By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
March 31, 2024
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Isaiah 25:6–9 (ESV)
6 On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined. 7 And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all peoples, the veil that is spread over all nations. 8 He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. 9 It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
He is Risen!
For two thousand years we have celebrated this day. We sing for joy. We shout with excitement. We rejoice. We celebrate this day!
Today is the day that all creation reaches toward. It is the day the stars, the moon, and the sun yearn to participate in. We yearn for this day above all days because it is on this day that hope is restored. Redemption is secured, and life is renewed. We celebrate this day, but do we live as if the events that occurred on this day are reality?
For centuries, the peoples of the world have longed for this day. Every language, every tribe, every nation on the face of the earth sought for this day above all other days, even though they may not understand the reality.
From the dispersion of the nations at Babel, the Most High God had enacted a plan. From the Days of Noah, Yahweh had a desire to redeem the people of this world. From the fall in Eden when humanity joined the spiritual rebellion, God had restoration in play.
In Eden, God spoke to our first parents. We often look at the results of fall as the curse God placed on humanity. The curse was that by the sweat of our brow we would work the earth that would yield thorns and thistles. The curse was that in labor we would bear and raise children. And at the end of our lives, we would return to the dust of which we were created. Because we are but dust. Humanity is of the earth, but we are more.
God looked at the world he created, he gazed upon the sun and the moon. The oceans and the land. The majestic trees and the rolling prairies, and he announced that this is good. But there was more he looked around at those beings surrounding him as the earth sprouted to life and he said, “Let us make man in our image.” Let us create for this beautiful paradise a being to be our representative, our ambassador, connecting the physical with the spiritual.
We fell. We rebelled. We turned our back on our creator and the image we bore.
Our ancestors sought knowledge of good and evil on their own terms. And this shaded our sight.
God in his growing concern over humanity chose to preserve creation through one family, Noah. The entire world turned from God and sought knowledge that was not intended for them at that time. They gained this knowledge through deeper rebellion; they made pacts with the beings of darkness. And these beings brought deeper darkness into the world. They brought greed, jealousy, fear, and violence. It is not that we were not capable without them, but we wanted greater power over those that could come against us. The growing disillusion between us threatened creation, and we became our greatest enemy. So, God chose to initiate a system reboot, by sending a flood.
God started over with Noah, but eventually collective humanity once again desired to rise. We wanted to be equal to God instead of mere bearers of His Image. God provided an answer to our heart’s desire. Our desire was to be our own god. He divided the nations and confused our languages. We scattered though the whole earth, creating cultures and societies. But when our nations met, we were driven by fear and hatred. Just as in the days of Noah we began striving to create tools to give us the upper hand. We were trapped in an endless cycle of violence and death.
Scripture tells us that the nations of the world were divided among the sons of God, but The Most High God chose one nation from among them to be his inheritance. Through this one people, he would initiate redemption and reverse the corruption and failures of our most ancient of parents.
God did not choose the greatest nation. He did not choose the one with the most resources, or the strongest army. God chose one man who at the time did not even have an heir. It is through Abraham that God would conduct his redemptive work. To this one-man God promised to make a great nation. Through this one-man God would shine light into the darkness and draw all the nations back to himself.
This is God’s plan, but the shades of disillusion veil our sight. We became incapable of seeing the one beside us as being a fellow bearer of God’s image. Instead, we see race, nationality, gender. We see the things that divide instead of the beauty of Eden’s Garden.
This disillusion becomes more skewed, and our fears grow. Eventually even the people who called by God’s name began to act in the manner of the kingdoms of men. They too desired wealth, power, and security. They, like each of us, sought what was best for themselves. Generation after generation we drifted away from the God that continuously called to us. We allowed the darkness to envelop us, and death took control.
These are the warnings that Isaiah gave to that generation of Israel before their exile. He showed them how they had fallen away. How they had become the very thing they opposed. They wanted to follow God, to be the light to the nations, but they, in their righteousness, and their greed began to snuff out the glowing embers of light God called them to feed.
What is the result of our rebellion? We often sit and wonder why God would allow evil, why God would allow dreadful things to happen to people. The reality is that we have all sinned, we have all missed the mark, we all fail. We live within cultures that perpetuate ideas that harbor greater divisions and jealousy. We ask why does God allow terrible things to happen? The answer is right here in this very room.
We allow it. We allow it through our own understandings of good and evil. We allow it because we often look at our good at the expense of the good for others. We can become the evil that haunts others’ lives. We can become the instruments promoting injustice for others. We can even, in our righteousness, be blind to our own apathy and desires.
Isaiah knew this. Isaiah saw this, experienced it. Isaiah watched as these things occurred in the royal courts. And he knew where it would lead because we all are caught in these cycles. Cycles of wealth and greed. Cycles of power and violence. He spoke out against what he saw. He told the people that that life and lifestyle will lead to destruction, but his own people failed to listen.
Yet even when we reject the wisdom and leading of God. God remains. He continues to work things together for those who love him and participate in his kingdom work. He works, even when he is seemingly nowhere to be seen.
God is working, and Isaiah reminds us that God will complete his work.
“On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, Of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.”
Last evening, our family celebrated this day. We celebrated by eating our signature Kansas City Barbecue. We had ribs, burnt ends, beans, cheesy corn, the works. This is what I imagine Isaiah is speaking of. The English Standard Version translates it as rich food, but more accurately it would fatty food. This is not speaking about chocolate cake, even though I would take a slice of that too. This is speaking of USDA Prime cuts of meat. Well marbled and cooked to perfection. It also speaks of marrow. Marrow in ancient times was considered a delicacy. It was rich in nutrients and abundant in flavor. Today we do not enjoy this as much, but we can go to the store and purchase bone broth. The marrow provided favorable seasonings. This feast, this banquet holds nothing back.
Then there is the wine. We as Friends are not as fluent as some regarding wine. In the ancient mid-East wine was part of every meal. But this wine is not normal everyday wine, this is well-aged well refined wine. This is the wine that saved for the best of days. This banquet on the mountain is that type of day. One to remember.
“On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples.” Lord of hosts is an interesting phrase and one we may not fully explore. The term host usually refers to a large assembly of troops gathered and ready for battle. But there is another way to look at this phrase. Hosts can also refer to celestial bodies like the sun, the moon, and the stars. Today we see the stars as gigantic masses of incandescent gas and the moon we know as being a sphere of rock and dust that reflects the rays of the sun. In ancient days, these heavenly hosts were seen as spiritual entities. The lord of hosts is the Most High God over heaven and earth. And when the nations were divided among the sons of God, God did not relinquish ownership of the peoples of the earth. He limited himself to one nation. Waiting for the moment where he could once again gather all the peoples of the earth to him.
On this day, this very day we celebrate that gathering. He swallowed up the mountain. He destroyed the covering that had been cast over all peoples. He ripped the veil that shaded the truth from our sight. When our first parents first rebelled against God, we were separated from life. God is the source of all life; he is the one that sang the world into existence. Separation entered the world, and the tune of creation became faint, muffled as our ears and eyes were veiled. This separation from the life giver is death.
“He will swallow up death forever.” The use of death here, is not how we often regard death. Death is the absence of life; it is separation from life. But here we are not speaking of death in an abstract concept. Here Isaiah is speaking of death not as an event at the end of life instead he speaks of Death as a personality. In most Old Testament poetry, Death, or Mot, is personified. Mot is present in the religious pantheon of Ur though not worshiped as a deity. Mot was regarded as the enemy of the gods. In Ur, the Most High God is El, which is the name Abraham knew as God because it was from Ur God had called him. And Ba’al was the son of El. Ba’al was the one that brought life and fertility. Mot brought sterility. Ba’al provided the rain for abundant crops. Mot brought heat and drought. Every good thing that Ba’al brought, Mot provided the opposite. Mot was the consumer of gods and men. His tools were bereavement and widowhood, and his children were disease, disillusionment, and famine.
I know we get a bit queasy when we speak of Ba’al in a seemingly positive light. But these stories were the ones that Abraham grew up hearing it was often through these lenses that our patriarchs of faith viewed the world. Yes, they believed in the Most High God, but other spiritual entities were also present. These are part of the veil that covers us. In the mind of Isaiah, death was not the end of life, death is a person.
For many years this was one of the areas of faith that caused me to struggle. We sing songs of faith that claim that death no longer has power over us, and yet death has always been and remains part of life. We say that Jesus has conquered death, and yes, he rose from the tomb in the fulfillment of his glory. But many people of faith, inspiring people, saintly people die.
But when we look at death in a personified form things take a turn. The Christian view is that the wage of sin is death. Death is everything and anything that separates us from the giver of life. Death is a person. Death is an entity. Death is the diseases that cause us to question our faith. Death is the fear that causes disillusion, and the famine that caused by wars and disasters.
I contemplated this concept the past few days. I looked at the idea of death not as the nature end to life, but as the outcome of our actions. We bring about death, we cause much of the suffering those within the world experience. We, not necessarily us directly, but we as peoples of the world. It is the nations of the world that start and perpetuate war. It is we as the peoples of the world that grow food and lock it away in silos while people throughout the world hunger. We as collective humanity in our pursuit to do good by one group, cause harm to another. We may not see it or understand our place within that cycle but that is because a veil is spread over us. Muting the cries and skewing our vision.
“The Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth.”
As I contemplate the death that I have participated in, I then sat with these statements. The Lord will wipe away the tears. The lord will provide comfort to those that have suffered under the scepter of bereavement and widowhood. The lord will remove the indignity and dishonor so many have experienced through the various actions of the kingdoms of men. The lord will reverse the influence passed down to us from spirits of rebellion and death. God himself will swallow all that separates us from life and will renew a right spirit in us. He will split the veil, so we can see each other once again. He will open our ears, so we can once again sing along with the songs of creation.
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”
The kingdoms of men want us to live in fear. The spirits of this world, the spirits of rebellion and death want us to stay engulfed and trapped within the shadow’s veil. They want us to think that there is not enough. They want us to believe the lie that some peoples are different than others. They want us divided and bound in the grip of death. We see it in the news. We hear about it in every commercial break. Our bookshelves are filled with publications, both sacred and secular, that ooze fear and disillusionment.
It makes me wonder what it is we believe.
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.’
From the initial rebellion in the garden, God has been at work among his people. He provided for his creation through the troubles that caused the flood. He chose one nation in all the earth to become a beacon of light to the all the peoples. The Torah speaks of this hope. The prophets sing of his redemption. And in the fullness of time God came to this earth born of Mary. He lived among a family within a community. He worked with his hands alongside his uncles and cousins. He grew in knowledge of man and of God. He lived with us. He showed us what life with God truly is as he made it his custom to worship with his community. As he withdrew to isolated places to pray. And as he ministered to the needs of those around him. He showed us real life as he lifted the veil and renewed the song of creation in our ears.
The crowds responded and cheered hosannah blessed is the one who comes in name of the Lord. He is with us. But death and his children are will not go quietly. Within a week the cheers and the songs were muted. The veil was lowered once again. The injustice of humanity in their attempts to keep the peace, sentenced an innocent man to die. He suffered with us, for us. He knows our tears. He knows the anxiety, the depression, heartbreak, and betrayal. He knows pain. He knows death.
Death thought it swallowed the life. Death believed that the light was extinguished, entombed, and sealed behind a stone. But we have waited. We have longed. We have hoped.
Behold, this is our God. Death could not hold him, and the sting of death can no longer threaten us. Because God is with us. God is for us. He is Risen and we will rejoice in his salvation. He is risen and we will no longer be prey to fear. He is risen, we will no longer endure dishonor and we will not participate in injustice. Because all the peoples of the earth have access to the banquet of rich and flavorful meats. Our cups are filled with the most refreshing of drinks. The veil has been ripped and tossed to the side. Jesus, Emmanuel, God with us, lives so that we can live with him!
He lives. Do we truly believe? Do we live in that reality or are we dwelling in the shadows of death? I pray that we believe. I pray that we will become a people loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and a people living the love of Christ with others. I pray that we will live in the light of Christ and not disillusioned by the fear the world seeks to bind us in. He lives and so do we.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 10, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 3:13–22 (ESV) 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 03, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
March 17, 2024
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Jeremiah 31:31–34 (ESV)
31 “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, 32 not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the LORD. 33 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Today is the fifth Sunday of Lent. For most of us this does not really mean a great deal. For me, it does not really mean too much, since as Friends we do not put much emphasis on Holy Days and seasons. We do not emphasize these traditional church seasons because of our belief that every moment of every day is holy and sacred in the eyes of God. I believe this. I believe that a Tuesday in June is as important as a Sunday in March. I even believe that any random day of the year holds the same importance as Christmas or Easter.
I believe this in my own life. If that is how I live, many have asked why I even mention the traditional church calendar. There are not any required special observances during this season among Friends. We do not believe that we are required to participate in fasts or penance during this time. But the traditional liturgical calendar gives us something. It allows us to join with all those who claim the name of Christ, to join together as a greater community and remember our shared history and faith.
Lent is a season of forty days, where we remember significant events in our faith’s history. These forty days remind us of the forty years Israel journeyed in the wilderness. These forty days remind us of the period of time Moses spent on the mountain of God, where he received Torah. These forty days remind us of the forty days Jesus spent in the desert undergoing every form of temptation that we as humans face.
This number often occurs in scripture. I just listed several instances, but there are more. We observe periods of forty, and usually they are accompanied by a trial or struggle. This is why I want us to remember lent, even though we may not participate in the wider Lenten traditions. We face struggles personally. We face struggles as a community. Our nation faces struggles, and is facing struggles. What do we do? Where is God?
Jeremiah understood struggle. We frequently forget that the individuals God inspired to write the words we have within scripture, lived. I mean this in a very real sense, not only that they were once alive eons ago, but that they lived. Just like each of us they had relationships. These inspired authors lived through difficult times throughout their history. We forget the humanity of scripture because we focus so much on the authority. Jeremiah knew struggle, personally.
We understand this in a scholarly sense. We call him the weeping prophet. But do we recognize it personally? There was a reason Jeremiah wept. He wept because his nation was apathetic to God. He wept because he could perceive where their current path was taking them. Jeremiah wept because God had given him a message to share, and many did not want to listen. I hope we can identify with Jeremiah to some degree.
Jeremiah watched as the kingdom fell apart. He watched as armies amassed on their boarders. He watched as kings made treaties based on personal interest. He watched as the religious leaders twisted words and lead people away from God. He watched, he wept, and he attempted to speak out.
I believe that we all can understand a bit of Jeremiah’s situation. We each feel an overwhelming responsibility as we near another election. The news constantly conveys various reports of doom if we allow one side or the other to gain power. We listen to reports of battles, attacks. We see celebrities taking a side that we might not agree with. We look out at the current events surrounding us, and we question what might happen.
My entire life, I have been taught that the end is near. Twenty-five years ago I watched my community filling storage containers with nonperishable food items and other items for survival. Our community did this because we were being told that when the calendar moved from 1999 to 2000 all the computers would crash and society along with it. I was taught that in the chaos that would follow this collapse, the events depicted in the Revelation begin. I was terrified.
Looking back now I can see how we were all caught up in an apocalyptic mania, but at the time it was very real. We needed to be prepared. We did not want to be one of the virgins from the parable of Jesus that failed to have oil for their lamp as the bridegroom approached. We should be prepared. We should always be prepared, but we should also be wise.
I saw during that era of history, just how easily we can be distracted by fear. I saw just how easy we can take our eyes off the true goal and refocus our attention on temporal affairs. We, and I mean all of us, can be distracted. In our honest attempts to be righteous and responsible we miss the larger goal.
Are we again approaching an apocalyptic mania driven by fear?
The prophets all struggle with this. They have this divine inspiration that tells them that something dramatic is approaching. An existential crisis that threatens their existence. It would be easy to be driven by fear. I would venture to say it would be prudent to take it serious. And they did. Jeremiah and the other prophets wrote, and spoke out against the coming storm. They did not go quietly toward the dark horizon. They wept, plead, urged and demanded for people to listen. And all to often the people looked at them as we so often do, they were crazy.
Many people during Jeremiah’s days spoke of the coming storm, but their words have not been preserved. Many spoke, but why did the message of Jeremiah remain?
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah…”
Throughout the verses recorded by Jeremiah’s scribe, Baruch, we are given things that cast fear, along with words of hope.
Jeremiah said the days are coming. Days of doom were approaching. Days of suffering, days of sorrow. Judgement will meet the houses of Israel and Judah. But the struggle will not be eternal.
I want us all to understand this. There will be eras of darkness within our existence. This can be something that we experience personally or collectively. And we have all been there at some point in our lives. We might be there right now, or it may come upon us unexpectedly. Our temptation is to hide these experiences. Bury them beneath a joyful facade. We know that the fruit of the spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. This fruit is what we want. It is what we desire people see in us, but it is not always what we feel.
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah…”
We will face trials, we will face struggles. We will come to the end of ourselves. We may even experience a moment where we cannot fathom a way forward. These are emotional responses. And our emotions are important. They are what NT Wright might call a sign post. They can give us direction, but they are not the whole story.
As many of you know, I am not perfect. In the grief I experienced over the loss of my sister, I succumbed to various temptations. I did not realize that I was struggling with the emotions of grief at that time. All I was aware of was that what I felt, what I saw did not match what I thought I was supposed to be feeling. I wanted to turn my back on faith. I wanted to just walk away. I wanted to simply enjoy life. And I pursued that. I went through a period of time when I did not believe. I did not leave the church, but I did not believe. I questioned everything, and that path led me to consequences I did not anticipate. I had a child outside of marriage and the mother did not want to marry me.
My world was falling apart. I was angry at God. I was angry at the universe and everything in it, except for one little child. That child brought everything into focus because I now experienced something I had not yet experienced. I felt parental love. The grief, the anger, the confusion, and the love all swirled around within me and I realized at that moment that there had to be something beyond.
Behold, the days are coming…
Jeremiah spoke of the darkness Israel would face, but he does not stop there. Hope remains even in the darkness. There is something just beyond. God is going to make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
At this point in time generations had lived in the divided kingdom. Israel had cut ties with Jerusalem and had gone their own way. Judah had written the northern tribes off as heretics and apostate because they would not worship their way, or submit to their rule. This division had placed a wedge of separation that no one could perceive overcoming. Yet Jeremiah does not say one or the other will have a new covenant. He does not say God will restore the covenant of David, he says I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. What once divided them, what once caused separation, God would again unite.
A new covenant will be made, not like the covenant that he made with their fathers on the day he took them out of Egypt. We have considered this covenant over the past few weeks. This old covenant that Jeremiah speaks of was the one given at Sinai. The presence of God had rested on the summit of this mountain. And from the cloud that provided shade for their journey all the tribes had heard the ten words, and they proclaimed together that they would live by those words. They would be God’s people and he would be their God. Then after this proclamation was made, Moses was called up to speak with God on that mountain and for forty days, Israel waited.
They waited for forty days. Their leader was nowhere to be seen and they waited. When they could wait no longer, they went to Aaron and demanded that he make them a god to follow because they did not know what had happened to Moses. In forty days they had turned their backs on the promise they had made. Yet God did not give up on them.
For forty years, they wandered through the wilderness. Learning to be a covenant people. For forty years they had to learn to be the people God called them to be. And for those forty years Moses led them, taught them, showed them that life and lifestyle.
Then they entered the land promised to their fathers. They drove out and conquered the people that opposed the most high God living in the land. Only to then be swayed by their ways once they took possession of the land. Very soon, a people zealous in their righteousness became a people who lived only for what they thought was right in their own hearts.
The division began. Slowly they began to turn, and soon the nation was completely divided. They were divided because they entrusted or put their faith on humanity instead of God.
Jeremiah reminds them of what lead them to this place, but he does not leave them in that darkness. He tells them that it may seem hopeless at this moment, but just beyond our current perspective hope remains.
God had given them his wisdom on the mountain. He had etched them in the stone tablets, and they had carried them within the ark of the covenant. The law, the wisdom of God was sealed in an ark that they could not touch.
God tells us through Jeremiah, “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.”
The tablets were sealed in the ark. The wisdom was separated from the people.
I want us to stop for a moment and look at the larger picture. Why was Israel called, or chosen? What is the point? This goes back to the very first book of scripture, we were created in the image of God, but out of our desire to equal with God, with the knowledge of good and evil, we turned away from Him. We separated ourselves from God. We relied on our wisdom instead of the wisdom of God. What Jeremiah is showing us is the reintegration or redemption of humanity.
God called Israel not because they were better than any other people, but because they were not great. He selected Abraham, a man without an heir, to be the father of a nation. And through this nation, God would reveal his goodness to all people, and reverse the curse that had been initiated in Eden.
Slowly God reveals himself. First to one man, then to that man’s son, then to that son’s twins, and then to the twelve. With each generation the message spreads and yet separation remains. The people go into slavery, and they cry out to God. God brings them out of slavery and establishes the covenant, yet there is still a separation.
God patiently waits. He incrementally provides revelation, and draws humanity toward him. God is met with resistance. We again separate ourselves from God. We hold him at a distance. We continue to rely on our own knowledge of good and evil. The wisdom was there. It has always been there, sealed in the ark. But we kept God at a distance. We, as humanity, wanted the separation. We demanded that Moses stand in our place, and just let us know if something important happens.
This separation, as it always does, leads to greater and continued separation. When we pass our responsibility to others we pull away. When we pull away, we allow the distraction to come because we are no longer mindful. Soon selfishness and greed take hold. Jealousy and envy. Violence, and war. And the prophets weep over us as they proclaim the coming day.
But a new covenant is upon us. God will write his law, his wisdom, on our hearts, not on stone tablets that can be sealed in an ark, but our hearts. The wisdom of God will be integrated within us. His wisdom can become our wisdom. His hope our hope. We can know God.
I sat with this passage this week. I prayed with it. I visualized several ways of presenting this message. And for some reason I was drawn to the fruit of the spirit. Paul tells us of this fruit and I mentioned them earlier. He wrote about them to the church of Galatia, saying:
“Now the works of the flesh are evident; sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control: against such things there is no law.”
I sat with these words, and I considered them with what Jeremiah says. We can get hung up on the legalism of the words and say these are the things Paul says we cannot do. But what if Paul is saying something deeper? He says, “Now the works of the flesh are evident.” These are our desires, and the things we do to fulfill our desires. What if Paul like Jeremiah is telling us of a different perspective, or a new hope. When we seek what we want, when our focus is on ourselves even in our desire for righteousness we can often resort to the works of the flesh.
We can see this all around us. Even within the church there is division and dissensions. Even within the church there is envy and strife, at times there might even be fits of anger. This is human nature, unfortunately there are times we are as savage as the beasts of the field.
How do we move from the flesh and allow the fruit of the spirit to grow?
Let us look at this fruit. Love, joy, peace, patience…each of these come through trial. Each of these take mindful participation. We do not just love, we must actively participate in love. We do not just have patience, but patience is obtained through continuous trials. Self-control just does not happen, it instead comes to us through discipline and sacrifice. We obtain the fruit of the spirit by living lives with the spirit. We gain these things, when we integrate the wisdom of God into the very core of who we are and allow him to write it on our hearts.
The fruit grows when we turn away from our own desires, and instead turn to God. Yet even this is a desire. Even this can cause distraction from the very one we hope to draw closer to. “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant.” I have read these words multiple times, and yet I frequently miss the most important part. Who is the one doing the work, who is initiating this new covenant?
It was humanity that caused the separation when they joined rebellious spirits in the garden. It was the serpent, the shining one, the elohim that was supposed to be the messenger of Yahweh that deceived humanity into their rebellion. God’s messenger deceived, and because the deception came through that fallen angel, God himself has to come to redeem. Jesus, God incarnate and God with us, came to live a full human life. He faced the same trials we face. He experienced the fullness of injustice that results from our attempts of harnessing power over good and evil. And he suffered our trials with us and for us. He lived, he taught, he showed us what life with God can be, and he took on the curse we inherited from our first parents. He made the new covenant himself, through the Life, death, and resurrection of Jesus his one unique son. And all who believe in him will not perish but will have life with him. “For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Jesus knows our struggles because he experienced them. He knows what hell we can go through because he endured it on the cross. He knows despair because he was sealed in the darkness of a tomb for three days. But we are not left in the dark. The day is coming and is here, because hope has risen. And God’s spirit dwells with us as our ever present teacher and guide. Let us entrust our lives to his wisdom and direction, and let us be enlightened by his hope.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 12, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 05, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili John 20:1–18 (ESV) 1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friend Church
March 3, 2024
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Exodus 20:1–17 (ESV)
1 And God spoke all these words, saying, 2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5 You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. 7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain. 8 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. 12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 13 “You shall not murder. 14 “You shall not commit adultery. 15 “You shall not steal. 16 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
It was not too long ago that we sat with Israel as they heard the ten words from God. All too often we look at this passage thinking in our minds that they are The Ten Commandments. We think this because someone a century or two ago added subtitles to our translations that says that. By thinking of these verses as commandments we might not see them fully for what they are.
When we use the word “Commandments” we think of law. We think of rules. We tend to have mixed feelings about rules. We push rules. We as humans like to define rules, finding where the limits are so that we go right up to the edge. Not breaking the rule, but bending it just enough to get what we want. We often look at the ten commandments in that manner.
When we push the rules, when we justify them in our own minds, when we bend and twist, we are implementing our wisdom instead of listening to the wisdom of God. I admit that I am just as guilty. As I speak today, I am probably doing the very thing I encourage us not to do. We are human, and because of that we approach the words of scripture through our own minds. We understand only with the extent of our wisdom. We think we know what it says, but there is always more.
A few months ago we listened to these words. I encouraged you to consider the original scene. Israel was not yet a nation. They had just recently left bondage in Egypt. They were in the process of learning what it meant to be free, to be a people or nation. We might not be capable of understanding just how important this is since most of us have never experienced real oppression.
When you live in bondage, you do not have a true identity. You are not free to think, you are not free to explore or innovate. Obedience is the only requirement. We often say that the church in America is being oppressed. We are not. We are not even close to facing real oppression. What we are currently experiencing are consequences of actions taken by current and previous generations. What we are experiencing are the consequences of ignorance and a lack of empathy. We once had influence, now that influence is waning. It is waning not because people do not understand our position, but our influence is waning because we have used our influence to do great good only to stop. We have not followed through and because we have stopped others are taking us forward, and unfortunately they may not have the wisdom they could if we walked along with them.
Israel was oppressed. They lived in a cultural system that was perverted from the original plan. God created humanity. We are told that God created humanity in his image. He began this creation of humanity with Adam. When Adam was created he was a complete expression of humanity. And if we are to believe scripture Adam was both male and female. The story is expressed in that manner for a reason, there was unity. There was no separation. Race, gender, and everything else we divide our human existence into is not the way we were created. Humanity is humanity. Those divisions began after creation.
Adam was one complete human within one being. Unfortunately,Adam did not have a companion other than God. God could create. God could build a garden and fill it with things of beauty. Adam was singular. He was a complete expression of God’s image on earth, but he could not fully participate in creation. God recognized that for humanity to be fully free to express God’s image in the world we needed to be free to love in the same manner God loves. We needed to be able to create similarly. We needed companionship just as the Triune God had companionship in himself. So God caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep, and out of Adam’s side God formed woman.
Often we see in scripture that God fashioned woman from a rib bone, but the word “sela” is more literally translated as side. In every other place in scripture this word is used to describe a side of a hill, equal parts, or an opposite and corresponding portion. Only two times in Genesis is it traditionally translated as a singular rib bone. I find this interesting. I think that maybe we have misunderstood something. Adam was created as unified humanity, but to provide companionship God split humanity into equal sides.
I mention this because it is easy to have a perverse understanding. For centuries, we have been taught divided genders. We have been taught that woman was created from the man’s rib bone. We have explained it as being rib instead of foot, so they are not beneath. We have explained it as not the skull so that she is not over man. But the rib so that she can be by his side. I think we have missed the point. We are equal. Humanity is Humanity. Together, within community, we fully express God’s image. When divided, when we perpetuate division, we neglect unity and hinder complete humanity.
Israel was oppressed. They were enslaved. Slavery is also a perversion of our true identity. If humanity is humanity, and together we bear a complete image. If man and woman are two equal parts of a whole. Then how can enslavement even be remotely be a possible expression of God’s Image?
It cannot. These divisions are perversion. Racism is a perversion. Sexism is a perversion. Nationalism is a perversion. Partisanship is a perversion. These are divisions that humanity has implemented in their fallen state to control and manipulate. This is not what we were created to be, but this is what the kingdoms of mankind have given us.
Egypt enslaved Israel. They did not see them as equals. They did not see the God of Israel as being the Most High God. The leaders of Ancient Egypt did not see it because they served spirits of rebellion.
In the ancient world, each nation, each people group saw themselves as servants of a deity. Scripture informs us of this. We are told that the nations were divided at Babel. They were divided and each of these divisions were allotted to one of the sons of God according to Deuteronomy 32. They were subject to these lessor gods, or spiritual entities. The nations were created out of division and rebellion. And this rebellion began the perverse notion within our combined societies that some people are better than others. It is rebellion, and sin that creates status within division. It is a sin to be sexist. It is sinful to be racist. It is deplorable to perpetuate status within division when we were created to be equal parts of a unified whole.
Israel had been oppressed. They have lived generations believing that the Egyptians were their masters. For hundreds of years they were told that they were slaves, only created to serve. We were not created only to serve. We were created to bear the image of God. We are not slaves but each of us are image bearers, and together we are to reflect who God is to all creation. Yet Israel, sat enslaved.
God sent Moses to speak to Pharaoh. Moses did not initially ask for the people of Israel to be freed. We often forget this aspect of the story. He initially asks for permission to worship God. He initially asks that the people of Israel be granted what we in America regard as the unalienable right to worship our God, according to our own traditions.
Pharaoh refused to allow the people of Israel to worship. Pharaoh did not want the idea of liberty to worship to gain a foothold in his society. Pharaoh and the kingdoms of mankind want us to be obedient to their systems and to suggest otherwise weakens control and power. The plagues that Egypt endured were self-inflicted consequences of spiritual rebellion. The plagues are spiritual warfare, God the Most High in combat against the gods of Egypt. Each aspect of the polytheistic worldview of Egypt was defeated and brought to its knees. Resulting not only with allowing Israel the liberty to worship, but their complete redemption from the bonds of slavery.
Now Israel is free. They are in the wilderness between Egypt and the nations of the East. What will happen to them? Who will they become? Will they go out into the land and be absorbed into one of the empires of men?
We often look at the Ten Commandments as being rules, but the from the perspective of the Hebrew people these are words or teachings are not rules. They are lessons of wisdom. They are a guide to become the people we were created to be and that begins with knowing who we truly are.
A couple of months ago I focused on what we commonly call the first three commandments. No other gods, no idols, and not taking the name of the Lord in vain. These three commands or lessons of wisdom are telling us, no they are reminding us of who God is and who we are. God proved that he was more powerful than the gods of Egypt when he brought them out of the land of bondage. He is reminding them of that. “I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me.”
He is not demanding allegiance, he is reminding them that He is the Most High God over all creation. If we begin to think that something other than God can rise to a greater status than him, he can easily cause it to crumble before our very eyes. He then says do not make a carved image, or any likeness of anything in the heavens or on the earth and serve them. It would be wise not to begin to serve the things of mankind, is what he is saying. If we begin to do this, we will see within a span of a couple of generations that we will lose everything we once had.
He then says, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” This command does not speak to the vocabulary we speak, but it is speaking about our life and lifestyle. God in these first three commands is reminding us of who he is and who we are to him. We are his representatives to creation. We each bear that image. We each contribute and have responsibility in the initial work that began with Adam. We are to represent that of God everywhere we go. And we should not bear that responsibility lightly.
Now we go to the fourth command or lesson of wisdom. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
This word of wisdom transitions from who God is, and who we are to him, and begins to focus on who we are to each other. We often split the ten commandments into how we interact with God and humanity, but they are all one complete lesson that should be taken together. And sabbath is right in the middle of it all.
Remember the Sabbath.
Again I want us to return to the land of Egypt. What was Moses’ first request to pharaoh? It was not let my people go, hard stop. It was let my people go out to the wilderness to worship and offer sacrifices to God. Moses plead with Egypt to allow the people the freedom to worship.
What is Sabbath?
“Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates”
If we were to look at various religious expressions most include some cyclical structure to their calendar that recognizes days for work and days of rest. There is a difference in the observance of these days of rest outside the Abrahamic cultures. In most cases only certain people could participate in the day of rest, where in the wisdom of God all creation should participate.
The one aspect of Egypt that most angered God was the prohibition of worship for all people, and God knew that Egypt would not ever allow them to worship freely. This exclusivity in worship angered God.
It is common for many people outside the church to say that the worship of God is just a reinterpretation of mystery religions like that of Mithras or Isis. I admit that there are similarities in some aspects of the religion, and when I say similarities I really mean wide lens similarities. If you go a step deeper than surface level observations you will see that the differences are vast. And the main difference is mystery religions are exclusive. You must be initiated into the religion before you can learn anything about it. You join before you know. This is why when people ask what Friends believe I generally give them a physical copy of our Faith and Practice because I want you all to know that our beliefs are open to everyone. Everyone can participate to their desired extent.
Remember the Sabbath day, God encourages. Not just for yourself but for everyone. This day is extended to males and females, adults and children. The Sabbath is for citizens as well as for those that are visiting. It is for the landowner as well as the servants within the household. The Sabbath is for all creation.
You might say, but they did not practice like this. Not everyone could enter the temple. And you are correct. Not everyone could, go into the most sacred parts of the temple, but everyone could come to the temple courts. Everyone,including the emperor of Rome was able to offer sacrifices and could pray. The only restriction was for who could go inside, but even there what they were doing in the inner portions of the temple were explained.
Worship is important. We should always remember to take time to rest and worship God. God does not require our worship. He accepts our worship, but he does not require our worship. Jesus taught his disciples that he was the Lord of the Sabbath. He said that the Sabbath was made for man not man for the Sabbath. This one statement tells us a great deal.
Man made for the sabbath would indicate that God required or needed our adoration. This is what the vast majority of religions teach. We worship to appease the gods. We offer sacrifices to gain favor of the gods. We give our tithes to gain the blessings of the gods. We worship because if we do not worship we will anger that spiritual realm. This is not the wisdom God gave to Israel. He tells them, “For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”
When Jesus says that the Sabbath was made for man not man for the sabbath, this is what he is speaking about. On the seventh day God enjoyed the fruits of his labor. We are more than what we produce while we are at work. We have more value than our wages in the eyes of God. We are his image bears in creation.
He labored six days, we labor six days. He rested on the seventh, we too should rest. When we do not take time to rest, our bodies fail us. When we do not slow down and relax on occasion we become a detriment instead of an asset to those with our various communities. When we do not include days of leisure in our work schedules, we risk losing those people we employ.
The sabbath was made for mankind. We should enjoy life. We should enjoy the fruits of our labor. We should be able to have a life outside of work or school. And we should extend that to all people, even if they do not believe as we do.
This is probably the greatest difference. The sabbath is not merely for Israel. This day of rest extends to your sons, your daughters, you servants, your livestock, and to those aliens that live among you. There is not one prohibition from this day, and if you bear the name of the Lord you will work diligently to promote rest within your society.
Remember the sabbath.
God is telling us in his wisdom that everyone bears his image. The highest king among the kingdoms of men, and the lowest servant held in chains. Each human being that breaths is equal on this day. Each of us have labored, and each of us should enjoy time to rest and worship.
Remember the sabbath. Remember it because you were once slaves in Egypt. You were once prohibited from worship. Remember because it is so easy to deny the image of God in others.
God tells them who he is and that nothing in this world can replace him or even come close to being his equal. He then reminds us of who we are. “Do not bear his name in vain.” Now he is reminding us that it is everyone’s right as image bears of God to enjoy the fruits of our labor.
The next commands, or teachings also deal with aspect of equality among people. If, in God’s wisdom, we should enjoy the fruits of our labor. If, in God’s wisdom, we all should be given one day out of seven where we are not required to work, there are other things that we should also enjoy because we are image bearers.
Honor your father and mother. Why? Should we honor them because they brought us into this world, and they can take us out? No. Should we honor them because they are placed in authority over us? Again no. Not all parents are good parents. I have been accused of being the worst parent on the face of the earth, and that is ok. We as children should continue to honor. Not merely obey but honor. There is a difference. We honor our fathers and our mothers because we are the fruit of their labor. We honor them because that honor allows them to participate in sabbath rest, and by honoring them we learn to treat those around us as bears of God’s image. We do not get this from mere obedience.
There is a flip side to this wisdom. If children are to honor their parents. We as parents should be mindful of that. We should live our lives in such a way that our children do not question the wisdom of this command. Children honor their parents, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your god is giving you. God is giving us something, and we are free to receive it if we live a life honoring the dignity of those around us.
Remember.
Remember your father and your mother, they have labored for you. They have given of themselves so that you can survive. Honor that. Remember that the person next to you also bears God’s image, honor that. You honor that image by protecting their life, so you shall not commit violence against their life. Remember that the person across the room that you are attracted to also bears the image of God, so do not disrespect them and do not disrespect your spouse by making them into instruments of gratification. Remember that the person that lives across the street has worked hard for what they have. They have worked hard to provide for their family, and should enjoy the fruits of their labor. Honor them by protecting their property. And do not covet what others have because this will lead toward violence and theft.
Remember.
Remember that the girl in your class bears the image of God just as you do. Remember the coworker that you might disagree with on the job bears the image of God. With a word we can encourage or discourage, with a word we can be a blessing, or we can cause damnation. Respect them and yourself by speaking truthfully, even if you would like to cause harm. Remember and honor.
Each of us bear the image of God. Each of us that sit in this room have taken on the name of God. Each of us struggle, each of us strive. We all have days we wonder if we will make it. And each of us long for a time when we can just relax. Remember and honor.
Take a step back from what we are doing and look at things from a different perspective. Remember and honor.
These are not legal commands but words of wisdom. Words reminding us what it means to be human, and what it means to live together. To live is to work, to toil and labor. This was the curse given both to Adam and Eve. Remember that everyone around you is dealing with similar issues, they are subject to that same curse. God is urging us to not increase their burden. Instead, remember the sabbath, keep it holy. Love God with all that you have and all that you are and love your neighbor as yourself. Become a people loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit and living the love of Christ with others. Remember. If we do not remember who will?
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 29, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 3: Do you attend regularly the services of your church and participate in them actively? Do you prayerfully endeavor to minister, under the guidance of the Holy…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church March 15, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Ephesians 5:8–14 (ESV) 8 for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light 9 (for the fruit…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church February 22, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Romans 5:12–19 (ESV) 12 Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all…
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