Cornerstonekaty

John 11:17-40

Luke 22:7-22

James 1:1-18

As much as we talk about James as a letter that highlights the importance of good works, (which it does so much so that Martin Luther questioned its canonicity) it is actually a letter about faith. And that faith is extremely important, for the result of that faith is the crown of life. James writes,

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. (James 1:12)

James is writing about faith that leads to eternal life. This is the kind of faith every Christian wants to have. So how do you get this kind of faith?

Luke17:11-19

Zechariah 3:1-10

Have you ever come into a situation in which you were completely and utterly unprepared? It is enough to induce a moment of panic. What will you do? What will you say? All you can envision is a complete unravelling. I remember how that would express itself to me as a child. In our elementary school each classroom had a coat closet. It wasn’t really a closet, but the side of the room with a partitition that seperated it from the desks. In my dreams I found myself standing in that cloat closet in only my underwear, with this feeling of utter panic and shame that the rest of the class would find me there and I had no way of doing anything about it.

Maybe you’ve faced such dreams. When I was older the dream changed. In the dream I was in college and arriving to a class only to find that it was the day of the our final exam, and I had done nothing to prepare, or we’re near the end of the semester and I discovered I am enrolled in another class that I knew nothing about. Those are hiddeous moments and reveal that great anxiety that we feel about being in a situation in which we are completely and utterly unprepared and no amount of last minute scrambling can fix.

What do you do in those moments? What can you do in those moments? That is the situation Joshua, the high priest found himself in with this vision. He lived among the returned exiles who were tasked with rebuilding Jerusalem. It was a task that was completely beyond them. Even though they had gone back with great fanfare under the decree of Cyrus with supplies, the task was daunting, if not impossible. In the first couple of chapters God reassures them that they need not fear or despair, God is behind the task. He will see that Jerusalem is rebuilt and it will be greater than it was before: too big for walls, and overflowing with prosperity. It will be a place of great wonder and glory. And God will deal with the nations that celebrated the downfall of his people in his fury. These were comforting words. And yet, as we get to chapter 3 we find God speaking now to Joshua, the high priest, who was to serve in this temple. If it is indeed so great, what must that mean for the high priest who is to serve there? It is an intimadating thought. If God is going to make a place of such grandeur and wonder and glory, who can possibly dwell there?

It is a question for us this morning. If we are looking forward to this heavenly city, the new Jerusalem, that is so filled with wonder, so glorious, how will we ever fit?

Haggai 2:1-9

I still remember the day I was dropped off for college. My hard work had paid off and I was standing on the footsteps of college, full of excitement and confidence that this would lead to a bright future, that this would lead to glory! But as the year went on, I found lots of things to do besides coursework, and faced challenges and setbacks I did not anticipate. Distractions and threats led me to the brink of derailing my college career.

Haggai’s audience faced a similar problem. Their time of exile was over and God had brought them back to their land. It was a miraculous work. It meant God’s justice was satisfied and He was moving on their behalf.  I can only imagine the great wonder and excitement they must have felt about their future. After all, the Persian conqueror over the captors had decreed their return and provisioned them to rebuild the temple. Ezra describes how this came about.

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.” Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. (Ezra 1:1–6)

But as they arrived, the land was a mess and the temple was in ruins. The people living in the area did not want them back and plotted against their sucess. Their homes were in dissaray and needed repair, and their crops were underproducing. They were discouraged and the work of building the temple was on the brink of being derailed. 

It is into this moment that Haggai speaks. Don’t give up! You will not fail, because God will not fail, for the latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former.

Like those in Haggai’s day, we are also called to build the temple of God. “Go and make disciples of all nations!” Jesus exhorted in His Great Commission to us. And yet, it is a work under constant threat from opposition of the world, and distraction from our own house and work. So his message speaks to us. “Don’t give up! You will not fail, because God will not fail, for the latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former.”

Nahum 1:1-15

Nahum is a difficult book. It is prophecy against Ninevah, the capital of Assyria and it describes the devastating power of God aimed in judgment upon them. Ninevah fell in 612 BC, when the Assyrian empire fell to Babylon. That sets it apart from most of the prophets, which spoke of the looming destruction of Israel and Judah for being unfaithful to the covenant they had with God. Assyria’s crime was not of breaking the covenant, for they did not have one, but for plotting and acting against the Lord and his people. By the way, this does not mean that God is not also concerned for nations other than Israel. He is! Jonah’s message, roughly 100 years earlier which was also to Ninevah, prompted their repentance, which God accepted. But that time is past for Ninevah and God’s judgment looms over them. Nahum’s audience, instead, is Judah. And as it tells of Assyria’s destruction, it is presented as good news.

That, of course, opens to the door for ethical questions. Should we be celebrating the downfall of another? Should we rejoice in it?

The short answer is no and yes. No, we should not celebrate the downfall of anyone, no matter how bad their crime is. We are called to love our enemies and even to pray for those who persecute us. And that isn’t just a New Testament command. In Ezekiel 33:11 we find that God himself takes no delight in the death of the wicked.

And yet, we should celebrate the downfall of evil. That’s what Assyria represents when we consider Nahum as a picture of the eschatological judgment that God will bring upon his enemies.

This is a celebration of justice. With justice, God’s people are saved. This is why is it is good news! Without justice, there is no salvation. So let’s take a closer look at this justice.

Micah 5:1-5

Micah is best known for this passage. When the Magi arrived in Jerusalem looking for “he who had been born king of the Jews” they went to Herod to find out. Of course, he didn’t know so he called the chief priests and scribes (the experts) to ask them. In response, they paraphrased this passage in Micah.

“ ‘And you, O Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for from you shall come a ruler who will shepherd my people Israel.’ ” (Matthew 2:6)

But why Bethlehem? There are several reasons for this which we can draw from Micah’s prophecy and all of them highlight the hope of Christmas: that light shines in the darkness. 
I love how CS Lewis sets the stage for his book, “The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe.” When Lucy first arrives in Narnia through the wardrobe, it is snowing and cold. While that might appeal to the winter lovers out there and there is a sense of beauty to newly fallen snow, it gets old after a prolonged period of time. It’s why people up North look forward summer. In Narnia, however, Lucy finds that it is always winter. The cold and the gloom persist day after day. And the worst part of all, It is “always winter and never Christmas” as Mr. Tumnus explains to Lucy. This is the backdrop of the real Christmas story. Israel is stuck in winter. The prophets don’t put it quite like that. Instead, they speak of Israel being in exile, living under a foreign ruler. But even as the prophets warn of this exile, they always end their prophecies with the hope that is Christmas. Jesus is coming and the long winter of exile will end.

And so we are invited to let this hope sink in. A look at Bethlehem provides us a window into this hope.

Amos 9:11-15

Amos was a prophet who lived near the end of the Northern Kingdom of Israel, similar to that of Hosea. His message was one of warning about the coming judgment of God upon the nation with a twofold goal: his prophecy was a warning and call to repentance, as well as a promise of hope for a better world.

We’re looking specifically at the messianic hope in this promise of a better world. This is the conclusion of his prophesy, a kingdom restored and flourishing. And it is also the heart of the gospel. It is the announcement that this kingdom has come. This was John the Baptist’s message:

“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matthew 3:2)

Jesus announces his ministry,

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” (Mark 1:15)

This is why the disciples were expecting Jesus to overthrow the Romans and restore the kingdom of Israel and confused when he talked of being put to death. Today, the gospel is so often discussed primarily in terms of Jesus’ atoning work on the cross (which is also very good news) that we forget the bigger picture of what God is doing. His going to the cross was the means to building this future kingdom where justice and righteousness reign and there is great human flourishing.
The prophecy of Amos helps us to see how we will get there.

Hosea 3:1-5

According to James Boice, this is the greatest chapter in the Bible. Why would he say such a thing? Hosea, like many prophets, has a very hard—and strange—calling. He was told to go and marry a wife of whoredom. This goes against good sense and certainly doesn’t fit Paul’s instruction to the Corinthians to not be unequally yoked. So, why is he told to do this and what has this to do with our messianic hope? So much!

Hosea is told in chapter 1,

When the Lord first spoke through Hosea, the Lord said to Hosea, “Go, take to yourself a wife of whoredom and have children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom by forsaking the Lord.” (Hosea 1:2)

Hosea wasn’t given this command as a model for the rest of us. He was given this command as part of his prophetic role. His marriage was a living parable of God’s marriage to Israel. He is not the only prophet to have his marriage serve as a parable. If you will recall, Ezekiel’s relationship with his wife also served as a parable. On the day Jerusalem fell, Ezekiiel’s wife died. It was a sign to the people of Israel that just as the delight of Ezekiel’s eyes was taken away, so would Jerusalem be taken away. Isaiah also followed God’s command with regard to his wife that would serve in part of his prophetic message.

Back to Hosea. His marrage to a woman of whoredom was a visual lesson to the people of Israel that they might understand their own relationship with God. After all, marrage is often the image that God uses to describe his relationship to his people. For example,

For your Maker is your husband, the Lord of hosts is his name; and the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer, the God of the whole earth he is called. (Isaiah 54:5)

In addition, the Song of Solomon, while likely a historical account, is included in the Bible to serve as a type of the relationship that would exist between God and his people. So that’s a familiar connection.

What is not so expected, however, is the pain in such a marriage. (Ezekiel uses similar language in his prophecies, but he writes later than Hosea.)

So what do we learn about our relationship with God? As we look at this relationship, we see a depth to God’s covenant love for his bride. It is an incredible love story when we begin to see this love unfold.

So what do we see about this love?