Genesis 37:1-38:30
1.(2012) Joseph's Dreams. Here begins the story of Joseph.
2. (2012) Sibling Jealousies. Genesis opens with one creaturely being jealous of another: the fallen angel jealous of the man and the woman. Cain of Abel. What about Isaac and Ishmael? (Surely Sarai and Haggar were in competition)
When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.and
11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
Matthew 12:22-45
Psalm 16:1-11
Proverbs 3:27-32
Reflection on Sunday's Sermon
Today began a series on Philippians. I don't how it happened but I found myself flipping the pages to find a verse that came to mind...where is that verse? ...
Was it the musicians? The loud pulsating contemporary music, simplistic repetition over and over and ... which always makes me think how contemporary evangelicals have forgotten about harmony and accord and have succumbed to modern paradigms of power and domination; quantity and majority. I always do my best to sing harmony; it reminds me of Bach and the Trinity....Solo deo gloria.
Then the pastor had mentioned how Paul, although qualified as an apostle, does not "pull rank" in his letter to the Philippians.
"Why doesn't Paul command them to submit?", I ask myself.
Paul, I recall, had reminded Philemon:
...though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love's sake I prefer to appeal to you...For love's sake...I appeal to you...
I remember the interview for church membership...I recall another kangaroo court in another dark office...the questions: "Can you submit to us, the elders?". The deception of the invitation to "talk". I remember being embarrassed for them all. Why is that a condition for membership? What makes them so fragile? Why aren't they confident that their leadership, their love, will beget respect...trust?
Tell me if you know a marriage not built on trust! Tell me what that marriage looks like?
Trust...
Our wives and children rely upon it! Only those weak men, lazy men, cowardly men demand obedience to unburden themselves from the duty of love & devotion; of laying down themselves; of sacrifice. Or perhaps to protect themselves from the trauma of betrayal or the humility of rejection. The very public things which were displayed on the Cross for our redemption.
Could it be that the very thing they fear is what might actually gain the goal they otherwise demand to be the duty and burden of those they have been entrusted to cherish and strengthen?
When they can't lead, when their love evaporates & they disappear or hide, they will put it back on you saying, "But you made a vow!" Or they will make you sign the document...something, anything that requires payment from you, not from them.
I think of the cults and the wolves that test the loyalty of its members by requiring extreme submission-to drink the koolaid; to swallow the cyanide; to hand over one's wife...one's daughter...one's savings...one's precious time...one's word...one's conscience.
Where does it begin? How does it start?
Tell me it doesn't start with small demonstrations of submission? Followed by increasingly greater commitments. Greater risks. The very method of proper discipline, distorted & perverted, turned insiduously on the earnest or naive disciple to provide gain or advantage for the superior.
Didn't Samuel warn the Israelites who wanted a king like the surrounding nations?:
This will be the procedure of the king who will reign over you: he will take your sons and place them for himself in his chariots and among his horsemen and they will run before his chariots. 12 “He will appoint for himself commanders of thousands and of fifties, and some to do his plowing and to reap his harvest and to make his weapons of war and equipment for his chariots. 13 “He will also take your daughters for perfumers and cooks and bakers. 14 “He will take the best of your fields and your vineyards and your olive groves and give them to his servants. 15 “He will take a tenth of your seed and of your vineyards and give to his officers and to his servants. 16 “He will also take your male servants and your female servants and your best young men and your donkeys and use them for his work. 17 “He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his servants. 18 “Then you will cry out in that day because of your king whom you have chosen for yourselves, but the LORD will not answer you in that day.” (1 Samuel 8:11-18)
Where is that verse?...There it is!
For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. 4 For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, 5 so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6 Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, each of us is to exercise them accordingly (Romans 12:3-6)
Years Read
2025
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