The Temple (Part 4)

1 Kings 8:14,  20-21, 25-26

“14 Then the king {Solomon} turned around and blessed all the assembly of Israel, while all the assembly of Israel stood. He said...20 Now the Lord has upheld the promise that he made, for I have risen in the place of my father, David; I sit on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised,  and have built the house for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.  21 There I have provided a place for the ark, in which is the covenant of the Lord that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt… 25 Therefore, O Lord, God of Israel,  keep for your servant, my father David, that which you promised him, saying, there shall never fail you a successor before me to sit on the throne of Israel, if only your children look to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.  26 Therefore, O God of Israel, let your word be confirmed, which you promised to your servant, my father David.”

Solomon’s words are full of pride and arrogance; full of the word I- I have risen.., I sit on the throne.., I built the house.., I provided a place for the ark.   He pointed to his father, David, and actually reminded God of His promise to him, as if God had forgotten.  

In these words we see the seeds of Solomon’s spiritual downfall.

When we begin to believe that God’s accomplishments are our own and they were accomplished by our strength, power, and wisdom, then, spiritually, we are treading on thin ice.

“For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.”

Amen.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

The Imperishable

 1 Samuel 15:10-12

“10 Then the word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 “I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions.” Samuel was angry, and he cried out to the Lord all that night. 12 Early in the morning Samuel got up and went to meet Saul, but he was told, “Saul has gone to Carmel. There he has set up a monument in his own honor and has turned and gone on down to Gilgal.”

Saul, after defeating the Amalekites in a crushing victory, went to Carmel where he set up a monument to himself in order that his great victory over the Amalekites would be remembered.

By doing this he displayed a profound arrogance.  Instead of recognizing God’s role in this victory, he chose to focus on himself and gave himself the glory.  Instead of remembering God, the people would look at the monument and remember Saul.  In Saul’s eyes Israel was no longer a testament to God but to himself.

We all want to be remembered.  We want something that we do, or something we make, or something we write to live on after us.  But this is a vain desire.  

We always need to remember that the world persistently offers and tempts us with shiny things that look good, but will break down, fade away and be forgotten.  Christians are to pursue those things that are imperishable; the eternal things.

“Time, like an ever-rolling stream, bears all its sons away; they fly forgotten, as a dream dies at the opening day.”(O God Our Help of Ages Past, UMH p. 117).

But…

God’s presence, God’s love, God’s word, God’s promise,..........

 endures forever.

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)

The Tax Collector

Luke 18:13

13 “But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’”

The Pharisee and the Tax Collector is a well known parable that Jesus told to a crowd of people who were “confident of their own righteousness” who “looked down on everyone else.” Luke 18:9.

This means that they did all the right things, read all the right things, and said all the right things, but they did them with arrogance and pride. And in this pride and arrogance they did not acknowledge their sins.

The Tax Collector was a sinner and he knew it, and he acknowledged this before God.  In his remorse he begged for God’s mercy.

The Holy Spirit leads us, if we are willing, into an ever deepening relationship with God.  In this process comes an ever increasing sense of self awareness.  We become increasingly aware, not of the sins of others, but of our sins.  With this awareness comes a deep conviction that will not let us rest until we fall on our knees and beg for forgiveness.

We don’t know if the Tax Collector changed his life after he left the temple, although Jesus said that he left being justified (made right) by God.  The Pharisee left the temple still unaware of his sins, still unforgiven, and unjustified.

Let us all pray to be as self-aware and as repentant as the Tax Collector. 

May the love of Christ be with you,

Rev. Eric Lanier (Retired)