3 His divine power has given us everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
4 Thus he has given us, through these things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become participants of the divine nature.
5 For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge,
6 and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness,
7 and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.
8 For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 For anyone who lacks these things is nearsighted and blind, and is forgetful of the cleansing of past sins.
10 Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never stumble.
11 For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.
12 Therefore I intend to keep on reminding you of these things, though you know them already and are established in the truth that has come to you.
13 I think it right, as long as I am in this body, to refresh your memory,
14 since I know that my death will come soon, as indeed our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me.
15 And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things.

We agree that faith in God’s grace is the means of justification – of being in right relationship with God.  Salvation is a gift of God and it is through God’s grace, not through our own works, that we are saved.  This is central to not only our understanding of God’s covenantal love for his creation, but of the very reason for the incarnation, the death and the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Then we read a passage such as today’s lesson scripture or James 2:14-17 and we wonder, “Is faith alone sufficient?”

The other question goes to the heart of our beliefs as well.  It came up in the context of living a life of good works, of doing justice to the command to love our neighbors as ourselves.  In discussing the “divine nature”, we talked of examples such as Mother Teresa and other saints.  Some mentioned the example of a soldier being willing to give up his life for his comrades.  Some brought up Gandhi and others wondered about the peasant who has never heard of the Gospel, but lives its essence every day.  So, who is saved?   Those who have faith in Christ and Christ alone?  Those whose faith is backed up by works?  Those who are participants in the “divine nature” by whatever means and by whatever path?

My belief is that we are saved by God’s grace through faith in Christ alone.  This should manifest itself in good works – in those virtues listed in verses 5-7 of today’s lesson scripture, but this is a personal matter between each repentant and God.  What is manifest for one person, may not be manifest for another.  My concern is for my own works, my own struggle to particpate in God’s divine nature and, in doing so, to serve my fellow beings.  As for those who are not Christians, I only know this: that the Good News is that Christ came, lived as God in human form, died and returned from the dead and will come again.  That God did this out of love for all of humankind, so that everyone should have access to eternal life.  This is what I know through faith.  This is what I am instructed to share with all the world at all times – when necessary using words.

Moses didn’t bother with the “why” – he simply stated that God had chosen Israel and then answered the question, “What does being chosen require of you?”  The answer, echoed by Micah some centuries later, is simple. 

10 I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights, as I had done the first time. And once again the Lord listened to me. The Lord was unwilling to destroy you.
11 The Lord said to me, “Get up, go on your journey at the head of the people, that they may go in and occupy the land that I swore to their ancestors to give them.”

12 So now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? Only 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,
13 and to keep the commandments of the Lord your God and his decrees that I am commanding you today, for your own well-being.
14 Although heaven and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth with all that is in it,
15 yet the Lord set his heart in love on your ancestors alone and chose you, their descendants after them, out of all the peoples, as it is today.  Deut 10:10-15 (NRSV)

God doesn’t choose us for what we’ve done – he chooses us out of love and we can repay that love by what we do.

So, I’ve missed some blogging about some of my favorite passages during the past couple of weeks.  Probably just as well, because I don’t know that I was up to doing them justice with trying to do everything else.  It seemed appropriate to blog on the passages this week, including today’s passage, given the discussion we had in our Wright study this week on the chapter on Israel.  We sometimes forget that we are the inheritors of a tradition rooted in Judaism and the Old Testament.  Rejoicing in God’s gift of grace, we sometimes forget the gift of God’s law.  This is one of the things we discussed this week – the blessing that God’s law was for Israel – and through Israel, the world.  The law is all about relationships – with God and with one another.   I’m also reading a book by James Reston, Jr., Dogs of God: Columbus, the Inquisition, and the Defeat of the Moors, that deals in part with the shameful way that Christians treated Jews in Spain (a failing that, unfortunately, is not limited either geographically or in time).  How easy it is to forget that Israel, the “Suffering Servant” is meant, as was foretold to Abraham, a blessing to all the nations.

18 For I know their works and their thoughts, and I am coming to gather all nations and tongues; and they shall come and shall see my glory,
19 and I will set a sign among them. From them I will send survivors to the nations, to Tarshish, Put, and Lud—which draw the bow—to Tubal and Javan, to the coastlands far away that have not heard of my fame or seen my glory; and they shall declare my glory among the nations.
20 They shall bring all your kindred from all the nations as an offering to the Lord, on horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and on mules, and on dromedaries, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, says the Lord, just as the Israelites bring a grain offering in a clean vessel to the house of the Lord.  Isaiah 66:18-20 (NRSV)

We need to remember that we are a part of this heritage – that we are to be a blessing to all the nations – that we have our part to play in fulfilling the words of the prophet.

6 He said to me, ‘It is your son Solomon who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be a son to me, and I will be a father to him.
7 I will establish his kingdom forever if he continues resolute in keeping my commandments and my ordinances, as he is today.’
8 Now therefore in the sight of all Israel, the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God, observe and search out all the commandments of the Lord your God; that you may possess this good land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever.
9 ”And you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve him with single mind and willing heart; for the Lord searches every mind, and understands every plan and thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will abandon you forever.
10 Take heed now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary; be strong, and act.”  1 Chron 28:6-10 (NRSV)

Sometimes when scripture doesn’t speak to me right off the bat I try using a form of Lectio Divina.  I tried that today and what struck me about this passage was the phrase at the very end: “Be strong, and act.”  I understand from a rational perspective that the editors want us to concentrate on that part of the scripture that talks about seeking and keeping God’s commandments, but I remain drawn to those closing words – “be strong, and act”!

I think about Tevye in the musical Fiddler on the Roof.  Remember the final verse of “If I were a Rich Man”?  Tevye longs for the time to spend studying scripture and debating with the rabbis near the Eastern Wall of the synagogue.  I can really identify with that desire – to read and read books on theology and biblical wisdom, and then to debate them with others.  But at heart I know that that doesn’t advance God’s kingdom – it is through acting in the strength of faith that we will ultimately accomplish God’s purpose: to creat a good and just world through the efforts of his creations: humankind.

15 When our enemies heard that their plot was known to us, and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his work.
16 From that day on, half of my servants worked on construction, and half held the spears, shields, bows, and body-armor; and the leaders posted themselves behind the whole house of Judah,
17 who were building the wall. The burden bearers carried their loads in such a way that each labored on the work with one hand and with the other held a weapon.
18 And each of the builders had his sword strapped at his side while he built. The man who sounded the trumpet was beside me.
19 And I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and widely spread out, and we are separated far from one another on the wall.
20 Rally to us wherever you hear the sound of the trumpet. Our God will fight for us.”
21 So we labored at the work, and half of them held the spears from break of dawn until the stars came out.
22 I also said to the people at that time, “Let every man and his servant pass the night inside Jerusalem, so that they may be a guard for us by night and may labor by day.”
23 So neither I nor my brothers nor my servants nor the men of the guard who followed me ever took off our clothes; each kept his weapon in his right hand.  Neh 4:15-23 (NRSV)

We are building God’s New Creation – one hand bent to work and the other reaching for a weapon.  In our zeal to celebrate the Good News and bring peace to all mankind, we shouldn’t forget that there really are powers opposed to this.  Not everyone is of good will.  Vigilance is not a bad thing under such circumstances, so long as it is tempered with love.

1 In the month of Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, when wine was served him, I carried the wine and gave it to the king. Now, I had never been sad in his presence before.
2 So the king said to me, “Why is your face sad, since you are not sick? This can only be sadness of the heart.” Then I was very much afraid.
3 I said to the king, “May the king live forever! Why should my face not be sad, when the city, the place of my ancestors’ graves, lies waste, and its gates have been destroyed by fire?”
4 Then the king said to me, “What do you request?” So I prayed to the God of heaven.  Neh 2:1-4 (NRSV)

There is really quite bit of information compressed in these four verses.  Consider the calculated risk that Nehemiah took.  For a servant to show any emotion in front of the Persian king was a risk – and Nehemiah tells us as much when he emphasizes that he had never shown sadness before.  I say the risk was calculated, because we understand from the context that Nehemiah – having served the king so long – had a feeling that the king might be sympathetic to Nehemiah’s situation.  Before he entered the King’s presence, Nehemiah had already looked into his own heart and determined what it was that troubled him and what he desired to happen to make that right (the reconstruction of Jerusalem).  Nehemiah didn’t just allow his sadness to show because he was overwhelmed and couldn’t control himself.  It was to serve as an opening for the request that he wanted to make.

Now think about this:  instead of directly confronting the king with his request, Nehemiah simply allowed his true feelings to mainfest themselves.  This prompted the king to ask what was wrong and then invite a request.  Turn that around.  We can rush out and grab people by the collar and tell them the good news of the Gospel.  But a lot of us don’t want to “push” ourselves on others.  However, if we are filled with joy and allow this to manifest itself in our lives, then it might just prompt people to ask us why – giving us the opportunity to tell them about worship, small group studies, prayer, faith, etc.

Finally, regardless of how we go about serving God, we need to understand what it is that concerns us and then we need to take it to the Lord in prayer.

Ezra the Scribe by Pedro Berruguete

25 ”And you, Ezra, according to the God-given wisdom you possess, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River who know the laws of your God; and you shall teach those who do not know them.
26 All who will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on them, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of their goods or for imprisonment.”
27 Blessed be the Lord, the God of our ancestors, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king to glorify the house of the Lord in Jerusalem,
28 and who extended to me steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was upon me, and I gathered leaders from Israel to go up with me.  Ezra 7:25-28 (NRSV)

Reading this scripture I pondered the faith of Ezra and others like him.  They were a defeated people – exiled and taken into captivity for more than a generation.  Their Temple – the very center of their universe – had been destroyed and God had been mocked by the conquerors.  Their oppressors, the kings of Babylonia, had been defeated by the Persians, not by the direct intervention of God (as with Moses and Pharaoh).  Yet the concluding verses of today’s lesson show us that Ezra clearly understood that it was God – working through the Persian king Artaxerxes – and not the king himself who was responsible for making Ezra’s return to Jerusalem possible.  And it was therefore God who commanded Ezra to go and to accomplish that which God desired.

1 After this, in the reign of King Artaxerxes of Persia, Ezra son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah,
2 son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub,
3 son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth,
4 son of Zerahiah, son of Uzzi, son of Bukki,
5 son of Abishua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of the chief priest Aaron—
6 this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses that the Lord the God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was upon him.  Ezra 7:1-6 (NRSV)

Artaxerxes granted permission to Ezra to go to Jerusalem, but it is clear that God is the one who ordained this.  The people needed to be not only reminded but instructed in the law of Moses – the law that God had given.

1 The Israelites did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.
2 The hand of Midian prevailed over Israel; and because of Midian the Israelites provided for themselves hiding places in the mountains, caves and strongholds.
3 For whenever the Israelites put in seed, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the east would come up against them.
7 When the Israelites cried to the Lord on account of the Midianites,
8 the Lord sent a prophet to the Israelites; and he said to them, “Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: I led you up from Egypt, and brought you out of the house of slavery;
9 and I delivered you from the hand of the Egyptians, and from the hand of all who oppressed you, and drove them out before you, and gave you their land;
10 and I said to you, ‘I am the Lord your God; you shall not pay reverence to the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you live.’ But you have not given heed to my voice.”
11 Now the angel of the Lord came and sat under the oak at Ophrah, which belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, as his son Gideon was beating out wheat in the wine press, to hide it from the Midianites.
12 The angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty warrior.”
13 Gideon answered him, “But sir, if the Lord is with us, why then has all this happened to us? And where are all his wonderful deeds that our ancestors recounted to us, saying, ‘Did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt?’ But now the Lord has cast us off, and given us into the hand of Midian.”
14 Then the Lord turned to him and said, “Go in this might of yours and deliver Israel from the hand of Midian; I hereby commission you.”  Judges 6:1-3, 7-14 (NRSV)

Israel did what was evil in the sight ot the Lord – following after other gods.  But the verses tell another story as well, one that Christ interpreted for us.  Israel sought God for ultimately worldly purposes – we see this throughout the lessons we study in the Old Testament don’t we?  The real question is whether we recognize them . . . and what we intend to do about them.

25 That night the Lord said to him, “Take your father’s bull, the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that belongs to your father, and cut down the sacred pole that is beside it;
26 and build an altar to the Lord your God on the top of the stronghold here, in proper order; then take the second bull, and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the sacred pole that you shall cut down.”
27 So Gideon took ten of his servants, and did as the Lord had told him; but because he was too afraid of his family and the townspeople to do it by day, he did it by night.  Judges 6:25-27 (NRSV)

Can you think of similar circumstances where you were hesitant to fully and publicly acknowledge your allegiance to God?  What about circumstances where you joined in with others in allegiances that were contrary to what you were taught and what you believe about being Christian in today’s world.  How would you react?