Fat, Feces and Funny

 Yesterday I had the opportunity to be the bus driver for some of our school age children at the childcare.  After picking 4 kids up from school they were surprised to see me driving the van rather than their normal bus driver and in their excitement they shouted, "yeah, Pastor Josh, tell us some Bible stories!"  Well, if that doesn't make your day I don't know what does.  After a few different stories in the van one child asked, what is your favorite Bible story?  Well, besides the awesome story of Jesus and his death and resurrection, which I had already discussed, I said, "Oh, well that is easy, I am a youth pastor after all so my favorite story has to be about the really fat king who was killed by the lefthanded man and when the king died he pooped all over himself."  Yeah, I went there.  Instead of hearing how I would tell it, read it for yourself: 

Judges 3:12-30

² And the people of Israel again did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord strengthened Eglon the king of Moab against Israel, because they had done what was evil in the sight of the Lord. ¹³ He gathered to himself the Ammonites and the Amalekites, and went and defeated Israel. And they took possession of the city of palms. ¹⁴ And the people of Israel served Eglon the king of Moab eighteen years.

¹⁵ Then the people of Israel cried out to the Lord, and the Lord raised up for them a deliverer, Ehud, the son of Gera, the Benjaminite, a left-handed man. The people of Israel sent tribute by him to Eglon the king of Moab. ¹⁶ And Ehud made for himself a sword with two edges, a cubit in length, and he bound it on his right thigh under his clothes. ¹⁷ And he presented the tribute to Eglon king of Moab. Now Eglon was a very fat man. ¹⁸ And when Ehud had finished presenting the tribute, he sent away the people who carried the tribute. ¹⁹ But he himself turned back at the idols near Gilgal and said, “I have a secret message for you, O king.” And he commanded, “Silence.” And all his attendants went out from his presence. ²⁰ And Ehud came to him as he was sitting alone in his cool roof chamber. And Ehud said, “I have a message from God for you.” And he arose from his seat. ²¹ And Ehud reached with his left hand, took the sword from his right thigh, and thrust it into his belly. ²² And the hilt also went in after the blade, and the fat closed over the blade, for he did not pull the sword out of his belly; and the dung came out. ²³ Then Ehud went out into the porch and closed the doors of the roof chamber behind him and locked them.

²⁴ When he had gone, the servants came, and when they saw that the doors of the roof chamber were locked, they thought, “Surely he is relieving himself in the closet of the cool chamber.” ²⁵ And they waited till they were embarrassed. But when he still did not open the doors of the roof chamber, they took the key and opened them, and there lay their lord dead on the floor.

²⁶ Ehud escaped while they delayed, and he passed beyond the idols and escaped to Seirah. ²⁷ When he arrived, he sounded the trumpet in the hill country of Ephraim. Then the people of Israel went down with him from the hill country, and he was their leader. ²⁸ And he said to them, “Follow after me, for the Lord has given your enemies the Moabites into your hand.” So they went down after him and seized the fords of the Jordan against the Moabites and did not allow anyone to pass over. ²⁹ And they killed at that time about 10,000 of the Moabites, all strong, able-bodied men; not a man escaped. ³⁰ So Moab was subdued that day under the hand of Israel. And the land had rest for eighty years.

Things to think about:

• Ok, I hope you enjoyed that story as much as I did.  I hope it leaves you with many questions, one of which must be, "what in the world is God doing here and why did he include this story with these details in the Bible to be preserved for all of eternity?"  Good question.  
• The book of Judges has a recycling theme of disobedience, destruction/occupation/suffering, cry for deliverance, rescue, peace, then back to disobedience, etc.  This is one of the first stories of that cycle showing the mercy of God contrasted with the hard hearted nature of the Israelites.  
• Notice how the story starts - "the people did what was evil in the sight of God..." so then God strengthens Israel's enemies.  God gave power to the enemy, gave them strength, caused them to grow in their power over the Israelites.  In that moment God was on the side of the Moabites...at least on a surface level on their side.  When we are actively sinning against God do you think he strengthens our enemies?  Does God fight against us?  He does not want us to stay in our sin, so if it takes suffering and pain to break us out and bring us to a place of desperation then that is loving and kind for him to do.  "It is for discipline that you have to endure.  God is treating you as sons.  For what son is there whom his father does not discipline?"  Hebrews 12:7
• Do you think God put this story in here to be an encouragement for all the left-handed people of the world? God is saying, "you left-handed children of mine are valuable too.  You may not be able to write with a pencil and not smudge everywhere, but you do have a purpose."  I don't know, maybe.  :)  
• I am not sure what great theological significance it was that Eglon the king was so fat the sword was swallowed by his stomach or that when he died the poop came out...and then the great awkward is awesome moments of the guards waiting to go inside because they thought the kings was on the toilet giving time for Ehud to escape and rally an army to go fight and kill 10,000 Moabites.  God deals in the real world with real people.  These stories are not glamorized or made into fictional retellings or myths.  Eglon was just a really fat guy.  Ehud was left-handed.  And God used normal, although awkward, life circumstances to accomplish his purposes.  So, maybe here is a question for you to consider.  Your life is not a movie, not a book, not a fictional glamorized version of reality.  You get sick, you fall short, you mess up, you say dumb things, and yet - God can still work through the reality of your life to accomplish his purposes.  You are not called to destroy 10,000 Moabites, but you are called to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind AND called to love your neighbor as yourself.  You are called to make disciples of all the nations.  You are called to serve, to sacrifice, to forgive, and to preach the good news of Jesus Christ.  Yes, you in your normal life filled with real things like fat and feces.  God doesn't mind getting messy so let him get messy with you.  

Have a great week

Shockwave of Life

 Have you ever felt a shockwave?  Maybe you got a little too close to a firework on July 4^th and you not only heard the explosion; you felt it!  Perhaps you have been near a plane that broke the sound barrier and you felt that wave of energy flow right through your body.  Or maybe you were swimming in a pool, and someone launched themselves off the diving board doing a cannon ball right next to your head.  Shockwaves are the side effects or after effects of a major event.  We should expect a shockwave after the most amazing event in all of human history, the death of Jesus Christ.  We read of just such a shockwave in the book of Matthew from the New Testament.  

Background:

We are picking up the story as Jesus is already hanging on the cross paying the price for the sins of all those who would trust in Him.  He was beaten, abused, mocked, and maligned.  Now, we see the final moments of his life and Matthew records the shockwave of that life shattering event.  Here is what he says...

Matthew 27:45-54

⁴⁵ Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. ⁴⁶ And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ⁴⁷ And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.” ⁴⁸ And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink. ⁴⁹ But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.” ⁵⁰ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.

⁵¹ And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split. ⁵² The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, ⁵³ and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many. ⁵⁴ When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son of God!”

Things to think about:

• The Jewish people started counting the hours of the day from daybreak or about 6:00am so the sixth hour of the day was around noon.  For three hours in the middle of the day the sky goes dark.  This was no eclipse that lasted two minutes.  It wasn't cloud cover.  The sun wasn't setting behind some tall mountain.  With very little explanation the Bible just tells us the sky went dark.  How dark?  Was it dark around the entire world or just in Israel?  Was it only a perceived darkness for the people present at the crucifixion or was it a physical miracle that God did for the planet.  Either way it was a working of the Lord to illustrate the darkness of sin that has been hanging over mankind since the Garden of Eden.  Sin leads to death and death is separation from the Lord.  This darkness is a shockwave of the darkness of sin destroying the Son of God who is light itself.  For the moment it seems as if darkness has won, as if sin has had the final victory, and death stands triumphant for all of eternity.  If death could kill Jesus who is "the life" then who could possibly stop it?
• As Jesus makes his final cry and gives up his spirit it would seem like the story was over.  Humanity was a tragedy from the beginning and this is how it ends with the death of hope, the death of our savior, the death of our champion.  The shockwave of this event explodes out into human history and continues to effect all of creation.  As the shockwave started its journey 2,000 years ago Matthew gives us a few illustrations of what this death actually accomplishes.  All is not lost!  There is hope yet to come!  Read verses 51-54 again.
• The curtain of the temple was town in two.  The curtain that separated the Holy of Holies from the people of God.  God was too holy to be near the people and out of his love he created a barrier so that the priests would not be consumed by his presence.  Now that curtain was torn in two opening the way to an intimacy with the Lord that was impossible before.  Jesus paid the price.  He died in our place.  He has the power to make us holy and bring us to the Lord without fear of being consumed.  Hebrews 10:19-22 tells us to approach the throne of God with confidence and walk right through that torn curtain into the very presence of God and all of his glory.  Because of Jesus we can enter in and stand righteous before the Lord.  That is a shockwave that travels through space and time to secure our place for all of eternity.  
• The tombs were opened and dead people came to life!  Matthew is the only gospel that records this unique and crazy part of the story.  They all record Jesus coming back to life on the third day, but here Matthew includes this little extra bit of information as another illustration of the shockwave of life that exploded from that event.  Jesus literally broke death.  For a moment death lost its grip on some people and boom, there they were waking up in graves after being dead for who knows how long.  Could you imagine eating breakfast one day and here comes grandma walking down the street after you buried her 8 months ago?  She just walks in, sits down, and says, "oh I have a story for you..."  Jesus, the life, explodes out of the grave and the shockwave of life brought people out of the tombs.  May that be an example for you to follow as the life of Jesus can explode in you and give you hope that one day you too will pop up out of your grave and be with Jesus forever.  
• The centurion assigned to make sure Jesus was dead and oversee this brutal act was so overwhelmed at the scene even he was filled with awe and proclaimed a truth that changes the world.  "Truly this was the Son of God!"  May the shockwave of that truth ring in your ears today as you ponder the death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Remember Death

     You would think that something so common, so built into the fabric of life, so "in our face" could ever be forgotten.  How could you forget death?  We see death every day.  Whether it is the death of a squirrel in the road, a bug smashed under your shoe, a flower wilting in the sun, or a loved one in a hospital bed, an unexpected phone call bearing terrible news, or the slow fade of your life as you look into the mirror and see age slowly steal your youth and energy.  We see death all the time, yet we often forget about it.  We push it aside in our mind and are genuinely surprised every time it rears its ugly head.  How could this happen?  Not me?  Not him?  Why now?  Why in that way?  As if we thought we would be the ones who could escape it, hide from it, or ignore it long enough and it would go away.  But, there it stands; death.  I apologize about being so morbid, but unless we face death we can never look beyond it to the hope that lives on the other side.  So, let's read through Psalm 90 together as Moses contemplates death and see if we can see the hope that he was so desperate to find.  

Psalm 90

A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.

1 Lord, you have been our dwelling place
    in all generations.

2 Before the mountains were brought forth,
    or ever you had formed the earth and the world,
    from everlasting to everlasting you are God.
3 You return man to dust
    and say, “Return, O children of man!”

4  For a thousand years in your sight
    are but as yesterday when it is past,
    or as a watch in the night.
5 You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream,
    like grass that is renewed in the morning:

6  in the morning it flourishes and is renewed;
    in the evening it fades and withers.
7 For we are brought to an end by your anger;
    by your wrath we are dismayed.

8 You have set our iniquities before you,
    our secret sins in the light of your presence.
9 For all our days pass away under your wrath;
    we bring our years to an end like a sigh.

10 The years of our life are seventy,
    or even by reason of strength eighty;
    yet their span is but toil and trouble;
    they are soon gone, and we fly away.

11 Who considers the power of your anger,
    and your wrath according to the fear of you?
12 So teach us to number our days
    that we may get a heart of wisdom.

13 Return, O Lord! How long?
    Have pity on your servants!

14 Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love,
    that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.

15 Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us,
    and for as many years as we have seen evil.

16 Let your work be shown to your servants,
    and your glorious power to their children.

17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
    and establish the work of our hands upon us;
    yes, establish the work of our hands!

Things to think about:

• The Psalm starts with a view from God's perspective. God does not die. He does not face an end nor did he have a beginning. He is. How might that truth of God's eternal existence give us comfort in our reality of facing death?
• Moses hints at it, but doesn't go into all the detail of why we have death. In verse 7 he says we are brought to an end because of the Lord's anger and we face his wrath. As we look at death let us never forget why there is death in this world. Our sin. The punishment for sin is death, always has been, always will be. Sin leads to death. So, before we shake our fist at God and cry out for justice let us remember death is the justice of God for our rebellion against him.
• When we learn to number our days and "remember death" like instructed in verse 12 we can grow in wisdom. The fool skips along toward their doom while the wise understands the reality of their enemy, death, and searches for something or someone that can defeat it.
• Moses was looking for hope and knew to look to the Lord. We have the blessing of seeing more of the story so when we remember death and look to the Lord we can see the answer. One has come who defeated death, defeated sin, and now gives eternal life. His name is Jesus Christ! Through his death on the cross and his resurrection to new life he gives us hope to see past our own death to the life we can live with him. My prayer is that as you look at death today, wherever you may see it, your eyes would lift and you would see the one who conquered death and who stands in victory. Therefore, hope in him and find life.