Be the Sheep-Naked Part III
"Sink into" being part of the solution to problems you see
Both Tuesday and Wednesday I did a portion of this writing. Taking it in smaller bites is not as daunting and far more manageable. Monday Morning With Jesus, I think, is going away in favor of something else, but I don’t know what the name will be yet. Until I do, it will remain MMWJ. However, this morning’s writing begins with the service opening.
Pastor Joe Palmer opened the service with a passage of scripture.
10“Be joyful with Jerusalem and rejoice for her, all you who love her; Be exceedingly glad with her, all you who mourn over her,
Isaiah 66:10 (NASB95)
I confess that I’ve been tapped to serve as an usher, so I didn’t catch this scripture in context with what Pastor Joe was saying. I’ll leave it as it is from scripture. The Holy Spirit can do with it as it pleases Him.
The Children’s Moment was a rather long reading of a book titled The Mitten Tree by Candace Christiansen, which you can find HERE. Shortly after the Children’s Moment, Pastor Kristen Lee read the scripture. That scripture was included in part I two days ago, which you can find HERE. I’m not going to post it again and likely will continue to only post the scripture in total once. You can find part II HERE.
Pastor Lee gave us scripture context in that the Israelites were in exile in Babylon when this was first presented, calling them back to the Promised Land God gave them originally. That touched me a little. I often think the world condition, national condition here in America, and general life situation appear more dire than at other times in history. However, that doesn’t stop me from thinking the people of Christ are “in exile” with the persecution, both physical and mental, that assails us every day. I often think of the following passage when these thoughts strike me.
12Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice.
13“If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people,
14and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:12–14 (NASB95)
Okay, so, a personal note here. I was writing and then remembered SpaceX was launching their third test of Superheavy and Starship today at this time. I’ve taken a pause to watch that live. I’m a space nerd and love all things Skylab, Apollo, Space Shuttle, and now SpaceX. They have AMAZING live feed video from the actual spaceship as it launches, orbits, and I hope this time reenters. It is absolutely fascinating to me. I love this stuff.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled devotion, already in progress…
Our current world and life situation is not dissimilar to the Israelis at the time of the Isaiah scripture. Pastor Lee’s point was that they were doing it to themselves instead of being oppressed by the Babylonians or other outside forces. We currently enjoy unprecedented freedoms here in America, but not in all aspects of our lives. We have government overreach in a number of places, which I won’t get into here, we have oppression of various groups, which could be debated as to which groups and by whom, and we have censorship in various forms by various groups. We are doing that to ourselves just as the Israeli people were doing it to themselves during Isaiah’s time.
Pastor Lee said her quote here, “Diagnose the sickness but also present the cure.” The point is that we shouldn’t just point out problems but also suggest ways to fix those problems. In the context of being the sheep, when we see a need of any kind, we should not just become aware of it but present a solution. I’m not entirely sure how we work that but a scripture comes to mind.
35‘For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;
36naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’
37“Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink?
38‘And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You?
39‘When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’
40“The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’
Matthew 25:35–40 (NASB95)
The scripture points out that we should both fast and sacrifice, but Pastor Lee pointed out we also need love and kindness. She mentioned Colossians 3 as an example of how we should “clothe ourselves.” Both the KJV and NASB do not use “clothe” but rather “put on.” Let’s look at the scripture.
12So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience;
13bearing with one another, and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone; just as the Lord forgave you, so also should you.
14Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
Colossians 3:12–14 (NASB95)
The Greek word behind this has a really nice turn of phrase in it. Let’s look at the Greek word definition.
Greek Strong’s Number: 1746
Greek Word: ἐνδύω
Transliteration: endyō
Phonetic Pronunciation: en-doo’-o
Root: from <G1722> and <G1416> (in the sense of sinking into a garment)
Cross Reference: TDNT - 2:319,192
Part of Speech: v
Vine’s Words: Clothe, Endue, Have, Put, Wear, Wearing
Usage Notes:
English Words used in KJV:
put on 18
clothed with 2
clothed in 2
have on 2
clothe with 1
be endued 1
arrayed in 1
be clothed 1
vr put on 1
[Total Count: 29]
from <G1722> (en) and <G1416> (duno) (in the sense of sinking into a garment); to invest with clothing (literal or figurative):- array, clothe (with), endue, have (put) on.
James Strong, “Ἐνδύω,” Strong’s Talking Greek and Hebrew Dictionary (WORDsearch, 2020).
It is all about “wearing” something. In this case, how we behave toward others, but the turn of phrase that’s so fantastic is this. “In the sense of sinking into a garment.” We are to sink into love as a garment that fully encompasses us enshrouds our body, and covers every exposed portion we have. It is supposed to be the outer thing people see when they see us, not something hidden inside only God knows.
Pastor Lee closed the sermon by stepping back to Genesis. She drew a comparison that it is God who clothes us as He did in the beginning. Adam and Eve attempted to clothe themselves with fig leaves, but it was God who produced appropriate clothing for them, suitable to the harshness of the environment they were to survive. Bringing that idea forward, we try to make it through the harshness of life under our own power, but we should be relying on God to clothe us in the appropriate clothing necessary for our body and soul to survive the harsh reality of life in the flesh.
4The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
5“For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.
7Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings.
Genesis 3:4–7 (NASB95)
21The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.
22Then the Lord God said, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—
23therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden of Eden, to cultivate the ground from which he was taken.
24So He drove the man out; and at the east of the garden of Eden He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.
Genesis 3:21–24 (NASB95)