The Great Gift!!
Reflection: There are many times in the
Psalms, when the Psalmist reflects on what he calls the “Son of Man”. As people who know Jesus, we can look back
and see the Psalmist is longing for a Savior.
The in the lament songs when the people were going through a trial they
longed for some help from God. They felt
His judgment and hoped that things would turn around and God’s face would shine
up them. We see this in today’s Psalm
80:17-19! I love the language here…
17 Let
your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
the son of man you have raised up for yourself.
18 Then we will not turn away from you;
revive us, and we will call on your name.
the son of man you have raised up for yourself.
18 Then we will not turn away from you;
revive us, and we will call on your name.
19 Restore
us, Lord God Almighty;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.
Then, in today
readings, we move to Paul’s clearest exposition and proclamation of the Gospel,
the Good News of God’s grace given to us in Jesus Christ, through faith. Ephesians 2:8-10 perfectly captures the
essence of the Gospel:
8 For
it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no
one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ
Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Often we
leave off verse 10, which shows us that though good works don’t justify us, we
were created for good works. The key
thing is the order here. We are saved
because of God’s rich mercy, which saved us when we were dead in our trespasses. Paul uses the word “dead”, in Ephesians 2, to
make it abundantly clear that we were powerless to save ourselves and only had
one recourse left, His free gift of grace.
And the emphasis is on God’s deep love and rich mercy that saves
us. God didn’t save us out of obligation,
but out of deep desire for us to be reconciled to Him in Christ. God
wanted the crown of Creation to be with Him forever.
Everything
we do as a believer and what we do as a church together is all founded on what
Paul is teaching us here, and what the Psalmist longed for in his day. But just like the tendency in Israel was to
forget what God had done for them in delivering them from the Egyptians, our
tendency is to forget the magnitude of what God has done for us in Christ. I know I need to be reminded every day. Take a moment and reflect on God’s love and
mercy for you, and how He showed it to you by sending His Son to save you. Give thanks to God for His great act of love,
and remember you are God’s handiwork to show the world who God is and what God
has done so that the whole world will know!
Amen.
Psalm 80:12-19
12 Why have you broken down its
walls
so that all who pass by pick its grapes?
13 Boars from the forest ravage it,
and insects from the fields feed on it.
14 Return to us, God Almighty!
Look down from heaven and see!
Watch over this vine,
15 the root your right hand has planted,
the son you have raised up for yourself.
so that all who pass by pick its grapes?
13 Boars from the forest ravage it,
and insects from the fields feed on it.
14 Return to us, God Almighty!
Look down from heaven and see!
Watch over this vine,
15 the root your right hand has planted,
the son you have raised up for yourself.
16 Your vine is cut down, it is
burned with fire;
at your rebuke your people perish.
17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
the son of man you have raised up for yourself.
18 Then we will not turn away from you;
revive us, and we will call on your name.
at your rebuke your people perish.
17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand,
the son of man you have raised up for yourself.
18 Then we will not turn away from you;
revive us, and we will call on your name.
19 Restore us, Lord God Almighty;
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.
make your face shine on us,
that we may be saved.
Isaiah 17:1-19:17
A Prophecy
Against Damascus
17 A prophecy against
Damascus:
“See,
Damascus will no longer be a city
but will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer will be deserted
and left to flocks, which will lie down,
with no one to make them afraid.
3 The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
like the glory of the Israelites,”
declares the Lord Almighty.
but will become a heap of ruins.
2 The cities of Aroer will be deserted
and left to flocks, which will lie down,
with no one to make them afraid.
3 The fortified city will disappear from Ephraim,
and royal power from Damascus;
the remnant of Aram will be
like the glory of the Israelites,”
declares the Lord Almighty.
4 “In that day the glory of Jacob
will fade;
the fat of his body will waste away.
5 It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
gathering the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet some gleanings will remain,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
four or five on the fruitful boughs,”
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
the fat of his body will waste away.
5 It will be as when reapers harvest the standing grain,
gathering the grain in their arms—
as when someone gleans heads of grain
in the Valley of Rephaim.
6 Yet some gleanings will remain,
as when an olive tree is beaten,
leaving two or three olives on the topmost branches,
four or five on the fruitful boughs,”
declares the Lord, the God of Israel.
7 In that day people will look to
their Maker
and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will not look to the altars,
the work of their hands,
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles
and the incense altars their fingers have made.
and turn their eyes to the Holy One of Israel.
8 They will not look to the altars,
the work of their hands,
and they will have no regard for the Asherah poles
and the incense altars their fingers have made.
9 In that day their strong cities,
which they left because of the Israelites, will be like places abandoned to
thickets and undergrowth. And all will be desolation.
10 You have forgotten God your
Savior;
you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
and plant imported vines,
11 though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest will be as nothing
in the day of disease and incurable pain.
you have not remembered the Rock, your fortress.
Therefore, though you set out the finest plants
and plant imported vines,
11 though on the day you set them out, you make them grow,
and on the morning when you plant them, you bring them to bud,
yet the harvest will be as nothing
in the day of disease and incurable pain.
12 Woe to the many nations that
rage—
they rage like the raging sea!
Woe to the peoples who roar—
they roar like the roaring of great waters!
13 Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters,
when he rebukes them they flee far away,
driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,
like tumbleweed before a gale.
14 In the evening, sudden terror!
Before the morning, they are gone!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
the lot of those who plunder us.
they rage like the raging sea!
Woe to the peoples who roar—
they roar like the roaring of great waters!
13 Although the peoples roar like the roar of surging waters,
when he rebukes them they flee far away,
driven before the wind like chaff on the hills,
like tumbleweed before a gale.
14 In the evening, sudden terror!
Before the morning, they are gone!
This is the portion of those who loot us,
the lot of those who plunder us.
A Prophecy
Against Cush
18 Woe to the land of whirring wings
along the rivers of Cush,
2 which sends envoys by sea
in papyrus boats over the water.
along the rivers of Cush,
2 which sends envoys by sea
in papyrus boats over the water.
Go, swift
messengers,
to a people tall and smooth-skinned,
to a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers.
to a people tall and smooth-skinned,
to a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers.
3 All you people of the world,
you who live on the earth,
when a banner is raised on the mountains,
you will see it,
and when a trumpet sounds,
you will hear it.
4 This is what the Lord says to me:
“I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place,
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives,
and cut down and take away the spreading branches.
6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey
and to the wild animals;
the birds will feed on them all summer,
the wild animals all winter.
you who live on the earth,
when a banner is raised on the mountains,
you will see it,
and when a trumpet sounds,
you will hear it.
4 This is what the Lord says to me:
“I will remain quiet and will look on from my dwelling place,
like shimmering heat in the sunshine,
like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone
and the flower becomes a ripening grape,
he will cut off the shoots with pruning knives,
and cut down and take away the spreading branches.
6 They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey
and to the wild animals;
the birds will feed on them all summer,
the wild animals all winter.
7 At that time gifts will be
brought to the Lord Almighty
from a
people tall and smooth-skinned,
from a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers—
from a people feared far and wide,
an aggressive nation of strange speech,
whose land is divided by rivers—
the gifts
will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty.
A Prophecy
Against Egypt
19 A prophecy against Egypt:
See, the Lord
rides on a swift cloud
and is coming to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him,
and the hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear.
and is coming to Egypt.
The idols of Egypt tremble before him,
and the hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear.
2 “I will stir up Egyptian against
Egyptian—
brother will fight against brother,
neighbor against neighbor,
city against city,
kingdom against kingdom.
3 The Egyptians will lose heart,
and I will bring their plans to nothing;
they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,
the mediums and the spiritists.
4 I will hand the Egyptians over
to the power of a cruel master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,”
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
brother will fight against brother,
neighbor against neighbor,
city against city,
kingdom against kingdom.
3 The Egyptians will lose heart,
and I will bring their plans to nothing;
they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead,
the mediums and the spiritists.
4 I will hand the Egyptians over
to the power of a cruel master,
and a fierce king will rule over them,”
declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.
5 The waters of the river will dry
up,
and the riverbed will be parched and dry.
6 The canals will stink;
the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.
The reeds and rushes will wither,
7 also the plants along the Nile,
at the mouth of the river.
Every sown field along the Nile
will become parched, will blow away and be no more.
8 The fishermen will groan and lament,
all who cast hooks into the Nile;
those who throw nets on the water
will pine away.
9 Those who work with combed flax will despair,
the weavers of fine linen will lose hope.
10 The workers in cloth will be dejected,
and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.
and the riverbed will be parched and dry.
6 The canals will stink;
the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up.
The reeds and rushes will wither,
7 also the plants along the Nile,
at the mouth of the river.
Every sown field along the Nile
will become parched, will blow away and be no more.
8 The fishermen will groan and lament,
all who cast hooks into the Nile;
those who throw nets on the water
will pine away.
9 Those who work with combed flax will despair,
the weavers of fine linen will lose hope.
10 The workers in cloth will be dejected,
and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.
11 The officials of Zoan are nothing
but fools;
the wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am one of the wise men,
a disciple of the ancient kings”?
the wise counselors of Pharaoh give senseless advice.
How can you say to Pharaoh,
“I am one of the wise men,
a disciple of the ancient kings”?
12 Where are your wise men now?
Let them show you and make known
what the Lord Almighty
has planned against Egypt.
13 The officials of Zoan have become fools,
the leaders of Memphis are deceived;
the cornerstones of her peoples
have led Egypt astray.
14 The Lord has poured into them
a spirit of dizziness;
they make Egypt stagger in all that she does,
as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.
15 There is nothing Egypt can do—
head or tail, palm branch or reed.
Let them show you and make known
what the Lord Almighty
has planned against Egypt.
13 The officials of Zoan have become fools,
the leaders of Memphis are deceived;
the cornerstones of her peoples
have led Egypt astray.
14 The Lord has poured into them
a spirit of dizziness;
they make Egypt stagger in all that she does,
as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.
15 There is nothing Egypt can do—
head or tail, palm branch or reed.
16 In that day the Egyptians will
become weaklings. They will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the Lord
Almighty raises against them. 17 And the land of Judah will
bring terror to the Egyptians; everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be
terrified, because of what the Lord Almighty is planning against them.
Ephesians 2:1-10
Made Alive
in Christ
2 As
for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in
which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the
ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are
disobedient. 3 All of us also lived among them at one time,
gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts.
Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 4 But
because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made
us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace
you have been saved. 6 And God raised us up with Christ and
seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in
order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his
grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8 For
it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from
yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no
one can boast. 10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ
Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
I am the Lord, I have called you in righteousness, I have taken you by the hand and kept you. Isaiah 42:6
Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Romans 8:35
Forgiving Savior, nothing we can do will ever distance your fervent love for us. Help us Lord, to realize that we might turn our back on you but you shall never turn your love away from us. Seize our weary hand and embrace our broken condition. Forgive us, again, Father. Amen.
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