QUESTIONS GOD ASKS US - Sermon Study Guide #4 - Is Not This What It Means To Know Me?

READ – Jeremiah 22:1-5; 13-17  

Many times people come to the Bible looking for answers. That presupposes we are asking the right questions. Thankfully, often in the Bible God draws near and asks questions of people (e.g. Adam and Eve, Cain, Abraham, Hagar, Moses, Elijah, Job) not to get clarity for Himself, but to offer people better self-knowledge and knowledge of God.

This week we are looking at a question found in the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah: “Is not this what it means to know me?” It’s a question that gets right at the heart of reality – isn’t this what it means to be in a true relationship with God?  The “this” that God is referring to in Jeremiah 22:5 refers to King Josiah’s practice of administering justice and righteousness in his kingdom – he took care of the poor, oppressed, and needy. Those words, “justice and righteousness,” is really a phrase that uses two words to describe one idea. In the Old Testament, “righteousness” was relational and meant to be in a right relationship. “Justice” was the practice of putting to right those things that were wrong. It was a relational and public concept. Perhaps the best modern equivalent we have is “social justice.” In the Old Testament it involved rescuing the oppressed, not exploiting the immigrant or refugee, guarding innocent life, the fatherless, and widow.  

1. WHO IS THIS QUESTION FOR

God’s question is directed at the audience identified in 22:2 – the king, the officers, and the people at the gates. These were people who had access to opportunity, influence, resources and enjoyed the comforts of life. This question is directed to those living in affluence, luxury, and comfort. Who is that question for today? If you’re living an ordinary, suburban, middle-class life in Orange County – don’t try to dodge or deflect this question. The question is for you.

2. HOW SHOULD THE QUESTION BE ANSWERED

You should let this question do its prophetic and penetrating work. It’s meant to be uncomfortable, to challenge, to shake us up. That’s what prophets do. But from there it’s important to ask to follow-up questions: (1) Do I really know God? (2) Do I really know the poor and oppressed? To help answer the first, do you see that God’s delight in justice and righteousness is not a side hobby, but something that’s central to His character? Do you know this God of the Bible? In any healthy relationship, you should know what delights the other person. God is no different. He delights in setting oppressed people free, righting inequities, befriending the marginalized. Answering the second question is tough for us culturally – many of us live in places designed to isolate us from poverty and injustice. We can read statistics and scan social media – but Scripture is calling us to be in relationship with those who are robbed, exploited, oppressed, neglected, and brutalized.

3. HOW CAN THIS QUESTION CHANGE US

We need change both at the intellectual level, but also the motivational level. It’s not enough merely to know injustice exists, our hearts need to be drawn to see, and feel, and act in ways that right relationships and right wrongs. For king Jehoaikim, his problem was with his eyes and his heart. He only saw and was motivated by things that profited him, his comfort, and his legacy. When Jehoaikim saw the poor, he saw himself above and distanced from them. When we see the poor, who do we see? A change in our vision and motivation will only come when we (1) see Jesus in the poor, and (2) see ourselves in the poor. Jesus is the coming king that Jeremiah foresaw who would bring righteousness (Jer 23:5-6). But He was surprising in that He was the king who became poor to make the poor rich (2 Cor 8:9). He also invited His followers to see the poor as Jesus himself (Matt 25:31-46). Secondly, Scripture offer us resources not to serve the poor out of a guilt-complex (I’ll do this to fix myself) or god-complex (I’ll do this to fix them), but out of grateful posture that knows that in our spiritual bankruptcy and poverty, Christ emptied himself to cure, rescue, and save us.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.       What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?

2.      Social justice is hot right now. Honestly, where are you with issues of justice in our culture? Are you apathetic, skeptical, passionate? Why do you think you feel the way that you do about justice and righteousness?  How is Scripture shaping your thinking when it comes to injustices in our community, nation, and world?  

3.      What do you think is most challenging for a follower of Jesus living in Orange County to actually live out God’s invitation and call to justice? Doing justice often doesn’t factor into the ordinary ways we view discipleship – we tend to think of growing in Christ in relation to church, Scripture reading and memorization, prayer, small groups. These are all good things, but how is our discipleship stunted if we leave out a public expression of justice?

4.      What’s been your relational experience with “the poor?” How has God changed you through that relationship?

5.       How does the Gospel change both our thinking and feeling about the oppressed and poor?

6.      Trinity OC has a Compassion Team that has been doing some amazing work on connecting our church with opportunities to partner with others in working for justice in our community. Ask a pastor or elder for more information about how you can get involved in following Jesus’ call on this area of your life.  

QUESTIONS GOD ASKS US - Sermon Study Guide #3 - Where Have You Come From, Where Are You Going?

READ – Genesis 16

This week we find ourselves right in the middle of the story of Abraham and Sarah. Abraham is one of the central characters in the entire Bible – and is seen by many as the “father” of three major world religions (Judaism, Islam, and Christianity). After God’s good creation and the tragic rebellion of Adam and Even in Genesis 3, things go from bad to worse. Eventually, the state of the world becomes so corrupt, abusive, and unjust that God starts over by flooding the earth but preserving Noah and his family. But even Noah and his descendants show themselves to be infected by sin. So God comes down to an old, childless, pagan couple (Abraham and Sarah) in ancient Mesopotamia and promises that they will have a child from whose line will come a Rescuer to put things back to rights, bless the nations, and heal the world. Genesis 16 occurs ten years after God had made that promise to Abraham and Sarah. Ten years of waiting, wandering, and infertility.

Hagar is the first of a long line of biblical characters who meet and experience God in the wilderness. Think of Moses, the nation of Israel, Elijah, John the Baptist, or Jesus. In almost every story of someone going into the wilderness and meeting God, the journey proved to be identity-forming – and Hagar is no exception. God comes to Hagar with two questions: “Where do you come from” and “Where are you going?” In these two questions God is uncovering for Hagar to realities that are just as relevant for us today: who are we and what do we want?

1. THE MAID WHO BECAME A PRINCESS

Put yourself in Hagar’s shoes. Presumably she is dead to her family, place of origin, and history. She is the human property of another – and literally has no rights over her life, choices, of even her own body (as the story shamefully recounts). Hagar is an Egyptian, a woman, and a slave – an outsider according to her ethnicity, gender, and social class. She was seen only for her utility, noticed only as a means to an end, not an end in herself.

Does the Bible condone slavery, abusive treatment of women, polygamy? It’s helpful to distinguish between Prescriptive and Descriptive texts in Scripture. Prescriptive texts tell us to do something (e.g. the Ten Commandments). But Descriptive texts often give us an account without the narrator necessarily assigning a positive/negative value to the way the characters behave. Genesis 16 is a descriptive story. The treatment of Hagar is neither justified, nor condoned – and in fact, as the story progresses, leads to incredible heartbreak.

In order to understand how Hagar ends up in the wilderness, it’s helpful to understand what the dynamic was between Sarah and Hagar. Sarah was the mistress, the superior. As such she had absolute power over Hagar – even over Hagar’s womb. Hagar was the slave, the inferior. The culture that these two women found themselves in was a traditional culture. It was a culture that said to women ‘You are only as good or valuable as the children you can bear and the family you can raise.’ So you can understand Sarah’s difficulty. Not only has God promised her that the entire weight of the world is resting on her birthing a son, but Sarah’s entire culture would have been directly and indirectly communicating to her that she was nothing if she couldn't be a mom. Sarah tries to deal with this by using Hagar’s body. But what she comes to discover is that after Hagar has conceived – Sarah begins to feel deflated and worthless, and Hagar begins to feel inflated and superior. The tables have turned. Now Hagar sees her mistress with contempt, (literally, as little or small in her eyes). Sarah’s insecurity leads her to become angry and abusive; Hagar’s superiority leads her to see other people as small. They were both ultimately finding themselves and their identity in their motherhood status.

To our modern sensibilities, that sounds absurd and ridiculous. We’ve moved beyond traditional culture. But our modern world hasn’t moved beyond assigning people identity and value based on their achievement and performance.  

 Timothy Keller talks about three ways our identities are formed:

1.       Look Out: this is the traditional way of forming one’s identity – finding your sense of self with how you fit into the tribe, or your ability to have kids, or raise a family.

2.      Look In: the modern path to identity to is look inside yourself. We look to our desires (‘follow your heart’) or our achievements, academic pedigree, or love relationships. But in both traditional and modern cultures, we’re all ultimately trying to get someone to see, notice, and recognize us.

3.      Look Up: what Hagar discover in the desert is that there’s a God who has already discovered her. She’s trying to find herself, but God has found her. The Christian gospel says that it’s not our past, present, or future achievements that determine who we are, but the achievements of Jesus our substitute through which we find a durable, lasting identity. And it’s an identity that shows us we are more priceless than the most precious diamond.

By my count, there’s 6 children God names while they’re in the womb of their mothers. In almost all 6 instances, the baby boys are royalty or princes. God names Ishmael, Hagar’s son. He’s saying, ‘Up to this point, everyone has seen and noticed you only for your utility, only as a slave, but I see you as a princess, as a queen.” Imagine what it might be like to live with that truth echoing in your heart?

2. THE RUNAWAY SLAVE AND OUR SEARCH FOR FREEDOM

It’s ironic, but because of her meeting God in the wilderness, Hagar turns out to be the most free person in this story. How is Hagar the slave the most free?

First, Hagar discovers a Master who will never exploit, abuse, or oppress her. Our notion of freedom is to be without limitations or constraints, to be free from authority, and to have limitless choices. But that contemporary idea of freedom isn’t workable. Freedom isn’t the absence of authority or constraints, but choosing the right freedoms to lose. For example, you will never experience the freedom of intimate, committed love unless you sacrifice some of your autonomy and independence. Hagar meets someone who loves her. God meets Hagar in an accessible way. God calls her by name. God gives her a question, not a command, and invites her into conversation. God starts by listening. God is the only character in the story who values Hagar as an end in herself. This is a Master she has never known before. 

Second, Hagar discovers that her life is not her own, she must follow this Master’s plan for her life to make sense and for her to arrive at the happiness and freedom she is searching for. We’re all mastered by something or someone. Sarah was mastered by her culture’s evaluation of her. What are you mastered by? If you fail, will that master forgive you? Hagar finds that even though God is commanding her to return to Sarah, He is the Master who will care for her and give her a destiny.

2. THE GOD IN THE WILDERNESS

How could Hagar know for sure that this God she meets in the wilderness, the God of Abraham wasn’t going to manipulate or exploit her like Abraham?

The answer is wrapped up in the identity of this mysterious “angel of the LORD.” This “angel” is not any mere angel. In fact, many theologians and interpreters understand this figure to be “The Messenger” of the LORD – a preincarnate manifestation of the second person of the Trinity, who will eventually be named Jesus. Hagar understands from the blessing that this messenger gives her to her own naming of this figure, “El Roi” (The God who sees me”) that this is God Himself.

What do we know on this side of history that Hagar didn't? We know that God came to another maidservant, a virgin Mary, and promised her that she would bear a son whose name wouldn’t be Ishmael, “God hears your affliction,” but Immanuel, “God with us.” Jesus wasn’t content merely to hear our suffering, He wanted to enter into it and bear it. This Jesus gave up his freedom so we could experience ultimate freedom – from sin, shame, and people’s evaluation of us. Why? So He could be the Master who if we fail, he’ll forgive us; if we let him down, he’ll still love us. Jesus is the God who not only sees us, notices us, but dies for us. When you believe that truth, you become the most affirmed person in the world (‘the Son of God died for me!’) and the most self-denying person in the world (‘I am not my own, I belong to another and His will for my life’).

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.       What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?

2.      What are some things that you are tempted to base your identity, worth, and value in? How are you learning to see this dynamic and repent from it?   

3.      How does the biblical concept of freedom at odds with our modern notions of freedom?

4.      Is Christianity oppressive? Why or why not?  

5.      What might it look like to live this week with God’s voice saying, “I see you as a princess or prince?” What might change?

6.      Is there an area of your life or heart that you’ve not been submitting to Jesus the Master? How might you work towards change? What could that look like?

QUESTIONS GOD ASKS US - Sermon Study Guide #2 - Where Are You?

READ – Genesis 2:25-3:13; 3:22-23

For Lent, we are doing a series on the questions God has for us.  In the Bible, God doesn't ask questions for his own sake – he isn’t seeking information he doesn’t already know. He asks questions to give us the opportunity to search our hearts. He asks questions to reveal who we are – and more importantly, who He is to us.

This week we’re looking at perhaps the most tragic chapter in the Bible. Genesis 3 is the story of the fall and rebellion of humanity. We’re focusing specifically on Genesis 3:9, God’s question to Adam & Eve – “Where are you?” It’s the first question of the Bible and the first words God speaks to the human race after they’ve chosen to run away and hide from God in their sin and shame. But interestingly, this question also marks the beginning of God’s work of redemption and rescue.

WHAT THIS QUESTION SHOWS US ABOUT OURSELVES 

God’s question to Adam & Eve in Genesis 3:9 shows us one big thing about the human experience, and three facets of that one big thing. The Big Thing is this: we all experience shame – it’s literally at the core of everybody’s story, the story of humanity as a whole. What is shame? Shame is one of the two main feelings or experiences we have because of our broken relationship with God. We all in some way experience guilt and shame. Guilt is the experience that says, “I’ve done something wrong.” But shame says, “Something is wrong with me.” Guilt says “I’ve done bad.” Shame says, “I am bad.”

 So how does shame operate in this primeval story of humanity – how does it operate in our stories?

1.       We all hide in shame. God’s question for Adam concerns Adam’s whereabouts. The story highlights that Adam and Eve hid. Hiding. Covering up. Self-protection. They are all symptoms of shame. The voice of shame tells us, “If they really saw me, the real me, they’d reject me.” Shame says that when you’re fully seen and known you won’t be accepted.

2.      We all blame to evade feeling shame. One of the hallmarks of shame is judgement and blame. Adam blames Eve and God. Eve blames the serpent. It’s an attempt to get the searching spotlight off ourselves and onto someone else in the fear that we will be found out. Sadly, blame leads to more relational alienation and disconnection.

3.      We all cover ourselves to cope with shame. Notice God leads with a question of being before doing. It’s not that Adam and Eve’s “doing” wasn’t important (He questions them about this later). What’s significant is God’s saying that our being precedes our doing. What we do flows out of who we are, especially in relation to God and our neighbor. Adam and Eve tried to cover up who they were. Remember in Genesis 2, it’s recorded that Adam and Eve were both naked and unashamed. But after sin enters the world, they both attempt to conceal their inadequacy, fear, and disconnection with fig leaves. We may not use leaves, but we do use busyness, spirituality, achievement, perfectionism, affluency to create artificial personas to cover up.

WHAT THIS QUESTION SHOWS US ABOUT GOD

Observe how each of God’s actions in Genesis 3 parallels the operations of shame in Adam and Eve’s life.

1.       God comes to find us in our hiding. God’s “walking” in the garden suggests a habitual action – a sign that this was something God often did for relational intimacy with humanity. What’s surprising is that sin and shame don’t drive God away; He doesn’t get awkward with the people who literally just ruined the world. Instead he asks a question - showing that he wants to retain the relationship. Can I be fully known, fully seen, be the real me and not be rejected, disowned, and alienated by God? Yes! God fully knows the real you and still draws near in conversation and connection.

2.      God calls us out of hiding. Shame thrives and grows in isolation. To be called out of shame is to be called into vulnerability and honesty about who we really are. God was calling Adam and Eve into openness and authenticity with him. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “Humankind is not permitted to remain alone in its sin; God speaks to Adam and halts him in his flight. Come out of your hiding place, out of your self-reproach, out of your cover-up, out of your secrecy, out of your self-torment, out of your vain remorse. Confess who you are, do not lose yourself in religious despair, be yourself. Adam, where are you? Stand before your Creator.” Full, raw, honest confession before God. Shame cannot be cured without it. The Psalms are full of this honesty. Are you being honest before God? Is there someone safe in your life who you can be real with and receive their assuring smile and a reminder of God’s love?

3.      God covers our shame. In Gen 3:21 God makes clothing for Adam and Eve; clothing out of animal skins. From that moment, clothing becomes a metaphor in scripture for acceptance, worth, dignity. In the modern world, we are taught that we need to clothe ourselves with either self-esteem or self-effort. But both current research and our experience shows that’s not workable. So what’s the solution? A hint is given in the clothing that God provides the primeval couple. Presumably, the skins God used were skins from an animal – that means something had to die to cover Adam and Eve in their shame. The consequence of sin was death – and Adam and Eve did experience a kind of death in being removed from the Garden of Eden and their bodies given over to decay. But the immediate death sentence was absorbed by a substitute – an innocent animal. God was showing that this is how rescue and redemption would come – a substitute would bear our shame, sin, and death so we could be given beauty, righteousness, and life. The Gospel is that Jesus was covered in shame so we could be covered in His beauty. Adam and Eve ate from a tree which resulted in their shame; Jesus hung on a tree to carry our shame.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.       What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?

2.      Shame is difficult to talk about – our tendency is towards concealment and isolation. How did this story of Adam and Eve resonate with your experience? Can you give examples?  

3.      How do you distinguish between guilt and shame? There’s probably some overlap – but what’s unique about shame, and how do you think the gospel offers a unique cure for shame?

4.      Why do you think God addresses Adam and Eve’s being, “Where are you?” before their doing? Is your tendency to focus on whether you’ve done right or wrong or on who you are in relation to God and other people? Why is focusing only on behavior and doing insufficient according to a biblical anthropology?

5.      Have you experienced being exposed and yet loved? How did it feel? How does the gospel free us from cycles of shame? How might your week look different if you really believed that you are fully known and fully loved?

6.      Can you see the value of putting shameful experiences into words and actually speaking them to God and someone who is safe? What are some of the benefits that might come with that kind of a confession?

QUESTIONS GOD ASKS US - Sermon Study Guide #1 - Who Can Understand the Heart?

READ – Jeremiah 17:1-10

For Lent, we are doing a series on questions.  Trinity OC is seeking to be a place where peoples’ questions are encouraged, respected, and valued. Many of us have had the experience of being in faith communities where our questions were not welcome. Christianity encourages asking questions and seeking the answers in a community of faith. But what about God’s questions? Throughout the Bible, God asks very direct and probing questions to people. It’s important for us to listen to those questions. So over the next six weeks we will be listening to six of the most poignant questions God asks:

1.       “Who can understand the heart?” (Jeremiah 17)

2.      “Where are you?” (Genesis 3)

3.      “Where are you going?” (Genesis 16)

4.      “Why are you so angry?” (Jonah 4)

5.      “Why are you here?” (1 Kings 19)

6.      “What’s your name?” (Genesis 32)

1.  THE CENTRALITY OF THE HEART

Jeremiah was a prophet to the nation of Judah before and during the exile (586 BCE). He is commonly referred to as the “weeping prophet” both because he wrote a book called Lamentations, but also because he more than any other prophet showed the pathos and heart of God for people. “Heart” is actually the theme of Jeremiah 17. Through repetition of the word “heart” (v. 1, 5, 9) Jeremiah is connecting this whole passage. In the Bible, the “heart” is the seat of the emotions and will—it’s where your thoughts, commitments, and desires all work together to make you who you are and to move you to do what you do. The heart is the central core of a person. If the heart is at a person’s core, it’s easy to see why God throughout the Bible is more concerned with that inner reality than mere behavior or external actions. Likewise, if you really want to know where you are, to grow, to learn, or to change, you need to start with a deep “heart” exam—because staying on the surface won’t lead to true self-knowledge or lasting change.

2.  THE CONDITION OF THE HEART

Jeremiah 17:1-8 give us two different pictures of our heart’s inner condition. (1) the heart is our inner tablet, (2) the heart is a tree. Jeremiah says curiously that “the sin of Judah is inscribed with an iron stylus with a diamond point.” Notice he says “sin” and not “sin(s).” That’s significant. God is more concerned with the relational direction of our heart, whether it is turned away or resisting God, not merely behaviors or rule-breaking. Essentially, Jeremiah’s imagery of the tablet and the tree is God’s way of asking: (1) what is written on the tablet of my heart—what messages, values, beliefs am I listening to and acting from? (2) what roots and resources is my life tapping into—who or what am I trusting for well-being and life?

3.  THE CURE FOR THE HEART

If the diagnosis of our hearts is that they are inscribed with the wrong beliefs and values and rooted in the wrong place, what’s the cure? Jeremiah rules out two of the most common cures for our hearts: (1) salvation by self-understanding, “follow your heart”, and (2) salvation by religious self-effort, “master you heart.” Curing our heart through following our heart won’t work because we can’t know if our heart is trustworthy—we’re often a walking mix of contradictions. Further, following our heart rarely leads to serving other people. What kind of world would we live in if everyone followed their heart and neglected to love and care for others? However, curing our heart through mastering it won’t work either. Jeremiah is making the claim that deceit is the heart’s best practice—especially when it comes to religious hypocrisy. Trying to cure yourself through self-mastery actually makes the heart hardened because you convince yourself that you are OK, when you aren’t.

So what’s the biblical antidote? Jeremiah says that the hardened heart must be broken and the turned away heart must be turned back. Later in the book, Jeremiah gives us a clue to how God actually does both of those things for us (Jeremiah 30-33). In Jeremiah 31, God tells His people that He will both write His law on their hearts and that they will relationally, covenantally know Him. This is given to us in the Gospel. The Law could never inscribe itself on hard human hearts—what we needed was a force greater than the force of law, the force of unbreaking, covenant love. Jesus is the fullness of God’s unbreaking love for us. Even though he never turned away from God, God turned away from Jesus on the cross. Even though the root of Jesus’ life always looked to God for refreshing, on the cross he was parched and cried, “I am thirsty.” Even though Jesus’ heart was always inscribed with God’s law of love, his body was broken on a death tree as our substitute.

4.  THE CARE OF THE HEART

Followers of Jesus have already been given a new heart, but at the same time our hearts are not wholly and fully new. Our hearts can still become hardened and deceitful. The season of Lent is an invitation to do some heart care. Engage in that heart-care knowing that the care is the same as the cure (the gospel). We can engage in deep heart work when we (1) Self-examine through allowing God to examine us in the light of His Word (see Psalm 139), and (2) Confessing sin and repenting/turning to Jesus.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.       What about the sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?

2.      What thoughts, feelings or experiences do you have with Lent? Are they positive, negative, neutral? What questions do you have about the practice of Lent? Is there someone you can go to for guidance?

3.      Why do you think the Scriptures make such a big deal about the condition of our hearts? Does that fit with some people’s modern expectations that the Bible is all about rules and behavior?

4.      Jeremiah compared our hearts to tablets and trees. Using that picture, what values, beliefs, ideas do you find inscribed on your own heart? If you’re a parent, consider asking your kids: what am I passing down to you, how will you remember me?

5.      We are all trying to cure ourselves by following our heart (irreligion) or mastering our heart (religion). How does the gospel free you to truly know yourself—and what difference does that make in your everyday life?

6.      How might this week look different if you lived out of the reality that Jesus was broken and endured the parching heat of the cross, so that your heart could be inscribed with God’s love and your life rooted God’s nourishing care? What might change? Share with your group and close in prayer.

RENEW - Chronicles: Rediscovering Who We Are and Why We're Here - Sermon Study Guide #14 - Rediscovery of God's Compassion and Our Commission

READ – 2 Chronicles 36:15-23

This final passage and conclusion to the book of Chronicles is not only the conclusion to the book of Chronicles (which starts with Adam and concludes in the author’s present day), it is also the grand finale of the Hebrew Bible of Jesus’ time (the Tanakh -the traditional Hebrew ordering of the Scriptures). This passage stands as a powerful reminder of why the people could still hold on to hope that God had not forsaken them (despite their continued straying) and of what they were called to as the people of God (their mission). It’s also the cliff hanger ending of the Old Testament that finds its final fulfillment in Jesus.

SUMMARY: As we discover and re-discover the compassion of God for us, we are renewed in our relationship with Him and we are propelled outward as people commissioned by God to show and speak compassion to others.

COMPASSION FROM GOD

Verses 15-16 summarize the whole history of God’s relationship to humanity from Adam onward. (Remember the 1st word in Chronicles, “Adam.”) The story of this relationship can be told as the intertwining and tension of 3 major themes – 1) the persistent compassion of God, 2) the persistent rejection of people and the 3) the passion of God against sin and suffering (wrath).

Theme #1 – As we come to the end of Chronicles, the author emphasizes one thing he does not want us to miss about God’s role in this story – He is a God of persistent compassion. God’s compassion means that He longs to give us the remedy (v16) for all our sin and for the suffering in this world. It means he is full or readiness, sympathy and longing to relive and remove all human suffering and brokenness. This is his unchanging heart toward us. From Genesis 3 thru 2 Chronicles 36, the story of the OT is the story of a God who persistently sends his word out so that people would turn to Him and be healed.

Theme #2 – Verse 16 tells us how people respond to God’s persistent compassion – with persistent rejection. It’s not just any kind of rejection. It’s a rejection full of mocking, despising and scoffing at God and his call to turn to Him. The image is of a sick and dying people who not only refuse the medicine that could cure them, they mock and scoff at the physician’s offer.

Theme #3 - Verse 16 says God’s “wrath rose up against his people.” It is very difficult for us to reconcile the idea of wrath with a God of persistent compassion. What is wrath? Wrath can be defined as God’s passion against sin, evil and suffering in the world. Wrath, seen in this way, is a necessary component of God’s love, concern and compassion. How can he be indifferent toward the suffering, evil and injustice in the world caused by sin? How can he look the other way when people turn away from Him to their own hurt and the hurt of others?

The juxtaposition of these 3 themes raises all kinds of questions: How can the story move forward with the tension between these 3 themes? Will God’s compassion run out? Will his wrath lead him to forsake his people and his plan for the redemption of the nations? Will humanity ever receive the only remedy for their sin and suffering?

There’s a hint in Chronicles as to how the tension resolves. The book does not end with wrath and exile. Instead, it ends with a new beginning and a fresh start. Chronicles doesn’t end with wrath, it ends with compassion. Exile is not the last word, it’s return. This all leads us to the ultimate and final resolution of the tension between these 3 themes in the coming of Jesus and his saving work. In Jesus, we see the compassion of God in action through his entering into our sinful and broken world, his healing of human disease and brokenness, his exorcisms and his extension of forgiveness to the sinners and tax collectors at the margins of Jewish society. In Him, we see the persistence of the compassion of God in the flesh.

In Him, we also see the wrath of God most clearly. The One who was the remedy for sinners and suffers was mocked, ridiculed, scoffed at throughout his ministry and most of all – as he hung on the cross. Why? There He took on and received the full force and passion of God’s wrath against human resistance, sin and the source of suffering. At the cross we see our rejection of God’s compassion, God’s passionate hatred of our sin and God’s unrelenting compassion for resistant sinners. Only in the cross do we see how God can eliminate sin and not eliminate us. Since God’s wrath was turned toward Jesus, we can be assured that God is turned toward us in compassion always ready to comfort and receive us. Since Jesus rose from the dead, we can be assured that one day all our sin and suffering will come to an end.

COMMISSIONED BY GOD

The final two verses not only show us how God’s compassion continued for his people in bringing them back to the land, they function as a reminder of the calling the people had who returned from exile. The people who had experienced compassion from God are the people who are commissioned by God. The two always go together. Renewal of relationship with God always leads to a renewal of mission. The people who returned to land were not just called to come and enjoy life there but were called to join in God’s mission of rebuilding. Many scholars note the parallels between Jesus’ “Great Commission” in Matt. 28:18-20 and this commission in 2 Chron. 36:22-23. Jesus appears to have had this in mind as he commissioned the church to mission.

Based on this connection, one application of this text is that each of us, individually, and every church, corporately, are called to be known as people and communities of persistent compassion. By what we say, how we say and what we do we are called to show the world the remedy of the gospel for all our sin and suffering.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.       What about the passage and/or sermon most impacted you or left you with questions?

2.      Read over the definition of the compassion of God in “theme #1” above. What difference would it make in our suffering and in our struggles with sin if we were convinced God was compassionate toward us like this? What makes this hard for us?

3.      Is it difficult for you to attribute wrath to God? Why or why not? Does the definition of wrath above help you make sense of how God can have wrath and love? Also, it was noted in the sermon that the passage speaks of God’s wrath in both an “indirect” (v 17) and “incongruent” way (i.e., hundreds of years of abandoning God vs. 70 years of exile). Using the descriptions below, discuss how these two concepts

·        The indirectness of God’s wrath is shown in passages like Romans 1 (verses 19, 24, 26). It was captured by CS Lewis when he wrote, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done."

·        The incongruence of God’s wrath and compassion was described by AW Tozer when he said, “God has a safety lock on his wrath and a hair trigger on His mercy.”

4.      How does the gospel answer to the tension in these 3 themes produce in us a great humility (I never knew how great my sin was!) and a great boldness? (I am more loved and cared for than I ever dared dream!)

5.      Our Commission should be shaped by compassion in at least 3 ways:

·        What we say – Why is it important that we listen and feel with others before we speak?

·        How we say it - Francis Schaeffer wrote, “Biblical orthodoxy without compassion is surely the ugliest thing in the world.” Do you agree? How do Christians communicate the truth of the bible without compassion? What does it look like to communicate truth with compassion?

·        What we do – What place should acts of compassion on those who are suffering have in our mission? Why is it so difficult for most of us in suburban OC to consistently commit to make room for this in our lives?