Peace in Our Time

In September 1938, Hitler was preparing his war machine to invade Czechoslovakia while Britain and France were committed to protecting Czech sovereignty. It seemed that war was inevitable, but Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister, flew to Berlin for peace negotiations. The personality of Hitler and the fear of war caused Chamberlain to cave in. On September 21, 1938, the ambassadors of France and Great Britain informed the Czech premier that their countries would not honor their treaty obligations. On September 29, 1938, England, France, Germany and Italy signed the Munich Pact, which granted Hitler the northern part of Czechoslovakia.

Chamberlain returned to London declaring "peace in our time." He was hailed as a hero by a country that thought that he had averted war. But one man was not fooled. Winston Churchill rose in the House of Commons to speak these profound and prophetic words:

Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor. They will have war...And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless, by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigor, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden times.

Churchill recognized something that most of his countryman did not-- you simply cannot compromise with evil. Such compromise is defeat. When we compromise with evil, we are inevitably led down a path of decline and decay.  History proved Churchill to be right.

In Judges 9, Israel is once again plunged into chaos and conflict, but this time it is not from a marauding band of invaders. The chaos this time was caused by the man who would be king.  He name was Abimelech, the son of Gideon. Abimelech murdered the seventy sons of Gideon to remove any other claim to the throne, a throne that did not exist. He then plunged the country into a civil war in an effort to consolidate his power. Thousands died in the conflict, and many more would have had not Abimelech been killed by the old "throw-the-millstone-out-the-tower-window" trick. Judges is a book that chronicles many dark times in Israel's past, and the reign of Abimelech was one of the darkest.

The conflict of Abimelech that nearly destroyed the land began when his father Gideon made one of those  Chamberlain "peace in our time" pronouncements.  In Judges 8, Gideon receives payments in gold for his great service in leading Israel to freedom. He fashioned the gold into a golden ephod, a breastplate worn by the priest to symbolize their authority. So this golden ephod represented his authority, but very quickly it became a object of veneration and even worship. Gideon, the judge who began his career by destroying images of Baal in effect himself sets up an idol for Israel to worship. Shortly after his death, Israel completed the apostasy by setting up images of Baal. By making peace with idolatry, Gideon set the stage for the conflict that would destroy his sons and the peace in Israel he fought so hard to maintain.

We are today in a spiritual battle that has eternal consequences. When we make subtle (or not so subtle) compromises with the values and standards of the world around us, then we set the stage for same kind of spiritual compromise and failure precipitated by Gideon. When we blindly accept the ideas and ideals of the culture around us, we make peace with the world-- a peace that cannot last. There is no peace in our time except the peace that passes understanding that comes from a life that is hidden with Christ. May God give us the courage to stand for Him in an age that stands for everything else... and thus falls for anything.

Putting Out the Fleece

It’s a fairly typical question. We are faced with one of those fork-in-the-road kinds of decisions and want to make the right one. Should I keep my job, accept a promotion, start my own business or take a whole new job in a whole new city? Someone close to me is sorting through those very options… so what should she do? Well, Yogi Berra once said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” But that isn't very helpful. Some might piously tell her, “You need to decide which one is God’s will and then do that.” Doesn't James tell us, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money… you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” (James 4:13-15). So do God’s will. OK, I'm all for that, but that isn't much more helpful that Yogi’s advice in choosing between alternative. How is one supposed to know what God’s will is?

Some try Gideon's technique in our reading for today. God comes to Gideon with a mission, but Gideon asks for a sign just to make sure this really is God's mission. So he puts out a fleece and asks, “If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand” (Judges 6:37). The next morning the ground was dry and Gideon was able to wring out a bowlful of water from the fleece. Pretty impressive, but Gideon is still unsure.  So he asks for a double-blind test, "This time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew" (Judges 6:39). That is exactly what happens, and now Gideon is completely sure that God really wants him to take this new job as Israel's next judge.

Some Christians do the same thing. They “put out the fleece” and ask God for a sign just like Gideon.  They come up with sometimes elaborate tests trying to convince themselves what is or is not God’s will for their lives—

"God, if you want me to take this job, let there be open parking spot in front."

"God, if I should buy a new car, then let the dealer have the 350 ZX in red." 

"God, if You  want us to move to Texas, let the Cubs sweep the Series"

Sure, those aren't exactly a fleece, but is this about what Gideon does to discover God's will? No, Gideon actually already knew God’s will because God came out and told him. What Gideon is doing is looking for confirmation to help his flagging faith… or maybe stalling while he finds a way out!

There are two problems with putting-out-the-fleece to ask God for a sign of what His will in making a tough decision. First, it is too easy for us to see the sign we want and ignore the ones we don’t like. In John 6, Jesus does a couple of pretty dramatic miracles showing his power over the law as of nature—he feeds the 5000 with a sack lunch and then He walks on the water. But then some enemies come to Him and ask, “What sign then will you give us?” (John 6:30). Well, how about feeding the 5000 and walking on water? Interpreting life events as a sign from God is always rather subjective and we tend to see in such signs what we want to see.

Didn’t I say there were TWO problems with putting-out-the-fleece? The second problem is that we are never to do so! Determining God’s will isn't some mysterious task that requires tea leaves.  God doesn't have the details of your life mapped out to the nth degree and then require you to read the signs and put out the fleece to determine what that mysterious hidden will really is. No, God's will is that you trust Him. All through the Bible, when God had some very specific task for someone to do, He told them-- emphatically and dramatically.

• Did Moses puzzle over God's will?  No, God spoke plainly from a burning bush; Moses puzzled over finding a good excuse not to follow what God plainly told him to do.
  
• Did Abraham wonder whether he need to leave Ur?  No, God told him to leave; Abraham puzzled over the timing of how exactly God was going to keep His promise he had plainly made.

If God has a specific will for your life, He will tell you plainly.  It is God's will that you be saved (John 6:40, 2 Peter 3:9), sanctified (1 Thess. 4:3-5), filled with his Spirit (Eph. 5:17-18) and serving others (2 Cor. 8:3-5).  The details of how that works out is up to us as long as we put Him first.  So stay in the job you have, take the promotion, start your business, or move to the distant city to take the new job and be faithful to Him, and that IS God’s will for you.

But what if you make a choice that blows up in your face?  Trust God and be faithful. What if you decide that you could have been more successful if you had taken option #3 rather than #1, #2 or #4? Trust God and be faithful. God never says that what He wants from us is to be just as successful as we can be. No, what He wants is for us to be faithful.

Leave the fleece on the sheep where it can do some good... and obey God whatever your circumstance!

The Downward Spiral

Coleman Crocker told us in his History of Israel class at Freed-Hardeman that the most prominent character in all the Bible (besides the Lord) to never be accused of sinning was Joshua. (That title might rightly belong to Joseph, but our reading concerns Joshua and Judges today). Most other Bible characters display feet of clay, but Joshua was "careful to obey all the law" without turning from it "to the right or to the left" (Joshua 1:7). Today’s reading from Judges 2 confirms the godly leadership of Joshua, "The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him..." (Judges 2:7). The faithfulness of Joshua serves to highlight the failure of Judges--

They forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the Lord to anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. In his anger against Israel the Lord handed them over to raiders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. (Judges 2:12-14)

This sets up a cycle in Judges of prosperity, rebellion, captivity, repentance and liberation that repeats itself over and over again in the book. Israel allowed their freedom to lead and success to lead them into sin. They never learned from this downward spiral of pride and rebellion and captivity. The statement that defines the book of Judges is "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit" (Judges 17:6, 21:25).

Have we not all proven this same downward spiral true in our own lives? Oh, we've never worshiped Baal, and we wouldn't know Ashtoreth if we bumped into her in the check-out line at Wal-Mart! But have there not been times in our lives when we have insisted on going our own way, directing our own steps and doing as we see fit? Maybe our spiritual failures have not been as dramatic or as public as those of Israel during the time of the Judges... but the result is always the same. Whenwe leave God to direct our own steps, we fall. The downward spiral is inescapable. So are we going to to learn from Israel's mistake here?

How's this for coincidence? The Greek form of the Hebrew name "Joshua" is "Jesus." If we will keep looking to our Joshua and be careful not to turn to the left or the right, then we'll do better in our trek to the Promised Land.

This is a report from the blog back in 2008; I read somewhere that we should all practice recycling.

Who Fought the Battle of Jericho? (2)

Since that fateful day when Al Gore invented the internet, it has become extremely easy for students to turn in work that is not their own. Oh, students have always done that.  I remember a kid in school who actually tore out a page from an encyclopedia, wrote his name at the top and turned it in as his report!  But that was kind of obvious. Today plagiarizing schoolwork has become a bit more sophisticated. Teachers now use software systems like Turnitin and MyDropBox to analyze term papers to look for sections where students have cut and pasted work that is not their own. It is never right to claim credit for work that is not your own.

Yesterday we suggested that it was God who fought the battle of Jericho, and not Joshua like the old spiritual suggests. Of course, Joshua didn't write that song; he never claimed that he fought the battle of Jericho. In fact, in the days leading up to the dramatic battle, Joshua had a burning-bush experience where he met the One who was commander of the armies of Israel (Joshua 5:13-15). Joshua was the commissioned and recognized leader of the people, but He recognized that God was really in command.

Think for a minute about the night after the battle of Jericho was won. Do you think that the Israelites bothered to throw a big victory party afterward? After all, the battle of Jericho did not leave the Israelites a lot of room for braggadocio. What would they brag about around the campfire that night?

“Boy, I really struck terror in their heart with how fearsome I shouted!”
“Did you hear how I long I held that note when I blew my trumpet?”
“Did you notice how perfectly straight were the lines we marched in?”

No, there wasn't a lot to brag about in the victory over Jericho; the victory was God’s work, not theirs. Joshua didn't fight the battle of Jericho— God did! God gave Israel this very first victory in a dramatic and miraculous way so that His people would know that they could depend on Him. Unfortunately, the more successful they were, the more credit they took! There would be times (like the very next battle) where God would have to take them down a notch.

We need to understand that it is God’s power at work in us today. The power in our Christian lives is not through our intelligence or ingenuity or piety. If we have any power it is from God Himself. Sure we must obey God, just as Israel had to obey in walking around the city of Jericho. And Paul reminds that like Israel, we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7). But ultimately, all we do is walk. Like Israel, our walk is important; it is by our walk that we show our faith just as Israel showed her faith by walking. But the power that made the walls of Jericho fall was the power of God. That is the power in our lives as well.

Spiritual pride is always out of place in those who would follow God. The Pharisees were "confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else" (Luke 18:9). Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector to emphasize that "all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted" (Luke 18:14). Paul says that God’s power is made perfect in our weakness, not by our strength (2 Cor 12:9-10).

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

God’s presence and power in our lives is seen amid our flaws and weakness. Paul struggled with a thorn in flesh, a flaw that showed his weakness. And so it is with us. We become powerful only as we focus on God, glory in Him and allow His power to be worked in us and through us. Why did Israel walk around Jericho? Because they couldn't win other way! And as we walk by faith in God today, His power and strength are seen in us despite our weakness and flaws… and even perhaps because of them! God works in the weak and lowly things of the world to accomplish His will so that no one would boast before Him (1 Cor 1:27-29)

27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

The Corinthians were not much when judged by the standards and status of the world. Like them, we are not powerful, prosperous or pretty enough. But God is. He is still the commander of the armies of Israel. Our victory is assured because, like at Jericho, the battle belongs to the Lord!

Who Fought the Battle of Jericho?

We’re all familiar with the old Negro spiritual “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho.” If you don’t know the song, then look over on YouTube at several dozen renditions, including those by Elvis, Mahalia Jackson, Hugh Laurie (Dr. House) and this choir singing while riding on a subway in Istanbul.



Jericho was a gateway city of Canaan, 8 miles NW of the junction of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. It was here that God would begin the conquest of the Promised Land because of the promise He made to Abraham and the sinfulness of the Canaanites (see Deut 9:4-6, Gen 15:16). The strategic problem raised by Jericho is that it was surrounded by a high wall and shut up tight against the Israelite invasion (Josh 6:1). It was precisely the difficulties of these walled cities, some populated by giants, that had caused the former generation of Israel to doubt God (Num 13:28).

One has to wonder if any shred of those doubts was plagued this new generation as they once again surveyed those walls and thought of those giants? God doesn't seem to go out of His way to allay any fears as He presents to Joshua a battle plan that was unusual at best and wacky at worst (Josh 6:3-5). Israel would walk around the city-- everyone and for a whole week. On the seventh day, they would walk around Jericho seven times, blow their trumpets, and shout-- and walls would come tumbling down! Can you imagine Joshua taking this plan to the Israelite war council, “OK, here’s the plan, guys; these sandals are made for walking!” Did Israel's generals start wondering about their new leader?

Well, Israel walked and shouted and the walls came tumbling down. But it wasn’t Joshua who fought the battle of Jericho; it was God. The battle plan of Jericho taught Israel the same lesson another great battle that also involved trumpets would later teach, “In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her (Jud 7:2). No, Joshua didn’t fight the battle of Jericho at all; God did.

And Joshua would be the last one to argue with that. In chapter 5, Joshua is mulling over the task that lies ahead when he has a visitor. This visitation in Joshua 5:13-15 provides background not just for the battle of Jericho but for the rest of Joshua’s life—

13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”
15 The commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Joshua here has an experience of God much like Moses’ burning bush. Both he and Moses were told to take off their shoes because they were standing on holy ground. Both Moses and Joshua respond by bowing their faces in worship. Joshua’s visitor here identifies himself as “commander of army of the Lord.” Who would Israel say was their commander? Joshua. But right before the battle of Jericho, God makes sure that Joshua knows who really was in control of things. God was.  Joshua needed that reminder, and so do we.

Tomorrow we'll make some observations of what this story might mean for us today.

Now Choose Life

In the movie Sophie's Choice, Sophie was a polish Jew during World War II, and that was not a good thing to be. She spent the war in a Nazi concentration camp during the war, and it was there that she faced a choice no mother should ever have to make. She was told by a camp guard that she had to give up one of her two children, her son or her daughter. One would stay with her and perhaps live; the other would be taken from her and almost certainly would die.  In shock, she protested that she couldn't choose, but she literally had no choice. The sadistic guard said, "You must choose." Sophie's response is frantic, "Don't make me choose, don't make me choose!" But she is told that if she doesn't choose one, then both of them would be taken from her, and the officer coldly reaches toward both children. Realizing that she has no choice but to choose, she thrust her daughter into his arms, crying hysterically, saying, "Take my little girl!"

We can't even imagine having to make a choice like that. Nor can we imagine the far-reaching consequences of making such a choice. The rest of the movie chronicles the way that Sophie's life was affected, and destroyed, by the horror of Sophie’s choice. Surely our choices are not that horrible, but the choices that we make can be even more monumental than Sophie’s… without us even realizing it.

When Joshua is about to turn over leadership of Israel, he demands that Israel make such a monumental choice, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…” (Josh 24:15). In our reading for today, Moses does the same thing as he gets ready to turn the reigns of leadership over to Joshua in Deuteronomy 30. The chapters that follow are full of last minute details as Moses nears the end of his life—

• He appoint Joshua as his successor as leader (Deut. 31)
• He sings a song glorifying God and blessing Israel (Duet. 32)
• He will one last time bless Israel tribe by tribe (Deut. 33)

And then in chapter 34, Moses will take the hand of God, and together they will climb Mt. Nebo. There God will give Moses a glimpse of the land to which he had been leading Israel for some forty years. And there, with vision of Canaan fresh in his eyes, Moses will die and God will preach his funeral.

But before all of that, Moses calls Israel to choose which God they will serve. The choice they must make is an easy choice (30:11). The choice was a test, but it is the easiest type of test there is. It is not essay test nor is it multiple choice; it is true/false. What they have to decide is whether or not they are going to serve God. This is no Sophie's Choice where the two alternatives are too difficult and no answer is a good one. Moses assures them that the ability to make their choice was well within their grasp (30:12-14). Here is the choice that Moses offers Israel--

19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Deut. 30:19-20)

The choice that Moses laid out for Israel was the choice between life and death, between God's destruction and God's blessing. That doesn't seem to be such a hard choice.  But that is the choice is before us today.  Most of the decisions we make day to day been pretty inconsequential, but often times these choices either bring us closer to God or lead us further away.  We choose God in the small things of our lives as we seek to glorify him and place ourselves under His rule.  Or we don't.  God still speaks to us as He did through Moses (and here through Moses) and says, "Now choose life." That choice will mean obedience and submission in the small things of life as well as in the big things.  We make those little choices every day.  What we might not realize is that we are choosing life and death.  And God still calls to us, "Now choose life."

Arise My Love

When I was growing up, Easter was basically a special family day where we dressed up in new Sunday clothes and went to church to show them off. Oh, we went to church every Sunday (twice), but Easter was special because everyone was all dressed up. I never understood why that was the case, because nothing was ever said or done differently on Easter Sunday than any other Sunday of the year... we certainly didn't have a special sermon on the resurrection. You see, not only did our church not follow the liturgical calendar, we acted as if there wasn't one. Easter and Christmas were like every other Sunday. In fact, I had a professor in school who suggested that we preach on the resurrection at Christmas and the birth of Jesus at Easter, just so no one got the idea that we believed in observing special days. It didn't dawn on me until much later that this setup a reverse holy day where you could stress the resurrection on any Sunday EXCEPT Easter. And that's kinda silly, I think.

I'm glad that while we are still wedded to scripture as our only authority, we do have the freedom to stress the birth and resurrection of Christ during those times of the year when people are most thinking about them. Bob Bean led us in a wonderful period of reflection at Yorktown Beach at Sunrise on Easter morning as he talked about the power of the resurrection for forgiveness as seen in the life of Peter. Eating breakfast together on Easter morning (and we had a great turnout) affirmed the relationships we enjoy because of our risen Lord. Singing songs of the resurrection, watching the video above and listening to Paul's message of our "Hope That Outlasts Forever" (from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), a hope rooted in the resurrection of Christ helped to focus us in a special way on the central message of that resurrection.  I'm also glad that the kids can have an Easter Egg hunt together after church, but then we always free to focus on the part of Easter that stresses baskets and bunnies and Cadbury eggs.  I'm glad that this season can also mean so much more

The danger, of course, is that we'll come to see the resurrection as seasonal.  Face it, singing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "Silent Night" seem out of place any other time of the year except Christmas.  The story of the birth of Jesus has come to be seasonal because of our Christmas traditions, but the message and meaning of the incarnation where "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" is too important to be seasonal.  I hope our annual focus on Easter and special Easter traditions don't make songs like "Arise Mt Love" only seem appropriate during this time of the year.  We need to stress every day the resurrection of Jesus, our resurrection from sin by Christ, and the resurrection power that lets us live new lives in Christ.  That is much too important to save for just one Sunday each year.

He Is Risen!

Unlike Christmas, the traditional date of Easter is historically reliable. Jesus was raised on the Sunday following the Passover, so scholars have worked out the chronology to suggest that Jesus was raised on April 7, AD 30 (except for scholars who come up with another date entirely). The exact date is not important. And how we may decide to observe or not to observe this holiday we call "Easter" isn't all that important either. What is important is that we understand that it really happened-- Jesus really did die on a cross and He really did come back from the dead. And those facts of history really do have a deep theological meaning.

Our world has all but banished the miraculous. We live in a world of scientific law and technological discovery. More and more people have less and less time for the miracle of Easter. Oh, only few people are so bold to suggest that Jesus never existed, but many do suggest that Jesus was only a man— perhaps the greatest UPREACH of humankind but certainly not the DOWNREACH of God Himself. And while Jesus may have died on a cross, he certainly did not rise from the dead. Resurrection is the ultimate miracle, and modern minds now understand that miracles just don’t happen (unless you count the 69 Mets).

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul seeks to dispel the noble fiction that Christ has meaning even if there was no resurrection. There were some in the church at Corinth, likely led my an affinity for Greek philosophy, that wanted to deny an end-time resurrection. Paul’s logic is pretty easy to follow. If there is no end-time resurrection, then Christ did not rise. And if Christ did not rise, then Christianity has no meaning whatsoever (1 Cor. 15:13-19). If Jesus did not rise, then Christianity is false. The very essence of our faith is wrapped up in the so-called “Easter story.” Without it, there is no gospel. Indeed, the story of the cross and empty tomb is the gospel! Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:8, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel. ”

Why is this the case? Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 15 is an end-time argument. We live in the hope that one day we will live with God forever in heaven. We endure difficulties and hardships here, but they cannot compare to the glories of our eternal reward (Rom. 8:18). If there is no resurrection, then there is no heaven and no reason to look to the future. Paul’s argument is that Christ is the firstfruits of the dead (1 Cor. 15:20-23). Jesus was the first to rise, and he is a guarantee that we will rise as well. That’s why Paul begins 1 Corinthians 15 with the basic affirmation that Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the tomb are of first importance—they are the part that matters (1 Cor. 15:3).

Almost two thousand years after it was first proclaimed, the Christian gospel is still summed up in the angelic announcement of Luke 24:5-6, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!”

Every Life IS Beautiful

Monday, Lynn and I took some of our Middle School girls to see the movie "October Baby." OK, our small group field trip wasn't supposed to be only for the girls, but that's the way it worked out. And the movie did turn out to be something of a "chick flick" (meaning there were no explosions or car chases). And I have to admit, it did take me a little while to get into the story... after all, there were no explosions or car chases.  But I did get into the story... and I loved it.

The story is about Hannah, a 19 year old college student who after fainting during a theatrical performance learns that her recurring health problems are caused by the difficult circumstances of her birth. She finds out for the first time that she was adopted after a failed abortion attempt by her birth mother. She later finds out that she had a twin brother that died four months after birth because who was too damaged by the botched abortion.  A shocked Hannah goes on a road trip with some friends to try to find out something about her birth mother. It is a movie about love, reconciliation, friendship, and forgiveness. While this is definitely a movie with a point of view ("every life is beautiful"), it is neither preachy nor simplistic. Here's the trailer--



The movie has been skewered pretty severely by many of the secular critics who have reviewed the film. Tom Long of the Detroit News wrote, "October Baby doesn't even meet the standards of decent propaganda. It is, in fact, indecent propaganda." Joe Williams of St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes, "Trafficking in 2-D morality and unlikely to be seen by the unconverted, October Baby would have been better off as a bumper sticker." John Beifuss of the Memphis Commercial Appeal sums up the negative reviews pretty well, "May be somewhat distasteful in subject and dubious in theme, but its presentation is as bright and shiny and polished as the fresh face of its pretty young star, Rachel Hendrix."  In other words, you gotta hate this movie because it suggests that abortion may not be such a good thing.  You gotta hate the movie because it suggests that babies are who are destroyed by abortion and not blobs of tissue.

It is not uncommon for their to be a difference between what critics think about a movie and what movie audiences think.  On the movie review site Rotten Tomatoes, only 23% of movie reviewers gave positive reviews, but 89% of the audience that saw the movie were positive about it.  That's a 3% BETTER audience response than that other little movie released last week entitled The Hunger Games.

In a world that elevates acceptance and non-judgment to the level of dogma, there is precious little acceptance or non-judgment for those who are convinced that every life is beautiful... even life which is unwanted by those who caused it to be.

A God So Near

The book of Deuteronomy is a series of four sermons given by Moses just before Israel entered the Promised Land. This was indeed the end of an era— the wandering in Wilderness and the leadership of Moses. It would be a time of great transition and change… and of great danger. Would Israel remain faithful to God after the death of Moses or would they seek the idols of Canaanites whose land they would possess? Deuteronomy is a kind of “second law” restatement of God’s promises and God’s warnings. It is very much like the speech a father gives to a child who leaves home—“I trust that you will remember who you are and do the right thing…and if you don’t, then you’re dead meat.”

Moses will remind Israel of a lot of things—their liberation from Egypt, the giving of the law, and their failures and success in the wilderness. But most of all, Moses would remind them of their God. He wants them to remember that they have witnessed things that no other people have ever witnessed. And that they have a God that is unlike any other God. Listen to Moses theme statement from yesterday’s reading from Deuteronomy 4:5-8:

5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” 7 What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?

Moses argues that the God of Israel was different from any other God in that He had come so near to them, and his nearness and power was seen in two different ways.

• First, God came near to Israel whenever they PRAYED to Him. Yahweh was a God who listened to his people when they prayed. Yes, God is powerful and mighty—but He is not distant or remote. The gods of the pagans sat on mountains and threw thunderbolts, gods to be feared and appeased… and avoided all costs. But Yahweh was a God who listened and came near to them in prayer.
  
• Second, God also came near to them in the LAW that God gave them. It was through the Law that God revealed Himself to His people. In her best moments, Israel didn’t see the Law as a burden to bear. That is how we may think about the Law— rules and regulations. But it was in the Law that Israel saw God— His mercy, goodness, holiness. That is why David can say in Psalm 119 that he truly loves God’s Law (119:47, 97, 163, 165).

Moses said that God’s was near to Israel and powerful in Israel because of their PRAYER and His LAW. God is near to His people today in exactly the same ways. As we pray to God and as he given attention to His Law, God comes near. That’s why we need to devote ourselves to both of these each day.