From the Pastor's Study
Image by Tim Hill
Have you ever heard of the concept of a spite house? These are houses that are built for the purposes of upsetting neighbors or making a point. One such house is in Freeport, New York, built in 1906. The builder was a developer named John Randall who didn’t like the city’s idea to make a grid system for the roads. To stop this, he built a house on a triangular piece of land that ruined the symmetry of the roads, a consequence you can still see today, over one hundred years later. There is another one in Boston called the Skinny House. Two brothers got a piece of land, but one was away on military duty. When he came back, he found his brother built a house taking up more than a fair share of property. In response, he built a house right next to his brother's, constructed in such a way to block light from the house! It is so close there isn’t a front door, meaning you’ve got to shimmy your way around to the side door (Source). In a time before regulation, it was possible to preserve one’s feelings about something for over a century in this country, but this isn’t a new thing. Building something to commemorate an event or a person wasn’t invented in 20th century America. In fact, this goes back nearly to the beginning, all the way to Genesis 11, the Tower of Babel, the original spite house. God’s command was for the people to go out and fill the earth, but they disobeyed this command pretty straightaway with the idea of staying together and building a name for themselves. God is going to intervene with a judgment that is still around even today but will be lifted on that Great Day of the Lord. Today we are going to see God's commandments and judgments produce ultimate good and A broken world is moving towards reunion. God’s Commandments and judgments produce ultimate good. We begin with the introduction that calls our attention to the point of this story: language. If we all truly came from the same family, why do we have such radically different ways of expressing ourselves in speech, and why is everyone so scattered? Chapter 11 answers all of these questions, and they are answered in God’s actions. This chapter tells us that at one time humanity was radically united. They had the same language and could walk with each other in the cool of the day. They find a flat space and decide to make bricks with the materials around. With those bricks they decide to build a city with a great tower in order to keep them together and build a monument to themselves, to give themselves a name. This is a good strategy for doing that, as we look on the pyramids today with awe over the builders skills these many thousands of years later! However, this is also a terrible idea because it requires disobedience to God. God told them to spread out and fill the earth, but they are afraid. Ross points out, "In addition to identifying their proud ambition, the story also reflects their anxieties." (233). They don’t want to obey God’s commands because to leave out in smaller groups in a survival scenario means fewer workers, fewer resources, more trust in God. Humans have always been scared when one is called to go and trust Him. Abraham will be asked to do just this in chapter 12, as we will see in the coming weeks, in contrast to what we see here. They are convinced they can build a tower that would lead them even into heaven, a radical display of pride if there ever was one. We tend not to view pride as all that serious of a thing. I mean, whenever people are confessing sins, we all default to pride, don’t we? That’s the safe sin to confess. But it isn’t a safe sin. Pride is self-worship, and no human being, even oneself, cannot hold up the weight of worshipful expectations. But it is so common and at the root of every sin. It makes no sense, as Calvin points out: "Yet even death does not correct our pride, nor constrain us seriously to confess our miserable condition: for often more pride is displayed in funerals than in nuptial pomp" (328). We know that we will die, that something will eventually stop us, but we still take pride in ourselves. We need something better to look to. And God is going to provide it. So the Lord is going to intervene here. Now, please come and nerd out with me on the literary features of this passage, as pointed out to me by my old Hebrew instructor, Dr. Ross. I was a literature major in college, so you’ll just have to indulge me a minute here. This passage is about language, and the way that language is used here to tell this story just points to the artistic nature of God, and honestly a sense of humor. We know that this is the tower of Babel, close to the Hebrew word for “confuse.” The letters “B,” “L,” and “N” in Hebrew show up throughout this passage, so you are already sounding like you are saying, “Babel, Babel, Babel” if you were to read this in Hebrew. Further, there are a ton of puns, play on words, and artful ways of talking. For example, in verse 4, the people say, “Let us make bricks” and in verse 7 God says, “ Let us go and confuse,” but the letters are in reverse order, like God is going to undo their “let us” with His own “let us,” prompting one commentator to say, “God sings with the people while working against them" (Ross, 236-7). The Master and Maker of Language, the Word Himself, descends. Far from their tower reaching up to heaven, God has to come down to even see it, in a manner of speaking. Now, we get to verse 6, and there are a couple of ways to look at it. One sees God as genuinely concerned like when Adam and Eve disobeyed in the Garden. God kicks them out of the Garden lest they eat of the tree of life and live forever! Perhaps this is what God is saying here. What evil might be possible if these people are allowed to stay in this state? Of course, God isn’t concerned like we are, as He holds the future. I think that is a legitimate way of looking at it, but Calvin has another view. He sees God as pointing out that their only means of being able to do what they do is based on one thing, language. Pull just that one factor out of them, and everything collapses. So God confuses their language. One move, and the entire project comes to a halt, mid construction. Calvin comments here, “For he frequently bears with the wicked, to such an extent, that he not only suffers them to contrive many nefarious things, as if he were unconcerned, or were taking repose; but even furthers their impious and perverse designs with animating success, in order that he may at length cast them down to a lower depth" (329). God let them build as far as He let them. Once He purposed for it to stop, He just programmed a new language in there. No flood needed. No powerful display. Just a will. But why? Well, verse 9 tells us. God wanted to give the place a name. After all, that’s what they wanted, right? To build a name for themselves? Well, guess what? That name is “Confused” (Calvin, 332). Pretty funny isn’t it? But there is a dark side. Ross points out that this judgment doesn’t have any blessing with it: “There is no clothing for the naked sinner, no protective mark for the fugitive, no rainbow in the dark sky. The primeval age ends with judgmental scattering and complete confusion. The blessing is not here; the world must await the new history." (242). It is only when we see this new history do we see that even in this blessing-less judgment, that there is a setup for great blessing in the future. A broken world is moving towards reunion. That new history will be announced many years later. In Zephaniah 3:9-10 (thanks, Kinder for pointing this out), it says “For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve him with one accord. From beyond the rivers of Cush my worshipers, the daughter of my dispersed ones, shall bring my offering.” Notice that! Remember who the Cushites were from? Ham! This plan includes them! But we don’t see this play out until Acts 2. The Holy Spirit gives the Apostle’s the gift of tongues to preach to the people, not, “disperse!” but “Draw Near!” to all the people in verses 9-11. Do those locations sound familiar to you? They are a sample of where all the sons of Noah went! Further, that gift of tongues will provide the instant proof that God has called the Gentiles into His New Covenant, as we can see in Acts 10:44-48. The symbol of judgment becomes the symbol of justification! Now, with this news announced and proven that the Gentiles are allowed in, the gift of tongues is no longer necessary as a proof of salvation. Now that is better proven with a lifetime of sanctification. But God doesn’t stop there. In Revelation, we all will be gathered from every nation, tribe, and tongue, united as one to praise God in heaven before His throne! There will be a new city! Revelation 21:22-26: “And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Those scattered nations will come back together, holding the uniquely beautiful things their culture created and present it in heaven. But what about now? Do we need to wait until heaven to experience that unity? In its fullness, yes, but we have a small taste of that in the Church. Ephesians 2, which we read earlier, vs 21, tells us that we are being built, not as a tower to ourselves, but as a temple to the Lord. We are made into a place where God has promised to dwell, and it is in us. We get to see that unity displayed in the Lord’s Supper, which we are about to receive. Listen to 1 Corinthians 10:17, speaking of the Lord’s Supper, Paul says this, “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” So where do we go from here? 1) Practice unity around the truth of God's Word. The Babelites had unity but in the wrong direction. It built a tower of tragedy, but God is building a Temple of unity. It is worth striving for. 2) Love the Church. This is weekly Heaven practice. If you don't like submitting yourself to the truth in love, you won't enjoy the New Jerusalem. No, the church here isn't perfect. That's why we long for heaven. When the church is the Church, it is a little taste of heaven. Finally, let me close with the words from Calvin one last time, and think about these things as we head into our Mission’s Weekend, “...although their language may differ in sound, they all speak the same thing, while they cry, Abba, Father." (332)
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Genealogies are one of the most encouraging sections of Scripture. The reason why that sounds like a funny statement is because we don't read them. We don't think about them. We assume that what we are looking at is a dull list of names that have nothing to do with me or very little to do with the Bible. Sure, names like Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob show up, but how often are the Jebusites showing up, and even if it is a lot, what difference does it make? How does knowing Nimrod built Nineveh make a difference to my life? Well, if you aren't paying close attention to all of Scripture, yeah, this won't make a difference to you. But I can tell you that's true of all the Scripture. We come to this gold mine of the Bible with nothing but a pan. We will find riches even that way, but oh how blessed is the man who meditates, who brings the pick axe to open up the ground. We are going to need to do some work, but there is gold even here.
We have covered genealogies before in our series through Genesis, most recently in chapter 5. There we saw that God was faithful to His promises and His judgments and that walking close with God brings blessing. God promised Eve that she would have children, and sure enough, Eve had children! Adam and Eve were even able to see it come to pass! We've just seen some invocations made to God from Noah last week for Shem and Japheth to be blessed and Canaan to be cursed. Well, when we get to chapter 10, it is starting to look like it is going to be a while before we see this. The sons of Ham (including Canaan) are doing pretty well for themselves, while it seems like Shem is taking a minute to get started. I can imagine that this is really hitting home with the original audience. The descendants of Shem have just left 4 centuries of servitude to Egypt. While they haven't been serving Canaan, it's not like they've been enjoying power in Egypt. Ham's kids are oppressing Shem's kids. Now, the tables have turned recently, but right now the descendants of Shem are sitting in the wilderness. They've just finished complaining about their food situation, longing to go back to Egypt. They are about to face the sons of Canaan, and they are scared to death to face these people. From their perspective, this is a losing battle, always has been, always will be. But you and I, with the benefit of the rest of history, can learn a lesson here. Let's learn some family history as we discover our two points: God's people don't look like much, but God is faithful to His promises in time. God's people don't look like much First, a quick word on our characters. I know these names are difficult and unfamiliar, but these are going to be the names that are going to come up time and time again. I don't know if you've had the experience of listening to someone passionately explaining a fantasy world to you, but after the third or fourth major character with a name that sounds like someone fell asleep on their keyboard, you just switch into nodding your head as you drop into half-listen territory. It is really hard to dedicate the attention needed to understand a fantasy world that we are probably never going to read in or enjoy. The difference with these names is that this is actually your world. We all came from either Shem, Ham, and Japheth, all ultimately descending from Noah. Further, the Bible is going to make reference to these people throughout the rest of the Old Testament, and we will trace some of them here today. There will be a lot more OT prophecy and history that is going to make much more sense to you if you have these names, or the major ones at least, in your head as you go. God hasn't given you this list as optional reading. This list is just as inspired Scripture as John 3:16, and, while at a different level, profitable for you, too. To help keep everyone straight, there is a little bit of structure worth noticing here. This list will go back and forth between using the word "son" and the word "fathered." The names in the "sons" are point to the heads of the lines we are about to talk about, and whenever it says, "so and so fathered" we are then about to read about the development of that son's line (Ross, 226). You are also going to see names ending in "im" or "ites," and this is referring to tribes or cities rather than individuals (Ross, 223). Next, quick word on historical context. Near as we can tell, we are sitting around 2,000 years Before Christ comes (Matthews, 455) and about 2000 years after the world was created, give or take. We are making the switch between the history of the whole world before narrowing down to focus on the family of Abraham, which will take us from chapter 12 forward through the rest of, well, the Bible. It is also worth pointing out that chapter 10 is actually going to take place *after* the Tower of Babel (Matthews, 428). We are being introduced to all of these nations and where they are going, and then we will find out in chapter 11 why they all end up heading in different directions and become different nations with different languages in the first place. The Bible is taking it in this order because we are going to go over the non-elect line first, saving the holy line for the end as a more natural way to transition to telling their story. We will watch things narrow in focus as we draw closer to Christ, the point of the Bible. Let's dive in starting with Japheth. These families simply aren't going to have the same impact on the line of Shem (read: Israel) that Ham's line will, so we go through them quickly. Remember from chapter 9 that Japheth is going to be dwelling in the tents of Shem later on, so we won't see nearly as much the negative impact on Israel. The people in this line go on to places like Asia Minor, Europe, and some small islands in the Mediterranean sea. You will see some of these names show up in other places in the Bible as people known for their ships and sailing. Next, we go onto the line of Ham, and here is where we are going to see the names pop up again and again. These people are going to be fairly well spread out over North Africa, along the Nile River, and along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea where modern Israel currently is, with a few tribes heading into places like modern day Arabia. It should not be lost on us with this geography to what an advantage it would be for these people. Access to water meant access to trade, transportation, and irrigation for crops. The sons of Egypt eventually settle the country of Egypt (how providential is that?) which, by the time the Israelites are reading this, is one of the most powerful countries in existence. But before we get ahead of ourselves, let's look at one figure in particular, Nimrod. Nimrod is described as the first to become a "mighty man," or a warrior (Matthews, 450). He is also described as a great hunter. In short, he is a man with a fearsome reputation, and has some pretty impressive things to dot his resume. He becomes quite the builder of cities which become major problems of Israel later on. One of those cities is Nineveh, which will become Assyria. This is important to remember, because about 1300 years later, in 722 BC, Assyria is going to become a fearsome empire and sack Israel to take them away into exile. Nimrod also founds the city of Babel (although we will see what happens to his Tower, later) which later becomes Babylon. Once again, this will be trouble for Judah later, as Babylon is going to conquer Judah in 586 BC and carry them off into exile as well. And those are just two of the cities that the man founded! Let's move on to Egypt. Aside from eventually being the country that enslaved the Israelites for 400 years, this is also the line of the Philistines. This group of people was SUCH a pain in Israel's neck throughout the book of Judges on through the early kings of Israel. If there was a fight coming during that time, it was usually from the Philistines. These were no mere inconveniences. This was the group of people who ended up beating king Saul in battle and pinned his body to the wall. This was the group that stole the Ark of the Covenant. God is Faithful to His Promise in Time And we haven't even mentioned the cursed Canaanites, yet! While there are a lot of names there, I am just going to mention one of them, the Jebusites. They follow in a list of these other Canaanites names in Exodus 3:17 and 13:5 as who will be driven out of the land by God. However, when we get to Numbers 13:29, we see the people scared to death to face them! This doesn't sound like the promise is going to be fulfilled! In fact, it gets worse! In Joshua 9:7, one of the groups (the Hivites, Gen. 10:17) tricks Israel, but they end up as servants. Ah, progress on that promise! But, when we get in Joshua 15:63, the Jebusites are mentioned as still being in the land! They are still there until David the king comes along! This is nearly 1000 later from Genesis 10, and God fulfills this promise and gives them the city of Jerusalem where the Temple is going to be built! And guess who is going to help build that temple? The Canaanites. 1 Kings 9:15, 20-21. Not only does God fulfill His promise that the Canaanites would serve Shem, but in that service they help prepare a place where not only the Jews but the rest of the world could meet in the presence of God, a privilege not enjoyed since Eden. That's how God fulfills a promise. Yes, it takes a minute. But was that not worth the wait? And here's the thing: these are real people, I just read to you their names. These are real tribes with real weapons taking stands on real places that you can get on a plane and go tour right now that God really defeated and really did all that I've just said He did. This is not airy-fairy fantasy; this is history—your history—your family history. After all, you ultimately descended from one of the sons Shem, Ham, or Japheth. This is what God has done for you His family! But what about the Canaanites? Does their story end with that? No, I have one more place to take you. Matthew 15:21. In the book of Mark, this same story is told, but Mark calls her the Syrophonecian woman. Listen to Matthew help us know where that is. In this story, we see this Canaanite woman address Jesus directly for help, and He ignores her. She keeps at it, He tells her something harsh. Calling someone a dog was not a compliment. But remember, this is a Canaanite! Jesus knows this, but He isn't doing this to be mean. He pushes this woman to display her tremendous faith. He could see that, but for our benefit, He has her say that famous line about the crumbs falling from the master's table. She knew she didn't deserve it. She wasn't asking for much in her mind. Just a crumb. Jesus gave her that crumb. Jesus, the ultimate descendant of Shem, serves Canaan. But then He gave so much more. Instead of the Master giving crumbs to the wild dogs, He gave Himself. The Bread of Life's body was broken, and His blood was poured out for the sins of the world. For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, the Suffering Servant for the descendants of Shem, Japheth, and yes, Ham. God's plan has been for the world, and here it is fulfilled in Jesus. So what do we take away from this? One, know that this is the God you serve. He is the God Who works out all things for all nations for our good and His glory. Remember what He has done in and through even the Amorites, the Hivites, and Jebusites. He can do the same with California, Alabama, and D.C. He can work through the Republicans and Democrats. This doesn't mean that we just say, "Well, nothing we do matters, so might as well do whatever makes me popular." No, no. In fact, in Ezra 9, we find an account of the priests of God intermarrying with the Canaanite women, something they were absolutely not supposed to do. They had to repent of that. It wasn't just, "Well, God will work it out!" No, it was, "That was a sin, and we need to deal with that." In the same way, we are called to do what is right. Two, know that God is in control. But if even after doing what is right things go haywire, we can rest in the storm. God is directing the boat. So relax this election year. I'm not saying don't vote, or don't champion a candidate. I am saying, do those things, and then relax. Yes, it might mean that there is hardship coming our way. Conflict with the Jebusites wasn't pretty or pleasant. But God got His way, and He always will. And this works at the level of your life day to day. God isn't just in control of Outlaws in High Office, but in-laws in your living room. If God can make the Canaanites be the ones to help build the Temple to get the world closer to God, He can cause whoever is in your life that's driving you nuts to draw you to Him in a way that nothing else could. God has promised to make you more like His Son, and He is going to use even the people and things you can't stand to do it. Of course you can't see that right now. The Israelites couldn't see it either, pre-King David. But God has a way of using that which we are the most confused about and often angry about, to work out His plans for us. If we can praise God for Jebusites from the past, we can praise Him for our trials from the present. The thing that is causing you tears of anger and sadness about your life today will be the things that cause you tears of gratitude to God, because He used those things to bring you closer to Himself. He is equally involved in both. History shows us that. Genealogies show us that. 
Image by Steve Buissinne
One of the things that I have found myself doing more and more since becoming a dad is being prepared. Rob got me thinking in this direction by counseling me to keep bandaids in my wallet to upgrade my "Dadness" (which has come in handy many times since then, so thank you, Rob!). Since then I've started carrying around a multi-tool, a knife, Motrin, journal, pen, and even a flashlight. This has gotten so out of control I recently purchased a pocket organizer to hold it all. I know that takes me from "Dad" to straight up "Geek," but the thing is, you never know when you are going to need a particular thing. Jumper cables can sit in your car for years, untouched and getting in the way, but boy are you sure glad you have them when the car battery dies. While you can make fun of someone like me carrying all these tools just in case, it is no laughing matter that most of us are unprepared for the things that are absolutely going to happen that day. I can tell you with 100% certainty that you are going to face temptations to sin before this day is over. Honestly, I have 100% certainty that you are going to face temptations to sin in the next hour! What are you doing about that? If the answer is, "Not much," then this passage is for you. The horror that sin causes even post-Adam and Eve is worth us pausing. We have an example of this very thing before us in this passage. Noah was, as we saw, a man of incredible faith and trust in God. He built a boat in the middle of the land to prepare for a worldwide flood. He did this in faith for 100 years while all the rest of humanity likely hurled abuse and possibly sabotage on his work. Nevertheless, the Lord vindicated him and preserved him and his family through the flood. Upon leaving the boat, rather than bitter and exhausted from the trip, spent the first days after the flood in worship, offering sacrifice to God. After that, we have the sad episode in front of us. While sinners drowned in the flood, sin did not. It was still in Noah's heart, too. One scholar put it this way, "'With the opportunity to start an ideal society, Noah was found drunk in his tent'" (qtd in Ross, 212). As it has been said, the best of men are men at best. Adam's sinful nature is passed down to Noah, and as we will see, there will be generational consequences for sin committed here by both Noah and Ham. We will be looking at two points today: The best of men are subject to sin and the consequences of sin can last The best of men are subject to sin Let's see how we got here. After the flood, we are introduced to our main characters in the story in verse 18. We get a sort of mini genealogy that details the three sons that left the ark. Only one grandson is mentioned, Canaan. This doesn't mean that the other two didn't have any sons, but it is introducing us to a very important character that is going to come up later. For the original audience, the recently freed slaves of Egypt, this name is going to be very significant, because the land that they are going into is occupied by the descendants of that very man, hence the name Canaanites. We are also being told that all the rest of the world is going to be populated by these three men, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. This is foundational history for the rest of humanity as well as this passage itself. This passage is meant to explain where the rest of the conflict of Genesis is coming from. We know from Genesis 3 that there is going to be the line of the snake, and this passage answers the question of how they survive the flood. The line from Canaan and his father Ham is going to continue the line of the snake, but before we place all of our targets on the backs of those Canaanites, we must react with horror that Noah's heart isn't pure either. Yes, there are those outside the promise of God, but the only difference between the line of the snake and the line of the woman is the grace of God. The same is true today. The only reason why we are here and transformed is because of the grace of God. Even the mighty are subject to fall. Verse 20 tells us that Noah began to plant a vineyard. The word "began" is going to come up a couple of times in the next two chapters that don't signal good that is coming, according to one scholar (Ross, 213). Here Noah takes of the fruit and sins with it, just like Adam and Eve (Bible Talk Podcast). Here Noah gets drunk and acts lewdly. This is very shameful behavior, utterly unfitting of a patriarch, and yet, the Bible records it. The Bible doesn't engage in hero worship or legend-making. It presents the men whom God used as exactly what they are, sinful men. It is not meant to excuse our sinful behavior when we act in a similar way. Far from it. This is meant as a warning to us to not repeat the same mistakes and as a comfort to us, knowing that God's grace covers even moments like this. Maybe you have things in your past that you aren't proud of. If you don't, then you probably have a bad memory. This passage doesn't tell us that they aren't a big deal, they are. But God's grace is a bigger deal. You don't have to be defined by the lowest moment of your life. The passage doesn't spend much time on this, however, and instead focuses on Ham's reaction to this and Noah's reaction to Ham. As Matthews comments, "...(Noah's) culpability is irrelevant, and was passed over by the author since Noah's drunkenness is only incidental to the narrative's focus, the curse and blessing" (417). Again, this passage is telling us why the rest of Genesis is the way that it is. Curse and blessing are following through even a worldwide flood. Now, by modern standards, what Ham did doesn't seem so bad. Yes, no one would want this fact recorded about us, but does it really rise to the level of cursing an entire line of descendants? In fact, in an effort to understand why Noah reacts the way that he did, we assume that there has to be some sort of euphemism going on behind the word "saw," implying that Ham physically violates Noah or perhaps Noah's wife. But that doesn't seem to be the case here. While "see" does have sexual connotations in other places in Scripture, it doesn't have that meaning here. We can tell this because Noah's other sons take measures to *not* "see" their father's nakedness by walking backwards covering their faces (Belcher, 100). In other words, they avoid Ham's sin by simply not looking (Matthews, 419). So are we to think that all that happened was Ham, in an effort to see his father, happened to be in the wrong place, wrong time, accidentally saw something he shouldn't have, and now his son's whole line is cursed? No. It wasn't just that he saw it, but it was that he saw it, took no action to remedy that, and instead went out to his brothers to spread his father's shame even further. As Matthews put it, "Ham's reproach was not in seeing his father unclothed, though this was a shameful thing…but in his outspoken delight at his father's disgraceful condition" (419). another scholar noticed a key detail that seems to suggest this very point. When Shem and Japheth go to re-cover their father, they don't take just any garment, but in Hebrew, they take "the" garment. Now it is still possible that it is still correctly translated "a" garment, but if it is really "the" garment, then that implies, according to my Hebrew teacher, that Ham has Noah's clothes in hand (215-216). Not only does he not cover him, but he sweeps up his clothes in order to prove to his brothers that he is in this disgraceful condition. One scholar put it like this, "The sin primarily involves the disrespect that Ham has for his father because instead of quietly taking care of the situation by covering his father he makes his condition known to his brothers. It is easy today to overlook the seriousness in that culture of disrespecting the father" (Belcher, 100). We can see by the lengths that Shem and Japheth go to what proper respect looked like. It doesn't gleefully report sin, but takes the steps to remedy it. They aren't covering up Noah's sin, pretending like it didn't happen, but they are taking steps to mitigate it. Our culture doesn't think that way at all. If anything, that is somewhat the only commandment we are expected to break. How often do we see parents honored in movies and tv shows, particularly the dad? Could it be that our culture has weakened our ability to be shocked by this? The Consequences of sin can last Well, Noah is shocked by it. When he wakes up from his wine, he finds out what happened to him and has something to say. He begins with a curse on Canaan. This is extremely strong language. This language showed up in Genesis 3, directed at the snake and the ground. It has the idea of binding something, which fits Canaan being bound by slavery (TWOT). Now, this brings up obvious questions that we need to look at. Why on earth is Ham's son getting punished when it was Ham who sinned? There are a number of things that we have to understand here. One, we are a very individualistic culture, and they were not. In fact, "...it would not be unusual for original readers to read that the actions of Ham would have consequences for his descendants" (Belcher, 100-1). Second, this isn't a curse against Canaan, *per se,* but rather his descendants that are cursed (Ross, 217). Third, Noah isn't some sort of wizard who can just curse people's lines willy nilly. This was a request that God carry this out, so only if it is the will of the Lord will Canaan's line be cursed (Ross, 216-217). Fourth, as Matthews put it, "In this case the curse is directed at Ham's son as Ham's just deserts for the disrespect he had toward his own father, Noah. Yet the imprecetation was spoken against future generations of Canaanites who would suffer subjugation 'not because of the sins of Ham, but because they themselves acted like Ham, because of their own transgressions'" (Matthews, 421-2). In other words, Canaan isn't being cursed because he just happened to be near Noah at the time, but because his descendants acted like Ham in the future time. So, all of this helps us answer why Noah gets off without a curse, but Canaan's line doesn't. You could respond, "I thought you said that you don't have to be defined by your lowest point? But it seems like Canaan does!" I did say that, and I stand by it because the reason why you don't have to be defined by your lowest moment is the grace of God. It is not about what you did, but Who you ran to afterwards. It is obvious that Canaan's descendants didn't run to God but instead ran deeper into the sin of Ham. The Canaanites don't get to blame their ancestor, as they make the same choice, but this whole passage suggests to us that the consequences of one's sin can be very far reaching. We don't sin in isolation. Now, there is one sidebar issue that I have to deal with quickly here, because there has been a line of thinking from this passage that has been used to horrible effect. Some have taught that the line of Ham (which they errantly think is related to the Hebrew term, "black"), means that black people came from Ham and are therefore cursed to be slaves forever, making American slavery not only allowable but Biblical. This is horribly, horribly wrong, but this sort of thing was taught in certain Christian circles as late as the Civil Rights movement in America. With the help of another pastor (link here), let's set this straight. One, Ham, according to recent scholarship, isn't related at all to the Hebrew word "black," and even if it was, Ham wasn't the one cursed, but Canaan. Two, Canaan wasn't even Ham's only son, as he had three others (Cush, Egypt, and Put). While none of them went on to do great things, Canaan's line was uniquely evil in that they had "defiled the land" (Lev. 18). Third, this curse wasn't because of dark skin but evil actions. Finally, and most importantly, there is a blessing coming. Shem and Japheth were blessed by God, Shem having the honor of Abraham in his line. The promise made to Abraham later on would be that any nation that blessed Abraham would be blessed. It is in that line of thinking that one commentator says, "The blessing that befalls all peoples is carried forward by the Abrahamic promises, which counter the old curses by the blessing received by all peoples in any era who acknowledge the Lord. 'Any attempt to grade the branches of mankind by an appeal to 25–27 is therefore a re-erecting of what God has demolished'" (423). We don't get to automatically enslave anyone because of skin color, but we are called to love our neighbor and give them the gospel hinted at in Shem's blessing. So where do we go from here? Well, sin still has generational consequences, particularly in the area of sexual sin. We will see this played out over and over again in Genesis. Noah’s lewdness, Abraham and Hagar will produce conflict still in force today. Sodom and Gomorrah, Lot and his daughters, Issac nearly allowing great punishment to fall on Abimilech, Jacob’s multiple wives bringing about grief. Your sin doesn’t just affect you. Past righteousness doesn’t end the need for vigilance. The best can fall. Mom and Dad, your lives have an impact, particularly Dad. It isn't because there is something magical about you, but there is something serious about sin. You have a major influence whether you like it or not. In the same way, righteousness doesn’t just affect you either. Shem and Japheth’s descendants benefit from their faithfulness to God’s law. We have got to drop the idea of radical individuality from Christian living. We affect each other for good or ill. The Bible sees families as units. We are all individually responsible for our actions, but that includes what our actions do to influence those around us. Now, the beautiful thing is that Christ can rebuild your family and you. He can work under the hardest of circumstances to bring you to Himself. You are not fated to repeat the sins of the fathers because you can have a new Father. You can be brought up in a new image, reborn into a new family. This is an option for you such that if you don't take it, then when you sin in the same way your family did, it is your sin, too. If you are a father looking out at the mess you made from your sin, you still have hope in Jesus. A strong testimony of Jesus' work is the transformed life of a deadbeat dad or the continued faithfulness of a great one. Sin has consequences, but so does grace. Run to Christ for the grace that you so desperately need, and see if that doesn't have an affect in the long run on those around you. 
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It seems to be these days we are always in the midst of an election cycle. We rightly see elections of leaders in our country to be important and not to be taken for granted, as it is a right that not every country grants its citizens. It is a right that has been defended at great cost, and it should be counted as an enormous privilege and responsibility to help shape the country we live in. As true as all of that is, we are on the verge of something far more important that has impact for eternity. Today, we begin the nominations process for the leaders of our church. Far more is at stake than a tax policy. Far more is at stake than just Knollwood’s reputation in the community. Indeed, the reputation of the gospel in our community and our own spiritual formation is impacted by the decisions that we will make in the power of the Holy Spirit in the coming weeks. Thankfully, God has not left us to formulate the ideal candidate on our own. God has graciously given to us the profile of a church leader that transcends time, culture, and our individual ideals. You will notice that the list God leaves us with here looks quite different than what we might see on a job requirements list today, even among church job postings. There is no mention of a dynamic personality or success in business, or even previous leadership experience except the candidate’s own household. This list recognizes character not class. It requires integrity not innovation. It prizes a grasp and application of Truth rather than a knowledge and appropriation of trend. We’ve seen the danger of ignoring this list and promoting and then shamefully protecting men who did not have the qualities we are about to see today, so with all of this in mind, let us turn to our points this morning which you can see in your outline. Christ wants character in His elders and Christ wants character in His deacons. First, Paul writes to a young pastor named Timothy what the church leadership is supposed to look like, and given the enormous responsibility it entails, it makes sense for Paul to say that this is a noble task for a man to pursue eldership in the church. We want to soberly encourage qualified men to this position by reminding them that this is indeed a noble task to pursue. Because this is such a noble task, it requires noble characteristics. Paul begins with the qualities to be found in an elder of the church. Now, depending on which version of the Bible you are reading, you may see the word “overseer” or even the word “bishop.” The word Paul uses for “overseer” is episkopos from which we get the word “episcopal.” Paul uses this word interchangeably with the word “elder” or “presbuteros” from which we get the word “Presbyterian.” We see him do this in Titus 1:5-7 where we see him list the same qualities for church leadership to another young pastor named Titus leading a church in Crete. We also see Paul use the term “elder” in 1 Timothy 4:14 and 5:17 who are doing the sorts of tasks we see implied in this list before us in chapter 3. There is more that can be said on this, but given our focus leadership qualities, I won’t take time to argue for the Biblical nature of the Presbyterian church government. Pastor Harry Reeder has a good sermon on that, if you would like to know more. I still like the term “overseer” here as this gives a description of what the elder’s job entails: the oversight and rule of the church (a task further mentioned in 5:17) along with teaching, which we will see later. The list that follows seems somewhat randomly organized, but one of the commentators noticed that this is made up of personal characteristics that have positive interpersonal applications. For instance, he will be hospitable, a personal characteristic, that has an effect on interpersonal relationships: he will not be violent or quarrelsome! So Paul’s first characteristic is that an elder or overseer be above reproach. His character is to be without scandal. While everyone sins in their lives, the elder is not going to have done or been something that would bring shame to the church. Things done before conversion will be treated very differently than after conversion as we do recognize the power of the gospel to transform people, but there still needs to be much wisdom applied in evaluating each case. What does “above reproach” look like? Well, the first is the husband of one wife. The phrasing here is strange to us, as the language literally says “a one woman man.” Is Paul only trying to keep out polygamists? This is unlikely. One commentator pointed out that the same phrase is used in 5:9 of a widow, but in the reverse: “a one man woman.” Polyandry, the practice of one woman marrying multiple men, wasn’t practiced in that culture, so if it isn’t referring to multiple simultaneous spouses in 5:9, than it isn’t saying that in 3:2. Further, polygamy wasn’t allowed in Christian culture, so it would seem to go without saying that the leaders of the church observe the basic Biblical definition of marriage as one mand and one woman. As Kent Hughes sums it up, Paul is not making a quantitative requirement but a qualitative requirement. Paul is calling for faithfulness to that one woman. There is no other woman in this candidate’s life but his wife. Being married to only one but not being faithful to her doesn’t satisfy this requirement because again it is quality not quantity God is concerned about. What about the single or divorced? Well, Paul was single and points to the advantages of that for church service in 1 Corinthians 7, so being married is not a requirement for this office. Divorce depends on the circumstances. In that same chapter Paul gives the Biblical allowances for divorce (see also Matthew 19), so assuming the man is the innocent party in that divorce, or the divorce occurred prior to the man’s conversion, than he is a candidate for this office. The next few qualities are rather self-explanatory. One doesn’t want a leader who doesn’t know how to be serious, or a leader who is impulsive and lets his feelings and passions guide him. The Bible requires that leader to be hospitable, willing to open his home to others for service. He can’t be an abrasive man who is given to violence and rushes to make conflict. He is going to be pushed and challenged in this position, and may have people argue with him over decisions that he makes, so he must be able to handle that with grace and gentleness. He must also be free of addiction to alcohol AND money. The former seems obvious, but the latter requires some thinking. Paul is not condemning a rich candidate or commending a poor one. The only factor is one’s approach to money. If they are putting their trust in it, there will be a fall if it isn’t checked. This deserves more attention than it gets in American culture where money is often the sole indicator of success and competence. Indeed, the real test for an elder is how does he lead his own home? Does he manage it well spiritually, physically, and financially (remembering what has already been said about that)? Because if he can’t do that in his home, why would we think he could do that for the church. Indeed, we shouldn’t want to pile responsibility onto a man who needs to manage his first responsibility better. That would be unkind to him, as his first ministry (even if he is an elder) is to his home. Further, are his children who live with him obedient and following after God? Critically, this word for children, while according to one commentator can be used of adult children, the word for submission or subjection would only apply to children still under his roof. We know that salvation is of the Lord, and if adult children decide to spurn the teachings of their parents after they leave the house, there is nothing a parent can do but pray for them. A wayward adult child does not disqualify a man from this position. Next, he must not be a recent convert. A man exalted high and fast can and very often does lead to pride, just like the devil. And when he does, there is a fall coming just like for the devil. So many young pastors have had this happen to them, so we must not be dazzled by flashy upstart preachers. God is sovereign and can grow His church just fine without hotshots or impressive resumes. There is plenty of time for testing a maturity to take place, and the consequences of ignoring this are massive to both the individual and the church he leads which is why in chapter 5:22 Paul warns us not to be hasty in ordaining people. Finally, he must be thought well of by outsiders, meaning that he has a good reputation in the community outside the church. This doesn’t mean that he has compromised the truth to make people like him, but a true christian is going to serve and be a witness such that even his enemies will know that they can count on a glass of cold water or food from him. Outsiders can spot hypocrisy from a mile away, so if they see it, we shouldn’t ignore it. In these qualities we can see protection against the three common temptations in ministry: glory, money, and sex. These are powerful weapons in Satan’s arsenal, and he is going to fling as many of those temptations as possible. This will require characteristics that can only be in a man who has been transformed by the Holy Spirit. While the responsibility to rule differentiates the elder from the deacon, there is only one ability that the elder is called to do that differentiates him from the deacon, and that is to teach. The elder candidate must be able to have a firm grasp of biblical truth that he can communicate when called on. This doesn’t necessarily mean that he has to have taught a Sunday school series, but it does mean that if asked to fill in, can he do so competently and accurately? What if we haven’t seen him in that role? Well, how well does he do in explaining other things? Can he communicate in a way that is understandable and helpful? If he can do so in other areas, then he is likely to do so in spiritual realms as well. That is the position that I am comfortable with, but there will be other godly pastors who would say that the candidate must have taught in some sort of Biblical subject context in order to be considered. I think that this is overly restrictive, as some churches simply don’t have enough opportunity for every candidate to do so. Nevertheless, the ideal would be to have seen the man teach in a church context. Christ wants character in His deacons. Now, I’ve spent a lot of time with the elder requirements because a lot of them are the same for the deacon. Again, the common theme persists of God desiring character above all else. They, likewise, similarly, must be dignified and sincere. They are not saying one thing with one person and the opposite with another. They too cannot be in love with money or wine, yet must be in love and faithfully devoted to his wife and the rest of his household. If he cannot serve well in his home, then he cannot serve well in the church. And this is exactly what is required of him in this role. Indeed, just like the word “episkopos” gave us insight into the role of the deacon, so does the word “deacon” which means “service” tell us what this role is to be. We see the first deacons selected in Acts 6, and their charge was to look over the practical matters and needs of those in their ministry. While they are not called to teach, they are still called to know, hold fast, and be transformed by the mystery of the faith, the gospel and its teachings, as we see in verse 16. They must be able to do this with a clear conscience. For those that serve well in these duties, there is the reward of a good standing before men and God which will lead to greater confidence for themselves in Christ. Now let’s turn briefly to verse 11, as there is one final controversy we need to deal with. Depending on which translation of the Bible you have, it will either say “their wives” or it will say “women.” The word used here can be translated either way, and it is the context that determines its translation. Some have taken the context to mean that this should be translated “women” and thus create the space for females in the diaconate or their own special order of deaconess. Time does not permit a full treatment of this subject, but I will very briefly sum up my thoughts here. Those that would say this refers to female deacons cite Romans 16:1-2 in which Paul commends Phoebe and calls her, in the Greek, a deacon. Now, the word “deacon” means service or servant, so Paul isn’t necessarily using this word in the church office sense. Because of its ambiguity, I cannot build an entire understanding of a church office based on one word ambiguously used. With that understanding of Romans, it leaves me here with this context in Timothy. In all the roles of church offices or official groups, there is a mention of faithfulness in marital relationships. In chapter 5, as we saw earlier, to be put on the widows roll, they had to satisfy the condition of a one man woman, so the idea that a woman deacon is not going to be given that requirement seems odd. It also seems odd that Paul would jam the requirements of a female deacon in between requirements of male deacons, especially when Paul has mentioned prohibitions to women having authority or teaching in the church just one chapter prior. There is more that can be said, but for me I am convinced that the office of deacon, like the office of elder is restricted by God to qualified men. It is to be remembered that not every man is qualified for these offices, nor is it to be thought that a deacon or elder is the only position worth having in the church. The job of the elder and deacon is to prepare and facilitate the body as a whole for the ministry! Ephesians 4:11-12 has a focus on the saints, the priesthood of all believers, men and women for the advancement of the kingdom of God. It’s true that a woman cannot teach or hold authority over a man within the context of the local church (1 Timothy 2:10-14), it is not because she is mentally inferior or not as valuable in God’s economy. The reason for that is grounded in the creation order and fall all the way back in Genesis. This doesn’t mean that women can’t make podcasts, write books, go to seminary, or teach other women and children, and we need them to do all of those things, just like we need men who aren’t qualified for these two offices to serve the church in similar ways physical and spiritual. There are going to be a lot of quiet handymen and dedicated nursery workers receiving far more rewards in heaven than we expect. I believe that there will be some who will have more rewards than even some elders and deacons. Remember, the focus in this is the Kingdom of God. Our concern is not cultural relevance or the personal satisfaction of the office holder. The purpose of these elections —no— the purpose of every aspect of our lives is to build the kingdom of God, expand His rule on earth by fulfilling the Great Commission, telling people that Christ was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory. We need to tell the world that Jesus died for their sins and rose again to defeat death. We need to call the world to repentance and faith, and one way in which we do so is selecting wise and godly leaders to teach and serve. No one man can do it all expect Jesus, so we need a plurality of elders to lead and teach, and a plurality of deacons to serve and assist. Both offices are needed in order that the saints that make up the church would be built up to serve their REAL Master and Head, Jesus Christ our Lord. So what do we do from here? One, we need to fast and pray that God would make it apparent who we are to select based on these qualities. All of us, whether eligible for office or not, are to conform our lives to these qualities. No one is going to be perfect, not even the ones we nominate for office, but they need to moving in their sanctification in these areas. Two, we need to pray for our leaders and keep them accountable. They don’t stop needing the gospel and sanctification when they are church leaders. If anything, attacks in their lives are going to step up because Satan loves to see the church dishonored. Please keep them in your prayers. Third, as a matter of practicality, the way we do this is to first approach the man you wish to nominate for the office to see if he is willing. If after prayer and careful consideration he consents to be up for election, we will have an opportunity for you to submit his name to be added to the ballot to be voted on in a few weeks time. Finally, we keep in constant remembrance that this is to be done for the sake of Christ and His bride, the Church. This isn’t politics or making someone feel good. This is a matter of eternity that when done well brings great honor to Christ our Savior. 
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Many of us are starting this year with a renewed sense of hope. It’s a New Year. I love new starts. Fresh calendars, new notebooks, new goals, and new equipment to reach those goals from my Christmas haul. “This year is gonna be different,” I repeat from last year, “I can feel it!” That’s asking a lot from a new notebook, calendar, and productivity app, though. Those things can help my mind, but they can’t really change my heart. I want to remind you of something that you need to keep in the forefront of your mind this coming year: blessing only comes from God. Actual, real, long-term blessing (that’s the kind you want) is only going to come from God this year. And really, you can to a certain degree determine how much of a blessing you will receive. Obviously, I am not talking about material prosperity here. You can’t gin up enough faith to make a new car appear in your driveway. You can’t pray a certain prayer and new toys show up in your room. That’s not the kind of blessing I am talking about, nor what this Psalm is talking about. Psalm 1 is laying out some wisdom for us that is counter-intuitive, even for Christians. This Psalm is telling us things that we wouldn’t know otherwise without this Psalm’s help. So let’s dive in and find out blessing looks like transformation and blessing comes through the word of God We begin in verse one with the very first word, “Blessed.” There are two different words for “blessed” in Hebrew. One of them is only used of God or by God (such as when God created the world and “blessed” it) and the other one is used here in Psalm 1 that is used of or by man, never God. For this kind of blessing, one has to do something to receive it (Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament). This is a positive gift from God still, but one can either have more or less of it based on how they act. To be clear, this is not saying that one is saved by what they do, but how much they enjoy that salvation is absolutely determined by what they do. So let’s see what is the first step in obtaining this kind of enjoyment and blessedness. That first step to blessedness is avoiding the ways of sinners. Now, I’ve been careful to say “the way” of sinners. I don’t mean to avoid sinners. Because that is impossible! In fact, Paul says something to that effect in 1 Corinthians 5. He tells them not to associate with those who claim to be Christians yet live horribly dishonorable lives, in that particular case, sexual sin. Paul clarifies that he doesn’t mean not to associate with anyone in the world who sins in that way or other serious was, because, in Paul’s words, you’d have to leave the world! Jesus spent time with tax collectors and sinners as well as religious Pharisees and political rulers, not to act like them, but to call them to repentance. The only way that sinners are going to hear about the good news of the gospel is to go to them and tell them! As you are going to tell sinners about the good news of the gospel, take care about what you hear them say. The Psalm starts out by telling us not to walk in their counsel, or their plans. This is something that is sneakier than you think. First of all, these people who are termed “the wicked” may not necessarily be mean people. The word used here can simply refer to those who simply aren’t believers (Ross, 185). Most of the time, sinful counsel doesn’t present itself as such. Usually there is a lot that seems helpful but there is something off. It can be something like, “Look, your faith is important, but like, let’s not go overboard on this thing.” The first part is true! Christianity is important. The second part has a true principle in that we need to do things in moderation. Where this goes wrong is in how we apply this principle. Usually, “going overboard” in Christianity means doing something that might actually cost. The underlying assumption there is, “Jesus isn’t really that important. I mean, yeah, He died on the cross for you, but let’s not go crazy! We aren’t extremists or radicals around here.” That’s a lie. With all due respect to David Platt, there is no such thing as a radical Christian. There aren’t tiers of Christianity. We don’t have a setup where bronze level Christians go to church once a month while the gold tier go into missions. There is only one level of Christianity and it is being obedient to the call that God has placed on your life in this season of life. That is going to look different in different people’s lives. But can you see how just a slight twist on something can make all the difference? God doesn’t love missionaries more than moms. We’ve got to be so careful in what we listen to, and we have never been more talked to than now. You are getting shouted at by every scroll, every podcast, every advertisement, every brand label. They are all trying to get you to believe something. And they are all very happy to play the long game. They are happy if all you do is notice them now. One step towards them is all they want for now. It won’t stop there. Don’t walk in those ways. Interrogate what you are listening to. My dad and I used to play this game with commercials where we would state very flatly what the commercial is trying to convince us of. The ad would be of some fancy car driving really fast down these inexplicably empty roads in the middle of a vibrant city, ending with some sort of tag line, “Escape to your commute.” We would look at each other and say, “huh, so all I have to do to never sit in traffic again is buy your car?” That’s the feeling that they want to sell you, but their car isn’t actually going to do that. You will never finally be happy with one more thing. We all kinda know that, but if you hear something often enough, you’ll believe it, no matter how crazy it might be. These days, messages like that can come to you through your phone while you are walking down the street, standing in line, or sitting in your chair. Don’t linger there. They aren’t selling you righteousness. That only comes from one source, and that is what we turn to next. The blessed man doesn’t live like the sinners do, but rather, the man who wants to be blessed meditates on God’s Word day and night. We get the wrong idea when we talk about meditation in our country. When we think of meditating, we think of sitting cross legged on the floor, emptying our mind, and saying, “ooommm.” That’s not biblical mediation; that’s eastern religious mediation. Biblical meditation isn’t emptying your mind but rather filling your mind. The idea of emptying your mind assumes that you have to get rid of all assumptions so that you can hear your own inner voice to guide you in the way of all truth. That’s garbage. Your inner voice is not the voice of truth. Truth comes from one place: God’s Word. So if you want truth, you better fill your mind with God’s Words, not yours. The Hebrew word for meditation actually has this sense of low speaking, or even like a growl (TWOT). Have you ever had to prepare a speech for a conversation that you knew was going to be hard (you got WHAT at Home Depot?)? You prepare for it by repeating what you are going to be saying changing this word and that word so that you convey exactly what you want to say. Every word is important and thought through in that process. That is exactly the process of Biblical meditation (just without the nervous feeling). Biblical meditation pours over the Word of God, weighing every word for everything that it is worth, wringing out every bit of truth that there is to find. That isn’t done by running your eyes over some words on a page for a moment and then never giving it a second thought in the day. You will miss 99% of what is in your Bible by doing that. How much art could you appreciate in a museum if you ran through the hallways? Imagine sprinting through the Louvre tearing through every hallway just so you could say that you’ve “seen” the entire museum? Have you really looked at anything by doing that? Could you even remember all that you saw? Museums expect you to stop and focus. Study. They even set up benches in front of some paintings because there is so much for you to see there in that one work, it would be unrealistic to expect you to stand that long. You need to bring a bench to your Bible. Take a seat in front of the Scriptures. Linger over these words of life. Memorize them, think on them, and apply them to your life such that it makes a difference (Ross, 189). Yes, you do have time, if you delight in them. Notice how that is framed. The blessed man doesn’t walk in the way of sinners, but he delights in God’s word. We don’t pour over God’s Word like an attorney trying to find a loophole. We read God’s Word like a letter from a beloved friend. You study that letter, but it doesn’t feel like study, does it? You remember connections, references, and analyze word choice. This doesn’t really happen with letters anymore, but they sure do happen with screenshot text messages, don’t they? Every word and emoji choice is terrifyingly analyzed in those group chats, aren’t they? All sorts of theories abound! All without asking the original source! That level of detail is what meditation on the Bible is like. It is pouring over a text written by someone you love that will greatly benefit your life to know. That is what the Psalmist gets to here in the middle about the effect of that blessedness. You will be like a tree, a firm strong plant, rooted deeply next to a stream. A tree that can do that has access to the water it needs, not dependant on the rainwater which is here one day and gone the next (especially in a Middle Eastern context). But it isn’t just sitting there. It is producing a fruit (though there will be dry spells, which is what “in season” refers to [Ross, 190]), providing shade, and prospering. The blessed man who avoids evil ways and delights in the law of God will prosper in all that he does. Now, does prospering mean basically a blank check from heaven? No. The very wonderful and transformative thing about being a blessed man is the definition of prospering changes. Your eyes get blown open to see what is actually important, what is actually worth pursuing. Because you’ve been meditating on the Words of wisdom from God and been avoiding the useless garbage of the world, you won’t take your cues of prospering from them. Prospering won’t look like stuff. It will look like righteousness! It’ll look like this from the book of Hebrews talking to the persecuted church, “For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one.” Prospering will look like your heart chained to your Savior even if everything is taken away from you because of your stand for Christ! The wicked won’t be like that. They are described in entirely the opposite terms. Instead of a producing tree, the wicked are described as useless chaff. Chaff was the hard, inedible shell over grain. You would beat that stuff off the wheatsheaf and then you would toss the mixture of chaff and seed into the wind. The light chaff would get blown away, and the wheat grain would fall to the ground to be gathered up. The wicked aren’t a tree. They aren’t even a shrub. They aren’t even a plant! Just a husk. Husk that will get blown away. They won’t stand in the judgment. They’ll be separated, not planted, not prospering. You may say, “Well, it sure looks like the wicked are prospering!” Sure. They are running the ball down the field right now. They might even score a touchdown on the drive. That’ll make the score about 7,000 to 7 in Jesus’ favor. There’s twenty seconds left in the game. Guys, Jesus won. The chaff isn’t winning. The nations rage, the rulers of Earth plot and scheme, and the Lord, who sits on high, laughs. Let’s fight like we are going to win. The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish. That means that the righteous are going to live. Spend some time meditating on that this year. I promise that there is going to be a blessing there. So what does that mean for you this year? Make this a year of blessing for you. I’m not promising health or wealth, because that is not what the Bible is promising you. But I am promising you that the more time you spend meditating on, not just reading, what God says to you, you will find blessing. Take the meal that God is serving you, and rather than just wolfing it down, dine on God’s word. Hold it in your mouth. Savor every flavor and texture. That’s part of what we are doing here in the Lord’s Supper. This is giving us a chance to meditate on the gospel. We are given the opportunity to reflect on Christ’s incarnation, His death, and His resurrection, and in that we will find blessing. |
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July 2024
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