Weekly Meditations: Hosea 2:1-13

The Story of the Gospel pt. 1
God and Man

A great way to explain the gospel that I have heard is found in the book "What is the Gospel?".  It has four parts, God, man, Christ, response, and explains how there is a just God who must judge sinful man but anyone who responds to Christ's sacrificial death, for man's sins, through faith can have eternal life and right standing with God.  Over the next two weeks I will briefly look at how Hosea chapter 2 shows these four parts and the gospel of Jesus Christ.

If you have read the first 13 verses of Hosea 2, you have seen the message of an angry God.  Israel had turned its back on God even after all he had done for them, and God was not happy.  The relationship between God and mankind is very similar.  God created mankind, yet man chose to sin against God.  Man would rather him or herself be the God of his or her life, rather than Jehovah; the God who created mankind.  So in a similar fashion, we see a picture of God, angry at the Israelites and we know that throughout history, God's just anger has been on mankind.

God is perfect and man is sinful.  Those two things cannot coexist and thus man must pay the punishment for his sin.  The gospel of Christ is much more complex than simply believing in God.  It is essentially a legal situation.  God is the creator and also the judge of the world and he will judge every person who has, is or will live.  Unfortunately as we stand, every single person that will be judged deserves to go to hell to pay the price for their sin.  Next week we will look at how God has redeemed his people, but for now, let it sink in that you deserve to be punished for your sin.  All the things Hosea 2:1-13 says and worse, you deserve.  But, if you are a Christian, you know that you have been freed from that sin and that punishment!  How amazing is that!  Like I said, we will look at that redemption next week, for now understand that God is just and man is sinful and deserves to be punished for his sin.  That is where the gospel begins, that is why we need saving and what we need saving from.  It is easy to say "i'm saved" but not realize what you are being saved from or why.

Weekly Meditations: Hosea 1:3-2:1; What's in a Name

I like sports movies.  One of my favorites is Gridiron Gang.  Now I know it has its moments of cheesiness and can be at times cliche, but I love the redemptive story it tells.  Juvenile delinquents from different backgrounds and gangs team up to achieve a common goal on the football field and in the bigger field of life.  Today's passage is a brief history of God redeeming Israel.  

You see, last week we saw Hosea marry Gomer who either was or would become an adulterous wife.  Nonetheless, over time, Hosea and Gomer had kids and the names by which God himself would name the children would tell the story of the next several years of Israel.  First, Jezreel to represent the massacre at Jezreel and Israel's punishment in the Valley of Jezreel.  Next, Lo-Ruhamah to represent God turning his back on Israel but not Judah.  Lastly, Lo-Ammi, God saying literally, "you have broken my covenant and now you will face judgement, I am not your God any longer".  

However, eventually God would redeem Israel, he would forgive them of their sins when they turn back to him.  This generation had forgotten about God, but someday the people would return to him, and God in his love would redeem them.  

The story of Christ is the same.  Christ was sent to earth to redeem us.  To die in our place, for our sin, so that we could have right standing with God and thus a relationship throughout eternity with him.  Christianity is not just a pray you say or simply attending church once a week, it is a relationship, one that was broken but was fixed by the blood of Jesus Christ.  If you have yet to put your full faith in the saving work of Christ, I would ask you to contact a Christian friend close to you, and make that step of faith.

Weekly Meditations: Hosea 1:1-3

Over the course of my final weeks in Japan, I want to try and dissect the book of Hosea.  Tonight (or possibly today for you), I simply want to introduce this book and explain why I think it is important.  Hosea is prophetic book that mixes prophecy with a small amount of narrative.  It is close to my heart  because it literally is overflowing with the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Its themes of judgement and redemption, among other themes, are a great way to explain what the gospel of Jesus Christ is.  My goal over the next few weeks is to do just that.

Tonight lets begin with the first part of Hosea which focuses on the narrative story of Hosea's life.

1 The word of the Lord that came to Hosea son of Beeri during the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah, kings of Judah, and during the reign of Jeroboam son of Jehoash king of Israel: ² When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her, for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.”³ So he married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.

God watched as his nation Israel fell deeper away from him and deeper into sin.  God loved Israel like a husband loved a wife, but yet Israel went to other false Gods rather than the true God, Jehovah.  The false Gods didn't love the Israelites, and really, the Israelites didn't love the idols.  To show a picture of this, God commanded Hosea to marry a prostitute.  Its the perfect picture of Israel and us.  Hosea married a prostitute who wouldn't stay faithful to him just as we don't stay faithful to God.  We proclaim our love for him and then at the drop of a hat, we sin, throwing our love onto something else.  We are the Gomers, the prostitutes in this story.  

The good news however, is that God will never stop loving us, God made a way for us to be with him, he made a way to redeem us!  Over the next several weeks we will look at just that.  The saving gospel of Jesus Christ, that redeems sinners and frees us from sin's power.  

Weekly Meditations: Romans 16; Community

Hopefully if you are reading this, you have first read Romans chapter 16; otherwise it may be a little harder to follow for you.  Romans 16 is split into two different, but very similar parts.  The first 16 verses is a list of people Paul asks to send his greeting to, the second is a commendation plus greetings to the Romans from people with Paul or people Paul has recently seen.

While the messages in this passage are obviously personal, such as "greet Herodion my relative" (11), I think that the idea behind this passage is most important.  What I mean is that as a global church, a local church and an individual Christian, we should be in constant Christian community.  Now do I mean we should spend 24/7 with other Christians?  No!  But I do think our lives should be first centered around Christ, based strongly in a local church and interested in the global church as a whole.

We have spent the last several weeks looking at what it means to be a Christian (among other things) so I think my first point is simply a given.  We need to have our lives centered around Christ.  This should also mean that we are a part of a local church, and I think this passage shows what that looks like in a healthy way.  Christians shouldn't simply go to a church, sit through the service and leave straight after, they should be investing time in the church and in relationships.  Our Christian relationships are some of the most important relationships we have because they are with peers who share the same important view on God and on salvation so that they can help us make wise choices, decisions etc.  Paul has a huge list of people to greet, he didn't do this by simply filling a pew for an hour.  Make sure that you are plugged into a bible believing and preaching local church and try to get involved.

We also should have larger connections as well.  We see in Paul's letter a number of people wanting to send greeting to the Romans.  In a local church we will have partners in the gospel, other churches around us that we partner with to further Christ in our city.  We also hopefully have missionaries and even global churches that we too partner with.  I think it is very important to be connected as well as keep a global mind, and a mind open to missions.

Quite simply, as Christians, we need to be connected.  Connected with Christ, connected with other Christians, connected with other churches and connected with other countries and cultures.