IN CHRIST ALONE!: Enero 2013

“Christ’s Heart for the People of God"

January 27, 2013

The 3rd Sunday of the Christian Season of Epiphany

Nehemiah 8: 2 – 10/Psalm 113/1 Corinthians 12: 12 – 27/Luke 4: 14 - 21

His Eminence

The Most Reverend Archbishop Loren Thomas Hines D.D.

Archbishop of Manila

and

Primate

of the

National Church in the Philippines 

and

the Territorial Church of Asia

International Communion of the Charismatic Episcopal Church

It would be very appropriate today to say, “This is the day the Lord had made.” According to Scriptures today, this is exactly what Christ has done.  The Father also set the course and the direction – a day set aside for the worship of God.  A day that is called, “The Lord’s Day.”  A day when we set ourselves away from other activities and we make priority the house of God.  It does not mean that in all the other days we don’t listen to God, but there is one special day that God has guided us to set for our lives.

As we begin this calendar year, we see God guiding His people.  We are His people. He shows His concern for His own.  He shepherds His flock.  He guides and leads us if only we will listen to Him and if only we will pay attention to the directions that He gives to us.

In Nehemiah, Israel had been in captivity in Babylon for a number of years.  In captivity, they were not given the permission to gather together and to hear the Word of God.  As they have come back now to Jerusalem, Nehemiah gathers them together on this particular day and he reads to them from the Scriptures as they knew it from that time.  It is a very awesome picture that we see.  From early morning until midday, they stood in the presence of Nehemiah as he read the Scriptures.  Possibly because they have been gone from Israel so long, they needed interpretation so that they understood what was being read.

Similar to the Church today, we gather to hear the Scriptures and then we have a homily which explains.   We don’t have the same customs that they had where they stood.  Can you imagine us standing for several hours? Our legs don’t happen to be strong anymore that we can do that.  They would stand for several hours and they would listen. These were people who could listen and understand. They were giving their attention to the Word of God.

Perhaps, they have not heard the Word of God for a long time - for generation or decades.   Now, they have the privilege of hearing the Word read. They were crying.  They were filled with joy and at the same time saddened because this had been kept away from them. They were also bowing down with their face to the ground in reverence and honor to the Word while it was being read. Such respect, such honor that was being given to the Word of God.  They were paying attention. They were listening so intently that it was affecting them emotionally.

Last year, I had the privilege being in a Russian Orthodox Cathedral in Estonia.  Very amazing to watch them go through their Mass.  When it was the time for making the Sign of Cross, it was interesting.  They not only touch the top of their head, but they went all the way down to the bottom of their feet, then to the sides as far as they could go.  It was to make certain that they were making a proclamation that their whole life, every aspect of their life, was covered by the Cross.

Sometimes when we watch people making the Sign of the Cross, you will see them just barely, in the middle of their heart, making the sign.  Our intensity, our commitments are lessened today toward God than they used to be in the past. We have so many other things that draw our attention to so many other things that take us away from where God would want us to be.

In the Old Testament, God is showing us worship.  When Nehemiah saw the people crying, he said, “Stop. This is a Feast Day. This is when you focus upon God.  This is when your whole attention is in Him and what He has done for you, being thankful for His presence with us. He said, “Celebrate!  Go out!”  They did not bring “baon” with them but they had to go out and eat.

Nehemiah said, “Go, eat of the fat, drink of the sweet, and send portions to him who has nothing prepared.”  Today, our doctors would have a heart attack if we would tell them to eat the fat and drink the sweet.  You can’t do this today because we have lost character in our lives.  We have become fragile.  We don’t work except for our fingers on the keyboard.  So therefore, we don’t consume all that could be consumed.  He said, “Make certain also that not only are you going to eat, but if there are those who have not prepared, you share with them.  You give them because remember the joy of the Lord is your strength.”

The joy of the Lord is your strength. It is not coming out of your life.  It is not what you can muster up and generate.  It is the strength of God that He gives to you.   It is He who is the very essence of your life, all that you are.

This was Nehemiah speaking to his people.  He said, “Feasting includes those who do not have anything prepared.  It isn’t just exclusive for you.  You don’t forget all the others, but you rejoice in all that God has done.  The favor is so powerful and so great that you are so thankful and so excited about what God has done.  That you can first of all stand from early morning until midday.   You can react, you can respond to the favor of God in reverence and respect. Then rejoice in the feast.  For those who do not have, you make certain that you share with them.   It is not just exclusively for your own self, but it is that which you are rejoicing because of all that God has done for you. You want to share it with others.”

Today, we would call this possibly evangelism.  It is sharing what God has done for us.  It is sharing so that others can also enjoy the hope, the peace, and the provision of God in our lives.  Who are these others that God is talking about?   1 Corinthinas 12 talks to us about the Body of Christ, the Church.  St. Paul in so explaining this used the body as a metaphor to explain what the Church is all about.  The Church is many members all connected together, and when each is connected in its proper place according to the purpose and the plan of God, now the Church functions in its fullness and its potential.

Scriptures says that it is Christ who decides where we are supposed to be in the Body.  He makes that decision.  We don’t make that decision, He does.  Yet, many times we think, “Well, I have a choice. I want to go here.  I want to go there.”  In many cases, we want to go where we don’t have any involvement.   We don’t have to do anything.  But according to the body, every part works – whether it is a finger, a hand, a wrist or an arm.  Regardless what part of the body it is, the body works together.  There is the necessity for every part to function and one part cannot get upset and leave because it is connected.  If a part leaves, it dies because it separates itself from the body.

Life is in the Body.  Life is in the Church.  Every member of the Church, every member of the Body has a place and given honor.  There is not one more important than another.  I am not more important than you are.  In the eyes of God, there is equality.  Yet, we have different functions, but that does not mean that one person is more honorable than another.

Scripture says that even the parts of the body which are not so pleasant, those parts get greater honor than other parts which perhaps in the natural would receive favor.  This is how God puts the body together.  It is how the body functions and it is the way the Church rises to be what God intends the Church to be.   Ever part functioning properly, supplying.  This then makes the Body mature.  It grows; it causes the ability of God to flow through it because every part is functioning.

Colossians 2:2 says, “We have been knit together.”  I am not a sewer; I don’t know how to crochet or to knit.  The reference here is intricate workmanship of knitting or crocheting that brings the threads to twine together and makes something that is so tightly brought together that it forms a pattern and brings an ability to be a blessing or a provision in our lives.

When something is knit together, like my alb that is knit together in an intricate way, you can’t easily pull it apart or come apart.  God is the One who knits us together.  These are the words from Scripture.  He makes us united in love in attaining to all wealth.   Wealth is not the material thing which is not the reference in the Scripture.  The wealth of God is peace, health, strength, and mental capacities.   We have violated the physical to get the material in the world we live in today.  Today, physically we find ourselves beaten down.  When God knits us together, the whole purpose of that knitting is so that we have the peace, the Shalom, the completeness of God.  We cannot be taken apart.  We cannot be pulled apart.  Much like my alb, I can pull and pull, but it doesn’t come apart.

This is the Body of Christ, how God put things together.  When Nehemiah shares about concern for those who have not prepared, we have to recognize and realize whether or not those people understand that they are a part of that which God has brought together into one in Him. 1 Corinthians 12:18 shares, “God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as he desired.”Sometimes we think, “Well, I can just do what I want.”

I told one person one time who was considering leaving and doing other things, “Do you realize that your leaving is going to affect the Church? You are going to be part of making the Church crippled because you, on your own, decided you don’t want to be a part of the Body where God has put you.”  We think we have a choice, and we do to a degree.  But God is the One who sets the direction and puts things together so that they function in the way that they should function.

Why has Christianity lost its attention, its favor, its power in the world today?  This is because as individuals, we pull ourselves away from where God puts us thinking, “I have a choice. I can do what I want.”  Scriptures says, “God has placed the members.”  You don’t need twenty fingers; you need ten.  God knows where we fit.  He knows how the Body would be perfected and be able to do the part that it is supposed to do in His kingdom.  He puts us there so that they Body can grow in the area wherein the Body has been established.   The members are knit together.   When you are knit together, just as the threads, they can’t argue with each other because they are cheek to cheek.  If they get upset with each other, it affects all the other things around it.

We have allowed our individual personalities sometimes to get in our way in being what God intends us to be.  This is why I believe St. Paul says, “It is no longer I who lives, but it is Christ who lives in me.”   Where does God want me to be?  What is my purpose?  What is the gift that He has given to me?  Am I using that gift to cause His body to be glorified?  Am I using my gift that He has given me to bring honor to Him or am I using that gift for myself that in so doing, I find myself separated from the Church where God has placed me?”

We have allowed our different personalities, but “It is no longer I who live.”  What is my purpose? My gift?  Am I using the gift to cause the body to be glorified, to bring honor to Him or am I using it for myself, that in so doing, I find myself separated?”  Colossians 2:18-19 says, “Let no one keep defrauding you that you do not hold fast to the head from whom the entire body, being supplied or nourished and held together by joints and ligaments, grows into a growth which is for the glory of God.”

Sometimes we think that we do these things for ourselves.  Sometimes we think, “I am the one. I am the important one. I am valuable so I don’t have time to be with these simple people, with these who are not so good as I am.”   There are a few people who feel that they belong to a special group, to a special crowd who are more elite. Whatever it may be that they feel better in, they don’t realize that we only have a few fingers.  We have only two hands.  We have two ears.  All these parts fit together so that the body functions in the way that it should.

Some parts are seemingly more valuable than others, but yet without those parts, the body is not functioning properly.  Two very prominent parts of the body are the eyes.   You don’t have six eyes or eyes at the back of your head even though sometimes children think their mothers have eyes at the back of their head because they see everything.  Those two eyes are very, very valuable.  If you don’t have those eyes functioning properly, life is frustrating.  Life can be difficult.  Life, in some cases, is not worth living because you can’t function properly.

Somehow, those eyes have to say, “I am going to be a part of the body.”  God put the eyes to guide, to lead.  All of us have a place.  All of us have a provision in what God has given to us.  We don’t become self-sufficient and lose sight on our dependence upon God.  God is the Source of all things. His provision to us is so that, as it says in Ephesians 4, we come to a mature man, the measure of the stature of Christ.   This is when the Body functions the way it is supposed to.

All these lessons today fit together to show the Church its place in the kingdom of God, its provision that God has so given to us, the Church becoming like the Godhead.  God speaks to us in Luke talking about the time when Christ comes to Nazareth.  This is basically where Christ grew up.  He comes back to His home. He has been travelling around and doing a number of things.   He has been baptized, gone through the wilderness and He comes back to Nazareth.  As has been His custom His whole life, He went to the synagogue on the Sabbath.

Church, listen to what God says to us! The value of our participation, the assembly of the Body, hearing the reading of the Scriptures, and bringing praise to God!  Jesus Himself sets the value of this.  He was asked to read.  Obviously, this was part of His work in the Church before.  He stood to read the Scriptures.  He read, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me.”  He read out of Isaiah 61, “Because He anointed Me to preach the gospel to preach the gospel to the poor.  He has sent Me to proclaim release to the captives, and recovery of sight to the blind, to set free those who are downtrodden, to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.”

It is important to catch what Christ is proclaiming.  He said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me.” He did not say, “The Spirit of the Lord has now come upon Me.”   Being the Son of God, part of the Godhead, the Spirit was with Him already before He became man.  The Spirit would not leave Him.  He wasn’t proclaiming, “Now, I have the Spirit.  Now, I can do all of these things.”  This was not what He was saying.  He was making a declaration; He was confirming what God had planned.

When Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan, we see the descending of the dove upon Him.  The Holy Spirit was already with Him.  What was the purpose of that descending dove?  It was confirmation so that man would know who He was.  The Holy Spirit was not just coming upon Him.  The Holy Spirit was descending; but it was a confirmation, making sure that everyone understood who He was. It was God confirming His Son.

Christ says, “The Holy Spirit is upon Me.”  He recognizes and acknowledges the presence of the Holy Spirit.  He doesn’t question it.  He doesn’t doubt it, but He proclaims it.  It was a public proclamation of who He was.  “Because He has anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor.”  In our understanding, when we say the word “poor,” we think of those living in the squatter areas or those without.  Jesus wasn’t talking about the financially poor.  He was talking about the Gentiles. The Jews were chosen of God.  Yes, they denied it and played games with it, but God was including the Gentiles.

Christ was coming to open the door for all men to be a part of the kingdom of God.  “He anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.  He has sent me to release to the captives.” You no longer need to bound by sin.  You no longer need to be captivated by fear, anxiety. Christ said to the Gentiles, “Now, I am setting you free – recovery to the sight of the blind.”   Those who could not understand God; those who could not understand the love of God and the provision of God. They were blinded from the reality of God’s love for them.   “To set free those who are downtrodden and to proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” It is not just a year. With God, a day is like a ten thousand years.  He is proclaiming God’s favor upon all mankind – not just the Jew but upon all mankind.

In line with the Old Testament, Nehemiah shared about a day holy to God.   Jesus followed this pattern in His life.  He set aside a day where God was the focus of His life, of His activity, and the recipient of His praise and His glory.  This is why it is called, “The Lord’s Day,” because it belongs to Him. The activities focus upon Him.  They bring praise to Him. They declare His greatness.

I can still remember that it wasn’t long ago when businesses were closed on Sundays because it was The Lord’s Day.  In Europe, in just the last two to three years, they have allowed business to be open on Sundays.  They did not allow it before because it was the Lord’s Day.

How we have violated the things that God has put together.  Instead of gathering together to hear the Word of God and to recognize how favored we are by Him, how blessed we are, we have forgotten that and we find our lives filled with anxiety, with stress, failure and defeat.  Marriages are falling apart.  Families falling apart.  Suicide is rampant.  Addictions are uncontrollable seemingly.  Why is this?  This is because we have violated our attention that goes to God.  We allow other things to draw us away from our hearing of what God has to say to us, giving Him the praise that is due to His day.

As we begin this year, it is amazing how the early Church Fathers are reminding us and setting the course in our minds, “Why is the day of the Lord there?”  From way back Nehemiah, it was set that this day belongs to God.  This is the day when we pay attention to hearing Him, allowing Him to speak to us, and celebrating His favor, gathering together.  We still have some of this alive in our nation where families gather together on Sundays to feast together.  This is part of the unity of God, part of what God has done for us – the recognition of the family; the power of the family; the Body of Christ.

We are reminded today in the Scriptures of God’s plan.  How that God desires us to gather together.  Scriptures says, “Forsake you not the assembling together.”   We are reminded by Him, “Don’t forsake this.  This is valuable. This is where you are going to find God’s favor in your life. This is where you are going to find His peace evident in you because you give Him that which has been set and belongs to Him.”

In our lives, we have allowed many things to overcome us.  We have gradually pulled away from our commitments to Him.   When I was in the Russian Orthodox Church and I saw them make the Sign of the Cross from the crown of their head all the way to the bottom of their feet, I thought, “There is still a remnant that has not given up.”  They did not sit for the Mass; they stood.  We have to have seats to sit in so that we can relax.  The most important thing is giving God that which He has set for us.

The Lord’s Day – this belongs to Him.  If we take it away, are we not taking away from Him the honor, the glory of our lives? Not letting Him speak to us?  Not allowing Him the praises of our lips, the honor and the attention that goes to Him?   On the Lord’s Day, the attention is His, not ours.  It belongs to Him that is why it is called, “The Lord’s Day.”   We praise Him and we glorify Him.  We acknowledge Him and we feast with Him at His day.