Lectio Divina and More Senseless Legalism

Some of the Christian persuasion are too content determining their doctrine and belief systems by what they do not like about other denominations or other belief systems. As best as I can tell this is a product of immature faith and knee-jerk reaction. The more intrusive they view the denomination the more ablative they make their own belief system. In many cases I have had this charge leveled on me when it comes to Catholicism. This is not true. I simply mention what is errant in their doctrine or dogma and then walk away. I do not allow what I do not agree with in their camp define what I am or what I believe. The idea of camps and division in general is repulsive to me. I only allow the distinctions and separations in the case of ideologies that can become detrimental to other believers. This is especially true of the believers that are not fully versed in the faith or those that are easily led down errant paths. I need to make these discernment's and distinctions. Please note I did not say judgments. I have been told when I voice these distinctions that I am either being hateful or I am delivering things "without love". Nonsense. To think this of me is to condescend and assume I do not understand a biblical concept of love or am not versed enough to know the difference. As much as I try to maintain the servant attitude of humbleness...these types of assumptions are insulting and presumptuous and quite frankly they usually unintentionally (or intentionally) demean me.

On the other hand, if I vehemently attack and am purposely belligerent with others I am without recourse as I am flawed in both my approach and logic. I would not be Christ-like or biblical in this approach. The thing is this: I would press anyone on this issue to tell me where I have crossed that line. I avoid it like the plague and am hyper-sensitive to it. If it’s in my blog, show me where as I am not aware of it having written nearly all the posts on it. If it is there I will most certainly remove it and apologize.
I’ve digressed…back to my original thought.

The impetus of this post comes from what I see as mounting legalistic dogmatism. Lately I have begun practicing with Lectio Divina which is an ancient Catholic practice of praying or worshipping via the Scripture. Since bringing this up in the presence of other brethren I have, in some cases, been ruthlessly criticized and beat-up for it for slipping over to the “dark side”...to Catholicism. I have even been accused of trying to work towards salvation by works. My immediate gut reaction to this accusation in particular is, “Are you insane?” For clarity, Lectio Divina is a way of praying with Scripture that calls one to study, ponder, listen and, finally, pray and even sing and rejoice from God's Word, within the soul. In particular I am using the Psalms. If we can make music from the Psalms for worship, what is the difference if we use it as a pattern for prayer? Not everything that has come out of the other denominations or is part of other denominations is evil, wrong or “of the Devil”. This myopic and narrow-minded nonsense made humanity endure centuries in the Dark Ages and had people like Tyndale burned at the stake. When I say dark, I mean ignorance. It also kept the Jews of Jesus' time from recognizing Him as their Messiah. Sorry folks, in my book this is not good company to be compared to or grouped in with *vomit*. To clear the ignorance of this practice or dispel the darkness I will explain myself and what Lectio Divina means to me. If there is more to this on the Catholic side...I really don't care because (1) I am not catholic (2) I practice this in a manner that helps me relate and communicate with God better and (3) did I say that I am not catholic?

Element One: Time

I select a time for Lectio Divina/prayer as with anyone who wishes to spend time with God. You make sure nothing else is going to creep in and distract you. Time with God is paramount. Duration to me is important. 2-3 minutes doesn’t cut it. That is not even enough time to divest myself of the garbage I accumulated in my head during the day. Once you have selected a time and schedule…I keep it. I use the same time every day to form a habit of prayer that becomes highly effective…it is not a scheduled work! It is a practice like the way a baseball player practices his swing...to get better at it not to earn favor with the coach.

Element Two: Location

Prayer should always be free from distractions. Isolation from outside influences of the world (as the world system is of the Devil) and is to be avoided as it will purposely annoy and distract you. Avoidance of other people, telephones, visual distractions, seems to work for me. A location builds a familiar atmosphere that breeds comfort and reduces the possibility of distraction away from the prayer.

Element Three: Preparation

Prior to reading, it is imperative that I have shifted gears, this is why I most often will be found doing this at night before bed. The work of the day is done, kids are in bed and I know there is little chance of a phone caller, or other distraction (baring emergencies). This time may not work for all as some people go narcoleptic when they combine reading, prayer and late evening hours. Relaxing and waiting on the Holy Spirit helps too. The main idea if you do this late at night like I do is to take God seriously and not to be falling asleep. I would never dare. To me this is too important.

Element Four: Focus & Contemplation

This is simple people. When in the Scripture...focus on God. Jesus Christ. See how the passage leads you to Christ. Scripture revolves around Jesus. You should be able to find Him in every verse.

I have heard the detractors on this one. "You [meaning me] are practicing some syncretistic form of Eastern Philosophy and Catholicism." That my friends, is hogwash. I need to ask this: Since when is meditating on God’s word and praying the Scripture a bad thing? I thought the Scriptures is the main revelation of the mind and heart of God outside of Jesus Christ Himself? Is all meditation Eastern? This sounds an awful lot like legalism to me. Legalism that reeks of fear and ignorance and an inability to see beyond the acts themselves and labeling them “evil” before even asking what is in the person’s heart and mind. Is all meditation bad? That's like saying all prayer is bad because Muslims pray. Say what? Don't be so dopey.

Folks need to stop being so tied up into the legalism of the acts themselves. In Christianity, one size shoe does not fit all. We are a diverse body with different gifts, loves, desires and purpose. Although we were all made with the capacity to love God, not everyone was made to love chocolate ice cream. Worship for some looks different than others. Get over it and get used to it. Not everyone is like you and nor do they need to be. Only on the core salvation issues do we need or are we absolutely required to have unity. If we are truly are in Christ (which many aren’t) we will find common ground even in our diversity and we will embrace it. What good is an entire society of plumbers and mechanics? We will have the best piping and best running cars in the world but nowhere to put either of them because we do not have any carpenters and stonemasons to build our houses. Duh.

Sometimes…I just want to do something different from you. Nor do I need to like everything you do exactly the way you do. That would make for a really boring and monochrome world. The beauty of the flower garden is not in all the green stems it is in the diversity of the colors of the flowers. Sunsets are not beautiful because they are all a monochrome colorless gray but because they are vibrant with different colors and depth.

Unity in Christ…in the rest we need a little color, tolerance and diversity. By-the-way, when I say tolerance and diversity I mean what that words originally meant not what it has been twisted into by our modern culture. Am I purposely trying to be nebulous and postmodern here? Is that what it sounds like? I believe I have been pretty clear here and Biblical too. Am I being ecumenical here and merging faiths together? Am I merging religions here?

The real question that needs to be asked is: Have I violated the Bible? No, I have not. Did I cause a brother or sister stumble? No, I do not believe I have. If I did cause someone to stumble is it by telling folks they should be meditating on God's word or was it by putting a barefoot women reading a Bible as the post photo? Please. Folks that are legalistic will find fault with just about everything someone else does if it is not what they thought the other person should do. What do I say? Not everyone likes chocolate ice cream...'nuff said.

Death Peddlers & Facebook Antichrists

I was having a few thoughts before returning to school the other day. They are not well thought through but poignant. More rant than reasoning but fodder for thought. What brought them to mind are the increasing demands I am being presented with by God and the world concerning ministry. It seems to be clear to many (besides me) that God is preparing me for a leadership role in ministry in His Church, in His time and at His working. I must be praying on the wrong wavelength sometimes because when I pay I am getting mixed/muted signals that are the equivalent of sideband while I am stuck on the carrier signal (or vice versa). That being said I am making some observations about the culture and its potential pitfalls and punji sticks.

Facebook Churching:

I have no desire to make judgment calls today or name by name Christian congregations, denominations or individuals who seem to be exercising the gift(s) given them in a self-serving manner rather than corporate way. I've expounded on this plenty of times in the past. What really concerns me though are the dangers of the electronic or Internet churches that is emerging in the social networks. This powerful tool can reach millions (eh, billions) of people worldwide and like many things on the web (like Wikipedia), there are not a lot of checks and balances and systems to hold people accountable for some of the nonsensical garbage or outright theological goobledy-gook that passes for truth under the Christian banner. Frankly, some of the stuff is downright embarassing and I prefer not to be associated with it. People are missing the mark Big Time. I see some of the most ridiculous stuff passed off as Christianity on blogs and or social networking sites such as Facebook.

We are obliged to correct error where we find it if it does not cause more damage to the writer and the readers. That being said, getting people to accept a rebuke online or admit they are wrong through online correspondence is usually a fools-errand. Most being isolated rogue agents will not and do not accept the rebuke and many retaliate in a non-Christian manner (and that is the key: non-Christian). Please note I did not say publicly tell them they are wrong and blasting them like an idiot. Do it privately when possible and back up your corrective response with a correctly interpreted Bible first and then reason with them from that Bible.

Just this week I alone I lost count how many people requested friendings and when I look at their patchwork theology (as John MacArthur calls it) I am stunned. Some of the prime movers on the Internet are propogators of skewed and skewered ideologies that at times...are blatently unbiblical even to an untrained eye. These then have a trickle-down effect on the smaller movers near the lower end of web-traffic. Often what I see is the same theology and errant doctrine farmed out by the larger movers that show up on the websites of the smaller ones in the form of widgets and ads. We are talking some serious big business here too when millions of dollars in revenue are changing hands...all of it pushing a God that is often not the one described in the Bible. We need to tend to our own or those that claim to be of us. If not we should not balk and whine when the government comes down and tries to take away tax-exempt status from religious organizations when we have these wolves hiding among our flock. Purge the wolves or the culture purges us.

When the culture sees these charlatans as one of ours because they cannot differentiate the two, it is no wonder they go on the offensive to strangle us out of existence through financal avenues that amount to nothing more than a believers tax. Some of the trash I've seen peddled on some sites, social network pages and other media outlets...geez man...its clear they could care less about Jesus Christ. They just care about Andrew Jacksons, Ulysses S. Grants and Ben Franklins. Remember folks, heretics and demons will not try to sell you their theology and flavor of church telling you it will lead you to Hell. All of them tell you they have the path or the answer that gets you to Heaven. Hell isn't a moneymaker (unless you're a satanist), Heaven is. Demons and evil will not come as dark brooding monsters but rather they will come as beings of light. They will come making promises they couldn't possibly keep nor do they intend to. They do not have the authority to do so.  

There is nothing wrong with using these tools for spreading the truth  but as we have learned painful lessons from other form of biased media. When in the worng hands or used improperly, tools become weapons of the world used to try and attack the Gospel eitherr directly or indirectly.

Trapdoor Evangelsim of the Public Square

Large-scale evangelists, Christian speakers, Christian performers and Christian leaders in general appear to face some unique and vexing circumstances that center around pride and ego. These issues are not unique to Christian leaders and Christians with a high public profile. The way that those of God need to respond to these temptations and pressures is often different from those on equal footing in the secular world. Christian leaders are called to higher levels of restraint, Godly and righteous behavior. We need to have inhibitions and self-consciousness in place and moral guidelines when presented with the ability to indulge sin such as money, sex or idolatry. Where everyone else should also practice moral rectitude in similar positions it is the Christian leader that is especially held to account for poor behavior when it comes to financial dilly-dallying, sexual impropriety or some other flirtation with sin with unsavory connotations. And many fail on these fronts as even a precursory perusal of the news and media over the last 20 or 30 years will show us.

Christian public figures and Christian leaders can easily and sinfully savor the glow of warm acceptance and ego intensifying comments or compliments from adulating fans. Leaders in Christian organizations and pastors are subject to the same temptations of pride and status as any other human being. What sets them apart is the level of their dependence on God. to release anything of true value does not come from them but from God through His grace and mercy. None of us is exempt because none us is righteous without Christ.

Radical Liberation or Liberal Christians who urge action in the inner city to the acclaim of similarly striped politicians are victims of this. On the other side we have politically conservative Christians who give large sums of their investments to missions to have names attached to permanent structures. We have the newly minted Bible college and seminary students who glory in and relish their new-found knowledge. New worship leaders that must constantly be center-stage and in the heat of a single stagelight. Even the cavalier or imperious church members who fill out committees and growth groups within the church. We all need to constantly come back to the Son of God kneeling next to unbuckled sandals in the Garden of Gethsemane. Pleading that the Father take the Cup of Wrath from Him if it is possible but realizing it is not about the His will but the Father's. The One who submits to another's will...even though He knows it means excruciating death.

Christ's doing things for the good of the whole Church. Not a rogue agent bungling up the entire works selfishly to make a buck. Body not individual. Our action must be for the sake of the Body. If we loyally serve Jesus, and human approval or even celebrity or noterirty are the outcome we need God's direct intervention through grace to handle it. But if we consciously seek applause or reputation for selfish ends we effectively ostricize ourselves from God's grace and condemn ourselves giving into our own lust. We have turned a good act into an impure act because of dubious motive. This is no different than priests of the Old Testament offering blemished sacrifices in Malachi's time saving the best cuts of meat for themselves.

When we push or adverstise the human personality over the Divine message of grace we are pushing a dead religion. Instead of the love of Jesus Christ and the adherence to the Gospel we will often see a business to push by the work of human personality which is no different than slapping a flashy label on a square and otherwise insipid cardboard box that says it offers the way to heaven but instead peddles messed up theology. Like selling coffins...with the dead body inside. Instead of selling life (eternal life) these charlatans sell a flashy version of death because what they are selling has no salvation in it. If it does not contain the message of Christ crucfied, buried and resurrected according to Scripture, it is a box (more properly a hole..as in grave) or message filled with death.

"Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood." ~1 John 4:1-6

Dunderhead

If you walk up to just about any non-Christian on the streets today and ask them their opinion of Christians you will more than likely be responsible for uncorking a tirade or dissertation of hateful and poorly informed rhetoric. Most often some of the more biting comments will include things like "doomsayer", "zealot", "judgmental", "kook", "hypocrite", or the ever popular "hellfire & brimstone spouting, sandwich board carryin' backwoods anti-intellectual". Sometimes the diatribe will include all the above in some sort of patchwork comment that is akin to vomiting insults. The other comments usually line up with hints of prude and dogmatic fool.

Unfortunately, many of these characterizations will hit on truth. Perhaps not always accurately but truth none-the-less. People that are unfamiliar with our faith will believe all kind of voodoo about how we adhere to some arcane lifestyle that makes us ultimately boring, regimented  and mindless adherents to a goat-herders God (or some venomous variation on this theme). Sadly, many of us after being beat-up by these snide and marginally truthful comments or assessments will retreated into our hard shells or Christo-exoskeletons and leer ominously at the very people we are called to speak to or live out the Gospel in front of. We will often lump them all together as unreachable reprobates and chose to do little of nothing to reach them in that state. When it is us or others like us that are very tool that Jesus through the Holy Spirit most often uses to bring these "irreparable reprobates" to the light.

Sometimes we will then take the few that we do manage to get to listen to us and bludgeon them with the legalism or unnecessary dogma we are rightfully accused of. The very thing we are mocked over and that we vehemently deny. The non-core, non-salvation issues that we refuse to relinquish or bend on is where many of us lose prospective candidates in our evangelism. The rejections are so sad at times and so common as to be predictable. The code of legalism: no tattoos, no piercings, no raucous rock music, no smoking, no alcholic beverages whatsoeverr, no long hair, no short hair, no shaved heads (unless military), no Justin Bieber (oh, wait, my legalism is creeping into the post). It is the ones that we nearly convert and inevitably lose that we need to focus on. Mockers will always mock but near-misses because of judgmental attitudes, hypocritical behavior or denial is never acceptable. In these cases we do not lose these people because of them and their actions, we lose them because of us and our actions. The ones we win to a point and then drive away with absolutely unnecessary legalism is entirely avoidable. Teaching truth is one thing, teaching truth with man-made junk and/or our opinions piggybacking it is bogus. To drive home this piggybacked dogma with a hammer is even worse. Jesus would've been and is quite upset with us when we do these things. The pattern of Scritpure is clear on this behavior.

Although it is tempting to just look at the legalist as throwaway child of a religion that the world hates and just live with their presence without acting on it...we should not. It is part of the reason we are viewed unfavorably and often hated as a whole in Christianity. We are obliged to "tend" to our own as momma used to say. Jesus did. I don't mind being hated for preaching the Gospel and telling the truth of the Bible. I do mind being hated or thoroughly misunderstood because of misguided or boneheaded attempts by others to impose bogus interpretations on the Bible text just to subjugate believers and non-believers alike. Then of course we have legalistic infighting when brethren turn against the brethren internally and this petty inter-denominational or inter-congregational squabbles makes us all look like infighting backwoods rednecks.

It is also not funny when one group of Christians whose members wearing suits, ties and knee length dresses recoil in abject horror at another congregation's tattoos, Doc Martins, flannel shirts, piercings and Starbuck’s Caramel Frappuccino®. We all need to realize that not everything that comes down the pike in terms of cultural quirkiness and social oddity is necessarily evil or sinful. Sometimes harmless dopey diversions are just harmless dopey diversions (anyone remember big hair and mullets?). A passing dopey fad that’s only inherent danger is having our children find pictures of us when they are older and having a laugh riot over sky-high hair.

On the other hand, legalism includes enough threat and danger to warrant some of the most vehement admonitions in the Bible. Many of these warnings come from Jesus Himself during His ministry. Woe to you hypocrites! Some of Jesus’ most rankled moments come under the banner of legalism. The self-righteous legalism perpetrated by the hypocritical Pharisees. Even today, nothing gnaws and needles Christians and non-Christians alike more than the pharisaic attitude or religious snobbery and pious pretentiousness. We are called to be different by being humble, not different by being arrogant idiots.

And here is where the rubber meets the road. The ones today that are most akin to the Pharisees of old are often those who we consider the hardcore fundamentalists. The fundamental evangelicals (i.e. me): The ones that had such a recoiling and negative reaction to the liberal theology of the last century (and rightfully so). The ones who have attempted to avoid the near totally submissive attitude of embracing the modern culture (often rightfully so). In reaction we / they have withdrawn into hardened shells in a desperate bid to avoid being sucked into the ungodly culture and compromising our faith, we have in many cases added walls and rules to our faith to avoid falling into that nebulous no-man’s land where behavior becomes questionable so that we do not slip out and the world does not creep in. It is done to avoid stepping over the line acceptable in the Bible. In so doing we/they have added an additional fence around what’s acceptable and have on many fronts become legalistic. We sound strangely reminiscent of the Pharisees, the Pharisees who devoted their lives to following God…but ended up doing it wrong. In an attempt to stay holy they/we became hypocritical. In an attempt to stay separated for God, they/we ended up becoming separated from God.

Jesus condemned these religious denizens of Israel and he will do the same today. Why?

…because they/we had/have become overtly religious when they/we should’ve become overtly relational...in Christ.

Having withdrawn into their/our shells (like we often do today) they/we separate them/ourselves from the very people that we are set aside and made holy to be able to reach.

Let me restate that.

We as God's chosen are purposely set aside to be holy and to be different. We are to be different in a way that will allow us to teach and attract those not of the faith to come to us…not run the other way. How many of us can say we live a life consistent with that idea? I can honestly say this is not how I live my Christian walk 100% of the time and for that I should be ashamed. I often rely exclusively on my avoidance of my Christian responsibilities as a protective measure. My attitude when committing this sin is this: If I avoid people I view as being dunderheads, then I do not need to deal with the people I view as being dunderheads…will I?

Here’s the problem with that logic…by what gauge or measure have I assayed these people to have been able to come to the conclusion they are dunderheads? It certainly cannot be an evaluation according to the the Bible, can it? The Bible tells me to love my neighbor(s). The Bible tells me Jesus specifically came to save the lost. The tax collectors and sinners. Jesus was a friend of tax collectors and sinners. If Jesus was their friend, why am I not? Sinners. That means everyone. Everyone's a sinner and everyone is my neighbor. How can I love my neighbors, sinners and unbelievers if I am purposely avoiding them? How can I help save any of them if I have already passed judgment on them before I have even gotten to fully know them? Yes...discern their sin but do not judge them, it is not your place or mine. We are to gather the harvest, we are not to seperate the wheat from the tares. That has been left to God to do. To assess and measure a person without actually knowing them is to be thoroughly and unjustly judgmental. The exact things Christians are often accused of. What’s worse is we are often judgmental of the very things we ourselves are guilty of which adds hypocrisy to the hyper-criticality.

[Insert deafening silence here.......]

As a Christian, to purposely avoid people I view as “dunderheads”, I become a dunderhead. I become the embodiment of the thing I have tried to avoid. Paradox? You better believe it. Hypocritical? Probably even more so than you and I realize.

Face it folks. We cannot run and hide in our bible-thumping caves to avoid people. The Bible does not allow it. We are to avoid the immorality and sin of the culture but not the people themselves within the culture. We are essentially set aside by God and immunized (through acceptance of Jesus and indwelling of the Holy Spirit). As Christians we are immunized against the penalty of sin (eternal condemnation). The immunization does not mean we will be unaffected by the sin, it just means we will not inevitably be killed (eternally) by it. So why would one need an immunization? So they can hide away behind walls and barbed-wire fences in a hermetically sinless and sealed bubble? No! We are immunized for the very task of entering the world/culture/society with a partial immunization against the very sin that we will be teaching and preaching against. It is no different than getting malaria shot before going on a missionary journey to a mosquito infested jungle near the equator.

Legalism fools both those that practice it. The Pharisees impressed the uninitiated with their appearance of piety. But the reality is legalists are dedicated to the rules of men not God. In this way we see that legalism errs by lowering the expectations and requirements for men and not meeting what God requires which is the equivalent of either doing nothing or working against God anyway. God already did for us what needed to be done. To add to what Jesus did is to trivialize Jesus’ work. This is not acceptable…nor is it biblical. Having done something this dunderheaded, shows that a legalist missed the whole idea that the Gospel is freely given, not earned. By adding legalism we limit our growth as we get stuck in a mire of man-made regulations.

We need to be more Christ-like in these situations. As you have read in my “Hard Sayings” series on SoJo, when Jesus was approached or queried on things of the Law or questions of interpretation confront Jesus, he rarely answers questions directly. He did not become more legal, instead Jesus touches on things behind the Scripture. He reaches back to the intent or the wellspring of the passage. These are the things He drives home with vehemence. He does not become more legalistic he becomes more realistic and gets to the heart of the matter. Having drawn out the true intent, our sins lay exposed and reveal us for the sinners we truly are. Jesus does not rely on legalism, He relys on realism. We see just how sinful we are when He shows us all how far from the mark we fall short. That is what the word sin really means...missing the mark. In this realism or realization we then also realize our absolute need for Him. We should do the same as Jesus, get to the true intent of the law or rule in the Bible (if that is what it really is). What behavior is the commandment or statute of God really aiming at? The coveting laws of the Old Testament weren't so much an obsession with material possessions as much as they were warning of a non-spiritual replacement for the spiritual things...a replacement for God. when we want something in this world so much it consumes us, where is the room for God? We need not always interpret passages liberally or literally and hold everyone down to the exact letter when that is not the intent of the saying or words.

The other problem I encounter with legalism is the pride in which the possessors of it wear it on their exterior like a badge of honor. Like bright polished (obnoxious) armor it keeps everyone out and sends a message loud and clear to those that see it. !DUNDERHEAD!. Thereby this person or these types of people make themselves wholly unapproachable and unattractive. Subsequently they make the entire Christian Faith look like…you guessed it…dunderheads.

I may not like divorce and what it does to families, the alcoholism of the alcoholic or the smoke of the smoker but I will not sit in harsh judgment of these addictions or social issues either. Why? Because: (1) I have already been through some of them and know how much hell it is to extricate one’s self from them and (2) Christ died for everyone for ALL their sins. I must always look at Jesus as the final benchmark. He hated and loathed the sin not the sinner. Yes, the Bible speaks of rules concerning these issues. They are meant to be internalized and practiced not necessarily used as hammers to bludgeon those struggling in the sin. A Christian’s rules and statutes are for the internal well-being and change towards holiness for a believer, not an external eyesore to flaunt in front of those that are losing a battle with the world and with their sin. What did God tell us to do with His commandments in the Shema of Deuteronomy? Are we to wave them arrogantly and hypocritically in people’s faces? NO! It says they’re to be internal:

“These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.”” Deuteronomy 6:6

When our faith turns into a religion that turns into an exercise of what we do better than someone else or have externalized and made gaudy we have created a religion of works, piousness and hypocrisy. Conversely, what does the Bible say our salvation is based on?

“For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Ephesians 2:8-10

The works are the result of the faith, not the other way around. When our faith goes external as a wall to divide us from the world we effectively force others to go internal and avoid us through rejection of what they perceive to be our rejection of them. The only way to allow people to come out of their shells is to lower ours by losing the legalist nature. A dichotomy or paradox if I ever did see one.

To win people who are potentially our enemy we must first lower our guard, lose the legalism and make ourselves vulnerable…vulnerable to our enemies.

Otherwise there will forever be two opposing camps staring distrustfully at one another mumbling “dunderhead”.

On Taking A Low View of Oneself - Thomas à Kempis

Book I: Chapter 2

1. As for knowledge, it comes natural to all of us to want it; but what can knowledge do for us, without the fear of God? Give me a plain, unpretentious farm-hand, content to serve God; there is more to be made of him than of some conceited University professor who forgets that he has a soul to save, because he is so busy watching the worthlessness, losing all taste for human praise. If my knowledge embraces the whole of creation, what good would it do to me in God's sight? It is by my actions that he will judge me.

2. Why not take a rest from this exaggerated craving for mere knowledge which only has the effect of distracting and deluding us? People are so fond of passing for learned men, and being congratulated on their wisdom -- yes, but what a lot of knowledge there is that contributes nothing to our souls' welfare! And there can be no wisdom in spending yourself on pursuits which are not going to promote your chances of salvation. All the talk in the world won't satisfy the soul's needs; nothing but holiness of life will set your mind at rest, nothing but a good conscience will help you to face God unashamed.

3. The wider, the more exact your learning, the more severe will be your judgement, if it has not taught you to live holily. Not art, no science should make a man proud of possessing it; such gifts are a terrifying responsibility. Meanwhile, however well satisfied you are with your own skill or intelligence, never forget how much there is that remains unknown to you. Let us have no airs of learning; own up to your ignorance, what is the use of crowing over some rival, when you can point to any number of Doctors and Masters who can beat you at your own game? If you want to learn an art worth knowing, you must set out to be unknown, and to count for nothing.

4. There is no lesson so profound or so useful as this lesson of self-knowledge and of self-contempt. Claim nothing for yourself, think of others kindly and with admiration; that is the height of wisdom, and its masterpiece. Never think yourself better than the next man, however glaring his faults, however grievous has his offences; you are in good dispositions now, but how long will they last? Tell yourself, "We are frail, all of us, but none so frail as I".

Hard Sayings XX: "Eloi, Eloi, Lema Sabachthani" - "My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me"

"Into Your Hands"
by Jeffrey Smith

אלהי אלהי למא שבקתני
ελωι ελωι λεμα σαβαχθανι

^"About three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). ~Matthew 27:46

"...and at three in the afternoon Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” (which means “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”). ~Mark 15:34

To me this is the hardest saying. To Jesus it was certainly the hardest. I unequivocally know what it means in its context but how it actually happened is no easier to understand or explain than the Trinity itself. After this outburst from Jesus in Mark and Matthew, He eventually expires on the Cross. This is not an utterance that could’ve been manufactured. A cry of abandonment and pain from One utterly alone. If Jesus is part of the Trinity from before time until eternity, how could Jesus possibly have been abandon by the Father? This is the conundrum for the ages and to the theologically uneducated proof that Jesus wasn’t really God…or was He? If He was really God and God’s Son the Father should’ve saved Him right? Wrong. Jesus had to act as the propitiatory sacrifice for man’s sins to settle their account with God and be deemed justified and righteous in Christ.

One thing we cannot do is use these words as a gauge of what truly is going on inside of Jesus at the moment of utterance. Many theologians and others have ventured a guess at why this is uttered and what motive solicited the words. To me to try and pinpoint with absolute certainty in my mind is full-hardy. Why Jesus utters this is not stated in Scripture. In respects to this cry Scripture is silent. What can be said with near certainty is that He is quoting Psalms 22:1

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me. Far from my deliverance are the words of my groaning." Psalms 22:1

The words in Psalms were in Hebrew but Jesus almost certainly said them in Aramaic. Although Psalms 22 starts as a lament Psalm 22, while it begins with a cry of absolute despair, it is really an expression of faith and thanksgiving as noted here.

We know with certainty the author of Hebrews believed there was an association with Psalms 22 and Jesus outside of the first verse. Hebrew’s author quotes other passages from Psalm 22 and ascribes them to Jesus. According to Hebrews we know that Jesus...

“...offered up prayers and supplications, with loud crying and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear; Son though he was, he learned obedience through what he suffered, and being made perfect he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” ~Hebrews 5:7-9

This is reflected in Psalms 22 in terms of the sufferings which Jesus endured and is acknowledged in Psalm 22:24:

“For he has not despised or scorned the suffering of the afflicted one; he has not hidden his face from him but has listened to his cry for help.”

When the author says Jesus' prayer to him who was able to save him from death was answered, he does not mean that Jesus was delivered from death on the cross. Goodness no! What the author means is Jesus having died was listened to by the Father and was brought back from the dead (Hebrews 13:20).

We know as readers and believers that Jesus willing offered up His life as an acceptable sacrifice in perfect obedience to the Father. We know that instead of resentment and hostility to His persecutors and murders He prayed the Father would forgive them because they did not understand what they were really doing. His dying was in place of the sins of the world. These are the list of the known(s). So why do we see the absolute display of abject anxiety of isolation and separation?

I need to now walk through this explanation very slowly, clearly and methodically as I will be flirting with the line between truth and heresy in this next passage. Jesus had come to give His life as payment on a debt for many. At the sound of these words Jesus goes even deeper to a place that is hard to understand knowing that He has been one with the Father since time beyond time. I believe it is here that Jesus goes even deeper into the area of God-forsakenness which is the eventual destination of all mankind that does not find Christ and repent of their sins. He was made sin for us. For this to happen He had to temporary disengage from the Father as a truly holy God cannot look upon sin. Sin is sin and God is wholly “other”. The two cannot meet without God in His perfect justice passing judgment on it. It is here at this moment that the disengagement begins and judgment commences.

“God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” 2 Corinthians 5:21

Jesus learned obedience through what He suffered (as we must also). Jesus burden of the Crucifixion was the crown of His glory. Between the hours of noon and three the Father turned His back (anthropomorphism) and left the Son forsaken. At least that is how the passage reads. I don’t know how, nor can I even begin to explain it but I believe this is what Scripture tells us. This is why supernatural cosmic occurrences took place like the preternatural darkness in the afternoon in the Mediterranean area. Sorry folks, eclipses do not last 3 hours. They cannot exceed 8 minutes. Celestial phenomenon are on full display during these hours of God-forsakenness for Jesus. The Temple veil at the Holy of Holies is also torn. Please understand that the veil is not a bed sheet easily torn by human hands. It was an enormous dense cloth at least 60ft high, and according to Flavius Josephus:

"the veil was four inches thick and that horses tied to each side could not pull the veil apart."

The divine God man had fully immersed Himself in the lot of man. Like a man condemned to separation from God, so too Jesus. There was no mistaking Jesus had committed Himself 100% to humanity and their suffering. Sin was conquered because our Savior having experienced it all. The worst being the separation from God. Worse than torture, worse than slow painful death, worse than cancer, worse than slow suffocation, drowning, burning and whatever other horrible end you can imagine. Jesus surmounted them all when Jesus was God-forsaken. There is now no desertion or abandonment known to man that Jesus had not already gone to or through. There was no profundity unvisited by Jesus. He was therefore made perfect or as Hebrews 5:9 says:

And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him. ~Hebrews 5:9

When the author of Hebrews says Jesus was made perfect it means Jesus was perfectly qualified to be a helper or advocate…even in our deepest hole of sin…even in our greatest need which is the forgiveness of sin itself. So when we cry out these same words in whatever language we speak whether it be Aramaic, English, Spanish, Greek, Hebrew, Russian, French, German...we know that we will be heard. We will be heard even if we say nothing, as the Holy Spirit will intercede for us. Not only will we be heard we can know that Jesus has been there before us and walked through that hell that we are in and in the end salvation is ours. He will be there to give us strength in all we do…even though no one had been there for Him…no one.

Praise His mighty name. There is no other that could do this, only Jesus Christ.

{Note to readers: As the Fall Semester 2011 begins tomorrow this will be my last post for this series. This series is actually the fruit and fallout of my own studies over the last month that I have had off from school. My posts will more than likely now return to "one-offs" until overflow from school begins to come in. I have also been called to preach more and those sermons may show up on SoulJournaler also- God bless, Andy}

Hard Sayings XIX: Eat My Flesh and Drink My Blood

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ~John 6:53

This is the original hard saying. Even Jesus' disciples stated as much, "On hearing it, many of his disciples said, “This is a hard teaching. Who can accept it?”  Jesus then asks them, "Does this offend you?" Jesus knows invariably that many will leave him and , "from this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him." The disciples that left departed because they either did not fully understand, took Jesus literally. If it was neither of these, than those that left realized Jesus was speaking metaphorically and were scared to death of what the truth might actually be. Why would they run otherwise?

We need to see this exchange in the context of feeding the 5000. When we read the account of the feeding of the multitude we get a hunch there is something more that is unstated. The Gospel of Mark indeed shows the disciples were to learn a lesson...and they failed to do so. What is even more extraordinary is Jesus himself seems surprised or should I say disappointed over their failure.

After walking on water Marks Gospel tells us that, "They were completely amazed, for they had not understood about the loaves; their hearts were hardened. Mark 6:51-52

The disciples were too thick-headed and thick-hearted to take in the lesson of the loaves.

The explanation comes in John 6:47-51

"Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.”

Jesus tells the disciples that their ancestors ate in the wilderness did not grant them immortality, they died anyway. In the same vein the bread fed to the 5000 was also "regular" bread although it had been provided miraculously. Because of this miracle they had wanted to make Jesus their King. What everyone misses in the story including many today is that Jesus had come to give them bread of even more value. What is bread at its core. It is sustenance that keeps us alive. Just as we cannot live without water (Living water in the story of the Samaritan woman) so also we cannot live without life enabling bread. Regular bread gives life now as we know it but eventually all die. The bread Jesus is offering is He himself. He is offering sustenance for eternal life to these Galileans. It is Jesus that offers us the spiritual sustenance that we will need to have eternal life with Him through Him. It is Jesus and what He will do that gives us that life and removes our sins. His blood is the atoning sacrifice for our sin. Bread that was even better than the Manna of Moses' time. The Manna of Moses' time may have come from Heaven but the True Bread that gives the sustenance of eternal life came down from Heaven in the form of an incarnate God named Jesus.

Having set this scenario up, Jesus then delivered the main course. Not only had the bread of life come down from Heaven, He is clearly stating that He is the Bread of Life. True life is eternal life. Man had originally been created to be immortal. The fragile morality of man is effect of the Fall. Jesus returns the life back to the way it was suppose to have been as the last Adam just was the first Adam caused the physical death of humanity.

This is all spiritual analogy: Those who come to him in faith, receive from Him in grace perpetual sustenance and refreshment for their soul. They will never hunger (or thirst) spiritually again...they will never die.

...and here is where this saying becomes infinitely more difficult to grasp both with our mind and our hearts because of our fallen sinful human condition.

Any Christian understands the binding nature of a Christian to not only Jesus but also other believers, other humans in general and obedience to the commands and statutes of God. The question is: Do they fully understand the implications to their lives? It gets really really hard right here. To believe in Christ is not only to give credence to what he says: it is to be united to him by faith, to participate in his life...and His death.

So I imagine I still have hundreds of people that will have read this post of to this point and they will still have perplexed and bewildered look on their face as they stare at their computer screens. They will also be talking to themselves asking things like, "Okay, I still don't get it what's Andy trying to say?" \

We have already pushed the bar beyond what many can truly grasp when we say people will, in faith participate in His life but will also participate in His death. They will need to die to self. What more? It stems back to the origianl verse, "unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you."

Flesh does not give life, it is the Spirit that gives life (John 6:63). The physical and literal meaning of Jesus' words have now been clearly ruled out. What we have is a very odd 1st century metaphor from Jesus that tells us that we are invited to take in the sufferings of the Lord and comprehend them. Internalize them to ourselves. He that reflects on the death of Christ and truly dies to self...will therefore reign with Christ. By submitting to the will of Christ assures one's heart is actually where it needs to be to gain eternal life. Killing off the old through the understanding and acceptance of Jesus leaves absolutely no room for us anymore. If we truly understand Jesus we realize it is only through Him with Him in us that we gain the Blessed Hope: Eternal Life.

This discourse from Jesus reflects the same intent as the Lord's Supper. It mirrors the same truth of the actions of the Lord's Supper, except does it in words.

"...and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes."

Hard Sayings XVIII: The Last Will Be First and The First Will Be Last

“So the last will be first, and the first will be last.” ~Mark 10:31; Matthew. 19:30; Luke 13:30; Matthew 20:16

It is a saying that is important enough to be put in the Gospels four times, twice in Matthew. It is actually used in two contexts. The first context in Mark 10:31 and Matthew 19:30 (both being the same) is the follow up if the rich man not willing to part with His riches. Jesus knew what was on this man’s heart. He had put his material earthly goods before Christ and walks away sad, as in boohoo sad. Jesus then says that it is, “easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” The disciples in incredulity then ask, “Who then can be saved?” Jesus’ response is frank, “With man this is impossible, but not with God; all things are possible with God.” Peter even more incredulous responds that they have already given up everything to follow Jesus. Jesus concludes with the fact that, “no one who has left home, brothers, sisters, mother, father, children or fields for me and the gospel…” will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields. They would receive ample compensation above and beyond the amount of persecution they endure—and in the age to come eternal life. “But many who are first will be last, and the last first.”

The disciples are being addressed here. Jesus is telling them that those that have given up the most here doesn’t necessarily equate to a primo position in the Kingdom to come. To have taken pride in one’s deprivation here is just as much of a sin as if one had deprived themselves of nothing. They are essentially making their suffering or martyrdom a form of idol. What might be worse is that having suffered or having been persecuted they may feel more entitled or deserving of position with God. We hear it often, “I just want what I have coming to me” or more amusingly, “I want what I earned”. What these people that would say this do not understand is if they got what they earned or had coming to them they would be instantly vaporized and condemned to Hell and eternal punishment. That being said, no work, no asceticism, or human effort gains us any better standing with God, and this includes persecution as a follower of Christ. Believe it or not the deaths of the martyrs did not gain them any better of a foothold of justification in God’s eyes…at least not for those reasons. For those that are persecuted in this life…there may just be others that receive preference for less persecution. There are no guarantees from the human perspective. These things are done on God’s terms for God’s reasoning, not ours.

Luke 13:30 this saying is added to, “men will come from east and west, and from north and south, and sit at table in the kingdom of God”. These people from the compass directions are references to Gentiles. Where some of Jesus’ listeners had at one time been Jews and felt their position as descendants of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob assured them the primo spot, Jesus eschews this assumption and shows that they could potentially be completely shut out of the picture…so much for unfounded assumptions. As we know now in hindsight, Jesus knew the time of the Gentiles was coming. Even thought they had not yet been fully graphed in and they were latecomers, they too would be looked upon as equal in footing as devout obedient Jews. They too would have their righteousness imputed to them because of their faith. The Gospel being offered would be extended to the Jews first (Romans 1:16). If the Jews ignored the offer than the Gentiles who had arrived late on the scene, would receive the Gospels benefits or blessings first…and this is exactly what we see transpire.

Matthew’s 20:16 parable of the workers in the vineyard ends with this saying of the last being first. In this parable the workers hired in the 11th hour end up getting paid the same wage as those that labored all day. This is analogous to God treating all believers equally since all in Christ are equals anyway. The other way I have heard this said by John MacArthur is that the only way for the first person to be the last person and the last person to be the first...is if we all crossed the finishline equally at exactly the same time. In the end we must understand the paradoxes and reversals Jesus’ work on the Cross institutes into believers lives and into the world in general. To die is gain. For the Son of Man to be glorified He must be crucified. To win an eternal life there, we must forsake our holdings and value of things here. We must replace the worldly with the heavenly. To become a true leader one must learn to serve, and so on. I imagine these reversals will astound many. I believe we will all be surprised by those that actually make it to heaven and even more surprised by those that don’t.

Its really not a race in the strictest sense. Anyone that finishes properly according to the rules from God will ultimately win. God will reward all the finishers that have completed their task in accordance with His statues.

Hard Sayings XVII: The Rich Man, Lazarus and the Great Chasm

“And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.” ~Luke 16:26

This is the reply of Abraham to the Rich man who is in Hades. Abraham is explaining why Lazarus, the poor man that has made it to Abraham’s side (assuming this is Heaven) cannot bring water on the tip of his finger to him in his agony in fire. All the rich man is requesting is a measly and meager drop of water to ease his torment. It would be surprising Lazarus would even want to help him considering the rich man ignored him throughout his life and in his destitution. So what if he wanted to help the rich man? What of this chasm? It is referred to and a physical place but in reality it may not be. It is not as if this conversation is taking place somewhere as we understand it…as in a geographical location. It is not a chasm or abyss that could be measured per se.

We also cannot assume that “Hell” is what we envision it as. The text says the men died, Lazarus was taken up to Abraham’s bosom/side carried by angels (honored by God) but the rich man was buried (honored by men). The Rich man was looking up from Hades or the place where the dead are not distinguished or literally Hades in Greek ᾅδη means “unseen”…the abode of the dead. It is not because the rich man is in Hades that he was in discomfort and agony but because of the deeds of his life. Hades is clearly denoted as Gehenna a place of punishment. His life put him in torment. If the man had at least given Lazarus the benefit of the doubt and helped him out even slightly, this chasm probably wouldn’t have been impassable and impossible to cross. This gap was of the rich man’s own making.

Ironically it is as if the rich man still has learned nothing. In terms of his sin and wicked demeanor it seems as if everything is still status quo as far as he is concerned. Just as on in life on earth the rich man pays Lazarus absolutely no regard and addresses Abraham directly in Lazarus’ presence, pretentiously asking Lazarus to act as a go between. It is an arrogance that seems to have transcended the grave. We begin to see what it is like in Hades. The rich man still has the same attitude he had in life. Assuming he can just “dump on” Lazarus. He assumes he can just have the poor dude shoot across this gap and serve him up some water. It is as if his sin has been let go and his bad attitude continues to fester since in an absence of God one would be able to chase their sin and depravity ad nauseum. It is also as if the old rules still apply for him wherever he is. He is still an arrogant jerk even though he is suffering, which tells me his mind isn’t working right. Most likely this is because it has been given over to a reprobate nature at this point. This dude is “gone”. As C.S. Lewis once said, the reason this gap is not passable is not because the gates of hell are locked but rather because they are locked…on the rich man’s side. He has locked them. Wickedness cannot enter heaven, even so evil and wicked people, in effect, lock themselves out of heaven or lock themselves into hell through their own desires and wanton lusts. It is the proverbial alcoholic drowning to death in his own alcohol.

Once the rich man realizes this is a one way street and he will not be coming back across, he wishes to send out warnings to his brothers to get their act together. If they do not they’ll end up like this sorry sad sack roasting in Hades. Again, in his arrogance the rich man assumes he was not warned and had he been warned this would not have happened to him. You know these types. They are all around us in society and in the Church. “I didn’t know”, “It’s not my fault it’s the pastor’s fault for not telling me what I needed to know!”, “If the Bible had been clear and not had so many contradictions I would’ve been about to figure out what I need to do to be saved!”, blah, blah, blah. Abraham addresses him sternly and clearly, “they have Moses and the Prophets (the Bible)”. Just as he did in life and just as we all do, no one has an excuse for ignorance that has the Bible at their disposal. If the rich man had paid the Bible no attention what makes him think his brothers will? The rich man basically wants a special sign. What did Jesus say about signs?

“An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah” ~Matthew 12:39.

With Jesus and here with Abraham the same thought is brought to light. Abraham even blatantly states it here for clarification, “He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead." Hello! This is exactly what Jesus did and yet people still deny it, mock it and still scoff at it and scream, “Impossible!!!” Man has no excuse to remain unrepentant...unless it is by choice.

If Jesus’ own works and words were not able to convince spiritually dead lunkheads, then no external sign, however impressive, could be any more persuasive. I suppose in is a little more than ironic that another man of the same namesake as Lazarus did come back from the dead and this was an extraordinary sign for a large amount of people. Of course there were also the others who, not only wouldn’t believe, they actually wanted to kill Lazarus again because he was making others believe! Dopey Pharisees! It was as if the Lazaruses are a case-study of this situation.

Jesus told this parable not to show what the afterlife was all about even though it gave us a glimpse. Frankly, I am tired of folks telling me that they know a lot about what hell or heaven will be like based on this passage alone. They're missing the point sort of the like the rich man. Jesus told this parable because He as trying to emphasize the importance of how we live in this life not the condition of the afterlife. There are plenty of other pieces of Scripture from Jesus that paint a nasty and vivid picture of Hell. Poor man Lazarus had the riches of God hidden inside his heart and mind. The rich man on the other hand had his poverty of righteousness on full display. The riches themselves do not put people in Hell. The rich man being in Hell had nothing to do with the riches themselves it had to do with how he apportioned them and used them. In this case selfishly and sinfully

In the end we should look closely at the use of the word σου – “of you” or “your” in verse 25. “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things…" The Rich man had chosen things for himself and things that brought him his own honor instead of turning outward to help others honoring both them and God. The Rich man had what he chose in his life. He got what he wanted and because of this God gave him what he had coming to him. You can try to get everything you want here and live the way you want here in this world but when you die you are going to get what God gives to you or lose what God takes away from you based on how you lived.