Numbers 21:4-9
This story about the use of a copper serpent seems out of place in this account of God’s response to the complaints of the people in the desert. Isn’t the making of a graven image a violation of the second commandment? Yet the instruction to build the thing comes from God! Why didn’t God simply heal the people after they had confessed their sin and Moses had prayed for them? Perhaps it is because the solution, building and displaying a copper serpent, called for a response by the people. They had to be a partner in their healing by taking the appropriate action.
The apocryphal book called “The Wisdom of Solomon” addresses this concern: “For the one who turned toward it was saved, not by the thing that was beheld, but by you, the Savior of all” (Wisdom 16:7).
That this object proved to be a temptation was demonstrated when one of the first reforms accomplished by King Hezekiah was that “He broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it” (2 Kings 18:4).
Nevertheless, so vivid was the collective memory of this event that Jesus referred to it three times in the gospel of John, comparing it to his crucifixion: “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14; see also John 8:28 and 12:32).
Frank R.
Numbers 21:4-9
The people of Israel had become impatient with all their hardships. Americans are very impatient too. An Associated Press poll in the last decade indicated that we will not wait more than five minutes when on hold on the phone, or 15 minutes in line. “Time is money,” we say. But as 19th-century English writer Charles Caleb Colton put it: “impatience is the ruin of strength.” Impatient people need somebody to fix things for them; they are not strong enough, don’t have the persistence it takes, to do it themselves.
In this lesson we are reminded that God fixes things, but in surprising, seemingly unappealing ways (like the cross), so it’s clear that it is only God’s grace, and not our own strength, that gets us through the tough times. And so he uses a serpent (a statue of one) in our lesson. It is as John Calvin put it: “In order, therefore, they might perceive themselves to be rescued from death by the mere grace of God alone, a mode of preservation was chosen so discordant with human reason, as to be subject to laughter” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. III.2, p. 155). Such laughter, such absurdity, helps us recognize the absurdity of all our efforts -- and then with Martin Luther we can say about the ways of God: “You do not seek Him; rather He sees you...” (Complete Sermons, Vol. 2/1, p. 344).
Mark E.
Ephesians 2:1-10
The speaker described his former life. He said he had done a lot of things of which he was ashamed. He rebelled and drank obsessively. On a number of occasions he was rude to his mother. He was self-centered and deeply depressed. He was really, really unhappy. But then he smiled and said, “God’s grace changed my life.”
Likewise, many of us can attest to the emptiness of our former lives. To be sure, our individual circumstances may be different from that speaker’s circumstances, but we remember our situation prior to our recognition of God’s grace. In my case I wasn’t a hellraiser per se, but I knew that something was missing in my life. I didn’t have a clue about the meaning of life. I didn’t know what to do when I did wrong. I didn’t know why I was here. But then came God’s grace, and I knew I was different.
Now, I don’t know what your story is, but your testimony could well be similar. For you too know the difference between your former life without grace and the life you now experience with grace.
Among other things, our scripture is a contrast between the “before” and “after” of Christian experience. The author begins by reminding the believers in Ephesus of their former life without Christ. Then he describes the glorious new life in Christ which has now become theirs. In essence, the author points out what salvation is, the way it comes to the believer, and where it leads.
(Introduction to the sermon “The Gospel in a Nutshell” by Hal Brady, from The Wesleyan Preaching Annual Vol. 2 [CSS Publishing]; used by permission)
Derl K.
Ephesians 2:1-10
Almost every week I get an e-mail from an organization offering to give me money. They flatter me that I have been selected from many others. The amounts are astronomical, like $9 million! All I have to do to get the money is to fill out a form with information about me, including my bank account, etc. Like I have to give myself to them! They are all spam -- all con games!
If all I cared about was getting rich, it might be fine -- except that it is a scam to see how greedy I am. I might be tempted if I followed the ways of the world; but since I don’t want to do anything dishonest that would bring shame on me and on my Lord, I checked with fellow Christians who told me that I should erase these messages.
Satan tempts us with all kinds of wonderful things that we might get if we followed him (but of course, he doesn’t tell you who he is or what it will cost). It would be so easy to fall for all the great promises he makes if we follow the ways of the ruler of this world.
If we put our faith in our Lord, he will save us from falling victim to the devil’s lies.
It also seems like a promise beyond anything we could hope for when we think of the great bargain of forgiveness, which can give us life eternal (not just $9 million)! To receive it, all we have to do is put our faith in our Lord who paid for our sins. Even if we fell for the devil’s temptations, he would still forgive us. We have to be careful that whatever we do might hurt our Lord, that we don’t commit the last sin of Judas. I believe that Judas would also have been forgiven if he had repented and asked for forgiveness.
One thing we should remember is that good works are not evil if we do them because of our love for the Lord who saved us, rather than because we hope they will earn our way into His Kingdom. We are given assignments from the Lord because we are already one of His children. Having a job for the Lord is a blessing and a sign that he trusts us to do it -- with His help.
Bob O.
John 3:14-21
In his song from a few years ago titled “John 3:16,” Wyclef Jean tells us why we need this word more than ever before. In the final chorus (lyrics available at http://genius.com/Muggs-john-3-16-lyrics) he sings about what John 3:16 can mean when every man packs an M-16, for the dream is still green. The continuing reality of all these bad things -- violence, drug culture, growing secularism (the fastest-growing group in religious preference surveys is the “no affiliation” group), and the mad chase for the green (money) from which there is no escape -- raises the challenge for us of what John 3:16 can mean. Martin Luther offers us some insight on this problem, why it is happening, and what God’s love can do about it: “This shows how foolish and crazy the world is, and so possessed of the devil that it does not take delight in such a gift, unwilling even to take hold of and accept what it is offered. Were it a gulden or a new coat, the world would grab it with both hands and be happy. But since it is the Son of God Himself, everyone acts as though he had no need of the like of Him” (Complete Sermons, Vol. 6, p. 199).
But when we realize that we have this gift, Luther adds, it changes our lives, may make a difference in getting us out of the drug culture, secularism, and greed that currently surround us. The gift of love we have, the Reformer claims, is like a child born in his/her parents’ home, with a right to the inheritance by birth. As the child grows into adulthood the adult child will seek to increase the family inheritance: “[The child of the house] does not first of all gain the inheritance by our works; yet we must be co-laborers with the Father to increase it” (Complete Sermons, Vol. 2/1, p. 349). God’s love and John 3:16 move us to increase His love, until green and secularism, drugs and violence, won’t mean as much someday, even today.
Mark E.
