A True Hymn of Thanks: "Now Thank We All Our God:

There seemed to be little or no reason to give thanks when Martin Rinckart wrote the following words:

 Now thank we all our God
With heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom His world rejoices

Death surrounded Rinckart, a Lutheran pastor in the German town of Eilenburg.  He was conducting 40 to 50 funerals a day as his walled city was plagued by epidemic and famine.  Much of Europe was in the throes of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), in which hostilities between Roman Catholics and Protestants was a major factor.  Eilenburg was overcrowded as refugees fled from surrounding areas.

Rinckart had been one of four pastors in the town until one fled from the crisis and the other two died and were buried by Rinckart.  In all, he is said to have buried more than 4,000 people in the town.  His wife was in this number.

Somehow, amid personal and community-wide sorrow, the pastor wrote the words to this hymn, and he and his children said the words each night.

As we face various inconveniences in the holiday season, we wonder at the grace and faith that sustained Rinckart, enabling him to write these words:

Now thank we all our God
With heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom His world rejoices;
Who from our mother's arms
Hath blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.

Oh, may this bounteous God
Through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts
And blessed peace to cheer us;
And keep us in His grace
And guide us when perplexed
And free us from all ills
In this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God
The Father now be given,
The Son, and Him who reigns
With them in highest heaven:
The one eternal God,
Whom earth and heaven adore!
For thus it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.

"Come, ye thankful people, come"

This Thanksgiving song has a bite to it.  We start with a call to thanks for God's provisions:

1. Come, ye thankful people, come,
   Raise the song of harvest home;
   All is safely gathered in,
   Ere the winter storms begin;
   God our Maker doth provide
   For our wants to be supplied;
   Come to God’s own temple, come,
   Raise the song of harvest home.

Then we are reminded of Jesus's parable of wheat and weeds (good and evil people) growing side by side, with a prayer that we will be wholesome wheat.

1. All the world is God’s own field,
   Fruit unto His praise to yield;
   Wheat and tares together sown,
   Unto joy or sorrow grown;
   First the blade, and then the ear,
   Then the full corn shall appear:
   Lord of harvest, grant that we
   Wholesome grain and pure may be.
2. Then a time for soul searching regarding the separation of weeds from fruitful ears:

1. For the Lord our God shall come,
   And shall take His harvest home;
   From His field shall in that day
   All offenses purge away;
   Give His angels charge at last
   In the fire the tares to cast;
   But the fruitful ears to store
   In His garner evermore.
2. Finally, a prayer for purification that we truly will be gathered as God's good harvest, "free from sorrow, free from sin":
3. Even so, Lord, quickly come,
   Bring Thy final harvest home;
   Gather Thou Thy people in,
   Free from sorrow, free from sin,
   There, forever purified,
   In Thy garner to abide;
   Come, with all Thine angels come,
   Raise the glorious harvest home.

Celebrating the King

In our democratic republic, we don’t know much about kings and queens, except what we see of Queen Elizabeth of England and her son and grandsons who one day will follow her as kings.  But Christ in the Gospels often speaks of His Kingdom.

I mention the kingship of Christ because many churches celebrate today as Christ the King Sunday.  If you are Lutheran or Episcopalian or Roman Catholic, you know the church year starts with Advent and runs through Christmas, Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and on through the spring, summer and fall.  Then the church year ends just before the cycle starts over with Advent. The new church year starts next Sunday with Advent. So, think of today as New Year’s Eve in the Christian calendar.  
With that in mind, it seems appropriate to climax the church year with the Kingship of Christ. We start with events leading up to the birth of Jesus in Advent and Christmas.  We follow that Holy Child as He grows up and enters His ministry, dying on the cross for the sins of the world and then being raised from the dead.  But, again, we need to remind ourselves Jesus is not the usual kind of king.
Our Bible passage from the first chapter of Colossians tells of our deliverance from sin.  Then it points to Jesus who has always been at one with God the Father.  Then we are reminded of our responsibility to be obedient to Christ our King.

OUR DELIVERANCE FROM DARKNESS
Out on the edges of Christ’s Kingdom, things are dark and foreboding. We used to live there. The ancient Greek philosopher Plato described the human race this way:  Most of us are like prisoners chained in a cave, unable to move about or even turn our heads. All we can see is the wall of the cave in front of us. Behind us is a fire.  Between us and the fire, there is an elevated platform.  On the platform behind us, puppeteers hold up their puppets.  These puppets cast shadows onto the wall of the cave. As prisoners, we are unable to see these puppets.  Chained in place and unable to turn our heads, all we can see and hear are shadows and echoes cast by objects behind us (Cohen).
Think of those people in Plato’s cave as we reflect on Colossians, chapter 1, beginning with verses 13-14:
[13] He has delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, [14] in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. 
So many of our hymns and gospel songs are inspired by Scripture, and these verses from Colossians call to mind the song, “The Light of the World is Jesus”:

The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin,
The Light of the world is Jesus!
Like sunshine at noonday, His glory shone in;
The Light of the world is Jesus!

No darkness have we who in Jesus abide;
The Light of the world is Jesus!
We walk in the light when we follow our Guide!
The Light of the world is Jesus!

       Come to the light, ’tis shining for thee;
       Sweetly the light has dawned upon me;
       Once I was blind, but now I can see:
       The Light of the world is Jesus! (Bliss)

        Pansy and I were in Chicago celebrating with our son Jonathan last week as he received his MBA.  We enjoyed being with him and Vicky and Ethan and Addie.  

In my absence, our associate pastor Josh Hunt in last week’s Baraca message focused on Blind Bartimaeus.  The disciples tried to keep this man away from Jesus because they didn’t understand the nature of His Kingdom -- the Kingdom of Whosoever.  But, in spite of the disciples, Bartimaeus was delivered from darkness and transferred to the kingdom of God’s Son.  Jesus leads us out of our narrow ways of seeing. He had a heart for those in great need, such as Blind Bartimaeus and others we tend to neglect. We need that kind of heart.

OUR DELIVERER JESUS (VERSES 15-20)
Here in Colossians, after establishing that God delivered us from the dominion of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, Paul makes no further mention of kings and kingdoms in this passage.  But I think it’s appropriate to continue the analogy of the Kingdom.
The next six verses -- 15-20 -- are piled high with signs of Jesus’s authority, His kingship, if you will, although Paul doesn’t use the kingship comparison again after saying God delivered us from darkness into Christ’s kingdom.  These verses are simply full-to-running-over with descriptions of the superiority, the supremacy of Jesus.
When I think of something full-to-running-over, I think about the cotton sacks we used when I was a kid out in West Texas.  Our whole family spent the fall months pulling bolls.  Instead of being in school with the other kids, we were out in the cotton patch.  We didn’t pick cotton the way you did in this part of the world.  We pulled the whole boll of cotton, then broke off the stems and leaves and put boll and all into our sacks.  After a while, when we thought our sacks were full, Daddy would make us shake the cotton down and pack it deeper into the sacks to make room for more cotton.  
Well, here in Colossians, there’s just so much said about Jesus, we may have to pack our sacks down several times to get all the descriptions in.  This is one of the richest declarations about Jesus in the New Testament, along with the first chapter of John’s Gospel, the first chapter of Hebrews, and the second chapter of Philippians.  All four of these passages point to Jesus as one with Almighty God.  But let’s see what Paul packs into this first chapter of Colossians:
In verse 15, Jesus is the image of the invisible God.  Jesus shows us what God the Father is like. God is invisible, but men and women saw Jesus, and they saw God in Him. We’re not talking about physical looks.  Rather, we’re talking about the love Jesus showed to people all around Him:, the sick, the blind, the lame, poor people, rich people, foreigners, people who didn’t believe the same things the disciples believed.  This was the image of the invisible God.
One day when Jesus was teaching the disciples about God, Philip said to him, "Lord, show us the Father, and we shall be satisfied" (John 14:8-10).
We don’t know what Philip had in mind.  Maybe he thought Jesus could snap His fingers or clap His hands and bring God into view as some sort of apparition.  But Jesus just says, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father; how can you say, `Show us the Father'? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me?” 
Physically, they had seen Jesus.  But they hadn’t comprehended the spiritual depth of their teacher Jesus. They didn’t realize He is the image of the invisible God.
Paul also says Jesus is the first-born of all creation. In ancient tradition, the firstborn was his father’s representative and heir.  He had responsibility for managing the household.
The firstborn son had rights and privileges other offspring did not have.  We see that in Genesis with Esau and Jacob.  Esau is the older of the twin brothers, but he loses his birthright to Jacob and is so bitter, he intends to kill Jacob.  In Jesus’s story we call the Prodigal Son, the older son is furious when his wasteful younger brother comes home and horns in on what he had coming.  The younger brother already got his share of the inheritance when he left home.  Now he’s back, and the father welcomes him and restores him, as if he had never been away, as if he had never squandered his fortune.  Those are negative examples, but they illustrate the strategic role of the firstborn son, the authority, the responsibility that went with being the firstborn.  
In Colossians, we can say positively, Christ manages everything in God’s household.  That includes all of creation as the next verses tell us (Vaughan 38f).
Verse 16 points to Christ’s role, not only in managing the created order, but also a central role in creating everything:
for in him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or authorities -- all things were created through him and for him. 
All that was part of His work as the first-born of all creation.
You may remember the song “Down from His Glory.”  It picks up on that same thought: “The great Creator became our Savior” (Clibborn).  The song has another line we will notice after a bit.
The opening verses of the Gospel of John say: all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. 
We see another statement that links John with Colossians.  John says, [Jesus] was in the beginning with God.  Colossians verse 17 says, He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  Both books say Jesus is the Eternal Christ, at one with God the Father from the very beginning.
Then, verse 18 is simply full-to-running-over as Paul keeps packing more and more into that cotton sack.  He says three more things about King Jesus:
He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning; He is the first-born from the dead.
Christ founded the church on the faith of His followers.  Let me tell you the first definition or description I learned about what a church is:

The church is a body of baptized believers voluntarily joined together to practice 

New Testament principles, believe its doctrines and carry out the Great Commission 

for the glory of God.

Much more can and should be said about Christ’s church. The church, local and worldwide, is a frail association of sinful people, but it has strength as it acknowledges Christ as the head.
Along with calling Christ the head of the church, Paul also says, he is the beginning.
We’ve already noted He was IN the beginning with God.  But this verse says much, much more.  He was not simply IN the beginning.  He IS the beginning.  Or we could say He is the Beginner.
Paul says one more thing as his sack is full-to-running-over:  Not only is He the image of the invisible God.  Not only is He the head of the church.  Not only is He the beginning.  He is 
the first-born from the dead.  This points to the resurrection, the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of all believers.
And Paul says there is a purpose in Christ’s being all these things: the head of the church, the beginning, and the first-born from the dead.  We must recognize Christ in all these things, Paul says, that in everything he might be pre-eminent.  Pre-eminent means being in first place.

Again, pre-eminence goes with being the firstborn, the representative of God the Father.

Even after all these declarations about Jesus Christ, Paul still has more to pack into the sack.  Listen to verse 19:

For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell.  We might picture Paul writing all these wonderful things about Jesus on a board or projecting them on a screen.  And as he puts this verse up, maybe he waves his hand around all these other dimensions of Jesus, it’s as if he’s summing it all up here:  For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell.

Jesus was a man among men, born as a little baby to a woman, as we will celebrate next month.  But Paul declares Jesus is so much more.  Hear those words again:  For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell.

Think about it.  Shout it from the rooftop.  It’s beyond comprehension to say all the fulness of God dwelt in a mortal man named Jesus.  But that’s exactly what Paul is saying here.

Earlier, I quoted from “Down from His Glory”: “The great Creator became our Savior.”  Right after that, the song says, “And all God's fullness/Dwelleth in Him”  (Clibborn).  That’s straight from Colossians: For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell.

In the early church, some said Jesus was not really a man at all.  He was some sort of spiritual being from heaven in the form of a man.  Others said He was just a man and not God at all.

Another group, known as Gnostics, believed the Eternal God in heaven -- so pure, so great -- kept Himself far, far away, refusing to deal directly with humans.  So this Great God created a whole chain of beings.  The one closest to God was very much like God.  The next was a little less like God and the next a little less than the one who came before.  This whole long line of beings got less and less like God and more and more like human beings. According to the Gnostics, Jesus was just one in that long lineup.  Paul challenges that view when he says of Jesus: For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell.

All this is so impressive, so inspiring.  We stand in awe of the majesty of Jesus.  With all these marvelous qualities, He is rightfully King Jesus.  How could it get any better than this?

That cotton sack really is packed about as full as we can get it.  But Paul makes room for one more Biggie.  It’s really the completion of all we’ve heard Paul saying about Jesus. 

Along with God being pleased to have all His fulness dwelling in Jesus, verse 20 says, 

and through [Christ] to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 
This, too, is wonderful: Through Christ, God is reconciling all things to Himself, bringing all things, all people, whether on earth or in heaven, back to Himself.  
This firstborn of all creation has all the prerogatives of God, but with that, because of that, the Eternal Christ became a little baby and grew to manhood in order to bring all people, all things, back to Himself.  Hear it one more time from verses 19-20:
For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. 
It all sounds so good except -- Well, except for those last six words: making peace by the blood of his cross.
This doesn’t fit our understanding of what a king does.  A king ought to sit on his high throne and send lesser messengers down to tell about that Great God.  A king doesn’t go out and willingly get himself killed.  But, as we noted in beginning this message today, we have to rethink kingship if we hope to understand King Jesus.
Jesus, who came to earth as a tiny baby boy, making peace by the blood of his cross,  did that to reconcile you and me back to God.  We weren’t the sort to be ushered into the presence of  a king.  But Jesus came, making peace by the blood of his cross, and because of that, Paul says, starting in verse 21:
And you, who once were estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him,  provided that you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which has been preached to every creature under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister. 
That’s what this is all about.  God saw you and me as we were, and He sent Jesus to make us more like Him.

Let’s see if we can bring all this together about King Jesus with a legend of a king of Ireland who had no son.  So the king’s couriers posted notice in all the towns of his realm calling for every qualified young man to apply for an interview with the king as a possible successor to the throne. Among the qualifications were that they must (1) love God and (2) love their fellow human beings.

The young man about whom this legend centers felt he loved God and, also, his neighbours.  But he was poor and had no clothes appropriate for appearing before the king.  And he had no money to buy the provisions for the long journey to the castle. So the young man begged here, and borrowed there, finally managing to scrounge enough money for appropriate clothes and necessary supplies.

He had almost completed the journey when he came upon a poor beggar by the side of the road. The beggar sat trembling, clad only in tattered rags as he cried out,  “I’m hungry and cold. Please help me…”

The young man was so moved that he traded clothes with the beggar.  And he gave the beggar all his provisions as well. He continued his journey to the castle, not knowing whether he would be permitted to enter.  But when he arrived, he soon found himself in the throne room, dressed in his rags.

The young man bowed low before his majesty. When he raised his eyes, he cried out, “It’s you! You’re the beggar by the side of the road.”

“Yes,” the king replied, “I was that beggar.”

The young man asked, “But why did you do this to me?”

“Because I had to find out if you genuinely love God and your fellow human beings.  If I came to you as king, you would have done anything I asked. But I would never have known what is truly in your heart. I came to you as a beggar with no claims on you except for the love in your heart. And I discovered you sincerely love God and your fellow human beings. You will be my successor. You will inherit my kingdom.”

How different was the king in our story, and how different is Christ our King. Most people in Jesus’s day were looking for a powerful military and political leader,

expecting an elegant figure in royal robes dictating orders to the people.

Instead, they were given a humble man with no intentions of being a military and political leader. A man who displayed his kingship by servanthood. A man who associated with the poorest of the poor. Showing his love to humankind by suffering and dying the death of a criminal on a cross. Willing to be scoffed at, mocked, and derided to save us all.

So many worldly kingdoms survive by the rich and powerful exploiting the poor. King Jesus and his realm are different -- rooted in true mercy and justice. As he rules from his throne, which is the cross—mercy and justice meet. We meet Christ our King and enter his realm whenever we give or receive unconditional love and sacrifice; whenever his mercy and justice are lived out through us.

Mike Marsh is an Episcopal priest friend of mine out in Uvalde, Texas.  He said this about Christ the King Sunday: when we think about kings, we’re like kids who play “king of the hill.”  We tend to carry that over into our adult lives.  We want to be in charge of our own little piles of dirt.  He also pointed out, if we sincerely pray, “THY kingdom COME,” we have to pray, “MY kingdom GO.” That is our challenge.

In this Thanksgiving season, as you count your blessings -- in the silence of your spirit or at a crowded table among loved ones and friends -- I hope you will count the spiritual blessings King Jesus brings to your life.  And I pray you will represent your King by finding ways to share material blessings with needy people.

CHRIST THE KING

Colossians 1:13-23

Baraca Radio Sunday School Class

First Baptist Church, Anderson, South Carolina

November 24, 2013

Lawrence Webb

CHRIST THE KING---SOURCES

Philip P. Bliss, “The Light of the World Is Jesus,” Timeless Truths Free Online Library.  http://library.timelesstruths.org/music/The_Light_of_the_World_Is_Jesus/

William Emmanuel Booth Clibborn, “Down from His Glory.”  Share Faith.  http://www.sharefaith.com/guide/Christian-Music/hymns-the-songs-and-the-stories/down-from-his-glory,-the-song-and-the-story.html

Munachi E. Ezeogu, “Reigning with Christ the King,” http://www.munachi.com/c/christtheking_c.htm

Curtis Vaughan, Colossians, A Study Guide.  Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan Publishing House, 1973.

Two Buddies: Sterling, 10, and Rob, Several Decades Older

Sterling is about ten years old.  His buddy Rob is seven decades or so older.  But they get along fine, just as two guys having fun should do.

Rob is one of my fellow emeritus professors from Anderson University.  He and Sterling became fast friends at church.  Rob's wife was in an assisted living center, and Sterling started sitting with Rob in the worship service.

In a devotional in the church's Advent booklet from last year, Sterling admitted he and the other "boy" sometimes cut up during the service.  But still, Sterling's mother, who is one of the ministers, lets him sit with Rob.

Sterling is a member of the church, after making his profession of faith and being baptized.  Rob had been going to that church quite a while but had not moved his membership from another church when the two became friends.  

Then, one Sunday, Rob felt it was high time for him to join the church he had been attending.  In the good Baptist tradition, an invitation song was sung after the sermon. So Rob stepped out into the aisle to make his way to the front where the pastor was waiting to receive anyone who registered a public decision.

As Rob started toward the altar, he felt someone right at his elbow.  He glanced down.  There was Sterling walking close by his side.  Sterling had seen family members accompany their dear ones to the front.  So he went along with his good friend Rob to greet the preacher.

In the words of John Fawcett's hymn, "The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that above."

What can we learn from the biblical book of Job?

Here's the Reader's Digest version:

Job, the biblical book, is a debate, with Job on one side, struggling with great loss, and three men who think they are his friends on the other.
They debate the reason Job has lost his ten sons and daughters, his wealth in livestock (11,000 in all), and his health.
His friends insist God is punishing Job.  Job says, Not so."
Job is right, according to the opening words of the book:
"There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil."
After three rounds of debate, with each side asserting its correctness, God appears.  He tells Job he's gone overboard in some of the things he said about God.  But God's last word -- and God has the last word -- He orders the three friends to make a sacrifice for their sins in their attitude toward Job.  And God says Job will pray for them because "you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has."
The final word in the book of Job is that God restored Job's losses: He has a new set of children, and he has twice as much livestock.

In last Sunday's Baraca Radio Sunday School Class*, I offered five takeaways from Job:

One: Be slow to judge another person.  You can’t know another person’s  heart, his or her motives.  Job’s friends are so sure they have the answer to his suffering: In a word: SIN!  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks to this in at least two ways.  Chapter 7: 
"Judge not, that you be not judged. [2] For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.  [3] Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? [4] Or how can you say to your brother, `Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? [5] You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye” (Matthew 7:1-5). 
When hurricanes blow through an area, it’s not unusual for self-important preachers on TV to say the devastation is God’s judgment on this group or that.  Some people may be saying that about the tens of thousands of people in the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia who have died or had their homes and everything of value wiped out in the tornadoes.  Those men who think they know the mind of God need to read another part of the Sermon on the Mount.  In chapter 5, Jesus speaks directly to judgments about the weather:
for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45). 
A second take-away: Job was not the sinner his so-called friends said he was.  This is a truth we need to remember when sickness, financial difficulty, or other problems pile up on us. We are told in the very first verse of the book, There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil.
And yet, God lets these things happen in Job's life. This is a truth we need to remember when sickness, financial difficulty, or other problems pile up on us. God permits bad things to happen to godly people, but God does not send bad things our way. 
If you are a parent or grandparent, you’ve seen things happen to those youngsters.  A kid learning to ride a bicycle probably is going to fall.  She may hurt herself.  But if she learns to ride for herself, you cannot always be at her side to keep her from falling.  On a much larger scale, as God’s children, our Heavenly Father lets us take our spills.
A third thing from Job: God did not punish Job for asking hard questions of God and saying harsh things about God.  You’ve heard someone say something irreverent and then look up toward the sky, as if expecting a divine bolt of lightning to strike him down.  That is usually done as a joke, but many people think that IS the way God does business.  You say, “Oh, I can’t question God.”  Job does, and God does not punish Job for asking.  He doesn’t get his questions answered.  At least, not to his satisfaction.  But God doesn’t zap him.  When something goes terribly wrong in our lives, it would be strange if we did NOT ask questions.  
In the fourth place: Job received tangible reward for his faithfulness: More children and more livestock.  But we have no guarantee God will reward us materially or financially if we live for Him.   Thousands, even millions of people without jobs, without health care, are honest, earnest Christians.  So it’s wrong to say, if we live near the Lord, we can expect tangible benefits.  We hear preachers on TV declare that God will prosper you financially if you live close to Him, especially if you send them some of your money. That same sort of thinking might say, “If you’re out of a job and the bills pile up, you aren’t living right.”  But think a moment:  You’ve known people who were deeply devoted to the Lord who were struggling from paycheck to paycheck or who have no paycheck at all.  How does this “prosperity theology” apply to them?
Years ago, in a church where I was a member, people were giving testimonies during a financial stewardship emphasis.  Paul’s story went something like this:  “Before Marge and I started tithing, we had trouble meeting our obligations, bills would stack up.”  I thought, “Oh, no.  Please don’t say what I think you’re going to say.”  But Paul surprised me when he said, “Then we started tithing, and since then, we still have trouble meeting our obligations, bills still stack up.”
A Fifth and Final Thing:  At the end of the book, we still have no explanation of why Job suffered as he did. God gives  no answer to why bad things happen to good people.  But we see a godly man who perseveres even though he does not understand. Jesus addresses that in Luke 13.  Some terrible things happened.  One was slaughter by government officials. The other was an accident. People were assuming these people who died were particularly sinful.  But listen to this account:
[1]There were some present at that very time who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. [2] And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? [3] I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.  [4] Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Silo'am fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? [5] I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." 

THE MARSHES OF GLYNN
I once spent a week in South Georgia as camp pastor for the Baptist boys group, Royal Ambassadors.  The camp was right on the edge of the marshes.  I enjoyed the opportunity to preach each day and get to know some of the campers.  But, frankly, I saw little beauty in the marshes.
Sidney Lanier saw things differently.  In the 1800s, Lanier wrote about his native Georgia, including “The Marshes of Glynn.” With the poet’s eye, he called the marshland “the heavenly woods and glades.”  There in that watery environment, Lanier was particularly taken by water birds who made their nests on that rather shaky foundation -- or lack of  foundation.  He saw a parable for life in an unsteady environment.  He described a bird this way:

As the marsh-hen secretly builds on the watery sod, 

Behold I will build me a nest on the greatness of God: 

I will fly in the greatness of God as the marsh-hen flies 
In the freedom that fills all the space 'twixt the marsh and the skies: 
By so many roots as the marsh-grass sends in the sod 
I will heartily lay me a-hold on the greatness of God (Lanier). 

Job probably could identify with that.  Maybe you can too.

*The Baraca lesson is heard, 9:50-10:50 a. m. Sunday mornings, in Anderson, South Carolina, on WRIX-FM, 103.1.  It is online 24/7 at the First Baptist website: www.andersonfbc.org.

I wish I knew . . .

Alfred Lord Tennyson noticed a flower growing in a little chink or cranny between two rocks in the wall.  He pulled up the entire plant, root and all, and held it in his hand.  He stood for a moment,  probably sniffed to enjoy its fragrance, and continued looking.  His thoughts went far beyond this one little flower he had uprooted.  His thoughts went all the way to God.  But maybe that isn’t such a long distance from a little flower to the God who made the flowers.  

He wrote a short poem about that flower.  Only six lines:

Flower in the crannied wall, 

I pluck you out of the crannies, 

I hold you here, root and all, in my hand, 

Little flower—but if I could understand 

What you are, root and all, all in all, 

I should know what God and man is (Tennyson).

That may be one small step for a poet but one giant leap for mankind -- to look at a small flower  pulled up by its roots and gain greater understanding of what God and man is.  

That little flower turned his thoughts to deeper things regarding God and man.  And those two words, God and man, can refer to everything in heaven and on earth.  

Tennyson traveled some bumpy roads regarding religious faith. A death impacted Tennyson throughout his adult life.  Arthur Henry Hallam was Tennyson’s closest friend in college and also a fellow poet.  Hallam died at age twenty-two while a student at Cambridge in 1833. Hallam was engaged to marry Tennyson’s sister.   The death of this dear friend overwhelmed Tennyson with grief.  

In his grief, he wrote a book-length poem in memory of Hallam.  In Memoriam, A.  H. H.   He worked on this for seventeen years.  The memorial poem shows Tennyson’s difficulty with anchoring his faith firmly, but it also contains many signs of Christian faith.
He also wrote a short poem reflecting his grief over Hallam:

Break, break, break, / On thy cold grey stones, O Sea! 

And I would that my tongue could utter/ The thoughts that arise in me. 

O well for the fisherman's boy,/ That he shouts with his sister at play! 

O well for the sailor lad,/ That he sings in his boat on the bay! 

And the stately ships go on/ To their haven under the hill; 

But O for the touch of a vanish'd hand,/ And the sound of a voice that is still! 

Break, break, break,/At the foot of thy crags, O Sea! 

But the tender grace of a day that is dead/Will never come back to me (Tennyson).

TRANSITION TO JOB
Tennyson’s struggle calls to mind the biblical book of Job and his many traumas.  We looked at Job last week, and I didn’t plan to do two lessons.  But conversations with some of our regular listeners made me feel a second look at Job might be helpful.
Job’s ten adult children died when a tornado destroyed the house where they all were gathered.  He lost eleven-thousand head of livestock to thieves and in a fire.  And he lost his health.
Three so-called friends come, supposedly to share his grief.  Instead, they judge him, insisting his suffering is payment for sin.  But the first verse of the book says he was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil. 
The book of Job is a debate -- Job on one side and the three friends on the other.  Today, we look at chapter 23 as Job desperately desires to find answers to why all this is happening to him.
In verses 2-5, it’s as though Job wants to bring God into court
[2] "Today also my complaint is bitter, his hand is heavy in spite of my groaning.
[3] Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat!
[4] I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
[5] I would learn what he would answer me, and understand what he would say to me.
Job can’t find God, but it’s as though God is hiding and watching:
[8] "Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward, but I cannot perceive him;
[9] on the left hand I seek him, but I cannot behold him; I turn to the right hand, but I cannot see him.
[10] But he knows the way that I take; 
Then Job speaks again of his faithfulness to God.  He has not sinned as his friends insist:
when he has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
[11] My foot has held fast to his steps; I have kept his way and have not turned aside.
[12] I have not departed from the commandment of his lips; I have treasured in my bosom the words of his mouth.
Perhaps akin to Alfred Lord Tennyson, Job feels there is more to what he is suffering than meets the eye.  If he understood the smallest bit of God’s creation, he might understand what God and man is.  But Job cannot find God.  Thus his cry, 
[3] Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat!

INTO THE WOODS
We may feel like characters in the Broadway musical drama Into the Woods.  Stephen Sondheim made a mishmash of fairy tales, lumping Cinderella, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, and Jack and the Beanstalk into one story.  As troubles mount up, they all go Into the Woods, hoping to find solutions.  Instead, a truly giant Giant frightens them out of their wits. They grope, they try to cope, but feel no hope.

Job endures three rounds of verbal abuse from his visitors.  David B. Burrell has pointed out a key difference between Job’s speeches and those of Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar.  Job talks to God, but his visitors talk only about God (Burrell 28). They lecture, while Job yearns to finds God: 
[3] Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat!
[4] I would lay my case before him and fill my mouth with arguments.
You need to hear two laments near the end of Job’s speeches.  In chapter 28, he points to human ability to seek out valuable things hidden in the rocks and streams. 
[9] "Man puts his hand to the flinty rock, and overturns mountains by the roots.
[10] He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing.
[11] He binds up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hid he brings forth to light.
On the other hand, Job says it is impossible to find true wisdom and understanding:
[12] "But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding?
[13] Man does not know the way to it, and it is not found in the land of the living.
[14] The deep says, `It is not in me,' and the sea says, `It is not with me.'
[15] It cannot be gotten for gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price.
[16] It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire.
[17] Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
In the next chapter (29), Job thinks back to better days when it seemed God cared for him, a time when Job was able to help the poor and afflicted, before he himself was poor and afflicted:
There was a time when people called him blessed:
[12] because I delivered the poor who cried, and the fatherless who had none to help him.
[13] The blessing of him who was about to perish came upon me, and I caused the widow's heart to sing for joy. .  .  .
[15] I was eyes to the blind, and feet to the lame.
[16] I was a father to the poor, and I searched out the cause of him whom I did not know. .  .  .
[21] "Men listened to me, and waited, and kept silence for my counsel.
In short, he is not now and has never been the great sinner Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar make him out to be.  So he wants to lay out his complain before God:
[3] Oh, that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat!

GOD SPEAKS
Then,   God comes on the scene.  But Job doesn’t get to lay his case before God.  God does most of the talking.  God asks most of the questions.  Gird up your loins like a man, I will question you, and you shall declare to me (38:3).

Questions about the creation of the world:

"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?” (38:4)
God asks, Did you have control of the sea or the clouds?  (38:8-9)
Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Or who shut in the sea with doors, when it burst forth from the womb; when I made clouds its garment?
Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place? (38:12)
God asks questions Job what control Job has over light and darkness, rain and snow and hail (38:19-28).
Then the Lord questions whether Job has control over wild animals and birds (38:39-41):
Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions, when they crouch in their dens, or lie in wait in their covert?  Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?
Do you give the horse his might? (39:19)
Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and spreads his wings toward the south?  Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high? (39:26-27)

So Job has found God, but when God confronts him, Job admits he is small in God’s sight:
Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer thee? I lay my hand on my mouth. I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further. (40:4-5)
But God isn’t through questioning Job:
Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified? Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his? (40:7-9)
The rest of God’s questions are about wild creatures of the sea.  Can Job tame them like a rodeo cowboy bringing wild bulls into subjection?  Short answer: No (40:15-41:34).
Now we hear Job’s final speech:
Then Job answered the LORD: "I know that thou canst do all things, and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted. `Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?' Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.  .  .  .  I had heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees thee; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes." (42:1-6)
Any time we are made aware that we are in the very presence of God, we are humbled as we see ourselves as we are.  We realize we are not in the position to make demands of God.  
God is not angry with Job.  Instead, He is angry with Job’s accusers.  Verse 7:
After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eli'phaz the Te'manite: "My wrath [or anger]  is kindled against you and against your two friends; for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.
God orders the men to sacrifice seven bulls and seven rams as a burnt offering for themselves.  They also are told to ask Job to pray for them.  That is a huge offering, suggesting a huge sin.  Ordinarily, one bullock would be an acceptable sacrifice.  So fourteen male animals -- seven bulls and seven rams -- points to a huge offense in the eyes of God (Watts et al 150).
The book of Job concludes with Job’s fortunes restored.  He has twice as many head of livestock and has a new family of seven sons and three daughters.

IN THE END . . . 
So what can we take away from this story of Job?
One thing important to learn: Be slow to judge another person.  You can’t know another person’s  heart, his or her motives.  Job’s friends are so sure they have the answer to his suffering: In a word: SIN!  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks to this in at least two ways.  Chapter 7: 
"Judge not, that you be not judged. [2] For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the measure you get.  [3] Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? [4] Or how can you say to your brother, `Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye? [5] You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye” (Matthew 7:1-5). 
When hurricanes blow through an area, it’s not unusual for self-important preachers on TV to say the devastation is God’s judgment on this group or that.  Some people may be saying that about the tens of thousands of people in the Philippines and other parts of Southeast Asia who have died or had their homes and everything of value wiped out in the tornadoes.  Those men who think they know the mind of God need to read another part of the Sermon on the Mount.  In chapter 5, Jesus speaks directly to judgments about the weather:
for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45). 
A second take-away,    Job was not the sinner his so-called friends said he was.  Or to state that differently, Job’s great suffering was not punishment from God. We are told in the very first verse of the book: This is a truth we need to remember when sickness, financial difficulty, or other problems pile up on us.  Listen again to the opening verse: There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil.
And yet.  And yet.  And yet, God lets these things happen in his life. This is a truth we need to remember when sickness, financial difficulty, or other problems pile up on us. God permits bad things to happen to godly people, but God does not send bad things our way. 
I’ve probably used this example a dozen times, but if you are a parent or grandparent, you’ve seen things happen to those youngsters.  A kid learning to ride a bicycle probably is going to fall.  She may hurt herself.  But if she learns to ride for herself, you cannot always be at her side to keep her from falling.  On a much larger scale, as God’s children, our Heavenly Father lets us take our spills.
A third thing from Job: God did not punish Job for asking hard questions of God and saying harsh things about God.  You’ve heard someone say something irreverent and then look up toward the sky, as if expecting a divine bolt of lightning to strike him down.  That is usually done as a joke, but many people think that IS the way God does business.  You say, “Oh, I can’t question God.”  Job does, and God does not punish Job for asking.  He doesn’t get his questions answered. At least, not to his satisfaction.  But God doesn’t zap him.  When something goes terribly wrong in our lives, it would be strange if we did NOT ask questions.  
In the fourth place: Job received tangible reward for his faithfulness: More children and more livestock.  But we have no guarantee God will reward us materially or financially if we live for Him.   Thousands, even millions of people without jobs, without health care, are honest, earnest Christians.  So it’s wrong to say, if we live near the Lord, we can expect tangible benefits.  We hear preachers on TV declare that God will prosper you financially if you live close to Him, especially if you send them some of your money. That same sort of thinking might say, “If you’re out of a job and the bills pile up, you aren’t living right.”  But think a moment:  You’ve known people who were deeply devoted to the Lord who were struggling from paycheck to paycheck or who have no paycheck at all.  How does this “prosperity theology” apply to them?
Years ago, in a church where I was a member, people were giving testimonies during a financial stewardship emphasis.  Paul’s story went something like this:  “Before Marge and I started tithing, we had trouble meeting our obligations, bills would stack up.”  I thought, “Oh, no.  Please don’t say what I think you’re going to say.”  But Paul surprised me when he said, “Then we started tithing, and since then, we still have trouble meeting our obligations, bills still stack up.”
And a Fifth and Final Thing:  At the end of the book, we still have no explanation of why Job suffered as he did.  We get no answer to why bad things happen to good people.  But we see a godly man who perseveres even though he does not understand. Jesus addresses that in Luke 13.  Some terrible things happened.  One was slaughter by government officials. The other was an accident. People were assuming these people who died were particularly sinful.  But listen to this account:
[1]There were some present at that very time who told him of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. [2] And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? [3] I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.  [4] Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Silo'am fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? [5] I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." 

THE MARSHES OF GLYNN
I once spent a week in South Georgia as camp pastor for the Baptist boys group, Royal Ambassadors.  The camp was right on the edge of the marshes.  I enjoyed the opportunity to preach each day and get to know some of the campers.  But, frankly, I saw little beauty in the marshes.
Sidney Lanier saw things differently.  In the eighteen-hundreds, Lanier wrote about his native Georgia, including “The Marshes of Glynn.” With the poet’s eye, he called the marshland on the Georgia coast “the heavenly woods and glades.”  There in that watery environment, Lanier was particularly taken by water birds who made their nests on that rather shaky foundation -- or lack of firm foundation.  He saw a parable for life in an unsteady environment.  He described a bird this way:

As the marsh-hen secretly builds on the watery sod, 
Behold I will build me a nest on the greatness of God: 
I will fly in the greatness of God as the marsh-hen flies 
In the freedom that fills all the space 'twixt the marsh and the skies: 
By so many roots as the marsh-grass sends in the sod 
I will heartily lay me a-hold on the greatness of God (Lanier). 

Job probably could identify with that.  Maybe you can too.

BENEDICTION
Now we conclude this week’s Baraca Radio Sunday School Class from Anderson’s First Baptist Church.  If you with Job are seeking answers to difficult questions, you may find strength and comfort in these promises:
God’s love that will never let you go.
God’s grace that is greater than all your sin.
God’s peace that passes all understanding.
These are yours through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

I WISH I KNEW .  .  .

Job 23

Baraca Radio Sunday School Class

First Baptist Church, Anderson, South Carolina

November 10, 2013

Lawrence Webb

I WISH I KNEW---SOURCES

David B. Burrell, Deconstructing Theodicy.  Grand Rapids, Mich.: Brazos Press, 2008.

Roger Hahn, “The Voice Biblical and Theological Resources for Growing Christians,” Christian Resource Institute.  http://www.cresourcei.org/biblestudy/bbjob10.html

Sidney Lanier, “The Marshes of Glynn,” Poets.org.  From the Academy of American Poets.

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/16813

Master Profile for Alfred Tennyson, “Alfred Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson.”

http://www.geni.com/people/Alfred-Tennyson-1st-Baron-Tennyson/309453131580002769

Alfred Lord Tennyson,  “Flower in the Crannied Wall,” All Poetry.  http://allpoetry.com/poem/8473291-Flower-in-the-Crannied-Wall-by-Alfred_Lord_Tennyson

_________, “In Memoriam A. H. H.,” The Literature Network. http://www.online-literature.com/donne/718/

_________, “Break, Break, Break,” Poetry Foundation.  http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174585

John D. W. Watts in collaboration with John Joseph Owens and Marvin E. Tate, Jr., “Job,” The Broadman Bible Commentary, Volume 4.  Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, 1971.

Here's a song I wrote

SUSTAINING GRACE

Lawrence Webb  ©June 2009

TUNE: HE LEADETH ME

When shadows fall across the sky, 

In sorrow’s wake, we groan and cry,

How can we cope in life’s mad race?

The answer: God’s sustaining grace.

Refrain:

God’s grace sustains us ev’ry day, 

Sustains us all along the way;

Sufficient for whate’er we face,

Give thanks for God’s sustaining grace.

When illness comes with no known cure,

We wonder how we can endure.

It seems too much for us to face.

Until we claim sustaining grace.

Refrain

Sometimes we are so sad and lone.

Life’s harder than we’ve ever known.

But then we feel Christ’s warm embrace.

He holds us with sustaining grace.

Refrain

With all the stress and strain of life,

We struggle on amid the strife.

But when we see Christ’s loving face,

We claim anew sustaining grace.

Refrain

If you plan music for your church or can influence those who do,  feel free to use this song.  If you want to use it, I have these requests:

1) Please give me credit as composer of the lyrics.

2) If there is a printed worship order, please send me a copy:

I will send you my postal address if you e-mail me at webbtex@charter.net.

I know that my redeemer lives

The message was in large letters for all passersby to read: “Jason Loves Megan Forever.”

I saw the words as I walked along the ocean front at Myrtle Beach.  They were written in the sand.  I passed that way later in the day after the tide had rolled in and back out.  And that testimony of eternal love had washed away, perhaps like Jason’s love for Megan.

John Keats thought his poems would vanish like Jason’s words of love.  The poet died at age twenty-five, apparently from tuberculosis. He realized he was dying, and he feared his poems would die with him.  Some three years before he died, Keats wrote a poem about his fear that begins:

When I have fears that I may cease to be
Before my pen has glean’d my teeming brain .  .  . (Keats)

Keats asked that his gravestone not include his name.  He wanted only these words as his epitaph: 

Here lies one whose name was writ in water (Starr).

A friend named Charles Brown honored the poet’s request that his name not be on the stone, but 
he put additional words in memory of Keats:

This Grave contains all that was Mortal of a YOUNG ENGLISH POET Who on his Death Bed,

in the Malicious Power of his Enemies, Desired these Words to be engraved on his Tomb Stone 

'Here lies One Whose Name was writ in Water.’

Unlike “Jason Loves Megan Forever,” the name of John Keats was not “writ in Water.” Despite his death in 1821 at age twenty-five, his name has lived nearly two centuries and probably will live for centuries to come.

TRANSITION
We like to think people will remember us after we’ve died.  We do what we can to keep the names of our friends and loved ones from being “writ in Water.”  Many churches around the world set aside today to honor the memory of the saints.  When I say saints, I refer to all Christians.  St. Paul frequently calls church members saints.
Writing to the Roman church, he says,  To all God's beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints (1:7). He uses that expression [saint = Christian]  in both letters to the Corinthians (1:1 and 1:2).  The same term is in the first verse of Ephesians and Philippians and the second verse of Colossians. Philemon hosts a church in his house, and Paul commends Philemon for your love and of the faith which you have toward the Lord Jesus and all the saints.

So All Saints Day isn’t just about people with shrines built to them.  It’s for all who have died in the Lord, as a way to see that their names will not be “writ in Water.”  Today, our First Baptist Church in Anderson is remembering church members who died this past year. And on our Baraca broadcast,  we want to remember six longtime members.  I will say a word about each of them later.

BIBLE PASSAGE
In our Bible passage for today, Job is concerned that his words live on after him.  
"Oh that my words were written!
Oh that they were inscribed in a book!
Oh that with an iron pen and lead
they were graven in the rock for ever! (19:23-24)
Unlike John Keats, Job is not interested in writing beautiful poetry.  He wants to file a complaint against his wife, against his brothers, against his so-called friends, and -- yes -- against God.

You remember, Job’s adult sons and daughters are all killed when a tornado hits the home of the eldest son where they had gathered.  Job had some eleven thousand head of camels and asses and sheep (1:3).  But all these are taken from him by a band of rustlers and by a fire (1:13-19).  On top of all that, Job loses his health (2:7-8).
He gets little consolation as he tries to come to grips with these losses.  His wife says he ought to curse God and die (2:9).  Then he is visited by three men who think of themselves as his friends, but they turn out to be harsh judges.  They are sure all this is because Job is a great sinner, even though we are told up front, he is blameless and upright, one who feared God, and turned away from evil (1:1).  Also, his brothers find him loathsome, his kinfolks have failed him, his intimate friends abhor him, his household servants have forgotten him, those he loved have turned against him (19:14-20).
The three critical friends take turns raking Job over the coals, insisting he is mistaken or just plain lying as he tries to justify himself in God’s sight.

Job's wish that his accusations were inscribed in a book, suggests engraving on thin copper plates which were an early form of books.  And Job wishes he could carve his words permanently in lead or stone  -- Oh that with an iron pen and lead they were graven in the rock for ever! (Watts et al  82).
Job wants to write a testimony, a word of assurance, of re-assurance, really.  He is discouraged with everyone, but he believes he will see better days ahead.
We want to carve the names of deceased members of the Baraca Class on stone to preserve their memory and their honor,  to prevent their names from being writ in water.  
Job tells us the message he wants to inscribe on copper plates and carve into stone:
[25] For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth; [26] and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then [apart] from my flesh I shall see God, [27] whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

We need to consider that word Redeemer from two different standpoints: human and divine.  First, the human: Ancient Jewish law called for a kinsman redeemer to protect the interests of the individual and the group.  He was to redeem “family goods or property which have been lost,” taken as collateral for debt (Watts et al  83).  The redeemer at times was an avenger who would shed blood for his family members who had been killed (Numbers 35:2; Deuteronomy 19:6,12; Joshua 20:3).  
If a person were bought into slavery over a debt, the kinsman redeemer was charged with buying the person back (Leviticus 25:48-49). 
The most vivid biblical example of the kinsman redeemer is in the story of Ruth.   Elimelech takes his wife Naomi and their two sons to live in the unneighborly land of Moab.  The sons marry Moabite women, Orpah and Ruth.  Elimelech dies in Moab, along with the two sons.  This leaves three grieving widows.  Naomi decides to go back to Bethlehem, and she urges the younger widows to stay with their own people.  Orpah turns back, but Ruth vows eternal loyalty to Naomi: 
"Entreat me not to leave you or to return from following you; for where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge; your people shall be my people, and your God my God; where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the LORD do so to me and more also if even death parts me from you."
We remember Ruth’s vow.  But we may not recall that Naomi’s husband’s land passed into possession of  close kinsman.  Wise widow Naomi recruits another relative, Boaz, as kinsman redeemer in hopes of getting back her husband’s property.   Boaz redeems the property and, in the process, marries Ruth.  Then Boaz and Ruth have a son who one day will be the grandfather of King David.
Job reflects on this point of Jewish law as he grieves over loss of his children, his livestock, and his health.  He longs for a kinsman redeemer to redress these wrongs.  If he can find God and lay out his case, he believes the Lord will hear him and stand in as his kinsman Redeemer.

JOB’S ACCUSERS 
All through his story, Job wants the opportunity -- shall we say -- to redeem himself in God’s sight.  He knows his cruel friends are wrong when they insist God is meting out punishment justly because of Job’s sin.  Eliphaz, the first of his friends, speaks these words of judgment (Job 4:7-9):
"Think now, who that was innocent ever perished?  Or where were the upright cut off?
As I have seen, those who plow iniquity and sow trouble reap the same.
By the breath of God they perish, and by the blast of his anger they are consumed.”
At times, Job wishes God would just take him away (6:8-10):
"O that I might have my request, and that God would grant my desire; that it would please God to crush me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off!  This would be my consolation; I would even exult in pain unsparing; for I have not denied the words of the Holy One. .  .  .
Job lies down at night, hoping for rest, but peace and rest do not come (7:13-16):
When I say, `My bed will comfort me, my couch will ease my complaint,'
then thou dost scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions,
so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones.
I loathe my life; I would not live for ever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath.
A second friend, Bildad, picks up the accusation where the first left off, insisting the pure of heart do not suffer (8:11):
"Can papyrus grow where there is no marsh? Can reeds flourish where there is no water?”
This is about the same as saying, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.”
Zophar, the third friend, adds to the accusations, saying Job will never learn (11:12):
But a stupid man will get understanding, when a wild ass's colt is born a man.
He continues (11:14-17, 19):
If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away, and let not wickedness dwell in your tents.
Surely then you will lift up your face without blemish; you will be secure, and will not fear. 
You will forget your misery; you will remember it as waters that have passed away. .  .  .
You will lie down, and none will make you afraid; many will entreat your favor.
Through it all, as his three enemy-friends harass him, Job longs for his kinsman redeemer, believing one day he will see God, either in this life or in a life to come: 
[25] For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at last he will stand upon the earth; [26] and after my skin has been thus destroyed, then [apart] from my flesh I shall see God, [27] whom I shall see on my side, and my eyes shall behold, and not another.

BARACA MEMORIALS:
In the wake of the death of someone dear, we have a deep sense of loss. When death comes even after a long life, we feel it keenly.   We want to do whatever we can to preserve the memory, the personal and material assets.  We may play the role of kinsman redeemer.
We lost six from Baraca since last All Saints Day, and I want to say a word about each of them.  Not that they need a witness from me to justify them before God or before other people, but simply that their names are not “writ in water.”
Ray Fowler died in October of last year.  Ray was a tenor singer in our Baraca Chorus.  He also sang in the adult choir for the worship service.  He had a gentle bearing, and he often expressed appreciation to me for the lesson.  Ray and his wife Joanne came to Anderson from Ware Shoals.  They joined our Anderson First Baptist in 1970.  Ray was the youngest of those we honor today.  He was 86.
Fred Waters was another faithful member of the Baraca Class and the Baraca Chorus.  Fred was well-known for his trained horse who did various tricks.  Fred and Ruth joined First Baptist in 1970, the same year as Ray and Joanne Fowler.  Fred attended Baraca faithfully. Ruth started driving him to church and came with him to class after he had an accident that injured his hand and made it difficult for him to drive. Fred and Ruth’s daughter Joyce Murphy and her husband Jerry lived next door. The Murphy son, Mitch, was very close to Grandfather Fred.  Ruth Waters died in October 2011, a little over a year before Fred.  When Fred died in February of this year, he was 95.
Helen Davis and her husband Arthur joined our First Baptist Church exactly sixty-one years ago yesterday, on November second in 1952.  She and Arthur were faithful Baraca Class members as long as their health permitted.  Arthur preceded Helen in death.  She died in March of this year at age 93.
Josephine Ray, known as Jo to her friends, died in September about six weeks ago.  Jo was a familiar face for many Bi-Lo customers.  She demonstrated food, cooking and giving samples to customers.  I remember Jo from the time I became one of the Baraca teachers and later was asked to teach each Sunday.  Jo and her daughter Joan Strickland were class regulars, often accompanied by a grandson. Jo Ray joined First Baptist nearly fifty-seven years ago in December 1956. She died at 93.
Francis Altman was a long-time Andersonian from the family who ran the Altman printing company.  I’m not sure Francis was on the roll of our Baraca Class, but he attended from time to time. As long as he was able, he was a man-about-the-church, a faithful greeter and general fixer-upper.  Francis was a Deacon Emeritus, and he was a Meals on Wheels volunteer for twenty-five years.  He is survived by three daughters: Amy Roberts who lives in Williamston, Dorothy Kennedy in Waynesboro,  Georgia; and June James, who lived with their father.  Francis joined First Baptist in 1976.  He was the same age as Jo Ray and Helen Davis. He died at 93.
Ed McCown died this past week.  His funeral was Wednesday.  Ed was baptized in First Baptist, Anderson, when he was ten years old, in June 1927, more than 86 years ago.  Like the others we memorialize today, Ed was a longtime faithful member of the Baraca Class.  He served on the police force for the City of Anderson and was police chief when he retired.  His wife Jean preceded him in death.  Their daughter Suzanne Moore is a member of First Baptist.  She gave loving care for her mother and her father, as well as for her own husband, Jerry Moore, who died earlier this year.  Pansy and I live on the same street as Ed and Jean.  We remember Ed as a gardener. Each December, as long as he was able, he brought Pansy a mess of collards for New Year’s Day.  Ed McCown was the eldest Baraca member who died in the past year.  He was 96.
Each man and woman on our list left a rich heritage of faith and love, a good reputation among those who knew them.  So there is little need to redeem their names in the community.

CHRIST OUR KINSMAN REDEEMER
We don’t know the full degree of Job’s vision of the kinsman Redeemer who one day will speak for him and establish his innocence, but he ties that redemption in closely with seeing God for himself.  So the kinsman Redeemer and God seem closely connected in Job’s mind.
The New Testament speaks of redemption,coming to full fruition in Jesus Christ.  It uses two different metaphors to describe how we are redeemed.  One picture is of the Jewish sacrificial system. The other is the slave market.
In the sacrificial system, animals were slaughtered and offered on the altar in the Temple for the remission of sin.  Ephesians (1:7) and a parallel passage in Colossians (1:14), tell us, we have redemption through his blood.  This reflects the work of the priests at the altar.  The New Testament book of Hebrews goes into great detail with Christ as the great high priest.  Through His death, He removed the necessity of continual animal sacrifice.  Hebrews (9:11-12, 15) describes it this way: 
But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) [12] he entered once for all into the Holy Place, taking not the blood of goats and calves but his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.
The other picture of redemption is of being purchased from the slave market.  Titus 2:14  
speaks of Jesus who gave himself for us to redeem us from all iniquity and to purify for himself a people of his own who are zealous for good deeds. 
So, both pictures -- the priestly sacrifice and the purchase and freeing of a slave -- present Christ as our kinsman Redeemer.
All those who have died in Christ -- and all of us who are alive in Christ -- give thanks for our kinsman Redeemer.
The nineteenth century songwriter Philip Bliss wrote “I Will Sing of My Redeemer” that picks up on the kinsman Redeemer from both the standpoint of Job’s hope and of fulfillment in Jesus:

I will sing of my Redeemer,  And His wondrous love to me;
On the cruel cross He suffered, From the curse to set me free. 

The second stanza speaks of the kinsman Redeemer who intervened and saved the singer’s estate.  It also mentions the Redeemer’s paying the ransom to free a slave:

I will tell the wondrous story, How my lost estate to save,
In His boundless love and mercy,  He the ransom freely gave. 

Then the chorus tells of buying back the sinner through the blood of Christ:

Sing, oh, sing of my Redeemer, With His blood He purchased me,
On the cross He sealed my pardon, Paid the debt, and made me free.
(Christiansen). 

The composer Philip Bliss and his wife died in a train wreck when they were only in their thirties.  One of their trunks survived the wreck.  It contained many of his hymn-poems that had not been set to music.  These poems included “I Will Sing of My Redeemer” (Reese).  So we might say this song about the kinsman Redeemer helped insure his name was not “writ in water.”

CONCLUSION
We’ve thought about the youthful expression of love which was literally written in sand and washed away by the next tide.
We’ve thought about poet John Keats who feared his name might be “writ in water” and be swept down the stream of life.
We’ve thought about Job’s desire for his thoughts to be preserved in stone as he longed for his kinsman Redeemer.
We’ve thought about our beloved Baraca class members who died in the Lord during the past twelve months.
Finally, we think how all of us who look to Jesus Christ as our kinsman Redeemer will have our names written in the Lamb’s book of life (Philippians 4:3; Revelation 3:5; Revelation 13:8; 21:27).

BENEDICTION
Now, as we conclude this week’s Baraca Radio Sunday School Class from Anderson’s First Baptist Church, I pray that your name is not written in sand or in water but in the Lamb’s book of life. To that end, I challenge you to claim these promises:
God’s love that will never let you go.
God’s grace that is greater than all your sin.
God’s peace that passes all understanding.
These are yours through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

I Know That My Redeemer Lives

Job 19

Baraca Radio Class and Garden House

First Baptist Church, Anderson, South Carolina

November 3, 2013

The audio version of this message is available through the church website: www.andersonfbc.org.

I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVES---SOURCES

Connie Ruth Christiansen, “Composer Philip Paul Bliss Writes I Will Sing of My Redeemer.”  Share Faith.  http://www.sharefaith.com/guide/Christian-Music/hymns-the-songs-and-the-stories/i-will-sing-of-my-redeemer-the-song-and-the-story.html

John Keats, “When I have Fears that I may cease to be,” Bartleby.com.   http://www.bartleby.com/101/635.html.  Arthur Quiller-Couch, ed. 1919.  The Oxford Book of English Verse: 1250-1900.

Ed Reese, “The life and ministry of Philip Bliss,” Christian Biography Sources, Wholesome Words.
http://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/biobliss.html.

Kelly Starr, Keats’ Kingdom, ed., Juliet Pye.  http://www.keatsian.co.uk/john-keats-biography.php.

John D. W. Watts in collaboration with John Joseph Owens and Marvin E. Tate, Jr., “Job,” The Broadman Bible Commentary, Volume 4.  Nashville, Tenn.: Broadman Press, 1971.