Badges? We Ain't Got...

Not long ago, I referred to this old movie scene in a sermon. It’s from a stand-off in The Treasure of Sierra Madre, a classic film starring Humphrey Bogart (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nsdZKCh6RsU&NR=1) .  “Badges? We ain’t got no badges. We don’t need no badges. I don’t have to show you no stinking badges.” Trust me! That line is cleaned up a whole lot from what was originally written in the book.

Anyway, the whole idea of “badges” is wrapped up in the idea of authority. I’m talking about authority because I was struck by the idea of how God’s authority gives us responsibility for our own authority when I read Psalm 99 as a devotional, this morning. Psalm 99 begins (v. 1 English) with the assertion that God is in charge—everywhere. Some translations have “let the peoples tremble” and some have “let the ‘strong ones’ tremble” with the latter suggesting the false gods worshipped by others. The latter makes sense because the rest of the verse can either mean the heavenly dimension in general (God’s throne above the cherubim) and the former could be assumed because there were cherubim figures sculpted as part of the mercy seat of the Ark of the Covenant in the Jerusalem temple. Whichever position you take, God is either clearly in charge above the earth or God is in charge over all the earth.

Since verse 2 (English) gets very earth-oriented with God being great in Zion (both as political and religious capitol of God’s people) and God being more worthy of recognition and devotion than any other population or empire, I lean toward the first verse representing God as Authority over the cosmos and the second verse revealing God as Authority over human history and government. Regardless of the interpretation one takes, the bottom line is the same. God’s reputation and God’s powerful reality (personhood) needs to be lifted high where all can see it.

Verse 3 (English) ends with the refrain we will see three times in Psalm 99. Isn’t it interesting that the psalm is divided into three sections, each ending with a phrase saying that God is “holy.” In the modern world, we often identify being “holy” with being a “goody-two-shoes,” some kind of religious sycophant. Yet, the real understanding of “holy” means something set-apart, different, beyond normal experience and measurement. The holiness of God represents God’s person, God’s power, God’s presence, and God’s mysterious “otherness.” We simply can’t put God in a box. To exalt God as “holy” means that we recognize our own limitations in understanding God, eternity, grace, salvation, and miracle.

But where God hammered me this morning was in verse 4. Why would the descendent of two families that fled the Southwest during the Depression (and apparently, through one of those families, the descendent of Irish debtors who settled in Georgia) dare to identify himself with a king? Why would someone who hasn’t ever been at the top of his religious vocation and is almost a decade past his prime in his secular vocation even consider identifying himself with a king? Do we need to diagnose me as delusional and carry me off to “the happy home with trees and flowers and chirping birds and basket-weavers who sit and twiddle their thumbs and toes?” Are they coming to take me away? Will I be happy to see those “nice young men in their clean white coats” when they’re coming to take me away?

I hope not! This morning, it hit me just how much the authority of Israel’s king was based on exercising God’s will and God’s purpose. All of the king’s authority came from God to be either used or abused with the appropriate success/failure dependent upon that choice. Hence, it was vital for the king to remain focused upon God in order to accomplish God’s purposes. THEN, I realized that, since ALL authority comes from God, this applies to politicians, executives, managers, professors, supervisors, financial advisors, doctors, teachers, (even) attorneys, and pastors. On that list, God has placed me in at least two positions of authority and that means that I have a chance to use or abuse that authority.

How do I use it instead of abusing it? I look to the person of God and I look at what God wants. I have to be more interested in justice and equity than in personal gain or reputation. I have to be willing to meet the needs of others and, following the last line of verse 4, make God’s will happen (as God gives me the resources and power to do so) for them. I have to focus on God and continually ask myself the question, “What does God want?”

Theologically, this is different than the oversimplified question, WWJD. Jesus was Incarnate God in a specific historical context and continues to be God in the eternal dimension. I am supposed to be (and by faith, am) filled with the presence of God through the Holy Spirit. So, I (at least metaphorically and to a great extent literally) carry about the presence of God in my own specific historical context.  I can and should follow the example of Jesus, but I also have to consider what God specifically wants me to do in specific situations. That requires regular worship and regular time with God. If we don’t spend time with God, how will we know?

The psalm/song ends with an account of God’s historical dealing with Israel. It shows how we can encourage and assure ourselves that God will answer our prayers and meet our needs. We can look to God’s deeds in the past. We have a much longer list that the psalmist had and even a longer list than the writer of Hebrews had (Hebrews 11—the “roll call of faith”). Reflection on God’s past deeds should give us a new song where we lift up God’s reputation in our own eyes and that of the world and should compel us to keep worshipping together in God’s congregation where God chooses to meet us.

Note one particular aspect of this account from the past, though. Verse 7 (English) states that God spoke to Moses, Aaron, and the elders of Israel “in the pillar of cloud.” Because God is so “other,” so “different” from the ordinary perceptions and presuppositions of the world, God’s ways will often seem cloudy, obscure, even mysterious to us. At those times, we need to listen carefully and not be alarmed by the fact that we cannot see. We trust our guide.

Although I don’t need “no stinking badges” to use the authority God has given me as a pastor and professor, I do need a close relationship with God in order to exercise that authority effectively and properly. I may not be a king or a descendent of kings (far to the contrary), but I have God-given authority to make a difference in the places where God has put me. One key to this is praising God as this ultimate being of “otherness,” this holy person that I cannot completely comprehend. But I can make sure I’m lifting up God’s reputation in all that I do in order that others can see God at least as clearly as I do. “God rules!” would be one way of interpreting this psalm. God rules and we get the privilege of executing His purpose.   



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