TO SERVE GOD FAITHFULLY

 

 

How are we to love God? The entire Bible gives us one consistent answer - by trusting and obeying His Word:

 

·       “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)

 

Joshua replaced Moses as head over the millions of Israel. God instructed him to be courageous. How? Only by following His Words:

 

·       “Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:7-8)

 

Joshua’s success depended upon his following every Word of God, all that had been written.

 

Each king of Israel and Judah had been measured by their faithfulness to this principle. If they rejected His Word, they would be punished. If they adhered to it, they would be blessed. King Solomon elaborated on the close relationship between sin and punishment while he consecrated the Temple:

 

·       “If your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you, and they turn again and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, then hear from heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to them and to their fathers. “When heaven is shut up and there is no rain because they have sinned against you, if they pray toward this place and acknowledge your name and turn from their sin, when you afflict them, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants, your people Israel, when you teach them the good way in which they should walk, and grant rain upon your land, which you have given to your people as an inheritance. (2 Chronicles 6:24–27)

 

The lives of the kings of Judah and Israel consistently manifested this reality and the need to turn from their sins. Some were evil from the start. Amon reigned only two years in Jerusalem and was assassinated:

·       And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, as Manasseh his father had done. Amon sacrificed to all the images that Manasseh his father had made and served them. (2 Chronicles 33:22)

 

Manasseh had reigned over Judah for 55 years:

 

·       And he did what was evil in the sight of the LORD, according to the abominations of the nations whom the LORD drove out before the people of Israel. (2 Chronicles 33:2)

 

However, later in his reign, he was imprisoned by the Assyrians where he repented, humbled himself, and cried out for the Lord’s mercy. God then reinstated him as king, and he tried to rectify the evil he had done by not following the Word of the Lord.

 

Other kings had been reckoned as somewhat obedient, “yet not with a whole heart” (2 Chronicles 25:2). Commonly, success brings arrogance and pride. King Amaziah began to think that he knew better than the Word of God. Consequently, the Lord turned against Amaziah. He was defeated in battle and his riches were plundered.

 

His son Uzziah reigned for 52 years and also succumbed to pride. However, he too had been faithful to the Word of God and was blessed:

·       But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the LORD who were men of valor, and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense.” (2 Chronicles 26:16–18)

Immediately, God struck him down with leprosy. Eventually, God destroyed the entire nation, and the exiles were carried off to Babylon. However, the Lord had given them many opportunities to repent:

The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers [the prophets], because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, until there was no remedy. (2 Chronicles 36:15–16)

Every prophet of Israel had reinforced this simple direction to follow every command of God lest they incur His wrath. He had humbled Israel to teach them that they had to obey every word (Deuteronomy 8:3). Jesus reintroduced this principle:

 

·       “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” (Matthew 4:4)

 

We cannot sit in judgment over God’s Word to choose what feels right to us. Instead, we are to love God by allowing God’s every Word to judge us. As some of Judah’s kings would do this, they brought revival to Judah and the protection of the Lord upon its people.

 

GOD’S BLESSINGS AND WOES

 

 

“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.

Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied.

Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh.

Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.”

 

“But woe to you who are rich, for you have received your consolation.

Woe to you who are full now, for you shall be hungry.

Woe to you who laugh now, for you shall mourn and weep.

Woe to you, when all people speak well of you, for so their fathers did to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:20-26)

 

I am probably foolish to offer an interpretation of Jesus’ words from His sermon on-the-plain. They are difficult and therefore invite a multitude of interpretations.

 

It’s important to note Jesus’ audience. After praying for the entire night, Jesus appointed His 12 Apostles. The afflicted multitudes had come, and all who sought healing were healed.

 

Then He looked upon His disciples and gave them a needed teaching, which they might never have heard before. From Jesus’ perspective, they were not the accursed uneducated, but surprisingly, they were the “blessed.”

 

How could that possibly be. They were poor, hungry, sorrowful, and scorned. All their lives, they had been told that they were nothing compared to the elite educated.

 

Meanwhile, the elite were the very opposite. They were rich, their bellies were full, their hearts were merry, and they were highly respected by all. They had everything, which suggested that they even enjoyed the favor and respect of God.

 

However, rather than being blessed, this latter group of people were cursed by God. Therefore, Jesus pronounced four “woes” upon these who delighted in themselves rather than God.

 

Okay, I am taking some liberty with the text by taking Jesus’ teaching as more poetic than literal. However, I think that Jesus gives us permission to do so:

 

·       He taught parabolically and hyperbolically.

·       The structure is parabolic - four blessings are followed by four opposite “woes.”

·       What He taught could not possibly be taken literally.

 

Consider the four “woes.” These cannot be regarded as literal. The first “woe” discounts the possibility of heavenly blessing for rich. However, the Patriarchs and Job had been blessed by Gd with wealth. The second seems to literally teach that there is something wrong with having a full stomach. The third claims that laughter is accursed, but this cannot be taken literally. God had even named Sarah’s promised child, Isaac, “laughter.” The fourth literally claims that we are accursed when all speak well of us. However, a positive regard by the community is a qualification for choosing elders (1 Timothy 3).

 

How then should we apply this parable to our lives? As a spiritual lesson! We need to take heart that the way that society regards us is not the way God regards us, and this should be all-important for us.

 

Scriptures warns us against taking the opinions of man too seriously:

 

·       The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the Lord is safe. (Proverbs 29:25)

 

Instead, the opinions of man imprison and control us. Therefore, we need to graduate to trusting in the thoughts of God. Daily, I remind myself that God loves me. To demand that even our spouse tells us this daily will becoming annoying. To demand this of a friend will place an unbearable weight on them.

 

Jesus even warned that to seek the approval of men is not acceptable to our Lord:

 

·       “You are those who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God.” (Luke 16:15)

 

Instead, He must be our first priority (Matthew 6:33). The religious elites had relegated God to the bleachers. They first would have to be humbled before they could be blessed:

 

·       “The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.” (Matthew 23:11-12)

 

Jesus warned that the elites would be given exactly what they had wanted – earthly rewards:

 

·       “And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.” (Matthew 6:5)

 

If this is so, let us rejoice in our humbled condition - the poverty of our spirit, our weakness, and neediness, lest we settle on earthly rather than heavenly rewards.