When in school I worked part time in the kitchen as a student, mostly cleaning and washing dishes. On Saturdays, a crew of students was called in to do a deep cleaning that involved taking apart the air make-up unit above the stove and cleaning every part. It was a lot of work, and one week one of my fellow students suggested to the supervisor that we clean it every other week. The supervisor, who was very experienced, gave permission and that week we did not clean the unit. The next week when we began cleaning, we found that it was four times as dirty as it would have been had we cleaned it the previous week. The supervisor knew the consequences of neglecting the normal cleaning regimen, and he knew that if left just one week, the job would be so much more difficult.

A large city in the United States was having a problem with a dramatic increase in major crimes – murder, assault, and the like, and the chief of police was looking for a solution. A decade or so before, the police, because they were short staffed, decided to overlook some of the more petty crimes – shoplifting and vandalism and the like – and did not arrest of prosecute the offenders. Someone suggested that if the police began to crack down on minor crimes as well as dealing with major crimes that this would lead to a decrease in major crimes. Because nothing else seemed to work, this is what the police force did, and in a few years the number of major crimes began to fall. The conclusion was that when people who commit minor crimes, if left unpunished, will escalate into committing major crimes.

We could say the same about sin. We recall the story of David and Bathsheba. David happened to see a woman bathing on the roof of a neighbouring house and instead of turning away, he sent for the woman and one thing led to another, and she became pregnant. Because she was married, this posed an additional problem, namely that her husband could charge him with adultery, so he had her husband killed. A minor sin, left unchecked, turned into a major sin and, technically, according to the law, David could have been put to death for causing the death of another. If David had repented of his first sin, voyeurism, he would not have become a murderer.

The last of the 10 Commandments is the command that we not covet anything that belongs to our neighbour. Coveting is a sin that unseen and does not seem to be that significant, for, after all, what harm is there in desiring something that belongs to another. Yet, we would have to admit that if we didn’t desire something that was not ours, chances are we would not break any of the other commandments either. For example, if I didn’t covet the chocolate bar in the convenience store, it’s unlikely that I would steal it. Similarly, if no one ever looked with desire at someone to whom they were not married, it is unlikely that anyone would commit adultery. Some have said that coveting is the first step toward breaking the other commandments, and if we avoid coveting, we will be much more obedient to God’s will in all aspects of life.

The Heidelberg Catechism, in its discussion on the 10 Commandments, doesn’t say much about coveting as a sin in and of itself. Instead, when it answers the question, “What is God’s will for you in the tenth commandment,” it says, “That not even the slightest thought or desire contrary to any one of God’s commandments should ever arise in my heart.” Clearly the authors of the Heidelberg Catechism believed that the sin of coveting was tied to all the other commandments and was the beginning point for breaking those commandments.

Thus, while coveting seems to be the most insignificant of all the commandments, it is more like the minor crime which, if left unchecked, will develop into major crime. It is like the dirt on a ventilation unit that if left uncleaned will result in the more rapid accumulation of more dirt.

So, how do we avoid coveting? It’s not easy, but perhaps the first step is to be grateful for what we have. People who covet are counting the things they don’t have while people who are grateful count the things they do have. If we are grateful for our relationships, our possessions, our friends, our place in life, everything that God has given to us, we will have far less time to covet that which we don’t have.

Thanksgiving Day is in a few days, and we will be reminded to give God thanks for all his blessings. It would be good if we could count our blessings over the next few days and give God thanks for all of them. We might well find that as we name our blessings, we don’t really have room for that which we don’t have. Perhaps being grateful is the best antidote to coveting, and if we avoid coveting, we might be just a little better at avoiding those other sins as well.

In John 3 we find Jesus having a conversation with a Pharisee named Nicodemus. We do not know much about Nicodemus except to say that he showed an interest in what Jesus had to say, and in his first words to Jesus, he shows that he believes that Jesus has come from God because he is able to do things which only God can do. Nicodemus, being a Pharisee and a leader of the Jewish people, was very interested in what God was doing in his world. Thus, he has an interest in what Jesus is doing.

In response to Nicodemus’ interest, Jesus says something that could be construed as being rather insulting to Nicodemus. He says, “No one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” This could be construed as being insulting to Nicodemus because Nicodemus believed that he was very much part of the kingdom of God, for, after all, he was a Pharisee who was born into God’s covenant community and did his best to live in obedience to God’s commands. He saw himself as being a faithful citizen of the kingdom of God, and for Jesus to talk about seeing the kingdom of God was to say that perhaps Nicodemus was not yet a citizen of that kingdom.

It is helpful to understand that the concept of being born again was not foreign to Nicodemus. From time to time a Gentile would become convinced that the God of the Jews was the only true God, and he would seek to become part of the covenant community. Through circumcision and obedience to the commands, a God-fearing Gentile could become a Jew, and his conversion was often referred to as being born into the new community. His new life began at the moment he was welcomed into the covenant community. For Jesus to suggest to Nicodemus that he needed to be born again was a kind of an insult, for Jesus is implying that Nicodemus was outside of the kingdom of God.

Nicodemus displays a little puzzlement and frustration with Jesus when he asks how it would be possible for someone like him to be born again. Would he have to enter into his mother’s womb a second time to be born a second time? He seems to be implying that he doesn’t need to be reborn because he is already in the community. A rebirth would make no sense to him.

Reading this exchange in the English causes us to miss something that is far more evident in the Greek. The Greek word for “again” is more commonly understood as “from above.” While both understandings are equally valid, the more likely understanding is that Jesus meant “born from above,” but Nicodemus heard “born again,” perhaps because he did not want to admit that he needed something more than just his birth and his obedience to God’s commands to become part of God’s kingdom. It seems that Nicodemus is not willing to admit that it was not his own work that made him part of God’s kingdom but rather it was God’s work as God caused the new birth.

As the conversation continues, it becomes evident that Jesus was thinking of the more common understanding “from above” while Nicodemus decided to hear “again.” But what Jesus was saying to Nicodemus is this: being born into the covenant community and living obediently to God’s commands doesn’t make you part of God’s kingdom. What needs to happen is something that God does to you, not that you do yourself. Nicodemus needed to be born “from above” meaning that God had to act upon his life in such a way that he was included in the kingdom. In other words, inclusion in the kingdom is God’s action, not ours, meaning that all of Nicodemus’ striving to be the possible Pharisee he could be was for nothing, at least as far as becoming a faithful citizen of God’s kingdom is concerned.

Jesus explains a few moments later that flesh gives birth to flesh and spirit gives birth to spirit. In other words, all the human efforts that Nicodemus might put into being included in God’s kingdom do not result in him becoming part of the spiritual kingdom of God. Only that which is spiritual (not fleshly) can give bring about spiritual birth. Thus, it is only by the work of the Holy Spirit that we can be born into the spiritual kingdom of God.

What Jesus has done in his conversation is make being part of God’s kingdom an impossibility for all human beings if it is up to them. For a Pharisee that was not good news, for Nicodemus had been believing that he could, by way of his physical birth as a Jew and by being obedient to the law, become part of God’s kingdom. Of all the people who lived in Jesus’ time, the Pharisees were the most likely to have been the ones who were part of God’s kingdom. And Jesus has, in effect, told Nicodemus that not even he, a leading Pharisee, was able to accomplish that.

It is in this context that John, the one who records this conversation, gives us the solution to the problem: God loved the world so much that he sent his one and only Son so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (which, in John’s gospel, is equivalent to being part of God’s kingdom). As John explains further, light has come into the darkness, and by that light we can “see” the kingdom of God, to use Jesus’ earlier words. To become part of God’s kingdom is not something that Nicodemus could accomplish through his good works and by the good fortune of being born to the right parents. Nicodemus had to accept the work of Jesus who was raised up on the cross as being that one thing that would cause him to be born anew from above.

Nicodemus, it becomes evident, did believe in Jesus, for we see him participating in the burial of Jesus, something that he would not have done if he had thought that Jesus was not from God. I am fairly certain that we will see Nicodemus the Pharisee in heaven. The same can be said for all who believe in Jesus.

Eagles generally lay two eggs per year although some eagles have been known to lay up to four eggs in one year over a period of four days. Immediately after the first egg is laid, the mother eagle begins to incubate it. When she lays her second egg a day later, she also incubates that one and when the eaglets hatch, they come out of their shells a day apart. It is quite often the case that when it is obvious that the first eaglet will survive, the second eaglet receives only the leftovers. If there is not enough food, the second eaglet will probably die.

Chickens are very different. A hen will lay as many as a dozen eggs, one per day, but she will not incubate them right away. Rather, she waits to incubate the eggs until the last one has laid, and then she sits on all of them. Surprisingly, although the eggs were laid over a period of almost two weeks, they all hatch on the same day, and the same is true of ducks and geese. Although I have seen a hen with a dozen chicks, all the same age, it never occurred to me that though their eggs were laid on different days, they all hatched on the same day.

We could divide birds into two categories: predators and prey. Although it is not always true, predatory birds such as eagles and hawks and owls lay fewer eggs and their young hatch on different days. Birds, such as chickens and ducks, which tend to be prey (and also tend to be domesticated), have more offspring and their offspring hatch on the same day.

Although I didn’t think about this until I was in my late 40s, I was startled by how creation works. To this day, I am filled with wonder because of this phenomenon as simple as it is. Truly we have a wonderful Creator. I would never have thought to make predatory birds and their prey to be so different. It is truly marvellous, when we think about it.

When we look at creation, we do see the wonders of God, as the Belgic Confession teaches us. Creation is the first book of God’s revelation of himself, for in creation we can see the mind and heart of our Creator. The Bible, of course, is the second book of God’s self-revelation and focuses our attention on how God saves his creation, something that we cannot learn from creation itself. Yet, creation should always move us to marvel about God’s intricate wisdom.

Over the past few centuries, we have learned to understand creation more than anyone else who has ever lived. Many scientists who do not believe in God’s existence want us to believe that one day we will have all of creation completely figured out and when we do, we can become self sufficient. Now there is nothing wrong with wanting to understand creation, for God has built into us a curiosity that moves us to discover and learn, but when we believe that understanding creation will eliminate the need for us to believe in God, we are wrong. Some fear that learning too much will result in us feeling that we do not need God.

Christians, in a sense, have created a bit of a problem for themselves. Over the centuries, if something was unexplained, what was unknown was attributed to God. If there were gaps in our knowledge, the explanation was that it was God’s work. God became a God-of-the-gaps, but as the gaps were filled, it seemed that God became more and more unnecessary. For example, at one time people did not understand weather systems, and they attributed the movement of the clouds to God. Today, we know that the moon causes ocean currents to flow, those currents cause changes in the atmospheric temperatures, and that results in the cycle of condensation and precipitation. Some of the most complex machines that enable us to understand the very building blocks of the physical world (electrons, protons, etc.) have given us answers to questions about how the foundation of all matter works. With our greater understanding, we might be tempted to say that believing in God is no longer necessary.

But if only those things about creation that we do not understand cause to marvel in wonder, we are missing the point of God’s revelation of himself through creation. God doesn’t want us to look at creation and be amazed at how much we don’t know as if that will cause us to trust him more. He wants us to know how creation works and thus come to marvel at the Creator. The more we know about creation, it would seem, the more we become aware of how absolutely intricate and complex it is. Since God understands it all (and he didn’t have to create particle colliders and weather balloons to understand it), we can marvel at how great the wisdom of our God is. In fact, the more we understand about creation, the greater our awe of God should become.

For centuries, perhaps millennia, farmers have known the difference between birds who are predators and birds which tend to be their prey. They knew that hens brood on their clutch in such a way that all the chicks hatch on the same day. That truly is marvellous, especially when we compare the chicken to the eagle. More than just understanding creation and marvelling at how it works, our ancestors also learned how to use the creation for the benefit of humanity. Thus, when we have domesticated chickens and ducks and geese and can now make a three-egg omelette while being assured that the species we know as chickens will not die out. And that too is marvellous. So, not only is the phenomenon of a chicken producing chicks that all hatch on the same day, that same chicken can provide us with a vital food source, making our lives better. We might understand chickens and eagles quite well, and there may be little to learn about either species of bird, but that does not cause us to cease to marvel at how wonderful God is to have thought through how creation works. The more we learn about God’s creation, the more we will marvel at the God who made it.

Mount Zion is not a particularly large mountain. In fact, if you search for images of Mount Zion on the Internet, you will have trouble identifying anything that looks like a mountain. It’s a small hill in Jerusalem, and today it happens to be covered by a variety of buildings, including the Dome on the Rock, the third most sacred place for Muslims. Yet, in spite of the fact that Mount Zion is nothing more than an insignificant hill, the Bible proclaims that it is the most significant mountain in the world.

Mount Zion, earlier in Scripture, had a different name. In Genesis 22, we read that Abraham travelled to Mount Moriah to offer his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. Mount Moriah is located in what is now Jerusalem, a hill that became known as Mount Zion. Most pictures that depict this scene of sacrifice show Abraham in a deserted area, but we know from Genesis 14 that Melchizedek was king in the city of Salem (the Hebrew for “city of Salem” would sound like Ir Salem, from which Jerusalem is derived), making the place where Abraham offered Isaac an inhabited place. Melchizedek, as we know, was a priest of the Most High God, who is identified in the book of Hebrews as the same God that Abraham worshipped. Even though the hill which has become identified as Mount Zion had a long history with God’s people, it did not become part of the territory controlled by the nation of Israel until David conquered it early in his reign.

David built himself a palace on the hill we know as Mount Zion, and his son, Solomon, built the temple of the Lord. The temple was known as the house of God, or, better, God’s palace from which he ruled over his people. In the Old Testament, God ruled his people through the king who had his throne on Mount Zion. Thus, Mount Zion becomes the place from which God reigns over his people in the Old Testament. But God’s reign was not limited to a particular territory as was the case with the Canaanite gods (who also were believed to rule from mountains). God ruled over the entire world from Mount Zion, the small hill in Jerusalem. And that is what gave it significance, not its size or physical stature among mountains. It was God’s presence and reign that makes Mount Zion the greatest mountain in the world, at least in Old Testament times.

Many have compared Mount Zion to the fulcrum or pivot point for the world. This is a helpful comparison, especially when we consider the essential nature of the pivots on our irrigation system. So important is the pivot, the centre point for the irrigation, that the whole assembly is referred to as the pivot, while we know, in fact, that the pivot is technically just the centre point. The centre point, the pivot, is essential for it is through the pivot that water flows, and it is essential for without the pivot, the irrigation assembly would wander off course. In the same way, Mount Zion is understood to provide life (water) to the world, and it is from Mount Zion that the world remains on track and functional. Without Mount Zion, Scripture teaches us, the world would not survive.

Mount Zion, then, becomes symbolic for the reign of God. In Psalm 44, a psalm which extols the virtues of Mount Zion, we see some of the impact of the reign of God over the universe. While the psalm does not cover every aspect of God’s reign, it does tell us that the nations of the world will find the mountain to be unconquerable. For God’s people who dwell within the city, they will experience safety and security, no matter what happens in the rest of the world. And, although mentioned almost in passing, Mount Zion will be a place of righteousness, a place where all people will be treated with justice, respect, and compassion. It is noteworthy that the name Melchizedek is translated as “King of Righteousness,” for he foreshadowed the reign of God as providing a kingdom where everything is made and kept right. These are just some of the benefits of having God as king as revealed to us by Psalm 44.

Since Jesus returned to heaven, the small hill in Jerusalem has lost much of its importance with regard to the reign of God. If, in the Old Testament, God reigned through the Davidic king, in the New Testament, he reigns through the descendant of David, Jesus Christ, who is seated at his right hand. In fact, in Hebrews 12:22 we learn that Mount Zion is no longer considered to be located in Jerusalem but rather is understood to be where God’s heavenly throne is and from which he will reign for all eternity. Yet, even while the location has changed, the reign of God continues.

Thus, when we are reading Scripture and encounter Mount Zion, we should be aware that what makes that small hill in Jerusalem so significant is that it is representative of God’s reign. It is the pivot which makes life on this earth possible, for from that place God accomplishes his will. Extolling the virtues of Zion, God’s capital city, is equivalent to extolling the virtues of God’s Kingdom, a Kingdom where all things will be made right and which will never end. A small hill is seen as a great mountain, for what happens on and from that small hill changes everything.

Routinely inspections are carried out on public buildings as a way to keep the building safe and up-to-date. Fire extinguishers, exit signs, and elevators need to be inspected regularly to ensure that they are in good working order. A fire extinguisher might hang on the wall, but if a fire breaks out and the extinguisher has lots its pressure, a small fire could rapidly become a large one, even destroying the entire building and taking lives. If we never had people inspect our building, it’s likely that we would let things slide, to our detriment. It is true that quite often these inspections cost the owners of the building some money, for fire extinguishers need to be replaced from time to time.

We often balk at rules and regulations, and sometimes they are a bit onerous, but we also understand that most of them are there for our own good. We don’t like to admit it, but most of us need someone else to hold us accountable so that we do what is expected of us. If things aren’t inspected, chances are we won’t do what is expected. As has often been said, we tend to do what is inspected rather than what is expected.

Perhaps another example: a few years ago two similar houses were being built in the lots next to our house. The framers for the first house were able to finish all the framing in one week while the framers for the second house took more than two weeks, and both crews had about the same number of guys with the same level of experience. The contractor for the second house wondered why his workers were so slow, and the answer came back: because the contractor for the first house was on site and made sure that his workers knew what to do and ensured that they did it. This second contractor showed up once or twice a day, if at all. While his workers were not incompetent, they were not being guided to do what was expected of them, they tended to be inefficient, and there were times when they were inactive.

We tend to do what is inspected not what is expected. In other words, if we are going to do what is expected of us, someone needs to hold us accountable. This is also true of living for Jesus. If we are not inspected, we may find ourselves not doing what is expected. For this reason, we need others to inspect our lives and hold us to what we should be doing. We call this being held accountable.

1 Corinthians is a prime example of the apostle Paul holding a church accountable. In that letter we find about ten different problems in the church that Paul has heard about from others, some of them more harmful than others but all of them significant. For example, a man was having sexual relationships with his stepmother, and Paul challenged the Corinthian church to discipline that man with the intention of leading him back to a Christ-like lifestyle. Or, as another example when the Corinthian church celebrated communion, they did so in such a way that they drew sharp lines between the various kinds of members. Because they did not treat their fellow believers are brothers and sisters, Paul warns them that they were eating and drinking judgement on themselves and putting the whole church in danger. Or, as another example, some of the members of that church were adopting dress codes and hair styles that would identify them as participating in the worship of the Roman pantheon of gods. Paul challenges the Corinthian church to consider what they are doing and urges them to live in unity with each other even while they are fully obedient and committed to following Jesus Christ.

If Paul wrote a letter to our church, and if he identified some of the things that we are doing that are not fitting for a follower of Jesus Christ, how would we respond? I suspect that we might be offended following the pattern of the world which tells us that when we identify an unsuitable behaviour in another, we are being judgemental. And judgementalism, according to our culture, is one of the greatest sins we can commit today. “You may not judge me,” we are told.

It becomes very difficult to hold each other accountable if accountability is seen as being judgemental. But there is a difference between the two. Being judgemental is to be condemnatory at the same time. Holding someone accountable is to do so for their own good. Paul, when he wrote his letter to the Corinthians, was not being judgemental, for his goal was not to condemn the church but to bring it back so that it conformed with the will of God. His purpose was for the Corinthian church to thrive and grow in Christ so that it could be a faithful witness to the gospel.

A few weeks ago someone went through our church building and inspected our fire extinguishers. The person who went through our church building and evaluated them was not being judgemental when she noticed that some of them need to receive a more thorough inspection and thus need to be replaced by new ones. She was not condemning our church, but, rather, she was given the task of evaluating our present situation so that we our building is kept safe so that it can be useful to us for ministry. We might chafe at the cost, but we know it is for our own good that our building is inspected, for we are well aware that we do what is inspected not what is expected.

So, who is given the responsibility of holding us accountable? It is all of us. All of us hold the rest of us accountable. Sometimes this task has been left to the pastor and elders and deacons, but they step in only as a last resort, after fellow believers have done all they can to urge their brother or sister to live by God’s Word. And we should all be willing to accept that others will hold us accountable. This is hard, especially when accountability is misconstrued to be judgementalism, but as followers of Jesus Christ, we can distinguish between the two. It is for our benefit that we hold each other accountable, and, ultimately, it is for the glory of God, for when we serve him well, God is indeed glorified.

In the book of Ruth, we are introduced to a family from Bethlehem. The father’s name was Elimelech which means, “My God is King.” His wife’s name was Noami, (pleasant) and they had two sons, Mahlon (weak, sickly) and Kilion (frail person). They had been living in Bethlehem (house of bread), but when famine came, Elimelech took his family to Moab purportedly to “save their lives.” While they were there Elimelech, Mahlon, and Kilion died, leaving only Naomi and her two daughters-in-law.

We are told, further, that this family lived during the time of the judges, who we can read about in the book of Judges. During that era, the people regularly turned away from the Lord, the Lord withdrew his hand of blessing and protection leaving the people in distress, they cried out to the Lord for help, and he saved them by sending judges or leaders to vanquish their enemies. As we know, the book of Judges shows us a whole series of judges/leaders who become increasingly sinful and disregarding of God’s ways until we reach the last listed Judge, Samson, who was a womanizer and violent murderer. The cycle of Judges (turning away from God, distress, crying out to God, salvation) should have taught the people that they could and should depend on their covenantal God for everything, yet they failed to do so.

As we read the opening verses of the book of Ruth, we should be somewhat disturbed. Elimelech, whose name professes that God is King, takes his family from Bethlehem, the place where God would provide food for his people, to go to Moab where the Lord was not known or worshipped. Elimelech made the decision to leave the Lord and put his trust in the Moabite god, Chemosh. We should be disturbed because Elimelech abandoned the God who had promised to provide for his people to put his trust in a different god. The NIV translates the Hebrew saying that he went there for a time, having us believe that he was only going to wait out the famine, but the Hebrew doesn’t need to indicate that. Rather, the Hebrew can be understood as saying that he went to Moab and was seen as an obvious foreigner, but he tried to overcome that by integrating his sons into the Moabite community by having them marry Moabite women. Years earlier, in the book of Numbers (Numbers 31), we see a similar integration and the purpose of that integration was to intentionally turn the Israelites away from the Lord to worship other gods. Elimelech’s intention to save his family from famine by bringing them to Moab resulted the removal of God’s covenant protection and in Elimelech’s death and the death of his sons, thus, in effect cutting his family off from history.

Added to all of this, because the Moabites years earlier had refused to provide for the Israelites as they travelled to the Promised Land but rather tried to bring a curse upon them through Balaam (the one of the talking donkey), any Israelite who had a Moabite ancestor in their previous 10 generations could not become fully integrated into the Israelite community (Deuteronomy 23:3-6). Elimelech, by finding Moabite wives for his sons, in effect, was preventing his grandchildren for the next 9 generations from being recognized as full Israelites and consequently, from being able to worship the Lord. The opening verses of the book of Ruth, thus, show us a faithless Israelite man who put his trust in foreign gods and bore in himself and his family the punishment for his unfaithfulness. Elimelech brought disaster on himself and his family because of his bad decision.

Meanwhile, back in Bethlehem, we see the people prospering. Further, we see the people there faithfully serving the Lord and thus experiencing his blessings. What is left of Elimelech’s family (his wife and two daughters-in-law) decide to return and perhaps be able to survive in Bethlehem and receive a small piece of the prosperity of that place. Naomi, when she returns, speaks of the bitterness of her life, and she seems to want to blame God for the disaster that befell her family. She says, “the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me” (Ruth 1:21). It sounds like she is blaming God, but we do not have to take it that way. In her words we can also see a recognition that leaving the Lord to trust the foreign false god, Chemosh, was a bad decision, one worthy of God’s anger and his withholding his blessings. It is unlikely that Naomi is accusing God but, more likely, is recognizing that God gave her family what covenant breakers deserve: a difficult and empty life.

What follows, however, in the book of Ruth is a complete reversal of fortune. As we know, Ruth, who commits herself to the Lord (in contrast to her late father-in-law), becomes the wife of a prominent Israelite and the eventual ancestor of one who would become king of Israel, David himself. What is particularly incredible is that God “forgets” his injunction that anyone who has Moabite blood less than 10 generations back not be included in the Israelite community and not be able to worship God and puts in place a descendant of Ruth the Moabitess who then becomes the king of God’s people and his son the builder of God’s temple.

What is more, Elimelech’s name is not forgotten. True, we remember him as a faithless one, an example which we should avoid following, but there is more. When Boaz marries Ruth, their children, in effect are Elimelech’s descendants to the effect that Elimelech’s name “does not disappear from among his family or from his hometown” (Ruth 4:10). Elimelech’s faithlessness does not result in his being excluded from among the people of God.

The story told in the book of Ruth, then, is not a story of one man’s failure or of one woman’s (Ruth’s) faithfulness. It is the story of God’s redemptive work in faithless man who did the best to erase his name from history by turning away from the Lord and who, by God’s grace, circuitously, is included in the story of Jesus’ ancestry. Elimelech sought to save his family and ended up doing just the opposite where as God worked through the failures and brought salvation not to Elimelech and his family but also to a member of the Moabite nation, something that we would never have believed could have happened. The story told in the book of Ruth, then, is a story of the power of God’s salvation in spite of the oft-times best efforts of humans to make the opposite true.

A number of decades ago I attended a youth service where the pastor spoke of his fight against cancer when he himself was a teenager. Sid (the pastor’s name) talked about his battle against cancer, about the treatments, and about the follow up visits. After some years, the oncologist, finding no trace of the cancer in his body, said to him, “Sid, your cancer is in complete remission.” What that meant is that there was no sign of the cancer and, as far as the doctor could tell, the cancer would never come back. Sid was pastoring his first church when he told that story, and today he is nearing retirement. The cancer has never returned.

As he told that story, he spoke also of communion. The older forms for communion used that word, “remission,” and the pastor would say, “Jesus died for us for the complete remission of all of our sins.” Sid told us that he fully understood what that meant. When we put our faith in Jesus, all of our sins are gone, and they will never come back to haunt us. God will never hold any of our sins against us.

I don’t think that there is anything quite like that in our world today. True, Sid was told that his cancer was in complete remission, but, as we well know, when someone has cancer, there is always the chance that there may be just a few cancer cells left in the body, and there is the possibility, however remote, that they might become active again, and the cancer returns. Perhaps the doctor overstated the case to Sid when he told Sid that his cancer was in complete remission.

When we forgive others who have harmed us, we might tell them we have forgiven them completely, that the harm they did to us will no longer affect our relationship with them. We might say it, but it won’t be entirely true. If the harm was great, we will always remember, even if it is a little bit, and the memory might affect our attitudes or actions toward that person. It is impossible for us to completely forgive someone. We cannot say to someone truthfully, “What you did to me, it’s as if I have completely forgotten it.” Our memories are far too good for that.

Social media does not allow complete remission either. When we publish something on Facebook or Instagram, they tell us that it remains there. Maybe there is a way to get rid of it completely, but I don’t think so. The picture or words we post could come back to haunt us. We all have heard of incidents where someone, especially a public figure, is reminded of past offenses because someone managed to dig up something from years ago. Complete remission, complete forgetfulness, complete forgiveness is unheard of these days. We find ourselves having to be careful about what we say or do because it may be forever on record.

But not so with God. When God forgives, he forgives completely and entirely, and he will never remind us of our sins. Once Jesus has taken them on himself, they are no longer ours. We are set free from the sin for eternity.

I don’t know what eternal life will be like, but I am looking forward to it. I do not live a perfect life, and we are all in the same boat. In fact, the longer I live, the more offense I cause to others. It’s a simple fact. Now, I know that time does tend to heal wounds, and time does make us forget some things, but the longer we live, the greater the number of negative actions or words that may be remembered by others. We can continue to live and enjoy life, and we can be blessed with good relationships, but we do have memories, and those memories do not allow us to do as God does and never allow something bad that happened to ever affect us again.

I don’t know what eternal life will be like. I hope that I will know the many people I have met and enjoyed friendships with over the years. If that does happen, and if we do know others from this world, then we can also be assured of something else: we won’t remember everything. All the offenses and all the problems and all the discord will be gone. There will be nothing that divides us from others. We will be like God, perhaps, not letting those bad things affect us. We will forget them.

Now, of course, God doesn’t forget our sins. God doesn’t forget things. But, unlike us, God can act as if he completely forgets. He doesn’t let the past affect our relationship with him, for when we are in Jesus Christ, all that stands between us and him is gone. It’s as if he forgets.

Experiencing the complete remission of all our sins, then, is freeing. If we stand forgiven in Jesus Christ, God will never hold our sins against us, not in the smallest way. Sid experienced complete remission from his cancer. He was able to live without the fear of its return hanging over him. In Jesus Christ we experience the complete remission of all our sins, and we do not need ever let the fear of our sins hang over our heads. They are gone, and, in God’s eyes, they will be gone forever. We are free from sin which, in mind, while being free of cancer is great, being free of sin is even greater.

Just over a year ago, news reports said that there is over 35,000,000 unspent dollars on gift cards in Canada. Often, when we don’t know what to give to a friend as a gift, we give them a gift card. Quite often that gift card is thrown into a drawer, and it is forgotten. Different companies have different rules for what happens to that unspent money. Some have enacted fees when the card becomes inactive, thus making it possible for the business to take the money from the consumer. Other companies don’t ever take the money as their own, but because the card has been forgotten or lost, the money is never claimed. To not spend the money given to us on gift cards is to not tap into a precious resource.

I am not always very good at spending the money given to me on a gift card. In fact, we have quite a few gift cards that have some money left on them, but, at the moment, I am not sure where they are. They are among our possessions somewhere, but they are inaccessible. Some of them we have had for several years. Why don’t we spend that money? Mostly it is because we are not deliberate enough about using the gifts given to us. It’s not that we are ungrateful; it’s just that we don’t make plans to use a gift card from a particular restaurant or we forget the gift card at home when we do go out. It can be said that we are not tapping into the resources that were given to us.

I think it would be fair to say that we don’t always use the gifts given to us. Many of us probably have gifts that we received at our weddings which we have never used. Others have received Christmas and birthday gifts that we rarely take out of the closet. If enough time passes, we might find ourselves dropping those gifts off at the thrift store with the hope that someone else may be able to use them. Sometimes, of course, the gifts that we receive might not be entirely useful to us, and we don’t use them because we don’t need them.

In the Bible, gift giving is mentioned many times. Sometimes gifts are given to earn favour with another. For example, one king might send gifts to another king so that the recipient will form an alliance with the giver. Other times, gifts are given as a way of expressing gratitude to the recipient for something that was done. But the most common kind of gift given in the Bible is the gift that a stronger person gives to someone who is weaker so that the recipient can be elevated from his weakness. This is the kind of gift that is most often associated with God’s treatment of us.

The Greek word that is used for gift in the New Testament finds its root in the word for “joy.” It also gives rise to the word that is translated as “grace.” Thus, grace is a gift given by a stronger party (God) to a weaker party (us) so that we can be elevated from our need and weakness, which results in joy and a sense of wellbeing. Our salvation in Jesus Christ, for example, is God’s gift to us which elevates us from our inability to save ourselves and which results in joy and assurance that we have nothing to fear now and for the future. Included in that gift of God is the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives. This is God’s greatest gift for us in the present, for it is the Holy Spirit who enables us both to have faith and to live our faith.

We are encouraged by Paul to live by the Spirit, but I do wonder if we do that as much as we could. Do we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us to his full power? I suspect not. It would seem that in many cases, the Holy Spirit is kept on the shelf, and we do not seek his power nearly as much as is possible. I suspect that there could be at least two reasons for this: first, we live in a time and place where we are taught to be self-sufficient, and to some extent we believe we can. Of course, just as we are unable to save ourselves, so we are unable to live to our full capacity as followers of Jesus Christ unless we rely on the Holy Spirit. So, because we live in a culture where self-sufficiency is the highest good, we do not rely on the Spirit to work in and through us.

The second reason we may not receive God’s gift of the Spirit fully is that we are not deliberate in seeking the Spirit’s help. To put it in other terms, we leave the gift card at home. The Holy Spirit rarely crosses our minds as we go about our daily lives so that when we find ourselves feeling incapable, we do not rely on his presence. To use gift cards, we have to be deliberate, planning to eat in the restaurant or shopping at the store where we can use them. In the same way, when we begin our day, perhaps it would be helpful for us to consider what is on the schedule and ask the question, “How can the Holy Spirit, God’s gift to me, help me with whatever it is that I am doing?” Not only will this question teach us to receive God’s gift, but it will also choose us to be deliberate about what we are doing. If we find ourselves doing something where the Spirit cannot work in us, there is a good chance we should not be doing it.

Or there may be a third reason: perhaps we are afraid that if we rely on the Spirit too much, he may lead us in directions we would not normally go, and that can be a little intimidating. Yet, if the Spirit leads, we must not forget, he will also equip, and when he equips, those things that we face may not be quite so intimidating, for the Spirit is powerful.

There may be thirty five million dollars that is left unused on gift cards in Canada, and there are billions more around the world, and it may well be that while the Holy Spirit has made himself available to us, we do not rely on him as we should. God’s gifts are meant to elevate us in our weakness and, as they do, give us joy and wellbeing. God is gracious to us, and all we need do is receive that grace.

In Genesis 1, we have the account of a six-day creation. There is a lot of debate about the nature of a day. Some would hold that the day is a literal 24-hour period while others would say that a day is more like an era. In all that debate, something fundamental is overlooked, something that should help us better understand why the creation narrative was written in the way that it was.

Genesis 1:1 tells us that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. This is often understood to be a summary statement for what follows. The next statement tells us that the earth was formless and empty and that the Spirit hovered over the face of the deep. God was there, but there was nothing to sustain life. It is then that God begins his work of creation. Again, we need to return to the statement that the earth was formless and empty to fully understand the significance of what happened on the six days of creation. In the first three days of creation, God gives that which is formless form and that which was empty fullness. The following chart helps clarify what the text is telling us.

As we look at this chart, we cannot help but see the pattern that has developed. Day 4 fills Day 1, Day 5 fills Day 2, and Day 6 fills Day 3. Again, the first three days are about forming, and the last three days are about filling as God forms and fills that which was formless and empty. What we have at the end of the sixth day is a world which provides a place for life and which is designed to sustain that life. When the earth begins to revert back to formlessness (floods, desertification, etc.), life can no longer be sustained. The life that is most affected by any reversions of creation is that which was created on the sixth day, animals, but most specifically human beings. We also learn from Scripture that human beings have the remarkable ability to cause formlessness and emptiness. Sin leads both to flooding (Noah and the ark) and the disappearance of sustainable farmland (the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, which were at one time fertile but are now a wasteland). We also notice that when God restores his people, he also does so in conjunction with the restoration of creation.

The forming and filling of creation is an often overlooked aspect of the creation narrative, but it is an important one. What is even more important is the seventh day of creation, the rest that God provides. By making one day holy (an important attribute of God), God transmitted to creation the opportunity to experience his presence and blessing. It is rest that is the goal and purpose of creation, for resting is the end for which creation was designed.

The sin of Adam and Eve (and all of humanity with them) results in the final form and fullness of creation to be destroyed. God, because of his holiness, is no longer able to be present in creation, and that empties creation of its fullness and robs it of its form. All of creation is meant to experience God, and sin reverses that experience.

It is God who makes the first move to restore what was lost, but his move must be careful and measured. Thus, when the holy God makes himself present first in the tabernacle and later in the temple, he must carefully guard himself against all that is sinful. Thus, these two buildings have curtains and walls which are designed to keep him from being tainted with sin. These two buildings restored to creation something which was lost when sin entered the world, but not fully. In Jesus Christ, God comes to us again, and he comes in power, for although he was God among us (and we are sinful), he is not tainted by sin; rather, he pushes back against sin and its impact, bringing healing and restoration. In the church, which consists of people who have been made holy, the Holy Spirit dwells, and God continues to be present in this world.

But none of these manifestations of God in the Bible are the final reversal of sin. It is only in Revelation when sin is cast into the lake of fire and all things are made new that God comes to dwell among his people, being present once again in creation and establishing the rest that was lost because of sin.

All of this is to say that the real purpose of the creation narrative is not to give a scientific explanation of the beginnings of this world but, rather, to give us an understanding of what was meant to be, no longer is, but will one day be restored. Often we talk about a 6-day creation, but that is inappropriate. Humanists believe that the goal of all things is the wellbeing of humanity, and a Christian humanist believes that humans are the epitome of creation and that creation was made to serve us. The Genesis account says something different, for while the world was ultimately created to sustain life for humanity, the goal of creation is not to serve humanity but, rather, to give humanity the opportunity to serve God (and to cause the rest of creation to serve him as well). God’s intention is that we live in a creation that is properly formed (he is with us) and is properly filled (he is present among us). Thus, our efforts are not so much to maintain the place where we live so that we can survive but to seek God who makes himself known to us. Having God among us is the first step in restoring the emptiness and formlessness caused by sin. The Genesis narrative was not given to us, first and foremost, to describe how the world was made but, rather, to reveal to us what God intended for creation: that we all experience his presence, something that is lost in sin but is made possible again through Jesus Christ.

My mother planted a huge garden each year, producing almost enough potatoes, vegetables, and fruit for a large family to last the entire year. I grew up tending that garden (often unwillingly), pulling weeds, picking potato bugs, digging potatoes, picking beans and pulling more weeds. If I were to plant a garden today, I probably could grow a pretty decent crop of vegetables and potatoes. I do a tiny bit of gardening from time to time, but I have never asked my children to spend much time weeding and picking beans. Understandably, they know far less about gardening than I do.

A few days ago I talked with a farmer about his hired hand. He is a good fellow, the farmer told me, but he doesn’t know anything about farming. He must be taught everything, from driving the tractor to feeding the animals to watching for problems in the barn and feedlot. It will take time for him to be an independent and productive employee, this farmer said. We can understand why. Someone who grows up on the farm learns from the time they are just a couple of years old. They watch how things are done, and they don’t really have to be taught. They seem to have a natural inclination to know how to farm. I grew up on a farm but because I didn’t farm, my children don’t have the same inherent knowledge that I have.

It is easy, very easy, for us to lose information and ability in just one or two generations. Once that information is lost, it takes a lot of effort to reteach it. My grandchildren might become good gardeners, but they will have to learn everything from scratch. We can be thankful for the Internet which is quite helpful as a teaching tool. Of course, everyone thinks they are a professional after watching a couple of YouTube videos, but when they put their hand to it, whatever it is that they think they can do turns out to be a lot harder than it seems when we watch a video. If we do not pass on how to do things to the next generation, they will have to learn the hard way.

In my university years, one of my professors addressed these kinds of scenarios by distinguishing between what is taught and what is caught. If a child grows up on a farm, what they learn is caught. If, however, they did not have the opportunity, they must be taught.

This is the same with being a Christian. I had the privilege of growing up in a home where Jesus Christ was central to all of life and where my parents sought to live godly lives. I observed them, and I caught what it was to be a follower of Jesus Christ. I still had to learn, but living as a Christian seems to be almost natural to me. I grew up in an environment where Jesus Christ was honoured.

How long would it take for that inherent knowledge to be lost? Only one generation. If my wife and I had decided that we were not going to live for the Lord, our children would know nothing about what following Jesus means. That would put them at a distinct disadvantage, for instead of “catching” what it means to follow Jesus, they would have to learn by someone teaching them. This is not impossible, of course, but it is more work, a lot more work. It is sad when parents, though making the claim to be Christians themselves, do not model what it is to follow Jesus Christ to their children. Like my children who will have to learn how to garden by watching YouTube and reading books, children of parents who do not daily follow Jesus Christ will have to learn the hard way what it means to have a Christian lifestyle.

When Jesus began his ministry, he called 12 men to follow him, and these men became known as his disciples. A disciple is one who learns, but most of their learning is not from a textbook or lecture. Jesus, as their rabbi/teacher, modelled what it meant to live faithfully. The disciples spent weeks and even months with him, watching him interact with others, listening to his conversations, observing him at mealtimes and in the marketplace. Yes, rabbis in those days did spend time teaching, but often that teaching rose out of the events of the day. Over time, a disciple/learner would begin to pattern his life after his rabbi/teacher so that the life of faithfulness would seem to be an inherent quality that he had always possessed.

In our Reformed theology, we teach that God creates covenant communities in which we grow together to become more adept at living for Jesus. While education is important, what is more important is that the covenant community, the church family, models what it is to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Children, new Christians, but also those who have lived in a Christian community all their lives, learn the lifestyle that is expected of a Christian, provided, of course that the community of believers is living according to the ways of Christ. Just as growing up on a farm gives an aspiring farmer makes farming seem like an inherent ability and just as having a mother who forces her children to weed the garden makes it seem like the ability to grow vegetables is something someone is born with, so belonging to the covenant community makes it seem like being a faithful follower of Jesus Christ is something that people know how to do without much learning.

There is a trend today where we see quite a number of people saying that they can be Christians without belonging to a church or without maintaining some of the basic Christian practices in the home. It is possible to be a farmer without having grown up on a farm. It is possible to grow vegetables without learning it firsthand. It is possible, but it is a lot harder. It is possible to be a Christian without having others who will model for us what it is to follow Christ, but it is a lot harder. Let’s continue to create environments where we and our children can grow together in the practice of our faith, and let’s make the most of the communities God has provided.