Tag-Archive for » obedience «

Anti-Ecclesiastes

Friday, November 18th, 2011 | Author:

Only conduct yourselves in a manner worthy of the gospel of Christ; so that whether I come and see you or remain absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel;  Philippians 1:27  NASB

Striving – Koheleth, the Teacher, thought that life was striving after wind.  Paul has a different opinion.  But that’s because Paul doesn’t make the same mistakes that Koheleth makes.  Unless we recognize the opposing assumptions of Paul, we too will strive after wind and end up with Koheleth in a life of pointless effort.

What differences does Paul employ?  Well, the first thing we notice is that Paul sets a standard for conduct based on revealed truth.  “Worthy of the good news” isn’t whatever I happen to think is important.  Yeshua revealed God’s care and God’s expectations.  Those become the measures of our lives.  We are to conduct ourselves (the Greek is politeuesthe – did you notice that it is a political word?) as citizens of God’s Kingdom.  That means we live according to His rules.  There is no debate about what God wants.  He has spelled it out for us.  This is a verb about behavior, not intellectual assent.  It’s also important to notice that in the Greek text the phrase “worthy of the gospel of Christ” comes first in the sentence.  The standard comes first.  The conduct follows.  What Yeshua taught is the measure of our lives as citizens.

The second important assumption is Paul’s use of the plural “you.”  Koheleth took on the task of understanding the world as an individual.  Paul knows that is bound to fail.  We, not I, is the center of the gospel.  No man stands on his own in the Kingdom.  “Striving together with one mind” is God’s way.  Koheleth’s individual effort led him to striving after wind, but together we are able to strive after God.  Paul chooses a verb that incorporates community right into its structure.  It isn’t striving (athleo – think of “athletic”).  It is sunathleo – to exert oneself with another, to help, to aid.  It is teamwork, not individual achievement.

Finally, we should notice Paul’s goal.  It isn’t insight.  It isn’t understanding.  It is faith.  And for rabbi Paul, faith can mean only one thing – obedience.  Doing what God asks when God asks it.  Hinneni.  To be ready as a servant to do the Master’s bidding.  The “faith of the gospel” isn’t a list of correct beliefs.  And it isn’t figuring out what it means to live like a Christian.  It is plain and simple obedience to what God revealed and what Yeshua portrayed – the Word of the Lord manifest visibly in the life of Yeshua.  Paul’s goal isn’t like Koheleth’s.  Koheleth wants to understand the world by himself.  Paul wants to follow the King with others.

Which camp are you in today?

Topical Index:  striving, Koheleth, obedience, faith, sunathleo, Philippians 1:27

 

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , , ,  | 12 Comments

Chain of Command

Monday, November 07th, 2011 | Author:

And when Jesus heard this, He marveled at him, and turned and said to the multitude that was following Him, “I say to you, not even in Israel have I found such great faith.”  Luke 7:9  NASB

Not even in – The centurion exhibited something Yeshua didn’t find among His own people.  Even He was surprised (the word is thaumazo – to wonder, to marvel).  We think we understand His amazement.  After all, this man was a Gentile, a Roman soldier.  We think Yeshua’s wonder comes because He doesn’t expect Gentiles to embrace His teaching so quickly.  We think He marvels that the man trusts Him.  Because we believe that having faith is a matter of declaring correct beliefs, we see the astonishment in the declaration of the centurion, “Just say the word, and . . .”  Then we conclude that we would have done the same thing since we know who Yeshua is.  But this train of thought sends us in the wrong direction.  A closer look at the comparison will put us straight.

“Not even in” is the Greek oude en.  Oude must be set in opposition to mede, just as ou and me must be distinguished.  Oude is the combination of ou (not) and de (and), but this is the stronger not, the not of “no exceptions,” as opposed to the conditional not (me), the not of “it might not be.”  This means Yeshua is saying that He has never seen this kind of faith among His own.  That’s an amazing statement considering all of His encounters with Israelites.  If faith only means asserting the truth that Yeshua is Messiah, the Son of God, then there are certainly others who qualify.  How about Peter?  He is the first to declare Yeshua to be the Son of God.  Doesn’t his “faith” equal that of the centurion?

Apparently not.  This means we need to reconsider what “faith” means in this verse.  It is the centurion’s great “faith” that creates the amazement.  It can’t be his declaration since others make declarations that are even more significant.  What is it that makes this centurion so unusual?  The answer is his complete, unhesitating obedience.  That’s the point of the centurion’s example of those under his command.  He speaks.  They do.  No questions asked.  The centurion’s distinctive characteristic is his immediate, unqualified acceptance of Yeshua’s authority and his instantaneous commitment to that authority.  Faith isn’t his words.  It’s his deeds.

What makes the centurion so unusual, so different from even the Jews Yeshua taught and healed?  His unquestioning obedience.  This is the essence of faith.  To hear is to do.  The great distinction of this soldier is that he knows what it means to carry out the word of an authority.  When Yeshua marvels at his unquestioning obedience, He sets the bar for all of us.  Do we instantly obey?  Do we hear God’s word, and without doubt, without wavering, without stalling or reluctance, do exactly what God asks as soon as He asks?  Perhaps if we weren’t so much like the disciples who spent three years wavering, delaying and hesitating, perhaps if we were a bit more like this soldier, we would respond with a faith so great Yeshua would remark, “Not even in Israel have I seen such as this?”

Topical Index:  faith, not even in, oude en, obedience, Luke 7:9

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 10 Comments

With One Small Addition

Tuesday, November 01st, 2011 | Author:

 Samuel said, “Has the LORD as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the voice of the LORD?  Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity and idolatry.”  1 Samuel 15:22-23  NASB

Is better than – You probably don’t bring sacrifices to the Lord these days.  Since there is no Temple in Jerusalem, there is no place to fulfill the sacrificial requirements.  Don’t be duped into thinking that because Yeshua died on the cross there is no need to make sacrifices.  He filled up one of the requirements but not all of the requirements.  Of course, the one He did fill up is a critically important one (the sacrifice for the guilt of intentional sin), but if the Temple still stood, and if we were in Israel, we would still bring sacrifices for other ritual impurities.  And when He returns and the Kingdom is established on earth, you will once again see the smoke rising from the Temple mount.

But in the meanwhile – “it is better to obey.”  Samuel’s declaration of the priority of obedience does not dismiss the sacrifices.  It only points out that sacrifice without obedience is insufficient.  Samuel doesn’t say sacrifice is unnecessary.  He only says that obedience is better.  Sacrifice is a symbol of obedience.  Therefore, obedience must be lodged in the heart of the one who brings the sacrifice.  Ritual without relationship is a funeral, not a wedding.  But a wedding has both vows and an altar.

The Hebrew text is literally, “Behold, obeying than sacrifice (is) better,” so the translation in English doesn’t quite fit the word-for-word Hebrew.  The phrase “is better than” is really an interpretation of the word tov (as an adjective, not as the verb “to be good”).  It means “good, well-pleasing, useful, proper, convenient, morally correct” or “fruitful” depending on the context.  You might try reading the verse with each of these various meanings in order to grasp the full range of Samuel’s declaration.  It’s also important to note that the proper action is continuous (“obeying”), not simply a repetitive ritual.

How can we apply Samuel’s analysis when there is no possibility for sacrifice today?  Fortunately, obedience is readily available at any point and anywhere.  There is no limitation on obedience as there is on sacrifice.  That means if we desire to offer our gratitude to God today, we can still fulfill Samuel’s exhortation.  We can obey and by obeying, we can fulfill the requirement of sacrifice in the absence of the Temple.

Of course, this has another interesting implication.  When Samuel said that obedience was better than sacrifice, what did he assume about obedience?  Did he suppose that obedience was an undefined principle of love for others or an attitude of putting God first?  Hardly!  Samuel had specific instructions in mind.  To obey Torah is better than sacrifice.  It is impossible to imagine that Samuel, a prophet of God, could have assumed anything else.  Torah is God’s requirement for good living.  Samuel doesn’t mean obedience to some “good person” moralism.  He means doing what God instructs us to do. Today we cannot offer sacrifices, but nothing prevents us from being obedient.  So here’s the question:  Are you following Samuel’s advice or have you decided that since you cannot offer sacrifices you don’t need to obey either?

Topical Index:  obedience, sacrifice, tov, 1 Samuel 15:22-23, Torah

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 6 Comments

The Last Word of Life

Saturday, October 08th, 2011 | Author:

The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.  Ecclesiastes 12:13  NASB

Conclusion – The penultimate verse of Ecclesiastes is a statement of the final rational, moral and ethical purpose of life.  Notice that it applies to every person, not just to those who claim to follow YHWH.  The perspective of Qohelet, the Teacher, is that this summary covers everyone on earth in every age and every circumstance.  Why?  Because this answer is woven into the very fabric of being alive.  There is, in the end, only one real objective in life.  It is not personal salvation.  It is not getting to heaven.  It isn’t even redeeming the earth.  It is to fear God and do what He says.

Why is this the final answer?  Because life doesn’t provide certainty for any of our nobler hopes.  In other words, human history, both intellectual and experiential, is not a reverie.  It’s a nightmare.  It is dominated by a sense of ugly futility where the best efforts of men cannot overcome the daunting forces of evil, apathy or ignorance.  Brute force wins far too often, submerging Man’s greater aspirations in the mire of power and greed.  Even Man’s search for Truth is a curse laden with personal agendas, cultural bias and delusion.  As Heschel says, “We spend a lifetime looking for the key, and when we find it, we discover we do not know where the lock is.”[1]  Heschel notes that all moral action is ultimately frustrated by the possibility that our efforts to discover meaning may be absurd and useless.  The human perspective is too narrow, too temporally fixed, too self-serving to actually grasp what it means “to be.”  In the end, we might not know what we are doing is actually good for us or anyone else.

Therefore, the only real way to conquer the limitations of the human frame is to rely on God’s discernment of moral values.  Life offers no guarantees that what we do today may not turn out to be destructive or pointless tomorrow.  Only God can know which actions contribute to the Good and which do not.  Since the final arbiter of moral distinction must be God alone, “the supreme response” of man must be obedience.

It’s really straightforward.  We can act according to our own best estimates of moral behavior, fighting the constant appeal of selfish motives even within noble acts, hoping that our decisions ultimately contribute to our well-being and the well-being of the world, without certainty that they actually will – or – we can obey God.  We can simply do what He says to do and put aside the incessant quest to understanding how it all “fits.”  But we can’t do both.  We can’t pretend that we will serve Him and walk according to His instructions and at the same time reserve our right to question His commands because we don’t approve or understand them.

The man who truly recognizes that he is not God will seek to obey God.  The man who thinks his own reason is still the arbiter of truth will obey when it seems reasonable.

Topical Index:  obedience, conclusion, Ecclesiastes 12:13


[1] Abraham Heschel, A Passion for Truth, p. 288.

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , ,  | 13 Comments

The More We See

Friday, March 18th, 2011 | Author:

the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked. 1 John 2:6  NASB

In the same manner as – No one who claims to know Jesus will deny the truth of John’s statement.  If we say we have fellowship with Yeshua and that we participate in His unwavering love, then, says John, we ought to behave as He behaved.  We ought to walk in the Way.  More than that, we should be living in the same manner as He lived.  The Greek is a bit more complicated.  Literally it says, “ought as that one walked also himself to walk.”  “In the same manner as” is an attempt to capture the meaning rather than the exact wording.  But we get the picture, don’t we?  We see that if anyone is really a follower of Yeshua, that person will approach life with the same code of conduct, the same frame of mind and the same attitude of heart.  John could hardly make it any clearer when he states the opposite.  “If anyone says he knows God but doesn’t keep the commandments, that person is a liar.”

With this in mind, great New Testament scholars like F. F. Bruce can say “obedience is the full flowering of our love for Him,”[1] and “the character of God will be displayed in those who abide in Him,” and “so the life of Christ in His people will be manifested as their behaviour resembles His.”[2] Apparently everyone on both sides of the great Messianic divide agrees.  Those who call themselves by His name must demonstrate His actions.

Then how come Christians in general don’t follow the actual behaviors of Yeshua?  How come they worship on Sunday (He didn’t) and celebrate Christmas and Easter (He didn’t) and eat whatever they wish (He didn’t) and tithe according to the needs of the mortgage debt (He didn’t) and say blessing before meals (He didn’t) and pray to Mary (He certainly didn’t!) and restrict women to certain roles (He didn’t) and treat the Church as a replacement of Israel (He didn’t)?  How can great scholars like F. F. Bruce (and many more) say this and, at the same time, remain within the religion of Christianity?  The answer is paradigm shift.  What John says as a Jewish Messianic believer is transformed into something a post-apostolic age Christian would say.  In other words, John’s words are re-interpreted by the Church!  The paradigm says that John converted from Judaism to Christianity and therefore, all that John says must fit within the Christian idea of following, not the Jewish idea.

Can there be any doubt about the meaning of John’s phrase “in the same manner as” from a Hebraic point of view?  No!  The words are used over and over in the Tanakh to describe a way of life centered in Torah obedience.  That is, in fact, the way Yeshua lived.  But for most Christians these texts have been adjusted to fit the theological commitments of the Church.  The words are the same, but the meaning is radically different.  The paradigm provides the meaning.  It always has.  The question is which paradigm makes the most sense: the one that governed the culture, ethos and language of John as a Jew or the one supplied by Origen, Chrysostrom, Augustine, Aquinas and Luther?

If Jesus was a Jew, then where did Christian thinking come from?

Topical Index:  Torah, obedience, in the same manner as, 1 John 2:6, F. F. Bruce

[1] F. F. Bruce, The Epistles of John, p. 52

[2] Ibid., p. 53.

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 23 Comments

Beneficiaries

Tuesday, January 04th, 2011 | Author:

“YHWH, Elohey Yisrael, there is none like You, Elohim, in the heavens or in the earth, keeping covenant and mercy with Your servants who walk before You with all their hearts.” 2 Chronicles 6:14 (Darby)

Servants – God keeps His promises.  And God is merciful.  That is very good news!  But who are the beneficiaries of this good news?  Solomon answers, “His servants.”  How are they distinguished from the rest of Mankind?  His servants walk before Him with all their hearts.

‘eved is the Hebrew word translated “servant.”  It usually means “slave,” a facet we should not overlook.  While slavery did not carry the same nuances that we associate with the word today, the idea of unwavering commitment and ownership stands behind Hebrew concepts of service to another.  This noun is derived from the verb ‘avad, “to do, make, carry out or perform.”  The basic tasks of a slave are to do the will of the master, to carry out the master’s instructions  and to perform one’s duty to the master.  Certainly Solomon has these actions in mind when he calls those who experience God’s covenant keeping and mercy avadecha (“Your servants”).

This thought is particularly distressing.  Why?  Because we want to experience the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, and this thought suggests that only those who walk before Him with all their hearts are the beneficiaries of His covenant and His mercy.  If that’s the case, most of us (if not all) are not going to make it.  Try counting the number of days that you walked before the Lord as His ‘eved with all your heart.  Actually, try counting the number of hours or even minutes.  Days is probably far too much.  Can Solomon really mean that unless we are walking before Him with all of our hearts, we are not going to experience His covenant and hesed?  I don’t see how that can be the case.

Paul assures us, in case we didn’t know it already, that we have all sinned and deserve punishment.  Paul also assures us that we are no longer condemned because of the grace of God and the obedience of His Son.  Mercy triumphs!  We are beneficiaries of His love in spite of our faltering commitment.  But that doesn’t excuse faltering.  Just as the biblical concept of the wicked describes those who over a course of time reject the instructions of YHWH, so the concept of servants describes those who over the course of time continually strive for obedience.  God’s beneficiaries are not the perfected ones.  They are the broken but repentant ones. To walk before Him with all of our hearts is to set the course of our lives so that His purposes become our purposes.  That takes a long time, but God is patient.  He might not be patient with excuses and rationalizations, but He is patient with those He loves to transform.  Someday, upon the arrival of the renewed covenant, we will serve Him without wavering.  Today we serve Him in spite of wavering.

Topical Index:  servant, ‘eved, obedience, 2 Chronicles 6:14

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , ,  | 4 Comments

The Man Who Would Be King

Friday, November 19th, 2010 | Author:

“Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen better than the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22

Is Better Than – Saul loved being king.  He loved to be the man in charge.  He loved to make the decisions.  That love of power and prestige ruined him.  He forgot that the king is called to have an ear for the words of the Lord.  He forgot that the only reason a man leads is because he first serves.  Saul thought he could pacify YHWH with ritual, but Samuel reminded him that ritual means nothing if it is used to replace obedience.  The Hebrew preposition min has a half dozen or more meanings depending on the context.  Here it is used as the indicator of comparison.  It could be translated “to obey is above sacrifice,” or “ to obey is beyond sacrifice,” or “to obey is greater than sacrifice.”  What is really important is the implication that failing to carry out God’s commands is the equivalent of rebellion, iniquity and idolatry (see the next verse).  Samuel speaks ominous words to Saul:  “Because you have rejected the word of YHWH, YHWH has also rejected you from being king.”  Disobedience has terrible consequences because disobedience is tantamount to serving some other god.

Many know this story but few consider its contemporary application.  Who are the people who substitute ritual for obedience?  It isn’t the non-believers.  They don’t care about the ritual at all.  Only those who are connected to the worship of YHWH are likely to use ritual as an alternative to obedience.  We are those people.

“How can you say that?” you might ask.  “We worship God.  We believe in Jesus.  We go to church.”  So?  The issue is not about religious practice or sacred rituals.  It’s about doing what YHWH says.  As far as I can tell, YHWH says to watch what you eat, use your assets according to His instructions, demonstrate justice and righteousness over excess gain, sacrifice for others, love enemies, honor elders, maintain holiness and respect His creation.  In fact, He gives specific commandments about exactly how to accomplish these things, including how to worship Him.  But it seems that a large number of Christian practices follow Saul.  They substitute what God said for some ritual, perhaps a ritual that even has a biblical connection.  But there’s just a little alteration, a little twist, a little difference.  And when YHWH rejects those substitutions as idolatry, we get upset, claiming that we have the right motivation.  Really?  What motivates us to make up our own rules for obedience?  G. K. Beale makes a comment about Israel’s history that seems particularly appropriate for us.  “The problem with these traditions was not that they were necessarily unbiblical or bad in and of themselves, but Israel’s attitude to the traditions.  Israel trusted in these traditions instead of in God and his word.”[1] What do you suppose Yeshua meant when He said, “Neglecting the commandments of God, you hold fast to the traditions of men” (Mark 7:8)?  Doesn’t that apply to us too?

John Stott said, “The hallmark of an authentic evangelicalism is not the uncritical repetition of old traditions but the willingness to submit every tradition, however ancient, to fresh biblical scrutiny and, if necessary, reform.”  Do you think he’s right?  Have you reconsidered the “traditions” of your faith and asked if they match the words of YHWH?  Have you taken a long, hard look at the actual words of YHWH, or does your faith rest on the traditions of your church?  Is it really better to obey or will that just cause too much conflict in your life?

Topical Index:  min, better, obedience, tradition, 1 Samuel 15:22

[1] G. K. Beale, We Become What We Worship, p. 169.

Grammatical Note:  You may have noticed a few typos in the last two days.  I apologize.  Too much travel and too little time often results in less than excellent work.  Please overlook these errors and concentrate on the message.  I will try to be more careful.

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 13 Comments

Playing Opposites

Tuesday, April 27th, 2010 | Author:

But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin. Romans 14:23

Sin – Kenneth Bailey makes an interesting observation about this verse.  “We expect [Paul] to say ‘whatsoever is not of faith is unbelief.’  But for Paul the opposite of faith is sin because his understanding of faith includes obedience.”[1] Bailey doesn’t go quite far enough.  For Paul, faith doesn’t include obedience.  Faith is obedience.  Since the Hebrew view of obedience is obedience of the heart, and the heart is the seat of emotions, volition and cognition, faith without obedience is a contradiction.  Faith isn’t something I believe.  It is something that encompasses my feelings, my thoughts and my actions.

What this means is that there is no such thing as faith as mental assent.  Greek culture might call cognitive apprehension and propositional declaration of a doctrine or dogma faith, but that doesn’t make it so.  Hebrew faith expresses me, all of me, on the Way toward alignment with God’s purposes and will.  It isn’t a moment of conversion.  It is a lifetime of transformation.  It is START without STOP, a change in direction, a new way to go, perseverance toward hope.

Of course, the road is bumpy.  The road has potholes and diversions and dangerous bridges.  We get tired.  We get confused.  We make terrible judgments.  But it’s a lifetime of travel in the same direction.  To go another way is sin.  So, the opposite of obedience is the wrong way.  The opposite of faith is sin.

“In every culture the message of the gospel is in constant danger of being compromised by the value system that supports that culture and its goals.”[2] If we are going to be faithful, we must recognize, understand, evaluate and reject this compromise.  It doesn’t matter how long the compromise has been part of our thinking.  It doesn’t matter where it came from or the motivations behind it.  To compromise obedience to the instructions of the Lord is to walk away from faith, no matter what name you put on it.  Compromise is sin.

THINK! Think about the values of this culture.  Identify a few of them and see if they are present in your “faith.”  Maybe you’ll find intellectualism or the desire to be recognized.  Maybe you’ll discover fear underneath your financial incentives.  Maybe you’ll uncover denominational or doctrinal pride, or anxious addictions, or selective concern for others or a tolerant view of sexuality.  Maybe you just want to be right.  “Whatever is not from a lifelong commitment to the ways of God is sin.”

Topical Index:  sin, obedience, Romans 14:23, culture, values

[1] Kenneth Bailey, Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, p. 166.

[2] Bailey, p. 166.

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , ,  | 9 Comments

OPEN EYES FAITH

Thursday, March 04th, 2010 | Author:

Sometimes I think we get the idea that God leaves us in the dark on purpose.  We have the bump-into-things view of faith, like walking through a room with the lights off.  This morning my wife and I read our devotional page from Oswald Chambers’ book.  We talked about our current situation.  Nothing seems to have changed to correct the financial crisis we face.  The external evidence still points to a dwindling bank account and not enough income.  She said to me, “I know that God has His reasons.  But I would just like to know what they are”.  As I thought about her request, I was reminded of people in history whom God directed.

Abraham is a good example.  We have a heroic view of Abraham.  We think of him as a pillar of faith.  We know the story of his willingness to sacrifice Isaac.  We remember his negotiation with God to rescue Lot.  But we often forget that Abraham had years of struggle and doubt.  We forget that he was very human – just like us.  And God still chose him.

Abraham started out well.  God called him away from his culture, family and friends.  God said, “Follow me to a place I will show you” and Abraham responded.  Now that takes faith!  How many of us would pack up everything we had, sell the house, leave the job and just go somewhere based only on a voice from God.  God didn’t even bother to tell Abraham where he was going.  He just said, “Get on the road and I will let you know when you need to know”.  Abraham made his first stop at a sacred grove on a mountain.  There he made an altar and worshipped God.  He demonstrated his faith even though he still had no idea what the plan was all about.  Things seemed to be settling down.

God showed up and explained that some day Abraham’s descendents would inherit all the land that surrounded Abraham.  God would see to it.  Of course, there was only one small problem.  Abraham didn’t have any descendents.  But God told him not to worry.  Things would work out exactly as God intended.

Then Abraham got his first real test.  There was a famine in the land.  Nothing to eat, provisions running low and plenty to worry about.  Abraham decided to head for Egypt where food was available.  But on the way he realized that Pharaoh would see how beautiful his wife was and would probably want her for himself.  Abraham reasoned that if that happened, Pharaoh might just kill him to get Sarah.  So, he came up with a plan.  He would tell Pharaoh that Sarah was his sister.  That way, nothing would happen to him.  Of course, a lot would happen to Sarah, but Abraham didn’t seem too concerned about her.  After all, he had to protect himself so that he could get what God promised.  It wouldn’t do much good if he were killed.  So, he lied.  And things got very bad indeed when his lie was discovered.

Abraham failed the test.  Do you think that God would have let Abraham be killed in Egypt if God had already promised that Abraham was going to be a great nation?  You have to wonder why Abraham didn’t trust God to take care of the situation.  Abraham lied to protect his own skin.  But his lie denied God’s promised protection.  The Father of Faith made a big mistake (and, as we see when we read the stories, he seems to have made the same mistake more than once).

Of course, after Pharaoh kicks Abraham out of Egypt, Abraham regrets his lack of faith.  He comes back to worship God.  He straightens out his trust problem.  But he has set the tone for the family.  Lot follows uncle Abraham’s lead and ends up in a real mess.  And Sarah does the same thing.  She shows the sin of impatience.  God’s promise is only good when she can see how it is going to work out.  And as the years go by, she figures that it’s time for her to take over.  That decision results in an internal family nightmare, an illegitimate son, more broken relationships and thirteen years of silence from God.  And, by the way, just in case we start thinking that it is all Sarah’s fault, we are reminded that Abraham is the one who agreed to have sex with Hagar in order to produce the required descendent.  Did Abraham have a momentary mental lapse?  Did he forget completely that God was able to handle every problem?  Or was the offer to have sex with someone else, with his wife’s blessing, more than any man could refuse?

God returns to the lives of these fractured people and renews His covenant.  Abraham finally seems to understand.  But there are still trials and failures and regrets and restorations ahead.  The Father of the Faith is quite human.  The Bible could have painted him as a great saint.  But it doesn’t.  I am convinced that God wants us to see the ups and downs of his life, and the lives of many of the saints.  Why?  Because the story is about what God does, not about how wonderful and spiritual we are.  God gets the credit.  He takes the time to show us that we are all cut from the same cloth.  And that should give us great comfort.  Our faith is just like the faith of those Bible heroes – struggling, rough and in need of purification.  But it is faith nevertheless, and God recognizes it for what it is.  If God didn’t give up on Abraham, a man who caused one family problem after another with lies, loose morals and doubt, then God won’t give up on us either.

Let’s look at what Paul (another one of those Bible heroes with a very checkered past) has to say about faith:

“for the righteous man shall live by faith”  Romans 1:17

“having been justified by faith, we have peace with God”  Romans 5:1

“whatever is not of faith is sin”  Romans 14:23

“and without faith it is impossible to please [God]”  Hebrews 11:6

A few more references will help.

“but he must ask in faith without any doubting”  James 1:6

“for we walk by faith, not by sight”  2 Cor. 5:7

“now faith is the assurance of things hope for, the conviction of things not seen”  Hebrews 11:1

Let’s see if we can draw some conclusions from these verses.  Faith begins with God’s grace toward us.  God was faithful in His promise long before we came to realize that what He says about us is true.  Just like Abraham, we responded to something that God had in mind before He asked us to get up and follow Him.  In other words, God’s intentions for us came first.  That is the essential meaning of “the righteous man is justified by faith”.  In the case of Abraham, God looked on Abraham as faithful in spite of Abraham’s human failings.  The Old Testament word is “accredited” or “counted”.  God counted Abraham as faithful – He decided to see Abraham as faithful.  God had something in mind for Abraham.  God had no intention of letting Abraham’s human failures stand in the way of divine plans, so God just kept after Abraham, reminding him that the promise was based on God, not on Abraham’s efforts.

We need to see our faith in the same light.  God has something in mind for each of us.  He has this in mind long before we get started on our journey toward the place He is going to show us.  Along the way, most of us get off track.  There is a Greek word for this.  It is planasthe.  It means “to cause to wander, to lead astray, to seduce or mislead” but we translate it as “deceive”.  Abraham got off track when he deceived himself into thinking he had to protect his own life in order for God’s promise to be fulfilled.  We do the same thing.  We don’t see how things are going to work out for us.  We worry about the money, our health, the job or any number of “protection” items.  And so we begin to take care of those things our own way.  We deceive ourselves into thinking that God needs us to lend a hand to His promise.  Just like Abraham, we eventually discover that we have made a mess.  The first thing we need to know about faith is that it is God’s plan for us, not our plan worked out with an acknowledging nod toward God.

Faith does not begin with us.  Faith begins with God.  First, God acts on our behalf.  His intentions always precede ours.  In fact, about the only thing He asks is for us to follow.  He didn’t say to Abraham, “Now, get out there and make things happen.  Go up the road until you think you have arrived.  Set up shop.  Build a city.  Make babies.  Get wealthy and build a big church.  Then, when you have done all that, I’ll come back and inspect your efforts”.  No, God said, “Follow along and I will show you something.  I’ll show you when I’m ready.  You just tag along behind”.  Funny thing.  Jesus said almost the same words.  “Follow me”.

Faith begins with God.  Actually, it’s a good thing that it does.  If faith began with us, we would certainly mess it up.  And even better, when we do mess it up, God can still bring about His intentions for us.  Abraham messed it up several times.  God still produced the results He wanted.  God had to deal with all the mess that Abraham made along the way.  Extra children.  Broken relationships.  Bad company.  An abused wife.  But God was more than able to manage all that mess and still get Abraham where God wanted him to be.  Just a bunch of extra baggage that Abraham packed into the trip.

If faith begins with God, why do we carry along so much extra stuff?  Why are we always trying to “fix” things that God forgot about?  “Wait a minute, God!  Did you forget that I have to pay that bill?  Did you forget about that assignment I need to do?  Hey, what about my plans to take that job?  Did you forget I need a new car?  Don’t you remember that my husband doesn’t treat me right?”

When faith begins with God, we have absolute assurance that faith will arrive at its intended destination.  We’re not in charge, thank God!  So, relax!  Follow along.  Stop adding to the pile you’re carrying.  God knows what you need.  It’s His train.  You’re just a passenger.  The greatest struggle of faith is to remember who owns the train.  Faith is remembering who’s who.  The reason the Bible includes all those stories about the failures of faith’s heroes is to remind us that faith is about God, not about us.  And God is able.  He is able to take any mess, any circumstance and any problem – the stuff that just seems like there is no way in the world it will ever work – and bring about His intentions.

A ninety-year-old woman gets pregnant.  An altar covered in water gets consumed with fire.  A starving man in the desert gets fed by birds.  A blind man knocks down a temple.  And God dies.  All of these things are impossible.  But they happened because God had His own plans in mind.  Isn’t he able to manage your journey?

Paul tells us that once we see our faith in terms of God’s promise toward us, we will have peace.  “having been justified by faith, we have peace with God”  Romans 5:1

The Greek word for “peace” is eirene.  In the New Testament, the word is about relationships, not external conditions.  The word is not primarily associated with resolution of political conflict, good health, personal well-being or even prosperity.  It is associated with words like love, grace, glory, honor, righteousness and mercy.  Its opposites are also words about relationships:  anxiety, anguish, fear, confusion, division, distress.  Peace is the settled confidence that my relationship with God has been repaired.  Jesus tells us that he “gives” this peace and “leaves” this peace with us.  It is not an announcement that we have accomplished something.  It is a gift left behind for us to enjoy.  Jesus is giving his followers a going-away present.  That present is unbroken fellowship with God.  It is a present that we can have right now and it will last forever.  It places a safety net over our lives that nothing can take away.

So, the second thing about faith is also about God.  Surprised?  You shouldn’t be.  God has purposes for you.  He will see that they are carried out.  And to do that, He is ready to give you peace.  It is the confidence that God is on my side, that I can trust Him completely.  He knows what He is doing.  I don’t have to second-guess His arrangements.

That’s exactly what got Abraham in so much trouble.  He knew God had plans.  He knew God made promises.  But he second-guessed how it was going to be done.  So, he did what we all do – the commonsense thing.  He went to Egypt.  He lied to protect himself.  He decided that sex with Hagar wasn’t such a bad idea.  He told the kings another lie.  Instead of waiting for God, he said to himself, “Hey, what gives here anyway?  God made me a promise but things look pretty bad.  I guess I’d better do something to make all this come true”.  God repaired the damage, but the damage didn’t need to be done.  Abraham was an impatient man.

Aren’t we the same?  Are we ready to wait for God?  Do you rely completely on the peace that we have?  We know that God has restored the relationship.  Why can’t we find comfort in that restoration?  Is anything more important?  Jesus tells us the same thing (isn’t is amazing that Jesus just reminds us of all those Old Testament lessons we forgot).  He says, “Why do you worry about what will happen to you?  Don’t you know that your heavenly Father knows all of your needs?  Seek Him first – follow along – and let Him take care of the rest”.  Jesus is a great tour guide.  He keeps putting us back on the train when we decide that there is a shorter way to glory and we fall off the track.

Faith is God first – and God second.  First, God comes after us.  Second, God looks after us.

If we just kept those two things in mind, we would have the mind of faith.  But Paul knows that we struggle.  So he provides us with a warning.

“whatever is not of faith is sin”

What is not of faith?  Not remembering rule 1 and rule 2.  Rule 1: God is in charge.  Rule 2: God is able.  He draws us to Him.  He restores our relationship with Him.  He protects and cares for us.  As long as we act in accordance with these simple facts of Life (for that’s what they are), we will exhibit faith.  As soon as we forget one of these simple things, we step off the train.  The biggest problem with stepping off the train is that it is still moving.  We get hurt.

The New Testament word for sin is hamartia.  It literally means “missing the mark”.  In this case, it might as well mean “doing it our way”.  It is the Frank Sinatra principle (“I did it my way”).  And, by the way, just in case you didn’t know it, Frank Sinatra was not God (neither was Elvis).  If I think that I can assist God by doing things my way, I am certainly going to miss the mark.  Abraham found out the hard way.  God didn’t visit him for thirteen years while Ishmael grew up.  For thirteen years, Abraham looked every day on the consequences of doing it his way.  For thirteen years, Sarah and Abraham had to deal every day with the results of doing it their way.  Not a very happy marriage.  And the other mother, Hagar, was right there in their faces every day.  There was no option of divorcing and moving across the country.  There were no restraining orders.  There was no child visitation.  Sometimes the consequences of our foolishness need to stay with us to remind us that faith is about God’s way, not ours.

“and without faith it is impossible to please [God]”  Hebrews 11:6.

Why is it impossible to please God without faith?  Well, think about it.  Faith is recognizing those two simple rules.  If I act without taking rule 1 and rule 2 into account, I will automatically be singing along with Frank.  Notice that the verse in Hebrews doesn’t say, “Without faith it’s pretty hard to please God”.  It doesn’t say, “Most of the time without faith it’s tough to please God”.  It says that it is impossible.  The Greek word is adunaton.  It literally means “is not able” or “can’t be done”.  Isn’t that amazing!  With faith, God is able.  Without faith, we are not able.  In other words, if I remember that God is in charge, then I know that God is able.  But if I forget that God is in charge, then it turns out that I am not able ultimately to please Him because I did not let Him do what He is able to do.  How simple is that!  God is able.  Let Him do it.  Sin is just deciding that God is not able and I need to do it.  That insults God.  No wonder He is displeased.

Sarah wants to enjoy the prestige of being associated with a great man – her husband.  God has promised he will be the father of many, a high honor indeed.  But Sarah doesn’t have a child.  She knows that she doesn’t have a child because God has not yet allowed her to have a child.  She recognizes God’s sovereignty when it comes to her body, but she is not willing to recognize God’s sovereignty over the rest of her world.  So, she decides to sing along with Frank.  She thinks, “God is not able to take care of this.  I’ll have to do it myself”.  She knows Abraham has eyed Hagar a few times.  Every wife knows this sort of thing.  So, she comes up with a plan that she knows Abraham won’t refuse.  Pretty soon they are all humming along with Frank.  When we think God is not able, we deny God’s faithfulness toward us.  We call God a liar.  It doesn’t work out very well.

“but he must ask in faith without any doubting”  James 1:6

There are times when doubt is a good thing.  If you are about to step off a moving train and you catch yourself doubting if you can make the step without injury, doubt is good.  It probably saved your life.  Oswald Chambers reminds us that whenever we encounter doubt in our walk behind God, we need to stop.  God does not promote doubt.  God is very clear about what He wants us to do, even if what He tells us is only a tiny step of the whole plan.  In fact, I don’t know a single person who ever knew the whole plan from the beginning.  I doubt (there’s that word again) that even Jesus knew it all for day one.  The Bible tells us that he had to grow up learning obedience just like we have to.  That’s very comforting.  If Jesus had to learn to follow, why should I think that I can just run ahead?

Now James tells us that if we are going to do something with our faith, we need to not start an internal dispute with ourselves.  That’s what this word means.  The Greek is diakrino.  It comes from the idea of separating or choosing between one thing and another.

There are two other words that are translated “doubt”.    One is dialogismos.  It means “to debate through words” or “argument”.  It is used in the New Testament for the idea of evil thoughts or argument.  It usually has the sense of trying to justify your actions – arguing with God about how “right” your sin really is.

The other is distazo. Here the idea is that you are stuck between two courses of action.  There are two pictures that help us see the meaning:  a man standing at a crossroads, not knowing which way to go and a balance scale, equally weighted on each side, tipping back and forth.  It means, “to hesitate, to waver, to be uncertain”.  It is not argumentative or evil.  There is no sin here.  It is just being stuck in the middle.  God help me, I don’t know which way to go!

James uses diakrino because he does not want us to think about trying to justify ourselves before God nor does he want us to think about simple hesitation.  He wants us to see that this kind of doubt is about debating what is the right selection.

We come to a crossroads as we tag along behind God.  But God is out just out of sight.  We can’t quite see which way He went.  So, we have to choose.  Right or left.  We waver (distazo).  We remember Oswald Chambers.  Stop! We fix our mind on the mind of Christ and then we feel we should go right.  We don’t argue with God about it (“You know, God, you really didn’t make it clear and besides, it looks so nice down the road on the left and I just couldn’t help it”).  We take a step to the right.  Suddenly we are besieged with doubt – the diakrino kind.  Wait!  What if this isn’t the right way?  Maybe I didn’t hear it correctly?  Maybe I should have prayed more?  How do I know I am really doing what God wants?  Maybe I need a sign?  I should open the Bible and find a verse.  But what if that doesn’t work either?  Diakrino is the doubt that stops acting on faith because it doesn’t believe that God can repair mistakes.  It believes God has only one way and if I miss it, I will never recover.  The entire universe depends on me making the right choice.  The pressure is too much.  What will I do now?

James says, “Go forward.  God is able to correct you if you are on the wrong path.  He’ll get you back on track.  But He can’t do anything until you start to move.  Just standing there debating with yourself will accomplish nothing”.

Once again Oswald Chambers reminds us that when we move forward on faith, God will simply close the doors if we are off course.  Then we can retreat and start again.  Remember, it’s God journey.  He’s in charge.  So get up and get moving.  Don’t be afraid to put your trust on Him.  He is able.

Rule number 1:  God’s in charge.

Rule number 2:  God is able.

Rule number 3:  Go forward.

Now comes the greatest blessing.

“for we walk by faith, not by sight”  2 Cor. 5:7

“now faith is the assurance of things hope for, the conviction of things not seen”  Hebrews 11:1

If we know the rules, we don’t have to know where we are going.  In fact, this is a journey of just following with our eyes wide open.  It is not “blind” faith at all.  We know God is in charge.  We know God is able.  All we have to do is go forward.  Faith is exercised on a “need to know” basis.  When you need to know, God will tell you.  Faith is realizing that you don’t need to know.  But everything is still OK, because He knows.

Our world is convinced that we have to know.  We want to know the outcome before the event.  What plans do you have for your life?  What will you become?  How will it all work out?  What if it doesn’t come out the way that I want?

Maybe we should think of our need to know like a box.  If we knew all the answers, we would be nicely packaged but we would lose the possibility for creative change.  God doesn’t tell us everything because we are in a cooperative process of creative change with Him.  Our lives are not boxed.  Faith is simply knowing that the plans are being revised along the way.  And that’s a good thing.  When I mess up, the master Architect can redraw the plans and still get the results He wants.  God’s disclaimers about life are true:  past promises do guarantee future rewards.  Past events do guarantee present and future relationships.

So, we’re left with hope and conviction.  “now faith is the assurance of things hope for, the conviction of things not seen”  Hebrews 11:1

Hope is telling yourself that what God says is true is really true.  It’s reminding yourself about rule number 1 and rule number 2.  God is in charge.  God is able.

Conviction is acting on that hope.  Rule number 3: Go forward.

Faith isn’t blind.  It’s open eyes obedience.

Category: Articles  | Tags: , , , ,  | 7 Comments

The Perfect Getaway

Sunday, October 11th, 2009 | Author:

“And it shall come to pass that whoever shall call on the name YHWH shall be saved; . . “ Joel 2:32

Saved – Have you ever heard this verse in an evangelistic crusade? If you knew that the Hebrew verb didn’t mean “saved” from eternal damnation, would you be surprised? Would it drive you back to the context to examine what the prophet Joel really said?

The verb here is malat. You can find it in Job 41:19 and Genesis 19:17. Look at those two occurrences before you decide what the verb means. What did you discover? This word is about escape, not about forgiveness. It’s about getting away from disaster, not about avoiding hell. Of course, in Esther 4:13 and Psalm 89:48, it’s about escape from death, but the death in that context is immediate, physical demise. Perhaps this little insight helps us to see how much of our biblical interpretation is filtered by our evangelical eyesight. A Jew wouldn’t think that salvation was first about eternal life or punishment. For a Jew, salvation is first about escaping immediate danger right here. The question, “Are you saved?” is pretty much an invention of D. L. Moody and Billy Graham, not Sha’ul, Peter (Kefa) or Yeshua.

There’s something else about this verse that we need to reconsider. Who is rescued? Who escapes? Those who call on the name YHWH. Of course, calling on the name of YHWH doesn’t mean what evangelicals think it means either. You see, calling on the name of YHWH goes all the way back to Genesis 4:26, long before anyone had any idea about the sacrificial death of God’s Son. In fact, “calling on the name” is a technical phrase for ownership. In other words, when men began to call on the name of YHWH, they were espousing their fidelity to YHWH. They were declaring that they belonged to Him. He was their master or owner. That meaning didn’t change. When Joel speaks God’s words and uses the same phrase, he means (and so does God) that those who escape will be those who belong to YHWH. The Master takes care of His own.

Of course, there’s a very big difference between claiming to belong to the household of the Master and actually being one of His slaves. What’s the difference? A slave is obedient. A slave depends entirely on the Master. A slave does not have another agenda. Those who merely visit the house may look like they are residents, but when the orders and directions come from the Master, the difference becomes obvious. Some follow. Some do not. Only those who follow will escape.

Joel’s verse certainly could have wider implications. Kefa (Peter) seemed to think so. He initiated his great invitation to God-fearing, devout men with this very verse. He applied the verse to a different context, something rabbinic Judaism often did. But even Peter wouldn’t dare suggest that obedience was optional. Escape, deliverance, rescue or salvation – whatever term you wish to employ – always entails calling on the Name and that is an idiom for obedience.

I need to remember this. I need to have it grafted into my thought patterns and my actions. God delivers. God saves. God rescues. But that does not take away my need to obey. I have a part to play – not in God’s grace but in demonstrating my fidelity to His ownership. Faith without works doesn’t work. “Lord, help me. I want to be Yours. I desire to belong. I am grateful for escape which You provide. But never let me take it for granted. I love you. I serve you.”

Topical Index: save, malat, Joel 3:5, Genesis 4:26, obedience, calling on the Name

Category: Today's Word  | Tags: , , , , ,  | 22 Comments
« Previous Entries