Grace v Works – your choice

Mike and I are down in Tampa with Graham, Shay, Chloe and her new baby sister Vera who was born last month.  Chloe and I were at the playground yesterday.  In between playing ‘Princess’ I was reading about a local doctor , 51 years young,  who has just been diagnosed with ALS.  He’s the kind of ‘good’ man who has given tirelessly of himself to pre-med students, medical students, fellow doctors and the community.  The tone of the article had a kind of Rabbi ‘Kushneresque’ feel.  Kushner is the one who wrote a book, attempting to answer the perennial question, “When bad things happen to good people.”   It seems ‘unfair’ of God that after serving others for years, this local Tampa man faces a painful death.  Don’t he ‘deserve’ better?

Our natural reaction, our sense of entitlement is prevalent among Christians and non-Christians alike.  We all can think of missionaries, pastors and other unselfish people who have suffered tremendously and/or died an untimely death. The world recoils.  But Christians should understand, after all, ‘they crucified Jesus’! Why should we expect any different?

I’ve been studying the Jerry Bridges book on grace (Transforming Grace: Living Confidently in God’s Unfailing Love).   What I am beginning to glimpse is that not only do we not deserve anything good, but when we think we are doing good and earning blessing points, we haven’t a clue.

Take the parable of the workers hired at different hours.  I totally understand the indignation of the ones who worked all day in the sun.  I would have reasoned like them and felt disappointed not to be paid more.  Even though my hope for at least ‘time and a half’ would have been based on wishes and not logic, I would have convinced myself that I ‘deserved’ more.

Jerry Bridges nails his point, though, when he illustrates this principle of faulty ‘I-deserve’ thinking with a story of a college course.  As a good student who did her work I pridefully enjoyed earning ‘A’s and teachers’ praise.  Unfortunately at an early age I was hooked on this performance drug.  So I ‘get it’ when the A students self-righteously protest the professor’s generosity at awarding the slackers the same A that THEY earned. Like the boss in Jesus’ parable, doesn’t the professor have the right to be generous?

Thankfully, I’m beginning to glimpse a different way to think about this.  My son Graham talks about ‘God- Math’.  That is now shorthand for me, reminding me how differently God thinks about things (Duh!!!  He even tells us that His ways are not our ways – Is 55:8).

Paraphrasing Jerry Bridges, he explains that the sins of the elect, those for whom Jesus died, required nothing short of ETERNAL DEATH as a penalty.  And Jesus’ work during those 3 hours on the cross, actually accomplished that.  Now contrast what I think I, Maria, might do in a lifetime to ‘earn’ God’s favor with those 3 hours of Jesus.  The notion not only staggers and sobers me, it is actually ridiculous.  Thankfully!

I don’t want to try to earn anything more. God’s ocean of grace is mine already since I am in Christ.  And I have access to that Grace right now, not just later in Heaven.  And the most that I will use on a daily basis is equivalent to what a small bird might drink in through her beak as she nears the mighty Columbia River.  This river discharges water at the rate of 265,000 cubic feet per second.  I’m not a math person, but that sounds like a lot. I asked Mike how to think through this number.  He walked me through the computation.  The flow of water when it empties into the Pacific Ocean is the equivalent of almost 2 million gallons per second.

Do you think that you or I could ever use up this grace? Could we out-ask what is available as beloved children of our Father?  Could all the birds in the world dry up the mighty Columbia River?  Not even imaginable.

So rest, cease striving and drink deeply and pray that God give us a grateful heart.  The aroma of entitlement not only stinks, but will always leave us dissatisfied.

Limitless good news

“Le Hic”, (the thing) about the Gospel is that there are SO many things about the Gospel.  Who can ever be bored, when there are treasures to be discovered?  I sometimes thank God that He is both bigger & better and truer & more real than anything I can imagine.  I don’t have to fear running out of new knowledge about God.  I don’t have to fear that one day I’ll hear of proof that Christianity isn’t true after all.

Here are some recent thoughts, new to me, about God and what He has done for us:

• Justice has been meted out in my cosmic criminal case, so I face no more penal judgment. Payment for my sins is truly behind me, a fait accompli. There is no double jeopardy in God’s kingdom.
• I’ve already been punished when Jesus was punished
• I’ve already died. I was crucified with Jesus at the cross.
• Therefore, with nothing to fear, my relationship with the Father has been restored.
• If the worse thing to fear is death, and since I’ve already died, there is nothing more to fear.   Do I lack anything?  Remember Paul’s logic.  If God the Father has given me the ultimate (Jesus), won’t He just as readily and easily provide for my lesser needs?
• What about people’s approval?  If God is for me, what do I care what others think?  I don’t need anyone’s praise.   I’ve been declared cherished and worth dying for, so much so as to be united to Christ. (Who would want to share His nature with worms?)
•  Not needing to please man, my time and energy is now freed from the tyranny of always having to convince others how great and unique I am.
• If I have peace with God forever, I can graciously endure temporary hardship, drawing on the strength of the One with whom I’m united.

During this final week leading to Christmas 2011, let us savor our Savior. Let us treasure the innumerable benefits that are ours in Christ.  And let us not hesitate to explain the riches available to all those who turn to Him. The next time someone asks, “Are you ready for Christmas?” why not flip the question around to? :

“Yes, thanks for asking.  What about you?  What thrills you about the birth of Christ?”

Maybe the different response might give them pause long enough to hear some good news.

Why I’m glad Christianity is falsifiable

1 Cor 15: 17-19  And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are of all people most to be pitied.

 

“What if they found the body of Jesus, how would that affect your faith?” I heard this question the other day.  The man queried knew his Bible and went immediately to Paul’s gospel explanation.  The short of it is that without a risen Christ, Christianity doesn’t exist.

Reflecting on the essence of Christianity made me wonder if the Jews at the time of Jesus really understood the concept of ‘eternal life’ with God and the need to be ‘saved’ from the wrath of God in order to have a forever LOVING relationship with God.

When I sample the many texts in the OT that talk about salvation, I am left with the impression that Jews under the Old Covenant were really talking about being saved or rescued from difficult or perilous circumstances (oppression, danger, illness or poverty).  Yes, there was a moral law (the ten basic Mosaic Laws handed down TWICE by God).  Yes, real guilt or ‘asham’ in Hebrew was acknowledged (hence the Temple guilt offering). Yes, David acknowledged that when he killed Uriah he sinned against God. But many infractions were more community-based. Some were the result of inadvertently hurting a neighbor or his property.  Other deficits came about in day-to-day life, such as  giving birth, completing one’s monthly cycle, or even due to work commitments (such as burial or mold detail).

Hebrew people seem to have judged sin to be serious mainly because it separated them from the community.  OT texts talk about being unclean and thus alienated from fellowship.  Uncleanness didn’t necessarily mean breaking a moral law.  But ritualistic purification/ cleansing sacrificial acts were called for, in order to sanction a return to full communion with the group.

My premise is that 1^st century Jews hearing about the New News of God had to be indoctrinated and explicitly taught this new doctrine. To fully understand the seriousness of being under God’s wrath, one needed teaching different from that of the Pharisees and Scribes.

What an extravagant and marvelous solution to the problem of God’s wrath!  We’ve lost our amazement and awe in face of not only a restoration of fellowship with God, but the whole adoption process. The gift of a loving and eventual face-to-face union with a triune God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) that will last forever?  How is that possible?

The author of Hebrews succinctly articulates this new Covenant in chapter 9, verse 15:  “Christ, the Messiah is the author of an entirely new and different covenant, so that all those who are called and offered it, may received the promised eternal inheritance. For a death has taken place; Jesus has died as a ransom to save us from sins committed under the first or old covenant….”

All the above would have stayed the fantastical imaginings of wistful dreamers had there had been a body.  But thanks be to God!  Jesus’ resurrection is vindication of the false charge of blasphemy.  Technically He was put to death for claiming that He was one and the same as God.  The fact that He didn’t stay dead, that He actually supernaturally rose and appeared to more than 500 of the brothers at the same time as well as to the major apostles is proof positive that He is God, just as He claimed.

Had there been a body, Judaism would have remained the only player.  People would have continued to do bad stuff both morally against God and His creation and technically against the community.  Animals would have continued to die to temporarily fix the problem. Precious little talk of eternal face-to-face fellowship with God as Father would have occurred.

Okay…I know, you’re thinking of how Psalm 16 ends…” in your presence is fullness of joy and at your right hand are pleasures evermore”.  I agree:  if you look for them, there are OT references to eternal life with God.  But I don’t think that doctrine was a clear and present hope.  From everything we read in gospels, temple worship was big business, all about power and money.  The only mystery was the High Priest’s once-a-year high-profile, but hidden, almost Wizard of Oz-like performance behind the veil.

This, dear friends, is what we would be left with IF the dead body of Jesus had been produced. We would be gentile worshippers of Yahweh at best, just as lost as non-worshippers, but perhaps comforted by the ritual.  After all, man is a religious animal.

So the next time you think about what it would take for you to lose your faith, be glad that Christianity is falsifiable in such a clear way.  And then rejoice that Christianity is TRUE.  Jesus, the God-man who walked on earth 2100 years ago, was for real.  He is just as real today.  And we must study our doctrine to know the glorious riches of this mystery: “Christ in you, the assurance of glory”

 

The futility of self-imposed goals

“For freedom Christ has set us free: stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.”  Gal 5:1

On the surface, this verse argues for a religion that orients on what God has done a priori and not what we have to do a posteriori to earn His favor. (If you’ve been around a Gospel-preaching church, you will have heard at least once that the Father punished the Son for our rebellion & evil deeds and then credited us with the Son’s perfect record of righteous living.)  The Christian religion or practices AFTER this event in history include taking this message to the world and teaching ourselves to walk in light of this ‘fait accompli’.

But as I struggle daily with understanding the Gospel message & power, I realize that I still live in the self-created religion of “Good Day/ Bad Day”.

Have you heard about this religion?  I don’t think I’m the only practitioner.  But I have my version and I would wager that you, fellow believer, have your personalized script.  You and I, we do pretty well at spouting ‘Done, not Do’.  Like you, I am SO BEYOND working my way toward earning God’s approval.  I’ve absorbed Tim Keller, Mike Horton and Tullian Tchividjian’s messages.  It’s not: what would Jesus do, but what has Jesus done.

My version of religion is far more insidious.  Here’s how it works:  I have appointed myself God and have created one religious rule for obtaining salvation/approval/heaven on earth.  This is how it goes:

I am worthy if I meet standard X,Y or Z

How I measure my day, is based on how well I succeed in meeting my standard.

My husband will ask me, “Did you have a good day?” It’s an innocent and loving question, even innocuous on the surface.  But how does one answer it?  It depends on how one defines GOOD!

Here are some possibilities from my life and others. See if you identify.

• I was able to get the house clean – so it was a good day
• Not one of the kids threw up, got into an argument, or broke anything – so it was a good day
• I saw some progress in my projects at work – so it was a good day
• I knocked off many items from my list – so it was a good day
• My students were eating out of my hand – so it was a good day
• I was pain-free – so it was a good day
• I was complimented by my boss – so it was a good day
• I stayed on my diet – so it was a good day
• My kids didn’t annoy me – so it was a good day
• I had a good night sleep – so it was a good day
• I felt like I made a difference at work – so it was a good day
• I got an A on the test – so it was a good day
• I now have a date for Prom – so it was a good day
• I paid the bills and there was enough money in the account – so it was a good day
• I got accepted by a college/ I got offered a job – so it was a good day
• I didn’t have to wait long to see the doctor – so it was a good day
• It’s Friday and I made it through the week – so it was a good day
• I had some time to myself – so it was a good day
• It rained on the crops – so it was a good day
• She called/ she didn’t call – so it was a good day
• He listened to me – so it was a good day
• I felt worthwhile…loved…. respected by him/ her/ them – so it was a good day

 

What’s wrong with this list, you might be saying?  They are perfectly normal things.  It’s not like we’ve set the standard unrealistically high: winning the lottery or being elected President.

The perversity of it is that we even have a list by which we measure ourselves.  Yes, we have tasks and work to do.  But we are not to evaluate ourselves by how or if we do them.  They should be emotion-free.  And scratch off any evaluative item that has to do with getting people to do something or think something.  That’s MORE than futile – that’s stupid!!! (I’m talking to myself.J)

So what are we to do?  Wrong question!  It’s rather, “how are we to order our thinking?”  By remembering, repenting and asking for Holy Spirit help to SUPER-GLUE our minds on the Truth.  Here are the 3 biggies that make up the basic Truth

• God & Jesus & the HS planned and carried out a rescue mission, saving us from the futile way we were living.  You & I have immeasurable worth in view of the trouble the Trinity went to save us.
• We have enough supernatural power in us as new creations (courtesy of our permanent resident, the Holy Spirit) to accomplish what God wants us to do.
• We have a certain and eternal future which far outweighs the suffering and disappointment we all face every day, every week and every year of our lives.

So what should be our goal? What benchmark do we set for ourselves so we know how to measure whether it’s been a good day, a good year, and a good life?  If money, achievement, personal or relational goals are taken away, what is left?

“Therefore, (in view of all that awaits us and all that God has done) we have as our ambition….to be pleasing to Him” 2 Cor 5: 9

That’s it!  And if we fail today, we repent and start over tomorrow, confident that our falling short doesn’t affect our true security. When we succeed, we thank Him for his grace that enabled us to please Him this day.  This Christ-purchased freedom leaves no room for shame, pride, frustration or anger.

There is one other benefit to this re-ordered way of thinking and self-evaluation.  Since we’re no longer our own god with our own self-imposed standard of righteousness, we are not even tempted to impose on others OUR rules for correct behavior.  Think of the angst we endure when we add ‘judge of those around me’ to our job description.  These co-workers, fellow drivers, family members and friends might not even aware of the game we are playing.   Yet we judge them and feel superior.

The prison door is not locked. Come on out and breathe the fresh air of freedom. “For you know that God paid a ransom to save you from the empty life you inherited from your ancestors. And the ransom he paid was not mere gold or silver.” 1 Pet 1:18

 

PS:  If you’re wondering how we are to please the Lord, ask the Lord to show you in your reading of His word.  I’m starting with just taking Him at His Word, believing what He says and resting in that.

 

 

 

One Word

I heard a woman assert that Christianity was not just about what the Bible says but living your life ‘christianly’.  I’m not sure what she means, but one thing I can conclude is that most people don’t know what Christianity is all about.

A recurring theme in our discussions and study at home is the idea of Done v. Do.  My husband and I are grateful and energized by this distinction.

The Gospel is good news about what God did to rescue condemned sinners. Therefore, if I had to boil down all the teachings of the Bible to just one word, it would be Substitution.

Jesus resolutely swapped places with condemned, rebellious men, women and children and was executed for our cosmic crimes against the Holy Creator and God.   He lovingly drank every drop of God’s justifiable wrath stored up for us and endured total (albeit temporary) separation from the God-head.  In turn, we received credit for His 100 % righteous behavior and fulfillment of God’s law so we can have peace with God.

Two –way substitution qualified us to be adopted and included in an eternal inheritance.  Nothing remains to be done!

Yet this seems too good to be true.  Therefore, churches continue to preach Do…Do…Do!

Well, aren’t we SUPPOSED to do something?  The question evidences our natural default.  Just like when we were teens and wondering about sexual limits, we long to know what we have to do.

Even Jesus’ followers pinned Him down by asking, “Then they said to him, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.“  (John 6:28-29)

Correct knowledge is what counts.  We need to hear the Good News every day.  Only when we do, will we find ourselves being energized and swept up in the amazing joy of our rescue.  Out of that will flow worship/service.  When Jesus brought Lazarus back to life and Mary KNEW the power and truth of God, she joyfully worshipped and served the Savior by lavishing her 401k plan on Jesus’ feet (aka – the jar of perfume – thank you John Piper for your exposition in your 11/6/2011 sermon).

A young friend of ours was lamenting the lack of passion and fervor in his Sunday School class (young parents in their 20s).  Maybe it’s not their fault! I think they are just exhausted from growing up as 2^nd and perhaps 3^rd generational Christians, raised in an evangelical Christian community that batters them week after week with guilt-laden exhortations to do more.   No wonder they seem apathetic.  Only the Gospel will energize them.

And to assume that they know the Gospel and don’t need to hear it repeatedly in different ways is just as wicked as that husband.  You know the one I mean, the one who can’t be bothered to tell his wife daily in new & creative ways how much he loves her.  Instead he sputters defensively, “My wife already KNOWS I love her. I told her when we were dating.  After all, I wouldn’t have married her if I didn’t love her.”

My two pillars

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! 1 John 3:1

Our principal’s husband spoke at chapel on Friday.  He engaged the students (12-18 year olds) by first painting a picture of his uncomfortable high-school years.  I’m sure some of them can identify with feeling shy and wanting to belong to some group, any group!  John, today a high-energy extraverted salesman, found a home in high school among the drama kids.

Toward the end of his talk, which dealt with the life-long struggle with sin, he mentioned that taking the Gospel into painful situations is the key to the temptations of sin.  He offered a scenario sure to resonate with teens: enduring conflict and difficult conversation with one’s parents.  As I sat in the audience, I waited for him to explain exactly how one ‘takes’ the Gospel into problems.

All of a sudden I got it!  Being a child of God MEANS we have a lot to look forward to that is 100 % certain. Our status and our inheritance are guaranteed by Jesus’ covenantal shed blood.  Knowing that our future is going to be full of pleasure & joy, we can endure more easily life’s frequent bouts of ‘affliction, disappointment, hardship, inconvenience and pressure’ (Romans 5: 3).

This faith in future grace reminds me of a Tim Keller story (Pastor, Redeemer Church in NYC). Two men were hired to muck out a stable for a time-certain period.  The contract with one was for a paltry sum of money.  The contract with the other was for a million dollars.  Same dirty, smelly work but different future rewards.  The one griped, the other whistled.  What made the difference?  The knowledge of what was waiting for each.

That thought prompted my mind to slip over to 2 verses that I’ve memorized, my new twin pillars to keep me steady in the midst of ever-changing circumstances:

-Christ in you, the hope of glory, Col 1:27…..(Christ in ME, the assurance of future joy, pleasure, satisfaction, love, celebration, peace….)

-But our light and momentary afflictions are achieving an eternal weight, an abundance of glory that far outweighs them all,  2 Cor 4:17…..(Yes, each day brings pain and uncertainty.  That’s the nature of living in a fallen world.  But God’s word assures me that there is a purpose and a payoff for the trials…).

These verses are just 2 of many promises meant to sustain us, to support us, to keep us from falling down under tribulation.

I think that is what John Lane meant by ‘taking the Gospel’ with you when you face trials.

Again, it’s what you know that makes all the difference.

Our Father, remind us what it means to love you with all our mind and give us the will and strength to do so.  Amen

Do versus Know

Did you know that Christianity is different from every other faith ‘expression’ in the universe?  When I was in Toronto, I dialogued a bit with the assistant wedding photographer who was a Muslim.  He echoed the same assertion as my young Muslim pharmacist at Kroger:  “Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all basically the same.”

(That’s an easy assertion to counter – just ask them who Jesus is.  Jews admit Jesus was a teacher of the law.  Muslims claim that he was a prophet.  But divine Son of God?  No way!)

But for the purposes of this blog post, I want to share what gets at the heart of the main difference.

Here’s a general statement that I believe holds true.  Most religions teach you what you have to DO in order to obtain X, Y, or Z.  Christianity is NOT focused on what we do, but what we must KNOW.  Out of correct knowledge of reality, we can then do the right things.  But these ‘right actions’ are not directed at getting anything, earning anything, manipulating anyone.

Here’s what I mean.  Both the Greek and Hebrew words for the verb ‘to know’ are pivotal.  Look at some of these texts.

Paul:  Philippians 3:8 “ ….I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of KNOWING Christ Jesus my Lord.”

Paul:  1 Cor 2:14  “For I determined to KNOW nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified.”

Paul: 2 Cor 2:14 “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in His triumph in Christ, and manifests through us the sweet aroma of the KNOWLEDGE of Him in every place

Paul: 2 Cor 4: 6b-7 “ For God….has shone in our hearts to give the light of the KNOWLEDGE of the glory of God in the face of Christ.  For we have THIS TREASURE (what else, but the preceding KNOWLEDGE) in earthen vessels (remember? our original dad, Adam, was made of clay dustJ)

Peter: 2 Peter 3: 3-4  “His divine power has given us everything we need for a godly life through our KNOWLEDGE of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises (we have to KNOW them to derive power), so that through them you may participate in the divine nature, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires” (what we know changes our desires!)

Habbakuk 2:14 “For the earth will be filled with the KNOWLEDGE of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea”

We are all wired to want to DO and to EARN the goodies of life.  Jesus teaches that having the correct information and then resting on, banking on, savoring and  loving that information, that good news (‘gospel’) above all else is the key.  When his Jewish followers tried to pin him down (what do we have to do to get the ‘A’?) he answered in John 6:29, “This is the work of God, that you BELIEVE in Him whom He has sent”

He didn’t say, “This is the work of God, that you DO”.

Listening to Brad Evangelista (Crosspointe Church, Columbus, GA) and reading a John Piper essay (Desiring God ministries) today left me with the same message.  What we DO, the works we perform, our behavior all come out of WHO we are.  Brad was talking about coaching youth football and challenging the youngsters to play like who they are, Broncos!  John Piper was doing the same.  Since we are recipients (undeserving) of God’s glorious mercy, live like an amazed child of God who has untold treasures awaiting her.

To close, I want to share with you an anecdote expressing the same point that first we have to KNOW who we are, before we can ACT correctly or DO the right thing as fragrant ambassadors of Christ.  I was listening to the story of a woman who had escaped the lies of Mormonism.  When asked what was attractive about the Mormon life, she said it was the knowledge that she would one day be a goddess on her own planet.  She wore a necklace or bracelet with a pendant that was a promise of that, given to her when she was baptized as a Mormon convert. That knowledge made her feel special every day.  (Then came the day when she learned how false the teachings of Mormonism were and she left.)

Shouldn’t knowing the truth make the difference in our day-to-day life?  The best antidote to blah-ness is to feast on Christ. Then we can sincerely exclaim with Paul (Romans 11:33) – “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and KNOWLEDGE of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!”

The beauty of the sacrament of communion – a new perspective

I didn’t know that!!!!

I’m talking about Communion, the Eucharist.

We’ve been members of a reformed Presbyterian church for 2 years, having left a main-line liberal denomination.  In our old church, Communion was always 100 % scripted, out of a printed liturgy. It always felt rote.  It was rote.  I struggled to find meaning, to imbue it with meaning, to do anything to make it more meaningful.  I was totally puzzled when people would remark, ‘unless I’ve had communion, I don’t feel like I’ve been to church’ or ‘communion is the high point of the worship service’.  Struggling to connect with these dear people’s sentiments, I would default to either of two polar reactions:

1.  Something’s wrong with me, that I don’t  ‘get it’
2. I’m better than them, because I prefer sermons with good expositional preaching

But Sunday our pastor mentioned something in passing that really caught my attention.  It was one brief sentence that shifted my understanding of communion so that it became beautiful.  I want to explain that transformation and then make an application about why it’s important ‘to explain stuff’ frequently, whether the Gospel or communion (which is the gospel).

Here is what our pastor said:  “God’s forgiveness of you is just as real and tangible as this bread and wine.” (Id est.: “These matzo crackers and this wine or juice – our choice”)

I sat up and said to myself, “this is what Communion is all about?  It is a reminder of the fact that God has forgiven us via Jesus’ death?”  Suddenly all the centuries of Israelite sacrifices that offered only temporary forgiveness made sense.  But the old covenant could carry them only so far. (‘The Law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming..” Hebr 10:1) The beauty of the ‘new’ covenant is that Jesus sacrificed himself one time..and it’s totally effective and efficient for us who are members of the covenant.  The bread is the material reminder of his body punished and tortured for us.

But the wine – now that is something complex and marvelous!!  It’s a double symbol – one of blood spilt during Christ’s work securing us eternal forgiveness and one of something festive.  To this end, the wine points to the promise of  a party that will be unbelievable, a heavenly banquet.

Adam Powers who writes the blog Pleasing Pain once described Jesus’ first miracle at Cana as a sign to those well-versed in prophets: Quantity & Quality – John 2:6-10.  Excellent wine would be the herald of the Messiah’s arrival.  He quotes the prophet Amos promising dripping, sweet wine.  Isaiah echoes the festive theme.

On this mountain the LORD Almighty will prepare
a feast of rich food for all peoples,
a banquet of aged wine—
the best of meats and the finest of wines.  Isaiah 25: 6

So during Communion, we get to share in a tangible reminder of what awaits us.  It’s a reminder of the wedding feast to which we have been invited as belonging to the bride.

Now here’s my application: In that one sentence of amplification from our pastor I saw how much I need to be instructed EVERY time we have communion. Just like I need to hear and learn about the gospel every day.  I hardly grasp the magnitude of the gospel, this amazing good news.  So I need my pastor to come at it a bit differently each time.  This is why clear and creative analogies help.

Once in our old denomination, it was the latest thing to do an ‘instructed Eucharist’ once a year for one’s congregation. That was definitely a move in the right direction.  More effective, however, is the drip method combined with an element of novelty.  I do appreciate our pastor’s thoughtful efforts to help us stay enthralled with God.  How beautiful is this gift of permanent forgiveness. I want to see over and over again what God has done for me by submitting to the cross.

And can you even take it all in?  That historical event outside of Jerusalem which secured our forever-forgiveness is also a party invitation!   I’m telling you, I need this kind of instruction EVERY week. Once a year is not enough!  I praise God for Bible-centered worship.

Treasure and True Confessions

The fear of the Lord is his treasure – Isaiah 33:6

I love the fear of the Lord, that concept.  I know that sounds weird.  But let me explain myself.  We all fear something or someone.  Just like we all worship something.  In fact, I will go as far as to say that God has MADE us to fear and to worship.  Those tendencies are wired into us.  Our problem comes when we fear or worship anything other than God.

So who might we fear?  I actually fear others, what others MIGHT think of me.  That holds me back from doing what I should.

If you knew me, you would be surprised.  I appear to be a very self-confident and competent woman who is outgoing.  But my secret, paralyzing fear is this:  if I talk about Jesus to either strangers OR friends who are not Christians, they are going to:

a)   Think that I am a________ (picture in your mind the most simpleton/hokey/red-neck, drooling Christian you can imagine) and/or

b)   They are going to want to avoid me the next time our paths cross and I am going to know why!

Both of those scenarios are distasteful to me.

Because of what I fear, I don’t talk directly about Jesus.  Diagnosis?  I fear man rather than God.  Why do I value and seek THEIR approval and high regard more than God’s?  Do I really think so little of Jesus’ work on the cross that I am loathe to bring it up amidst people drowning in their own sin? Good question!  I don’t know.  But I do know it is wrong.

Since undertaking a challenge with my young friend Caitlin, I have grown more aware of this misplaced fear.  Caitlin is 17 years old.  She and I recently read a book by James Boccardo, Unsilenced:  How to Voice the Gospel.  Caitlin read it once and started talking to people about Jesus.  I had read it twice when she emailed me a couple of weeks ago.  Caitlin has been talking about life after death and Jesus to Wal-Mart greeters, Dollar Store employees, and her supervisor where she volunteers. How’s that for guts! Her boldness shamed me into finally taking the plunge.  Stalling, waiting around, talking about, re-reading the book had produced no magic melting away of fear.

I am comforted and encouraged to know that Caitlin is praying for me as I stick my big toe into this new experience.  So far, my imagined scenarios have not materialized with the three people I’ve approached.  Nonetheless, daily I have to talk to myself about why fearing the Lord is much better than fearing man.

God’s Word reminds us in many places (just do a search on ‘fear of the Lord’) of the treasures that are waiting for us if we fear Him.  So what does fear mean?   Fearing God is all about wanting to please Him, revering Him, worshipping Him, making Him more important than anything else.  Fear or the Hebrew word yir’ah (Strongs 3374) is about having the correct attitude toward God.  It’s not slavish cowering, but respectful acknowledgment of who God is and our place as His creature. After all, He controls all things including me.   This kind of fear or respect is like how I imagine a blacksmith might treat his burning hot tools.  He knows the dangers and how close he can get to the heat.  Knowing the boundaries gives him freedom to perform his artistry and craft with confidence.

When we know who God is and understand our relationship to Him as a dependent daughter or son, infinitely loved by Him, we hold the key to a treasure trove.  So the proper yir’ah or fear of the Lord is the beginning of a rich relationship.

Everyone knows the Proverb 1:7 – The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  We cannot even begin to understand God without this mindset.  The prophet Isaiah called this attitude toward God one of the 7 gifts of the Holy Spirit. If we are His, if we are born again and have the Holy Spirit in us, this is what God promised Jesus and us, His brothers and sisters……

And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear.  (Is 11: 2-3)

I am thankful for Caitlin.  Knowing that she is out there, holding her light up in the  midst of a dark world, talking about eternal matters with her ‘neighbors’ makes it easier for me.  God doesn’t ask for success; He asks for a willing and dependent heart.  Look what He promises us for trusting in His provision and stepping out:

The fear of the Lord leads to life and whoever has it rests satisfied.  Prov 19:23a

The Power of an Ecclesiastes Moment

Two posts ago I described the objective news that is very good, hence ‘gospel’. I spelled out what God did to make a way for us to be in right relationship with Him. Yes, every single human being has a relationship with God, the Almighty Father.  As one British man put it, we all have a personal relationship with God.  Some are enemies of God and will be judged worthy of eternal separation and punishment; some are friends of God and will be graced with the gift of pardon and joyful eternal fellowship with the Holy family.

Today I want to describe the subjective changes that can occur when one’s status shifts from “Enemy of God” to “Beloved Child and Friend of God”.

Context and frameworks are important to me.  I grew up learning lots of data via education, reading and ‘attending’ church.  But I had no system in which to file, store or make sense of the information.   (As an aside, having been ‘educated’ in public schools to include my four years at “The University” aka University of Virginia and then having taught for 12 years at an elite ‘independent’ school, I was hungry for a better way to educate students.  Hence my delight upon discovering the classical method; subsequently I have found a HOME teaching logic and French at a classical Christian school in Yorktown, VA.  The classical method gives students a structure on which to hang the data they absorb.  Then students are drawn into making connections, learning to reason and ultimately expressing themselves with eloquence.)

The spiritual side of my life paralleled my educational experiences. The seemingly random chunks of unanchored God-knowledge I was collecting came from years of attending church. God had been calling me for a time into a deeper relationship with Him. But no matter what I learned, it had minimal impact on my life, for without a proper worldview or system, I had no idea what to do with the information.  Until my mid-forties, I was busy being a wife and a working mom with two sons.  I didn’t have much time to think.  You know what it’s like coordinating sports schedules and keeping up with the social lives of teens.

The year I turned 40, my life changed. I started studying and learning biblical truth via Bible Study Fellowship.  The concept and importance of having a Biblical worldview also began to percolate somewhere in my mind as I read books recommended by mentors.  But one day (I must have had a pocket of time to think), I was sitting at a traffic light waiting to turn left into our neighborhood when I was caught up in the meaninglessness of life.  It was an Ecclesiastes Meltdown Moment.

Have you ever had one of those?  It’s when you can somehow stand outside of yourself and observe both yourself and those around you.  Everything seemed meaningless, an entry right out of Solomon’s diary:  Chapter 1, verse 8:  All things are wearisome; Man is not able to tell it.  The eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor is the ear filled with hearing.

I FELT the futility of everything and I was depressed.  It was rush hour; people were in that tired/no think/ rat-race zone, just doing the next thing on the list and stressing because they had not allowed enough time to GET there, wherever THERE is.  There seemed to be no purpose to anything in my life.  And I was very scared.  I can see why men have mid-life affairs or buy a big toy or why women want a new house and throw themselves into decorating it.  Humans crave purpose, meaning, and drama!  And if they don’t find it where God intended them to (in HIM!), they will imbue something created with that kind of transcendent meaning.

My spiritual angst did not last more than a couple of days, but I won’t ever forget it.  Somehow through all that I had been learning from God’s word, books and podcasts, a framework for making sense of life as it really is was forming.  All was NOT meaningless.  There was a purpose.  Whew!  I would not want to live unanchored every day with the burden of having to make up a purpose à la existentialists. But sometimes God gives me a taste of that empty world as a reminder.  I am exceedingly thankful when I come back to my senses.

I’ve told you the above back story to show you the sad truth that without a relationship with God as one of His own, people live quiet and despairingly grey lives. Oh, they may LOOK happy and even be satisfied for a while as they busy themselves with all the entertaining options the world offers.  But with no proper framework or world view to explain the ‘teleos’ (purpose) of life, eventually the baubles of life break or satisfy no more.  Even uninformed Christians can get caught up in the snares of modern, frenzied life and not know that they have it all wrong.

I became a Christian at age 24, but did not start to study my Bible in an organized fashion until I was 40 and even then it took about 5 years for some of the truths to make a serious difference.  (Hint, hint, hint:  when you share the Gospel with someone, it’s really important that you plug them into a Bible-believing Church so they can grow and learn.)

So here are some of the SUBJECTIVE benefits to being an informed Christian.  Objectively, yes, your eternal destination and future have changed.  And that is HUGE.  But there are some very precious subjective (i.e. FEELING) blessings for this present life that come with being a growing, abiding, well-fed little lamb of Christ:

• Purpose in life – As a believer every day that you are alive you have a mission.  You are an ambassador of Christ whose job is to make God look good in your current circumstances, among the ‘neighbors’ that God has placed around you.  God is of course incredibly good..but most people don’t know that.  To use ‘christianese’, we are to be salty and emit the fragrance of the Savior. When someone is interested in talking about God, then we can tell them the truth about their personal relationship with their Creator.
• Explanation for evil – there is a real cosmic battle going on.  Evil exists because of the fall.  Sinful humans hurt other sinful humans.  Natural disasters happen.  Satan, as temporary ruler of this world’s systems, is at war with God and His people.  But God is still in charge.  All that happens is under His sovereign control.  I would be VERY depressed if I thought pain was random and meaningless.
• A prepared Father who knows what is happening next – Nothing surprises God about me or life.  There is no Plan B.  God knows all that is going to happen to me and has stockpiled resources that are perfect for the circumstances.
• Nothing wasted – Everything that is painful, tough and frustrating is used by God for my ultimate good.  If I yield it to God, the ‘bad stuff’ is not wasted.
• Riches waiting – As a child of God, one of His family, I have access to hundreds of riches through very real promises of God as He has revealed in Scriptures.  And there is REAL power in His words.  The Bible is not just a historical account of what happened, but living words that reveal a loving God who is alive!  He has planned provisions waiting for me in the Scriptures.
• No end – this is more important to me as I age.  I recall past 7-day cruises we have enjoyed.  Each time the week flies by.  Soon there is only one or two days left and we are sad.  All good things inevitably come to an end.  Now as I approach mid-fifties, I find comfort that the best is yet to be and it won’t ever end.