The middle class

Tonight, we spoke at semi-great length about the middle class, and about middle class Christianity.  The main issue for us was, and is, that we tend, above anything else, to make God in our own image.  That is, we tend to have a God who fits us, rather than seeing his words as required for us to fit.  Now, this is an enormous problem for pretty much everyone ever, prince to pauper, and Jesus is just malleable enough for us to make him fit us all.  Take, for example the following people

There is essentially no shortage of this, and this is essentially the default Christian perspective too.  I hate to be this guy, but it is.  What we have gone to great lengths to do is to have Jesus agree with us by whatever means necessary.  He is seen by us as someone who will by definition almost always agree with us and where we are.  But then who is Jesus anyway?

This is the last and greatest form of idolatry that exists in the world today, in that it takes God and empties him until he resembles an idol.  Do you find it strange that Jesus Christ would be seen by Mahmoud Ahmedinejad, Richard Dawkins, Adolf Hitler and you as agreeing with them?  Can he agree with all of you at the same time?

No.  No he can't.  He obviously can't.  He can't hold those four positions in tension, agreeing with the man who sought genocide, the man who seeks genocide, the atheist who doesn't think he exists as God, and you.  Impossible.  But what people have confused, where they have gone off track, is where they assume that Jesus' unconditional love also equals unconditional agreement.  And only one of those things is true.

Jesus, God, the Holy Spirit, they love everyone.  They absolutely do.  They have a love for all their children, not based on what they do, but based on their love for their children. If you have children of your own, or have been a child, then you'll know that it is perfectly possible for you to have parents who love you, though they disagree with the many and various decisions you've made.  It doesn't mean they don't love you, but it does mean that they may find their love for you wrestling with their disagreements with what you do.  This is key for understanding who Jesus is and what he does.  

Think of the rich young ruler.  When he approaches Jesus and asks 'Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?' he does so intending to be justified by Jesus before any actual tips.  Although Jesus is going to have some pretty tough stuff to say to him, the account of the encounter in Mark's gospel has an interesting detail.

'Teacher,' he declared, 'all these I have kept since I was a boy.'

Jesus looked at him, and loved him.

Jesus looks at him and loves him. He then commands him to go and sell all he has, and give it to the poor.  Do you see what's happening here?  It's not that Jesus doesn't love this guy (he clearly does, and

the Bible says he does), but his love does not equal agreement with the man in question.  The guy doesn't get a pass on his actions just because Jesus loves him.  Jesus loves him and then commands him to feed the poor.  Jesus loves him, and then tells him that nothing that he ever does is enough to earn his salvation.

And this is where we in the middle class are as relates to Jesus Christ.  We tend to get very smug, and we tend to inquire of Jesus what we must do to inherit eternal life, expecting him to say only what we're already doing.  And Jesus looks at us, and loves us.  And then he tells us that he has given us blessings to be a blessing to others.  He hits us where it hurts, and for us, it's usually in our comfort.  For Ahmedinejad, it would be in the turning of the other cheek, for Dawkins, it would be in the humility and the faithlesness, and for us, it would be in the comfortable middle-classness.  He is many and varied, that Jesus Christ, and he can and does hit us where it hurts.  He is ever loving, ever forgiving, ever present and ever full of passion for his people.  

But he is not ever condoning.  If you read through the Bible, and can only see where Jesus agrees with you, then read it again.  He looks at you and loves you, but he wants to forgive you of all your nonsense, of which there is plenty.  Recognizing that is key to understanding the work that Jesus does, to forgive not only the stuff you do, but to deal with all the stuff you don't do. To deal with the fact that you are not in line with what he says about the kingdom of God.  

And now you know.  And knowing is half the battle.  And the other half is grace.  

PJ.

Worship

My big question is; what is worship? For some it is a specific time, a specific place and following a specific pattern. For others, it is the entirety of life, everything that a person does can be considered worship. As we were discussing it, the general consensus was that anything which glorifies God is worship.

If we have such a simplistic idea of what worship is, then why does worship become such a hot-button topic?

Within Christianity, Protestantism, Lutheranism, LC-C Lutheranism, heck even within Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, there is a great divide over what worship should look like. Our biggest concern is about what we want, not necessarily a concern for why we do what we do.

What if we did make the why our starting point? What would be the answer to the question “Why do we worship God?”

My favourite answer to that question was “Because he said so.” Mostly because that is so often our default answer to any why question is because I/he/she/you said so! We accept whatever it is without argument and it becomes canon law.

In this case we can dig a little deeper and look at what God actually says about worship.

Specifically I would like to look at what he commands us concerning worship.

It goes beyond just you shall not worship any other gods, which I know is the commandment you thought of first, because it’s also the commandment that I thought of first too! But we can see how all of the first three commandments really deal with how we worship God. Beyond just not worshiping other gods, we’re reminded that in the first commandment we are called to fear, love and trust Him. Worshiping God includes all of these elements, not just avoiding other gods. It includes the way we treat Him in our everyday lives, the way we keep from using His name in an inappropriate manner and instead we “call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise and give thanks.” We worship God through the respect we have for the Sabbath day; the fact that we want to take the opportunity gladly hear and learn from God’s word.

These three commandments really do make up the core of what worship is. When God commanded us to do these things, he did so knowing that it was in our best interest to worship Him, and Him only. These commandments point us towards a knowledge of his greatness and our weakness; they remind us of the power held in his name. When we gather together in worship, often we do so without remembering God at all. We do the same thing we’ve done every Sunday, sit in the same spot, speak the same words, make the same confession, but we do without remembering why we were commanded to do so. We don’t think of the fact that we desire to hear His teachings, that we have the opportunity to give thanks and praise Him, but we worship out of obligation, because He said so.

One of my favourite worship songs is by Matt Redman, and it’s called “The Heart of Worship.” I like it because it speaks to me about this very same issue. It reminds us that at the core of our worship, we need to ensure that everything is about Christ. This goes beyond us confessing faith in Jesus and instead involves us actually believing that and putting it into play. When we worship, we need to take ourselves out of our comfort zone and worship God without concern over what we’re getting. We will be receiving infinitely more than we could ever possibly bring, but we aren’t there to worship ourselves. We are there to be humbled and to be reminded of the sacrifice that Christ made in order to provide us with all that we have, all that we are, and all that we will ever receive. When we worship, we worship God, knowing that it's not about us anymore, it's about what we've been through Christ.

Vines, vines everywhere are vines

I’ve made the confession before and I will likely make it several more times throughout the course of my life…I am a failure at plant care. To say I have a black thumb is putting it lightly. If a plant lasts a month in my care it is akin to a miracle.

As useless as I am with plants, they continually amaze me. What amazes me the most is how they manage to subside using what we as humans consider to be absolute rubbish…quite literally I might add! A plant lives in the dirt; something that we avoid like the plague, lest we end up with a speck upon ourselves. Beyond that, a plant is happiest when covered in poo and the decomposed remains of our supper last night. In essence, a plant uses what we avoid.

But then, the plant produces amazing things that we want desperately. As I’m typing this out, I’m looking at a lovely bouquet of flowers that was the result of a plant growing in our waste. The food that we eat is produced from the leftovers that we couldn’t use. A plant comes from humble beginnings but becomes quite important.

In particular, as you’ve likely guessed by the title, I want to point out the vine. It plays a very important role as it helps to produce one of the most delicious beverages known to man (and woman!) kind.

The vine also plays a large role in several biblical accounts. In the Old Testament the vine is used to describe God’s own chosen people.

In Genesis we see that Joseph is described as a good and fruitful vine. The faithful nature with which Joseph served God provided the roots for a continually growing vine. We see the vine growing throughout the Old Testament as more and more people are added in, as the lineage develops further, until, just like the plant, the vine of Israel is widespread and what started out as the beginning of a living bough had developed into a large, powerful vine.

As we know from the various stories of the Old testament, this vine wasn’t necessarily as effective as it could have been. Jeremiah points out the way in which this vine that had been planted from the hardiest of seeds, that God’s chosen people, whose good and perfect beginning was described in the book of Genesis, very quickly morphed into the wild and degenerate vine that was being threatened. God’s people no longer represented the perfection in which they had been created, but they had grown their way, did not produce good fruit and were no longer the good vine that God had intended them to be.

This is the situation that we’re faced with when we look at the account of the True Vine as described in John 15. Going back to what we know about the analogy of the vine, we are aware that the vine is representative of God’s chosen people. Much like we would describe a family tree, the lineage of the Israelites is portrayed by the imagery of the vine. We are aware that the vine was corrupt and wild, not producing good fruit. In John 15 we see a comparison between the corrupt vine, and the true vine, that is the vine that is Jesus Christ.

In this passage we are reminded of our need to be connected to the true vine. As we look back on the bible many years later we can see how the Israelites failed. We know that when they were left on their own they turned wild and corrupt. They were unable to maintain the perfection for which they had been created. Lest we think that we are any better than they were, this verse reminds us of our need to be connected to the true vine, in order that we would also be able to produce good fruit. Like the Israelites, when left untended we are wont to turn corrupt and wild as well. We depend on Christ to provide us with the goodness we need, we depend on God the father to remove the sin and all bad things from us in order to allow us to grow. We are dependent upon God to provide for our needs, to feed us and to keep us healthy.

As we read through this passage in particular, it’s very clear about the role that God plays in our

development, care and maintenance but what remains a little more vague is what this idea of bearing fruit looks like for us. It goes beyond producing something to eat, obviously, and it isn’t even constrained to bearing fruit in terms of growing the church and increasing the population of believers. When we’re talking about the fruit being produced and how it proves us as Christ’s disciples, it’s helpful to look at Galatians 5:22-23.

It spells out quite clearly that these are the fruits of the spirit. Through the spirit’s work in us, as Christians connected to the true vine and tended to by God the good gardener we desire to produce these fruits that are encouraged by the work of the Holy Spirit. As a result of being fed by Christ and tended to by God we are able to produce these fruits that have been laid out in this passage. This is the work for which we were created; the reason we have not been tossed in the fire.

We are not able to create this fruit on our own. We depend on the work of God to turn the rubbish that we’ve been given in life into the fruit that we are called to produce. Just the same as the plant uses the most unusual, and often least desirable items to produce good fruit, God uses us, and the rubbish of our lives to produce good fruit, whose benefits can be seen in what we do, in who we are, and most importantly, in what we believe.

Unity

We’re not talking about small town Saskatchewan.

We’re not talking about peace.

We’re not talking about marriage.

More than anything we’re talking about differences.

Anytime somebody brings up unity it tends to evoke feelings about one of the first three, but very rarely is it associated with differences, unless of course, we’re talking about how to get rid of any differences that we might have.

Throughout the scriptures we see unity being described as the way that we celebrate and utilize our differences. Not that we ignore them and pretend that we’re all the same, but rather that we acknowledge our differences and use them in a beneficial manner.

One of the best examples of this is found in Ephesians 4:1-16

In the beginning of this passage we see unity described in a manner to which we are accustomed: one body; one spirit; one Lord; one faith; one baptism; one God. And that is definitely the root of our understanding of unity. We believe that we all put our faith in the same God who is Lord over all. We confess weekly that we are all connected through one baptism; the baptism that was instituted by Christ and brought to each of us by the Holy Spirit. But what makes unity so unique is what happens next.

Verses 11 and following outline all the ways that we are different. All of the different gifts are laid out and it is pointed out that it is only through the presence of these differences that we can truly see unity.

This idea isn’t limited to just this one passage of scripture, however. Probably the best known example of this is found in 1 Corinthians 12:12-31 where we hear the discussion about the body of Christ. We’re made aware that the body doesn’t function when all the parts desire to fulfill the same role.

Just the same, the church doesn’t work when all the members desire to fill the same role.

When we all sit back and want to be served, we see a church that is stagnant and full of complaints, but no solutions.

When we desire to all be a part of evangelism and neglect the necessity of education, we see a church that balloons in size, but then dies because there is no room for growth.

We are all given different things that we are good at. As veggie tales famously points out, “God made you special.” You were created in a way that no one else was. If you were created in a way that is different than everyone else, why would you assume that you were supposed to be doing the same thing as everyone else?

I’m always amazed at people who can use their talents in such amazing ways to serve God. Looking through our music cabinet at the church, there are so many songs that are written by the people in our congregation, and they are dang good songs. There are wooden fixtures throughout the church that express our faith through the intricacies of the church member who created them. There are annual occasions which we enjoy the fruits…err…meats of the hunting endeavors of other members too.

This is unity; the realization that we are all a part of one faith, one baptism, one church, but that we were not all created the same. Through our differences, and as a result of the desire to use these differences to build one another up, we have unity. Not that we are all the same, not because we have skills and abilities that can only be used outside the church but the fact that who we are, what we do is tied to the church and to all those around us. Our unity is not just that hour on Sunday, but it is our whole life, everything that we do, and everything that Christ has done through us.

Temptation-more than just a cat's treat

Sometimes, I’ll admit it, these bible studies are written for my own benefit.

If you’re a damnable sinner like me, you’ll be able to admit that you struggle with temptation.

A lot.

You’ll also admit to a feeling of disgust when you think about everything that tempts you in a day.

But, why?

Here’s a secret for you…

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Temptation isn’t bad.

Being tempted isn’t a sin, it’s a reminder that there’s sin in the world.

When temptation hits, it’s our reminder of mortality, and of our need to evaluate what is really important in our lives.

When I was in school, I hated tests. Not because I wasn’t smart, I was (notice the word was!) but it was because I hated memorization. Wasn’t good at it, and I’m still not!

But tests in school were tolerable because you could prepare for them. You could take the time to study and review all the information that you were supposed to know and go from there.

The tests that we face in life aren’t nearly so simple.

There’s no prep time, and usually you’re forced to make a decision in a split second. These tests are a lot harder and the results mean a heck of a lot more.

These tests are found all over the place, let’s check out John 6:1-7 for one such example.

What I really want to draw your attention to is verses 5- 6:

Lifting up his eyes, then, and seeing that a large crowd was coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he would do.John 6:5-6

Jesus takes this opportunity to test Philip, to make him think about what he trusted; the ways of the world or the ways of God?

We’re constantly being tempted by this same predicament and left to question whether we put out hope in the promises of mankind, or in the promises of Christ.

James 1:2-4 expounds further upon this idea of testing.

How weird is it to think of being tested as a blessing? To consider that the temptations we are currently living through could possibly benefit us in some manner?

But think about your decision making process. You have that choice to make, you put a lot of time and energy into the decision and it ends up blowing up in your face. What happens next? You either forget everything that happened, or, more likely, you remember and learn from your mistakes. This is the same thing that temptation does for our faith. When we’re tempted, we can make a decision to do what we know is right, or what we know is wrong. In either situation we are learning. Even in those times that we feel terrible about the decision that we’ve made, we are being strengthened and reminded of what our faith actually looks like, where it is wanting, and what we need to do.

When we look further into this chapter, it becomes more and more evident how much temptation can grow when left untended. Earlier we discussed how it can make you grow when realized and built upon, but unfortunately the opposite holds true as well.

Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love him. Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.  But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire.  Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death.James 1:12-15

It’s very easy for temptation to grow into full blown sin. It’s very easy for said temptation to take over one’s life. This sin can grow and grow until it’s all encompassing and it becomes all that you can think about. You’ve gone past the point of even caring if what you’re doing is right or wrong.

The worst part is, there’s nothing you can do about it.

We all fall prey to the siren’s call of temptation. We all neglect what we know is right and move to doing what is more fun and produces the more favourable, immediate result.

 So, what do we do?

Rather, what should we do?

Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.  Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.  And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.1 Peter 5:8-10

You heed the words of Christ. You depend fully on the actions that have made you a redeemed child in God’s sight. Will there be times of temptation? Of course there will! Will you succumb to those temptations? More likely than not, yes! Will you be forgiven? Yes!

Christ has promised that he will be there to strengthen you. Jesus gave his life on the cross, in order that yours and mine would be saved. He did this all the while realizing that there was no way we could resist all these temptations on our own, but also while giving us an example which we could follow whenever we were tempted.

Si Sabbath

Let me explain the title before we get started.

It started as a typo.

But as far as typos go, it made a lot of sense because too often we don’t say yes to Sabbath.

So there you have it; Si Sabbath.

I just got back from a church workers conference, the full title being the Sabbath Church Workers Conference. Not even slightly coincidental that the topic is the same as the conference title.

Having taken that week to be renewed and invigorated I was made all the more aware of how greatly I fail at doing the whole Sabbath thing. But as much as I fail at it, I’m glad that I have the option as to whether or not I am allowed to fail in this particular area.

“Six days work shall be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a Sabbath of solemn rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on it shall be put to death.”

 Exodus 35:2

Yikes!

I should be so dead by now! Well, for that and about ten million other reasons!

But can you imagine the fear that would strike into the heart of anyone who was trying to live according to God’s will? I would be terrified every time the Sabbath rolled around! Quite honestly, I might just stay in bed all day, lest I be found guilty of working and thus sentenced to death.

It hardly seems like the best way to devote a day to God!

Maybe if there were certain rules about how to relax…

That’s right, there’s a Pharisaic law for that!

It’s good though because having a rule about what you can and can’t do on the Sabbath is helpful for keeping you cognisant about rest and God and devoting a whole day to Him.

Or not at all.

Maybe it happens that everything just revolves around these man made rules and God is no longer even a part of the equation. Maybe we get so caught up with keeping these laws that we completely forget the reason behind the Sabbath. We don’t care about God. We definitely don’t care about our neighbour. We care about ourselves and our main effort will be in making sure that we follow the rules, even if that means forsaking the needs of our neighbors.

So what does Jesus say about that?

Let’s look at his reaction in Matthew 12:1-14

There are two statements that really stand out to me, the first in verses 7 and 8:

“And if you had known what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the guiltless. For the Son of Man is lord of the Sabbath.”

 Matthew 12:7-8

And the second:

“So it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”

 Matthew 12:12b

So, let’s look at the first one. Mercy and not sacrifice. It really flies in the face of everything that the Jewish people had learned up to that point. The Sabbath day had become a day of sacrifice, not necessarily in  terms of animal sacrifice, but in terms of what they were sacrificing, trying to gain God’s favour. However, the one thing that they weren’t sacrificing was their own self-protection. Jesus rightly points out that their recognition needs to be on what they’re doing for themselves, but rather what they’re doing for those around them. We’ve just seen in the verses preceding that the Pharisees have just called the disciples out on fulfilling their base needs on the Sabbath. What kind of dangerous ground are we treading on when we say to someone that they shouldn’t be allowed to eat because it’s considered work? I’m pretty sure that isn’t what God had in mind when he commanded the Sabbath to be a day of rest!

The second statement seems so simple that it shouldn’t have to be said, but unfortunately it was being completely overlooked. The idea of doing good wasn’t nearly as important as taking care of oneself. If it was work to take care of your ailing neighbour, you wouldn’t do it. If someone was dying on the side of the road, well, you might deal with it the next day, if they’re still there! Morals are very skewed when the need to protect yourself becomes greater than somebody else’s life!

It’s a lot easier for us to look at the Sabbath day as a series of rules and laws than as the blessing it was intended to be.

To more fully understand the blessing of the day it helps to go back to Genesis.

"Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.  And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done.  So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation."

Genesis 2:1-3

What did God do on the seventh day? He rested.

Why did he rest? Because everything that he made was good…and it was finished. The seventh day, the Sabbath day, was put into place as a celebration, a time to acknowledge what God had done and to bask in the perfection of creation. Rather than rushing around, worrying about what you should and should not do, it’s a day to stop and not to worry but to thank God for what He has given to us.

Now, I have a trick question for you: What day were Adam and Eve created?

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The sixth day of course!

So, that means that the first day they were around was…

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The seventh day! The day of rest!

Weird right?

They didn’t work their butts off and then take a day to try and get themselves up to a level where they would be able to just function. Nope, they started out with a day of rest, God did all the hard work and gave them the opportunity to get up to 100% before they could even consider working.

Ideally that’s what God still wants to do for us. The Sabbath is still around and is supposed to be used to bring us up to function at our full potential. Very few of us (myself included) would even think of using the Sabbath as it is intended. We might consider it if we were really exhausted and absolutely needed to take a break, but definitely not on a weekly basis!

For us the Sabbath day is no longer a command. It’s not a day that we’re forced to evaluate every little thing we do lest we be accused of working and sentenced to death. But Sabbath is a time that is set aside and dedicated to God. It is a chance for us to go back to the garden of Eden, to remember the perfection of creation, the perfect way in which we were created and at the same time to give thanks to God that he sent his son to be the one to reinstitute that state of perfection for us and all humankind.

Rahab- A hooker with a heart of God

Get it? Like heart of gold? It’s funny, get over yourself.

The story of Rahab is one that we tend to gloss over. We are able to say that she was a prostitute and then we quickly race to the manifestation of her faith and the way she saved God’s chosen people. It’s a beautiful story of a complete turnaround from sinner to saint.

Well…not really.

Let’s take a second to really look at the story of Rahab as we see it in Joshua 2:

And Joshua the son of Nun sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, “Go, view the land, especially Jericho.” And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there.

But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof.

I’ve highlighted a few things here. First off, the very first descriptor that we’re given is that Rahab is a prostitute. I mentioned it before, I’ll probably mention it again, her livelihood depended on breaking the sixth commandment daily and encouraging others to do so likewise. You’ll also note that in this interaction she never repents of that fact either.

Next, look at how she protects the spies. It is obviously not in a truthful manner. We are quick to defend her saying, “Well of course she couldn’t have told the truth, they would have been killed!” But in the same way, it’s important for us to acknowledge that she isn’t perfect, even as she is carrying out works that will be used to glorify God.

In spite of who Rahab was, God used her to accomplish His plan.

Rahab’s account is made even more interesting when you look at the way that it combines so many different elements from both the Old and New Testaments. Take a peek at verses 18-21. So many things that we’ve seen before! Scarlet cord. Scarlet like blood. Identifying a house that should be passed over. Passover. Hmm. But as good New Testament Christians I’m sure you’ve been thinking of another kind of blood that provided salvation.

In this same section we also see the promise that is made to all those who are inside the house. The promise is that those who are in the house will be saved whilst all those who are outside the house will be killed. Replace the word house with  ark and it quickly brings to mind the promise made in Genesis.

Moving forward into the New Testament, Rahab isn’t forgotten! In Matthew 1:5 there is reference to Rahab, this time as a part of Jesus’ lineage. If you look at the other people who are mentioned as part of Jesus’ family tree, you’ll notice just how many oddities there are. So many people of whom you would not want to claim even a passing knowledge are proudly proclaimed as being the forefathers (and mothers) of the perfect king who came to deliver us from evil and proclaim salvation to all. But Jesus does. He proudly proclaims himself as the son of a lying whore and in spite of that he also proclaims himself the perfect son of God, who came to earth to bring about perfection to all people

Rahab isn’t perfect. We see her actively breaking commandments and even at the pinnacle of her service to God she is really only acting as a lying whore. But this is the kind of person who provides us with an example of faith. This is the kind of person that makes up Jesus’ own ancestral line. This is the kind of person that we strive to be. Not that I recommend you all go and start up your own brothel or tell lies “in the name of the Lord.” What this reminds us of is that we are sinful people. This is something that we can’t escape. However, this doesn’t stop us from being utilized by God. In spite of our sin, in spite of the inclination that we have toward evil, God uses us for his good. He takes our sin and, on the cross, he turned it into his goodness.

Q

I’m sure you’ve been waiting all week to see what would be the topic for the letter Q. Would it be Queen Esther? Quirinius? The Quran? Nope, none of the above!

We are looking at Q.

Now, you may or may not have heard of the synoptic gospels, if you have, you’ve got a great head start, if you haven’t, well, you’ll have something new to show off to your friends.

The synoptic gospels are Matthew, Mark, and Luke. Not John. Poor John! If you’ve ever read through these gospels, you will have likely noticed that they are awfully similar. They have a very comparable focus and even their word choices are remarkably close.

Has that ever made you curious? Ever wondered why that might be?

If you haven’t rest assured that somebody has! This, my friends, is what we are talking about today is Q, otherwise known as the Q-source.

Going in, I was sure that it was called Q just so that people like me would have something unique to bring to the table during an alphabet study, but turns out that it comes from the German word Quelle, meaning source. Would you believe that in a room full of old school Lutherans, not one person knew the proper pronunciation? I couldn’t either!

This Q thing, what is it exactly?  How is it fitting in to all this jibber jabber?

Q is one proposed hypothesis that could explain why everything fits together so nicely. The idea behind Q is that it contains all of the things that Jesus said and authors, especially Matthew and Luke, would be able to use it as a help as they were writing.

Doesn’t seem too ridiculous, after all, look at Luke, he tells us straight up that he is using other sources.

And if we read through an account that is found in both gospels, such as loving your enemies, (Matthew 5:38-48 and Luke 6: 27-36) we see an awful lot of similarity.

But there are also some pretty extreme differences as well. Take for example v. 46 in the Matthew account where it says “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?” and compare it to Luke v. 32 “If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” (emphasis added) You’ll notice (because I very clearly pointed it out) that Matthew purposefully uses the word tax collector instead of sinner. Could be no big deal, tax collectors were seen as pretty bad dudes, but isn’t it weird that Matthew, the known tax collector would include that in this account? This is something that seems to go beyond just a set of sayings that people were conveying to one another, this really impacted Matthew as he heard it to the point where he wrote it as he understood it, not necessarily as it was commonly expressed.

The idea behind Q is one that would very neatly tie up all the loose ends. When we get confused about how the writings of the Gospels are so similar, it would be easiest to point to one common piece that would solve all of the problems. In doing so, however, we are not giving enough credit to the dynamic qualities of Jesus’ words. When he spoke it was more than just a quote to be transcribed, it was a message to be lived. They were teachings that stuck with people and struck them so deeply that they could insert themselves in the teaching and still have it ring as true as it did when it was preached for anyone else in the crowd.

Q could be a possibility. It’s still a hypothetical source that doesn’t have any physical proof behind it, but it does make sense as a theory. However, what we should not neglect when considering this is the power of Jesus’ words. They were, and are, strong enough to stand on their own, and be remembered and applied by all.

Priesthood

What a terrible movie!

Know what I hate?

Rules!

They’re lame and even though I would consider myself more law-abiding than not, whenever someone tells me to do something there is a little spark of anger that rises up inside of me and rebels.

This, in conjunction with my lack of credentials would make me a terrible, terrible priest.

Old Testament priest, that is.

There are an awful lot of rules that you need to follow to be a priest!

These rules start before you’re even born!

I’d like you to meet stick man Dan. Now stick man Dan is an Israelite. He can trace his genealogy back to the tribe of Benjamin. He cannot be a priest.

Now meet stick man Mark. He is also an Israelite. He is from the tribe of Levi…things are looking good so far! Except stick man Mark is from the descendants of Moses. No priesthood for stick man Mark!

Last, but certainly not least I would like you to meet stick man Chaim. Stick man Chaim is also an Israelite, and like stick man Mark is from the tribe of Levi. There is one slight difference between stickmen Mark and Chaim, however, as stick man Chaim is from the line of Aaron so BOOM he’s a part of the priesthood!

Seems like a weird ruling right? Let’s go way back and see why this is the case!

By way back I mean the tale of the golden calf, which tells us about how the Levites were rewarded with the promise of service to God.   For doing what God told them they were promised a life of prestige and special rewards. A life that would be spent serving God and following his rules.

Now our friend Chaim was a good Jewish boy. He met all the requirements to be a priest. He was 32 years old, never trimmed his beard and all his body parts were shaped as they ought to be.

Reading through some of the requirements for priesthood in the Old Testament makes a person wonder how anyone could attain the level of perfection expected for this position. To serve as God’s holy elect was a huge responsibility! You were expected to live a life as close to God’s as possible! Perfection wasn’t just suggested, it was required! Unless you could live up to the specifications as they were laid out, your blood wasn’t enough to carry you through.

As Christians, this doesn’t come as a shock to us. We realize that we are completely reliant on the blood of someone more important to us to bring us to be part of this priesthood.

1 Peter 2:5-9 declares us to be part of the royal priesthood. It calls us a chosen people and gives a description of what we are expected to do in this position. But even as we go forth in this priesthood, we do so knowing that it’s not because of the perfection that we’ve obtained by our own works. We are able to serve God only because of the high priest who has already prepared the way for us. Unlike the priest of the Old Testament who spent every day in fear of their inability to maintain the perfection required to mediate between man and God, we can give thanks that our high priest has given us the perfection needed to stand before God and to proclaim the greatness of his name to all people.

O is not for Obama

But he will feature prominently.

This week was monumental for our neighbors down south as the celebrated the inauguration of President Obama in his second term as president. Interesting fact: this was the fourth time that Obama was sworn in. Second term, fourth oath.

It’s weird to me that you could take an oath over.

I understand the repeated oath this time, as it was making public what had happened in private earlier, but in the first go round it was to fix an error in the first oath.

An oath is pretty serious business. A promise made in the sight of God. A promise which, according to James 5:12, can lead to some pretty grave consequences if broken.

Now as a Christian I look at condemnation pretty seriously.

Some people don’t.

Some people are accused of not taking the threat of condemnation seriously and some people don’t necessarily understand or care about the severity that is involved with an oath.

We see Jesus himself warning against the taking of oaths due to the danger that is involved for us. We are dumb, folks. We say things in the heat of the moment that we don’t really mean. We declare truth where it is not found. We can harm ourselves enough without bringing down the judgment fires.

An oath is a big deal because we have now moved beyond our own reason and understanding and have brought in that of one much greater and wiser than we could ever even imagine. This is no longer between us and our neighbor but instead between us and God.

As humans we want to be in control. We want to be the final authority and have something that supports our opinion. What really makes us seem powerful is when we can have the authority of God behind us. But sometimes we put it there when we are wrong to do so. We can make a promise that invokes God but doesn’t leave him as the authority; an oath where we are using God to strengthen our argument rather than allowing God to use us to strengthen his argument. We want to fit God into our plans and refuse to really look at what we’re doing. We’re breaking all kinds of commandments; putting ourselves before God, turning ourselves into gods and using his name in vain to support what we want so badly to believe.

Our need for oaths comes from our need to assure everyone that we’re telling the truth. Our own actions really don’t reflect the reality that we want to convey. Our solution? Bring in the one being who can always be believed. Not to look within ourselves for what we can change, what we can do to make ourselves trustworthy, but rather to deflect to the one who can always be trusted.

And were we to try I’m not sure that we could change ourselves enough, I know we couldn’t change or convince those around us to change. As with all things we are dependent on God’s perfection to make us complete. I don’t think we can cut out the concept of oaths from our lives. We need God’s accountability, we need his strength. What we also need is the understanding of how serious this contract is and to enter into the contract with that knowledge.

Sound tough?

Not-so Nifty for Nineveh in Nahum

So I’m pretty excited to once again be able to make this a double letter post. 2 N’s, no waiting.

Now, when you think Nineveh, I’m going to go out on a limb and assume that your first thought is about Nineveh as we see it in the book of Jonah. Nineveh fares pretty well in this account. They forgot God in the beginning, but with Jonah’s reluctant help they turn from their wicked ways and repent of their evil ways. God forgave the Ninevites and life went on.

But what about the rest of the story?

What happened 100 years after this miraculous occurrence with Jonah and the massive repentance and sack cloth? Did the Ninevites become master evangelists? Was this major city turned into a religious hub? Did the Ninevites continue to recount the near miss they had when the Lord nearly destroyed the entire city?

None of that happened! In  a relatively minor amount of time the Ninevites forgot the warning from God and returned to their former lifestyle. They did not continue in the repentant lifestyle but instead turned once again to murder, looting and warfare. Nineveh was just as bad, if not worse, than what we saw in the beginning of Jonah.

This is where Nahum begins.

Nahum begins by reminding us that God is faithful to his people, those who believe in Him, and against all others he is to be feared. He doesn't conveniently forget his promises, nor does he forget the ways that those who oppose him have sinned in their transgressions.

Nineveh has done so much to deserve God’s wrath. Sneak forward a bit to Nahum 3:1-7. What a description! It disturbs me as much as it intrigues me!

When I read through I like to read really quickly over these descriptions because it’s terrifying to think of someplace that would cause so much damage. It’s the same way as I read Jesus’ being beaten. It’s a very short passage, and in my mind it gets translated to something quite brief as well. I would very much like to downplay the hurt he suffered and the grief he was caused because I know the reason behind it.

With the crucifixion, with the people of Nineveh I would like to turn my eyes from the pain being inflicted.

In my life, I would like to turn my eyes from the pain being inflicted.

We can very easily look at Nineveh as an evil place. We can look at them as murderers and terrible people but we quickly dismiss is as it is so different from the life we’re living now. We aren't that bad.

They did the same thing.

When they were directly confronted with the fact that they were terrible people they came up with a solution; a bandaid solution that hid the wound, but didn’t heal the brokenness beneath. They repented, put on the sackcloth and asked God to forgive him, and He did.

Unfortunately this wasn’t something that they actually believed beyond the scope of this one time occurrence. As soon as they were forgiven, they went back to their evil ways and felt no remorse. The sins that they repented of were the same ones to which they returned.

This is the danger that we face too. The sins that we confess are the same ones that we are faced with continually. We want to ignore the ugly parts of our lives in the same way we ignore the ugly parts of the bible. We want to pretend it didn’t happen because it makes us feel bad.

It's the warning that we see in the book of Nahum. While we know that “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble” (Nahum 1:7a) and that He has made this promise for us, we do so knowing the inherent danger of being complacent in our salvation. When we try to edit out the sinful parts of our life and concentrate only on the good we've done we put ourselves in the same boat as the people of Nineveh.

It’s only when we’re honest with ourselves, when we continually acknowledge our sins both to God AND ourselves that we realize how badly we need forgiving. We’re going beyond just covering up our brokenness but we’re asking God to heal us from the inside out.