Year 2, Day 43: Ezra 5

More Trouble

Ezra 5 begins similarly to the earlier problems in chapter 4.  The local inhabitants rise up and inspire the local government leaders to make trouble for the Jews who are trying to rebuild in Jerusalem.  Work is no doubt slowed again, but it won’t officially stop until word is heard from the highest human authority in the land: the Persian king.

At that point a letter is sent to Darius the king.  We should note a significant difference in this letter versus the letter that was sent some years earlier to a prior king.  Notice that the focus of the prior letter was the rebellious nature of Jerusalem, whereas the focus of this letter was the truth in the claim of a former Persian king.  This is more significant than we think. 

The sins of the fathers – the rebellious people in Judah before they were conquered by Babylon – plagued their descendants.  Because of the sins of the fathers several decades and even a century or two prior to the rebuilding of Jerusalem, the Hebrew people developed a reputation.  Because of that reputation, the work of rebuilding the Temple was delayed.  It was of no fault of the current generation that their work was stopped – it was completely the fault of the reputation that their ancestors earned for them.  We can learn a pretty serious lesson here about how our sins can impact the people around us – even people we may never meet or see face-to-face.

However, notice that in the new letter God will use the righteousness of Cyrus instead of the rebellious sin of the Hebrew people.  This new letter found in chapter 5 has nothing to do with the established nature of the Hebrew people; it has everything to do with the righteousness of Cyrus.  The lesson here is that our righteousness can impact people around us as well – even people we may never meet.

The Pattern of God’s Hand at Work

Yet, there an even greater spiritual lesson in this difference between the letters.  God is once again reinforcing an understanding in us about a pattern in His work.  God’s pattern is this: the righteousness of another can save {or at least impact} humanity {or a portion therein}.  The righteousness of Noah saved his family (and in a sense the ability for humanity to continue!).  The righteousness of Abraham opened the door for humanity to know God on a personal level.  The righteousness of Moses helped bring people into a relationship with God’s ways.  The righteousness of Joshua helped us understand that God can bring His people into the Promised Land.  The righteousness of David teaches us all about the power of forgiveness and contrition.  {I could keep going here but for the sake of space…}  Here we see that the righteousness of Cyrus is the tool that God is going to use through Darius to restore the worship in God’s Temple.

For the record, though, this is not the end of the spiritual lesson for us.  All of these consistencies in God’s plan are leading us even further down the road.  They are leading us to understand Christ.  The righteousness of Jesus Christ can restore humanity to the relationship that we were supposed to have with God.  How is it that Christ’s righteousness is effective even though He lived some 2,000 years before us and we haven’t seen Him face to face?  Well, just look to the examples that came before Him.  Just like God used the righteousness of Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Cyrus, and a slew of other people to impact a host of human beings that had never once met them – so too God can use the righteousness of Jesus Christ to impact a host of people who had never met Jesus in the flesh.  {Please don’t read this too deeply.  Of course all Christians who have the Holy Spirit have met Christ – at least in the spirit if not more personally than that.  I’m not trying to make that claim, certainly!}

It is really cool to see the consistency of God at work.  God is a God who uses righteousness to impact the lives of others.  God searches out for righteousness and when He finds it He lifts it up and uses that person as a wonderful tool in His hands.  That person is a tool with the power to impact a host of people – far more than they ever realize.

As we are reminded from Ezra 4, our own history can destroy our efforts and ruin what we attempt to do for God.  But the righteousness of someone else – especially Christ! – can redeem our efforts and bring us into accomplishing things for the Kingdom of God that we would have never dreamed as possible.  Thanks be to God that we can rely and depend upon the righteousness of Jesus Christ!

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Year 2, Day 42: Ezra 4

The World’s Means

Ezra 4 seems like a fairly cut and dry chapter.  So it might seem like today there is reason for a short blog post.  After all, what more can be said besides “the inhabitants of the land did what they could to stop the rebuilding of Jerusalem and they were successful in doing so until the reign of Darius in Persia.”

For starters we can look at the means involved.  First, the inhabitants of the land attempt to join the work.  It could be that the inhabitants of the land actually wanted to help and when they were refused they decided to get the work stopped out of spite.  Or it could be that they were offering to help only to bring more trouble than help to the process.  We cannot be sure what the true motivation is, but we can be sure that interference is a common tactic used to stop God’s plans.  After all, last chapter we left the refugee Hebrew nation praising God.  Now we hear of trouble coming down the pipeline and the work (even the praise) has been stopped.

We can also see in this chapter the “end around” tactic.  When it becomes clear that the inhabitants of the land will not be able to directly manipulate the happenings in Jerusalem, they go out and bribe the local counselors to make the construction work harder.  This would be not too different than today when building inspectors make it difficult for buildings to get built.  Or when courts make it hard to obtain permits and zoning for building to take place.  The native inhabitants get the legal system involved and by its very nature this implies the process slows down considerably.

Finally, we see the “over your head” tactic.  The local inhabitants go to the Persian King directly.  They tell the king to look in the records and discover for themselves that Jerusalem has a reputation for being rebellious (which, unfortunately, they did).  The king offers up a decree to halt all building in Jerusalem.  The construction stops, and it appears that the local inhabitants have won the day.

It is clear that the world will work against the progress of the Lord.  When things get rolling for God, the world and its powers are sure to come in and try to stop it.  That much we can count on.  But the question this raises is why the world happens to be so against God’s work.

Resistant to the Core

I think this chapter points to a very clear answer: humanity resists the work of God out of spite because God asks for humbleness.  Human beings have a difficult time being humble – we really do, me included!  We like to do things our way.  We want to be in charge.  We want people to recognize us for our brilliance.  We don’t really want to be humble and do something someone else’s way.

We see this in the local inhabitants.  When they come offering to help (whether legitimate or through a devious motivation) and they are rejected, they are spiteful and find other ways to hinder the work.  They hinder the work because they didn’t get their way!  Their plans were not allowed to move forward, so they react.

But we also see this resistance in the history of the Hebrew people as well.  The people that throughout this post I have been calling the local inhabitants are traditionally thought of as the predecessors to the people Jesus calls “Samaritans” in the New Testament.  They are Jews – largely Jews from the northern kingdom – that mixed with Gentiles during the captivity.  These Samaritans exist because of the rebellion of their ancestors against God – rebellion in the very nature that they refused to life God’s way.  They come from a stock of people who chose their own way over God’s ways and even in captivity did not learn their lesson.  We know that the people of the Northern kingdom corrupted the practices of God’s people and mixed in the practices of other religions of the world (See 1 Kings 17:7-18 as a reminder).

God wants us to live His way; we want to live our way.  We might even be willing to compromise with God and live our way with a Christian spin.  But this is not what God asks us to do.  God asks us to live His way.  Human beings are not very good at being humble.  We’re not very good at taking orders.  And we certainly aren’t very good at doing things the way God wants them done.

And our refusal to be humble leads us into turmoil.  It pits us against the work of God.  Much like the local inhabitants of the land, we often find ourselves in a choice between doing things the way God desires or asserting our will into God’s plan and getting in the way.  It really does largely come back to humbleness.

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Year 2, Day 41: Ezra 3

Proper Beginning

Here in Ezra 3 we hear about the rebuilding of the altar in Jerusalem.  We might think of the altar as a strange place to start.  After all, if we were designing a church today, would we start with the altar?  No, we’d probably start by laying out the seating for the congregation and picking out the chairs to be used.  Then we’d plan the stage according to how the seats would allow it to be experienced.  Finally we’d plan the specific elements of the stage like pulpit, lectern, altar, area for communion, etc.  But I doubt that when creating a worship space in today’s world that we would start with the altar.

But remember that in Judaism the altar is the cornerstone to faith.  Without the altar there could be no sacrifices.  Without the sacrifice there is no forgiveness of sin.  Without forgiveness of sin, well, there is no grace – only judgment.  From that perspective we can understand why the altar was pretty high on the list.  In modern churches, our “altar” was the cross and the sacrifice is Christ.  But in ancient Judaism – pre-Christ – they didn’t have the luxury of having a once-for-all sacrifice that couldn’t be taken away.   No wonder that they did the altar even before they rebuilt the temple!

Also remember that for at least two generations (and more for the folks from Israel and not Judah!) there had been no sacrifice.  Imagine going 50 years (or more) without hearing someone declare with confidence that your sins actually are forgiven and you can be in a relationship with God!  We say it so often that we take it for granted.  But if you went a few generations without hearing it, I bet you’d miss it!

Jeshua

Before leaving this altar focus, let’s pay a little attention to the name of the person who leads it.  The name given is Jeshua (or Joshua in some translations).  Of course there is also Zerubabbel.  But run with me for just a second.  The Hebrew people are in exile.  When God deems it time for them to come back … it is Jeshua that focuses them on the importance of the sacrifice for the forgiveness of sin.

I think there is some significant foreshadowing going on in this passage.  About 5 centuries later another Jeshua (whom we know better as Jesus) will walk on the stage and remind people about the importance of a sacrifice for the forgiveness of sins.  That Jeshua will die for the sins of the people.  I think in some small way God is trying through this passage to give yet another moment of preparation for His people to understand Jesus when He returns to fulfill God’s true agenda.

Foundation

The second half of this passage has to do with laying the foundation of the temple.  It is clear that the refugees returning to Jerusalem gave out of their possessions in order to build the temple.  There was something sacrificial about providing the place for the sacrifices (and atonement of sin, really).  I don’t mean this in a works-based sense, but rather in a response to God’s work.  It is God who saves; we can respond to His work of salvation sacrificially should we desire it.

We get a sense as we read this passage that those who may have remembered the Temple from before the Babylonian conquest were saddened by the new Temple.  This is likely because the new Temple was probably very plain.  These were refugees coming back without too many resources.  They could only accomplish so much with what they had.  Anyone remembering the splendor of the building that Solomon was able to build would likely have felt bad.

However, this is why it is important to hear that the praises were given so much that it was impossible to distinguish the praise from the mourning.  We are not to dwell on the past.  Neither are we to assume that the greatness of our construction has anything to do with the greatness of God.  I’ve quoted Isaiah 64:6 often this week, but “all of our righteous deeds are like filthy rags.”  The splendor of our sanctuary is nothing compared to the splendor of God.  The splendor of our worship space is nothing to the splendor of the works that God can do within it. 

And for the record, the same is true for our bodies, which Paul tells us is the new Temple.  Our splendor, our beauty, our qualities are nothing compared to what God can do through us if we simply give up control.

The space doesn’t matter.  It simply doesn’t matter.  What matters is that God is alive and active in the space.  This is why the people rejoice in this passage.  The foundation for the Temple may be plain.  It may be simple.  But God was working through it.  That is what is important.

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Year 2, Day 40: Ezra 1,2

Confession

Ezra is a book with which I admit I do not have too much experience – and as such it is neat to go from the comfort of Romans into the uncertainty of Ezra.  Romans is like a soft and comfortable blanket that I can snuggle up with and bask in familiarity.  Ezra is like the shock of the cold morning that I experience when I cast off the blankets and look towards a new day filled with new experiences.  I look forward to seeing what unexpected treasure a new day in God’s Word will bring.

Background

Ezra picks up just after where we left the Hebrew people when we last studied the Hebrew Scriptures {Remember 1 & 2 Kings?}.  The Hebrew people had been dragged off into captivity under the Babylonians.  Along come the Persians and conquer the Babylonians.  Through the political change the Persian King Cyrus allows some of the Hebrew people to return to Jerusalem and begin to rebuild and restore the city.  You can read books of the Bible like Ester and Daniel to gain more insight into this.  It is because of this decree that Cyrus is the most famous Gentile to ever receive the title “the Lord’s Anointed.”  Note that this the Hebrew Word “Messiah” – See Isaiah 45:1 as a very famous example of this.

Why Does This Happen?

But let’s not look too far too fast.  The first verse of Ezra 1 tells us that these things happened so that the Word of the Lord might be fulfilled.  The Lord is faithful to His promises.  The Lord is faithful to His Word.  The Lord is faithful to His character.  The Lord does not forget.  While the ways of the Lord are mysterious and the Lord is always doing a new thing, the Lord is consistent in His overarching agenda.

The Value of Consequence and Punishment

We also see after the decree that the Hebrew people rise up with their possessions.  In fact, Cyrus himself goes into the royal treasury of the Babylonian kings and digs up the possessions from the Lord’s Temple that had been removed earlier.  The people respond to the Lord’s grace after having been forced to face their sinfulness.  They had spent their time in judgment and trial.  When the Lord comes back to give them hope they embrace the Lord’s movement with all their heart and soul and possessions.

More Patient than I Am

But there is more to this movement than the simple movement of the people.  The movement is about the patience of the Lord.  How is it that God can stand by and watch His people being dragged into captivity?  How is it that the Lord can watch His Temple be defaced and destroyed and watch as the Holy items from the Temple are dragged off?  It is because the Lord is patient and sees with a perspective different than any of us.  The Lord sees across the generations.  The Lord knows that His people will learn their lesson in captivity.  The Lord knows that the rebellious must be judged.  The Lord knows that while His Temple furnishings migrate to Nebuchadnezzar’s treasury that Nebuchadnezzar is only holding them temporarily on loan.  The Lord will bring His people back and the Lord will bring His possessions back.  None of us can wrest anything permanently out of the hand of the Lord.  What is the Lord’s will always belong to the Lord regardless of whether or not we think we own it.

This is a really powerful lesson for us to learn.  This is a lesson all about stewardship.  Creation is the Lord’s; we exist here with it on loan to us from God.  Our wealth, possessions, assets, friends, family, and everything else are the Lord’s before they are ours.  Even our life is the Lord’s – given to us out of His gracious hand.

Another Genealogy

I have yet to speak about Ezra 2, and that chapter is also on the list of readings for today.  There isn’t a ton of information that comes out of this chapter as it has much in common with a genealogy.  It is basically a list of all the people that came back to Jerusalem to restore the city.

However, there is something significant about what this chapter represents.  It might seem strange to think about, but these Hebrew people are risking much by going back to Jerusalem.  In the time since the fall of Jerusalem, the land had turned wild.  The city was desolated and overrun by nomads and the little pockets of Canaanites, Moabites, and other –ites that the Hebrew people were never able to run off as God commanded back in the time of Joshua.  Since the time of Nebuchadnezzar, these people had gotten used to not having the Hebrew people around once again.

The Hebrew people going back to Jerusalem had to give up the relative safety of the Persian kingdom and instead risk their life to rebuild their precious city.  They gave up house, job, and lifestyle to go live in an untamed land.  It was dangerous.  But there was a remnant of about 50,000 Hebrews who were willing to do so.  We can learn from them about loyalty to God and sacrificing life for His will.

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Year 2, Day 39: Romans 16

Relationship

This is a great chapter for lifting up relationships.  Let’s take a look here at some of the relationships that get lifted up by Paul:

• Phoebe: Paul asks the Roman Christians to receive her well, implying that she has come to them from Paul.  Likely this is because Phoebe brought the letter from Paul to Rome.  Now, think about this.  A mail currier in those days was charged with memorizing the whole letter (for nobody but the scribes could actually read).  When the currier arrived they would gather all the people who needed to hear the message and then recite the letter from memory.  If necessary they would explain the author’s intent.  Paul elevated Phoebe to be his emissary.  If either Paul or the Roman Christians had any issue with women and women leaders in the church, this opening verse of Romans makes absolutely no sense at all.
• Prisca and Aquila: This is a married couple that Paul met in Corinth and he then journeyed with them to Ephesus (See Acts 18).  In fact, since Cenchrea is the sea port of Corinth and Cenchrea is where he met Phoebe, it is very likely that Phoebe and Prisca and Aquila were all well acquainted already.  What is important to note is that Paul always mentions Prisca (the wife) before Aquila.  In traditional Jewish society, this would never happen.  By mentioning Prisca first here – and in Acts, Luke follows the example that he no doubt learned from Paul – Paul is giving Prisca a great honor.  This is likely because Prisca was the primary evangelist of the family.  Again, if Paul or the Romans had an issue with women in leadership roles in the church, this verse absolutely makes no sense – especially given that Prisca is the first Roman mentioned at all by Paul when giving his thanks!  (For the common way of relating to men and women, see the example of Andronicus and Junia in Romans 16:7)
• In fact, no less than a third of the people mentioned in this chapter of Romans are women.  It is clear from this passage that Paul knew the importance of women to the early church – and likely to the church in every age.
• We also meet the church that met in Prisca’s and Aquilla’s home.  For all we know, this could have been the “Roman Christians” in their entirety, although I hope not.  What we do discover here, though, is that wherever Prisca and Aquilla went their home was an open place of faith.  People were welcomed in the home.  People came in regularly and worshipped God or were discipled.  They are a great testament to anyone who wished to have a part in Christ’s calling for us to make disciples.  Our homes need to be open and places with the reputation of being Christ-filled and Christ-centered.
• We meet Epaenetus, the first convert in Asia (which we now call Asia Minor).  We can see that Epaenetus did not stay comfortable in his calling.  He likely could have stayed in his hometown, but here we find him in Rome.  He is out following in the footsteps of Jesus and Paul: taking to the mission field and doing whatever it takes to demonstrate the importance of his conversion to Christ to anyone who will listen.
• We meet Andronicus and Junia, people who had been imprisoned.  They had likely been arrested on account of their belief in Christ since Paul describes them as sunaixmalotos (συναιχμάλωτος) – literally “one who has been arrested and imprisoned with another person.”  This word tells us that they were likely arrested with Paul at some point.  We see in them a willingness to persevere and not quit at the first sign of trouble.
• We meet a bunch of hard workers, too many to name.  Paul knows the difficulty of ministry.  He knows the pitfalls, the trials, the tribulations, the disappointments.  He knows what it feels like to take one step forward and get knocked two steps back.  Paul supports all the tireless workers and continues to call them into community.

Warnings And Hope

Paul then gives them some warnings about making sure to stay loyal and weed out false teaching in their midst.  But where I would like to end this is on the last paragraph.  Paul’s hope for the Roman Christians is two-fold: faith in action and glory to God.  Faith in action (or as Paul calls it obedience in faith) is so important.  As I have spoken of frequently, our works do not save us, but they do present evidence of our salvation to the world.  Our faith makes a public demonstration of that which we believe.

Ultimately, though, where it all ends is in God receiving glory.  Our faith is to His glory.  Our actions are to His glory.  Any witness we bear is for His glory.  Any joy we celebrate or trial we overcome is for His glory.  Life is all about God.  It should be all about Him.  He deserves the glory; He deserves the focus.  So let’s do that.  Give God the glory and turn from the world today.

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Year 2, Day 38: Romans 15

Who Is the Servant?

The opening verse of Romans 15 is so important, especially coming off of the verses found in Romans 14.  The spiritually strong are responsible for dealing with the failings of the spiritually weak, not the other way around.  Let me put it simply.  If you are a spiritually strong person and you believe God is telling you to do it one way but a spiritually weak brother can’t see it that way, it is not your (or my) right to put the other person down because of it.  Yes, we can make spiritual stands.  Yes, we can assert what we believe to be true.  But it is not our right to put down the other person because of their spiritual weakness.

On the other hand, God doesn’t want us to tolerate bad theology and bad spirituality, either.  We are called to deal with our Christian brothers and sisters in love.  We are called to come along side of them, understand where they are, and try to help bring them along to a better spiritual place.  Sometimes this is done through nice and compassionate words.  Other times this is done through words of conviction.  But there is a difference between dealing with wrong theology and dealing with less mature theology.

In either case we are not given permission to judge another person simply because we are “spiritually stronger” than the other.  I’ll confess that this is a lesson that I am served to learn from time to time.  It is far to easy to judge people who don’t believe as I do.

Now, I understand that Paul is talking about this in terms of the Jew-Gentile relationship.  The Jews had no right to look down upon the Gentile Christians, nor did the Gentile Christians have any right to look down upon the Jews – especially the law-abiding Jewish Christians.  But this topic has a good amount of truth for us as post-modern Christians.  In our pluralistic denominational Christianity where we have liturgical Christians, free Christians, baby-baptizing Christians, adult baptizing Christians, worship on Sunday Christians, worship during the evening Christians, King James Bible Christians, Speaking-in-Tongues as proof of salvation Christians,  Organ/Hymnody Christians, Guitars/Drums Christians, etc … the truth is that there are many things that can and will divide us.  There are many high horses that we can ascend while looking down upon those who don’t happen to be on the same horse as us.  In the end, we have no right to get on that horse in the first place.

Today we learn that in Christ it is the duty of the spiritually strong to deal with the spiritually weak.  Yesterday we learned that so long as something (or someone) serves Christ, we are to give it the freedom to exist in the Kingdom of God.  We have no horse to get upon; we have no reason to look down upon anyone.  That is Paul’s point.  I am not to determine who is the “best Christian.”  Rather, I am to determine how I can serve Christ best and make room for the other person to also serve Christ. 

From this perspective it just makes sense.  Why would I want to look down upon someone who is legitimately serving Christ?  Now, if they are not legitimately serving Christ, we’re talking about a whole new ball game.  We’re talking about sin at that point.

Paul’s Boasting

As my last point, I am really struck by Paul’s statement in Romans 15:18.  Paul will not venture to speak on anything except what Christ is doing in His life for the sake of the kingdom of God (my paraphrase, of course).  Wow.  Paul is seriously focused here.  I am struck by this devotion to the task at hand.

I know I have a tendency to stray from the task at hand.  I do have a tendency to focus on God’s work for a time, but then also focus on this neat little technology here or there.  Or I have a tendency to get more excited about football or some other sport than about God.  Or I have a tendency to get more excited about having fun with other people rather than focusing on how I can show Christ to them.  But Paul’s words are clear.  The focus of the Christian is not on the life that we live – the focus of the true follower of God is on the calling that God has given that person.

How many American Christians really fell for this trap this past weekend?  How many American Christians didn’t even go to church this past weekend because of all the Super Bowl hype and preparations?  How many American Christians went to church, but they were really more excited about the pre-game party happening after church?  I know I fell into that trap a bit myself – and this after missing the whole first quarter because I was praying and having a great discipleship moment with a congregation member!  Even after a great spiritual moment like that I still fell completely back into the hype of the world and got sucked into the “world’s way of thinking” and “the world’s way of prioritization.”

I know I could do a much better job of taking Paul’s assertion in this chapter more seriously.  I will focus on Christ and His calling for me.  How foolish am I to think that life is about me?  No, as I preached this past Sunday, life is about God.  He is the main character in this story of creation.  I am simply a part of His cast – and a pretty insignificant one at that!

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Year 2, Day 37: Romans 14

Romans 14 Basics

Romans 14 is too often forgotten by me.  There is some really good advice in this passage, and it is advice that I desperately need to remember most of the time.  Unfortunately, I forget it more often than I should.  And there is a danger in Romans 14 as well.  But I’ll get to that a little later.

Here’s basically what Romans 14 says.  If God calls you to do something one way, do it.  If God calls another brother or sister to do it another way, give them the freedom to do it another way and don’t feel that in having your differences that the same God cannot be at work.  What works for you might work for others, but there might be another method that works better for them. 

Essentially, Romans 14 is a chapter about Christian freedom.  It is not a freedom to do whatever we want; it is a freedom to respond to God’s call in ways that make sense to each of us.  This goes back to the comments I made when we began Romans.  We are by nature God’s slaves.  We are not free to do whatever we please.  Where we are free is that we are free to respond to God’s call.

Perhaps an example is in order.  I am a huge fan of Christian Rock.*  I love bands like Skillet, Disciple, Thousand Foot Crutch, The Letter Black, We As Human**, Tourniquet***, Deliverance, and a slew of others I should list here but don’t have the space.  Yet, that kind of music is not for everyone.  I need not feel guilty for listening to music that teaches me scripture and drives me to God.  I also need not require other people to love it.  {However, I do have the right to expect them to accept it as a genuine expression of faith – we’ll get to that later, too.}  Romans 14 gives me permission to express my faith in this fashion and experience faith in this manner with others who also desire to express it this way.

In fact, Romans 14:6 takes it one step further: “So do not let what you regard as good be spoken of as evil.”  If God has told me that something is good in my life, I am not to let it be spoken of as evil.  I am called by God to defend that which God has used for good in my life!  I am called to actively defend personal expressions of faith that are different than other people’s expressions of faith!

Going Too Far

There is an inherent danger in this line of thinking, though.  As humans, we like to apply generalities to life and stretch them way too far.  Romans 14 is not telling me that I can go out and live my life just any old way I desire.  I have no right to take the words in this chapter and say, “Since Christ died on the cross I can do whatever I want and know that if I sin then God will have to forgive me.”  That is pushing the words of Romans 14 too far.  We as human beings like to do this.  We like to make generalizations and then apply them so broad that the truth they contain no longer holds.

You see, verses 17-18 provide the counterpoint to an abusive approach to Romans 14.  “For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. Whoever thus serves Christ is acceptable to God and approved by men.”  That which serves Christ is acceptable.  If it doesn’t serve Christ, why would we want to do it?

Here those words well.  Not everything is acceptable.  Not everything is permissible.  Only that which (or who) serves Christ is acceptable to God.  And here we have a great litmus test.  The question is not “do I like something?”  The question is not “is this a legitimate part of my tradition?”  The question that we should all be asking is “does this serve Christ?”  If we would learn to ask this question instead of all the others we like to use as evaluation tools we would be in a much better place in life.

Back to Basics

When we learn this lesson we actually learn how Christ makes us free while we are still in bondage to Him.  We are free to do that which serves Christ, but we are not bound to do everything which serves Christ.  If listening to Christian Rock music serves Christ – and it does – I am free to do it.  I am also free to not do it but accept that other people are free to do it so long as it serves Christ.

Let me take a moment to show the significance of this concept.  Suppose there is a person who wishes to worship on the Sabbath instead of Sunday morning as is the Christian tradition.  So long as it serves Christ, they are free to do so.  In fact, if there is a group of people who wish to worship on Tuesday evening and not worship at all on Sunday or the Sabbath – so long as their worship is truly serving Christ – they are free to do it!

Let me give another fairly general example.  Suppose there is a group of people who prefer to baptize in rivers (or flowing water) instead of inside churches.  So long as it serves Christ, they are free to do it!  But they don’t have the right to criticize people who baptize in another fashion that legitimately also serves Christ. 

The key in Christ is not setting up strict rules and regulations.  After all, when does God tell us that the Holy Spirit works in predictable manners?  Does not the Bible tell us that God’s ways are not our ways (see Isaiah 55:8-9) and that we cannot know from where the Spirit is coming or to where He is going (See John 3:8)?  The key is setting up a proper evaluation tool for discerning the movement of the Spirit in our life: does it serve Christ?  That is the evaluation tool above all else.  If it serves Christ, then it is up to us to make room for it in our understanding of God’s Kingdom.

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*In fact, I just got to experience Winterjam 2012 in Greensboro, NC, and Skillet put on the best live performance I have ever seen.  In one particular song the drummer – who was beating the heck out of the drums to begin with – and her platform began to be elevated into the air a good 15 feet up off of the stage atop what looked like a scissor lift (And the stage as a good 5 feet up already).  When she got to the top, the whole platform began to spin around at a rate of a full rotation about every 8 or 10 seconds.  Then the guitarist and bassist get on these individual platforms and for the duration of the whole song they are raised and lowered 15 feet into the air.  All this while a phenomenal light show and pyrotechnical show is going off.  It was amazing.

**This is a band I just heard two nights ago for the first time, and I heard them live.  They have a great stage presence.  And I have fallen in love with their song Dead Man.  The lyrics are from the perspective of a person coming to understand what Jesus offers them in life.  The song almost sounds like a conversation between an individual, their old and dead self, and Jesus.  The chorus goes like this: “Sitting here in my grave side, I’ve never been so alive.  You pull the dead man out of me.  I’m not what I was … I’ll never be what I was.  You pull the dead man out of me.”  Great set of lyrics!

***Anyone wanting to listen to Tourniquet can do so for free at their homepage: tourniquetbandcamp.com.  In fact, all their CDs are a $7.77 download.  Well worth it if you like the same style of music that I do!

Year 2, Day 36: Romans 13

Rebellion

I find that I wrestle with Romans 13 – especially the beginning.  It isn’t at all that I think what Paul has written is bad.  I think it is great.  I just wish that he would have also written a part about what to do when government and authority legitimately goes bad.  After all, I am a person in three ways born out of revolution:  physically, I live in a country that separated from the British Empire when the ruling government was determined to be inadequate; emotionally I am born out of the Lutheran movement that believes in reform and it was born out of rebellion against the Roman Catholic Church; and spiritually I am a Christian and am born out of the radical rebellion against the traditional Judaism that was being taught in Israel during the time of Christ.  I am a person whose core is born out of movements that rebelled against evil regimes.

Yet, Paul tells us here to respect authority because God is the true source of authority.  Does that mean that the rebellions out of which my persona is born were wrong?  I hope not, because I genuinely believe that at least two of the three rebellions to which I claim membership were led by the Holy Spirit!  Rather, I think what Paul is saying here is more of a generalization than an absolute rule to be obeyed at all times.  Clearly, when an authority forsakes God’s ways, we are to resist it.  But rather than going any further down that road, let’s talk about the generality that Paul is making.

What Paul is getting at in this passage is that we as human being are by our very nature rebellious.  We turn our backs on God and want to do it our own way all the time.  Rebellion is what our sinful nature is all about!  Humans need authority: spiritual children need a Spiritual Father, physical children need the authority of their parents, emotional children need an authority of a mentor, etc.  Without authority in our lives, we as human beings have little hope of being productive in this life.

Love

Paul uses this issue of subordination to authority to then springboard into Christian living in general – and we’ll be in this topic for a few days.  Paul begins with love, because this is really where we should begin.  I’ve been doing a good bit of reading the past few days and I’ve been really convicted lately that I don’t spend near as much time loving God as I should.  After all, the truth is that a God who is holy and righteous on His own should really have nothing to do with a sinner like me.  Yet, God wants me and you.  God not only wants us, but God considers us His inheritance!  I really need to step back and remember how lucky I am to be in a relationship with Him and just love Him for it.

This should be the motivation for the rest of our actions, too.  Jesus says as much in Matthew 22:40 and Paul says as much again in Galatians 5:14.  The whole of the Law is fulfilled in love.  As Christ loved us, we should love one another.  When we learn to stop and just love God, we will be far more likely to also be able to stop and love one another.

Actually, this leads me into a really neat line of thinking about returning us back to understanding why God is important.  The truth is that I need God’s help to even love a perfect and holy God.   Let that sink in for a while.  I need help loving a perfect God.

Since that’s true, then I certainly need God’s help in loving the rest of the fallen and sinful world around me!  {Thanks to Francis Chan in his book Crazy Love for this thought.}  If I want to be able to love the people around me I need to learn from God how to love a God who loved us first!

Goodness in Life

Once we learn that love is a better way than the world’s sel-mongerism, we can live in a way that is good.  We learn that drunkenness is neither good for ourselves nor for our neighbor, so we simply don’t do that anymore.  We learn that extra-marital sexual relations are just not constructive to having good relationships in our communities so we learn not to view our neighbors and friends in sexual ways.  We learn that having more than our fair share only causes a disproportionate number of people to live in poverty, so we stop doing that.  We learn that acting out of anger produces no positive benefit in our community, so we stop doing that, too.  When we learn to love God and then learn to love one another, we honestly make better choices because we care about those around us. 

Or, well, we should.  I think we still struggle with some things on the list in that prior paragraph.  We probably always will, too.  But in theory, that’s how it should work.  Once we understand our need for authority, we learn about our need to submit.  Once we learn about our need to submit, we learn how to love.  When we learn how to love, we display God to the world and our communities will improve because of His presence.

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Year 2, Day 35: Romans 12

Metamorphosis

Romans 12 begins with an incredible bang.  Romans 12:2 is a great verse: “Do not be conformed to the world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…”  But even before this verse we have another great quote: “present your bodies as a living sacrifice … this is your spiritual act of worship.”  Let’s take these two verses and bring them together as Paul does in this chapter.

Do not be conformed to the world.  Be transformed by the renewal of your mind.  These are tough pieces of advice, especially when I put them in conjunction with a book that I just finished reading: Crazy Love by Francis Chan.  In that book, Francis Chan asks how many of our lives would look any different if Jesus wasn’t real.  In fact, he goes on to ask an even more challenging question.  If we were told that we were going to go to heaven and all of our loved ones, all of our loved pets, and all of our memories would be in heaven but Jesus would not be in heaven – would heaven still be where we wanted to go?  If so, what does that say about what priority we place on Jesus?

These questions are very challenging, but they point us to what Paul is talking about here in Romans 12.  Is Christ something we transform our life into, or is Christ someone that we expect to conform to our life?  Another way of asking this question is this: do we do the things in our life because Christ is in our life or do we simply do the same things we would do without Christ just in a slightly different way because we think we have Christ?

Let’s be very clear here about what Paul is saying.  Paul doesn’t say conform your life to the world.  He doesn’t say “do the same stuff as the rest of the world, just do it with a Christian bent.”  No, Paul says the opposite.  Do not be conformed to the world.  Instead be transformed.  The Greek word that is used for “transformed” is literally metamorphomai (μεταμορφόομαι).  The word that is our root word for metamorphosis is exactly what Paul says we should be in Christ.

Metamorphosis as True Worship

The cool thing is that this is our spiritual act of worship.  So many of us think that worship is one of those things we do once or twice a week.  {Ironically enough, we also think that prayer is something we do only when we say something like “Heavenly Father,” at the beginning.}  Paul is telling us that when we sacrifice our life and we become what God wants – that is our spiritual act of worship.  Worship is not coming to a preset place and going through some preset routine.  Worship is leaving our old life behind as we transform our life and pursue God.

Nothing says “I love you, God,” like letting Him change who we are.  Nothing says “I don’t care about you, God,” like saying we love Him and not being interested at all in transforming who we are.  Want to truly worship God?  Stop being a “Christianized version” of the person that you really want to be in your sinful heart and instead start being the person whom God sees when He looks at you.

Giftedness

Paul then gives us a pretty straightforward section about the fact that God’s followers have different gifts.  This makes sense.  Just like there is no one “true” method of worshipping Him, there is no one “true” way to be a Christian.  The goal is not to become a carbon copy of a spiritual person in your life; the goal is to discern the person that God wants you to be and go out and do it. 

What Does a Christian Look Like, Then?

Paul finishes the chapter by giving us a list of Christian traits.  If you go through this list, one thing that you will notice is that most of the things on the list are responses that are not natural to human nature.

• Be patient in tribulation
• Contribute to the needs of the saints
• Seek to show hospitality
• Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them
• Live in harmony with one another
• Do not be haughty
• Associate with the lowly
• Never be wise in your own sight
• Repay no one evil for evil
• Live peaceably with all
• Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God
• If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink
• Overcome evil with good.

You see, this comes right back to where we began.  God doesn’t want us to conform Him to our lives.  God doesn’t want us to live like the world but with a “Christian twist.”  No, He wants us to live like He wants us to live.  Bless those who persecute you.  Live in harmony.  Associate with the lowly.  Never be wise in your own sight.  Don’t repay the evil.  Take care of your enemies.  The list goes on.

What does God want for us?  He wants the only thing that is good for us: Him and a relationship with Him.  The question left for us to answer then, is this: how interested are we in pursuing God?  Are we interested in leaving our life behind and pursuing the life God wants us to live?  Or are we too interested in our own life and trying to “Christianize it” as much as possible?

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Year 2, Day 34: Romans 11

Remnant

Romans 11 is one of my favorite chapters in the book of Romans because there is such a common bond between Paul’s experience and my own.  For me, Romans 11 is one of those chapters that I read and sit back and say, “Solomon was right when he said that there is nothing new under the sun.”  Let’s face it, as Paul reminds us in this chapter, Elijah faced a lukewarm Hebrew nation and was reminded by God about the idea of a remnant.  Paul was faced by a lukewarm Hebrew people and was reminded about a remnant.  Much of American Christianity today is lukewarm, and I think it is time we talk about this concept of a remnant.

Here’s a Greek understanding of the word “remnant” used by Paul: a relatively small part which continues to exist.  By its very definition, a remnant is small.  It clearly isn’t the majority, and when we typically think of the word “small” we don’t think of something that is even remotely close to being called the majority.  God reminds Elijah to look for a remnant of faith – and by definition it will be a small group of people {Even 7,000 is small compared to the whole nation of Israel at the time of Elijah}.  Paul reminds us that in his time he is aware that the people of faith are a remnant – a small percentage of the total number of Hebrew and Gentile people.  So to I think we can say that today in the American Church we need to look for the remnant and realize that it will be a small portion of those who “claim Christianity.”  {Not that we are to judge one another’s salvation, of course.}

As I wrote this last paragraph, I was really reminded about another passage in the Bible.  It is a passage that I have started calling the “Block Party” passage.  I call it the Block Party passage because if you have a block party, everyone wants to be involved – whether the block party is really good for us or not.  In other words, crowds just suck people in without even thinking about it.  I’m talking about Matthew 7:13-14. 

There Jesus tells us to enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate that leads to destruction and many will find it.  But narrow is the gate that leads to life and few will find it.  Jesus Himself speaks about the faithful in terms of contrasting words: few versus many.  It seems pretty clear that this is just a paradigm that truly spiritual people should accept.  Few.  Remnant.  Small percentage.

Now, I certainly don’t mean to depress anyone here.  Even one person who finds a relationship with their God and Creator is worth the effort.  It isn’t about numbers at all!  In fact, when Jesus started to get a crowd of people listening to Him he started speaking in parables in order to make sure that the only people who would come back and search for the deeper meaning were the people who were there to genuinely find God and devote their life to Him.  So it isn’t at all about numbers; it is all about genuine faith.

It is about genuine expectations.  It is about a realistic analysis of the world around us.  Shoot, it’s even especially about a realistic analysis of ourselves first and foremost.  God knows that out of His chosen people only a remnant will follow Him.  Jesus knows that out of the masses only a remnant will follow Him.  Paul can see that the same is true.  So we should have the same realistic understanding.  We need to teach what it means to be a part of the remnant.  For that is where the core of faith exists.

Talking to The Gentiles Among Us

Paul then speaks to the Gentiles and makes a very assertive point that I need to hear, especially coming off of the last few paragraphs that I wrote.  We must be quick to not speak about “remnant theology” in an arrogant way.  We must not look down upon those going into the wide gate, on the wide path, or outside of the remnant.  We cannot look down upon them because it is only by the grace of God that we are where we are!  Had God not first loved us, all of us would be on the wide path and going through the wide gate – and quite deservedly so. 

When we look down upon the people who have rejected Christ and chosen the wide path/gate of the world, we begin to think that we are better.  That, my friends, is our old arch-nemesis “works-based theology” rearing its ugly head.  We are no better than the people who have rejected Christ.  The only difference is that we have received the grace of God through Jesus Christ and it is Christ that makes all the difference, not us.

Furthermore, what will be gained by looking down upon those who are not a part of the remnant?  Will they be likely to become a part of the remnant because we look down upon them?  No!  Rather, it is through love that people shall be won to Christ.  We are in Christ because of God’s love.  Only through God’s love will others be won to Christ.

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Year 2, Day 33: Romans 10

Why Do Some Reject Christ?

In Romans 10, Paul moves from talking about the fact that some people (in his case, the traditional Jews) reject Christ and now he talks about why they reject Christ.  There is a lot of meat that we can learn in this passage about why people reject Christ.  Specifically, there is a lot of meat we can learn about why some people who even call themselves Christians have really rejected Christ.  This is a great chapter to study and apply to the world around us.

One of the first reasons that Paul gives to us is in the opening verses of this chapter.  The Jews who rejected Christ didn’t even realize that they had a need to be saved!  The Jews who rejected Jesus thought they were covered by the Law and that their own righteous following of the Law had saved them.  Therefore they weren’t looking for a spiritual savior but rather a political Messiah!  They didn’t see the need for Jesus Christ as a savior from sin; they saw the need for someone to overthrow the Roman government.

Oh boy does this speak to the church and the world today.  How many people – even those who claim to be in a relationship with Christ! – live their lives as though they are perfectly fine?  How many Christians confess Christ but haven’t changed a thing about their life?  In doing so, is not the message that is being sent a message of self-righteousness?  If a person comes to Christ and doesn’t feel the need to change who they are to their very core, are they not saying to God that they think their core is just fine the way it is?  Essentially, what they are saying is that “I’m okay the way I am, what I need is someone to whom I can pray when I need something to happen that is bigger than myself.”

No, this is not what Christianity is about!  I’m not okay at my core.  You’re not okay in your core, either.  God has called us to change.  God has called us to crucify ourselves with Christ so that it is no longer we who live but Christ who lives in us.  (See Galatians 2:19-20)  If Paul genuinely thought we were okay in our core beings, I don’t think he would have used the imagery of crucifixion when it comes to how we are to think of ourselves!

The second reason that Paul gives for the Jews rejecting Jesus is because they misunderstood (or misused) the Law, and it is almost inherently tied to the first thought above.  The Law was supposed to illustrate for them their need for a spiritual savior.  Instead they thought that the Law was their savior.  They thought by doing the Law they would be saved.

This reason is also big among Christianity.  We make mistakes all the time we about what the Bible is telling us about our relationship with God.  I’ll give you an example.  Ever hear about this thing called cheap grace?  Cheap grace is grace that costs us nothing.  Cheap grace is grace that is given to somebody simply because “God loves them” {which He does} but it asks nothing in return.  Cheap grace is grace that is offered without asking for repentance or confession.  Cheap grace is that which is offered while not asking for a person to change their life and hand control of their life over to God.  Christians are just as guilty of misunderstanding (or misusing) God’s Word and creating false pretenses for salvation as those Jews who reject Jesus.

The Need For Quality Preaching

So where does Paul end this chapter?  When faced with a people who are either blind to their need for Christ or misusing their understanding for Christ there is only one solution: preach truth.  We cannot become frustrated – although it is easy to do.  We cannot become distracted – and certainly that is easy to do.  When faced with a world that denies the need of Christ or misunderstands Christ in their life the only solution is to talk about it and hope that God’s Word takes root.

This is perhaps the most frustrating dynamic for a person who genuinely is in Christ and who genuinely has the Holy Spirit within them.  The frustration comes because as much as we love God, we want others to love God with us.  As much as God is changing our life, we want others to experience that change.  As much as we have given up control and watched as God has taken over control, we want others to know that feeling. 

But we know reality: Not all will listen. 

Not all will accept. 

Not all will submit.

People will turn their back on God because they feel that what God demands is too much.  Paul’s use of Isaiah 65:2 at the end of this chapter is quite appropriate.  All day long God holds out his hands to a rebellious people who walk in ways that are not good and who follow their own devices.  But as frustrated as we may become, we must remember that God has been dealing with this dynamic of humanity since the fall of mankind.  God continues to persist – thanks be to God!  So we also should not allow the frustration to overcome us but continue to preach for the sake of those who actually do desire to listen.

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Year 2, Day 32: Romans 9

Not All Who Claim Abraham are Actually Israel

Paul gives a really tough analogy here in Romans 9 – an analogy that I don’t think many of us want to hear.  Paul begins by telling us that he wishes he were cut off for the sake of his kin.  This tells us that he believes part of his Hebrew kin are not included in the promise of salvation.  Of course, Paul goes on a few verses later and makes that claim official when he says in v.6-7, “For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring.”  He then follows up that verse by saying “This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring.”

Paul then uses a great example to illustrate that God does not select people based on the physical attributes or what the world asserts as important.  Esau was born first, but Esau was rejected by God in favor of Jacob because God could judge what was inside.  Paul’s point in this statement is that a people who have the appearance of keeping the Law but who can also find themselves rejecting the Messiah have a good outward appearance but they are rejected based upon what lies in the heart.  God is not fooled by a great outward appearance.  Either one humbles oneself to Christ or one doesn’t.

This is the tough message that I don’t think many of us really want to hear.  But here it is.  Here is truth.  If God can give Israel so many opportunities and lavish upon them so many blessings and still reject those among Israel who reject Christ, why then should it be any different upon us Gentiles?  Furthermore – and be prepared for this to hurt – why should those in Christ’s Church who have the outward appearance of being faithful but who do not have the inward obedience – inward slavery, even! – have it any differently?  No, friends.  There is one simple qualification: am I justified by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ while obediently responding to His will? 

Or do I simply seek to serve my own will while giving lip service to God?  Do I accept Christ in name only or do I make God’s agenda my own while forsaking my own selfish desires?  Am I really Christ’s, or do I make Him mine when it is convenient?

Now, I certainly don’t mean to make people doubt unnecessarily so.  Paul has asserted that those who have the Holy Spirit within them belong to Christ.  That is still absolutely true.  If you have the Holy Spirit within you then you are in Christ.  Be confident in your salvation because God lives in you.  But at the same time I do wish to be blunt.  If the Holy Spirit is not within you, do not think that God is fooled by an outward appearance.

I can go to church every Sunday and not be in Christ.  I can quote scripture and not be in Christ.  {After all, doesn’t Satan Himself quote scripture when tempting Jesus in the wilderness?}  I can sing praise songs and lift my hands in the air and not be in Christ.  It is God’s Holy Spirit within me and my obedient response that guarantees that I am in Christ.  If God did not accept the outward appearance of His own chosen people, why would He ever accept the outward appearance of any of us?

All of That is True, and God is Still Righteous

Amidst all of this we must certainly not dare to think that God is unjust.  God has given salvation to all who desire to receive it.  God has not given it to some and given others no hope of receiving it!  Any who desire to humble themselves before God can and will receive Christ and receive His Holy Spirit.  God is never unjust in punishing those who refuse His gift and who continue to wallow in their unrepentant sinful behavior.

How Can the Gentiles Be Blessed?

This brings us to the end of the chapter.  How is it that salvation and grace has come to a people who did not pursue God’s Law while so many who pursue God’s Law find themselves perishing?  Is this some ironic twist of fate?  The answer to the question lies in taking another perspective on the question.  The proper question to ask is who has pursued God by faith and who has pursued God by works of their own righteousness? 

The Gentiles, who have no hope of following the Law, are in the same boat as the Jews who have the Law.  Any Gentile or Jew who pursues God by faith will find Christ.  Any Jew or Gentile who pursues God by faith will come to terms with their inability to attain the Law and they will come to terms with their need for a Messiah.  They will come to terms with why it is that they must come humbly before their God with a contrite heart.  By faith we understand that we cannot save ourselves and we see we need a Messiah – we need Jesus.  Jew or Gentile, by faith we understand that we need Jesus.

But any Jew or Gentile that pursues God through their own works only ends up attaining self-righteousness.  Any Jew or Gentile that comes to God and says, “Look at how good I have been,” believes the lie that they have told themselves.  Nobody is righteous on their own, especially those who actually know the Law.  Regardless of heritage, a person who approaches God under the guise of their own righteousness has missed the point of faith, the point of grace, and therefore has missed Jesus Christ Himself.

God is just when we understand that His judgment is not based on who has access to the Law but rather based on who responds to God free gift of grace out of faith.  From that perspective, the whole world is on an even playing field.  Respond to God out of faith, your life may depend on it!

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