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Sermon Series by

Dr. Steven P. Eason

Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church Knoxville, Tennessee

January 6, 2019 Dr. Steven P. Eason

A Word A Week: “Good”

Over the next 12 weeks we will be in a sermon series entitled, A Word a Week. We’ll look at one word from the Bible each week. Each word tells the story of God’s redeeming love for the world. Each word invites us into that story. Today we begin at the very beginning with the word GOOD.

Genesis 1 (selected)

In the beginning when God created* the heavens and the earth, 2the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God* swept over the face of the waters. 3Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light. 4And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness.

7So God made the dome and separated the waters that were under the dome from the waters that were above the dome. And it was so.

9 And God said, ‘Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.’ And it was so. 10God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.

12The earth brought forth vegetation: plants yielding seed of every kind, and trees of every kind bearing fruit with the seed in it. And God saw that it was good.

16God made the two great lights—the greater light to rule the day and the lesser light to rule the night—and the stars. 17God set them in the dome of the sky to give light upon the earth, 18to rule over the day and over the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. And God saw that it was good.

21So God created the great sea monsters and every living creature that moves, of every kind, with which the waters swarm, and every winged bird of every kind. And God saw that it was good.

25God made the wild animals of the earth of every kind, and the cattle of every kind, and everything that creeps upon the ground of every kind. And God saw that it was good.

27 So God created humankind* in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them. 28God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth.’

31God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.

Thus, the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude.2And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. 3So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work that he had done in creation.

*

Watching the news, one could easily come to the conclusion that the world is getting worse. Rebekah Simon-Peter (and yes, that is her last name!) asked that question in her blog. She answers,

If the world is getting worse, not better, this implies that churches have no impact. Worse, that the God we promote is ineffective. http://www.rebekahsimonpeter.com/ December 17, 2018.

Is that true? Bill Gates says it’s not. In his 2014 Annual Letter, he wrote,

By almost any measure, the world is getting better than it ever has been. People are living longer, healthier lives. Many nations that were aid recipients are now self-sufficient. www.gatesletter.com

He goes so far as to predict that by 2035 there will be almost no poor countries in the world, given our definition of “poor.” New vaccines, better seeds, innovations, technology, expanded education, are all contributing to this rise in the tide for everyone.

That’s not to say there is no corruption, violence, crime, poverty, or hunger. There is, but not at the levels there were 50 years ago. Many things have actually gotten better!

Archbishop Desmond Tutu was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his leadership during South Africa’s apartheid era. Several years ago, he wrote a book with his daughter entitled, Made For Goodness (Harper 2010). He points to the good in all creation. In fact, after the sixth day of creation, God calls everything “very good.” (Gen. 1:31).

The Archbishop writes,

We are very good. How can we believe this when we see the horror and grief we inflict on each other? We can believe it because we know we are made in the very image and likeness of God.

(Made For Goodness, p.10)

*

There is plenty of pain and suffering in the world. It’d be easy to conclude that the world is getting worse, but is it? There are countless acts of kindness, compassion, and generosity every day. That’s not “fake news,” that’s a fact. People are created good. It’s a part of our nature. It may be lost in some, covered up or wounded in others, but it’s there, not just in religious people, but in all people. When you accept that premise, you begin to look for it in other people. When you look for it, you see it!

And the good in human nature has prevailed over much evil. We would not tolerate the slaughter of native American men, women, and children in this day and age. We abolished the evils of slavery in this country. Good prevailed over the Nazi regime and 9/11. Good rises above evil. It’s still rising.

Segregation and other forms of discrimination are no longer blindly tolerated. That doesn’t mean they’re not there. It means the good in human beings is there too. The wrong is not left to run loose. The good won’t give up. You can’t kill it. We tried.

There’s no doubt that evil leaves its mark in mass shootings, violence, oppression, the misuse of power, and a host of other personal and corporate sins. We still have too large a gap between nations, races, social classes, and sexes, but the good in us will never be satisfied with those gaps, or with the pain and suffering in this world.

*

The word good shows up seven times in the creation account. Everything is created good! Humans are not created evil. Why would God create something that’s not good? Though we sin, though we stray, though we get lost, we were created in God’s image. It’s in there! It’s still in there.

People forgive. People sacrifice. People are generous. People hope and love, feel empathy and compassion. People are dedicated and loyal. Hardworking, trustworthy, creative, determined people get up and make a difference in other people’s lives every day. It’s in our DNA.

Maybe that’s why Jesus could not cast off the poor or the sinful. Maybe that’s why he could not turn his back on the lame or the blind or those imprisoned. They were all created good! You can’t abandon that good. You can’t give up on it.

On our worse day, with our biggest mistake, we have good in us. That’s hard to grasp sometimes. But Jesus did. He saw it. He called it out. He washed their feet and ate with these guys. They would betray him, deny him, and abandon him, but he saw it. He got up from the dead to come back and get it, the good that is created in all of us!

*

Just three sentences into the Bible and you run into the word, GOOD! Or it runs into you. Creation is littered with it. It’s all good. It’s actually very good! Christ sees that in you and invites us to see it in one another. When that happens, the world will have peace.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Congregation: Amen.

Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church Knoxville, Tennessee

January 13, 2019 Dr. Steven P. Eason

A Word A Week: “Covenant”

Genesis 12:1-3

We are in a sermon series on A Word A Week. Today’s word is covenant. This is the covenant God made with Abram and Sarai.

Now the LORD said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. 2I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. 3I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

* Years ago, I took Bethel Bible training in Madison, Wisconsin. It’s a 2-year study of the Old and New Testaments. Each unit has a drawing that encompasses the teachings of that unit. It’s not good art, but it sticks in your head!

The drawing for the unit on covenant is a large arm stretched out from heaven that is chained to the earth. The point being, God chooses to be chained to us in covenant. What does that mean?

* We have given God every reason under heaven to get out of the covenant, or to be unchained from us.

• When Israel wandered in the wilderness, complaining and refusing to trust God, that would have been a good time for God to walk away from the covenant.

• When they got to the Promised Land and were continually forsaking God and worshiping pagan gods, that would have been a good time to drop the covenant.

• The prophets warned them, but they wouldn’t turn back, so they got booted from the Promised Land. Good time to abandon the covenant.

• And it doesn’t stop there. We crucified the Son of God. Could you think of a better time for God to walk away from the covenant? And yet, on the third day God raised him from the dead, forgiving the sins of all humanity.

• Add to that all the splits and divisions in the Church over the years, the misuse of power, the neglect of the poor, superficial/thin-based religion, and a host of other sins, and you have a sound case for God to terminate the covenant.

But God chooses to be chained to us in covenant. What does that mean in the modern world?

*

Several years ago, I met with a man who had multiple affairs over many years. He had children. He had a family. This time he got caught, and I almost think he was glad he did. He told the whole dark story and confessed it all to his wife. There was no question in my mind that she was going to leave him, but she didn’t.

Honestly, my first thought was that there was something wrong with her. Was she co-dependent, have a weak ego, or was she a masochist? We’re talking an enormous amount of betrayal and the details had to break her heart a hundred times over.

But she saw something in him. True remorse, brokenness, shame, a desire to make amends. Whatever it was, she forgave him. Not in one moment, but over and over again. She had to work at it. God had to help her. That’s covenant.

It made me think of the story of Peter asking Jesus how many times we should forgive someone. “Maybe as much as 7 times?” he said. And Jesus replied, “How about 77 times?” (Matt. 18:21). Or another Gospel has it 70 times 7 times! (That’s 490 times!!)

I got to thinking about that. I know it’s a play on numbers. It’s hyperbole, exaggeration to make a point. Sometimes it takes 490 times to forgive just the one thing. It’s hard work. It’s covenant. You choose to stay chained to that person.

Yet, we are but humans, not God, and there are situations in which it is not safe for us to stay chained to that person. There are times when the right thing to do is to unchain ourselves from that person so that both of us can get well. But even then, God remains chained to us. All of us.

*

We have a lot of families dealing with addiction in this country. The American Psychiatric Association claims,

An estimated 2 million people in the United States have a substance use disorder related to prescription opioid pain medication and the number of overdose deaths from prescription and illicit opioids doubled from just over 21,000 in 2010 to more than 42,000 in 2016. (psychiatry.org May 7, 2018).

That’s like a demon coming into your home and taking over someone you love. Talk about feeling helpless? You have to know this word covenant. God is chained to us. I know some days, or months, or even years, it doesn’t feel like it, but truth is not based on feelings, is it? What we feel is a reaction. Truth is a reality.

Read the Scriptures. It is full of human depravity; brokenness, unfaithfulness, sickness, immorality, sin and death. And yet, God is chained to us? Through all of it, God does not abandon us. That’s not a feeling. That’s a fact. It’s a historical fact.

*

There is no human condition that lies outside the boundaries of the covenant God has made with us. The psalmist said it this way;

7Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence? 8If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. 9If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, 10even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. 11If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light around me become night,”

12even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you. (Psalm 139:7-12)

That’s covenant! As dark as it might get, there is no darkness beyond the reach of the covenant. If God is chained to us, God is chained to us. It either is or it isn’t.

The Apostle Paul said it this way; 35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35, 37-39)

*

That’s covenant! Covenant is the serious business of the Church. We can clean up the building, pay the bills, get a new Livestream, improve the website, put a new sign out front, and even find a new Sr. Pastor, but at the center of it all is the covenant God has made with the world. That is the business of the Church. That is the good news we have to share with the world. God chooses to be chained to us in covenant.

Tell that to a young woman whose husband has been unfaithful.

Tell it to a family dealing with addiction, or to a couple whose child is gravely ill, or has died.

Tell it to an elderly person who is tired and worn out.

Tell it to a room full of prisoners, “God is chained to us…” (They’ll understand the chains!)

Or tell it to room full of politicians.

Tell it to anyone who is broken or hopeless, afraid or overwhelmed, even to people who are arrogant and think they are self-sufficient.

This “covenant love” is not meant to give us license, but to motivate us to love God in return. Why would you not love someone who has forgiven you all your sin, refused to abandon you in your darkest hour, and will not unchain themselves from you?

Oh, you gotta know the word, COVENANT. It drives the whole thing!

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Congregation: Amen 35Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or

nakedness, or peril, or sword? 37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:35, 37-39)

Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church Knoxville, Tennessee

January 20, 2019 Dr. Steven P. Eason

A Word A Week: “Wilderness”

Exodus 16:1-3

We are in a sermon series entitled, A Word A Week. Imagine you’re on a train moving through the Bible with key stops along the way. Our first stop was on the word “Good” in the creation story. Last week we stopped on the word “Covenant.” Today’s word is Wilderness.

God made a covenant with Abraham and Sarah to make of them a great nation and to give them a land. They have a son, Issac. Issac has Jacob and Esau. Jacob is renamed “Israel” and has twelve sons. Due to a severe drought, they, and all their families, eventually end up in Egypt as slaves. (It’s a fast train!)

They are slaves for over 400 years, and then God sends Moses to set them free. They are headed to that land promised to Abraham, but they don’t get there right away. For 40 years they wander in the wilderness.

* The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim; (e’-lim) and Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”

*

Some would say our nation is currently in a wilderness. Unrelenting partisanship and polarization. Over 800,000 federal employees without a paycheck and parts of the government shut down, with no end in sight. The wilderness can be a literal place, or it can be a time of transition in your life; a powerful place to learn something about God, and something about yourself.

Grief is a wilderness. The death of a loved one, the loss of a job, the loss of health or mobility. We lose things. And when we lose people, or things we love, we grieve. Grief is the evidence of love.

When you experience loss, you have to change. You can no longer be the “Somebody” you were. That “Somebody” was who you were with that person, or with that job, or with your health. That was your identity. Now you have to become “Somebody Else.” You have to be “Somebody Else” without that person or thing you loved.

The trick is, we can’t just move from our “Somebody” to our “Somebody Else” overnight. So in-between the “Somebody” we were, (Stay with me!) and the “Somebody Else” we have to become, is a state of “Nobody.” We’re not who we were, and we have yet to become who we are to be. We are in a place of “Nobody.” That’s the wilderness. It sounds like this;

O God, you are my God, I seek you, and my soul thirsts for you: my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. (Ps. 63:1)

Israel is between Egypt (where they were slaves) and the Promised Land (where they will be a great nation). They are in both a literal and a spiritual wilderness. They are neither who they were, nor are they who they must become. There’s a lot we learn about God, and ourselves, in such a place. You can call it our Wilderness Theology.

“Theo” means, “God,” and “logy” means, “study of.” So, theology is the study of God, a daunting thing. So, what do we learn about God in a wilderness?

*

The most obvious is that God allows us to go there. None of us are immune from the wilderness, not as individuals, nor as a nation. It doesn’t matter how educated you are, or how much money you make. No one has a “Get-Out-of-Wilderness-Card.” Even Jesus went to the wilderness and was tempted there. Any brand of Christianity that offers immunity from the wilderness is not being truthful or honest. We all go there.

Sometimes it’s a consequence of our behavior. Other times it’s the consequence of someone else’s behavior. It may be because of an accident, or an illness, or an act of nature that sends us to the wilderness. Whatever it is, God allows us to go there.

You can spend your lifetime asking “Why?” but there is no answer. The wilderness can be a cruel and painful place. Why would an all-loving, all-powerful God allow us to experience the wilderness? Why not protect us? Does God watch over us, or are we left to deal with whatever happens? Those are wilderness questions we can’t answer, but we do know this. All of us will experience the wilderness. God will allow us to go there.

*

You learn a lot about God, and who you are in a wilderness. You can either learn about God’s providence, or you can fall into a state of despair.

God provided Israel with manna. It wasn’t much, but it was enough. Manna was a fine, frost-like thing on the ground. They ground it and made cakes. That’s breakfast… and lunch…and dinner! Maybe a little meat from time to time, but that’s it.

Why is that? Why wouldn’t God provide more than manna, more than the bare necessities? More wilderness questions.

In times of prosperity we have proven that our faithfulness often declines. Prosperity can be a different kind of wilderness – surrounded by things, but barren on the inside. It’s when we are most hungry that we cry out for God. Maybe that’s why Jesus said it’s so difficult for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. We are lured into self-sufficiency. You lose that in a wilderness. You become solely dependent upon God.

Your faith can either intensify in the wilderness, or it can die. Sometimes it does a little of both.

It is true that not everyone makes it out of the wilderness. Some people fall apart out there. Others cope, but never thrive. And then there are those who come out stronger than they were when they went in.

In a few moments we will say these words in the creed; In life and in death we belong to God. …we trust in the one trine God, the Holy One of Israel, whom we

worship and serve. (A Brief Statement of Faith). Those words can become a reality in the wilderness.

*

There are lessons to be learned in a wilderness. People can give you bad advice out there. Quick-fix answers. “Six Easy Ways to Get Out of the Wilderness!” Simple platitudes. Bad theology.

Good theology tells us that God has no limits, no boundaries, no calendar, no clock, no place of deprivation. The sceptic says this is make-believe, wishful thinking, or a fairy tale. But too many people have come back from the wilderness with a deeper faith and experience of God for that to be a fairy tale.

You can learn to trust God in a wilderness, or you can lose your faith. There really isn’t much in between. Israel cried, “If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our

fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.” (16:3)

Just let me go back to the life I knew. But we can’t go back. We can go forward. Good theology says that God makes a way where there was no way. The wilderness is where you can learn to trust that to be true.

*

Sometimes it takes a crisis to awaken someone’s faith. The nation Israel was shaped on the anvil of the wilderness. They returned to the lessons they learned out there. They remembered the love of God that will not let you go, no matter how barren your wilderness might be.

You wouldn’t want to take a trip through the Bible and not stop on the word, wilderness. You’d lose too much good theology, too much knowledge of the love of God for a world that from time to time finds itself in the wilderness. The good news is that we will find God in every wilderness! Don’t put up a mailbox out there! You’re just passing through!

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Congregation: Amen

Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church Knoxville, Tennessee

January 27, 2019 Rev. Dr. Steve Eason

A Word A Week: “Fleece”

Judges 9:36-40

We’re in a series on A Word A Week, and today’s word is fleece. It comes from the story of Gideon. If you asked somebody on the street who Gideon is, they’d probably say, “The guy who puts the Bibles in hotels!” Not exactly. Here’s the real story.

Gideon was a judge for Israel during the time they had entered the Promised Land, but had not yet become a nation. So, they were nomads, former slaves, who had been wandering in the wilderness. They settled in 12 tribes, with no king, no capital, no great military. The judges weren’t courtroom judges, but military leaders during times of crisis.

During this period Israel has a cycle that goes like this;

• They become unfaithful and worship the pagan gods of the people around them.

• God hands them over to their enemies, and then they repent and cry for help.

• God hears their cry, raises up a judge, or a leader, and delivers them from their enemies.

• For a while, they are faithful, but it doesn’t last.

• The cycle repeats itself (1) unfaithful (2) overwhelmed by an enemy (3) sorrow and repentance (4) a new judge (5) restored to faithfulness…until next time! It happens 12 times, with 12 different judges.

This particular text reveals how God called Gideon to be a judge and deliver Israel from the powerful Midianites.

*

36Then Gideon said to God, “In order to see whether you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said, 37I am going to lay a fleece of wool on the threshing floor; if there is dew on the fleece alone, and it is dry on all the ground, then I shall know that you will deliver Israel by my hand, as you have said.” 38And it was so. When he rose early next morning and squeezed the fleece, he wrung enough dew from the fleece to fill a bowl with water. 39Then Gideon said to God, “Do not let your anger burn against me, let me speak one more time; let me, please, make trial with the fleece just once more; let it be dry only on the fleece, and on all the ground let there be dew.” 40And God did so that night. It was dry on the fleece only, and on all the ground there was dew

* Does God talk to us? How do you know? I’ve never heard an audible voice from heaven. (You would think a Presbyterian minister would get an audible every now and then!) Nope. I have to discern God’s voice, and I’m never 100% sure. Maybe it’s my voice I’m hearing, or someone else’s. Maybe it’s what I want to hear, or what I wish God would say. How do you know? It’s not so easy.

It wasn’t easy for Gideon either. He plays a little game with God. He throws out a wool fleece and says,

‘When I wake up in the morning if there’s dew on just the fleece and the ground is dry around it, I will know this is real and that you are God.’

He wakes up the next morning and it’s done, but he still doesn’t believe it. So, he throws out another fleece, but this time he reverses it.

‘Let the fleece be dry and the ground be wet.’

Next morning, it was so. (You gotta wonder what God was thinking!) Wouldn’t it be nice if it were that simple?

*

The truth is, everybody in the Bible wrestles with whether they are hearing God or something else. Abraham, Moses, the judges, the kings, the prophets, Mary, Joseph, the disciples, Paul … all of them go back and forth as to whether they are actually talking with God. (Should make you feel better!)

And if they are talking to God, what God says to them usually doesn’t make any sense, not at first.

• God tells Abram and Sarai, two folks in their old age, that they are going to have a baby? Sarah laughs! I would too.

•God calls Moses to lead Israel out of slavery, and Moses has a speech impediment? Makes no sense.

•God calls Gideon to lead these nomads into battle against the powerful Midianites? And Gideon reminds God, “But sir, how can I deliver Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.” (6:15). Makes no sense.

This is a pattern with God. King David was the least of Jesse’s sons. Mary and Joseph were nobodies, and they weren’t even married! The disciples were uneducated, common laborers, with no pedigree, no social status. All of it makes no sense.

Maybe one criterion for discerning whether it is God talking to you or not is that it makes no sense! If it makes no sense, it may be God! That’d be a switch, wouldn’t it?

*

When Gideon is finally convinced that God is actually calling him, he recruits 32,000 men for battle. This time God plays a little game with him. The Lord says;

‘The troops with you are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand. Israel would only take the credit away from me, saying, “My own hand has delivered me.”’ (7:2)

So, the Lord tells Gideon to tell everybody who is afraid to go home. You’ve got to be kidding! Twenty- two thousand men go home, leaving only 10,000 to fight.

So, Gideon says, “I’ve got 10,000 men to fight the Midianites.” And God says, “No, that’s too many. Take them down to the river and those who lap the water with their tongues like a dog, (You can’t make this stuff up!), put in one group. Those who kneel down and drink the water by cupping their hands put in another group.”

The men who lapped the water numbered 300 and God sent the other 9,700 home. So, we started out with 32,000 and now we have 300 left to fight the powerful Midianites. That’s less than 1%!

*

So, God takes 300 men and defeats the Midianites in the middle of the night. It says they were “thick as locusts and their camels were without number, countless as the sand on the seashore.” (7:12)

Gideon divides the 300 into three companies, gives them trumpets and jars with torches; and tells them to surround the camp. On cue, they all blow their trumpets and break open their jars to create a flash of light around the entire camp. The Midianites wake up and think they are surrounded by thousands of troops and flee. It’s a bluff, and it works!

*

All this seems silly, or is it? Gideon’s story reminds us that we are but mere mortals. Limited vision, limited hearing, limited physical capacities, limited knowledge, limited strength. God needs less than 1% of what we have to accomplish God’s will. Truth is, God doesn’t even need that.

The psalmist asks, “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?” (Ps. 8:4). Good question.

Our ways of thinking must be so archaic to the mind of God. “Wet the fleece. Dry the fleece. If this is you God, show me a sign.” But we don’t know. The fleece becomes a symbol of our desire to hear God’s voice. How do you know it is God talking to you?

*

The Pastor Nominating Committee is asking that question as they search for who God would call to be the next pastor of this church. So are any candidates they are talking to about being your next pastor. Should we throw out a fleece? Don’t you wish it were that simple? The committee does!

But you don’t have to be a biblical judge, or on a Search Committee, to want to hear God’s voice. Everyday people want to hear God’s voice. “Should I take this job, marry this person, make this decision, vote on this bill, go there, stay here, fight this battle, sit this one out?” How do you know?

Maybe the key is that you want to know. All of them stayed with it.

Abraham and Sarah did have a son.

Moses did talk Israel out of Egypt.

Gideon wasn’t satisfied until he was sure, but then he was obedient. He did all the crazy stuff God asked him to do, after he had asked God to do some crazy stuff! (Bet he never asked again!) God took his less-than-1% and did something Gideon could not have done alone. The fleece worked! Actually, God worked!

We all need a fleece from time to time, a way to discern God’s voice and will in our lives. It’s not easy, and at times it can seem silly, but who would want to live in a world where you never hear that voice?

Let us pray, God, help us to hear your voice and to respond to your call. And give us the courage to let go of our security, humbly acknowledging our dependency upon you alone.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Congregation; Amen.

Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church

Knoxville, Tennessee February 3, 2019

Dr. Steven P. Eason

A Word A Week: “Bathsheba” 2 Samuel 11:1-5

We’re in a series called A Word A Week. It’s like being on a train, stopping each week at significant places in the Old Testament. We stopped on the word, Good in the Creation account. We stopped on the word, Covenant with Abraham and Sarah. We stopped with Moses on the word, Wilderness, and then last week with Gideon on the word, Fleece.

Today we stop on King David. Israel is out of slavery, out of the wilderness, has entered the Promised Land, settled in tribes, but now they want a king. God has been their king, but they want to be like other nations. They want a human king!

Well, they get one! The first king is Saul, and Saul is followed by David. It was during David’s reign that Israel came into the full promise of the covenant made with Abraham. They had the land. Now they had the great nation. Jerusalem became the capital. They had great military strength and prosperity. They had arrived! These are the Golden Years! And then there was Bathsheba.

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In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him; they ravaged the Ammonites, and besieged Rabbah. (rah’-buh) But David remained at Jerusalem. It happened, late one afternoon, when David rose from his couch and was walking about on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; the woman was very beautiful.

David sent someone to inquire about the woman. It was reported, “This is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam, (e-lie’-um) the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” So David sent messengers to get her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she was purifying herself after her period.) Then she returned to her house. The woman conceived; and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

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Well, I don’t think they were that thankful! If you were making the Bible up, you wouldn’t put this stuff in it. Human error. Human frailty. Human sin and deprivation. I’d make it lot prettier, but sometimes it’s not.

Israel wanted a king. They demanded a king. (1 Sam. 8:19-20) God gave them a king, yet the kings were not perfect. They were human. The kings were flawed. They always have been. They always will be.

The psalmist writes; “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortals, in whom there is no help. When their breath departs, they return to the earth; on that very day their plans perish. (Ps. 146:3-4)

After all this history of striving to obtain the promises of the covenant, King David risks it all. Why is it, at our pinnacle of success we are most vulnerable to fail? It’s the Humpty Dumpty Principle.

Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall Humpty Dumpty had a great fall;

All the king’s horses and all the king’s men. Couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together again.

King David fell off a very great wall.

The greatest king Israel ever knew had an affair with Bathsheba, “the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite.” I use the word “affair” loosely because as king, David had the power to demand her affection. Bathsheba really had no choice in the matter. But that wasn’t the worst of it. They conceived a son out of wedlock and David brought her husband, Uriah, in from battle so that he might think the child was his. It reads like a soap opera.

When Uriah refuses to be with his wife, due to a soldier’s vow, David sends him back to the front lines with the guarantee that he will be killed, which he was. Adultery, murder, lies, and the child out of wedlock dies. It could be a Netflix series if it weren’t so painful and true.

This is the great king of Israel? This is the person everyone cherished and admired? These are the “Golden Years?”

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In his remorse, David writes Psalm 51: Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. (Psalm 51:1-2)

Can you imagine even asking for such a thing? And can you imagine God granting such a thing? But God did. God restored David.

Not only did God blot out his foul transgressions, but David and Bathsheba were married and became the parents of King Solomon, who built the holy temple of God! Solomon’s parents were David and Bathsheba! How can that possibly be? How can you overlook such tragedy? Where is the justice in all this?

Surely this is not an endorsement of sin. What David did was horrific. Forgiveness of such magnitude does not provide a license to sin again. On the contrary, forgiveness of this magnitude seeks to redeem the one who is lost. It can change them. It can restore them for a new future.

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The Bathsheba story makes it clear that King David was not Israel’s Savior. It was God’s covenant with Israel that saved King David. Why God tolerates all this human debauchery is beyond our comprehension. Every human leader in the Bible is flawed, and yet God uses them. In the process, they become someone else, someone of depth and character, faith and resolve. That’s not where they start, but that’s where they end up. God shapes them, as a potter shapes the clay. The story is about God’s grace, not our achievements.

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Hundreds of years after David, when the angel Gabriel came to Mary to tell her she was chosen to give birth to the Messiah, here’s what Gabriel said;

‘He (Jesus) will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David.’

(Luke 1:32)

Why would the angel mention David? Maybe because David was synonymous with the Golden Years of Israel. The Messiah would be the true fulfillment of the covenant made with Abraham and Sarah. Not David, Christ.

Christ will speak of a “new covenant,” sealed in his blood for the forgiveness of sins. And he spoke those words in Jerusalem, in the City of David, on the night of his arrest. David’s tomb was just blocks from where the Last Supper was held. Do you think Jesus might have had David in mind when he spoke the words, “…for the forgiveness of sins?”

From cover to cover, the Bible is about a God who will not let us go. Not at any time, not in any place, not for any reason. David and Bathsheba were the parents of Solomon, and King Solomon built the Temple of God. Other than the resurrection, I can’t think of a more powerful story of grace. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Congregation: Amen!

Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church Knoxville, Tennessee Dr. Steven P. Eason

February 10, 2019

A Word A Week: “Babylon” Psalm 137

2 Kings 24:8-16

In this sermon series, we’re on a train going through the Old Testament. We’ve stopped each week at significant events, on significant words, like in the Creation story on the word, good. We stopped with Abraham on the word covenant, Moses and the word wilderness, Gideon and the word, fleece, and last week with King David and the word, Bathsheba. Today we stop at the exile, and the word is Babylon.

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Jehoiachin (jay-hoe’-a-kin) was eighteen years old when he began to reign; he reigned three months in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Nehushta (na-hush’-tah) daughter of Elnathan (el-nathan) of Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, just as his father had done. At that time the servants of King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came up to Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came to the city, while his servants were besieging it; King Jehoiachin of Judah gave himself up to the king of Babylon, himself, his mother, his servants, his officers, and his palace officials. The king of Babylon took him prisoner in the eighth year of his reign. He carried off all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house; he cut in pieces all the vessels of gold in the temple of the Lord, which King Solomon of Israel had made, all this as the Lord had foretold. He carried away all Jerusalem, all the officials, all the warriors, ten thousand captives, all the artisans and the smiths; no one remained, except the poorest people of the land. He carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon; the king’s mother, the king’s wives, his officials, and the elite of the land, he took into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. The king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon all the men of valor, seven thousand, the artisans and the smiths, one thousand, all of them strong and fit for war.

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So, where are we? God makes a covenant with Abraham almost 2000 years before Christ. The promise is to make of Abraham a great nation, give them a land, and bless them so that they can be a blessing to all the families of the earth. (Gen.12:1-2). That doesn’t happen right away! Some say there was 645 years between Abraham and the exodus of Israel from slavery in Egypt. That’s a long wait!

But then there is the wilderness, followed by the battles to enter the Promised Land, and finally King David who established Israel as a great nation, some 1000 years after the promise was made to Abraham. (God has never seen a calendar or a clock!)

King Solomon, David’s son, builds the temple in Jerusalem. Years later, the kingdom divides into Judah and Israel. There is a string of kings and prophets, and then it happens. In 598 BC, approximately 1400 years after the covenant was made with Abraham, Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar lays siege to Jerusalem. It falls.

The numbers vary, but Babylon carried away the leaders of Israel; the warriors, the artisans, the priests and judges, the king and the queen, and the entire Royal Court. The common people were

left to provide manual labor. Israel became a Babylonian colony. After all that history, how in the world could that happen? But it did. Israel went into exile. Due to their unfaithfulness, they lost the Promised Land.

Babylon became a symbol for failure, judgment, shame and despair. It became more than a geographical location. It became a state of mind. Babylon! The challenge is to live in a hostile land, and not forget who you are.

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Old Testament scholar, Walter Brueggeman suggests there was a historical exile and there is exile as a metaphor. Exile as metaphor is any place and time when we “lose the safe world we knew.” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw3ZiyXp-mE)

Some would ask if America has entered an early phase of exile. Are we losing the safe world we knew? Is our moral superiority waning in influence? What about our growing national debt and the future security of our children and grandchildren? After all our history, how in the world could that happen?

It could also be asked if the Church is in a form of exile? How do the Christian values of hospitality, forgiveness, and generosity stack up in a culture of consumerism, commodities, nationalism, racism, sexism, classism, and hedonism? Has the Church lost its influence, its identity, in American culture? After all that history…

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There is no prescription that will cure the exile, but Brueggeman holds three strategies for maintaining identity while in Babylon.

• Recover the traditions.

• Have a vision for something other than what is in front of us.

• Live by the disciplines. (ibid) Traditions tell us who we are. The Jews found their traditions in the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. Christians find our traditions in the Old and New Testaments, in the teachings of Christ. We are reminded of who we are, and of who we are not. When in exile, you become hungry for your traditions, for those things that define you. Your goal is to get back home, to get back to who you were, to who you are.

But how do you have a vision for the future while you are in exile? How do you see something other than reality, other than what is? How do you hope for something you can’t prove exists? Vision is a gift from God. It’s not meant to be rational or logical. At times it even appears foolish. And vision is always at odds with what you currently see. Only God can grant us vision while in exile. Without a vision you fold into what is. When you fold into what is, you begin to perish.

And what does it mean to live by the disciplines? Any good coach could tell you exactly what this means. How do you think Tennessee came to be ranked #1 in Men’s Basketball? Rick Barnes can tell you. Live by the disciplines, the fundamentals. Dribbling, passing, lay-ups, free throws, and sound defense. When you get lost in a game, go back to the basics, to the disciplines, to the fundamentals. That is also true in life.

The Jews kept the Sabbath while in exile. That was their discipline. The Sabbath is counter-cultural to the empire. It’s not just a day of rest, it’s a day of no work, no productivity, no building up the coffers. This day belongs to God. That’s how they reset their focus, their priorities, their identity. It still is. Live by the disciplines. *

So, are there any universal truths that transfers from a historical exile to our modern-day setting? There’s at least one. It’s easy to lose your Christian identity in this world. That’s true. In fact, it’s not very popular to keep it. Christians can be seen as narrow-minded, judgmental, hypocritical, pietistic, and boring. (That’s what somebody told me! I don’t think they were talking about me!)

And I have noticed this. When someone gets into real trouble, when they are broken or lost, they welcome the hospitality, the forgiveness and generosity of a true Christian. They find unconditional love, hope, resurrection, and power to live a new life. They’d rather see you knock on their door than just about anybody else.

But it’s easy to lose that identity, to blend in, to go along and not stand out. It doesn’t happen overnight, but slowly over time you abandon the core values of the Christian faith. That’s a form of exile. The challenge is to live in a hostile land, and not forget who you are.

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A hundred years ago, when I was a teenager, (back when phones were tied to the wall with a cord!), as I was heading out the door for a fun night on the town, my dad would often say, “Just remember who you are.” (I hated it when he said that!)

But it begs the question, “Who am I?” Well, I was the son of a United Methodist minister, and my mother, who made all of us believe we were as good as we thought we were! I was a brother to my siblings, an Eason, (with Halstead, Norris, and Matthews blood). I was once President of the Senior Class, a drummer in a Beach band, a friend, a student (occasionally! OK, not so much!). And at the bottom of the pile, I was a baptized Christian. (Oh, that one would ruin many a good night!) Or did it?

I tried to forget that’s who I was, but I couldn’t. My parents didn’t just baptize me, the whole church did, and church folks take that stuff seriously. “You belong to us. Christ got up from the dead for you. You need to make something of your life. So what are you gonna do?” They said all of that without words.

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So, who are you? There’s something worse than living in exile, something worse than living in Babylon, and that’s forgetting who you are. That would be the greatest tragedy of all.

You can’t forget your identity in Christ just because you have a house and a mailbox in Babylon! Babylon doesn’t get the final word.

You might want to be here next Sunday. The next stop is on the word Temple. They’re going home! They get their life back! In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Congregation; Amen.

Sequoyah Hills Presbyterian Church Knoxville, Tennessee

February 17, 2019 Dr. Steven P. Eason

A Word A Week: “Temple”

2 Chronicles 36:22-23

We’ve come to the end of this series and our train ride through the Old Testament. We’ve stopped on key words at significant places. There’s much more to see, but we are soon to enter the season of Lent. (This train has got to get over to Jesus!)

Last week the word was Babylon. The question was “How do you live in a foreign land, and not forget who you are?” Today we stop on the word Temple. The exile is over! The Persians defeat the Babylonians, and they let Israel go home!

* In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord stirred up the spirit of King Cyrus of Persia so that he sent a herald throughout all his kingdom and also declared in a written edict: ‘Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him! Let him go up.’

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They had been in exile for decades. Some say as many as 70 years! People died in exile. They never got out. Others were born in exile and didn’t want to leave. Babylon was home. Others went back, but things weren’t the same.

You don’t just walk back home after you have done something terrible and everything returns to normal. Things change. People change. It’s good news they got to go back, but that didn’t make it easy. Being restored is a wonderful thing, but it’s more of a journey than it is a destination.

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One of the hard tasks of going back was to rebuild the temple. It had been destroyed. Their most sacred space had been violated; stripped, burned, toppled, desecrated. It took seven years for King Solomon to build it. It had been there for 476 years, six months, and ten days before it was destroyed. (Somehow the historian Josephus knew that!). The temple was the centerpiece of Jewish identity, of their faith and of their history.

The temple is much more than a building, it’s a symbol, a statement. When it was destroyed, it reflected what was going on in the hearts of Israel. They were destroyed. When it was rebuilt, it was expression of the restoration of Israel.

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At the dedication, 476 years before the exile, King Solomon included this in his prayer; 46“If they sin against you—for there is no one who does not sin—and you are angry with them and give them to an enemy, so that they are carried away captive to the land of the enemy, far off or near; 47yet if they come to their senses in the land to which they have been taken captive, and repent, and plead with you in the land of their captors, saying, ‘We have sinned, and have done wrong; we have acted wickedly’; 48if they repent with all their heart and soul in

the land of their enemies, who took them captive, and pray to you toward their land, which you gave to their ancestors, the city that you have chosen, and the house that I have built for your name; 49then hear in heaven your dwelling place their prayer and their plea, maintain their cause 50and forgive your people who have sinned against you, and all their transgressions that they have committed against you; and grant them compassion in the sight of their captors, so that they may have compassion on them 51(for they are your people and heritage, which you brought out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron-smelter). (1 Kings 8:46-51)

(And yes, that is one sentence, with 204 words in it! I counted.)

It’s as if Solomon knew something, 476 years before it happened. *

God is in the restoration business! How many times have we seen it? The Bible is full of restoration stories. Pick one; Abraham and Hagar, Moses was a murderer, David and Bathsheba, Israel had a cycle of apostasy, Christ is raised from the dead. That’s all restoration!

The woman caught in the act of adultery is not stoned to death. The elders are not without sin, and so they drop their stones. But it says in Leviticus, “If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbor, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.” (Lev. 20:10). It’s right there in the Bible! But Jesus forgives her. She is restored.

Peter denied Jesus three times. “I don’t know the guy!” That’s what he said. He had to live with those words through the entire crucifixion. Can you imagine knowing you denied him, as he hung there and suffocated to death? And then what did Jesus do? After the resurrection, he asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” And Peter answered three times, “Yes, Lord, you know I do.” He restored him! And Peter became the leader of the Church.

Saul is a Pharisee. Pharisees were founded during the return from exile. Their purpose was to restore Israel to the law. A little over 500 years later, Pharisees had become self-righteous hypocrites, according to Jesus. They had become fanatics. Saul was a Christian-hating Pharisee.

So, what does God do? God restores him! God changes his name to Paul. “You are no longer that other person.” God takes a Pharisee, a guy who persecuted Christians, who approved of their imprisonment and even their killing, and used him to plant the very first churches, to chisel out the origins of Christian theology. Paul wrote the majority of the New Testament! That’s restoration.

If you take the Scriptures seriously, you come to the conclusion that restoration is in the heart of God.

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Even while they were in exile, God spoke words of restoration to Israel. Jeremiah prophesied; ‘For surely I know the plans I have for you,’ says the Lord, ‘plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart. I will let you find me, says the Lord and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations, and all the places where I have driven you,’ says the Lord, ‘and I will bring you back into the place from which I sent you into exile.’ (Jeremiah 29:11-14)

There were other words of hope; ‘The days are surely coming,’ says the Lord, ‘when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah…I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. No longer shall they teach one another … for they shall all know me…for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.’ (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

That’s restoration! *

But is there a universal truth that travels over the span of time, from ancient Israel to us? We aren’t Israel. We haven’t been in exile. We don’t have a temple.

Paul wrote to the Corinthians; “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). That’s an incredible statement from a former Pharisee! He’s not finished. “For God’s temple is holy, and you are that temple.” (3:17b). Something’s changed. Something’s new.

This is core to understanding what it means to be a Christian. Through Christ, the dwelling place of God is in us.

Totally new concept. We can return from the exile of our sin, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, to become temples of the Holy Spirit. That’s unheard of…unbelievable! Who among us is worthy to be a dwelling place of God? It may not be as unbelievable as it is undeserved.

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Temple is a powerful word when you read it in history. It’s an even more powerful word when you realize you are one!

If a building can be restored, so can a human life. It’s not easy, and it doesn’t happen overnight, but it’s still possible. It’s possible because of God’s restoring grace. We get to go home too! The exile is over. Our temples are rebuilt and we get our lives back in Christ! Thanks be to God! In the name of the of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Congregation; Amen.