Dear church,

We are saved by the grace of God. This can’t be more clear from Scripture (Ephesians 2:8-9). No good works on our part get us into the grace of God. But this does not mean we discount or ignore the commands of God. Far from it. Those commands are as important to us today as they ever were. 

God gave the people of Israel his grace and placed them in the Promised Land. “This day you have become the people of the Lord your God.” It wasn’t because they were more noble than other people – or because they were more spiritually minded. We’re not really sure why God chose Abraham and his offspring (Deuteronomy 7:6-8; Ezekiel 36:22).

All we can say is that God chose them, and God knows why he chose Israel. It was an act of grace that he chose them. 

But they were to live out the covenant with Him. And that meant keeping the commandments – to live out the character and ways of God. The people of Israel could not escape this demand by the God who gave them such grace. They had to live it out or face the curses.

And so they wrote out the law on the plaster that had been laid over the stones. Everyone could read it – a memorial to their duty to God. “Cursed be anyone who does not confirm the words of this law by doing them.”

God does require we live holy lives as Christians. We are to be people of truth, who care for justice and who love our neighbors as ourselves. Everyone who has been saved by the blood of Jesus Christ must follow the commands of the new covenant. “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

Those who don’t keep the commandments of Christ are not part of the new covenant. “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him. … Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother” (1 John 3:9-10).

The difference between us and the ancient Israelites is the Holy Spirit. Where is the law written today? It is written on the hearts of everyone who puts his or her faith in Christ (Jeremiah 31:31-33). “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).

You can obey the commands of God because God empowers you to obey. We may call this grace upon grace (John 1:16).

Chris

Dear church,

For the Christian, acts of kindness toward others are more than they appear. The world looks at such actions and sees a “nice” man or woman who is thoughtful toward those nearby. But in our acts of kindness, we look beyond the mere material circumstances that surround us. What we really are looking toward is God himself. 

“I have obeyed the voice of the Lord my God.” The Israelites were to feed the Levites, the sojourners, the orphans, and the widows. This wasn’t a matter of being “nice,” although many would call it just that. This wasn’t some compassionate idea the people dreamed up in their own minds. It was an expression of their faithfulness toward the God who delivered them out of slavery in Egypt.

The Christian’s kindness is rooted in a response to God. The Christian is kind because God has been kind. When a Christian is kind, he’s thinking about God. “And you shall set it down before the Lord your God and worship before the Lord your God.” Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15).

Do you reserve credit for yourself for your acts kindness? When others see what you’ve done and compliment you for your good deeds, do you deflect the credit toward God? You are only keeping the commandment of the One who loves more deeply than we can imagine. Is every good thing in your life a reflection of God’s love, coming from Him and pointing back toward Him?

Chris

Dear church, 

Do I recognize someone who is vulnerable when I see one? Do I take the time to slow down and acknowledge that someone is laboring under a burden that I perhaps might be able to relieve – at least in part? Or, am I the type of person who makes the burden even greater? Do I take advantage when someone grows weak?

“You shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” The memory of Amalek was one in which the strong preyed upon the vulnerable. As the Israelites came out of Egypt, they were quite vulnerable, only recently emerging from the yoke of slavery. They weren’t yet a competent military force. They had no Iron Dome.

While the Israelites won the battle through the grace of God (Exodus 18:8-16), they were not to forget the ways of the Amalekites. The Amalekites were ruthless antagonists, attacking those who lagged behind, those who were weak and weary. They targeted the most vulnerable of a very vulnerable people. They were relentless in their treachery and savagery.

We see a more muted version of this competitive and attacking nature in the world around us. Even at a young age, we relish in seeing people become vulnerable. Teenagers laugh at their friends’ mishaps. Adults, meanwhile, rejoice when they exploit weak spots in each other. They swindle each other. They overcharge one another. They cheat on their taxes. They take when others aren’t looking.

God called his people to something different. They were to be sensitive to one another and to see where others are weak, not allowing those weaknesses to become crippling liabilities. They were to care for the vulnerable.

A criminal stretched out for punishment was to be given forty lashes, but not more. An ox harnessed and yoked was not to be deprived of nutrition while working, nor was a man or woman of God to be denied bread while serving (1 Corinthians 9:3-12).

A man was to care for the family line and widow of his dead brother. And a woman was not to try to cripple a man’s ability to care for his own while he was not in a position to defend himself. In business and the repayment of debts, merchants and lenders were not to cheat their unsuspecting customers with false weights and measures.

Perhaps the most important thing for us to recognize is we have been vulnerable because of our sin and yet have been sheltered by the very God who could crush us in our vulnerability. “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly” (Romans 5:6).

Jesus was preaching and healing people in the cities and towns of Galilee when he paused at one moment and noticed the vulnerability of the crowd that had gathered there. “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest’” (Matthew 9:36-38).

Do I recognize the vulnerability I see in those around me? Christ did die for us on the cross, and he rose again to new life. And we rise again to new life as well (Galatians 2:20). The life we now lead is one like Christ’s, seeing the vulnerable and caring for them. He came to give rest to those who “labor and are heavy laden,” and so must we (Matthew 11:28-30).

Chris

One of the stories I’ve told more than once about Ernie is about a song we started singing several years ago at the Church at Redstone. It’s an upbeat song that you could almost dance along to, if a church were into that sort of thing. The chorus of the song goes like this: “Build Your kingdom here / Let the darkness fear / Show Your mighty hand / Heal our streets and land / Set Your church on fire / Win this nation back / Change the atmosphere / Build Your kingdom here / We pray.” It’s a good song. It’s a song about revival not just in the church but in our entire country. A lot of our church members find it very meaningful.

After the first time we sang that song, however, Ernie made a comment about it in the middle of the church service. He said, “Well, I heard the lyrics of that last song. And, well, I was wondering about a line in that song, ‘Set your church on fire.’ I’m not so sure about that. I think maybe we ought to check the church insurance policy before we sing that.”

Ernie was not a man for metaphors or, I suppose, for poetry. But Ernie Bradley was a man who paid attention to the details – to the little things. Not much escaped the attention of Ernie. He cared about the small things that others typically would pass by. He was engineer after all, and so he understood small things matter. And that love for the details was why he served so many years as our church treasurer – and why he was the treasurer at multiple other organizations with which he was involved. I will say this: Ernie Bradley gave a very thorough treasurer’s report! Ernie could see potential problems from a long way off. He had an uncanny knack for making sure all the “i’s” were dotted and the “t’s” were crossed. He was thorough. 

I suppose that’s why he loved bird-watching so much, not to mention hunting and fishing. God’s creation gives a lot of stimuli to people who care about the little things. I remember getting into a fairly detailed conversation with Ernie one time about the amount of water in the Colorado, Roaring Fork, and Crystal Rivers. He knew down to the cubic foot per second just how much water each of them carried at different points during the year. 

When I think of Ernie, I am reminded how he was a bearer of God’s image in that way – by being a man who cared about the details. Ernie believed God created everything around us. Christians don’t believe the universe inexplicably popped into existence out of nowhere. God created it. And if you consider the intricacy involved in every speck of creation – from the delicacy of a columbine bloom to the complex simplicity of the human eye – it is easy to get overwhelmed. If God created all of this, God must care about the details. He must be very thorough. The little things clearly matter to God. 

And this matters a great deal for us, who are made in the image of God. God knows us intimately. Jesus was teaching his disciples on one occasion, and he told them they should fear nothing on this earth. But they should give honor to God and remember God loved them. Jesus said, “Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? And not one of them is forgotten before God. Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Luke 12:7). Think of that! God knows you so well he’s numbered every one of the hairs on your head. God forgets neither the smallest of birds nor the smallest of humans. 

Jesus used birds in multiple of his illustrations. And that’s a wonderful thing. If Ernie were here, he could tell us a few things about birds. Jesus, of course, was involved in the creation of birds as the divine Son of God. And he was constantly pointing his followers to pay attention to the details of God’s creation. Jesus one time told his disciples not to be anxious about anything – what they would eat, what they would drink, what they would wear. Jesus said, “Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:26). Jesus seemed to be telling us to pay attention to the little things in God’s creation – as Ernie Bradley so willingly did – because in those little things we can see something of the character and ways of God. And those little things tell us that God loves us. 

And God especially loves us in our greatest moments of need. Like today. There’s a psalm in the Old Testament that I read last week, and it made me think of Ernie. Picture this: an ancient Israelite psalm-writer standing in the old temple grounds in Jerusalem. The temple was a magnificent structure of stone and cedar and gold. It was somewhat like the old cathedrals that dot Europe today, with high ceilings and with a special aura of holiness about them – something that makes you go silent with reverence when you enter. The temple in Jerusalem was where the presence of God dwelt among his people. It’s where they went to pray and to seek God’s wisdom. 

And so think of that ancient psalm-writer standing there in the temple, taking in this holy scene. And then something caught his eye. It was just a little thing, something others might not have noticed – but something Ernie Bradley might have noticed. High up in the roof beams of the temple, a bird was fluttering around. That happens sometimes in large buildings. And just over the edge of one of those beams, the psalm-writer could see some twigs and grasses. A nest surely was up there, out of reach from human or beast. It was a safe place. The psalmist smiled and turned to write: “How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord of hosts! / My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the Lord; / my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God. / Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. / Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!” (Psalm 84:1-4).

God loves us in our moments of need, and it is to Him that we fly for refuge. In moments of loss, we seek shelter in God. Rest in Him, as I know so many of you have done, as you remember Ernie and grieve his loss. Remember that our God is a God of hope – and the God of an eternity that will be marked by glorious detail (Revelation 21:9-27). And so we can smile, even as we grieve. 

We are not forgotten by God. Everything about you and about me is known to Him (Psalm 139). He knows our personalities and our quirks and our tastes and our skills, and he knows our faults and our sins. And when Jesus Christ died on that cross 2,000 years ago to restore our relationship with God, he had you and me in mind. There is not one of us he has forgotten. And any of us can come to him in faith, like that sparrow in the temple – for refuge. He’s waiting for us to come. He longs for us to come. The apostle Peter wrote, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9; emphasis mine).

“Build Your kingdom here / Let the darkness fear / Show Your mighty hand / Heal our streets and land / Set Your church on fire (figuratively speaking) / Win this nation back / Change the atmosphere / Build Your kingdom here / We pray.”

Dear church,

God’s people should provide each other space to be “free at home” in order to build up the most important of human relationships – the one between a husband and a wife. The ancient Israelite ordinance provided a leave of absence to newly married men, giving them freedom from military duty or other public service so they could devote a year to their wives. 

We can imagine the purpose of this. The young couple could establish themselves economically before the husband was called away. They could begin the very important work of baby-making. And they could strengthen their relationship with each other.

The couple were permitted to put aside any public service within the people of God in order to pursue this sacred work. This practice was not a cop-out for the couple to forsake their community. The idea was they would return to service relatively quickly. 

Healthy marriages and families are critical to life in the church. Do we make them a priority in how we live our lives together as the body of Christ? Are we working together to build up those relationships, understanding that healthy marriages raise healthy children, who send the church out further into the world?

Chris

Dear church, 

We cannot come to God unless God calls us to come. And it is not until God enlivens our hearts with faith in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, that we are called. 

The Moabites and the Ammonites could not come. They were the children of an ancient incestuous act (Genesis 19:30-38). But perhaps more importantly, they had rejected God and his people, denying them even basic support in the wilderness and hiring a sorcerer to curse them. 

The Moabites and the Ammonites were not Israelites in a physical sense. Nor were they in a spiritual sense.

But God always has made a way for people to come, even if they were barred physically. Even a Moabite could come to God in faith (Ruth 1:16). And remarkable things sometimes happened when they did (Matthew 1:5-6, 16).

We are reminded in Deuteronomy 23 of the supreme impossibility of coming into God’s presence without a heart laden with faith in Him. We are a fragile people marked by too many mistakes and impurities. 

But faith causes us to look at the barriers between us and God, and to ask for a way through. When we do that out of the deepest desire of our hearts, we know God is calling us to himself. “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:39).

Chris

Dear church,

Can we make distinctions about things in this world without becoming “judgmental”? God’s people always have been called to see the difference between things – between male and female, between different types of seed, between livestock, between different types of cloth, between good and evil. 

Not everything in the created order is the same. Creation allows for differences in the things that were made, and these differences bring richness and variety to life. To blur these distinctions pushes society toward chaos. God’s people were to recognize the created order – God’s created order – in the world around them, and they were to abide by it.

Some consider it to be judgmental or intolerant to make such distinctions. But a baker is judgmental in her refusal to use pickle juice in place of milk in a cake recipe. The creation calls for something else. 

God was calling his people to create as they entered the Promised Land. “If in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to possess …” (Deuteronomy 21:1). The people were called to create a just society that lived in communion with God, the Creator. 

God established his order, and he called his people to be people of distinction, not to judge hatefully, but to bring forth the fullness of life.

Chris

Dear church,

When we say Jesus Christ is our substitute, we ought to keep in mind exactly what that means. Somewhat shockingly, the apostle Paul applied the law about the criminal hung on a tree to Jesus – and so he also applied it to us. 

“Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree’” (Galatians 3:13). Jews and Gentiles alike have fallen short of God’s law and live under a curse. This is caused by our sin. If God were to demand his creation remain holy, our bodies would be hung on a tree as an example for all to see, and then we’d be buried before sundown. 

But God’s final judgment still is coming, and Jesus has offered justification for those who would trust in Him. “The righteous shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:11). And so those who trust in Jesus no longer are under a curse. He paid the price for us on the cross – hanging on a “tree” for all the world to see as a man cursed by God. 

The son who was rebellious against his parents, in reality, is no different from us. Any sin leads us away from God and breaks our relationship with Him and puts us under the curse.

Do you live your life in a state of constant gratitude to God? Difficult circumstances can cause us to grumble and complain. But we must not lose sight of just how immensely we have been blessed by the God who served as our substitute, who took the brunt of the penalty for sin. 

He’s left us with nothing to do but trust him more and more.

Chris  

Dear church,

Do you live your life in a fearless kind of way, certain of the power and provision of God through Jesus Christ? We may be tempted at times to worry about things going on in the world – social unrest, economic turbulence, foreign powers, and disease. In certain moments, we may be overcome with dread or concern.

The Israelites were told to send home their fearful soldiers and those who had unfinished business at home – even when Israel was outnumbered by its enemies. The rest paused to listen to the high priest, who gave a speech at the front line: “Hear, O Israel, today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them, for the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.”

The exhortation was grounded in the reality that God already had delivered Israel from slavery in Egypt (20:1). The challenge was to continue in that state of faith and fearlessness, even in the face of long odds.

Being fearless does not mean we are careless or that we refuse to take common sense precautions. But being fearless does mean we know the bigger picture – the one the unbelieving world does not see. We know that God is in control at all times and all places. 

We also know this all-powerful God loves us. We know our own deliverance from slavery to sin and death is a deliverance to something remarkably better. God had good plans for us, after all (Jeremiah 29:11; Romans 8:28).

Chris

Dear church,

Even small sins come with a cost. And it is usually more than you think. 

To move a property marker meant two things to the ancient Israelites. First, it cut land away from a person – and land meant life. Deprived of land, a man would struggle to feed his family. 

Second, moving a property marker was an offense against God. The land was God’s gift to his people. And each tribe had its portion of land. The land was to remain with those tribes, and the families that comprised them, throughout the generations. 

Even this seemingly small sin wasn’t so small. And so we ought to dispense with the notion of “small” sins. Instead, we ought to recognize Christ died for all of them, just as he would have died for only one of them. God’s love extends to every sinner – “not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). 

When you consider the actions you take each day, think about the unseen effect of those actions. In what way might you be hurting other people – either now or later? In what way might you be running your life contrary to God’s will, subverting his established order?

God is sovereign. He brings justice where it is required. And he ultimately will set things right. Our lives ought to be marked by his righteousness.

Chris