The word, paradise, has its origins in Persia, what is now known as Iran. A paradise was an enclosed garden, walled off from the outside world, and it contained fruit trees, vegetable gardens and beautiful landscaped lawns and flower beds. The most beautiful Persian garden (paradise) was built by Cyrus, king of Persia. Persia has conquered Babylon (during the time of Daniel), and under Cyrus the Jewish exiles were allowed to return home. Cyrus, mentioned often in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah but also much earlier in the prophecy of Isaiah, was considered to be a friend of the Jews.

Cyrus, historians say, had a huge garden which was known throughout the world. Many modelled their gardens after it, and although it was destroyed by Alexander the Great (a Greek), it continued to be an inspiration for architects through the centuries. Cyrus’ garden contained orchards, palaces, water features, pathways, and beautifully kept shrubs and flower beds. In the Persian language it was called a paradise.

When the Jews began to translate the Hebrew Bible into Greek (this Greek translation is known as the Septuagint) about 200 years before Jesus was born (300+ years after Cyrus), they had to find appropriate Greek words for the Hebrew words. One of the words that they used to describe the Garden of Eden was the Persian word, paradise. Because Cyrus’ accomplishments were still remembered, his paradise would give people a picture of what the Garden of Eden was meant to be. Like Cyrus’ paradise, the Garden if Eden was a place of beauty, tranquility, and provision, but it was much better than Cyrus’ paradise.

The word, paradise, does not appear in the English Old Testament, for translators from Hebrew to English have chosen to use the word, garden, probably because that word gives us a better image of what Eden was like. But “paradise” is used three times in the New Testament, once by Jesus, once by Paul, and once by John the apostle.

Jesus tells the thief who is being crucified with him, the thief who asked Jesus to remember him, that “Today you will be with me in paradise.” The Septuagint tended to be the Bible that most people used at that time, and the words and phrases in it were familiar to people of that time. When the thief heard the word, “paradise,” he would immediately have thought of the paradise of the Old Testament, the Garden of Eden. But by that time in history, paradise referred not only to the Garden of Eden but also eternal life with God. The thief who, no doubt, was a Jew would have understood that Jesus was promising him that in the next few hours, before the day was over, they would be together in the new Garden of Eden, eternal life.

Paul uses the word, “paradise,” in 2 Corinthians 12:4 when he says that a man he knew (most likely himself) was caught up to paradise and “heard inexpressible things, things which no one is permitted to tell.” While it is uncertain what this man’s experience was, Paul is indicating that in a vision this man had experienced a taste of heaven.

And finally, in Revelation 2:7, in the letter to the church in Ephesus, John writes that those who are victorious will be given the right to each from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God. Again, the words of the Greek Old Testament are invoked to give the readers a sense of what is awaiting them. Those who belong to Jesus Christ will experience eternal life in a kind of garden which will be like the paradise that Cyrus built, only much better.

There is no word which can describe what is awaiting us beyond the grave. Those who were translating the Hebrew Old Testament into Greek seemed to want to find an appropriate word, and the best word they could think of was “paradise.” Of course, none of them had seen Cyrus’ garden, for it has been destroyed at least a century before the Septuagint was written. Still the memory remained and that memory evoked images of a place where life could be very good. No one has seen the Garden of Eden, and no one has been able to tell us what the new paradise will be like, but the very word should capture our imaginations. What has God prepared for us? What do those who believe in Jesus have to look forward to? No one can tell us exactly what it is, but “paradise” is a good place for us to start thinking about what it is that awaits. Paradise, of course, in an inadequate word to describe the beauty, tranquility and blessedness of eternal life, but it is a good place to start. What we will receive is beyond our imagination.

One day, we will have experience paradise because Jesus came first to this earth to open the gates to that place. They are closed no longer, and there are no cherubim with flaming swords keeping us out because Jesus gave his life for our sins. It is because of that that we can look forward to experiencing paradise, new life forever in the presence of Jesus Christ.

Change is painful, and it has often been said that we will only change if the pain of not changing is greater than the pain associated with the change. Moving to a new house is painful, for example, but a family will move if the house they are living in is too small or too decrepit and the new house is far better than the one they currently have. We will change if the pain of staying the same is greater than the pain of change.

Change is not only painful, but it can be frightening. When I began my seminary education, I decided to attend a seminary north of Chicago, a place which I had visited only once, a place where I knew only one person. So visceral were my feelings, that as I left Ontario, I felt the need to pull my vehicle over because I felt that I was going to throw up. I was leaving what I knew and what was familiar to go to a place where I knew no one, and I was afraid of what this new situation would be like. When I arrived at my new home and began my studies, the pain of being in an unfamiliar environment continued, and I felt an incredibly powerful homesickness. This passed, however, when my classes began, and I met fellow students and became friends with many of them. It turned out that my year in that seminary was one of the best years of educational life. I longed to return to finish my studies, but the high tuition and living costs of that school prevented me from continuing, and I enrolled in Calvin Seminary. There, I discovered that this change was also good, and I developed some life-long friendships with both students and professors. While change was frightening, things turned out well, and I am glad that I endured the pain I experienced when moving to new places.

When confronted with the possibility (or need) for change, what may hold us back is the fear of the unknown and the pain of change. Yet, our fears can be completely unfounded, and the benefits of making the change can far outweigh the pain of entering into a new situation. Take the earlier example of moving to a new house. While the prospect of moving to a new house might be intimidating because there are many unknowns, after experiencing life in the new house, the family understands that life is so much better with a house that fits their needs.

The family that makes the move to a new house has valuable experience that they can share with others. Perhaps they have friends who have a similar problem, and they can help their friends envision what life could be like. This is often called “casting a vision.” Casting a vision helps others see the benefits of change and helps them move to a better life. Casting a vision helps others overcome the fear of the unknown and makes the pain of change more manageable.

As followers of Jesus Christ, as a church, our primary task is to work to build God’s kingdom. Our task is to bring all parts of creation back under the lordship of Jesus Christ. That means that we are asking for change. The world has fallen into sin, and the values of the world are often completely opposite of the ones Christ asks us to have. Differing values results in different priorities, different systems, different lifestyles, etc. To bring God’s world under the lordship of Jesus Christ means that there needs to be changes. And, as we know, change can be frightening and painful.

As Christians, people who follow Jesus Christ, we can help others understand the benefits of living for Jesus in the way we live and act. We model what it is like to live with Jesus as our Lord, and we speak of the blessings we have received as we experience his presence in our lives. Our experience enables us to cast a vision for others so that they can become willing to consider the blessing of trusting Jesus. Effectually, living our lives as citizens of God’s kingdom and as children in God’s family is a witness to the blessings of putting our faith in Jesus. Living as disciples of Jesus Christ is as powerful a witness to the gospel as are our words, recognizing, of course, that we will need to be able to give an answer for the hope that others see in us.

If we are going to do that effectively, however, we cannot be reluctant in our commitment to Jesus and his kingdom. If someone moves into a new and better house and yet continually speaks of their longing for the old house, they are not casting an effective vision. If I had attended seminary but expressed how much I disliked the courses and how living north of Chicago was a terrible experience, others would have become discouraged by my attitude and actions. Wholeheartedly adopting what it is we want others to experience is necessary if we want them to experience the same. In other words, being reluctant (or, better, unfaithful) followers of Jesus Christ will not encourage others to consider putting their trust in the Lord.

Change is painful, and it can be frightening. People will only consider change if their fears are removed and the pain of not changing becomes greater than the pain of changing. God has called us to help others understand that the blessings of belonging to Jesus far outweigh the pain of leaving the values, priorities, and activities of those who do not belong to the kingdom of God. A faithful witness to Jesus Christ is one who helps others understand what a blessing it is to belong to Jesus, and the best way to model that is to throw ourselves wholeheartedly into living faithfully. Of course, we recognize that the only way people will change to become followers of Jesus Christ is through the work of the Spirit, but the Spirit uses us to accomplish his task.

We have been changed because of Jesus, and that change, we know, has been exceedingly good for us. Let’s also be agents of change in the lives of others, helping them to see the blessings that come from putting our trust in Jesus.

Charles Dickens, The Christmas Carol, tells the story of Ebenezer Scrooge an older, miserly man, who, although rich, refused to pay a living wage to his employee, Bob Cratchit. Cratchit had a son, Tiny Tim, who would die if he did not receive medical help, and Scrooge refused to increase Cratchit’s salary sufficiently so that he could save his son’s life. We know the story: on Christmas Eve Scrooge was visited by three ghosts (Christmas past, present, and future), and he was so frightened and so convicted that he changed his ways and blessed not only Bob Cratchit and his family but others in the community as well.

We do not know why Dickens chose the name, Ebenezer, for this old miser, but perhaps it was because he was reminded of the biblical meaning of the name (Hebrew for “stone of help”) and wanted to illustrate how Ebenezer Scrooge received help to change his ways. The Christmas Carol is a heart-warming story, and its purpose is to guide us to think about the spirit of Christmas, namely that we help others. Scrooge’s life change is invoked by his confrontation with the hurt he has caused others and how being a miser will result in his life ending in loneliness and a neglected grave. Scrooge’s heart is changed, and he starts to use his vast fortune to bless others.

In the Bible, the name Ebenezer not given to a man but to a place. Like The Christmas Carol, the story in the Bible is about being changed from living a futile life to experiencing a life of blessing. However, that is where the similarity ends.

In 1 Samuel 7:3-17, we read about an ongoing problem that was facing the Israelites, the problem of the Philistines. Philistia was a substantial nation to the southwest of Israel, lying along the Mediterranean Sea. To the south of Philistia was a wilderness and beyond that the powerful Egyptian nation, leaving the region to the north and east as the only region which would provide the Philistines the opportunity to grow in power and size. It was the goal of the Philistines to conquer the Israelites and take their land as their own. In the time when Samuel provided leadership for God’s people, the Philistines had become a threat to the very existence of Israel. In fact, in 1 Samuel 6, the Philistines had done great harm to the Israelites and had managed to capture the Ark of the Covenant, the symbol to the Israelites of God’s presence among them. The ark was returned within a few months, but the Philistine threat remained.

In 1 Samuel 7 we find Samuel commanding the Israelites to rid themselves of the idols dedicated to false gods, the Baals and Ashoreths, which they had been worshipping instead of honouring the Lord, the God who had claimed them as their own. Repentant of their waywardness, the Israelites destroyed these idols and offered sacrifices to the Lord, committing their way to him alone. They had assembled at Mizpah for a service of lament and repentance.

The Philistines, hearing that the majority of the Israelites were gathered into one place, decided to take advantage of the situation and planned an attack at Mizpah that would virtually wipe out the Israelites. Samuel urged the people to pray to the Lord their God, asking him to rescue them from almost sure destruction.

God answered their prayers and when the Philistines were about to attack, sent a powerful storm that sent the Philistines into disarray. These enemies of Israel understood that the thunder that sounded from the heavens meant that the Israelite God was very powerful, and they would not be able to stand before him. Panicking, they fled, and the Israelite soldiers rushed out and attacked and defeated the Philistine armies completely. When the battle was over, Samuel took a large stone and set it up and a reminder for that generation and their children that God had won the battle on their behalf. He named the stone, “Ebenezer,” (= Stone of Help) saying that thus far has God helped us.

For the rest of Samuel’s lifetime the Philistines did not present a threat to the Israelites, and they lived in relative peace and safety. During the time of Saul, the first king of Israel, the Philistines again became a threat, but under David’s rule they were subdued completely and did not attack Israel again.

While both The Christmas Carol and the story of the Stone of Help in the Bible show us remarkable transformation, the transformations are very different from each other. Ebenezer, being shown the error of his lifestyle and the bleak future he could expect as a miser, became generous and kind to others. This is often considered to be the message of Christmas, namely that we be good to others by giving to them. But the story in 1 Samuel 7 speaks of a different kind of transformation. The Israelites, at the beginning of the chapter, had been worshipping other gods and found themselves to be powerless against their enemies. When they repented, they began to experience the powerful work of the Lord in their lives, and they learned how God would fight their battles for them and save them from their enemies. The stone, Ebenezer, reminded them that it was God who transforms our difficult situations into times of peace. In fact, it is God who provides salvation, and the Israelites experienced that salvation following God’s powerful act.

The message of The Christmas Carol has, for many, become the message of Christmas. Over and over again we are reminded that we should be having a giving spirit and bless others with what we have. We are reminded that miserliness and selfishness have no place in our lives, and we ought, instead, to be generous. This is a good message, of course, but it is not the message that, first and foremost, we should associate with Christmas.

Rather, the coming of Jesus into the world is about God’s transformative power in taking oppressed and threatened people and giving them the experience of peace not only now but for eternity. Christmas is a call for us to remember that God has helped us to this point, and he will continue to help us into the future. It is a call to repentance for those times that we have put our trust in anything or anyone else than the Lord. It is a time when we are reminded that our God is dependable, and we can trust in him. True, Christmas may be a time when we are motivated to be generous to others, but Christmas, primarily, is a time for us to renew our commitment to the Lord because of his great act of salvation in Jesus Christ. We are reminded that thus far God has helped us, and we are assured that he will continue to help us far into the future, into eternity.

The following is the text of the chapel message I gave at Immanuel Christian Secondary School this week. It’s a little longer than normal, and it has references that make the most sense if we understand them in the context of a chapel setting.

I attended the first chapel of this school year, and it was then that I learned that the theme for this year is based on 1 Peter 2:9, the KJV translation which says that we are a peculiar people. In that chapel, I think the speaker said that as Christians we are meant to be odd.

I had been doing a bit of research for a sermon a few days earlier, and I found myself going down a lot of rabbit holes. I was going from web page to web page, reading things that I found to be interesting. I happened across one web page which gave a bit of history to the word, “odd.”

Today, it’s not very popular to be odd, but 500-600 years ago, it was a compliment to be called an odd person. It actually meant “outstanding or illustrious.” I think we can know what that means if we apply it to the world of sports. Volleyball season is over, I think, so let me use that as an example. Volleyball is a team sport, of course, and you depend on each other to win the game. But sometimes on a team there is someone who is so good, so far above all the other players that you can’t help but notice her. When the team is on the court, she stands out. At one time in history, the highest compliment you could pay such a player was to call her “odd.” She was so outstanding that she stood out from all the rest.

Because the KJV uses the word, “peculiar” when it calls us a peculiar people, I wondered if that word has the same history. The KJV was translated in 1611, and the words that they used then sometimes take on a different meaning today. That is true of the word, “peculiar.” In 1611 “peculiar,” meant “unusual or uncommon” but not in a negative sense. Like “odd” peculiar meant “distinguished, special, particular, select.” Today, when we read the word “peculiar” in the Bible, we might read “strange” or “weird.” But that is not what the translators of the KJV were thinking in 1611. When they translated the Greek language, they used the word “peculiar” to say that God’s people (Christians) are distinguished and special. The Greek word implies that we are God’s special possession, as the NIV translates it.

Further, it might be helpful to know that the word, “peculiar,” had some relationship to ownership. Let me illustrate. Let’s say that you collect classic cars, and you have about 15 of them. Of those 15 cars, however, one stands out above the rest. Maybe it’s because it belonged to your grandfather. Or perhaps it is one of 200 left in the world or perhaps it’s because it’s the first car you restored. For whatever reason, that car is peculiar to you. You own many cars, but it’s the car that stands out above the rest. Of all your possessions, it’s the peculiar car.

I am sure you have heard a number of times this year, we are a peculiar, odd people, we who call ourselves Christians. For whatever reason, God has chosen to make us his special possession, and he has done that as we put our faith in Jesus Christ. We are peculiar and odd to him, not in a negative sense, but in the sense of the outstanding volleyball player and the special car in your collection. We are special to God.

But there is something else we need to know. Our God is also peculiar and odd. We worship an odd God, a peculiar God, keeping in mind how I have just defined those words. So, what is it that makes our God peculiar and odd?

Sometimes it’s helpful to do a bit of comparison so that we really understand what we are dealing with. We don’t know how good a volleyball player is until we see them on a team with other volleyball players.

So, what makes our God peculiar and odd? I think that the best way to think of God is to put him in the context of that biblical times. We all know that in biblical times, both OT and NT, every nation had its own gods. In NT times, Rome had a whole bunch of gods, called a pantheon. In OT times the Canaanites, Egyptians and residents of Mesopotamia had their own gods, and the gods differed from place to place and each god had his own specialty.

So, let’s say that you live here in Southern Alberta and want to travel to Montana. If we lived in that time, the Alberta gods had no power and authority in Montana, so if you went to Montana, you would have to change religions. You would have to recognize the gods of Montana. But even if you remained in Alberta, you couldn’t have just one god. You would have to have many gods because each god had his (or her) own specialty. One god looked after rain while another took care of relationships. A different god would heal diseases and yet another one could help in times of war. If you wanted help from the gods, you had to know which gods happened to be in the area, and you had to know which god could provide you with what you needed. It was quite complicated, and you had to know what you were doing.

Then along comes the LORD, the God of the Bible, and he makes some pretty big claims. He says, “I’m the God who is everywhere.” So, if you travel to Montana or Montreal or Moldova, you can worship the LORD. Further, the God of the Bible makes the claim that no matter what we need, we can turn to him. If we are having trouble in a relationship, we can turn to the LORD. If we need a job, we can turn to the LORD. If a loved one is sick, we can turn to the LORD. No matter what, no matter where, our God, the LORD, the God of the Bible says that he is able to help us.

That’s what makes the God of Scripture odd and peculiar. He stands out above the rest, and he is outstanding in every field. Now, of course, we all know that there is only one God, the LORD, and that all those other gods are simply figments of human imagination. That being said, we can also worship figments of our imagination, if we make something into a god. People actually worshipped those gods which didn’t exist and which couldn’t help them because they were nonexistent. But we shouldn’t be surprised because lots of people make things into gods and worship those things, even when it’s obvious that what they worship can’t do anything for them. People who make money their god, for example, are big fools because money doesn’t help us. True, money can make life a little better, but money doesn’t really help us. Money doesn’t care about us, and it doesn’t even know that we exist. But money has become a really big god that lots of people worship. And money is not the only thing people worship. I know some people who worship themselves, thinking that they can do everything they need to get through life. I don’t know about you, but I am not nearly as outstanding as I would like to be, and I don’t think depending on myself instead of the God who is powerful will get me anywhere where I need to be.

So, when we compare the God of Scripture to any other gods, our God is peculiar and odd in that no matter where we are, he is able to provide us with what we need.

But there is something else that we should know about this peculiar God. He is committed to us. Remember the car collection with that special car. Let’s say that it belonged to your grandfather. You’ll never part with it, no matter what. That car is going to stay in the family forever. Even if you fall on hard times and you have to sell everything else to survive, you won’t sell that car, no matter what. You’re committed to it.

In the same way, God is committed to us. He won’t let us go, no matter what. Again, it is helpful to know that the gods of the nations in biblical times didn’t have that same commitment. In fact, they didn’t care about the people at all. The only time they would respond to the people is if they felt like it, and it wasn’t too inconvenient, or, perhaps, if they could benefit from the people in some way. Our God is not like that. He is fully committed to us, and we know he is because he made us his possession by giving Jesus, his eternal Son, to die for us on the cross. Our God will not part with us.

But I’m not supposed to be talking about all of this. I was asked to talk about worship, our peculiar practices, why we go to church, why we worship as a community, that type of thing. I was asked to talk about why our worship is peculiar or different. But I couldn’t do that without talking about the object of worship, our peculiar and odd God who is able to do all things and who is committed to us.

So, why do we worship? Better to ask, “What is worship?” The Hebrew and Greek are a little more vivid in their words. In the Hebrew, one of the primary words used for worship is “to fall prostrate on one’s face.” In some cultures (Korean, for example), people show respect for each other, and the deeper they bow, the more respect they show. The Hebrew pictures us showing so much respect that we bow with our faces to the ground.

The Greek word that is most often translated as worship has to do with serving. When a king has subjects, they serve him by doing his bidding and by obeying the laws he puts into place. We bend our wills to the one we worship.

All of life, if we understand worship as bending our wills (symbolized by bending our bodies to the ground) is worship. In other words, when you are in Math class or driving to friend’s house or baking a cake for your mother’s birthday – in all of that we bend our wills to God.

But we easily forget that. And that is why we need communal worship, gathering with other believers who call the LORD their peculiar and odd God. When we gather for communal worship, we do so to honour God. As we are reminded of who God is (and we need that reminder regularly), we learn again to bend our lives and our wills to serve him. In a sense, communal worship (what we do in church and what we are doing here during the school chapel) is practice for life. In communal worship we learn that our peculiar God is outstanding, unique, and totally capable of taking care of us in every way, and we are reminded that he is committed to us.

And communal worship gives us the opportunity to learn how to respond appropriately. The songs we sing and the prayers we offer are ways to practice serving the Lord. If we don’t make that a regular practice with other believers, we will quickly find that we are not serving God as faithfully with the rest of our lives.

I know that represented in this school there are many different churches, and I know that the style of worship varies greatly from one church to another. We should know that the style of worship is our preference, not God’s. What God is looking for in worship, no matter what the style (and he can handle almost any kind of style) is that as we are reminded of the fact that he is a peculiar and odd God, and that we want to serve him. What disappoints God in worship are those times when we don’t learn about God and aren’t called to bend our wills to him.

Worship, then, is being reminded of what kind of God we have and, as we learn about him, we bend our wills and our lives (and sometimes our bodies) to respond to him by serving him with all that we are.

Worship by Christians is peculiar and odd because we have a God is who is peculiar and odd, if you remember the meaning of the words that I gave you earlier. Our God is so outstanding, he is the only one in the field, and he is also committed to us. Because we have peculiar God, our worship is peculiar, because, in our worship, we honour and serve him alone.

Sometimes we hear of a leader, perhaps a politician, apologizing for something that they did. Usually, these apologies happen after it has been found out that they have done something immoral, and the information has been made public. We wonder if their sin had remained hidden if they would have shown so much regret. We have seen the news stories where the politician stands before the microphones with his “supportive” wife beside him, announcing that he is sorry for his indiscretions.

The word, “sorry,” has the same roots as “sorrow.” Both of these words are rooted in the older word which means “painful” or “full of sores.” Being sorry means that we feel mental or emotional pain because of what we have done. Or, if we are cynical, we believe that the politician feels pain because he was found out and his actions could affect both his relationship with his constituency and his chances of being re-elected. When someone is sorry, we have to be careful to define what they are sorry about. What is it that is giving them the pain: that they sinned or that they were found out?

Repentance is a little different from being sorry, at least in the history and origin of the word. “Repentance” comes from the Latin root and has as its root the same word which gives rise to “penitent.” To be penitent is to regret something that one has done. Sorrow (feeling mental pain) might be rooted in the fact that one has been found out, but repentance is rooted in the fact that one realizes that what they have done is regrettable. The politician who repents is truly sorry for what he has done and not merely sorry that he has been caught.

In the New Testament the word that is translated into the English, “repentance,” is a lot stronger. The Greek word is a compound word meaning literally “to think differently about something.” The word can be broadly used, and an example might be, “After driving the Toyota Tundra, he came to believe that not all good pick ups are made in North America.” We could also say that he repented of his previous belief in that he changed his mind. When used in the Bible, repentance, while it begins with changing one’s mind, it doesn’t end there. Repentance always involves action of some sort.

In the Old Testament one of the Hebrew words that is often translated as “repentance” can also be translated as “turn around.” In that sense, we could say that the traveler repented of his decision to head west and began to head south instead. Repentance, as we find it in the Bible, often involves a complete change of direction, usually causing one to head in the other direction. But, it is not a forced turning around, for the repentant one has already become convinced in his mind that the previous direction of travel was wrong, moving him to go in a different direction.

To become repentant, then, is to first become convinced that what we were doing was wrong and in so becoming convinced, we turn around and try something else. Perhaps a better way to translate the Hebrew and Greek words is “convert.” The word, “convert,” comes from the Latin which would mean “to turn together.” If we put that together, we could say that repentance means that not only are our minds changed about something, but our direction quickly follows.

If we think about it in those terms, it is impossible for someone to continue to willfully sin if they truly believe that that sin is harmful to themselves and others or if they believe that that sin is harmful to their relationship with God. Repentance always involves a lifestyle change of some sort, for what begins in the mind must be played out in real life. It is true, however, that sometimes repentance takes a long time and many tries. We often find ourselves reengaging in the same sin again and again even though we may have repented of it. We might turn around and start to move in the opposite direction of the sin but then fall back into that sin once again. We would hope, though, that after repeatedly repenting (following one’s changed mind) that the attraction of sin would grow weaker, and we would become more successful in turning away from it.

But we don’t have to do this alone. Thankfully, the Holy Spirit does work in us, changing our minds so that our sin is no longer so attractive. In fact, as the Spirit works in us, sin can become quite repulsive, even to the point that we no longer want to engage in it, and our repentance becomes permanent. It is necessary, in fact, if we truly want to turn away from sin, to seek the Spirit’s help, knowing that he will help us to think what is right so that we can do what is right.

We always need to evaluate if we are merely sorry that we have been caught or if we are truly repentant. To be sorry is to feel pain. To repent is to have one’s mind changed and allowing that change in our minds to cause us to move in the opposite direction away from sin. By God’s grace and the working of the Holy Spirit, we can be “converted” so that we move away from sin to becoming more Christlike.

“Flattery” is speech which praises someone insincerely by beguiling them with pleasing words.” Flattery, while approaching truth, often has the ulterior motivation of manipulation. Flattery often sounds true, but it comes from a deceitful heart. Consider these two examples: first, a young man who is truly infatuated with a young woman, speaks his heart and tells her that she is the most beautiful person he has ever met. He is speaking from his heart, and he means every word of what he says. Second, a different young man tells the same woman that she is the most beautiful person he has ever met, but he has ulterior motives. In his heart he wants to seduce her, and he is looking for a way to manipulate her into agreeing to be with him. Because the words spoken are the same, it is hard to determine if someone is being genuine or if they are engaging in manipulative flattery.

In Psalm 78:36, the psalmist says, “these people would then flatter him with their mouths, lying to them with their tongues.” In the context of that verse, God has rescued his people from their enemies, and immediately after their rescue, they were grateful. However, in a short time, their praises of gratitude turned to flattery. Had we been observing those people, we might not have seen the difference, but God knew that what he was receiving was not praise but flattery.

The Hebrew word for flattery is not often used of human attitudes toward God, but it is used fairly regularly of interactions between humans. We recall that Delilah, Samson’s wife flattered him so that he would explain the riddle he had created which, if Delilah’s people, the Philistines, could not answer it, would result in Samson receiving 30 sets of clothes from them. The NIV says that she “coaxed” him. Hebrew dictionaries say that what she did was flatter him so that he was in a position in which he was no longer master of himself with the result that he would reveal the answer to the riddle to his wife. Delilah wanted to control her husband, and she used flattery to do so.

We might ask the question: how is it possible to do the same thing with God? If flattery involves praising someone with the intent of taking control of them, can that work with God? It won’t work with God, of course, for he can see right through flattery because he knows the inclinations of the human heart. That doesn’t mean that people will stop trying to flatter God, however, for they still think it is possible to do so.

Flattering God has its roots in the pagan religions of the Old Testament. As we know the gods that the people of the other nations worshipped had made no commitment to the people who honoured them. Thus, the people could not depend on the favour of the gods, so they had to find some way to get the gods to bless them. They tried to find ways to make it so the gods had no choice but to provide them with rain or victory or whatever else they (the people) happened to need at the time. Recall the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. When Elijah challenged them to a contest, the prophets of Baal spent all day calling on him to answer them, no doubt telling him how great a god he was. They went even further when he did not respond by cutting themselves with knives to show how committed they were to him. Surely Baal would listen to them when they sacrificed their own bodies. They believed they had to flatter him in order to get him to act. They wanted to put him into a position where he had no other option than to give them what they asked. They wanted to back him into a corner, giving him no other choice but to bless them.

The young woman who is being flattered by the young man might begin to think that she must give in to his seductive efforts, for, after all, he has complimented her so highly that she owes him. What she doesn’t realize is that he is thinking of himself first and what he can get rather than truly honouring her.

Psalm 76 tells us that the Israelites were flattering God. We are not told more, but we understand that they wanted to use God to get more of what he had already given them. He had given them victory over their enemies, and, they seemed to believe, if they could so flatter him that he owed them, he would become obligated to give them more than just victory over an attacking enemy. Perhaps they could get God to also enable them to defeat other nations so that they could loot them for the plunder that would make them (the Israelites) rich.

Flattery sounds like praise, but it is always done to manipulate another for one’s own benefit.

But certainly this does not occur today, does it? A few days ago, I was having a conversation with a fellow pastor who had been listening to a TV preacher. He was shocked by what he heard. This preacher was saying that he was doing everything he could to impress God that when he died and arrived at the Pearly Gates, God would be obligated to let him in. “I want God to owe me,” the preacher said. My fellow pastor was incredulous, even horrified, by what he had heard coming from the mouth of someone who supposedly was a fellow believer. This TV preacher was convinced that if he had enough faith and if he lived the right kind of life that God would owe him, not only when he got to heaven but also here on this earth. This particular preacher was of the “Prosperity Gospel” persuasion which teaches, in effect, that if we do everything right and do it with the proper amount of faith, God will have no other choice but to give us what we want. In other words, this preacher believed he could flatter God with his actions and words and so take control of God and manipulate him into what he (the preacher) wanted.

This preacher, who has quite a following, clearly does not understand God. Along with the people referred to in Psalm 76 he believes that God is susceptible to flattery. Unlike us, however, God sees the human heart, and he knows when genuine praise turns to selfish flattery. God sees through us quite easily, and he is never taken into by flattery.

The simple reality is that God cannot be flattered into thinking that he owes us something because God will never be in a position where he owes us anything. Anything we have is given to us as a gift, and we do not earn it. Everything we have is a result of God’s grace. Further, we do not have to manipulate God into caring for us (as the nations had to do with the pagan gods) because God has already committed himself to us. He makes the first move by inviting us into covenant relationship with him, and he promises to take care of us. Our actions are simply responses to what God has already promised, and there is nothing we can do to make him more committed to us. Certainly, we cannot back God into a corner by our praise or faith or actions, making it so that God owes us because those are the very thing we owe God in the first place.

Flattering God never works, although we might be deceived into thinking that we can manipulate God by being faithful and obedient. God sees right through that, and he is never impressed, just as the young woman, if she understood that the man was trying to manipulate her into giving him what he wants, would not be impressed. The only advantage that the man has is that he might be able to fool her. We cannot fool God. We don’t need to because God is already committed to us, and when it comes down to it, what more do we need?

Last week, while preparing for a sermon, I encountered the name, Melchizedek. Melchizedek was a contemporary to Abraham, and we can find his story in Genesis 14. Melchizedek, as we learn there, was the king of a place named Salem. The Hebrew word for city is “Yir,” and if we put the two words together, we get the name, Yirsalem, or, as we know it, Jerusalem. Melchizedek was king of what eventually became the capital city of Israel, but it did not become the capital until the time of David, some 1000 years later. Salem is also a Hebrew word, meaning “peace.” And the name, Melchizedek means “king of righteousness.” So, Melchizedek is both the king of righteousness and the king of peace.

We know almost nothing about Melchizedek. He was not from the line of Abraham, so he has no claim to the covenant that God would eventually make with Abraham. At the same time, we know that he was a priest of God Most High, and Abraham understood that Melchizedek worshipped the same God as the God who called Abraham out of Ur to go to the Promised Land. We know, further, that Abraham gave to Melchizedek one tenth of the plunder from a recent battle, thus naming Melchizedek as a priest worthy of the tithe, a practice that was commanded by God for the Israelites and their priests years later.

Although he is somewhat of an enigmatic figure, Melchizedek appears a couple of ther times in Scripture, particularly in Psalm 110 which is later quoted in the letter to the Hebrews. Jesus is said to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek. But what does the author of Hebrews mean?

To understand this, we need to think about the descendants of Abraham as they were travelling to the Promised Land. Jacob had 12 sons, and one of those sons was named Levi. Levi became the priestly tribe to whom the tithe was due and of whom it was required that they lead the people to God through sacrifices and teaching.

As the Israelites travelled toward the Promised Land, God chose Aaron, Moses’ brother, to be the High Priest, the one who had the most immediate access to God and who offered the more important sacrifices on the altar. Eliezer, Aaron’s son, would succeed him as high priest. Eliezer had a son named Phinehas, and Phinehas, in a display of loyalty to God, was blessed with becoming the head of a dynasty of high priests. His descendants would continue to operate as high priests forever, according to Numbers 25:10ff. By making this covenant, God committed himself to providing a high priest who would always stand between him and a sinful people, offering sacrifices for the forgiveness of sins.

After the Israelites entered the promised land, however, things became chaotic. In the time of the Judges, the people turned away from God repeatedly, and the good order that God had established disappeared. Each successive judge, in turn, was worse than the previous one until we get to Samson who seems to be the only one God has to work with, and Samson would never be identified as a godly man. While the nation of Israel descended into chaos, the high priestly calling also suffered. At some point, and we don’t know when, the high priest, although a descendant of Aaron, was no longer from the line of Phinehas through Eliezer. Instead, when we begin reading 1 Samuel, we encounter a high priest named Eli who was, most likely, a descendant of Aaron but not through Eliezer. Scholars are fairly certain that he was a descendant of Ithamar, Aaron’s other son. Thus, while God continued to raise up a priest for his people, the priest was not the one who was according to God’s covenantal promises. Eli was close, but not close enough.

As we know, Eli’s sons were miserable people, engaging in all kinds of sin and completely unworthy of taking their father’s place. so Samuel foretold that Eli’s family would be removed from serving in the office of high priest. A few decades later, David who had become king, appointed a new high priest by the name of Zadok. Zadok was a descendant of Phinehas and was the fulfilment of God’s promises made much earlier. Even the exile into Babylon did not thwart God’s promises, and Ezra, after the exile, was a descendant of Zadok (and Phinehas, Eliezer, and Aaron), and he led the people in the ways of the Lord. As time passed, the family of Zadok continued to bear his name, and eventually, scholars believe, became known as the Sadducees. Annas and Caiaphas were Zadokians, or, as we better know them, Sadducees, and appropriately able to be high priests. The only problem was that Annas and Caiaphas his son-in-law, were appointed by the Roman government and were judged to be inappropriate high priests by many of the people who lived at that time. Still and all, they exercised their authority, and under their guidance, Jesus was crucified.

According to Scripture, Jesus’ death on the cross was a sacrifice that was sufficient to atone for all sins for all time and no other sacrifice was needed. But who would be the high priest who would offer that sacrifice? Certainly the reigning high priests of his time were not worthy of such a task. The author of Hebrews tells us that not only was Jesus the sacrifice, but he was also the high priest.

And that creates a problem. According to Scripture, God would always provide a high priest for his people, but that high priest was to be from the line of Phinehas, a Zadokian, and a Sadducee. Jesus was none of those. The author of Hebrews gets around that problem by remembering Melchizedek. Melchizedek was a recognized priest of God, but he lived at the time of Abraham, long before the tribe of Levi came into existence and certainly before the time of Aaron and Eliezer and Phinehas. But his role was significant enough for the author of Hebrews, quoting from Psalm 110 to say that although Jesus did not have the right biological history, he could be the high priest because Melchizedek had set a precedent. One did not have to be from the line of Phinehas to take on that role. The author of Hebrews that Jesus is a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.

Although God did not use the family life of Phinehas, he still provided a high priest that was far better than the high priests of the OT. He provided one that offered himself as a sacrifice and that sacrifice was far better than the one offered on the altar in the temple in Jerusalem. Further, as the ultimate high priest, Jesus did not have to offer multiple sacrifices but, rather, offered one sacrifice that would always be sufficient.

God had promised that he would always provide a high priest so that the people of this world could have their sins atoned for, and he provided one in Jesus Christ. This high priest’s sacrifice was offered once for all, and it was sufficient for all.

In this, we see that God eagerly desires to be in good relationship with us, and by his grace he makes it possible, providing a high priest in the order of Melchizedek and providing a sacrifice that would cover all sins.

Faith practices. What are they? When I was talking with a colleague about leading devotions for youth, he told me about this resource on the CRC website called “Faith Practices.” I decided to look it up, and I what I found was quite interesting and helpful. What I found was also a little unexpected, for I thought I would find topics like personal devotions, prayer, worship, and the like. These are important for nurturing our faith, but that is not what the website was talking about. Instead, I found such topics as sabbath, generosity, and gratitude. I was a little puzzled at first, but as I read through the material, I understood better the direction that the website was taking its readers as it talked about faith practices.

We are granted the ability to believe by the powerful working of the Holy Spirit in us. This we confess as Reformed Christians. If it were not for the work of the Holy Spirit, we would not come to believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins. So, our faith is first and foremost the work of the Spirit in us. But when we have faith, we can develop that faith so that we believe all the more. Growing in our faith by putting our faith to work is what practicing our faith is all about.

So, let’s take generosity as an example. How does being generous help us become stronger in our faith? In the opening verses of 1 Corinthians 8 Paul is commending the Macedonian Christians for their faithful giving. There was a famine in Jerusalem, and Paul decided to go to the Christian churches which had been established throughout much of southern Europe and ask the believers there to give money to help their brothers and sisters in Jerusalem. The Macedonians had taken a sizable collection, and they had sent it with Paul to bring to Jerusalem What amazed Paul was that the Macedonian Christians were not wealthy. In fact, he tells us that they were living in near poverty, having only enough to feed themselves, if that. Yet, they gave, and they gave beyond what they were really able to give.

Contrast this to a man I talked to several years ago. He told me that he gave to the church, but he always waited until the end of the month to do so. His argument: I don’t know what expenses I will have, and I need to make sure that I meet those first before I give away my money. I need to live. Because I know him reasonably well, I would say, further, that he was not the first person who comes to mind when I think of generous people. It should be said that he also wasn’t the richest man in the church, although he had more than enough to live on.

So, let’s go back to the Macedonians. They gave beyond what they were able, but how were they able to do so? The answer is simple: they trusted that God would provide for them if they would find themselves in need. By giving more than they had, they were learning to trust God. It was vital that someone help the people in Jerusalem, for they were on the verge of starvation. The Macedonians understood that if they didn’t give, their brothers and sisters in Christ would not survive, and they put their own wellbeing on the line to help them. They were generous, and their generosity caused them to have to trust in God.

Many of us reading this, if we live in Canada, have more than enough money, and most of us can give some away without feeling any great negative impact. Some of us could live until we are 150 years old and still have some money left over. Many of those who have more money than they need are also quite generous, and that is wonderful. And we should continue to give out of our bounty to help those in need. At the same time, if we give what we have without feeling the impact on our lives, perhaps that is not the kind of generosity that increases our faith. So, instead, we might need to look at something else in our lives that is in short supply.

One of the things that people seem to claim to have too little of is time. Time does seem to be in short supply, and perhaps that is where we need to learn to be generous. There are lots of people whose needs to not require money in order to have those needs met. Some people are lonely. Some need some repairs done to their decks. Others cannot drive safely to get their groceries. Giving a little time will help them greatly. But can we afford that time? Probably not, but then we also must not forget that God, who is the creator of time, can also give us time that we didn’t know we had. Relying on God for what we do not have is a way of practicing our faith.

Or some of us have no room in our lives for others. We have many friends, and we are surrounded by family. We don’t know if we have the mental or emotional capacity to have someone else become part of our lives. Of course, as we well know, there are people who have almost no social life. Perhaps they have just moved to the community. Perhaps their family circle is really small or even non-existent. Or perhaps they are a little odd and maybe a bit hard to get along with. Can we be generous with our relationships? It’s hard, of course, and we might fear that leaving the supporting network of family and friends is a little dangerous. But can we be generous, trusting that God will also meet that need?

Being generous is faith building especially when we are generous with what we view as a scarce resource of commodity. Money, time, social group, or maybe something else are things that we need and sometimes we don’t feel we have enough of. When we are generous with those things that we have in short supply, and when we are generous with the understanding that God will meet our needs, then being generous is a way to build our faith. Generosity can be a faith practice, a way to learn to trust God more.

I would not have identified generosity as a faith building exercise, but it is. When we think about it, the more we give of what we have to help others, the more we have to rely on God. And the more we rely on God, the more we will find his trustworthy, and the more we find him trustworthy, the greater will be our faith.

“Ask not for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.” These were the words of John Donne, a pastor in England in the 17^th century. It was common practice to ring the church bell when someone in the community died, and often people would say, “I wonder who died.” John Donne said that when someone dies, the tolling of the bell signals not only the loss of the life of an individual but also the loss of life of the community. A few lines earlier he had said in the same sermon, “No man is an island,” meaning that we all are connected together and the loss of one is a loss for all.

Most of us have experienced this at one time or another. Over the years members of my congregation have passed on to glory, and they always leave a vacant spot. A part of the congregation dies with them. Two such occasions are significant. Dirk was a man of about 94 years old when he died from a short bout with cancer. Up to the end his mind was sharp, and my conversations with him were always good. When he died, all his wisdom became unavailable to his family and the church. I had a similar experience with Sylvia. She was a quiet woman who didn’t say much when I visited her, but for some reason, when she died, I found myself missing her deeply. I wasn’t all that close with either Dirk or Sylvia, but I felt their loss profoundly. I felt that the bell was tolling for me along with the rest of the community as well.

But it doesn’t take a death to cause the bell to toll and for us to experience a loss. In the last few months a number of churches in our denomination have been moving toward disaffiliation from the Christian Reformed Church. They have found the decisions made by our synod (a body which meets once a year made up of representatives from across the denomination) to be untenable. They feel that they can no longer be part of the denomination, and they have begun the process of cutting ties with the CRC. While those who remain committed to the CRC believe that their understanding of Scripture is faulty, we are saddened by their departure. We have been in fellowship with some of those churches for as long as 70 years. We have shared their joys and struggles. We have worshipped with them, learned with them, encouraged them and been held accountable by them. They have been an integral part of the life of our church for a long time, and when they decide to separate from the denomination, while we still can be in relationship with them, it is a little like a death. The bell tolls, not because a church has died but because the separation has the same feelings as a death. No longer will we enjoy the close fellowship we once had.

It’s not that we should compromise our beliefs to remain together. That would be impossible because we who are left believe firmly that our understanding of the social issues that have caused differences is biblically based and theirs is not. In fact, the denomination has clearly stated that what they espouse and teach is sin, and they have been called to repentance, and if they do not, they no longer have a voice at denominational tables. Our congregation believes firmly that while we all sin, if we remain in unrepented sin, we are breaking fellowship. They are remaining in unrepentant sin, and that is unacceptable.

Yet, we mourn the separation. The bell tolls when a church leaves, but it tolls for the separation, even if it not tolling because of the death of a church. We have lost life as well when the church is no longer united, and we mourn that loss. It is a sad time for our denomination and our congregation.

Death, by its very definition, is separation. Whether it is physical death (separation of body and spirit), spiritual death (separation of an individual from God) or the death of a relationship (separation of churches, for example), it is death, and it hurts. We miss the fellowship that once was.

I suppose that this experience of loss should make us long for the resurrection even more. Resurrections bring back together that which is separated (body and spirit, God and people, and churches and individuals who are at enmity with each other). We long for the resurrection which will happen when Jesus returns. Beyond the most wonderful joy of seeing Jesus face to face, I love for the renewed fellowship we will experience when we are reunited with our brothers and sisters who, at this point, have been separated by sinful perspectives and behaviour. We all are guilty of that, and we all experience the loss. In the resurrection, however, we will be brought together again, all of us who put our faith in Jesus, and we will live in unity again before our Father’s throne and in the presence of Jesus.

I suppose the brokenness that we are experiencing right now in our denomination should make us long even more for the sure hope of the resurrection. I look forward to spending eternity with fellow believers without the divisions caused by human error and sin. That will be a wonderful time, and I don’t think we will ever tire of it. May it be that Jesus returns quickly and does away with all the brokenness we create and brings us back to full and beautiful relationship both with the Father and with others. May that happen soon.

Theologians have often talked about two kinds of attributes of God: communicable attributes and incommunicable attributes. These are big words to describe something quite simple: as human beings, we share some (communicable) attributes with God (the ability to love, do good, and be fair and just) while we do not share others of his (incommunicable) attributes (eternality, unchangeable, infinite, almighty, etc.). There may be a third category, namely attributes that we have a small part of, but what we have is nothing in comparison what God has. We have knowledge, for example, but our knowledge is like a drop of water in the ocean compared to God’s knowledge. We have power, but our power is less than that of a snail in comparison to God’s power which is greater than that of an elephant. While we might use words like knowledge and power to describe human beings, it is almost ludicrous to think that we have anything that can really compare to what God has.

Yet, throughout history, it seems that people want to make believe that we have a lot more of these attributes than we really do. As a good example, we can think back to the late 1800s and early 1900s. These years followed the Enlightenment, a period of time when philosophers began to teach that if everyone on this earth really worked at it, we could solve all of our problems all by ourselves. God began to be removed from the picture as being the one who provides a solution to the problems faced by humanity. About 150 years ago, with huge advances being made in the fields of technology, manufacturing, medicine, transportation, and so much more, it looked like we were unstoppable. In 1900 it was quite common for many to think that in a short time, because of all the progress, there would be no problem common to man that would be insurmountable.

How wrong they were. In 1914, after a single shot was fired in Sarajevo, war broke out in Europe, and countries around the world were drawn into the battle. It was evident very early on that all the human ingenuity that had been used to find solutions to problems could also be used to create new ones. Weapons were fashioned such as had never been seen on the earth, weapons that could kill many people in seconds from a great distance. When the war ended four years later, the world was shaken. Millions of people had died, and many declared that we had learned our lesson, and WWI was known, however briefly, as the War to End All Wars. How wrong they were. Twenty-one years later a second massive war began, and it was more deadly than the earlier war, for we had figured out how to make even more powerful weapons with more deadly results. In addition, we had learned to vilify others and make them into non-humans so that we did not feel guilt when we killed them in gas chambers or by dropping thousands of bombs on a single city. The 20^th century saw more violent death than all of the other previous centuries combined.

What went wrong? A lot of things, but perhaps one of them was the attitude that we believe that we are more like God than we are. We have knowledge, but our knowledge has limitations. We might know how to create many new things, but we do not know how to stop at creating only good things, and we make things that are harmful as well. When God knows something and when he puts his knowledge into action, what results is always good. This is not true of humanity. Similarly, God uses his power for the benefit of others. Human beings do not. In fact, when people become powerful, the more powerful they are, the more corrupt they become, or so says Lord Acton.

It’s not that knowledge and power are bad things. If they were, would have a huge problem with God, for he is all-knowing and all-powerful. Rather, the problem arises when we begin to think that we have more knowledge and power than we really do and when we use that knowledge and power inappropriately. In other words, when we act independently of God, believing ourselves to be like him in ability, we run into all sorts of problems.

As people 150 years ago made huge advances in so many fields of study, they did not maintain an awe of God. With all that we can do, they began to think that God’s knowledge and power were really not all that special and that what God had to offer could be set aside. Humanity has come to believe that we have the same quantity of those somewhat communicable attributes as God has, with devastating results.

Today, God is largely forgotten, while at the same time humanity no longer believes that we can solve all of our problems. We have come to understand that we create more problems than we solve, and that leads us to a sense of despair. There is nothing we can do, and we have come to realize that. Analysts of the current western culture sense that there is a deep feeling of hopelessness today that was not present at the beginning of the last century. What we know is not enough, and what we can do is insufficient.

Perhaps the pendulum has begun to swing, and perhaps the hopelessness will bring people back to a recognition of a need for someone bigger than themselves. If that is true, then it is also true that we, as Christians, have what they are looking for, for we know God, and we know how we can know him. It is through Jesus of course, so it does appear that Jesus is the solution to the world’s problems, for he brings us back to God. When we know God, we realize how small our accomplishments and abilities are, and we are more willing to listen to him and learn from him and, then, in an act of humility, seek his help. We have knowledge, but God’s knowledge is better, and we have power, but God’s power is far greater. Living without God results in all sorts of problems; living with him and before him will enable us to use our knowledge and power, as insignificant as they may be, for the good of humanity.