5th January Morning
Genesis 17-18
God does not seem to say anything new from what he has already said. The promise of the child, the rejection of Ishmael, telling Abraham to follow and obey him, etc. Bob Deffinbaugh once said: “One of the greatest temptations I face in preaching week after week is the compulsion to find something new to proclaim from the pulpit. When this happens, I must force myself to recognize that such an urge is most often not from God. It was the pagan Athenians who were eager to hear something new and novel (Acts 17:19). The apostles, on the other hand, set themselves to reminding Christians of the truths they had already heard (1Corinthians 4:7; 1Timothy 4:6; 2Timothy 2:14; 2Peter 1:12,13; 3:1)”.
In chapter 17 God does not have too many new things to tell Abraham apart from reminding him of their last talk 13 years ago. One of the new things God tells Abraham is: “Walk before Me, and be blameless” (verse 1). “Be blameless.” The word “blameless” means “complete, whole, having integrity.” Abram was to conduct himself as if always being in God’s presence. What a challenge for Abram and for us.
It is easy to be blameless on Sunday morning but it is far more difficult to live a blameless life Monday through Saturday. I love the book title by Bill Hybels, Who You Are When No One’s Looking: Choosing Consistency, Resisting Compromise. God wants His disciples to be people of integrity, not duplicity. God continuously repeated himself just to demonstrate how he is a God of his word. Such a God would not expect any less from those who profess to be his followers.
God asked Abraham to circumcise, he wanted this to be a sign of the seed of Abraham. Those biological descendants of Abraham through his two sons Isaac and Ishmael, and those who were bought with money, to be initiated. (I think this is the reason as to why Islam used to pay those it circumcised). Why would God ask an old man of 99yrs to circumcise if this wasn’t a serious thing that couldn’t be fixed in any other way? In the medical world, surgery is always carried where drugs have failed, knives are introduced to fix it then drugs can heal fresh wounds created by the cuts. Circumcision is the only act of surgery of its kind that is beneficial to mankind. To the modern man, circumcision has health benefits, and if you are a Muslim, then circumcision is religious, but to Abraham, it represented three things: first, it was a national identity, secondly it was a religious mark and third it was a health code.
In the medical world, surgery is always carried where drugs have failed. Knives are introduced to fix things then drugs heal fresh wounds created by the cuts. Circumcision is the only act of surgery of its kind that is beneficial to mankind. To the modern man, circumcision has health benefits, and if you are a Muslim, then circumcision is religious. But to Abraham, it represented three things: first, it was a national identity, secondly it was a religious mark and third it was a health code.
Circumcision was not all that Abraham was required to do—rather, it was the symbol of his relationship to God and signified what his moral conduct should be. Circumcision, for Abraham, meant that he had bound himself to God in this covenant. He looked forward to its blessings, and he submitted to its stipulations. Abram had been told that he would become a great nation (12:2); now he is told that in fact, he will become the ‘father of a multitude of nations’ (17:4). Beyond this, he will be the father of kings (17:6). El Shaddai promised to be a God to Abram and to his descendants (17:7), among whom we must include Abram’s spiritual seed (Galatians 3:16). The covenant was not only between Abram and God but between God and Abraham’s seed, forever. So body circumcision is not for anyone not born in the house of Abraham or of the descent of the Abrahamic family. For circumcision is the surgical removal of the prepuce, or foreskin, of a male.
The word circumcise literally means “to cut around.” As a religious rite, circumcision was required of all of Abraham’s descendants as a sign of the covenant God made with him (Genesis 17:9–14; Acts 7:8). The Mosaic Law repeated the requirement (Leviticus 12:2–3), and Jews throughout the centuries have continued to practice circumcision (Joshua 5:2–3; Luke 1:59; Acts 16:3; Philippians 3:5). This surgical issue should not be looked upon as a religious or faith issue but rather as a cultural and health issue.
For Abraham, it was all about that. CULTURE and HEALTH. Jesus himself was culturally circumcised and the reason for this was simple. He had to prove he was the messiah, of Jewish origin in the line Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Judah. No foreigner could qualify to be the messiah. Just Like Paul circumcised Timothy in Acts 16:3. Traditionally, Israel regarded circumcision as a RITE OF PASSAGE and BELONGING into a covenant relationship with the Lord. It was a seal and a confirmation of your birth as a member of Israel which was assumed to be the very family of the Lord. According to Judaism, being born a Jew and circumcised is enough to warrant you a place in the eternal world expected.
Modern Christians need to appreciate this rite of Circumcision but of course from a very different angle. For us Christians to appreciate this rite, we need to consider the magnitude of the seriousness awarded to this rite by the Jews. In Exodus 4:24-26, we are told of how God sought to kill Moses because he had refused to circumcise his family. It was his wife who intervened and circumcised her husband and displayed the flesh she had cut from Moses’ manhood and that is how the anger of this god was quenched. Everyone in the home of Abraham had to be circumcised and all those who were not BORN in that family were BOUGHT to be circumcised. The gist of the matter was that, for a person to be considered a human being, he must LIVE HEALTHY (Physically) and LIVE RIGHT (socially). But for these two goals to be reached, there needs to be a surgical operation.
Everyone in the home of Abraham had to be circumcised and all those who were not BORN in that family were BOUGHT to be circumcised. The gist of the matter was that, for a person to be considered a human being, he must LIVE HEALTHY (Physically) and LIVE RIGHT (socially). But for these two goals to be reached, there needs to be a surgical operation.
As Christians, we need this surgery in our social and spiritual lives. We need to keep our bodies healthy and at the same time circumcise our psychology too. Both the health and cultural circumcision should be understood to affect nothing as far as our salvation is concerned but these are matters of our sociology. Paul said in Gal. 5:6: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.” And again in Gal. 6:15: “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation.”
Like Abraham and his family did to their bodies, you and I need to conduct this surgery on our hearts, minds, speech patterns and acts. We no longer need to swallow pills for our sickened hearts, but a surgery we need. That was the point of Paul in Romans 2:26-29: Therefore if an uncircumcised man keeps the righteous requirements of the law, will not his uncircumcision be counted as circumcision? And will not the physically uncircumcised, if he fulfills the law, judge you who, even with your written code and circumcision, are a transgressor of the law? For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, not in the letter; whose praise is not from men but from God.
This concept was not original with the apostle Paul. As a Jew trained in the Law of Moses, he was certainly aware of this discussion from Deuteronomy 30. There, the Lord used the same metaphor to communicate His desire for a holy people: “And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your offspring, so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live” (Deuteronomy 30:6). Physical circumcision was a sign of Israel’s covenant with God; circumcision of the heart, therefore, would indicate Israel’s being set apart to love God fully, inside and out. Let all of us this year, circumcise and cut-off all infected parts from our lives and let us cut off those thoughts, words, habits etc. We must circumcise all of us, those BORN in our Families and some BOUGHT. LET US CIRCUMCISE. It might be painful to let go part of your body, but if it harms more than it helps then bear and bleed to save your whole self.
Let all of us this year, circumcise and cut-off all infected parts from our lives and let us cut off those thoughts, words, habits etc. We must circumcise all of us, those BORN in our Families and some BOUGHT. LET US CIRCUMCISE. It might be painful to let go part of your body, but if it harms more than it helps then bear and bleed to save your whole self.
Chapter 18 is a report about a God who is on his way to destroy certain cities. God then decides to pass by his friend’s home. God is presented in his human form with a need to eat and drink. This was incarnation symbolized. That God was to become man and take on the weaknesses of man as he did in the body. God did not pass by the house of Abraham accidently but he had first witnessed the pain and stress that this couple was going through. Abraham was seated in the tent looking at his fading life without realizing the promises of God come to pass. There is a time in your life when you have everything but without joy. He was stressed. I will in future discuss stress. So God passed by, not to bring an answer but to emphasize the fact that the answer was on the way. Sometimes God comes to tell us that what we prayed for is on the way, and this too is an answer.
Hahahaahah. This is for sure laughable and that is why even Sarah laughed. Sarah was the only woman that laughed at God. God sounded comical to assume that people in menopause could conceive. This was what caused the laughter. Sarah subjected God to science, she thought God was subject to the scientific systems that he had designed himself. It is important to understand that the designer cannot bow to the design. He is God omnipotent and what makes him God and Holy (set apart), is for him to do what is impossible and beyond our systems. God is the beginning and therefore he cannot be limited by time and neither can he be limited by what began. God never began, so what begins cannot be impossible for him.
God assures Abraham and us who are stressed, that what he promised will happen and we should not worry about whether we are to die or not, after all, he who promised us is also in charge of our lives. After the problem of Abraham is sorted, then Abraham launches a bargain to influence the decision of God on Sodom and Gomorrah. God had already decided to destroy the cities and he was doing that because of what he knew. Abraham also argued, depending on what he knew (his nephew Lot) and what he did not know (Lot too deserved to be burnt). God told Abraham that, “If I find only ONE…”. It is a pity that God still destroyed the cities and that was enough to explain whether Lot and his entire family was righteous or not.
The message of the bargain between Abraham and God is that cities dominated by wicked people can be saved due to the few individuals in them. This is not to say that God plays favoritism but rather to say that the decision of the righteous ones in the city can swerve the evil that is directed to the city. If you live in a house filled with careless people and you are careful, and make the right choices you can save the wicked from the danger that might befall the entire community. While on the road, one careful driver will save many careless others.
The point is that we are called to be the solution not another problem in our communities. The practical bit of this is not to follow the social trend and do what every other person is doing. Just because everyone is doing it does not make it right. Our role as Christians is not just to make a difference. Making a difference is very relative and common. What Christians are for is to be in the world but not of the world. We are called to do the right thing. Before Christians are called to sweep, they are ordained not to litter. Such simple small sins lead to the ruin of a community. Sodom and Gomorrah are going to be destroyed by a 30 minutes sex sin. Always do the right thing. Don’t just make a difference but defy the odds. That is what the bargain between Abraham and God is about.
5th January Evening
Genesis 19-20
It all begun when Lot was given a chance to make a choice and he made one depending on the looks. Sodom and Gomorrah was everything you and I would choose by the looks. This world is filled with things that look good and look right but not good and right. Villages look safe from outside. Streets look innocent. Villages sound quiet and peaceful until you become a citizen.
This reminds me of the unemployment and lack of creativity in Africa that has conditioned us to think that Europe is safer and better than Africa. From the look of things and all that we hear and see on television about Europe courtesy of Hollywood propaganda, those countries look the best solution until you get there. Lot chose his future destruction podium and poof. He dived into it.
It is always important to analyze our choices and not base them on how they look from the surface or actually how they are but also to emphasize what they might turn into. We might call this speculative but it is important for all of us to do feasibility studies and make predictions of what ifs before we choose. This brother chose a very fertile land for his animals but this fertility in the valley also attracted all sorts of evil. I don’t want to remind you of the proverb, “Not everything that glitters….”
God again came with another solution which did not intend to solve the sin of Homosexuality but the Homosexuals. The fires of Sodom were not dealing with the sin of Homosexuality but rather with the Homosexuals. These fires, however, were a symbol of the final fires that will deal with both THE SIN and THE SINNER. Because God dealt with the sinners and not the SIN, that is why our world is still suffering from the problem today. I will discuss this vice in the future of this Bible reading. What I am trying to tell you is that God had never dealt with what I call SIN until the process begun on the cross through the death and resurrection of himself, incarnated in Jesus Christ.
Lot and his family were not saved because they were any better than others. He too was evil. Too evil that he was this kind of parent who was willing to trade his virgin daughters for the angels who never needed any help. The reason why Lot was saved was because he was the only sinner who was willing to hide from the fires under the angels. The Bible says: “..the angels pulled him and shut the door themselves...”. The Bible again says, “..the angels carried them out of the cities and told them not to look back…”. RIGHTEOUSNESS BY GRACE THROUGH FAITH cannot be explained any better. It is God who saves sinners like Lot and I by his Grace. All we need to do is to believe and not look back.
Jesus cautioned people by these words, REMEMBER Mrs. Lot. The only thing we can remember about Mrs. Lot is that she was a good mother but a careless parent. Sodom and Gomorrah were the cities she knew and where she had raised her family. Unlike the case of Noah where every family member got on board, the Family of Lot had subscribed to various gods and religions in these sinful cities. So when the angels, through Lot and the wife, evangelized to their children and relatives, they just went into debates.
This woman looked back fundamentally for two reasons;
1. She was not sure about how different this God who was leading her out was from the gods of Sodom and Gomorrah. And because of this, she was also not sure of where this God was leading her to. She was so conversant with Sodom and Gomorrah and knew how to maneuver than another foreign land.
My young brother and I were born in Bugolobi and we have lived in the city since then. We have only been to the village a few times. We are so accustomed to the city and its ways. However, at one point life became so hard for us and we left the city for other worlds we were never used to. We eventually returned. But life being life, at a certain point, I have argued with my unemployed brother to go back to the village and plan life from there. His answer has always been; I cannot leave town.
This brother is not employed, has nothing, and neither is he growing economically. He rejects all that just because of the city. This is was the problem of Mrs. Lot. When the angels by grace had carried them out of town, Mr. and Mrs. Lot had the audacity to negotiate which other town they wanted to go to. God had planned another city but Lot again insisted on another place from that which God had ordained. This was the first reason as to why Mrs. Lot looked back. She never fully knew and trusted this God and therefore never liked the strange and unknown destiny he was leading her to. So she looked back at what she knew and appreciated most. In fact, the Looking back of this woman was not a mere gaze but a physical backward struggle.
2. The second reason this woman looked back was because some of her children and relatives were left to burn and die in these cities. When we convert to Jesus Christ, we still treasure our past experiences. We still keep the same company, still not condemn the discotheques, the alcohol, the brothels, etc. – whatever we used to enjoy before our conversion. We love Jesus and keep with him for future purposes but at present, we remain the same people and do the same things we used to do. Our lifestyles never change and neither do we ever become new creatures but rather old creatures in Christ Jesus.
We become alcoholic Christians, smoking deacons, fighting brethren, back-biting and rumor mongering sisters. We are in Christ Jesus and on our way to eternal life but our mind and eyes are focused and fixed to our past. We have all sorts of defense and excuses of our habits of looking and acting back. We justify every sin we do. And our excuses can range from;
We justify every sin we do. And our excuses can range from; we are not saved by what we do or not do, alcohol is not bad as long as you don’t get drunk and hurt yourself, property or others, God knows my weaknesses and I am sure he understands, None is perfect we are all sinners, who are you to judge me? And many more excuses we might come up with. The response that God gave to all these excuses was REMEMBER Mrs. LOT.
It is surprising to see Lot sleeping with his daughters in the city of his choice. Good people of God, let us always learn to obey God and his choices for our lives at the expense of our favorite ones. Where Lot went, things turned out more difficult more sinful that it was in the Sodom and Gomorrah. Now we have enough evidence that Lot was a sinner just saved by grace. It is important to note that even the saved can fall, and the difference in the fall of Lot from that of Mrs. Lot is that, he fell while Mrs. Lot chose to.
Chapter 20 is about lying to survive. However, to conclude that Abraham lied is a difficult one, since Sarah was actually his cousin sister. So the word sister applied in that scenario necessitated survival. In this unfortunate world, we find ourselves telling HALF-TRUTHS and HALF-LIES. This was what Abraham did. This couple was such a conspiracy couple. Like they agreed to hurt Hagar, they again agreed to manipulate Abimelech. Let’s not look at the evil side alone but also look at the good side of this couple. They are friends in need and friends indeed. They are partners in crime and fellow congregants in the temple. They worshiped together, prayed together, lived together and sinned together. They were always on the same team.
I think people in marriages and intimate relationships should emulate this couple. Perhaps this is what FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE means. Abraham, on several occasions, took the advantage of the beauty of his wife and traded her for the pasture and survival of the family. I am not saying it was the proper thing and God actually intervened like he always did to the poor choices of this couple. My point here is that the married and those in relationships must always stick together through thick and thin. You must always take the side of your spouse. In fact, it goes even as far as siding with them even when they wrong. You side with your man or woman against the public and fix it later indoors.
Another interesting lesson in chapter 20 is the God who does not punish Abraham for telling half-truth but victimizes Abimelech the deceived. Why didn’t God hold Abraham responsible but attack the innocent Abimelech? God has no control over our choices but he does control matters in nature and the world. So whatever we choose will always hit the systems of operation in the universe and come back to us. We can, therefore, conclude that God cannot choose for us but those choices we make will always be subject to how the world operates. That is what we mean when we say that: God might help you supply information so that you make the right choice but once you have made one, God has no power over the consequences of your choices.
The choice of this couple disturbed the king and the royal palace. Another reason was that God took advantage of Abraham’s weakness and presented himself before Abimelech as a mighty God. Despite the fact that Abimelech had his gods, after that night, he and his gods bowed to the God of Abraham. This will be a recurrent behavior of this God throughout the Bible. God will be provoking and challenging other gods and status quo of other societies just to establish himself beyond the ranks of Abraham and his descendants.
The chronicler tells that Abimelech obeyed the God of Abraham and worshiped him through giving Abraham all he wanted. Am very sure this king died a worshipper of this God who visited him in the night and the conversation began since then. GOD IS PROVOCATIVE, that is why I am one of the most stubborn evangelists. Sometimes you must pull their toes. Not every toe of course.
God bless you. I invoke TRUTH, KNOWLEDGE, and FAITH.
Am Pr. I.T.White. THE GOSPEL HAWKER
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