One of the names the Scriptures give us of “the Child born, the Son given” is the “Everlasting Father”. This is the more remarkable, since it is found in the Hebrew part of the Scriptures (Isaiah 9), and is acknowledged to be reference to the (then) coming Messiah. Another of the names of the Son in this very same passage is “The Almighty God”. It is easy to overlook this. Let me say it again, one of the names of the Son in the Old Testament is “The Almighty God”. For me the mystery of the incarnation is encapsulated in the song “Mary did you know”, 'When you kissed this little baby, you kissed the face of God'. So the Messiah is God, and of course the Holy Spirit is God, in fact the Spirit is the Spirit of of Jesus. So the Son is the Father, is the Spirit, is the Son. Three in one, and One in three (see Trinity who can understand it?).
In John 17 Jesus talks about the fact that He is in the Father and the Father is in Him. Some have described Holy Spirit as the love between the Father and the Son. In any case what we have in the Trinity, in the nature of God, is perfect fellowship, perfect community. What makes it all the more remarkable, in a World where we suffer so much rejection, is that we are invited into the very midst of this fellowship. Jesus came to bring us to the Father (John 14:6), and the Spirit woos us and seals us into the Kingdom (2 Corinthians 2:22). When we turn to Him in repentance we are adopted into His family (Romans 8:15,16), Jesus becomes our Brother (Hebrews 2:11), and His Spirit comes and lives within us (Romans 8:11). So here we are with the Spirit within and our Brother Jesus and His Father embracing us from without. I call this a Trinity sandwich, because you and I dwell in the very midst of Trinity.
The fellowship and community of the Trinity is indeed perfect (see invited into God's embrace) and we are invited into the very center, the very essence of this perfection. As Jesus puts it in His high priestly prayer “I in them, and You in Me” (John 17:23). The context of this quotation is the very Spirit of Christmas “Good will and peace to all men”. His sacrifice is intended to reconcile us to Himself and to each other “that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me” (the context of verse 23).
Don't pass over this, think on it, let it settled deep into your spirit, you and I are loved by the Father in exactly the same way that Jesus is loved by the Father for "(You) have loved them as You have loved Me". If and when we grasp this, it has to fill us with awe and wonder, it has to change our lives. When we enter into the reality of it, the World (nations) will run to Him (Isaiah 55:5), many will see and fear and put their trust in Him (Psalm 40:3B).
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Christ our Whipping boy? (More on incarnation)
The last post illustrated that God suffered with us. In this post I want to illustrate that God in Christ suffered for us. The picture I want to use is that of a whipping boy. A whipping boy, in the 17th and 18th centuries, was a young boy who was assigned to a young prince and was punished when the prince misbehaved or fell behind in his schooling. It was thought that only the king was worthy of punishing the king’s son. Since the king was rarely around to punish him when it was appropriate, tutors to the young prince found it extremely difficult to enforce rules or learning.
Whipping boys were generally of high birth, and were educated with the prince from his birth. Due to the fact that the prince and whipping boy grew up together, they usually formed an emotional bond, especially since the prince usually did not have other playmates. The strong bond that developed between a prince and his whipping boy dramatically increased the effectiveness of using a whipping boy as a form of punishment for a prince. The idea was that seeing a friend being whipped or beaten for something that he had done wrong would be strong motivation for the prince to change his behaviour (condensed from Wikipedia).
I said earlier that the Old Testament contains echoes and shadows of New testament revelation. One very specific example of this, and one that is highly relevant our discussion here, is from Isaiah 53:6. “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Verse 5 puts it this way “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed”. The New Testament identifies Jesus as the suffering servant of Isiah 53 (see Acts 8:35 in context). The similarity between the ideas of Christ as our substitute and that of the whipping boy should be obvious. Certainly part of what God intends is that our relationship with the One who who suffered for us, should be strong motivation for us to change. “You are not your own, for you were bought at a price (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). That price is the precious blood of Jesus.
If you have seem Mel Gibson's graphic illustration of His “stripes” (flogging) in “The passion of the Christ”, you will have some idea of that price that was paid, but only some idea. There is probably no way to graphically portray death by crucifixion. Crucifixion was the most painful means of execution then known to man. It provided a death that was particularly slow, painful, gruesome and humiliating. In Christ's case He was stripped naked and was nailed to the cross (through the wrists and ankles – the hands would not support the weight). When the cross was placed upright, the only way for the victim to take a breath, was to press down on the ankles nailed to the cross. This is because the way the body hung prevented the diaphragm from drawing in air. This is why when the victim's legs were broken, he would rapidly die of asphyxiation (see John 19:30-32 and Psalm 34:20).
The presence of a whipping boy in the young prince's life was intended to change him, and our relationship with Christ is intended to change us. But what if the presence of the whipping boy did not change the young prince. What if the prince was a royal brat? What if he hardened his heart against his friend? It is unthinkable that he would is it not? Paul asks “Should we continue in sin that Grace may abound?” It is likewise unthinkable, but if we are honest we all have hearts that are less than tender towards Him at times. We call such parts unredeemed, and whether we know it or not, there are parts of your heart and mine that remain unredeemed.
So rules don't work, they become old, but there are always both old and new things that we need to deal with. In particular, we cannot deal with everything at once. This is part of why we need relationship, so that the process can be ongoing. We do need some structure. A regular communion service, brings us back to “remember His death” and we will need to do this “until He comes (back)”. This gives us an opportunity to honestly examine ourselves, and to “Judge ourselves so that we will not be judged with the World” (See I Corinthians 11:23-31). We also need relationship with His people (Hebrews 10:24), and we need to feed daily on His Word (I Peter 2:1-3). Good relationships take time, and we need, in our buys lives to take time out for Him, for His Word and for His people. The whole thing is an ongoing process, but we can get stuck. It is related to our healing, and our willingness to be healed, our willingness to be honest with Him, with ourselves and others.
If your relationship with Christ is not changing you, then perhaps you don't really have a relationship with Him at all (growth is the only evidence of life - see "Assurance by works"). As I keep saying in this series of posts, knowing Christ it what it is all about. It is not about what you do or don't do. The good we do is intended to be the fruit of His acceptance of us, not the grounds of it. James tells us that what we do is the evidence of His life in us. We must not rest on our laurels, the eternal destiny of those we love is at stake. And even if they don't admit it, they are watching. He died for them too, and how will they see it, if we do not live for Him. If we are not being changed, why would they want to be like us? The whipping boy endured punishment for the sins of the prince, but his suffering cannot begin to be compared to the suffering of Christ who “ has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews 9:26). Is Christ our whipping boy? Well it is a very pale illustration, just a small part of what Christ has done for us. Should we continue unchanged? Heaven forbid, may it never be. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? (Romans 6:1-2). If you love Him, it is unthinkable!
Whipping boys were generally of high birth, and were educated with the prince from his birth. Due to the fact that the prince and whipping boy grew up together, they usually formed an emotional bond, especially since the prince usually did not have other playmates. The strong bond that developed between a prince and his whipping boy dramatically increased the effectiveness of using a whipping boy as a form of punishment for a prince. The idea was that seeing a friend being whipped or beaten for something that he had done wrong would be strong motivation for the prince to change his behaviour (condensed from Wikipedia).
I said earlier that the Old Testament contains echoes and shadows of New testament revelation. One very specific example of this, and one that is highly relevant our discussion here, is from Isaiah 53:6. “All we like sheep have gone astray; We have turned, every one, to his own way; And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Verse 5 puts it this way “But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, And by His stripes we are healed”. The New Testament identifies Jesus as the suffering servant of Isiah 53 (see Acts 8:35 in context). The similarity between the ideas of Christ as our substitute and that of the whipping boy should be obvious. Certainly part of what God intends is that our relationship with the One who who suffered for us, should be strong motivation for us to change. “You are not your own, for you were bought at a price (1 Corinthians 6:19, 20). That price is the precious blood of Jesus.
If you have seem Mel Gibson's graphic illustration of His “stripes” (flogging) in “The passion of the Christ”, you will have some idea of that price that was paid, but only some idea. There is probably no way to graphically portray death by crucifixion. Crucifixion was the most painful means of execution then known to man. It provided a death that was particularly slow, painful, gruesome and humiliating. In Christ's case He was stripped naked and was nailed to the cross (through the wrists and ankles – the hands would not support the weight). When the cross was placed upright, the only way for the victim to take a breath, was to press down on the ankles nailed to the cross. This is because the way the body hung prevented the diaphragm from drawing in air. This is why when the victim's legs were broken, he would rapidly die of asphyxiation (see John 19:30-32 and Psalm 34:20).
The presence of a whipping boy in the young prince's life was intended to change him, and our relationship with Christ is intended to change us. But what if the presence of the whipping boy did not change the young prince. What if the prince was a royal brat? What if he hardened his heart against his friend? It is unthinkable that he would is it not? Paul asks “Should we continue in sin that Grace may abound?” It is likewise unthinkable, but if we are honest we all have hearts that are less than tender towards Him at times. We call such parts unredeemed, and whether we know it or not, there are parts of your heart and mine that remain unredeemed.
So rules don't work, they become old, but there are always both old and new things that we need to deal with. In particular, we cannot deal with everything at once. This is part of why we need relationship, so that the process can be ongoing. We do need some structure. A regular communion service, brings us back to “remember His death” and we will need to do this “until He comes (back)”. This gives us an opportunity to honestly examine ourselves, and to “Judge ourselves so that we will not be judged with the World” (See I Corinthians 11:23-31). We also need relationship with His people (Hebrews 10:24), and we need to feed daily on His Word (I Peter 2:1-3). Good relationships take time, and we need, in our buys lives to take time out for Him, for His Word and for His people. The whole thing is an ongoing process, but we can get stuck. It is related to our healing, and our willingness to be healed, our willingness to be honest with Him, with ourselves and others.
If your relationship with Christ is not changing you, then perhaps you don't really have a relationship with Him at all (growth is the only evidence of life - see "Assurance by works"). As I keep saying in this series of posts, knowing Christ it what it is all about. It is not about what you do or don't do. The good we do is intended to be the fruit of His acceptance of us, not the grounds of it. James tells us that what we do is the evidence of His life in us. We must not rest on our laurels, the eternal destiny of those we love is at stake. And even if they don't admit it, they are watching. He died for them too, and how will they see it, if we do not live for Him. If we are not being changed, why would they want to be like us? The whipping boy endured punishment for the sins of the prince, but his suffering cannot begin to be compared to the suffering of Christ who “ has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself” (Hebrews 9:26). Is Christ our whipping boy? Well it is a very pale illustration, just a small part of what Christ has done for us. Should we continue unchanged? Heaven forbid, may it never be. How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? (Romans 6:1-2). If you love Him, it is unthinkable!
Monday, December 13, 2010
The Long Silence. God qualified to judge?
In last day's post I suggested that God suffers with us and for us, and this is a big part of what incarnation (God becomes man) is all about. The following is not mine, it is anonymous. It won't happen this way (see Rev 6:15-17, Romans 3:19), but I think that it illustrates an important aspect of incarnation.
The Long Silence.
At the end of time, billions of people were seated on a great plain before God's throne. Most shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But some groups near the front talked heatedly, not cringing with cringing shame - but with belligerence.
"Can God judge us? How can He know about suffering?", snapped a pert young brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. "We endured terror ... beatings ... torture ... death!"
In another group a Negro (sic – as originally quoted) boy lowered his collar. "What about this?" he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. "Lynched, for no crime but being black !"
In another crowd there was a pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes: "Why should I suffer?" she murmured. "It wasn't my fault." Far out across the plain were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He had permitted in His world.
How lucky God was to live in Heaven, where all was sweetness and light. Where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred. What did God know of all that man had been forced to endure in this world? For God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said.
So each of these groups sent forth their leader, chosen because he had suffered the most. A Jew, a negro, a person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic, a thalidomide child. In the centre of the vast plain, they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather clever.
Before God could be qualified to be their judge, He must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth as a man.
Let him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Give him a work so difficult that even his family will think him out of his mind.
Let him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured.
At the last, let him see what it means to be terribly alone. Then let him die so there can be no doubt he died. Let there be a great host of witnesses to verify it.
As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of people assembled.
When the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered a word. No one moved.
For suddenly, all knew that God had already served His sentence. - Anon
For further study see Psalm 41:9; Isaiah 53:3; Mark 14:50; John 1:10,11; Hebrews 4:15; 5:8.
The Long Silence.
At the end of time, billions of people were seated on a great plain before God's throne. Most shrank back from the brilliant light before them. But some groups near the front talked heatedly, not cringing with cringing shame - but with belligerence.
"Can God judge us? How can He know about suffering?", snapped a pert young brunette. She ripped open a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. "We endured terror ... beatings ... torture ... death!"
In another group a Negro (sic – as originally quoted) boy lowered his collar. "What about this?" he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. "Lynched, for no crime but being black !"
In another crowd there was a pregnant schoolgirl with sullen eyes: "Why should I suffer?" she murmured. "It wasn't my fault." Far out across the plain were hundreds of such groups. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and suffering He had permitted in His world.
How lucky God was to live in Heaven, where all was sweetness and light. Where there was no weeping or fear, no hunger or hatred. What did God know of all that man had been forced to endure in this world? For God leads a pretty sheltered life, they said.
So each of these groups sent forth their leader, chosen because he had suffered the most. A Jew, a negro, a person from Hiroshima, a horribly deformed arthritic, a thalidomide child. In the centre of the vast plain, they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case. It was rather clever.
Before God could be qualified to be their judge, He must endure what they had endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth as a man.
Let him be born a Jew. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted. Give him a work so difficult that even his family will think him out of his mind.
Let him be betrayed by his closest friends. Let him face false charges, be tried by a prejudiced jury and convicted by a cowardly judge. Let him be tortured.
At the last, let him see what it means to be terribly alone. Then let him die so there can be no doubt he died. Let there be a great host of witnesses to verify it.
As each leader announced his portion of the sentence, loud murmurs of approval went up from the throng of people assembled.
When the last had finished pronouncing sentence, there was a long silence. No one uttered a word. No one moved.
For suddenly, all knew that God had already served His sentence. - Anon
For further study see Psalm 41:9; Isaiah 53:3; Mark 14:50; John 1:10,11; Hebrews 4:15; 5:8.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
No other foundation II Invited into God's embrace
So what exactly does it mean that Jesus is our foundation? It might be helpful to ask what is unique about Christianity. All of the so called higher religions claim to have God speaking His truth in certain writings, so is it not just revealed knowledge. Nor is it the expectation that following the rules laid down this way should involve the heart rather than just be legalistic and mechanistic. The Jewish Scriptures talk about loving God with heart soul and strength. Judaism is of course the cradle of Christianity, so one would expect the Jewish portion of the Scriptures to contain echoes and shadows of what is unique in New testament revelation. And they do. The Jewish Scriptures point to Jesus (John 5:39, Isaiah 53). But the fullness of revelation comes only in and thorough the person of Jesus Christ. In this respect there is both continuity and discontinuity between Old and New Testament revelation.
The theological word for what I am hinting at is 'Incarnation'. One definition of this is “the teaching that the second person of the trinity took on human form in the person of Jesus Christ, and is both completely God and completely man”. This is a great mystery, God becomes a living breathing human being, one who knows and can be known. Who can fully understand this (see July 29, 2010 post)? But several, things are sure. Firstly the God-man Jesus Christ shows us what God is like (full of Grace and Truth see John 1:14; 14:9). Secondly Jesus shows us man as God intended man to be. This is not well understood. Jesus does not come merely in the appearance of man, He is in reality a man. Yes He is God too, but He lays aside His Deity and all advantages associated with it, and operates only in the realm of His humanity (Philippians 2:7). Yes He performs miracles, but He does this because He is filled with the Spirit, not because He is God (or how did the disciples perform miracles?). As man He suffers with us the suffering of mankind (see next post). He suffers our limitations, He dies, He is tempted, He gets tired and angry, but all this without sin (Hebrews 4:15, Ephesians 4:26). As God He suffered for us (redemption). So He suffers both with us and for us. This is incarnation.
There are many other things one could say, but there is one main point I want to make today about the incarnation and about what is unique in Christianity. It is that in God becoming man and walking among us, He is making provision for, and taking strong initiative in opening up the possibility that we can enter into relationship with Him. This, together with the last point above, is the both the essence and the uniqueness of Christianity. With regard to relationship being possible, in His prayer to the Father, Jesus describes the life of the age as knowing both the Father and the Son (John 17:3). Biblical "knowing" is much much more than knowing about (in this case God), it is about entering into intimate relationship with Him who is Trinity. Many wish they could have been there to touch Jesus in the flesh. Jesus however told the disciples that it was better even for them that He went away. He explained that if He did not, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, would not come (John 16:7). As a man He could only be in one place at at time. Now that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus is here, He is with us always and lives in the believer. He dwells there in His fullness, when we walk and abide in Him.
If we were better at relationships we would understand more the wonder of what we are offered, when we are offered friendship with the Trinitarian God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Have you ever felt left out, being on the outside of a circle of close friends? Most of us have some painful experiences of exclusion, rejection or abandonment. Human kind can be very exclusive, even in Church (we are not meant to be). God is not like this.
There is perfect fellowship within the Trinity itself. In fact, the essence of God is relationship (Trinity), unity in diversity, complex and haunting harmony. It makes an interesting study to examine the relationship of Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit. There is affirmation, respect, love, interdependence and much much more. They are so very very close. It is often said that a big part of Jesus' pain on the cross was His separation (for the first time) from His Father (Matthew 27:46). But amazingly, this fellowship of the Trinity is not exclusive, we are individually invited into the very centre of that fellowship. We are told for example "Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them” (John 14:21).
I don't know how He does this, but I know it is true that each one of us is His favourite son or daughter. He is crazy about you, and He is crazy about me. If you or I were the only ones who responded to His initiative in sending Jesus to die for our sin, He would still have come. His love is extravagant and amazing and He wants us to enter into it experientially. If we would dare to believe that He is indeed our exceedingly great reward, and live our lives accordingly, we would know and experience the truth of what I am saying here. We do need to give our everything though. After all He has done, it is offensive to Him when we are luke warm, simply going through the motions, living for numero uno. In any case, there is no healing no real joy, in being luke warm. Who could be more miserable than a half committed Christian. You can't any longer even enjoy your sin!
It is said that Salvation is free, but to enter into fullness of life will cost us everything we are and have. It is the testimony of those who have paid the most, that it is worth it all. For example Paul, who suffered greatly for his faith puts it this way “Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant―dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ―God’s righteousness. I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself” (Philippians 3, "The Message”).
The Hymn writer put it this way. “Those who fully trust Him, find Him fully true". We need to learn, with our sanctified imagination, to see ourselves seated in the very centre of Trinity (Ephesians 2:6), where “neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8).
This is truly foundational. When we trust in Him, He becomes our foundation, and we have true security. We know who we truly are. We are sons and daughters of the living God, rooted and grounded in love. We have peace to overcome the circumstances of life. In the centre of His embrace, there is life and health and wholeness and healing. We even start to like ourselves. Healthy impregnable self esteem is to be found in His embrace. Truly there is no other foundation.
The theological word for what I am hinting at is 'Incarnation'. One definition of this is “the teaching that the second person of the trinity took on human form in the person of Jesus Christ, and is both completely God and completely man”. This is a great mystery, God becomes a living breathing human being, one who knows and can be known. Who can fully understand this (see July 29, 2010 post)? But several, things are sure. Firstly the God-man Jesus Christ shows us what God is like (full of Grace and Truth see John 1:14; 14:9). Secondly Jesus shows us man as God intended man to be. This is not well understood. Jesus does not come merely in the appearance of man, He is in reality a man. Yes He is God too, but He lays aside His Deity and all advantages associated with it, and operates only in the realm of His humanity (Philippians 2:7). Yes He performs miracles, but He does this because He is filled with the Spirit, not because He is God (or how did the disciples perform miracles?). As man He suffers with us the suffering of mankind (see next post). He suffers our limitations, He dies, He is tempted, He gets tired and angry, but all this without sin (Hebrews 4:15, Ephesians 4:26). As God He suffered for us (redemption). So He suffers both with us and for us. This is incarnation.
There are many other things one could say, but there is one main point I want to make today about the incarnation and about what is unique in Christianity. It is that in God becoming man and walking among us, He is making provision for, and taking strong initiative in opening up the possibility that we can enter into relationship with Him. This, together with the last point above, is the both the essence and the uniqueness of Christianity. With regard to relationship being possible, in His prayer to the Father, Jesus describes the life of the age as knowing both the Father and the Son (John 17:3). Biblical "knowing" is much much more than knowing about (in this case God), it is about entering into intimate relationship with Him who is Trinity. Many wish they could have been there to touch Jesus in the flesh. Jesus however told the disciples that it was better even for them that He went away. He explained that if He did not, the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, would not come (John 16:7). As a man He could only be in one place at at time. Now that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Jesus is here, He is with us always and lives in the believer. He dwells there in His fullness, when we walk and abide in Him.
If we were better at relationships we would understand more the wonder of what we are offered, when we are offered friendship with the Trinitarian God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit). Have you ever felt left out, being on the outside of a circle of close friends? Most of us have some painful experiences of exclusion, rejection or abandonment. Human kind can be very exclusive, even in Church (we are not meant to be). God is not like this.
There is perfect fellowship within the Trinity itself. In fact, the essence of God is relationship (Trinity), unity in diversity, complex and haunting harmony. It makes an interesting study to examine the relationship of Jesus, the Father and the Holy Spirit. There is affirmation, respect, love, interdependence and much much more. They are so very very close. It is often said that a big part of Jesus' pain on the cross was His separation (for the first time) from His Father (Matthew 27:46). But amazingly, this fellowship of the Trinity is not exclusive, we are individually invited into the very centre of that fellowship. We are told for example "Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them” (John 14:21).
I don't know how He does this, but I know it is true that each one of us is His favourite son or daughter. He is crazy about you, and He is crazy about me. If you or I were the only ones who responded to His initiative in sending Jesus to die for our sin, He would still have come. His love is extravagant and amazing and He wants us to enter into it experientially. If we would dare to believe that He is indeed our exceedingly great reward, and live our lives accordingly, we would know and experience the truth of what I am saying here. We do need to give our everything though. After all He has done, it is offensive to Him when we are luke warm, simply going through the motions, living for numero uno. In any case, there is no healing no real joy, in being luke warm. Who could be more miserable than a half committed Christian. You can't any longer even enjoy your sin!
It is said that Salvation is free, but to enter into fullness of life will cost us everything we are and have. It is the testimony of those who have paid the most, that it is worth it all. For example Paul, who suffered greatly for his faith puts it this way “Yes, all the things I once thought were so important are gone from my life. Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant―dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by him. I didn’t want some petty, inferior brand of righteousness that comes from keeping a list of rules when I could get the robust kind that comes from trusting Christ―God’s righteousness. I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally, experience his resurrection power, be a partner in his suffering, and go all the way with him to death itself” (Philippians 3, "The Message”).
The Hymn writer put it this way. “Those who fully trust Him, find Him fully true". We need to learn, with our sanctified imagination, to see ourselves seated in the very centre of Trinity (Ephesians 2:6), where “neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8).
This is truly foundational. When we trust in Him, He becomes our foundation, and we have true security. We know who we truly are. We are sons and daughters of the living God, rooted and grounded in love. We have peace to overcome the circumstances of life. In the centre of His embrace, there is life and health and wholeness and healing. We even start to like ourselves. Healthy impregnable self esteem is to be found in His embrace. Truly there is no other foundation.
Saturday, December 11, 2010
No other foundation/the judgement seat of Christ
Jesus told us that the path that leads to eternal (and abundant) life is narrow (Matthew 7:13,14). There are many ditches on either side of the road we travel, of this “highway of holiness” as Isaiah puts it 35:8. There are many traps we can fall into, many dangers to avoid, many truths to learn, principles to understand and to practice. It is far too easy to become unfruitful, to live in ingratitude for all that He has done. There are many teachings that He has given us to discern the path, to help us to see if we are on it, to help us to stay on it and to get back on it when we have strayed from it. The posts this month will be discussing some of these things.
The last couple of posts are already part of this. Part of what we looked at was the “ditch” of presumption. Paul tells us “By Grace we are saved through faith, … it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8)”. Grace has been described as God's unmerited, undeserved favour. We do not deserve to be saved, it is only by His mercy, His loving kindness - His Grace. Paul is aware that some will try to take advantage of God's goodness and asks “Shall we continue in sin that the Grace of God may abound? He answers “God forbid”. How unthinkable! We talked about the attitude “God will forgive me that's His job”, and suggested that such a person needs to examine himself to see if he is on the narrow path to eternal life. This is one ditch, there are others. Today we will be looking at foundations of faith, principles and truths that are sure, rocks on which we can stand in this stormy life here below. His desire for us is that we be assured of our relationship with Him, assured but not presumptuous, established and growing in love, grace and mercy, becoming more and more like Him (Romans 8:29).
An other ditch we can fall into, is believing that we are already good enough without Him. “I never did anyone any harm” I hear people saying all the time. The full version of Ephesians 2:8, 9 is “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast”. To put this another way, the foundation of our salvation is not works, it is not 'doing no harm', it is not being or even doing good, it is God's grace. “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 3:11). We could never be good enough for heaven (see Pulled over for speeding. Mercy or Justice? June 2010). Believing that we can be or are, pushes us into the Pharisee's camp, into the camp of the self righteous. This is a second ditch. So if we should not trust in our goodness to get us to heaven, in what shall we trust?
Scripture is very clear on this. From the lips of Jesus we hear “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6). Note Jesus, does not say that He is a way, a truth and a life. He is the unique way, the unique truth and only in Him is there fullness of life. Paul tells us that there is one and only one foundation, Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 3:11 again) . He and He alone is the full necessary and sufficient sacrifice and substitution for out sins (Hebrews 10:12). Because of what He did on the cross we who trust in Him for our salvation, have been qualified to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints (Colossians 1:12). Jesus is the foundation, He is our surety, He is the root and ground of our salvation. It is in His name and in His name alone, that we are saved, for “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
We are not saved by the things that we do or do not do then (Ephesians 2:8,9). However, in the very same context Paul tells us that God has works for us to do. He even prepared them in advance for us to do them (Ephesians 2:10). The foundation then is sure, but Paul warns us to be careful how we build on this foundation. After all “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). Paul describes this as a test, as a fire. Fire of course does not destroy rock, fire does not destroy foundations.
If we build solidly on this foundation (silver, gold, precious jewels – things unaffected by fire) we will receive our reward. If on the other hand we build with wood hay or stubble, things that a fire will burn up, we will loose our reward (I Corinthians 3:15). In a world where image is everything, we need to realize that God sees the heart. Perhaps the wood hay and stubble are things that are concerned with outward appearance.
There is nothing hidden from God, He knows when we are going through the motions, or doing good merely to be seen. If our works are burned up, we will suffer loss “but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire” (I Corinthians 3:15). For the Christian, this judgement then, is not about getting into heaven or not. On the other hand, we will still be held accountable for what we have done or not done. The judgement seat of Christ for the Christian is about gaining or loosing rewards. On that day there will be those who will have nothing to bring to Jesus, no crown to cast before Him. On that day, we will see that some of the things that seem important now, some of the things that we pursue are as chasing after shadows. I know what I want to hear on that day, I want to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord”. We are not our own we are bought with a price, with the precious blood of Jesus. Paul tells us that “He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:15). In a World that is going to hell in a hand basket, our lives need to show that there is a better way. We will never be perfect, but we can be being changed. There is no room here for presumption. The only sure sign of life is growth.
The last couple of posts are already part of this. Part of what we looked at was the “ditch” of presumption. Paul tells us “By Grace we are saved through faith, … it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8)”. Grace has been described as God's unmerited, undeserved favour. We do not deserve to be saved, it is only by His mercy, His loving kindness - His Grace. Paul is aware that some will try to take advantage of God's goodness and asks “Shall we continue in sin that the Grace of God may abound? He answers “God forbid”. How unthinkable! We talked about the attitude “God will forgive me that's His job”, and suggested that such a person needs to examine himself to see if he is on the narrow path to eternal life. This is one ditch, there are others. Today we will be looking at foundations of faith, principles and truths that are sure, rocks on which we can stand in this stormy life here below. His desire for us is that we be assured of our relationship with Him, assured but not presumptuous, established and growing in love, grace and mercy, becoming more and more like Him (Romans 8:29).
An other ditch we can fall into, is believing that we are already good enough without Him. “I never did anyone any harm” I hear people saying all the time. The full version of Ephesians 2:8, 9 is “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast”. To put this another way, the foundation of our salvation is not works, it is not 'doing no harm', it is not being or even doing good, it is God's grace. “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 3:11). We could never be good enough for heaven (see Pulled over for speeding. Mercy or Justice? June 2010). Believing that we can be or are, pushes us into the Pharisee's camp, into the camp of the self righteous. This is a second ditch. So if we should not trust in our goodness to get us to heaven, in what shall we trust?
Scripture is very clear on this. From the lips of Jesus we hear “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but by me” (John 14:6). Note Jesus, does not say that He is a way, a truth and a life. He is the unique way, the unique truth and only in Him is there fullness of life. Paul tells us that there is one and only one foundation, Jesus Christ (I Corinthians 3:11 again) . He and He alone is the full necessary and sufficient sacrifice and substitution for out sins (Hebrews 10:12). Because of what He did on the cross we who trust in Him for our salvation, have been qualified to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints (Colossians 1:12). Jesus is the foundation, He is our surety, He is the root and ground of our salvation. It is in His name and in His name alone, that we are saved, for “there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
We are not saved by the things that we do or do not do then (Ephesians 2:8,9). However, in the very same context Paul tells us that God has works for us to do. He even prepared them in advance for us to do them (Ephesians 2:10). The foundation then is sure, but Paul warns us to be careful how we build on this foundation. After all “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Corinthians 5:10). Paul describes this as a test, as a fire. Fire of course does not destroy rock, fire does not destroy foundations.
If we build solidly on this foundation (silver, gold, precious jewels – things unaffected by fire) we will receive our reward. If on the other hand we build with wood hay or stubble, things that a fire will burn up, we will loose our reward (I Corinthians 3:15). In a world where image is everything, we need to realize that God sees the heart. Perhaps the wood hay and stubble are things that are concerned with outward appearance.
There is nothing hidden from God, He knows when we are going through the motions, or doing good merely to be seen. If our works are burned up, we will suffer loss “but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire” (I Corinthians 3:15). For the Christian, this judgement then, is not about getting into heaven or not. On the other hand, we will still be held accountable for what we have done or not done. The judgement seat of Christ for the Christian is about gaining or loosing rewards. On that day there will be those who will have nothing to bring to Jesus, no crown to cast before Him. On that day, we will see that some of the things that seem important now, some of the things that we pursue are as chasing after shadows. I know what I want to hear on that day, I want to hear “Well done, good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of the Lord”. We are not our own we are bought with a price, with the precious blood of Jesus. Paul tells us that “He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:15). In a World that is going to hell in a hand basket, our lives need to show that there is a better way. We will never be perfect, but we can be being changed. There is no room here for presumption. The only sure sign of life is growth.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
Salvation by Faith, Assurance by Works II
We could, I believe summarize the two scenarios in last day's post by calling the first case, case A, the case of the presumptuous brother, and case B, the case of the weaker brother. Lets not get judgmental here, in many things we all fail, in may ways we are all weak! If we have to be perfect to keep our salvation, we are all in trouble. The first thing I would want to say to Buddy B would be “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleans us from all unrighteousness (I John 1:9). One of the first things I would want to say to Buddy B is that the Scriptures give us no grounds to be presumptuous. We may need to point him to the verse which tells us “Examine yourself to see if you be in the Faith” (2 Corinthians 13:5). You can live in a garage and call yourself a car, but that would not make you one. Not everyone who calls himself a Christian is a Christian (see Matthew 7:21).
So there are two sides to the "assurance" equation. In a nutshell they are on the one hand 'By Grace we are save through faith, it is the gift of God, not of works (Ephesians 2:8,9)”, and on the other hand assurance (feeling saved) actually does come by works. We need more than a single verse to see this. Consider the contrasting Scriptures “The Spirit bears witness that we are the children of God”, but “To be carnally minded is death” (Romans 8:6). Or that “We are sealed by the Spirit”, but that we should “Be being filled with the Spirit” and “not to quench Him” (Ephesians 1:13; 5:18, I Thess 5:19). We are not likely to feel saved if we are grieving and quenching His leading in our lives, if we are not walking the walk.
In the two scenarios left hanging last day, I would say that Buddy B likely has lost his assurance, but not his salvation. He does need to get right with God. If you are Buddy B, or someone like him, I need you to know that “He knows our frame, He knows we are but dust (Psalm 103:14)”. One clue I often find that we really do belong to Him, is that we feel guilty now for what never bothered us at all before. This is a strong indication that He is at work in our lives. You are a child of God, loving and patient fathers do not disinherit their sons or daughters at the drop of a hat. He who tells us, to forgive over and over, is more than willing to do that with us too.
For the other scenario for Buddy A, we need to be more careful. It is easy to judge someone who is not living up to our standards. God's priorities with our brother may not be our priorities. Remember you and I will be judged with the same measure that we judge. Paul tells us that a servant of the Lord must be gentle to all apt to teach. It is important to distinguish between, weakness as in out of control addictions, and willful presumption. We do not know the other one's heart. Is is not always as clear as I presented it last day. However if it is, if for example the attitude is “God will forgive me that is His job”, I would be inclined to say something like “I fear for you my friend. I fear you are deceived. Jesus is not a ticket to sin. His sacrifice is not a license to do whatever I want to do” (see also “Jesus our wiping boy").
Consider again the Scriptures from I John 5:13 “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” These verses from the end of the epistle tell us very clearly that we are intended to have assurance. The grounds for that assurance punctuate the whole letter. We find for example phrases like “By this we know that we are in Him, ...” or “He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar”, or “This is how we know that we know Him ….”.
So what is the “this” of the last sentence referring to? In 2:3 is it “if we keep His commandments”, in 3:6 it is because “we do not (habitually) sin” (parenthetical comment mine). In 3:14 is it “because we love the brethren”. In 3:18 it is because we “love (not) in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth,” in 5:3 because “we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome”. In 3:19 John explicitly links assurance with loving in deed and in truth, for he says (connecting with 3:18) “And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him”.
So then the assurance, how we know that we know, the feeling that are intended to accompany salvation, these things come as we walk His paths, live in the light, obey His commandments, and love the brethren. Yes salvation is a gift received by faith, but assurance is by works.
So there are two sides to the "assurance" equation. In a nutshell they are on the one hand 'By Grace we are save through faith, it is the gift of God, not of works (Ephesians 2:8,9)”, and on the other hand assurance (feeling saved) actually does come by works. We need more than a single verse to see this. Consider the contrasting Scriptures “The Spirit bears witness that we are the children of God”, but “To be carnally minded is death” (Romans 8:6). Or that “We are sealed by the Spirit”, but that we should “Be being filled with the Spirit” and “not to quench Him” (Ephesians 1:13; 5:18, I Thess 5:19). We are not likely to feel saved if we are grieving and quenching His leading in our lives, if we are not walking the walk.
In the two scenarios left hanging last day, I would say that Buddy B likely has lost his assurance, but not his salvation. He does need to get right with God. If you are Buddy B, or someone like him, I need you to know that “He knows our frame, He knows we are but dust (Psalm 103:14)”. One clue I often find that we really do belong to Him, is that we feel guilty now for what never bothered us at all before. This is a strong indication that He is at work in our lives. You are a child of God, loving and patient fathers do not disinherit their sons or daughters at the drop of a hat. He who tells us, to forgive over and over, is more than willing to do that with us too.
For the other scenario for Buddy A, we need to be more careful. It is easy to judge someone who is not living up to our standards. God's priorities with our brother may not be our priorities. Remember you and I will be judged with the same measure that we judge. Paul tells us that a servant of the Lord must be gentle to all apt to teach. It is important to distinguish between, weakness as in out of control addictions, and willful presumption. We do not know the other one's heart. Is is not always as clear as I presented it last day. However if it is, if for example the attitude is “God will forgive me that is His job”, I would be inclined to say something like “I fear for you my friend. I fear you are deceived. Jesus is not a ticket to sin. His sacrifice is not a license to do whatever I want to do” (see also “Jesus our wiping boy").
Consider again the Scriptures from I John 5:13 “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.” These verses from the end of the epistle tell us very clearly that we are intended to have assurance. The grounds for that assurance punctuate the whole letter. We find for example phrases like “By this we know that we are in Him, ...” or “He who says, 'I know Him,' and does not keep His commandments, is a liar”, or “This is how we know that we know Him ….”.
So what is the “this” of the last sentence referring to? In 2:3 is it “if we keep His commandments”, in 3:6 it is because “we do not (habitually) sin” (parenthetical comment mine). In 3:14 is it “because we love the brethren”. In 3:18 it is because we “love (not) in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth,” in 5:3 because “we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome”. In 3:19 John explicitly links assurance with loving in deed and in truth, for he says (connecting with 3:18) “And by this we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him”.
So then the assurance, how we know that we know, the feeling that are intended to accompany salvation, these things come as we walk His paths, live in the light, obey His commandments, and love the brethren. Yes salvation is a gift received by faith, but assurance is by works.
Sunday, December 5, 2010
Salvation by Faith, Assurance by Works I
One of the more controversial issues in the believing church is the issue of “eternal security”. The question concerns whether or not you can loose your salvation. To outline the two basic sides, one says 'once saved always saved (no matter what you do)', the other side claims that you can gain and loose your salvation, and then gain and loose it again. So what do the Scriptures say? There are two sets of Scriptures we should examine. Lets call them set A and set B (you would have to know I am a Mathematician!). One side takes a set A of verses, and uses them to explain that set B cannot possibly mean what they say, because set A makes the principle clear. The other side uses the same argument, but just replaces A with B and B with A.
Some of the “A” verses here would include I John 5:12 “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life,” and “No one can pluck you out of my hand”. The “B” verses include “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins ..." (Hebrews 10:26).
Before we go further, I need to make a point about interpretation. People tell me all the time that the Bible contradicts itself. Let's look at one such “contradiction”. This one is rather startling, since the two verses are side by side. Proverbs 26 verse 4 says "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Lest you also be like him". Verse 5 says "Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own eyes".
Sounds like a contradiction right? Wrong, you need to look at the context. There are two dangers to be avoided. Lets look at two possible scenarios. For the first, the fool has the gift of the gab, could talk the read end off a horse, and you are easily lead astray. Perhaps you are a young Christian and want to get your former friends saved, but are not yet fully established in the Faith. You are in grave danger of being persuaded to follow him. Best to stay away. This is the context of verse 4.
Scenario number two, the fool is your son, you love him. Not to show him the error of his ways, leaves him to the school of hard knocks. If you do not say anything to him, he is likely to remain wise in his own eyes (he may anyway). This is the context of verse 5, and the reason you would need to answer him according to his folly. What wise and loving parent would not want to do this?
So then, you encounter a fool, which piece of advice do you follow? In context, each piece of advice is sound. Which context fits the situation? You need wisdom, you may need to know yourself, you could ask the Holy Spirit and older Christians to guide you. You may need to learn the hard way, that you are not yet strong enough. But is there a contradiction in the Scriptures? No, its just that the Bible is more complex than we have even begun to realize in our overly simplistic one shoe fits all, interpretations/applications. The point is in the context in which they are intended to be applied, each verses give sound advice.
The two “shoes” in the "to answer or not to answer" question are obvious. The two answers in the eternal security debate are not so clear. Let me again suggest two scenarios. Scenario one, in his zeal a young Christian has persuaded buddy A, that all he as to do to be saved, is to repeat the sinners prayer after him (Jesus I am a sinner, come into my heart). In his hurry to get buddy A saved, the young Christian has forgotten (or not properly understood) the need for repentance. Buddy A is sorry he got caught, does not like the consequences of his poor choices (sin), but has no desire or intent to change. He just wants to get rid of the pain. So buddy A goes through the motions, repeats the prayer and is then persuaded by his friend that he is saved. But there is no repentance, no encounter with God, no change in his life. He believes in his head that there is a God, but there is no heart encounter. “I am going to heaven”, he tells himself, “the Bible tells me so”. But he continues to live for the devil. Some theologians call this cheap grace.
Scenario two. Buddy B is an alcoholic, his father before him, and his father's father before him were alcoholics. Buddy B has a real heart encounter with God. His life changes, by God's grace, he gives up the booze. His relationships starts to change for the better. For the first time in ages, he is clean. "I can do this", he tells himself. "I don't need to drink anymore". He starts to tell his drinking buddies about Christ. “You can give it up”, he tells them. “I did”. The Scriptures tell us “Let he who thinks he stands, take care lest he fall”. The trials come, a friend dies, he is laid off work, he feels abandoned by God. In his pain he is persuaded to have “just one drink", just to ease the pain. “Just one” is not going to hurt right? One drink leads to two, and two to three, and next thing you know he is right back into his alcoholism. “And the latter state of the man is worse than the first” (Matthew 12:45). Add one more t-shirt to my collection. The devil tells buddy B, that he has really blown it now, and since he has been reading his Bible, points him to the Hebrews passage above.
You are called to council (at different times) both of these buddies. The intent is to build them up. "A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient.." (2Timothy 2:24). What will you tell them? (more to come).
Some of the “A” verses here would include I John 5:12 “These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life,” and “No one can pluck you out of my hand”. The “B” verses include “For if we sin willfully after we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remains no more sacrifice for sins ..." (Hebrews 10:26).
Before we go further, I need to make a point about interpretation. People tell me all the time that the Bible contradicts itself. Let's look at one such “contradiction”. This one is rather startling, since the two verses are side by side. Proverbs 26 verse 4 says "Do not answer a fool according to his folly, Lest you also be like him". Verse 5 says "Answer a fool according to his folly, Lest he be wise in his own eyes".
Sounds like a contradiction right? Wrong, you need to look at the context. There are two dangers to be avoided. Lets look at two possible scenarios. For the first, the fool has the gift of the gab, could talk the read end off a horse, and you are easily lead astray. Perhaps you are a young Christian and want to get your former friends saved, but are not yet fully established in the Faith. You are in grave danger of being persuaded to follow him. Best to stay away. This is the context of verse 4.
Scenario number two, the fool is your son, you love him. Not to show him the error of his ways, leaves him to the school of hard knocks. If you do not say anything to him, he is likely to remain wise in his own eyes (he may anyway). This is the context of verse 5, and the reason you would need to answer him according to his folly. What wise and loving parent would not want to do this?
So then, you encounter a fool, which piece of advice do you follow? In context, each piece of advice is sound. Which context fits the situation? You need wisdom, you may need to know yourself, you could ask the Holy Spirit and older Christians to guide you. You may need to learn the hard way, that you are not yet strong enough. But is there a contradiction in the Scriptures? No, its just that the Bible is more complex than we have even begun to realize in our overly simplistic one shoe fits all, interpretations/applications. The point is in the context in which they are intended to be applied, each verses give sound advice.
The two “shoes” in the "to answer or not to answer" question are obvious. The two answers in the eternal security debate are not so clear. Let me again suggest two scenarios. Scenario one, in his zeal a young Christian has persuaded buddy A, that all he as to do to be saved, is to repeat the sinners prayer after him (Jesus I am a sinner, come into my heart). In his hurry to get buddy A saved, the young Christian has forgotten (or not properly understood) the need for repentance. Buddy A is sorry he got caught, does not like the consequences of his poor choices (sin), but has no desire or intent to change. He just wants to get rid of the pain. So buddy A goes through the motions, repeats the prayer and is then persuaded by his friend that he is saved. But there is no repentance, no encounter with God, no change in his life. He believes in his head that there is a God, but there is no heart encounter. “I am going to heaven”, he tells himself, “the Bible tells me so”. But he continues to live for the devil. Some theologians call this cheap grace.
Scenario two. Buddy B is an alcoholic, his father before him, and his father's father before him were alcoholics. Buddy B has a real heart encounter with God. His life changes, by God's grace, he gives up the booze. His relationships starts to change for the better. For the first time in ages, he is clean. "I can do this", he tells himself. "I don't need to drink anymore". He starts to tell his drinking buddies about Christ. “You can give it up”, he tells them. “I did”. The Scriptures tell us “Let he who thinks he stands, take care lest he fall”. The trials come, a friend dies, he is laid off work, he feels abandoned by God. In his pain he is persuaded to have “just one drink", just to ease the pain. “Just one” is not going to hurt right? One drink leads to two, and two to three, and next thing you know he is right back into his alcoholism. “And the latter state of the man is worse than the first” (Matthew 12:45). Add one more t-shirt to my collection. The devil tells buddy B, that he has really blown it now, and since he has been reading his Bible, points him to the Hebrews passage above.
You are called to council (at different times) both of these buddies. The intent is to build them up. "A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but be gentle to all, able to teach, patient.." (2Timothy 2:24). What will you tell them? (more to come).
Thursday, December 2, 2010
I believe it might rain, belief in Christ, saving faith.
Words are so inadequate. Take the word “love”. Greek has four words we might translate as love. For us “love” can cover anything from lust, to the unconditional empowering love with which God loves us. The English word “believe” also has diverse meanings. I believe it might rain. It costs nothing to believe that, it is no big deal if I am wrong. The meaning of belief (faith) in Christ in the verses quoted in the closing paragraph of the last post, is a very different kettle of fish. Theologians sometimes refer to the faith intended there, as “saving faith”.
If you read different translations of the Bible you will find that they do not seem to agree at times. Usually this is because of translational difficulties. A particular Greek or Hebrew word may not have an exact parallel in English. When this happens it is (again usually) best to understand both (all) the translated words. For example in John 1:12 we are told that to those who believe on His name He gave “excousia” to become the Children of God. Some versions translate this as 'authority', others as the 'right', to become Children of God. We have both the right and the authority. If you are a believer, you have the legal right, before the bar of God, to call yourself His child. Other Scriptures tell that we have been adopted into His family, and that as a legal son or daughter we have all the rights and privileges that come with that standing. In particular we have an inheritance (I Peter 1:4). On the other hand, we also have the authority that comes with our standing as sons and daughters. We have authority over daemons, and authority to heal the sick (Mark 16:17 and elsewhere - not that we have even begun to fully claim this). We also have authority to speak on His behalf, to persuade others to be reconciled to God. We are His Ambassadors (II Corinthians 5:19.20). The belief in John 1:12, is talking about is saving faith.
Moving away from “I believe it might rain” to “I believe in free speech”. We may give mental ascent to this value, but fail to put it into practice in our lives. Increasingly the tyranny of Political correctness tests our commitment to that principle. To believe it in the Biblical sense would be not only to agree to the principle, but to put into practice the saying of Evelyn Hall "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
The faith (belief) mentioned in John 3:16, is saving faith, faith that saves. It gives us all the rights and privileges of an heir including access to His promises, abundant life in the here and now, and life forever in the hereafter. Such faith is not merely a belief that agrees with statements about God, that He exists, that He is just etc. The devils believe in this sense and tremble (James 2:19). No, saving faith is faith that puts all its eggs into the God basket, and lives life in agreement with that. Saving faith allows us entrance into the promises of God, into the fullness of life that is given to those who radically follow Him. We do not have to be perfect (in fact we never will be). It is about an over all movement in the direction of God. The repentance mentioned in last days post then, is that turning from our own way and turning to His way, it is to surrender the reins of our life to God.
The story is told of Blondel, who many years ago walked a tightrope over Niagara falls. He was quite a showman. One time, he put a sack of potatoes into a wheelbarrow and pushed that on the tightrope over the falls. Egging the crowd on he is said to have asked them “Do you believe that I can put a man in this wheelbarrow and take him over the falls?” The crowd enthusiastically agreed. “We believe, we believe”. A particularly enthusiastic little man on the front row was singled out by Blondel. “If you believe”, he told the man, “get into the wheelbarrow”. The little man disappeared into the crowd. Saving faith, the faith God requires of us if placed in Blondel, would have gotten into the wheelbarrow. The amplified Bible translates belief in this sense as “believe in, trust in, clings to and relies on”. This kind of belief is a belief that trusts Him with our lives, even when we do not understand. This faith obeys His commandments. This faith is saving faith. “He who lives and (in the above sense) believes in me, will never die (the eternal death)” (John 11:26 - the comments in brackets are mine).
If you read different translations of the Bible you will find that they do not seem to agree at times. Usually this is because of translational difficulties. A particular Greek or Hebrew word may not have an exact parallel in English. When this happens it is (again usually) best to understand both (all) the translated words. For example in John 1:12 we are told that to those who believe on His name He gave “excousia” to become the Children of God. Some versions translate this as 'authority', others as the 'right', to become Children of God. We have both the right and the authority. If you are a believer, you have the legal right, before the bar of God, to call yourself His child. Other Scriptures tell that we have been adopted into His family, and that as a legal son or daughter we have all the rights and privileges that come with that standing. In particular we have an inheritance (I Peter 1:4). On the other hand, we also have the authority that comes with our standing as sons and daughters. We have authority over daemons, and authority to heal the sick (Mark 16:17 and elsewhere - not that we have even begun to fully claim this). We also have authority to speak on His behalf, to persuade others to be reconciled to God. We are His Ambassadors (II Corinthians 5:19.20). The belief in John 1:12, is talking about is saving faith.
Moving away from “I believe it might rain” to “I believe in free speech”. We may give mental ascent to this value, but fail to put it into practice in our lives. Increasingly the tyranny of Political correctness tests our commitment to that principle. To believe it in the Biblical sense would be not only to agree to the principle, but to put into practice the saying of Evelyn Hall "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it".
The faith (belief) mentioned in John 3:16, is saving faith, faith that saves. It gives us all the rights and privileges of an heir including access to His promises, abundant life in the here and now, and life forever in the hereafter. Such faith is not merely a belief that agrees with statements about God, that He exists, that He is just etc. The devils believe in this sense and tremble (James 2:19). No, saving faith is faith that puts all its eggs into the God basket, and lives life in agreement with that. Saving faith allows us entrance into the promises of God, into the fullness of life that is given to those who radically follow Him. We do not have to be perfect (in fact we never will be). It is about an over all movement in the direction of God. The repentance mentioned in last days post then, is that turning from our own way and turning to His way, it is to surrender the reins of our life to God.
The story is told of Blondel, who many years ago walked a tightrope over Niagara falls. He was quite a showman. One time, he put a sack of potatoes into a wheelbarrow and pushed that on the tightrope over the falls. Egging the crowd on he is said to have asked them “Do you believe that I can put a man in this wheelbarrow and take him over the falls?” The crowd enthusiastically agreed. “We believe, we believe”. A particularly enthusiastic little man on the front row was singled out by Blondel. “If you believe”, he told the man, “get into the wheelbarrow”. The little man disappeared into the crowd. Saving faith, the faith God requires of us if placed in Blondel, would have gotten into the wheelbarrow. The amplified Bible translates belief in this sense as “believe in, trust in, clings to and relies on”. This kind of belief is a belief that trusts Him with our lives, even when we do not understand. This faith obeys His commandments. This faith is saving faith. “He who lives and (in the above sense) believes in me, will never die (the eternal death)” (John 11:26 - the comments in brackets are mine).
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Unless you repent, you shall all likewise perish.
The then current mindset was that if something bad happens to you it is either because you had done something bad or your parents had done something bad. Jesus statement (as in the title of the post) was “No, none of the above, but unless you repent (turn away from your sin), you are in for bad things to happen to you”.
When bad things happen to us in the here and now we more often than not cry out “Why me?” I have in the last few posts been talking about the consequences of our “poor choices”, and the mess we are in as a society. But the pain that we suffer is not all from our poor choices, it is not all from our sin. The saying of Jesus in the title confirms this.
I don't think I need to persuade you that life is not fair. If you are not there yet, just wait a while. This truth is of course in the Bible for “The rain falls on the just and the unjust.” We don't need to think too deeply to see that it is true. Is death sufficient punishment for the likes of one (Hitler) who was responsible for the murder of six million men women and children? I mean we all die, the good the bad and the ugly. The point is that if God is just (and He is) then there has to be a time of reckoning, there has to be a Heaven and a Hell. When we judge others (and who does not) we are at one level siding with God on this. Have you ever said “He deserves everything that is coming to him”. We need to be careful here, because “With the measure we measure, it will be measured to us”. If that does not scare the living daylights our of you, it should! Most of us judge all the time. But we cannot have justice for the other buddy, but mercy for ourselves. That is to want our cake and eat it too. God's not into that, He is into righteous judgments and Mercy. He prefers Mercy, and unless we repent, we will get judgement, for none of us is perfect (see 'Caught for speeding ..' June 2010) .
Why do bad things happen to good people? Some of it is our sin (for no one is truly good), some of it is other people's sin, and some of is it simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. There is a verse that means a lot to me, Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose". This verse is not saying that evil is good. It is rather a promise that for those who turn to Christ, God is actively at work to bring good out of the bad. We don't always see it, well it is not always immediate. But that is where faith (trust comes in). We do know that when we turn to Him in repentance, He covers our sins, casts them into the sea and remembers them no more. We also know that in the end He will right every wrong, and wipe away every tear of those who belong to Him.
But if we do not love Him, if we refuse to turn to Him in repentance, the promise does not apply. When we do not turn to Him, we are truly victims of the schemes of the devil. His plan for you is eternal death and destruction. Hell was created for the Devil and his angels, not for you. But you have to choose sides. Its not a popular truth (see “Hell, are you trying to scare me into Heaven?), but if there is a God and He is Just (and there is a God and He is Just) then logically there has to be a Heaven and a Hell. And we don't get to Heaven by being good, we get to Heaven by repenting being forgiven and following Him. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:17,18).
When bad things happen to us in the here and now we more often than not cry out “Why me?” I have in the last few posts been talking about the consequences of our “poor choices”, and the mess we are in as a society. But the pain that we suffer is not all from our poor choices, it is not all from our sin. The saying of Jesus in the title confirms this.
I don't think I need to persuade you that life is not fair. If you are not there yet, just wait a while. This truth is of course in the Bible for “The rain falls on the just and the unjust.” We don't need to think too deeply to see that it is true. Is death sufficient punishment for the likes of one (Hitler) who was responsible for the murder of six million men women and children? I mean we all die, the good the bad and the ugly. The point is that if God is just (and He is) then there has to be a time of reckoning, there has to be a Heaven and a Hell. When we judge others (and who does not) we are at one level siding with God on this. Have you ever said “He deserves everything that is coming to him”. We need to be careful here, because “With the measure we measure, it will be measured to us”. If that does not scare the living daylights our of you, it should! Most of us judge all the time. But we cannot have justice for the other buddy, but mercy for ourselves. That is to want our cake and eat it too. God's not into that, He is into righteous judgments and Mercy. He prefers Mercy, and unless we repent, we will get judgement, for none of us is perfect (see 'Caught for speeding ..' June 2010) .
Why do bad things happen to good people? Some of it is our sin (for no one is truly good), some of it is other people's sin, and some of is it simply being in the wrong place at the wrong time. There is a verse that means a lot to me, Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose". This verse is not saying that evil is good. It is rather a promise that for those who turn to Christ, God is actively at work to bring good out of the bad. We don't always see it, well it is not always immediate. But that is where faith (trust comes in). We do know that when we turn to Him in repentance, He covers our sins, casts them into the sea and remembers them no more. We also know that in the end He will right every wrong, and wipe away every tear of those who belong to Him.
But if we do not love Him, if we refuse to turn to Him in repentance, the promise does not apply. When we do not turn to Him, we are truly victims of the schemes of the devil. His plan for you is eternal death and destruction. Hell was created for the Devil and his angels, not for you. But you have to choose sides. Its not a popular truth (see “Hell, are you trying to scare me into Heaven?), but if there is a God and He is Just (and there is a God and He is Just) then logically there has to be a Heaven and a Hell. And we don't get to Heaven by being good, we get to Heaven by repenting being forgiven and following Him. “For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:17,18).
Monday, November 29, 2010
God's provision and protection II. Protection.
Last day I was sharing primarily about God's provision in the Judeo-Christian ideal of one man one woman in life long monogamous relationship. I do not believe that we have even begun to understand the potential for intimacy, closeness of union of body, mind, soul and spirit inherent in the Biblical model of human sexuality. It does not seem to be well know that the Bible, in the Song of Solomon, gives explicit, at times even raunchy instructions of how to get there and how to maintain this closeness. I said in an earlier post that our society can be described as being inflamed by its pseudo, hyper sexuality. Three times in Song of Solomon, we are told “not to stir up love” until the appropriate time. Our society, as a society, does the exact opposite of this, and in doing so is, I believe, playing with fire.
We are always playing with fire when we go against Scripture. The “no”s of scripture are there to protect and provide. Take sexuality. We are told “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body” (I Corinthians 6:18). We should understand “body” here, to mean the whole person, and “to sin against” as 'cause harm to'. The Devil came to kill steal and to destroy, and by and large, all he has to do is to stir us up and tempt us to throw out the rules God gives us for our provision and protection.
Research in the Social Sciences even from the earliest of studies, confirms that our first sexual experiences tend to cement themselves into our practices. More recent studies explain that sexual activity and even sexual fantasy, significantly alters brain chemistry, that is it opens up neural pathways in the brain. In the right context is has to do with bonding, with our ability to form and keep long term relationships. In the wrong context, it has to do with the formation of spiraling addictions.
In a faithful first time union, the created neural pathways act like strong “glue” in a relationship, helping the couple to bond, and to stay bonded. This first time physical union was never meant to be severed, and its severing opens up (and in some cases adds to echos of previous) issues such as rejection, abandonment and feelings of betrayal, along with their associated mental and emotional pain. In the presence of multiple partners, where relationships have been severed over and over, the bonding process itself becomes damaged, or else expresses itself as a need to constantly seek new partners. From a behavioural point of view this latter scenario, can be described in terms of our developing appetites that later demand to be satisfied, even long after we have ceased to want them. To put it another way, in the wrong context, sexual activity opens up neural pathways in the brain that reinforce addictions in a very powerful way. That sexual activity and sexual fantasies opens up such neural pathways, helps to explain how one can become addicted to pornography, and such irrational practices as cross dressing. The strength of sexual addictions have lead some Psychologists to proclaim, for example, that pedophilia is incurable. No one caught in the grip of sexual addictions, be pornography or promiscuity in any of its forms, can doubt the truth about the difficulty of bringing these things under control.
All of this, and we have not even started to get into the health issues that surround our frantic obsession with sex. Did you ever stop to ponder the fact that STD's (sexually transmitted diseases) would be stamped out in a single generation that practiced Biblical morality. There were enough STD's around in my own rebellious youth, but with today's resistant strains in ever increasing pandemic proportions, you can die. That was never a fear in my day.
One has to wonder, how far will we go in rationalizing our behaviour, how far down the proverbial slippery slope are we willing to go before we become willing to re-examine our views on what is right and wrong? I was disturbed to learn of the decriminalization of incest in certain European countries, and to read, in journals endorsed by the American Psychological Society, that “research has started to show that pedophilia can be positive for the child”, and even that “parents should welcome pedophiles into their home”. Suppose, just suppose, as it is being argued in this latter scenario, that in certain instances these 'man loves boy experiences', are looked on as positive by the child. Let me ask, in the light of bonding inherent in early sexual experiences, what happens when the pedophile wants to move on? The above research is of course, being contested.
Would it not make sense, in the light of all of this, to be willing to re-examine our sexual values and practices? Should we not consider what the tearing of sexual bonds does to our Psychological, mental, emotional and even physical health? God calls is sin. It has been said that sin takes us further than we want to go, keeps us longer than we want to stay and costs us more than we want to pay. As I have said before, Jesus puts it this way “He who sins is the slave of sin”. I have been there, done that and bought the t-shirt. Fortunately, there is a way out, a way back. As I said last day, He is into the rescue and restoration business. He came to restore ruined lives, to bring hope, joy, peace, love, to bring us into healing within the community of the rescued, and to lift us out of the dung heap! “I am come”, He tells us, “that you might have life, and life in all its fullness” (John 10:10). Truly He is the way the truth and the life!
We are always playing with fire when we go against Scripture. The “no”s of scripture are there to protect and provide. Take sexuality. We are told “Flee sexual immorality. Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body” (I Corinthians 6:18). We should understand “body” here, to mean the whole person, and “to sin against” as 'cause harm to'. The Devil came to kill steal and to destroy, and by and large, all he has to do is to stir us up and tempt us to throw out the rules God gives us for our provision and protection.
Research in the Social Sciences even from the earliest of studies, confirms that our first sexual experiences tend to cement themselves into our practices. More recent studies explain that sexual activity and even sexual fantasy, significantly alters brain chemistry, that is it opens up neural pathways in the brain. In the right context is has to do with bonding, with our ability to form and keep long term relationships. In the wrong context, it has to do with the formation of spiraling addictions.
In a faithful first time union, the created neural pathways act like strong “glue” in a relationship, helping the couple to bond, and to stay bonded. This first time physical union was never meant to be severed, and its severing opens up (and in some cases adds to echos of previous) issues such as rejection, abandonment and feelings of betrayal, along with their associated mental and emotional pain. In the presence of multiple partners, where relationships have been severed over and over, the bonding process itself becomes damaged, or else expresses itself as a need to constantly seek new partners. From a behavioural point of view this latter scenario, can be described in terms of our developing appetites that later demand to be satisfied, even long after we have ceased to want them. To put it another way, in the wrong context, sexual activity opens up neural pathways in the brain that reinforce addictions in a very powerful way. That sexual activity and sexual fantasies opens up such neural pathways, helps to explain how one can become addicted to pornography, and such irrational practices as cross dressing. The strength of sexual addictions have lead some Psychologists to proclaim, for example, that pedophilia is incurable. No one caught in the grip of sexual addictions, be pornography or promiscuity in any of its forms, can doubt the truth about the difficulty of bringing these things under control.
All of this, and we have not even started to get into the health issues that surround our frantic obsession with sex. Did you ever stop to ponder the fact that STD's (sexually transmitted diseases) would be stamped out in a single generation that practiced Biblical morality. There were enough STD's around in my own rebellious youth, but with today's resistant strains in ever increasing pandemic proportions, you can die. That was never a fear in my day.
One has to wonder, how far will we go in rationalizing our behaviour, how far down the proverbial slippery slope are we willing to go before we become willing to re-examine our views on what is right and wrong? I was disturbed to learn of the decriminalization of incest in certain European countries, and to read, in journals endorsed by the American Psychological Society, that “research has started to show that pedophilia can be positive for the child”, and even that “parents should welcome pedophiles into their home”. Suppose, just suppose, as it is being argued in this latter scenario, that in certain instances these 'man loves boy experiences', are looked on as positive by the child. Let me ask, in the light of bonding inherent in early sexual experiences, what happens when the pedophile wants to move on? The above research is of course, being contested.
Would it not make sense, in the light of all of this, to be willing to re-examine our sexual values and practices? Should we not consider what the tearing of sexual bonds does to our Psychological, mental, emotional and even physical health? God calls is sin. It has been said that sin takes us further than we want to go, keeps us longer than we want to stay and costs us more than we want to pay. As I have said before, Jesus puts it this way “He who sins is the slave of sin”. I have been there, done that and bought the t-shirt. Fortunately, there is a way out, a way back. As I said last day, He is into the rescue and restoration business. He came to restore ruined lives, to bring hope, joy, peace, love, to bring us into healing within the community of the rescued, and to lift us out of the dung heap! “I am come”, He tells us, “that you might have life, and life in all its fullness” (John 10:10). Truly He is the way the truth and the life!
Friday, November 26, 2010
God's provision and protection though marriage I. Provision
The other day I was complaining to the Good Lord that I feel misunderstood. His tongue in cheek reply to me boiled down to “You think that you are misunderstood. Buddy you ain't seen nothing yet. What about all those religious types who say they represent me, but don't? What about all the self righteous hypocrites who claim to speak for me, but don't even know me? What about all the blame, all the bad mouthing, all the false accusations, all the nasty things people say and think about Me? You think you have a problem. My son, you ain't seen nothing yet”.
Some people have this picture of God that He is some kind of celestial Scrooge who, whenever He sees someone having fun, He leans over the balcony of heaven and yells down “Cut that out”. If this is you, you have it all wrong, for “At His right hand there are pleasures for evermore”. God's rep is nowhere more twisted than in the area of sex. After all He invented it! I also think that it says something about His sense of humour. I mean if you think about it, it's really weird. “My dear you are so beautiful, I have this almost irresistible desire to put my finger in your ear!”
In the coarser days of my youth the we jested (in song) about the mating habits of a certain bird, which mated just once a year. “What's it so happy about?” we asked each other.“Tonight's the night” was the reply. In ancient Israel, the couple soon to be married would be separated for a year, while the groom built and prepared a home. At the end of this time, they would come together in the bridal chamber and not emerge for a week. On top of this, the exact timing of the wedding would be known only to the groom, who could come any time day or night, for his bride (Matthew 25). Imagine the excitement as the day approached, imagine the anticipation, the longing, the joy. Talk about romantic. The law then excused the young man from war for a year!
Contrast this with the cheep quick fix of the one night stand, or the soon fading passion of relationships built only on physical attraction, on biological need. In his book “Four loves”, C.S. Lewis (or Narnia fame) contrasts two of these loves, eros love (erotic love) and phileo love (friendship love). He makes the point that timing is all important in the healthy interrelationship of these two types of love. The friendship love, says Lewis, is stunted when we rush into the eros love before it is time. When yielded to too early, the eros love with its powerful biological imperative, far too easily takes over, and becomes all consuming. The point that Lewis wants to make, is that a relationship that has as its basis only the erotic component of love will, sooner or later fade. When, in a relationship friendship love was either never really developed, or stunted, then there is nothing for the couple to fall back on when the physical side fades. Is it any wonder the divorce rates are so high in our "I want what I want, and I want it now" society.
If the Biblical standards seems impossibly high, impractical, improbable, ivory-tower, nonrealistic, and pie like in the sky, let me suggest that it is only because we have made it so. In fact there have always been societies where the expectation (and hence the substantial reality) of sex between one man and one woman only within the confines of life long marriage, has been the standard practice. And this not only within the Judeo Christian contexts. The Zulu tribe held strongly to this morality. I mean if puffins can manage it, surely it should not be impossible for humankind!
Perhaps (it is not outside the realm of possibility) that you who are reading this, have failed to achieve the high calling of this level of fidelity. Welcome to the club. I failed and failed miserably. The difference might be, that in the excesses of my youth, I never believed that what I was doing was right. I didn't care, no-one warned me of the consequences (broken marriages, life long trauma for my offspring etc.). No one shared with me that the appetites we develop demand to be satisfied, long after we no longer want them. Nor was I told that signing my name to a marriage certificate would not change any of it. I had to learn all this from the school of hard knocks. No indeed God is not some celestial Scrooge determined to spoil our fun, He is a loving Father who wants to spare His children form the pain of poor choices. This is why he calls wrong, the things that He calls wrong. In the same way that most parents say “no”, when they want to prevent their child from burning themselves on the hot stove, it is out of love for us that He sets rules designed to keep us from harm. We break the rules because we want to become free, but what we get is not freedom, but bondage. How true it is what He says when He says “He who sins is the slave of sin”.
But He is not just into setting rules, He is into an incredibly costly rescue and restoration mission. “If the Son shall set you free, you will be free indeed”. The cost to Him was the Cross of Christ, the gift to us was life, life in all its fullness to those who will unreservedly follow Him. Why, oh why do we resist such love?
Some people have this picture of God that He is some kind of celestial Scrooge who, whenever He sees someone having fun, He leans over the balcony of heaven and yells down “Cut that out”. If this is you, you have it all wrong, for “At His right hand there are pleasures for evermore”. God's rep is nowhere more twisted than in the area of sex. After all He invented it! I also think that it says something about His sense of humour. I mean if you think about it, it's really weird. “My dear you are so beautiful, I have this almost irresistible desire to put my finger in your ear!”
In the coarser days of my youth the we jested (in song) about the mating habits of a certain bird, which mated just once a year. “What's it so happy about?” we asked each other.“Tonight's the night” was the reply. In ancient Israel, the couple soon to be married would be separated for a year, while the groom built and prepared a home. At the end of this time, they would come together in the bridal chamber and not emerge for a week. On top of this, the exact timing of the wedding would be known only to the groom, who could come any time day or night, for his bride (Matthew 25). Imagine the excitement as the day approached, imagine the anticipation, the longing, the joy. Talk about romantic. The law then excused the young man from war for a year!
Contrast this with the cheep quick fix of the one night stand, or the soon fading passion of relationships built only on physical attraction, on biological need. In his book “Four loves”, C.S. Lewis (or Narnia fame) contrasts two of these loves, eros love (erotic love) and phileo love (friendship love). He makes the point that timing is all important in the healthy interrelationship of these two types of love. The friendship love, says Lewis, is stunted when we rush into the eros love before it is time. When yielded to too early, the eros love with its powerful biological imperative, far too easily takes over, and becomes all consuming. The point that Lewis wants to make, is that a relationship that has as its basis only the erotic component of love will, sooner or later fade. When, in a relationship friendship love was either never really developed, or stunted, then there is nothing for the couple to fall back on when the physical side fades. Is it any wonder the divorce rates are so high in our "I want what I want, and I want it now" society.
If the Biblical standards seems impossibly high, impractical, improbable, ivory-tower, nonrealistic, and pie like in the sky, let me suggest that it is only because we have made it so. In fact there have always been societies where the expectation (and hence the substantial reality) of sex between one man and one woman only within the confines of life long marriage, has been the standard practice. And this not only within the Judeo Christian contexts. The Zulu tribe held strongly to this morality. I mean if puffins can manage it, surely it should not be impossible for humankind!
Perhaps (it is not outside the realm of possibility) that you who are reading this, have failed to achieve the high calling of this level of fidelity. Welcome to the club. I failed and failed miserably. The difference might be, that in the excesses of my youth, I never believed that what I was doing was right. I didn't care, no-one warned me of the consequences (broken marriages, life long trauma for my offspring etc.). No one shared with me that the appetites we develop demand to be satisfied, long after we no longer want them. Nor was I told that signing my name to a marriage certificate would not change any of it. I had to learn all this from the school of hard knocks. No indeed God is not some celestial Scrooge determined to spoil our fun, He is a loving Father who wants to spare His children form the pain of poor choices. This is why he calls wrong, the things that He calls wrong. In the same way that most parents say “no”, when they want to prevent their child from burning themselves on the hot stove, it is out of love for us that He sets rules designed to keep us from harm. We break the rules because we want to become free, but what we get is not freedom, but bondage. How true it is what He says when He says “He who sins is the slave of sin”.
But He is not just into setting rules, He is into an incredibly costly rescue and restoration mission. “If the Son shall set you free, you will be free indeed”. The cost to Him was the Cross of Christ, the gift to us was life, life in all its fullness to those who will unreservedly follow Him. Why, oh why do we resist such love?
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Does victim status + political power = justice?
The Old Testament law “An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” has been characterized by some, as barbaric. But in societies where escalating revenge was the norm, where it was essentially two eyes, or two teeth for one, the above law called for justice rather than escalation. In this context that law is seen to be good and right and proper. It has always been the case than in order to have peace, the victim has to be the bigger, that is the better, person. It is however my contention, human nature being what it is, that when victim status is aligned with political power, justice inevitably goes out the window. They say, do they not, that power corrupts? In this scenario, everybody suffers, everybody looses, including in the end, even those with the said political power. For example, in terms of the homosexual issue, the right of gays to self determination is being excluded.
No one should deny, or not abhor, the grave injustices that have been perpetrated on the gay community, nor that the legitimate rights of gays have been denied. This, together with hate crimes against gays, as well as indiscriminate prejudice against them, is wrong, wrong, wrong. The need for justice is great, and has needed and still needs to be addressed. The question I want to ask today however is “Is what we are getting justice, even from the point of view of gays?”
I am thinking particularly of those inside or outside of the gay community who, for whatever reason, find themselves with unwanted same sex attractions (SSAs). There are, for example, strong pressures to classify any speech by those who feel trapped by their SSAs, as hate speech, and to enact legislation declaring it a crime. In addition, in both Canada and the States, therapists have been dismissed from their jobs for being willing to cater to client self determination in this regard. Furthermore, there are cases where students of Psychotherapy, who are unable to parrot the politically correct view on these issues, are being denied access to training facilities. On top of this, Professors are being dismissed from their jobs for expressing similar views, or in some cases simply raising questions that might conceivably challenge, the doctrines of political correctness. Perhaps these things do not cause you concern, but in my view they should. These things are raising a lot of questions for me. Let me share some of these questions with you. After that, I invite you to judge for yourselves, and to judge with righteous judgement.
Whose rights shall we uphold, the rights of those who are comfortable with their SSAs, or the rights of those who are not? And to whom shall we allow the right of self determination (both inside and outside of counselling) the first group or the second? And on which side of the issue shall we insist that councillors have an obligation to respect, and work with, clients whose choice in their self determination, goes contrary to the councillor’s own views? And which councillors shall we dismiss from their jobs if they don't fulfill that obligation? Shall we insist that only one side (“them”) tolerate our views, but not be required to tolerate theirs? When did we banish “both” and “none of the above” from our list of options?
And when did we start confusing disagreement with hate? Certainly these two things can and do coexist, but is it necessarily the case that they do? Should we all be tarred with the same brush? And if it is valid to blur the distinction between disagreement and hate, should this be applied to one side, but not the other? I mean who shall we agree to hate, those who are conflicted about their same sex attractions or those who are not, or those who want to help them, or those who refuse to? I am sadly coming to the conclusion that hate is widespread on both sides of these and many other issues. But what if when SSAs are unwanted, it is the “unwanted” part that is irreversible?
And to whom shall we allow freedom of speech, those on our side of the divide only, or those on both sides? And which side of the nature verses nurture debate shall we read up on, “our side” or “theirs”? If we read both, and we have ears to hear and eyes to see, it will be abundantly clear that the jury is still very much out on the Science behind these questions. And is truth and justice advanced by the current stifling of debate, and of the freedom to express contrary views? If so why do we treasure academic freedom so highly? Let us ponder these questions and ponder them deeply and then, and only then, if we must, take sides. Let us judge with equity, let us make righteous judgements.
No one should deny, or not abhor, the grave injustices that have been perpetrated on the gay community, nor that the legitimate rights of gays have been denied. This, together with hate crimes against gays, as well as indiscriminate prejudice against them, is wrong, wrong, wrong. The need for justice is great, and has needed and still needs to be addressed. The question I want to ask today however is “Is what we are getting justice, even from the point of view of gays?”
I am thinking particularly of those inside or outside of the gay community who, for whatever reason, find themselves with unwanted same sex attractions (SSAs). There are, for example, strong pressures to classify any speech by those who feel trapped by their SSAs, as hate speech, and to enact legislation declaring it a crime. In addition, in both Canada and the States, therapists have been dismissed from their jobs for being willing to cater to client self determination in this regard. Furthermore, there are cases where students of Psychotherapy, who are unable to parrot the politically correct view on these issues, are being denied access to training facilities. On top of this, Professors are being dismissed from their jobs for expressing similar views, or in some cases simply raising questions that might conceivably challenge, the doctrines of political correctness. Perhaps these things do not cause you concern, but in my view they should. These things are raising a lot of questions for me. Let me share some of these questions with you. After that, I invite you to judge for yourselves, and to judge with righteous judgement.
Whose rights shall we uphold, the rights of those who are comfortable with their SSAs, or the rights of those who are not? And to whom shall we allow the right of self determination (both inside and outside of counselling) the first group or the second? And on which side of the issue shall we insist that councillors have an obligation to respect, and work with, clients whose choice in their self determination, goes contrary to the councillor’s own views? And which councillors shall we dismiss from their jobs if they don't fulfill that obligation? Shall we insist that only one side (“them”) tolerate our views, but not be required to tolerate theirs? When did we banish “both” and “none of the above” from our list of options?
And when did we start confusing disagreement with hate? Certainly these two things can and do coexist, but is it necessarily the case that they do? Should we all be tarred with the same brush? And if it is valid to blur the distinction between disagreement and hate, should this be applied to one side, but not the other? I mean who shall we agree to hate, those who are conflicted about their same sex attractions or those who are not, or those who want to help them, or those who refuse to? I am sadly coming to the conclusion that hate is widespread on both sides of these and many other issues. But what if when SSAs are unwanted, it is the “unwanted” part that is irreversible?
And to whom shall we allow freedom of speech, those on our side of the divide only, or those on both sides? And which side of the nature verses nurture debate shall we read up on, “our side” or “theirs”? If we read both, and we have ears to hear and eyes to see, it will be abundantly clear that the jury is still very much out on the Science behind these questions. And is truth and justice advanced by the current stifling of debate, and of the freedom to express contrary views? If so why do we treasure academic freedom so highly? Let us ponder these questions and ponder them deeply and then, and only then, if we must, take sides. Let us judge with equity, let us make righteous judgements.
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
A Politically incorrect view on Homosexual and other sexual issues
We live in a society that one therapist described as stirred up and inflamed by pseudo, hyper sexuality. Though for us it is not the only one, without any doubt the most controversial aspect of this phenomenon is the homosexual issue. This is a particularly difficult issue for the Church, and it is not going to go away anytime soon. One way or the other, we in the Church have to deal with it.
I am writing today, as one who, as much as is possible within me, is seeking to understand and practice the Spirit of Jesus, when he said to the woman caught in the very act of adultery “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more”. Jesus spoke with compassion, but he also spoke the truth. The Church likewise is commanded to speak the truth in love. We have not done this well. Too often we have spoken in judgmental self-righteousness. This is totally unacceptable, abhorrent, and carries a spirit that is diametrically opposite to that in which I am seeking to write today. I apologize here and repent for any part that I, and others who name the name of Christ, have played in hating, fearing and otherwise dismissing, disrespecting and marginalizing gay people. I speak for any who are willing to identify with what I am saying here. I believe there are many. We do understand that there have been grave injustices and hate crimes and violence against gays. We abhor and condemn such violence, along with indiscriminate prejudice against gays. Truly, the injustices are great, and I hang my head in shame at this display of man's inhumanity to man.
We did not choose the homosexual issue, as a watershed issue for our faith, it is being forced upon us by the political agenda and the powerful, well funded and highly organized gay lobby. However, just as not all who name the name of Christ are anti gay, we do not believe that all gays are in the militant camp. Though we have not always done this well, we are committed to welcoming gays into our communities. We are willing to talk about the issues, to do so in the gentleness of the Spirit of Christ described above, and to leave room for them to be wrestled with. We do not, however want to hide the fact that we cannot in conscience affirm the gay lifestyle. Our position is that the “no”s of God are for our (and your) provision and protection (see coming posts). In particular anything less than the ideal of one man one woman in life long monogamous union within the context of marriage, is always at some level, destructive. Some of us have learned this truth the hard way, from the school of hard knocks. Our heart is particularly for those who are feeling trapped by their same sex attractions (SSAs). If this is you, we want you to know that we are distressed by the political and other pressures that are put on you, not only not to change, but to deny that is it possible.
While we understand that to many our position is totally unacceptable, we do not think that it is reasonable that we be expected to change either our beliefs, or our understanding of right and wrong, simply because of political and or societal pressure. We do not believe that truth can be legislated, or decided upon democratically. We are open to debate, indeed it is our challenge to the militants in the gay community that we be allowed to do so. When honest disagreement, inquiry and debate is (as is the case) loudly proclaimed as hate, we have to wonder exactly who is hating who (see next day's post). On the other hand, the fact of the matter is that the jury is still out on many of the dogmas proclaimed loudly (and admittedly successfully) by the militant arm of the gay community. This is particularly true of the "nurture verses nature" question. Debate is, as I say, disallowed by the rhetoric of political correctness. These days, the thought police are everywhere.
The Gospel that we preach promises that “If the Son shall set you free, you will be free indeed”. Indeed if it could be shown that the Son (Christ) could not set you free from your unwanted SSAs, then for us the Gospel would be shown to be false. It is however the testimony of many that He has, He does, and He will deliver to the uttermost. We do not pretend that it is easy, indeed it is the testimony of those who in various stages either have successfully or substantially dealt with, or are dealing with their unwanted SSAs and/or other unwanted aspects of human sexuality, that it is not. How can research claim to be unbiased when, as it so often does, it dismisses evidence like this, that suggests the very opposite of what particular researchers seem to want to prove.
A relevant question "Does victim status + political power = justice?" is discussed in next days post.
I am writing today, as one who, as much as is possible within me, is seeking to understand and practice the Spirit of Jesus, when he said to the woman caught in the very act of adultery “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more”. Jesus spoke with compassion, but he also spoke the truth. The Church likewise is commanded to speak the truth in love. We have not done this well. Too often we have spoken in judgmental self-righteousness. This is totally unacceptable, abhorrent, and carries a spirit that is diametrically opposite to that in which I am seeking to write today. I apologize here and repent for any part that I, and others who name the name of Christ, have played in hating, fearing and otherwise dismissing, disrespecting and marginalizing gay people. I speak for any who are willing to identify with what I am saying here. I believe there are many. We do understand that there have been grave injustices and hate crimes and violence against gays. We abhor and condemn such violence, along with indiscriminate prejudice against gays. Truly, the injustices are great, and I hang my head in shame at this display of man's inhumanity to man.
We did not choose the homosexual issue, as a watershed issue for our faith, it is being forced upon us by the political agenda and the powerful, well funded and highly organized gay lobby. However, just as not all who name the name of Christ are anti gay, we do not believe that all gays are in the militant camp. Though we have not always done this well, we are committed to welcoming gays into our communities. We are willing to talk about the issues, to do so in the gentleness of the Spirit of Christ described above, and to leave room for them to be wrestled with. We do not, however want to hide the fact that we cannot in conscience affirm the gay lifestyle. Our position is that the “no”s of God are for our (and your) provision and protection (see coming posts). In particular anything less than the ideal of one man one woman in life long monogamous union within the context of marriage, is always at some level, destructive. Some of us have learned this truth the hard way, from the school of hard knocks. Our heart is particularly for those who are feeling trapped by their same sex attractions (SSAs). If this is you, we want you to know that we are distressed by the political and other pressures that are put on you, not only not to change, but to deny that is it possible.
While we understand that to many our position is totally unacceptable, we do not think that it is reasonable that we be expected to change either our beliefs, or our understanding of right and wrong, simply because of political and or societal pressure. We do not believe that truth can be legislated, or decided upon democratically. We are open to debate, indeed it is our challenge to the militants in the gay community that we be allowed to do so. When honest disagreement, inquiry and debate is (as is the case) loudly proclaimed as hate, we have to wonder exactly who is hating who (see next day's post). On the other hand, the fact of the matter is that the jury is still out on many of the dogmas proclaimed loudly (and admittedly successfully) by the militant arm of the gay community. This is particularly true of the "nurture verses nature" question. Debate is, as I say, disallowed by the rhetoric of political correctness. These days, the thought police are everywhere.
The Gospel that we preach promises that “If the Son shall set you free, you will be free indeed”. Indeed if it could be shown that the Son (Christ) could not set you free from your unwanted SSAs, then for us the Gospel would be shown to be false. It is however the testimony of many that He has, He does, and He will deliver to the uttermost. We do not pretend that it is easy, indeed it is the testimony of those who in various stages either have successfully or substantially dealt with, or are dealing with their unwanted SSAs and/or other unwanted aspects of human sexuality, that it is not. How can research claim to be unbiased when, as it so often does, it dismisses evidence like this, that suggests the very opposite of what particular researchers seem to want to prove.
A relevant question "Does victim status + political power = justice?" is discussed in next days post.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Ready to answer with meekness and fear
As I write this morning I am conflicted in several ways. I am part of discussion group where we are discussing "hard questions". To be frank, it is gut wrenching for me. Behind the hard questions are more fundamental questions. Should Christians speak out on controversial issues? If so, what do we speak, and when and how do we speak it?
By and large we live in a polarized society, a society at war with itself. Injustice abounds on all sides, as does ignorance, coupled with rhetoric which gives overly simplistic answers to complex questions. I have discovered that the extremes of both sides of the “Christians - non- Christian” divide, can be as bigoted and biased as each other, with neither side making any attempt to listen. I do not regard it as insignificant that the Good Lord gave us two ears and one mouth! Unfortunately there is this tendency on all sides to stereotype and dismiss the "other side" attributing to them the shallow answers that the stereotype suggests. Stereotypical positions are not the only ones that can be held! I have been attacked for holding views that in fact and reality, I do not hold. But I was not believed when I denied that I held them. The problem was that when I was seen not to be 100% in agreement with what was being said, I was placed in a box that really does not represent my views.
But is it oh so easy to become consumed by the issues, to see the injustices, misunderstandings and misrepresentations on one side, but not the other. And who is immune to this? I understand well the Prophet Isaiah when he said “I am a man of unclean lips, and I live in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5). I find it real easy to display humility to those who are humble, but the true test comes in the presence of unjust, untrue, derisive and dismissive accusations. On such occasions I need to be reminded of the admonition to “Always be ready to give an answer, to anyone who asks, with meekness and fear” (I Peter 3:15). Meekness and fear do not come naturally to a Yorkshire born Englishman (now Canadian). I need His help here to love others, and to treat them as I want to be treated, rather than as I am treated.
The pressure to be silent is enormous. But the issues are on my heart, and I do believe that we have been silent for far too long. On the other hand we Christians have often spoken out in self righteousness coupled with condemnation, and this is wrong, wrong, wrong. I am seeking as much as it within me to speak in the spirit of Jesus who addressing the woman caught in the very act of adultery said “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more (John 8:11)”. But I have also found that when one tries to take a middle and balance ground, one is usually “sat upon” by both side of the particular great divide you are seeking to address. Into this I hear Jesus again saying “Blessed are the peace makers”.
So to speak or not to speak then, that is the question. Or more precisely what to speak and what not to speak, and how to speak and how not to, and when to speak and when not to speak. These are the questions that are gut wrenching for me. You cannot be a peace maker if you remain silent, and you will not escape criticism if you do not. The verses that comfort me this morning are Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7B “There is a time and a season for all things, ... , a time to keep silence, and a time to speak”. Perhaps a modern translation would be a time to blog and a time not to blog. I have slowed down in the number of posts not because I do not have things on my heart, but because I do, but I am still wrestling with them. I do not want to do what I am accusing others of doing, giving pat and shallow answers to complex questions. I do not want to speak without compassion or without understanding both sides of the issues (Ephesians 4:15, Proverbs 4:7).
By and large we live in a polarized society, a society at war with itself. Injustice abounds on all sides, as does ignorance, coupled with rhetoric which gives overly simplistic answers to complex questions. I have discovered that the extremes of both sides of the “Christians - non- Christian” divide, can be as bigoted and biased as each other, with neither side making any attempt to listen. I do not regard it as insignificant that the Good Lord gave us two ears and one mouth! Unfortunately there is this tendency on all sides to stereotype and dismiss the "other side" attributing to them the shallow answers that the stereotype suggests. Stereotypical positions are not the only ones that can be held! I have been attacked for holding views that in fact and reality, I do not hold. But I was not believed when I denied that I held them. The problem was that when I was seen not to be 100% in agreement with what was being said, I was placed in a box that really does not represent my views.
But is it oh so easy to become consumed by the issues, to see the injustices, misunderstandings and misrepresentations on one side, but not the other. And who is immune to this? I understand well the Prophet Isaiah when he said “I am a man of unclean lips, and I live in the midst of a people of unclean lips” (Isaiah 6:5). I find it real easy to display humility to those who are humble, but the true test comes in the presence of unjust, untrue, derisive and dismissive accusations. On such occasions I need to be reminded of the admonition to “Always be ready to give an answer, to anyone who asks, with meekness and fear” (I Peter 3:15). Meekness and fear do not come naturally to a Yorkshire born Englishman (now Canadian). I need His help here to love others, and to treat them as I want to be treated, rather than as I am treated.
The pressure to be silent is enormous. But the issues are on my heart, and I do believe that we have been silent for far too long. On the other hand we Christians have often spoken out in self righteousness coupled with condemnation, and this is wrong, wrong, wrong. I am seeking as much as it within me to speak in the spirit of Jesus who addressing the woman caught in the very act of adultery said “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more (John 8:11)”. But I have also found that when one tries to take a middle and balance ground, one is usually “sat upon” by both side of the particular great divide you are seeking to address. Into this I hear Jesus again saying “Blessed are the peace makers”.
So to speak or not to speak then, that is the question. Or more precisely what to speak and what not to speak, and how to speak and how not to, and when to speak and when not to speak. These are the questions that are gut wrenching for me. You cannot be a peace maker if you remain silent, and you will not escape criticism if you do not. The verses that comfort me this morning are Ecclesiastes 3:1, 7B “There is a time and a season for all things, ... , a time to keep silence, and a time to speak”. Perhaps a modern translation would be a time to blog and a time not to blog. I have slowed down in the number of posts not because I do not have things on my heart, but because I do, but I am still wrestling with them. I do not want to do what I am accusing others of doing, giving pat and shallow answers to complex questions. I do not want to speak without compassion or without understanding both sides of the issues (Ephesians 4:15, Proverbs 4:7).
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The devil made me do it!
This is a famous saying by comedian Flip Wilson, as a joking way of excusing his behaviour. I remember a friend of mine's son using the same excuse. “Well then” his mum said, “we'll just have to spank the Devil out of you won't we!” I am aware I may well have opened a can or worms in terms of spanking kids, but if I may, I want to avoid that issue (at least here), and go to the point I am wanting to make. I recently watched a debate on youtube over “Does Satan exist”, and one of the protagonists was pew-pooing the idea of Satan claiming “We do not need a boogyman to blame it on, we just need to take responsibility for our actions”. There is of course a danger of using the Devil as an excuse, and certainly that was Eve's first recourse (Genesis 3:13) but the point of the story is that her excuse was rapidly taken for what it was, an excuse, and she and her husband had to suffer the consequences of their choices. So then the Scriptures teach the exact opposite of what this protagonist was saying. In particular, it teaches both that Satan exists and that we do have to take responsibility for our actions.
To imply that those who believe in Satan don't need to take responsibility for their actions, is to probably to confuse the temptation to do something, with yielding to that temptation. For the Christian, knowing that some of the temptation comes from outside of himself, can be helpful in dealing with the temptation. This is because he has been given weapons to help him wage this warfare (II Corinthians 10:3-5). Actually temptation comes from three sources, the World, the flesh (inner lusts) and the Devil. We are responsible for resisting temptation in all three areas, after all we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7) no matter where the temptation comes from.
But there is one area, again for the Christian, where that debate missed completely where it is helpful to know that Satan and his minions are real. I am thinking about the times when somebody does something to us and it really really hurts. I am of course thinking about the need to forgive. At such times it is helpful to read that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places”. In other words, the perpetrator is not the real enemy, the real enemy are the wicked spirits that are influencing him. When I see this, it becomes part of what I need to separate the sin from the sinner, to start to love the sinner but hate the sin. How else can we even start to obey Jesus' command to love our enemies? Knowing that the god of this world has blinded the eyes of those who do not believe, can help me to see them for what they are, deceived and influenced by their own enemy who, at least in the West, has convinced them that he does not exist.
The title of last day's blog was “You believe in Satan, give me a break”. I can tell you this much, he will not give you a break, and if you deny he exists (as in the West he seems to want you to), then he is likely influencing you a lot more than you have even begun to imagine. Again, he seems to have two strategies to get you to see him behind every rock and tree, or to believe he does not exist.
To imply that those who believe in Satan don't need to take responsibility for their actions, is to probably to confuse the temptation to do something, with yielding to that temptation. For the Christian, knowing that some of the temptation comes from outside of himself, can be helpful in dealing with the temptation. This is because he has been given weapons to help him wage this warfare (II Corinthians 10:3-5). Actually temptation comes from three sources, the World, the flesh (inner lusts) and the Devil. We are responsible for resisting temptation in all three areas, after all we reap what we sow (Galatians 6:7) no matter where the temptation comes from.
But there is one area, again for the Christian, where that debate missed completely where it is helpful to know that Satan and his minions are real. I am thinking about the times when somebody does something to us and it really really hurts. I am of course thinking about the need to forgive. At such times it is helpful to read that “our struggle is not against flesh and blood but against principalities and powers, against spiritual wickedness in high places”. In other words, the perpetrator is not the real enemy, the real enemy are the wicked spirits that are influencing him. When I see this, it becomes part of what I need to separate the sin from the sinner, to start to love the sinner but hate the sin. How else can we even start to obey Jesus' command to love our enemies? Knowing that the god of this world has blinded the eyes of those who do not believe, can help me to see them for what they are, deceived and influenced by their own enemy who, at least in the West, has convinced them that he does not exist.
The title of last day's blog was “You believe in Satan, give me a break”. I can tell you this much, he will not give you a break, and if you deny he exists (as in the West he seems to want you to), then he is likely influencing you a lot more than you have even begun to imagine. Again, he seems to have two strategies to get you to see him behind every rock and tree, or to believe he does not exist.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
You believe in the Devil? Give me a break!'
Well Jesus believed in him. Perhaps if the one who is widely regarded as the best teacher the World has ever known believed in him, then just perhaps it may be worth checking out.
As I have argued in my early blogs, in the end all World views are unprovable positions of faith. I also contend that the Jewish-Christian Scriptures give the best explanation of reality, of what is. In the area under consideration, I am claiming that the Bible has the best explanation for the nature of man who can rise to the highest and noblest of heights, but also sink to the depths of the depths in depravity. The Biblical explanation for the first characteristic is that we are made in the image of God, for the second that we are (by default) fallen under the influence of the personification of all that is evil, of Satan, the Devil, the enemy of our souls.
According to the Bible, the devil has two strategies, deception and/or fascination. He is the Father of lies, so he seeks, for example to persuade us he does not exist, or he seeks to fascinate us with his power (and even to follow him!). My brothers and sisters from Africa know well about this power. They have no doubt that he exists. They know about daemon possession too, and they know the supernatural strength that often accompanies this phenomenon, so that it cannot be dismissed as psychosis. The pigs, in the story of the demon possessed man in the gospels, did not rush down the cliff into the sea because they had been told all their lives about daemons, and were thus brainwashed into thinking they were real (Mark 5:11-13).
Yes in places like Africa, they know that the Devil and his daemons exist. We in the West are more naïve, but I do not mean this in the way that most people mean it, they think we Christians are naïve to believe in him. But if you deny his existence, how do you explain the proliferation and power of evil in the World, the bottomless pit of the destructive side of human nature? How could anyone be so evil that he could order the murder of six million men women and children? And how could so many be willing to carry out his orders? Closer to home, have you ever wondered where some of your more obnoxious thoughts come from, you know those thoughts you would never tell another human being? What would people think?
Let's look a little closer at the Biblical view of what goes on inside our heads. All would agree that there are our own thoughts, and thoughts planted there by others. Sometimes we know when they are our thoughts, but sometimes we do not. Lets just stop here for a moment. I remember a conversation that went like this. “They call a collection of geese a gaggle. What do they call a collection of little girls?”. She answered “A giggle - a giggle of girls!” Who thought of that one? Well I did, and it was the teacher in me who “told her” asking the question in such a way as to suggest some connection (however vague) with the answer I was seeking. But I could not convince her it was my idea. Well I didn't try too hard, it was not that important. Perhaps you would see clearly that it was my idea, but what I want you to see is how easy it might be to fool people into thinking something you gave them is their own thoughts. And how much easier would it be if I had a machine that could plant thoughts into your mind and speak them in the first person? “Its all my fault”, “I wish he were dead”, “I would just like to ….etc., etc.” And how powerful would it be if the timing was right on, just after that “#@%^#” did it again!
The Scriptures tell us about two “voices” that we hear, the voice of the good Shepherd, and the voice of the thief, that is God's thoughts, and the thoughts planted there by the one the Scripture describes as the very enemy of our souls (John 10, Ephesians 6:12,13). Jesus calls him the thief because of his agenda, which is to kill and to steal and destroy. What if it is true? Would you not want to know so you can learn to discern to his thoughts from your own? And who is naïve, the Christian who is not ignorant of his devices (II Corinthians 2:11) or those who are? (More to come).
As I have argued in my early blogs, in the end all World views are unprovable positions of faith. I also contend that the Jewish-Christian Scriptures give the best explanation of reality, of what is. In the area under consideration, I am claiming that the Bible has the best explanation for the nature of man who can rise to the highest and noblest of heights, but also sink to the depths of the depths in depravity. The Biblical explanation for the first characteristic is that we are made in the image of God, for the second that we are (by default) fallen under the influence of the personification of all that is evil, of Satan, the Devil, the enemy of our souls.
According to the Bible, the devil has two strategies, deception and/or fascination. He is the Father of lies, so he seeks, for example to persuade us he does not exist, or he seeks to fascinate us with his power (and even to follow him!). My brothers and sisters from Africa know well about this power. They have no doubt that he exists. They know about daemon possession too, and they know the supernatural strength that often accompanies this phenomenon, so that it cannot be dismissed as psychosis. The pigs, in the story of the demon possessed man in the gospels, did not rush down the cliff into the sea because they had been told all their lives about daemons, and were thus brainwashed into thinking they were real (Mark 5:11-13).
Yes in places like Africa, they know that the Devil and his daemons exist. We in the West are more naïve, but I do not mean this in the way that most people mean it, they think we Christians are naïve to believe in him. But if you deny his existence, how do you explain the proliferation and power of evil in the World, the bottomless pit of the destructive side of human nature? How could anyone be so evil that he could order the murder of six million men women and children? And how could so many be willing to carry out his orders? Closer to home, have you ever wondered where some of your more obnoxious thoughts come from, you know those thoughts you would never tell another human being? What would people think?
Let's look a little closer at the Biblical view of what goes on inside our heads. All would agree that there are our own thoughts, and thoughts planted there by others. Sometimes we know when they are our thoughts, but sometimes we do not. Lets just stop here for a moment. I remember a conversation that went like this. “They call a collection of geese a gaggle. What do they call a collection of little girls?”. She answered “A giggle - a giggle of girls!” Who thought of that one? Well I did, and it was the teacher in me who “told her” asking the question in such a way as to suggest some connection (however vague) with the answer I was seeking. But I could not convince her it was my idea. Well I didn't try too hard, it was not that important. Perhaps you would see clearly that it was my idea, but what I want you to see is how easy it might be to fool people into thinking something you gave them is their own thoughts. And how much easier would it be if I had a machine that could plant thoughts into your mind and speak them in the first person? “Its all my fault”, “I wish he were dead”, “I would just like to ….etc., etc.” And how powerful would it be if the timing was right on, just after that “#@%^#” did it again!
The Scriptures tell us about two “voices” that we hear, the voice of the good Shepherd, and the voice of the thief, that is God's thoughts, and the thoughts planted there by the one the Scripture describes as the very enemy of our souls (John 10, Ephesians 6:12,13). Jesus calls him the thief because of his agenda, which is to kill and to steal and destroy. What if it is true? Would you not want to know so you can learn to discern to his thoughts from your own? And who is naïve, the Christian who is not ignorant of his devices (II Corinthians 2:11) or those who are? (More to come).
Monday, October 25, 2010
The Second of two letters to the Muse (Student Newspaper www.themuse.ca)
I know too much Science to believe in God.
There was a challenge in my letter to the Muse (September 30th 2010). I said “It is not that Christianity has been debated and found wanting, but that it is derided, dismissed and ridiculed without debate, and that in an institution that purports to be interested in truth”. Mr. David Speed's response to my letter (October 14th) illustrates my point in living colour (or I should say real 3D). In particular, while carefully avoiding the core issue, he used profanity and contempt to try to belittle me. Well I suppose you have to resort to that sort of thing, if you don't want to deal with truth.
“What is truth?” I hear someone ask. Well I can tell you this much, this question, Mr. Speed's tactics, the constant ridicule and belittling of religious points of view in sitcoms, as well as the type of drivel I hear as in the title of this letter, these things are little more than propaganda that, avoiding debate at all costs, reflect without critique, the current spirit of Western man (the ladies are of course excluded :). There are reasons we are in the mess we are in. But that's a whole new issue. To come to the “truth” that lies behind the quotation in my title, it is easy enough to refute. “No, actually, you do not know enough Science to make a statement like that”. Let me unpack this, if I am allowed!
The point is that just like the question “what is love?”, the question of the existence of God falls outside of the scope of what Science can answer. Scientific knowledge proceeds by performing repeatable experiments that verify or not, the hypothesis we set up. What repeatable experiment can you perform to prove God's non- existence? Most of the so called conclusions of Science which are said to deny His existence, are matters of interpretation of the data which flow out of the (often hidden) presuppositions that are imposed upon the said data.
By the way Scientific knowledge is just one of several ways we know what we know. Most of us are convinced of the truth that love exists, even that we are loved (when we are), but it defies Scientific proof. Let's see. Null hypothesis: The wife loves me. Experiment: Enter newly cleaned kitchen with muddy boots. If the wife really loves me she will tolerate my behaviour. Experimental data: 99 times out of 100 the wife got mad, sometimes really mad. Conclusion: Reject the null hypothesis!
This propaganda that I am talking about has duped many. There is of course a certain strength in numbers. But don't forget the story about the Emperor who had no cloths. I realize that you may think that I am duped too. If you do, we will only come to know who is right as we engage in debate that mutually listens and respects one another's point of view. Will you do that? Well why should you? After all most of the time ridicule and derision wins the day, and it has the advantage that you don't have to think about the issues, at least not deeply!
There was a challenge in my letter to the Muse (September 30th 2010). I said “It is not that Christianity has been debated and found wanting, but that it is derided, dismissed and ridiculed without debate, and that in an institution that purports to be interested in truth”. Mr. David Speed's response to my letter (October 14th) illustrates my point in living colour (or I should say real 3D). In particular, while carefully avoiding the core issue, he used profanity and contempt to try to belittle me. Well I suppose you have to resort to that sort of thing, if you don't want to deal with truth.
“What is truth?” I hear someone ask. Well I can tell you this much, this question, Mr. Speed's tactics, the constant ridicule and belittling of religious points of view in sitcoms, as well as the type of drivel I hear as in the title of this letter, these things are little more than propaganda that, avoiding debate at all costs, reflect without critique, the current spirit of Western man (the ladies are of course excluded :). There are reasons we are in the mess we are in. But that's a whole new issue. To come to the “truth” that lies behind the quotation in my title, it is easy enough to refute. “No, actually, you do not know enough Science to make a statement like that”. Let me unpack this, if I am allowed!
The point is that just like the question “what is love?”, the question of the existence of God falls outside of the scope of what Science can answer. Scientific knowledge proceeds by performing repeatable experiments that verify or not, the hypothesis we set up. What repeatable experiment can you perform to prove God's non- existence? Most of the so called conclusions of Science which are said to deny His existence, are matters of interpretation of the data which flow out of the (often hidden) presuppositions that are imposed upon the said data.
By the way Scientific knowledge is just one of several ways we know what we know. Most of us are convinced of the truth that love exists, even that we are loved (when we are), but it defies Scientific proof. Let's see. Null hypothesis: The wife loves me. Experiment: Enter newly cleaned kitchen with muddy boots. If the wife really loves me she will tolerate my behaviour. Experimental data: 99 times out of 100 the wife got mad, sometimes really mad. Conclusion: Reject the null hypothesis!
This propaganda that I am talking about has duped many. There is of course a certain strength in numbers. But don't forget the story about the Emperor who had no cloths. I realize that you may think that I am duped too. If you do, we will only come to know who is right as we engage in debate that mutually listens and respects one another's point of view. Will you do that? Well why should you? After all most of the time ridicule and derision wins the day, and it has the advantage that you don't have to think about the issues, at least not deeply!
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
True community, a safe place to be real III
In last few posts I have been talking about a fellowship where there is openness, honesty and unconditional acceptance of one another. I describe this as genuine community. Certainly genuine community exists outside of Christ, (just as happy marriages exist among those who do not name his name). Nevertheless I believe that only in genuine Christian community, can fullness of community be found and sustained. To start with, whether you want to acknowledged it or not, the principles that lie behind, and foster true community, are Biblical principles (see for example James 5:16). They do, as I say work both inside and outside of the Christian context. However, they work supremely in the Christian context when we are willing to come together, in a common faith in Christ, to the foot of the Cross. For the one who trusts in Christ, there are two important things to believe about the Cross, that are central to genuine Christian community. They are firstly its necessity, and secondly its provision. The understanding that it was necessary is a great leveller, and when we truly understand it as the cost of the provision for our acceptance, we respond with a gratitude and humility that overflows to others.
The fact of the matter however, is that we have difficulty in understanding/believing these things. Part of the reason for this is that we seem to need/want to believe that we are basically good. Even those who tear themselves down seem to get offended when you agree with them. I mean is not the definition of a sinner, one who is worse than me? So we compare ourselves with the s.o.b. down the road, and come off smelling like roses. In light of this, to be told that my sin is so bad that it was necessary for Christ to die in order to pay for my sin, can be a tad offensive. And who wants to be told that there is essentially no difference between you and someone you may despise.
A big part of the problem is that our standards are so low, but Christ is the poster boy, the standard against which we will be judged if we rely on our goodness to qualify us for heaven. And we all fall short of the glory of God, of the glory of Christ. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are His ways higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9). You may have the biggest house in your city, but seen from outer space it will be indistinguishable from your neighbour's. In any case, as I argue in my June 30th post, without His interventions, the slightest imperfection will exclude us from the presence of perfection (heaven). If this is not where you are at, these words will not convince you, but when you believe Christ, and come to see that His sacrifice on the Cross was necessary for you and for me, it becomes the greatest of all levellers. As the Scriptures put it “there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23).
This “ground zero”, this level playing field is essential to true community. When we know that we all have the same problem, and are open and honest enough to admit it, there is simply no place for self righteousness and judgemental attitudes. They are simply excluded. In such an atmosphere mutual acceptance is natural, and it does indeed become a place of healing. In such places opening up to each other, rather than resulting in rejection and shame, becomes a place of empathy bonding and healing. So then in the right context, the context of a safe place, openness and transparency become vehicles to foster and give birth to true community. When we know that we are all the same, it becomes safe to confess our faults one to another, and when we do, we experience His promise to be healed (James 5:16).
This coming to the foot of the cross is good for the humility but hard on our pride. Because of this, and the feeling or fear of condemnation, we might well be tempted to avoid it. But the paradox is this, avoiding the feeling of condemnation at foot of the cross could well be the very thing that in the end condemns us. The verses following the well known John 3:16 tells us “God did not send His Son into the World to condemn the World, but that the World might be saved through Him”, and “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
It is all about coming to the light, or avoiding the light, seeking truth or avoiding truth. It is the truth that sets you free. Which do you want first, the good news or the bad? The bad news is that my sin is so bad that Christ's death on the Cross is the only thing that could release me from its penalty. The good news is that God loved you and me enough to do it. It was necessary, and it is sufficient. It was needed for our salvation, but it is also enough for our salvation. It is enough to ensure all that we need for life in the here and now and in the hereafter. In the shadow of the cross, I can allow myself to understanding the bad news, because it simultaneous shows me the good news. The bad news, that the Jesus going to the Cross was necessary to cover my sin, is overshadowed by the good news that His sacrifice there is the root and ground of His unconditional acceptance of me once I confess my need.
Once we start to see this, then we also start to see that our safe place is to found first and foremost in the safety of His hand. From here neither height nor dept nor anything else in all creation is able to separate us from His love (Romans 8). From here non one can pluck us out of His hand. And when this sinks in, when we truly receive His unconditional acceptance, we ourselves become a safe place. This is because His unconditional acceptance of us, naturally overflows to our unconditional acceptance of others. And when we enter into this together, we find/create a place that is truly safe. We love because He first loved us, we accept each other unconditionally because He first unconditional accepted us. And when we come and stay at the foot of the cross, true community becomes not only possible but natural. “When we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing us from all sin” (I John 1:7).
The fact of the matter however, is that we have difficulty in understanding/believing these things. Part of the reason for this is that we seem to need/want to believe that we are basically good. Even those who tear themselves down seem to get offended when you agree with them. I mean is not the definition of a sinner, one who is worse than me? So we compare ourselves with the s.o.b. down the road, and come off smelling like roses. In light of this, to be told that my sin is so bad that it was necessary for Christ to die in order to pay for my sin, can be a tad offensive. And who wants to be told that there is essentially no difference between you and someone you may despise.
A big part of the problem is that our standards are so low, but Christ is the poster boy, the standard against which we will be judged if we rely on our goodness to qualify us for heaven. And we all fall short of the glory of God, of the glory of Christ. As the heavens are higher than the earth so are His ways higher than our ways (Isaiah 55:9). You may have the biggest house in your city, but seen from outer space it will be indistinguishable from your neighbour's. In any case, as I argue in my June 30th post, without His interventions, the slightest imperfection will exclude us from the presence of perfection (heaven). If this is not where you are at, these words will not convince you, but when you believe Christ, and come to see that His sacrifice on the Cross was necessary for you and for me, it becomes the greatest of all levellers. As the Scriptures put it “there is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of His glory (Romans 3:23).
This “ground zero”, this level playing field is essential to true community. When we know that we all have the same problem, and are open and honest enough to admit it, there is simply no place for self righteousness and judgemental attitudes. They are simply excluded. In such an atmosphere mutual acceptance is natural, and it does indeed become a place of healing. In such places opening up to each other, rather than resulting in rejection and shame, becomes a place of empathy bonding and healing. So then in the right context, the context of a safe place, openness and transparency become vehicles to foster and give birth to true community. When we know that we are all the same, it becomes safe to confess our faults one to another, and when we do, we experience His promise to be healed (James 5:16).
This coming to the foot of the cross is good for the humility but hard on our pride. Because of this, and the feeling or fear of condemnation, we might well be tempted to avoid it. But the paradox is this, avoiding the feeling of condemnation at foot of the cross could well be the very thing that in the end condemns us. The verses following the well known John 3:16 tells us “God did not send His Son into the World to condemn the World, but that the World might be saved through Him”, and “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
It is all about coming to the light, or avoiding the light, seeking truth or avoiding truth. It is the truth that sets you free. Which do you want first, the good news or the bad? The bad news is that my sin is so bad that Christ's death on the Cross is the only thing that could release me from its penalty. The good news is that God loved you and me enough to do it. It was necessary, and it is sufficient. It was needed for our salvation, but it is also enough for our salvation. It is enough to ensure all that we need for life in the here and now and in the hereafter. In the shadow of the cross, I can allow myself to understanding the bad news, because it simultaneous shows me the good news. The bad news, that the Jesus going to the Cross was necessary to cover my sin, is overshadowed by the good news that His sacrifice there is the root and ground of His unconditional acceptance of me once I confess my need.
Once we start to see this, then we also start to see that our safe place is to found first and foremost in the safety of His hand. From here neither height nor dept nor anything else in all creation is able to separate us from His love (Romans 8). From here non one can pluck us out of His hand. And when this sinks in, when we truly receive His unconditional acceptance, we ourselves become a safe place. This is because His unconditional acceptance of us, naturally overflows to our unconditional acceptance of others. And when we enter into this together, we find/create a place that is truly safe. We love because He first loved us, we accept each other unconditionally because He first unconditional accepted us. And when we come and stay at the foot of the cross, true community becomes not only possible but natural. “When we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ keeps on cleansing us from all sin” (I John 1:7).
Friday, October 15, 2010
A safe place to be real II
There is a lovely story that I think is highly relevant to this search for community that is real. It is found in John chapter eight, the woman caught in the very act of adultery. Old Testament law prescribed that she be stoned to death, and they brought her to Him in order to test Him. I think she was set up, I mean where was the man? Last time I checked it takes two. But I digress.
Jesus is amazing. He tells them “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”, and they leave from the oldest to the youngest. When they had left He asked her “Where are those who would condemn you”. She answers that there are none. Jesus tells her “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more”.
There are many things to say about this wonderful incident, but the point I want to make here is that in the presence of Jesus, the Pharisees (hypocrites) either leave or are changed. When He is there in His fullness hypocrites are just not comfortable. I am afraid that this says a lot about how present He is in many of our Churches. As in the days of old (in the Temple), there are things that will cause Him to withdraw, or at the very least diminish, His presence among us. We can after all quench His Spirit, and it behoves us to learn what those things are, and to change them.
He has promised that when two or three meet together in His name, He is there in the midst. But He will not come in his fullness where He is not truly welcome. Meeting in His name, like asking in prayer in His name, is not intended to be a casual thing. It is much much more than going through the motions, mouthing the words. We cannot play church and expect Him to show up tangible ways. For example, we sing Hymns and Worship choruses, but do we truly worship Him? When was the last time you or I were, with the Hymn writer “lost in wonder love and praise”? Many of us are unrestrained in our worship of hockey, baseball or movie stars, but how unrestrained are we in our worship of the Lord? And who is worth more? That is not to say that everyone must express their worship of God in an unrestrained way in the here and now. But I can tell you this, our worship in heaven will not be restrained. You only have to read the book of Revelation! And you think hockey is exciting!
His Word tells us that He inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3 KJV), and that the Father seeks those who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth (John 4:23). And there is the rub. We cannot continue to wear masks and/or refuse to deal with our sin, and still expect Him to show up in any real and tangible way! We do not have to be perfect, but like the woman in the story, we must, if we want to stay in His presence, be willing to deal with, and turn from, our sin. Jesus makes it clear that the despised, the tax collectors and sinners of His day, would enter the Kingdom before the Pharisees. Is it any different with the Pharisees of our day? I think not! After all, Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever. He came to call sinners to repentance, and we find Him in the fellowship of the forgiven, not in the fellowship of the (self) righteous. Being forgiven is where it starts, but not where it ends.
As a young, innocent and even naive teenage, I used to dream of being smothered by the kisses of a certain gorgeous young thing, as I lay back saying “you may proceed (to love me)”. In my innocence and naivety while I was (in my dream) the recipient of her kisses, it did not occur to me that she might want my kisses too (I did say naive and innocent – it was a different age). I came to realize how repugnant this would have been for her, me being a limp lover, for her about as exciting as kissing a wet sponge. The point I am making is that God does not want limp lovers either. We are to love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. This is how He loves us. Look at what He paid to buy us back from slavery to sin. He wants to pour out His love in tangible ways, and He will more than match and delight us with His presence when we start to love, serve and worship Him as He deserves. When we do this, we start to discover with Abraham, that He is our exceedingly great reward (Genesis 15:1). Why else would more and more people all over this wicked and hurting world die for their faith rather than give it up (see http://www.persecution.com/).
We need to ask ourselves, “Is what I have (what we have as a Church) worth dying for? It has been said that if we don't have something in our lives worth dying for, we do not have anything worth living for. Have you ever asked “Is this all there is?” Am I satisfied to live a life of quiet desperation that is said to be the lot of most of us? Jesus said “I am come that you might have life in all its fullness”. The World tells us we are deluded. Either they are right, or there is so very much more than most us have. There is more, there is always more. I have had glimpses of what it can be, but I know with a certainty I cannot explain, that we have barely scratched the surface, even in such glimpses.
I pray, and I invite you to pray “Lord take away my sin, my shame, my pride, my apathy, and my willingness to live with mediocrity. Give me a passion for Yourself that is worthy of who You are, and what You have done” (Revelation 5:12). When we enter into this we find a place that is truly safe, because together we find our refuge and our strength and our safety in Him. No one can pluck us out of His hand.
Jesus is amazing. He tells them “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone”, and they leave from the oldest to the youngest. When they had left He asked her “Where are those who would condemn you”. She answers that there are none. Jesus tells her “Neither do I condemn you, go and sin no more”.
There are many things to say about this wonderful incident, but the point I want to make here is that in the presence of Jesus, the Pharisees (hypocrites) either leave or are changed. When He is there in His fullness hypocrites are just not comfortable. I am afraid that this says a lot about how present He is in many of our Churches. As in the days of old (in the Temple), there are things that will cause Him to withdraw, or at the very least diminish, His presence among us. We can after all quench His Spirit, and it behoves us to learn what those things are, and to change them.
He has promised that when two or three meet together in His name, He is there in the midst. But He will not come in his fullness where He is not truly welcome. Meeting in His name, like asking in prayer in His name, is not intended to be a casual thing. It is much much more than going through the motions, mouthing the words. We cannot play church and expect Him to show up tangible ways. For example, we sing Hymns and Worship choruses, but do we truly worship Him? When was the last time you or I were, with the Hymn writer “lost in wonder love and praise”? Many of us are unrestrained in our worship of hockey, baseball or movie stars, but how unrestrained are we in our worship of the Lord? And who is worth more? That is not to say that everyone must express their worship of God in an unrestrained way in the here and now. But I can tell you this, our worship in heaven will not be restrained. You only have to read the book of Revelation! And you think hockey is exciting!
His Word tells us that He inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3 KJV), and that the Father seeks those who will worship Him in Spirit and in truth (John 4:23). And there is the rub. We cannot continue to wear masks and/or refuse to deal with our sin, and still expect Him to show up in any real and tangible way! We do not have to be perfect, but like the woman in the story, we must, if we want to stay in His presence, be willing to deal with, and turn from, our sin. Jesus makes it clear that the despised, the tax collectors and sinners of His day, would enter the Kingdom before the Pharisees. Is it any different with the Pharisees of our day? I think not! After all, Jesus is the same yesterday today and forever. He came to call sinners to repentance, and we find Him in the fellowship of the forgiven, not in the fellowship of the (self) righteous. Being forgiven is where it starts, but not where it ends.
As a young, innocent and even naive teenage, I used to dream of being smothered by the kisses of a certain gorgeous young thing, as I lay back saying “you may proceed (to love me)”. In my innocence and naivety while I was (in my dream) the recipient of her kisses, it did not occur to me that she might want my kisses too (I did say naive and innocent – it was a different age). I came to realize how repugnant this would have been for her, me being a limp lover, for her about as exciting as kissing a wet sponge. The point I am making is that God does not want limp lovers either. We are to love Him with all of our heart, mind, soul and strength. This is how He loves us. Look at what He paid to buy us back from slavery to sin. He wants to pour out His love in tangible ways, and He will more than match and delight us with His presence when we start to love, serve and worship Him as He deserves. When we do this, we start to discover with Abraham, that He is our exceedingly great reward (Genesis 15:1). Why else would more and more people all over this wicked and hurting world die for their faith rather than give it up (see http://www.persecution.com/).
We need to ask ourselves, “Is what I have (what we have as a Church) worth dying for? It has been said that if we don't have something in our lives worth dying for, we do not have anything worth living for. Have you ever asked “Is this all there is?” Am I satisfied to live a life of quiet desperation that is said to be the lot of most of us? Jesus said “I am come that you might have life in all its fullness”. The World tells us we are deluded. Either they are right, or there is so very much more than most us have. There is more, there is always more. I have had glimpses of what it can be, but I know with a certainty I cannot explain, that we have barely scratched the surface, even in such glimpses.
I pray, and I invite you to pray “Lord take away my sin, my shame, my pride, my apathy, and my willingness to live with mediocrity. Give me a passion for Yourself that is worthy of who You are, and what You have done” (Revelation 5:12). When we enter into this we find a place that is truly safe, because together we find our refuge and our strength and our safety in Him. No one can pluck us out of His hand.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Finding a safe place, a place to be real, a place to heal.
I said in the last post that I want to model openness and transparency (i.e. reality) in safe relationships. But what is safe, can be in the eye of the beholder. For some, a safe place is one in which we are allowed to hide who we are, where nobody asks awkward questions. In such places openness is frowned upon as drawing attention to oneself. And lets face it, there are certainly those who flaunt their sin and rebellion. This is not what I am talking about. But where is the line that separates genuine humility and openness from flaunting exhibitionism, and what is it that makes a person a flaunting exhibitionist in the first place? These are important questions. Statistics indicate that many, if not most, prostitutes have histories of sexual abuse. Perhaps their shamelessness is simply a way of dealing with overwhelming and debilitating shame. Perhaps the shamelessness of the Pharisee (October 4th post) is also a way of dealing with the same thing? Well yes, he hides it well, but don't we all wear masks at some level?
At a crucial time in my journey, yet another book was put into my hand. Actually it was a phrase from a book I was flipping through. The phrase (due to John Bradshaw) is this “If in a relationship one is open and the other covered, then both finish up violating each other”. I understood well how the open one is violated. Perhaps you do too, when in your attempt to be open and honest you were rejected and judged, and your confessions came back to you as accusations.
What I did not understand though, until I thought and prayed about it, is how the covered one is violated. As usual the insight came through the Bible. You see before the fall Adam and Eve were naked and they were not ashamed. After the fall they hid (Genesis 3). Before they made poor choices nakedness (openness and transparency) was normal and natural. Suddenly it became necessary to hide. In a world where people make poor choices, we somehow or other have to deal with hidden agendas, manipulation, control, judgmentalism, rejection and the like. I started to see that openness invites (or even demands) openness. But if we are frightened to death of being discovered, the “invitation” to be open can be received as an unwelcome pressure. It is a little bit like Adam trying to peek behind Eve's fig leaves. It feels a bit like the spiritual equivalent of sexual harassment. No wonder we hide. How could it be otherwise? I started to see why my openness was being regarded as shamelessness. Well attack is the best form of defence right? But I am called to an openness which (some may find hard to believe) that even I find scarey at times. Why would He do that, call people to openness? Well the Bible has the answer to that too.
There is one verse that kind of sums it all up for me. It says “Confess your faults one to another that you may be healed” (James 5: 16). It has to start somewhere. As I said earlier, when we are open and honest and transparent with one another, we discover that we are much more alike than we realize. I have been saying it a lot recently “in many things we all fail”, note "many things” not just a few, and no exceptions, not me, not you. When we confess to God, we are forgiven. When we find a safe place where there is unconditional acceptance, where we will not be judged when we confess to one another, then we are healed. This is a big part of the success of 12 step programs.
I have discovered though that confession, if it is not a two way street (i.e. one to another), is not safe. Actually if we do not confess our faults one to another we are likely to confess one another's faults (accusation), and this is not quite so healing (British understatement). Of course there will be times, even in genuine community, when there will be a need to go to the other person in humility and “in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted” (Galatians 6:1). When we fail to do either of the above, it is more than likely that we will tell others outside the relationship. That spreads the dirt, involves others in the problem, and invites them to take sides. Perhaps the two greatest destroyers of community are first of all gossip (and lets face it, gossip is all about telling the other brother), and second of all, the breaking of confidentiality. No community is safe where these two sins are allowed to go unchecked.
But what if there was a place where you were loved and accepted unconditionally, where your faults and weakness and shame were met with understanding and genuine sympathy, where people came along side you when you were hurting, even when it was your own fault? What if there was a place where every positive step was met with encouragement, where people helped you get up when you were down, where your confession was met not only with others saying they had the same problem, but that they were glad you shared because it helped them to get things off their chest? What if you discovered that a place like this is a place of healing and of encouragement to be all that you can be? What if you discovered that in such a place people liked you exactly as you are, warts and all?
Some would tell me “You are dreaming Phil, places like that do not exist”. But actually they do. When it is working properly (and in places it does), AA is such a place, as is ALANON. The Church is supposed to be like this. It is admittedly rare in North America (at least from what I have seen), but it does exist. In fact it is an essential part of what true Christian community is all about. We read about it in the early chapters of Acts. It is meant to provoke us to find it, or help create it when we don't. The Good Book tells us how, with God's help to make it happen, to find healing in openness and transparency. If, as I say, we cannot find it, then we need to create it. In last day's post I shared a primary goal in this latter stage of my life. I am more and more convinced that this can only be fully realized in the sort of community I am beginning to describe here. So finding/creating such a community is a major component of my goals in these last days. To what extent am I being successful? Well that is not for me to say. What is for me to say, is that I am determined, that I will with God's help either find it/create it, or die trying. More to come.
At a crucial time in my journey, yet another book was put into my hand. Actually it was a phrase from a book I was flipping through. The phrase (due to John Bradshaw) is this “If in a relationship one is open and the other covered, then both finish up violating each other”. I understood well how the open one is violated. Perhaps you do too, when in your attempt to be open and honest you were rejected and judged, and your confessions came back to you as accusations.
What I did not understand though, until I thought and prayed about it, is how the covered one is violated. As usual the insight came through the Bible. You see before the fall Adam and Eve were naked and they were not ashamed. After the fall they hid (Genesis 3). Before they made poor choices nakedness (openness and transparency) was normal and natural. Suddenly it became necessary to hide. In a world where people make poor choices, we somehow or other have to deal with hidden agendas, manipulation, control, judgmentalism, rejection and the like. I started to see that openness invites (or even demands) openness. But if we are frightened to death of being discovered, the “invitation” to be open can be received as an unwelcome pressure. It is a little bit like Adam trying to peek behind Eve's fig leaves. It feels a bit like the spiritual equivalent of sexual harassment. No wonder we hide. How could it be otherwise? I started to see why my openness was being regarded as shamelessness. Well attack is the best form of defence right? But I am called to an openness which (some may find hard to believe) that even I find scarey at times. Why would He do that, call people to openness? Well the Bible has the answer to that too.
There is one verse that kind of sums it all up for me. It says “Confess your faults one to another that you may be healed” (James 5: 16). It has to start somewhere. As I said earlier, when we are open and honest and transparent with one another, we discover that we are much more alike than we realize. I have been saying it a lot recently “in many things we all fail”, note "many things” not just a few, and no exceptions, not me, not you. When we confess to God, we are forgiven. When we find a safe place where there is unconditional acceptance, where we will not be judged when we confess to one another, then we are healed. This is a big part of the success of 12 step programs.
I have discovered though that confession, if it is not a two way street (i.e. one to another), is not safe. Actually if we do not confess our faults one to another we are likely to confess one another's faults (accusation), and this is not quite so healing (British understatement). Of course there will be times, even in genuine community, when there will be a need to go to the other person in humility and “in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you also be tempted” (Galatians 6:1). When we fail to do either of the above, it is more than likely that we will tell others outside the relationship. That spreads the dirt, involves others in the problem, and invites them to take sides. Perhaps the two greatest destroyers of community are first of all gossip (and lets face it, gossip is all about telling the other brother), and second of all, the breaking of confidentiality. No community is safe where these two sins are allowed to go unchecked.
But what if there was a place where you were loved and accepted unconditionally, where your faults and weakness and shame were met with understanding and genuine sympathy, where people came along side you when you were hurting, even when it was your own fault? What if there was a place where every positive step was met with encouragement, where people helped you get up when you were down, where your confession was met not only with others saying they had the same problem, but that they were glad you shared because it helped them to get things off their chest? What if you discovered that a place like this is a place of healing and of encouragement to be all that you can be? What if you discovered that in such a place people liked you exactly as you are, warts and all?
Some would tell me “You are dreaming Phil, places like that do not exist”. But actually they do. When it is working properly (and in places it does), AA is such a place, as is ALANON. The Church is supposed to be like this. It is admittedly rare in North America (at least from what I have seen), but it does exist. In fact it is an essential part of what true Christian community is all about. We read about it in the early chapters of Acts. It is meant to provoke us to find it, or help create it when we don't. The Good Book tells us how, with God's help to make it happen, to find healing in openness and transparency. If, as I say, we cannot find it, then we need to create it. In last day's post I shared a primary goal in this latter stage of my life. I am more and more convinced that this can only be fully realized in the sort of community I am beginning to describe here. So finding/creating such a community is a major component of my goals in these last days. To what extent am I being successful? Well that is not for me to say. What is for me to say, is that I am determined, that I will with God's help either find it/create it, or die trying. More to come.
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