Move over, Richard Cory: A lonely life

Anyone who has been listening beyond the ping and vibration tones of his smartphone the last few years has heard that the use of this technology is increasing loneliness in its users. Of course, the technology has increased our awareness of others, and activities of our families and friends, as well. We know more; we want to know more; we crave such knowledge, and yet, the double-edge sword of information and loneliness is apparent. 

Every study highlights this sad consideration. From San Francisco (CA) Statue University, this report from April last year, “Digital addiction increases loneliness, anxiety and depression.” The author of the report, Lisa Owens Viani, cites “new study published in NeuroRegulation, San Francisco State University Professor of Health Education Erik Peper and Associate Professor of Health Education Richard Harvey argue that overuse of smart phones is just like any other type of substance abuse.”  The report also noted “In a survey of 135 San Francisco State students, Peper and Harvey found that students who used their phones the most reported higher levels of feeling isolated, lonely, depressed and anxious. They believe the loneliness is partly a consequence of replacing face-to-face interaction with a form of communication where body language and other signals cannot be interpreted.”

(https://news.sfsu.edu/news-story/digital-addiction-increases-loneliness-anxiety-and-depression)

Emarketing published a report in 2017, “The report also looks at internet usage and concludes that in 2017, there will be almost 3.5bn internet users worldwide, representing 46.8 per cent of the global population. By the end of 2019, eMarketer predicts that more than half of the global population will use the internet, either through a PC or mobile device.” (https://www.emarketer.com) 

In a study from the University of Chicago published in 2015,  under the title “The Neuroendocrinology of Social Isolation” this abstract is found. “Social isolation (Loneliness) has been recognized as a major risk factor for morbidity and mortality in humans for more than a quarter of a century. Although the focus of research has been on objective social roles and health behaviour, the brain is the key organ for forming, monitoring, maintaining, repairing, and replacing salutary connections with others. Accordingly, population-based longitudinal research indicates that perceived social isolation is a risk factor for morbidity and mortality independent of objective social isolation and health behaviour. Human and animal investigations of neuroendocrine stress mechanisms that may be involved suggest that (a) chronic social isolation increases the activation of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenocortical axis, and (b) these effects are more dependent on the disruption of a social bond between a significant pair than objective isolation per se. The relational factors and neuroendocrine, neurobiological, and genetic mechanisms that may contribute to the association between perceived isolation and mortality are reviewed.” (https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev-psych-010814-015240) 

In other words, isolation as is evident in smartphone usage, causes the brain to function or malfunction in such a way to lead to mortality. Smartphone usage is killing us!

In a similar study of university students in Istanbul, Turkey, in 2016,  published in the name, “Smartphone addiction and its relationship with social anxiety and loneliness” ,this summary is found. “The results of this study indicate that social phobia was associated with the risk for smartphone addiction in young people. Younger individuals who primarily use their smartphones to access social networking sites also have an excessive pattern of smartphone use.” 

(https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0144929X.2016.1158319?journalCode=tbit20) 

Here in Australia last year, the Australian Psychological Society and Swinburne University produced The Australian Loneliness Report, based on a national survey of adults. This examined the prevalence of loneliness and how it affects the physical and mental health of Australians. It is the most comprehensive study of loneliness completed in Australia. 

Here is the full report: ( https://psychweek.org.au/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/Psychology-Week-2018-Australian-Loneliness-Report-1.pdf)

What did the report show? 

• • 1 in 4 Australians feel lonely.
• • Many Australians – especially younger Australians – report anxiety about socialising.
• • Thirty per cent don’t feel part of a group of friends.
• • Lonely Australians have worse physical and mental health, and are more likely to be depressed.

Who can fix this?

Robert Putnam wrote the seminal book “Bowling Alone” which I read some years ago. He said, “American attendance at club meetings went down by 58 percent. Family dinners declined by 33 percent. Inviting friends to one’s home decreased by 45 percent. The sidebar supplements those findings by posting two other claims: A ten-minute commute slashes social capital (“features of social organization such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit”) by 10 percent, but joining a group reduces by half the odds that one will die next year.” For Putnam it’s all about belonging, whether a club, an association, or some personal grouping.

Back in San Francisco, some students are making a change in their behaviour to counter the morbid technology/ lonely continuum. 

“Two of Peper’s students say they have taken proactive measures to change their patterns of technology use. Recreation, Parks and Tourism major Khari McKendell closed all of his social media accounts about six months ago because he wanted to make stronger face-to-face connections with people. “I still call and text people but I want to make sure that a majority of the time I’m talking to my friends in person,” he said. 

Senior Sierra Hinkle, a Holistic Health minor, says she has stopped using headphones while out walking in order to be more aware of her surroundings. When she’s out with friends, they all put their phones in the center of the table, and the first one to touch theirs buys the drinks. “We have to become creative and approach technology in a different way that still incorporates the skills we need but doesn’t take away from real-life experience,” said Hinkle.”

My conclusion: In the beginning of recorded time, found in the record of Holy Scripture, God gave Adam a helpmate, Eve. The animals were abundant, but he saw Adam as alone and His conclusion was that this condition was “not good.” Eve and Adam had children and the social animal, man, began to populate and fill the earth. Gathering into communities, some in cities, and some in countryside, the sense of belonging grew as people found the same interests and the same activities. They gathered together in situations which either were good for them all, or which caused them to fall together. But together is what mattered. 

Amos the prophet said, “can two walk together unless they be in agreement?” (3.3) and the Psalmist had declared earlier “Behold, how good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell together in unity.” (133.1) Things seem to be better when folks walk or bowl or play pickleball together. Teams matter; your social capital matters; your life matters. And being with people who sing the same song as you, dance in the same rhythm, bowl on the same lane… it all adds up to health. 

Life is not about how many ‘likes’ you received to your latest Instagram photo; it’s about relationships with real people who really know you, and whom you really know. 

Bias and bigotry, the jury is out

1) Start by reading this article fully. 

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- 

A man suspected of being in the U.S. illegally shot and killed four people in Nevada over the past two weeks, including an elderly Reno couple, authorities said, and the slayings added fuel to the immigration debate.

Wilbur Ernesto Martinez-Guzman, 19, from El Salvador, has been jailed in Carson City since Saturday on possession of stolen property, burglary and immigration charges. Authorities said they expect to file murder charges against him in Reno in the shooting deaths of a Washoe County couple and in Douglas County in the slayings of two women in Gardnerville.

Carson City Sheriff Ken Furlong said federal immigration authorities told his office that Martinez-Guzman was in the country illegally. Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not have details on his entry into the U.S.

The investigation is ongoing, the sheriff said, and it was too early to comment on a possible motive.

Investigators who had been tracking Martinez-Guzman considered him "an imminent threat" when they arrested him Saturday afternoon in the parking lot of a shopping mall.

"We couldn't account for him Friday night, and we couldn't predict what he would do Saturday night," Furlong told The Associated Press. "It was too great a risk to the public not to make the arrest."

Detectives had watched Martinez-Guzman go to a car wash and trash bins, raising concern that he might try to dispose of evidence connected to the slayings. He did not have a weapon when he was handcuffed, the sheriff said.

The suspect did not yet have an attorney who could speak on his behalf, according to the sheriff.

President Donald Trump seized on the killings as evidence of the need for his proposed U.S.-Mexico border wall.

"Four people in Nevada viciously robbed and killed by an illegal immigrant who should not have been in our Country," Trump said Monday in a tweet. "We need a powerful Wall!"

The killings are the latest crimes Trump has cited to bring attention to the wall, which is at the center of his battle with Democrats that has shut down much of the federal government.

Since the start of his presidency, he has highlighted crimes committed by immigrants who were here illegally, including the killing of a 32-year-old woman at a San Francisco pier in 2015. Last month, he tweeted about allegations that a man from Mexico fatally shot a California police officer.

Many academics and Trump's critics have pushed back on the president's narrative, citing studies that have found that immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than people born in the United States.

The Nevada suspect, who was due in court Thursday, had lived in the Carson City area for about a year. His only known infraction was a speeding ticket, the sheriff said.

"We have no information this guy has ever been on anyone's radar," Furlong said.

The investigation began Jan. 10, when 56-year-old Connie Koontz was found dead in her home. Three days later, the body of 74-year-old Sophia Renken was discovered in her home about a mile (1.6 kilometers) from where Koontz lived, authorities said.

On Jan. 16, the bodies of 81-year-old Gerald David and his 80-year-old wife, Sharon, were found in their home on the southern edge of Reno.

The two were remembered as "jovial" by Tom Cates, a longtime friend who knew the Davids through Reno's rodeo and equestrian scene.

Cates said Gerald David used his time as the Reno Rodeo Association president in 2006 to promote a breast cancer awareness campaign by getting the group's cowboys to show they were "tough enough to wear pink shirts."

"You walk into a room and his presence will just command attention. He was a true leader," Cates said.

Sharon David was "exuberant" and "bubbly" and "loved animals to the hills," he said. She was a former director of the rodeo.

Renken belonged to an antique automobile club and was known as the friendly driver of a Ford Model A who was always volunteering to help.

Robin Reedy, who was also in the Carson-Tahoe Region of the Antique Automobile Club of America, said she was surprised to learn Renken's age.

"I would never have known she was 74 by the way she acted," she said.

Koontz, who worked at a Walmart and as a manicurist at a local salon, was remembered by co-workers Tuesday as a positive woman who loved wearing bright colors. Her Walmart colleagues wore memorial buttons with her picture.

She was "the only person I know that could come to work wearing lime green glasses and lime green crocs and rock it," said Teri Bower, who works at the store.

Koontz and her daughter were best friends, Bower said, and the mother had saved up money and surprised her daughter with a trip to Las Vegas for her 21st birthday in December.

Bower said the killings had shaken the quiet community where everyone knows everyone and big news is a pending storm "or a bear running down Main Street."

"This does not happen around here," Bower said. "It's crazy."

End of article.

Now:

2) Be honest about your feelings.

3) Does this add fuel to the fire of the immigration debate?

4) In your estimation, is the 19-year-old guilty?

5) Do you know how he came into the US over a year ago?

6) Based on all the evidence you have seen and heard, as if you are in a jury box, what do you want to do now?

If I could speak with Geoffrey Edelsten

I only know of two women, Brynne Gordon and Gabi Grecko. My guess is that in your 75 years you have had more than these two. Of course, there was that four-year marriage to your first wife, Leanne Nesbitt. But the recent two are the most public in the last few years here in Australia. And although I'm an American living here in Oz the last 20 years, I've never had the occasion to run in your circles, nor you in mine. 

But I've heard about you and your medical career. I've heard about these two women, each approximately 40 years younger than you, and each very beautiful and buxom and American. Each has had a very public career and public persona that the media love. Again, I don't know either of these two, and wish them only the best.

And I only wish you only the best as well.  You got back together with Gabi in November, the news here reported. That's got to be a joy for you. Listen, your activities since the 1980s are well known. You introduced 24-hour-a-day, medical bulk-billing super clinics complete with grand pianos in waiting rooms. Then in 1985 used some of your capital to buy the Sydney Swans AFL team. By the way, they are my team since I moved here from the US in 1998.

One might describe your career since then as being colorful. You were struck off the medical roll in NSW in 1988, and deregistered in Victoria four years later. In 1990, a Supreme Court jury found you guilty of soliciting hitman Christopher Dale Flannery to assault a former patient of one of your clinics.

You were also convicted of perverting justice by issuing hitman Flannery with a medical certificate that enabled him to postpone a murder trial, thus avoiding a particular judge. You then spent a year in jail, an experience you have described as "life-changing and shattering." I understand that and was in jail only about 2 days in Florida in 1971.

Back in 2010, when Brynne was on your arm, you had 40+ televisions in your apartment and 20 luxury cars in your garage. But life is more than possessions, and you have an impressive string of genuine credentials from reputable Australian institutions. Besides your original medical degree from Melbourne University, there is the bachelor of laws degree from New England University and master's degrees in law, health science, family medicine and sports medicine.

Much else about you might be open to question but your intelligence has never been in doubt. And as you are quoted as saying, "Jewish families think education is extremely important."

Your yichus includes Jewish families on both sides who came to Melbourne from Eastern Europe. All four of my grandparents were also Jewish, and two came from Eastern Europe. Your mum Esther was a Polish baker's daughter. My grandparents moved to the middle of the US into Kansas City, and my zayde was a baker from Ukraine originally.

You have experienced a lot of life, with plenty of friends and enemies, with jailers and wannabes. You have gone through heaps of cash and times of having very little. So, if we had 15 minutes together, what would we talk about? What would I want to tell you?

1) I'd want you to know that God Himself seriously loves you, and no matter what you did or didn't do with the hitman or with your previous wives or others in the clinics... no matter what... He loves you. And He knows all about what you did and who you are. Nothing is hidden from His view. And even so, and no matter how far you might think you can run from Him, or hide in another apartment with tighter security... He will find you and He will share His love with you.

2) I'd want you to know that your Jewish family is God's design as well. He made you a Jew and as such you should know our Book, that is, the Tenach, with its awesome history and intentional plans for us Jewish people. We make plans, but the Great Designer is never far from us, watching over us and helping us to make a good path in this dark world. We are not only chosen; we are also obligated.

3) I'd want you to know that riches bring a lot of 'friends' (Proverbs 19.4), but they may not last very long. And neither might the riches. Solomon was the richest and wisest man in his day (although some may argue about his wisdom in having 1,000 women at his beck and call) and when he pondered what he really wanted out of life, he wrote this:

Give me neither poverty nor riches; Feed me with the food that is my portion, that I not be full and deny You and say, “Who is the LORD?” or that I not be in want and steal, and profane the name of my God. (Proverbs 30.8-9)

4) I'd want you to know that Yeshua, the Jewish messiah, foretold in the Scriptures, is alive and well. And that there is a community of Yeshua-loving Jewish people in Melbourne and here in Sydney, who would welcome you as a brother. You don't have to arrive in a luxury car; you are welcome to come on the bus. Yes, you will probably be recognized, but not to be among us as a celebrity, only as a brother. And mate. And at the end of the day, isn't that what we all are craving? Being loved for who we are, not for what we bring? Of course, Gabi could come as well, no worries, but it's not a show; it's a family, a community, a place for you (both) to walk in love as Yeshua loved, and gave Himself as a sacrifice for us all. 

Those are some of the things I'd want to share with you, Geoff. If this doesn't ever happen, then maybe right where you are today on Australia Day, and with whomever you are, you might look up to heaven and pray, ask the Almighty for His direction in your life. Not a bad idea on any day, you know? All the best.

Disappointment

I imagine we all have suffered this sometimes-crippling emotion. We anticipate something or long for it, or dream of it, put our time and energy into investing to make it happen, and for whatever reasons, it just doesn't happen. Johnny was supposed to call Sylvia back and he didn't do so. The boss told me he was going to give me a raise, and that never eventuated. Millicent promised her neighbor Maurice she would watch his plants and water and care for them while he was away on holiday, and she forgot. Several of the plants died. As a result, Sylvia, and I and Maurice all experienced disappointment. 

Psychology Today said in 2012 after love and regret it's the 3rd most commonly experienced emotion. According to the old adage, “disappointment is expectation divided by reality.” I visited the PT website to find some significant advice and some well-worn chronology to the emotion and consequences of disappointment. And I was not disappointed.  The trail is wide and the content well worth the read. It's endless, as well, which could be wearying for the casual wanderer into such a journey. Start here. Especially read this one by blogger Melanie Greenberg. 

For instance, Jim Taylor (teaches at USF, Ph.D.) writes "Disappointment is a normal, though difficult, part of growing up. Your children will inevitably experience disappointment in school, sports, the arts, and in their social lives. How your children learn to respond to disappointment will determine its impact on their future achievement and happiness." 

I really liked that comment. Watching my own kids fail at times, or remembering when I failed as a child, and now as an adult, when I fail again, what I do with that failure and the commensurate emotion of disappointment will impact what happens next and certainly how I feel about what happens next.

Both Beverly Flaxington and DW Rainey (Rainey, D. W., Larsen, J., & Yost, J. H. (2009). Disappointment theory and disappointment among baseball fans. Journal of Sport Behavior, 32(3), ) comment on longevity of disappoinments helping people to handle them. They both use sports imagery. And indicate that a losing team, which always loses, doesn't disappoint long-time fans. Why? The fans are used to losing. Obviously then their expectations are lowered, and when they lose the Big Game, a shrug of the shoulders is common rather than tearing one's hair out. 

What prompted my thinking about this topic today? Perhaps it's the loss of the Kansas University Jayhawks to the West Virginia Mountaineers. After all WVU had started the conference season at 0 and 5, meaning their fans were getting used to losing, having lost all five of their matches against Big 12 opponents. And perhaps because Kansas is a perennial winner of the conference championships, and I'm an alumnus of this hallowed basketball icon. 

Losses happen; no team ever finshes the season without a loss. But my expectations were so high on today's game, with a Hall of Fame coach in Bill Self, and some pretty good players on the court, well, it just seemed a good time to win another road game. But I felt disappointed when the Jayhawks lost. 

What else prompted my thinking about this topic today? I'm worried about the Kansas City Chiefs dropping teh ball like the Jayhawks did. It is their first time in the Conference championship game (vs the New England Patriots) in deccades. Expectations are high; worries join them. Will the Chiefs perform well in the cold and snow? Will the offense catch those passes from phenom Patrick Mahomes? Will the defnese show up like they did last week against the Indianapolis Colts? Time and ESPN here in Sydney will tell. 

What else? I suppose my own personal commitments to serve people and particularly to love my wife and children are often met with disappointments. I let them down. I plan to take out the rubbish, or to bring in the laundry, or help put away the dishes, but sometimes I forget, or the phone rings and I drop the ball.

The words of the Prayer Book (Anglican) remind me, "we have gone our own way, not loving you as we ought, nor loving our neighbors as ourselves. We have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed and in what we have failed to do." Weekly to pray this might most make anyone feel disappointed, but if you know yourself and your own sinful tendency, this regular confession of sin is actually a disappointment-preventative. I know myself. I know I will not perform perfectly. I know I will disappoint others. I know God knows who I am and He appreciates my confessing my sins, and my failures and I can again hear clear words of pardon and hope in what comes next.

Perhaps the studies of Flaxington and Rainey should help me understand myself. Not to excuse me, nor to cause me to stop trying to be better, but to forgive my failures that much quicker. And to forgive the Jayhawks or the Kansas City Royals or whoever. 

PT's advice is 6 strategies when you are disappointed:

"1. Revise expectations: Try a bit of “retroactive pessimism.” Social psychologists have identified what they call a “hindsight bias” in which you can limit their disappointment by revising the high expectations you once had for winning. Tell yourself you didn’t really expect to win, and as time goes by, the new memory will replace the painful, original memory.

2. Increase your disappointment tolerance. There’s no reason that people low in disappointment tolerance have to remain that way forever. Don’t let disappointment breed pessimism because if you do, you’re likely to set yourself up for even more disappointment in the future.

3. Don’t let disappointment skew economic decisions. When feeling disappointed, a person is more likely to sell at a loss. If your favorite sports team lost the championship, don’t rush to dump your treasure chest full of memorabilia onto eBay.

4. Assess a person’s role in personal disappointments. People can control many of the outcomes in their personal lives. If someone’s expectations in love and work chronically fail to materialize, make an honest appraisal of what needs to be changed.

5. Control identification with a losing cause. The sports fans who feel the most let down are the ones who identify most strongly with their teams. There’s nothing wrong with being loyal, but if it impairs a person’s daily happiness, he or she needs to find other ways to boost their spirits.

6. Use humor to boost the disappointment emotion. Loyal sports fans who retain their loyalty despite years of disappointing outcomes almost seem to relish their identification with the underdog. Perhaps by joining the ranks of fellow sufferers, a person can find solace in self-deprecating humor. Laughter is truly one of the best coping strategies for dealing with disappointments, and offsets the consequences of faulty pessimism-based decisions."

Consider this from the Gospel of John, "But Jesus, on His part, was not entrusting Himself to them, for He knew all men, and because He did not need anyone to testify concerning man, for He Himself knew what was in man." (2.24-25)

I suppose this was a preventative Yeshua used in relation to humanity. After all, in just a couple more years He would be dobbed in to the governmental leaders and crucified for crimes He didn't commit. Was He disappointed? Nope; He knew both His mission and humanity's natural responses.

My hope for you in 2019, set goals, sure. Set standards of behavior and love and morality and activities. And set up a way to forgive yourself if you don't reach or maintain those standards. Hurdles on a cinder track make for a great addition to a race, and falling on those hurdles slows a runner down, sometimes to the point of loss. And losses can be disappointing, .So, put into your life hands that lift you up after you hit the hurdles. Yeshua is the most obvious choice. His forgiveness is eternal and life-changing. And He won't disappoint!

Romans 5:5. "hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

A call to live wholeheartedly before God (a study on Malachi chapter 2)

Given at St Swithun’s Anglican Church

Pymble (Sydney) NSW

Sunday 13 January 2019

Introduction

Shalom! Thank you to Peter Robinson, chairman of Jews for Jesus Australia, who is taking the communion part of the service, to Brian, with whom I had a good meet up on Thursday, and to Roger, your lead pastor, who trusted me enough to take the sermon part of the service, and then went on holiday. We’ve had a great relationship over the years, and I really value our friendship in Messiah. 

Thanks to each of you here in the nave as you have gathered to hear again from God’s Word, the Bible. Last week, you began a series on the Jewish prophet Malachi, as Roger spoke about God’s love and a call for each of us to respond to live in God’s love. This week, my assigned text is chapter 2, and the assigned topic is a call to live wholeheartedly before God. This is a great chapter in the Bible; full of pointed clarification, full of directed admonition. Not so great a chapter if you are living wrong, because the Lord makes clear His views on sin. 

Malachi’s call to us (And Moses too)

Let’s jump right into it, shall we? The second verse sets the pace for us. 

אִם־לֹ֣א תִשְׁמְע֡וּ וְאִם־לֹא֩ תָשִׂ֨ימוּ עַל־לֵ֜ב

The two verbs are look-alikes, and almost sound-alikes. Tishma’u and Tasimu. In English they are to hear and to place, that is, nothing alike, but their concepts set the tone for the chapter. “If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honour to My name.” The first verse sends the warning, but it also tells us how to make things right. 

Back in the Torah, in Deuteronomy, the Lord gave Moses the commandments, including the Ten Commandments, but many more, and He instructed us Jewish people to do them, so that our families would fear God and so that we might live well in the land to which we were going, the Promised Land. Not St Ives, but rather the land of Canaan, now called Israel.  God says in chapter 6 of Deuteronomy that we should be careful to listen and to be careful to do the commandments. OK, so the plan is simple. Listen to the plan of God, then execute that plan and it will be a good day for you.

But here’s the problem. Do you have children? Or are you a child? Or were you a child? Then you will know that giving instructions to someone doesn’t always bring to pass the desired results. If you are aware of your own natural tendencies, then you know that you often fail to perform what God, or your boss or your father, your mother or your wife, your government, or your own conscience has told you to make happen. And as a result, the consequences are undesirable. 

But listen again to verse two of our text. “If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honour to My name.” Don’t dismiss the 2^ndverb. “take it to heart” What does that phrase mean? It’s as if the Lord is saying through Malachi that you have to pay attention, remove distractions from you just now, like turn away from your smartphone, your doodle pad on which you are writing, like the television remote control, like the other things about which you are thinking just now… listen… listen now… this is God’s word… Now, grab it, and put it somewhere important. 

If I gave you a cashier’s cheque for $10,000, what would you do next? Would you tuck it into your back pocket next to your iPhone? Would you crumble it into a wad and put it somewhere in your briefcase? I imagine you would fold it carefully and place it in a treasured location. You would actually treasure that cheque. You would touch it a few times before you got to the bank to deposit it. You might open your wallet and put it in the hidden section. You wouldn’t be cavalier with the cheque; you would place it in a location of significance. 

In the same way, God says that we need both to listen to God’s Word and to place it in our hearts. Two actions set the tone of the remedy of failure.  And what is the purpose of these two actions? To honour His name!

Friends here at Swiz, I’m a representative of many things this morning. To some of you I’m a Jew, and there might be some of you who don’t know a Jewish person, so I’m what you have heard about, but never met. Thus, the reputation of the Jewish people is riding on our encounter today. To some of you, I’m an American. Although my wife and kids and I became Aussie citizens 7 years ago. I did grow up and remain a citizen of the USA, and perhaps the reputation of the United States is riding on our contact today as well. I’m a Sydney Swans fan, a North Shore dweller, a representative and ambassador for the sport named Pickleball; I enjoy the Kansas City Chiefs and wish them well today in their playoff game against the Colts… all these are situations or themes for which I could bring the reputation, or the name of the sport, the country, the team into disrepute.  

In the same way, God says, you, Israel, are responsible to listen to my words, put them in your heart, SO THAT you might honour my reputation. Don’t’ defame God, rather you should FAME the Lord your God. Make Him famous. Does that make sense to you?

It’s not only external service: Wholeheartedness

Back in Deuteronomy, in the Tochacha section, the warnings of chapter 28, God says in more detail what will happen to the Jewish people, if they listen (verses 2-14), or if they do not listen (verses 15-68). They are labeled blessings or curses. Simple I know, but real.  In the description of the failure/ curses section listen to this explanation from God in verse 47

“Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joy and a glad heart, for the abundance of all things”

The root cause of the failure and thus the commensurate curse is right here in Deuteronomy 28:47. Even our service to God, at church, or in the land of Israel, in Sydney or Melbourne, wherever we travel or live… if we serve but not with joy and a full, whole, good heart, because God has given us all things… then curses will come. That’s just what Malachi says. We must listen; we put God’s Word in a special place in our heart, and we honour Him. We successfully keep God’s reputation high and strong. That’s how this is supposed to work. 

Treachery and curses

But as you heard in the reading of the Bible (for those online, the full text is at the bottom of this sermon’s manuscript), Malachi says that even the priestly blessings will be turned to curses. I believe it hearkens back to Moses and his command to serve God with gladness and joy and a glad, good, and full heart for the abundance of all things. So, in our text today, the priests, the leaders of the Jewish community are failing in their service. They are ruining the reputation of God. And they are dealing treacherously. 

By the way, our text says in verse 3, “I am going to rebuke your offspring, and I will spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it.” During an offering (not like we bring here in a gilded platter, but a sacrifice of an animal brought to the Tabernacle in the wilderness often the animal’s insides and feces would come out. Malachi is saying that what you, Levitical priests are trying to accomplish, by bringing offerings, which should draw you closer to God is actually going to prevent your being in God’s presence at all. With refuse on your faces, you will be sent outside the camp for cleansing for a time until you are cleansed again. 

The word ‘treacherously’ is used in the Tenach (The Scriptures) 24 times, and most of them in the section of the Prophets. And 5 of those times used by Malachi alone and all in this chapter. (verses 10, .11, .14, 15, 16) He’s harping on something here and neither he, nor the Almighty, nor I want you to miss it. Treachery is deception. The word comes from the Hebrew word for clothing. BEGED.  And it implies a vesture, to cover (with a garment); figuratively, to act covertly; by implication, to pillage, a wardrobe, a coverup. Much like Eve and Adam in the Garden of Eden who covered themselves with fig leaves as a substitute for the garments of praise and the robe of righteousness that God had made for them. 

Treachery or the coverup is disdainful. The ABC reported last year about the Royal Commission, and the AMP and the Commonwealth Bank and their siphoning millions and reporting only a bit of their income. The ABC headline read, “AMP scandal shows the cover-up is often worse than the crime”

Malachi is saying that the priests are very good at coverup, at living one way in public and another way at home. Their lives do not match their profession. They are ‘two clothed;’ they are two-faced. They are liars and bring God’s name into dishonour. And as Roger said last week, the normal view of the church by most media-inspired secularists in today’s Sydney is one of dishonour. Most non-Christians think that the church is full of hypocrites and paedophilic priests who ruin children’s lives, well into their adulthood. And we cannot dismiss those in the media who allege and often prove these allegations. Malachi’s words should pierce us; they should alarm us; they should warn us. We should demand changes. We should change as well. Personally. Individually. And then corporately.

Words Malachi used like profane the covenant, detestable, and desecration. Ouch.

Spoiler alert: Another One is coming

I don’t want to give away the ending of the prophecy, ok, spoiler alert, I will give away the ending, especially helpful to those of you who are only here this morning or reading this as a blog on our website without the benefit of the next two weeks’ worth of sermons here at St Swithun's. 

The ending is really the anticipation of another priest, one who will point the way for the Jewish people. Not a priest who might fail, but rather one who will be “the sun of righteousness who will rise with healing in his wings.” (4.2) The “Lord will suddenly come to His Temple” as Handel recorded and composed into his oratorio “Messiah.” (3.2) God will send another and to that One we will look. If you are local, stay tuned, the next two weeks’ sermons will be fantastic. 

Why is Malachi at the end of the Older Testament?

I just told you I like the US gridiron team the Kansas City Chiefs. Let me tell you something about Malachi and about US football. I borrow this imagery from my friend Amy-Jill Levine of Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. She’s a Jewish academic who doesn’t share my faith in Jesus, but who understands much about this Bible of ours. You might know that in the Jewish Bible, there is no Newer Testament. The book begins with Genesis and ends with 2^ndChronicles. The 39 books of the Older Testament are all included but in a different order. Your Older Testament ends with Malachi and the Jewish rendering ends with 2^ndChronicles. 

Why?

Listen to the last line of 2^ndChronicles. Chapter 36. “Thus, says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all His people, may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up!’” (verse 23)

Amy-Jill points out that the ending of the Jewish Older Testament, which we title “The Scriptures” of course, is a return to Jerusalem.  What does that have to do with gridiron?

Let me explain. 

There are two major American sports for Amy-Jill. Of course, there are many others, but she describes these verses and the layout in terms of baseball and football. In baseball, a man hits a ball and he runs around the bases returning to home plate. In football, a team receives the ball on one end of the field and runs to the opposite end to complete the touchdown. 

Watch Nunez run all the bases here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fABOq_ngNDk

Watch Henry run for a touchdown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blbeW0Y08vY

Amy-Jill Levine says that the Jewish rendering of the Scriptures is more like baseball, and the Christian version is more like football. I like this imagery, not only because I like both sports, but because I see her point. For the Jewish people, we start with God in the Garden, and imagine Adam and Eve are in Jerusalem, certainly by the time of Abraham, there is a motion towards the Land of Israel, and then we go home at the end of the book. God wants us Home. 

For the Christian, she says, we start at one end of the world, and fall, thus having to clamber back to God and it takes someone else to help us get there. For the Christian Malachi is the end of the Scriptures because he points us to John the Baptist, and Matthew in the Gospels is first since He starts with John the Baptist who points us to Jesus who gets us to heaven. Baseball for Jews; Football for Christians. And Malachi’s placement is a key role player in that sports motif. Isn’t that a good one?

Yeshua is the Messiah

What am I saying by this? That Yeshua, the Messiah, the One who will be coming in 400 years after Malachi, the Sun of Righteousness with healing in His wings, the One who will suddenly come to His Temple, is good news. Why? He will bring us to the goal, to heaven. He will actually fulfill both sports images, because He will bring us to Him Home, to share with Him forever. Heaven is where Yeshua began, and He will bring us to be with Him, Home Plate if you will, which is the goal of our lives. 

How does He do that? By forgiving us our sins, treacherous sins, covenant-breaking sins, the sins Malachi lists and the ones he doesn’t even begin to mention. He mentions marrying outside our religion; he mentions divorce. He catalogs the sins of the priests, calling them profanity and abomination. Turning aside from God’s word and causing others to follow in their footsteps. It’s one thing to sin; it’s quite another to lead others to sin. Shame and degradation are abundant in the Jewish community. And we long for and desperately need God’s forgiveness. 

How do we receive forgiveness? By the One who is coming. Yeshua, our Messiah, will come and that is good news. For us in 21^stCentury Sydney, He came not only to be born as the Christmas carols remind us away in a manger on that o, holy night, and the wise magi from the east found Him as we noted in Epiphany last week. He came to heal and to teach and to predict His own endings, but those endings are really beginnings. He died on a Roman cross, painfully aware of our sins which He took onto Himself. He was buried in a cave in Jerusalem and on the 3^rdday, the Day of First Fruits (Leviticus 23:10-17, 1 Cor. 15.23), Jesus rose from the dead. We are saved by faith in the blood He shed in Jerusalem on the cross. We are saved by faith in His resurrection life. And He will bring us together with all the saints in glory, and His Kingdom will have no end. 

Malachi saw it all. The sin of the people. The sins of the priests. The treachery of deceit and the dismissal of the covenant relationship we are to have with the Almighty. And the One who would come to set it all straight again. 

Do you see it? Do you understand your condition? You are lost without the Lord’s saving. You have no hope, and your cover-ups are well known to Him. Receive Jesus as Lord of your life just now. Repent of your sins. Give your life to Yeshua and join us. Online, you can contact me at bob@jewsforjesus.org.auand for those listening online or here in the congregation, please ask someone near you or one of the singers or ushers, and we will help you in this journey. It’s both baseball and football. You will get to the goal. That’s His promise to you. Malachi saw it. Do you see it?

---For a different style of studying this chapter, a verse-by-verse study of Malachi 2:1-16 by Bob Mendelsohn given in Sydney some years ago, please click here: http://www.jewsforjesus.org.au/sermons/Malachi2.mp3 That teaching includes what the phrase ‘covenant with Levi’ means and more about the hating of divorce.

The full text of Malachi chapter 2 follows

Mal. 2:1“And now this commandment is for you, O priests. ²“If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to give honor to My name,” says the LORD of hosts, “then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings; and indeed, I have cursed them already, because you are not taking it to heart.³“Behold, I am going to rebuke your offspring, and I will spread refuse on your faces, the refuse of your feasts; and you will be taken away with it. ⁴“Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, that My covenant may continue with Levi,” says the LORD of hosts. ⁵“My covenant with him was one of life and peace, and I gave them to him as an object of reverence; so, he revered Me and stood in awe of My name. ⁶“ True instruction was in his mouth and unrighteousness was not found on his lips; he walked with Me in peace and uprightness, and he turned many back from iniquity. ⁷“ For the lips of a priest should preserve knowledge, and men should seek instruction from his mouth; for he is the messenger of the LORD of hosts. ⁸“ But as for you, you have turned aside from the way; you have caused many to stumble by the instruction; you have corrupted the covenant of Levi,” says the LORD of hosts. ⁹“So I also have made you despised and abased before all the people, just as you are not keeping My ways but are showing partiality in the instruction.

Mal. 2:10  “Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers? ¹¹“Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the LORD which He loves and has married the daughter of a foreign god. ¹²“As for the man who does this, may the LORD cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who awakes and answers, or who presents an offering to the LORD of hosts.

Mal. 2:13  “This is another thing you do: you cover the altar of the LORD with tears, with weeping, and with groaning, because He no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. ¹⁴“Yet you say, ‘For what reason?’ Because the LORD has been a witness between you and the wife of your youth, against whom you have dealt treacherously, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. ¹⁵“But no one has done so who has a remnant of the Spirit. And what did that one do while he was seeking a godly offspring? Take heed then to your spirit and let no one deal treacherously against the wife of your youth. ¹⁶“For I hate divorce,” says the LORD, the God of Israel, “and him who covers his garment with wrong,” says the LORD of hosts. “So, take heed to your spirit, that you do not deal treacherously.”

Mal. 2:17  You have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet you say, “How have we wearied him?” In that you say, “Everyone who does evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and He delights in them,” or, “Where is the God of justice?”

Taking stock... ah, January

It's that time of year for keeping the shop open while we count everything, every book, every mezuzah, every prayer shawl, every candle... so that we can adjust our records to what is accurate and we can order what we need to re-stock. And all across the country, there are stock-take sales; I guess folks would rather sell items for a discount, than count those same items. And that makes sense to me in a way. It's all about saving time. 

We have 800 products in our little shop and they are diminished as a result of the end-of-year sales, and people who bought goods to give for Hanukkah or Christmas, or just to restock their anointing oils or CD collection. 

Stock. Goods. Inventory. I like taking stock. Not only here at the bookshop but also in life.  Lately, I've been making lists, all kinds of lists: gratitude lists, to-do lists, wish lists... you know, the kind of stuff that New Year's Resolutions are made of. But those aren't quite enough. I'm taking stock of my person. I'm evaluating what makes me to be me. My lists include what bothers me, and who bothers me. It includes what I could have done to prevent that bother. This inventory demands thoroughness; it demands honesty. That is much the same as stocktaking in the shop.

You see, the records have to be accurate. Accurate records allow us to know what we have on the shelves and what we don't have. It allows us to order more goods to re-stock the shelves and supply what is needed for our future customers. In the same way, unless I honestly evaluate what's going on in my mind, in my heart, in my spirit-- I'll never have the needed supply for others, for my family, for my neighbors, for the rest of my sphere of influence.

To be accurate, I have to take my time. I have to take honest stock. This is not a rush job. When that person offended me or disappointed me, what was the cause of that offense or resentment?  And then how did that affect me?  This is a process. And it takes more time. So I'm not in a hurry, but I want to get through this process. Maybe the most important section of this inventory is the item "Where was I wrong?" More and more I'm coming to understand that most of the time my errors in judgment and in life have to do with my thinking I deserve stuff; I deserve kindness; I deserve love; I deserve. 

Of course, deservedness or entitlement won't help anyone in this listing of mine. It certainly won't help me. But knowing what my list defines will help me to amend things. I can change. I can take stock, not to preserve stock, but to amend my thinking, amend my (lack of) cares, and make 2019 a new year. 

Some items don't need to be restocked. You know, things you used to carry in the shop that have gone past their use-by or interest dates. In the same way, there are things you want to remove from your life. Stocktaking is the way to oversee your own personal inventory. I'm working on this removing of wrong inventory just now. Maybe you are also.

But wait, the term I want to get to is the one called "goods." Wiki tells me "In economics, goods are materials that satisfy human wants and provide utility, for example, to a consumer making a purchase of a satisfying product. ... A good may be a consumable item that is useful to people but scarce in relation to its demand so that human effort is required to obtain it." Think of shopping for goods at the grocery store. All the products for which you have to pay are 'goods.'

I like that. Goods sounds like a good word. When I take stock of my life, I should not only find the items to change, but also the stock that I want to keep. I need to find the goods. That is, the good stuff. The things that God has already been working on, and amending. The things that I can be dignified about. The things that make God smile. And my wife to smile. And my kids and grandsons. Those are goods. And that should also be inventoried.

God is the Creator and He continues to invest Himself in our lives and in the life of the planet. He takes stock. In the book of the Revelation, Yeshua says, ""I am he who searches mind and heart, and I will give to each of you as your works deserve." (2.23)

The Lord invites us through King David to take stock in Psalm 139, "Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; And see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the everlasting way." (verses 23-24)

I invite you to join me in this searching and honest inventory. 

I invite you to join the Lord in searching you out, and in your searching Him out. 

Oh, and come by our Bondi Junction bookshop, and we'll see if there's any chance of a discount. But only before we count the stocked items. 

Have a great 2019!