Deeper Translates to Higher

It has often been said that to go high one most go deep.  You can't build a sky-scraper in shallow soil.  But to do so beckons patience.  I can't say I'm naturally patient.  If anything the Lord teaches me that while I don't have patience, I can grow it.  It's painful.

Currently I'm writing a book about Paul and the Galatian churches.  My typical way of doing things is to obsess about it until I get it done.  Let's get the book written in a week or two.  Perhaps it's because I fear if I delay it, I won't get it done.  Maybe it's just because I'm an idea and action person.  Or it could be because I want it out there Right Now!  I don't know.

And then I read three things that cause me to pause.

First was Jim Cymbala's book Fresh Power.  He was meditating on the Scripture in 1 Cor 2:4-5:

"My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."

Jim says this:

"Think of these words today when so many speakers and churches want to produce "wise and persuasive words," cleverness and human charisma, a beautiful church plant and great programs for the family--everything but the "demonstration of the Spirit's power" that the apostle Paul exalted to the glory of God."

The  Scripture provokes a question to me.  How much am I seeking the Lord's power in what I do?  A 5-10 minute prayer time?   I think of great preachers such as Billy Graham.  I've heard better preachers but the anointing on him is powerful.  And I know great books that have changed history that have not always been the most powerful writing such as "In His Steps," but they have been anointed by the Spirit.  Are we cultivating God's power to bring the transformation as we study and pray?  Am I more excited to get a book out than to slow down and seek the anointing and direction of the Lord as I write?

The second cause to pause was studying Paul's timeline of his life this morning, when he came to the Lord he immediately prayed and fast, blindly, for 3 days.   Then shortly thereafter headed to Arabia for 3 whole years, consulting no one but receiving the gospel from the Lord.  After that season his ministry exploded.  Why 3 years?  He had studied the Scriptures fastidiously.  Why not just jump into preaching?  Take a few months, maybe a year but 3 years?  Because Paul did not blast out of the starting gates, his ministry was actually richer, deeper, wider and more powerful.

Then then there was my third cause to pause.  A Scripture I have thought of often in Proverbs.

"Like a city whose walls are broken through is a person who lacks self-control."  Prov 25:28

Here I read "Self-Discipline."  When I'm not exercising patience, I'm like a city with broken walls.  And if you've ever been to Israel, broken walls were utterly dangerous.  One could not exist long-term without walls, which is why in Ezra and Nehemiah there was such emphasis on the rebuilding of the walls.

Patience and prayer.  Perhaps with this the books I write will be of much richer quality and more anointed through prayer and God's Spirit.  It's not something natural, but it's something I want to grow.

The Gospel--Galatians 2

Jesus preached the gospel (Mk 8:35).  But he didn't preach his death, burial and resurrection.  In fact he often silenced the disciples about these things as well as about his identity.  It wasn't time.   The gospel was also announced to Abraham, and that was a few years before Jesus' death, burial and resurrection (Gal 3:8)

So if he preached the gospel then what gospel did he preach?

Paul spells it out to us.

⁶ So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”^[a]

⁷ Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. ⁸ Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.”^{[b] 9} So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

This is the gospel:  Man is justified by faith [through grace enacted by the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ).

Justification by faith.

For those before the Christ, it was a looking towards Him.
For those of us after Christ, it is the looking back.

Christ made it possible for us to be justified by faith.

Not works.
Not laws.
Not following good principles.

Just faith in Jesus for our salvation.

He's saved us.  We didn't.
He redeemed us.  We couldn't.

That's the good news.

Jesus--The Scary One

The job of the Roman soldier was to invoke so much fear into the life of the citizens that there was no room for disobedience.  When a Roman soldier appeared, people ran for their lives.  It was trained into them to be brutal and heartless.  Their very presence invoked fear.  People ran from them and the Romans expected it.

But things don't always work out the way they're supposed to.

A detachment of soldiers was sent out to get Jesus.  Blood was in the air but orders were to bring him back alive.  They confidently marched to the grove of olives, hardened and tough.  Judas was going to lead them to him and they would hunt him down.  This one would be easy.

But as they drew near, instead of Jesus running in fear, he "went out" to them.  He stood up and instead of running from them, he went to them.  Instead of the Romans demanding answers, Jesus asked them the question.  "Who is that you want?"

"Jesus of Nazareth," they responded.

"I am he."  

With that the Roman soldiers drew back in fright and fell to the ground all over each other.  A bumbling mess. 

"If you are looking for me, then let these men go.”

His concern?   To protect his disciples.  He didn't run from the battle, he ran into it, protecting his men (who all ran away). 

Jesus is the true warrior.   The one turning the tables on the enemy.

Where men try to invoke fear, He is their fear (Is 8:13).

The Tripping Up of a Generation

We are an obese generation.  And it's spreading to more than just our own country.  Even skinny people are eating unhealthy.  We want our food and we want it the way it tastes good to us.  I struggle with this. I like chips, a cold Coke and some good chocolate.

I was rereading a psalm the other day.  And there it was.  Do you want to know what was a strumbling stone for Israel?  Food.  They wanted their food.  Gives us the leeks of Egypt!  We had pots of meat there!  They couldn't embrace the hardship of lack so they complained.  Again and again.  And God was angry.

How much self-control do we have with food?  And I don't just mean for overweight people.  Are we willing to "suffer" so enter into the best that God has for us?  In my mind I think I can, but my actoins show something completely different.  God help me.

The Believer's Fire

What is the real test of the believer?  Is it hardship?  Difficulties?  Persecutions?  If we survive these coming out better and not better?  No.  There's another test for the believer that is often much more difficult. More slippery.  And has many deceptions.

"The crucible for silver and the furnace for gold, but man is tested by the praise he receives."

Does a man try to deflect it in false self-humility?  Does he receive it and become bloated up?  Or does he receive in genuine humility, giving honor and thanks to God? 

The Withering--Ps 1

Lately under the crazy of it all, I've felt a "withering" of life in general.  Then I'm reminded in Ps 1 that the person who meditates on the Word night and day does not wither.  And sure enough, my Bible time has been neglected.  Time to dig to the waters again.

Job

I've been reading the book of Job lately and it is with new eyes.  Eyes of trial.  Here's some observations:

• It was Job's friends and family that could've been his closest support that were his biggest nemesis. 
• Where were Job's friends when his children died?  Why did they only come when he himself was knocked down?
• At the sniff of blood the vultures gather
• "What he feared, happened."
• Eliphaz was a jerk.  His opening statements were infuriating.  Yet God offered forgiveness in the end to the extent that Job would pray for him and his friends.  
• It was only "After Job Prayed" for them and forgave them that God blessed Job's life.  I think forgiveness would have been challenging when friends pour salt in your wounds.  But Job did and God blessed him.

Fighting the Chill--Mt 24:12

Scriptures says that because of the increase of wickedness the love of most will grow cold.  In this time of great suffering I understand that.  Ungodly people take advantage of suffering for their own self.  If you read this, I ask for your prayer for a supernatural grace of forgiveness.  We must all fight our love growing cold. 

Psalm 103:10

Scripture says He treats us not as our sins deserve.  This sounds wonderful and such.  It's not until I'm asked to treat others not as their sins against me deserve that it becomes gritty.  And scary.

The Suffering of Patience--1 Pet 3:20

There's not a need to have patience unless there's some kind of suffering in waiting.  That waiting can be for something bad to change or for something good to finally happen.   It's what makes patience so very difficult, at least for most of us Westerners.

Even God suffers and has to wait patiently.

"God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built."  1 Pet 3:20

You have to wonder if God was thinking, 'Hurry up, Noah, please. I can't stand the level of evil that is on the face of the earth.  This suffering humans are inflicting on one another causes me unspeakable distress and I must wait until you build this boat.'

Patience is a barely existent virtue in my character.  I don't like suffering and I want it to end quickly.  I want somebody to do something.  More often than not when I have to wait too long, I try to take control and do things myself.

But this isn't the way of the Lord.  His ways are patience.  Endurance.  And long-suffering.  Because timing matters as He assembles everything and all people in place.  It's not always just about me.

Foundations of Persecution--1 Pet 1:1-2

"Foreboding" perhaps wasn't the best description.  But definitely a sense of change coming, change that would cause the followers of Jesus to be a bit more alert.  The economy was tanking, corruption was going viral and the highest leadership of the nation fell to the lowest of standards.     Persecution seemed to be lurking in the shadows and perhaps would rear its ugly face openly.  Nero was Emperor and he held no affection for the followers of Christus.

So Peter writes.  He writes as one who has himself walked through scary times and even failed.  But because he did not give up but had pressed on, restored by the resurrected Lord himself, he had something to say.

He identifies himself as the sent out one of Jesus and then writes to those scattered throughout Asia Minor.  It was a scroll passed from one house church gathering to the next.  After identifying himself and his audience, he opens with this:

"[you] who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood: grace and peace be yours in abundance."

If you look at the core of this sentence it basically says "chosen...to be obedient to Jesus Christ and sprinkled with his blood."

 This is... strange.  Chosen for obedience?  Sprinkled with blood?

It could be strange but not for those who would know the Old Testament/Covenant stories.  When Moses was sealing the covenant with the Israelites, he spelled out the commands for them to follow, then took blood and sprinkled the people (Ex 24).  The blood and the commands both were signs of the covenant (Heb 9:19-21).  All covenants have expectations and a loss of blood.  (Think marriage and the marriage night with a virgin).

Chosen for covenant.  Western culture doesn't always get the concept of covenant.  Covenant is a binding union.  Not a contract.  It's secure and irrevocable.  Covenant was very appropriate for the time.

Soon the Christians would watch as their children, friends and experience for themselves what it was like to be hated by the masses, and tortured by the authorities.  Peter needed to prepare them.  And in the same breath he says hello he reminded them that God's people were a covenant people--a people chosen to be in covenant with God.  This security, this eternally binding and inseparable union was to be the foundation for any and every trial that they were to face.

It wasn't the promise of deliverance from trials.  It wasn't the promise from deliverance from anything of this earth.  But it was the promise of Himself.   Forever.  Eternally. 

Sleepy Faith--Psalms 3-4, Mark 4, Acts 12

Sometimes faith shows itself at its greatest when one just goes to sleep.  I remember the story of a missionary who was stranded somewhere in a dangerous part of Africa.  They knew there were violent thieves around and they feared for their life, but they could do nothing about it.  As the man was praying, the Lord spoke to him the Scripture in Psalm 4:8--"In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety."  So with that Word, he shared with those with him and they decided the best thing they could do was lie down and sleep.

Sleep throughout Scripture has often been a fruit of faith.  Consider David when pursued by Saul and his whole army (Ps 3). 

Lord, how many are my foes!
    How many rise up against me! 
 Many are saying of me,
    “God will not deliver him.”

  But you, Lord, are a shield around me,
    my glory, the One who lifts my head high. 

 I call out to the Lord,
    and he answers me from his holy mountain.

 I lie down and sleep;
    I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. 

 I will not fear though tens of thousands
    assail me on every side

Surrounded by tens of thousands who were pursuing him to his death.  And David goes to sleep.  It was the sleep of faith.  And it wasn't the first time (Ps 4).

We see it again in the New Testament.  Jesus and his disciples, some of who had grown up on the waters of the Galilee, were convinced they were going to drown in a storm.  And where was Jesus?  Sleeping.  Soundly.  They woke him up, he rebuked the wind, rebuked the disciples, and in my estimation, went back to sleep.  (Lk 8:22-25; Mk 4:35-41).

And another time in the life of the disciples.  King Herod had just arrested and beheaded James.  Seeing this pleased the Jews, he seized Peter also.  The church was earnestly praying and what was Peter doing?  Sleeping.  Soundly.  So soundly the angel of the Lord had to slap him on the side to wake him up (Acts 12).  It was the hour that he might have joined James in getting beheaded, but there he was in the cell, sleeping between two soldiers.

How can you sleep when the world is spiraling out of control?  How can you sleep when people are crying for death outside your window?  It's only possible by faith.  The same faith, like Daniel's friends when told to worship or die:

"If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue from your hand, O King.  But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up" (Dan 3:17-18).
 And I think with every act of faith in this form, the forces of darkness shudder.  Shudder at our snoring.







 

A Comma of Errors?--Eph 1:4

There are no commas in Greek, there are really, really long sentences, and it sometimes is a problem.  A simple comma can change everything.  Sometimes it is significant, sometimes it doesn't change much.

The other day I decided to look up something in Greek in Ephesians.  I had studied ancient Greek for 3 years in college.

Here is the Greek literal translation of Eph 1:4-5:

"He chose us in him before the foundation of the world to be be holy and without blame before him in love he chose beforehand for to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ."

 No commas in Greek (at least in the original).  But the Bibles add the commas for us English readers.  Read the difference from the KJV and every other translation.

KJV:  "He chose us in him...to be holy and blameless before him in love.  He predestined us...."

Everyone else:  "He chose us in him...to be holy and blameless before him.  In love, he predestined us..."

The change matters. 

Is he asking us to be holy and blameless in our love?
Or is he saying it was in love he predestined us?

Very different. 

And for a moment I felt encouraged.  I'm not a KJV only person by any means, but to be holy and blameless in love?  For me that draws me more than just being holy and blameless and that's it.  To be holy and blameless in love gives me mission and grace.

It's also nice to think that in love he predestined us to be adopted as sons.  Adoption in love is assumed as it is an eternal covenant.

The Greek is not clear as to which way "love" goes.  That's why the different translations. 

But for now I'm leaning toward the KJV rendering.  We're to be holy and blameless in our love.  It means my love must mature.  Not just my moral uprightness.   Things to ponder.

A-salted--Mt 5:13

"You are the salt of the earth.  If salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again?"

In a land of refrigeration, we fully underestimate the value of salt.  It meant life.  I preserved food which was essential and was so valuable that it was often used to pay wages.  Pliny the Elder (1st century guy) stated that the word "salary" came from the word "salt" as the Roman soldiers were often paid in salt.  It's where we get the expression, "worth their salt."  Ancient Chinese considered salt second only to gold in value.

The question that often arises is the chemist's question.  How can salt lose its saltiness?  Hyrdrochloride (salt) is one of the 3-4 most strongest compounds in the world.  So did Jesus not pass chemistry class?

Indeed in the context of the day, he did know.   Salt cannot be broken down and separated except from water that would cause dilution but this isn't necessarily something you can "toss out and trample by men..  Yet there was in a sense a way salt could "lose its saltiness."  The Dead Sea is very mineral rich and also has so much salt one can literally sit in the water.  The problem was that
other minerals could adhere to salt molecules--nasty ones like boron, magnesium and bromides.  When salt became overloaded with other minerals, the salt with its attachments became useless and worthy of being "tossed out"and "trampled by men."   It was an illustration that an entire crowd of people could relate to as they needed good salt to preserve their food.

But we must be careful to not get so caught up in the science that we lose Jesus' point.  If salt loses its ability to be useful because it has adhered to other things, it is worthless.  There is a warning in this text.

So what does this all mean?   There are seemingly endless applications.  One needs to read the Scripture more or be careful of attachments or not get diluted by the world.  All good.  What we do know Jesus was saying that salt had a capacity to have a form that was not useful if it became compromised.  In the context of pressure, persecution and just life in general, this is readily understandable.  Something that is compromised is almost never beneficial, be it a trust, a relationship, or one's life in Christ.

His hands

I like hands.  They say a lot about a person.  Are they smooth or calloused?  Perfectly painted or chipped from work?  Are they wrinkled and tanned or smooth and white?

So I looked at hands in Scripture.  In particular the hands of Jesus.  Perhaps in his earlier days the hands of Jesus were rough and calloused from hard labor.  We tend to think of Jesus as a carpenter but from what I understand, the word can also be translated "stone-worker" (just google it if you have any doubt).    When you go to Israel, you notice that there are stones everywhere and for every building.  Carpentry work was for the rich people.  We know for sure Jesus wasn't from a rich family.   They couldn't even afford the obligatory lamb sacrifice for when Jesus was born.  Instead they had to go with the two young pigeons or a pair of doves, a concession for poor people (Lev 12:8).  So for me  I'm quite sure it wasn't trees Jesus was working with in his job.  Rather he was blue collar factory worker that did the grinding work of stones.  So his hands.  Calloused and rough.  And strong.  Very strong.

At 30 his hands changed.  Because at 30 the first thing we read about his hands is that they were washed.  Washed in the waters of baptism.  From there he would begin his life of ministry and I'm sure his hands began to heal from their callouses.  Not totally but they would be growing smooth again.

But now his hands took on a different role.  Instead of receiving the smashing and scraping and bruising from hard work, his hands would now be the conduit of healing for the smashed and scraped and bruised bodies and hearts and lives of others.  Because now Jesus began to touch people.  Holy touch.  Life-giving touch.

Lepers.  You kept your distance.  You made sure you drove those people-turned monsters  away and made them shout "unclean" so you could keep your distance.  You drove them away when they came near.  Jesus went to them.  He touched them.  And the people recoiled in horror.  Luke 5:13

Dead people.  They are cold.  They are stiff.  They stink.  And they are unclean.  A widow whose only hope was her son had just lost him, perhaps in a tragic accident.  It was her death sentence as well as his.  The funeral was in place when Jesus met them.  Keep your distance and let the people grieve, they said.  Jesus aproached the funeral procession.  Then the coffin.  Then he reached out his hands and touched it.  And the people recoiled.  But the young man was brought to life.  Luke 7:4

God's Presence.  For all people who seek it they forget that it is scary.  Very scary.  Peter, James and John saw their rabbi transfigured before them.  Then Moses and Elijah appeared.  Then the Lord spoke to them telling them the Father loved his son and they were to listen to him.  A bright cloud enveloped them. They fell facedown to the ground, terrified.  But Jesus.  He came and touched them.  He knelt down, touched his friends and told the to not be afraid.  He touched them.  Mt 16:7

Jesus touched eyes and they were healed (Mt 20:34).  He actually put his fingers in someone's ears to heal them (Mk 7:33).  He even spit and touched a man's tongue ((Mk 7:33).   Something about touch made broken people whole, lonely people loved, and rejected people and even more ostracized.  Somehow people didn't it when hurting people were helped.

Out of Jesus' hands come life, healing, deliverance, acceptance and love.   Bold hands that were not afraid of anything.

Then I look at my hands.  Hands that have not always been holy.  It's interesting that the holiness of the heart is connected to the hands (Ps 24:4).

But then there's one other thing I remember about Jesus hands.  I am there. 

"Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne?  Though she may forget, I will not forget you!  See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands" (Is 49:6).  

 Engraved..  On the palms.  The most painful part.  Permanent. Bloody.  And forever his.

To the ends of the earth--Acts 1:8

Random thought, but when Jesus mandated his disciples to take the gospel to "the ends of the earth," it was at that time that they did not know that the earth was round.

Faith that Fails--Luke 22:32

I was praying for someone tonight that "their faith would not fail" in a difficult hour.  These words originally came from Jesus.  Satan had asked to sift Peter as wheat, but Jesus had prayed that "his faith would not fail."  But what did Peter do?  As soon as the time came, three times Peter denied Jesus.  Three.  Times.  So did Peter's faith fail?

Well, it would seem like this is the case.  How do you deny someone not once but three times and not consider that a failure?  Except that it wasn't the end of the story.  Jesus would meet Peter again and while he confronted him 3x.  Then Jesus completely restored and commissioned him.  What if Peter would have just rolled over and quit as a failure?  What if Jesus as his leader would've written him off?

The story doesn't end with a great failure.  The story actually begins.  How will that failure be handled?  Because in Peter's case, what he did after his failure changed history.  Including yours.

The Righteous Philistine--Gen 20, 26

Assumptions can be oh so wrong.  Especially when it comes to people that we believe are not like us.    How many of us would assume that if we went to certain parts of the world marked by violence and religions of violence that we would find respect for the Lord?  What would you do if you moved there?

We read about this situation in Scripture.  The man of God, Abraham moved to a "bad" area.  He made a judgment about the heart of the people of the land (especially it's government), he fostered fear in his thoughts and the fruit of these actions was that he began to lie.  

One night Abimelech, the King of Gerar had a dream in which he was told that Sarah was married to Abraham.  Abraham had lied and said Sarah was his sister.  Abimelech, the "ungodly one" told the Lord that he had acted with a clear conscience.  The Lord replied saying that this is why he had prevented Abimelech from acting inappropriately towards Sarah.  Abimelech rose early the next morning, called his official then immediately made it right with Abraham and Sarah.  He then asked Abraham why.  Why did you lie?  Why did you this?

The man of God, Abraham, responded.  "'I said to myself, 'There is surely no fear of God in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife.' " (20:11).

The reality was quite the opposite.  While Abraham was caring about himself instead of his wife, passing judgment on what he saw, walking in fear, lying to leadership and generally going against God, Abimelech showed the opposite.  He valued a clean conscience, responded immediately to the Word of God, he made it right by Sarah giving 1000 shekels and then sent them on their way.  Then he later made a treaty of peace with them and did right by them.  No fear of God, thought Abraham?  Actually quite the opposite.  Maybe Abimelech didn't know the specifics of righteousness, but he knew fear of the Lord.  Where as Abraham?  He had some growth opportunities yet ahead.

As if this were not enough, a number of years later it happened again.  This time it was Isaac who lied about his wife.  And once again it was Abimelech who took the initiative to make it right.

Abraham (and Isaac) assumed that there was no fear of the Lord in a Philistine king's heart.  But we never know what is in the heart of man.  Sometimes it's the people we least expect that actually have the stirring of God deep within.

Prisoner of Grace

If there ever is a church you wanted to run away from this one is it.  To say there is infighting and divisions is an understatement, but that is only the beginning of their problems.  You would hardly believe what is going on.  They practically worship celebrity Christians and yet the men and women of God have a hard time getting in the door.  There are lawsuits being filed among each other.  Lawsuits!!   Not only that but the church has a case of incest--a son sleeping with his mother and the church knows about it and turns a blind eye.  They are "proud" of their "freedom" and "liberty" and "tolerance."  ?! 

One of my friends in ministry told me that not only does he want not to be associated with this congregation of so-called "believers" but he wants nothing to do with "church" as he knows it.  This grieves my heart.  It is true that he probably would do better in another congregation.  Sometimes it is Ok that sheep are in different places.  It is the way of nature.  Walnut trees if planted too close to flowers or gardens will destroy the plants.  In the opposite vein,  marigolds planted by tomatoes help keep the bugs away.  Granted this situation of sin in the church which has gone unchecked is different.  But I grieve for this brother completely separating himself from the whole gathering of believers.  The actions among this group of believers sicken me too. Sicken is hardly the word for it.  These crimes are not only crimes against God but against humanity.  So what have I done?  How have I handled this?

Judge me if you want, but I am compelled to stay connected.  Why on earth?  Because I know who I am.  I know the depth of my own depravity and it is awful.  So does this mean that what this church is doing is acceptable?  Or that God does not have a say?  BY NO MEANS!!!  On the contrary, I have spoken my mind as a pastoral authority over this church as strong as I could and have called on help from heaven.  I rebuked them harshly for their divisions, I let them know they were utterly defeated if they lowered themselves to sue one another. And I told them to expel the man guilty of incest and hand him over to Satan himself.  I told them they were not to even associate, even to the point of eating lunch with someone like him.  I'm not talking about those outside the church as those outside the church we embrace with love, no matter their sin.  Let me say that again.  The sinners of this world who do not profess Christ--the gays, lesbians, bisexuals, the murders, the rapists, the greedy, the selfish, etc... we embrace with love and do not judge them.  The ones we have the responsibility to are the ones inside the church.  Those who claim to be Christians yet sin freely and are unrepentant.  They must be confronted and if they do not repentant, expelled.  If they have repented, that is the beginning of our journey with them for restoration.  Restoration is the goal in every situation.

I have all of this in writing.  I actually would like you to read the letter I wrote to this church.  But before you do, you need to know something.  Even as I knew all that was going on with them and the horrible, horrible things that were taking place, I began my letter this way:

"I always thank God for you because of his grace given you in Christ Jesus.  For in him you have been enriched in every way--in all your speaking and in all your knowledge--because our testimony about Christ was confirmed in you.  Therefore you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed.  He will keep you strong to the end, so that you will be blameless on the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.  God, who has called you into fellowship with his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful."

Yes, I thanked God for them and the grace given them.  And you know what?  After I wrote that harsh letter, there was repentance.  Even for the one who was in terrible sin.  So I wrote them another letter and told them this:

"If anyone has caused grief, he has not so much grieved me as he has grieved all of you, to some extent--not to put it too severely.  The punishment inflicted on him by the majority is sufficient for him.  Now instead, you ought to forgive and comfort him, so that he will not be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow.  I urge you, therefore, to reaffirm your love him.  The reason I wrote you was to see if you would stand the test and be obedient in everything.  If you forgive anyone, I also forgive him.  And what I have forgiven--if there was anything to forgive--I have forgiven in the sight of Christ for your sake, in order that Satan might not outwit us.  For we are not unaware of his schemes."

Grace with truth saved them, and him.  And me.  With confidence I can say to this church of mine with all their ugly scars, "you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you.  I have great confidence in you; I take great pride in you.  I am greatly encouraged; in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds."

There's a terrible tension walking in truth and love.  They can never be separated.  If my family has committed the crime I want to lean towards love and grace.  If I am the victim I tend to lean towards  truth and a trial.  Both are important.  It is the issue of love and justice.  It is why the cross solved the biggest and most terrible enigma between heaven and man.   It's the way of the cross that I want to seek.  And the cross of truth mercy triumphs over judgment.  I'm living proof.  It's because of this, that I must approach brokenness differently.

Paul, the apostle/former terrorist

(A hypothetical letter from 1 Corinthians)

Double-Take--Gen 1

It's hard to imagine that there was light and even evening and morning before there was the sun, moon and starts, but it's true.  On the first day, God said,

"Let there be light...God called the light "day," and darkness he called "night."  And there was evening, and there was morning--the first day."

But it wasn't until the fourth day that God said

"Let there be lights....God made two great lights--the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night."

It's hard to think of evening and morning with light but not with the lights.  Perhaps it was the light coming from the throne.  Perhaps it was light itself. 

I have no answers.  I just have a pondering.

Understanding the Prophets

The prophets have been for me the proverbial bar of soap in the shower.  While I have loved them, the prophecies and their organization have eluded my grasp.   Until recently.  I reread a series of books that I read many years ago.  And once again, my understanding and comprehension of the prophets was like getting my annual contact prescription updated--I can see much better.  So with that I highly recommend the following books by Lynn Austin:  Gods and Kings Series and Redemption Chronicles Series.  Very worth it.

The Power of Symbols

Symbols, do they matter?  You bet they do.  They call us to action of some kind.  This is what the prophets used to connect with their listeners.

I saw a man with a swirled dash on his shoe (Nike).   In his arm he carried a box with flying windows (Windows PC) of various colors.  In the other hand was an apple (Mac) but it had a bite taken out of it.  He had to go fast as he might change his mind.  After awhile he saw a large wooden rectangle on a tall post (a billboard).  On it was painted a triangle with growing lines (Wifi).  Next to it was large yellow arches (McDonalds).  Suddenly a yellow light pierced the sky and in it was a black bird (Batman).  It was just the help he needed!  The light pointed to a building and man went there.  Inside was a box with a triangle of green arrows (recycle).  He sighed for a minute.  He saw a blue box with a "t" inside (Twitter) and another darker blue box with an "f" inside (Facebook).  They both had a circle around them with a diagonal slash (Do not).   So he put them in the large box and went home.

The basis:  A man recycling his computers because he has addictions to Facebook and Twitter.

Why the Imagery? The Prophets

Imagine you're trying to communicate with a group of people.  They're not dumb by any respect, in fact they're highly intelligent but opportunity has left them illiterate.  But the message you want to send need to be memorable as it is an important message.  The best way to do this is to use symbols.

Symbols and pictures communicate a lot and there's often an emotive value attached.   Tell a soldier what it is like when a flag raised on a mountaintop after intense fighting.  It is a symbol of hope and victory.  Show an athlete 5 interconnected circles of different colors and ask what it means to them--The Olympics!   

It is this same reason that the prophets used symbols.  They communicate more without words than they do with words.  Think of what a bald eagle communicates to an American?

Or perhaps this image?

Or this picture:

Those outside of American may or may not understand these symbols.  In fact some might think of them not as symbols but just a pretty bird,  a mean looking bull or just another kissing couple.  But for Americans their significance is much beyond this.  In the same way the prophets often used imagery that was meaningful to those who heard.    Horses were symbols of God's heavenly action.  Horns were a sign of power.  Oil was a sign of anointing and blessing.

So when we approach the prophets and at first we see bazaar images, we must take into account the imagery means.   We've got to cross the cultural gap and discover what these symbols meant 100 years ago.  Try my own prophetic word:

I saw a man with a swirled dash on his shoe.  In his arm he carried a box with flying windows of various colors.  In the other hand was an apple but it had a bite taken out of it.  He had to go fast as he might change his mind.  After awhile he saw a large wooden rectangle on a tall post.  On it was painted a triangle with growing lines.  Next to it was large yellow arches.  Suddenly a yellow light pierced the sky and in it was a black bird.  It was just the help he needed!  The light pointed to a building and man went there.  Inside was a box with a triangle of green arrows.  He sighed for a minute.  He saw a blue box with a "t" inside and another darker blue box with an "f" inside.  They both had a circle around them with a diagonal slash.   So he put them in the large box and went home.

A nice little test to see if you can figure out my "prophetic" word.  Symbols.  They matter.

(Answer to "prophetic word" coming soon.)

Level, Straight and Smooth--Luke 3:4-6

If you were given a commission to make a road level, straight and smooth, how would you treat the following barriers?

Valleys--You would need to fill them in
Mountains/hills--You would need to bulldoze them and lower them to make them level
Crooked roads--you would need to straighten the roads
Rough roads--You would then need to smooth them out

Making a roadway level straight and smooth not only is possible but is done on a regular basis throughout the world. 

"A voice of one calling in the desert,
'Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him:

Every valley shall be filled in,
every mountain and hill made low.
The crooked roads shall become straight,
the rough ways smooth.
And all mankind will see God's salvation."

Today the mandate continues.   

Make straight paths for him.  

This is the work of the gospel.  Some have mountains that need leveled.  Some have valleys that need filled in.  Some have crooked roads that need straightening.  And some are rough roads needing smoothing.  But as we prepare the Lord, it is for this:

That all mankind will see God's salvation.

The Truth about Jonah

Let's tell it to the kids plainly about Jonah.   It wasn't because he was afraid of what they would do to him.  We need to tell the kids the truth about Jonah's story (tastefully) because they will more than likely face similar circumstances.

Truly, who wouldn't want to hate the Assyrians of which Nineveh was their capital?  They were famous war-mongerers:

 They were notorious for skinning people alive.  Outside of crucifixion, I'm not sure if there was a more terrible torture.

They beheaded some to display on city walls while dismembering others in perverse ways:

Then there was the notorious impaling:

More than anything they boasted about it.  As if unimaginable torture were some sick kind of honor for which they wanted to be remembered.

So yes, when God called Jonah to go preach the gospel to them, you better believe he ran the other way.  When the ocean became rough, his response was "Pick me up and throw me into the sea!" He wanted nothing to do with this mission.  And it wasn't because of fear.

But in the belly of the great fish he had second thoughts.  He made a beautiful plea of repentance to the Lord and was rescued, only to return home.  Because we read that the Lord had to call Jonah "a second time" because he never answered the call the first time.  Funny how we forgot those bargains we make in those life-or-death circumstances.

But the second time Jonah went, begrudgingly.  And yes, he might have been a little afraid but that wasn't the reason he dragged his feet on the entire mission.  He knew that if he went it might mean one thing--God might actually forgive them.  And that's exactly what happened.  Jonah preached.  The Assyrians repented.  God forgave.  Jonah was livid.

"O Lord, is this not what I said when I was still at home?  That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish.  I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.  Now, O Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live!"

Jonah was bitter because the Assyrians were forgiven.  Angry because God was good, even to these wretched, cursed, hated Assyrians.  He would rather vomit them out of his mouth than see those hideous Assyrians forgiven of their atrocities.

"I am angry enough to die," Jonah told the Lord.

But the Lord had a message. For the Assyrians but also for Jonah.  And for those later to come.

In life, there might be a time when our spirits are filled with so much bitterness that we don't want to see God's mercy granted to the objects of our hate.  Or perhaps the reverse is true.  Feeling like there have been too many evil things done by us to ever be loved by God.  But the truth of this story needs to be told.  Because we need to know for ourselves, and for those we must forgive, that God's goodness cannot be eclipsed by even the most wretched of evil.

"Should I not be concerned?" says the Lord.