You Live in Our World Now

You Live in Our World Now

Recently an Amish family near Greenville, MI was traveling home. It was raining, and a truck decided to pass them as they drove their buggy, left wheels on the pavement and right wheels on the shoulder. The truck crossed the double yellow line and then had to swing back suddenly as he saw a car approaching. He sideswiped the buggy carrying a dad, mom and five children. The baby in mom’s arms died. Mom is in critical condition in the hospital, along with the other children. Dad alone did not need medical treatment. The horse had to be put down. 

I was surprised when discussion concerning the accident blamed the Amish buggy. The baby should have been in a car seat. There need to be more restrictions about where and when they can use the roads. In other words, you live in our world now. You have to fit in.

Never mind that some years ago, horse and buggies were the rule, and cars were the problem. And never mind that in just a few years, owners of self-driving cars will be saying the same thing about error-prone human drivers. You live in our world now. You have to fit in.

And never mind that we can be downright sure the driver of the buggy was not distracted by his cell phone, but we have no such certainty concerning drivers of cars. And never mind that the truck driver seemed to be in a great hurry, when the Amish communities have refused to make “hurry” a thing. But, you live in our world now. You have to fit in. 

I am not seeking to espouse an Amish lifestyle, though I find their ways intriguing. All of mankind and its various cultures are beset by sin, and the Amish are not exempt. But I am also interested how it is that we as Christians live in a world system that says to us, “You live in our world now. You have to fit in.” 

Perhaps a well-known and fitting passage to which we can refer would be Jesus’ Beatitudes that lead off Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Jesus says that we should be “poor in spirit,” but the world says that we should be full of ourselves, talk loud and be first in line. Jesus says that we should mourn over sin, but the world says, “who’s to say what sin is? Accept yourself.”  Jesus says we should be “addicted” to righteousness, but the world offers a host of other addictions. And then they say to us, “You live in our world not. You have to fit in.”

Paul tells us in Philippians that “our citizenship is in heaven.” It is the home for which we are being prepared. We should not be surprised that we don’t fit in well with the world. And if we were made for another, better world, why should we even want to fit into this one.

But just to check that thought a bit, this is not the world’s world. They may act like it, but we still sing the song, “This Is My Father’s Word,” since He created it, after all. That hymn contains the phrase, “and though the wrong seems oft so strong, He is the Ruler yet.” Yes, He is. So when the world says, “You live in our world now. You have to fit in,” perhaps we can reply, firmly and graciously, no, we live here as followers of Christ and have a right to the side of the road, dangerous as it may be.

And He Died.

And He Died.

The opening chapters of Genesis are packed with varied and exciting things - Chapter 1, the order of creation - Chapter 2, the narrative of Adam and Eve - Chapter 3, and then, their fall - Chapter 4, the first murder. Of course, all good things must end, and so when we come to Genesis 5, we have a genealogy of sorts, a story of men and their sons and their lifespans. After each one, there is this final epitaph: and he died.

It is the story of humanity under the curse of sin. God had predicted it, and then He followed through - in the day that you eat of that tree, you will surely die. And man surely did, that is, he surely ate, and he surely died.

And so it is surprising that we are shocked at death. You hear that so and so died. You say, “You’re kidding! What happened?” Well, what happened is what happens to every one who is born into this world. They die. You will die. I will die. Shocking? Not really.

There are exceptions. You are most likely not going to be one of them. In Genesis 5, in the 7th generation from Adam, a man named Enoch was born. All before him died. But Enoch did not. The Bible says, rather cryptically, “Enoch walked with God; and he was not, for God took him.” He didn’t die by going down. Rather, God took him up. It is an exception, the only one thus far, and it would be generations and generations before such an instance would occur again. It is the exception that proves the rule: we are all going to die (99.999%).

Elijah was a prophet of God that served during the dark days of King Ahab in Israel. Elijah’s life was precarious, at least from a human point of view. Ahab desperately wanted Elijah dead. But Elijah didn’t die. Rather, he was swept up in a whirlwind and carried by horses and chariot to heaven. It’s an amazing story, and part of the reason that it is amazing is that he didn’t die, but the rest of us will. It is the human thing to do.

And then we come to Jesus. We must always come to Jesus. Jesus died, young. “You’re kidding! How did it happen?” It happened in an unusual way, not that unusual for thieves and insurrectionists, but certainly rare for a Jewish rabbi. He experienced capital punishment. He died. But then, He rose from the dead to die no more.

There are other resurrections in the Bible. Jesus Himself raised Lazarus from the dead only a short time before His own death on the cross. But there is a difference. Lazarus died twice. He lived, died, was resurrected, and then died again. Jesus lived and died, but rose from the dead to die no more. He entered not into a second phase of temporal life, but into eternal life - the life that He offers you and me.

Jesus invites us to become one with Him by faith. It is not that Jesus is assimilated to you, but rather, that you are assimilated to Him. There are physical acts in which Jesus engaged into which He invites you to participate. He died, for a reason, for your sake, to bear the punishment of your sins. He invites you live a life that is dead to sin. He rose from the grave into new life, and a new kind of life. He invites you to walk in newness of life, a life in which the last chapter is not, “and he died,” but that we live, and live forever, never to die again.

How to Get the Best Seat

How to Get the Best Seat

Whenever we seek the opportunity to attend a special event, we may spend some time trying to wrangle the best seat that we can afford. Who wants to sit behind a post, or in the “nose-bleed” section? No one. Who wants to be able to brag about getting the “best” seat? Evidently, a whole lot of people.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day loved the best seats. This is mentioned in Matthew and Mark and Luke. Here is the Luke verse: Luke 20:46 “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and love respectful greetings in the market places, and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets.”

They had arranged to gain those seats, whether through money or holding the early advantage. They wanted this for, most likely, a number of reasons. Jesus states that there was the desire “to be noticed.” There may also be the assumption that they deserved it. And if you have surplus coin, why not spend it on such a “worthy” cause?

This drive to “get for one’s own self” is prevalent in our society. There seems to be no stigma attached to it, and perhaps there are some readers who would wonder what stigma should be attached. The addictions to self-promotion and self-satisfaction are woven deep into us. They seem not to be present in Jesus. This creates a problem for those who would be imitators of Jesus.

Let’s ask a couple of uncomfortable questions. Where is my neighbor sitting? Why, we probably don’t know and will only find out later. As we tell of our great seats, they may mention their crummy seats. We do understand, don’t we, that when the great seats are taken, the crummy seats are left, right? And why did we get the great seats? Is it because we are more important, or more worthy? Even culture-bound Christians know better than that.

Then what is it? It seems that we have made peace with a “me-first” approach to life that leaves those without connections or coin to fend for themselves, and if they bother to go to the event at all, see if from a distance. You may say, “that’s how it works in America.” You are right. My point is that it won’t be that way in heaven. 

Jesus amplifies the point in Luke 14 when He tells the parable about the man who chose the chief seat only to be demoted to the last in disgrace. Jesus said it would be better to choose the back seat, and if the host so chooses, he will “promote” you. And who do you think the “host” is in Jesus’ parable? Why, it must be God Himself! God-promotion beats out any kind of self-promotion. Or, to use Jesus’ words at the end of the parable: “For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:11 NAS95)