January 27, 2011

"... the LORD has a case against his people; he is lodging a charge against Israel. “My people, what have I done to you? How have I burdened you? Answer me. I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam. My people, remember what Balak king of Moab plotted and what Balaam son of Beor answered. Remember your journey from Shittim to Gilgal, that you may know the righteous acts of the LORD.”

(Israel's response):

"With what shall I come before the LORD and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of olive oil? Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? " (Micah 6:2-7 NIV2010)

You see it play out in the movies, possibly because it's true to life: The young, wealthy, spoiled character, who was given - by his affluent father - everything that money can buy (including trouble), is now in trouble with the law. And the character doesn't pretend that he didn't do what he is accused of doing - in fact everyone knows he did it. Maybe he's sorry he got caught, but for sure he's not sorry that he did it. He just wants to cut to the chase with the judge to find out how much it's going to cost this time to get himself out of trouble - how much of his father's money is he going to have to cough up to pay the fine or to pay the penalty for whatever he did.

If you think about it, the Israelites were kind of like this spoiled character. God blessed them tremendously. In fact everything they had, including their freedom, their land, their cattle, was given to them by their most affluent Father - God. And yet they found a way to use what they had been blessed with to get into trouble and to do anything and everything but what God, their Father, wanted them to do. And when confronted with their sins, the Israelites, like the character in the movie, wouldn't be sorry - at least not truly sorry or penitent. According to Micah's insight into the Israelite's spirit and thought process, all the Israelites wanted to do was to figure out what kind of sacrifice they could offer up to appease God. What's it going to cost this time: a calf, a thousand rams or a thousand rivers of oil, or maybe if that wasn't enough - their first born?

How about us? Can we draw any similarities between the attitude and actions of the Israelites, or the attitude and actions of the character from the movies, and our own actions and attitudes? Have we not also been ridiculously blessed by God? Even in the midst of a serious economic recession, we are still living in a land of virtual milk and honey, and most importantly a land where we are still free to worship the true God. Not to mention how we have all been ridiculously blessed Spiritually speaking. We all have the sure hope that we will one day be brought from the wilderness of this world - from our own personal Shittims, to Gilgal, to the Promise Land of heaven. This is how God has treated us, and yet don't we sometimes choose to use what God has blessed us with to serve interests that conflict with God's law and will? If we are honest in our self-examination, we will realize that we are like the character in the movie and like the Israelites, in that we have been blessed, but in many cases have gone prodigal with the blessings by sinning.

But this is where the similarity ends though, right? There's no way that we, living in New Testament times, would ever attempt to appease God with our own sacrifices. We know we're forgiven by faith alone and by grace alone. We know that it's only through Christ's sacrifice that we are forgiven... When we've felt guilty for something we did or didn't do, rather than fall on our knees and ask for mercy, have we ever stayed standing? Have we ever had the devil plant the idea in our minds that we should actually try to do something to try and butter God up - as though we can somehow get ourselves back in God's good graces - as though we can somehow earn God's favor and get Him to want to continue to have mercy on us? God is good and merciful and continuously gracious towards us all on His own. This held true even when we were His enemies -keep in mind, "while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8) When we realize we have gotten caught up in breaking God's law and going against His will, the temptation can be to look to try and do something to appease, but all God wants is our hearts. We humans tend to look for outward action, but "the LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7) When we part ways with God's will, in order to return, God doesn't want us to do anything, He has done it all already by sacrificing His son Jesus for us. What God wants is our hearts. He wants our contrite hearts. "You do not delight in sacrifice, or I would bring it; you do not take pleasure in burnt offerings. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise." (Psalm 51:16,17)

The great American Lutheran hymnist Jaroslav J. Vajda realized the condition of man's heart and captured the spirit of true contrition as he suggests who to turn to in order to have our heart disease healed. Vajda reworked Martin Luther's great hymn of true penitence, "From Depths of Woe I Cry to You." Vajda titled his hymn, "In Hopelessness and Near Despair," here's verse 2:

"I see my heart's condition now, my heart's diverse affections.
Why do I love the things you loathe; I'm torn in two directions:
Now prodigal, now Pharisee. O God, be merciful to me;
Who else but you can help me?" (CWS 738:2)

When we, like the Israelites (and the character in the movies), go prodigal with what God has blessed us with by sinning, let's avoid trying to turn to ourselves for the solution. We have nothing to bring to the redemption table. Rather than doing something, let's keep in mind that Jesus has already done it all. Let's do nothing except dropping to our knees to ask for mercy and continued grace, recognizing that Jesus has already made the complete sacrifice for us - once for all: "First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them” (although the law required them to be made). Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.” He sets aside the first to establish the second. And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. (Hebrews 10:8-10) Jesus has made the sacrifice for all our transgressions, all God desires is that our heart, through contrition and faith, trusts in Jesus and the sacrifice He made for us. Let's humbly pray with the Psalmist David: "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." (Psalm 51:10-12). Once our hearts are pure again, then our heartfelt natural response will be to want to do something to express our thanks to God for Jesus - God's Sacrifice that trumps all other sacrifices. The LORD is pleased with this post-redemption action of thanks and praise.

Thank you Jesus for being the perfect sacrifice. Thank you for the sacrifice you made for us prodigals. Amen!