Religious Freedom

Is religious freedom a civil right?

We had a discussion at church tonight.  From one perspective, religious freedom is not a civil right.  It is a God-given right.  We are free.  We are in Christ.  We are live in that freedom of the Gospel, that freedom of the forgiveness of sins, that freedom to speak the truth. 

Of course, that may mean we are also free to suffer on account of the Gospel.  "Blessed are you when men persecute you and revile you and speak all manner of evil against you falsely for My sake." 

The Constitution's first amendment guarantees suggests that the government not infringe on religious freedom.  That part is a CIVIL right.  A couple of centuries ago, our government wanted to ensure that people would not be persecuted for believing, speaking, and acting upon their religious beliefs.  And ... what the government gives, it can take away. 

So yes, we are free with regard to religion.
But no, we are not free to expect that there will be no suffering and no persecution.



We have been talking frequently about Daniel.  The book of Daniel shows us how believers lived and confessed during times of religious persecution.  The ones who believed in the Lord worked [gasp] for the good [gasp] of the government which was persecuting them.  They did not hide their trust and their prayers; neither did they flaunt it and be "Bible-thumpers."  They did their jobs, went about their business, helped the pagans who had kidnapped them, and then received death sentences for refusing to bow down to idols.  They enjoyed "freedom of religion" in the true sense of the word.  No one could make them deny the Faith.  These folks did not, however, have a civil right to religious liberty.

Can we fix the government so that our civil rights are once again guarantees and not mere wishes?  Maybe.  Probably not.  The problem is not new.  It started a century (or more) ago; the changes have been picking up speed.  Forty or fifty years ago all the problems we see today were already in existence; they had not yet come to fruition; but they had already started.  (This too is not unlike what Daniel experienced.)  I find it very interesting that we see nowhere that Daniel was counting on Cyrus or the work of Ezra and Nehemiah.  Daniel was not agitating for the government to change its policy.  Daniel's hope was in the promises of the Lord, not in fixing things here on earth. 

Daniel Notes

Nebuchadnezzar's vision in Daniel 2:  The statue of the man had a gold head, silver chest, and so forth, down to feet made of iron and clay.  And it was destroyed by ... a stone. People with various views of millenialism make quite the to-do over the different kingdoms and who they are and what the end will mean.  But the "stone" is Christ.  (See Psalm 118, Matt 21:42, Matt 16:18, and Psalm 91.)  Christ's kingdom is weird: it is not "of this world" (John 18:36).  The king's dream was about "the latter days" which is not a futuristic event but is rather the last twenty centuries (Dan 2:28 and Acts 2:17).


In verse 2:28, Daniel reports that God has revealed the meaning of the dream to Nebuchadnezzar.  He doesn't say that God revealed to him the meaning of the dream ... because Daniel is nothing in himself.  He is only the instrument that God uses to speak to others.


Nebuchadnezzar's faith: It always seemed to me as if Nebuchadnezzar must have believed in the Lord, but I could never point to anything definitive.  But after listening to the class discussion recently, I am more convinced.  In chapter 3, Neb realizes that the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego saved them.  So he declares, "Hey, everybody!  Worship that God, or I'll have you chopped to pieces."  Um... yeah ... faith doesn't exactly come about by threat of force.  But after Neb's little crazy-escapade, he begins his proclamation with "Peace to you" and all honor going to the Lord and none to himself.  He says the Lord gave him back his kingdom and his majesty; Neb didn't get it back for himself but received it.  And the last we hear from him is praise to Yahweh, in words that sound similar to the Magnificat.

That Scary Part of Amos 5

Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord!
For what good is the day of the Lord to you?
It will be darkness, and not light.
Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light?
Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?   (Amos 5:18-20)

When Pastor read those verses, I hated it.  
Where's the hope?
So, you're waiting for the day of the Lord?  
Sounds like Amos is saying, "Tough noogies.  Ain't you gonna be surprised?  It's going to be terrible!"

But what about the pillar of cloud (Ex 14:20)?  It was darkness to the one side, but light to the other.  That pillar was protection for the people of God; it separated them from those who would harm them. 

Queen of Heaven

Jeremiah calls the people to repentance for their offerings and their prayers to the "queen of heaven," Asherah.

It seems very odd that the Roman Catholic church would choose that phrase as a title for Mary, given the scriptural use of the term to refer to a false goddess.

Not Willingly

Jeremiah talks about suffering and mercy and the Lord's compassion (Lamentations 3). 

Though He causes grief, yet He will show compassion according to the multitude of His mercies.  For He does not afflict willingly.

Paul talks about how we are sons of God, joined to Christ, suffering now but awaiting redemption and glory (Romans 8).  Again we hear about God's unwillingness.

The creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope.

That must be why we call it God's "alien work." He doesn't want to punish, but He will do it if necessary to rescue us.



It's like Paul and Jeremiah are saying and believing the same thing.

The Handwriting on the Wall

And you, being dead in your trespasses
and the uncircumcision of your flesh,
He has made alive together with Him,
having forgiven you all trespasses,
having wiped out the handwriting of requirements 
that was against us,
which was contrary to us.
And He has taken it out of the way,
and nailed it to the cross.  (Colossians 2)


Remember Belshazzar (Nebuchanezzar's son)?  Big ol' party.  Lots of drinking.  Lots of worshiping idols.  A hand that appeared out of nowhere and started writing something on the wall.  People freaking out.  (You would too, if a bodiless hand appeared and started graffiti-ing up your wall.)  "Hey, remember Daniel?  Let's get him here.  He's really wise."

And what had the hand written?  "You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting" (Daniel 5).




A long time ago, in a galaxy state far far away, there was no midweek Bible study at our church.  The men had 9-to-5 jobs.  The women were stay-at-home moms, and many of them were involved in Explorers, a humongous, city-wide, non-denom Bible study.  They finally talked me into going, due in part to my desire for a preschool-like experience for my eldest kid.  Oh my goodness -- I'd never heard of so many rules for attending Bible class!

I broke rules on my very first day.  Explorers begins with opening worship, followed by small-group discussion of the previous week's lesson, and then everybody gathers again for what is essentially preaching on the week's passages.  You are not allowed to talk in the small-group discussion if you have not completed your at-home study of the passages and written your answers to the homework.  My first week?  I obviously hadn't done homework.  And I dared to talk.  Can you believe it?

(The ladies in my class were thankful.  They were confused by how often the Old Testament talked about "So-and-so, son of So-and-so, son of So-and-so."  I knew the explanation and told them the brief history tidbit.  And everybody was happy.  Until a couple of women from my church found out later that I'd broken the No-Speaking rule.  They were not happy.  Apparently, our small group gained a naughty reputation with the leadership for speaking too much and too candidly with each other.)

Over the weeks and months I attended Explorers, I grew to love the women in my small group.  Most of them were Baptist.  (In the South, "non-denom" has a decidedly Baptist feel to it!)  These women were burdened by the law.  They wanted to be good Christian women.  They desired the Lord and yearned for Him, but they were constantly being beaten up by the law.  They did not know Him to be a God of grace, but a god of rules and commands and laws and requirements.

Oh, another of the rules for Explorers small-group is "no denomination-specific discussion."  Everything has to be non-denom.  Uh.  Yeah.  I guess I broke that rule too.  I did manage (most of the time) to hold it in with regard to the sacraments and the office of the ministry and other Lutheran views.  But the gospel?  I had to speak the gospel.  How could I not?  And after all, supposedly all Christians believe the Gospel, right?  We're readin' the Bible here, folks!  How could we keep mum about the mercy of the Lord in Christ Jesus??

So when those dear women fretted that God would zot them for their inability to live as they ought, I talked about Jesus and His cross and the forgiveness of sins.  A few bristled.  Many sighed with relief.  Several hugged me and thanked me. 

Near the end of the year came the story of Daniel and the handwriting on the wall.  "You have been weighed in the balances and found wanting."

Oh, the outpouring of words that day.  The baring of hearts.  The fear.  So much fear.  "I'm not good enough."  "I am going to be found wanting.  I deserve to be destroyed."

Is there any greater joy than to be able to speak to a sinner: "But Jesus was the One put in the balance.  He took your sin.  He was 'found wanting.'  But His blood forgives your sin.  His righteousness is your own.  When God weighs you in the balance, all He finds is holiness and perfection.  No, it's not your own, that you earned.  But it is yours, because your Jesus gives it to you in His mercy and love."  And the person argues with you: "No, it just can't be.   You don't understand.  You don't know what kind of secret sins I have.  You don't know my heart's doubts."  And you get to "argue" back with them, "No, really.  He forgave all your trespasses.  He has wiped out the handwriting of requirements."



Sometimes it's really cool to be with people who aren't Lutheran, people who are tickled pink when they hear the gospel in all its fresh comfort.


Given the age of most of the women, and given how long ago this happened, many of the dear saints in my small group are probably already in heaven.  Someday I'll see them again.  And hug them.  And talking to them, my hidden Southern drawl will creep back into my usually-Northern voice. 

Daniel and the Lions' Den

So the governors and satraps hated Daniel (Daniel 6:4).  Why??  He was a good worker, honest, smart -- a good boss.  Why be against a good man promoted to being your boss?  That says something about human nature, about unwarranted hatred.

The decree to worship the king alone (6:7) wasn't just affecting Daniel.  It was a law for everybody.  Even if Daniel was the only person for whom they were intending to enforce the law, the other exiled Jews didn't know that.  Think how the families and the priests and everybody would have responded to this command.  And think how they would respond when they heard of Daniel's death-sentence and his 'resurrection.'

The law of the Medes and Persians could not be changed (6:15).  The sentence had to be carried through.  Not even the one who made the law could set it aside.  That's sort of the way God's law is.*    When Adam sinned, God's law ("in the day that you eat of it, you shall surely die") could not be changed.  Man had to die.  And as in the story of Daniel, the Man was sentenced to death.  And yet, after He/he was sealed in the lions' den, He/he came out alive.



* Footnote: The difference between God's law and Darius's law is that the inviolability of the law of the Medes and Persians was something of their own design.  But God's law being unchangeable and inviolate is because it simply IS; it's not, like, y'know, God being stubborn or something.

Save the Soothsayers

For real? 

But that's what Daniel did.  (Yup, Daniel.  As in "Daniel in the lions' den."  That Daniel.)

The story is in Daniel 2.  Nebuchadnezzar had a dream.  He wanted the interpretation.  But he knew the sorcerers and magicians could lie and make up any old explanation for the dream.  So the king said, "You tell me the dream first.  Then tell me what it means."    Of course, they all flipped out.   So the king said, "Kill 'em all." 

Daniel heard.  He too would be executed.  He and his friends prayed.  God told Daniel the dream and what it meant.  So Daniel went to the executioner and said, "Wait!  Don't kill all those magicians.  I will tell the king what he wants to know." 

These dudes didn't deserve to be saved.  They were false prophets.  They were astrologers and fortune tellers.  These were the kind of people that God had told the Israelites to kill when they went into Canaan many centuries earlier.  But here's Daniel in Babylon, saving their hides, showing mercy to them.


There are people who think this country has gone to hell in a handbasket.  I've talked to Christian friends who think that both the nation and the church are in such a pitiful state that it would be better for the destruction to just come and be done with it already.  If the country's going to fall apart, they say, the sooner the better.  That way (they say) the healing can start sooner.  Who cares about salvaging anything (they say)?  Who cares about compromise?  We should stick to our guns and hold out for the ideal.  Wouldn't it be better to wipe out what's been marred and make a fresh start?

But godly Daniel showed mercy to those who didn't deserve it.  Godly Daniel served Nebuchadnezzar who was appointed by God to raze Jerusalem. 

What's that we pray?  That we would have peace in our land so that the word of God "may have free course and be preached to the joy and edifying" of His people?  Maybe the country is falling apart.  Maybe the country doesn't deserve to continue.  Maybe the country spites the Lord.  But does that mean Christians want to see it smashed?  No!  If Christians are to be Christlike, they will pray for mercy for those who don't deserve it, for those who don't appreciate it, for those who will even [sigh] abuse it.  And they will be thankful that the word of God continues to be preached, so that more people might be saved before any catastrophe arrives.

After all, those Magi that came to worship Jesus when He was a baby, those guys learned about the Lord from somewhere.  The Magi had not been wiped out in Daniel's day.  Daniel pleaded for them.  He went on to live a life of suffering in the midst of a country of unbelievers. And five centuries later, we see faith in some of those magicians from The East. 

The Lord Does Not Change

The Israelites kept wandering from the Lord.
They certainly deserved His punishment.
They deserved to be abandoned by Him.

But what does Malachi preach to them?

I am the Lord;
I do not change;
Therefore you are not consumed.  (Malachi 3:6)

"Therefore."  

"Therefore."

No matter what we deserve, He does not change.
He remains merciful.
He remains faithful to His promise.
He is the Lord, the God of the promise of salvation.
And He does not change.

Daniel's Service to Nebuchadnezzar

Pastor commented recently in Bible class about how Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego served the Bad Guy.  They were faithful Jews/Christians, even though they were civil servants in Babylon.  Pastor said it was something to ponder with regard to our vocation as citizens.

After he pointed this out, I went and checked out the dating.  Wow -- Daniel was nabbed the first time Babylon came in and overran Jerusalem.  According to the stories in Chronicles and the first chapter of Daniel, those bright young men would have been taken, oh, say, 15-20 years before the temple was destroyed and the whole country was stomped on.  And while Daniel faithfully prayed for God's will and for right worship and for faith among his countrymen, he was a government official serving the king who was destroying Judah.   It looks like Daniel was helping Nebuchadnezzar who was sent by God to punish Israel.  How weird would that be? 

I think maybe there is something to ponder there.

Loving the Beautiful People?

He has no form or comeliness.
And when we see Him, 
there is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  (Isaiah 53)

Oh, so if there were beauty, 
then maybe we would desire Him.

In other words, 
we desire what pleases us, 

what makes us happy, 

what is beautiful to us.

"Well, DUH," you say. 

"Who desires what's despicable?" you say.

Oh.

Yeah.

There is One who does.

How weird!

How blessedly weird!

And amazingly, that weird, unearned love makes the ugly one beautiful. 

For All People

We spent a lot of time in Bible class yesterday looking at the canticles of Luke 1-2. We also saw how these songs lifted from the word given before. Mary's Magnificat is similar to Hannah's song and the song of Habakkuk. Zechariah's Benedictus begins with the words which end Book Four of the psalter, and the rest of the song is drawn from other psalms and prophets.

Pastor pointed out how Simeon's song borrows from what the angel told the shepherds. (Remember: the shepherds made all those events widely known.) There were plenty of messiah-figures showing up in Palestine over the years, exciting the Jews' passion to kick Roman butt. But would this messiah be for everyone? Heck no -- he'd restore the Jews to their place of supremacy.

But that messiah wasn't the one God had in store.

God had promised Abraham that all the nations of the world would be blessed in his Seed. When the angels proclaimed the glad tidings to the shepherds, they too said the news was "a great joy which shall be for all people." Ah ha! That lines up with what God had said 2000 years earlier. And then Simeon shows up in the temple on the right day, singing about the "salvation which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people." Simeon knew the veracity of the shepherds' story because it was in sync with God's promises handed down through the centuries.

The word of the Lord never fails.

Double for Her Sins

Speak comfort to Jerusalem, and cry out to her,
that her warfare is ended,
that her iniquity is pardoned;
for she has received from the Lord's hand
double for all her sins. (Isaiah 40)

As the class was considering this verse, Nancy brought up the connection to Elijah and Elisha. Elisha wanted a double-portion of Elijah's spirit (2 Kings 2). But that's not a quantitative "double" because you can't have more of something you already have in all its fullness. She suggested that both of these "doubles" refer to the double portion of inheritance that is due by right to the firstborn (Deuteronomy 21:17).

After all, we are "in Christ." And He is the firstborn of the Father. And He will share the spoils with us (Isaiah 53). The double portion is ours!

Double for Her Sins

She has received from the Lord's hand
double for all her sins. (Isaiah 40)


From Sunday's sermon,
"Double for her sins" means

twice as much mercy and grace
and salvation as you need.

Every Valley

Every valley shall be exalted,
and every mountain and hill made low (Isaiah 40).

"By the preaching of Law and Gospel, John the Forerunner leveled the high mountains of pride and self-righteousness and filled up the valleys of contrite humility and unworthiness with God's mercy."

(Stolen from Sunday's church bulletin)

A Sign for Ahaz

Pastor pointed out last week in Bible class (studying Isaiah 7) that God told Ahaz to ask for a sign. God said He'd defeat the Assyrians for the country of Judah, but He wanted to offer King Ahaz something to see that would assure him God was for-real about this rescue. Ahaz pretended to be too pious to request a sign. Pastor asked what an obvious answer might have been -- it probably would have something to do with soldiers or the outcome of the first battle or something else to do with war.

So God says, "Fine, you won't ask even after I told you to ask. I'll give you a sign anyway." And then He says that the virgin will conceive and bear a Son, and He will be named Emmanuel. That always seemed pretty darn non sequitur to me. But Pastor explained that it's not. Ahaz was told that God would fight off the Assyrians. Ahaz couldn't do it on his own. He couldn't do it with the help of neighboring countries. All Ahaz could do was to be still and see the salvation which the Lord his God would accomplish for him. No man could fight the enemies and rescue him.

And isn't that the same thing that God's sign would demonstrate? No man would cause the conception of Emmanuel; He would be born of a virgin.




Seek whom ye may to be your stay,
none can redeem his brother.
All helpers failed. This Man prevailed --
the God-man and none other.
Our Servant-Lord did help afford.
We're justified for He hath died,
the Guiltless for the guilty.

Coals of Fire on His Head

I guess I'm very bad and vengeful. You know that verse?
If your enemy is hungry, feed him,
and if he is thirsty, give him a drink.
For in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.

(Romans 12:20)

It always struck me as if it were saying, "Be really nice to the dudes who hate you. That'll make 'em feel guilty. Oh yeah, if you're good to them when they're rotten to you, that'll show them! So ha!" What a guilt-free way to get 'em back ... by making them feel small for what they did to such a nice person as you.

Now, that wouldn't be exactly, uh, selfless and giving, now would it??

But you know what? When Isaiah saw heaven and was commissioned to be God's prophet (Isaiah 6) the angel took a coal from the altar and placed it on Isaiah's lips and said, This has has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and your sin is purged.

So maybe the coals are not about "Ha! Got you! Don't you feel bad now?" but maybe it's just plain about the forgiveness of sins. If your enemy is hungry, feed him even though he expects retaliation. If your enemy is thirsty, give him a drink even though he wouldn't do that for you. For in doing so, you will show mercy and forgiveness, and if the absolution is heaped upon his head, it may purge his sin and work love & faith in his heart. "And you will gain your brother."

Isaiah 1:18

Come, let us reason together:
Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow.
Though they are red like crimson,
they shall be as wool.

"Like wool."
Wool comes from a lamb.

Isaiah 61 says, "He has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me with the robe of righteousness." And "He" is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.

My Thoughts Are Not Your Thoughts

One of the collects uses the verse from Isaiah 55 ("'My thoughts are not Your thoughts, nor are My ways your ways,' declares the Lord") as if God has His way of doing things, and He's just so big and so great that we cannot understand it. So if there's a hurricane that destroys a city, we pray that, y'know, His thoughts aren't our thoughts, and we don't know what's up with the whole disaster thing, but God must know what He's doing.

And that's not untrue.

But Pastor keeps telling us that "My thoughts are not your thoughts" has nothing to do with God being "beyond us" in smarts (which He is), or about His being capricious (which He's not). It is, rather, about His way of looking at things being so different from ours. We believe people ought to pay for their mistakes. We love the people who are nice to us. We get fed up with those who abuse us and either take our revenge or (if we're the [ahem] patient and nonvengeful sort) at least we know to avoid those stinkers who give us grief.

God is not like that!

God's thoughts are not our thoughts. If you look at the context of that verse, it's so obvious. God calls out at the beginning of the chapter, "Come, all you thirsty ones, and get something to drink. All you hungry people, come and get food without paying for it!" A grocery store sure ain't gonna stay in business if that's how they operate! Later in the chapter, He sends out His word to bring people to Himself, and He promises that it will not fail in the job He sends it to do: work repentance and bestow pardon.

His thoughts and His ways are just plain weird.

Can there really truly be that much abundance of mercy?

The Fast God Has Chosen

Sunday's [3-year] appointed Old Testament reading was from Isaiah 58:
Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the heavy burdens,
to let the oppressed go free,
and that you break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out;
when you see the naked, that you cover him,
and hide not yourself from your own flesh?
Then your light shall break forth like the morning,
your healing shall spring forth speedily,
and your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and He will say, "Here I am."


We hear this passage and immediately think of what God demands of us, what we are to do. We are to share our food and clothing, to help those who are captives and in need. And that's true.

But this passage is also a picture of the cross of Jesus -- not merely the fast He requires of us, but even more, the fast He chose to undertake. In His death, He loosed His people from bondage to Satan and sin. He gives His body that we might eat the Bread of Life. By His death, He gathers us poor into His mansions. He was not ashamed to be naked on the cross, but covers us with the robe of His righteousness. He cried out to the Father, "My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?" and the Father answered, "Here I am" and raised Him up on the morning of the third day that we might have light and healing.