Monday, May 31, 2010

Did God only care about Israel before Jesus came?

Most of the Old Testament centres on the history of one nation -- Israel -- to the extent that they become known as God's chosen people.  We read how God saved them from severe famine, freed them from slavery, led them into a new land and gave them victories in battles over and over again.  God made a covenant with them and declared His love for this people without reservation.  They were special.

The curious fact is that God made all of mankind yet seemed to just favour one nation over everyone else.  Why?

In Isaiah 43:12 we read that God intended to have Israel be His witness.  Witness to what?  Apparently to the fact that He is the only true God.  We know that other people groups were worshipping many gods in those days.  In choosing and then leading Israel God taught the Israelites to serve Him alone.  As a result, they gained notoriety far and wide for their allegiance to the one God -- Yahweh.  And a number of Israel's leaders and heroes clearly grasped God's purpose in this -- for example, the author of Psalm 67 who expresses his desire to make God's ways known all over the earth and that salvation would be among all nations.

If we know to look for it, we see evidence that all nations were included in God's plan in the Old Testament.  Gentiles were never an after thought.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

There is always sunshine above the clouds

Zoom in to find people in the shot.                   Grand Canyon Feb 2010

Friday, May 28, 2010

Sweet dreams are made of these (1)

Revelation 21:3-4
"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

Isaiah 11:6-9
The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the hole of the cobra,
and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Things are not always what they seem.

If we judge character by appearance or outward behaviour, we could be so wrong.

Not all people who live upright and moral lives do so because they are exceptionally pure and holy on the inside.  Some character flaws can help us avoid evil.  Pride keeps us from stealing; timidity keeps us from promiscuity; fear keeps us from killing, etc.

On the other hand, people who do apparently bad deeds may have righteous inner cores that surprise even themselves.  There are stories of gangster bosses who live the life of crime to keep their underlings employed; they are misled leaders who love to provide.  Many disgruntled idealists have become members of totalitarian regimes over the years; they are pursuing justice--just down the wrong path.  Even some sexual offenders purposely re-offend to get themselves back into jail and out of harms way.

God forbids that we judge and He has good reasons for it.  1 Samuel 16:7b says that the Lord looks at the heart.  

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Second Class Christianity

Somewhere along the line Christians in the West picked up the notion that serious believers in Jesus, if they truly listen to His call, become either a pastor, a missionary or a full time ministry worker in some para-church organization.  Any other job ends up being less than the higher calling of preaching or serving others.  Ministry related professions are considered sacrificial while other vocations are perceived  to be about personal gain.

Although we don't say it out loud, this notion is always in the back of our minds.  And the way our churches operate affirms it in many different ways.  For example, pastors receive special prayer because they are "in charge of the flock".  Missionaries also need extra prayers because "they are on the front line".  Ministry staff deserve applause because they often work long hours that are "above and beyond their duty".

While pastors, missionaries and ministry staff all deserve our prayers, support and applause, the indirect affect of putting them on pedestals is the suggestion that lay Christians are mere spectators surrounding these champions.  Lay Christians become dependent on paid pastors to interpret the Bible for them, rather than learning to understand Scripture and integrate God's teaching into their particular situations.  This dependency is both dangerous and unscriptural.

In addition to the dependency problem, there's the motivation problem.  By elevating a few ministry related professions, we tend to view all other vocations as secondary in God's eyes, depleting the motivation to pursue excellence in areas that are also part of God's domain.  Doctors heal.  Lawyers uphold justice.  Business owners provide employment, goods and services.  Artists shape and influence culture.  Scientists, philosophers, anthropologists all are seekers of truth.  Christians working in regular jobs can certainly devote themselves sacrificially; it doesn't have to be about personal gain for them either.   Everyone can serve Christ in their vocation.

The term "Sunday Christians" is often used to label people who live religious lives only when they are at church.  But if there is little encouragement to understand Scripture in ordinary contexts and if we fail to see the kingdom significance of "regular professions", then how are believers supposed to avoid being "Sunday Christians"?

Saturday, May 22, 2010

Why the Holy Spirit?

In the Old Testament, God spoke through certain individuals here or there to convey his message to the people.  At least that's the way stories were recorded; from Abraham to Moses to various kings and prophets, God appears to have spoken only to a chosen few.  And the text indicates that God veiled himself in these encounters to ensure that His pure holiness would not instantly destroy men.

Then came Jesus, God incarnated within a human body--a fantastic veil to protect people from God's holiness.  He was audible, touchable and perceivable in every sense, yet did not destroy us while he walked amongst us.  Some did not believe Jesus was God because He was too ordinary.  Yet in Jesus, God came deeper into relationship with his broken people.

In dying for us Jesus accomplished a further step in the process.  He gave to those who rely upon Him ("believe" or have "faith" in Him) his own purity--and therefore the ability to have God's Spirit come into their lives as the Spirit is in His life.

And that's what happened: God's Spirit did come into those who believed in Jesus giving birth to the Church of Christ as described in Chapter 2 in the book of Acts--an event called Pentecost.  This was where the shift began, the Spirit descending on every follower of Jesus rather than just coming near someone special like before when dealing with His people.

Ever since Pentecost, all believers of Jesus have been given the Holy Spirit, and thus no longer have to depend on human leaders to connect with God.  For this reason, no one believer is counted above another in the Kingdom of God, because we each gain fellowship with Him through the same means--that is through Jesus' Spirit.

Just a hole in the ground

                                  The Grand Canyon  Feb 2010

Blue sky and sunshine

                                  Death Valley, California.  Feb 2010

Thursday, May 20, 2010

A horse is made to run!

The Horse and His Boy, the third book of C.S. Lewis' Chronicles of Narnia series, is a story about a horse named Bree.  Bree was born a free horse but was captured as a babe and became a slave for most of his life.  He had a cruel master that made him work by inflicting pain and fear.  Later, Bree was freed from the old master.  But when the familiar pain and fear were gone he lost all motivation to work hard; he drifted along without aim or passion, neither realizing his true nature nor the purpose that he was born for.  That is until Aslan, the Good Lion, chased him--even scratching him superficially--so as to teach him to run hard again as a free horse.

Christians are like Bree.  Before we experienced freedom in Christ, we were under the slave masters of this world, working and toiling for all the wrong reasons: pride, lust, greed and fears of all kinds...things that ultimately destroy us.  When Christ comes into our hearts releasing us from our old master(s) we also lose the old motivations to work hard.  We gain a choice: should we run hard for our new master or should we just coast along?

A horse is made to run, and man is made to work.  Before the fall in the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve had jobs too.  And Christ is at work to help us work as free people.

Jesus is a good master.  As with Bree, He may sometimes use discipline to push us forward.  But unlike the old earthly masters, He never acts in a way that will destroy us.  Scripture tells us that whatever He demands from us He also gives us the where-with-all to accomplish it.

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Should the Church be perfect?

With all the teaching on good values and virtues it seems natural for the world to expect Christ's Church to be a squeaky clean institution that every member can be proud of.  But the fact is, church history is marred with stains of crime and cruelty, like the Spanish Inquisition, the Crusades, and more recently Jim and Tammy Baker plus a whole host of child molesting priests and pastors.  When confronted with these facts we become speechless.

But Christians should know better than to expect the Church to be perfect.  Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous but sinners." (Mark 2:17)  To become a Christian, one does not require a criminal check, a moral index check, nor any other condition.  All are welcome as they are; the door is wide open for anyone who desires Christ.  As a result, sinners come carrying their old selves and old habits.

Richard Wurmbrand said it best, "A hospital may stink of pus and blood; in that lies its beauty, for it receives the sick with their disgusting sores and horrible diseases.  The Church is Christ's own hospital.  Millions of patients are treated in it, with love.  The Church accepts sinners - they continue to sin, and for their transgressions the Church is blamed....The politics and prejudices of its servants are distortions of what comes from God -- that is, the Bible and its teachings, worship and the sacraments.  Whatever its faults, the Church has much that is sublime in it.  The sea drowns thousands of people in it every year, but no one contests its beauty." (p. 28, In God's Underground)

Monday, May 17, 2010

To walk humbly with your God (3)

Of modern saints, Mother Teresa (Agnes Gonxha) is probably the most well known example of humility.

She sensed God's call to belong completely to Him at age 12 but struggled with that desire for 6 years.  At age 18, Agnes joined the Order of Loreto Nuns, whose missionaries were working in Bengal.  One year later, in 1929, she arrived at Calcutta, where she would spent most of her life fulfilling God's call upon her by serving the poor, the unclean and the despised.  

Her humility became evident through her obedience to God: showing his love to the lowly outcasts -- India's 'untouchables' amidst the dirt of unpleasant places.  With few resources, at least in the beginning, her service was not just from an arm's length, living in a clean convent then commuting to the slump each day as if it were her day job.  She moved in amongst the poor, demonstrating the kind of love that her Master humbled himself to give to similarly unclean people.  

And while her service benefitted many, her devotion was towards Jesus alone.  In serving them she served Jesus.  

Sunday, May 16, 2010

To love mercy (2)

One individual really stands out to me as someone who embraced God's call to love mercy: Richard Wurmbrand (1909-2001).  A Romanian Jew, Richard converted to Christianity at age 29 after having chased a life of pleasure in Bucharest during the pre-Second World War era.  When God took hold of his heart he became a Lutheran minister, pursuing the life of faith in Christ with the same abandon as his former life of pleasure.  When the communists took power after World War II this meant that he would spend 14 years in different prisons suffering various forms of torture at the hands of interrogators and prison guards because of his belief in Jesus.

During this imprisonment, Romania's political regime changed like a revolving door; power passed from one group within the party to another continuously.  When Wurmbrand was not in isolation, he ministered to fellow prisoners with words and with deeds, preaching the Gospel and giving away his precious morsels of dry bread or sugar to those in dire need.  And, because of the changes in the political climate, he often encountered prisoners who had previously been his tormentors, having tortured him years before when they were in power.

But that did not deter him from showing love and mercy.  One time Wurmbrand nursed a former torturer on his death bed, cleaning pus, blood and feces from his dying body--without the luxuries of running water or clean cloths.  Where did this deep mercy come from?  How was it conceived in such circumstances?

Wurmbrand understood that his calling was to 'build a bridge between good and evil; a bridge of tears, prayers and self-sacrifice for sinners to cross over and join the blessed.' (p.53 In God's Underground)

Reading and re-reading elements of Wurmbrand's story bring new meaning to the words "To love mercy"; they don't just conjure up warm and fuzzy feelings that shift with every changing wind.  Rather they trigger thoughts of mercy so powerful that even unimaginably awful circumstances cannot overwhelm it--mercy that must come from God's nature in us...mercy beyond our good intentions.

Thursday, May 13, 2010

What does God require of me? (1)

Micah 6:8 states: "He has shown you, O man, what is good.  And what does the Lord require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

This doesn't sound so hard, or does it?

William Wilberforce took the words 'to act justly' seriously.  A British politician in the late 1700's, he became convinced of the injustice of African slavery practiced within the British Empire and took up the task of abolishing it.  Many others joined him, responding to the call for justice; together they worked tirelessly, giving birth to the world's first grass roots human rights movement.  But ultimately it was Wilberforce's position in parliament that gave the opportunity to legislate against slavery.  His unlikely success had far-reaching influence over the entire British Empire.

At the time using and trading slaves was common and profitable business, and Britain dominated the practice.  As a result, Wilberforce's mission was both counter-cultural and formidably difficult.

What caused Wilberforce and others like him to conceive the need for such social change?  And what empowered them to think that the abolition was even possible?  His biography tells us it was his faith-- not merely faith in human ability, but faith in God who loves justice and brings about His will on earth.  In other words, Wilberforce did what he did because the King of Heaven wanted better for the citizens of Earth than did the King of England.

While we're often tempted to treat Christianity as a hot tub religion where we comfortably wait for Heaven to come, this verse stirs the water.  Hearing Christ's call, we set our minds to consider His Kingdom business in a decaying world that eagerly waits for renewal.