The real heart of Amos’ prophecies was his message to the people of the northern kingdom of Israel (sometimes also called Ephraim, after its dominant tribe). So, when we get to verse 6 of chapter 2, we come to the heart of Amos’ message. Everything has been a preparation for this.

You can find my comments on the earlier portions of this prophecy here:

• Amos 1:1

• Amos 1:2

• Amos 1:3-15

• Amos 2:1-5.

The other nations have been condemned only to underline the message of judgement against Israel. The dramatic, repeated formula appears again:

כֹּה אָמַ֣ר יְהוָ֔ה עַל־שְׁלֹשָׁה֙ פִּשְׁעֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל וְעַל־אַרְבָּעָ֖ה לֹ֣א אֲשִׁיבֶ֑נּוּ

“Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn back….”

What had they done?

(1.) They have mistreated the poor (vv.6-8): “…because they sell the righteous for silver, and the needy for a pair of sandals — they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way….”

It seems to me that the following phrases are intended to speak of the same sorts of crimes: “father and son go in to the same girl, so that my holy name is profaned; they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink wine bought with fines they imposed.” I’m taking “father and son go in to the same girl” to mean that father and son (in a household) are sexually abusing the same servant girl. My reason for taking it that way is the context: the crimes listed are crimes of the rich taking advantage of the poor. So, also, their crimes against the poor are illustrated by “garments taken in pledge” and “wine bought with fines they imposed.”

The clear message of the Bible is that nations are judged by their treatment of the poor. Why have Christians so often lost sight of this?

I suppose Amos, if he lived today and were speaking to us would be accused of “class warfare.” But, it is a repeated theme in the message of the prophets: the measure of a society is how it treats its weakest, most vulnerable members. There is a very real sense in which God has a bias toward the poor — just as God has a bias toward the needy and the helpless and the outcast.

We need to consider this when we think about our values and our economics. The prophets of the Old Testament are clear — and we should heed it — the nations will be judged by how they treat the poor and the vulnerable.

Our politics and our views on economics need to be informed by the prophets. We need to hear what they say about fairness and justice, about inequality and equity. We cannot allow partisan politics — and the prevailing political options of the day — to blind us to the values the Bible points us toward. It’s not about politics in the usual partisan sense — it is about recognizing God’s values. It’s not a partisan issue, folks. It’s just a Christian issue.

“If you close your ear to the cry of the poor, you will cry out and not be heard.” (Proverbs 21:13 NRSV).

(2.) They silenced the voice of the godly (vv. 11, 12): “But you made the nazirites drink wine, and commanded the prophets, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy.’”

They did not worship God and they would not hear the voice of God’s servants. They sought to corrupt them. They sought to silence them. And why would that be? The voice of God’s people is an independent voice — not beholden to the powers that be. The prophets speak from a higher authority. Their voices challenge the culture and they challenge the powerful. Every Nazarite who takes and keeps his vows (see Numbers 6:1-21) speaks to the world about a higher reality. He says there is a reason to forgo some of the pleasures of life: there is a higher purpose to life. There is a God, who deserves our allegiance. That’s why the Nazarites’ vow was so intolerable. It points to God.

The people had shamed and silenced those that God had raised up. “And I raised up some of your children to be prophets and some of your youths to be nazirites. Is it not indeed so, O people of Israel? says the LORD.” (v. 11). And, why was all of this so especially bad? Because they had been favored by God (vv.9, 10).

Here Amos refers to the events we find recorded in the books of Moses: the deliverance from Egypt, the wanderings through the wilderness and the establishment of the nation in the land where Amorites had formerly lived. As I said before, Amos is a radical traditionalist: he takes the shared history of the people and applies it to his own day.

This assumes that the people already know this story. When were the first copies of the material in Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy written down? We will probably never know conclusively. It is natural to suppose that some editing of these writings occurred during the exile of Judah and then, again during it’s first establishment back in Palestine. But, the stories certainly pre-date Amos (thought to be the first of the writing prophets). He assumes the people are quite familiar with the story.

They are a people favored by God. But, they have become greedy and materialistic. They have silenced the voices of the prophets. And, Amos’ message to them is this: You want to see judgement come to the nations for their sins? Then, be prepared for judgement on yourselves!

“So, I will press you down in your place, just as a cart presses down when it is full of sheaves. Flight shall perish from the swift, and the strong shall not retain their strength, nor shall the mighty save their lives; those who handle the bow shall not stand, and those who are swift of foot shall not save themselves, nor shall those who ride horses save their lives; and those who are stout of heart among the mighty shall flee away naked in that day, says the LORD.” (Amos 2:13-16 NRSV).

It was a difficult message to hear. Everything must have seemed fine. The wealthy were prosperous, and seemingly secure. But, the moral foundations of the nation had corroded — under the influence of materialism and greed. Amos doesn’t need to name an enemy nation. One will come. The kingdom’s fall is just a matter of time.

It is also a message to all of those who have been favored by God but forget the poor.

For monthly supporters on Ko-Fi: there are sermon presentation files for a message on this passage (number #5 in the series on the prophet Amos) in the shop for free download here. They are in PPTX and ODP formats. They contain speaker’s notes, transitions and animations. You are free to edit, or modify these as you wish. Or: you can just use them as a sermon starter. You may download them here: Danger in the Good Times.

Some of these may have text too small for congregations to read, so be careful about that. (Sometimes I let Microsoft and their design suggestions have their way.) I put another image below, so you can see what I’m talking about.

I’m just pulling together a few reflections on this story today. I won’t be going through the passage verse by verse: just a few thoughts especially for preachers, but also for everyone.

(1.) It’s a narrative: present it in a narrative style. This one of my long standing frustrations with preaching & listening to preachers: how do we make our message more story-like and less essay-like? I have been asked by lay speakers and aspiring preachers: how do you preach on a story?

The question should be: how do I preach on something essay-like like the Pauline epistles — where story needs to be supplied by me?

I actually enjoy reading 19th Century preaching. But, I would never want to preach like that. It’s too dry and logical and formal. It goes on far too long. It’s all propositional. It does not respect human nature. We are still like little children a way: we want someone to read us a story.

When God wanted to communicate with us, God inspired the minds of story-tellers. The Bible is one long inter-connected story. Christian faith sees the whole of the Bible as having it’s focus in Jesus Christ.

Preach stories. Preach the story of Christ. Make the essay-like portions of the Bible more story-like. Let the story-like passages carry you forward by their own energy. The late evangelist Billy Graham often did this — allowing the story to carry his message.

Confession: My life-long frustration is learning this, trying to get better at this: learning to let ideas flow because they need some sort of narrative structure to communicate best.

(2) It’s a story about Jesus. I cringe a bit when the preacher announces this text. That’s because I’m a United Methodist and “mainline” preachers are embarrassed by the miraculous elements in the Bible. So, it seems like the safe route here to turn this into a story about the need for the crowd to share their lunch with each other. One preacher I heard went on to claim that this was the greater miracle, anyway. But, if it hadn’t been for (felt) need to avoid the miraculous element in the story, this story would never have been turned into the story of everybody-share-your-lunch in the first place! In the attempt to avoid the miraculous, the whole focus of the story is changed. Instead of being a story that focuses on Jesus, this becomes a story about the crowd.

But, this story only became known and spread in the first place because it pointed to the uniqueness of Jesus in providing nourishment when there (essentially) was none.

(3) It’s a connected story. Nevertheless, in telling this story the preacher should not just draw out little unconnected life-lessons and move on. Like other messages, thought needs to be given to the main point (and minor points) one wishes to convey.

(4) The event here was understood to be a miracle. You need to get over any hesitancy you may have about that. You can’t explain a miracle. So, there’s nothing wrong with saying: ‘I don’t know what happened here or how.’ But, here is what we are being told through this story: we place what we have in the hands of Jesus and it becomes enough. Or: something like that. There are plenty of mysterious things in the world. We will never fully understand this one (personally: I can’t envision this:, what did it look like?).

(5) It seems like a good idea to connect this story with the sacrament of holy communion. This story is about grace being conveyed through everyday objects. We are in the habit of making miraculous claims about what God accomplishes in Holy Communion, too. I do not fully understand Christ’s presence in the bread and cup. But, I am thankful for it, and receive it by faith.

(6) But, nonetheless, it is a story about sharing what you have. So, now I turn around and say a good word for the everybody-shared-their-lunch interpretation. Jesus says to them: “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” (verse 16). So, it really is (in part) about the disciples’ willingness to use what they had to provide for the people rather than just send them away (verse 15). Nothing is said about resources the crowd may have had.

Jesus Teaches Prayer

#1-Praying for God’s Kingdom Matthew 6:5-15.
“Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”

​#2-God Gives Good Gifts Matthew 7:7-12

“ If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”

#3-A House of Prayer Matthew 21:12-13

“’My house shall be called a house of prayer’;
but you are making it a den of robbers.”

#4-How Do I Talk to God? Luke 11:1-4

“When you pray, say:....”

#5-Lord, Teach Us to Pray Luke 11:1-4

“Lord, teach us to pray, as John taught his disciples.”

#6-How Much More Luke 11:5-13

“If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

#7-Persistent Praying Luke 18:1-8

“Then Jesus told them a parable about their need to pray always and not to lose heart.”

#8-Two Prayers Luke 18:9-14

“Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.” ​

#9-Wake Up and Pray! Luke 22:39-46

“Get up and pray that you may not come into the time of trial.”

#10-The Lord’s Prayer John 17.

“Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one.”

RANDOM NOTES ON THESE FILES: These contain speaker’s notes which might be helpful — or not. They are only suggestions, to get you get started in thinking about how to develop the ideas on the slides. As always, you are free to use these however you wish. If there is something there you disagree with, BY ALL MEANS CHANGE IT! Don’t preach something you can’t defend during the week. I keep trying to get better at this, and will upload improved or updated files if I feel that is warranted. I am discovering that the ODP do not always look as good as I wish they did. I am still learning this format.

I am (of course) continuing my series on Amos but I have no idea (at this point) how many messages will be in that series. Other files will be going up also.

Review: You don’t see what the prophet is doing here until you see that Amos 1-2 is a unit. And, it is carefully structured. Verse 2 pictures the LORD (YHWH) roaring like a lion. Then a series or oracles of judgement follow. Each is for a different nation. They are introduced with this repeated formula:

עַל־שְׁלֹשָׁה֙ פִּשְׁעֵ֣י

“For three transgressions of _____________,

עַל־אַרְבָּעָ֖ה לֹ֣א אֲשִׁיבֶ֑נּוּ

and for four, I will not turn back….”

There is a certain rhetorical power in this repeated formula. But, this whole poetic prophecy is going somewhere. It’s building. It is going to end in an extended prophecy of judgement at the end (in our chapter 2). And, the weight of this prophecy of judgement is going to fall on Israel. In Chapter 1 verses 3-15 Amos mentions: Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, and the Ammonites. There is a pattern here. And, it starts to become clearer in this chapter. The prophecies are coming closer to home.

With Damascus, Gaza, and Tyre we simply have enemies. But, with Edom, and the Ammonites (and then, the Moabites, mentioned in this chapter) we have near-relatives. The Edomites were believed to be descendants of Israel’s brother Esau. And the Ammonites (like the Moabites) were believed to be descendants of Abraham’s nephew Lot. So, as Amos moves along here, he is getting closer and closer to his real targets: Judah and Israel.

So, the list continues:

I found these remarks in The Wesley Study Bible:

The atrocities recounted here are recognized by all peoples as crimes against humanity, so the nations are accountable to the Creator, the Lord. Since Judah and Israel have a revelation of God’s righteousness…, their guilt is greater than the nations’. Even Jerusalem, the site of God’s throne… is liable to judgment (2: 5).

It is worth noting at this point: Amos’ prophecies do not come out of nowhere. They are rooted in the particular history of the people of Israel. He assumes they know the story and they know what the law is. it is not a matter of the prophet simply saying: ‘This is true because I say so.’ He is reminding them of their history and the particular revelation of God that has been given to these particular people. The prophetic tradition assumes and builds upon the Mosaic tradition.

I realize that there is some uncertainty about the writing and editing of the Old Testament books as we have them in their present form. Certainly the exile and restoration of the nation are shaping influences on the books as we have them. but, the prophets remind us that they are much older than that. Before there could be an Amos calling the people back to faithfulness, there first had to be patriarchs and a law giver.

Like all true prophets Amos is a radical traditionalist. His word grows out of the words already given by others before him — but he radically applies the inner principles of that tradition to the times in which he lived.

What was Judah’s sin?

• They rejected the Law of YHWH.
  They were under blood oath to keep this according to Exodus 24:8. It was part of their covenant with God. But, they had no respect for the Law.

• They have not kept YHWH’s statutes.
  Of course, this phrase is typical Hebrew parallelism (redundancy), but it reminds us that the statutes of God are not only to be respected — they are to be followed.

• They turned to Idolatry.
  Most commentators think that’s what the phrase “they have been led astray by the same lies after which their ancestors walked” means. They followed after false gods and false prophets.

When the truth is uncomfortable, the tendency is to turn to those with an easier message. As Jesus said, of those to whom much has been given, much will be required (Luke 12:48). Those who have received a revelation of God’s will have a responsibility to keep it.

The question for us is: how is the Church of Jesus Christ doing in keeping the teachings of Christ? Are we quick to condemn others when our own house is not in order?

I am reminded of this quote from Maximus the Confessor:

Whoever is curious about the sins of others, or judges his brother on suspicion, has not yet laid the beginning of repentance and has not taken care to get to known his own sins, which are truly heavier than a lead weight of many pounds, and does not known why a man who loves vanity and seeks after falsehood becomes slow of heart (cf. Psalm 4:3), and therefore, as a man senseless and roaming in darkness, he, leaving his own sins, dreams of those of others, whether true or imagined on suspicion alone.

How quick we are to condemn! How slow we are to examine ourselves! But, Amos knew himself to be part of a people who were under the judgement of God — for he was himself a member of the tribe of Judah. But, the real crux of this prophecy is what comes next in verses 6-16. Amos primarily prophesied against the northern kingdom of Israel.

And to that we turn next….

For monthly supporters on Ko-fi: there are sermon presentation files for a message on this passage (number #4 in the series on the prophet Amos) in the shop for free download here. They are in PPTX and ODP formats. They contain some speaker’s notes to help get you started. You are free to edit, or modify this as you wish. Or: you can just use it as a sermon starter.

For many years I have had a personal website on the Internet: https://craigladams.com/ which also contains a WordPress blog: https://blog.craigladams.com/ and a collection of holiness books (the heart of which I scanned long, long ago): https://www.craigladams.com/Books/.

I have decided it’s all coming down. There are a lot of reasons for that — which I’d rather not go into right now. The material there will go back up in some form — but I’m not sure what and where just yet. My web hosting is paid through December, so the transition can be slow. But, I’ve known for years that I need to abandon that particular project. At some point, https://craigladams.com/ will redirect to whatever new platform it is to which I have migrated.

Yeah, Substack is interesting — and there are a lot of interesting people here, but I don’t think this will be the primary platform I settle on. I am busily following people and subscribing (for free, so far) to people here. My already overstuffed email inbox is getting flooded with Substack emails, but they are all going to a separate Substack folder — which I might glance at if I feel like it. As a long-time WordPress user, I appreciate the writing tools on Substack. But, Substack is oriented to hosting essays (long form, from what I’ve seen), and podcasts, and live feeds. I currently have no interest at all in live feeds and podcasts — and essays are only part of what I’d like to do. So Substack doesn’t feel like home. It feels like a platform for publicizing things I’m doing on some other platform.

I’m experimenting with Patreon, but, honestly, I’m not satisfied, and I’m still looking. I put up a Bible Study + Sermon slides post recently, so I’ve got some idea of what can be done on that platform, but the writing tools are poor, and the way it is oriented toward Membership tiers doesn’t really fit with what I’m imagining.

I love writing Bible Study + Sermon Slides posts, but it’s rather time consuming. If I can be of assistance to preachers, that would be great.

So, for now, here are some links to some things at my various Internet projects:

Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23: The Parable of the Sower: Comments and Sermon Presentation Files. (If you click this link, tell me how this worked for you.)

The Way of Blessedness – Psalm 1:1-3.

Calvin on John 3:16.

The Secret of the Success of the Early Methodists.

For Whom Did Christ Die?

Question: What do we do with the fact that there have been billions of people who died before Christ came to be among us on this earth? Or what about those who never learned about the saving power of Christ? How is it fair that these never had a chance for salvation? What guidance do the Scriptures give us on this issue, and what has the historic Church said about it?

For many years I have been fascinated by the Wesleyan theological tradition — which happens to be the theological tradition of the United Methodist Church and many other denominations. And in studying this, I discovered that the historic Methodist approach to this issue is a bit different from the ideas commonly heard in the evangelical world today.

As evidence I point to these paragraphs from Bishop Mallalieu’s article “Some Things That Methodism Stands For” published in 1903. He is discussing Methodist beliefs about the atonement. Bear in mind that Bishop Mallalieu’s whole thesis in this article (and the book from which it was drawn) is “back to the Bible and the Wesleys”. In the second paragraph he addresses these issues. (The bold type was added by me.)

Again, Methodism has always had a theory of the atonement. At least it has steadfastly believed that in the fall of Adam all his posterity has been disastrously affected; that moral depravity has touched every soul; that this depravity has been universal rather than total. Then it has held that the atonement is coextensive with the needs of man, and that the claims of Divine justice have been so fully satisfied that God can be just, the moral government of the universe vindicated, and at the same time all can be saved who comply with the easy terms of redemption’s plan. All prison doors are open, all chains and shackles unloosed, so that any soul may be delivered from the bondage of Satan, and come to enjoy the freedom of the sons of God. Experimentally, Methodism, from the very first, has had a plain, practical, Scriptural faith. Starting on the assumption that salvation was possible for every redeemed soul, and that all souls are redeemed, it has held fast to the fundamental doctrine that repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ are the divinely-ordained conditions upon which all complying therewith may be saved, who are intelligent enough to be morally responsible, and have heard the glad tidings of salvation. At the same time Methodism has insisted that all children who are not willing transgressors, and all irresponsible persons, are saved by the grace of God manifest in the atoning work of Christ; and, further, that all in every nation, who fear God and work righteousness, are accepted of him, through the Christ that died for them, though they have not heard of him. This view of the atonement has been held and defended by Methodist theologians from the very first. And it may be said with ever-increasing emphasis that it commends itself to all sensible and unprejudiced thinkers, for this, that it is rational and Scriptural, and at the same time honorable to God and gracious and merciful to man.

The basis for this view is here:

• “For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities — his eternal power and divine nature — have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” (Romans 1:20 NIV)

• “All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law…” (Romans 2:12 NIV)

• “Then Peter began to speak: ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.’” (Acts 10:34, 35 NIV)

• “God ‘will give to each person according to what he has done.’ To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger. There will be trouble and distress for every human being who does evil: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile; but glory, honor and peace for everyone who does good: first for the Jew, then for the Gentile. For God does not show favoritism.” (Romans 2:6-11 NIV).

While all people do not know of Christ, all people are recipients of God’s prevenient grace. Thus, in John 1:9 Christ is referred to as “The true light, which enlightens everyone.” If we stand in a lighted room, we need not know where the light is, what kind of bulb it is, or how light bulbs work in the first place, to benefit from being in the light. God will judge people on the basis of what they do know and how they responded to the grace and knowledge available to them. All lives are in God’s hand and God’s judgment will be just and fair.

Thus, the prayers & fasting of Cornelius (Acts 10) were recognized by God to be his sincere response to God’s prevenient grace. As Adam Clarke remarks: “And as there is no iniquity (decisions contrary to equity) with God, so He could not shut out the pious prayers, sincere fasting, and benevolent alms-giving of Cornelius; because the very spring whence they proceeded was His own grace and mercy.” Of Cornelius Peter remarks: ‘I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right.’ (see above). And, thus Peter tells Cornelius and his household the message of Jesus and has them baptized.

But, imagine this scenario: Cornelius is run over by a horse and chariot on the way to see Peter. Would he go to Hell? Scripture gives us reason to think he wouldn’t. Or consider Jesus’ executioners at the Cross. We are told Jesus prayed that God would forgive them, for “they know not what they do.” I think God honored Jesus’ prayer. As the old hymn said:

“There’s a wideness in God’s mercy, Like the wideness of the sea…”

But, this perspective is by no means the property of the Methodist and Wesleyan tradition alone. Other voices, from other Christian traditions, have also said similar things:

Does only the person who believes in Jesus with a conscious decision have a share in the nearness of God that he has opened? Or must account be made for an unconscious participation in salvation by men who never or only superficially came into contact with the message of Christ? The concept of Jesus’ descent into hell, of his preaching in the realm of the dead, affirms the latter. It asserts that men outside the visible church are not automatically excluded from salvation. Who participates in salvation and who does not remains, to be sure, open.

— Wolfhart Pannenberg, Jesus, God and Man. Trans. Lewis L. Wilkins and Duane A. Priebe. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1977: p. 272.

Now, the primary Scripture quoted against this view is the following:

• “Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’” (John 14:6 NIV)

But, this means that no one can come to God the Father except through the grace & mediation of Christ! And, of course, this is true. There is only one source of light and grace for all people. From Jesus these words can be taken to mean: “there is no access to God except through my mediation.” Modern evangelicals commonly take it to mean: “there is no access to God except through consciousness of Christ.” From this misconception, the question arises: well, what about all the people who lived before Christ, what about the who were killed in Old Testament times, what about those who have never heard of Christ, etc.

The older Methodist writers did not get into this tangle. They believed that God’s grace was for all and that Christ was the one and only source of salvation and life for all. And, the more we know of Christ the better off we are.

This post can also be found here: Christ & Non-Christians.

What if Christianity is not primarily about what you believe but about what you live? What if its not about your opinions but your choices? What if the Final Judgement before God is about how you lived your life, not what religious opinions you espoused — or even what religious experiences you had? What if our actions are more important than our words? What if what God really wants are people of compassion and patience and peace (in fact, a community of people committed to those ideals)? What if the most important expression of our faith is not a Doctrinal Statement signed but a life well lived, under the Lordship of Christ? What if the real evidence of faith is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control” (Galatians 5:22, 23)? What if God wants us to be making this world a better place — and we’ve spent our days hiding in our churches? What if the real scandal of Christianity is the huge gap that lies between our Biblical and theological knowledge, and the actual lives that we lead from day to day?

These are the questions that the whole Wesleyan tradition raises for me. This is why I am still fascinated by it. The issue the old holiness writers were exploring was this: what would it mean to live a life wholly devoted to God. The focus was on the life a person lives.

This is why John Wesley often de-emphasized doctrine — even though he obviously thought it was important. This is why he so often spoke against the notion that salvation depended upon having the “right opinions.” Notice the following:

The distinguishing marks of a Methodist are not his opinions of any sort. His assenting to this or that scheme of Religion, his embracing any particular set of notions, his espousing the judgment of one man or of another, are all quite wide of the point. Whosoever therefore imagines, that a Methodist is a man of such or such an opinion, is grossly ignorant of the whole affair; he mistakes the truth totally. We believe indeed, that all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God, and herein we are distinguished from Jews, Turks, and Infidels. We believe the written word of God to be the only and sufficient rule, both of Christian faith and practice; and herein we are fundamentally distinguished from those of the Romish church. We believe Christ to be the eternal, supreme God; and herein we are distinguished from the Socinians and Arians. But as to all opinions which do not strike at the root of Christianity, we think and let think. So that whatsoever they are, whether right or wrong, they are no distinguishing marks of a; Methodist.

— from “The Character of a Methodist”

…orthodoxy, or right opinions, is, at best, but a very slender part of religion, if it can be allowed to be any part of it at all; that neither does religion consist in negatives, in bare harmlessness of any kind; nor merely in externals, in doing good, or using the means of grace, in works of piety (so called) or of charity; that it is nothing short of, or different from, “the mind that was in Christ;” the image of God stamped upon the heart; inward righteousness, attended with the peace of God; and “joy in the Holy Ghost.”

— from “A Plain Account of the People Called Methodists in a Letter to Rev. Mr. Perronet”

Whatsoever the generality of people may think, it is certain that opinion is not religion: No, not right opinion; assent to one, or to ten thousand truths. There is a wide difference between them: Even right opinion is as distant from religion as the east is from the west. Persons may be quite right in their opinions, and yet have no religion at all; and, on the other hand, persons may be truly religious, who hold many wrong opinions. Can any one possibly doubt of this, while there are Romanists in the world? For who can deny, not only that many of them formerly have been truly religious, as Thomas a Kempis, Gregory Lopez, and the Marquis de Renty; but that many of them, even at this day, are real inward Christians And yet what a heap of erroneous opinions do they hold, delivered by tradition from their fathers! Nay, who can doubt of it while there are Calvinists in the world, — assertors of absolute predestination For who will dare to affirm that none of these are truly religious men? Not only many of them in the last century were burning and shining lights, but many of them are now real Christians, loving God and all mankind. And yet what are all the absurd opinions of all the Romanists in the world, compared to that one, that the God of love, the wise, just, merciful Father of the spirits of all flesh, has, from all eternity, fixed an absolute, unchangeable, irresistible, decree, that part of all mankind shall be saved, do what they will; and the rest damned, do what they can!

— Sermon #55 “On the Trinity.”

Of course, we know that he cared a great deal about “right opinions.” He insisted upon orthodox belief. He insisted upon following the Bible — and being a “Bible Christian.” He defended the orthodox beliefs of the Church. Certainly (as many have claimed), Wesley would have been appalled to see (long ago) the way classical liberalism made inroads into the Methodist Church — until finally it became ascendant. But, his point was this: comparatively speaking right opinions matter very little. Without holiness no one will see the Lord (see Hebrews 12:14). Thus, holiness is the central issue. The central issue is how we live not what we think.

This was also the original purpose of the small groups in the early Methodist revival. They were accountability groups — where members checked in with one another about their spiritual lives. They were like recovery groups — we might say they were sin-recovery groups. I realize that what I call “the Wesleyan tradition” is not the only segment of the Christian tradition that raises these issues. It is the segment of the Church that raised the issues for me. And, this emphasis on practical, lived-out Christianity may be the explanation why the Methodist tradition is so comparability weak in the area of systematic theology. In Protestantism, the great theologies have emerged from the Reformed and Lutheran traditions. While the Methodists have produced great systematic theologians like Richard Watson, John Miley, William Burt Pope, their ranks are small. Their works have often been overlooked — and not especially honored by many Methodists themselves.

C. S. Lewis made a helpful distinction. He said the difference between Christian theology and the living of the Christian life was similar to the difference between a map and a journey. Lewis speaks of a friend who had a mystical experience in the desert, and then says:

Theology is like a map. Merely learning and thinking about the Christian doctrines, if you stop there, is less real and less exciting than the sort of thing my friend got in the desert. Doctrines are not God: they are only a kind of map. But that map is based on the experience of hundreds of people who really were in touch with God–experiences compared with which many thrills of pious feelings you and I are likely to get on our own are very elementary and very confused. And secondly, if you want to get any further you must use the map.

— from Mere Christianity.

It is a great analogy, I think. The difference between theology and Christian living is like the difference between reading a map and taking a journey. A good map is an excellent resource for taking a journey, but studying the map is not the same thing as taking the journey. A good map may be needed for the journey. But, studying the map (or the science of map making) is not at all the same thing as taking the journey. And, owning a good map is not the same thing as taking the journey either.

And, that means reading a theology book is never a substitute for living the Christian life.

Faith is not right opinion — it is a life rightly lived.

This post can also be found here: Christian Faith: Opinion or Life? - Craig L.’s blog

The early Methodists, clearly saw the preaching role as of foremost importance. John Wesley was a preacher. Yes, he was certainly an organizer as well, but preaching was foremost. He traveled on horseback all over England preaching — often several times a day. Charles Wesley was a preacher. Adam Clarke was a preacher — his commentary on the entire Bible was a side project. All his learning was in the service of preaching.

Yes, the early Methodists believed in the value of “visiting house to house” but it’s clear from the way they talk about it, that they meant teaching from house to house — including the instruction of children. It was an extension of the preaching role.

The early Methodist preachers in this country were evangelists, who rarely stayed in one place for long. The leadership and (what we think of as) pastoral roles had to be fulfilled by lay leaders and class leaders and others in the local church. The task of preaching was too important — the circuit riding preacher needed to be on the move, spreading the Word to new people.

Older churches in the revivalistic model had Sunday morning services, Sunday evening services and midweek prayer services. Then there were revival meetings — often twice a year — and camp meeting in the summer.

But, somewhere along the line, clergy developed from being primarily preachers to being primarily pastors. The emphasis shifted from spreading the Word to tending the flock. Someone more knowledgeable than I might be able to say when this shift began and why.

But, here the focus shifts. It’s not about winning new people, or deepening the commitment and knowledge of the church people — it is taking care of the people you have. The emphasis now turns to meeting the needs of people — the church that does it the best has the best ministry. Attention turns inward.

It’s not that preachers can’t be pastors or pastors can’t be preachers — the issue is which role is uppermost. Which is most important? I remember an otherwise a very fine United Methodist bishop exhorting the clergy at Annual Confereence that people would forgive them their poor sermons if they truly demonstrated that they loved them. (And in my cynicism I mentally replied: “Well, you’ve never been to my house. I guess I can forgive you nothing.”) In this paradigm preaching is not important — the clergy person needs to be an excellent care-giver — and this is what will strengthen the church.

But, then the focus shifted again as people said that clergy needed to be primarily leaders. Now the insights began to come from the business world. Preacher / Pastors, now needed to be trained in organizational management. This, it was claimed, was the great deficiency in Seminary training — no classes in leadership!

Now the uppermost image was the Chief Executive Officer. The clergy person was a leader, teaching others to lead. The clergy had been reading the wrong books. The books that would be most helpful to them would be the same books that were most helpful in the business world.

And the expectations are now piled up on each other — preacher, pastor, CEO. I have read some people who say that this is the most challenging era in which to serve in the ordained ministry — the expectations are too high, and too complex. How likely is it that one person will be gifted and effective in all these areas? And, which is most important?

Maybe now that so many churches are declining and dying — and so few young people are (quite understandably) going into ordained ministry — it is time to take a new look at this. Has the church been killing itself? Yes. Of course, it has — there is simply no one else to blame.

Maybe a newer, more missional, paradigm will arise — maybe it already has. I’d like tho think so. And as the old sinks under the weight of its growing expectations and plummeting effectiveness — maybe some people will remember again how important it is to tell the story of Jesus in compelling and life changing ways. Maybe they will find the ways to do it. Maybe something good will arise out of the rubble of the failing church.

I remember the morning (many years ago) when Psalm 135 became memorable to me. I started reading and meditating on this psalm on a stormy morning. There was a thunderstorm raging outside. And, I slowly read these lines: “He it is who makes the clouds rise at the end of the earth; he makes lightnings for the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses.” (v.7 NRSV) So, now, when I read this again, I am reminded of that morning.

But, for now, let’s begin at the beginning. Notice how it starts.

The Psalm opens with a Hallelujah — quite literally!

הַ֥לְלוּ יָ֨הּ

Our translations say: “Praise the LORD.” This is correct. “Hallelu-jah” means “praise the God of Israel.”

The name “Jah,” “Yah” or “Yahweh” is the name by which Israel’s God was known. And, it carries with it all the rich history of the nation. This is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is the God of Moses. “God also said to Moses, ‘Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.’” (Exodus 3:15 NRSV). And for the Christian: this is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The very phrase “Hallelu-jah” resonates with the rich and complex history recorded in the Bible. We are called to praise this particular God. Not: God as a philosophical idea. Not: God as an abstraction. Not: “your Higher Power, however you may understand that.” But: God as known to us through the story of Israel, the story of Jesus, the story of the church’s proclamation & witness. You know: that God! So, to me, the words that follow simply echo the thoughts that are implied in the opening Hallelujah:

הַֽלְלוּ אֶת־שֵׁ֣ם יְהוָ֑ה

“Praise the name of the Lord…”

I think the use of term שֵׁ֣ם (shem translated “name”) by the Israelites is a reflection of their caution in speaking about God. Even the Israelites knew that the Creator of all things was a being beyond their understanding. This isn’t some sort of contemporary insight. To some degree, it is as old as the realization of God’s existence. It is as old as the realization of God’s greatness. The created can never fully understand their Creator. We cannot fully describe God. We cannot enclose God in the parameters of human thought. God is greater. God is greater than our greatest idea or thought. As human beings we barely know how to speak about God. Language fails us.

But, here’s the thing: God has made God’s own self known! God revealed God’s-self to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Moses, to David, to the prophets. God has made Himself known in Jesus Christ. And, God made Himself known in the preaching of the apostles and their successors. God is revealed here and now — to the human heart and mind — in the preaching and teaching of the Gospel of Christ. So, to say “Praise the “name of the Lord” is to say “praise God as we know God.” Or: “Praise God as God has revealed God’s own self to us.”

Notice how often in the Old Testament this word שֵׁ֣ם is used this way.

• Psalms 8:9: “O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!”

• Psalms 9:2: “I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.”

• Psalms 33:21: “Our heart is glad in him, because we trust in his holy name.”

And, so forth. Rather than: “God dwells in Zion” it is: God’s name dwells in Zion: God as God has made God’s self to be known. Never think you have come to fully understand God. Never think the last word has been spoken — either by you or by anyone. God is always greater. God is greater than whatever the human mind can conceive.

הַֽלְלוּ עַבְדֵ֥י יְהוָֽה

“praise him, you servants of the Lord,”

It seems to me that there is a progression in this psalm: first it is the priests and Levites who are called upon to praise God, then it is all Israel. I understand “servants” (עַבְדֵ֥י) here to mean priests and Levites. I base this on the very next phrase:

שֶׁ֣עֹֽמְדִים בְּבֵ֣ית יְהוָ֑ה בְּ֝חַצְר֗וֹת בֵּ֣ית אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ׃

“you that stand in the house of the Lord, in the courts of the house of our God.”

These are the people who officially lead in worship. They need to give the example, so that all of Israel — and really, all the world — can be invited to join in that praise. If the leaders don’t worship with their whole hearts, how can the people be expected to ever learn? If the leaders don’t pray, how can the rest of the people learn to pray? If the leaders don’t meditate on the Scriptures to keep themselves on the way of life, how will the people learn to do that? I think that’s the principle here. The Psalmist wants to call all Israel to praise God. Through Israel, God wants to reach all the world. But, it has to start somewhere. Someone has to lead. Someone has to not only tell others the importance of worship, but actually live it out in front of them!

הַֽלְלוּ־יָהּ כִּי־ט֣וֹב יְהוָ֑ה זַמְּר֥וּ לִ֝שְׁמ֗וֹ כִּ֣י נָעִֽים׃

“Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good; sing praise to his name, for that is pleasant.”

There are two ideas here:

1. we are called to praise God because God is good (ט֣וֹב). This is “good” in the sense of “pleasing” or “desirable.”

2. we are called to praise God because such praise and worship are themselves pleasant (נָעִֽים). The word used here can also refer to beautiful music. Praise itself is beautiful, it lifts the heart. (And, by the way, I don’t really get why the NRSV reads it differently here, as: “gracious”).

To be honest, sometimes church involvement doesn’t sound so good to me. (The church can betray us — sometimes without knowing or acknowledging that it has.) But, in spite of that, speaking for myself, I still want worship to be part of my life. I still want to rise in the morning and praise God. I still want to join with other Christians on Sundays to sing praise to God and to be instructed from the Scriptures. Worship is pleasant because it turns my mind from myself to God. Worship is pleasant because it reminds me that life is about something greater than myself. Worship is pleasant because it reminds me to hope in God — for even if all other earthly hopes were to fail there would still be hope in God. In worship I align myself with God’s plan and purpose. No. I don’t perfectly understand what that is. In fact, I believe there is a plan and purpose greater than I can understand. We are here on earth for a purpose. The best we can do is align ourselves God — as best we can understand God. We praise the Name of the Lord.

כִּֽי־יַעֲקֹ֗ב בָּחַ֣ר ל֣וֹ יָ֑הּ יִ֝שְׂרָאֵ֗ל לִסְגֻלָּתֽוֹ׃

“For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel as his own possession.”

And, there is what Walter Brueggeman has sometimes called “the scandal of particularity.” God chose Israel. It was grace. Israel did not earn this grace. Grace cannot be earned anyway. It was not merit, it was grace. God had to start somewhere. To reach the world, God began with Israel.

According to Deuteronomy 7:7-8 Moses said to Israel: “It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you—for you were the fewest of all peoples. It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.”

God didn’t love them because they were great. God loved them. And, God’s steadfast love made them great.

Adam Clarke says:

It was no good in them that induced God to choose them at this time to be his peculiar people: he had his reasons, but these sprang from his infinite goodness. He intended to make a full discovery of his goodness to the world, and this must have a commencement in some particular place, and among some people. He chose that time, and he chose the Jewish people; but not because of their goodness or holiness.

If God’s will is going to be done in this world, it has to start somewhere. It starts with you and me. Ordinary people called to serve an extraordinary God. Now, go to a church near you and serve the Him.

Divine election starts with the utterly unpredictable choice of the enslaved people Israel, but continues in God’s continual choice of quite ordinary people for extraordinary tasks. Always their résumé and their skill-set are totally inadequate, but it is the very experience of being chosen that somehow empowers them.

— Richard Rohr, Things Hidden: Scripture as Spirituality (page 164).

A PRAYER

O God of surpassing goodness
It is pleasant to sing Your praises and feel Your presence near.
Times are sometimes dark and uncertain.
And, it is tempting to despair.
Even though despair itself leads nowhere.

Bring me back to You
Refresh my soul in worship.

May there still be those whom you call to lead.
May they lead faithfully by showing the way and by living it.

Join me to Your will, Lord.
Empower me to do Your will.
And, may the whole world come to know
Your mercy, through Jesus Christ. Amen.

The article can also be found here: A Hunger for Worship - Craig :L’s blog.

Jesus told his followers plainly: “In this world you will have trouble” (John 16:33) Experience confirms it. No one is exempt — not even the most devoted believers. The hardships God’s people face are not only external but internal as well. They include struggles of the mind alongside suffering of the body, and sometimes those struggles become overwhelming.

There are seasons when the usual comforts God allows us — often gently and generously — are stripped away. Health fades. Friends feel distant or unavailable. There is no pleasure in social life, no success in work, no relief from pressure or persecution, and no pause in the inward assaults of temptation.

Everything that normally offers encouragement seems to vanish at once.

There is good reason to believe that many souls whom God intends to purify deeply — especially those who resist his work and do not surrender easily — are asked to pass through trials of unusual weight and intensity. Not because such suffering is inherently necessary, but because of the condition of the human heart.

True inner purity requires the complete surrender of self. And that surrender is something our natural instincts fiercely resist. As a result, earthly joys are drained away, human supports are removed, and the axe is laid at the root of everything we rely on for self‑seeking and self‑satisfaction. This is how the soul comes to know the reality — and the cost — of being inwardly crucified.

In moments like these, when trials are both internal and external and seem to offer no relief, one thing remains: faith. Writers have called it by different names — simple faith, pure faith, naked faith — but they are pointing to the same reality. These expressions are fitting, because in these moments faith stands alone. All other supports are gone.

Darkness presses in from every side. Discouragement feels complete. And yet, it is faith — and faith alone — that keeps the soul intact. In such seasons, faith rises to a place of leadership within the soul. It becomes the guiding center, the steady height from which all other faculties take their bearings.

The natural desires and affections are still under attack, often fiercely so. But they draw strength from the higher principle of faith, which stands firm at the center with quiet authority. From that position, faith gives the soul a defensive power that enables it not merely to survive but to overcome.

This leads to the central truth that deserves special emphasis: when every earthly comfort dries up, faith itself becomes a source of deep and steady consolation. This is often overlooked. Some assume that when outward supports disappear, nothing remains but emptiness. But that assumption misunderstands how God works within the soul.

There is, in fact, a joy that belongs to faith itself.

A life lived by faith may lack every external comfort, but it is not inwardly barren. It does not aim at consolation as its primary goal. Instead, it is marked by self‑sacrifice and a single desire for unity with God’s will. It focuses less on what God gives and more on who God is.

And when God himself becomes the soul’s focus, God becomes its joy.

The joy that arises in this way is pure, because it is free from self‑interest. Ask those who are sincerely placing everything on God’s altar — yet are still walking through profound inward and outward desolation — and they will tell you plainly that they are sustained by a real consolation. Even when all other sources run dry, the joy that flows from believing remains.

They may say it simply: “If I have nothing else, I still have the consolation of faith.” When every other fountain is closed, the joy of faith remains open.

This is one of faith’s unchanging characteristics, especially when faith has matured deeply: it always brings with it a quiet, pure, and lasting consolation — one that cannot be taken away, no matter what else is lost.

The soul is lifted, as though carried upward, into the safety of God’s presence. From that high place it rests calmly, bathed in a steady light of peace, while below it the valleys churn with darkness and storms.

This same kind of pure and elevated consolation was present in Christ himself. When his Father withdrew all sensible manifestations of love and left him in intense and unspeakable desolation, he still possessed the joy of faith. Even in the agony of apparent abandonment, the bond between them was not broken. He could still cling to that bond and say, with trust that endured beyond feeling:

“My God. My God.”

This article can also be found here: The Joy of Faith When Everything Else Has Failed (rewritten).

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THE CHRISTIANITY OF THE BIBLE — AS IT BEGAN

Let’s think about Christianity as it first came into being — not as an institution, but as something that took shape inside real people.

Picture someone standing in the crowd as the Apostle Peter preached repentance and forgiveness of sins. Imagine that listener being cut to the heart — fully aware of his sin, genuinely repentant, and finally believing in Jesus. Through that faith — worked in him by God himself — he received what Scripture calls the very substance of things hoped for and the convincing proof of things unseen. And at that very moment, he received the Spirit of adoption. For the first time, he cried out from the heart, “Abba, Father.”

Now, and not before, he could truly say that Jesus was his Lord — because this confession came from the Holy Spirit. God’s Spirit bore witness with his own spirit that he was now a child of God. Now he could say honestly, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

This was the heart of his faith: a deep, God-given conviction of God’s love — God the Father loving him, a sinner, through his Son. He now knew that he was accepted in Christ. And since he was justified by faith, he had peace with God. Not just relief, but a peace that ruled his heart — a peace beyond the reach of ordinary human reasoning. This peace guarded his heart and mind from doubt and fear because it rested on knowing the One he had believed in.

Because of this, he wasn’t shaken by bad news. His heart was steady, trusting in the Lord. He wasn’t afraid of what people could do to him, knowing that God cared for him down to the smallest detail — that even the hairs of his head were numbered. He wasn’t afraid of the powers of darkness either, since God was already defeating them under his feet. And most strikingly, he wasn’t afraid of death. In fact, he longed to depart this life and be with Christ — the one who, by dying, had destroyed the devil’s power over death and freed those who had lived their whole lives enslaved by the fear of it.

With a heart like this, his soul overflowed with praise. He rejoiced deeply in God his Savior — with a joy too full for words. He rejoiced in the One who had reconciled him to the Father, who had redeemed him through his blood and forgiven his sins. He rejoiced in the Spirit’s inward witness that he truly belonged to God. And beyond that, he rejoiced in hope: hope for the glory of God, hope for full renewal into God’s image, hope for complete righteousness and holiness, and hope for the crown of glory — the inheritance that never decays or fades.

God’s love had been poured into his heart by the Holy Spirit. Because he was now a son, God had sent the Spirit of his Son into his heart, crying out once again, “Abba, Father.” This deep, childlike love for God kept growing — strengthened by the inner witness of God’s forgiving love and by the wonder that he, of all people, should be called a child of God. God became the desire of his eyes and the joy of his heart — his portion now and forever.

And someone who truly loved God like this couldn’t help but love others. Not just in words, but in real, tangible action. “If God loved us like this,” he reasoned, “then we ought to love one another.” And that love didn’t stop with friends or neighbors. It expanded to include every person — because God’s mercy reaches over all his creation.

His love embraced people he had never met, and even people he knew only insofar as they were God’s offspring — souls for whom Christ had died. It extended to the ungrateful and the cruel, and most of all to his enemies — those who hated him, mistreated him, or persecuted him for his faith. These people had a special place in his heart and his prayers. He loved them as Christ had loved him.

This love did not make him proud. Love, by its nature, humbles. So he saw himself as small and undeserving. He didn’t seek praise from others, nor did he cling to it when it came. The only approval he cared about was God’s. He was gentle, patient, and kind to all. He was open and sincere, grounded in faithfulness and truth, which shaped both his words and his inner life.

By this same Spirit, he learned self-control — not by grim discipline, but by a quiet freedom from excess. He was no longer ruled by the pull of the world or the craving for pleasure, status, or recognition. The world had lost its grip on him, and he on it. Love had freed him from pride, ambition, greed, vanity, and every desire that did not reflect the life of Christ.

Because of this, he would never intentionally harm his neighbor. To knowingly do wrong to another person was unthinkable. Cruelty, injustice, and unkindness were completely foreign to him. He guarded his words carefully, knowing how easily speech can wound. He rejected lying, deception, and manipulation. He spoke evil of no one, and no harsh or malicious words came from his mouth.

At the same time, he knew that all of this depended on God. “Without me you can do nothing” was not just a verse to him — it was lived reality. Knowing his constant need for God’s grace, he devoted himself daily to the practices God had given as channels of that grace. He listened eagerly to apostolic teaching. He embraced the breaking of bread as real communion with Christ. He participated faithfully in prayer and worship among God’s people. And through these means, he continued to grow — stronger in faith, deeper in love, and richer in the knowledge of God.

But he wasn’t content just to avoid wrongdoing. His heart burned with the desire to do good. He echoed his Lord’s words: “My Father is always at work, and so am I.” Christ had gone about doing good — how could he do any less?

Whenever he had the opportunity, he acted. If nothing greater was possible, he fed the hungry, clothed the naked, cared for orphans and strangers, visited the sick, and helped those in prison. He gave generously — sometimes everything he had — to serve those in need. He gladly labored and even suffered for others. He denied himself wherever it could benefit another, holding nothing back. He remembered the words of his Lord: “Whatever you did for one of the least of these, you did for me.”

This is what Christianity looked like at the beginning. This is what a Christian was in the earliest days.

This was the shared life of those believers who, when threatened by the authorities, lifted their voices together in prayer and were filled with the Holy Spirit. They were united — one heart, one soul. Love for Christ compelled them to love one another. No one claimed private ownership of what they had; everything was shared. They were completely freed from the world’s grip. They devoted themselves fully to the apostles’ teaching, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer.

And great grace rested on all of them. No one among them went without what they needed. Those who owned land or houses sold them and laid the proceeds at the apostles’ feet, so that each person received what was necessary.

Such was Christianity in its pure beginning — and such were the Christians of ancient days.

THE CHRISTIANITY OF THE BIBLE — AS IT SPREAD.

Let us look, next, at how Christianity spread — from person to person — slowly finding its way into the world. This, after all, was God’s intention. He did not light a lamp for it to be hidden away, but so it could give light to everyone in the house. Jesus made this clear to his first followers when he told them they were the salt of the earth and the light of the world, and when he gave them the charge to let their light shine before others, so their good works would point people to God.

Now imagine a small group of people who truly saw the world as it was — lost, broken, and steeped in evil. Could they possibly remain indifferent to the suffering around them? Could they look calmly at the misery of people for whom their Lord had died and feel nothing? Of course not. Their compassion would be stirred. Their hearts would ache. They wouldn’t be able to stand by doing nothing — not even if there had been no direct command from the one they loved. Instead, they would work with everything they had to rescue as many as possible, trying to pull people back from destruction and lead wandering souls home to the Shepherd who cared for them.

That is exactly what the early Christians did. Whenever they had the chance, they worked to do good to everyone. They warned people urgently about what was coming and urged them to escape the judgment ahead. They proclaimed that a new moment in history had arrived — that God was now calling all people, everywhere, to turn around and change their ways. They pleaded with others to abandon evil before it ruined them completely. They spoke plainly about self-control, justice, and moral responsibility — virtues that stood in sharp contrast to the sins people were accustomed to — and they reminded everyone that a day of judgment was coming, when God would call the world to account.

They did not speak in one flat, generic way. They paid attention to their listeners. To people who were careless and spiritually asleep, they cried out with urgency, calling them to wake up and step into the light. But to those who were already shaken and overwhelmed by guilt and fear, they spoke words of hope — reminding them that they had an advocate, someone who stood before God on their behalf. At the same time, they encouraged believers to keep growing: to love more deeply, to persevere in doing good, and to pursue the holiness without which no one would see the Lord.

Their efforts were not wasted. God’s message spread rapidly and powerfully. It took root. It grew. But as the message gained ground, resistance grew with it. Many people took offense. The world was irritated because Christianity exposed its wrongdoing. People devoted to pleasure felt rebuked — not only because the lives of believers stood in contrast to their own, but because former companions were leaving old habits behind and refusing to join in excess anymore. Influential figures grew angry as their prestige began to fade, and as people stopped offering them the kind of honor that belongs to God alone. Business leaders, whose profits depended on old beliefs and practices, feared that Christianity threatened their livelihoods. And perhaps most fiercely opposed were the religious insiders — those devoted to outward forms of religion — who labeled Christians agitators and enemies of social order.

As Christianity continued to spread, opposition darkened into something more dangerous. Hostility thickened like storm clouds. The more the faith advanced, the more threatened its opponents felt. Anger intensified. Some became convinced that these Christians were turning the world upside down — and that it would be better if they were eliminated altogether. Many sincerely believed that killing them would be an act of service to God.

Alongside this came slander. Believers were publicly disgraced and spoken of as dangerous outsiders. Lies spread easily. Accusations multiplied. One false report was enough for many to believe the worst. Before long, persecution took hold in every form. Some endured ridicule and shame. Others lost their property. Some were beaten or imprisoned. Still others suffered so severely that they gave their lives.

And yet, it was precisely then that God’s work advanced even more. As believers endured suffering, the kingdom of God expanded. People were transformed — leaving darkness behind and stepping into the light. God gave his followers wisdom and words their opponents could not refute, and their lives reinforced what they proclaimed. But above all, their suffering spoke with unmatched power. Their endurance under pressure, their courage in danger, their patience in hardship, and their willingness to die rather than deny their faith testified louder than anything they could have said. Even in death, their witness continued to speak.

This is how Christianity spread throughout the world. But it did not take long for corruption to appear alongside what was good. False teachings and compromised faith began to creep in, even within the church itself. Still, God never allowed corruption to have the final word. Throughout history, he raised up faithful witnesses to remind the world that his church rests on a solid foundation, and that evil will never completely overcome it.

THE CHRISTIANITY OF THE BIBLE — WHAT IF IT FILLED THE EARTH?

But should we expect even greater things than what has already happened? Greater than anything the world has ever seen? Can God’s truth fail? Can his promises fall flat? If not — and they cannot — then the time must come when Christianity fully prevails, when it covers the earth. Let us pause and look ahead to this future vision: the extraordinary picture of a fully Christian world.

This is what the prophets longed to understand. They spoke of a time when God’s kingdom would stand above all others, when nations would stream toward it, and when war would be dismantled altogether. Weapons would be reshaped into tools for life. Conflict would be taught no more. A new unity would emerge, drawing together people from every nation. Peace would mark the entire world. Harm and destruction would vanish. Knowledge of the Lord would fill the earth as completely as water fills the sea.

The apostles spoke of the same hope — something still unfulfilled. They foresaw a future restoration, when division would end, barriers would fall, and God’s promises would reach their fullness.

Imagine that moment finally arriving. Picture the result. The world rests in lasting peace and security. There is no roar of battle, no bloodshed, no endless destruction. War has disappeared. Division within nations has ended. No one harms their neighbor. No one lives in fear. There is no oppression, no exploitation, no grinding down of the poor. People are content, satisfied, and just. Justice and peace flourish together, grounded deeply and securely.

Mercy thrives as well. Cruelty has no home. Violence, vengeance, envy, and malice are gone. No one returns evil for evil. In fact, no one does evil at all. People are gentle, united, and filled with joy. They live as one family, sharing freely so that no one is in need. Love for neighbor guides everything they do.

From this flows something beautiful: speech itself is transformed. No harsh words, no insults, no gossip, no conflict. Words are shaped by kindness and wisdom. Deceit disappears. Love is sincere. People speak honestly, with nothing to hide, because their hearts are filled with love for God and for one another.

This is what happens when the Lord reigns fully. He brings all things under his rule, fills every heart with love, and every voice with praise. This is true happiness. True blessing. A world illuminated by God himself — where violence and destruction are unknown, where salvation defines the boundaries, and praise fills every entrance. A people made righteous, established forever, the work of God’s own hands, shining with a light that never fades.

APPLICATION

Having briefly considered Christianity — how it began, how it spread, and how it was meant to reach the whole earth — it is time to close with one straightforward, practical application.

So let me start with a simple question: Where does this kind of Christianity exist today? Where, exactly, do we find Christians living this way? In what country are people truly filled with the Holy Spirit — united in heart and purpose, unwilling to let a single person among them go without what they need, freely giving as anyone has need? Where are the people whose hearts are so full of the love of God that it naturally overflows into love for their neighbors? Where are those who genuinely practice mercy, humility, gentleness, and patience?

Where is the place where people consistently avoid injustice, cruelty, and deceit — where, in both words and actions, they live by the simple rule of treating others as they themselves would want to be treated?

With honesty, can we call any nation a Christian nation if it falls short of this standard? If we are truthful, we must admit this: we have not yet seen a truly Christian country on earth.

I plead with you, then, as brothers and sisters. Even if you think I am misguided or foolish, please bear with me. Someone must speak plainly, and it is especially necessary now. Who knows whether this moment is our last opportunity? Who knows how soon the righteous Judge may say, “I will no longer listen for this people”? Scripture reminds us that even Noah, Daniel, and Job could save only themselves in a corrupt land.

So who will speak with this kind of honesty if I do not? I will do it. And I urge you, by the living God, not to harden yourselves against receiving truth — even if it comes through me. Do not quietly say to yourselves, “Nothing you say will persuade us, even if it proves true,” or worse, “I would rather perish than be helped by this person.”

Yet I trust better things of you, even while I speak so urgently. So let me ask, gently and sincerely: Is this a Christian city? Is scriptural Christianity truly alive here? As a community, are we filled with the Holy Spirit — inwardly and outwardly — showing His fruit in how we live?

Are our leaders united in heart and purpose? Has the love of God truly been poured into our hearts? Do our attitudes resemble those of Christ — and do our lives reflect those attitudes? Are we holy in the full range of our daily conduct, as the One who called us is holy?

Please understand: I am not debating minor disagreements or questionable opinions. I am asking about the most basic, undeniable elements of Christianity itself. And I appeal not to speculation, but to your own conscience — guided by Scripture. Whoever feels no inward conviction in this matter may stand un-condemned.

So, standing in reverence before God — before whom both you and I will soon appear — I ask those of you in authority, whom I respect for your office: Are you filled with the Holy Spirit? In your responsibilities, do you truly reflect the God you are meant to represent?

Scripture calls rulers “gods” in the sense that their office mirrors God’s governance. Your thoughts, desires, and actions should therefore match the dignity of that calling. Are your words shaped by truth? Do your actions carry both love and gravity — a greatness that can flow only from a heart full of God, yet remains humble, remembering that we are still human and frail?

And you who shape the minds of the young — who work to drive out ignorance and form students for a life of wisdom and faith — are you filled with the Spirit and His fruits? Is your heart fully aligned with God, burning with love and zeal for His kingdom?

Do you regularly remind your students that the true purpose of learning is to know, love, and serve the one true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent? Do you impress upon them that love alone endures, and that without love, even the highest learning becomes empty show — impressive on the surface, but spiritually hollow?

Is everything you teach aimed at forming love for God and for all people? Do you carefully shape not just what students study, but how and how much they study, so that wherever they go, they might become bright, living witnesses to Christ?

Do you give this calling your full strength? Do you work at it with everything you have — every ability, every gift God placed in you — without holding anything back?

Let me be clear: I am not assuming all students are meant to become clergy. I speak as though they are all meant to become Christians. And so I must ask: what kind of example do we set for them? Especially those of us with influence and standing — faculty, fellows, scholars — do we overflow with humility, self-discipline, seriousness of spirit, patience, gentleness, and tireless effort to do good to everyone?

Is this truly the common character of our institutions? I fear it is not. Instead, are we not often known for pride, impatience, laziness, indulgence, and even a reputation for being useless? Sadly, these accusations are not always without cause. O that God would remove this shame from us entirely, so that even its memory would disappear.

And what of those among us set apart for ministry? Are we examples in speech, conduct, love, faith, and purity? Is “Holiness to the Lord” written clearly on our hearts?

Why did we enter this calling? Was it truly to serve God — to promote His glory and build up His people? Have we genuinely committed ourselves fully to this work, setting aside worldly distractions as much as possible? Do we give ourselves wholly to this task?

Are we truly taught by God, able to teach others because we know Him? Has God revealed His Son within us? And if so, where is the evidence? Who has been spiritually awakened through our words? Do we burn with urgency to save souls — even to the point of forgetting our own comfort?

Do we speak plainly and honestly, appealing to conscience rather than hiding behind clever phrasing? Are we detached from worldly ambition, storing our treasure in heaven? Do we dominate others — or serve them? When we suffer criticism or disgrace for Christ, do we shrink back, or do we rejoice?

When wronged, do we demand repayment — or do we respond with patience? Is our zeal sharp and bitter, or is it shaped by love, expressed with humility and gentleness?

Finally, what can be said about the youth among us? Do you show even the form of Christian faith — let alone its power? Are you teachable and humble, or stubborn and self-assured? Do you honor your elders, or quietly disdain them?

Are you diligent with your time and responsibilities? Do you make the most of each day — or do you waste hours on empty reading, games, and undefined distractions? Do you manage money better than time? Do you care about integrity in practical matters, like avoiding debt?

Do you keep the Sabbath with intention? When you worship, do you remember that God is present? Do you live with awareness of His nearness? Do you control your behavior with honor and discipline — or are drunkenness and sexual recklessness common among you? Do some even take pride in these things?

Do many casually misuse God’s name? Are there not many who swear vows thoughtlessly? I confess openly that I once did exactly this—promising obedience to rules I had never read or understood. If that is not perjury, what is? And do we imagine God overlooks it?

Is it any wonder, then, that so many become casual and careless—trifling with God, with others, and with their own souls? How few regularly pray in private. How few seriously think about God in daily life. Who among you understands the work of the Holy Spirit in the human heart? Outside a church setting, could you even bear such talk?

What faith, then, do you claim? You cannot tolerate even discussion of Christianity. What kind of Christian city is this? “Lord, it is time for You to act.”

And finally, what hope is there—humanly speaking—that true Christianity could be restored here? Who would restore it? Leaders? Do they desire it enough to risk reputation, comfort, even life?

A few may have tried weakly—but with little result. Could it come from young, unknown voices? Would you even accept that? But there is little danger of that challenge, for wrongdoing has overwhelmed us.

So whom will God send? Famine? Disease? War — as His final warnings to a guilty people? No — better that we fall into God’s hands than into human ones.

Lord, save us, or we are lost. Pull us from the depths. Human help is empty. Nothing is impossible for You. By Your power, preserve those marked for death. Save us in whatever way You see fit — not as we wish, but as You will.

In the following paragraph from his book Reason for Hope: The Systematic Theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg (1989) Stanley J. Grenz does a good job summarizing some themes in Pannenberg’s view of the final judgment:

On the basis of [the] function of Jesus’ message [as the criterion of God’s judgment] and the New Testament emphasis on the all-encompassing love of God (e.g., Matt. 8:11; John 10:16), Pannenberg asserts that correspondence with the will of God as reflected in Jesus’ proclamation — that is, the command to seek first God’s kingdom and the double command to love — rather than an actual encounter with the Christian message, is the basis of final judgment (Matt. 25:41ff.).

The step in this direction is prepared by a thesis, developed in the Christology and ecclesiology sections, that love for others entails participation in God’s love for the world. This understanding of the criterion for judgment means that persons who live in accordance with Jesus’ message will be included in the divine salvation, whereas nominal Christians may find themselves excluded. To the resultant question, If an encounter with Jesus is not the sole condition for salvation, what is the Christian’s advantage? he replies that Christians have the advantage in that they know what the standard of judgment is. Although he emphasizes the universality of the possibility of salvation in this manner and even moves the concept of eternal condemnation to that of a border situation, Pannenberg is unwilling to embrace universalism.

This resonates very well with the sense I remember getting from my initial reading of Volume 3 of Pannenberg’s Systematic Theology.

There is so much here to like. This fits very well with the Wesleyan themes that:

1. “without holiness no one will see the Lord” and that, in turn,

2. the essence of this holiness is love to God and love for other people.

It sets this theology apart from the common variety of evangelicalism which posits salvation either by creed or by a particular religious experience. Faith in Christ is the doorway into holy living. A faith that makes no difference in a person’s life is a dead faith — or, as Wesley would point out the faith of the devil and the demons! This is not saving faith. Faith brings a person’s life into ever-growing continuity with the will of God revealed in Christ.

The proclamation of Jesus was

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.” (Mark 1:15 NRSV).

This also was the proclamation entrusted to Jesus’ disciples. It is a message which is moral to the core — it calls for a change in attitude and a change in life. It calls us to align ourselves with God’s purposes — for our lives and for our world. We turn. We leave the past behind. We begin anew. We seek God’s will and God’s Reign — however imperfectly we may understand, and however imperfectly we may see it realized. It is a call to change our ways.

We do not have the right to turn it into something else. How can it become merely “change your worldview” or “put a check-mark in this box” — when the call is to repent, and to believe and become a part of the redemptive work of God in the world?

Nevertheless, this understanding of the Last Judgment also calls us to look beyond the church itself — to God’s will and purpose for all the human race. Thus, it resonates well with the New Testament’s inclusive vision.

“For [God] will repay according to each one’s deeds: to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. For God shows no partiality. All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. For it is not the hearers of the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but the doers of the law who will be justified. When Gentiles, who do not possess the law, do instinctively what the law requires, these, though not having the law, are a law to themselves. They show that what the law requires is written on their hearts, to which their own conscience also bears witness; and their conflicting thoughts will accuse or perhaps excuse them on the day when, according to my gospel, God, through Jesus Christ, will judge the secret thoughts of all.” (Romans 2:6-16 NRSV)

The God proclaimed by Jesus is not a parochial God whose concern is only for a small club or group. God’s purposes have to do with all humanity — and God’s Spirit has been sent upon all flesh. We know there is salvation and new life in the name of Jesus. All who know Christ then proclaim this — and what faith in Christ’s name will mean in the conduct of their lives. But, God’s purposes are greater than we know. And, God’s purposes in Christ are expansive. “… in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself….” (2 Corinthians 5:19 NRSV). “Then Peter began to speak to them: ‘I truly understand that God shows no partiality, but in every nation anyone who fears him and does what is right is acceptable to him.’” (Acts 10:34, 35 NRSV.)

The benefit of the death of Christ is not only extended to such as have the distinct knowledge of his death and sufferings, but even unto those who are inevitably excluded from this knowledge. Even these may be partakers of the benefit of his death, though ignorant of the history, if they suffer his grace to take place in their hearts, so as of wicked men to become holy.

— John Wesley, “A Letter to a Person Lately Joined with the People Called Quakers”

So, this is another reason I like the way this is formulated: it expresses an appropriate hope for all people. This is what I keep calling “Hopeful Inclusivism.” It is not necessarily a doctrine of universal salvation, but it is a hopeful doctrine of universal grace.

And, it reminds us that that religion per se is not that hope. All people are called to hear and heed the message of Christ — and that includes religious people. The name of Christ is no shield from repentance and faith. The name of Christ does not relax the urgency of God’s call to new life, to discipleship and service. Christ is our way into the life God calls us to live. I don’t think there is anything so obnoxious to God as false, unrepentant, religion.

And, yet, while affirming a universalistic hope, this did not push Pannenberg to complete universalism. It is true that in Christ there is hope for all. It is true that in Christ we know that God is loving and just — and thus, will deal with all people with justice and fairness. But Pannenberg still leaves room for the possibility of eternal damnation as, as Grenz says, “a border situation.”

In fact that’s one of the things that surprised me when I first read the last part of Pannenberg’s Systematic Theology. As I read along I thought sure we were about to arrive at universalism — maybe on the next page. But, no! Surely, we can hope for the salvation of all. We would wish for it. But, Pannenberg still felt that there are some who will resist God and God’s will and purpose — however expansively defined — even to the very end.

Certainly David Bentley Hart has made a strong case — formally irrefutable, really — for an ultimate universalism in his book That All Shall Be Saved (2019). I’m not sure what Pannenberg would have said to that. I feel no one should resist the idea. Ultimate salvation is a hope consistent with the character of the God we know through Jesus Christ. Yet, there is much about eternity, the nature of the human consciousness and will, etc. that we do not understand. We do not dare undermine the warnings of proximate moral judgement in the light of ultimate salvation, anyway. The reality of Judgement is clear.

So, as I say, there is much to like (at least from from my admittedly idiosyncratic point of view) in this perspective on the Last Judgement. But, I do have some disagreements, as well. This (again, quoting from Grenz) seems terribly inadequate to me:

To the resultant question, If an encounter with Jesus is not the sole condition for salvation, what is the Christian’s advantage? he replies that Christians have the advantage in that they know what the standard of judgement is.

— Stanley J. Grenz, Reason for Hope: The Systematic Theology of Wolfhart Pannenberg (1989).

There is salvation and life in the name of Christ. There is the growing experiential knowledge of God’s will — discovered through Scripture and prayer and service and worship and interaction with others. Through faith in Christ these things become Means of Grace to lift us higher into the life of faith. Through them The Holy Spirit works in our inner lives to bring us into conformity to Christ.

But, God’s will for the human race is that we come to reflect God’s character. “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” And, this is what God is seeking from beginning to end.

Psalm 135 is essentially a Psalm of praise. We are called into praise from the very opening “Hallelujah” (praise Yah).

It is a song of worship and it calls us into an attitude of worship. As Adam Clarke says: “It is an exhortation addressed to the priests and Levites, and to all Israel, to publish the praises of the Lord.”

The opening verses are an exhortation to worship. Verses 3-5, and 6, 7 extol God’s greatness. Verses 8-12 remind the people of Israel of God’s saving acts in their history: their deliverance from Egypt and the defeat of legendary kings. Then, they are called again to praise.

Remembrance has a significance for the Christian faith. It is good to recount for ourselves the answered prayers we have experienced — and the unexpected blessing of God on our lives. The Bible is a book of remembrance: recounting the deeds of the Lord God in times past, as a way of illuminating our lives in the present. We know God through what God has done. For Christians, it is the story of Jesus — before any other — that calls forth our praise. And, so it is that in this psalm, the remembrance of God’s deliverance in the past, calls forth praise.

Psalms 135:13, 14:

יְהוָה שִׁמְךָ֣ לְעוֹלָ֑ם יְ֝הוָ֗ה זִכְרְךָ֥ לְדֹר־וָדֹֽר׃

“Your name, O LORD, endures forever, your renown, O LORD, throughout all ages.”

כִּֽי־יָדִ֣ין יְהוָ֣ה עַמּ֑וֹ וְעַל־עֲ֝בָדָ֗יו יִתְנֶחָֽם׃

“For the LORD will vindicate his people, and have compassion on his servants.” (NRSV).

As I said, this is the natural follow up to the remembrance of YHWH’s deliverance. Through God’s acts of salvation God’s character has been revealed. We know what God has done, so we know what God will do. God’s reputation will endure forever, on the basis of what God has done.

Verse 13 speaks of God’s name (שִׁמְךָ֣) and God’s renown (זִכְרְךָ֥). God’s name is what is known of God — and, thus God’s reputation. Because God has done great things, God’s reputation will be upheld forever. The second term translated “renown” means “remembrance” or “memory.”

This affirmation of the greatness of God’s name is firmly rooted in the story of Israel. The revelation of God’s character and faithfulness comes through the acts of God in the life of the nation. The revelation is through the history of salvation. The greatness of God will always be upheld as long as the acts of God are remembered.

This is equally — if not more — true for Christians. Where do we see the character and faithfulness of God? In the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Christianity is first a story before it is a theology or a philosophy. It is the story of a God who has come to us in Christ. Without the story there is no foundation upon which the theology can be built. So, we speak of God and God’s faithfulness by first speaking of Christ.

Christians often respond to unbelief or atheism with detailed defenses of the concept of a theistic God. Those kinds of arguments have their place — though they don’t really get to the heart of the issue. It is the story of Jesus that is the Gospel, and it is the story of Jesus that reveals to us the heart and the reality of God. There is a revelation of God in Christ. Without this, we don’t really know much of anything of the character of the theistic God our philosophical arguments defend.

I recently came across this passage from James K. A. Smith’s book How (Not) to be Secular. Smith is discussing Charles Taylor’s 900 page book A Secular Age. Taylor discusses those people who abandon religious faith allegedly on the basis of science. And, Smith writes:

Taylor suggests that those who convert to unbelief “because of science” are less convinced by data and more moved by the form of the story that science tells and the self-image that comes with it (rationality = maturity). Moreover, the faith that they left was often worth leaving. If Taylor is right, it seems to suggest that the Christian response to such converts to unbelief is not to have an argument about the data or “evidences” but rather to offer an alternative story that offers a more robust, complex understanding of the Christian faith. The goal of such witness would not be the minimal establishment of some vague theism but the invitation to historic, sacramental Christianity.

It is the story of God’s saving acts — especially in Christ — that are the basis of faith in God and in God’s goodness. It is by telling that story anew — pressing its implications for our day — that we uphold the greatness of God.

Believers can have confidence in God’s compassion and salvation. The remembrance of what God has done becomes the basis for confidence in the future. God “will vindicate his people, and have compassion on his servants.”

This confident expectation of God’s faithfulness in the future is what the New Testament calls hope.

“For in hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (Romans 8:24, 25 NRSV.)

It is worthwhile to notice the actual wording of verse 14.

“For YHWH will judge (יָדִ֣ין) for his people and for his servants repent (יִתְנֶחָֽם).”

Okay, I am exaggerating — to make a point. Yes, that translation above is too extreme. I just want to point out the connotation of the words used here. The usual translations are fine. But the first phrase has a verb whose connotation is judgement: to vindicate. The second phrase has a verb whose connotation is to repent — thus, to turn in compassion rather than anger.

I mention it, because in Hebrew the wording is striking. We don’t usually think in this kind of imagery. For us (for some reason) judgement usually suggests condemnation, and repentance suggests grief. But, God’s judgement can mean vindication. And, God’s repentance means compassion. The experience of God’s salvation in the past produces confidence in God’s salvation in the future.

Verses 15-18:

עֲצַבֵּ֣י הַ֭גּוֹיִם כֶּ֣סֶף וְזָהָ֑ב מַ֝עֲשֵׂ֗ה יְדֵ֣י אָדָֽם׃

“The idols of the nations are silver and gold, the work of human hands.”

פֶּֽה־לָ֭הֶם וְלֹ֣א יְדַבֵּ֑רוּ עֵינַ֥יִם לָ֝הֶ֗ם וְלֹ֣א יִרְאֽוּ׃

“They have mouths, but they do not speak; they have eyes, but they do not see;”

אָזְנַ֣יִם לָ֭הֶם וְלֹ֣א יַאֲזִ֑ינוּ אַ֝֗ף אֵין־יֶשׁ־ר֥וּחַ בְּפִיהֶֽם׃

“they have ears, but they do not hear, and there is no breath in their mouths.”

כְּמוֹהֶם יִהְי֣וּ עֹשֵׂיהֶ֑ם כֹּ֭ל אֲשֶׁר־בֹּטֵ֣חַ בָּהֶֽם

“Those who make them and all who trust them shall become like them.” (NRSV).

Here the contrast is made between the God of Israel and the gods of the surrounding nations. The wording is very similar to Psalm 115:4-8. The idols of the nations are human creations — they are able to do nothing. The God of Israel is a God of whom no image can be made — a God beyond all images or words. It is YHWH who has the ability to act.

Remember also, that this polemic against idolatry had political implications. Most often, in ancient times, religion served the interests of the state. So, the idols represent these political powers, as well. Only YHWH does not serve the state.

There are slight variations from the wording of Psalm 115: in verse 15 the words “of the nations” are added. In verse 17 rather than “noses, but do not smell” (Psalm 115:6) we have “and there is no breath in their mouths.”

This may be significant, since we remember the Creation story, where God breathed into Adam the breath of life. The word “breath” here is the Hebrew word ר֥וּחַ (ruach) which also commonly means “spirit.” Brueggemann and Bellinger comment:

As in the parallel dismissive recital of Ps 115: 5–7, the dominant word in this recital is “not” – not speak, not see, not hear, not breathe! In every regard, the idols are without power, a total contrast to YHWH, who “does whatever he pleases.” These idols do nothing, amount to nothing , and merit no attention and certainly no obedience. They have, moreover, no breath (rua?), no capacity for life. Not much is made of that point here, but it may be noted that rua? is used in verse 7 to mark the “wind” that YHWH commands; and of course it is the rua? of YHWH that creates heaven and earth (Gen 1: 2; see vv. 6– 7 in this psalm) and the rua? as wind that causes the Exodus waters to part (see Exodus 14: 21; this psalm vv. 8– 9). Thus YHWH is praised because YHWH has a life-giving, life-causing, life-transforming rua?; the idols have none!

— Brueggemann, Walter; Bellinger, Jr, W. H. (2013-11-30). Psalms (New Cambridge Bible Commentary) (Kindle Locations 14311-14320). Cambridge University Press. Kindle Edition.

And, we reminded again that we become shaped by the god we serve: those who trust in them shall become like them.

Verses 19-21:

בֵּ֣ית יִ֭שְׂרָאֵל בָּרֲכ֣וּ אֶת־יְהוָ֑ה בֵּ֥ית אַ֝הֲרֹ֗ן בָּרֲכ֥וּ אֶת־יְהוָֽה׃

“O house of Israel, bless the LORD! O house of Aaron, bless the LORD!”

בֵּ֣ית הַ֭לֵּוִי בָּרֲכ֣וּ אֶת־יְהוָ֑ה יִֽרְאֵ֥י יְ֝הוָ֗ה בָּרֲכ֥וּ אֶת־יְהוָֽה׃

“O house of Levi, bless the LORD! You that fear the LORD, bless the LORD!”

בָּ֘ר֤וּךְ יְהוָ֨ה ׀ מִצִּיּ֗וֹן שֹׁ֘כֵ֤ן יְֽרוּשָׁלִָ֗ם הַֽלְלוּ־יָֽהּ׃

“Blessed be the LORD from Zion, he who resides in Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!”

And, this Psalm ends as it began: with a call to the religious leaders of the nation to lead the nation in the praise of God. Again, to repeat Adam Clarke’s remark: “It is an exhortation addressed to the priests and Levites, and to all Israel, to publish the praises of the Lord.”

Someone has to begin the song. Someone has to continue telling and re-telling the story. If the “house of Israel” is to praise, it is up to the “house of Aaron” and the “house of Levi” to remind them and to lead the way for them.

A HYMN OF PRAISE

“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation! O my soul, praise him, for he is your health and salvation! Come, all who hear; now to his temple draw near, join me in glad adoration.

“Praise to the Lord, above all things so wondrously reigning; sheltering you under his wings, and so gently sustaining! Have you not seen all that is needful has been sent by his gracious ordaining?

“Praise to the Lord, who will prosper your work and defend you; surely his goodness and mercy shall daily attend you. Ponder anew what the Almighty can do, if with his love he befriends you.

“Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him! All that has life and breath, come now with praises before him. Let the Amen sound from his people again; gladly forever adore Him.”

— Joachim Neander (1680), translated by Catherine Winkworth (1863).

This article is also found here: Remembrance Inspires Praise - Craig L’s Blog.