God and War

I have never been in a war, nor have I even served in the military. But I have seen the faces of men who have experienced war, and the tears of those who have served.

Whether we have seen war first-hand or heard stories from others who have, we are prone to ask questions.

“If there is a God, how could He let the atrocities of war happen? Doesn’t the darkness of war disprove the existence of a God who claims to be light?”

These are valuable questions that we should honor and ask. But these uncertainties can only be answered if we are willing to ask tougher and more unsettling questions. War is only part of the cruelties of this world. Genocide, riots, infanticide, murder, and prejudice occur around the globe and in our country. But on a personal and more painful level, we have experienced loved ones die suddenly and without warning, the invisible walls that make those closest to us the most distant, and the broken areas of our own lives. Where is God in the midst of this?

Thankfully, the Bible doesn’t shy away from these questions. It doesn’t tell us to look the other way or solve these problems by simply being nice. The Bible actually acknowledges that things are not the way they are supposed to be. The life we long for, the life without war and pain and shattered pieces, is actually the way it was. But in Eden, man ignored the direction of God and brought life from pure pleasure to utter anguish. While we see reflections of the goodness of Eden in our lives, it could never be like it was.

This only partially answers the “why” of our questions, and doesn’t offer us much consolation. But the comfort comes when we start to examine Jesus. Perhaps some of the most soothing words in the Bible are the shortest: “Jesus wept”. As Jesus comes before the tomb of His deceased friend Lazarus, He doesn’t immediately bring him back to life, nor offer shallow soothing words to those near the grave. Instead, He cries. He weeps, and in His tears, we see His acknowledgement of the pain that this life brings. Our questions are validated by the weeping of Jesus. And yet, this is not the end of the story. Jesus raises Lazarus from the dead.

Jesus did not shy away from the pain of our world. Jesus, God Himself, entered into it. Jesus left the pleasure of His Father’s presence to enter into the brokenness and death that we know.

When Jesus was born into 1st-century Palestine, He entered into a world occupied by foreign invaders. Jesus’ own people were not ruling their own land. And yet, this political instability did not keep Him from entering into our shattered world. He came to serve and save those who lived in the midst of brokenness and pain, not unlike our world in the 21st century.

Jesus did not encounter this world’s devastation just through the death of friends, but also in His own body and spirit. He experienced ultimate injustice, wrongly executed by the Romans and Jews in His innocence, and ultimate pain, His Father shunning His sinless Son who took the sin of the world on His back.

The life-giving work of Jesus wasn’t just for the dead man, Lazarus. Jesus promised to make all things new through being punished for the sin of the world. When Jesus says all things will be made new, He means ALL things.

It is much like a beautiful house that has decayed and deteriorated over the years due to misuse and neglect, and then is restored to its original glorious state. The scope of the house’s restoration is every floor, every room, every nook and cranny. The level of the house’s restoration is total. Everything will be made perfectly new.

In a similar way, Jesus will restore all things in this broken world and in all areas of the lives of those who ask Him too. Imagine a realm of peace in this world so total and perfect, that the weapons of war that take people’s lives would be melted and remade into instruments that give life.

As we ask questions about the atrocities of war and of life in general, we see that these questions do not disprove the existence of God. Instead, they reveal more about Him to us, for God does now shy away from our pain, but instead enters into it. The ruin of this world is not from a cruel Divine hand that moves us around like pawns on a chess-board. No, the rubble we experience is the snowball effect from man’s decision against God in Eden.

And yet we see that He is still in control as He is restoring all of life until the day when Jesus returns into the brokenness and pain once more, not to start the process of redemption, but to finish it completely, with finality, and for eternity.

Dedicated to the men of Pigiron, who have been asking the tough questions together since their first reunion in 2002.

What Scientology Showed Me About the Gospel

Last night, my wife and I watched an interview with L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology. It is supposedly the only filmed interview with Hubbard. I don’t know much about Scientology, and so I won’t knock it, or set up straw men that I can easily knock over. But some things L. Ron Hubbard said about Scientology really struck me, because they reminded me of certain aspects of our faith and the Gospel of Christ.

When asked about Scientology and what it does, Hubbard said that Scientology helps the able and makes the able more able. Hubbard said that man was put on earth to make his way out of it.

“He was put here to work out his own salvation“, says Hubbard.

These words reminded me of the offense of the Gospel and its stark contrast to most other faiths. Christ came for those who were not able and do not have ability to become more able. The Gospel is for those who admit and see that they cannot work out their own salvation, and know they have no hope of doing so. Someone else must do it for them.

Let this offend and comfort you at the same time, for if you’re faith is in Christ, the work has been done for you. You have been saved by the work of Another.

Cognitive Misers

In Susan Fiske and Shelley Taylor’s 1991 textbook Social Cognition, they examine three different models for social thought process. One of these models is called the “cognitive miser”. The miser is one who, in order to make a quick judgment, takes mental shortcuts when thinking through a social situation and fails to take into account all the information.

Often times in our lives, we can be cognitive misers when it comes to interacting and relating with others. Let me explain. Have you ever been cut off in traffic, had an interaction with someone where you felt like they were sharp with you, found out that an acquaintance was talking bad about you, or been betrayed by one that you trusted? My first tendency when such things happen is to assume that I know why that person did what they did. I take mental shortcuts. They’re a jerk…or their insecurity sickens you…or they just can’t be trusted. When in such situations, I am a cognitive miser.

What I find interesting is that I am not a cognitive miser when I’m the one cutting across two lanes of traffic, being short with a friend, gossiping about an acquaintance, or turning my back on someone. No. When I do those things, its because I have my reasons. I suddenly become a very dynamic individual. I look to the complexity of my intentions to justify my actions. I’m just having a bad day, or I’m frustrated about something else, or I’m angry at that person about something they previously said. I become the exact opposite of a cognitive miser when it comes to my view of myself.

Our tendency is to rely on our intentions when justifying our own actions. “I didn’t mean for that to happen…” or “How could I have known that I came across that way?” become our mode of operation. But with others, we can simplify them. They’re not complicated, just bad.

Its interesting to bring this dynamic of social interaction to the Scriptures and see how Jesus talks about actions and views those who acted against Him. In Matthew 5, Jesus flips the table on us as He talks about the Law. Jesus tells the crowd that hatred is the same as murder and lust is the same as adultery. Instead of allowing us to solely live by what we think are our good motivations, he shows us that our actions are infinitely worse than we could imagine. Thankfully, there is good news.

In Luke 23, Jesus has been insulted, wrongly accused, and is in the midst of an unjust crucifixion. His response to His accusers and those putting him to death was simple, but not in the way we would naturally approach the situation. Jesus prayed for them, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He views those around him through the lenses of grace. This isn’t letting them off the hook or sweeping their offenses under the rug, but truly wanting forgiveness for those who mock Him in His death.

If we stopped there, Jesus would just be a good moral teacher showing us how to forgive. But He is a Savior who offers forgiveness. We need to examine our motivations when interacting with others, and lots of times we are very well intended when things come across the wrong way. But often we aren’t willing to look into the depths of our hearts and see the darkness and brokenness that is flushed out in social contexts. If we view ourselves solely by our good intentions in these situations and not include in our view the reality of our sin, we miss the saving grace offered by Jesus to us. We miss the fact that he paid for our gossip, our betrayals, our unloving hearts. When we acknowledge these things before Him and others, we will see that we need more than just being let off the hook…we need forgiveness.

Not only so, but we also find that as His healing hand reaches into these situations in our lives, we are able to move past just being a cognitive miser in our view of others, and instead view them through the lenses of grace…not minimizing their wrong-doing against us, but forgiving them in it, because we know whose death has paid for all sin, including our own.

Biscuits in Exegesis

So I just finished my last paper in my last Greek class. The last 7 months have been difficult. Greek has probably been the hardest thing (intensity wise) I’ve done for the longest period of time. I’m not exactly sure what to do with myself now. Seven months ago, my buddy Luke and I sat in his basement and started learning the Greek alphabet. Now, we have just finished an exegetical paper on a passage from 1 Corinthians. I wrote mine on chapter 7 verses 17-24.

I tell you all this because a biscuit came out of this paper. I’ll include my translation of the passage, then the Pastoral Summary (codeword for biscuit). Thanks!

Final Dynamic Equivalent Translation (makes me sound smart, eh?)

1 Corinthians 7:17-24

17 Only, as the Lord has apportioned to each, as God has called, let each walk in this manner. And I command this in all churches.

18 Was any man called having been circumcised? Let him not become uncircumcised. Was anyone uncircumcised when called? Let him not be circumcised.

19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments of God is.

20 Let each remain in the condition in which he was called.

21 Were you called while a slave? Don’t let it be a concern to you. But if you are able to become free, rather make use of the freedom.

22 For he who is called in the Lord while a slave is the Lord’s freedman. Likewise, he who is called while free is a slave of Christ.

23 You were bought with a price. Do not become slaves of men.

24 Brothers, let each one remain with God in that which he was called.

Pastoral Summary
Often, in our modern world, we want upward mobility at a fast pace. We think that a new job or gaining social status will bring us happiness. But thinking even more spiritually minded, sometimes we believe that these things will help us serve God better. Sometimes we wish God would lead us into something more prestigious than what we’re currently doing. We want to be “called” to something grand.

What Paul is teaching the Corinthians in this passage is that our call is not as important as our Call. There are two types of calling that we think about. One, when the Lord leads us to a certain vocation, ministry, marital status, or place in society. God does do these things, and they are important, but they are miniscule in comparison with God’s Call to Himself. The primary focus in our lives should be God Himself, and how He has called us out of darkness and into union with His Son Jesus.

We should not think that God will relate to us differently because we gain a job in full-time vocational ministry, or that a new job will render us more effective in loving God, or that a big change in our lives always bring huge spiritual benefits. Paul is saying that gaining a new status or stepping into a new situation should not be our primary focus, for it will not change the significance of our service to God. Our primary focus should be the new status that we have gained because of Jesus, how God now relates to us because of His finished work , and our new situation of loving God in return for His graciousness to us.

Some of you are in difficult situations, and we don’t want to make light of that, because we know freedom from those difficulties would be helpful. The Corinthians can relate to you, as some of them wanted to be free men, and not slaves, and that was difficult as well. But I would encourage you to put your current situation in perspective. Your freedom is not based on getting out of a difficult circumstance , but in God paying for your sins with the blood of His Son, Jesus. In that, as we focus on the big picture, we see that our difficult circumstances are not as bleak as we once thought.

If you have the opportunity to get our of a difficult circumstance, or serve the Lord in a new way that excites you, or take a job that will help you provide for your family, don’t miss the opportunity. But don’t make those things the focus of your life. Focus on the One who put His Son in the most difficult circumstance, the Son who’s perfect service to God is credited to you, the Son who’s shed blood binds you to an eternal family.

A Love Supreme

Alice looked up to see her husband reappearing after he had disappeared for five days in a secluded part of their Long Island home. Alice noticed that John seemed light-hearted, and she would later describe his emergence with these words:

“It was like Moses coming down from the mountain, it was so beautiful. He walked down and there was that joy, that peace in his face, tranquility. So I said, ‘Tell me everything..’… He said, ‘This is the first time that I have received all of the music for what I want to record, in a suite. This is the first time I have everything, everything ready‘.”

Just a few months later in December of 1964, John Coltrane began recording his work, A Love Supreme, in a New Jersey studio. Supreme was a four-part suite. He titled the sections Acknowledgement, Resolution, Pursuance, and Psalm. Acknowledgement is perhaps the most famous part, and is sometimes renamed A Love Supreme. It commences with a gong, and in its opening sequence brings a rising and welcoming tension. It continues on through repetitive cymbals and into its distinctive four-note bass sequence, before the saxophone joins in and the music takes off.

Acknowledgement, as well as the entire album, is widely recognized as having a deep spiritual energy to it. This is intriguing considering that the only words in the entire album are Coltrane’s baritone voice chanting “A Love Supreme” nineteen times towards the end of Acknowledgement. Coltrane described the album as “a humble offering to Him ” in the original liner notes. Coltrane experienced a spiritual awakening in 1957, and in grateful response to God’s call on his heart, he asked that he might make music for the joy of others. He writes a “period of irresolution did prevail. I entered into a phase which was contradictory to the pledge and away from the esteemed path; but thankfully, now and again through the unerring and merciful hand of God, I do perceive and have been duly re-informed of His OMNIPOTENCE, and of our need for, and dependence on Him. At this time I would like to tell you that NO MATTER WHAT…IT IS WITH GOD. HE IS GRACIOUS AND MERCIFUL. HIS WAY IS IN LOVE, THROUGH WHICH WE ALL ARE. IT IS TRULY – A LOVE SUPREME. “

What do we learn from Coltrane? We can learn much from listening to A Love Supreme. Its spiritual undercurrent is dynamic and its beauty brings me to tears on occasion. The music has a feeling of something powerful…something larger than myself.

But there is more to learn as we think about Coltrane’s experience and expression in A Love Supreme. We find them desirable, much like Blaise Paschal’s Night of Fire . We long to experience and express God lavishly. We want to taste of the Divine as richly as it is heard in Coltrane’s music. We want these experiences as evidence of God’s presence and activity in us. But the truth is, we don’t often have mountaintop experiences. Some of us have had a a few more than others. Some of us have had none at all. But none of us live there.

The spiritual life is much more of a grind than a constant Sinai encounter. The intense feelings and emotions of God’s presence are to be rejoiced over, for they are beautiful and amazing. Humanity’s rich experiences and beautiful expressions of the Divine can be real and substantial. But we cannot live to seek after the experiences alone, because they just don’t happen consistently.

So what evidence of God’s presence do we look to? What spirituality do we experience and express?

The affirmation of the Divine in us can be found in the present, but it is more boldly grounded in the past. The evidence that God is present in us, that He is expressing Himself through us by His Spirit, that He is experiencing us and we Him…and even making His music in us and through us, is Jesus. Christ’s life, death, and resurrection is more certain than even the place we’re sitting right now. To know this in our hearts and let it seep out in our everyday lives is to experience and express Him. Sometimes we sense Him and His grace intensely. Sometimes not at all. But He is there. To live a life of faith and repentance with Him as the substance is to sing God’s song.

I’m not writing that experiences are bad…hardly. I’m just asking what should we strive for? What do we rely on? What evidence do we need to consider ourselves “spiritual”? Instead of focusing our lives at looking forward to the next spiritual experience or expression, we need look no farther than Jesus. Because there is something more certain than even an experience or an expression: Christ and His work. And He is A Love Supreme.

house of wine

I found these lyrics moving this morning:

O I am my Beloved’s
And my Beloved is mine!
He brings a poor vile sinner
Into His house of wine
I stand upon His merit -
I know no other stand,
Not e’en where glory dwelleth
In Emmanuel’s land.

from The Sands of Time Are Sinking
Words by: Anne Cousin
(based on Samuel Rutherford’s Letters)

So I’m Justified….now what?!? (Part 3: Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There!)

Many things in the Gospel are dichotomies. We live in tension as sinner/saints. We enjoy God’s kingdom breaking into time and space (the already), but we long for its fullness (not yet). We serve a Savior who is fully God and yet became fully man. We can’t escape the tension that is the Christian life. And is true for what we are to do in regards to our justification.

In the last post, we looked at how our justification leads us to Don’t Just Stand There, Do Something. Our justification is a springboard for intimacy with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and we can have great confidence as we engage relationally with them. Today we look at how we are to Don’t Just Do Something, and Stand There in regards to our right standing before God.

As much as I would encourage you grow in intimacy with the Divine based on our justification, I would also urge you to just stand there and stare at our justification. Let your jaw drop. Be in awe. Jesus completely fulfilled God’s law. He loved His Father and humanity perfectly and completely. This record is credited to you.

Quit running around trying to earn brownie points from God. It is like begging for pocket-change when you have access to an unlimited bank account. Just stand there and rest in Jesus record..because its yours. So Don’t Just Do Something…Stand There! You will find that this as well will enhance your relationship with the Divine.

So I’m Justified…Now What?!? PART 2 : Don’t Just Stand There, Do Something!

Yesterday I wrote about how it is easy to come to a deep understanding of our right standing before God because of Jesus, but not know what to do with it. A year or so ago, I was taking the Sonship discipleship course, and my mentor in the course, Richard, sensed that I was having confusion over this issue.

Richard encouraged me to let my right standing before a holy God lead me into intimacy with the Father, His Son, Jesus, and His very Spirit.

Many of us have heard this before, and so it seems familiar, but we must not judge its familiarity by our cognitive understanding, but by how familiar we are relationally to our Father. If I’m honest, at times, He might as well be an alien to me. But this is antithesis to one of the purposes of justification. Hebrews 4:16 reads,

“Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

In this verse, we can see the legality of the Gospel: have confidence because of Jesus’ person and His finished work…God’s justice is now satisfied and there is grace.

But this verse also shows us how the relational aspects of the Gospel springboard based on the legality of the Gospel: draw near….receive…find grace to help. All these imply relational interaction with Abba. The good news is that we are free to relate to the Father as ourselves because we are hidden in Christ and His work!

So today, as you are reminded of your justification, Don’t Just Stand There, Do Something. In other words, don’t mistake staring at your justification as intimacy with Christ. Let Jesus’ finished work carry you into the Father’s presence, knowing that the Father’s sense of justice is satisfied in His Son, and you are justified in His eyes.

In the next post, we’ll look at when we say Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There! in regards to our right standing before God.

So I’m Justified…Now What?!?

In 1993, Albert Mohler became president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky. The school’s theology had become loose and it had moved away from believing in Biblical inerrancy. In Mohler’s inaugural speech to the student body and faculty, he challenged them to stand for the truth of the Gospel as they saw in Scripture in a sermon entitled Don’t Just Do Something, Stand There.

A decade later, Southern had become known as a seminary with solid doctrine and a reliance on the Scripture as God’s very Word. Mohler again addressed the student body and faculty in a sermon entitled Don’t Just Stand There, Do Something. Southern’s teaching and doctrine had become so solid, that they were at risk of just standing still and enjoying the truth of the Gospel while a world who needed this very Gospel passed them by.

I find Mohler’s sermon titles intriguing, and they remind me of how we, as those made right before God by Christ being exchanged for us, should approach the justification that God has declared over us. Often at times in my life, I will think about having Jesus’ perfect record before the Father , but am not exactly sure what to do with it. I’m justified…now what?!?! Tomorrow we’ll look at the good news of our right standing before God and see how it leads us to say to ourselves “don’t just stand there, do something!”

Are we sinners theoretically…or for real?

Spurgeon is great for biscuits…these two might sting a bit, but they lead us into a greater experience of grace:

People make a general confession such as,” I am a great sinner,” who would still resist any special charge brought home to their consciences, however true. Say to such a person, “You are a cheater,” and he replies, “No, I am not a cheater!”
“What are you, then? A liar?”
“Oh, no!”
“Are you a Sabbath breaker?”
“No, nothing of the kind.”
And so when you come to sift it, you find them sheltering themselves under the general term of “sinner”, not to make confession, but to evade it.
- Charles Spurgeon

Sin confessed with tears, sin which causes the very heart to bleed – killing sin, damning sin – this is the kind of sin for which Jesus died. Sham sinners may be content with a sham Savior, who did really die, and died for real sin. Oh, how this ought to comfort you who are sadly bearing the pressing burden of an abominable life! You, too, who are crushed into the mire of despondency beneath the load of your guilt!
-Charles Spurgeon

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich.    2 Corinthians 8:9