1.  Two words serve as bookends for the passage this morning: freedom and destruction.  In between those two words is the message of Paul to the Galatians.  Embrace one and avoid the other.  Reject one and suffer the consequences of the other.  In between those two options is where we live and find ourselves not only this morning but, seemingly, in our times as a country and a world. “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.  Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” Paul is not talking here about political freedom or slavery even though this verse has…

1. Paul is talking here about the role of the Law as pedagogue.  In Greek culture, the pedagogue was in charge of the child’s moral welfare.  His duty was to help the child acquire the qualities essential to manhood.  He took the child to and from school but he was not the teacher.  He was in charge of the child’s safety until he grew up.  He was a hedge from harm – both to the child and to keep the child from harming himself or others. But, what if the child could not turn loose of the pedagogue or if the pedagogue tried to keep the child or even become…

1. Last week we looked at Paul’s confrontation with Peter about being a hypocrite. Today, we would post it on Facebook or Twitter or even written an anonymous editorial in the New York Times but Paul did not have that option. True, he did write about it later and that is why we have the letter to the Galatians. It was his way of posting his dispute with the leadership of the church. Unfortunately, we do not have their response, but we can imagine not everyone would have agreed with Paul. After all, he was something of a controversial figure in the church. In a way, Paul was fighting a…

Acts 11:19-25 gives us the context: ”Now those who had been scattered by the persecution that broke out when Stephen was killed traveled as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus and Antioch, spreading the word only among Jews. Some of them, however, men from Cyprus and Cyrene, went to Antioch and began to speak to Greeks also, telling them the good news about the Lord Jesus. The Lord’s hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord. News of this reached the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. When he arrived and saw what the grace of God had done, he was…

It was not uncommon for pagan kings to count their people to determine how large their armies could be if needed and also to display their military might to themselves, their allies, and their enemies.  They would host great parades through the capital to show off their capabilities and bolster the confidence of the people. To that point David had not.  He had depended on the allegiance of his followers and the Lord to fight for him – even when outnumbered.  David did not depend on numbers but on individual courage and the support of God.  This then is new. This is a surprise and a disappointment to many –…

There are a few figures in Scripture who grow on you with age. Perhaps we understand them or their circumstances more or we have more in common as we grow older or we have experiences that explain their behavior.  That is the case for me with Ahithophel. I had one response to his story when I first read it and that was, “Oh, the bad man who committed suicide.” Yes, he did but he was far more than that and it’s the “far more” that I want us to look at this morning. We first meet him toward the end of Absalom’s four-year plan to overthrow David.  Absalom goes to…

Rebellions do not happen overnight.  After years, there is always a tipping point in either an event or a moment that precipitates them.  We talk about the beginnings of the American Revolution and we know it was not simply the Boston Tea Party or the Boston Massacre, but the years of resentment over the taxes Britain imposed to maintain their troops after the French-Indian War and to increase revenue for a Parliament strapped for cash by an exploding national debt. When the British imposed new laws and a tax on tea several patriots boarded ships and dumped the tea. They were incensed by taxation without representation. Only two years later…

This is the beginning of the worst period of David’s life.  The effects and consequences of this rape and his response to it plague him and the whole nation for the rest of his life.  His adultery with Bathsheba set in motion a series of events that in one way or another corrupt his house and the nation until they go into captivity hundreds of years later.  You know the phrase “A Simple Twist of Fate”? What might well have been an isolated act has a ripple effect no one could have predicted and in every generation afterwards it only gets worse.  We think of “crimes without victims” and fail…

1.  If I did not know this story was from Scripture, I would think it was one of the morality plays popular in the 16th century.  In them, the main character was surrounded by good and evil influences and the tension was what choices they would make – good or bad. There are many tragic stories in Scripture but, for me, this is the one with the greatest sense of loss – not only for David and Bathsheba and everyone involved for the remainder of David’s life.  Nothing goes right.  Nothing is ever the same.  Camelot shuts down and the stage goes dark with only a few moments of light…

1.  We read that David was settled in his palace and the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him.  He says to Nathan, the prophet, “Here I am, living in a palace of cedar, while the ark of God remains in a tent.”  Nathan replies to the king, “Whatever you have in mind, go ahead and do it, for the Lord is with you.”  That night the word of the Lord came to Nathan saying,  “Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in? I have not dwelt in a house…