16 July 2013 - water ride

16 July 2013 - water ride

Jesus began to reproach the towns
where most of his mighty deeds had been done,
since they had not repented.

To whom much has been given much will be expected (cf. Luk 12:48).  We who know the saving power of Jesus have more to answer for.  Those who have never heard the gospel are held to a different standard.  Their position is not enviable, though, lacking the sacramental grace we enjoy.  This grace frees from the chains of sin and makes it possible for us to be holy even as God is holy.  Because we see this grace at work we know that the words of the psalmist are true.

Turn to the Lord in your need, and you will live.

Tyre, Sidon, and even Sodom are judged harshly.  But at least they have the excuse that they have never known God's deliverance in their own lives.

I am sunk in the abysmal swamp
where there is no foothold;
I have reached the watery depths;
the flood overwhelms me.

Moses experiences this deliverance before he can even ask for it.  It is almost like infant baptism.

When the child grew, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter,
who adopted him as her son and called him Moses;
for she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

We need to realize the great continuity of salvation history in which we stand.  We are drawn out from the abysmal swamps and the watery depths to new life.  Like Moses, we are brought in to a new family.  Just as he is raised to be a leader of his people we ourselves are raised up to reign with Christ.

We need to realize the greatness of what we've been given.  We have literally been given every spiritual blessing in the heavens (cf Eph. 1:3), not just a few.  And the LORD never blesses an individual just for his own sake.  We are designed to live in a community of love.  Therefore the LORD expects us to invest the blessings he gives us in the building of the kingdom.   Just as in the parable of the talents (cf. 25:14-30) we can't bury what we've been given.  Burying our talents means using them for ourselves alone.  Burying the talents is unacceptable not because of a lack of work ethic entailed but mostly because the isolation involved is contrary to the life of the Trinity.

“See, you lowly ones, and be glad;
you who seek God, may your hearts revive!
For the LORD hears the poor,
and his own who are in bonds he spurns not.”

The saving power of God is amazing.  We see it in our own lives.  And we are therefore obligated to proclaim it.  Because it is one thing to not repent oneself.  It is another to be in the position to save others with the blessings we ourselves have been given and not do so (cf. Eze. 3:18).  Woe to us if we don't proclaim the gospel (1 Cor 9:16).  Let God's grace enable us to proclaim his saving power which we ourselves behold.

I will praise the name of God in song,
and I will glorify him with thanksgiving.