out the vodka and insisted we try some. He did promise us not to tell his wife because he wasn’t supposed to be drinking anymore. Now my stepfather was an alcoholic and vodka with his choice of drink so I don’t really like the stuff, but I didn’t want to be rude. I took one sip as did my wife Tami and we both coughed. Leonid did three shots in a row and it really loosened up his tongue. First, he wanted to know what kind of pastor I was since I was willing to drink vodka!

We began sharing our memories as children growing up in the Cold War. I recalled as a child we had civil defense drills. The alarm would sound and we would get underneath our desks in the classrooms. We would put our head between our knees and cover our heads with our hands, fingers clasped together. By the way, what was that going to do in the event of a nuclear war exactly? I explained all of this to Leonid and he laughed and said, “You guys did that too? We did that too because we were sure the Americans were going to attack us as kids.”

Not only did they practice those drills but they were given gas masks in the classrooms because they were told that we would drop gas on them. As a child Leonid also learned how to assemble an AK-47 in case the American paratroopers would come and try to take them out of their classrooms. We both were grateful that the Cold War does not exist in that form anymore and that now we could travel to each other’s countries and not be in fear of a nuclear war.

Then we began to talk about the changes in the former Soviet Union. I was amazed by the city of Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, because there were a lot of Mercedes-Benz’s being driven around. I learned that Moscow has more Mercedes-Benzes than any other city in the world and Kiev is not far behind. There were stretched limos and Hummers.

SLIDE Kiev Shopping Mall

This underground building and glass building you see in the background used to house the communist government and military operations for all of Ukraine. Now it is a shopping mall which has some of the fanciest stores in the world. There were $400 blue jeans being bought by some teenagers. I saw fir shops and leather shops with $2000 coats.


1% of the Ukrainian population can afford all of these things. 25% of the Ukrainian population is unemployed. The rest of the Ukrainian population makes about $300 a month. Leonid talked about how unsettling this was for the older generation to see this lavish and obscene use of wealth when so many people have nothing. This is unsustainable. At some point in the future if 1% of the population can afford $400 blue jeans and $2000 coats and 99% of the population makes $300 a month there will eventually be devastating consequences.

Leonid and I talked about this and as I reflected on it several years later in light of the most recent election in Ukraine which saw the pro-Western president defeated by a pro-Moscow president, I realized that is a prophetic conversation. That is the kind of conversation that prophets had with Israel.

So what happened in Russia and Ukraine? What happened to the vision that Lenin and others after him had? The Bolshevik Revolution in October of 1917 was about giving power to the proletariat. It was about the workers getting to share the wealth of all the people and yet it didn’t work. What happened in those coming as nations?

Leonid and I agreed that what happened was the human condition. Leaders may have a vision for sharing power and sharing wealth with ordinary workers but once they gain power they became greedy and they were unwilling to share. They became greater oppressors then the Czars who came before them.

This is the story of the Kings. Once they came into power they didn’t want to share. Once they came into power they forgot the God who gave them power. Once they came into power they became primarily interested in their own material well-being and those who were in their same class and they ignored the pleas of those who are in need. They stepped on the poor in order to have what they had.

This is why God sent the prophets.

SLIDE What are the prophets about?

I would like you to hear from Rabbi Mark Levin who is going to give us his perspective on what the prophets really stood for in ancient Israel. Let’s listen as he shares with us.

VIDEO Prophets and Kings

SLIDE What are the prophets about?


The prophets were the moral conscience of the people. God raised them up to challenge the status quo. That meant that most people would not be happy with the prophets and what they had to say. Most people and the Kings in particular would get frustrated with the prophets. Especially in times when things were going well for a certain number of the people who were in control and power, the profits would come along and challenge that. They would say, “You are not looking at the people who are poor among you. What are you doing about them and for them? You are not following the Lord the way God wants you to follow him.”

Kings and the people would be unsettled by the prophets. Prophets would stir the pot and as they did so people would become angry with them. The Kings would have them arrested and sometimes they would have been put to death. The prophets spoke powerful, unsettling words to the people in power.

There are two sins which the prophets primarily confronted and I want you to know what they are. We have already mentioned them throughout the sermon but let me state them clearly. These were the two primary sins of the people and the Kings.

SLIDE The sin of idolatry.

This was the sin of unfaithfulness and turning away from God. We find God speaking through the prophets again and again when he says, “I am a father and you are my children. I love you and I would do anything for you. I brought you out of Egypt and I gave you life and yet you ignore me. You fail to listen to me. You fail to talk to me and you don’t even care what I say anymore.”

Sometimes the prophets would use the metaphor of marriage. God was a husband and Israel was the wife. God says to Israel, “Why is it that I loved you when no one else would love you and then you go and commit adultery? You adulterate yourself with the other gods. How could you do this? Don’t you know that breaks my heart?”

Again and again the message of the prophets is, “You are turning away from the Lord. Stop wandering away and come back to God. Come home!”

SLIDE The injustice of the people.

The second sin that prophets would vocalize for God had to do with the injustices and the oppression that was experienced by the people. The leaders, the rulers and the Kings were not living by the covenant which God has


established. They were not caring for the poor and the widows and the orphans in their midst. They were taking advantage of people instead of looking to make sure that righteousness and justice were done. They condemned those in positions of power for this and they called them to repent. They invited them to change and offered them grace if they would turn around and go in a different direction.

But the prophets warned the kings that destruction would come if they continued to turn their back on God and to not care for the downtrodden. Listen to the passage of Scripture we read a few moments ago once more. The prophet Isaiah is considered the greatest of Israel’s prophets and he speaks these words in the first chapter.

SLIDE 1 These are the visions that Isaiah son of Amoz saw concerning

Judah and Jerusalem. He saw these visions during the years when Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah were kings of Judah.

2 Listen, O heavens! Pay attention, earth! This is what the Lord says: “The children I raised and cared for have rebelled against me.

This paints the first picture, of children who have turned their backs on God. Then beginning with verse 16 we find an invitation from God to change and the second sin named.

SLIDE 16 Wash yourselves and be clean!

Get your sins out of my sight. Give up your evil ways.

“You have turned your back on me and you are doing evil so stop doing evil and return to me.”

In verse 17 we have the positive call from God. SLIDE

17 Learn to do good. Seek justice. Help the oppressed. Defend the cause of orphans. Fight for the rights of widows.

I am reminded of James 1: 27 when James says that, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in


their distress.” So we have the condemnation and the challenge. We have a statement of what was wrong and how it can be fixed. Now there is a promise of grace in verse 18. SLIDE

18 “Come now, let’s settle this,” says the Lord. “Though your sins are like scarlet, I will make them as white as snow. Though they are red like crimson, I will make them as white as wool.

In his one passage of Scripture at the very beginning of the book of Isaiah we find these two themes which come up again and again in the prophets. God says to the people, “You have turned away from me and that breaks my heart. When you turn away from me you leave my protection and I let you have it your way.”

SLIDE The Message of the Kings and Prophets

The second theme is God saying, “Stop doing what is evil.”

The third theme is a challenge to do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord.

The final theme is the promise of redemption and hope if they will turn back. But if they don’t turn back the destruction will surely come.

As Rabbi Levin said, sin has consequences. That is part of what we have to remember today. The message of the Kings and the prophets is not 3000 years old but it is as fresh in this present day as it was for ancient Israel.

All of us in this room have had times when we have turned our back on God. I have done that, sometimes not even realizing it. You have done this too. How have you strayed from the path? When have you ignored the God who loves you and gave himself up for you? Do you talk to him like you used to? Do you listen for his voice? Do you worship him faithfully? Do you care what he thinks about what happens in your life?

These are the questions raised by the Kings in the prophets.

The second major question raised by the prophets is this: Do care about his people? Do you look around and see that the least in our society are still God’s


children and he cares about what happens to them? He counts on the fact that those of us who have been blessed will be a blessing to others and that we work together for a just society? Does your heart still breaks for people who are broken, for people who have nothing, for people who struggle? Do you see them as God’s children and understand that it’s our responsibility to help them? How are we doing on this?

We are here in the congregation nestled in La Plata County, where the average income level for people in a 10 mile radius of this church is six figures per household. God has entrusted to many of us sitting here in this congregation both great education, great abilities, great gifts and financial resources. How are you using them? Is it all about you? Is it all about what you have and what you are going to get and how high you are going to climb on the income ladder? Is it about the next job that pays more or the next bigger car or the next bigger house or the next vacation?

Or is it about using these things somehow to accomplish God’s purposes?

Sometimes in a Christian church we get caught up in thinking that salvation is all about me. What we hear is that salvation is all about me. Salvation is about God loving me so much that he sent his son Jesus Christ for me. Jesus wants to have a personal relationship with me and that is what salvation means. I won’t go to hell and I will have a personal relationship with Jesus and get to live with him forever in a nice house in the sky.

My personal relationship with Jesus has a profound impact on my life and I am grateful for every day. I am grateful that I have the promise of everlasting life. I know that part of being a good Christian is to go to church, read my Bible, pray and tell other people about Jesus. If you do those things you are good Christian, right?

But when I got to college I realized this was only part of what it means to be a Christian. I learned that it’s not just about me. There is something more. When I became active at the Wesley Foundation at the University of Colorado in Boulder I went to the homeless shelter for the first time and hung out with the least, the last and the lost in a pretty affluent city.

Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity who passed away this last year, was a close friend of my campus pastors and he came and spoke to us about working for every one of God’s children to have a simple, decent place to live. He preached from the prophet Isaiah where God says:


SLIDE “I am sick of your worship services! I am sick of your songs of praise because while you worship me and you sing praise you ignored the plight of those who are in need.”

I began to see the connection between the prophets and Jesus when he said, “I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, so away with you.”

I was challenged to recognize that Christianity is more than just about my personal salvation. It is about how we live our lives in the world to transform the world and bring about God’s kingdom. Yes, it is about loving God with all of our hearts AND loving our neighbor as we love ourselves. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, said that our faith should be lived out in Acts of Piety, that is worship and prayer and Bible study, and Acts of Charity, that is serving those who are in need.

That is how I ended up as a pastor in the United Methodist Church because I believe that being a Christian is both about our faith AND our works. When you come to this church you will see it in the bulletin and you will hear it in our prayers. The other day I was with one of the youth from our church and they expressed it as they talked about going to Belize on a mission trip this summer.

SLIDE We want to be Jesus Christ to the world.

That is our purpose and it is often hard, as well it should be. We want to transform our communities so it looks more like the kingdom of God in the future than it does today. We have challenged all of you who are members of this church to give it 10 hours this year to working directly with the poor. That is only in part about ministering to them, but it also is about saving you. It is about saving your soul.

I can already hear your voices in your head, “Pastor Jeff, aren’t we saved by grace?”

Yes, we are saved by grace, but we are saved FOR something.

After we had adopted our children in Ukraine we had to fly back to Durango and on our flight from Munich to Washington DC I met John Lovelace who is a United Methodist pastor and missionary in Kiev.

SLIDE John and Helen Lovelace


He and his wife Helen helped start a United Methodist church and ministry in downtown Kiev for orphaned children and those at risk of being homeless. I had a great time chatting with him on the plane and I was curious how they were doing and so I looked up their blog on the Internet this week. Here is a photo of two young girls in front of their church.

SLIDE Ukrainian kids

Their ministry is primarily for children whose parents have abandoned them. They have between 16 and 30 children who meet here at this church every day for lunch and to read the Bible and to simply be loved. Up until two years ago they didn’t even have a building to meet in but the mission giving that you give every week has helped them to build this church and ministry that reaches out to these kids.

Most of the children who meet there are homeless. Some of them sleep under the bridges in Kiev. Helen and John simply love these kids and when they trust them enough they eventually can connect them with orphanages so they can live with other children and be taken care of. Some of the children are unwilling to go but most of them eventually get connected with an orphanage and some are eventually adopted.

For many of these children, John and Helen are for many of them the only connection to Christ and to love. They are the only ones who look at these children with decency and respect. It is powerful to read about these children and to see pictures of them being embraced by United Methodist mission teams who come to love on them when no one else will.

I wonder if we see those children and if our hearts break for them?

SLIDE We want to be Jesus Christ to the world.

I am very proud of you as a congregation because you are a church who is concerned about those who are the forgotten in this community. Many of you serve at the Manna Soup kitchen on a regular basis. There were many Methodists from this church who helped get the building built for the soup kitchen. Many of you volunteer at the shelter. I went to a fundraiser at the boys and girls club last month and about one fourth of the people in attendance were from this church. 20 of you have volunteered to go build a playground in Shiprock, New Mexico next month. Just about everywhere I go in this community I hear one common thing said about this church, and it was said he four I ever ride as your pastor, “That


church is always doing things for other people. They are always out in mission doing something.”

I want to encourage you to continue down that path. I struggle with how I live in America and in Durango where we have affluence in a world where everyone cannot eat at night or have a warm place to sleep. I wrestle with this and I don’t have a magic answer. I do know that we are going to find ways to give of ourselves, both money and time, to make a difference and to be Jesus Christ to the world. Together we can be a part of helping La Plata County look more like the kingdom of God.

This last week I received a letter from our District Pastor, Rev. Steve Goodyear. He was responding to a letter he had received about a statement made by Rep. Nancy Pelosi regarding the most recent healthcare legislation passed by our Congress. I have not heard what she said, but she intimated that the United Methodist Church supported the recent healthcare legislation and many were concerned about this. Let me read part of his letter to you because I found it helpful and in many ways prophetic.

Thank you for your concern about health care reform and the United Methodist Church.

As you know, we have no agency that speaks on behalf of our whole church. The official response to Pelosi's comment can be found here: http://tinyurl.com/ye677zm. I think it is worth reading.

Let me be personal, however. United Methodists are neither Democrat nor Republican. They are both. They do not vote as a block for any legislation. They do not endorse a single candidate as a church.

But United Methodists and Christians in general, should be concerned about political issues that affect human lives.

My sister-in-law had cancer two years ago (39 years old). She had no health insurance, and she and my brother (who owns a small business and works 60+ hours a week) could not afford to pay medical costs for traditional treatment. They had to neglect aggressive chemo-therapy because of the cost, and opted for an alternative medical regimen. She died last year.

My daughter-in-law (32 years old) had an emergency appendectomy last fall. She is a student, as is my son, and they could not afford the cost of college as


well as health insurance. Her hospital bills are over $50,000 -- as much as my son's graduate degree will cost.

If you've had cancer, you cannot be insured (group policies excepted). If you have chronic disease (as does my wife), you cannot get insurance. If you have a pre-existing condition, you cannot be insured. I had a colleague at my last church whose Jr. High school aged son was once diagnosed with a stomach malady (no specific ailment was found). Now he cannot get health insurance. His mother was hospitalized a few years ago. Now she cannot get health insurance. If this sounds unbelievable, just wait. I checked into health coverage for both of them as she was on staff at the church. We could get none. No carrier would take them because they had once been sick.

Oh, and she had emergency surgery last year -- gall bladder. It cost her $80,000. She gets $15 an hour working two part time jobs.

Frankly, I feel ashamed. We live in one of the most affluent countries in the world and millions of us do not have adequate access to good health care. Over ten million children have no insurance.

An article from Health Affairs Web Exclusive, June 10, 2008 (by The Commonwealth Fund's Cathy Schoen, Sara R. Collins, Jennifer L. Kriss, and Michelle M. Doty), reports that "as of 2007, there were an estimated 25 million underinsured adults in the United States, up 60 percent from 2003. Much of this growth comes from the ranks of the middle class. While low-income people remain vulnerable, middle-income families have been hit hardest. For adults with incomes above 200 percent of the federal poverty level (about $40,000 per year for a family), the underinsured rates nearly tripled since 2003."

Can you imagine that? We have more part-time pastorates than ever before in this conference. One of the cries we hear repeatedly from struggling churches is that they cannot afford a full time pastor because of the cost of health insurance. Minimum salary in our conference is $31,535 plus housing or parsonage. The cost of family health coverage is $24,720. That is almost as high as the cash salary. It is no wonder small churches can no longer afford full time pastors. And the church is suffering because of it. God's work is suffering because of it. Think back, _____, to your first church. Can you remember how much health insurance cost? I recollect it being between 10 and 20 percent of my minimum salary in my first church. Now it about 80% and rising every year.


I'm sorry this is so long, but I don't see this as a political issue. I see it as a matter of what is right and wrong. Someone smarter than I framed it this way: The question we Christians need to ask is not about how the issue of inaccessible health care affects us. Hey -- lots of us are in group policies and it really doesn't affect us. We need to ask how it affects our neighbor. That is the question Jesus would ask, I am sure. I know how it affected my brother's family, my son's family, my colleague at church and the millions of people living in fear of getting sick because they are either uninsured or under-insured.

No, the UMC did not officially endorse any piece of health care reform legislation. But that's the political answer. More importantly, as a Christian, I never want to be satisfied with my own level of health care when my neighbor has to do without. I only hope and pray that United Methodists will care enough to do something to help.

All legislation is flawed. But I believe the real issue is about finding a way to care for people who are sick. I hope we can all work together – all of us – to that end. Let's figure out how to do it in this country and then let’s help people everywhere get access to good health care.

In the name of the great physician, and for his sake.

Steve

I believe the message of the prophets is this, “Love God, love your neighbors and pursue God will.”

Let me end with this. The prophets knew that King David was given a promised by God that one day there would be a king from his lineage who would rein on his throne forever. The prophets said that destruction will come, but after the destruction God will deliver his people. There will come a day where a King will come and he will rule forever has promised to David. Isaiah says this about that coming King in Chapter 9.

SLIDE 2 The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine.

6 For a child is born to us, a son is given to us. The government will rest on his shoulders. And he will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.


7 His government and its peace will never end. He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David for all eternity.

Who do Christians think he is talking about? Jesus is the King.

In Isaiah 53 we hear him prophesying about one who would suffer for his people.

SLIDE 3 He was despised and rejected—a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief. We turned our backs on him and looked the other way. He was despised, and we did not care.

4 Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows* that weighed him down. And we thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins!

5 But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.

6 All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

Who do Christians believe he was talking about? In Jeremiah 31: 31-34 he is writing just before and during the time of the exile.

SLIDE 31 “The day is coming,” says the Lord, “when I will make a new covenant with the people of Israel and Judah. 32 This covenant will not be like the one I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand and brought them out of the land of Egypt. They broke that covenant, though I loved them as a husband loves his wife,” says the Lord. 33 “But this is the new covenant I will make with the people of Israel on that day,” says the Lord. “I will put my instructions deep within them, and I will write them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 And they will not need to teach their neighbors, nor will they need to teach their relatives, saying, ‘You should know the Lord.’ For everyone, from the least to the greatest, will know me already,” says the Lord. “And I will forgive their wickedness, and I will never again remember their sins.”


Do you remember what Jesus said at the Last Supper when he took the cup? He said, “This is the blood of the new covenant, poured out for you and for many for the forgive this of sin.”

Ezekiel is sitting in exile in Babylon and he says in chapter 34: 2-6,

SLIDE Give them this message from the Sovereign Lord: What sorrow awaits you shepherds who feed yourselves instead of your flocks. Shouldn’t shepherds feed their sheep? 3 You drink the milk, wear the wool, and butcher the best animals, but you let your flocks starve. 4 You have not taken care of the weak. You have not tended the sick or bound up the injured. You have not gone looking for those who have wandered away and are lost. Instead, you have ruled them with harshness and cruelty. 5 So my sheep have been scattered without a shepherd, and they are easy prey for any wild animal. 6 They have wandered through all the mountains and all the hills, across the face of the earth, yet no one has gone to search for them.

16 I will search for my lost ones who strayed away, and I will bring them safely home again. I will bandage the injured and strengthen the weak.

23 And I will set over them one shepherd, my servant David. He will feed them and be a shepherd to them. 24 And I, the Lord, will be their God, and my servant David will be a prince among my people.

Who is in Ezekiel talking about? He’s talking about Jesus. In case it is still unclear, Zachariah gave a sign in 9:9.

SLIDE 9 Rejoice, O people of Zion! Shout in triumph, O people of Jerusalem! Look, your king is coming to you. He is righteous and victorious, yet he is humble, riding on a donkey—

Jesus is the fulfillment of what we find in the Old Testament. You can’t fully understand and appreciate what he does for us unless you understand the words of this book. This is why we have been walking through it over the last six weeks.

I want you to be people of the book, to know what it has to say, to listen for its voice today, because in it we find God’s Word of life today. God calls us to be a blessing to others. God frees us from the slavery of sin. God promises us a covenant in which he will forgive our sins. And God calls us to love him with all of our heart and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves.


This is the message of the Old Testament. Let's pray together.

SLIDE Prayer

O God, we confess to you that there have been many times we have turned our back on you. We didn’t care what you thought. We weren’t listening to your word or your will. We found it easy to not pray, to not sing, to not worship, to not read your word. Lord, forgive us. Help us to remember that depth of your love for us. Help us to remember that you are the Shepherd and we are your sheep—that you are our Father and we are your children.

Help us to remember Jesus that you are a friend that sticks to us closer than a brother—and you are our Savior and our Lord.

Oh God, we confess to you that like the ancient Israelites we have often been consumed by materialism, by greed, by wealth and power, and by a lust for more stuff. In the process our hearts have not felt broken for the needy. We have failed to pursue justice. Forgive us.

God I pray you would take these amazing people with gifts and abilities and time and passion sitting in this room and help us to allow La Plata County and Durango to look more like your kingdom. Use our hands, use our voices and help us to have a heart for those who are in need.

We offer ourselves to you Lord, in Jesus name, amen.

Journey through the Old Testament€¦ · Journey through the Old Testament Message Notes I. The...

Documents

Transcript of Journey through the Old Testament€¦ · Journey through the Old Testament Message Notes I. The...