Sunday Morning Greek Blog

February 9, 2025

Gone Fishin’: Jesus Chooses His First Apostles (Luke 5:1–11)

Filed under: 1 Corinthians,Courage,Ecclesiology,Evangelism,Faith, Faithfulness,John Gospel of,Luke Gospel of,Miracles,Repentance — Scott Stocking @ 4:28 pm
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I preached this message at Mount View Presbyterian Church on February 9, 2025. A portion of this message was repurposed and modified from a message I preached on May 1, 2022. –Scott Stocking

Good morning! The Lord be with you!

Most of you remember the story of Jonah, right? God told him to go to Nineveh and “preach against it” and he straightaway and preached a hellfire and brimstone message for the ages, right? No, of course he didn’t. Nineveh must have been a pretty wicked place if Jonah didn’t feel safe going there. Jonah ran the other way and tried to get as far from Judah as possible. He wanted nothing to do with it.

But he didn’t get very far. While he was on his way to Spain or points further west, a huge storm came up, and irony of ironies, the one who was supposed to go fish for men in Nineveh wound up being “fished” himself. He became the bait to save the ship and her crew that he’d been travelling with. The large fish, big enough to swallow a man whole (i.e., it didn’t leave any bite marks that we know about), spat him back up on shore, and Jonah decided he probably shouldn’t waste any more time and headed off for Nineveh.

Contrast this with our gospel account today: Jesus was apparently at a popular fishing spot on the Lake of Gennesaret, otherwise known as the Sea of Galilee, where a decent-sized crowd had managed to gather to hear him teach. It’s not clear why Jesus needed to get into a boat. Perhaps the acoustics would be better from out on the boat. Maybe the crowd had pressed so closely around Jesus that his sandals were getting wet in the sea. Regardless, Jesus had his reasons for going out in the boat.

After he finished preaching, he decided to go fishing, like any good preacher would do, right? So after a brief objection from Peter (“We just fished all night with nothing to show for it!”) they set out. No sooner had Jesus told Peter to let down the nets then they caught more fish than they could handle. Zebedee’s boys had to come over and help them haul it in it was so large. It nearly sank their boats!

Peter was humbled and a little bit afraid of Jesus at that point. In fact, they were all astonished. But Jesus reassured them: “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” Unlike Jonah, Peter hadn’t become “the one that got away.” Instead of being swallowed up or sunk by all those fish, Jesus promised to take Peter and his companions under his wings to be his first disciples.

Before we look a little deeper at the apostles, I want to share a few take-aways from this passage. The first is that Jesus knew he would need help getting his message out. In those days, if you claimed to be a teacher, you needed to have a loyal following, otherwise, no one would give you a second look. That was a cultural reality of that time.

Second, it might be difficult to build a core from four individuals who could have come from four different backgrounds. In two pair of brothers (Peter and Andrew, James and John), he had four vibrant and hard-working young men who were apparently of a very similar mindset and deeply devout Jews to boot. They seemed to work well together too. Perhaps he felt they would already be up to speed with what Jesus wanted to do to get the good news out. Since Jesus was primarily coming for the Jews, these four were “salt of the earth” guys who could relate to the average hard-working Jews Jesus wanted to reach.

Third, Jesus wanted ordinary men to be his disciples. Had he chosen to try to work through the Jewish leadership of the day, I’m certain he would have faced no end of debate and questioning and hints and innuendos of blasphemy, etc. He wanted those who had a simple trust in the truth of his message and who wouldn’t cloud it over with a lot of hoity-toity academic musings.

How did Peter do as Jesus’s top draft pick for apostle? Of all the apostles who traveled with Jesus during his ministry, Peter is certainly the most famous. Throughout the Gospels, we see that Peter was often the first one to open his mouth, the first one to volunteer, or the first one to make a big promise. Of course, this also meant that he was usually the first to eat his words, the first one to be rebuked, or the first one to fail in some way, large or small.

Now Simon Peter, along with his brother Andrew, were the first two apostles to follow Jesus. In John 1:42, Jesus officially gives him the name “Cephas” (Aramaic), which is translated in Greek as “Peter,” both of which mean “rock.” In the lists of the apostles, Simon Peter is always found first, which is certainly a nod to his position in the early church at the time the Gospels were being written.

As I said above, Peter and the other three fishermen probably had a pretty good knowledge of the OT, especially the Psalms, from their time in the Synagogue on Sabbath and the basic education any Hebrew youth would have received. They just didn’t go on any farther in the education to be a pharisee or other religious leader.

In Matthew 14, we have the story of Jesus walking on the water to the boat the apostles were in, which was being buffeted by the waves. Of course, Peter is the first one to speak up about going out to see Jesus. Here’s a man who wants to take charge, take the lead, and show the others what it truly means to follow. Jesus invites Peter out of the boat to walk on the choppy waters, and for a time, Peter does walk on the water. But instead of keeping his eyes on and faith in Jesus, the wind and the waves around him cause him to fear and doubt, and he begins to sink. Jesus catches him, though, and they both get back on the boat.

What’s impressive here is that Peter was the only one who even thought of getting out of the boat, and then he followed through on his thought. None of the other apostles had the courage of Peter to follow their master in this radical way, by trying to muster up the faith to do what no other mortal had ever done.

It wasn’t long after that incident that Peter had the opportunity to say what none of the other apostles were willing to say. In Matthew 16, Jesus asks the apostles, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” The apostles hem and haw and beat around the bush, but Peter is the first to answer Jesus’s more direct question, “Who do YOU say I am?” Peter responds boldly, proclaiming that “[Jesus] is the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.” Jesus praises Peter for his response. But in the very next paragraph, when Jesus predicts his death, Peter rebukes Jesus for talking like that. Jesus immediately rebukes Peter, saying “Get behind me, Satan.” Talk about going from emotional high to emotional low!

Peter claimed he would never forsake Christ, yet on the night of the illegal trial to condemn Jesus, Peter denies knowing Christ three times. And Jesus had told him he would do that despite Peter’s repeated objections. Peter had to feel like the bottom of the barrel at that point.

In John 21:15–19 we have the story of Jesus reinstating Peter to his leadership role. But why did Jesus ask Peter three times if he loved him? Because Peter denied Jesus three times. Jesus gave Peter a three-fold mission here: “Feed my lambs”; “Take care of my sheep”; and “Feed my sheep.” Again, not much difference between the three, but this was a commission to care for the church, young and old, when it would begin on the Day of Pentecost.

The result? In today’s language, we could probably say that Peter’s Pentecost sermon went viral. Over 3,000 souls were added to the number of believers after that Pentecost sermon. He boldly and passionately called for these would-be converts to repent and be baptized for the forgiveness of sins. He also warned them in Acts 2:40 to “Save yourselves from this corrupt generation.”

A few chapters later, Luke records Peter’s vision of the unclean foods being let down on a blanket for him to eat from. At first he refuses, but then Jesus warned him to “not call anything impure that God has made clean.” This led to Peter being the first apostle to formally take the gospel to the Gentiles, a centurion named Cornelius and his household. After that, the story line transitions to Paul. And let’s not forget that Peter wrote two epistles as well.

So what can we learn from Peter here? First, don’t be afraid to do great things for God. “Great” may not necessarily be fabulous or seen by all. Sometimes the smallest gesture can have a huge impact. Theodore Roosevelt makes the point here: “Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they lie in the gray twilight that knows not victory nor defeat.”

Second, God can work with whatever level of faith you’re willing to bring to the table. It took incredible faith just for Peter to get out of the boat in those choppy conditions, let walking on water. As Yoda says, “Do or do not. There is no try.”

Third, know that when we mess up, it’s not the end of the road with God. Peter probably thought he had lost his place among the apostles. But as 2 Timothy 2:13 says, “If we are faithless, he remains faithful, for he cannot disown himself,” that is, he can’t disown those who are members of his body, the church.

Peter’s life as an apostle and “fisher of men” is just one example of how the apostles had a profound impact on the beginnings of Christianity. In 1 Corinthians 15:1–11, Paul records that all of the apostles (except for Judas) at some point witnessed the resurrected Christ. That is no small fact to be overlooked, especially in that day when eyewitness accounts were all they had to pass on news. Today, we have people who go out into the world and “plant” churches in places that need more exposure to the Word of God. These men and women, at least in the minds of some, are modern day apostles themselves. They’ve taken on the challenging of spreading God’s word in a place where in some cases it has never been proclaimed before.

You and I have that responsibility as well to share with those who need to hear the gospel. We may not do big things for God, but the little things we do are indeed great when we consider the lasting impact and implications of proclaiming the gospel to the world. Peace to you.

My views are my own.

Scott Stocking

January 19, 2025

The Abundance of God’s Gifts (Psalm 36:5–10)

Filed under: 1 Corinthians,Courage,Ephesians,Epifanía,Epiphany,Faith, Faithfulness,Prayer,Psalms,Spiritual Warfare — Scott Stocking @ 5:23 pm
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Good morning and happy new year! The Lord be with you! The big question of the morning is, “How are you doing at keeping your New Year’s resolutions?” Whatever resolutions you made, I do hope that one of them was drawing closer to God. Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany give those of us who are Christ-followers a unique opportunity to reflect on why the Savior came to earth to be a living testimony of how one can live for God in a fallen world. Our Psalms passage today, Psalm 36:5–10, gives us the upbeat side of our relationship with God. Let’s hear it again:

5 Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens,

your faithfulness to the skies.

6 Your righteousness is like the highest mountains,

your justice like the great deep.

You, Lord, preserve both people and animals.

7 How priceless is your unfailing love, O God!

People take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

8 They feast on the abundance of your house;

you give them drink from your river of delights.

9 For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light we see light.

10 Continue your love to those who know you,

your righteousness to the upright in heart.

11 May the foot of the proud not come against me,

nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

12 See how the evildoers lie fallen—

thrown down, not able to rise![1]

Before I get into talking about the positive stuff in Psalm 36, I think it’s important to place this psalm in the context of the psalms around it. Psalm 36 is in the middle of four psalms that were grouped together with a similar theme, Psalms 34–37. I don’t think anyone knows for sure why these psalms are grouped, but the introduction to Psalm 34 says David wrote it “When he pretended to be insane before Abimelek, who drove him away, and he left.”[2] It’s possible these four psalms may refer to that event in David’s life.

Psalms 34 and 37 are both acrostic psalms, that is, each verse begins with a successive letter of the Hebrew alphabet. Acrostics tend to make things easier to memorize. This makes a nice little set of bookends for this group. These two psalms “contain wisdom-like instruction in godliness and related warnings concerning the fate of the wicked—instruction and warnings that reinforce the key themes” of the middle two “prayer” psalms, 35 and 36.[3]

Psalm 36 begins with a warning to the wicked, setting the context for the prayer that we read above:

1 I have a message from God in my heart

concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: s

There is no fear of God

before their eyes.

2 In their own eyes they flatter themselves

too much to detect or hate their sin.

3 The words of their mouths are wicked and deceitful;

they fail to act wisely or do good.

4 Even on their beds they plot evil;

they commit themselves to a sinful course

and do not reject what is wrong. [4]

Examples of the warnings from Psalm 34 and 37 are plentiful, but I’ll give a few examples here that are relevant to our passage today. One of the promises from 34:15–16 says this, which is what prompts the boldness of the prayers that follow:

15 The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

and his ears are attentive to their cry;

16 but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil,

to blot out their name from the earth. [5]

The remainder of Psalm 34 goes on to speak of how the Lord will hear the righteous when they cry out in prayer; deliver the righteous from their oppressors and their troubles; and spare them from the ultimate condemnation reserved for the wicked.

In Psalm 35, David opens with a prayer to the Lord to fight against his enemies, making it personal to his own situation. In a culture that values honor, David understands the impact of the additional humiliation he wants his enemies to suffer. “May those who seek my life be disgraced and put to shame” (vs. 4). In vs. 26, David repeats his prayer: “May all who gloat over my distress be put to shame and confusion; may all who exalt themselves over me be clothed with shame and disgrace.”[6]

It’s not enough to just win a battle; David wants to win so handily that his enemies will be a fleeting memory to the surrounding nations. This not only will affect their reputation, but their economic security as well, as nations would be less likely to trade with a “shamed” nation.

In Psalm 37, David reassures the worshippers that these wicked will in fact be brought down and made irrelevant:

12 The wicked plot against the righteous

and gnash their teeth at them;

13 but the Lord laughs at the wicked,

for he knows their day is coming. [7]

But enough about the bad news for the wicked and those who have no regard for God. Let’s look at some of the positives these four chapters of Psalms have to offer. The passage we read at the beginning today focuses on God’s love, God’s provision, and God’s righteousness.

In this Psalm, David’s words tell us several things about God’s love and the other gifts he gives us. First, we see that God’s love is infinite and everywhere present, just like the sky. We see it all around us and yet we can never fully comprehend the extent of his love.

Paul’s instruction about love in 1 Corinthians 13 reflects the depths of God’s love as well. We could go to the highest mountain or even farther than that to where the Psalmist says God’s love reaches, but if we don’t grasp that love for ourselves and to share with others, we are nothing. Psalm 34 opens with David expressing his love for God in the form of praise: “I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips.”[8]

God’s love is so reliable and so real that David can assure the worshippers that they can “take refuge in the shadow of [his] wings.” That “refuge” is mentioned several times in the context of Psalms 34–37 and indeed throughout the Psalms. Psalm 34:8 says, “Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”[9]  Verse 22 affirms this: “The Lord will rescue his servants; no one who takes refuge in him will be condemned.”[10]

Second, God has given us great gifts as we walk through a fallen world that often cannot understand the reason for our hope. His provision is boundless. David says that we will feast on the abundance of God’s house and that God gives us access to the “fountain of life” (36:8, 9). Psalm 34:9–10 says:

9 Fear the Lord, you his holy people,

for those who fear him lack nothing.

10 The lions may grow weak and hungry,

but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing.[11]

I mentioned 1 Corinthians 13 above. The other NT passage from the lectionary today is 1 Corinthians 12 about the gifts of the Spirit. God shows his love to us by empowering us through the Holy Spirit. Jesus promised in John 14 that if he went away, he would send another advocate, the Holy Spirit, and Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 12 how that works. The Spirit provides us with one or more of the gifts mentioned: word of wisdom, word of knowledge, healing, prophecy, discernment, and so forth. It would be rare for any one Christian to have them all, which is one reason why we gather as a body. As Ephesians 1 says, we are “blessed in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” This is body-of-Christ talk, not individual-believer talk. And while we’re in Ephesians, let’s not forget about God’s armor that he makes available to us so “we can take our stand against the devil’s schemes.”

God’s love and provision for and gifting of us is truly amazing. But we cannot forget that God’s righteousness and justice are of the highest standards and are deeply rooted and incorruptible in the depths of the earth. “Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your justice like the great deep” (36:6). “Vindicate me in your righteousness” says David in Psalm 35:24. A few verses later (v. 28), David concludes that Psalm with “My tongue will proclaim your righteousness, your praises all day long.” In 37:5–6, if we commit to and trust in the Lord, “He will make [our] righteous reward shine like the dawn, [our] vindication like the noonday sun.”[12]

I think a fitting close to this message is the last two verses of Psalm 37, and I think they speak for themselves:

39 The salvation of the righteous comes from the Lord;

he is their stronghold in time of trouble.

40 The Lord helps them and delivers them;

he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,

because they take refuge in him. [13]

Peace to you. Amen.

[1] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[2] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[3] Barker, Kenneth, gen. ed. The NIV Study Bible (2011 edition; commentary note on “Ps 34–37,” p. 891). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan

[4] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[5] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[6] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[7] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[8] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[9] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[10] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[11] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[12] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[13] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

November 20, 2024

How Near the End (Mark 13)

Filed under: 1 Thessalonians,Courage,Eschatology,Faith, Faithfulness,False Prophets,Mark Gospel of,Passion,Prayer,Spiritual Warfare — Scott Stocking @ 8:58 pm
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I preached this message on November 17, 2024, at Mount View Presbyterian Church in Omaha, NE.

“THE END IS NEAR!!!”

We heard that quite a bit in the last six months, didn’t we? Anybody miss that? What’s amazing is that once election day was over, we switched from doom-and-gloom political ads to “happy-happy-joy-joy” nonstop Christmas ads and Hallmark Christmas movies in a heartbeat. How is it that we as a culture can make such a radical switch from one extreme to another and not seemingly bat an eye?

I don’t have an answer to that question, and I’m sure no one else does either. If they think they do, run away! Jesus’s ministry in the gospels seems to be going the opposite direction of the way things have been going for us of late. Jesus’s ministry begins with joy. In John’s gospel, his first miracle is to turn the water into wine at the wedding in Cana. Matthew’s Gospel begins with the joy of the birth of the savior and the stories of how wise men and shepherds alike rejoiced at his birth. We see healings and miracles aplenty early in the gospel stories

But as Jesus got closer to his crucifixion, his teaching and actions began to get a little darker. Just after his triumphal entry in Mark 11, we see him overturning the tables of the moneychangers and throwing them out of his Father’s house. We see sharper confrontations with the Pharisees and Sadducees. The disciples begin to wonder why he’s talking about his death and about going away and sending another in his place. It culminates with talk of betrayal at the Last Supper and his arrest in the Garden of Gethsemane. The disciples are coming to the realization that what they thought would be an overthrow of Roman rule and reestablishment of the Jewish monarchy or theocracy wasn’t going to happen.

In our gospel text this morning, we’re about half-way through the last week of Jesus’s ministry on earth. Jesus begins to speak about the time of the end. We only get the introduction to his monologue about the end times: his warnings extend through the whole chapter. He begins by telling them not to be deceived. In other gospel accounts of this story, we find out that Satan will be hard at work in those days deceiving even the believers. He’s trying to get them to turn away from God.

If that’s not bad enough, he starts talking about wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, famine, pestilence, death, and worse, if at all possible, and those things are just the beginning! Of course, he started all this by saying all the magnificent buildings in Jerusalem would be utterly destroyed, without one stone left on top of the other.

Before we look any further into this, I think it’s okay to jump to the end of the story, because most of us know what that is: “You will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory” (vs. 26). When I was in high school in the ‘70s, mom started leaving a bunch of Christian comic book tracts around the house for us to read. Now I’d grown up going to Sunday School here pretty regularly, but those tracts talked about the “second coming of Jesus.” If I had heard that in Sunday school here, it must have gone right over my head. That was kind of exciting to me. I wanted to know more. I read everything I could get my hands on about the subject. It ultimately led to me make, affirm, and take ownership of my own confession of faith.

Little did I know I was stepping into the middle of a huge debate about just how and when that second coming would take place. The predominant view of the tracts was that Jesus would “rapture” or “call up to heaven” the church at the beginning of a seven-year tribulation period alluded to in Daniel 7:25 and again at the end of his prophecy in 12:7. An alternate view said that Christians would not be raptured until half-way through this seven-year period. These were perhaps the most popular views among many Christians in that day.

The idea behind these is that the church would escape the tribulation of the end times, or at least the worst of it in the mid-tribulation perspective, because the thought was that the church had never in history experienced persecution. But a quick review of history would prove that belief false. The early church in Acts experienced persecution at the hands of the Jews at first. Initially, Rome tried to stay out of apparently. It wasn’t until Nero and the destruction of Jerusalem did that persecution reach its height early on. But eventually, Constantine would adopt Christianity as a “State” religion a couple centuries later.

The problem with the pretribulation view for some scholars is that it wasn’t ever articulated with any sort of clarity or consistency until the early 19th century, not even the so-called rapture. The early church fathers may have some snippets here and there that hint at it, but nothing solid. That’s not to say those hints weren’t accurate. The mid-tribulation view developed even later than that. It is possible that the church up to that point in history didn’t make a big deal about the “when” because they knew they didn’t know when. Jesus even admits in Mark 13:32 that he doesn’t know when. I think the only fair thing we can say about it is that we don’t know when and the early church didn’t really care when, even though many tried to discern the signs.

The view that was popular when I was in seminary is called the “amillennial” position. This view sees the “millennium,” or thousand-year binding of Satan in Revelation 20:2, as “code” for the reign of the church on earth. “Millennium” in that view simply represents a very long period of time. At the end of that thousand-year reign (figuratively speaking), Satan is released from those chains to “go out to deceive the nations.” Some think we might be in those times now.

Another support for that view is a biblical passage suggesting the rapture comes at the end of the tribulation period, between the sixth and the seventh (final) bowls of wrath in Revelation 16:15: Jesus says: “Look, I come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and remains clothed, so as not to go naked and be shamefully exposed.” It’s almost as if that time of persecution was intended to purify the church and prepare her as the bride of Christ in the final consummation of human history. That phrase “Look, I come like a thief,” is the language used in 1 Thessalonians 4 and 5 (specifically, 5:2) to describe that moment when we are all “changed” in the twinkling of an eye into our heavenly bodies for the rapture of the living and the resurrection of the dead.

Other views exist but have limited exposure or are not widely accepted. But whatever you believe about if and when the rapture occurs or when the tribulation starts or anything like that has nothing to do with your eternal salvation. Jesus said we wouldn’t know the day or hour, so how can he judge us on such a thing? So what is the point of Mark and the other gospel writers of telling us about what is to come? I think we all know the answer to that: HOPE!

Getting back to Mark 13, Jesus goes on to say that he wants us to be ready for that day, and he gives us some warning signs to look out for it and tons of encouragement to endure it. After warning us about wars and rumors of wars (plenty of those going around these days) and other civil and political unrest, he tells us to be on our guard. It’s almost as if he’s talking about the apostle Paul’s experience (Acts 21:27ff; compare Acts 20:31 with Mark 13:9) in the next few verses. Paul was arrested in the temple, beaten by the Jews, and from there he was subjected to a series of trials before several Roman rulers because he appealed to Rome. One might say after his first three missionary journeys, he was embarking on a fourth missionary journey, this time as a prisoner of Rome. What a way to be a missionary, eh?

Paul may have been the exemplar of the persecution described in Mark 13:9–13, but he would not be the only one who would face trials, persecution, and even death. Legend has it that Peter was crucified upside down on a cross because he didn’t deserve to be crucified upright as Jesus was. In Acts 12:2, we know Herod had James, the brother of John, put to death with the sword. Many Christians through history would suffer similar fates for their profession of faith.

We are no longer immune to this in America, either. We’ve numerous examples of our own government going after Christians for their beliefs and for “standing guard” to protect children from influences we wouldn’t have thought possible a generation ago. Jesus warns us that there will be false messiahs everywhere (our political leaders are NOT messiahs!) trying to deceive us. We will see dreadful signs in the heavens. But in his mercy, the Lord will cut those days short. Is the end near? It’s closer than it was yesterday.

So again, regardless of how these events play out, we can be certain that they will play out at some point. So how do we get ready? If indeed we as Christians are going to experience the persecution, and Jesus’s statement in Mark 13:13 about “the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” seems to hint at that in some respects, then how can we get ourselves prepared for what will come?

My concern here is not to address the physical and material components of “getting ready.” We have an abundance of “preppers” out there that can speak to those things, assuming we will experience a significant part of the tribulation. My concern for us as believers is how do we get our souls and our friends and family ready for the return of Christ.

Jesus says in Mark 13:10 that “the gospel must first be preached to all nations.” That is the missionary function of the church. This doesn’t just mean that we send missionaries overseas. We’ve seen in the last few years that the world is coming to us. As concerning as some aspects of that might be, it does present us with opportunities to share the gospel with those who are truly hungry for that and who want a better life for themselves. But it also presents us with opportunities for more difficult tasks for those who have “certain skills” to address the more sinister evils of human trafficking and abuse. Our prayers to end such evils will not be ignored.

We should also continue to meet together as a body of believers and keep focused on God’s word as much as possible. The more we dig into God’s word, the more we will be able to recognize the signs of times, as Jesus would have us do. Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5:4–5: “But you, brothers and sisters, are not in darkness so that this day should surprise you like a thief. You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness.”

Paul goes on from there to encourage believers to put on the full armor of God in verse 8. Of course, he details the armor of God, that is, the armor that God himself is said to wear in the Old Testament, in Ephesians 6. He wants us to be able to stand in those last days and stand firmly. He doesn’t want us leaving anything to chance.

In our small corner of the world here at Mount View, we do have a vital and thriving ministry relevant to the size of the congregation. Rejoice in the opportunities you have to share the gospel with others, but don’t be afraid to look for or take on new opportunities as they may come your way. God would not send those opportunities your way if he didn’t think you could handle them. Whatever that is might be easy, or it might take some courage and a step of faith. But I’ve seen your faith and your dedication to this ministry, and I know you will find ways to help strengthen your faith and broaden your outreach to our little corner of the word and beyond. The end is getting nearer every day, and the urgency to share God’s word with those who need to hear it grows as well. Take courage! Have faith! Let us all stand firm as we await the blessed appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen!

Scott Stocking

My views are my own.

November 2, 2024

Renewed and Restored: Psalm 126

Filed under: Biblical Studies,Courage,Ecclesiology,Evangelism,Life of Christ,Mark Gospel of,Miracles,Psalms — Scott Stocking @ 1:59 pm
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This message was preached October 27, 2024, at Mount View Presbyterian Church, Omaha, NE.

Let me start this morning by talking about “recent events” around these parts. Mom keeps me informed about the congregation’s relationship with the Powers that Be. I have been praying that you can find a moderator who has the vision and the heart to help Mount View thrive. I want to let you know, here and now, with God and you as my witnesses, that I will stand with you and support you in any way possible as you look to your next steps with Mary Ann’s departure since I’m going to be here every Sunday through the end of the year. If you need pastoral care, I will make myself available as much as possible around my teaching commitment and my day job. Most of you know I have a deep historical connection to this congregation; I have a genuine heart for the health and vibrancy of this congregation. I believe in the value and worth of each of you and your corporate mission and that this congregation can still have and does currently have an apostolic ministry in this neighborhood, in this city, and in this world, as the Gospels and the Presbyterian Book of Order describe. The messages preached from this pulpit are being heard around the world (more than 5,000 downloads as of this week), so your ministry is not isolated amidst these four walls.

Psalm 126 is a trip down memory for the psalmist and his audience. But I want to take a trip down memory lane for us as well. Like the psalmist, I want us to remember the time when we were a full church, when the Lord had given us “fortune.” I remember at least a dozen kids in each Sunday school class most mornings. I remember the kids that Kevin Orr brought over from the Omaha Home for Boys each Sunday. I remember big youth group meetings with at least 40 kids present, and I remember a trip to Worlds of Fun with the youth group. I have a memory, a hazy one at my age, of getting my first Bible with my name engraved on the cover, signed by Karen Englesman and Pastor Loren Parker on May 21, 1972. I even remember going over to Karen’s house for help memorizing Bible verses for Confirmation class, and I went on to memorize Paul’s letter to the Ephesians 20 years later and still have it memorized today.

I know there are others who were touched by the ministry of our congregation in that day, and many of them went on to have ongoing influence in our congregation and elsewhere for the kingdom. Some of you are still here 50 years later. Mount View was a lot like the first three verses of Psalm 126 when I was growing up here in the 70s. I still see that laughter and joy in you when I’m here, and it gladdens my heart.

1 When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion,

we were like those who dreamed.

2 Our mouths were filled with laughter,

our tongues with songs of joy.

Then it was said among the nations,

“The Lord has done great things for them.”

3 The Lord has done great things for us,

and we are filled with joy. [1]

This psalm, and psalm 125 before it, were probably written together several years after the return from exile and were recited together when they came up in the synagogue service. Now I didn’t do the counting, but a note in my study Bible says both psalms have 116 syllables. The number of syllables isn’t significant, but the fact that they have the same number of syllables is. They were probably sung to the same tune or with a similar cadence. Together they tell the story of life and hope after returning from exile. Psalm 125 recounts the victory over the enemy and the confidence they had after returning home. Psalm 126 starts with the joy they experienced at that time.

This is where the last three verses of Psalm 126 come home to us, I think. It would seem several years have passed in the storyline between vss. 3 and 4. Verse 4 sounds like a prayer: “Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev.” Whatever joy and fortune they had in the past is seemingly gone now. We don’t know why or how it disappeared. But that’s not relevant, because vss. 5–6 have the answer to the prayer:

5 Those who sow with tears

will reap with songs of joy.

6 Those who go out weeping,

carrying seed to sow,

will return with songs of joy,

carrying sheaves with them. [2]

Now I don’t believe there are any coincidences in the Kingdom of God. I’ve spoken before about Judy asking me to follow the lectionary with our Scripture passages in the bulletin, and I decided it would be a good exercise for me to base my sermons on those passages, typically the Gospel passages. This month is my third anniversary of filling the pulpit here, which means I’ve nearly gone through a complete three-year cycle of the lectionary. When Judy sends me the bulletin in advance, I usually only check the Scripture readings and then send back my message title. However, I have noticed on more than one occasion that some of the main points I have made in my message for a certain Sunday have shown up in the prayers and responsive readings that aren’t copied from the Bible, and Judy never had an advance copy of my message. Funny how God works that way, right?

But enough of the boring background: In beginning 10 weeks in row with you, I’ve been praying how God might use me for such a time as this, and it seems like Psalm 126 is the perfect passage for that. I would like to forth to you that you adopt Psalm 126:4 as theme prayer for our congregation here: “Restore our fortunes.” The COVID pandemic robbed many small churches of their members and their ministries, and many closed down. But you have managed to find purpose in your quilting ministry, among other activities, and that purpose is one of the binds that keeps you going. Here’s my challenge to you: when you pray that prayer of Psalm 126:4, ask God what verses 5 and 6 might look like for the congregation. We have all been saddened by the losses suffered through COVID shutdowns, but what are the “songs of joy” we could reap? What does “carrying seed to sow” look like for the congregation? How would you envision what “carrying in the sheaves” means?

Whatever had caused the decline in prosperity that prompted the psalmist to lift up the prayer of vs. 4 was obviously very heart wrenching to the Jews as evidenced by the tears and weeping of vv. 5 and 6. With the talk of reaping and planting seeds, it may be fair to assume they’d been afflicted by a drought or something that caused their crops to fail. But despite their sorrows and tears, they are determined to plant and reap once more. Although at the surface this seems to be strictly agricultural, this also seems to be a spiritual event as well, encouraging them to rejoice in God’s provision. The question I put before you this morning, then, is what kind of seeds would you sow to add to the harvest of God’s kingdom? What kind of “restoration” would you like to see? I don’t think God is concerned about the size or pace of whatever ideas you might have for restoration; he just wants you to dream and trust that he will provide the growth, whatever that may look like.

I believe God is moving in his people now to start and sustain a revival. The church Jill and I attend just added a third service two years after opening a huge worship center that seats over 1,000. Younger people seem to be coming back to spirituality and faith in many areas. I believe Mount View has the potential to have a strong outreach in this part of Omaha. But what that looks like, I can’t say for sure, and I wouldn’t want to put God in a box by suggesting any one area to focus on. I have some ideas that respect where we’re at as a congregation and that don’t involve a contemporary worship band shaking the rafters! All I know at this point is that you have the grit and determination to keep this congregation alive and to cause the Presbytery to sit up and take notice of you if you so desire.

I will tell you that I’m going to pray the same prayer for myself, as the timing of my two-month (at least) stint with you is not a coincidence either. Jill got pushed out of her job of 12 years a couple weeks ago, so we’ll need the extra income this affords. But I’ve never looked at this as a paycheck. I love being able to return to the place that established me in the faith and share in the ministry of proclaiming the gospel with you. I honestly sense from the Holy Spirit that he wants me to be a strong encourager to you at this time. I had a few things happen in the last ten days that could only be from God that confirms to me I should be doing more than just preaching in the next two months.

I know I’ve probably come on a little strong this morning but given what you’ve gone through since reconvening after COVID, I sensed that you need an extra dose of encouragement and courage. I want to fair and forthright with you, though: I’ve got too many irons in the fire right now to say I’m “all in,” but I’m in as much as my schedule will allow. God is working on my heart too with respect to ministry, and I feel a fire in my bones as well. Perhaps, like Esther, God has brought me here for such a time as this, whatever that looks like. I’m excited to be here for the next two months to see what God has in store for us. I hope you’ll come along for the ride!

Before I close, I don’t want to ignore our Gospel passage this morning (Mark 10:46–52). Jesus did a true miracle in opening the eyes of a blind man. That was a real event as far as I’m concerned, a genuine miracle. It’s not a metaphor or some psychological truth couched in a legend story or however else some theologians try to downplay it. But just as the miracle is real, so is the guiding principle of the account, that God can do great things through Jesus and those of us who follow him. I pray that we would be aware of the opportunities around us to continue to share the good news of Jesus with those who need hope. I pray that God would open the eyes of those around us to see the joy and commitment of this congregation and desire to be a part of it.

Restore our fortunes, Lord, like streams in the Negev.

Scott Stocking

My opinions are my own.

[1] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[2] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

September 29, 2024

Lusting, Lopping, and Living (Mark 9:38–50)

Filed under: Biblical Studies,Courage,Evangelism,Faith, Faithfulness,Leviticus,Mark Gospel of,Repentance,Theology, Biblical — Scott Stocking @ 4:00 pm
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Before I get into my message this morning, I feel I should probably say a word about the title of my message, “Lusting, Lopping, and Living.” One of my first classes in seminary when I started 37 years ago was a class where we had to write a research paper on a Bible passage so we could learn the school’s writing style guide. At the time, many of the preachers in that school’s tradition had a practice of using a three-point (usually) alliterated outline of what their sermon was about. In our writing class, the instructor, Professor Tanner, emphasized that this would be a good way grab and hold the audience’s attention. He also mentioned that sermon titles should be short and catch people’s attention.

At that time, I was still a single young man who had just moved 500 miles from home to begin that new adventure. Having a desire to avoid temptation in a new environment, one of the passages I held close to my heart was Matthew’s version of the “Stumble” or “Temptations” passage in the Sermon on the Mount about cutting out of our lives that which causes us to sin. With that passage close to my heart at the time, and given what my instructor had said about grabbing and keeping people’s attention with what I would write, it took about two seconds for me to write down my passage and the proposed title of my paper and submit it. Thus the title, “Lusting, Lopping, and Living.” Professor Tanner was so impressed with my proposed title he said he was tempted to give me an “A” for the assignment based on the title alone. I did get an “A” on the paper in the end, but it remains to be seen if you’ll give me an “A” for my message this morning!

This section of the Gospel we’re in, Mark 8–10, is a summary of some of the most intense and at times heart-wrenching teaching that Jesus does with his disciples. This is all leading up to his triumphal entry into Jerusalem in Mark 11. As we saw last week, he predicts his death three times, which caused a great deal of discussion and argument among his disciples. In chapter 10, he’ll deal with divorce and the rich young ruler who walks sadly away from Jesus’s gentle admonishment about the trappings of wealth. He’ll also deal with James and John, who seem to think they won the argument about who’s the greatest and ask to be seated at Jesus’s right hand and left hand in his coming kingdom. And as if to say to his disciples, “Open your eyes, man!” Jesus heals blind Bartimeus as his last miracle before entering Jerusalem.

A lot of heavy stuff to unpack there, right? Our immediate Gospel passage this morning has some obvious parallels to Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, but it’s not clear here if Mark is summarizing that here to fit his own narrative or if Jesus is repeating his teaching in a different setting. I like to think it’s the latter, because that gives us preachers justification to refresh and rehash previous sermons and deliver them again. If it’s good enough for Jesus, it’s good enough for us!

Let’s take a look, then, at our Gospel passage today, Mark 9:38–50, and in true 1980’s preacher style, I’ll use another triple alliteration to give the higher-level view of the whole passage. First, we’ll look at our prayerful partners in vs. 38–41, then examine the admonition of Jesus to us for our personal propriety in vv. 42–48, and close with a look at our purposeful purification that leads to peace in vv. 49–50.

In vs. 38, the apostle John (most likely the one who’s the son of Zebedee) still seems worried about who gets the “greatest” position as he apparently complains to Jesus that someone who is NOT a disciple is “driving out demons.” Now while we don’t have any specific examples of the disciples driving out demons, we do know from some general statements that Jesus had given that power to the disciples when he sent them out (Matthew 10:1). Then in Mark 6:12, we read that the disciples did in fact do miracles by healing the sick and driving out many demons on their first “2 by 2” mission. Maybe that’s where the competition started.

But Jesus says, “Hold on there, Big John!” “If someone is doing legit miracles in my name, Don’t stop them. If they’re not against us, they’re for us.” Jesus takes this one step further and implies that it’s not the greatness (at least in the world’s eyes) of the deed that counts; it’s the faithfulness and care with which the deed is done. Even if you give a cup of water to a thirsty traveler, Jesus says you don’t have to worry about losing your reward.

The bottom line here is that nothing we do as Jesus followers should stand in the way of others coming to Christ or of our own selves of being faithful. In vs. 42 of the passage today, Jesus warns about causing the little ones to “stumble.” Paul says something similar in Ephesians 6: “Fathers, do not exasperate your children. Instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord.” The translation in the bulletin (NRSV) says “sin,” but the word is not the typical word used for sin. In English, we get the word “scandalize” from the Greek word used here [σκανδαλίζομαι (skandalizomai), σκανδαλίζω (skandalizō)[1]]. Its meaning is closer to that of a “stumbling block” or other kind of barrier, especially between someone and God. It’s hard to think about how people might cause little kids to sin, but Jesus must know something that maybe we don’t.

One of the worst and most prominent issues we see with kids today that puts this verse into perspective is trafficking. This past year, a movie called “The Sound of Freedom” hit theaters, which documented the true story of an FBI agent who set up a sting operation south of the border to rescue some 50 children from a child-trafficking ring. We have had thousands upon thousands of unaccompanied minors cross our border in the last few years, and according to a recent Department of Homeland Security report, over 300,000 of them were sent off to “sponsors” with no way for our government to track them, no court date to appear, or to even know if the sponsor is legitimate. As God’s people, this is something that ought to concern us greatly given what Jesus says here. What is happening to these kids?

Children are being politicized by adults who have their own agenda about things we never would have questioned ten years ago. Things that were unthinkable ten years ago. I think Jesus’s words apply to that as well.

You might find it interesting to look up a CNN report on interviewing 10-year-olds in red, purple, and blue States about the presidential candidates. It seems to be a pretty good example of what kids are picking up from their parents and in many cases are parroting to the interviewers. Are we letting kids just be kids anymore? Jesus knew the kids had a simple faith and belief in God without all the trappings that weigh us down as adults. If we’re making them grow up too fast, are we putting a stumbling block in their way so they can’t enjoy their childhood and more kid-friendly activities?

Obviously as parents, grandparents, and great grandparents, we have a passionate interest in protecting the most vulnerable, and I believe that is a passion that God embeds in us. As we get older, I’m sure we begin to recognize some of the long-term effects and consequences (positive and negative) of choices we made when we were younger, and we may want to protect the next generation from the negative and redirect them to the positive. But Jesus warns us to watch out for the things that cause us to stumble or be scandalized as well, and he seems to be focusing on some of our key body parts here. This is where the “lusting, lopping, and living” comes in.

Now I think we all can agree that Jesus really doesn’t want us chopping body parts off every time we stumble (and this is why it’s important to make the distinction about the word used here). The main principle here is that we not put ourselves in situations where we have potentially unchecked temptations. Former VP Mike Pence received some criticism when he said he didn’t want to be alone in a room or at a dinner alone with a woman who wasn’t his wife. This was to keep himself above suspicion; pastors have this principle impressed upon them in seminary and often by their elders or church boards.

The point of these “lopping” verses is that we set boundaries for ourselves when it comes to our lives. If you have trouble with alcohol, stay away from the bars and keep it out of your house. If your mouth gets you in trouble too much, learn how to control your tongue as James says. If you’re watching stuff you shouldn’t be watching, then turn off the TV or the computer. Or you can do like John Denver says, “Blow up your TV.” (No, don’t really do that. John was just being silly in that song.)

It’s not that doing the things Jesus warns about here will, by themselves, keep us out of heaven. There is still forgiveness. But if you persist in a life of unfaithfulness, then you might have something to worry about in eternity. God never casts those from his presence when they come to him, but if they don’t want to have anything to do with God, will God grant their wish and turn them away? We should heed the warnings of such passages as the Sheep and the Goats before the throne in the last chapters of Matthew’s gospel. We should pay close attention to Paul’s warning that our works would be tested with fire—what’s good survives like gold, silver, and precious gems; what’s bad is burned up like wood, hay, and stubble. And we should work toward maturity as the author of Hebrews says in chapters 5 & 6 so we don’t find ourselves in danger of “falling away.”

This is where the last part of our passage this morning comes into play, with a rather unusual verse: “Everyone will be salted with fire.” What exactly does that mean?

One might be tempted to think it has something to do with the mention of hell in the previous verse, but I think this has a more positive implication for us. In the Old Testament sacrificial system, the Lord commanded that all offerings should be sprinkled with salt (Leviticus 2:13). We know salt brings out the flavor in food, but it also acts as a preserving agent. When Jesus says this, I believe he’s referring to verses like, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” God imparts “flavor” to our own lives so we know the blessings of serving him. And if we’re salted with fire, I think that means he’s purifying us from our own sins and shortcomings so that our lives are a sweet aroma to him.

Not only that, but we also share our “flavorful” life with those around us. We can be salt to others, especially so that we can be at peace with one another.

When Jill and I were in Florida in April, I bought a T-shirt that says “Stay Salty.” I think mainly it referred to being a beach bum: surfing, sunning, and swimming in the ocean. But it occurs to me that I can apply a whole new meaning to that shirt: that I can “stay salty” for Jesus. How about you? Do you want to be salty for our savior?

May the peace of God be with your all, amen.

Kids and politics: What 10-year-olds told a child development expert about Trump, Harris and the 2024 election | CNN Politics

[1] Swanson, James. 1997. In Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament), electronic ed. Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc.

August 25, 2024

Courage for the Battle (John 6:56–69; Ephesians 6:10–20)

Filed under: "I Am" Statements,Biblical Studies,Courage,Ecclesiology,Ephesians,Evangelism,Greek,Isaiah,Jeremiah,John Gospel of,Life of Christ,Miracles,Prayer,Psalms,Spiritual Warfare,Theology, Biblical — Scott Stocking @ 6:31 pm
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Historical Note: Preached at Mount View Presbyterian Church on August 25, 2024, Omaha, NE.

Related Articles:

I Am the Bread of Life

Take Heart! (θαρσέω tharseō, Matthew 9:2, 22)

Helmet of Salvation (Isaiah 59:17; Ephesians 6:17)

Spiritual Warfare in Ephesians

When I was here last month, I spoke about the feeding of the 5,000, one of the seven miracles that John records Jesus performed during his ministry to go along with the seven foundational “I am” statements that Jesus makes about himself. It is interesting that another one of those seven miracles, Jesus walking on water, which apparently has nothing to do with bread, interrupts John’s account of the miraculous provision of bread at the beginning of John 6 and Jesus’s testimony “I am the bread of life” and what that means for his followers.

There are some “clues,” let’s call them, in John 6 that I want to highlight, because they will be important when we look at the other New Testament reading from the lectionary this morning, Ephesians 6, in a few minutes. The highlight of Jesus’s walking on water, which appears in three of the four gospels, is not Peter getting out of the boat and walking on water himself to Jesus, which only Matthew records, but Jesus’s own comforting words to his frightened disciples as they see him walking across the stormy sea: “Take Heart!” “Take Courage!” “I am. Don’t be afraid!”

This is the second time in John’s gospel where Jesus declares “I am.” The first was with the woman at the well in John 4, his first formal declaration (at least in John’s gospel) of who he is. In that context, that simple declaration, that he was the Messiah, brought incredible freedom to a woman who was haunted by and ashamed of her own past, which in turn gave her the courage to run back to her village and declare that she had indeed discovered the Messiah.

There is no doubt that Peter experienced that same kind of freedom when Christ reached out to him and saved him from his lack of faith as he began to sink into the stormy sea, perhaps a type of what Paul would later say about baptism in Romans 6, that the old man is buried and the new is raised up in the life of Jesus.

This leads into the context of the Gospel passage today. Jesus begins to discuss what it is the disciples are really looking for: food that endures to eternal life. In other words, just as Jesus walking on the water was a supernatural miracle; just as Jesus’s knowledge of the history of the woman at the well was supernatural, so too will our relationship with him have a supernatural quality. In 6:35, Jesus makes the first of his seven foundational “I am” statements that describe who he is: “I am the bread of life,” and he begins to “flesh” that out, some might say literally, as he continues to teach his disciples the significance of that statement.

He connects that statement with the miraculous provision of manna in the desert while the Jews were wandering in the wilderness (v. 41): “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” He is the one who will sustain us if we “feast” on him. He drills down even deeper (v. 51): “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” The manna sustained them for day. Jesus, as the bread of life, sustains us eternally, something he demonstrated in the feeding of the 5,000. Now I think we all understand that when Jesus starts to sound a bit like a cannibal here, we understand he’s speaking figuratively of himself. He is eternal; therefore he’ll never dry up; he won’t melt away with the morning dew when the heat of the day beats down on the wilderness. He’ll keep providing continuously.

It’s pretty obvious at this point that Jesus is setting the stage for the Last Supper, which is only a few chapters later in John’s gospel. At that supper, Jesus will take the bread and say, “This is my body.” He’ll take the cup and say, “This is my blood.” That’s the zero hour. The next day, day one if you will, Jesus will have his body beaten and shredded with a cat-of-nine-tails before being hung on a cross and crucified for our sins. On the third day, he rises again and fulfills what he said in John 6: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” He can say this because of the resurrection.

Now a few weeks ago when I took a quick look at the passages for today in the lectionary, I saw this passage and the Ephesians 6 passage. I knew immediately I wanted to preach on Ephesians 6, because that’s my favorite book in the Bible. At first glance, it was difficult to see an immediate connection between these two passages. But as I started to write out my thoughts and analysis of the gospel passage, I began to see more clearly what the connection was, and it comes from Jesus’s words as he walked on the stormy sea: “Take Heart!” It’s easy to say that, but Ephesians 6:10–20 puts meat on the bones of those encouraging words. Listen to the words of Paul:

10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. [In other words, “Take Heart!”] 11 Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. 12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. 13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. 14 Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, 15 and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. 16 In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.

18 And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord’s people. 19 Pray also for me, that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel, 20 for which I am an ambassador in chains. Pray that I may declare it fearlessly, as I should. [1]

The world around us is pretty crazy right now. Almost like being in a ship that’s getting tossed around by the waves. But the living bread who came down from heaven has granted us power and authority “in the heavenly realms” to “stand” (Paul says this four times) and stand firm in the power of God that dwells in us by virtue of the Holy Spirit. Peter warns us that “Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9 Resist him, standing firm in the faith.”[2] As we break this down, we’ll see that the armor of God is the armor that God is said to “wear” (as if he needs to wear any) in the Old Testament. It’s not a copy; it’s the armor that belongs to God.

So here we go. The first piece mentioned is the belt of truth. Isaiah says of God in 11:5, “5 Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist.”[3] The primary use of the belt in the Old Testament was for holding up your tunic or robe so you could run into battle or run to get help. Having the belt of truth around our waist helps us move more efficiently in the battle. Since they didn’t have “pants” in the OT, we could make the analogy in today’s world that without the belt of truth, some of us might get caught with our pants down!

Jeremiah speaks of a linen belt that God told him to buy in chapter 13 of his prophecy. At first he wears it around his waist as a belt should be worn, and God commands that it should never touch water. But a few days later, God tells him to take the belt and hide it in the crevice in the rocks near the Euphrates river. Several days later, God told him to go dig it up, but by that time, the linen belt was ruined and good for nothing. We’ve been given God’s truth in his word, the Bible, and if we neglect it, if we fail to “gird up our loins” with it, if we fail to proclaim it when we know we should, it has no value to us. Just as God’s truth holds this world and this universe together, so his word in our lives through the Holy Spirit holds us together and helps us to stand firm.

Let’s look at the breastplate of righteousness and the helmet of salvation together, because Isaiah speaks of both in the same verse in chapter 59 of his prophecy, a chapter about sin, confession, and redemption, but also about the justice of God, which was so rarely practiced in his day. Hear his words beginning in the last half of vs. 15:

The Lord looked and was displeased

that there was no justice.

16 He saw that there was no one,

he was appalled that there was no one to intervene;

so his own arm achieved salvation for him,

and his own righteousness sustained him.

17 He put on righteousness as his breastplate,

and the helmet of salvation on his head;

he put on the garments of vengeance

and wrapped himself in zeal as in a cloak. [4]

This passage is the transition that Isaiah makes from talking about our life on earth to revealing to his readers what the future will look like from chapter 60 on. The language in those last seven chapters of Isaiah at times reminds us of the Book of Revelation, almost as if John had copied sections verbatim into that final book in the Bible. It’s important to note in this context, God is ready to go on the offense.

The breastplate and the helmet are arguably the two most important pieces of the soldier’s protective gear, because they protect the heart and the head, respectively. The heart is the vault of God’s truth in our spirits; the head is where we experience and recognize God’s presence in our lives and distinguish evil from good. We use our minds to speak God’s healing and encouraging words and to cry out for justice. We use our hearts to love and show compassion for the poor, the oppressed, and the downtrodden.

You will also notice that Paul mentions “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God” in conjunction with the helmet at the end of the description of the heavenly armor. The helmet no doubt has its defensive function, but it, along with the rest of God’s armor, give us the confidence to advance against the gates of hell that Jesus promised would not be able to withstand God’s army of faithful followers (Matthew 16:18). The sword looks back to Isaiah 49:2, where the prophet says, “He made my mouth like a sharpened sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me.” Hide his word in your heart so that when times of trouble come, you can recall it with ease.

Finally, we look at the shoes and the shield. The one who had to gird up his loins and run to spread the news of victory needed a good pair of shoes to make the difficult run to spread good news or to call for more help. Isaiah 52:7 puts it best: “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news.”

The shield of faith is the final piece of armor to look at. A Roman shield typically had a leather cover, and the soldier would soak it in water for the express purpose having some defense against real flaming arrows the enemy would use to attack. But the shield also had an offensive purpose as well in that if the Roman soldiers stood side-by-side with their shields touching, it made a nearly impenetrable moving wall that could push the enemy back or circle and surround them. Psalm 91, the one about God being our refuge and fortress, says that God’s “faithfulness will be your shield and rampart” (vs. 4).

In the final part of the Ephesians text, Paul uses a “pray” word five times. It’s as if Paul is saying that everything he’s just been encouraging his readers to do in the last three chapters must be undergird with prayer. A few weeks ago, the pastor at my home church had a pretty convicting message about prayer, and it really got to me, especially with all the family stuff we’ve had going on lately. I needed to be more intentional with my prayer life. Needless to say, it’s been amazing. I can’t go into detail, but I started with some small stuff, at least it seemed small to me, but I started to see answers, mostly positive answers, happening more frequently. Prayer connects us to the “heavenly realms” where the spiritual battle is being fought. When we fight on our knees, or for those of us with bad knees, in whatever position, by asking God to meet our needs and heal our loved ones and give hope to the lost, God moves mightily.

So let me close with a prayer for Mount View this morning, because that’s what ties all this together. Lord, open our hearts to welcome those who are seeking hope and healing in this world and the next; open our hands to be a giving and generous congregation that demonstrates the love of God in our service to others; and open the eyes of those around us to see how mightily you are moving in this congregation and in the lives of the faithful who call this home. In Jesus’s name, amen!

[1] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[2] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[3] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[4] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Scott Stocking. My views are my own.

June 30, 2024

Touch of the Master (Mark 5:21–43)

Filed under: Biblical Studies,Christology,Courage,Faith, Faithfulness,Life of Christ,Mark Gospel of,Miracles,Old Testament,Prophet,Psalms — Scott Stocking @ 3:49 pm
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I think we can all agree that there is great benefit to power of human touch, from the time we’re in our mother’s womb to the day of our death. Scientists know, for example, that a newborn benefits almost immediately from touch. A Psychology Today article summarized one study this way: “Skin-to-skin contact in even in the first hour after birth has been shown to help regulate newborns’ temperature, heart rate, and breathing, and decreases crying” (Ferber, Feldman, & Makhoul, 2008). Another study of Romanian orphans in an understaffed orphanage found that the children that experienced less touch had trouble with physical growth and development. Even having a pet can play a significant role in our need for touch.

A quick search in an artificial intelligence search engine created the following list of benefits from physical contact:

Human touch has the power to12345:

  • Signal safety and trust, and it can be soothing.
  • Calm cardiovascular stress.
  • Activate the body’s vagus nerve, which is intimately involved with our compassionate response.
  • Trigger release of intimacy hormones.
  • Support physical, emotional, and mental health.
  • Increase happiness and longevity.
  • Nurture relationships and overall well-being.
  • Lower blood pressure as well as cortisol, our stress hormone.

From a simple handshake to the more involved “secret society” handshakes, from a fist bump to a pat on the back, from the encouraging side-hug to a full-on hug, from a simple kiss to, well, you know, and even the gentle rough-housing we do with our kids when they’re younger, human touch has the power to affirm, assure, comfort, encourage, empower, gladden, guide, and strengthen us throughout our lives.

When we look at the idea of “touch” in Scripture, we get two very different pictures of the word in the Old and New Testaments. In the OT, more than half the uses of the main word used for “touch” are found in Leviticus and Numbers and are used in the negative, that is, God or the writer prohibits people from touching something that will make them unclean or that is unholy, primarily a dead animal or person. We do have a few positive examples of “touch” in the OT, so I want to highlight those briefly, because they will tie into our main gospel passage this morning.

Here’s an interesting example from 2 Kings 13:21: “Once while some Israelites were burying a man, suddenly they saw a band of raiders; so they threw the man’s body into Elisha’s tomb. When the body touched Elisha’s bones, the man came to life and stood up on his feet.”[1] Even touching the bones of a dead holy man was enough to bring someone back to life! It makes you wonder what those who had to carry Jesus’s body from the cross to the tomb must have felt touching his body. Things that make you go “Hmmmm.”

Isaiah is “commissioned” to be a prophet in chapter 6 verse 7 of his book by an angel touching his lips with a burning coal, saying, “See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.”

Jeremiah (1:9) didn’t need a burning coal, evidently, as he says, “Then the Lord reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, ‘Now, I have put my words in your mouth.’”

Daniel describes three different “touches” he received during one of his visions (vv. 10, 16, 18)

“A hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees.”

“Then one who looked like a man touched my lips, and I opened my mouth and began to speak.”

“Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength.”

Daniel experiences the whole range of human emotions in a few short verses all because of the touch of a powerful angel or likely the preincarnate Christ himself.

Our psalm reading this morning, Psalm 130, doesn’t use the word “touch,” but you can hear the longing to have the Lord draw near to them, as is evident by the psalmist alternating between the personal name of the Lord (Yahweh) and the kingly title “Lord” (Adonai). They want the Lord “near” them so they know he hears them; they want the touch of forgiveness that Isaiah received; their whole being desperately waits for him to appear and confirm their hope in him.

Now the New Testament has quite a different focus for the word “touch.” In the Gospels you can count on one hand the number of times the word touch is NOT used to refer to a healing or to someone being raised from the dead. The prominent use of the word is in the gospels in the context of Jesus healing someone or raising them from the dead. It’s not just a spiritual reality of forgiveness or being gifted the ability to speak God’s word. It is an actual, physical reality that people were healed of diseases and brought back to life by the touch of Jesus’s hand or by someone reaching out to touch him.

This brings us to our gospel passage today. This is the dramatic climax of the first section of the gospel of Mark, where we have one story of an imminent resurrection interrupted by another story of a woman who’s been sick for 12 years. Up to this point in Mark’s gospel, we’ve read about several miracles Jesus has already done. Right after this story is when Jesus returns to his hometown and commissions the Twelve to go out and minister with their own power of a healing touch, especially through anointing with oil.

We pick up the story as Jesus is returning from the other side of the lake where he had just released a man who had been possessed by a legion of demons by casting those demons into a herd of pigs. In most cases, that might be a tough miracle to top, but this is Jesus we’re talking about.

Jesus is immediately met by a large crowd, including a synagogue ruler named Jairus. A synagogue ruler was basically an assistant to the rabbi and handled the administrative tasks of running the synagogue and organizing worship and community activities. He would have been quite well-known in the community and generally respected as much as the rabbi himself. Jesus himself may have even interacted with him a few times leading up to this point, which may be why Jesus didn’t hesitate to go with him immediately when Jairus asked him to heal his daughter.

It would not have taken long for the awareness of Jairus’s request and Jesus’s response to spread through the large crowd, and it would seem they all started getting excited about the possibility of another miracle. As such, they began following Jesus to Jairus’s home.

Meanwhile, the woman who had been sick for 12 years finds herself at the right place and the right time to assimilate into the crowd and try to get her hands on Jesus’s robe, because she thought (or knew?) that if she could just touch his cloak, she would be healed. I don’t think she really expected to be able to even talk to Jesus in her condition. She was probably embarrassed and perhaps may have been unclean because of her bleeding, so a large crowd was the perfect place for her to be anonymous.

But God had other plans for this woman. Even with the crowd clamoring around Jesus and the disciples trying to clear the road ahead of him to get to Jairus’s house, Jesus still realized that something unusual had happened to him in the crowd. He felt the healing power of God go out from him, and immediately he stopped. He turned and asked the crazy question, “Who touched me?” even with hundreds of people around him! The woman realized she couldn’t hide any more, and humbly, meekly stepped forward to “confess” what she had done and the result. Jesus declared her healed because of her faith, and by default her willingness to act on her faith and sent her on her way in peace.

Keep in mind that Jairus is with Jesus this whole time, probably worried about this delay and how it might affect his daughter. And sure enough, his worst fears come true. As Jesus is finishing up speaking to the woman, people from Jairus’s household come and tell him his daughter is dead. “Why bother the teacher anymore?” they say.

But Jesus turns to Jairus and reassures him: “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” Needing to break away from the crowd, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John with him to Jairus’s house while leaving the other disciples to handle crowd control. The mourners had already begun their wailing, and they laugh at Jesus when he says the child is not dead but only asleep.

The small group of those who believed what Jesus could and was about to do remained with Jesus and went into the house. I imagine you could have cut the anticipation with a knife. It’s hard to imagine what was going through the minds of the three disciples and the girl’s parents: Is he really doing this? Are they praying? Stunned? How would you have felt if you were there witnessing this?

I’m sure Jesus himself whispered a prayer to his heavenly father when he stretched out his hand to take hers and simply said, “Talitha Koum”; “Little girl, get up!” No fancy prayer. No $20 religious words or flowery mushy language. Just, “Get up!” And she did! I can’t even imagine how I might have felt witnessing something like this. The disciples had seen a lot of miracles to this point, but this one really had to take the cake. Yet in hindsight, we know that this was only halfway through his story. Not only was this done for the benefit of the girl and her family, but this was also the final teaching moment for Jesus’s disciples before he sent them out on their own. They needed solid evidence of Jesus’s power, and they got it in that moment.

The power of the touch of the master is truly an amazing thing in Scripture specifically and in our lives generally. I have to admit that in all my years of preaching, I’ve never looked into this topic in this kind of depth, and I was encouraged and motivated to present this message to you. I know there have been several times in my own life I’ve clearly heard the call of God, felt his hand of comfort on me, and have seen his heavenly servants at work.

Around the time I graduated from high school, Wayne Watson released a song called “The Touch of the Master’s Hand.” It was the adaptation of 1921 poem by Myra Brooks Welch. The song instantly became a favorite of mine. I want to close out with the second verse and chorus of this song this morning. In the first verse, the auctioneer is trying to sell an old, dusty violin and starts the bidding process on the violin, the last item on the block, with a one-dollar bid request. The second verse goes like this:

Well the air was hot and the people stood around

As the sun was setting low,

From the back of the crowd a gray-haired man,

Came forward and picked up the bow,

He wiped the dust from the old violin

Then he tightened up the strings,

Then he played out a melody pure and sweet, sweet as the angels sing,

And then the music stopped and the auctioneer,

With a voice that was quiet and low,

Said what is the bid for this old violin

And he held it up with the bow.

And then he cried out “One give me one thousand,

Who’ll make it two? Only two thousand; who’ll make it three?

Three thousand twice, now that’s a good price,

So who’s gotta bid for me?”

The people called out, “What made the change? We don’t understand.”

Then the auctioneer stopped and he said with a smile,

“It was the touch of the Master’s hand.”

May you be touched by the Master’s hand as you go from here this morning. Amen.

[1] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

May 13, 2024

A Mother’s Courage (Psalm 1; Exodus 2; 1 Samuel 1–2)

Filed under: 1 Samuel,Birth Stories,Courage,Easter,Exodus,Faith, Faithfulness,Greek,Luke Gospel of,Matthew Gospel of,Prayer,Women in Leadership — Scott Stocking @ 8:41 pm
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Message preached on May 12, 2024, (Mother’s Day; Ascension Sunday) at Mount View Presbyterian Church, Omaha, NE. Scripture readings for the day were Psalm 1 and Luke 24:44–53 (from Ascension Thursday).

I want to read the first half of Psalm 1 again. As I read those three verses, I’d like you to think about someone you know who might fit that description.

1 Blessed is the one
who does not walk in step with the wicked

or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,

2 but whose delight is in the law of the Lord,
and who meditates on his law day and night.

3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season

and whose leaf does not wither—
whatever they do prospers.[1]

One person who fits that bill in my life is my mom, and I’m guessing that might be true for some of you as well. I think I can make a pretty safe bet that some of your kids would say that about each of you as well. You know the sacrifices you’ve made, the labors of love you’ve persevered through, and the happy times you’ve provided to give your children a loving environment in which to grow and thrive. Moms, this day is for you, and this message is for you this morning as well.

I want to look at the courage of three mothers in the Bible who faced some incredibly difficult choices, the mother of Moses; Hannah, the mother of Samuel; and Mary, the mother of Jesus. We don’t have many details about their respective backgrounds or their upbringing, but their stories were important enough to memorialize in Scripture, so they’re worth a closer look.

We read about Moses’s mother in Exodus. Moses’s mother and father were Levites, who after the Exodus would live their lives in service of the Tabernacle and later the Temple. Pharoah had given an order that all the Hebrew newborn boys should be thrown into the Nile, reflecting an ancient, barbaric practice known as “exposure.” Exposure involved abandoning an unwanted child in a remote location and letting the wild animals or nature “take its course.” In Sophocles account of Oedipus Tyrannus, such an abandoned child was maimed intentionally to make them less desirable should they happen to survive or be rescued by a more compassionate soul.

Moses’s mother, of course, was too compassionate and loved her child too much to allow something like that to happen to Moses. Even the Egyptian midwives knew that what they were commanded to do—kill all Hebrew male babies at birth—was morally abhorrent. They conspired to tell Pharaoh that Hebrew women gave birth so quickly they had no time to get to the birthing event. She tried to hide Moses for a few months, but when that became impossible to do, she followed through with Pharoah’s edict, sort of.

She placed Moses in a covered basket coated with tar and pitch so it would float on water. The word for “basket” there is the same word used for Noah’s “Ark,” תֵּבָה (tē·ḇā(h)), so there’s an obvious thematic connection there: God’s deliverance. But Moses’s mother was not interested in seeing her newborn die in the Nile. Moses’s mother knew just where to place the basket so it would float right to the spot where Pharaoh’s daughter would bathe and find him. Moses’s mother took an incredible chance at this point, a chance that one of Pharaoh’s soldier could have found the basket first and killed Moses on the spot; maybe even a chance that the crocodiles, if there were any around, would get to him first.[2] She let her child float down the river, under the watchful eye of Moses’s older sister, until Pharaoh’s daughter would find him. In case you’re wondering, yes, the Nile does have crocodiles, but it’s not clear whether they were common in this part of the Nile. I’m guessing not if it was the royal bathing site.

Most of us know the rest of the story. Pharaoh’s daughter rescued Moses from the river, and Moses’s sister was brave enough to approach her to offer the services of his mother as a wet nurse, so she got paid to do her motherly duty! Moses would eventually grow up to be educated in all the wisdom and knowledge of Egypt, making him the perfect “rebel” to lead his people out of Egypt to the Promised Land. Moses’s mother’s incredible courage to keep him alive against the wishes of a tyrant led the most significant event in early Hebrew history, the Exodus of the Hebrews from Egypt.

From the time of the Exodus and entry into the Promised Land, we jump forward a few hundred years to the end of the period of the Judges. In 1 Samuel, we’re introduced to the family of Elkanah. He is an Ephraimite with two wives: Peninnah and Hannah. Elkanah had children with Peninnah, but Hannah had had no such luck, and in that culture, barrenness was the worst form of shame for a married woman. We learn in the story that Peninnah taunts Hannah relentlessly because she is barren, amplifying the shame Hannah felt. But Elkanah was acutely aware of Hannah’s shame and her desire to have a child, even giving her a double portion of the sacrificial meat after the sacrifice.

At one of these sacrificial meals in Shiloh, Hannah got up and went to pray for a child at “the Lord’s house.” Eli the priest noticed that as she prayed and wept, her lips were moving but he couldn’t hear her voice. He thought she was drunk. Hannah explained that she was in anguish, and it probably didn’t take Eli too long to figure out why, and instead of continuing to chide her for what he thought was a drunken display, he blessed her: “Go in peace, and may the God of Israel grant you what you have asked of him.”

We’re not sure of the timeline after that, but it would seem that it happened within the next year, Hannah gave birth to a son and named him “Heard by God,” which in Hebrew is Samuel. Out of her joy, Hannah agreed to dedicate Samuel to the work of the Lord when he was old enough to be weaned, and Eli took him under his wing. Hannah continued to look after Samuel every year, bringing him a new robe at each visit. Hannah was blessed with two more sons and two daughters as well.

Samuel turned out to be a shining light of integrity as a “surrogate” son in the family business of leading in the Tabernacle, especially since Eli’s own two sons were little better than scoundrels. Samuel would be instrumental in the transition from the period where Israel was led by judges to the monarchy and appointment of Saul and then David as kings of Israel. Given the character of most of the judges up through Samuel, it’s difficult to say what would have happened had Samuel, a man after God’s own heart himself, had not come on the scene when Israel went through its transition. We can thank Hannah’s courage and her fervent prayers for the birth and life of Samuel and his faithful work guiding the early monarchs of Israel into its Golden Age.

Hannah’s prayer (1 Samuel 2) after dedicating Samuel to the Lord may sound familiar to some of you. Listen to her prayer and see if doesn’t sound similar to a prayer of another mother who came on the scene about 1,000 years later:

“My heart rejoices in the Lord;

in the Lord my horn u is lifted high.

My mouth boasts over my enemies,

for I delight in your deliverance.

2 “There is no one holy like the Lord;

there is no one besides you;

there is no Rock like our God.

3 “Do not keep talking so proudly

or let your mouth speak such arrogance,

for the Lord is a God who knows,

and by him deeds are weighed.

4 “The bows of the warriors are broken,

but those who stumbled are armed with strength.

5 Those who were full hire themselves out for food,

but those who were hungry are hungry no more.

She who was barren has borne seven children,

but she who has had many sons pines away.

6 “The Lord brings death and makes alive;

he brings down to the grave and raises up.

7 The Lord sends poverty and wealth;

he humbles and he exalts.

8 He raises the poor from the dust

and lifts the needy from the ash heap;

he seats them with princes

and has them inherit a throne of honor.

“For the foundations of the earth are the Lord’s;

on them he has set the world.

9 He will guard the feet of his faithful servants,

but the wicked will be silenced in the place of darkness.

“It is not by strength that one prevails;

10   those who oppose the Lord will be broken.

The Most High will thunder from heaven;

the Lord will judge the ends of the earth.

“He will give strength to his king

and exalt the horn of his anointed.” [3]

Of course, that mother was Mary, the mother of Jesus, and her Magnificat that Luke records in chapter 1 seems to pick up on many of the themes Hannah had highlighted in her own prayer.

In spite of their very similar songs of praise to God, they had quite different circumstances in their lives when their firstborns came along. Hannah was in a committed marriage relationship. It’s not clear why she was one of two wives. If I had to make an educated guess, I’d say Hannah may have been the wife of one of Elkanah’s brothers who passed away, and through the custom of the Levirate marriage, Elkanah would have been obligated to “marry” his brother’s widow and through that marriage provide an heir for his brother, her late husband. You’ll notice that the story doesn’t make any moral judgments about the arrangement. This could explain Hannah’s earnest and seemingly anxious desire to have a son.

Mary, on the other hand, was most likely too young to have thought of herself as barren, especially since she had not formally tied the knot with Joseph at the time she learns she is pregnant with Jesus. She wasn’t asking God for children when the Gospel writers introduce us to her. In fact, having any children was certainly not “top-of-mind” for her. She is shocked but does not respond with disbelief at God’s promise to her. Even though Joseph shows concern for ending the relationship for both their sakes, so he thinks, to save face, Mary cannot escape the fact that an archangel of the Lord had revealed God’s purpose and promise to her, so she presses forward all the while anticipating what was to come.

We don’t hear anything in the Gospel accounts of Mary and Joseph during Mary’s pregnancy until we get to the birth of Jesus in the stable. Luke picks up the story just as they are headed out from Nazareth to his ancestral home in Bethlehem, even though Mary is obviously in the last month of her pregnancy. She and Joseph persevere through the most unlikely place for a baby to be born: an animal stable instead of their comfortable home back in Nazareth. But that night, the shepherds in the nearby fields found out from a heavenly host that the savior has been born, and they hurry to see him that very night in his humble digs.

But her journey is far from over. Luke tells us Jesus was presented on the eighth day at the temple and receives the two blessings from Anna and Simeon, which must have hit her hard, especially the part about causing the rising and falling of many. Matthew tells us that on the heels of that dedication that “magi” from the East come to worship him and bestow him with gifts, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. I’m guessing that gold would have come in handy when God warned them to flee even further from Nazareth, into Egypt, because Herod, like Pharaoh of old, had ordered all babies under two years old to be killed. They were able to return to Nazareth a few years later.

It must have been quite the challenge for Mary to watch Jesus grow up, I mean, he was the son of God. What kind of behavior would you expect from a kid who had all the fulness of deity dwelling in him? We know from the gospel accounts that Mary never seems to be too far away from Jesus throughout his ministry. Of all the people who knew Jesus and associated with him closely, Mary would have been the one to truly understand his mission, especially when he started talking about his impending death. She may not have wanted to understand, but she couldn’t deny that she did, and yet she faced each day with and for him.

Mary is the only one of the three mothers we’ve looked at this morning to see what happens to her son at the end of his life on earth. Yet her incredible sorrow and anguish at witnessing his crucifixion was transformed to inexpressible joy when she encountered him risen from the dead. I’m not sure that Mary would have picked up on Jesus hinting at his own resurrection, even after finding out Jesus had called forth the recently deceased Lazarus from the tomb.

These three mothers, whose sons had significant ministries and a crucial mission for their own times, exemplified the kind of faith and courage that earn them the designation of Psalm 1:3: “She is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither—whatever she does prospers.”

Today, let us give thanks to God for the faithfulness of mothers who stood by us and with us as we were growing and maturing. We give thanks to you who are faithful mothers who even today give comfort and encouragement to your adult kids and to your grandkids. And let us give thanks for and encourage younger mothers as they face their own unique challenges in raising the next generation. May the peace and love of God be with you all. Amen.

[1] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

[2] It does seem odd that crocodiles aren’t mentioned in this story. Perhaps Pharaoh had a “Croc Patrol” to keep the river clear of them where royalty used it for bathing.

[3] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

March 3, 2024

The Eighth Commandment, the Eighth Amendment, and Cancel Culture

Filed under: 1 Peter,Biblical Studies,Courage,Exodus,Government,Hebrew,Romans,Spiritual Warfare,Ten Commandments (Decalogue) — Scott Stocking @ 5:37 pm
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Abstract: This article looks at the Eighth Commandment (“Do not steal”), the U.S. Constitution’s Eighth Amendment in the Bill of Rights (prohibitions against excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment), and how cancel culture and the radical Left’s “lawfare” are violations of those sacred rights and obligations. (NOTE: Copublished on both my sites: Sustainable America and Sunday Morning Greek Blog.)

Background and Basis

Why do so many want the Ten Commandments and depictions of Moses receiving the tablets on Mount Sinai displayed in public buildings? Is it because that event is the most accessible ancient account we have of any kind of law making or law giving, especially as it relates to a standard established by someone beyond ourselves? Is it because many people recognize that our standards of behavior and our culture should not come from the fleeting whims of flawed mankind? Is there a difference between being a “Christian Nation” and a nation founded on enduring Judeo-Christian values?

How are those of us who are followers of Christ to understand Paul’s exhortations in Romans 13:1–7 and 1 Peter 2:13 about being “subject to [human] governing authorities,” especially if those authorities themselves show no evidence of following Christ or even respecting a Judeo-Christian worldview? The United States is, after all, a nation founded on the concept that “the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them” “to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station” that all other nations have. The Founding Fathers appeal “to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of [their] intentions” and cite the “Authority of the good People of these Colonies” to declare their independence from the British Crown.

The result of the Declaration of Independence is that the United States adopted the foundational governing document, the U.S. Constitution, in which the United States agrees to “guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government” (Article IV, Section 4). Given what both these founding documents say in regards to our form of government, what responsibilities do we bear as we live and work in this Republic?

Because the United States is supposed to be a Republic (“if you can keep it”; Ben Franklin), the Representatives we elect by a democratic process govern at the consent of the governed. So we DO have a say in what our government does and how our government acts. We have a God-given RIGHT to freedom of speech and religion; we have a right to bear arms; we have a right to petition the government for a redress of grievances; we have a right to be protected against unreasonable searches and seizures without probable cause.

One important caveat here that I’ll address later: Nowhere in these two documents is the United States ever described as a “democracy.” In a democracy, all citizens vote on everything. We do not have a true democracy in that sense. True democracies in Ancient Greece often led to the power flowing to those who had money and influence and not to the benefit of the people.

One of the practices in those democracies, ostracism, is at the heart of my discussion in the article today. This article compares the Eighth Commandment (by Protestant enumeration), the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and demonstrates how the ancient practice of ostracism by mob rule has crept back into our political landscape, in spite of the Founding Fathers’ attempts to squelch such practices in the Constitution.

The Eighth Commandment in Context

The Eighth Commandment (Exodus 20:15), at least according to Protestant enumeration, simply states “You shall not steal.” It’s just two words in Hebrew; there’s no object of the verb, direct or indirect. However, the two commandments that follow, “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor” and “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, etc.”[1] may give us some clues about the extent of the command, namely, that it is intended broadly not to just include petty theft, but more serious misdemeanors and felonies.

The fact that the last two items focus on “your neighbor,” along with the extended part of the Sabbath commandment, suggests that the focus of the commandments is primarily about what happens within the covenant community of Israel. “Neighbor” is not just the person who lives next door or across the street. A neighbor is someone who is part of your covenant community. They could live near you, or they could be a resident of your town or city, big or small; they could be your coworker; they could be a fellow church member.

One need only to look at Exodus 21 to see that this is a reasonable conclusion. I have written more extensively about this in my post Does the Structure of Exodus 21:1–27 Tell the Patriarchs’ Story?, so I won’t go into too much detail here. I’ll focus on a couple things here. First, “You shall not murder” is not a general prohibition against any form of homicide. It excludes killing in war or self-defense. It focuses primarily on terminating the life of someone unjustly or out of anger, not on accident (see Exodus 21:12–14).

The two edicts about attacking and cursing your parents in 21:15 and 17 are worthy of capital punishment as well, even though they say nothing about whether the parents were killed. Exodus 21:16, however, gives us the important clue for understanding the severity with which the Eighth Commandment is treated. The word used for “steal” in Exodus 20:15 is the same word used for kidnapping in 21:16 (word-for-word translation): “Anyone who steals a man is to be put to death.” This idea suggests to some scholars that perhaps the original commandment had something to do with a more serious form of stealing that could result in the death penalty, but that is not a debate to be solved here.

I mentioned the Ninth and Tenth Commandments. The Tenth Commandment appears to be addressing more of a thought crime, a crime of desire. But many commentators believe “coveting” not only addresses your thoughts, but any illicit plans you might be considering to obtain the things you covet. In other words, coveting is “planning the heist,” fulfilling your desire to “steal” what is not yours. So you can see how the Ninth Commandment also might play into that; trumping up a charge against your neighbor so you can get something that is otherwise rightfully theirs. Proverbs 3:29–30 reflects the tone of these last three commandments:

29 Do not plot harm against your neighbor,

who lives trustfully near you.

30 Do not accuse anyone for no reason—

when they have done you no harm.[2]

What conclusions can we draw from this? First, kidnapping, or “stealing a man,” is about removing someone from their covenant community, especially if you sell them off into slavery as Joseph’s brothers did to him. Joseph’s fate was eventually his family’s fate as famine forced them relocate to Egypt after they learned Joseph had risen to power in Egypt. After the memory of Joseph’s heroic rescue of Egypt through their own famine faded, the Egyptian rulers enslaved the Israelites, thus preventing them from returning to their Promised Land for a time.

Second, murder, of course, removes a person from the covenant community permanently and has additional community issues for the deceased’s family. It may force the family to relocate to a safer place, especially if they are also targets of the murderer. It is the ultimate form of stealing: stealing someone’s very existence.

Third, false accusations, trumped up charges, overcharging someone, or even fabricating charges where there was no harm to anyone can cause reputational damage such as to bring shame or reproach on a person where none is deserved. Middle Eastern cultures, including Judaism, place a great deal of importance on the concepts of honor versus shame. Shame can force you out of your “in group” and cause you to relocate from your covenant community. When the penalties, especially monetary penalties, exceed the nature and seriousness of the alleged crime, this gives the appearance of targeting someone for reasons other than justice.

Those who conspire to violate any or all of these three (at least) commandments work together creating a platform for ostracism. The term “ostracism” reflects the practice in ancient Athens around the 5th century B.C.E. and is based on the use of the pottery shards (ostraka) used to cast votes for those whom they wanted ostracized. But the practice is more ancient than that.

For example, Pharaoh’s enslavement of the Hebrews (Exodus 1:8–14) was a form of ostracism because he feared the power of their growing population. Pharaoh couldn’t control their growing population by enslavement, so he took the ostracism to the next level and ordered the midwives to kill any Hebrew boys as soon as they were born (Exodus 1:15–19), but the midwives rightly had ethical problems with this practice of infanticide (read “post-birth abortions”) and refused to follow through. As a final plague, God punished the Egyptians with Pharaoh’s own edict and killed all the Egyptian first-born males and first-born cattle.

By now, if you’re political aware of what’s transpiring in the 2024 presidential campaign, you’ve probably already figured out where I’m going with this. Let me cut to the chase, then, and switch to discussing the Eighth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.

The Eighth Amendment in Context

The Eighth Amendment is short and to the point about the God-given right it enshrines: “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” It doesn’t take much of a leap of faith or the exercise of political analysis to see how this Amendment in our Bill of Rights can be understood in terms of the Eighth Commandment. Let me offer another caveat here before I dive in: If someone has committed criminal acts, and there is sufficiently demonstrated probable cause to demonstrate that is the case, then the use of the law to prosecute such persons or entities is fully justified; what I’m discussing here is when such probable cause has not been demonstrated or it’s clear that there is political “lawfare” at work.

When the power of the law is unjustly wielded for political purposes, this is a clear violation of the Eighth and Ninth Commandments. Many people who were peacefully ushered into the Capitol on January 6, 2021, by Capitol Hill police holding the doors open for them are still in jail to this day for their supposed “insurrection.” One man who entered peacefully and conducted himself peacefully committed suicide because the Justice Department trumped up the charges against him without any solid video evidence or other damning evidence.

The J6 protestors were removed from their respective covenant communities simply because they wanted a chance to be heard when they were clearly being ostracized, minimalized, and villainized by the Democrats and media who couldn’t see the obvious corruption right before their eyes. Their “Stop the Steal” signs were evidence of how widely and sincerely We the People did not trust the conduct of the election in several States. We the People believe the election was stolen through nefarious means. None of the challenges raised were ever judged on their merits. This article may eventually be ostracized just for me saying this.

Of course, the latest example of this is the excessive bail imposed on President Trump (with interest accruing daily) on his NY “fraud” trial for acts that had no victims, no financial loss for anyone involved, and positive reviews from those who had financial interactions with him. There was no jury, Trump was often not allowed to defend himself, and only two people were involved in the prosecution: a DA who campaigned on “getting Trump” and a judge who had made documented biased statements against Trump. Their bilateral action against Trump without a jury of peers guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. That is a clear violation of both constitutional law and the biblical commandments. The intent is clear and has been confirmed by the statements of those involved: they don’t want the American people to vote for a popular candidate. They’re trying to run him out of New York and Florida, trying to remove him from his childhood home and his current covenant community.

[I added the following paragraph on 03/04/24 based on a comment from BereanCrossroads. Check out that blog for your encouragement. Much thanks, BC!] The story of Naboth’s Vineyard is a pretty close parallel to what is happening to President Trump with respect to his alleged fraud trial in NYC. I’m kicking myself a bit for not making this connection, especially since one of my better sermons in my early years of preaching was telling that story from the perspective of Ahab. The story is found in 1 Kings 21. King Ahab wanted Naboth’s beautifully curated vineyard, but he was not willing to give up his family’s land and inheritance. Ahab’s wife, Jezebel, arranged a feast for Naboth, but also hired two “scoundrels” who falsely accused Naboth of blasphemy, which led to Naboth’s stoning. Ahab and Jezebel seized his vineyard after that. Ahab humbled himself afterwards but that didn’t last long. Both he and Jezebel suffered the fates that Elijah had prophesied for them (1 Kings 22:29–40; 2 Kings 9:30–37). The story is a perfect example of the what the Eighth, Ninth, and Tenth Commandments prohibited. You don’t need me to tell you who in the Trump fraud case represents the three main characters of the story of Naboth’s Vineyard.

Cancel Culture

Cancel Culture is a modern-day “revival” of the ancient practice of ostracism. I can remember as far back as the 1990s when I was a campus minister at Northern Illinois University when the buzz-phrase then was “Political Correctness.” You couldn’t say you didn’t agree with mainstreaming homosexual “marriage” without getting the accusation of “hate speech” hurled against you. The problem has gotten much worse since then, with individuals and organizations from all walks of life have been fired from their jobs, deplatformed from YouTube and Twitter, and demonetized by Internet payment services just for expressing political opinions contrary to a certain political point of view or for questioning some of the restrictions and analyses related to COVID. In a nation that has freedom of speech and religion and other God-given rights, we should not have to worry about any consequences for expressing our opinions and beliefs unless they represent a clear and present danger to others.

Cancel Culture is a grievous evil being perpetuated on our society and an obvious violation of both the Eighth Commandment and the Eighth Amendment. Getting fired, being deplatformed, or being demonetized for expressing your political opinion is “cruel and unusual punishment” in a free society. The interesting thing about the Eighth Amendment is that it doesn’t say anything about who is restricted from inflicting “cruel and unusual punishment.” So it just doesn’t apply to the courts. It applies to anyone who perpetuates Cancel Culture.

Lord, let the faithful arise and confront the evils in our society. Let your truth be proclaimed to all people. May your kingdom come and your will be done. In Jesus’s name, AMEN!

Scott Stocking

My opinions are my own.

If you like this article, you may also like the following:

Rachel Weeping: The Objectification of Gender and Children

Toxic Masculinity: Walking Like an Egyptian Pharaoh (2021 Update)

[1] Catholics and Lutherans combine the first two commands (no other gods, no idols) into one and split the “covet” commandments into two, making the one about coveting the house the ninth commandment and the one about coveting everything else the tenth commandment.

[2] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

February 29, 2024

How to Not Be Ashamed of Jesus (Mark 8:31–38)

Filed under: Biblical Studies,Christology,Courage,Evangelism,Faith, Faithfulness,Greek,Lent,Life of Christ,Mark Gospel of,Passion,Psalms,Repentance,Soteriology — Scott Stocking @ 10:47 pm
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Message preached second Sunday of Lent, February 25, 2024, at Mount View Presbyterian Church in Omaha, NE.

Think for a moment about the things people give up for Lent: Chocolate, coffee or other caffeinated beverages, maybe adult beverages, or something that might take more discipline like trading in turf for surf on Fridays or not watching TV. But should Lent really be about giving up things that maybe aren’t so good for us physically or spiritually anyway? Why not instead give up those things that distract us from our commitment to Christ? For those not familiar with the seasons of the church calendar, it may be best to first answer the question, “What is Lent?”

The word Lent itself simply means springtime. For those of us in the northern parts of the northern hemisphere, that seems like a funny thing to call it, because it starts in the dead of winter, anywhere from the middle of February through first week of March, typically. But it does end just before Easter, or Resurrection Sunday as some call it, so that is springtime for us.

Because it typically starts in the dead of winter, the acts of denial typically associated with Lent may not have been a deliberate choice in the early and formative years of church polity. Winters were probably pretty harsh for some. But the fact that Lent looked forward to a time of emerging from the darkness and coldness of winter into the light and life of spring was certainly a means of hope and a renewed sense of purpose. But it wasn’t just a meteorological hope: Lent as a religious holiday always looks forward to the eternal hope we have because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

As we come to our passage today, we see Jesus is beginning to experience some frustration with his closest followers. Peter has just made the good confession that Jesus is the Messiah when the other apostles couldn’t figure that out. Up to this time, the disciples had been holding out the hope that Jesus would finally be the political leader the Jews had been expecting to come throw off the chains of Rome and allow them to live as a free people again. But Jesus knew he had to set them straight on just what his kingdom was going to be like. He knew freedom was coming, but it wouldn’t necessarily be from Roman rule. He knew blood must shed, but it wouldn’t be the blood of Romans. He was looking for a kingdom that would not be limited by a geographical region because it would rise up in the hearts and souls of his followers. But just because this kingdom wouldn’t come by war doesn’t mean it wouldn’t be difficult.

This is why Jesus starts teaching his disciples and followers about his upcoming suffering. He wants his disciples to be ready as well, as they will not be immune to suffering and persecution. Peter, ever the fireball, rebukes Jesus for talking about suffering and rejection. After all, Peter thought Jesus would use his divine power to take care of Rome once and for all. Yet Jesus rebukes Peter harshly for thinking like this: “Get behind me, Satan!” O you of little faith. When James and John ask if they can sit at the right and left hand of Jesus, that must have broken his heart as well. Even Judas, we’re told, is “helping himself” to the group’s funds at this point, presumably thinking he might be the minister of finance in the kingdom he thought was coming. Jesus was realizing their human frailty didn’t allow them yet to see what kind of kingdom he would raise up.

What’s interesting about v. 31–32 in our gospel passage this morning is that, when Jesus talks about what he must suffer and at whose hands he must suffer, never once does Jesus mention Rome. Jesus said he would suffer at the hands of the religious leaders of his day, not at the hands of Rome. Did you ever notice that little detail? Apparently the disciples didn’t notice that little detail either when he said it, because they went on thinking the kingdom would be all about confronting Rome. That’s why Jesus must tell them two or three times about his suffering and death in the last half of the gospel accounts.

So what can Jesus do about it at this point? The Jews were not expecting a suffering Messiah, so they weren’t even paying attention to the suffering Messiah psalms or prophecies. We read the last part of Psalm 22 this morning, which is quite upbeat compared to the first part of that Psalm whose verses detail many aspects about what happened to Christ on the cross. The truth is, Jesus knew he must begin to explain more in detail about what he himself would be facing, “the baptism with which Jesus will be baptized with,” and for that matter, what John and James and the rest of the disciples would be facing.

For whatever reason, the Lent passages are a little out of order. A couple weeks ago was “Transfiguation Sunday,” and the Scripture for that Sunday was the gospel text immediately following today’s passage, Mark 9. Apart from Jesus’s words and teaching in the last part of Mark 8, the Transfiguration event should have been the first clue to Peter, James, and John that Jesus’s coming kingdom was not going to be one of this world. It would in fact be a very different kingdom and look nothing like any kingdom ever before seen on earth.

Notice after Jesus finishes rebuking Peter, the very next thing Mark records Jesus saying is that his disciples must take up their cross and follow him. The question is, how would the disciples have understood the “taking up the cross” reference if they hadn’t yet seen Jesus crucified? They knew that the cross was an instrument of Roman torture and punishment, so Jesus’s mention of it must have been somewhat concerning to them if not frightening.

His words get more concerning as he goes on. It’s not enough for one to take up their own cross, but then he starts talking about “losing” your life or your very being. The contradiction of what he was saying must have been mind blowing. If they want to keep their current life, they’ll actually wind up losing it. But if they give up their current life in favor of following Christ and proclaiming his gospel, they’ll actually find out who they truly can be in Christ and what is God’s purpose for their life.

He begins to cut at the heart of the disciples’ misleading conception that they would be “gaining the world” by following Christ, gaining positions of influence and power in an earthly kingdom. What good is it to get all that power if you forfeit who you are and what God wants of your life? O, that many of our politicians would learn that lesson, right? How much is your soul, your very being worth if you would cast it aside for earthly gain, especially when you hold that up against the value that God places on your soul?

Jesus minces no words as he closes out his teaching. It’s time to take sides. If you’re ashamed of Jesus, Jesus honors that and won’t invite you to hang out with him anymore. You won’t have to worry about being seen with someone you’re ashamed of. Is that what you want? On the other hand, if you’re “at home” with Jesus and not afraid to be identified as one of his followers, then you’ll get to join him in the eternal home prepared for you.

Before addressing the positive elements of this passage, I want to wrestle with one question about the negative element: What does it mean to be ashamed of Jesus? The concept in the Bible suggests that being “ashamed” of something is the opposite of being confident you’ve done something right or good and taking a sense of inner pride in that. Being ashamed is more akin to being disgraced, that is, wanting to hide your face from others for whatever it is you’re doing, whether it is a sinful act that deserves shame or a cowardly attitude that causes you to either not take action when you should or even worse, to outright deny the value of something. Additionally, the root of the word is also the root for the concept of strength or power in the New Testament, but for the meaning “ashamed,” the negative prefix is added ἐπαισχύνομαι (epaischynomai)[1]. So there is an underlying nuance of not having or losing strength or power when your ashamed of good things. However, the shame we experience when doing something wrong is meant to motivate us to strengthen our resolve and our character so we have the power to do better the next time.

I know I’m jumping ahead a bit in the biblical timeline, but we have two appropriate examples of shame we can point to, especially in the events surrounding the crucifixion. Perhaps you’ve probably already made the connection to Peter’s actions outside the high priest’s residence at the illegal trial of Jesus the night before his crucifixion. Not once, not twice, but three times Peter denies knowing Jesus. Those were acts of cowardice on his part, but I’ll give him credit for at least showing up there. Where were the rest of the disciples after Jesus’s arrest?

The other example that perhaps you haven’t considered as an act of being ashamed of Jesus would be Judas’s betrayal. As I said above, Judas and the other disciples were expecting an earthly kingdom. Judas seems to have become disillusioned with the direction Jesus’s teaching and ministry had taken and was ashamed that things seemed to be falling apart from a worldly perspective. Perhaps he thought that getting Jesus arrested would be just the catalyst needed to start a revolt or rebellion that would cast off Roman rule once and for all. He wasn’t the only one who hadn’t yet grasped that there was a more eternal, spiritual kingdom on the way. When what he had hoped for didn’t pan out, his own shame was so great that he went out and hanged himself. He lost any shot at redemption at that point.

Peter, it seems, gave up at the point of his denials, but fortunately for the early church and the rest of us today, he didn’t follow in Judas’s footsteps. A few days after the resurrection, Peter received forgiveness when Jesus asked him not once, not twice, but three times if Peter loved him. It was as if each yes answer Peter gave undid each of his denials at Jesus’s trial.

How can we today show that we’re not ashamed of Jesus? The most obvious thing is keep sharing the good news of Jesus. As long as this congregation is doing the work God is calling and gifting you to do, you have no reason to be ashamed about any aspect of the ministry of this church. Don’t even be ashamed of the size of your congregation. Where two or three are gathered in Jesus’s name, he’s here in our midst. Don’t be discouraged. I also want to encourage you NOT to think that this church will inevitably close its doors. God works in mysterious ways, and he can bring life to places in ways we never imagined.

The Gospel of John has a slightly different version of this passage. It’s not strictly a parallel passage, but it does involve Jesus predicting his death and has the piece in it about losing your life for the sake of eternal reward. Listen to the words of Jesus John records for us:

23 Jesus replied, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. 25 Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life. 26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.[2]

Now of course, in this passage, Jesus is referring to himself as the seed. But if we are in Christ, we also can be the seeds that produce a whole new crop. So I would encourage you not to think of Mount View Presbyterian in terms of it being in its twilight. Think of this church as a seed that is planted here in the neighborhood of 52nd & Hartman, where you have several grade schools within a three-mile radius. I would encourage you to look beyond yourselves and see what possibilities lie ahead, because God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to his power that is at work in us (Ephesians 3:20). We may not see it ourselves, but I truly believe God has a long-term vision and plan for this congregation in this location.

Need more encouragement? I told you a few weeks ago in the parlor about how I’ve been recording my messages and putting them on my blog page. Well, I found out I underestimated how much impact that is having, apparently around the world. Last year, my messages were downloaded over 2,000 times by I don’t know how many people. Just so you understand how that works, someone has to send out a link to the message file on my blog, and others have to intentionally click the link to pull it up on their computer or phone and listen to it. Already this year, there have been an additional 400 downloads of these sermon files. As I said a few weeks ago, I always put on the text version of the file that I’ve preached the sermon here at Mount View.

Unfortunately, I have no idea where these people are who are downloading and listening to these sermons. But am I crazy to think that maybe someday someone might show up at our doors who says, “Hey, I thought I’d check out your church because I heard one of your messages on the Internet”? Regardless of the long-term outcome, know that people all over the world are hearing the word of God in messages preached from this pulpit. Last year alone, people from over 160 countries read at least one article or listened to at least one sermon on my blog. I don’t say this to brag about me. All I do is post the files on the Internet. I don’t do any significant promotion. This all happens by word of mouth and the power of God in fulfillment of his promise that his word never returns void. This has been a God thing through and through, and I pray that this congregation will reap the reward from that.

So I leave you with this: Do not be ashamed of your congregation, because you are the body of Christ, placed here for his purposes. Do not be ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God for salvation. And do not be ashamed of Jesus, who has given us life and hope in his kingdom, both now and for eternity. Amen.

[1] Swanson, James. 1997. In Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament), electronic ed. Oak Harbor: Logos Research Systems, Inc. Accessed February 29, 2024, from the software. The word used here has an intensifying prefix (ἐπ’) before the more common word for “ashamed.” The root of the word appears to be *ἰσχύ, which means “to be strong, capable.” The negative prefix alpha is added to the beginning of the root and after the intensifying prefix. The complete concept of the word “ashamed” in context, then, is akin to a complete absence of strength of character to stand for one’s convictions.

[2] The New International Version. 2011. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.

Scott Stocking

My thoughts and ideas are my own, and I have given credit where credit is due.

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