I was encouraged by my Lead Pastor to share my message series of Hosea on my blog. So here goes, a three act play for you to read and share as you want.
Hosea - Act 1
I want to share a secret with you…I love romantic comedies….
The Rom Com…
Weepie…
Chick flick…as we say in South Africa
I love them. I know…some of you are questioning my sanity right now…but hey…we all have our flaws!
Here are some of my favorites:
Jerry Maguire: the office scene when she leaves with him and of course, you had me at hello
Shakespeare In Love: the writing of the comedy become tragedy on the stage while the comedy and tragedy play out in the lives of the lovers
Notting Hill: the famous “I’m just a girl standing in front of boy…”
And my top one…which happens to be the highest grossing romantic-comedy of all time and is more of a documentary than a movie for me - My Big Fat Greek Wedding!
Recently, romantic comedies have changed from the past. Viewers now look for greater complexity and realism in their love stories rather than the idealistic escape of fairy tale love. I think most of us want this. We want stories with layers, twists and difficult, even dark portions that while hard to watch and endure, make the story all the richer and more meaningful.
Like the twist in The Notebook as love is rediscovered and lost again and again
or the love triangle of The Host – a woman infested with an alien host, the human loving one, and the alien loving another
or the insanity of Twilight – Team Jacob or Team Edward. And if you’ve been in my office you know I’m totally team Jacob.
Technically, those last ones aren’t romantic comedies, but that’s my point. Love stories today have blended genres from sci-fi, to drama to comedy because we want layers in our stories now.
So, what does this have to do with our new series called Three Little Words. Well, this new series is about a love story…an ancient love story between a man and a woman, with a message for us today.
This love story is filled with layers - layers of hope, love, marriage and children and also with layers of betrayal, pain, sadness and suffering. This story has grand romantic gestures like John Cusack’s boom box serenade from Say Anything. This story has painful moments like the heartfelt confession of Julia Stiles in “Ten Things I Hate About You”
I hate the way you talk to me
And the way you cut your hair I hate the way you drive my car I hate it when you stare
I hate your big dumb combat boots And the way you read my mind
I hate you so much that it makes me sick
It even makes me rhyme I hate the way you're always right
I hate it when you lie
I hate it when you make me laugh
Even worse when you make me cry I hate the way you're not around
And the fact that you didn’t’ call
But mostly I hate the way I don’t hate you
Not even close, not even a little bit, not even at all.
Yes well, I'm no Julia Stiles, so moving on then!
Our love story comes from a small book of the Bible called Hosea.
To help us make sense of this love story we are going to follow the basic three step plotline of love stories:
- the introduction of the characters,
- the growing conflicts where love is in danger, (next week) and
- the resolution of the conflict. (last week)
As we follow this three-step plotline over the next three weeks, in each week, we will discover a word, a little word that acts like a hinge, changing the story from one direction to another – three weeks, three little words...words that change the story; words that can change our story.
So, let’s start our journey of Three Little Words by meeting our characters:
Hosea
The word of the LORD that came to Hosea
We meet the man first, called Hosea, He is introduced as a prophet because of the typical use of the phrase “the word of the Lord that came…”. That is the Bible’s way of saying he is a prophet. Now, you’re probably thinking about some wild eyed, badly dressed and decidedly smelly individual yelling incoherent gibberish on the T!
But that’s not the picture this would have been in Hosea’s day and age. A better image of what prophets were in Hosea’s day would be the equivalent of a judge, the very best being like our Supreme Court Justices.
So, think dignity, power, standing and respect. That’s what a prophet was. In many respects, quite literally the judicial branch of ancient Israel.
So that’s Hosea. We know precious little about him. Throughout the story, Hosea seems to exist in the present. We are not told any lengthy backstory. We are not told about his future. We experience him only in the present tense.
He is an ever-present person, initiating love, initiating connection, initiating relationship. He feels like the one through whom wholeness happens.
Hosea’s Call
Our brief introduction of Hosea quickly moves to his work as a prophet, and to say his work is strange and unique is no overstatement. Most prophets did their work by making proclamations. Uttering words and speeches. Some performed dramas or elaborate plays. But not for Hosea. Hosea 1:2 tells us the sort of work Hosea would do as a prophet.
When the Lord began to speak through Hosea, the Lord said to him, “Go, marry a promiscuous woman and have children with her…Hosea 1:2a (NIV)
God tells Hosea that he has a specific work to do. Hosea’s role is to live out his life, loving a woman of his choosing, a woman with a specific description and through that life, God will remind Israel of who they are, what they have done, and what God wants to do with and for them. His “proclamations” were to be through his life, not so much his words.
Hosea’s role is unique. I need to emphasize this more. Please don’t misread this series or this book. It is NOT a book providing marriage and dating advice. Please don’t, don’t, don’t leave here and put this into practice outside by going up to someone and saying God is telling them to marry you because they are promiscuous! Please don’t use this book or series to justify dating or marrying someone with different sexual ethics than yours. That is not the point of the book or this series.
It is also NOT a book providing gender bias. Please don’t, don’t don’t take this book to say that men are Saviors and women need rescuing.
Hosea’s work is unique! It is his role, for a specific time, to drive home a specific point and it is that point that I want to focus on in our time together.
God chooses to do this for a specific reason which he explains in the very next sentence.
… for like an adulterous wife this land is guilty of unfaithfulness to the Lord.” Hosea 1:2b (NIV)
Right away God sets the stage for why he is doing this. Hosea’s entire life is going to be a metaphor. By this description, we know that Israel, called “the land” is the promiscuous woman and Hosea represents God.
Based on what we know about Hosea from his introduction - someone who is always present, the initiator of love, connection and relationship; the one through whom wholeness happens. That is a description of God and how he treats Israel. That is a description of how God treats you too. He is the one who is present, who initiates love, connection and relationship with you. He is the one through whom wholeness happens. In fact, this is how the writers of the New Testament described Jesus. Jesus is God, sent to us – initiating love, connection and relationship.
This is how God showed his love to us: He sent his one and only Son into the world so that we could have life through him. 1 John 4:9 (NCV)
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3:16-17 (NIV)
Do you need wholeness from Jesus today? Do you need Jesus to be present in your life today? Are you experiencing some pain, hardship, a sense of loss and part of the reason you came here is to find God somehow…somewhere? The story of Hosea tells us…he’s here. He is present. He wants to love you and connect with you and build a relationship with you. He wants to make you whole!
Hosea’s Choice
Well, as is the case in all romantic comedies, there needs to be a love interest. Up till now that has been rather vague captured in the general description “a promiscuous woman”. Let’s meet the love interest:
So he married Gomer… (NIV)
The story introduces Gomer as the person Hosea chooses to be his “promiscuous woman”. Imagine for a moment how that first date went!
“So tell me about yourself Hosea.”
“Yes, I’m a prophet…I’ve got a special mission from God.”
“Really! Tell me more about it.”
“So, God wants me to tell this real important message by marrying a special woman…
“Yeah…”
She has to be… ”loose” if you know what I mean…so…are you “loose”?
I don’t think you could time the speed with which a date like that ends!
I doubt that’s how it began, but people have many views about how Hosea chose Gomer. Here’s what I think after studying those views: Hosea is a young man, growing in his work as a prophet. Prophets could marry so looking for a spouse would have been common.
God knows that Hosea wants a spouse. How? Well, like many men and women before then and since, he vocalized that desire in prayer. It wouldn’t surprise me that Hosea already had a woman in mind, someone who had caught his eye, someone he was attracted to, someone who he was beginning to love. He had his eye on Gomer.
God knew this.
But God also knew Gomer. He knew what she was like and what was in her heart. He knew what she would do. But, instead of warning Hosea to avoid her, God sees a greater opportunity to display his love, teach Israel, answer Hosea and save Gomer from a life of slavery. What I see is a God who speaks to the masses while at the same time being concerned with the individual. He moves nations, but is going to save Gomer.
God says to Hosea: “I know your heart and this desire you have for Gomer. I want you to know that I know her too. Go and marry her, even though she will break your heart and test your love. Go and marry a promiscuous woman.” God, who created Hosea and Gomer, who saw their love interest grow, looked at them, saw the pain and heartache that would come, but also saw the restoration. He saw that his was the right way to tell His own story of heartache about those He loves – you and me. God looked at it all and said – this is beautiful and I will make something beautiful of it!
The Little Word – So
And here is where we meet our first little word. It comes at the beginning of verse 3.
“So he married Gomer…”
SO, Hosea marries Gomer. That little word becomes a pivot in our story. The word SO means a change in identity for Gomer. She is described as a promiscuous woman, but because of that word SO, she becomes a CHOSEN woman. She is described with a word fraught with danger and heartache, lack of connection and loss of relationships, but because of that little word SO, she is offered love, connection and relationship. With that one little word, the story changes direction.
Who is Gomer?
If Hosea is Jesus in the metaphor of this story, then who is Gomer?
In the time of Hosea, every Israelite person would know that Gomer represents them as a nation. The use of the word promiscuous, while it carries sexual connotations, is a metaphor of spiritual betrayal and unfaithfulness. In that day and age, Israelites were spending their time worshipping other gods, gods that demanded excessive lifestyles of sex and violence.
Gods that demanded child sacrifice and a level of instability in worship was susceptible to abuse, bribery and uncertainty. Every Israelite would have known that they were Gomer in the story of Hosea.
The description of Gomer as a promiscuous woman was a description of the actions of the Israelites by individual and as a nation. They had rejected God, the God who knew how they would act, but who had his eye on them. The God who was attracted to Israel and SO, he chose Israel for love, connection and relationship with a plan to impact and touch the entire world through them. But Israel had rejected God, wandered away, following the desires of their heart instead of remaining faithful to God. This was the message of Hosea to Israel, and they all knew it.
But there is a deeper meaning to who Gomer is. You see, if we are honest, if we allow ourselves just a moment to be vulnerable about who we are as people, we would admit that we are all like Gomer too. No, I don’t mean that we are all sexually promiscuous, although that might be one issue some might struggle with here. What I mean is that we all have a part of ourselves, a dark part, a broken part, a wounded part, that describes us. The adjective used to describe Gomer is “a promiscuous woman”.
Your Adjective
What is the adjective that you might use to describe the part of yourself that you hope no one ever sees? Maybe it’s the adjective ‘addicted’. You are an “addicted” man or woman. Maybe it’s angry – an angry man or woman, or ‘greedy’ or ‘lonely’ or ‘desperate’. Maybe for you it’s the word ‘driven’. Maybe the adjective of your life is ‘successful’ or ‘self-made’. Perhaps it’s even a spiritual term, ‘blessed’.
Your adjective might be your greatest success or deepest shame. The story of Hosea tells us that the adjectives we use to describe ourselves are not the one God uses to define us. God describes Gomer as a “promiscuous woman” but he doesn’t define her as promiscuous. Her description is not her definition. And your description is not your definition. The adjective you use for your life, is not your identity. That little word, SO, tells us that you have a better identity and a greater destiny.
Gomer goes from a description of promiscuous to the identity of being chosen. She is chosen. Being chosen comes with significance. Being chosen for a job gives us joy. Being chosen for a team gives us inclusion relationship. Being chosen gives us worth and dignity. Being chosen means having personhood!
Jesus says
“You did not choose me, but I chose you” John 15:16a (NIV)
Whatever the adjective you use to describe your life, Jesus uses the word chosen. It’s on purpose! God chose Hosea and Hosea chose Gomer on purpose. Because of who they were they were chosen.
- You are chosen – because of your past
- You are chosen – because of your failures
- You are chosen…because you are successful.
- You are chosen – because of your strengths.
- You are chosen BECAUSE Jesus wants you. He has chosen you for love, connection and relationship on purpose.
- Jesus wants to love YOU
- Jesus wants a connection with YOU
- Jesus wants a relationship with YOU
- Jesus wants to show you the life he made for YOU
Your life, like Gomer’s may have been on a specific journey. Your life might be described by an adjective. For some of you, that adjective is like a burden that drags you down, even crushes you under its weight. For some of you, that adjective is a support you hold on to. It’s important for you to know that when I speak about that adjective, it is without criticism or judgment. I have my own adjectives that describe me. Sometimes those adjectives are so heavy that it feels like I am being pressed into my bed in the morning and I cannot move from the pain and heartache they bring. Sometimes, those adjectives are things I depend on to help me in life, but they are flimsy supports that end up being my downfall rather than an aid. Those adjectives might describe me, but the message of Hosea to you and me this morning is that they don’t define us. We find our definition in the simple, profound and powerful action of Jesus who chooses us! That means we can all say, I AM CHOSEN
Are you living like someone who is chosen? Are you living like a person who has dignity, worth, is loved and connected? As you think back on this week did you live like someone chosen? Did you live with confidence and joy? As you look at the week ahead what would it look like to live like someone chosen rather than living like someone carrying the burden of your deepest regret?
What might this look like? Well, consider the story of underground rap artist, Jason “Propaganda” Petty, a man who grew up with a long list of adjectives that could have defined him: black, poor, thug, artist, poet. Listen to his story to see what being chosen looks like for him…
Remember what his mom said - Don’t nothing God do go to waste – and that means you too.
Conclusion
There’s an unspoken question when someone chooses you. Will you choose the person who chooses you? Jesus has chosen you. Will you choose him? I think this question can be answered by three types of people today.
Perhaps for you, you’ve never thought of Jesus choosing you or of you choosing him. Jesus says, you are chosen. Will you choose me?
Some sitting here have made that choice before. But, something happened. You’ve drifted. You’ve forgotten that Jesus chose you. You’re living your life according to those adjectives again and not like a person chosen. Jesus still chooses you even though you've drifted. You can still be that chosen person. Jesus says, you are chosen. Will you choose me?
For others, you have chosen Jesus and continue to choose him, and today you have an opportunity to affirm that choice again. Jesus says, you are chosen. Will you choose me?
Listen to this original song written by Gaby called Until You Came as you consider Jesus’s question: Will you choose me?
Whether it’s for the first time, or you’ve drifted and want to come back, or it’s a reaffirmation the way to answer Jesus is the same.
It’s a simple prayer…If you are willing please stand and pray this simple prayer with me right now.
Lord Jesus, I choose you. Help me to follow you this week and for the rest of my life. Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, then please let me know. I would love to speak to you. Leave a comment, so we can connect.
great lesson
ReplyDeleteThanks Bill. I am glad it spoke to you.
Delete