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Chapter-a-Day

Finding the Thread

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Do we not all have one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our ancestors by being unfaithful to one another?
Malachi 2:10 (NIV)

Over the past couple months, I gave three “whiteboard” messages among my local gathering of Jesus’ followers. We were going through the metaphorical “I am” statements Jesus made as recorded by John in his biography of Jesus. I used the same approach in each of the three messages, which was to unpack the fact that in proclaiming the metaphor for Himself (e.g. “I am the bread of life,” “I am the gate,” “I am the resurrection and the life” – each links to YouTube of the corresponding message), Jesus was connecting to spiritual themes throughout the Great Story from Genesis to Revelation.

One the pieces of repeated feedback I’ve received from people with regard to these messages was that they’d never seen the connections or recognized the metaphorical thread that ran throughout the Story. I get it. I’ve observed it to be very common for individuals to simply look at a verse or a chapter with a myopic magnifying glass. It is not necessarily a bad thing, but when that is the only way one views it, they effectively look at every verse or chapter with blinders on. The context of the larger whole is never seen or understood.

That’s why I continue in my chapter-a-day journey, even through what most people would consider the “boring” texts. I have found the text to be “boring” only if I expect it to read the same way as the biographies of Jesus or one of Paul’s letters. The text of the prophets expects something different from me in the way I read, study, and think. One of those expectations is for me to see the connections; To see the thread of consistent message running through them.

For example, I recognized in today’s chapter a message thread running through the messages of Jeremiah, Malachi, and Jesus. In today’s chapter, Malachi specifically addresses the priests and religious leaders. It’s the same group of people Jeremiah confronted for being “shepherds” who only led the people astray with their heartless corruption. It was the reason God sent His people into exile, hoping they would learn the lesson, repent, and return with a different attitude. They obviously didn’t, because Malachi addresses the same lot and accuses them of being hypocrites and bad examples who effectively were the same covenant breakers that Jeremiah prophesied about 150 years before. It is the same lot for whom Jesus saved his most scathing rebuke and condemnation.

But the thread doesn’t end there, and this is most critical to understand.

After Jesus’ resurrection and ascension, the entire paradigm changed. No longer was the priesthood confined to a small group of people with certain strands of genetic DNA or with institutionally educated and approved “ministry” professionals. Every follower of Jesus, indwelled with the Holy Spirit, becomes what Peter called “a royal priesthood.” Every follower of Jesus is essentially a priest, a conduit through whom others are to find Jesus by the examples we set in our lives, words, relationships, and actions. The institutional church has never truly embraced this. Human institutions, by their very nature, consolidate power among a few in order to control the many.

This means that the same lot that Jeremiah addressed, the same lot that Malachi addressed, and the same lot that Jesus addressed is now….me.

Jesus said, “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” In other words, Jesus expected all of his followers to live by our loving example towards others. It’s the same message Malachi addresses to the priests. The way they were treating their own people profaned God’s established covenant relationship (see yesterday’s post).

In the quiet this morning, if I truly understand that I am now part of the “royal priesthood of all believers” then I can’t help but feel the sting of Malachi’s prophetic rebuke. In the realm of the Spirit and the Kingdom of God, I am just as much a priest as the Levites Malachi is addressing. The expectations of being a loving example of Father God is as much on me as it was on them, if not more so.

And so I enter another day of the journey, endeavoring to be a living example of Jesus’ servant-hearted love in my peace, joy, patience, kindness, gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control.

Pray for me.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day Matthew 2

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Star of Bethlehem, Magi - wise men or wise kin...
Image by Wonderlane via Flickr

After Jesus was born in Bethlehem village, Judah territory— this was during Herod’s kingship—a band of scholars arrived in Jerusalem from the East. They asked around, “Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled his birth. We’re on pilgrimage to worship him.” Matthew 2:1 (MSG)

It’s interesting to read this passage in light of our recent journey through Jeremiah’s story. Five hundred years before the events in today’s chapter, the people of Israel had been taken into exile. Where? To Babylon and Assyria, in the east. Those taken into exile were the best and the brightest of Israel‘s young men who, in some cases, rose to positions of leadership and influence.

Now, hundreds of years later, a celestial phenomena sends these foreign scholars and astronamers searching for its meaning. How did they know this event in the heavens signaled the birth of “the king of the Jews?” Since there is no record of the prophetic sign in the scripture, it’s most likely that a prophetic word was given through one of the Israelites in exile hundreds of years before. Perhaps it was Daniel or one of his friends. We may never know who it was, but we know that these many years later God weaves the tragic events of the exile into the timeless story of Jesus’ birth. The scholars from the east become a beautiful word picture. Among the very first to recognize the messiah and worship him were non-Jewish gentiles. Even at his birth, Jesus was gathering the nations.

Today, I’m encouraged reading the story of the Magi. It’s a great reminder that God is in control. He weaves the threads of past events into our present circumstances to accomplish his purpose. Like the Magi, my journey is simply a thread in a much larger tapestry.

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Chapter-a-Day

Chapter-a-Day 1 Chronicles 25

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Next David and the worship leaders selected some from the family of Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun for special service in preaching and music. 1 Chronicles 25:1 (MSG)

I’m currently reading a trilogy of non-fiction books. The first book was good, but there was a lot that I didn’t get. I felt like a lot was going over my head or that I wasn’t catching some things that might be important. As I got into the second book, a lot of things became clear. I began making connections with things that happened early in the story; things which had initially confused me.

One of the things I appreciate about journeying through God’s Message is the way you begin to connect the dots. The more you read it, the more things begin to connect. What casual observers and spotty readers often lament is that the Bible seems so disjointed and confusing. There is a storyline, and there are very complex connections from beginning to end, but you have to spend time journeying through the disparate parts to find the threads which connect.

In today’s chapter we learn that special worship assignments for God’s temple were given to three families. One of them, Asaph, rang a bell. Asaph was the composer of several songs in the book of Psalms. When reading Psalms you see “A Psalm of Asaph” and wonder who in the world Asaph was. You find out in the Chronicles.

Sometimes, you have to stick with a book for a while before it starts coming together for you.

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and ginnerobot