Godliness with contentment

1 Timothy 6:3-19 (TNIV) -

If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses. In the sight of God, who gives life to everything, and of Christ Jesus, who while testifying before Pontius Pilate made the good confession, I charge you to keep this command without spot or blame until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen.

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

My thoughts -

Paul spent the first two verses of chapter 6 dealing with how slaves are to treat their masters. You would not think that such powerful language against wealth would follow. And yet here we have it.

So what do we think about godliness as financial gain? The "health and wealth" gospel has been something of a cultural mainstay for a while. Joel Olsteen is the latest pretty face promoting something like it. We like the idea that God wants us to be successful, to be secure, to be better. And there may be some validity to that, but Paul clearly seems to be refuting the idea that following God should lead to some kind of material reward here.

He says that those "who think that godliness is a means to financial gain" have been "robbed of the truth". Let's look again at what Paul writes starting with verse 6:

But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction.

Can we be content with what we have? Paul, earlier in the chapter, asked this of slaves. Is it too much to ask of us? Yet we constantly fall into this trap. I don't even want to get rich, I think, I just want a little more. Who doesn't? But I don't know anyone who thinks they're rich. There's always someone who has more. And yet chances are, if you're an American, compared to pretty much everyone else on the planet you already are rich. Even me, though I sometimes struggle to pay all of my bills on time.

Like my cell phone bill, for instance. Man, those smart phone plans just don't come cheap. But how could I possibly live without constant email access. Ans no, I didn't really need the Galaxy Tab I just bought but it is awfully nice to have. Especially when we travel. In the minivan with the dvd player the kids like so much. To the hotels that have to have the pool. I mean, you can't stay with kids anywhere that doesn't have a pool. That would be crazy. But Lord, all I just need is a little bit more. Not to be rich or anything. Just a little more comfortable.

So I have a pretty comfortable life. I need to be content in that. Even if all I had was a roof over my head, food to eat, and the clothes on my back Paul says I should be content. Rather than pursuing more comfort and material blessing what does Paul say I should do?

But you, man of God, flee from all this, and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness.

And as for all of the material blessings that I have? Paul tells Timothy what he should say to "rich" people like us:

Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

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Preparing for worship with Psalm 145

Psalm 145:1-21 (TNIV) -

I will exalt you, my God the King;

I will praise your name for ever and ever.

Every day I will praise you

and extol your name for ever and ever.

Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise;

his greatness no one can fathom.

One generation commends your works to another;

they tell of your mighty acts.

They speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty—

and I will meditate on your wonderful works.

They tell of the power of your awesome works—

and I will proclaim your great deeds.

They celebrate your abundant goodness

and joyfully sing of your righteousness.

The Lord is gracious and compassionate,

slow to anger and rich in love.

The Lord is good to all;

he has compassion on all he has made.

All your works praise you, Lord;

your faithful people extol you.

They tell of the glory of your kingdom

and speak of your might,

so that all people may know of your mighty acts

and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

and your dominion endures through all generations.

The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises

and faithful in all he does.

The Lord upholds all who fall

and lifts up all who are bowed down.

The eyes of all look to you,

and you give them their food at the proper time.

You open your hand

and satisfy the desires of every living thing.

The Lord is righteous in all his ways

and faithful in all he does.

The Lord is near to all who call on him,

to all who call on him in truth.

He fulfills the desires of those who fear him;

he hears their cry and saves them.

The Lord watches over all who love him,

but all the wicked he will destroy.

My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord.

Let every creature praise his holy name

for ever and ever.

My thoughts -

One thing I love about this Psalm is the section beginning with verse 4 telling about how each generation tells about God's wonders to the next. Our faith has been handed down by word of mouth for literally thousands of years. I owe my faith in large part to the previous generation sharing theirs with me. Without some of the youth counsellors, Sunday school teachers, and parents of friends, not to mention my own family, I wonder if I would be in the church today. Without previous generations telling mine all about the wonders of God and modelling what the life of a believer should be for me I wonder who I would be. I would certainly not be who I am.

This is what we do when we worship. We have a story to tell. We tell the story of God. We tell of God's wonders. We tell how we have been redeemed. We tell how God is moving in our lives. We tell what God has done, is doing, and will do for all of us spanning the generations. We tell this story so that we affirm what we believe and so we give glory to God for who God is and what God does. We connect with the body of believers spanning the generations across space and time and worship that which is greater, that which is eternal, and that which we know that we need.

So what does the Psalmist here have to say about God? First, God is good. Let's look at verses 7-9 again:

They celebrate your abundant goodness and joyfully sing of your righteousness. The Lord is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and rich in love. The Lord is good to all; he has compassion on all he has made.

Do we aspire to be good like God? Do we aspire to be righteous, to be gracious, to be compassionate, to be slow to anger and to be rich in love? It is good to affirm these things about God and to give praise for them but we also want to be more godly.

What else does the Psalmist have to say about God? God is powerful. Let's look at verses 10-12 again:

All your works praise you, Lord; your faithful people extol you. They tell of the glory of your kingdom and speak of your might, so that all people may know of your mighty acts and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.

We don't like to think about God's power as much as God's goodness, I think. I know I don't, at least. God created all things. God governs the universe. God's power is beyond our comprehension. We often like to think of God as our friend or our helper but God is the Creator and Sustainer of life itself and beyond our ability to comprehend. I like C S Lewis's description of Aslan. He's not a tame lion. But he is good. We don't dictate who God is or what God does. It goes the other way.

What else does the Psalmist say? God is eternal. Look at verse 13 again:

Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures through all generations. The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does.

God is not a new thing, not the latest and greatest fad. God is not something our generation just discovered nor is God something that will pass away when we do. God is eternal. That is something that is difficult for us mortals to fathom. Ten years here is a pretty long time. 100 years is more than a lifetime. It is not really a very tangible amount of time for most of us. And yet in eternity these are less than an blink. Before any of us were, God is. After heaven and earth pass away, God is.

God is not ours to keep or to control. We are God's. We can not grasp the vastness of eternity. Our vision is obscured by time and mortality. God's power and God's goodness are beyond our ability to comprehend. When we worship we stand in awe before that which we need so desperately and is so much greater than us and we submit ourselves to God and offer up our lives as a living sacrifice.

Now what does the Psalmist say God does in response? Let's look at the last seven verses:

The Lord upholds all who fall and lifts up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time. You open your hand and satisfy the desires of every living thing. The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does. The Lord is near to all who call on him, to all who call on him in truth. He fulfills the desires of those who fear him; he hears their cry and saves them. The Lord watches over all who love him, but all the wicked he will destroy. My mouth will speak in praise of the Lord. Let every creature praise his holy name for ever and ever.

I look forward to joining with the body of believers this morning, past, present, and future, and singing God's praises, telling God's story, and asking God to save me. I know that I am not who I need to be. I need God's grace at all times. It is good to know that God provides it.

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Give proper recognition

1 Timothy 4:12-5:8 (TNIV) -

Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.

Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.

Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father. Treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity.

Give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need. But if a widow has children or grandchildren, these should learn first of all to put their religion into practice by caring for their own family and so repaying their parents and grandparents, for this is pleasing to God. The widow who is really in need and left all alone puts her hope in God and continues night and day to pray and to ask God for help. But the widow who lives for pleasure is dead even while she lives. Give the people these instructions, so that no one may be open to blame. Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

My thoughts -

There's a lot going on in here. First, there's the favorite verse for pretty much every youth group that has ever existed. I can still quote you 1 Timothy 4:12 from when I discovered in in high school. It's been on youth retreat T-shirts and stickers and literature and newsletters. It has become something of a rallying cry for young people in the church. And I can see why. "Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young" has a certain amount of appeal to young people. But, at least when I was a youth, what followed was a bit easier to ignore. Also the fact that Paul was writing this to Timothy, who had been clearly called to ministry ("Do not neglect your gift, which was given you through prophecy when the body of elders laid their hands on you.")

So Paul is telling Timothy that, despite his young age he should "set an example for the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith and in purity." Can our young people live up to this? Can our old people? Can anyone? Paul pretty much covers all of the bases here, doesn't he?

I also like that Paul tells Timothy to "not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father" and to also "treat younger men as brothers, older women as mothers, and younger women as sisters, with absolute purity." We often use the term "church family" and I love the intimacy of the family dynamic here. We are all family in Christ and we should care for each other as such.

The next part gets a little harder to wade through. Paul is telling Timothy what widows the church should not care for. The very idea that there are any that shouldn't be cared for seems pretty harsh. Who are we to judge need? But Timothy is supposed to only "give proper recognition to those widows who are really in need". That's just not the way I'm programmed. So we need to look a bit deeper into this. My gut reaction, however strong, is often wrong. So who is Paul telling Timothy that the church ought not to care for?

First, the widows who still have family that can care for them. There was no Social Security, insurance, or retirement plan here. Your children and grandchildren were your 401k. Paul is telling Timothy to not allow families to get out of their obligation to care for their elders. Respecting and caring for elderly was a big part of their culture and heritage. Look at the strong language Paul uses to describe those who deny their responsibility in this:

Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

It would be easy for an agrarian society to see the elderly and disabled as a burden but they are to be seen as a blessing and cared for. This was to be done first by the family and, failing that the church acted as a secondary family and safety net.

As for the part about "the widow who lives for pleasure", I don't really have any insight there. It seems harsh to me to try to judge who is really in need and who is just gaming the system. I don't like to make those calls. I'd just assume care for everyone and trust that there's enough to go around. But am I right in this? Resources are limited. Some people have real needs. Can we waste resources on those who don't?

I am glad I don't have to make that call.

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Holding promise for both the present life and the life to come

1 Timothy 4:1-10 (TNIV) -

The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer.

If you point these things out to the brothers and sisters, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, nourished on the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance. That is why we labor and strive, because we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all people, and especially of those who believe.

My thoughts -

Paul believed that the end was coming soon. First century Christians were convinced that Jesus was coming back in their lifetimes. Paul even comforted those who had loved ones that died before Christ's with the teaching that Jesus would raise those who had "fallen asleep" first before returning for those who were still living. Christ's return was imminent, and desperately needed in a culture in which believers faced persecution, prison, and even death for their beliefs.

Paul places false teaching here in that end times context. Yet I'm not sure it doesn't belong in a more "all times" context. Paul may not have realized this at the time but we're still here 2000 years later and we're still dealing with "hypocritical liars... whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron" and who use their status as religious leaders to control and manipulate and abuse those who place their trust in them. It seems this has always been so and is another reason we desperately await the return of Christ.

In the meantime, as we wait for Jesus to return, which we have to guarantee will be in our own lifetime, how do we differentiate the good teaching from the bad? People follow crazy, abusive, hypocritical, selfish charlatans all the time. How can you tell the difference?

While Paul's words were written for Timothy in the context of him being a leader and a minister in the church the have value for us as well:

Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.

While it is good to have leaders to help instruct and teach we cannot rely on anyone solely for the word of God. We have scripture we can read. We can study and can train ourselves. Yes, scripture is best read in community where our own issues we bring to the text can be checked against and others can help us understand what we don't but we need to also train ourselves. We have scripture, we need to read it. We have the Word, we need to be in it. There is nothing we can do in this life that is as important as learning to listen to God's will and to do what God desires from us.

You who know me know that I'm crazy about "physical training". I love to work out. I love to run. I love to bike. I try to get a good two hours or so of exercise every day. That is important to me. And Paul affirms that as "good". But if I'm not also in the Word I'm missing out on something far greater.

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Snowy Ride

I stopped to take some pictures on my ride home in the snow today.

Believe it or not this bike was clean a week ago. I know my family and friends think I'm crazy for this but I love biking in the snow. Hopefully this pictures show a little bit of why I enjoy this so much.

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Whoever aspires to be an overseer...

1 Timothy 3:1-7 (TNIV) -

1 Here is a trustworthy saying: Whoever aspires to be an overseer desires a noble task.2 Now the overseer is to be above reproach, faithful to his wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach,3 not given to drunkenness, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money.4 He must manage his own family well and see that his children obey him, and he must do so in a manner worthy of full respect.5 (If anyone does not know how to manage his own family, how can he take care of God’s church?)6 He must not be a recent convert, or he may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil.

7 He must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that he will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap.

My thoughts -

Paul lists here attributes that someone in leadership in the church should have. While I acknowledge that all may not be called to leadership and he doesn't seem to believe that all of these attributes are required of all believers isn't this list (minus the patriarchy - it assumes "male" for leadership whereas I obviously do not) something we could all aspire to?

Who doesn't want to be above reproach? I'm not saying I am. My motivations are not always pure and my actions are not always good. Even at my best I am still in need of periodic correction. At my worst I am a stubborn, obstinate, selfish, bull-headed jerk. I'm not saying I've arrived there but I definitely aspire to be above reproach.

Now for the rest of the list. Being maritally faithful is something I can do. I love my wife and cannot imagine betraying her. That said, I don't think most people enter into a marriage with the plan of adultery. Things happen. We must all be on guard for temptation. I've done some stupid, indefensible, inexplicable things in my life.

Temperate and self controlled are things that I'm working on. Let's just say that I'm not where I'd like to be right now. Blame it on my red hair. The same goes for "not violent but gentle" and "not quarrelsome". It's not like I go out and get into fist fights all the time. My altercations at this point are less with fists and more with thought and tongue. But I often let my temper get the best of me and allow it to take over causing me to do things that, when I'm not angry, I would never consider doing. But of course the true measure of our moral convictions is not in how we behave when everything goes well but in how we behave in adversity. When all goes well of course I'm fine but when things don't go my way and I start to get upset everything kind of snow balls on me and before I know it I've lost all control. By grace I'm getting better but I'm not who I want to be. Not yet at least.

I like to think that I'm respectable. I don't guess I'm the best person to ask about that, though. I also like to think I'm hospitable but I don't really host people. I like to share what I have but I also like my own space and stuff. There's a fine line there. I guess I'd like to think that I would be hospitable if the need ever rose but wouldn't be too eager for you to test me on that. Maybe I have more work to do than I think.

I like to think that I am able to teach. If I'm not it's not for a lack of trying. I used to teach guitar lessons for a living (well, it wasn't much of a living) and love to coach baseball. I can be very patient in instruction with pretty much anyone but my own children. The more I watch dads try to coach there kids the more I feel that none of us should. I'm not alone in setting up different expectations for my children than for other people's. But trying to look at this as objectively as possible I think I can say that I am a pretty good teacher. I'm also afraid that someone can correct me on that.

I am not given to drunkenness. I pretty much don't drink except for when we go to the beach. I don't like feeling out of control and so drinking, especially drinking to the point of being drunk, really doesn't happen. I'm not sure this can be counted as a virtue since the primary motivation for it is my being a control freak, which is something I don't really care for about myself.

I want to say that I am not a lover of money. I really want to say that and I really want it to be true but it can only be true in comparison to people who love money more than I do. If Jesus asked me to sell all that I have and give it to the poor in order to follow him I'm pretty sure I would decline. I don't like that. I want it not to be true. But I love my stuff. We all do. That's just a fact. I'm not trying to justify it. I struggle with it. But our culture teaches us to want new shiny stuff to make our lives better and more comfortable and as much as I fight it I am a product of this consumer driven culture. I don't love money, per se, but I do love spending it.

Now, do I manage my family well? I'm not sure I "manage" my family at all. My wife and I are equal partners. We don't do anything alone but all decisions are made together. Maybe I'm more a co-manager. For the most part my children obey us. We have tried to set firm, consistent rules with them and they have responded well to that. Of course they're still young. My oldest is about to turn eleven and is flirting with testing the boundaries of what he can get away with. I can't say that I'm excited about the prospect of having three teenagers in the house in a few years. Maybe we should revisit the family management issue then, if I've survived.

While I am not a recent convert (I grew up in the church and have been a follower of Christ since childhood) I can see where seeking a deeper relationship with God and being given more insight and more responsibilities can go to one's head. As I said yesterday for every step forward I take in faith I take two back in pride. As much as I'd like to think otherwise I can get pretty full of myself. Steve Taylor wrote a wonderful song called Smug which I am afraid describes me a little too well.

As far as my reputation goes I think I have a fairly good one. I also think that most people probably think this. We don't like to think that we don't do things well. I try not to dwell on my own faults too much. I'm not sure that my fragile ego could take it. But self examination is important. Just trying this morning to evaluate myself based on this list has been somewhat revealing.

While we may not all be called to leadership in the church we should all strive to follow Jesus more closely and take periodic inventory to see how we're doing. It's discouraging to find that I am not where I need to be right now but being perfected by grace through Christ is a process. I'm not where I'd like to be but I'm not where I was, either.

Technology

I am typing this from my new Galaxy Tab. No, I didn't really need it. In fact, I wasn't going to get it. My wife needed a new phone so we went out this evening to get her one. While she was looking for the right phone I just started messing around with this thing and got hooked.

Now she's laying on the bed laughing about something she's reading on her new Droid X and I'm typing this blog post on the Galaxy. We're in the same room but different worlds. It's weird how technology can be used to bring you closer to people you are physically far away from and yet at the same time it can seperate you feom those you share physical space with.

I'm not trying to judge technology. I use it all the time, usually in a "good" way. But I am going to put this thing down now and rejoin my physical world.

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The goal of this command is love

1 Timothy 1:1-17 (TNIV) -

1 Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the command of God our Savior and of Christ Jesus our hope,

2 To Timothy my true son in the faith:
Grace, mercy and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
3 As I urged you when I went into Macedonia, stay there in Ephesus so that you may command certain persons not to teach false doctrines any longer4 or to devote themselves to myths and endless genealogies. Such things promote controversial speculations rather than advancing God’s work—which is by faith.5 The goal of this command is love, which comes from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith.6 Some have departed from these and have turned to meaningless talk.

7 They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.
8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.9 We also know that the law is made not for the righteous but for lawbreakers and rebels, the ungodly and sinful, the unholy and irreligious, for those who kill their fathers or mothers, for murderers,10 for the sexually immoral, for those practicing homosexuality, for slave traders and liars and perjurers. And it is for whatever else is contrary to the sound doctrine

11 that conforms to the gospel concerning the glory of the blessed God, which he entrusted to me.
12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service.13 Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.

14 The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.
15 Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst.16 But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

17 Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

My thoughts -

Paul is writing to Timothy as a mentor, and has all kinds of practical ministry advice for him. In warning against false teaching I love what Paul has to say about those who promote this false doctrine:

They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.

That really strikes me. Sometimes my own lack of education slaps me in the face and I wonder, in my ignorance, if Paul isn't talking about me. Can I hold others to a standard I don't even really understand? Then again, what Paul has to say about the law I think I have a pretty firm understanding of. First, as the title of this post may suggest, the goal is love. Not legalism but love. Discipleship is all about learning to love God and to love others. If what we are preaching is mindless adherence and not love then we are missing the point.

So what about the law, then? First off, I have neglected my study of the Old Testament in a shameful way and am not fit to talk about the law. This is something I plan to correct soon and may be forced to stop blogging or to at least not post nearly as often in order to accomplish that goal. But what Paul says about the law appeals to me. The law is not for the righteous but for those who rebel against God. If everything you do is done out of a love for God and a love for others then you're probably okay under the law. If you earnestly desire to serve God and to place the needs of others above your own wants and desires then you're doing just fine. If you are selfishly motivated by your own sinful desires to do whatever you want to do then you probably need to be told what is and is not acceptable.

So how much discussion about what is and isn't okay under the law is in love and productive and how much is what Paul calls "meaningless talk"? I wish I knew. People who are far more educated than I am may or may not be able to adequately address this. Like all things I'm not sure we humans have one clear, definitive, absolute answer. There's a balance to be found. I'd make sure, though, that when we talk theology we are doing so out of love for God and love for others and not because we want to score rhetorical points and "win" an argument. Even I, the "I'm just a guitar player" guy, get caught up far too often in "winning" the debate instead of learning from others how to love God better. I guess no one likes to be wrong, ever.

Now as for love, Paul is coming at this from an interesting perspective. The law he understood. Love, not so much. Remember (and I'm sure you do) that Paul was a fierce defender of the law against early followers of Christ. He even went so far as to stone them. I love how he contrasts himself with Christ:

Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief. The grace of our Lord was poured out on me abundantly, along with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

Paul was shown mercy from Christ. Paul, who was a violent persecutor of the faithful, was shown mercy even though he did not show mercy. Jesus is merciful, even to those who persecute his followers.

Jesus has shown mercy to us, as well. We often fail. We may try to serve God and to love all of God's children, but we have our own wants, our own desires, and our own agendas. We don't get it right. We screw up time and time again. It seems, at least for me, that every time I take one step forward in faith I end up taking two back in pride. Every time I learn something new about God and how to serve I end up puffing myself up and lording what I have over others.

And yet I have been shown mercy. We all have. And we need to show mercy to others. Everything we know about God and everything we do in the name of God is completely worthless without love and mercy.

The size of the plates

I just finished eating breakfast at the buffet in the hotel this morning. Yes, the same buffet that I complained about the cost of yesterday. No, I wouldn't normally pay that much for breakfast but it was delicious. I wouldn't normally eat my weight in smoked salmon, either. We budgeted for this trip and I'm going to enjoy it.

Something odd happened while I was in line that I tweeted about earlier. A woman next to me actually complained about the size of the plates. Not anything about the food. The plates. I was so astonished I had to tweet it immediately. I know, that's not saying a lot coming from me.

Anyway, because apparently I only speak in metaphor this really struck me. Some people just can't be pleased. You can put out a spread of the finest food and they'll get caught up in what's wrong with the plates. (For the record I couldn't find anything wrong with the plates. They held plenty of food quite adequately.) When we worship, and especially when we plan worship services, do we spend more time dealing with the plates or the food?

Sure, you want to have the logistics work in a way that doesn't distract people from worshiping but there are some people that will ALWAYS find some way to be distracted. The drums will be too loud to some people and too quiet to others in the same week. The vocals will be blended perfectly to some and not heavily enough feature the soloist to others. The lighting will be too dim. The lighting will be too bright. The Media Shout will have the perfect image for a song but the lyrics won't be displayed prominently enough. There's always something.

I'm not saying this to get those of us who lead off the hook and say that we can never improve what we're going. But let's face it, these things are the plates. Jesus is the food. We can not neglect the food for the plates. We can not make our primary consideration in planning the worship to be about all of the technical things and the aesthetics of the service at the expense of worshiping God and preaching Jesus.

We are in the business of feeding people. The food is far more important than the plate it is served on.

Interesting quote

I just picked up Walter Brueggemann's The Prophetic Imagination. My brother got this for me for Christmas but I've neglected my reading for a while so I'm just now getting to this one. I just read this in the Preface to the Revised Edition and had to share.

To place this quote in some context Brueggeman had previously discussed William T Cavanaugh's reflection on Lawrence Thornton's novel Imagining Argentina and the novel's "odd claim that the Eucharist is the key to Christian resistance to torture."

Here's what I wanted to share:

"(C)learly the need for Eucharistic imagination in the United States is very different from the need for it in the abusive contexts that prevailed in Argentina and Chile. Indeed, the difference is so great that one might judge there is no transfer of the power of imagination from one context to the other. Whereas the South American societies suffer torture and the physical abuse, the cultural situation in the United States, satiated by consumer goods and propelled by electronic technology, is one of narcotized insensibility to human reality. It may be, however, that torture and consumer satiation perform the same negative function: to deny a lively, communal imagination that resists a mindless humanity of despairing conformity."

Need

I am typing this on my phone. I'm currently in my room on the 19th floor of a nice hotel. I brought my computer but I decided not to pay the required cost for internet access in my room. This trip is going to cost enough without that extra charge, anyway.

As we travel there's something I've noticed about hotels. Yes, there's a lot to be said for the nicer ones. They're more aesthetically pleasing. They have more amenities. They just seem, for lack of a better way to describe this, shinier. They're more polished. But when it comes right down to it a hotel is a hotel. Your room has a TV, a bed or two, a chair, a coffee pot (praise God) and a bathroom. They're all pretty much the same.

The biggest difference in hotels that I can tell is that the big, nice, expensive ones don't seem to need your business. That's not to say that they don't need business. It's just that they don't specifically need yours. This is a big hotel. This is a nice hotel. Lots of people come stay here. You, person in the room on the 19th floor, are lucky to be here. If you didn't get that reservation someone else would have.

The best hotel experience I've ever had was, no joke, at a Microtel somewhere seemingly in the middle of nowhere. It was pretty much empty. When we checked in we were given free coffee, cookies, and coupons for free miniature golf while we were still in the lobby. There was free wifi in the room and a free hot breakfast in the morning. It wasn't the biggest hotel. It wasn't the nicest hotel. But we were important to it. It needed our business and every part of our stay we were reminded of that.

So, why am I writing this, other than because I'm bugged it would cost as much for internet access in my current, "nice" hotel room just for today as it does for an entire month at home? This experience has me thinking about the church. Big surprise, I know. It's not to say that all churches are the same but church is, to a certain extent, church. Churches have ministries that they do and they need people to serve in order for those ministries to happen. Some of our churches are bigger, shinier, "nicer", and have an awful lot more people who come to them. Others don't. But all need people to serve in the ministries that they do.

How we, the church, communicate the need for service is important. We never want to take service for granted. We need to communicate how grateful we are to those who help do the work of ministry while constantly encouraging others to step up as well. There is much work to be done. And we need the body of believers to do it.

Build each other up

1 Thessalonians 5:11-24 (TNIV) -

11 Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.
12 Now we ask you, brothers and sisters, to acknowledge those who work hard among you, who care for you in the Lord and who admonish you.13 Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.14 And we urge you, brothers and sisters, warn those who are idle and disruptive, encourage the disheartened, help the weak, be patient with everyone.

15 Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always strive to do what is good for each other and for everyone else.
16 Rejoice always,17 pray continually,

18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
19 Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.20 Do not treat prophecies with contempt21 but test them all; hold on to what is good,

22 reject whatever is harmful.
23 May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

24 The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

My thoughts -

Paul spent the first part of chapter 5 explaining that, although we do not know the hour we do know that the end is coming and we need to be prepared. He explained the need to be "awake and sober". We know that the things of this world won't last. We need to wake up from our materialistic stupor and be more aware of the eternal. First century Christians, especially the Thessalonians, believed that Christ would come back in their lifetimes. 2000 years later I know people who also believe that they will not die before seeing Christ return. Whether this will actually happen or not is out of our control but one thing we do know is that we do not get to keep this life. It is temporary.

So what do we do? How do we live less for the things of this life that will pass and more for that which is eternal? Well for starters we can encourage each other and build each other up. Christian living is not done as individuals but as a community, the body of believers. We can't do this on our own. We need help and we need encouragement. We need to lift each other up and strengthen each other. We need to support others when they need help so they can in turn be the support that we will inevitably need.

We need to pray together and worship together. We need to rejoice together and celebrate together. We need to be a community that can worship and fellowship together and to share our lives with each other fully. We need to read scripture and discuss theology with each other, sharing insights that we have and gleaning insight from each other. Scripture is meant to be read and studied in community. That way we can better determine what is of God and what isn't. I may get a lot out of reading scripture alone but I get more reading it in dialog with other believers.

We also need to serve together and strengthen and exhort each other to do the work of service. There is so much need here and our job as the body of believers, the hands and feet of Christ, is to do it.

The great news here is that, although it seems like much is asked of us and there is much to do we do not just have each other for support. We also lean heavily on Jesus. Jesus, who has endured and conquered all things, even death, can strengthen us to do likewise.

You do not grieve like the rest, who have no hope

1 Thessalonians 4:9-18 (TNIV) -

9 Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.10 And in fact, you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, dear friends, to do so more and more,11 and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life: You should mind your own business and work with your hands, just as we told you,

12 so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.
13 Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest, who have no hope.14 We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.15 According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.17 After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever.

18 Therefore encourage one another with these words.

My thoughts -

Paul spent the first part of Chapter 4 telling the Thessalonians how not to behave. They are not to be slaves to the passions of their bodies and act sexually like the pagans do. We believers are not slaves to the desires of our bodies or to our own sinful nature. We have died with Christ to these things.

I love what Paul says in verses 9 and 10:

Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other. And in fact, you do love all the brothers and sisters throughout Macedonia. Yet we urge you, dear friends, to do so more and more.

There may be a lot Paul feels the need to tell them, but they know how to love. They are known for it. And yet they can always love more. How could we be known for loving? How can we love more?

So Paul has told them how not to live. And he's told them how to live. He has commended them for their love and exhorted them to love even more while living a quiet life minding their own business. (That's good advice, by the way, to those who are being persecuted. Work hard, love one another, and keep your head down. You can develop a good reputation in your community that way.) Now Paul is telling them about death.

This is a community of believers that were convinced that they would not die before Christ's return. Now they're dying. They thought their faith would shield them from suffering. Now they suffer. How do you cope with that? How can you handle enduring that which you were certain you would never endure? Unfortunately this happens all the time. See what Paul says:

We believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him.

This is our hope. Jesus defeated all enemies, even death. Through Jesus we can overcome everything, including death. We do not mourn like those who have no hope. Jesus is our hope. We can endure anything through Jesus who endured all things. We can overcome anything through Jesus who overcame all things.

I usually try to stick to the day's reading in these posts but this ties in with my favorite passage from Romans. Here is Romans 8:38-39:

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

This is our hope, that there is nothing that can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Not even death.

Out of our intense longing

1 Thessalonians 2:17-3:13 (TNIV) -

17 But, brothers and sisters, when we were orphaned by being separated from you for a short time (in person, not in thought), out of our intense longing we made every effort to see you.18 For we wanted to come to you—certainly I, Paul, did, again and again—but Satan blocked our way.19 For what is our hope, our joy, or the crown in which we will glory in the presence of our Lord Jesus when he comes? Is it not you?

20 Indeed, you are our glory and joy.

1 Thessalonians 3
1 So when we could stand it no longer, we thought it best to be left by ourselves in Athens.2 We sent Timothy, who is our brother and co-worker in God’s service in spreading the gospel of Christ, to strengthen and encourage you in your faith,3 so that no one would be unsettled by these trials. You know quite well that we are destined for them.4 In fact, when we were with you, we kept telling you that we would be persecuted. And it turned out that way, as you well know.

5 For this reason, when I could stand it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith. I was afraid that in some way the tempter had tempted you and that our labors might have been in vain.
6 But Timothy has just now come to us from you and has brought good news about your faith and love. He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you.7 Therefore, brothers and sisters, in all our distress and persecution we were encouraged about you because of your faith.8 For now we really live, since you are standing firm in the Lord.9 How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?

10 Night and day we pray most earnestly that we may see you again and supply what is lacking in your faith.
11 Now may our God and Father himself and our Lord Jesus clear the way for us to come to you.12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.

13 May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

My thoughts -

Yesterday we read Paul describe his relationship with the church in Thessalonica in terms of family dynamics (children, father, mother, brother, sister). We also get a familial description today. This one, however, hurts a bit. Paul describes the physical separation from the church as having "orphaned" them. You can feel the desperation in his language. He has an "intense longing" to be with them and can "stand it no longer". And yet, though it appears a visit is imminent, he's still writing this letter to them from afar. Timothy has been able to check in on the Thessalonian church and has reported back to Paul, but Paul has still not been able to make it.

Paul warned the Thessalonians that they would suffer. Paul, unfortunately, is all too familiar with suffering. He tried to prepare them but no one can fully be prepared for that kind of hardship until they experience it for themselves. The Thessalonians may even have ignored Paul's warning believing that their faith would insulate them. The shock that this belief was wild eyed optimism could have shattered their faith. And Paul can only hear accounts from afar. Imagine his relief when he hears that this precious church family has stayed strong in their faith in the face of great suffering, persecution, and even death.

So Paul is proud of this, his church family. They have stayed strong. And he longs to be with them just like we would long to be with a close family member who is going through hardship. When my cousin Michael passed away I couldn't get to Georgia fast enough. We had to wait though. There were logistics involved. There was packing to do. There was work to be completed. Quite honestly there wasn't much I could do for the family even when I got there. But my family was suffering and I longed to be there. We long to be with those we love in times of trouble. Our hearts ache to be with them and to love, strengthen and encourage them. Even if, on a practical level, there isn't much we can do there is still ministry in our presence.

Paul longs to be with these people that he loves. He longs to strengthen and encourage them in this trying time. He also longs for them to be with each other and to grow stronger in love together. Look at his wish for them again:

May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you. May he strengthen your hearts so that you will be blameless and holy in the presence of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus comes with all his holy ones.

In trying times all we have is God and each other. We need to cling to the hope that we have in Christ and love each other, strengthen each other, and encourage each other. We, the body of believers, are family. We need to love each other like family, especially in trying times.

Sometimes you bike in the rain

It was 38 degrees and raining for my ride this morning. That is objectively bad weather. It's not a matter of opinion but empirical fact. 38 degrees and raining sucks. And yet I really enjoyed it.

My dad likes to walk in the rain. When questioned about this he always responds "Some people like to walk in the rain. Other people just get wet. I like to walk in the rain."

Now, don't tell him I said this (you know fathers and sons) but there's a lot of wisdom in that statement. We went out of town for a gymnastics meet for the long weekend. Not only did I not take my bike with me but I also forgot my running shoes and clothes. So I went all of Saturday, Sunday, and Monday really not getting any miles of any kind in. I had really itchy legs this morning. They're not used to that kind of lack of use. They needed to go.

I was disheartened when I saw the forecast. I was disheartened when I looked out the window. Today the weather is the kind of weather that I like to avoid. Cold is okay but I really don't like getting wet. But what could I do? My legs HAD to go. So I biked this morning. And it was AWESOME. I really enjoyed it.

I made a conscious decision that, like my dad, rather than just getting wet I was going to bike in the rain. It's amazing what a little change in attitude can do.

Not only the gospel of God but our lives as well

1 Thessalonians 2:2-12 (TNIV) -

2 We had previously suffered and been treated outrageously in Philippi, as you know, but with the help of our God we dared to tell you his gospel in the face of strong opposition.3 For the appeal we make does not spring from error or impure motives, nor are we trying to trick you.4 On the contrary, we speak as those approved by God to be entrusted with the gospel. We are not trying to please people but God, who tests our hearts.5 You know we never used flattery, nor did we put on a mask to cover up greed—God is our witness.6 We were not looking for praise from any human being, not from you or anyone else, even though as apostles of Christ we could have asserted our prerogatives.

7 Instead, we were like young children among you.
Just as a nursing mother cares for her children,8 so we cared for you. Because we loved you so much, we were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well.

9 Surely you remember, brothers and sisters, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you.
10 You are witnesses, and so is God, of how holy, righteous and blameless we were among you who believed.11 For you know that we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children,

12 encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory.

My thoughts -

There's some interesting things going on in this passage. One thing I find impressive about Paul is his radical transparency. He doesn't seem to have an agenda save for preaching God's word. He doesn't seem to feel the need to present himself as someone he isn't to impress anyone. There is no one for him to impress. He doesn't deceive, even when it's the kind of deception that we could easily justify. He is disarmingly honest. This may have been one of the reasons he spent so much time in prison. He just couldn't help but tell the truth no matter what the cost.

Here he is reminding the church in Thessalonica of his honesty and transparency. He reminds them that he, Silas, and Timothy "were delighted to share with you not only the gospel of God but our lives as well". He loved them enough to be himself and to model himself as an example of how to honestly follow Christ. How many friends to we have that we share our lives with? How open are we? How many people get to see who we really are? Not many see me. I let some see who I'd like to be but pretty much only my wife, children, and a few close friends get to see the real me, warts and all.

What would we look like if we were radically transparent and always completely honest? What would we look like if we had no motives, no agendas, no pretense, and no walls? I just read a really good book by A. J. Jacobs called The Year of Living Biblically. The author, not a believer, decided to immerse himself in the Bible and live an entire year under the premise that everything in the Bible is literally true. He followed, or tried to, all of the law. Part of that meant that he was unable to lie. Not even little "white lies". He was honest always even when that required him to share things that made him vulnerable and things that hurt others feelings at times. He was transparent. One of the things that he found in this was that it really helped him reign in some thoughts that weren't particularly godly, as anyone could know them. This radical transparency, in essence, helped make him a better person.

There are some other neat things going on in this passage. Look at the ways that Paul describes his relationship with the Thessalonians. In verse 7 he says that he, Silas, and Timothy "were like young children among you". In verses 7 and 8 he says he cared for them like "a nursing mother cares for her children". In verse 9 he calls them his "brothers and sisters". And then in verses 11 and 12 Paul says "we dealt with each of you as a father deals with his own children, encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory".

Multiple descriptions all bunched together like this almost feels disorienting. So he's like a child, a mother, a brother, and a father to them. I'd feel more comfortable if he'd just pick a role and stay with it. That's easier to grasp. But our relationships are deep and complex. They are not black and white. There is a richness to interpersonal relationships. I like that all of these are family. There's intimacy there. The church is a family. And while we all have abilities and roles that we play within this family we also grow together and our roles adapt and change as we do. Dynamics in relationships are not static but fluid. Paul is sharing his life with this church just as we, in our own churches, share our lives with each other. It is an honest, open, transparent, and fluid process.

My hope is that we can embrace radical transparency. My hope is that we can embrace honesty to the point of vulnerability. My hope is that we can share our lives with one another in love and learn to tear down all of the walls of pride and fear that separate us and be one family in Christ.

Persecution

Today's post has me thinking a bit about persecution. I find it odd, and even a bit alarming, that I don't really face any persecution for following Christ. The best examples I can come up with for persecution in my own life are riding my bike and wearing a Bengals cap everywhere. I get teased for both, and one may place me in mortal peril periodically. The bike's pretty safe but there's a lot of Steelers fans out there...

Okay, that was a bad joke. But what persecution do we face? Am I missing something? Is my faith life so watered down that I'm harmless and pretty easy to ignore? Do Christians just culturally blend in now so much that what stands out about me is not my faith but my mode of transportation and NFL fandom?

Your endurance inspired by hope

1 Thessalonians 1:3-10 (TNIV) -

3 We remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.
4 For we know, brothers and sisters loved by God, that he has chosen you,5 because our gospel came to you not simply with words but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake.6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you welcomed the message in the midst of severe suffering with the joy given by the Holy Spirit.7 And so you became a model to all the believers in Macedonia and Achaia.8 The Lord’s message rang out from you not only in Macedonia and Achaia—your faith in God has become known everywhere. Therefore we do not need to say anything about it,9 for they themselves report what happened when we visited you. They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God,

10 and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.

My thoughts -

Reading about first century Christians is a humbling thing. We just don't face the problems they faced, at least not in America. No one is aiming to make us martyrs. In fact, in the Bible belt, at least, we're a lot closer to a Christian Theocracy than we are to being executed by the state. That's one of the many things that the early church faced. They could be jailed, beaten, and killed for what they believed. The American church faces no such opposition. It's hard, then, amidst all of this comfort, for me to try to understand the mindset of most of the people in the Thessalonian church. When Paul talks about "endurance inspired by hope" and "welcom(ing) the message in the midst of severe suffering" that just doesn't mean the same things to someone like me as it would to the early church.

So here's the church in Thessalonica, an early plant of Paul's, that follows Christ through the example of Paul in an era when they face death for doing so. I have read that many Thessalonians believed that they would not be killed because their faith in Christ would protect and shield them and that Christ's return would be very soon. They did not expect to die before the return of Christ. As you could imagine, when they did face persecution and death in this life that was a challenge to their faith. My faith is challenged daily by some of the smallest things. I can have one bad thing happen and blow it out of proportion and question how there could possibly be a God who loves us. No one is trying to stone my family on our way to church. No one is arresting us after the service. No one is beating us for believing. I don't think my faith could survive that. I like being comfortable. I don't like that about myself but I'm honest enough to admit that it's true. If things got too tough I'd probably leave.

That's what is so humbling about reading Paul's letters to the early churches. He faced imprisonment (a lot of these letters were written from prison) and death (he was eventually martyred). Not only did Paul face these things but the churches did as well. And yet we read all of these encouraging words. And not just about their faith or belief, which we would consider to be more "academic" but their works, their actions.

In this introduction Paul is praising the Thessalonian church for its "work" and its "labor". The Thessalonians' actions and joy in the midst of their terrible suffering has become an inspiration to other churches. They have hope in Christ that is so powerful that they can follow Jesus in the face of death and know that death has no power over them, that Jesus has defeated death. Maybe they get some things wrong along the way. Maybe they misunderstand some things, but they do not lack for faith. And their faith is an active one.

So how do we, in 21st century America, live out a first century faith? How do we take more seriously the teachings of Christ in a world that is quite comfortable for us? Is it easier to cast off concern for this world and to acknowledge its limitations and your own mortality when you face death each day? Could we have stronger faith if we really knew what it was like to suffer for Christ? I don't know. I'm very happy not to find out. I don't think I'd make a very good first century Christian. And I think that is a big problem facing the church today.

Preparing for worship with Psalm 54

Psalm 54 (TNIV) -

1 Save me, O God, by your name;
vindicate me by your might.

2 Hear my prayer, O God;
listen to the words of my mouth.

3 Arrogant foes are attacking me;
ruthless people seek my life—
people without regard for God.

4 Surely God is my help;
the Lord is the one who sustains me.

5 Let evil recoil on those who slander me;
in your faithfulness destroy them.

6 I will sacrifice a freewill offering to you;
I will praise your name, Lord, for it is good.

7 You have delivered me from all my troubles,
and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes.

My thoughts -

According to my Bible, at least, this is a "maskil of David". A maskil, apparently, is a literary or musical term. There is also an instruction "for stringed instruments" given. Now, my understanding of the Psalms and, frankly, a whole lot of scripture, is quite limited so I can't say this with any great authority but it is my understanding that this was written to be sung in worship.

A lot seems to have changed in the last 3000 years of worship, hasn't it? We don't often sing about being attacked by our enemies. We don't often sing and in doing ask for God to "destroy" anything. It's just not the way we do things. I feel a little weird just reading it. Did David really want his enemies to be "destroyed" by God? And, while he mentions that "ruthless men" who are "without regard for God" seek his life, the ones that he's asking God to destroy he only accuses of "slander". Would we consider asking God to slay people who talk bad about us while we worship? That wouldn't go over very well, culturally, would it?

David lived a kind of crazy life. He spent a large chunk of it on the run from people trying to kill him, one of whom was his own son. I imagine that life was a fair amount more intense in David's age. Maybe I'm wrong about this, but it seems like we are far more insulated from our own mortality than the ancients were. I've got to cut David some slack. He's not saying that God should kill people who say mean things about him. He's saying that he's got problems. Problems he can't face alone. Problems he needs God's help with.

Now, is that something that we do in worship? We love to praise God for all of the wonderful things that God does. We love to sing happy songs about how we have been saved and how awesome and wonderful God is. But are we willing to admit, honestly and openly that life is something that we can't handle alone. We've got problems. Problems we can't deal with. Problems we need God to help with.

When everything is going well I forget just how much I need God. I get comfortable and I forget that in this life, most of the time, I'm just hanging by a thread. There's so much I can't handle. There's so much I can't bear to face alone. There is so much that I am just powerless against. I need God. When we worship we profess that need for God. We sing and we tell stories about how wonderful God is and how much God has done for us. We fall on our knees and proclaim God's wonders and beg God to come into our lives and take over. We can't handle this life alone. We need God. And we need God to know how much we need God.

I don't know if this psalm used dominant sevenths, like we do in the blues. That probably wouldn't make sense to people of David's time. But that's kind of how I think about it. There's a certain intensity and desperation to the blues. It's cathartic. You don't sing the blues to feel sad. You sing the blues to get it out and feel better. David is, in this psalm, desperately asking for God's help. He's singing the blues. And there's nothing wrong with that.

But look at how this closes.

You have delivered me from all my troubles,
and my eyes have looked in triumph on my foes.

David has laid out his problem. He's asked God to help. No, I think he's BEGGED God to help. He has praised God for God's goodness. And then he has declared that God has delivered him. We know how this story ends. God wins.

Ritual

I just can't seem to get the hang of Saturdays. That sentence seems wrong, doesn't it? You might not be shocked to read that about Mondays, but Saturdays? Really? That's just WRONG.

So let me explain what I mean. Monday through Friday go pretty much the same for me. I know what to expect. I'm working. Do I like my job? Not really, but as far as jobs go it's okay. There's nothing wrong with it. I wouldn't do it for free but it pays the bills, I get along pretty well with my boss, and I don't mind doing what I do.

Also, on these days I have a routine every morning. My mornings always go pretty much the same. I wake up sometime between 4:00 and 5:00. I let the dog out, put on a pot of coffee, let the dog back in, feed her, and then I sit down to read scripture and pray. This usually takes about an hour and then I write up a blog post reflecting on what I've read. After that I pack my backpack with everything I'll need for the day, get all of my biking clothes together, check the weather, decide what bike to ride, check tire pressure, get everything ready to ride, and then start getting my wife and kids up.

Small things might change in this from day to day, but it's pretty much the same routine. It's my little morning ritual. There's comfort in that. It sounds like I do a lot but it's a mindless doing. Well, not completely mindless but there's not a lot of decisions to be made. And there's comfort in the predictability.

Sundays have their own routine. I read through the Psalms and prepare to lead worship. I leave for the church pretty early, make copies of the music, warm up, and prepare for the arrival of the Praise Band so we can warm up and rehearse together before the worship service. I even get the same flavor donuts each Sunday morning. There's comfort in the ritual. There's comfort in the predictability of it all.

Saturdays have no comfort. We let the kids stay up late on Friday nights. Staying up late pretty much demands that I sleep in a bit. When I wake up, then, I always feel like I'm running behind. I may have time to make coffee, but it feels rushed. I may have time to read scripture, but it feels rushed. There's baseball or basketball or gymnastics to go to. We've got places to be and stuff to do. And it's not always at the same time. Some Saturdays there may be a game at 8:30. Other Saturdays the first thing we have may not be until 11:00. You never know.

I like the comfort in the predictability of my routine. I wonder if our religious rituals are rooted in that comfort. They're repetitive and predictable. To some that's a criticism, a reason not to have rituals. To others that's the beauty of them. They're grounding, centering, and comforting. Sure, there's discipline involved. But it becomes almost mindlessly easy.

As usual I don't know what to make of this. I think it is important to connect with God. I think there are a lot of ways to do this and certain rituals can help. I also don't like the feeling I have when I'm off my routine. I'm lost and confused. Sometimes it happens, though, and we have to be able to find God in the chaos and uncertainty. Maybe I will learn to be able to see God on a Saturday, too.

Discipline

My boys do I Am 3rd basketball. I have no complaints about it, really. It's a good league. The basketball instruction is solid. I don't mind the combination of the religious and the athletic. There's a fair amount of discipline in both. It seems appropriate. But I do wonder about the devotional time before each game.

We're in a noisy gym right now. I'm typing this from my phone. It's chaotic, almost unsettlingly so. There's two games underway right now with two more about to start. There's kids everywhere, and all of the energy and bustle and noise that comes with that. And yet, before the next games tip off, all of the kids will be gathered together amidst this chaos to read scripture and pray together. This is somehow existentially jarring to me.

Why do we do this? Are we checking off the spiritual box before we can do the physical? Is reading the Bible and praying together that which must be endured before we get to what we want to be doing?

Obviously I have no issue with daily devotion. I think following Christ pretty much demands it. But how much can you get out of it in this environment? Are we teaching our children that this is a requirement, something to be endured before they can do what they REALLY want to? I don't want to view this too harshly. Is the assumption that we as parents are not doing our job to teach our children to follow God and so it must be done by someone else in this crazy environment?

I set aside time each morning to sit in the quiet and stillness and seek to know and to follow the will of God. Can that be done in the chaotic, as well? I just don't know what to make of it. I'm not against it, I just don't understand.

Wrestling

Colossians 3:18-4:1 (TNIV) -

18 Wives, submit yourselves to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord.

19 Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

20 Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

21 Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.
22 Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters,24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.

25 Those who do wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.

Colossians 4
1 Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a Master in heaven.

My thoughts -

I wasn't going to post on this, but that felt like a cop out. When I read some things in the Bible that I don't really know how to approach my instinct is to either just skip right over them or to try to bend and shape them into something that they're not. Neither approach seems appropriate, though.

Here we have Paul saying two things that, quite frankly, I wish he didn't. The first is that wives should submit to their husbands. Yes, husbands are told that they should love their wives and, in essence, not abuse their wives' submissiveness, but only one gender is told to submit. That just doesn't jive with my marriage. Maybe I'm not living Biblically here but my wife and I are equal partners. We share responsibilities. We communicate our wants and desires to each other. There's nothing I can read into that she is to submit and I am to not be too harsh that doesn't just feel like a major power imbalance in the relationship. How is that one flesh? I don't know. I don't know how to answer that. And I don't want to be unfair to the text and try to twist Paul's words into something he's not saying.

And that gets to the next part I have a hard time with. Paul explains here how slaves and masters are to relate to each other. I just don't know how to touch that. Slavery is a fact of human history and a lot of what we do as humans trying to obey God is to make the best of some bad situations. Part of my desire to "gloss over" this passage would be to take what Paul is saying about slaves and masters and shift that a little to apply it to employers and employees. In fact, that could work with the text and maybe even be good advice. It's just that the boss/employee relationship is clearly not what Paul is dealing with and to ignore that fact is to sugar coat human history for the sake of my own comfort and to make Paul's words say something that they did not say.

So I'm wrestling with this. My instincts in dealing with the text are, I think, all wrong. I want to make it mean something that it didn't, and I want that for my own comfort level. It would make me feel a lot better if these words said something else. It would make me feel a lot better if there was never such a thing as slavery or patriarchy.

But this is our world. We're not perfect, and we never have been. Sin has tainted everything in human history. The powerful have oppressed the powerless. This has been so for as long as we've been here, as best I can tell. And no wishing this weren't so can make that a reality.

And over all these virtues put on love

Colossians 3:1-17 (TNIV) -

1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.
5 Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry.6 Because of these, the wrath of God is coming.7 You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived.8 But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips.9 Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

11 Here there is no Gentile or Jew, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave or free, but Christ is all, and is in all.
12 Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.13 Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.

14 And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
15 Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful.16 Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

My thoughts -

Our selfish, sinful nature doesn't work for us. If it did, we wouldn't be reading scripture right now. We wouldn't be digging into it and trying to find meaning. We wouldn't be trying to understand what the Christian life is like and trying to live it. We wouldn't need to follow Jesus. But we know our selfish, sinful nature isn't working. At some point we realized this and we're trying to find a better way to be. God's grace through Jesus makes it possible. Paul is describing what that life looks like here. Paul has had similar things to say in Ephesians and Galatians.

We have died with Christ to our sinful nature. We don't live like that anymore. Just to remind us what that which we have died to is Paul has a list:

Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry. Because of these, the wrath of God is coming. You used to walk in these ways, in the life you once lived. But now you must also rid yourselves of all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander, and filthy language from your lips. Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator.

Now, we've been having, in the wake of a tragedy, a national discussion about the use of violent rhetoric. Let me be clear about this. Paul is not saying, when he says "put to death", that we should kill OTHERS who do these things. We are not called to be Executioners for Jesus, either physically or metaphorically. We are to put these things to death in ourselves. We are dead to our own sin, and it is dead to us. We are dead to sexual immorality. We are dead to impurity. We are dead to lust. We are dead to evil desires. We are dead to greed. We are dead to anger. We are dead to rage. We are dead to malice. We are dead to slander. And, whether I like it or not, we are dead to filthy language. We'll get into what, exactly, "filthy language" is some other time.

We know our thoughts. We know our actions. We know who we are and what we do. Most of the time we are capable of knowing our own sin. Most of the time we are capable of checking ourselves and seeing where we fall short of the glory of God. We know when we do what we ought not do. We know when we fail to do what we should. We know our own anger, lust, rage, malice, greed, etc. Sometimes we like to indulge our own sinful nature, but often we know when we do this and we know that we shouldn't. We just feel like we can't overcome it and yet, through the grace w have in Jesus we can because Jesus did. We do not have to live any longer as slaves to our own selfish, sinful natures. We have been set free!

So, if we are free, what are we free to do? If we aren't to live in our own sin, what do we replace that with? Is it enough to just not do wrong? If we just lived alone in a room all day not even THINKING bad thoughts would that be okay? Would we be living for Christ instead of for ourselves?

Maybe, instead of stopping "vice", we should replace vice with virtue. See what Paul has to say:

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.

So, we are called then to be compassionate, kind, humble, gentle, patient, forgiving, loving, and peaceful. How do we do this? How do we forgive as God forgave us? God has forgiven so much! One thing Paul says we should do, and my own experience supports this, is to sing. To worship. This is not the first time we've read Paul say this, either.

We try to know more about the will of God. We try to understand. We try to be disciplined, at least I know I do. And these are good things! We should try to know God more and we should try to teach each other what we have learned. But sometimes we also just need to fall on our knees and praise God for all God has done. We need to gather in community and bow down together and sing to each other and to God telling the wonderful deeds of our Creator.

I also love that Paul says that love is over all of these virtues. We are nothing without love. I think worshiping in fellowship with other believers helps us to love each other. I also think serving others helps us to love. Understanding all that God has done for us should also fill us with gratitude and a desire to, in response to God's love, love others. And of course, if you love God and if you love others, sinning against God and sinning against people you love becomes all the more difficult. I still don't fully understand how all of this works but, from living it, I know that it does.

Their unspiritual minds puff them up with idle notions

Colossians 2:16-23 (TNIV) -

16 Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day.17 These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.18 Do not let anyone who delights in false humility and the worship of angels disqualify you. Such people also go into great detail about what they have seen, and their unspiritual minds puff them up with idle notions.

19 They have lost connection with the head, from whom the whole body, supported and held together by its ligaments and sinews, grows as God causes it to grow.
20 Since you died with Christ to the elemental spiritual forces of this world, why, as though you still belonged to the world, do you submit to its rules:21 “Do not handle! Do not taste! Do not touch!”?22 These rules, which have to do with things that are all destined to perish with use, are based on merely human commands and teachings.

23 Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.

My thoughts -

I don't know if I can make heads or tails of this passage. I had half a mind to just skip over it and write about what comes next. That would have been easier this morning but it felt dishonest. So, I don't really get this. So what? What's wrong with that? Let's just wrestle through it together.

Don't let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink or whether you observe religious tradition and holidays "properly". That seems pretty straight-forward. Jesus didn't seem like a stickler for the "rules" when it came to that sort of thing. That's one of the reasons he pissed off the religious establishment so much. I don't know that there's anything wrong with observing holidays and traditions. In fact, I think there's a lot right with it. I don't think there's anything wrong with being intentional and disciplined about what you eat and drink and when. I think there's a lot right with it. But Paul is saying that these things pale in comparison to Christ. You are not saved through your discipline.

As for the bit about false humility and the worship of angels, I'm sure there is something from his day and in this culture that Paul is responding to. Some day I plan to know everything that can be known. Today is not that day so I don't know what Paul is responding to. But, I think we can relate to the idea of false humility and worshiping things that, while they may be good, are not Christ. People can be pretty full of themselves, and yet pass themselves off as being "humble". Those same people can be very domineering in our communities and congregations. When I was a Youth I had more than one person attempt to limit my participation in the church and in the worship because I was not like them. I just didn't "get it". Paul is telling us that we cannot allow these people to limit the participation of others. On the flip side, I'm not sure that we should assume that we ourselves are not puffed up with false humility. I walk a pretty fine line there sometimes.

There is a lot to be said for discipline. There is a lot to be said for fasting and praying and daily devotional time and enthusiasm in worship and all kinds of things. These are to bring us closer to God. But sometimes we allow them to puff ourselves up. This accomplishes the opposite of what the discipline is supposed to. Instead of bringing us closer to God it then makes us more full of ourselves and stuck in the illusion of self-reliance. Maybe this issue is a universal one. Maybe that's what Paul is dealing with here. 2000 years later I'm fighting that fight within myself and I'm sure there are a lot of congregations fighting that fight amongst themselves.

On first read I though perhaps Paul was telling us that these "disciplines" were bad, but that doesn't really fit Paul. He was a pretty disciplined guy. And the next chapter includes a laundry list of things Christians should and should not do. Paul isn't really an "anything goes" kind of guy. So that must not be it. It does seem odd though, but it rings true in my own life, that we often allow that which is good to be used for ill. That we allow that which should bring us closer to God to push God away and affirm our own willfully stubborn Independence.

The mystery of God, namely, Christ

Colossians 2:1-15 (TNIV) -

1 I want you to know how hard I am contending for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not met me personally.2 My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ,3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.4 I tell you this so that no one may deceive you by fine-sounding arguments.

5 For though I am absent from you in body, I am present with you in spirit and delight to see how disciplined you are and how firm your faith in Christ is.
6 So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him,

7 rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness.

8 See to it that no one takes you captive through hollow and deceptive philosophy, which depends on human tradition and the elemental spiritual forces of this world rather than on Christ.
9 For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form,10 and in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.11 In him you were also circumcised with a circumcision not performed by human hands. Your sinful nature was put off when you were circumcised by Christ,

12 having been buried with him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through your faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
13 When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins,14 having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross.

15 And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

My thoughts -

You've probably grown tired of reading me write this, but what we believe, to the non-believer is crazy. It doesn't just seem crazy, it's totally nuts. There are a lot of good sounding arguments against it. There are a lot of reasons that what we believe just simply can't be true. It's, at best, fantasy and wishful thinking and at worst lunacy or a lie. While God may be a mystery to all, to the non-believer Christ just doesn't make any sense.

First, what's up with being fully God and fully human? Rationally it would seem that you'd kind of have to pick, right? Christ could be either God or human, but both? And at the same time? How can this be? 2000 years later I still don't think we really understand this. I can't explain it, at least. And even accepting the incarnation of God in the form of Jesus, crazy as it sounds, beyond the logistics is the question: why? Why would the eternal take on the form of the mortal? We who are incapable of fully loving others can't comprehend the depth of love that would allow such a thing? The divinity of Christ and the humanity of Christ both fail to make sense.

But suppose we accept both of these? Suppose we accept that Jesus was God Incarnate, both fully God and fully human, now what? We still have the scandal of the cross. Are we really to believe that God became human and then chose, being mortal, not only to die but to die as a common criminal? To be executed by the state? This was no glorious death in battle. He was just another guy the Romans executed. No big deal. Gruesome, yes. Barbaric, yes. But not particularly glorious. Not the way you'd write it up if you were making a movie about it. Our heroes tend to die a little better than that. Jesus didn't even put up a fight. What kind of a god doesn't even go down swinging?

We have to accept the scandal of the cross. We have to, because that's what makes what God chose to do for us so danged amazing. It doesn't make sense. It isn't rational. It's the kind of crazy thing you see from people who are in love. It doesn't feel like a perfectly calculated plan. Jesus was born almost anonymously to working class people at a time where no one really wrote about you if you weren't rich and famous. It's like God just threw him down here because, well, something needed to happen. The people God so loved couldn't just continue on in sin like this. Intervention was necessary. It may seem crazy and impulsive but something had to happen. And then to die like that? That's no way for a king! But then, Jesus didn't really live like one, either, did he? Such power and he never really behaved in the way that we would imagine the powerful behaving. When we have power we use it to be served, yet Jesus used it to serve. Jesus turned everything upside down.

It doesn't make sense. It sounds crazy. Paul knows that. We've read a lot of Paul over the last few months. I'm not saying all of this "crazy" stuff on my own. It's coming from Paul. So Paul's writing to the Colossians and he's telling them, in effect, I know this sounds crazy. I know this is nuts, but that's Jesus. Jesus didn't make any sense, and that's what's amazing about him. Don't let anyone fool you by trying to make it make sense. Don't get sucked into a false Gospel that waters down the lunacy of God's love for us. Live in this crazy love. Embrace this crazy love. Share this crazy love with others. This crazy love has, against all odds and against reason, freed you from your bondage in sin. Nothing rational would do that. Nothing rational would intercede on your behalf.

What we believe is crazy. What God did for us in Christ doesn't make any sense. And that's okay. Better than okay that's ideal. I wouldn't want it any other way. Without the scandal of the incarnation and death of God we wouldn't have the resurrection and life in Christ. We who live it, we who experience God through Christ, we know that it doesn't have to make sense, rationally. It just has to be experienced, and shared.