Wondrous-Cruciform Community
Romans 12:1-2 (click here)
On Sundays during Lent, there will not be an email devotional because I actually preach on the passage for that day. If you would like to listen to today’s sermon, you can find it on iTunes by searching for “Shades Valley Community Church” or simply click here.
Esther 3-4 (click here)
Then Mordecai told them to reply to Esther, “Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, “Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.” (Esther 4:13-16)
Reflection
A murderous plot because of wounded pride.
This is what we encounter in the book of Esther. Because one lone Jewish man, Mordecai, wouldn’t bow the Haman, the enraged leader decided that all Jews must die. Through masterful manipulation and bribery, he received the permission he needed from the king, and it looked as though this story would come to a quick, bloody close.
But… God was at work.
Unlike any other book of the Bile, the name of God is never mentioned in Esther. Yet, God is so very present… providentially at work to save his people. Long before this evil plot was ever being planned, God placed Esther in the palace as queen. She was in a position to be a mediator on behalf of her people and take her plea to the king.
But… this was not allowed.
No one could see the king unless the he summoned them. To come into his presence uninvited would likely mean the death penalty. What would Ether do? God had clearly put her in this place at this time, but the laws of man seemingly tied her hands. Who would she trust? Who would she fear?
Esther called upon all the community to fast and pray… then, even if it meant her life, she would sacrifice herself for the sake of her people.
In Esther’s story we can hear echoes of the Gospel… echoes of Christ’s sacrifice on behalf of his people. Can we hear those same echoes in our own lives? When God calls you and I to sacrifice for the sake of serving and loving others… but man threatens us if we should follow… who do we trust? Who do we fear?
When we cannot see God at all, like his name is nowhere to be found, do we trust that he is still providentially at work. Does our voice unite with Esther’s to declare that we will follow God no matter what and if we perish, we perish!
God has called us to lay down our lives for the sake of our brothers and sisters… and so the world may know him. He has called us to be a cruciform community. Your life has been providentially planned to bring you to where you are today for such a time as this.
*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.
1 Chronicles 30 (click here)
And many people came together in Jerusalem to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month, a very great assembly. They set to work and removed the altars that were in Jerusalem, and all the altars for burning incense they took away and threw into the brook Kidron.
So there was great joy in Jerusalem, for since the time of Solomon the son of David king of Israel there had been nothing like this in Jerusalem. (2 Chronicles 30:13-14 and 26)
Reflection
The Kingdom of God’s people had long been divided.
The Northern Kingdom of Israel barely even exited after its decimation by Assyria… and the Southern Kingdom of Judah was anything but a faithful people.
Then the Lord moved in the reign of Hezekiah.
An invitation was extended to anyone left in Israel to reunite with Judah around the feast of the Passover. As many gathered in unity, focusing on the sacrifice love of God in saving his people from Egypt so long ago…an amazing thing began to happen.
The people tore down their pagan altars, repented, and returned to the Lord. They literally drowned their pagan ways by throwing their former altars in to the brook Kidron. Joy erupted amongst a long-divided people as they were reunited before their God!
We have seen that idolatry destroys community (Exodus 32 – Listen here). When we make a god who is all about us, we will try to create a community that is also all about us. If corrupt worship corrupts community… it makes sense that purified worship would lead to purified community.
That is exactly what unfolds in 2 Chronicles 30! As the people return to the Lord, they reunite! As they worship, they welcome one another! As they repent of their idolatry, they are reconciled to God and to one another.
Could it be that the cure for our communities begins with worship? Reconciliation with one another begins with reconciliation to God. Just as the Jewish people gazed upon the sacrificial love of God through Passover, we gaze upon his sacrificial love in the cross. In light of such sacrificial for our forgiveness and reconciliation, how could we ever refuse forgiveness to others who have not sinned against us nearly to the extent we have sinned against God.
In beholding the love of Christ extended to us in the cross, our hearts are filled with love to extend to others. In beholding our reconciliation that happens through the cross, we are moved to demonstrate that same reconciliation to our brothers and sisters. In behold the cross, our lives transform and become cruciform.
Do you take time each day to behold the cross? Have you taken time today, right now to behold the cross? The cross of Christ is the only the means by which we become a cruciform community.
Behold the cross of Christ… today… tomorrow… and forever.
*All previous devotionals may be found at www.thejoyofglory.com
*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.
The Joy of Glory 