Year 1, Day 212: Luke 3

A Voice Crying Out In The Wilderness

In the wilderness is “en te eremo” in the Greek language of the New Testament.  It is where John preached. 

Why the wilderness?  Because there was no legitimate spirituality to be found in Israel. 

In that sense, everywhere in Israel was a wilderness!  It’d been centuries since a legitimate prophet had spoken the word of God.  Israel was a spiritual wilderness, desperately in need of someone to point them to truth.  John points them to Christ.  When a people are in need of truth – when people are living “en te eremo” – someone had better start pointing to Christ.  It is, after all, what we are called to do as Christians.

But how did John preach?  First, he preached against sin.  Then, he preached repentance.  Finally, he preached the coming of the kingdom of God in the coming Messiah – Jesus Christ.  Without conviction there is no true conversion.  So often the path to belief comes through the valley of conviction, recognition, and repentance.  Yet without Christ there is nothing into which it is meaningful to convert.

Instructions

“Bear fruits in keeping with your repentance,” John said to the onlookers.  Notice that in Luke’s Gospel, this passage is said to all.  In Matthew’s Gospel this sentiment is said to just the Pharisees and Sadducees.  John is warning the people that if they continue to dwell in their sin that the axe is at the root of the tree.  Continuing to dwell in sin is the antithesis to being a disciple.

But I think it really goes deeper than that.  If they are not ready to repent, they will miss what God is doing in Christ.  If they miss what God is doing in Christ, then they will have missed something significant in life.  John is telling them that if they are not careful, their lifestyle is going to cause them to miss out on what God is trying to do in their midst.

You see, many people think of John simply as the herald of Jesus.  They say that John was there just to point to Christ and say, “He’s the one!”  And yes, absolutely this was a part of John’s function.  But John was also there to prepare people for Christ’s coming.  John was there in the midst of the people trying to teach them.  He was trying to help them through the wilderness of what should have been their spirituality so that when Christ showed up it would make sense to them.  John was more than just a herald, John was a teacher!  He was coming up alongside of people and through speaking the Word he was helping them move forward in the walk with God.

Core Values from John

What did John teach?  John taught community: Share your tunics.  John taught honesty: Don’t rip people off.  John taught contentedness: Do an honest job and accept an honest pay for it.  John taught humility: There is one for whom I am not worthy to even stoop at his feet.  John taught truth: Be careful, the winnowing fork is in His hand to gather up the wheat and sort out the chaff.

John didn’t teach a feel-good-religion.  Is it human nature to share?  Is it human nature to accept certain wages when other people are getting more through dishonest means?  Is it human nature to do an honest job when a few shortcuts could save time, money, and thus mean an increase to the profit?  Is it human nature to humble oneself when there is no selfish gain?  Is it human nature to change just because we might be chaff in some unseen God’s eyes?

John didn’t tell people that God accepts them as they are without repentance.  John didn’t tell people that following God was easy.  John didn’t tell people that salvation was cheap.  No, John taught a hard lesson.  But John taught truth.  Following God is not at all easy.  It is demanding.  It is uncomfortable at many times.  It requires something of us.  If done right, it requires not just something of us, but it requires all of who we are.  It consumes us so that it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in us.

Trinity

Notice that the Gospel of Luke does not contain any mention of his denial of worth in the act of baptizing Jesus.  It is a slight difference from Matthew’s account.  Luke is trying to show the divinity of Christ here. 

Luke is trying to give us a picture in which the focus is not on John, but rather on the Trinity.  It is difficult to read this passage and deny the existence of the Trinity.  The Son was baptized.  The Father spoke.  The Spirit descended.  All three are present in this one great act.

Genealogy

As for the genealogy, there are a few things that should be said.  First, Luke’s genealogy is different from Matthew because Luke gives the fathers of Mary whereas Matthew gives the fathers of Joseph.  Furthermore, notice that Matthew starts with Abraham and moves forward while Luke’s starts with Jesus and moves backward.  There’s nothing really significant other than to point out the differences here.

What is important is to note what the genealogy talks about whose son Jesus really is.  This genealogy takes us from Jesus to Adam.  Thus, there can be no doubt that Jesus is human.  Quite literally, Jesus is a son of man.  However, God the Father has also just declared that Jesus is His beloved Son.  Jesus is the Son of God.  Jesus is a divine-man. 

Fully Human; Fully Divine

Yes, this does open up the whole concept of Jesus being fully human and fully divine.  When you completely figure that one out and can explain it, let me know.  Because that one is harder to understand than it is to say.  But it is simple to believe.  Jesus is completely human and Jesus is completely divine.  It is His nature, and it makes Him uniquely different from us.

Why is this important?  Only because it is the foundation of salvation.  Jesus’ baptism and Jesus’ genealogy establishes the foundation for salvation.  Here’s how it plays out:

·      A God who does not require atonement for sin is not just.  As proof, here is Proverbs 17:15, God’s own Word.  “He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the Lord.”  Therefore, if God justifies the sinner without condemnation, God is an abomination unto Himself.  Thus, there must be condemnation. 

·      If there is condemnation, then there must be a sacrifice to remove the guilt.  That sacrifice has to be human or else God isn’t really holding humanity responsible for its own actions.

·      Yet, what human can be the unblemished lamb?  What human is righteous and free from sin?  Romans 3:23 says “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”  Only God is righteous.

·      Therefore, how is it that God is true to His nature, yet still able to show us mercy?  The only way is for God to become human.  The only way for God to be true to Himself and His word is to effect judgment on humanity, but the only way that humanity can stand against this judgment is if a righteous person atones.  God must become man.  Only then is humanity held responsible and put under the consequence of death yet still able to be properly justified without going against God’s own character and His Word.

I bet you never realized how important a genealogy was to salvation before.  Yet Jesus’ baptism and genealogy combine to demonstrate that Jesus is both fully human and fully divine.  He is righteous, thus an acceptable sacrifice.  He is human, thus he satisfies the condition of God’s own Word from Proverbs 17:15.  God is condemning humanity through Jesus and justifying humanity through Jesus.  Neither are abominations to God.

Whew.  It got pretty deep pretty quickly in here!  Go in God’s peace.

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Year 1, Day 211, Luke 2

Jesus: Birth to Adulthood

Luke 2 covers 30 years of time.  We go from the announcement of Jesus’ birth (Luke 1) to John the Baptist in the Wilderness (Luke 3).  That’s thirty years of time.  I’ve always wondered what happened in those thirty years.  Were they just normal human life?  Were they filled with small miracles as Jesus grew in power?  Was Jesus liked or disliked?  Was He always wise and always right?  Was He an easy kid to raise or was He just impossible because He was always right even when being contrary to Mary and Joseph?  {See the Temple incident as evidence of that one.}

But this morning as I am typing those questions, I realize the propensity for me to become distracted.  With thirty years of time spent untold, I can get lost in all of the wondering and pondering.  I can get so lost in the pondering that I miss what Luke actually wrote.  I need to trust good Doctor Luke in that he wrote what the Holy Spirit led him to write.  All that I need to know, I have been given. 

Granted, it is not all that I want to know.  But that’s kind of my point.  I want to know it, but I shouldn’t let my wants to distract me from what I need to know.  The Holy Spirit guided Luke to write what I need to know to accomplish God’s will.

Jesus’ Birth and Dedication

So what do we know from this passage about Jesus?  First, let’s look at Simeon, Anna, and the shepherds.  For the record, these people could easily be called: some old guy with the Holy Spirit, some longstanding widow who spends all of her time hanging around the temple, and a bunch of smelly people who did a job that traditionally wasn’t considered very respectable.  This absolutely continues the theme from yesterday that God casts “normal” people in His grand plan!  God wants to use the normal!

But what even cooler is that these seemingly normal people are actually quite extraordinary.  What made Simeon notable was not anything he brought to the table but that he had the Holy Spirit resting upon him.  What made Anna notable was her devotion to the Lord above the things of this world (no doubt a sign of the Holy Spirit being upon her as well).  What made the shepherds notable was their willingness to listen to the angels and humbly seek out the Lord.  These are average people who are remembered for thousands of years because of what they were willing to have God to do through them. 

What a great testimony to the Christian!  It is not I or you or we that am, is, or are great!  It is what God accomplishes through me and you and us that is great.

The Sacrifice

Furthermore, look at the sacrifice made for Mary.  Two turtledoves.  From Leviticus 12:8 we can see that this is the sacrifice of the poor.  Mary (or Joseph, more likely) cannot afford a lamb.  So the bird option is used.  Again this goes to show how “normal” Mary was.  She couldn’t even afford a lamb for a “proper” sacrifice.

Holy Heavenly History, Batman!  Something just hit me as I wrote that last sentence.  Maybe I’ve heard this before and my subconscious is pulling this out – but I don’t ever remember hearing this spoken before.  Mary could not afford a lamb for the sacrifice!  Mary could not afford the lamb, but God had given her the very lamb that would become her sacrifice!  How cool is that?  Mary – a poor young virgin facing societal shame for bearing a child that was not of her husband – cannot afford a proper sacrifice.  Yet God has given her all the sacrifice that she would need in Jesus.

I am struck by all the parallels into the Old Testament that this brings up.  Remember Abraham?  Abraham is asked where the sacrificial ram is when Isaac clearly sees that his father has none.  Abraham says “God will provide.”  Mary cannot afford a lamb, but knows that “God can provide.”  Remember the prophets and how almost all of them say “God does not desire your sacrifices.  Rend your hearts, not your garments.”  {See Joel 2:13, Hosea 6:6, and Psalm 51:15-17 as the most often-used citation of this concept.}  Mary cannot afford a lamb for the proper legal sacrifice, but she gives herself to be used by God instead.  Her heart is rent, and God uses it to bring in the Savior of the world.

Jesus At the Temple

This is a great transitional story that does allow me to go back to an earlier pondering an wonder just how spiritual Jesus was as a child.  If we look closely here, we can hear that Jesus is in the temple.  Mary finds Him and says, “Where have you been?  Your father and I have been searching for you.  We are in such distress!”  And look how Jesus replies.  He says, “Didn’t you know that I would be in my Father’s house?”

Jesus is drawing a distinction between His fathers.  Jesus draws a distinction between His father’s search and His Father’s house.  Jesus is not trying to discredit Joseph; Jesus is trying to illustrate that there is something unique and special going on here.  Biological relationships can be great.  But spiritual relationships are even greater.  Jesus knows who his father is.  He also knows who his Father is.

I believe this is why we don’t hear about Jesus being punished by Mary.  In fact, we hear that Mary “treasured all of these things in her heart.”  I’m sure Mary wanted to throttle Jesus when He said what He said – especially after searching for Him and thinking Him lost!  But she sees in Jesus an immature twelve year old boy who is coming into a spiritual being unlike the world has ever seen.

Perhaps you balked a bit at my last comment.  Perhaps you wonder how it is that the Son of God – perfect in every way – could be seen like an immature twelve year old boy.  Perhaps it sounds a bit blasphemous to paint the young Jesus as a bit immature.  So don’t take my word for it.  Read the Bible.  What does the last verse in this chapter say?  After this point, Jesus increased in wisdom, stature, and favor.

How can a person who is fully divine increase in wisdom, right?  Let’s not forget that Jesus was also fully human.  While He was completely the Son of God, he was also completely human as well.  Human beings tend to be a bit immature at twelve.  That doesn’t mean that teenagers are always wrong or sinful or anything else.  But it does mean that even when doing the right thing they lack a sense of maturity and wisdom about them.  If Jesus was fully human – and I believe that He was – we should expect this to also be true of Him, too!

Mary sees this and knows it.  So she can treasure Jesus’ comment in her heart for the spiritual expression of a twelve year old boy that it is.  Jesus grows in wisdom and stature and favor until His time for ministry has truly come upon Him.  That’s what we’ll begin to talk about tomorrow.

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Year 1, Day 210: Luke 1

Long Chapters

Okay, there are a few chapters in the New Testament that I am not going to be able to talk about everything.  Luke has a number of them.  This is one of them.  I’m only going to pick a few small examples and lift them up for consideration.

Zechariah

First, I love the fact that Zechariah can’t speak until John is born.  I know it is written about as a consequence of doubt, but I think God is happy to use it.  Think about it.  Had Zechariah been able to speak, he could have talked about his vision for a long time before the baby is born.  He could have proclaimed God’s greatness leading up until the baby’s birth.  But this way, he can’t!

Now, hopefully you stopped and reread that last paragraph because it seems to be saying that I am celebrating that the proclamation of God’s name is interrupted.  That is just not typical Christian thought.  But in this specific case, it is awesome that Zechariah can do no proclamation until the baby is born.

Why is this awesome?  It really is pretty simple once you get the hang of it.  I’m not actually celebrating that God’s name isn’t being praised.  What I am celebrating is that God took it upon Himself to praise His own name.  Zechariah can’t talk about the vision until his speech is freed after the baby is born.  But in the midst of his silence, amazing things happen.  Mary gets pregnant.  Mary visits Elizabeth and unusual things occur.  God takes it upon himself to bring glory to Himself.  Had Zechariah been able to speak, the way would have been paved through his ability to speak and the supernatural would have had a much more natural feel.

So in the end it is still a punishment.  Zechariah is unable to give praise to God and as you suspect, in the end it is still a negative consequence.  But what is really cool is that God doesn’t allow Zechariah’s blunder with respect to his faith to interfere with the glorifying of His name.  That’s the really cool part of this story.  God’s name is praised whether we can open our mouths or not.

The People of God’s Choosing

Second, I am going to lift up the players in the story.  Mary: a teenage virgin.  Joseph: an older and wiser carpenter.  Zechariah: a priest – but a priest fairly down on the list of important priests in the land.  Elizabeth: a woman bearing shame because so far she has been unable to conceive with a child in spite of her husband’s good graces of being “a priest.” 

What an unlikely bunch of characters!  There are no rulers here.  There are no big name tribal clan leaders.  There is nobody with any great wealth, social position, or worldly acclaim.  When God brings the culmination of His plan of salvation into the world, it is a most humble beginning.  There is no fanfare.  There is no great prosperity.  There is just a few easily overlooked people in the greater scheme of the world.

God’s remnant always looks a bit strange until we look at it in hindsight.  The people God picks are often people we wouldn’t pick. 

• They often seem ill equipped – even if we look forward into the selection of Jesus’ own disciples. 
• They often seem of the wrong social class.  Jesus picks fishermen and  tax-collectors?  Come on, God … right?  Sure, a Pharisee might have made sense … but why pick the Pharisee after the Christians have split from the Jews?  And why pick a Pharisee and send him off into the Gentiles?  In his case, Paul is actually more of a stumbling block in the very beginning than a help! 
• Sometimes they aren’t even the “right” – or should I say “expected” – gender.  After all, it is Mary Magdalene who gets to proclaim Jesus’ resurrection to the eleven! 

But look at how God used them all.  God starts with a virgin, a carpenter, an elderly - seemingly barren - woman and a fairly insignificant priest.  Out of these four comes both the last prophet who is chosen to testify to the coming of the New Covenant as well as God’s only Son.

Wow.

God is so cool in hindsight.  Who’da thunk it?  {Yes, I know.  Horrible grammar.}

Grace to Mary

Third, let’s briefly talk about Mary.  Gabriel comes to her and literally says, “Grace, blessed one, the Lord is with you!”  It is God’s grace, not Mary’s character, which brings this selection to Mary.  No, I’m not trying to slander her.  Mary clearly found grace with God.  So I’m not really trying to slander Mary at all.  But it is God’s grace rather than Mary’s character that brings this upon her.  So it is with any of us.  We are graced with salvation.  We are graced with the Holy Spirit.  We are graced with the fellowship of the saints.  We are the recipients upon a tremendous amount of grace.

Mary’s Stay

Let’s also talk briefly about Mary’s stay with Elizabeth.  I think God is doing several things here.  First, I think God is giving Mary some validation.  Up until now it was just Mary and Joseph and God’s plan.  Now here comes Elizabeth to validate what God is doing within her.  Elizabeth adds another layer of peace upon the strangeness of God’s plan.

Second, notice that Mary stays with her for three months.  Elizabeth was already six months pregnant.  Essentially, this is telling us that Mary came to sit at Elizabeth’s feet and learn what it is like to give birth and begin to raise a child.  What an incredible analogy to discipleship!  Here is Mary coming and voluntarily learning from someone who can teach her what she needs to know.  Mary can not only get “taught” about how to carry a child and give birth; Mary will be able to see it firsthand!  How neat is it to realize that even Jesus’ conception and birth was a moment for discipleship!

I think that’s a pretty good place to leave us in order to ponder the birth of Jesus as told in the story for tomorrow.  God’s Peace.

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Year 1, Day 209: Joshua 24

Wow.  This is our last chapter in the Old Testament until the middle of September.  In many respects it is hard to believe that we’ve come so far.  Creation, Abraham, Jacob, Moses, Joshua.  Good times.  I hope you have enjoyed them.  Next stop?  Jesus (via the Gospel of Luke).

God’s Grace

Before we get to the “choose this day” passage, which is one of my favorite verses of the Bible, I need to comment on the first part of this chapter.  “I gave you a land on which you had not labored and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.” (Joshua 24:13)  I am struck by this passage.

It is so very true for all the people to whom Joshua is speaking.  They have literally just conquered the Promised Land with God’s help.  They didn’t plant any of the fruit trees that were currently growing there.  They surely didn’t clear the land upon which the cities were built.  Sure, they may have had to rebuild a city or two here and there, but even in that case the Canaanites had already brought the stone to the central area and built a town there once.  All they had to do was rebuild the stone and wood – not dig the stone out of the ground, cut it to shape, haul it to a central place, and build the town.  These Hebrew people literally had it easy because of God’s hand.

Am I any less guilty of suffering from the same circumstance?  I serve in a church I did not help construct.  I have faith among a group of people who I did not instruct.  I read a Bible I did not write.  I listen in on Biblical stories of faith and of a relationship with God at a depth to which I do not have access.  Shoot, I have access to salvation and eternal life which I did not and cannot ever purchase.

Am I – are we – at all different from these Hebrew people?  Can any of us claim that we do not reap the spiritual benefit of things of which we had no part in the work of “earning” it?  After all, only Christ can “earn it!”  To return to the theme of parallelism our spirituality within Joshua, we return to Joshua 24:13.  I live in a spirituality for which Christ labored, not me.  I dwell in a figurative city of faith upon which Christ laid the foundation, not me.  I partake in the spiritual fruit from spirituality that Christ planted, not me.  I enjoy the luxury of a spiritual anointing from oil that Christ harvests, not me.  What have any of us done to deserve the spirituality that we now enjoy?

And how do we respond to this gracious gift of spirituality?

Response to God’s Grace

That is the question that leads us to the most often quoted line from Joshua.  “Choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” (Joshua 24:15)

Today, let’s look past the quote from Joshua.  Do you hear what Joshua says in the verses to come?  “No!” Joshua declares.  “You are not able to serve Him because He is righteous,” Joshua promises.  “This stone is a witness against us,” Joshua testifies.  “We are witnesses against ourselves,” Joshua says in an act of truth-telling.  Joshua knows the truth, and it pains me to hear him say those words because I know they are true even still today.

We gather once a week – often quite less, even! – to worship God.  We gather occasionally to read and study His Word.  We sometimes gather to pray, but most often we gather to hear other people pray in our presence.  We gather to provide money to serve, but many times we are not really interested in doing the actual service.  We gather to proclaim that we are community, yet we do not consider the other people in the church our brothers and sisters.  We are filled with the right words; but our actions are so often empty.  We say all the right catch-phrases but a quick tally of our spent time and our true thoughts reveals where our hearts truly lie.

Joshua knows the truth.  We are witnesses against ourselves.  I say “I love You, Lord” with my mouth, but my thoughts declare something different to my God.  My actions declare that I would rather spend time doing something other than being with my God.  I know the truth.  I even try to be loyal to the truth.  But the world around me drags me away from the truth.  Sometimes kicking and screaming … but sometimes willingly.

While the verse “Choose this day …” is often quoted, I wonder how often we quote the verses that follow.  Yes, we are to choose.  But we also must accept the reality that we are not capable of obeying as we should.  Creation is a testimony against us.

Joshua’s Death

Joshua died.  He was buried.  But he knew where the story would lead.  The people would fall away from God.  They would go into captivity once again because of their rebellion.  Joshua may not have known it would be to the Assyrians or to the Babylonians, but he knew that they would become captive to something other than God. 

We as human beings must serve a god, whether it is the true God of the Hebrew people or whether it is a god that we create in our lives.  Joshua does not give them the choice of serving nothing … he knows that they will either serve one god or another.  It is who we are as human beings.  We are still captives to this world even 2,000 years after Christ came and explained it all to us – after He even died for our sake!

Onto Christ

Thanks be to God that Christ did come, because I certainly need Him.  I have a feeling I’m not the only one, too.  Having seen the witness of God as He moved through creation to the Promised Land, let’s now turn to Jesus.  Everything we’ve studied has prepared us for a good look at Christ.  So tomorrow we will begin there.  I can’t wait!

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Year 1, Day 208: Joshua 23

Farewell Address

Joshua begins his farewell address here in this chapter.  I cannot help but notice that his message demonstrates tunnel-vision {that’s not a criticism}.  Essentially, this chapter can be summarized into a single message: “Diverge from the Lord at your own peril.”

Joshua is preeminently concerned about the future spirituality of the Hebrew people.  Yes, Joshua is dying.  Yes, Joshua has done a bunch of great things in his life.  Yes, Joshua was a great leader for the people.  Yes, the Hebrew people have come out of the wicked generation and they have come forth into a new spirituality in the Promised Land.  But none of that is what Joshua really focuses on beyond the first 5 verses of this passage.  Joshua looks forward.  Joshua warns.  Joshua is concerned.

Compare Joshua 23:6-8 with Joshua 1:6-9.  {I wanted to say Joshua 1:6-8 just because of the parallelism formed with the verse numbers, but verse 9 is just too good to leave out for a simple game of parallelism.}

• Be strong and courageous
• Do not depart from the Law of Moses, turning to the right or to the left
• Cling to the Lord / Meditate day and night

The parallels in the passage are extremely similar.  Joshua learned the lesson the Lord taught to him in chapter 1 and he now passes on the lesson in a commissioning of the people.  But there is a mixture of promise and warning in these words.  Follow the Lord and the Lord will provide.  Don’t follow the Lord and … well … you will get what your heart desires.  You will get what you deserve if you do not follow the Lord.

The Way of the Gentiles

I really like Joshua 23:12-13, although we must be careful with these verses.  Joshua tells the Hebrew people that if they turn to the ways of the Gentiles then the Gentiles will become a snare unto them.  I think this is a great message for us to hear today.  We live in a culture where the yeast (influence) of the world is everywhere.  We voluntarily bring the influence of the world into our homes on our TVs and our computers.  We bring it into our homes with our books and our CDs (or kindles and mp3 players for the technologically “really up-to-date”).  We bring it in on our clothing and even pictured on the food we buy.  The world’s influence is everywhere around us.

If we are not careful, we find ourselves “believing that there is a God” but no longer “believing God.”  Another way of saying this is that if we are not careful we slip from “knowing God” to “knowing about God.”  If you will allow me one more comparison we fall out of “following God’s ways for life” and fall into “following what we think and define for ourselves what are God’s ways for life.”  It is so hard to stay the course that God has set before us because the influence of the world is everywhere.  The influence of the world adheres to everything as if it was sticky tar.  And we all know how hard tar is to remove from just about anything.

I have a great analogy to this.  Ever watch Mythbusters?  I do.  It’s a great show – although not without its own worldly influence, I might add.  But they did a particular episode on the transmission of germs from a runny nose.  Adam (one of the two main guys) had a tube installed beside his nose that slowly dripped a sterile clear substance about the same speed as a person’s nose would run if they were sick.  Although the substance was clear, it fluoresced underneath fluorescent lighting.  Adam did the experiment several times.  The first time he wiped his nose with his hand - whenever necessary – while hosting a dinner party (shaking people’s hands, pouring them drinks, etc).  Then they revealed all the hands of the invited guests underneath fluorescent light.  (Yeah, it was gross just how much of the “runny nose” got everywhere)  For the record, if I am remembering the experiment correctly they also did the experiment with Adam wiping his nose in a hankie (somewhat better results) or with the inside of his elbow (best results, but still gross).

My point in taking us down this TV-memory lane is that hanging around people with sin in their life (the runny nose, if you will) will contaminate us whether we see it coming or not.  And actually, it’s the times when we don’t see it coming that are the most dangerous!  This is precisely Joshua’s point in our reading today.  Joshua says that if we are not vigilant, we will slowly lose our hold on our spirituality and slip back into the influence of the world.  Trust me.  I know from experience.  He’s got a point.

Spiritual Balance

However, this line of thinking must be balanced with Matthew 10:16-18, Matthew 12:15-21, Matthew 28:18-20 and other similar passages.  Jesus Christ is the light of the whole world – even the Gentiles.  Furthermore, we are called to go among them and proclaim Jesus to them!  So we should not wall ourselves up and remove any interaction or influence from them.  Rather, we must “beware of the yeast of the Pharisees” – or the world.  We must go among them while being vigilant to not bring their ways of living among our spirituality.  It is a tall order, to be sure.  But it is what we are called to do.

The Joshua of the Hebrew Scriptures warns us to beware of the world.  The Joshua of the New Testament (Jesus) likewise warns us to beware but still tells us to go.  We have a job to do, folks.  So let’s get to it.  But let’s do it with a watchful eye so that we do not turn from the Lord’s ways either to the right or to the left.

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Year 1, Day 207: Joshua 22

In today’s reading we have a story with three unique events.  First we have the dismissal of the 2 ½ tribes.  Then we have the building of an altar.  Lastly we have the investigation.

Faithfulness and the Spiritual Response

I think it is important to understand Joshua’s words to the people of the Transjordan.  Joshua told them that they had acted faithfully.  Joshua told them that they had kept their promise before God and served well.  Then, Joshua dismissed them so that they might go back to their homes and live in peace.

Spiritually, when God asks something of us He wants it to be our priority.  He doesn’t want us to serve Him on our time or when it is convenient.  God wants us to follow Him in obedience in the present.  Thus, we know that these 2 ½ tribes Hebrew tribes had a task to perform before they could get on with their life in the area of the Transjordan.

I think the witness of these tribes is a great testimony when it comes to what are often called the Six Marks of Discipleship (Prayer, Worship, Read the Bible, Serving, Relate spiritually, and Give):

• God doesn’t want us to pray whenever we get around to it; He wants us to begin every important action in prayer! 
• God doesn’t want us to worship when we have the time; He wants us to worship Him regularly and He wants it to be a priority in our life rather than be displaced occasionally by other things in our life. 
• God doesn’t want us to read and study His Word when we have time or when we think about it; He wants us to be devoted to His Word daily.  {The first two verse of the book of Psalms tell us this much.  “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night.}
• God doesn’t want us to serve when it is convenient; He wants us to be willing to serve however and whenever He should call.
• God doesn’t want us to relate spiritually to people just when we are at church or when it is easy; He wants us to be spiritual people first and foremost in all of our dealings with others.
• God doesn’t want us to give to Him when it is convenient or easy; He wants us to give of our first fruits trusting in Him that He will continue to provide for us.

The Transjordan tribes did their spiritual work.  They were faithful.  They accomplished what had been set before them.

Before settling into the work of this world.  They went with their brothers and sisters and did God’s work first.  When they had accomplished God’s work, only then did they go back to their lives with the peace of mind that comes from knowing they had put God first.  The first lesson today is this: Putting God first brings peace of spirit.  The best way to have peace is to focus on accomplishing the work of the Lord.

Altar Ego

On their way, they build an altar.  Of course, as we read the story we know they built the altar in innocence.  They built the altar as a reminder to the people on the west of the Jordan that they serve the same God even though they technically dwell “outside” the original boundaries of the Promised Land. 

We should not be surprised at all at their innocence – Joshua had just pronounced them faithful in everything!  This brings us to our second lesson for today: spiritual people tend to do spiritual things whether they appear spiritual to us as outside observers or not.  This doesn’t mean spiritual people are free from sin.  We should investigate things that appear spiritually strange.  But we should not be surprised when it turns out to be spiritual whether we first saw it as spiritual or not.

Testing the Spirits

Therefore, the western tribes send out a delegation to investigate.  You see, although the eastern tribes had acted in innocence, the story of the Golden Calf must be fresh in their mind.  Moses was gone for a short time and the people turned on him.  Even fresher in their mind is the story of the Hebrew failing at Peor (Numbers 25).  This is why it is good to investigate when something seems strange.

Just as I give the eastern tribes credit for acting in innocence and erecting a reminder of their faithfulness, I also give the western tribes credit for taking their faith seriously enough to investigate.  People fall away from God very quickly.  They sin readily – and sometimes even without realizing it.  The western tribes come to investigate, they come to call the eastern tribes into repentance (if necessary), and the come to go to war (if necessary).

You might ask what the big deal is about the altar.  Simply put, God had commanded that all sacrifices be done at His altar – the altar in the presence of the tabernacle.  The western tribes were coming out to make sure that the eastern tribes weren’t planning on offering sacrifices to God outside of His presence – for that would surely lead to doing other things outside of His presence and as you can no doubt guess, it would lead to sinful behavior in matters that should remain holy.  The western tribes were objecting out of concern for the holiness of their brothers and sisters across the Jordan.  I give them credit for being concerned.

This leads to an example of spiritually driven conflict resolution.  You’ll notice that they come together to speak before fully jumping to conclusions.  {Although they had to jump to some conclusions simply because the western tribes sent out a delegation and began to prepare for war.}  In the conversation you can see that true spiritual conflict resolution implies that people put forth their concerns truthfully, honestly, and without holding back.  It also involves the other side listening to the concerns and understanding them.  I give the eastern tribes a lot of credit for sitting there while they are accused of beginning down the trail of rebellion against God when they are genuinely innocent!  But these eastern tribes did listen, they did understand, and they did hear the concerns of their brothers without getting defensive!  Then, the western tribes listened to the reply from their eastern brothers.  It was their turn to listen without getting defensive and genuinely seek the truth.  And they did, too!  In the end both sides believed one another and there was peace.  The matter was dropped and there was even communal rejoicing.

The ways of the world do not understand this approach.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in a conversation that was supposed to resolve conflict but those involved were only interested in stating their claims and not listening to the other.  I’ve been involved in meetings that were supposed to bring understanding but neither side was willing to believe what the other said.  I’ve been in meetings that were supposed to resolve the issue and yet not long into the future the same old issues are brought up rather than being put to rest. 

None of these worldly approaches to conflict resolution are spirituality at work.  Spiritual people agree to come together to be honest and agree to either resolve the issue or agree that the issue is unable to be resolved.  Spiritual people don’t come together under the guise of seeking peace yet walk away from the table still subtly planning war.  They either resolve the issue while burying it or else they openly declare the problem still exists!  In this case, the Hebrew tribes get it right and let the matter drop knowing that God is in it regardless of who thought what.  Here is our third truth of the passage: Spiritual people come to conflict resolution not with the premise of being right but with the premise of finding God.

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Year 1, Day 206, Joshua 21

Proximity to God

Joshua 21 gives us several interesting concepts.  The first is a reoccurring theme over the last several days: giving.  We already saw Judah give out of its inheritance to Simeon.  Here we see all of the Hebrew people give out of its inheritance to the Levites.  So we come across one lesson of importance: the closer we are to God, the easier it should be to give to those in need.

The Hebrew people of this generation were praised for their faithfulness – although as we have seen certainly they were not without a few places of stumbling.  But this generation was truly close to God.  It shows.  They listen to their spiritual leaders.  They consult God.  They don’t just honor God with their lips, but they genuinely give to their brothers and sisters in need out of their own inheritance.  They are close to God and you can see it in their lives even more than you can see it in their words.

Supporting One Another

This issue of generosity stemming from their relationship with God brings us to another truth.  Notice the balance that happens among the Hebrew people.  The Levites were dependent upon the rest of the tribes for their life, while the rest of the tribes were dependent upon the Levites for their spirituality.  However, we also know that the spirituality of the rest of the tribes will influence their possession of the land and their relative ease of life.  So the closer the people are to God, the less trouble the Hebrew people have with each other and with the nations around them.  As they stray from God, they have more trouble among themselves and among the nations.

Now, I must be careful here.  I am not trying to preach a Gospel of prosperity.  I’m not saying, “Be close to God and you will prosper.”  Nor am I saying the contrapositive, “If you are suffering you must not be close to God.”  My prior paragraph was not meant in terms of prosperity but simply in general ease of life: relationships with others, fighting against sin, etc. 

The closer we are to God the more likely we are to be content with what we have.  The closer we are to God the more likely we should be at peace with our family and neighbors.  The closer we are to God the less we should be swallowed deeply and blindly into sin.

Back to the Levites

But I have digressed from my point.  Notice the balance.  The Hebrew peoples’ relationship with God impacts the whole of the rest of their life.  But what impacts their relationship with God?  Their relationship with spiritual mentors like the Levites.  But what impacts the relationship with the Levites?  Well, the generosity and provision for them.  But what impacts the Hebrew people’s ability to provide for the Levites?  Well, their relationship with God! 

It is a big cycle that when things go well it works beautifully!  When only one thing goes wrong then the whole system falls apart.  When one part is strengthened, the whole cycle naturally grows stronger.  When one part is weakened, the whole cycle is jeopardized.

Now, I’m not saying that the people being mentored spiritually are responsible for making easy the lives of those who are in positions of mentoring them.  That is not where I am going at all.  Nobody should be free from work and merely live off the effort of others! 

More generally I am saying that in order for spirituality to happen people have to first care about their relationship with God and they have to care about their relationship with the other spiritual people in their life.  For this cycle to work for the Hebrew people they – both the regular tribe member and the Levites – had to care about God and about each other.  It is no different for us.

Think about it.  Suppose you are in a relationship with God and community.  When it is obvious that you care about your relationship with God and the spiritual mentors in your life, life will go far more smoothly.  Your spiritual mentors will check in with you, listen to you, walk through the difficult points of life with you, and more generally support you.  But when you don’t care about God and don’t care about your spiritual mentors, it makes it far more difficult for the spiritual people around you to do their job.  You beging to feel uncared for, unloved, alone, estranged, etc.

Completion of the Promise

Finally, we hear another passage about how the land was settled and given as God promised.  And we hear how the people had rest.  This doesn’t mean all of the Canaanites were completely driven out.  We’ve already seen at least four cases where this didn’t happen as well as the people and God desired (the Gibeonites, the Jebusites, the inheritance of the Manassates, and Dan’s inheritance being lost to the native Canaanites).  And we’ll hear in Judges (and beyond) about the effects of leaving these small pockets of native inhabitants in the land.  But this doesn’t change the fact that the people in general had a short time of rest.

So it is with us.  I began the blog of Joshua comparing the book to our spiritual walk.  And as we approach the end of the book we still find this too be true.  As God’s followers and with God’s help, we try to root out sin from our life as much as possible.  We fight as best as we are able.  Well, at least sometimes we fight as best as we are able.  Yet we still cannot get rid of it completely. 

It’s because we are not able to completely overcome the effects of living in this present world.  So in the same way that the Hebrew people cleaned out the land as best they could and will perpetually deal with the results of not being able to thoroughly cleanse the land … so do we deal with the same problem.  We long to be free from the effects of sin.  But it is always right there around the corner, waiting to draw us away from God once more.

But that does not mean we don’t have our times of rest, too.  Sure we struggle.  We fight the good fight.  And sometimes we are given a time of rest.  But do not worry.  There will always be a call to fight against sin in the future.  And there will be a call to rest following that.  It is the life cycle of the Hebrew people as they are literally pulled between the ways of their God and the ways of the world.  It is the same life cycle for the Christian as well.

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Year 1, Day 205: Joshua 20

Fulfillment of the Promise

Joshua 20 gives us two quick snapshots of faithfulness.  The first is a simple recognition that the promise and command made to Moses is actually fulfilled here in Joshua.  See Exodus 21:12–13, Numbers 35:6–34, and Deuteronomy 19:1–14.  The fact that these cities are mentioned in four of the first six books of the Old Testament should tell us something of their importance.

The cities of refuge are established for those who need them.  It may not seem like much, but it is good for us to remember from time to time that God keeps His promises.  It is good when we are able to participate in those promises.  The cities of refuge are a demonstration of this principle.  God promised; Joshua follows up.

Purpose of the Cities of Refuge

The second reflection is going to be more of a social comment than a spiritual one.  Notice here that the cities of refuge allow a person quick access to legal protection as well as quick access to the trial of their case.  The point for the ancient Hebrew people was simple: if you killed someone intentionally, then you were to receive a severe punishment of execution even if you come to the city of refuge.  But if you killed someone unintentionally you should likewise have easy access to salvation.

These cities were spread out all over the land.  These cities had roads built to them so that travel would be easy.  The point is simply that the perpetrator of unintentional manslaughter should have a simple means to find refuge and a simple means to find legal vindication of the accident.  The unintentional perpetrator of manslaughter should find it easy to be acquitted of any crime.

Compare that to today.  How long does our justice system take?  Now, I realize they are dealing with far more issues than deciding between unintentional manslaughter and murder.  But let’s think seriously for a second.  How much time and resource is given to our legal system?  How many appeals can a person convicted of murder make?  How long does it take to get a case to trial in the first place?  My point is not to say our system is wrong, but rather to say that at the very least our system is neither quick nor easy.  Furthermore, there is little protection offered for the vindicated person.  Often people acquitted of their offenses still face social persecution within their community.

Again, I don’t mean to make this a spiritual argument.  Neither do I intend to point a downcast finger upon our judicial system.  I simply think it is good for us to remember that sometimes easy access to legal protection and determined justice should be lifted up as important as well. 

God’s Perspective

To make a spiritual point, let’s remember that God certainly thinks that ease of true justice is important.  God saw us in our greatest time of trouble and sent us Jesus Christ.  All we need to do is hear, repent, and obey.  Christ paid the price, we simply are called to obey.  We don’t have to do anything to have grace come to our doorstep.  It really doesn’t get any simpler than that.  I think the legal systems of today could learn from God.

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Year 1, Day 204: Joshua 19

Unusual Ease

Okay, so to begin this blog I will allow myself to be influenced by Tom.  {For reference, see Tom’s comment on the blog entry for Joshua 17.}  There, Tom makes the point that it is really neat to see Simeon’s inheritance come from within Judah’s inheritance.  And it is really neat to see Judah give up a portion of the land the way that they do.  Judah has too much, and they give some up to their kin.  That’s a really neat point!

God’s Allotment

This speaks a couple of neat points with respect to spirituality.  First, God always allots more to us than we can ever use as human beings.  He just does.  I can never hope to “out-spiritual” God.  I may think I’m at the end of my limit and working at full capacity, but there is always more with God!  As spiritual as I may try to become, God can always give me more.  He can always ask me to push the envelope one more step.  There is always room for growth.  There is always room to share out of the spirituality that God has given to me.

A remember a skit that I learned at church camp.  One person stands at the front and has their hands clenched around “something hidden and beautiful.”  They talk about how pretty it is.  Another person comes along and asks to share.  The first person is hesitant, but eventually shares.  As the first person exits, they make the comment that in sharing they discover that their “hidden and beautiful thing got bigger.”  This continues with person after person, with each person who shares commenting that their “hidden thing” got bigger.  The last progression involves someone who refuses to share with another.  As the person who didn’t get any walks away sad, the person who refused to share opens their hands and asks, “Hey, where did mine go?”

I don’t know if that makes much sense in words as it does in the actual presentation of the skit.  But the point is that when we share the faith that God gives it actually grows within us.  But when we refuse to share, our spirituality dies.  Faith is not meant to be kept to ourselves.  Much like Judah’s land was meant to be shared with Simeon, so our faith is meant to be shared with others.  When I look at people who claim that their faith is so small and weak and they don’t feel equipped to share, I can’t help but wonder if the reason it is so small and weak is if because they have never shared it!

And you’re right, Tom, that is indeed a beautiful point.

Fighting For What Was Given

The rest of the inheritance accounts can be read without much significance until we get to the last one: Dan.  Notice that only here in Dan do we hear about a group of people who lose their inheritance until they actually go up and fight for it.  And in fighting for it, they are victorious.  Although they may not have gained the same land that the lost, mind you.

Again we can see that we must fight for our spirituality if we actually want it to be meaningful to us.  As we struggle in this world – perhaps even taking our spirituality for granted – we might end up losing some ground.  It’s called backsliding.  But when we search deep inside ourselves and ask God to give us the resolve to fight for our spirituality then we can be victorious and reclaim our spirituality.  What matters is not our past backsliding and loss of spirituality.  What matters is that we fight for it now knowing that God fights with us now and into the future.  Through God, we can fight for our spiritual selves and win!

Joshua’s Inheritance

Finally, we see that Joshua receives an inheritance.  Once all the land is divided up, Joshua can turn to his own inheritance.  Joshua – the leader – waits until all those under him are established in God’s promise before himself settling down.

This is just the way of spiritual leadership.  There is no place for the self-monger as a spiritual leader.  It is never about what “I need.”  It is always about what “God has called me to do.”  For if God has called it, God will provide for the needs of the one who leads until the calling is complete.  Here Joshua’s calling is now complete and only then does God allow him to find his inheritance.

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