In his classic work, The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, Tolkien tells the story of Bilbo Baggins, a simple, homebound hobbit who is chosen by Gandalf the Grey to go on a quest to help the dwarves of Erebor reclaim their home from the dragon Smaug. Bilbo is a timid, comfort driven, isolated young man who, through his journey outside the Shire, grows and develops into a sword wielding, spider killing, eagle riding, world traveler. It was one of my favorite stories as a child. What accounts for his transformation? The hardships of the journey! 

In our text this week, Hosea redeems Gomer from her wayward life and puts conditions upon her. That might seem odd, but the image isn’t of God’s saving work but His work of our sanctification. Hosea and Gomer were already married. Now, he’s setting a path for their marital restoration. God does the same thing for Israel, rescuing them from their idolatry, but setting out a plan for their full restoration. Full restoration means a heart transformation where God’s people pursue Him like He pursues them. It will not be a quick and easy fix, because God isn’t interested in quick fixes, but holiness that grows from the inside out.

The message to us focuses on our sanctification—the path God lays out and Christ walks us through—to transform us by His grace. Join us Sunday as we worship our redeeming, sanctifying Savior.

Our text this week brings us into what our modern culture might refer to as a toxic relationship. Hosea, married to an immoral Gomer, who apparently has racked up a significant debt and is living in indentured servitude, is told to go again and love a woman who is loved by another man and is an adulterous. Today’s culture might see this as manipulative, even toxic. Hosea is throwing his life away, loving a woman who doesn’t reciprocate his love. Maybe Hosea is manipulating her with guilt for her waywardness, trying to rehabilitate her. Maybe he’s got low self-esteem and loving Gomer makes him self-righteous. Maybe he has a savior complex. Since Hosea represents God in relationship with Israel, there is a bit of Savior complex. Consider what Paul says, For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)

Thanks be to God for loving the ungodly! Join us as we worship Him and rejoice in His saving grace!

You know the story of the Prodigal Son, from Luke 15. The son, unsatisfied with his life at home with his father, demands his inheritance, which he wastes trying to find joy and satisfaction. His cravings leave him destitute, feeding off the slop given to pigs. He reasons to himself, Life at home was better than this. He goes home, speech prepared. We’re not told that he was repentant, but that he needed a job and wanted a better life. If he was repentant, he would have sorrowed over what he did to his father and his family, wanting to be restored to his father more than relief from his suffering. At the same time, life had taught him some important lessons. He compared his current situation to his former one and calculated that life at home was better. What he found was a father who cared more about him than the money or the heartache. 

Our text this week is similar and reminds us of the prodigal son. Gomer (Israel) is convinced that her joy is found in her lovers (Baal). She doesn’t yet realize that her flourishing is possible only in the Lord God. In her desperation, she reasons that life at home with Hosea (God) was better, but she isn’t ready to return. In all her waywardness, God is at work, wooing her back to himself. God’s great desire is that Israel’s heart will be His alone, so that she can flourish in his goodness. Join us as we see the grace of God that leads us to flourishing, and worship a God who loves us enough to pursue us.

We’ve all experienced betrayal in some form or fashion. In one of my favorite movies, The Count of Monte Cristo, Edmond Dantes is betrayed by his friend Fernand Mondego. Mondego, jealous of Dantes’ fiancé, Mercedes, discovers that while on the isle of Elba, the exiled emperor Napoleon gave Dantes a letter for a French conspirator. Mondego hatches a plan to have Dantes imprisoned so that he can pursue Mercedes. Dantes is imprisoned at the Chateau d’If for fourteen years, where he hatches his escape and plots his revenge. I won’t spoil the story but will say that the actor does a great job of capturing the grief and sorrow of this betrayal. His pain illustrates his deep love and trust in his friend, his fiancé, his business partners, and everyone involved. 

In our text this Sunday, God asks Hosea to marry a woman who will be unfaithful to him. Two of his three children are probably not his and eventually their marriage ends. Hosea experiences the pain and shame of his wife’s betrayal to illustrate God’s grief with his unfaithful people. In the middle of that pain, God remains faithful, making lavish promises of grace. Join us as we worship our gracious God!

It’s been said, Hard times create strong men; strong men create good times; good times create weak men; weak men create hard times. The adage has some recognizable truth to it, but sometimes hard times create evil men who create evil times. When Solomon died and Rehoboam took his place, Jeroboam of Nebat, a leader from the northern tribes appealed for tax relief. When the young king refused, Jeroboam broke off the northern ten tribes and formed a new nation, immediately introducing corrupt worship and leading the northern nation, Israel, into idolatry, and eventual destruction. Jeroboam brought prosperous, evil times.

It reminds me of the rise of Hitler, an Austrian young man, angry at the degradation of his homeland after WW-I, through the treaty of Versailles. Germany was forced to accept blame, pay reparations, limit their armed forces, and give up massive territory (BRAT). The economy was devastated and the people humiliated. His rise to power brought evil, hard times.

What are God’s people to do when hard times come? What are we to do when the culture shifts under our feet? Join us as we study Hosea and worship the God who speaks.

This week we will begin looking at the book of Hosea. Having investigated in our last series God's righteousness and his faithfulness to his character, we will see how it plays out in his faithfulness to his wayward people. God's people, unsatisfied with him, look for security, wealth, and pleasure in the gods of this world, only to be destroyed by their spiritual adultery (James 4:1-6). In the text, God contemplates divorcing them for breaking their marriage covenant, but awakens to His character, saying, "I will not execute my burning anger...for I am God and not a man," Hosea 11:9. It's an amazing book, especially when you consider that Hosea represents Christ, the husband to an adulterous wife. Join us as we worship our faithful God.

In preparation for this series, please watch the Bible Project video on Hosea.

This past Sunday, I drew attention to the Scripture’s teaching that in all moments of iniquity, transgression, and sin (Ex. 34:7), God is the aggrieved party. In other words, when righteousness is violated, God and his glory should be our goal in pursuing justice. Justice in the Christian community isn’t about equity of outcomes, but about returning to alignment with God’s character (righteousness). This means that some issues aren’t black and white. Let me illustrate with poverty in America. Postmodern Social Justice theory argues for equity of outcome, saying there shouldn’t be billionaires in the world, but that wealth should be limited and redistributed to the poor. We’re seeing this play out in cities like Seattle and New York with recently elected mayors. But if God is the aggrieved party, then we have to balance some biblical teaching. For example, Paul tells the Thessalonians that if a person doesn’t work, they don't eat (2 Thess. 3:10, Prov. 6:6-11). At the same time, God urges his people not to oppress the poor by taking advantage of them in the courts, charging them high interest, withholding the wages of day laborers, etc (Dt. 24). He also urges us toward generosity in feeding and clothing the poor in their time of need (James 2). Israel had cities designated as store houses where the poor could get food and opportunities for them to glean in the field for their daily bread (Dt. 14, 26). So, if God is the aggrieved party, both the sluggard and the oppressive rich have offended him with their actions, and both should return to his righteousness. Income redistribution isn’t justice because it isn’t modeled after God’s righteousness. 

This Sunday, as we celebrate the resurrection of Christ, we’ll consider what God is accomplishing through his own right hand, to restore righteousness by bringing justice. Join us as we celebrate the rule of Christ, the one who loves righteousness (Hebrews 1:9).

God’s people have struggled with his justice since the founding of our race (Cain, Gen. 4:13, 14). When we observe the injustice in the world (corruption in government, acts of violence, poverty, etc.), it’s easy to conclude that God isn’t paying attention. Psalm 13 opens with the question, How long O Lord? Isaiah challenges God’s people for concluding, My way is hidden from the LORD, and my right is disregarded by my God? (Is. 40:27). What is God’s justice and how does it function? It’s an important question, especially if we are to consider God’s command that we pursue justice (Micah 6:8).

Before we do justice, we must understand God’s righteousness. Justice is part of God’s righteousness. If he isn’t just, he isn’t good. If he doesn’t act consistently to his justness, then he isn’t righteous. If our lives are meant to align with God’s character (righteousness), then our pursuit of justice should align to his. This includes identifying vulnerable communities (poor, widows, orphans, and sojourners) as recipients of justice. Join us this Sunday as we consider the call for justice by considering the justice of God. Together we will worship the One whose throne is established for justice (Psalm 9:7, 8).

Yesterday, western cultures celebrated the life of St. Patrick. Catholics typically wear green and drink some good Irish Ale. Protestants in the British Isles typically wear orange as the continuation of their protest of Catholicism and to celebrate William of Orange, a protestant monarch. Whatever color you wore, and whether you got pinched or not, the short story of St. Patrick (unknown true name) is that he was born in a Roman province but was captured by the Irish at sixteen and made a slave for about six years. After escaping, he returned home and engaged in religious studies, becoming a priest and later a bishop in the Catholic Church in Britain. Then, after having a vision of the Irish, he felt called to return to his captors to bring them the gospel. He ministered among the Irish establishing churches, monasteries, and schools, while condemning the practice of slavery. According to tradition, he died on March 17, 461.

It’s a good story of how Christ can transform a person and a community. His famous quote is “Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ on my right, Christ on my left, Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down, Christ when I arise, Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me, Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me, Christ in every eye that sees me, Christ in every ear that hears me.”

It’s a good example of what Christ has come to create. In a world of “survival of the fittest,” where power and strength are used for self, Christ establishes a community of righteousness. Here we are not talking about our justification (the declaration of righteousness before the court of God), but the harvest of righteousness from a people who align with God by the power of the Holy Spirit. This Sunday we’ll consider what it means to be a righteous community as we worship the One who has come to establish righteousness on the earth. Join us!

I ride motorcycles. Not news to our congregation, I know, but I practice motorcycle partiality. Let me explain. Motorcyclists have a signature wave that they give other motorcyclists. It’s a cool, left-handed move that signals, I recognize and respect you. We don’t give this recognition to scooter riders. Even though scooter riders take the same risks of a motorcyclist, wear the same safety gear, and take the same test, they do not receive the same respect. My older brother sold his motorcycle and rides a large scooter, for which I mock him repeatedly. Does that make me a scooterist? Probably.

Partiality is a consistent Biblical word for favoring someone over another. It’s an ancient sin of the human heart, hailing all the way back to the foundations of humanity. Every culture has its forms of partiality that are perpetuated within it. America, along with every known country, has issues of partiality that shape and define it. Join us this Sunday as we consider how Postmodern Critical Theory addresses partiality, while we worship the only One who is impartial!