New Year Thoughts 2014

It's been a long time since I last posted on here. Far too long. But it is a new year and, though I tend to dislike the idea of "resolutions," I have recognized a slip on my part of studying deeply the Word of God as I should. So, I hope that this begins me down the road to being more consistent in my in-depth studying and, hopefully, memorization. This is for my own personal benefit and I think the best when I have an immediate outlet to write out my thoughts. This is my journal of sorts. I hope to be open and honest with those of you who read these posts of mine, and, hopefully God speaks to you through me.

As I thought of where I should start in my study, I was reminded of a piece of Scripture that I hold dear and have spent a lot of time on. It is a great launching point for me because it is a reminder of why I take the time to study. It is a chapter at a peculiar time in Israel's history, just a few years after God allowed a king to be named over His people. The people chose Saul, who soon began to do things his own way. He made unlawful sacrifices and rash vows, but he finally did a thing that God could not allow in the leader of His people: Saul disobeyed.

Here is the scene:
[1Sa 15:1-3, 6-9 ESV] 1 And Samuel said to Saul, "The LORD sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the LORD. 2 Thus says the LORD of hosts, 'I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. 3 Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" ... 6 Then Saul said to the Kenites, "Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt." So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. 7 And Saul defeated the Amalekites from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

There are, in these few verses, things that can be discussed for hours and days. God specifically says He remembers what a people did the Israelites many years before when they left Egypt. Here we can see that God's wrath burns slowly, that He avenges wrongs done upon His people in His own time, and that He remembers those who, for whatever reason, were friends to His people. We also see that He is clear in His direction. These are attributes of God that we cannot and should not deny. Especially the last one. God is always clear in His direction to His people. The Holy Spirit prompts us to action, but He calls upon what we already know what we should do. That is everyday living. We will always receive clear directions when it comes to the big, life-changing events. I can recall clearly each time God spoke to me about life-changing events. There was no uncertainty in what to do. There was no "I didn't catch that." My directions were clear. I had but one thing to do: obey.

Saul was giving clear directions. "Devote to destruction all that they have." But what did Saul do instead? He took Agag prisoner and allowed the people to take what they wanted from the spoils. He disobeyed God's clear direction. This was unacceptable in the man that was to lead the people of Israel in the ways of God. God needed a man of obedience, and Saul was not that man. So what does God do? He sends in someone who does obey.

[1Sa 15:10-11, 13-23 ESV] 10 The word of the LORD came to Samuel: 11 "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments." And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the LORD all night. ... 13 And Samuel came to Saul, and Saul said to him, "Blessed be you to the LORD. I have performed the commandment of the LORD." 14 And Samuel said, "What then is this bleating of the sheep in my ears and the lowing of the oxen that I hear?" 15 Saul said, "They have brought them from the Amalekites, for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen to sacrifice to the LORD your God, and the rest we have devoted to destruction." 16 Then Samuel said to Saul, "Stop! I will tell you what the LORD said to me this night." And he said to him, "Speak." 17 And Samuel said, "Though you are little in your own eyes, are you not the head of the tribes of Israel? The LORD anointed you king over Israel. 18 And the LORD sent you on a mission and said, 'Go, devote to destruction the sinners, the Amalekites, and fight against them until they are consumed.' 19 Why then did you not obey the voice of the LORD? Why did you pounce on the spoil and do what was evil in the sight of the LORD?" 20 And Saul said to Samuel, "I have obeyed the voice of the LORD. I have gone on the mission on which the LORD sent me. I have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and I have devoted the Amalekites to destruction. 21 But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the best of the things devoted to destruction, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in Gilgal." 22 And Samuel said, "Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. 23 For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king."

God calls upon His obedient servant Samuel and tells him of Saul's disobedience. Again, we can see glimpses of another, longer discussion on calling out sin, which is Samuel's primary function, but I want to focus upon Samuel's words to Saul at the end of this section in verses 22 and 23. These are the words that God has spoken to my heart today, yet again. As many times as I have read them in the past, they are fresh and new to my soul now. God desires our obedience above all else. Do you give everything as an offering to God? Great, but ask yourself, "What has God told me to do, what direction has He given me, that I have yet to do?"

That is the ultimate question of this entire life as a Christ-follower. It is the ultimate calling: live a life of obedience. Why? Because by doing your own thing, by ignoring the words of God and by assuming your plan is greater than what God has planned for you, you are making yourself God. Look again at verse 23 above. Rebellion is as the sin of divination and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Raising yourself to the status of God in your life is an act of open rebellion which manifests itself in disobedience. Maybe it is the everyday Holy Spirit promptings that you ignore where you struggle, but, more often, I will guess that it is in the big, life-changing events that make you uncomfortable because of the change it will mean that cause you to hesitate. You may say, "But, God, I have a good job here!" or "I'm still in school and I won't know anyone there." or "My summer is the only time I have to do the things that I want to do. Don't take that from me!" Here is the truth of this chapter: God seeks obedient servants to lead His people, because only those who will obey are qualified to effectively lead His people. The shepherd/sheep analogy is completely relevant here. But you may ask, "What if I don't want to lead?" To you, God says that your obedience is a better offering and a sweeter fragrance than anything else you have to offer. One may only please God through faith (Hebrews 11:6), and faith leads to greater obedience.

This is my reason for needing to return to a deep study of Scripture, of God's words to us. It is an act of obedience. It is reasonable and sensible. It is what is expected of me, and I must confess that I have lived in disobedience for too long in this. So, in this public journal of mine, I leave this acknowledgement of my sin, my confession to my brothers and sisters, and my attempt to begin a habit of obedience in this, to discover the ways in which I need to keep growing.

Advent

Advent. Coming. The bringing of hope. The discovery of peace. The embodiment of love. The beginning of joy. This is the season in which we celebrate the greatest love God has ever shown us: the arrival of Jesus. He is Emmanuel: God come to be with us. He is Messiah: God our Savior. He is the Christ-child: the anointed one of God.

Even in birth, Jesus exalted the lowly. A baby who will one day redeem us and reconcile us: born to a woman of no consequence, made great by the blessing of our God. A baby of infinite splendor: born in a barn and laid in a feeding trough. A baby who had been praised by the angels: greeted on Earth by shepherds.

Even as a toddler, Jesus opposed the proud. The mighty Herod: shown to be a jealous coward. The extravagant Rome: shown to be worthless.

Thirty-three years later, mankind would see all of this culminate in one glorious act of love. Jesus, the Anointed One, the Embodiment of God, freely gives himself as the sacrificial Lamb, the propitiation of sin, then rises from the dead to become our living Messiah. On the cross, we see the proud and the lowly together. Even on the cross, Jesus exalted the lowly, giving life to the condemned thief. Even in death, Jesus opposed the proud, choosing to stay on the cross then rising to defeat death forever. In Him, we hope. In Him, we have peace with God. In Him, we love. In Him there is joy.

This is Advent: Jesus.

Late Night Ponderings

This past Sunday, New Community in Spokane received a dynamic Word from God. It hit me hard and has left me with musings and ponderings all week. The passage is Matthew 13:44-46 known to theologians as the "Treasure Parables."

The great thing about parables is that there is only one point to them, but that point is sometimes seen/shown in multiple ways. These short parables have more complexity in them than some of the longer ones.

A quick read tells us this: a man finds treasure in a field. He sells all he owns and buys the field for the treasure. Also, a man finds the most costly pearl ever. He sells all he owns and buys the pearl.

Conclusion? Hint: Don't jump there.

I must first ask you to ask yourself a couple of questions. First, "How do you see yourself in light of God?" And second, "How do you see God in light of yourself?" Yes, you read that correctly. I want you to know how you see God in light of yourself.

It is easy to see ourselves in light of God. We are sinful, horrid beings in desperate need of grace. Our best is nothing to God. That is easy for us to see, especially when we sin. The hard part tells us to look at God in light of ourselves. Since I am bordering heresy, let me explain this. This is not taking a look at the human condition followed by God. That is seeing ourselves in light of God. What I want you to do is to search your heart and really think about how you see God.

Do you put him in a box? Do you shove him off to the side? Do you make him convenient only when you want? A friend of mine recently had a revelation about how he saw God. He tried to put him in a box that said, "God only works in this way because that is all I know how he works." My friend knows now how faulty that thinking is. So, please, examine yourselves (it is Scriptural after all).

Now, let's look at the meat of these parables. A man searched a field and found treasure in it. Another man found a super costly pearl, a "pearl of great price" as Scripture reads. Both men had to respond to this, and they both responded in kind. They went and sold all they had to acquire their desired treasure. The first and easiest way to see these verses is seeing the treasure/pearl as Christ. We are to identify with the men who stumbled upon these great treasures. And, as they did, we must give up all to possess the treasure that is Christ. Please note that I am not saying we can buy our way into heaven, because that is not what Jesus ever taught. Jesus said, so I echo, that we are to give up all we have. In the spiritual, that does not always mean we sell everything and go live in a monastery. What it means is that we become a living sacrifice, giving up our desires, affections, dreams, pursuits, etc., for that of the Holy One. Everything we live for changes when we come in contact with the true Treasure.

Think about it. These men no longer had houses! They could not even feed themselves, but they had that which is greater. They no longer cared for their own well-being, only that of the Treasure.

See why that is so easy? We understand Christ is the true Treasure. We have just seen ourselves in light of who God is. Christ is worth giving up all because he is holy and we are not. So, what is the other understanding of this parable?

Look at the context of this passage. This is the same chapter as the parable of the sower, the parable of the weeds, the parable of the mustard seed and leaven, and the parable of the net. In each of them, the world is the field/dough/sea. In the parable of the weeds and net, we see a look at the close of the age when the angels separate the wheat and the tares/good and bad fish. So why do we always see Christ as the treasure?  Hopefully, by now, you see where this is heading. In this alternate reading, WE are the treasure and Christ is the man. WE are the pearl and Christ is the man.

Listen to Paul in Romans: "God demonstrated his own love toward us, in that, while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Hear that? Christ gave up everything he had so that he could redeem (buy) us. This is viewing God in light of ourselves: that we see the drastic lengths he went to tell us that we are loved and we are worth it all. How can we keep God in a box after that? How can we hope to push God aside when he tells us we are worth dying for to save?

So, which is correct? Hint: it is both.

The greater question is: who or what is the main character of the parable? The answer is always, emphatically Christ. He is the Treasure and he gave up all for us. If you read this as Christ as the Treasure, then you must see the worthlessness of humanity in light of the glorious riches of Christ; but if you see Christ as the man, then you must see how precious we are to God.

Christmas?

May I end my somewhat stunning silence (August? Really?) and say, this Christmas season has been Weird. (For those who follow such cliched terms, that is "weird with a capital W.") It hasn't felt like Christmas season at all. Yeah, the sermons and songs point to it, but not what I remember Christmas as. I remember the anticipation of Christmas morning, seeing my sisters (I admit this reluctantly), and the traditions of what I grew up with, but the feeling with in my house is depressing, and that has, in a sense, ruined Christmas.

It hasn't ruined what Christmas is about, not at all. Nothing can or ever will, but the secular aspect of the holiday (presents, tree, even the music) have no pull on me. I love to lose myself in Christmas music (seriously started listening back in October), but given the chance, I listen to some old emo stuff from high school. Really? It's just so strange. I finally put a finger on why this is, as I said earlier, my house is a tad depressing. I spend my days in my room on the off chance that I might come in contact with a friend on facebook or xbox, but no such luck.

I really don't even know why I am writing this, other than to spill it all out and clear my head. I won't even be posting this to facebook, so no point in making it too long. Whatever.

Worship Is...

As I lay in bed tonight, a though blossomed at the back of my mind, so, here I am writing this blog instead of sleeping.

This thought (which has now firmly attached itself to my brain, and will not let go) was "The institution of the church (where you gether on Sundays) is designed for us. The ecclessia (the Called Out; the true Church) is designed for us to unify to give God glory."

This is one of the major things I find wrong with churches today. As I later tweeted, "When a church's attitude of expectation overtakes its attitude of worship, there is a problem." And it is true. While expecting God to work is not a bad thing, it is not the point of church. So to say that you go to church to hear a word from God, I feel, is a poor motivation. God speaks to us in so many ways and at so many different times, that we shouldn't go into a Sunday morning service expecting Him to speak there. Now, please don't hear me saying that He doesn't, but that should not be our primary motivation for going to church.

Church (ecclessia) is about community. It is built upon and only works when a myriad of individuals come together in unity for a singular goal. When we come into church services expecting God to speak so we can consume, we are asking for something selfishly. However, if we come into a church service with an attitude of worship, we, then, become truly unified with the other believers, since our purpose is make God famous. We cannot do that if we are fractured. It is only when we are unified that the Church works.

Look throughout Acts. The apostles may not always have gotten along, but they were unified in one purpose: making God famous. It is through that unity that God moved. I am sure the apostles expected God to do things, the very nature of faith is knowing that He will do things, but their unity was built first upon making God famous, and from there, all other things.

I know this is probably confusing, maybe even infuriating, but if it causes you to think about why you attend church, then it has accomplished His purpose. God wants us to glorify Him and make Him famous, especially when we are grouped with other believers.

Worship Is...
-An attitude,
-A lifestyle,
-A desire,
-Loving God back,
-Unifying.

Journal Challenge

For those of you who might be keeping track of my challenge, I am not posting all of this week's journal entries. I am currently visiting my sister and, though I will read and study, I will not take the time to update my blog daily. Look for a mass summation of the week on Saturday. Until then, God bless and stay in the Word.

Journal Challenge: Day 3

Today, during Sunday School, church, and the crusade service I went to tonight, I was reminded of several things. 1. What the term "accepting Christ" really means. 2. How messed up we really are (even as Christians). 3. Where our focus sometimes lies within the church.

1. We tend to, as Christians, throw out these phrases and words that most people dub "Christian-eze." These words turn people off from the truth of God because they don't understand them. I fall into this trap a lot myself, and one of the phrases I (and most pastors) use the most is "accept Christ." Now, this phrase isn't bad, or even unbiblical, but I believe that we have turned it into something it isn't. We say we need to "accept Christ as our Lord and Savior," but most people think that means "ask for forgiveness and ask Him to come into our heart." Sorry, you are wrong. (Here comes some toe-stepping.) As I have said in previous posts, we don't have to ask for forgiveness to be saved! It is a by-product of our understanding that we sin and our confession of Jesus as Lord. Remember, God is faithful to forgive us if we confess our sins, but He will save us if we confess Christ as Lord (1 John 1:9, Romans 10:14). Also, it isn't Jesus who comes into our heart (sorry kiddos); it is the Holy Spirit. When we confess Christ as our Lord, we receive the Holy Spirit in our lives and it is Him who lives through us. The person of Christ is seated on His throne in heaven awaiting the day that the Father says "Go get your bride."

So this term "accept Christ as Lord and Savior" is accurate. How do I mean? Well, He already is our Savior (He has already died for our sins) and He already is our Master (whether you want to admit it or not, God is sovereign), so we must accept that in our own lives and confess that He is both of those things in our lives. That produces forgiveness and the gift of the Holy Spirit.

2. We suck. Plain and simple. (Man I'm full of fun stuff tonight.) In Hosea, we read how the Israelites kept turning away from God despite all that He had done for them. "My people inquire of a piece of wood, and their walking staff gives them oracles. For a spirit of whoredom has led them astray, and they have left their God to play the whore" (Hosea 4:12). God isn't happy with His people here. They have gone off and sought other things to worship and give their time. How different are we, really? Do we not seek after other things to satisfy us when God is the only thing we need? Do we not ask money, possessions, or relationships to fulfill in us what only God Himself can fill? So, yeah, sometimes...we suck.

The crazy thing is, though, God still loves us and wants to have a relationship with us! No matter how much we leave to "play the whore," God still has this promise for His people: "I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love and in mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord" (Hosea 2:19-20). That's true love there! For those who are apart of His Bride (the Church [Christians]), we will be betrothed to God even if we slip up!

3. My pastor today preached on the passage in Luke about the rich man and Lazarus, where they both died and Lazarus went to heaven and the rich man went to hell. He used it to point out three things that not every church has: belief, prayer, and evangelism. Though I agree, I got something completely different out of this passage. Often times, we focus on evangelism too much and forget about our own discipleship, or vice versa. I believe our focus should be on doing what God has commanded us, regardless of what people think about us. Here's what I think Jesus was saying in Luke 16: there are those who have all the Scripture (Jews = Rich man) and there are those who wish to have it, but do not (Gentiles = Lazarus). Those who did not start with all Scripture are blessed, because it did not taint how they perceived Christ. Whereas the Jews have. In the end, the rich man wanted Lazarus to go back to his family to tell them, but he was not permitted because they had the law and prophets and because of that, they would not believe even if a man was raised from the dead. So, Lazarus is a picture of Jesus as well. The Jews did not believe that Jesus was raised from the dead, even though He showed Himself many times.

So, where is our focus? Scattered. Where should it be? The commands of Christ. Why? Because that is how people come to faith in Him and accept Him for who He rightfully is.