Monthly Archives: November 2016
“NO SUPERHEROES”
In the ancient Near East, there was Gilgamesh. In ancient Greece, there was Hercules. In England, there was Robin Hood.
Superheroes have always been with us—or, at least, stories about superheroes. Some were demigods. Others were very shrewd humans with great powers.
The Bible has a few characters who could be regarded as superheroes . . . if you don’t read the whole story. Moses, Gideon, David, and Solomon could all be considered superheroes, except that each of them is portrayed in his weaknesses, as well as his strengths. Furthermore, each of them is portrayed as very weak when he doesn’t depend upon God. And all of these quasi-superheroes are portrayed as ending rather badly.
It is much the same in the New Testament. The original disciples of Jesus were portrayed as asking the wrong questions, failing to understand when Jesus was speaking literally and when he was using metaphors, as cowards who ran away when Jesus was arrested. Paul (also called by his Hebrew name “Saul” in the book of Acts) was a murderer.
Jesus is sometimes thought of as a superhero, but I don’t think that there’s much evidence for that. Jesus was born in a barn, had nowhere to call home on a regular basis, had to borrow a small coin for a sermon illustration, was crucified on a Roman cross (a means of torture and death reserved for non-Roman criminals and runaway slaves), and even had to borrow a tomb. Some superhero!
And yet . . .
And yet . . .
Jesus did not intend to be a superhero. He intended to be a servant. Indeed, Jesus claimed to be not only a servant, but one who would lay down his life, a ransom for many.
What we need is not a superhero, or even a hero. What we need is a Redeemer. And I believe that Jesus is that redeemer. To die for the sins of the world is not heroic, just necessary. It isn’t pretty, just important. Indeed, paying for our wrong-doings was not just important. It was essential.
“God’s Unconditional Love and a Much-Needed Warning”
“NLT Psalm 85:1 For the choir director: A psalm of the descendants of Korah. LORD, you poured out blessings on your land! You restored the fortunes of Israel. 2 You forgave the guilt of your people– yes, you covered all their sins. Interlude 3 You held back your fury. You kept back your blazing anger. 4 Now restore us again, O God of our salvation. Put aside your anger against us once more. 5 Will you be angry with us always? Will you prolong your wrath to all generations? 6 Won’t you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you? 7 Show us your unfailing love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation. 8 I listen carefully to what God the LORD is saying, for he speaks peace to his faithful people. But let them not return to their foolish ways. 9 Surely his salvation is near to those who fear him, so our land will be filled with his glory. 10 Unfailing love and truth have met together. Righteousness and peace have kissed! 11 Truth springs up from the earth, and righteousness smiles down from heaven. 12 Yes, the LORD pours down his blessings. Our land will yield its bountiful harvest. 13 Righteousness goes as a herald before him, preparing the way for his steps.”
I was feeling more than a little down about how little I’ve loved Jesus or people this morning. Indeed, I was feeling that I had not served Jesus or people at all.
I asked God for a Scripture to lift my sagging heart. The Bible “just happened” to be open at Psalm 85. My eyes fell upon vs. 7: “Show us your unfailing love, O LORD, and grant us your salvation.”
I thought that “unfailing love” sounded pretty good, but then I said to myself, “But what about all the evil I’ve done in my lifetime, as well as the good I have not done?” So, I decided to go back and read the entire psalm, to see what else it might have to say. I’m glad that I did!
Vs. 2 was especially sweet. “You forgave the guilt of your people– yes, you covered all their sins.” I looked at this in Hebrew, and the word “all” actually means ALL!
Now, we have to be careful. The last part of vs. 8 sounds a warning note. God’s forgiven people (Israel, the Church, this believer) are warned not to return to their/our/my foolish ways. God’s love can and does forgive and cover all our wrong-doings. However, God’s love is not an excuse for continuing in our wrong-doing ways.
Someone has put it this way: God loves us just as we are, but God loves us too much to leave us just as we are. Yes!
Oh, God, thanks for the loving affirmation, but also for the loving warning! Both are needed, and both are good!
POSTSCRIPT: Right after posting this, I turned on K-Love Radio, and the Song “Live Like You’re Loved” came on. Yes, indeed!
“YOU DON’T KNOW—AND NEITHER DO I!”
I recently overheard a conversation between two people at an adjoining table in a restaurant. I am somewhat acquainted with one of them. He seems frequently sarcastic and ill-tempered. I have been on the receiving end of some of his tirades.
From what I could hear of the conversation, it sounded as if he and his wife (or girlfriend?) were breaking up, and that it was getting ugly.
Of course, you might be tempted to think (as I was tempted to think) that his sarcasm and temper are the reason why the relation is coming apart.
However, once in a while God’s Holy Spirit enables me to overcome temptation, and feel a small fraction of the compassion that God’s loving heart feels toward us all. Instead of going all judgmental, I thought that perhaps this ill-tempered man is the way he is due to this horrendously painful breakup.
And then I generalized the matter: Perhaps I might try cutting more slack for everyone who seems unkind. Maybe I could simple say to myself, “Self, this person is probably having some terrible struggles. You don’t know!”
“The heart knows its own bitterness”says the first part of Proverbs 14:10. The implication is that no one else knows that bitterness. You and I don’t know!
The only person for whom I ought not—perhaps—to make such allowances is myself. I need to hold myself to a high standard in terms of my own behavior. If I make too many allowances for myself, these allowances will likely shade off into excuses in a hurry.
But, for others, I might try remembering this simple but important fact the next time someone is unkind to me or unreasonable with me: I don’t know!
“ON DRIVING THE LOVE OF GOD”
For better or worse (or both?), I think analogically. Perhaps all human thinking is analogical, but that is way beyond me.
As I was driving to my twelve-step meeting this morning, the thought occurred to me that living in the love of God is rather like driving a car. The analogy is almost an allegory, valid even in the nitty-gritty details.
I did not build the car I am currently driving. Indeed, Sharon was the main provider of the car, since she was working full-time when “we” purchased it, and I was not.
Similarly, I do not make God love me. Yet, I have all too frequently acted as if I needed to do so—as if I need to make the God who is love (1 John 4:8) do what he already is! What stupid arrogance! It would be comical, if were not so serious.
And yet, if I get in my car and just sit there, I will not go anywhere. The love of God is not an inert substance. It’s goal is to energize us for holy, disciplined, loving living, and this requires our interaction.
Furthermore, there are other drivers on the road, and I need to take them into account. I need to be careful and courteous.
John, in his first letter, repeatedly connects God’s love for us with how we treat others. In 1 John 4:1-21 (whence came the quote about God being love), John makes it clear that love of God and love of other people cannot be divorced.
No doubt, you’ve seen the sign “HOW’S MY DRIVING?” Sometimes the question is followed by a phone number you can call, if you see anything unsafe or discourteous. Perhaps I need to wear a shirt that says “HOW’S MY LIVING?” What would my tee shirt say after these words? Perhaps, “COMPLAIN TO GOD IF YOU SEE ME LIVING UNSAFELY OR DISCOURTEOUSLY!” Or better, “CALL ME ON IT IF YOU SEE ME LIVING UNSAFELY OR DISCOURTEOUSLY!”
The analogy between the love of God and driving a car could be pressed much further, I suspect. However, I think I’ll just mention one more item, which I will put in the form of a question: Am I driving God’s love in a distracted manner? Distracted driving is a serious matter. So is distracted living. Unless I keep God’s love front and center in my life, I will be distracted. And the only worse thing that distracted driving of a vehicle is distracted living.
“LOVING BEING GRATEFUL
“thank God no matter what happens. This is the way God wants you who belong to Christ Jesus to live.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18, The Message)
Even when I give thanks, I can be selfish about it. Let me explain.
I often give thanks for what other people have done, is doing, or will do for me. I give thanks for what God has done, is doing, or will do for me. I give thanks for good things that have happened, are happening, or will happen for me.
Did you catch the little prepositional phrase at the end of each sentence in the preceding paragraph: “for me”? It is less selfish to give thanks than it is to pretend that we are self-made and self-blessed. However, it still seems like a low-grade form of selfishness. And a low-grade form of selfishness is like a low-grade fever—a sign that all is not well. I did not realize this until God got my attention this morning, and I actually obeyed. Obedience is a wonderful Bible study tool!
So, this morning God challenged me to give thanks for some good things that other people are experiencing or doing. Several people from my life group came to mind, and also a friend at the University who just passed the viva for his PhD.
After listing several things for which I was grateful that had nothing to do with me directly, I felt the joy of the LORD sweep over me. So, my next item on today’s gratitude list was as follows:
“Gratitude lists. How I’ve come to love doing these things! They help get me out of the hellish echo chamber of my mind.”
I also thought of Paul saying, “Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn.” (Romans 12:15) One aspect of this rejoicing is being thankful for good things that have nothing to do with us.
No matter how badly things seem to be going for me, or really are going for me, I can find some good things happening to others for which I can be profoundly grateful. There is a boundless supply of grist for gratitude.
“UNTIL QUAILS COME OUT OF YOUR NOSES!”
“. . . until it comes out of your noses . . .”
Numbers tells a common tale of human greed, stupidity, and faithlessness. The people of Israel were in the wilderness of Sinai, on their way to the Promised Land. The LORD God was providing manna for them every day, except for Sabbath. However, God was thoughtful enough to provide them a double portion of manna on the sixth day, right before Sabbath.
However, many of the Israelites decided that God’s faithfulness was pretty boring. They were tired of manna. I can hear them now: “Manna for breakfast, manna for lunch, manna for dinner! Fried manna, boiled manna, manna salad, manna casserole! WE HATE THIS MANNA!”
God’s response? He told them that he would send them plenty of meat, and that they would eat until the quail he would send would come out their noses!
Now before you (or I) go off on these ancient Israelites, we probably ought to consider our own selves. A little boy asked his mom, “Do we really need to thank God for leftovers?!?”
Right! Most of us have probably wondered the same thing.
A friend of mine and I were talking about work before our corporate worship service today. He has his own business. I asked him how business was right now. He said something like the following: “Almost too good,” he replied. “But whenever I hit a time when I don’t have a lot of work on the horizon, I start getting worried and cry out to God. Then he sends me a whole bunch of work, and reminds me of the story of the Israelites complaining about not having any meat. God says to me, ‘Pretty soon, you’ll have work coming out of your nose!’”
Complaining is a very serious sin. And it was not unique to ancient Israel. Paul refers to the events of the exodus from Egypt, and warns the Corinthian believers against falling into the same horrible trap.
“NLT 1 Corinthians 10:1 I don’t want you to forget, dear brothers and sisters, about our ancestors in the wilderness long ago. All of them were guided by a cloud that moved ahead of them, and all of them walked through the sea on dry ground.
2 In the cloud and in the sea, all of them were baptized as followers of Moses.
3 All of them ate the same spiritual food,
4 and all of them drank the same spiritual water. For they drank from the spiritual rock that traveled with them, and that rock was Christ.
5 Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did,
7 or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.”
8 And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day.
9 Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites.
10 And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death.
11 These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.
12 If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.
13 The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.”
These Scriptures and my conversation with my friend have left me with uncomfortable questions about myself. Am I taking God’s faithfulness for granted? Am I regarding His faithfulness as routine or boring? Am I complaining, when I really have nothing about which to complain? Do I really want God to discipline me by giving me what I want until it comes out my nose?
How has your nose been here of late?
“The Face of God”
“When did we see you?!?” (Matthew 25:37, 44)
Have you seen the face of God of late? Would you recognize God’s face if you saw it?
A friend of mine told a wonderful story in a twelve-step meeting recently. He was Catholic, but hadn’t gone to confession for a long time. He finally went to confession, a broken man. After pouring out his empty heart, he and the priest chatted a bit informally.
“Why do you do this priest thing?” my friend asked.
The priest replied, “Because it gives me the chance to see the face of God in others. And believe it or not, I see the face of God in you right now.”
So, how many times have I seen God’s face today? Well, there were the guys at the meeting today. There were those who served us at the restaurant after the meeting. There were all the driver’s I encountered. There was my sweet wife’s face. (Most definitely the face of God!) There were the people we got to meet and pray with at the turkey crusade. There were the people from a whole bunch of churches that were also seeking to serve those in need. There were the people at the exercise club, where we were signing up.
In Matthew 25:31-46, Jesus told a wonderful, but chilling, story about the Son of Man’s return to planet earth. He would separate the people of all the nations into two groups—the sheep and the goats. The criteria for the division were simple: Did these people (the sheep) take good care of those in need, or did they neglect (the goats) those in need?
Both the sheep and the goats asked the same question, at least up to a point. Both groups asked, “When did we see you . . .?” But then, there was a crucial split in the questions. The sheep asked, “When did we see you, and take care of your needs?”
But the goats asked, “When did we see you, and fail to take care of your needs?”
Apparently, Jesus (the Son of Man) identified with those in need so much that to care for or to neglect those in need was the same as taking care of Jesus. And they were blessed of Jesus’ Father, God (verse 34).
Why does God identify so closely with those in need? Jesus doesn’t tell us in this story. But in other teachings in both the Old and New Testaments, we are told. Apparently, God loves us so much that every person matters—especially those who don’t matter! So, the next person you see will reveal the face of God to you. How will you respond to that face? Will you see to that person’s real needs? Will you do your utmost to help meet those needs?
And, of course, the next time you look in the mirror, you will also see the face of God in a needy person. Yes, you can see the face of God in that person as well.
“GOD’S KINGDOM: SOME REALLY GOOD POLITICAL NEWS AND OUR RESPONSE”
“Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel’ (Mark 1:14 NAU).”
Are you ready for some really good political news? I know I could stand some.
Well, here it is: No human being is in control of this world. God is!
Now, I’m not stupid, and I do pay attention to the news a bit. It certainly seems as if human beings are in control of our world. And (also certainly) God does allow humans to have a lot of freedom to mess up our own lives, the lives of others, and even the planet.
However, ultimately, God is the King! I believe that this is objectively true, even though many people aren’t sure there is a God. Even those who do believe that a God (or Gods) exist may have a very difficult time believing that God (or the Gods) actually rule this world in any meaningful sense.
About two-thousand years ago, a man came to this planet proclaiming that, against all appearances, God was in control. That man was Jesus.
There was a problem—a HUGE problem: This was the area where this man appeared (Judea) was at the eastern curve of the Mediterranean, and the Romans thought they were in control of this area.
And, in a sense, the Romans were in control.
But along comes Jesus who says, “No, God is in control.”
Now, at this point in the blog, I need to go all scholarly on you. Scholarship is often very boring. Believe me: I know this, because I am a scholar!
However, there are also times when it is fascinating. More importantly than being fascinating, there are times when it really matters—a lot. So, slog with me through this swamp of boring. I promise you that this slog will bring us onto solid ground, and that the view will be well worth the slog.
Mark 1:14-15 comes right after Jesus’ baptism and the account of Jesus’ temptation. Mark is giving a summary of what Jesus was proclaiming from the beginning of his public ministry. God’s good news, which Jesus proclaims, is that the time is fulfilled, that the kingdom of God has come near, and that Jesus’ hearers. His words includes us, if (as I believe) the Bible is for everyone and for every time.
God is king, and not the Romans! That is both good news and fairly easy to understand.
But even here, in these seemingly simple words, a little knowledge of the Greek is helpful.
For example “[t]he time is fulfilled” is in the perfect tense in Greek. The perfect tense usually signifies action completed in the past with ongoing results. Is it not a wonderful thing that the time for proclaiming the good news (which is what the word “gospel” means) has been completed in the past, but has ongoing results?
The word for “is at hand” regarding the kingdom is also in the perfect tense. The kingdom of God has been made to come near to us in the past, but it also has ongoing results. The kingdom is an accomplished fact, says Jesus, and it continues to be an accomplished fact.
However, the next verbs are in the present tense. The present tense is used for actions that are and must be continually going on. Jesus is saying that his hearers (and we) need to respond to God’s completed-in-the-past-but-with-ongoing-results kingdom with an ongoing, continual, life-style repentance and faith.
What is repentance? It is often said that it is “a change of mind.” This is both true and false. If what we mean by this is merely changing our minds about who God or Jesus is, I would say that this is only part of the equation. Repentance is a deep change in how we think of Jesus and God, ourselves, other people, and the world. Repentance is also about transformed action that is based on transformed thinking.
And faith? The word faith does not mean (as one twelve-year-old was reported to have said it meant) “believing in something that you know isn’t true.” Faith, in both the Old and New Testament, seems to have three meanings:
- Faith is believing certain things about God, humankind, salvation, the church, and the Bible.
- Faith means a personal relationship with God. Most Christians (and I include myself at this point), believe that personal relationship comes about through a commitment (faith) in Jesus Christ.
- Faith also means fidelity in how we live our lives.
So, according to Jesus, the kingdom of God is an accomplished fact with ongoing results.
Of course, there is a catch; there’s always a catch. The catch is that, if we wish to enjoy the good news of Christ’s kingdom, we must commit ourselves to a life-style of repentance—transformed thinking that leads to transformed actions and transforming actions. And we must commit ourselves to a life-style of believing, personal relationship, and fidelity.
That sounds pretty grim, doesn’t it? However, did you notice the word “gospel” at in both of the verses that led off this post? The word “gospel” is an old-fashioned translation of the Greek word that is used in both these verses. Many modern translations use the term “good news.” The truth is that this kingdom is governed by a King who knows us fully, and who truly desires the best for us. And if we live as citizens of this kingdom, it is good news for us, and for all with whom we come into contact.
And that is good news, no matter who are you are, what you’ve done, or who we have elected to lead our very provisional earthly kingdoms.
“Fear vs. Faith”
Perhaps I’m just being lazy today, or perhaps I’m being wise. Maybe I’m being both. In any case, I just read this, and thought it was so good that I would pass it along.
I don’t think that Jon Gordon is a Christ-follower, but he is most certainly a helpful writer. I found his words so true and calming that I decided to simply send you a link to his free (yes, it really is free!) weekly newsletter. You can, of course, subscribe to it yourself, and receive it in your e mail weekly.
Here is the link: www.jongordon.com/newsletter.html, accessed 11-14-2016.
DTEB
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
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