The Point of Our Worship

Most of us probably realize that a great number of our praise songs come from Psalms. What we might not realize is that many of those songs come from the psalms of lament. The laments are cries to God for help or justice in the middle of crisis or confusion, but they usually end with a statement of praise. Our songwriters clip the praise sections and use those for songs while ignoring the greater context of lament:

• We sing "As the deer pants for the water so my so longs after you." But if we were going to really sing Psalm 42, we’d continue, “My tears have been my food day and night, while people say to me all day long, ‘Where is your God?’” That’s not nearly as catchy, is it?
  
  
• We sing “I will praise you, Lord, among the nations; I will sing of you among the peoples. For great is your love, reaching to the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.” But if we sang the rest of Psalm 57,  we'd also sing "I am in the midst of lions; I am forced to dwell among ravenous beasts." Again, not nearly as happy-clappy.

Psalm 73 (our reading for today) is also lament, a struggle for faith despite the obvious injustice of the world. Asaph begins with a statement of faith, "God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart" (73:1). That is what he says, but the problem is that this is not what he feels. Asaph is going through a faith crisis, hence the lament of the psalm

But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. (Psalm 73:2-3)

What follows in verses 4-11 is the psalmists take on the injustices of the world. The evil prosper while the just suffer; those who have no faith or fear of God at all seem to also have no worries at all. The arrogant flaunt their rebellion for all to see, taunting God’s justice all the while. The more clearly the psalmist sees this injustice, the more he struggles with his faith. And even as he struggles, he feels that he can’t give voice to his doubts because of the impact that would have on the faith of others, "If I had spoken out like that, I would have betrayed your children." (v. 15)

What restores his faith is entered the sanctuary of God. It is worship that reminds Asaph that God is on the throne. And the throne of God reminds him that the wicked may flaunt God, but they will not escape Him. It was when he enters the sanctuary of God that he remembers the end of all things--

When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny. (Psa 73:16-17)

He was looking at the prosperity of the wicked from his own vantage point. Here he was, an average smuck trying to do the right thing and having a hard go of it while wicked, evil people around him were oppressing the poor, flitting from party to party, and thumbing their nose at God. But in the sanctuary, Asaph has his perspective altered and he gets a glimpse from the throne of God. And that changes everything. Seeing the sanctuary allows him to see things as they really are, and that changes his tune… literally--

Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. (73:25-26)

Maybe that is the whole point of our worship. God is not some egomaniac who constantly needs us to tell Him how great He is. Nothing we can do can ever supply anything God that needs. No, we need to lift God up in praise and worship the one who sits on the throne of the universe to remind ourselves of the way things really are. Entering the sanctuary of praise reminds us that God is and all is well! We’re not really telling God anything in our worship—one of the perks of omniscience is that there are no surprises. No, worship tells us something. In worship, we remind ourselves of what is true and eternal. Sometimes it is our head that needs to be reminded; sometimes it is our heart. But as we enter the sanctuary to praise the One who sits on the throne, we are reminded of what is really true and truly real. And so we say with Asaph--

Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds. (73:27-28)

The Prayer of Jabez

What was I thinking when I set up this year’s daily Bible reading?  We decided that we would read the Old Testament (we read the NT two reads ago) and that we’d read it in chronological order. So I found a chronological reading list, stripped off the New Testament, adjusted it to weekday readings, and the result is our daily Bible reading for the year. What I didn’t do is spend enough time fine-tuning the readings to balance them better, and the result is that yesterday’s reading was a killer (Psalm 43, 44, 45, 49, 84, 85, 87… Yikes!) and todays is 1 Chronicles 3-5… which is largely a list of names.

But hidden in the list of names we read today is a very obscure guy that became a superstar several years ago when Bruce Wilkinson published a little book entitled, The Prayer of Jabez. Actually, we don’t know anything about Jabez… including why he is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 4. This is a genealogy listing of the family of Judah, and Jabez isn't listed in the genealogy (though we can assume he fits in there somewhere). The Chronicler interrupts his listing of Judah's family tree to tell this story—

Jabez was more honorable than his brothers. His mother had named him Jabez, saying, “I gave birth to him in pain.” Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, “Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain.” And God granted his request. (1 Chronicles 4:9-10)

Wilkinson's book encourages people today to pray that exact prayer—for God to bless us, enlarge our territory, and keep us free from pain. He gives plenty of stories about God has answered that prayer and blessed people through this prayer. You'd better have lots of stories when you are writing a book based on two Bible verses!  Wilkinson sees this little text as the key to the Bible’s teaching on prayer, “It is brief, only one sentence tucked away in the Bible, but I believe it contains the key to a life of extraordinary favor with God.”

Of course, there are several problems with this view of the prayer of Bro. Jabez. It appears to make prayer rather mechanistic and ritualistic. All we have to do is pray this prayer  and God will bless us and increase our territory... which seems to almost obligate God to answer our prayer positively. The fact is, God sometimes says “No, you have enough territory.” Sometimes God tells us that His grace is sufficient, and He chooses to work, not through enlarged territory, but in our weakness and thorn in the flesh (2 Cor 12:9-10).  The  Hebrew writers sees as the loving discipline of a loving Father (Heb 12:7-10). Also, the “Prayer of Jabez” is simply not the only prayer in scripture; there is also the "Prayer of Job," though that book would be a harder sell.  Jesus certainly did not pray the "Prayer of Jabez" in Gethsemane. Sometimes God seems to increases our weakness and suffering rather than our territory and influence.

The point of the "Prayer of Jabez" is not the wording of his prayer but the fact that he prayed. Jabez stood head and shoulders above his contemporaries because he turned to God in faith and prayer. The point for us is not that we should pray the specific prayer that Jabez prayed as if it were some kind of mantra for success and blessings from God. No, the point for us is that we should follow Jabez as an example of one who trusted God and sought Him in prayer even when those around him did not.

Reflections on the Church and the Wild West

When I was a kid, “The Lone Ranger” (starring Clayton Moore and Jay Silverheels) aired in the afternoons after school, and I would try very hard never to miss a show. At least once per episode, the Lone Ranger would arrive just in time to save the day by shooting the gun out of the outlaw’s hand… at fifty yards… on horseback… at a full gallop. Yep, the Lone Ranger was my hero (along with Little Joe Cartwright, Matt Dillon, Paladin, Josh Randall [Steve McQueen in Wanted: Dead or Alive], and Chuck Connors [in both "The Rifleman” and “Branded”). I owned (in no particular order) a Lone Ranger six shooter (with a genuine silver plastic bullet), a Chuck Connors signature Rifleman rife (with the auto-cocking round lever) and the Steve McQueen sawed-off Winchester that you wore like a pistol (the coolest). I spent hours and hours pretending to be my heroes from the old west.

This next part you’re going to think I’m making up. As much as I played make-believe-cowboy-in-the-old-wild-west, I remember thinking how lucky I was not to have lived back then. Lucky not because I’d have to face bloodthirsty cut-throats and gunslingers with itchy trigger fingers (that would have been the good part). No, I was glad I didn't live in the old west because there weren't any real churches back then. I grew up believing that my church was the only true church... the only church that people would be going to heaven from. I was baptized at age 9, and I went to church three times a week every week for my entire life (so far). And I was taught that you just didn't go to church; you went to the right church—the one that said “Church of Christ” on the sign. Some that had the right sign didn't have the right church (because they had pianos).  If you weren't going to go to the right church, you might as well not go yo any church. That's why I was glad that I I didn't live on the Ponderosa.  They had churches in the old west, but none of them were the right church.  The true church.

I’m still glad I didn’t live in the old west (I’d be allergic to cut-throats and gunslingers). But that old monolithic view I had about “the true church” seems about as realistic to me now as the Lone Ranger shooting the gun out of the outlaw’s hand. Oh, I believe that there is a true church, one bought by the blood of Christ.  And because it is His, only He keeps the membership roster. You can’t tell "the true church" by a single set of doctrines or practices or organization principles. True churches are true because truly reflect the person and character of Jesus in their world. Granted, that’s a lot messier than just looking in the auditorium to see if they have a piano. It’s also messier because we will never fully arrive. We can become satisfied with our view of Calvinism or the millennium, but surely no one would ever think, “Well, we’re enough like Christ now.”
It is interesting that my religious tribe chose the moniker “Church of Christ.” Maybe we should stick to Him as “the mark of the true church.”

I’m constantly taught, entertained, challenged and annoyed by Experimental Theology, the blog of Dr. Richard Beck of ACU. His is actually one of four blogs that I check every day (in case you’re interested, the other 3 are by Patrick Mead, Roger Olson and Rachel Held Evans). I don’t always agree with everything Beck says; hey, sometimes I don’t have a clue what he’s saying!  But generally I take away something that is helpful. His blog yesterday was on creating a study guide on the Sermon on the Mount as a “condensed but comprehensive moral inventory.” If the Sermon on the Mount is a single-shot presentation of “moral vision of Jesus,” why not boil this down as our guide for living as true Christians. Beck does that—here’s my condensation summary of his condensation summary of Matthew 5--

• Do not be egoistical or self-absorbed. (5:3)
• Weep over the pain in this world.(5:4)
• Be gentle, tender and kind. (5:5)
• Try to be a better person. (5:6)
• Show mercy to others. (5:7)
• Be sincere, genuine and real. (5:8)
• Work for the cause of peace. (5:9)
• Other should see you’re different (5:13-16)
• Let go of your anger toward others. (5:21-22)
• Worship isn’t as important as relationships (5:23-24)
• Try to resolve conflicts face to face. (5:25-26)
• Do not sexually objectify others. (5:27-30)
• Honor your marital vows. (5:31-32)
• Live with integrity; be true to your word. (5:33-37)
• Practice non-violence. (5:38-39)
• Give and serve generously. (5:40-42)
• Love your enemies and pray for them. (5:43-48)

Obviously, this won't answer every question one might ask about being a true disciple today (like whether or not your church should have a piano). But I fear there are many us who argue a lot over "the right church" who don’t seem to make much effort at these kinds of things at all. And maybe these are better reflections of the person and character of Christ (and thus more essential parts of being “Christian”) than all the particulars of how we conduct the church’s worship and work.

And I think these are things that could be worked on even in the old west even if the churches weren't exactly perfect in other ways.  So maybe me and Little Joe would have been able to hang out together after all.

Catacombs and Cathedrals

Russell Moore writes an interesting piece in The Christian Post entitled “Catacomb Christianity and Cathedral Christianity.” As we writes, Moore is in Rome leading a seminary study tour, and there are indeed a few things in Rome to study and tour that relate to early Christianity. In Rome there are great edifices built to celebrate and proclaim the Christian faith (like the Saint John Lateran Cathedral) and there are the ruins of the ancient catacombs where earlier Christians worshiped during the dark days of Roman persecution. The catacombs and the cathedrals, says Moore, remind us of the paradoxical ways in which God works to show us His grace. The catacombs remind us of the desperate faith of our persecuted ancestors that lived and grew in the valley of the shadow of death. The cathedrals remind us that that ancient faith not only survived and thrived, it far outlasted the powerful forces that were so marshaled against it.

Moore suggests that the catacombs and the cathedrals remind us of two very important truths—“God's sovereignty in sending down the faith, and the frailty of humanity as stewards of that faith.” Those dual truths of God’s power and our frailty has been the history of the church from the very beginning, and that continues to be story of the church today. Moore writes--

We can't romanticize the early persecuted church. After all, the New Testament Scriptures are often rebuking those churches for precisely the things we see going on in our churches today: division, carnality, immorality, arrogance (1 Cor. 4:7-13, 5:1-8, 6:1-8). And, if Christianity had remained in the catacombs, it is quite possible that you and I would have never encountered Christ.

The basilica at Saint John Lateran was planted there by the Emperor Constantine. His vision of a Christian empire was, of course, a failed experiment that led to persecution and all sorts of nominal Christianity. And yet, God used Constantine to end a bloody persecution and to, among other things, call together the church to deal with a deadly heresy or two. In the providence of God, the Trinitarian theism by which I critique the idea of Christian empire came down to me due, in part, to the unwitting actions of the prototypical Christian emperor.

Moore warns us that if we see only the catacombs, then we might glamorize smallness in and of itself and thus make impotence equivalent to faith and holiness. If we do that, then we may excuse our inability to make any impact in the world around us. But if we only see the cathedrals, then we might tend to identify godliness with size, success, influence and power.  We need to see God at work in both the catacombs and the cathedral… and we also need to see the fragility of human weakness at work in both. Moore ends his article with this reminder—

The kingdom of God is vast and tiny, universal and exclusive. Our story is that of a little flock and of an army awesome with banners. It's a Christianity of persecution and proliferation, of catacombs and cathedrals.

Irreconcilable Differences

Lynn and I are mourning a loss this week as we watch the last of 48 episodes of the TV series “Lie to Me.” We never watched it when it was on TV (and had commercials), but we found it on Netflix and we both enjoyed it. And that’s rare. Because when it comes to TV shows and movies, Lynn and I have irreconcilable differences. We just don’t really like the same things—she likes slow-moving, dialogue-driven, relationship-focused, soap-opera chick-flicks. I like stuff that blows up… and sports. (Remember the old movie “Black Sunday” where terrorists plant a bomb at the Super Bowl? That was cool!).  We have irreconcilable differences.  We also don’t like the same foods (and therefore restaurants). So we have to spend days in negotiation before we can go out on a “dinner-and-a-movie” date.

We don't just have differences; we have irreconcilable differences! So why did we get married? Fortunately, one of the things that we do have in common is enjoying the Pepperdine Lectures... and one of the things we learned there this year is that 69% of all marital disputes are irreconcilable. Almost 70% of the things couples disagree over in their marriages cannot be effectively resolved... ever.  So how does anyone stay married? We learn to live with and even celebrate our differences. Notice this except from an article by Diane Sollee.

The number one predictor of divorce is the habitual avoidance of conflict. What's sad is the reason couples avoid conflict is because they believe it causes divorce…In the beginning, we avoid conflict because we are in love and we believe that "staying in love" is about agreeing, about NOT fighting. We're afraid that if we disagree – or fight – we'll run our marriage off into the ditch. We believe that if we've found our soulmate, we'll agree about most things - and certainly about the important things. Later, we avoid conflict because when we try to deal with our differences things get so out of hand and our fights so destructive and upsetting that we simply shut down. After a few bad blow-ups we become determined to avoid conflict at any cost. And, we start wondering if we married the wrong person. It shouldn't be this hard.

Successful couples are those who know how to discuss their differences in ways that actually strengthen their relationship and improve intimacy. Successful couples know how to contain their disagreements – how to keep them from spilling over and contaminating the rest of their relationship. Couples need to know what the research has found: that every happy, successful couple has approximately ten areas of "incompatibility" or disagreement that they will never resolve. Instead, the successful couples learn how to manage the disagreements and live life "around" them– to love in spite of their areas of difference, and to develop understanding and empathy for their partner's positions.

The divorce courts have it all wrong. "Irreconcilable differences" are not a reason to divorce. Instead, they are part of every good marriage. Successful couples learn to dance in spite of their differences. They gain comfort in knowing they know their partner, know which issues they disagree on and must learn to manage. They also understand that if they switch partners they'll just get ten new areas of disagreement, and sadly, the most destructive will be about the children from their earlier relationships.

Marriage isn't easy; nothing that is worthwhile is ever easy.  I used to think that one of the secrets of a good marriage is learning to say no to self, to overcome our selfishness and to learn to the other before myself.  Now I suspect that's not just the secret to marriage... it's the purpose of marriage.  God gives us marriage to teach us how to become less selfish and more like Him.

President Obama, Gay Marriage and the Church

Over lunch Sunday (ironically Mother’s Day lunch which Lynn prepared for us), Angelynn asked me what I thought about the whole issue of homosexual marriage. The announcement Thursday of President Obama coming out (no pun intended) in support of homosexual marriage brought the topic up, but this was something she had been thinking about for some time. “So Dad, what do you think about homosexual marriage?” My immediately response was to make a joke, “Uh… you don’t have a girlfriend I don’t know about, do you?” She was serious, but I tend to make jokes when I’m uncomfortable. This is something that I’ve been thinking about a lot about as well, and I’ve started twice in the last week or so to write something on the blog about it. So here my daughter is calling me out on it. What do I think about homosexual marriage?

I wish I could remember exactly how Angelynn asked the question, but I think it was something like this—“I think homosexuality is wrong, but I don’t want to come across as harsh and condemning either.” Well, that's what I think!  To be honest, I was a bit uncomfortable with her question. Why? Because Kati, our token Democrat, feminist friend was there waiting to hear my answer?  Not really.  What made me uncomfortable was that as "The Preacher" I feel a bit of pressure to have a fully-formed, consistent and coherent position on issues like this. And on this one, all I have is an in-process, inconsistent and incoherent position. So here goes.

I believe homosexuality is a sin. I believe that the consistent witness in scripture is to portray homosexuality as inconsistent with God’s original design for human sexuality. In the beginning God both made humankind in His image and likeness and He made them male and female (Gen 1:27). When Jesus was asked about marriage and divorce, he began with this statement that God made humans male and female (So no, Jesus never mentions homosexuality per se, but he does mention the “male and female” starting point for marriage). Homosexuality is condemned along with incest and bestiality as forbidden sexual practice in Leviticus. Sure, there is a lot of other stuff condemned as well (like sex during and a week following the menstrual cycle), so Leviticus is definitely not the final word. But it is part of a consistent Biblical position. Paul uses homosexuality as his “exhibit A” in the sinfulness of the Roman world that denied God (Rom 1:26-27), but he expands his list of exhibits to include greed, gossip, God-hating and a host of other things that no one is seeking constitutional amendments to ban. When Paul lists sins that keep people from inheriting the kingdom of God, homosexuality is listed (1 Cor. 6:9). Again, this list also includes adulterers and alcohol abusers (nobody in Congress is going to introduce a bill banning that or they would have trouble raising a quorum to vote on the thing!). As someone who believes that the Bible is binding and that it should be interpreted, if not always literally, at least seriously and consistently, I believe that homosexuality is a sin. And I believe that it is the job of the church to discourage people from sinning. So I’m not drinking the cultural Kool-Aid that wants everyone to accept that “Gay is OK.”

At the same time (take a deep breath here), while homosexuality is a sin, it is only a sin. It is not the worst of all possible sins. I’m not sure what that would be, maybe pride (because pride is at the root of most other sins). But some of us (“us” being Christian heterosexuals) may think that homosexuality really is the worst of all sins because we have such a visceral revulsion (the “Yuck Factor”) when we think of two men having sex together.  Here's what I think-- unless and until we can generate that same revulsion and disgust when we contemplate “sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like” (Gal 5:19-21), then maybe the moral outrage and repugnance that we feel toward homosexuality is more akin to homophobia (of which we are often accused) than we like to admit! I’m not saying that we should learn to accept homosexuality; I’m saying that we should have the same moral outrage when confronted by all sin rather than saving it up for just this one.  I'm just saying.

The text that comes to mind when I think of the gay marriage issue is not in Leviticus, Romans or Galatians—it’s 1 Corinthians 5:9-12. You might think, “But Paul’s list of sins there doesn’t even mention homosexuality.” He mentions a list of sins that Christians are to oppose, and homosexuality would be included her under the umbrella of “sexual immorality” (a pretty big umbrella to be sure). Where this text touches the current discussion on the church’s response to homosexual marriage is in Paul’s command “not at all meaning the people of this world” (5:10) and “What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church” (5:12).  Getting all wrapped around the axle over political issues that seek to govern those outside of Christ by using the law of Christ seems to miss Paul’s point here completely. Remember, Satan is the one who holds power over the kingdoms of the world, even our own (see Matt 4:8-9). The job of the church is to oppose the work of Satan, not with signs or wisdom, but by preaching Christ crucified (1 Cor. 1:20-25). Politics is ultimately about power, and power is the ploy of the kingdom of the world, not the kingdom of God (see Matt 20:26-27).  We are called to serve the world in the name of Jesus, not to rule over it.

There is a lot more that could be said and that I intended to say.  Rather than me sating it, let me point you to a very well written blog by Dan Bouchelle that sums up pretty well what I think.  I really recommend you click over and read what Dan says. I don’t agree with everything that he says… but then I don’t agree with everything I say either. He ends his blog with a list of “few things I’d like to say to conservative Christians in general and preachers specifically” before we respond to President Obama’s announcement of his support of gay marriage. I’ll end with his (edited and abbreviated) list just to whet your appetite (and encourage you to read the whole article).

1. Before you talk about homosexuality you really should get to know and love several people with same sex attraction. This will keep you from painting with a broad brush about “them” and will change the tone of what you say to something more Christ-like.
   
   
2. Please don’t talk as if homosexuals have made a conscious choice about their orientation and just decided they would rather be gay. It’s a little more complicated than that.
   
   
3. Please put this issue in perspective with other behaviors and desires that heterosexuals battle. If you give people a pass on sins like greed, bitterness, envy, gossip, or dissention while you vilify “those homosexuals,” you are being hypocritical. If you are going to work out of Romans 1, look over Paul’s whole list of sins and treat them all with equal seriousness.
   
   
4. Please do not equate the gang-rape of ancient Sodom with genuinely caring same sex relationships today. I’m not saying either is good. I’m saying they are not comparable.
   
   
5. Please do not talk as if same sex relationships cannot ever be loving or fulfilling. Not all homosexual relationships are shallow and lustful.
   
   
6. Encourage your church to love and welcome people with same sex attraction. The way we deal with homosexuals needs to communicate God’s love not our hate. This won’t be easy; most churches are not prepared to welcome people with same sex attraction.
   
   
7. If you are going to require people with same sex attraction to live celibate lives (which is appropriate), are you also willing to provide them the kind of loving community that will keep their lives from being unbearably lonely? The church that takes a stand against homosexuality has a responsibility to provide a higher form of love to those it asks to leave the gay life.
   
   
8. Please do not talk as if people who do not believe in the Christian God, do not trust the scriptures, and who do not follow Jesus should be compelled by law to support Christian values. The world won’t be won to Christ through politics or power but by the gospel of sacrificial love.
   
   
9. Do not let the vacillating winds of public opinion determine the position you take. This is not about being fashionable; it is about speaking the truth in love and helping people mature into the fullness of Christ.

I know this blog will be unpopular (this is when it's good to have a readership of only 2-3).  This is one of those polarizing issues that people tend to see only in extremes, and on this one issue anyway, I'm not very extreme (which may be too extreme). I feel strongly both ways.  I believe that homosexuality is wrong. I believe that God loves homosexuals. Thus I believe that the church must love homosexuals. And I believe that up to this point, we're doing it wrong.

On Heat and Light

When I was in grad school, I wound being part of a team that went to another to debate a Baptist preacher on the subject of baptism. OK, so my part on the "team" was to flip overhead transparencies as they were called for; there were over 300 charts prepared in advance and many more were created ans the debate progressed, so this was little job. And I was also permitted to sit in on the strategy sessions for each night's debate... provided that I kept very quiet.

To say that this debate was acrimonious would be an understatement. Almost from the get go, there were interruptions from the time-keepers, points of order objections from the moderators and general one-ups-manship from everyone as both sides tried to win points and make the other side look foolish and uninformed. Things got very ugly and very loud very quickly. At one point, one of the overhead charts (that I flipped very professionally) read, "My opponent has said…" and then quoted him on the chart. Immediately there was a thundering "Point of order" objection as our opponent’s moderator (which seemed to function more like the "second" in a duel, except with more attitude) demanded to know the source of the quotation. On the chart, the statement was enclosed in quotation marks indicating a direct quotation, so they wanted to know the citation details. Of course, this was completely disingenuous; what they wanted was to interrupt the flow of the speech and win a few points. So we had to find a citation for the quote.

The next day, our "team" spent some time listening to the tapes of the previous night's debate, and we found a place where they guy made the statement… sorta.  The only problem was that he wasn’t actually saying what we had said he that he had said. In fact, he was really saying just the opposite. But if we started the quote late and stopped it early, then it appeared that he said what we needed him to say. So the plan was to dub the statement to a fresh tape and play it that night, proving that we were right and he was wrong. And thus we could exclaim, to borrow a quote from the old Lady Godiva story, “Horary for our side!”

It was at this point that I made my only contribution to the discussion in this planning (or was it plotting) session. I said verrrry tentatively, "But that’s not really what he is saying, is it?" They were taking the guy totally out of context, and I naively and innocently thought that somehow mattered. Well, you would have thought that I had started speaking in tongues! They glared at me for several seconds and didn’t say a word. And then they went back to dubbing there tape. And I never opened my mouth for the rest of the debate trip.

I learned a powerful lesson that day. The point of religious argument is the exact same point as in political argument, legal argument, marital argument and every other kind of argument there is—the point is to WIN, period. Truth, honesty and integrity are more casualties of war than they are the point of the discussion. Sure, it doesn’t have to be that way, but sadly it that way more often than not (at least in my experience).  The point of any argument is to win... and all is fair in love and war and argument.

So what’s the point of my trip down memory lane? Maybe I don’t have one. Or maybe I’m just reminding myself that the heat of debate usually has very little to do with the light of truth. I think that’s a good thing to reminder every now and again.

Be Careful What You Wish For

There's an old saying that warns us, "Be careful what you wish for… you might just get it." Israel is about to learn this lesson the hard way in our reading today from 1 Samuel 8. Here the Israelites begin to pester Samuel to give them a king. On the surface, their request seems to be a legitimate one. Samuel became judge after the abject failure of Eli's sons to take over as priest and judge in their father’s place. Samuel was called by God to lead Israel as judge, but now as he gets older, there are two failures that he has to face.

• First, Samuel appointed his sons Joel and Abijah as leaders after him, but they were colossal failures as leaders as had Eli’s sons been a generation before. “They turned aside after dishonest gain and accepted bribes and perverted justice” (1 Sam 8:3). Israel saw a “second verse, same as the first” deal brewing with Samuels sons, and they weren’t interested.

• Second, Samuel had basically failed at being a judge. OK, Samuel was a godly and faithful man, and the failure really wasn't his fault. But the job of a judge in Judges was to destroy the foreign power oppressing Israel, and Samuel hadn't totally broken the Philistine threat (though he did put a world of hurt on them in 1 Samuel 7).

So the people of Israel saw the worthlessness of Samuel’s sons as leaders and the continued threat from the Philistines, and they came up with a solution, "You are old, and your sons do not follow your ways; now appoint a king to lead z us, such as all the other nations have" (1 Sam. 8:5). I’m not sure the real point is that Israel wanted to be fashionable like others nations and have a king. It was more that they thought that a strong central king was the answer to protecting them from Philistia and other foreign invaders. That is why God told Samuel, "It is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king" (1 Sam 8:7). They weren't willing to trust God to protect them; they rather put their trust in a stronger national government with a king and standing army (see 1 Sam 8:19-20).

Samuel gives Israel this warning from God, “Be careful what you wish for.” You know how parents warn their kids who want a puppy about hard it is to care for and feed and clean up after a pet? Well, God warns Israel that kings are a lot more trouble than they are worth

• The king will take your children and plow them into his war machine (8:11-13)
• The king will tax you until all of your stuff belongs to him (8:14-17)
• And kings are a lot easier to get than they are to get rid of (8:18)

Be careful what you wish for. But where did Israel get the idea that they should have a king? From the nations around them? Maybe. But maybe they also read the Bible. Ultimately the king was God’s idea and he gave instructions on the care and feeding of a king way back in Deuteronomy 17:14-20. The instructions about kings here are pretty similar to the warnings God gives in 1 Samuel 8. Do the idea of Israel having a king was God’s idea.

The problem was that Israel would not wait on God’s timing. The way this story is going to work out is that Israel insists on a king and God gives them Saul who turns out to be a huge disappointment. After Saul’s death, God raises up David, the man after God’s own heart and the precursor to the Messianic king who would come after him. In other words, God had David waiting in the wings all the time but Israel was not willing to trust Him and wait on God’s timing.

We aren't any better at waiting on God's timing than was Israel.  Sure, we know about "those that wait upon the Lord" and all that stuff about eagles wings.  But we want what we want when we want it.  We're people who, like Joan Rivers observes, stand in front the microwave yelling, "Hurry!"  We don't wait well.  God interpreted Israel's unwillingness to wait and trust in him as " they have rejected me as their king."  I wonder if that is how He views our impatience today?

The Downward Spiral (Part 2)

The book of Judges is organized around a cycle of apostasy and repentance that is repeated seven times in the book. The details change, but the cycle is the same.

1. Israel enjoys a period of prosperity and peace.
2. Israel leaves God to worship the false pagan gods.
3. God allows Israel to be enslaved by a pagan enemy.
4. Israel repents and turns back to God.
5. God raises up a judge to overthrows the oppressor.

And then the cycle repeats itself-- freedom-to-apostasy-to-repentance-to freedom. Whether its the Philistines or Mesopotamians, Othneil or Gideon-- the story is basically the same.

That is until you get to our reading for the next several days, Judges 17-21. Here the story changes completely. You don’t have any judges or foreign oppressors. What you have is several very bizarre events that took place during the time of Judges but which have nothing to do with the message of the book. Actually, on closer inspection, these bizarre stories are precisely what the book of Judges is all about.

As you skim through this section of Judges, one phrase keeps jumping out at you. It appears four times in five chapters, too striking to be coincidence. You just have to think that this phrase is the organizing principle of these chapters:

• Judges 17:6- "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit."
• Judges 18:1- "In those days Israel had no king."
• Judges 19:1- "In those days Israel had no king."
• Judges 21:25- "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit."

Why does the author keep saying this over and over? Well, he seems to really, really want is to get it that Israel had no king. There was no authority, no one to enforce a universal code of behavior. The result was a moral relativism where everyone did as they saw fit.

There are three basic stories told to us in these five chapters. All three are introduced by the expression, “In those days Israel had no king.” All three show in broader and broader brush stoke just how depraved things got because: first, Israel had no central authority and second, everyone did as they saw fit.

• The first story is of a man named Micah who builds for himself an idol god. He then sets up his own priesthood and establishes his own center of worship to this false god. All of this was, of course, in direct violation of the law of Moses.
  
• The second story is of a group of Danites who basically become dissatisfied with the inheritance in Canaan and scout out for themselves new territory in the mountains of Laish. And in the process of doing, they stole both Micah’s new gods and his new priest. So now Dan lives in a land not given them by God and worshipping in a way not commanded by God.
  
• The third story is of the rape and murder of the concubine of a Levite, the refusal of the men of Benjamin to hand over the perpetrators and the resulting civil war that all but destroyed the tribe of Benjamin.

It just gets weirder and weirder. These stories tell of a downward spiral among Israel caused by people who did as they saw fit. If you don’t respect a centralized ethical system, then you end up making your own gods, being dissatisfied with the inheritance given you by God, you rape and murder and then go to war with your brothers. That’s what happens when men direct their own ethical steps. That’s what happens when human beings fail to recognize the King of heaven as the master of morality.

Seems like there should be an application somewhere here for us.  It's just fortunate that we don't live in a time and place where everyone does as they see fit!

Peace in Our Time

In September 1938, Hitler was preparing his war machine to invade Czechoslovakia while Britain and France were committed to protecting Czech sovereignty. It seemed that war was inevitable, but Neville Chamberlain, the British prime minister, flew to Berlin for peace negotiations. The personality of Hitler and the fear of war caused Chamberlain to cave in. On September 21, 1938, the ambassadors of France and Great Britain informed the Czech premier that their countries would not honor their treaty obligations. On September 29, 1938, England, France, Germany and Italy signed the Munich Pact, which granted Hitler the northern part of Czechoslovakia.

Chamberlain returned to London declaring "peace in our time." He was hailed as a hero by a country that thought that he had averted war. But one man was not fooled. Winston Churchill rose in the House of Commons to speak these profound and prophetic words:

Britain and France had to choose between war and dishonor. They chose dishonor. They will have war...And do not suppose that this is the end. This is only the beginning of the reckoning. This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year unless, by a supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigor, we arise again and take our stand for freedom as in the olden times.

Churchill recognized something that most of his countryman did not-- you simply cannot compromise with evil. Such compromise is defeat. When we compromise with evil, we are inevitably led down a path of decline and decay.  History proved Churchill to be right.

In Judges 9, Israel is once again plunged into chaos and conflict, but this time it is not from a marauding band of invaders. The chaos this time was caused by the man who would be king.  He name was Abimelech, the son of Gideon. Abimelech murdered the seventy sons of Gideon to remove any other claim to the throne, a throne that did not exist. He then plunged the country into a civil war in an effort to consolidate his power. Thousands died in the conflict, and many more would have had not Abimelech been killed by the old "throw-the-millstone-out-the-tower-window" trick. Judges is a book that chronicles many dark times in Israel's past, and the reign of Abimelech was one of the darkest.

The conflict of Abimelech that nearly destroyed the land began when his father Gideon made one of those  Chamberlain "peace in our time" pronouncements.  In Judges 8, Gideon receives payments in gold for his great service in leading Israel to freedom. He fashioned the gold into a golden ephod, a breastplate worn by the priest to symbolize their authority. So this golden ephod represented his authority, but very quickly it became a object of veneration and even worship. Gideon, the judge who began his career by destroying images of Baal in effect himself sets up an idol for Israel to worship. Shortly after his death, Israel completed the apostasy by setting up images of Baal. By making peace with idolatry, Gideon set the stage for the conflict that would destroy his sons and the peace in Israel he fought so hard to maintain.

We are today in a spiritual battle that has eternal consequences. When we make subtle (or not so subtle) compromises with the values and standards of the world around us, then we set the stage for same kind of spiritual compromise and failure precipitated by Gideon. When we blindly accept the ideas and ideals of the culture around us, we make peace with the world-- a peace that cannot last. There is no peace in our time except the peace that passes understanding that comes from a life that is hidden with Christ. May God give us the courage to stand for Him in an age that stands for everything else... and thus falls for anything.

Putting Out the Fleece

It’s a fairly typical question. We are faced with one of those fork-in-the-road kinds of decisions and want to make the right one. Should I keep my job, accept a promotion, start my own business or take a whole new job in a whole new city? Someone close to me is sorting through those very options… so what should she do? Well, Yogi Berra once said, “When you come to a fork in the road, take it.” But that isn't very helpful. Some might piously tell her, “You need to decide which one is God’s will and then do that.” Doesn't James tell us, “Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money… you ought to say, 'If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’” (James 4:13-15). So do God’s will. OK, I'm all for that, but that isn't much more helpful that Yogi’s advice in choosing between alternative. How is one supposed to know what God’s will is?

Some try Gideon's technique in our reading for today. God comes to Gideon with a mission, but Gideon asks for a sign just to make sure this really is God's mission. So he puts out a fleece and asks, “If there is dew only on the fleece and all the ground is dry, then I will know that you will save Israel by my hand” (Judges 6:37). The next morning the ground was dry and Gideon was able to wring out a bowlful of water from the fleece. Pretty impressive, but Gideon is still unsure.  So he asks for a double-blind test, "This time make the fleece dry and let the ground be covered with dew" (Judges 6:39). That is exactly what happens, and now Gideon is completely sure that God really wants him to take this new job as Israel's next judge.

Some Christians do the same thing. They “put out the fleece” and ask God for a sign just like Gideon.  They come up with sometimes elaborate tests trying to convince themselves what is or is not God’s will for their lives—

"God, if you want me to take this job, let there be open parking spot in front."

"God, if I should buy a new car, then let the dealer have the 350 ZX in red." 

"God, if You  want us to move to Texas, let the Cubs sweep the Series"

Sure, those aren't exactly a fleece, but is this about what Gideon does to discover God's will? No, Gideon actually already knew God’s will because God came out and told him. What Gideon is doing is looking for confirmation to help his flagging faith… or maybe stalling while he finds a way out!

There are two problems with putting-out-the-fleece to ask God for a sign of what His will in making a tough decision. First, it is too easy for us to see the sign we want and ignore the ones we don’t like. In John 6, Jesus does a couple of pretty dramatic miracles showing his power over the law as of nature—he feeds the 5000 with a sack lunch and then He walks on the water. But then some enemies come to Him and ask, “What sign then will you give us?” (John 6:30). Well, how about feeding the 5000 and walking on water? Interpreting life events as a sign from God is always rather subjective and we tend to see in such signs what we want to see.

Didn’t I say there were TWO problems with putting-out-the-fleece? The second problem is that we are never to do so! Determining God’s will isn't some mysterious task that requires tea leaves.  God doesn't have the details of your life mapped out to the nth degree and then require you to read the signs and put out the fleece to determine what that mysterious hidden will really is. No, God's will is that you trust Him. All through the Bible, when God had some very specific task for someone to do, He told them-- emphatically and dramatically.

• Did Moses puzzle over God's will?  No, God spoke plainly from a burning bush; Moses puzzled over finding a good excuse not to follow what God plainly told him to do.
  
• Did Abraham wonder whether he need to leave Ur?  No, God told him to leave; Abraham puzzled over the timing of how exactly God was going to keep His promise he had plainly made.

If God has a specific will for your life, He will tell you plainly.  It is God's will that you be saved (John 6:40, 2 Peter 3:9), sanctified (1 Thess. 4:3-5), filled with his Spirit (Eph. 5:17-18) and serving others (2 Cor. 8:3-5).  The details of how that works out is up to us as long as we put Him first.  So stay in the job you have, take the promotion, start your business, or move to the distant city to take the new job and be faithful to Him, and that IS God’s will for you.

But what if you make a choice that blows up in your face?  Trust God and be faithful. What if you decide that you could have been more successful if you had taken option #3 rather than #1, #2 or #4? Trust God and be faithful. God never says that what He wants from us is to be just as successful as we can be. No, what He wants is for us to be faithful.

Leave the fleece on the sheep where it can do some good... and obey God whatever your circumstance!

The Downward Spiral

Coleman Crocker told us in his History of Israel class at Freed-Hardeman that the most prominent character in all the Bible (besides the Lord) to never be accused of sinning was Joshua. (That title might rightly belong to Joseph, but our reading concerns Joshua and Judges today). Most other Bible characters display feet of clay, but Joshua was "careful to obey all the law" without turning from it "to the right or to the left" (Joshua 1:7). Today’s reading from Judges 2 confirms the godly leadership of Joshua, "The people served the Lord throughout the lifetime of Joshua and of the elders who outlived him..." (Judges 2:7). The faithfulness of Joshua serves to highlight the failure of Judges--

They forsook the Lord, the God of their fathers, who had brought them out of Egypt. They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They provoked the Lord to anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. In his anger against Israel the Lord handed them over to raiders who plundered them. He sold them to their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. (Judges 2:12-14)

This sets up a cycle in Judges of prosperity, rebellion, captivity, repentance and liberation that repeats itself over and over again in the book. Israel allowed their freedom to lead and success to lead them into sin. They never learned from this downward spiral of pride and rebellion and captivity. The statement that defines the book of Judges is "In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as he saw fit" (Judges 17:6, 21:25).

Have we not all proven this same downward spiral true in our own lives? Oh, we've never worshiped Baal, and we wouldn't know Ashtoreth if we bumped into her in the check-out line at Wal-Mart! But have there not been times in our lives when we have insisted on going our own way, directing our own steps and doing as we see fit? Maybe our spiritual failures have not been as dramatic or as public as those of Israel during the time of the Judges... but the result is always the same. Whenwe leave God to direct our own steps, we fall. The downward spiral is inescapable. So are we going to to learn from Israel's mistake here?

How's this for coincidence? The Greek form of the Hebrew name "Joshua" is "Jesus." If we will keep looking to our Joshua and be careful not to turn to the left or the right, then we'll do better in our trek to the Promised Land.

This is a report from the blog back in 2008; I read somewhere that we should all practice recycling.

Who Fought the Battle of Jericho? (2)

Since that fateful day when Al Gore invented the internet, it has become extremely easy for students to turn in work that is not their own. Oh, students have always done that.  I remember a kid in school who actually tore out a page from an encyclopedia, wrote his name at the top and turned it in as his report!  But that was kind of obvious. Today plagiarizing schoolwork has become a bit more sophisticated. Teachers now use software systems like Turnitin and MyDropBox to analyze term papers to look for sections where students have cut and pasted work that is not their own. It is never right to claim credit for work that is not your own.

Yesterday we suggested that it was God who fought the battle of Jericho, and not Joshua like the old spiritual suggests. Of course, Joshua didn't write that song; he never claimed that he fought the battle of Jericho. In fact, in the days leading up to the dramatic battle, Joshua had a burning-bush experience where he met the One who was commander of the armies of Israel (Joshua 5:13-15). Joshua was the commissioned and recognized leader of the people, but He recognized that God was really in command.

Think for a minute about the night after the battle of Jericho was won. Do you think that the Israelites bothered to throw a big victory party afterward? After all, the battle of Jericho did not leave the Israelites a lot of room for braggadocio. What would they brag about around the campfire that night?

“Boy, I really struck terror in their heart with how fearsome I shouted!”
“Did you hear how I long I held that note when I blew my trumpet?”
“Did you notice how perfectly straight were the lines we marched in?”

No, there wasn't a lot to brag about in the victory over Jericho; the victory was God’s work, not theirs. Joshua didn't fight the battle of Jericho— God did! God gave Israel this very first victory in a dramatic and miraculous way so that His people would know that they could depend on Him. Unfortunately, the more successful they were, the more credit they took! There would be times (like the very next battle) where God would have to take them down a notch.

We need to understand that it is God’s power at work in us today. The power in our Christian lives is not through our intelligence or ingenuity or piety. If we have any power it is from God Himself. Sure we must obey God, just as Israel had to obey in walking around the city of Jericho. And Paul reminds that like Israel, we walk by faith and not by sight (2 Cor 5:7). But ultimately, all we do is walk. Like Israel, our walk is important; it is by our walk that we show our faith just as Israel showed her faith by walking. But the power that made the walls of Jericho fall was the power of God. That is the power in our lives as well.

Spiritual pride is always out of place in those who would follow God. The Pharisees were "confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else" (Luke 18:9). Jesus tells the parable of the Pharisee and tax collector to emphasize that "all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted" (Luke 18:14). Paul says that God’s power is made perfect in our weakness, not by our strength (2 Cor 12:9-10).

9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

God’s presence and power in our lives is seen amid our flaws and weakness. Paul struggled with a thorn in flesh, a flaw that showed his weakness. And so it is with us. We become powerful only as we focus on God, glory in Him and allow His power to be worked in us and through us. Why did Israel walk around Jericho? Because they couldn't win other way! And as we walk by faith in God today, His power and strength are seen in us despite our weakness and flaws… and even perhaps because of them! God works in the weak and lowly things of the world to accomplish His will so that no one would boast before Him (1 Cor 1:27-29)

27 But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. 28 God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, 29 so that no one may boast before him.

The Corinthians were not much when judged by the standards and status of the world. Like them, we are not powerful, prosperous or pretty enough. But God is. He is still the commander of the armies of Israel. Our victory is assured because, like at Jericho, the battle belongs to the Lord!

Who Fought the Battle of Jericho?

We’re all familiar with the old Negro spiritual “Joshua fought the battle of Jericho.” If you don’t know the song, then look over on YouTube at several dozen renditions, including those by Elvis, Mahalia Jackson, Hugh Laurie (Dr. House) and this choir singing while riding on a subway in Istanbul.



Jericho was a gateway city of Canaan, 8 miles NW of the junction of the Jordan River and the Dead Sea. It was here that God would begin the conquest of the Promised Land because of the promise He made to Abraham and the sinfulness of the Canaanites (see Deut 9:4-6, Gen 15:16). The strategic problem raised by Jericho is that it was surrounded by a high wall and shut up tight against the Israelite invasion (Josh 6:1). It was precisely the difficulties of these walled cities, some populated by giants, that had caused the former generation of Israel to doubt God (Num 13:28).

One has to wonder if any shred of those doubts was plagued this new generation as they once again surveyed those walls and thought of those giants? God doesn't seem to go out of His way to allay any fears as He presents to Joshua a battle plan that was unusual at best and wacky at worst (Josh 6:3-5). Israel would walk around the city-- everyone and for a whole week. On the seventh day, they would walk around Jericho seven times, blow their trumpets, and shout-- and walls would come tumbling down! Can you imagine Joshua taking this plan to the Israelite war council, “OK, here’s the plan, guys; these sandals are made for walking!” Did Israel's generals start wondering about their new leader?

Well, Israel walked and shouted and the walls came tumbling down. But it wasn’t Joshua who fought the battle of Jericho; it was God. The battle plan of Jericho taught Israel the same lesson another great battle that also involved trumpets would later teach, “In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her (Jud 7:2). No, Joshua didn’t fight the battle of Jericho at all; God did.

And Joshua would be the last one to argue with that. In chapter 5, Joshua is mulling over the task that lies ahead when he has a visitor. This visitation in Joshua 5:13-15 provides background not just for the battle of Jericho but for the rest of Joshua’s life—

13 Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?”
14 “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence, and asked him, “What message does my Lord have for his servant?”
15 The commander of the LORD’s army replied, “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Joshua here has an experience of God much like Moses’ burning bush. Both he and Moses were told to take off their shoes because they were standing on holy ground. Both Moses and Joshua respond by bowing their faces in worship. Joshua’s visitor here identifies himself as “commander of army of the Lord.” Who would Israel say was their commander? Joshua. But right before the battle of Jericho, God makes sure that Joshua knows who really was in control of things. God was.  Joshua needed that reminder, and so do we.

Tomorrow we'll make some observations of what this story might mean for us today.

Now Choose Life

In the movie Sophie's Choice, Sophie was a polish Jew during World War II, and that was not a good thing to be. She spent the war in a Nazi concentration camp during the war, and it was there that she faced a choice no mother should ever have to make. She was told by a camp guard that she had to give up one of her two children, her son or her daughter. One would stay with her and perhaps live; the other would be taken from her and almost certainly would die.  In shock, she protested that she couldn't choose, but she literally had no choice. The sadistic guard said, "You must choose." Sophie's response is frantic, "Don't make me choose, don't make me choose!" But she is told that if she doesn't choose one, then both of them would be taken from her, and the officer coldly reaches toward both children. Realizing that she has no choice but to choose, she thrust her daughter into his arms, crying hysterically, saying, "Take my little girl!"

We can't even imagine having to make a choice like that. Nor can we imagine the far-reaching consequences of making such a choice. The rest of the movie chronicles the way that Sophie's life was affected, and destroyed, by the horror of Sophie’s choice. Surely our choices are not that horrible, but the choices that we make can be even more monumental than Sophie’s… without us even realizing it.

When Joshua is about to turn over leadership of Israel, he demands that Israel make such a monumental choice, “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…” (Josh 24:15). In our reading for today, Moses does the same thing as he gets ready to turn the reigns of leadership over to Joshua in Deuteronomy 30. The chapters that follow are full of last minute details as Moses nears the end of his life—

• He appoint Joshua as his successor as leader (Deut. 31)
• He sings a song glorifying God and blessing Israel (Duet. 32)
• He will one last time bless Israel tribe by tribe (Deut. 33)

And then in chapter 34, Moses will take the hand of God, and together they will climb Mt. Nebo. There God will give Moses a glimpse of the land to which he had been leading Israel for some forty years. And there, with vision of Canaan fresh in his eyes, Moses will die and God will preach his funeral.

But before all of that, Moses calls Israel to choose which God they will serve. The choice they must make is an easy choice (30:11). The choice was a test, but it is the easiest type of test there is. It is not essay test nor is it multiple choice; it is true/false. What they have to decide is whether or not they are going to serve God. This is no Sophie's Choice where the two alternatives are too difficult and no answer is a good one. Moses assures them that the ability to make their choice was well within their grasp (30:12-14). Here is the choice that Moses offers Israel--

19 This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live 20 and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the Lord is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Deut. 30:19-20)

The choice that Moses laid out for Israel was the choice between life and death, between God's destruction and God's blessing. That doesn't seem to be such a hard choice.  But that is the choice is before us today.  Most of the decisions we make day to day been pretty inconsequential, but often times these choices either bring us closer to God or lead us further away.  We choose God in the small things of our lives as we seek to glorify him and place ourselves under His rule.  Or we don't.  God still speaks to us as He did through Moses (and here through Moses) and says, "Now choose life." That choice will mean obedience and submission in the small things of life as well as in the big things.  We make those little choices every day.  What we might not realize is that we are choosing life and death.  And God still calls to us, "Now choose life."

Arise My Love

When I was growing up, Easter was basically a special family day where we dressed up in new Sunday clothes and went to church to show them off. Oh, we went to church every Sunday (twice), but Easter was special because everyone was all dressed up. I never understood why that was the case, because nothing was ever said or done differently on Easter Sunday than any other Sunday of the year... we certainly didn't have a special sermon on the resurrection. You see, not only did our church not follow the liturgical calendar, we acted as if there wasn't one. Easter and Christmas were like every other Sunday. In fact, I had a professor in school who suggested that we preach on the resurrection at Christmas and the birth of Jesus at Easter, just so no one got the idea that we believed in observing special days. It didn't dawn on me until much later that this setup a reverse holy day where you could stress the resurrection on any Sunday EXCEPT Easter. And that's kinda silly, I think.

I'm glad that while we are still wedded to scripture as our only authority, we do have the freedom to stress the birth and resurrection of Christ during those times of the year when people are most thinking about them. Bob Bean led us in a wonderful period of reflection at Yorktown Beach at Sunrise on Easter morning as he talked about the power of the resurrection for forgiveness as seen in the life of Peter. Eating breakfast together on Easter morning (and we had a great turnout) affirmed the relationships we enjoy because of our risen Lord. Singing songs of the resurrection, watching the video above and listening to Paul's message of our "Hope That Outlasts Forever" (from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18), a hope rooted in the resurrection of Christ helped to focus us in a special way on the central message of that resurrection.  I'm also glad that the kids can have an Easter Egg hunt together after church, but then we always free to focus on the part of Easter that stresses baskets and bunnies and Cadbury eggs.  I'm glad that this season can also mean so much more

The danger, of course, is that we'll come to see the resurrection as seasonal.  Face it, singing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" and "Silent Night" seem out of place any other time of the year except Christmas.  The story of the birth of Jesus has come to be seasonal because of our Christmas traditions, but the message and meaning of the incarnation where "the Word became flesh and dwelt among us" is too important to be seasonal.  I hope our annual focus on Easter and special Easter traditions don't make songs like "Arise Mt Love" only seem appropriate during this time of the year.  We need to stress every day the resurrection of Jesus, our resurrection from sin by Christ, and the resurrection power that lets us live new lives in Christ.  That is much too important to save for just one Sunday each year.

He Is Risen!

Unlike Christmas, the traditional date of Easter is historically reliable. Jesus was raised on the Sunday following the Passover, so scholars have worked out the chronology to suggest that Jesus was raised on April 7, AD 30 (except for scholars who come up with another date entirely). The exact date is not important. And how we may decide to observe or not to observe this holiday we call "Easter" isn't all that important either. What is important is that we understand that it really happened-- Jesus really did die on a cross and He really did come back from the dead. And those facts of history really do have a deep theological meaning.

Our world has all but banished the miraculous. We live in a world of scientific law and technological discovery. More and more people have less and less time for the miracle of Easter. Oh, only few people are so bold to suggest that Jesus never existed, but many do suggest that Jesus was only a man— perhaps the greatest UPREACH of humankind but certainly not the DOWNREACH of God Himself. And while Jesus may have died on a cross, he certainly did not rise from the dead. Resurrection is the ultimate miracle, and modern minds now understand that miracles just don’t happen (unless you count the 69 Mets).

In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul seeks to dispel the noble fiction that Christ has meaning even if there was no resurrection. There were some in the church at Corinth, likely led my an affinity for Greek philosophy, that wanted to deny an end-time resurrection. Paul’s logic is pretty easy to follow. If there is no end-time resurrection, then Christ did not rise. And if Christ did not rise, then Christianity has no meaning whatsoever (1 Cor. 15:13-19). If Jesus did not rise, then Christianity is false. The very essence of our faith is wrapped up in the so-called “Easter story.” Without it, there is no gospel. Indeed, the story of the cross and empty tomb is the gospel! Paul says in 2 Timothy 2:8, “Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David. This is my gospel. ”

Why is this the case? Paul’s argument in 1 Corinthians 15 is an end-time argument. We live in the hope that one day we will live with God forever in heaven. We endure difficulties and hardships here, but they cannot compare to the glories of our eternal reward (Rom. 8:18). If there is no resurrection, then there is no heaven and no reason to look to the future. Paul’s argument is that Christ is the firstfruits of the dead (1 Cor. 15:20-23). Jesus was the first to rise, and he is a guarantee that we will rise as well. That’s why Paul begins 1 Corinthians 15 with the basic affirmation that Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection from the tomb are of first importance—they are the part that matters (1 Cor. 15:3).

Almost two thousand years after it was first proclaimed, the Christian gospel is still summed up in the angelic announcement of Luke 24:5-6, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here; he has risen!”

Every Life IS Beautiful

Monday, Lynn and I took some of our Middle School girls to see the movie "October Baby." OK, our small group field trip wasn't supposed to be only for the girls, but that's the way it worked out. And the movie did turn out to be something of a "chick flick" (meaning there were no explosions or car chases). And I have to admit, it did take me a little while to get into the story... after all, there were no explosions or car chases.  But I did get into the story... and I loved it.

The story is about Hannah, a 19 year old college student who after fainting during a theatrical performance learns that her recurring health problems are caused by the difficult circumstances of her birth. She finds out for the first time that she was adopted after a failed abortion attempt by her birth mother. She later finds out that she had a twin brother that died four months after birth because who was too damaged by the botched abortion.  A shocked Hannah goes on a road trip with some friends to try to find out something about her birth mother. It is a movie about love, reconciliation, friendship, and forgiveness. While this is definitely a movie with a point of view ("every life is beautiful"), it is neither preachy nor simplistic. Here's the trailer--



The movie has been skewered pretty severely by many of the secular critics who have reviewed the film. Tom Long of the Detroit News wrote, "October Baby doesn't even meet the standards of decent propaganda. It is, in fact, indecent propaganda." Joe Williams of St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes, "Trafficking in 2-D morality and unlikely to be seen by the unconverted, October Baby would have been better off as a bumper sticker." John Beifuss of the Memphis Commercial Appeal sums up the negative reviews pretty well, "May be somewhat distasteful in subject and dubious in theme, but its presentation is as bright and shiny and polished as the fresh face of its pretty young star, Rachel Hendrix."  In other words, you gotta hate this movie because it suggests that abortion may not be such a good thing.  You gotta hate the movie because it suggests that babies are who are destroyed by abortion and not blobs of tissue.

It is not uncommon for their to be a difference between what critics think about a movie and what movie audiences think.  On the movie review site Rotten Tomatoes, only 23% of movie reviewers gave positive reviews, but 89% of the audience that saw the movie were positive about it.  That's a 3% BETTER audience response than that other little movie released last week entitled The Hunger Games.

In a world that elevates acceptance and non-judgment to the level of dogma, there is precious little acceptance or non-judgment for those who are convinced that every life is beautiful... even life which is unwanted by those who caused it to be.

A God So Near

The book of Deuteronomy is a series of four sermons given by Moses just before Israel entered the Promised Land. This was indeed the end of an era— the wandering in Wilderness and the leadership of Moses. It would be a time of great transition and change… and of great danger. Would Israel remain faithful to God after the death of Moses or would they seek the idols of Canaanites whose land they would possess? Deuteronomy is a kind of “second law” restatement of God’s promises and God’s warnings. It is very much like the speech a father gives to a child who leaves home—“I trust that you will remember who you are and do the right thing…and if you don’t, then you’re dead meat.”

Moses will remind Israel of a lot of things—their liberation from Egypt, the giving of the law, and their failures and success in the wilderness. But most of all, Moses would remind them of their God. He wants them to remember that they have witnessed things that no other people have ever witnessed. And that they have a God that is unlike any other God. Listen to Moses theme statement from yesterday’s reading from Deuteronomy 4:5-8:

5 See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. 6 Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.” 7 What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?

Moses argues that the God of Israel was different from any other God in that He had come so near to them, and his nearness and power was seen in two different ways.

• First, God came near to Israel whenever they PRAYED to Him. Yahweh was a God who listened to his people when they prayed. Yes, God is powerful and mighty—but He is not distant or remote. The gods of the pagans sat on mountains and threw thunderbolts, gods to be feared and appeased… and avoided all costs. But Yahweh was a God who listened and came near to them in prayer.
  
• Second, God also came near to them in the LAW that God gave them. It was through the Law that God revealed Himself to His people. In her best moments, Israel didn’t see the Law as a burden to bear. That is how we may think about the Law— rules and regulations. But it was in the Law that Israel saw God— His mercy, goodness, holiness. That is why David can say in Psalm 119 that he truly loves God’s Law (119:47, 97, 163, 165).

Moses said that God’s was near to Israel and powerful in Israel because of their PRAYER and His LAW. God is near to His people today in exactly the same ways. As we pray to God and as he given attention to His Law, God comes near. That’s why we need to devote ourselves to both of these each day.

Seven Ways to Destroy Your Marriage

I recently stumbled across an article in The Christian Post by Perry Noble entitled Seven Ways to Destroy Your Marriage. Noble is the Senior Pastor of NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC. His columns in The Christian Post are often lists of things like 10 Things I Wish I Could Say to Every Church Leader or 10 Signs You Are an Insecure Leader. What he said here about ways to destroy your marriage resonated with me enough that I reworked and edited them a little and then decided to share them here. I’ll explain why I decided to share them at the end of the blog.

• Talk About Not To Them. When issues arise, complain to your friends (or mother) rather than talk patiently with your spouse. After all, your friends are always going to agree with you (or let you think they do).
  
• Don’t Listen. Use the time they are talking to think up stronger arguments of your own; when you have one, jump right in with it and interrupt their point. After all, if you aren’t going to listen to their point, why waste time letting them make it.
  
• Always Assume the Worst. Always assign the worst possible motive to everything your spouse says or does. Don't EVER ask for a clarification or explanation. Grace is something that you say over meals, not something you extend to your spouse.
  
• Make Your Goal Winning the Argument. Didn’t Lombardi say that winning isn’;t the most important thing; it’s the only thing? Don’t show any weakness; go for the jugular right from the start. Win at all costs, even if it means saying things that hurt. An argument is war, and all is fair in love and war!
  
• View Your Spouse As the Enemy. If your goal is to win, then you can’t see yourself on the same team as your spouse. Don’t show any weakness or softness or you will put yourself at a disadvantage during the next disagreement or argument.
  
• Focus On Their Shortcomings. Stress how they don’t "meet your needs" and need to " do better" as much as possible. By all means do NOT take a look at yourself and what you could improve. Everything MUST be blamed on them.
  
• Do NOT Have Fun Together. Don't have mutual friends. Don't have date nights. Don't do anything fun. When out together, make sure you spend as much time on your phone as you can.

So why did I share Noble’s list on my… AFTER I had reworked it a bit? Well, you might think it’s because I've known and know couples that exhibit all of these flaws… and I do, of course. But the reason I shared them here is because I recognized in myself the tendency toward most of these flaws. By the grace of God, I am able to mostly keep them in check... usually.  But these little monsters are always there threatening to undermine the relationship I have with my wife. Marriages are made out of two broken people; they will not be sustained if we routine give in to what comes naturally.

May God help us to continue to fight the good fight against our flesh as we seek to allow Him to mold our marriages more and more into His image.