Grateful Faith

October 27, 2019 Background Scripture: Luke 7:36 – 50 Lesson Passage: Luke 7:37 – 48 True gratitude should provoke one to act. Unfortunately, many who have been delivered in a major way by God shun the public display of gratitude towards God. We would rather not be associated with our past life—not even to give a testimony of God’s goodness towards us. It is much easier to move on to a new life, new social circles, and new outlook on life than it is to be reminded of a not-so-glamorous past. But does this attitude rob the world of a richer revelation of God through our testimony of His dealings with us? The bible does state “And they overcame him (i.e., the dragon) by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony”. Some are not talkers but all can demonstrate gratitude through their actions. The woman who is the focus of this lesson is clearly a demonstrator of gratitude. Strangely, she apparently went to the home of a Pharisee who had invited Jesus to eat with him. There is no suggestion in the scriptures that the woman was invited to be there. The bible says she came to the house because she learned that Jesus was sitting at the table in the Pharisee’s house. Because of the local custom of reclining towards the table with feet extended outward, she was able to stand at Jesus’ feet crying on them and wiping them with her hair. Then, she took a bottle of fragrant perfume and anointed Jesus’ feet and kissed them. (This brings to mind the writing of Isaiah when he wrote “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings glad tidings of good things”.) The Pharisee observed it and considered Jesus to be less than a prophet because he allowed the woman to do what she was doing. The Pharisee knew the woman to be a person of sin and thought that Jesus had not perceived her to be a sinner. Surely a true prophet would be aware of the presence of a sinner and reject that person’s contact. Although the Pharisee only thought this and did not verbalize it, Jesus knew his thoughts. Therefore, Jesus gave the Pharisee a parable about the level of gratitude offered by debtors based on the amount of their debt that is forgiven by their creditor. When Jesus asked which debtor would love the creditor more, the Pharisee answered that the debtor who was forgiven the most debt would love the creditor more. Jesus noted that the Pharisee had answered correctly and then used this to explain his actions towards the woman. Jesus used the parable to explain to the Pharisee that the woman had many sins she needed to be forgiven for, and therefore she showed much love to the one who would forgive her of the same. Meanwhile, other than the invitation to come and dine in his house, the Pharisee had not shown Jesus other common courtesies that would not have even amounted to the same actions demonstrated by the woman. Jesus, then, forgave the woman of her sins and acknowledged to her that her faith had saved her. She trusted Jesus to forgive her and demonstrated her trust by acting as though she had already been forgiven. Her public display of gratitude was an outward expression of her faith in the Lord to forgive her of her sins. Robert C. Hudson September 18, 2019

Humble Faith

October 20, 2019 Background Scripture: Luke 7:1 – 10 Lesson Passage: Luke 7:1 – 10 It seems evident that centurions had very important roles in and around Palestine in the first century. They are spoken of in the gospel accounts as well as in the church history recorded in the book of Acts. Centurions were military officers for the Roman Empire. Their title implies that they were in authority over one hundred soldiers. We learn from the book of Acts that the Jews considered it unlawful to socialize with centurions or to enter their houses. With this as a backdrop, we examine our text for today. Matthew and Luke provide slight variations to the circumstances surrounding this incident. Both writers indicated that it happened not long after Jesus delivered what we refer to as the Sermon on the Mount. In Luke’s account, the centurion is presented as a very generous man who had high regard for the Jewish people. It was reported that he had constructed a synagogue in Capernaum for the Jews. The centurion had a servant who became very ill—to the point of dying. The servant was described only as being dear to the centurion. When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent a delegation of Jews to ask Jesus to come and heal his servant. When the centurion learned that Jesus was not far from his house, he sent some friends to stop him. The centurion did not see himself as being worthy to allow Jesus inside his house. Perhaps the centurion was familiar with the Jewish law against a Jew entering his house. Whatever the reason might have been, the centurion saw himself as unworthy of such an honor. Then he did something remarkable. The centurion talked about what it means to be in authority. As a centurion, he told soldiers when to come and when to go, and they obeyed him because of his position of authority. Likewise, the centurion asked Jesus to send his word and heal his servant. Jesus called this great faith. Further, Jesus added that he had not seen such great faith—even in Israel. It takes faith to believe that someone can lay their hands on the sick and they recover. It takes great faith to believe that a word spoken from a distance could bring the same healing. The centurion believed that real authority is exercised by giving orders—or directions. His soldiers didn’t do what he said because he monitored them. They obeyed the orders given by the one in authority. The centurion believed that Jesus had authority over his words; and when Jesus spoke those words, the words had to obey him. The people who followed Jesus saw that he was amazed by the centurion’s faith. So, Jesus sent the word and it healed the servant the same hour it was sent. What the centurion said about authority was amazing. But the humility the centurion showed was just as amazing. The centurion was a man with great position in the military of the Roman Empire. He was also wealthy as can be noted by the fact that he had a servant and was able to have a synagogue built for the Jews in Capernaum. In spite of his worldly position and wealth, he loved the Jewish people—whose land he was occupying by order of the Roman Empire. Being wealthy, he possibly had many servants, but he cared about the welfare of this one who was sick and dying. Besides all of that, the Jews saw him as their friend. He was a man of humble faith. Robert C. Hudson September 18, 2019

Active Faith

October 13, 2019 Background Scripture: 1 Kings 17:1 – 24 Lesson Passage: 1 Kings 17:8 – 16 The prophet, Elijah, is brought on the biblical scene with no fanfare whatsoever. His introduction states his name, hometown, and homeland. There is no past history and family lineage given to prepare us for what is about to ensue. What we soon discover is that Elijah was one of the boldest servants to ever speak for God. God’s actions clearly demonstrated that what Elijah spoke was indeed the word of God. Elijah was synonymous with God’s own mouth. God brought Elijah to the king of Israel with a stern rebuke. King Ahab was said to have been more wicked than all the other kings of Israel before him. King Ahab worshiped idols, he had places of worship built to house idols, and he married a foreigner rather than a fellow Jew as stipulated in the Law. His rule of Israel spanned over two decades. God raised up Elijah to confront King Ahab. What Elijah did after the first confrontation with King Ahab is more telling of his faith than anything else. God told Elijah where to go, what to eat, and when to move on to another location God identified. When God had Elijah to pronounce a drought in the land, Elijah was in the land as well. In other words, Elijah was affected by the same prophecy that was going to affect the others. At the beginning of the drought, God sent Elijah to a brook to drink from while he was being supplied with bread and meat in the mornings and evenings by a raven. It is not known what he might have experienced in Tishbe of Gilead during the drought, however, by obeying the voice of God, Elijah’s physical wellbeing was totally in the hands of God. Besides that, ravens are considered scavengers. Some people even consider ravens to be bad omens. Under normal conditions, a person would not venture to eat anything that had been touched by a raven. Elijah depended on the raven to bring him food to sustain him. Then the brook dried up. The fact that Elijah stayed at the brook until it dried up shows a remarkable faith in God. From the dried-up brook, God sent Elijah to a widow in Sidon to be sustained. When Elijah arrived, he found the widow preparing to fix the last piece of bread from the oil and meal she had remaining. She had planned for this to be the last meal. After she and her son had eaten the bread, then they were planning to die of starvation. This is where God brought Elijah after he was instructed to leave a dried-up brook. Elijah’s faith did not appear to be intimidated by the bleakness of the situation. Elijah boldly asked the widow to fix him some bread first. He prophesied that her meal and oil would not run out during the drought if she would obey his instructions. After this initial encounter, the widow’s son died later. Elijah prayed over the boy three times and asked God to return the boy’s soul (life) into the body. God granted Elijah’s prayer and he presented the boy to his mother alive. The word of the Lord came to Elijah and he prophesied a drought in Israel. Elijah was affected by the drought as were the other inhabitants. However, Elijah was sustained because he demonstrated an active faith in God to supply his needs. Robert C. Hudson September 18, 2019

Obedient Faith

October 6, 2019 Background Scripture: Deuteronomy 4:1 – 14; 5:1 – 21 Lesson Passage: Deuteronomy 4:1 – 8, 12, 13 In the background scripture of our lesson, Moses was preparing a generation to enter and occupy Canaan. Moses reminded them of the statutes and laws he delivered to them. He reminded them that those statutes and laws were given to him by God in the presence of the entire congregation. Then Moses told them of the importance of remembering those statutes and laws, obeying them, and teaching them to their children and grandchildren. The knowledge of the statutes and laws from God would be seen by others as a peculiar wisdom possessed by Israel. Their testimony that God had made His presence known to Israel would be incomparable to any known by any other people or nation. Israel would be regarded as a wise and special people among all the people of the world. This would all be due to God’s personal relationship with Israel and what God provided as instructions for them to follow. Neither Israel nor any other people, persons, or things could take credit for Israel’s special wisdom. This was from the divine heart of God. Israel’s obedience to the instructions from God would be a demonstration of their faith in God. There was nothing Israel could do that would be more important to their relationship with God than for them to obey God’s instructions for them. The challenge Israel had was no different than the challenge all of us face. We like to figure things out for ourselves. However, without faith, it is impossible to please God. Human pride gets the best of us—especially when confronted with all of the truth needed to please God. Perhaps if God had given them some extraordinary task to perform in order to achieve holiness, they would have gladly attempted to do it. But this is not what God required. God wanted simple obedience to His instructions. And what was contained in those instructions? Honor and respect God as the only God, honor one’s parents, respect the lives and property of other people, and don’t set your affections on something that belongs to another person all constitute the expected behavior God defined in the Law. With this, God was saying to Israel, Do this and live. Faith is a matter of the heart and not a product of the head. God does not leave it up to us to discover Him or to figure Him out. God revealed Himself to faithful people and committed to them the responsibility to teach others about Him and how they can get to know Him for themselves. Then God gave statutes to be followed by those to whom He had revealed Himself as their God. Those statutes define holiness. God is holy and He demands that all who would be His must also be holy. Again, we don’t have to determine what is holy and what is not holy. We are not qualified to define or distinguish holiness from unholiness. God did that for all who would become His. As God revealed some of His attributes, the list included being angered by unholiness and being jealous of worship offered to idols. God stated emphatically that He is the one who delivers out of bondage and danger. There is no other god. All praise should be to God, and Him alone. As it was (and is) with Israel, so it is with Christians today. We are admonished to trust God and let our faith be demonstrated by our obedience to God. Robert C. Hudson September 18, 2019