One of the most awesome statements of divine wisdom I find in the words of Jesus are "...not to give offense to them,..." (Matthew 17). Reading the gospels does not reveal in Jesus an individual who worried about causing offense, irritation, or hurt feelings when he felt it appropriate. Even those who vehemently disagreed with him recognized that he spoke from the heart and did not mince words. How did Jesus know when it was time to "shoot straight and let the bullets fly" and when to decide "this is not a hill worth dying on"? When was a controversy worth the conflict sure to follow and when was it not worth giving offense? How much simpler life would be for us if we knew the answer 100% of the time!
Jesus' standards though high were simple. Glorify and honor the Father in all that you think, say, and do. That sounds easy enough. Jesus was perfect at the process. Even when he might have preferred a different path as in Gethsemane, he still put obedience and honoring his Father first in his decisions and his actions. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) stands as a great statement of the ways we can honor the Father in our daily lives. Jesus' response to questions raised by the religious rulers of his day also reveal his perception of how to glorify the Father. (Matthew 12; 15; 19; 22)
The two Great Commandments are described by Jesus as a summary of all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22) We don't have much of a problem in understanding what Jesus meant by the first and greatest commandment: love God with your total being. Of course following through has always been limited by our sinful and self-focused natures. Loving something other than God as the focus of our lives or even in the momentary decision is a constant problem. It is the second commandment about loving our neighbor as we love ourselves that gives us fits.
We make jokes about it. "Love your neighbor, but don't get caught." We try to qualify it under such phrases as "tough love". We even try to compartmentalize our expressions of love by "loving the sinner, but hating the sin." (guilty as charged!) Are any of these wrong? I would avoid the relationship with your neighbor that your safety would demand be kept secret. The other two expressions we often try to live out in our dealings with others.
In both cases the effort is being made to express a love that includes acceptance, the opportunity for forgiveness, and a realization there is a right and a wrong choice being identified. Anytime we identify a right choice and a not so right choice in a situation made by someone else, we are called upon to decide how we will respond in love. We must love our neighbor as we love ourselves. It is the only way we can allow the Father's forgiving love shown to us to flow through us to others who also need it.
Jesus made his decisions about controversy based upon the Great Commandments which have their goal of honoring and glorifying the Father. He recognized that decisions pertaining to the law had right answers and wrong answers. He also knew that not all legal decisions had any bearing on how we might glorify the Father. It was these questions that Jesus disdained to give the importance needed to raise them in a discussion.
There is a cost to controversy. How high a price should we be willing to pay? If God is honored when we take a stand, then the price we are called to pay is worth it, even required of us. If God sees the controversy as of significance to man alone, then the answer is to seek peace, go catch the fish, and pay the tax. The Pharisees saw the tax as important. Jesus did not. Love for God and fellow man were not a part of the equation. Causing a stir just wasn't worth the price.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Taking Care of the Temple
How is the custodian rewarded for taking care of the temple? Maybe you don't see any need for a reward. Maybe you expect some well-intended soul to take care of matters out of a simple love for the Lord. That's all very spiritually minded, but it rarely gets you the best results. Why? That is a very good question.
Especially when you consider what the temple might be. What if the temple is your physical body, sometimes referred to as the temple of the Holy Spirit? What if it is the congregation of believers which is also sometimes referred to as the temple of the Holy Spirit? Looking at the big picture, what if the temple is the created order itself, the realm in which the Creator has chosen to reveal himself to man? Is the custodian taking care of the temple and is he doing a job worth rewarding?
As a minister I am conscious of the image my fellow ministers and I present to the public. We preach that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6), but I see a lot of temples falling into ruin through neglect. We are all familiar with the litany of causes handed to us by our doctors. We eat too much. We sit too much. We don't eat the right kind of foods, and we don't handle stress well. Our faith tells us that God will take care of us even while we ignore him as he says, "I gave you a brain. Use it!"
I do not relish rising before the sun at 5:00 AM to walk two miles on a treadmill and work through other simple exercises. If it had not been for that arterial stint, I might not be so committed. Instead there I am, six days a week, heading for the torture room, and then considering what I can eat the rest of the day that will be tasty, cheap, and good for me. The menu has grown slim. Yet if my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, then he deserves the best maintenance that I can provide.
For 25 years I served in a local church. The Apostles Paul and Peter refer to the people of God as a temple the Holy Spirit is building, one living stone at a time (Ephesians 2; I Peter 2). You have to wonder sometimes how God ever chose some of the building materials we see walking into a morning worship service (including ourselves). Yet there they are, chipped and cracked, stained and sticky, rough and ragged, from all walks of life. God looks at this ragtag bunch and tells us that this is our family, the brothers and sisters of Christ. These are the ones he welcomes into the Kingdom before all those Pharisees and scribes. Are we doing our part to take care of the temple?
Jesus reminded his listeners that it was the sick who needed the physician, not the healthy (Matthew 9). In the doctor's office the intake nurse finds out all the gruesome details. No treatment is provided. Only when the doctor sees you can the treatment begin. How often we as church members forget that we are not the doctor, nor do we expect those who see no need to meet the doctor to come into our midst. We welcome. We offer comfort and companionship, but the healing that is needed comes only through the hand of the Great Physician. He does not leave unchanged those who seek him. Do we take care of the congregational temple?
Can all creation be described as the temple of God? Jesus used the image of the earth as being the footstool of God (Matthew 5). He who is too great to be contained in any temple still sees himself vitally connected to his creation. It is a part of his royal throne room. And as such it deserves our special care.
The ecological concerns of our day should not be new or novel to the Christian. Such concerns should be a fundamental part of the way we express our recognition that we are stewards, not owners, of creation. Whether you see the present generation inheriting nature from our parents or borrowing it from our children, the Owner remains the Creator (Psalm 24). As stewards we are caretakers and will be held responsible for our stewardship. We honor God in the way we care for his creation.
We are the temple keepers, all the temples. In many ways we are winners and losers through the methods we care for the temples in this mortal existence. In other ways we will stand before the Owner, give an accounting for what has been in our charge, and receive the judgment. I know the reward I want to hear (Matthew 25:21).
Especially when you consider what the temple might be. What if the temple is your physical body, sometimes referred to as the temple of the Holy Spirit? What if it is the congregation of believers which is also sometimes referred to as the temple of the Holy Spirit? Looking at the big picture, what if the temple is the created order itself, the realm in which the Creator has chosen to reveal himself to man? Is the custodian taking care of the temple and is he doing a job worth rewarding?
As a minister I am conscious of the image my fellow ministers and I present to the public. We preach that the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (I Corinthians 6), but I see a lot of temples falling into ruin through neglect. We are all familiar with the litany of causes handed to us by our doctors. We eat too much. We sit too much. We don't eat the right kind of foods, and we don't handle stress well. Our faith tells us that God will take care of us even while we ignore him as he says, "I gave you a brain. Use it!"
I do not relish rising before the sun at 5:00 AM to walk two miles on a treadmill and work through other simple exercises. If it had not been for that arterial stint, I might not be so committed. Instead there I am, six days a week, heading for the torture room, and then considering what I can eat the rest of the day that will be tasty, cheap, and good for me. The menu has grown slim. Yet if my body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, then he deserves the best maintenance that I can provide.
For 25 years I served in a local church. The Apostles Paul and Peter refer to the people of God as a temple the Holy Spirit is building, one living stone at a time (Ephesians 2; I Peter 2). You have to wonder sometimes how God ever chose some of the building materials we see walking into a morning worship service (including ourselves). Yet there they are, chipped and cracked, stained and sticky, rough and ragged, from all walks of life. God looks at this ragtag bunch and tells us that this is our family, the brothers and sisters of Christ. These are the ones he welcomes into the Kingdom before all those Pharisees and scribes. Are we doing our part to take care of the temple?
Jesus reminded his listeners that it was the sick who needed the physician, not the healthy (Matthew 9). In the doctor's office the intake nurse finds out all the gruesome details. No treatment is provided. Only when the doctor sees you can the treatment begin. How often we as church members forget that we are not the doctor, nor do we expect those who see no need to meet the doctor to come into our midst. We welcome. We offer comfort and companionship, but the healing that is needed comes only through the hand of the Great Physician. He does not leave unchanged those who seek him. Do we take care of the congregational temple?
Can all creation be described as the temple of God? Jesus used the image of the earth as being the footstool of God (Matthew 5). He who is too great to be contained in any temple still sees himself vitally connected to his creation. It is a part of his royal throne room. And as such it deserves our special care.
The ecological concerns of our day should not be new or novel to the Christian. Such concerns should be a fundamental part of the way we express our recognition that we are stewards, not owners, of creation. Whether you see the present generation inheriting nature from our parents or borrowing it from our children, the Owner remains the Creator (Psalm 24). As stewards we are caretakers and will be held responsible for our stewardship. We honor God in the way we care for his creation.
We are the temple keepers, all the temples. In many ways we are winners and losers through the methods we care for the temples in this mortal existence. In other ways we will stand before the Owner, give an accounting for what has been in our charge, and receive the judgment. I know the reward I want to hear (Matthew 25:21).
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Fighting Frustration
We all have those moments. Then those moments turn into hours that turn into days that then turn into our jobs and a general description of our lives. They are moments of frustration that take on the form of some kind of hyper contagious virus that seems to consume us before we have time to react much less find the cure. We end up deciding there are two kinds of people in the world. People who admit to having times of frustration and liars.
Am I making more of this than it really deserves? Could the Son of God ever become frustrated? When confronted by a desperate father whose son could not be cured by the disciples of Jesus, the Master himself responds with a rhetorical question, "How long?" When he meets cruel legalism in a synagogue, he grows angry over the hard hearts of those who should have understood compassion best. When he faces the blasphemous use of his Father's House of Prayer for a marketplace, his frustration becomes the motivation for a serious housecleaning!
Frustration is real. Like so many of our emotions, however, its cause is completely within our control. Just like no one can make you angry. You become angry as a decisive response to a situation. It is a decision you make on your own based upon your value system of right and wrong, good and evil, or fair and unfair. You become frustrated because of a situation that goes against your expectations at a time when your desires are important enough for you to generate a most uncomfortable emotional response. Since you cannot hold it in, it is revealed as some level of frustration. What you do with that emotion is what is seen as a positive or negative reaction.
The recorded events of Jesus' frustration always became teaching moments for those who had eyes to see and ears to hear. We would do well to make our moments of frustration times of learning as well. This might be as individuals in daily life, as churches seeking to be salt and light and yeast in our communities, or as associations bringing a cluster of churches together to accomplish a task greater than any one church could complete alone. In all these cases there are people involved. That is a recipe for frustration.
Frustration springs from unfulfilled expectations. Good buddy Webster used a simple one-word synonym, "block". That says well what we feel when our efforts do not produce the expected results. We feel blocked. It's bad enough when we can provide a good reason for hitting the wall. It is pure frustration when we cannot justify our failure to attain our goals.
Frustration can be just as real in a local church setting and in the midst of associational work. We set goals. We gather resources. We organize to give ourselves the best chance of success. Then the block appears. Not only can we not justify that hindrance, the hindrance is counter to what we believe is our purpose and prevents us from accomplishing a higher good. That's when we start calling people terrible names and accusing them of opposing the will of God.
Yet if we listen to the frustration of Jesus we can see that the situation need not be all negative. Meeting those blocks can make us aware that a moment of teaching needs to occur. In those moments Jesus taught on faith. He taught concerning the compassion of the heavenly Father. He taught about the nature of the Kingdom of God.
When we become frustrated with our work or relationships with others, perhaps we should pause for a moment and decide wherein the problem lies. Are our expectations out of line with the will of God? That is not a problem Jesus had, only his listeners. What do we need to change that would lessen the frustration? What are the expectations of others involved in the situation? Are they proving to be a hindrance through ignorance or intent? Ignorance can be cured with patience. Stubbornness needs the help of the Holy Spirit.
When an association does not seem to be accomplishing the work of the Kingdom of God as it should, frustration appears, but what is its cause? Do churches need to learn? Provide the training. Are churches being resistant to the movement of the Kingdom of God? Then perhaps only the Holy Spirit can provide the answer. Neither in our personal lives nor in our work with God's people can we assume that our frustration is always due to another's intentional effort to thwart us. It may well be that we are the ones who need to learn or adjust our expectations.
Am I making more of this than it really deserves? Could the Son of God ever become frustrated? When confronted by a desperate father whose son could not be cured by the disciples of Jesus, the Master himself responds with a rhetorical question, "How long?" When he meets cruel legalism in a synagogue, he grows angry over the hard hearts of those who should have understood compassion best. When he faces the blasphemous use of his Father's House of Prayer for a marketplace, his frustration becomes the motivation for a serious housecleaning!
Frustration is real. Like so many of our emotions, however, its cause is completely within our control. Just like no one can make you angry. You become angry as a decisive response to a situation. It is a decision you make on your own based upon your value system of right and wrong, good and evil, or fair and unfair. You become frustrated because of a situation that goes against your expectations at a time when your desires are important enough for you to generate a most uncomfortable emotional response. Since you cannot hold it in, it is revealed as some level of frustration. What you do with that emotion is what is seen as a positive or negative reaction.
The recorded events of Jesus' frustration always became teaching moments for those who had eyes to see and ears to hear. We would do well to make our moments of frustration times of learning as well. This might be as individuals in daily life, as churches seeking to be salt and light and yeast in our communities, or as associations bringing a cluster of churches together to accomplish a task greater than any one church could complete alone. In all these cases there are people involved. That is a recipe for frustration.
Frustration springs from unfulfilled expectations. Good buddy Webster used a simple one-word synonym, "block". That says well what we feel when our efforts do not produce the expected results. We feel blocked. It's bad enough when we can provide a good reason for hitting the wall. It is pure frustration when we cannot justify our failure to attain our goals.
Frustration can be just as real in a local church setting and in the midst of associational work. We set goals. We gather resources. We organize to give ourselves the best chance of success. Then the block appears. Not only can we not justify that hindrance, the hindrance is counter to what we believe is our purpose and prevents us from accomplishing a higher good. That's when we start calling people terrible names and accusing them of opposing the will of God.
Yet if we listen to the frustration of Jesus we can see that the situation need not be all negative. Meeting those blocks can make us aware that a moment of teaching needs to occur. In those moments Jesus taught on faith. He taught concerning the compassion of the heavenly Father. He taught about the nature of the Kingdom of God.
When we become frustrated with our work or relationships with others, perhaps we should pause for a moment and decide wherein the problem lies. Are our expectations out of line with the will of God? That is not a problem Jesus had, only his listeners. What do we need to change that would lessen the frustration? What are the expectations of others involved in the situation? Are they proving to be a hindrance through ignorance or intent? Ignorance can be cured with patience. Stubbornness needs the help of the Holy Spirit.
When an association does not seem to be accomplishing the work of the Kingdom of God as it should, frustration appears, but what is its cause? Do churches need to learn? Provide the training. Are churches being resistant to the movement of the Kingdom of God? Then perhaps only the Holy Spirit can provide the answer. Neither in our personal lives nor in our work with God's people can we assume that our frustration is always due to another's intentional effort to thwart us. It may well be that we are the ones who need to learn or adjust our expectations.
Thursday, April 5, 2012
What Happened That Weekend?
Abraham wondered how a smoking pot could float between a line of sacrificed animals (Genesis 15). Elijah wondered how he could hear and understand a voice when there was no sound (I Kings 19). Peter, James, and John probably tried to figure out just what it was they saw on a mountain top when Jesus was altered in his appearance in a way that couldn't be explained (Matthew 17). And on that Friday, what did Jesus mean about being abandoned by the Father with whom he was One (Matthew 27). Come Sunday morning a resurrected body became visible, even touchable, to those who were closest to the One who had just died and been buried (Matthew 28). What is a resurrection body?
Leaving events unexplained and accepting them on faith is not something that comes easily to mankind. We find it important that we explain all events in some form or fashion. We need to be able to put something in a box, under a scope, or on a scale. Accepting it as something we cannot measure, control, or understand leaves us with an uncomfortable feeling that borders on intolerable. Yet that is exactly what faith calls us to do.
What happened at the end of what we call Holy Week fits into that category of "accept but do not attempt to explain". That appears to be the case any time God intervenes in human history without our request or our permission or our involvement. God acts. We are left to be spectators, wondering why we are here, and what the consequences will be for us both in the current context and in history.
On that Friday afternoon the crowds saw what most deemed to be an impostor, a charlatan, and a threat to their power base in Judaism and Judea. Their solution to the problem Jesus posed was to have him killed in a way that would bring down upon him the curses of God and the masses. They wanted him rejected by the very people who had followed him across the dusty hills and around the Sea.
What they, and we, accomplished through lifestyle decisions was far more evident in the words Jesus cried out from the cross than in the calls for his crucifixion. Jesus was rejected by his people. He was also rejected by his Father. He was rejected by the Godhead of which he himself was a part. He was abandoned and in his cry we hear what?
In that moment we see an event in which no man could play a part. All were spectators. All were ignorant of the divine drama that was taking place on the cross. All were unable to comprehend then and forever how God could abandon a part of Himself. It was a moment in which the divine drama unfolded on a human stage extending into the spiritual realm oblivious to any human audience.
By Hebrew reckoning across the time contained in three days, another event took place that cannot be captured by human understanding. A stone was rolled away from the entrance to a tomb so that sinful humans could see that the dead was dead no longer. This was no creature from some humanly created horror story. This was an event that could only be described as death conquered, overcome, declared irrelevant, no longer to be feared by man. The event hardly can be described as something to be taken into a laboratory.
What happened that weekend? The ancient stories spread by the religious authorities of the day would have us believe that the followers of Jesus came on Saturday evening and stole his body away while assigned guards were sleeping, then went out and spread the word that he had risen from the dead. Faith and the later actions of the disciples of Jesus would lead us to believe that an event had occurred that was divine in its origin, did not involve man in its process, and demanded a response of acceptance or rejection with consequences to be revealed at some future point.
Whatever happened, it was enough to make a group of individuals and those they were able to convince of the truth in this event willing to die rather than deny their belief that all had transpired just as they had said. They were willing to reject power and accept servanthood. They were willing to leave behind homes and families for the need to tell others of what they believed happened. They were willing to declare that the greatest force in history, self-sacrificing love, could even conquer death.
Love happened that weekend. Love offered life in the place of death. Love offered hope in the place of despair. Love offered peace in the place of warfare. Love offered forgiveness in the place of condemnation. To understand this you must understand God. Yet God will not allow himself to be understood. Rather he offers us the assurance that he understands us (Isaiah 55, John 1).
Leaving events unexplained and accepting them on faith is not something that comes easily to mankind. We find it important that we explain all events in some form or fashion. We need to be able to put something in a box, under a scope, or on a scale. Accepting it as something we cannot measure, control, or understand leaves us with an uncomfortable feeling that borders on intolerable. Yet that is exactly what faith calls us to do.
What happened at the end of what we call Holy Week fits into that category of "accept but do not attempt to explain". That appears to be the case any time God intervenes in human history without our request or our permission or our involvement. God acts. We are left to be spectators, wondering why we are here, and what the consequences will be for us both in the current context and in history.
On that Friday afternoon the crowds saw what most deemed to be an impostor, a charlatan, and a threat to their power base in Judaism and Judea. Their solution to the problem Jesus posed was to have him killed in a way that would bring down upon him the curses of God and the masses. They wanted him rejected by the very people who had followed him across the dusty hills and around the Sea.
What they, and we, accomplished through lifestyle decisions was far more evident in the words Jesus cried out from the cross than in the calls for his crucifixion. Jesus was rejected by his people. He was also rejected by his Father. He was rejected by the Godhead of which he himself was a part. He was abandoned and in his cry we hear what?
In that moment we see an event in which no man could play a part. All were spectators. All were ignorant of the divine drama that was taking place on the cross. All were unable to comprehend then and forever how God could abandon a part of Himself. It was a moment in which the divine drama unfolded on a human stage extending into the spiritual realm oblivious to any human audience.
By Hebrew reckoning across the time contained in three days, another event took place that cannot be captured by human understanding. A stone was rolled away from the entrance to a tomb so that sinful humans could see that the dead was dead no longer. This was no creature from some humanly created horror story. This was an event that could only be described as death conquered, overcome, declared irrelevant, no longer to be feared by man. The event hardly can be described as something to be taken into a laboratory.
What happened that weekend? The ancient stories spread by the religious authorities of the day would have us believe that the followers of Jesus came on Saturday evening and stole his body away while assigned guards were sleeping, then went out and spread the word that he had risen from the dead. Faith and the later actions of the disciples of Jesus would lead us to believe that an event had occurred that was divine in its origin, did not involve man in its process, and demanded a response of acceptance or rejection with consequences to be revealed at some future point.
Whatever happened, it was enough to make a group of individuals and those they were able to convince of the truth in this event willing to die rather than deny their belief that all had transpired just as they had said. They were willing to reject power and accept servanthood. They were willing to leave behind homes and families for the need to tell others of what they believed happened. They were willing to declare that the greatest force in history, self-sacrificing love, could even conquer death.
Love happened that weekend. Love offered life in the place of death. Love offered hope in the place of despair. Love offered peace in the place of warfare. Love offered forgiveness in the place of condemnation. To understand this you must understand God. Yet God will not allow himself to be understood. Rather he offers us the assurance that he understands us (Isaiah 55, John 1).
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Christian Tension
A recent conversation brought up the idea that Christians live with the tension between grace which they cannot provide and divine law over which they they have no control. Grace has no meaning without the presence of law to define right and wrong. Neither can law provide a perspective of hope without the presence of grace, the idea of a second chance. Christians must live with this tension because of the need to but who continue to fail to keep the demands of the law and must live with a dependency upon grace.
In the secular world there is a parallel concern between personal freedom and government control. A free society must be defined by the freedom exercised by its citizenry. Its freedom is maintained, however, by the control its government is able to provide. A free citizenry is under the constant tension of deciding how much control it can give its government to maintain the freedom demanded by its citizenry.
How much control will we as Christians give our Creator-God in determining the lifestyle we his creation will follow? How much freedom must we demand in order to be able to respond to our Creator-God as independent thinking individuals? Surely the answers to these questions bring in the awesome concerns of the sovereignty of God, the freedom of man, the consequences of actions, and the inherent power of anyone to decide them.
Though we may struggle with these questions for a lifetime, each day we must make decisions based upon our limited understanding of their interplay. We are limited by our inability to comprehend the infinity that describes the God we say we worship and to whom we are called to give obedience. We are limited by our own mortality and the sinfulness that we have placed upon it. We must make decisions each day based upon an inability to understand the "omni's" of the God we follow and our own limitations as imperfect creatures. It is in this tension that we are forced to deal with issues related to human freedom and divine sovereignty.
In our republic we make laws to protect our freedoms. We seek to play the role of both creator and creature. We seek to create that under which we will require ourselves to live. We govern ourselves. We control ourselves. We control the extent of our freedoms. We freely assert our self-control. In the process we try to determine what will be the guiding principle that determines the laws we make to control our freedoms.
We reject the idea of a theocracy. In doing so we join the ancient Israelites who said they would have a king as did all the other nations around them. They rejected a Divine ruler who spoke through his judges and prophets (I Samuel 8). In doing so we join the crowds led by the Jewish rulers who boldly told Pontius Pilate they had no king but Caesar (John 19) in the midst of their demand that Jesus be crucified.
Rejecting a theocracy, however, is not the same as rejecting a moral basis for law. The matter only focuses upon what moral system we will choose. In the political realm that system will be determined by our grasp of the tension between law and freedom. For the Christian seeking to live in a fallen world, it will be the understanding of the relationship between law and grace.
If our Creator declares laws based upon his nature, then those who claim servanthood before him are obligated to follow those laws. When failure comes, consequences follow and with that grace may also be found. When a nation passes laws based upon its understanding of an orderly and desirable society, then its citizenry are called upon to follow those laws or face the consequences and find at the same time that a second chance might be offered. In neither of these situations, however, is the law abrogated, but it may mediated.
Whether theocracy or otherwise, laws exist to guide a society. Those laws must be based upon an underlying system that defines right and wrong. Who determines that system will reveal who is the ruling body for that society. In our republic there are checks and balances. With God there are no checks and balances. There is only his nature and the consequences of our actions based upon obedience and disobedience - and also that thing called grace.
In the secular world there is a parallel concern between personal freedom and government control. A free society must be defined by the freedom exercised by its citizenry. Its freedom is maintained, however, by the control its government is able to provide. A free citizenry is under the constant tension of deciding how much control it can give its government to maintain the freedom demanded by its citizenry.
How much control will we as Christians give our Creator-God in determining the lifestyle we his creation will follow? How much freedom must we demand in order to be able to respond to our Creator-God as independent thinking individuals? Surely the answers to these questions bring in the awesome concerns of the sovereignty of God, the freedom of man, the consequences of actions, and the inherent power of anyone to decide them.
Though we may struggle with these questions for a lifetime, each day we must make decisions based upon our limited understanding of their interplay. We are limited by our inability to comprehend the infinity that describes the God we say we worship and to whom we are called to give obedience. We are limited by our own mortality and the sinfulness that we have placed upon it. We must make decisions each day based upon an inability to understand the "omni's" of the God we follow and our own limitations as imperfect creatures. It is in this tension that we are forced to deal with issues related to human freedom and divine sovereignty.
In our republic we make laws to protect our freedoms. We seek to play the role of both creator and creature. We seek to create that under which we will require ourselves to live. We govern ourselves. We control ourselves. We control the extent of our freedoms. We freely assert our self-control. In the process we try to determine what will be the guiding principle that determines the laws we make to control our freedoms.
We reject the idea of a theocracy. In doing so we join the ancient Israelites who said they would have a king as did all the other nations around them. They rejected a Divine ruler who spoke through his judges and prophets (I Samuel 8). In doing so we join the crowds led by the Jewish rulers who boldly told Pontius Pilate they had no king but Caesar (John 19) in the midst of their demand that Jesus be crucified.
Rejecting a theocracy, however, is not the same as rejecting a moral basis for law. The matter only focuses upon what moral system we will choose. In the political realm that system will be determined by our grasp of the tension between law and freedom. For the Christian seeking to live in a fallen world, it will be the understanding of the relationship between law and grace.
If our Creator declares laws based upon his nature, then those who claim servanthood before him are obligated to follow those laws. When failure comes, consequences follow and with that grace may also be found. When a nation passes laws based upon its understanding of an orderly and desirable society, then its citizenry are called upon to follow those laws or face the consequences and find at the same time that a second chance might be offered. In neither of these situations, however, is the law abrogated, but it may mediated.
Whether theocracy or otherwise, laws exist to guide a society. Those laws must be based upon an underlying system that defines right and wrong. Who determines that system will reveal who is the ruling body for that society. In our republic there are checks and balances. With God there are no checks and balances. There is only his nature and the consequences of our actions based upon obedience and disobedience - and also that thing called grace.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Four Big Words
A phrase that has come from days gone by is "the power behind the throne". The meaning is revealed as we consider that the one who sits on the throne may have the titular authority but does not or cannot exercise the power to accomplish his will. The king may be said to have the authority to run his kingdom, but if there is a second personality who makes the actual decisions and sees to it that they are carried out, then the true power is out of sight or "behind the throne.
Power and authority are not always in the same hands. Likewise responsibility and accountability at times are left to fend for themselves in the process of accomplishing tasks especially if they are separated from the first two concepts. We may all have experienced at one time the frustration that arises when we are given the responsibility to accomplish a task only to be denied the authority and power to guide it to completion.
Authority without power is a mockery. Power without authority often becomes self-centered and cruel. Power without accountability is synonymous to a dictatorship. Responsibility without power is frustration. Responsibility without accountability will often result in nothing accomplished.
Relationships and social designs are perhaps often, even always, defined by how these four words interplay. As soon as two individuals meet, these four words take on a role in the relationship. Cain asked if he was expected to be his brother's keeper. He had already exercised the power to kill him even though he had not been given the authority to do so. Now he was asking if he was responsible for his brother and would be expected to be accountable for whatever had happened to him.
The Model Prayer of Jesus leads one to see a recognition that power and authority belong first and foremost to the heavenly Father. The self-focused requests point to an acknowledgement that daily needs must be met by the hands of the Father. At the same time we are responsible for and will be held accountable for the way we are willing to forgive those who have sinned against us.
The individual's use of power must be controlled by the understanding that all power ultimately resides in the hands of God. He has that power by virtue of his nature, who he is, and with that power comes the authority to use it. The power and authority that individuals seek to exercise are by permission only and will come under the divine judgment as he holds us responsible for what he has placed in our hands and will hold us accountable for their use.
Our freedom as individuals in general and as Christians in particular must be seen in this light. We are free to act but our freedom both in the present and in eternity is limited by the nature of God and we will be held accountable for digression from that nature. We can use our freedom to live and make decisions being guided by that nature or we can use our freedom to live contrary to it. Having the power to do either does not remove the fact that we are responsible for our actions and will be held accountable.
Therefore it is of critical importance that we understand the nature of God, his own power and authority, and the grounds by which he will hold his creation responsible for its actions. We will be held accountable. Making up our own sets of rules will never change God and his plan for his creation. He will declare the last judgment.
Power and authority are not always in the same hands. Likewise responsibility and accountability at times are left to fend for themselves in the process of accomplishing tasks especially if they are separated from the first two concepts. We may all have experienced at one time the frustration that arises when we are given the responsibility to accomplish a task only to be denied the authority and power to guide it to completion.
Authority without power is a mockery. Power without authority often becomes self-centered and cruel. Power without accountability is synonymous to a dictatorship. Responsibility without power is frustration. Responsibility without accountability will often result in nothing accomplished.
Relationships and social designs are perhaps often, even always, defined by how these four words interplay. As soon as two individuals meet, these four words take on a role in the relationship. Cain asked if he was expected to be his brother's keeper. He had already exercised the power to kill him even though he had not been given the authority to do so. Now he was asking if he was responsible for his brother and would be expected to be accountable for whatever had happened to him.
The Model Prayer of Jesus leads one to see a recognition that power and authority belong first and foremost to the heavenly Father. The self-focused requests point to an acknowledgement that daily needs must be met by the hands of the Father. At the same time we are responsible for and will be held accountable for the way we are willing to forgive those who have sinned against us.
The individual's use of power must be controlled by the understanding that all power ultimately resides in the hands of God. He has that power by virtue of his nature, who he is, and with that power comes the authority to use it. The power and authority that individuals seek to exercise are by permission only and will come under the divine judgment as he holds us responsible for what he has placed in our hands and will hold us accountable for their use.
Our freedom as individuals in general and as Christians in particular must be seen in this light. We are free to act but our freedom both in the present and in eternity is limited by the nature of God and we will be held accountable for digression from that nature. We can use our freedom to live and make decisions being guided by that nature or we can use our freedom to live contrary to it. Having the power to do either does not remove the fact that we are responsible for our actions and will be held accountable.
Therefore it is of critical importance that we understand the nature of God, his own power and authority, and the grounds by which he will hold his creation responsible for its actions. We will be held accountable. Making up our own sets of rules will never change God and his plan for his creation. He will declare the last judgment.
Friday, March 9, 2012
Bigger Than You and Me
Every Christian, not just your church pastor and other leaders, needs to ask this question of themselves on a regular basis, How big is the Kingdom I'm serving. The answer will say something about a person's ministry vision, perspective on resources, ultimate goals, and the level of dependency upon God. We sometimes say that a person's world extends no further than their personal needs. I dream of a Christian's arena of service being a lot bigger than that.
As individuals, as churches, and as associations and conventions we are often tempted by the desire to be in control of our world. Such control brings safety, security, and an enhanced sense of personal worth. There is nothing wrong with such qualities in our lives or institutions. The problem is what we determine will be the source of those qualities.
Way back when, a couple of people stood in front of a tree and decided that the world would be no bigger than what they could control. God said if that's your choice, so be it. Your world is out there. Go make the best of it if you are determined to go it alone. We've been paying the price ever since.
God calls us to see our world as being a lot bigger than ourselves. Then he calls us to see that we still can find safety, security, and personal value even if we are not in charge. We find it not in ourselves but in him. Failing to do that causes us to wander in the world trying to provide all this for ourselves and failing every time.
How big is the world of a Christian? It must be as big as the Kingdom of God. Who's in charge of that Kingdom? It is not we, folks. Our struggle lies in the fact that we must find what we want while acknowledging that it is God who is in control. When we maintain a perspective that gives the Kingdom of God the priority in all things, then we put God and his priorities where they are supposed to be, front and center, the focus of everything.
Keeping the Kingdom of God in its proper priority position forces the individual to see himself/herself as a servant, a citizen, a child before God the Creator. As such the dominant qualities in the individual become love for God and others, humility, a willingness to sacrifice self, a willingness to show honor to others above self, a desire to exalt others, a desire to serve others and see them reach their full potential, and a life-controlling desire to give all glory and praise to God.
A church that maintains a Kingdom of God perspective will see itself as a community nurturing its members to become salt, light, and leaven in the world for the glory of God. Such a church will encourage its members to discover, develop, and use their spiritual gifts to grow more Christlike and impact their world for the glory of God. This Kingdom-focused community seeks to multiply itself beyond its fields by sending forth its members not as members of its own family but as members of the Kingdom of God. Such a local family of God will never hold for itself what it knows will serve the greater needs of the Kingdom of which it is only a part.
Associations and conventions are not mandated by scripture. They exist out of the recognized need to accomplish more than what one congregation can accomplish alone. As such they exist first for the Kingdom of God and then to assist their members in carrying out their calling as members of the Kingdom of God. Resources should be used to help their members be the greatest possible members and contributors of the Kingdom. Vision should be maintained as a focus upon the Kingdom of God. Growth must be focused upon the Kingdom and not upon the organization. Sacrifice is just as much a part of the life of an association and a convention as it is for the local church and the individual Christian.
The Kingdom of God is bigger than any convention, association, local church, pastor, or individual Christian. Each of these must order their existence with that in mind. God is in control and must be the focus of all actions and the recipient of all glory. Anything less puts us all back in front of that tree and making the wrong decision.
As individuals, as churches, and as associations and conventions we are often tempted by the desire to be in control of our world. Such control brings safety, security, and an enhanced sense of personal worth. There is nothing wrong with such qualities in our lives or institutions. The problem is what we determine will be the source of those qualities.
Way back when, a couple of people stood in front of a tree and decided that the world would be no bigger than what they could control. God said if that's your choice, so be it. Your world is out there. Go make the best of it if you are determined to go it alone. We've been paying the price ever since.
God calls us to see our world as being a lot bigger than ourselves. Then he calls us to see that we still can find safety, security, and personal value even if we are not in charge. We find it not in ourselves but in him. Failing to do that causes us to wander in the world trying to provide all this for ourselves and failing every time.
How big is the world of a Christian? It must be as big as the Kingdom of God. Who's in charge of that Kingdom? It is not we, folks. Our struggle lies in the fact that we must find what we want while acknowledging that it is God who is in control. When we maintain a perspective that gives the Kingdom of God the priority in all things, then we put God and his priorities where they are supposed to be, front and center, the focus of everything.
Keeping the Kingdom of God in its proper priority position forces the individual to see himself/herself as a servant, a citizen, a child before God the Creator. As such the dominant qualities in the individual become love for God and others, humility, a willingness to sacrifice self, a willingness to show honor to others above self, a desire to exalt others, a desire to serve others and see them reach their full potential, and a life-controlling desire to give all glory and praise to God.
A church that maintains a Kingdom of God perspective will see itself as a community nurturing its members to become salt, light, and leaven in the world for the glory of God. Such a church will encourage its members to discover, develop, and use their spiritual gifts to grow more Christlike and impact their world for the glory of God. This Kingdom-focused community seeks to multiply itself beyond its fields by sending forth its members not as members of its own family but as members of the Kingdom of God. Such a local family of God will never hold for itself what it knows will serve the greater needs of the Kingdom of which it is only a part.
Associations and conventions are not mandated by scripture. They exist out of the recognized need to accomplish more than what one congregation can accomplish alone. As such they exist first for the Kingdom of God and then to assist their members in carrying out their calling as members of the Kingdom of God. Resources should be used to help their members be the greatest possible members and contributors of the Kingdom. Vision should be maintained as a focus upon the Kingdom of God. Growth must be focused upon the Kingdom and not upon the organization. Sacrifice is just as much a part of the life of an association and a convention as it is for the local church and the individual Christian.
The Kingdom of God is bigger than any convention, association, local church, pastor, or individual Christian. Each of these must order their existence with that in mind. God is in control and must be the focus of all actions and the recipient of all glory. Anything less puts us all back in front of that tree and making the wrong decision.
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