February 3, 2008

"I Believe in Jesus"

Zechariah 3: 1- 10; Matthew 1: 21 

One of the most destructive forces in human experience is failure.  As a former teacher, I've seen students devastated by academic failure.  Sometimes kids do poorly because they are monkeying around and don't really care about school.  But, sometimes it's the other way around.  Students don't care about school because they have failed time and again to meet the expectations of their parents or of themselves. 

In the movie "Chariots of Fire" Harold Abraham was speaking with his roommate, Aubrey Montague, about running.  And when Montague expressed some frustration with losing, Abraham replied smartly, "I don't know how that feels.  I've never lost."  But he found out what it felt like when he lost a race to Eric Liddell.  And he almost gave up on running.

Failure can also be discouraging for a church.  Some years ago I remember being interviewed by a church that was considering calling me.  In the interview one of elders told me, "We're really not interested in a lot of new programs; we're burned out on that.  Some of our past ministers sold us on new programs only to have them fizzle or he'd leave before they got off the ground.  And we'd get all excited for nothing." 

It was precisely this feeling of failure that prevented the Jews from rebuilding the temple.    You might recall that because of their sin, God had allowed the people to be led away into captivity in Babylon.  After 70 years of captivity the Persian king Cyrus allowed them to return to their homeland.  One of the projects they began working on when the returned was to rebuild the temple.  Cyrus had even decreed that do this and provided them aid.   But, once they started building they came up against one obstacle after another.  At the first their neighbors told they also wanted to help them with the temple.  But when the Jewish leaders refused their help, they were insulted and began to make trouble for the Jews with the local Persian governors.   Finally they wrote a letter to Cyrus' successor Artaxerxes, making false accusations against the Jews.  This resulted in the king ordering them to stop building.  Later they appealed the king allowed them to rebuild.  But, by that time, the people were demoralized and ready to give up.  Fifteen years after they laid the foundation, the temple still remained unbuilt.  So God sent his prophets Haggai and Zechariah to encourage them.  Our scripture for this morning is one of a series of visions that God sent to Zechariah that he might proclaim hope to his discouraged people.

But, before we look at that prophecy, we should also note that some of the people had returned to idol worship.  And they began marrying the pagan people around them, something God had forbidden them to do.  In fact, in many ways they were repeating the same sins that caused God to send their grandparents into captivity seventy years earlier. 

Moral failure can also be discouraging. (By moral failure I mean our sins and guilt and shame that accompany them.)  It can cause us to give up on trying correcting a spiritual weakness or fault.  For example, some Christians struggle with anger.  Try as they might to change they fall back time after time.  Finally, they give up and conclude-- That's just the way I am.  And there's nothing I can do about it.

Moral failure also has led many Christians to turn a deaf ear to God's call.  Aware of their sins and weakness, they refuse to get involved in church, concluding that they just aren't good enough.   And so when they're asked to teach Sunday School or serve on council or when someone suggest to them that they have the gifts for ministry, they respond by saying, "No, I can't possibly do that.  That's for more spiritual people than me.

Now we are ready to consider the prophecy we read in our scripture.  It comes in the form of a very strange vision.  Zechariah sees the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord.  Now, in the Old Testament, the angel of the Lord was really a manifestation of the Lord himself.  Zechariah was seeing the high priest standing before the Lord.  It probably a vision of Atonement Day, when once a year the high priest would enter a room in the temple called the Most Holy Place or the Holy of Holies.  (That was where that special box called the Ark of the Covenant was. You might recall that inside that box were artifacts that symbolized God's relationship with his people-a bowl of manna, the stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments, and Aaron's rod.  Indeed the box itself symbolized that special relationship.) In that room he would meet with God, taking along blood from bull and the goat that he had sacrificed on the altar.  And he was to sprinkle this blood on the atonement cover or mercy seat of the ark.  I don't have time explain all of this.  You can read about it in Leviticus 16.  But, the reason he did this was to make atonement for the people's sins. 

What does atonement mean?  Let me show you. If we divide the word into parts, it will help.  At-One-Ment.  Atonement is the way by which God can be one with his people.  For the Jews it was the way by God could live with them and protect them and bless them.  Now, what prevented that?  Their sin.

A story form the Bible might help illustrate what I mean.  When the Israelites were conquering the land, they first conquered the mighty city of Jericho, with its thick walls and strong defenses.  After that they went up against the little town Ai.  Since they easily conquered Jericho they thought they would have no trouble against Ai.  So, Joshua sent only a small part of his army against it.  But, the people of Ai soundly defeated the Israelites and killed many of their soldiers. Why?  One reason and one only: because God was not with them.  And why wasn't he with them?  Because one man named Achan had disobeyed God and taken some of the booty from Jericho after God told them not to.  As a way of atoning for this sin Joshua order that he and his family be stoned.  Only then was God's anger against them satisfied and was he willing to continue to be with them and bless them with victory. And so, if the people wanted God to continue be with them they had to atone for their sins.  The blood sprinkled on the mercy seat substituted for the blood of the sinner.   

But what a weird atonement scene!  For not only were the priest and God present, but Satan was also there.   Now, the name Satan means adversary.  You see, Satan not only tempts us, he is also the one who opposes us before God.  He is the one who points out our sins and failures.  He does this so God will no longer be with us and bless us.

We struggle with our feelings of guilt and shame over our sin.  These feelings of guilt and shame can either be of God or of Satan?  They can either be the prompting of God's Spirit on your conscience or the adversary pointing his accusing finger at you. How do you tell the difference?  There is one certain way.   By determining what those feelings are leading you to do.  If they lead you to further shame, guilt and despair and leave you there, they are of Satan.  If they lead you to repent and know God's forgiveness and then to go out and serve him, they are from God.  Remember what God's purpose always is,

I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live.  (Ezekiel 33: 7)

Satan's purpose is always our death.   God's purpose is our redemption.  Listen to what the angel of God says to Satan

The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you!  Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?"

The reason that the Lord received Judah in spite of her disobedience and sin was that he had chosen this people to be his very own.  Although they were headed for destruction as a nation, he plucked them from the fire and preserved them for his very own.  And nothing could stand in the way of God's sovereign choice. Because they were chosen by God, they could count on the fact that he would receive them.  By the way, what is that verse we have been repeating week after week? 

Ephesians 1: 4- 5

For he chose us (you and me and all who believe) in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will

We also are sticks snatched out of the fire.

Another weird thing about this vision is what high priest is wearing.

 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel

The word that is used for filthy is the Hebrew word soim, which is the strongest Hebrew expression for filth.  It refers to pollution of the vilest and most loathsome character.  Some commentators believed that in the vision Joshua was covered with excrement. 

Now, priests who came into the presence of God were supposed to not only have clean garments, but also to purify their garments by means of a special ceremony in which they were sprinkled with the blood of a ram.  This way they would appear pure and holy before a holy God.  We must also not that the priest's job was to represent the people before God.  In this case, the priest's dirty clothes represented the vile and loathsome nature of the people's guilt. 

Now to appear before God in such a way certainly meant death.  But, remember God chose his people for life.  He plucked them from the fire that they might live in his presence.  So, instead of killing Joshua on the spot,

The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes."  Then he said to Joshua, "See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you."

God's purpose is to remove our guilt that we might live in his presence and know his blessing.

The name of the high priest is very important.  As we said Joshua was the actual high priest as that moment in history.  But like many Biblical characters his name had special meaning.  The name Joshua means "the Lord saves"

That was precisely the reason why Israel could have hope-- because the Lord had chosen to save them. And how would the Lord carry out his salvation?  Look at verses 8- 9.

 "'Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch.  See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,' says the LORD Almighty, 'and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.

He would carry out his salvation through "the branch" and through the "stone"   Who is the branch and the stone?  Jeremiah the prophet speaks of the branch

Jeremiah 33:15

  "'In those days and at that time I will make a righteous Branch sprout from David's line; he will do what is just and right in the land.

The apostle Peter writes this about the stone,

I Peter 2: 6  For in Scripture (Isaiah 28: 16) it says: "See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame."

The stone and branch are the same person.  He is none other than God own Son Jesus.  Do you know what the name Jesus means?  The name Jesus is the Greek way of saying the Hebrew name Joshua, "the Lord saves."  And why is he called Jesus or Joshua.  Listen to the words of our text, message the angel gave to Joseph,

She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins."

As believers in Jesus we have hope in spite of our sins and failures, because God chosen to save us in and through his Son Jesus Christ.

Whenever recite the Apostle's Creed and we say with mouth and heart I believe in Jesus, we are saying that we believe we have been chosen by God to receive salvation in and through his Son.

And as those who believe that we should never let our failures stop us from trying to be all that God intends us to be and from doing all that he calls us to do.

During these past couple of weeks I have to admit that I personally have gone through a bit of the same feelings that they people of Judah had.  A week ago Saturday, I received the new Yearbooks, which contains all the statistics on CRC churches. Did you know that last year our church grew by 25 people?  I checked back: Since 2005, 40 people became new members of our church.  These numbers made me think about the new faces that I see worshipping with us on Sunday morning.  What are blessing you are to all of us.  What an encouragement!  God has blessed us. When I thought of I felt a little like the Jews did when they received that decree from Cyrus to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple.

But, then as I was reveling in that, my bubble was burst.  On Friday, our treasurer, Jim told me that he couldn't pay any more bills or make payroll because we are $2000 in the red.   And then as I thought about that I remembered what Cindy and Rhonda told me last Sunday.  Very few people signed up for nursery and children's church. They didn't know what to do.  Then I thought about how hard we've struggled to find Sunday School teachers and volunteers for Bible school.  And I began to fret about what kind of leader I had been.  Then I began to reflect on the individuals and families in our church who are really struggling right now.  And thought of the opportunities I had missed to minister to them.  When I thought all of those things I began to feel like a failure.

Please don't feel that I am saying in some manipulative way to my finger at your weakness, because I see God's finger pointed at me.  The truth that all of us are stand before God with filthy clothes.  And this is not only because of our personal sins, but also because of the fact that we really haven't loved him above all and given him our best.  Recalling that Jesus calls us to give him 100% of ourselves, how many of us even give him 10% of our money?  As a result, I worry that our whether our temple building might be grinding to a halt.  I worry whether God is still with us.

And maybe this bothers some of you as well.  Or maybe there are other struggles in your life that are occupying your mind

Today in and through his Word the Spirit God comes to us and says, I am the one who saves.  I snatched you out of the fire.  Take off your rags put on new clothes.  And get busy building my temple. I am with you.  AMEN!