A Perfect Plan

 

1 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 2 "Speak to the sons of Israel, saying: `When a woman gives birth and bears a male child, then she shall be unclean for seven days, as in the days of her  menstruation she shall be unclean. 3 `On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. 4 `Then she shall remain in the blood of her purification for thirty-three days; she shall not touch any consecrated thing, nor enter the sanctuary until the days of her purification are completed. (Leviticus 12:1-4 NKJV)

 

   I'm often willful, but less often obedient. The culture in which I dwell teaches me willful disobedience. It encourages me to pursue my own desires and to find self fulfillment. Strangely, the initiation of the story of God's redemption of the world included the strict obedience of a variety of humans.

 

    Joseph was a "son of Israel". His linage wound through King David. When Caesar Augustus, the first emperor of the Roman Empire, demanded that the "whole world" (in his world view the whole world included only the Roman world) register so that he could tax them, Joseph obeyed. When the angels appeared to heathen shepherds and instructed them to go find and worship Jesus, they obeyed. When eight days had passed after Jesus' birth, Joseph recalled the scripture (above) given by God to Moses centuries earlier regarding circumcision, he prepared Mary and the one week old Jesus for travel and walked eight miles to the temple in Jerusalem in obedience to God's Word. Imagine, He carried Jesus (God) and offered Him to God. He sacrificed two doves as an offering to God for blessing him with the birth of a son, Jesus (God). Mary returned to the temple 33 days later in obedience to verse 4 above as the Israelite women had for centuries.The Magi then obeyed God's stars and journeyed long and far to find the new King of the Jews the stars had predicted to them.

 

   All of these were willful acts of obedience.

 

   In my dawn prayers I often re-submit my life to Christ, remembering Paul's words - it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. Rebellion is always crouching at the door of my heart, waiting for an opportunity to tempt me. A heart submitted in a prayer of salvation often needs refreshed submission. God's salvation is eternal. There is no wavering in the heart of Jesus. My submission to Him is frail. It is weak. It often quietly plans its own escape to sin. It sometimes succeeds. My obedience is quite imperfect.

 

   When Christ was sent to save, His obedience was quite perfect. All aspects of His redemption are therefore perfect too. My failures sometimes have serious consequences in human terms, but the power of my sin is incapable of destroying the power of His redemption. Complete forgiveness is never further than a prayer's distance from me. Once forgiven, my sin is forgotten in the heavenlies. The shame that often accompanies it evaporates when the Lord's grace is applied.

 

    The birth of Christ we celebrated yesterday began the only life of complete obedience ever lived. He was the only Lamb of God without blemish. He was the only Lamb who was also the Good Shepherd. His perfect obedience produced a perfect sacrifice which produced a perfect Redemption. Today, not through my perfection, but through His, I have received the gifts of His perfect grace, His perfect redemption, and His perfect peace. 

Adam Lanza, Gun Control, Social Norms and Resting in God

   America has been shocked this week by Adam Lanza's unthinkably murderous rampage in Newtown, Connecticut. Several times I've found myself in tears as the details of the deaths of innocent young children have been revealed. In response, public debate has opened on a variety of subjects including mental illness identification and treatment, gun control, and the impact of violent entertainment. Plagued by a sense that we must do something to make certain that an event like this will never happen again, it seems that everything is on the table for discussion. 
 

   As the focus of these discussions sharpens, the debate often centers on "what is normal"? In a free society, what is normal and acceptable gun control? What is normal and acceptable monitoring of those who suffer mental illness? What is normal and acceptable portrayal of violence in movies and video games? We are searching simple answers to a an exhaustively complex set of questions. As we search, we regularly bump up against our constitution. Gun advocates wave the Second Amendment, the entertainment industry waves First Amendment free speech rights, and advocates for those who suffer mental illness Wave First, Third, Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendment privacy rights. Given these diverse factions, interest groups, and settled law,  is it possible to find and define an accurate new social norm?

 

   Proverbs 3:5,6 says -- Trust the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in a all your ways and He shall direct your paths. Our society was founded upon and for years looked to the bible for the definition of behavioral normalcy. In my lifetime, cultural normalcy has been redefined in many ways which are no longer compatible with biblical teaching. It seems that normal as defined by man is far weaker than normal as defined by God. Our cultural shift from God has created a courser society. Our societal floating normal, ever changing, leaves no well defined image in its wake, and that jiggly, slippery  normal it produces prohibits peace, with confused definitions of right and wrong competing for our approval.

 

   Through the great prophet Isaiah (55:9) the Lord reminds us -- As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. As Christians we can find peace only by resting in God's Truth.  There is no need for us to form opinions on every subject debated and we certainly should never bend to the social pressure applied to us to reject biblical wisdom and rely instead on human thinking. We do not conform to cultural norms, but rather are transformed by the renewing of our minds by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in our hearts and by studying God's Word.  

 

    We can have a positive effect on the debate not by spouting angry opinions, but by contributing God's wisdom instead of ours. We can console the wounded, empathize with those suffering, and pray for grieving families and our political leaders. We must be purveyors of a point of view born in the heavenlies. We are vessels of the Lord's peace, to be poured out amid pained confusion.

 

    We live in a world broken and transformed from God's image by sin. Evil will strike our heel from time to time, but one day the Lord will crush Evil's head permanently.

   Until then, even in the midst of catastrophic tragedy, we can only rest in God, trusting Him alone as the source of our peace.


Copyright 2012 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be quoted in whole or in part if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com

Cool Greek, Island Holidays, and Time Well Spent with Jesus

  Here's a cool thing about the Greek language. It has verb tenses that don't exist in English. It is interesting to think that although the bible was written and maintained for centuries in Hebrew, the New Testament was written primarily in Greek. This did not surprise God. In fact He planned it. It is peace generating to know we can rest in the understanding that we are continually saved by Jesus. But the same  verb tense applies to other important words which inform our faith walk daily. Sound too geeky? Why is this important? Let me demonstrate...
 

    In Greek, the aorist tense compares to what we would call the past tense - it represents something that has happened at a point in the past. In Greek, there is also a tense known as the perfect tense. Paul wrote in Ephesians 2:8 - For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God  The words have been saved sound like our past tense, but they are not. They are in the Greek perfect tense, so they imply that you are saved, having been completely saved in the past with ongoing results in the present, and by implication will continue to happen in all the future present moments. Jesus saved me on the day of my spiritual rebirth, is saving me now, and will continue to save me for all future nows. Hallelujah, Amen!

 

      The Apostle John wrote in 1John 1:1 - That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life-- John is saying we have heard and have seen with the present result of still hearing and seeing and by implication we will continue to hear and see Christ in all future days. However, if I fail to sit with the Lord in prayer daily, my mind subtly begins to think of Him in the past tense. When this happens my lamp darkens, my heart shrinks, and my holy boldness turns to timidity. My faith walk is a daily walk, refreshed by daily time of seeing and hearing Jesus. My daily time with Him also refreshes my understanding that our relationship will continue to happen in all future days.

   A few verses later John wrote (1:8) - If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  Dave Guzik wrote this in his commentary on 1John.

   There are few people today who think they are sinlessly perfect; but how many of us really think we sin? Many of us will say "I make mistakes" or "I'm not perfect" or "I'm only human," but usually we say such things to excuse or defend ourselves. This is different from knowing, and admitting, "I am a sinner." To say that we have no sin puts us in a dangerous place, because God's grace and mercy is extended to sinners. Not "mistakers" or "I'm only human" or "Nobody's perfect" people, but sinners. We need to realize the victory and forgiveness that comes from saying, "I am a sinner - even a great sinner - but I have a Savior who cleanses me from all sin." (Guzik)

   So here the present tense applies to us. If we drift into the self deceit of diminishing our sin to a lesser infraction, that thinking defines us as liars to God both now and in the future. When we reduce our sin to self correctable offenses, we reduce our need for a Savior.

   We've all heard that John spent time alone in exile on the Island of Patmos. I doubt if he would agree. As he wrote the Book of Revelation, John described hearing and seeing Jesus. He was actually on an island holiday with the Lord. Let's have a perfect tense experience with Jesus today, hearing and seeing Him as present now in our lives, moment to moment and as going to be present in all our future moments. Let's talk to Him, and listen to Him, walk with Him and worship Him.

   
Copyright 2012 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be reproduced in part or in whole without prior written permission if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday,blogspot.com
  

 

 

  



 

 

  

Chained to a Pillar of Shame

"You shall not plant for yourself any tree, as a wooden image, near the altar which you build for yourself to the LORD your God.  You shall not set up a sacred pillar, which the LORD your God hates. (Deuteronomy 16:21,22 NKJV)

   Sacred “totems” were common among the pagan Canaanites. Some were carved similarly to those we are familiar with from Northwestern indigenous tribes, having images of actual living things. Others were carved with created images, and some were left uncarved. Both Alaskan and Canaanite ancients had another similar totem called a “pillar of shame”.  In modern Alaska, a few remain. One has the image of Exxon’s CEO. It is a “pillar of shame” for the perceived unpaid debt to Alaska for damage done when the Exxon Valdez spilled oil and polluted the local environment. The concept is that the pillar will stand until the debt is paid. Images carved on totems tell a story, and pillar of shame totems repeat at every glance the story of unpaid debt. In Croatia, an ancient pillar of shame still stands. People who had committed various misdemeanors were  chained to it for a day of public humiliation.

   The worship of God must be pure. Yahweh commands that we don’t worship anything but Him. You shall not plant for yourself any tree…I know I’ve erected several totems to myself over the years. Before I knew Christ, I enjoyed being exalted. When I read this verse today it made me consider that I may have also erected some pillars of shame. You shall not set up a sacred pillar…. I didn’t cut down any trees to do it, but instead tried to carve someone’s sin into a permanent pillar by repeatedly  mentioning it, ….which the LORD your God hates. Although I haven’t initiated a Christian sin totem carving class, I have too often repeated the past sin of others. When I preserve someone’s pillar of shame by mindlessly gossiping about their sin, I am denying the existence of Christ’s work on the cross. The damage done to a fellow Christian by verbally re-carving their sin stories is small compared to the damage to our Lord. Sin gossip can turn Christ's church into a minefield of unrelenting shame.

   I know that nothing I have done or can do has remitted my sin. Amazing Grace is God’s alone, but sometimes I seem to want God to require more than that of others. Grace seems like a sentence too light for them. I want and enjoy immediatef reedom from my transgressions of the law but prefer if my cellmates aren't paroled before their due time. The bible says of Jesus -- He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. (Hebrews 9:26b) If I erect a sin pillar of someone's shame, I deny my Lord’s plan and purpose. If I repeat the sins of others I re-animate their sin, and I am saying that the blood sacrifice of Christ is an insufficient payment. And it’s not enough to just stop repeating the sin totems of others. I need to stop listening to them, too. Listening to Christian gossip is sin. 

   The Lord is not absent minded. He chooses to forget my sin. He is a just God and his unwillingness to even hold the memory of my forgiven sin reveals His justice. My sin is gone to prove it is forgiven, to validate the righteousness and finality of the sacrifice and the One who was sacrificed to remove it. OK God. Help me stop carving pillars of shame. Praise the Lord, let it be so.

Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. (John 1:29 NKJV)

Copyright 2012 Mission of the Master Ministries, Inc. May be quoted in whole or in part if a link is provided to http://wordworkswednesday.blogspot.com