Friday, March 31, 2017

Counter-Cultural Counting

I’m starting again in a one-on-one Bible study, going through James. Evidently, once was not enough.

James suggests several things that could safely be categorized as counter-cultural. For instance, his emphasis on the blessing of poverty or humility vs. the curse of riches - that does not sit well in downtown Milford. Or how about this?: “Watch what you say!” Clearly James was not on Facebook.

But it is James’ counter-cultural counting that hits me hard. No, it is not 2 + 2 = 5. That’s not counter-cultural. Government does that all the time. James’ brand of counter-cultural counting is found early in his little letter, chapter 1, verse 2: “Count it all joy, brothers, when you fall into all kinds of trials.” Sure, that’s what you do. Right?

‘Counting’ is an accounting. It is a reckoning and placing in a proper category. So when ‘disaster’ strikes, we must account for it. Bad luck? Some would say so. It’s not fair! Many would agree. But in a world where God reigns from the uncontested throne of the universe and is actively involved in the lives and affairs of men, we cannot resort to luck or arbitrary rules of fairness. The Bible teaches that God is keenly interested in the training and education of His children. And He often uses hardships in order to teach us what we could not possibly learn otherwise.

It is not a case of God using a big stick to whack us when we are wrong, or a feather to tickle us when we are right. This is not about punishment and reward. The Gospel instructs us that every day we live and breathe as a direct result of God’s mercy, totally undeserved; and that every day we engage in and enjoy life as a blessing of God’s grace, again undeserved. No, if we think a flat tire or broken nail is a result of God getting back at us for something, we have completely missed the point, and have trivialized both our sin and God’s justice.

Hardships and trials and tests are evidences of God working in us and on us. If we desire to grow stronger and wiser, then we will welcome these experiences as divinely appointed opportunities. We will count them as such. And when we forget, we will find our frustrations and resentments returning. And then, you, like me, will need to return to James all over again, read the verse, “Count it all joy, ..” and repent of an attitude the pretends that the world is supposed to revolve around me, and then thank God for another chance to learn, and grow, and change. It’s like learning to count all over again.

Sunday, March 26, 2017

from Jason Nightengale, Wordsower Weekly Update, Mar 26-27


(I love how Jason knows Scripture so well, that it oozes out of him. In this short article he draws from Ephesians 4 and Philippians 3 with a dash of 2 Corinthians 5, and ends with a most excellent translation of Ephesians 2:10.)

God is working all things together for good, for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.

His purpose is that we should be shaped into the image and likeness of His son Jesus Christ; that He might be the eldest of a large family of brothers and sisters. He has birthed us in Christ to grow to maturity measured by the full stature of Christ Himself. We are not to stay children any longer, thrown about by every wind of doctrine, dupes of crafty rogues and their deceitful schemes. In the past He overlooked such ignorance. No. Let us speak the truth in love. So shall we fully grow up into the likeness of Christ. Bearing much good fruit and so giving the Father the Glory. Jesus' purpose in dying for us, was that we, while still in life, should stop living for ourselves and start living for Him Who for our sake died and was raised to life.

Who are you living for? The question resounds in my ear... Who am I living for? For as I have often told you before, and now tell you with tears in my eyes, there are many whose way of life makes them enemies of the cross of Christ. Their appetites are their god and they glory in the things they ought to be ashamed of. Their minds are set on earthly things.

We are to live in contrast to this; living as citizens of heaven, with our eyes set on heavenly things and the immanent return of Christ. Suddenly our disputes about earthly things and distinctions will pass into insignificance. Only that which really matters will be our conversation. We can fill our time and give ourselves to building upon the one foundation, (which is Jesus Christ) with that which will stand forever even the testing by fire. We will build with the deeds of the Spirit not the deeds of the flesh. Building with gold, silver and precious stone, not wood, hay and stubble. For the flesh counts for nothing.

Do you love God? Are you called to His purpose? Who are you living for? "We were created in Christ Jesus to walk in the good deeds which He created beforehand for us to walk in" (Eph. 2:10).

Friday, March 24, 2017

It's the Fruit; not the Foliage

They have these trees in Florida - they call them oak trees. But they can’t be oak trees, because their leaves are different.

It’s kind of strange. The so-called oak leaves, little bitty things, are falling off the trees now. And it’s not even Fall. They’re all messed up here. It probably has something to do with the Central Time Zone.

So I’m not sure why they call them ‘oaks’ when they look so different. But I did notice as I was walking along that there were acorns. Acorns! So, maybe they are oaks after all, with deformed leaves.

And it struck me that Jesus did not say, by their foliage you will know and recognize those who are God’s children, but by their fruit. And it struck me again that I am better at recognizing foliage than fruit.

So what is the fruit of a follower of Jesus? We should not expect that it would be something primarily material, but rather, spiritual; not something primarily outer, but inner. The fruit of the Spirit would fit this description, which is a pretty good summary of the whole character of Christ. That’s the fruit that should be evident in the lives of believers both in the North and the South, the east and the west. 

And what might be the foliage that grabs my attention at the expense of the fruit? If it’s the leaf on a tree, well, it can’t be the hair, can it? Who would get caught up using someone’s hair as an indicator of one’s standing and walk with God? It’s not the version of the Bible, nor the lingo of the prayer language, though the Bible and prayer are pretty basic for the Christian. It’s not the latest Christian book that you read, or the preacher that you prefer. Some are better than others, but then, some people actually read and listen to people they disagree with, both to strengthen their own positions, or perhaps even to learn about other people’s points of view. I find that I really like oak leaves. You know, the real ones. Though I find now that the other, little oak leaves are no less real. They’re not necessarily deformed. Just different.

Oh, there is such a thing as bad fruit. I’ve seen it, in myself. And in a world where the religious landscape is continually changing, and when religious convictions are increasingly contested, it would be good if we would learn to look for the fruit, not the foliage. Do you love the Lord Jesus? And are you becoming more like Him? Let’s learn from each other, and learn to love each other.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Little Boys; Big Lesson

On two separate Wednesday evenings I have attempted to help two different 6 year old boys memorize and understand a verse: “For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.” (James 2:10 ESV) For some reason the children’s book uses the UK edition of ESV, replacing the word “guilty” with “accountable.”

As you can guess, that’s a mouthful for a young kid. Rarely does he use the word “accountable,” much less read it at this age level. But hey, we are here to learn. And, the boys, amazingly, have little trouble understanding the concept.

If I tell you that I’ll pay you $10 to go out in the yard and pick up 100 sticks, would you do it? The boys say yes, and would like to go out right now and work on the project rather than sit in this room and work on this verse. And so I ask, “If you put in front of me a pile of sticks, and I count them, and there are only 99, do I owe you $10. They instantly understand that the “counting” matters (the core of the word “accountable”). I’m surprised that they have not suggested just breaking the longest stick in half and solving the problem, but that’s another article. And they get it. 100 means 100.

When mom bakes cookies and says, “Don’t eat the cookies!”, are you in trouble if you eat just one. The boys know. “Yes.” The more sophisticated among us might say that we didn’t eat cookies (pl.), just cookie (sg.), and mom should have said don’t eat any of the cookies if that’s what she meant. But the boys know that such sophistry will not fly with mom, nor with God.

The point, then, of the verse, is clear, though the memorizing and the saying of it, for 6 year olds, is quite a chore. And the point is vital. My condition before God as a sinner, which the Bible assures us is universal, is not due to the biggest, baddest sin that you or I have ever committed. And if you happen to have avoided certain big, bad sins, you are in no less peril. Since, for instance, that unnoticed offense of doing good from wrong motives or with a bad attitude can be the one failure that renders you guilty or accountable of violating the whole law. 


The point is not that I have to work harder to clean up the lesser messes, since I am clearly not even aware of all my failings as accurately measured by God’s law. No, the point is that I need a Savior who will pay my penalty and forgive all my sins. And that’s a point that 6 year old boys can grasp, and perhaps grasp better at than at 60, when we grow up into practices of parsing and sophistry.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Forty Days and Nights

The blues band Shirley Jones and the Dap-Kings used to sing the song “100 days, 100 nights To know a man’s heart. And a little more Before he knows his own.” She goes on and sings “You know a man can play the part of a saint just so long. For a day comes when his true, His true self unfolds. Yes it does.” Poor Shirley wasn’t so sure a mere “40 days and nights” were sufficient to avoid getting taken. But the Bible indicates that 40 days and nights reveal quite a bit about what one truly believes; and whom one truly worships.

We first come across God’s use of “40 days and nights” in Genesis 7, when God sends a worldwide rain to wash the earth of its wickedness. It is devastating. All the world populations perishes except for those eight from Noah’s family preserved on the ark. An implication of “40 days” is that this period is useful for cleansing, though not ultimately, since Noah and his family remained flawed.

In Exodus, Moses spends “40 days and nights” on the mountain, fasting, and receiving from God the 10 commandments. One could associate this as a suitable time period to spend seeking to study and discern God’s will. We also note that in Moses’ re-telling of the story in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses came down from the mountain only to find the people immersed in idolatrous sin, and so he broke the tablets of stone containing the Law. After dealing with the people, her returned to the mountain again and spent another 40 days fasting and meeting with God. Again, 40 days may help us in knowing God’s will, but it does not deal effectively with the sin problem.

The Bible goes on to speak of “40 days” in relation to Elijah and Ezekiel; Jonah, and then Jesus. God uses these periods of time to rest, and test; to preach, and to prepare. There is nothing magic about 40 days. But time spent with God, in the absence of a hundred other distractions, is a deep soul-need for all us who suffer from our condition of being over-marketed and under-meditated.

Our church tradition doesn’t do much with Lent, that 40 day period this year, which began March 1 through April 15 (excepting Sundays) in which many Christians seek to invest time with God in order to practice cleansing, or attentiveness, etc. Perhaps you need to take some time as well.


By the way, Shirley Jones died this past year. I hope that she was able to take 40 days, or 100, to explore the depths of her own soul, and to find the only One upon whom any of us, man or woman, can truly count.

Friday, March 03, 2017

Mean what You Say

Traveling home from Togo, I was sitting and waiting at JFK for the plane that would bring me home to Detroit. I watched a young couple speaking a language I did not understand instruct and warn a young boy, 3 or 4 years old, to behave. It seemed as though the boy did not understand the language either, because whatever they said, he paid no mind in the least.
The mother was so tender with him. She would instruct; he would ignore. A sad look would come on her face, but there would be no consequence. He kept throwing his toy to the floor, over and over, into that paths of hurrying people. No matter. Just repeated words, spoken, and ignored.
The mother was not so tender when the husband/father sought to get involved. He was going to take the toy away. The boy squealed. The mother came to his aid, and started reprimanding the father for being so demanding. Then she would again instruct the boy, and he would do what he always did, looking at the father with glee that he had the upper hand, and the father glowering with resentment, both toward the boy and the woman.
If as parents we do not mean what we say, then why speak at all? And if our children are not taught to respond properly to our words, with consequences attached and enacted when those words are ignored, do we really think they will respond to our words when they are age 8, or 18? But the point which is even more important is this: if we do not teach our children to obey our words because they know that we do not mean what we say, then we are also teaching them to ignore God’s Word, thinking that He also does not mean what He says. But, He does. And our children will not be prepared to be obedient and submissive to Him, and will suffer the consequences. And you will have contributed to the situation. Your pretended tenderness is a sham. Let’s do our job.
I realize that this applies not only to parents, but to pastors. And I have been challenged to make sure I mean what I say, and to follow through.

One more thought: To mean what you say does not mean that you have to be mean. I condemned fake tenderness above, but to cross over to that which is malicious and mean is not the better part. Rather, “Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.” (Colossians 4:6 NAS95)