Freedom IS free

1 Peter 2

"Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God."

(see blog post of 9/29/08 for Paul's assertion of the same topic to the Galatian church).

The paradoxes of the gospel are, as one might expect, simultaneously compelling and repulsive. As a good American, I know that freedom means I don't have to do nothin' for nobody and if anyone so much as tries to say otherwise, I can punch 'em in the mouth.

In the gospel, though, we see our true freedom lies in servanthood (slavery). Freedom, first and foremost is freedom from self...self-awareness...selfish concerns. As free people, our identity is completely swallowed up in that of Christ (Galatians 2:20). As we come to understand that our best life starts with death - that our ultimate freedom is being shackled to the risen Christ - we can begin to love as he loved.

Content or contempt?

1 Timothy 6

"But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content." (v8)

It was tempting to write only about verse 9 and the dangers of riches, but that would have been to skip the dangers of want. Notice shelter is not in the list. I'm not saying we should all be homeless, but even things we consider absolute necessities really aren't (something about foxes and holes comes to mind here). Could I see God's provision in only food and clothing? Can I see God in Kenya or the shores of Lake Atitlan in Guatemala or the coast of the Dominican Republic? I'm stung particularly because some of the most seemingly contented people I have ever met live in one of those three places. I say seemingly contented because I only experienced brief flashes of time with them. This past week in conversation, I said to someone that there appears to be an inverse relationship between what we have and gratitude. It's odd. If someone with nearly nothing is grateful for food and clothing, why can't I be? Rather, why won't I be?

Better late than never

Psalm 110

"The LORD says to my Lord" v1

It would be very wrong to skip Psalm 110 without any reflection. David witnesses a conversation between two members of the Trinity. David sees the declaration of the coming priest-king (v4). Priesthood and kingship did not mix, but there was one coming who would unite the two. Luther called this psalm the main one relating to Jesus.

Syrup on that waffle?

1 Kings 18

"How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him." v21

See, sometimes God is God, but a lot of the time I am. Do I want a God who offers transactions or do I want to take the risk with a God who cannot be made a debtor? Baal is so much more appealing when I want to think I have control or make myself the center of the universe. God is too intent on showing me reality. Ignorance is bliss for sure.

Continuing Ed, anyone?

Psalm 86

"Teach me your way, O Lord,
that I may walk in your truth;
unite my heart to fear your name." (v11)

This stood out to me today. Here, God's greatness and mercy is being extolled. He does great and wondrous things (v10). What, then, does the psalmist ask for from this wonderful Fount of Every Blessing? In the first verses, an answer, life, grace, joy (gladden the soul), listening. In the last verses, grace and a sign. In the middle, though, are are six verses of praise and one request: teach me obedience.

Now, I'm ok with asking for life and grace and joy, but who would actually ask to obey? Only the person who is convinced that obedience is best for his own soul. If we believe God is arbitrary or cruel or aloof, we would never ask and seek obedience. If we, on the other hand, believe God is just and merciful and loving, we're fools to do anything else. Obedience is not about pleasing God (something accomplished solely on the Cross), it's acknowledging that his pleasure is our pleasure; that love overflows in love.

So, am I ready to set aside my own pursuit of death and decay and latch onto the only real hope for lasting peace? Help me in my unbelief.

Wow...has it really been that long?

I may be the only person to continue reading this, but writing these posts actually helps me stay up on the reading...so, paint this a selfish exercise.

Galatians 5

"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" Galatians 5:13-14

Here we have one of many declarations of true freedom. True freedom is not the ability to gratify ourselves. When Jesus flips our economics upside down, we find freedom in service. What? I had to read that again...use your freedom - serve one another. We are no longer desperate people trying to draw life from the dying world...we are able to draw life from eternal things so that we are a source of light to the world.

It made good sense at the time.

Numbers 14

But Moses said, “Why now are you transgressing the command of the Lord, when that will not succeed? (v41)

This chapter is not a proud moment for Israel. Their complaining against God presumes a higher wisdom and a better purpose. Then, Moses asks the question that absolutely has to be asked (and asked of us). This is not about some quest for self-righteousness in order to make God unnecessary. This is not about a set of rules laid out as some sort of twisted test...like God is playing MouseTrap and we're trying not to get caught.

Why are you sinning when it doesn't work?

It doesn't make God unnecessary - it makes him, if anything, more necessary. It doesn't display higher wisdom or better purpose. It is folly. You don't have to be on a quest for your own righteousness to work for obedience. Those quests end poorly. At some point, you look up and realize that obedience is the only thing that makes sense.

Two ears, one mouth. Do the math.

Ecclesiastes 5

"Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. To draw near to listen is better than to offer the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they are doing evil. Be not rash with your mouth, nor let your heart be hasty to utter a word before God, for God is in heaven and you are on earth. Therefore let your words be few. For a dream comes with much business, and a fool's voice with many words." v(1-3)

God is in heaven, and you are on earth. How often do we pray as people who believe we know what God should do in our lives?

Rougly paraphrasing Tim Keller:
Prayer is not about changing God - it is about being changed by God. It is not about getting God to do what we want - it is about letting him have access to our hearts so that we do what He wants.

What if we approached our petitions and requests in that attitude. "God, you are in heaven and I am on earth. There are circumstances in life I do not understand. Please enlarge my faith so that my trust and obedience increase. You told us there would be suffering and pain in this life, and you promised us your sufficiency in them. Thank you that I am not alone. Thank you that circumstances are not outside your sovereignty - you are never surprised."

Closing story:
A journalist heard about a very old Jewish man who had been going to the Wailing Wall to pray, twice a day, every day, for sixty years. The journalist went to the Wailing Wall and there observed the old Jew.
The journalist enquired, “What do you pray for?”
The man replied, “I pray for peace between the Christians, Jews and the Muslims. I pray for all the wars and hatred to stop, I pray for all our children to grow up safely as responsible adults, and to love their fellow man.”
“How do you feel after doing this for 60 years?” asked the journalist.
“Like I’m talking to a brick wall”, he replied

(closing story pulled from this timely blog entry.)

Delusional

Ecclesiates 4

I must admit that this one of my favorite books. Today's reading is an example of why that is:

"Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind." (v6)

Here is someone refusing to be fooled by the deception of wealth. He redefines "achievement". He values incorruptible things. He recognizes wordly gods and calls them wind.

1 Timothy 6

"But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction." (v8-9)

"As for the rich in this present age, charge them not to be haughty, nor to set their hopes on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly provides us with everything to enjoy. They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, " (v17-18)

Some days are more thematically connected than others (at least in appearances). Often, as Americans, we take Jesus' warnings about money as a challenge. Jesus says it's hard for the rich to enter the kingdom - well, I'll have to be really mindful of that as I get rich. I like a challenge aynway, right? What we read here, though, is harder to swallow. I'm not going to get on a soapbox. I'll just let the text be what it is.

Steadfast Love

Psalm 5

But I, through the abundance of your steadfast love,
will enter your house.
I will bow down toward your holy temple
in the fear of you. (v7)

חסד - Chesed

Here's a rather beautiful definition:

"Chesed can be properly described as an act that has no 'cause.'" It carries a covenental weight. Maybe loyalty, duty and love, is a good synonym. Another, grace.

But I, through the abundance of your unmerited, promised love, will enter your house.

Beautiful.

Faithfulness

So, no...we're not to the Psalms yet. But I've found that reading a section of Ps. 119 before I get going has proved to be a good way for me to wade into the waters.
After singing "Great is Thy Faithfulness" twice this past weekend, the below stuck out to me:

Psalm 119
75I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous, and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Blood and guts

You can't read Leviticus without being struck by how visceral worship is. Fat and organs, meat and fire. This is no mental exercise. This is no mere attempt to understand and rationalize and get the right answers into the right blanks. This is reality slamming you in the face. All of the senses are engaged. Your eyes and nose and ears and hands are all aware of sin and God and judgment and sacrifice.

So. Here we are. No fat and organs - bread and cup. No meat and fire - wood and nails. I want this to be academic. I want to have Truth on a page for reference as needed. I don't want to smell sin, so I avoid the stink of need around me until I actually convince myself I don't stink. I don't want to hear the cries of the innocent sacrifice, so I deluge my ears with noise until I drown out even "It is finished". I don't want to look at the blood running down the altar, so I avert my eyes and miss the glory.

Then, finally, I can "worship" the way I like. Sterile. Clean. Safe. Dead.

Now THAT is a building campaign

Exodus 36

"The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do.” So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, “Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more. (v 5-7)

Sort of speaks for itself. Amazing.

So close yet so far

John 14

Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (v 8-9)

This is a stunningly familiar scene. Jesus, if you would just do this one more thing for me, then I would believe you. I'm waiting for the personal invitation to faith accompanied by just one more sign. Did you really mean what you said about loving one another, Lord? Did you really mean that stuff about money? Did you really invite us into a life of fruit-bearing through death? If you would give me one more sign - then, surely, I would believe it.

Ephesians 4

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call — one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (v4-6)

How can a fragmented church represent the unified trinity to a watching world? Where increased knowledge should lead to increased humility in oneself and increased confidence in God so that differences become tolerable, we have turned "doctrine" into a tool for division. This is not because doctrine is bad per se, but we have lost the worship sense of orthodoxy and contented ourselves with orthopraxy. People have written books on unification, so I'll leave it at that.

Savior King

John 6
14When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said,^(N) "This is indeed^(O) the Prophet^(P) who is to come into the world!"

15^(Q) Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus^(R) withdrew again to^(S) the mountain by himself.

So Long Moses - Andrew Peterson
So long, Moses

Hello, Promised Land

It was a long, long road
But your people are home

So long, Moses

Hello, Joshua

Goodbye, Canaanites

We're coming to town

Twelve tribes and no crown

No crown, Oh Lord

We want a king on a throne
Full of power, with a sword in his fist

Will there ever be, ever be a king like this?

Hello, Saul
First king of IsraelYou were foolish and strong
So you didn't last long
Goodbye, Saul

Hail, King David

Shepherd from Bethlehem

Set the temple of God

In mighty Jerusalem

You were a king on a throne

Full of power, with a sword in his fist

Has there ever been, ever been a king like this?

Full of wisdom, full of strength, the hearts of the people are his

Hear, O Israel, was ever there a king like this?

Hello, prophets
The kingdom is broken now

The people of God

Have been scattered abroad

How long, O Lord?

So speak, Isaiah

Prophet of Judah

Can you tell of the One

This king who's going to come

Will he be a king on a throne

Full of power with a sword in his fist?

Prophet, tell us will there be another king like this?

Full of wisdom, full of strength,
The hearts of the people are his

Prophet, tell us will there beanother king like this?

"He'll bear no beauty or glory
Rejected, despised

A man of such sorrow

We'll cover our eyes

He'll take up our sickness

Carry our tears

For his people

He will be pierced

He'll be crushed for our evils

Our punishment feel

By his wounds

We will be healed."

"From you, O Bethlehem

Small among Judah

A ruler will come

Ancient and strong."

The Story

Been a week that's been hard to sit and post, but found this in the Rabbit Room. Amazing excerpt on The Story from Eugene Peterson.

Healing versus Changing

Exodus 14

"For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness." (v12b)

How often this sentiment dominates our actions. We say to God, "Why are you out to kill us? We're better off with you in more of an advisor role rather than director." Of course, nobody says that verbally. Rather, we go and read scripture. We hear it preached and taught. We are exhorted to lives of hospitality, generosity and selflessness, and we leave thinking about how idealistic that all sounds and how life just isn't like that (if we bother thinking about it at all). Yesterday, we heard this called "sluggishness". In addition, I call it spiritual inertia. We are a stubborn people when it comes to making real change. We'll spend huge amounts of time and energy rationalizing every aspect of our lives until it makes sense to us (we would call that wisdom, right?), and then we'll dare anyone to tell us we should change. Leave Egypt for the wilderness? Are you crazy?

Luke 17

Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” (v17-18)

This is where the title comes from. Ten were cleansed. One was changed. Gratitude is a powerful force. It requires a level of humility. If I think I'm owed something, why would I be grateful upon receiving it?

And he said to him, “Rise and go your way; your faith has made you well.” (v 19)

This is an interesting statement considering the physical healing took place for all ten. Could Jesus be talking about a different kind of wellness?

When it comes to, matters of the heart

Exodus 9
15For by now I could have put out my hand and struck you and your people with pestilence, and you would have been cut off from the earth. 16But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.

34But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 35So the heart of Pharaoh was hardened, and he did not let the people of Israel go, just as the LORD had spoken through Moses.

Luke 12
1In the meantime, when so many thousands of the people had gathered together that they were trampling one another, he began to say to his disciples first, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. 3Therefore whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed on the housetops.

29And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be worried. 30For all the nations of the world seek after these things, and your Father knows that you need them. 31Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
34 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

1 Corinthians 13
1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

The heart is an interesting and revealing thing and has a way of surfacing no matter how hard we may try and hide it. What's going on in yours and mine today?

You can't be serious

"So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple." (Luke 14:33)

This is one of those passages (verses 25-33) that obviously can't be taken at face value. I mean, certainly we must understand that what Jesus was saying had many layers of meaning. Simply reading his words and accepting their denotation is far too simplistic an approach to scripture. Jesus didn't even speak english, so we really must take passages of like this and place them in the larger context of his life. You know, enduring the cross and despising the shame. Oh, wait.

Check in

How's everybody doing w/ the reading/relating to God? We've been at it together for almost 2 months, so no doubt the "work" of this has more than become evident. How are yall? Have you fallen off the horse? Is God doing stuff in your heart? What's up, folks?