Year 1, Day 120: Numbers 5

Separating Clean From the Unclean

Today we get a great lesson right off the bat.  No, I’m not going to plunge into a scene of casting out of people who aren’t like us.  I’m not going to advocate some community development that mimics a Monty Python-ish scene with monk roaming about saying “Bring out yer dead!”

But, I am going to take a glance at the fact that we see a clear point here to separate the unclean from within the camp.  If you will, think of the camp as the people who dwell with God and the outside of the camp as people who dwell outside of the presence of God.  Not literally, of course, but figuratively.  God does not literally abandon us based upon our cleanliness, as He clearly portrayed through Jesus Christ. 

This separation of the peoples is a symbol to all who follow God that it is important to take notice of our spirituality – Cleanliness, if you will – when we are in the presence of God.  Of course, anyone who claims to have the Holy Spirit within them is always in the presence of God.  I think you see where I am going with this.  If we always are in the presence of God, then we need to take this idea of spiritual cleanliness pretty seriously.  We cannot be perfect, but we should at least be concerned with being as clean as possible before our God.

The “Adulterous Wife” Test

The next bit – confession and then the case scenario of the adulterous wife – should not be seen in the light of some sort of magical test.  This is not some sort of “hocus pocus” where the magical words are said and fate will resolve and bring about truth.  Rather, this is a legitimate ceremony of public faithfulness.  Sure, it can be taken as some sort of ritualistic magic – and probably was taken that way in ancient times quite often!  But that is not what is really going on here.

What happens is that a man and woman come before the Lord.  The make an honest presentation before the Lord.  They give the Lord an offering.  They make their claims.  Then they place their trust in the Lord to judge them.

When stated in that way is this any more different than what we do every day – or at the very least every time we come in worship?  We come before the Lord: sometimes wrongly accused by others, sometimes in honest confession of our sin, occasionally in stubborn rebellion while hiding our sin, and sometimes in blessed ignorance that we have even sinned against God.  We ask God to judge us, forgive us, help us to change, etc.  Sometimes we are like the innocent woman falsely accused.  Sometimes we are like a repentant wife caught but honestly desiring change.  Sometimes we are the stubborn wife still desiring to hide the sin.  But our faith in God is not hocus pocus.  We honestly ask and know that God will stand before us in judgment.

“Communal Sin”

Another thing that this passage can bring out is that sin is communal.  We may not think about it that way, but it really is communal.  Let’s take a simple act like adultery, since it is the example given in Numbers 5.  Adultery may at first glance only involve the two people in an adulterous relationship.  But, since it is sex outside of marriage, it also involves their spouses.  If they are not married it technically involves their future spouses since this act will almost assuredly become a mental and emotional idol in their coming marriage.  So even for unmarried people sex outside of marriage is communally dangerous.  At the very least an adulterous relationship involves four people. 

But who can have an adulterous relationship without talking about it with their closest friends?  Now the friends are forced to keep a secret – and at the very least are introduced into the seductive emotional lie saying that one can be involved in something so wrong and get away with it.  And of course, if someone we know does something, that only opens the door for temptation for us to do likewise!  How many friends of the two involved in the adultery will be affected by the temptation to sin while also being put into a position of having to keep the lie from the adulterous person’s spouse?

And what of the wronged spouses?  When it is discovered – and most are – those spouses will be scarred.  They will have anger to deal with.  And who can deal with anger alone?  So those spouses will speak to friends who will then share in the anger against the adulterous pair.  How many people will have to deal with anger and disappointment towards the adulterous pair?

And what of the families?  The families of the victim spouses will have to deal with their feelings towards the adulterous pair and figure out how to still “do” community.  The families of the adulterous pair will share in their shame.  How many of the families will have their lives affected?

I think there is a reason that adultery is lifted up in this chapter as the “test case” for people who are wronged.  The reason is because we typically think of adultery as a “hidden” sin.  It is so easily disclosed and done in secret.  Many believe that something only involving two people can be easily hidden and kept from affecting others.  But it is just a lie.  Look how many people are affected here in this most hidden of all sins.  Sin is absolutely communal! 

Now imagine how many people are affected by openly public sinfulness!

No, this is why we publically turn to God and confess our sins before Him.  This is why we anticipate His judgment.  Sin is sticky business and always involves more people than we think that it will.  Flee from sin, turn to God.  Live righteous in our community according to God’s ways.

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Year 1, Day 119: Numbers 4

Age Discrepancy

I found something strikingly interesting today.  In other passages where the fighting men were counted, we often see the tally include men from 20 years old and up.  But in this passage, speaking in terms of temple/tabernacle service and as well as the tabernacle movement, the age requirement goes up to 30.  The question then is, why?

I think it points us to a need for maturity.  If we are going to be spiritual leaders, we must have a sense of maturity.  Ever meet someone who makes all kinds of promises yet never acts on them?  Ever meet someone who makes all kinds of claims of faith but never puts any into motion?  Ever meet someone who puts forth all kinds of grandiose claims for belief and religious understanding but never follows through?  These are all problems of maturity.  A mature person knows that simple promises and faithful adherence are much better than grand statements with little follow-through.  God is telling us quite simply that anyone can pick up a weapon and fight in battle; it takes a mature person to be a priest for God.

Why Is Maturity Important?

I don’t think we should cruise over this point so simply.  We in the church are very good at training people to “talk the talk.”  I know; I was there.  For many years of my life I talked a talk that would have anyone convinced I was a true believer. 

But when you look past my works, what did you see?  A person looking past my works would see someone who was just like everyone else in the world.  I played my video games, listened to my secular music laced with its drug culture, sex culture, and me-centered innuendoes, and didn’t give God the time or focus that I should.  I was all about TV, bank accounts, and popularity. 

Sure, I could talk the talk.  I could even quote Bible verses – all those memory verses I learned as a child!  But I was a fake.  I was a fraud.  Hear that statement well.  

I was fake.

I was nothing.  I was not mature enough mentally and spiritually to actually believe in having my actions match my talk.  I’m still not where I want to be, but at least now I am wise enough to see the problem and do something about it.  Maturity doesn’t grant perfection, it grants recognition of problems and motivation to at least try and correct them.

I think this is one of the marks of maturity.  A spiritually immature person can’t admit what they don’t know.  The truth is that they are not even consciously aware of what they don’t know.  The spiritually maturing person is at least aware of what they don’t know and what they spiritually cannot do.  The spiritually mature person is aware of what God wants them to do and does it.

The Task of Moving the Tabernacle Through the Wilderness

When it came time for God to lay out the tasks of the tabernacle and its function, God gave the tasks to those who were supposed to be mature enough to handle it.  I think we would be wise today to pause and ask ourselves this same question.  Those of us old enough to know better, are we mature enough to be given the tasks of the church?  Are we mature enough to uphold those responsibilities?  Or do we shirk them off and convince ourselves that God’s work – and a relationship with him – really aren’t as important as all the other things we occupy ourselves with in this world?

Yet, God still set limits.  The Levites were to carry the instruments, curtains, and structure of the tabernacle.  But they still are not to go in and see anything until the priests have made it ready.  Even when the tabernacle was pulled apart, people had their tasks and their prohibitions.  We all have a job to do.  We also all have jobs that God asks others to do.

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Year 1, Day 118: Numbers 2-3

Center

As I read through Numbers 2, I have two strong reflections.  The first one is something that I hope is genuinely obvious.  The tabernacle – and the priests/Levites – were at the center of the camp.  In the same way should God – and His spiritual priests – be at the center of our lives.  It is really that simple.  Is God at the center or not?  Are our spiritual relationships the ones that are the most important to us or not?  It doesn’t have to be any harder than that – it is pretty black and white there.  As the Hebrew people come out of bondage and God forms their community, the basics are simple.

Sounds Like a Plan

The second reflection is just as simple.  The people break camp with a plan.  They are organized.  They are structured.  It is all at God’s origination.  So it is to be with us.  We are to be organized and structured in our faith.  That doesn’t mean we can’t be spontaneous, but a good faith life is an organized one.  You don’t have a good prayer life without planning out when you are going to pray.  You don’t have a good devotional life without planning out when you are going to do your devotions.  And you don’t have any kind of spiritual life if your spiritual life isn’t originating from God.

Buffer

As far as chapter 3 goes in Numbers, let’s briefly see how the duties of the Levites revolved around the care of the tabernacle.  They were positioned in the camp between the tabernacle and the people as a buffer between God and the rest of the Hebrews.  Today, God’s priests – those who follow Christ – are also a buffer between God and the world.  The Levites were there to make sure the tabernacle avoided contamination and to make sure that the people were able to avoid as much of the unintentional wrath of God as possible. 

While not a complete job description, it is not too far from the truth with respect to the expectations of Christians.  We are to proclaim the coming of the kingdom of God and the death of Christ to help as many people as possible come into a relationship with their God and avoid ultimate judgment and final wrath.  Like it or not, Christians are a buffer between God and the world.  When we deny this reality, we lose sight of just how important it is for us to proclaim God’s truth in this world.

Leah

As for the Levites, let’s remember a little bit of Genesis here.  Anyone remember to which of Jacob’s sexual partners Levi was born?  If you remembered correctly, you came up with the answer of Leah.  We hear so much about Jacob loving Rachael, but God took his priests from one of the children that Leah bore to Jacob.  Leah was somewhat rejected by Jacob, but God redeems her ultimately many generations after her life on earth.  The pattern for God’s holy people was taken from Leah, not Rachael. 

For that record, the great Davidic kings – beginning with David Himself and ultimately ending with Jesus Christ as God’s Messiah – came from Judah, the son born to Leah after Levi was born!  God has a way of working in ways of importance that we cannot ever be aware.  We see other things than what God sees in people.

Levites

But, let’s return to these Levites.  Notice that they are special to God.  They are to do special things.  They are specifically called out as non-combatants in the Hebrew people.  Every time they are mentioned it is as though God lifts up the importance of their holiness – their separateness.  God’s priests are unique unto Him.  If this lesson hasn’t been learned yet, it should be learned in these two chapters.  And if you don’t get it now, you’ll get plenty more chances before our tour of the Hebrew history books is over.

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Year 1, Day 117: Numbers 1

Naming of the Book

Here’s an interesting tidbit of information.  We call this book “Numbers” because of the two fairly significant censuses recorded within its pages.  But the Hebrew people don’t call this book Numbers.  They call this book “In the Wilderness.”  No, not “En te Eremo” – for that is Greek, not Hebrew.  But it is exactly the same thought.  I have a new affinity for this book!

God’s Closeness

Okay, here in the first chapter we get a clear indication of the sheer power of God.  Think about it.  How many hundreds of thousands of people are encamped in the wilderness?  Yet, God knows them all so well that He can list names from each tribe to help Moses take the census.  I don’t know about you, but I doubt that if I was in charge of a nation of people that large that I could rattle of the names of people from among every subdivision – much less know them well enough to know that they would be good help in the process.  God doesn’t just know His people, He knows His people personally and individually.

Levites Excluded

Of course, reading through this list we can see a great discrepancy.  No, I’m not talking about the fact that it was only men who were counted.  I am talking about that the Levites were kept out of the list.  We shouldn’t miss this point.  The Hebrew people are already made separate (holy) from the world.  Now God is making the Levites separate (holy) from among the already separate (holy) Hebrew people.  God takes the holiness of His priests seriously.

Here’s what it says to me.  There are worldly people.  There are people who know God, but who are still pretty worldly.  And then there are His priests – people who are claimed for a different purpose than what the world thinks.  Of course, by now you know that I preach and teach the priesthood of all believers as spoken of in the book of Revelation and much of Paul’s writings.  How many of today’s Christians – lay and ordained alike – would really call themselves separate from the world?  How many of today’s Christians would really see themselves as having a separate identity than what the world expects from them?  Yet God clearly considers His priests to be a separate people.

To reach the entire world, God needs a host of people.  God doesn’t need just a few people to be separate.  God needs His host of believers to be separate unto God and live like it.  That’s really all it takes.  But when we do not live as separate people unto God, we tarnish the ministry that God has called us into doing.  This point is far more significant than just a change of mindset.  It is speaking about following Christ as true change in who you are as a person.  Not just belief, but true repentance!

Of course, blend this with the fact that twice in this chapter (Numbers 1:19, 54) that Moses did as the Lord commanded.  We get a pretty good understanding of holy and God’s desire for His priests.  God commands, we follow.  God commands, we act.  God commands, we live.  Nowhere in there is there anything about us second-guessing God, living to an alternate standard, or even not living up to God’s command.  God’s priests – God’s people – do as God commands!

In the Wilderness: En Te Eremo

One final note.  Let’s return back to the Hebrew title of this book: “In the Wilderness.”  Clearly I have used that description as the title of my blog to lift up the feeling that this world is a spiritual wilderness and we proclaim in the midst of it.  But there is another more personal application.

The Hebrew people lived and traveled in the midst of this wilderness.  They lived the wilderness, and most of this actual generation died in it.  The warning is clear.  Not only is the world a spiritual wilderness, but we must be careful that we ourselves are not a wilderness. 

Is God alive in us, or are we fooling ourselves?  Are we fertile ground for the Spirit or are we a dry and parched land?  In the end, will we pass through the wilderness into the Promised Land or will we find that we die in the wilderness having become a part of the wilderness ourselves?

We shall see, and I’ll likely talk about this again, but the Hebrew people waste almost 40 years in their wanderings through the wilderness.  We should not be so foolish as to follow their example.  If you are in the wilderness, get out!  If you are embodying the wilderness, seek the words of life – or as Jesus speaks in John 4, seek the water of life which after drinking nobody will thirst again.

God’s grace to you.

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Year 1, Day 116: Leviticus 27

Strange Endings to a Unique Book

At first glance, this seems to be a strange ending chapter to the book of Leviticus.  Why end a book of the Bible on the note of setting a price upon a person?  It seems strange.  And it is.  I can’t figure out why this chapter wasn’t inserted earlier in the book so as to make the two previous chapters the ending of the book.  From a human perspective, those chapters would’ve given us a much better note to end on.

That being said, I’m not really in a place to critique God’s Holy Scriptures.  So let’s look at the text regardless of its orientation.

God’s View of People

This chapter seems to be about setting up a value on the human being.  Men seem to have a typically higher value than women.  Children and the elderly seem to have a lower value than adults.  Is this really how God views people?

The answer to that is quite simply “no.”  This is how a human economic system places a concrete value of a whole amalgam of random and abstract variables.  In general, this price could be the expected economic contribution of such a person in the Hebrew society. But these values are for the purpose of human economics, not God’s economics.

We can absolutely be sure of this.  When Jesus Christ came to this earth to redeem mankind – and creation with it – he did not say that men would be redeemed first or that adults would be redeemed better.  Jesus Christ did not come to die primarily for the men and subsequently for the women, children, and the elderly by proximity.  No, all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God.  All are deserving of judgment and condemnation.  Men are in no greater or less need of being redeemed than women; adults are in no greater or less need of redemption than children or elderly.  We are all deserving of condemnation.  Likewise, all are equally blessed in salvation because all are equally guilty.

Granted, we know that condemnation is not ultimately what God has in store for those who are in Christ because Jesus Christ has come and died for our sake.  But I bring up this argument to show that this economic system given here at the end of Leviticus has little to do with God’s “true evaluation” of a person.  In the end, God will judge up more on our sinfulness and Christ’s redemption than our gender or our age.  This chapter has everything to do with the typical human economic system – it is a worldly system toward which God is trying to provide some guidance.

Holiness

What I do enjoy about this chapter is the emphasis on holiness.  Things dedicated to the Lord can be redeemed, but it is more costly than redeeming it from another person.  Why do I like it?  Well, I like it because it shows us that we should really think long and hard before dedicating things to the Lord.  When we give something to the Lord, if we want it back for selfish reasons it is going to cost us more than it is really worth.  I’m not arguing that we shouldn’t make vows or give things to God’s service – I am arguing that this is a decision that is very important to think about first.

Let’s take a few examples.  How many people contribute to a church but still feel the need to mandate where the money is used?  Is that really giving something to the Lord or is it masking a person’s desire to still be in control while feeling like they are “tithing?”  How often do you hear of people making “designated gifts” so they can give to their own pet projects?  They aren’t giving out of generosity; they are appearing to give while maintaining control.

Another example is something that most parents do.  Most parents go forward during worship and have a baby dedication – or a baby baptism.  How many parents really mean what they are doing there?  How many parents are really dedicating their baby to God – or at the least really dedicating themselves to the bring up of their baby in the Christian ways?  I’ve done several infant baptisms in my life as well as several adult baptisms.  The reality is that many of the adult and infant baptisms end up in a person eventually feeling as though they “kept God’s commandment” without considering the fact that they have also made an obligation to the Lord.

You see, people make vows to God and people make promises to God far too easily.  This last chapter does give us an indication that we should think hard about vows to God because to redeem our vow back is costly.  Or at least it should be.

In today’s world and today’s religion, it is not.  You simply quit coming and there is no accountability.  Well, until you get to God’s judgment.  But by then the cost may be too great and it may be far too late to be able to ask God to take care of the payment for the cost.  In today’s way of doing religion we are comfortable making the cost light {or non-existent} while at the same time not telling people that the ultimate cost may be too great.  This is what Bonheoffer teaches when he talks about costly grace instead of cheap grace.  We should think more before we make vows and promises so that when the time comes we are prepared to live up to those promises and find fullness in God.

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Year 1, Day 115: Leviticus 26

Punishment vs. Blessing

I love Leviticus 26 for a whole different set of reasons than I love the Sabbath/Jubilee regulations of Leviticus 25.  I invite you to notice something right off, and you don’t even need to read anything.  No doubt Leviticus 26 is broken up into two sections in your Bible, and they are probably titled something like “Blessings for Obedience” (1-13) and “Punishments for Disobedience” (14-46).

Now, look at that and tell me what you notice.  The punishments section is FAR longer.  It’s not even comparable.

Let’s learn the lesson here.  When we truly obey God, our life is such that we don’t need to be convinced to continue to obey God.  God simply can promise that if we obey Him we will know happiness, fulfillment, and life in His care.  He doesn’t need to go too much deeper than that because life with God is good.

On the other hand, we do need warnings for life without God.  Life without God is frustrating and lonely.  Life without God causes us to focus on ourselves and our problems.  We need someone to take the time and force us to realize that our problems are deeper than “the world is against us and hates us.”  We need to realize that our poor attitude towards life is because of the fact that we have turned our backs against God. 

It is amazing to note this contrast.  When we are walking with God, we don’t need convincing because we are changed and see through God’s eyes.  When we are not with God we need to be convinced because our blind eyes and stone hearts cannot focus and feel as they should.  Without even reading a word in Leviticus we can observe this lesson.

Now go back and read through this passage with that in mind.  When you get to the last bit about the passage where it talks about returning to the Lord, come back and finish reading this blog.

Value of Repentance

Notice that God may allow for consequences of sin, but God is never too far away to help us return to Him.  There’s two parts to that sentence.  First, notice I said consequence for sin, not punishment for sin.  We receive the consequences of our sin.  We live in the consequences of our rebellion against God.  When we recognize our sinfulness and turn to God, it is not God who needs to move but we who need to move out of our sin and go back to God!

Although praise be to God that while He does not need to move, He is willing to move to help us return!  That leads us to the second part of the first sentence of the last paragraph.  When we do turn, God will remember His promises and allow us entrance back into the life that is in Him.  We will still have to deal with consequences, of course.  Turning to God does not erase the consequences of our past guilt, but God does erase the guilt of our past actions.  Honestly, that’s already well more than fair!

Praise be to God.  In His righteousness and His justice He could smite us.  But He is patient, merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.

God’s Care for Creation

One other thing leapt out at me as I read through the punishments section.  God has a passionate care for His creation – not just humanity.  When we as human beings become self-centered, one of the biggest things to suffer is creation.  We as human beings love to take what we need without thinking about the long-term effects – especially upon creation.

But notice that when things get so bad that we leave God completely, God has a plan for creation.  When we no longer demonstrate care for creation, God will send us into exile and the land will have its rest.  When in our sin we abuse creation, God will take care of creation!

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Year 1, Day 114: Leviticus 25

Ownership

I pulled this quote out of Warren Wiersbe’s book called Expository Outlines of the Old Testament.  I think it is important to understand the mindset of the Jewish people with respect to “rights” and “property ownership.”  It is foreign to us as Americans.  In fact, it is really foreign to most of Christianity.  We will all read this as say, “Oh, yeah, that’s totally true.”  But we don’t live accordingly for the most part.  Instead of paraphrasing and taking the credit myself, better to give you the original source:

The economic system in Israel was based on three fundamental principles: (1) God owned the land and had a right to control it, Leviticus 25:23; (2) God owned the people, because He had redeemed them from Egyptian bondage, Leviticus 25:38, 42, 55; and (3) the Jews were a family (“your brother,” nkjv) and should care for each other, Leviticus 25:25, 35–36, 39, 47. Joshua and the Jewish army conquered the land of Canaan, but it was God who assigned their inheritance (Joshua 13–21). The people “possessed” the land and enjoyed its products, but God owned it and determined how it would be used.

I also happen to be reading a book called “Weird” by Craig Groeschel.  Craig makes a great point in that book about the first part of this chapter.  I don’t have the book, so I’m going to have to paraphrase this one.  Craig asks a very interesting question: How many businesses do you know that are open for six years and then take a year off?  How many businesses do you know of that are open six days and take a Sabbath?  {I can only think of two: Chik-fil-A and most mom-and-pop restaurants}  No, we think of business and work as a time to make money.  But isn’t that the same as the purpose of farming?  You use the land to grow crops and be able to live.  God knows the earth needs time off.  So do employees.  So do businesses.  It sounds really strange, but I wonder how many businesses would thrive with satisfied employees if they knew that every seven years they would get a year-long break from their work? 

After all, this is where the term Sabbatical is ultimately derived! 

Oh, and for the record we should realize that today even farmers don’t let the land go fallow too often.  Instead, we have devised a way of rotating crops to keep the land from being deprived of the same nutrients year after year.  Somehow, though, I still don’t think crop rotation can do for the land what God can do by giving it a year off.

The Year of Jubilee

The Year of Jubilee is one of my favorite concepts.  Jubilee is this time when we honor a Sabbath of Sabbaths.  7 groups of seven years are spoken of here – the year after that is Jubilee!  I think that’s a pretty amazing concept, to be truthful.  What happens in Jubilee?  Well, it is like hitting a giant reset button.  Anything that was yours during the last Jubilee becomes yours again. 

Automatically.

Just because it is God’s and God wants it to go back to the family to whom it was given.  That’s a really neat concept.  It’s like saying that you can never completely lose your home or your children or anything that belongs to you.  You can sell it for a time if you absolutely have to sell it, but you know that on Jubilee it comes right back to you.  In a way, what it really does is indicate that things like selling property forever becomes impossible.  Instead of selling land, you really lease it to another person until the year of Jubilee cycles around again.

Why is this process the way that it is?  Simply put, because the Jewish people knew that they did not ultimately own the land themselves.  God was the owner of the land.  They were merely its occupants.  So in the year of Jubilee when the hypothetical “reset button” is pushed, nobody had any right to complain.  It was all God’s property; He has the right to divide it how He wants. 

See?  I told you that this idea of land ownership is absolutely foreign to most Americans!  But imagine how much stress we could avoid in life if we actually lived this out?  How much could we avoid in life if we didn’t have the pressure of accumulating and protecting our wealth because we understood and lived that it is really all God’s wealth anyway?

Oh, and for the record, the Hebrew people worked this into their financial system.  Just to give an example, let’s say that a person was poor but had a parcel of land.  The person could sell the land to a neighbor for a sum of money (to make it simple, let’s say $49,000 - $1,000 for each year between the years of Jubilee.  If the person sells the land immediately following Jubilee, he would get that price.  But if the person sold the land with only 22 years left until Jubilee, the cost would be decreased accordingly – in my example it would now be $22,000.  This makes sense, because in the first example the buyer knows he gets the land for 49 years while in the second example the buyer knows he’s only getting the land for 22 years.  Oh, how wonderful life is when we live as though it is all God’s anyway.

Land versus Cities

Also notice that God seems to care about the land, not the cities.  The reason is that in an agricultural setting the land is the key to life.  One house inside a city is like another.  God doesn’t care which house a person lives in within a city – so long as they have a dwelling to call their own.  But God does care if a person outside the city is stripped of their only means to survive as the rich no doubt would scheme to buy up and control all the land.  No, that doesn’t sound at all familiar, does it?

Indentured Servants

Finally, notice that this chapter provides for the measure of what we would call today “indentured servitude.”  A person could sell themselves into essential slavery, but only for a time.  In the year of Jubilee, all such Hebrew servants were free with their whole families.  While this might seem archaic and a hint back to slavery, if done right it is a boon to the poor of the land. 

Let’s say that you are having a hard time finding a job and caring for your family.  So you arrange to have you and your family serve someone who can afford to care for both their family and your family.  You serve them dutifully; they treat you with the respect that servants deserve. 

This is usually the place where slavery and servitude breaks down.  Masters – shoot, humans in general – have a hard time treating people underneath them with any sort of respect at all!  But so long as the wealthy person maintained respect and cared for the families while the poor man maintained the appointed work, the system should work beautifully.  {And no, this isn’t an endorsement of slavery and indentured servitude.  It is an endorsement of human beings getting along and calling for underlings / employees / servant to dutifully do the work and for masters / employers / owners to uphold their agreements and treat people with respect.}

I really love the concept of Jubilee and the idea that God owns everything.  I hope in reading this that you were able to fall in love with the concept yourself.  God’s peace.

Oh, and Happy Easter!  He is risen!

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Interlude: Radical Faith

In many places, Christianity is about buildings, programs, fellowship events, and social cliques.  We do have fun.  We enjoy our time.  And those are good things.  But American Christianity was recently challenged by David Platte* through the following analogy in a Secret Church simulcast done on April 22, 2011:

“Imagine I told you that on my way here I got a flat tire.  In the process of getting out and changing the tire, I strayed into the middle of the road where I got hit by an 18-wheeler semi.  Then I got up off of the road, finished changing the tire, and came to teach.  If I really told you that story, you would think it impossible!  You don’t just ‘get up’ from being hit by a semi.  Being hit by a semi changes you.  You don’t look the same after getting hit by a semi than you did before you got hit.  So it is when God changes you.”

So here’s the question.  How different do you look from the world?  Are you able to look just like the world while truly believing in God?  Is that even possible?  Doesn’t a relationship with God change who you are?  If you – or I – can say that we think, act, and do just the same as before we knew Christ, do we really know Him?  If getting hit by a semi will irrevocably alter how you appear to the world, should not a true interaction with the living God change you even more?

*David Platte is the author of the book Radical, and occasionally teaches through 6 hour intensive courses called “Secret Church.”  These classes are available to all, so they aren’t secret in that they are private.  They are secret because they seek to go behind the curtain of Christianity and talk about the depth of faith, not the surface that we often think is depth.  They are also “secret” in that it reminds us that there are many people around the world who do have to meet in church secretly for fear of losing their job, family, freedom, or even their life.  The analogy quoted here is from his April 22, 2011 simulcast.

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In other places of the world Christianity is about wondering when the next time you will be chased out of your home, dragged out into the street, and beaten – perhaps even killed.  During David Platte’s simulcast we were able to drop in on a previously recorded Skype conversation with a pastor and his brother in India, which I will summarize as best as I can remember:

“One day, we were worshipping and we began to hear a mob outside coming toward us.  They were shouting ‘Kill the Christians.  Kill the Christians.’  So we fled into the forest fearing for our lives.  By the grace of God he provided leaves for us to eat and water for us to drink.  By His grace we were saved.  Only 3 in my village died.  These persecutions are happening because the church in India is growing.  As more people convert to Christianity in India, our persecution grows.  Please pray for us that our church will continue to grow.”

Do you see what the pastor in India is saying?  The more people convert to Christianity, the stronger the persecution comes.  But what does he ask for in prayer except that the church would grow!  There is a changed person.  There is a person who is different from the world.  To make the analogy, there is a man that we can actually believe that he got hit by God’s “spiritual semi.”  According to the rules of the world, he should want the end of persecution.  Therefore, he should want to stop proclaiming the Gospel.  But he is changed; he does not want what the world tells him he should want.  He wants what God wants, the proclamation of the Gospel and people believing in the message even at the potential cost of his own life.  He looks different.  He sounds different.  It is believable that he is a changed person and that God has changed him.  He is not of this world, but of God’s kingdom.  And I am humbled by his testimony.

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Do I look different?  Do I look as though I got hit by God’s “spiritual semi?”  Or do I look like I saw the semi, understood what it was supposed to do, and then stepped out of the way just to make sure I didn’t really get hit and get radically changed?  What about you?  If people look at you, do they see something totally different than the world’s idea of who you should be?  Do they see someone that God has irrevocably changed?

If you are challenged by these questions and actually want to do something about them, keep reading:

How well can you explain to yourself and another person …

·         How do I become a Christian?

·         How do I know that I am a Christian?

·         How can God simultaneously love creation with all of His heart yet hate the prevalence of sin?

·         Why is the death of Jesus necessary to satisfy the character of God to a people that deserves condemnation?

·         What is the full work of the Holy Spirit is in our life?

·         How can we say that all of humanity is blind, depraved, disordered, defiled, broken, and lovers of evil?

·         How can we say with confidence that without God humankind is perishing?

·         Why is a superficial religion pointless with respect to salvation?

·         What do we mean when we talk about spiritual regeneration, and how do we see it and know it?

·         Why does God give us a new nature rather than improve our current nature?

·         Why must we convert fully and completely from the ways of this world to the ways of God rather than combine the things that we like in this world with the things that we like about God’s ways?

·         What does it mean to have a Savior and a Lord?

·         Why is the law a good thing for us?

·         Why do we need Jesus Christ for salvation instead of the law?

·         What does the Apostle Paul mean when he says we are justified?

·         What is the difference between justification and sanctification?

·         How are we justified before God?  How are we sanctified before God?  Why must these be different?

·         How do both our immorality and our morality actually condemn us?

·         What is the real reason for doing the things that God desires?

·         What does it mean to say and believe that our faith is imputed – and why is that significant?

·         How can I be assured of my salvation?

·         What does it mean to be in a relationship with God?

·         What does it mean to be in union with Christ, and why is that important?

·         What do we mean when we say Christ is with us?

·         Why does God speak of His work in us as transformational?

·         What does it mean to be crucified with Christ?

·         Why is community important to our sanctification?

·         Why do we see the Gospel as more than something to be believed – it is something to be obeyed?

·         When are “good works” important?

·         Is it possible to publically profess that which we do not personally possess?

·         How does God preserve us?

·         How does God enable us to persevere in this world?

The reality is that many of us – perhaps even most! – cannot understand the depth of what the questions are asking, much less even attempt to give a meaningful answer.  There’s a problem there.  If we cannot understand the questions and give legitimate answers, how can we expect our faith to make any sense at all to others?  How can we expect our relationship with God to be infectious?

I’m looking to change that.  I’ve been inspired by David Platte and a few others looking to radically alter our perception who can actually talk meaningfully about faith.  I’m looking for people who want to commit to changing their ability to answer these questions.  I’m looking for people who aren’t afraid to admit that maybe our current understanding of “church” isn’t cutting it anymore.  The last thing this world needs is more people who can’t speak about God and faith at personal depth.  It is time we change that here in Wilkesboro, in North Carolina, and in our country.