Vain Obedience ...

How can you obey a command you do not understand?  Your boss hands you a stack of papers 18 inches thick, the type font is small, they are single spaced and double-sided type, and they are written in a combination of Cyrillic, Kanji, and ancient Babylonian.  He says simply to you, do what this says and walks away.  You stare blankly at the papers, not even knowing where to begin.  The task is overwhelming.  But it is not just the magnitude of a challenge that can make it difficult.  Different scenario.  Your boss walks up to you and says … be ready for this afternoon’s meeting.  The command is simple.  The expectation at least superficially understood.  But then, what all might that simple command imply?  Is there some material you are supposed to memorize?  Are you supposed to be ready to present?  Are you just supposed to be ready to get there on time, maybe 15 minutes early?  While the command is very simple in language, duration, and seemingly in intent.  It could mean a hundred different things.  How could you possibly be “ready” for every scenario this might imply?  How could anyone?

To begin to know what to do, could start with a knowledge of your boss.  If your boss is a mystery to you, and does things nearly always in a random manner, you are up a creek.  But if your boss is fairly consistent, and has given you similar guidance in the past, with perhaps more context in those times.  Maybe you could extrapolate your history of life with your boss, to this particular event.  At least your odds of pleasing your boss go up, based on following the pattern your boss may have laid out up to now.  Even then, sometimes it is not just the “what” that we do, it is the “how” that we do it.  When my boss gives me a command it is “understood” by him (and should be by me), that whatever he asks me to do, he intends for me to accomplish it in an ethical and legal manner.  Meeting a sales quota by sniping customers from a team mate is unacceptable.  Goal achieved, but method of achievement negates the accomplishment.  It gets even worse if you resort to fraud, or theft, or some other nefarious means to attempt to meet the assigned objective.

So when God tells us to do something, do we find ourselves in the same boat as when the boss gives us a simple edict without nearly enough context to know what we are supposed to do?  Take the Sabbath as an example.  We are supposed to “remember it”.  Easy enough.  We are not likely to “forget” a day of the week.  But then the remembering was in the context of “to keep it Holy”.  Ut-oh.  Here is where we rapidly go downhill.  Humans are really bad at understanding anything about Holiness.  We are sort of the living embodiment of the opposite of Holiness.  So how do we keep something Holy when we do not understand almost anything about Holy in the first place?  More context is offered.  We are advised not to work on this day.  But not just us.  Not our servants either.  In fact, no one who is within our gates, will be required to work on this day.  This is great context.  It helps us get a better idea of what is being requested here.  But is that it?  Then comes the inevitable question, how exactly do you define “work”? 

Is work something I do for money, perhaps only what I do for money?  Then the husband puts his feet up, and the wife continues to “work” all throughout the day?  That does not seem like the ask.  So then the definition of work must extend past just activities I do for money.  How do I know?  Well, the example of manna that fell in the wilderness over 40 years to feed the Israelites gives us a good indication.  Manna was only good for a single day, until Friday when a double portion fell, and it did not spoil over Sabbath.  That meant on Sabbath no gathering, and no prep.  You could simply enjoy the food made the day before.  Presumably this means mom gets a break too.  Presumably this means the servants can take the day off.  Presumably God wants to relate to everyone on Sabbath, not just those of advantage.  And it would appear God defines work with a broader brush than just what I do for money.  And of course, God defined His own rest, as being a rest from the work of creation He had done the previous six days.  His creation looks more like art to me, though perhaps it is science, or perhaps just genius – but He rested from it and the universe kept spinning.

Enter the Pharisees and Sadducees, both had a keen interest in “keeping” the law.  Israel had suffered war, famine, and slavery for ignoring the law over their history.  Though a closer examination of God’s patience running out usually corresponded to Israel worshipping other gods that required them to throw babies (mostly male) into the fires, while preserving female babies to become temple prostitutes.  The ruining of young lives just seemed to be the straw that broke the back of God’s patience with the people who claim His name.  Consider that as you examine the state of how we treat young lives in our own country and churches.  So the modern church leadership in the days of Christ, had a very keen intent to keep the law so as never to see the wars and slavery they had experienced in the past.  They developed then, an extensive additional set of context around what it means to “keep” the Sabbath.  Their list of rules, eventually devolved into walking only a certain number of steps.  Food preparation must be done the day before, or you went hungry.  And yet despite all these precautions, Rome was still in power, and Jews were still slaves.  However since the Sanhedrin still existed, they reasoned, they had to be doing something right.

Then along comes Jesus.  Matthew begins chapter twelve of his gospel touching on the most important commandment, the primary one that sets the people of God apart from every other religion on planet earth.  Outside of circumcision, and kosher diets, what makes a Jew a Jew is the keeping of the Sabbath.  The Sanhedrin had become confident in “how” they did what they did.  They became confident that they were “obeying” the law, to the extent that the law required, and a good measure further just in case.  So does the modern Christian.  While not obsessed with the law, we are equally as certain, that we obey our Lord, to the extent that He has asked, and a little extra just in case.  But perhaps in our certainty of obedience is nothing more than vanity.

Matthew begins in verse 1 saying … “At that time Jesus went on the sabbath day through the corn; and his disciples were an hungred, and began to pluck the ears of corn, and to eat. [verse 2] But when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto him, Behold, thy disciples do that which is not lawful to do upon the sabbath day.”  A lot to unpack here.  First, Jesus and crew were walking through a corn field, this act by itself would negate the idea of how many steps one could take before it crossed the line into work which was precluded to do on the Sabbath.  Strike One.  Then, his disciples get hungry, likely from seeing and smelling all the ripe corn right in front of their faces.  It is kind of like sitting in front of the TV watching your favorite show, and after a few advertisements for pizza, you begin to crave pizza.  But no matter, the disciples begin to pick and shuck the corn in preparation of eating it.  This was food preparation, for which there were specific examples in earlier scripture of why this should be prohibited.  Also note, Jesus Himself, was not actually doing this, He elected to go hungry.  But for His disciples, Strike Two.  Then the disciples proceeded to eat the corn (apparently none of them offered ears to Jesus, their Master, clearly an oversight driven by bodily needs).  But legally, eating fruit of the poisoned preparation tree results in, you guessed it, Strike Three.

The Sanhedrin knew the law on this matter.  So the leadership brings this horrible infraction of the law to Jesus’ attention, giving Jesus no credit for refraining from it Himself.  The disciples (people who they did not appreciate) were breaking it.  The patriarchs of the faith however, were people the leadership venerated.  Long dead, Moses, Joshua, Samson, and David, could do no wrong.  They had become Jewish saints if there could ever be such a thing.  So Jesus chooses to use that in His response to them.  Matthew continues in verse 3 saying … “But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; [verse 4] How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the shewbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests?”

In our day we call this “what-about-ism”.  Jesus does not actually say that what the disciples did is OK against the letter of the law.  But He does make a comparison of people the Pharisees besmirch with the honorable can-do-no-wrong, compared-with-the-heart-of-God David and his crew.  The Jewish saint they venerate, and his men (who in actuality, were all incredibly efficient killers on the battlefield, none other of their skills preserved in Jewish scrolls), went into the Temple.  This was a huge no-no, only the priests are even allowed in there.  Then they ate the shewbread, which is an offering to God, that ONLY the priests were allowed to eat under specific conditions.  Another huge no-no.  Those infractions are also clearly a part of the known Jewish law, at the time of David, until this time.  And scripture records no prayer of David begging forgiveness for what he and his men did.  They just did it.  Net result.  How can the leadership there in attendance criticize the disciples of Jesus for doing something far less an infraction, than the historical leader David did (who they publicly venerate as some sort of saint)?  It would be hypocritical, or rather, it would point out the hypocrisy of valuing people in any sort of caste system, putting them on a level playing field with the very men they “knew” they were above.

Next Jesus really twists their thinking as He continues in verse 5 saying … “Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?”  This one is a true mindbender.  On Sabbath, priests (and in our day preachers) “work”.  They do the “work” of the Lord, but it is still “work”.  Back then, that “work” involved killing innocent lambs as a symbolism foretelling the killing of Jesus Himself.  It was and is shedding innocent blood, for the remission of sins.  Killing too, was prohibited in the law.  The shedding of blood in the Temple was highly controlled, and on Sabbath, would have been considered work.  They “profane” the Temple by continuing a practice driven by the evil in men’s hearts.  But the priests are held blameless.  Working to bring men to God is not considered “work” by the God on the end of that equation.  Even though we pay preachers and priests to do it, and even though “most” of their work is conducted on the very day we are commanded to rest.

Now Jesus has pointed out publicly that the priests who are so critical, have a profession where they work on the Sabbath with regularity despite the incongruence with the law.  The anger brews in the mind of the rebuked Pharisee, for they remain certain in their vain obedience, that correction even from the mouth of God is not met with acceptance, but with hatred.  Jesus continues in verse 6 saying … “But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.”  Now Jesus has gone too far, now He has crossed a line He will never be able to uncross.  The Temple was “the” place where God Himself sat upon the Mercy seat.  It was His holy presence behind that curtain that made all of Israel fear and tremble daring not to peek behind it even for a second, lest the contrast between true Holiness and our state, cause us to die.  Only once a year did the High Priest, after much consecration and prayer, dare to go behind the curtain for a prescribed practice.  Even then, he wore bells on the hems of his garment and a rope around his ankle, so that if the bells went silent, the attendants could pull him out knowing he was dead, and being unable to retrieve his body any other way lest they themselves die in the process.

That was the definition of Holiness to a Jew, it is irony we have so casual a view of it.  And here stood Jesus, claiming to be One greater than the Temple (upon whose seat it was He who sat).  Jesus was now making a clear statement that the buildings dedicated to His service, are NOT as important as the God they purport to serve.  Jesus was saying He can be found outside of Temple walls.  Jesus was saying that being close to His people was and is the most important thing to Him, even when that is in the middle of a corn field on some random Sabbath.  Proximity to Jesus is not about buildings, it is about a desire to be close.  Here was the God they worshipped standing right in front of them, but they failed to see, all the while believing they were in perfect obedience to the law.  And their certainty resulted in the idea that God Himself did not understand or obey His own law.  Literally the definition of error, or hypocrisy, or vanity, all stemming from the certainty of human “wisdom”.

When met with correction, they responded in hatred, for vanity has no room for correction.  And are we even the slightest tittle different than they?  We create “standards” of Sabbath keeping in our minds, and then judge all others by them, while refusing to see the God who so longs to stand right in front of us.  Because we believe in the sanctity of the law of God, and in the continuing proscriptions of Sabbath keeping that started in the Garden of Eden, was given to Moses in the law, and is prophesied to continue in Heaven after this world has passed – we translate our “belief” into our obedience to keep this day.  Yet we know nothing of “how” to truly obey, we have only lists we construct of do’s and don’ts ignoring the God who could put us in harmony with His law.  We take our eyes off of God and put them on what we do against His request.  And irony of ironies, we are rather loose with His direct context of the cessation of work, either working ourselves “for the benefit of our families”, or causing others to serve us “because they were going to be at work anyway”.

But Jesus then cuts to the heart of the matter as He continues in verse 7 (no pun intended) saying … “But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless. [verse 8] For the Son of man is Lord even of the sabbath day.”  The Sabbath is not about what, it is about Who.  The Sabbath is not even about how, it is about Who.  It was Jesus who “made” a block of time Holy.  Only His proximity to it could accomplish that, the same way His proximity to our earth on Mt. Sinai made a block of ground Holy, that Moses was asked to remove his shoes before he walked on it.  Without Jesus involved, the day is just time, and the earth is just earth.  It was about Jesus who “hallowed” it.  He set aside His time to be with us, in a special way, for an entire day, at the end of every week.  He asked us to put aside our other distractions in order to have time to be with Him.  He asked us to be unselfish and not keep others from having time to be with Him as well.  Being close to Jesus, putting away other priorities is what Sabbath is all about.  Hanging out with Dad.  Playtime with Dad.  That is what the Sabbath is all about.  And because the disciples with Him are doing just that, they were in fact guiltless.  It is up to Jesus to decide what is “keeping” the Sabbath with Him, it is not up to us.  Our ideas do not count, only His.

That is how the incongruent actions of priests back then and preachers in our day on Sabbath still make sense.  They are about bringing people to the Lord of the Sabbath.  That is why the disciples choosing to eat with Jesus on their way to demonstrate the gospel to people in need make sense.  They were already with the Lord of the Sabbath, escorting Him to people in such desperate need of hearing a word from Jesus, the Son of God.  It was more important for them to be with Jesus, than to be in the Temple on this day.  That is why we put away our amusements that take us away from Christ, why we cease working, but also cease thinking about working, it is all to have unrestricted playtime with the same Jesus.  You cannot contain that in a list of do’s and don’ts, no matter how long or how thorough you think it is.  You can only begin to see that in a set of principles.  Where I bring others to God, it is a good thing.  Where I do good unto them, it is a good thing.  Where I ask others to serve me, I cause them to lose time with God on my behalf.  It is mercy, I am to be showing.  It is mercy for others, love for others, that if it was my first motivation, would bring me in better harmony with the entirety of the law, not only the Sabbath, but not forgetting it either.

When Jesus saves us, from us, from our self-love and addiction of the same; He creates in us a love for others, that changes the nature of how we think about Sabbath.  The context changes.  The requirement does not, but the vanity begins to slip away.  A knowledge or belief that we are supposed to keep Sabbath is not the same thing as actually doing it.  Repeating the traditions of our forefathers; going to church, singing, praying and coming home again does not equal Sabbath observance as God defines it in a field of corn on a mission to actually spread His word to those who have never heard it.  The gospel does not only look inward, it looks outward where its mercy is so desperately needed.  

Only the unchanged heart is content to experience the praise of God, holding those good feelings inward, and sharing them only with those who also already understand them.  The changed heart is driven to the dirty, to the sick, to the hungry, to the least of these – because they have the greatest need.  Until we are led to discover what keeping anything Holy really means, we do not understand what was asked of us.  And we must be led to discover it, for Holiness does not originate in us.  Following God, leads us there.  Attempting to blaze the trail based on our accumulated wisdom leads to the path of the Pharisee, to the path of vain obedience based upon certainty and trust in “our wisdom”, that when confronted with what God thinks, responds in hatred and desire to kill God and anyone who truly follows His lead …

And the dispute over this was not over yet …

 

Killing the Critics ...

There are many who have a horrible picture of God, and even worse of the Bible.  It would be easy to assume they are all outside of the church, but such is not always the case.  Critics are alive and well and ever present in online forums, social gatherings, and even inside church business meetings or board meetings.  Those who criticize from outside the church are taught to do so, by the encounters they have had with those who profess the name of Christ.  The critics within do an excellent job of training the critics without.  How do those who bear the name of Christ undo the damage that has been done by those who believe it is their duty to point out the flaws - in everything?

When one examines the ministry of Christ, we always find Him focused on the redemption of all He encounters.  Christ does not center his conversations on what is wrong with His listener, only how His listener could escape the pain they carry.  Mary Magdalene was guilty of far more than adultery when she was cast at the Savior’s feet.  Christ could have enumerated all the sins He knew she had committed over her lifetime.  He did not.  Nor did He call attention to each of the sins in the lives of those who were picking up the stones to end her life.  With a simple but piercing gaze into the eyes of the angry mob, He gently reminded them that they too were equally guilty and deserving of death, or more importantly of the mercy He was extending to Mary.  Christ was not trying to excuse Mary, or proclaim her innocence.  He was trying to free her from the pain she had chosen to embrace.  This is the very nature of redemption, not provide an excuse for evil, but an escape from evil.  And in this work, Christ was decidedly NOT a critic.  Instead He uses the power of positive reinforcement, blessing her, freeing her, and saying … “go, and sin no more.”  Forget what you have done and embrace the freedom from pain He offers to her.  Do not focus on your sins or your past or the hundred other things she had done wrong – instead be free, and focus on the freedom only Christ could bring.

Criticism does not bring reform.  But the hope and love Christ offered brought about change.  When Christ encounters the Samaritan woman at the well, he again gets her excited about what He has to offer her – a living water, a freedom she has never known.  He does not focus on all the woman’s sins or faults.  He mentions her social history only to reveal to her that He knows her as a person, cares about her as a person, is interested in freeing this particular woman from the pain she has known in her own life.  She becomes so excited she is compelled to go back to her town, and bring with her everyone who knows her to hear “this prophet who revealed the secrets of her life”.  She is not content to hear His message of freedom alone, but rather wants the entire town to come to Him.  Had Christ been a critic with divine knowledge about her life and sins and focused only on her faults, she would have wanted to hide herself from Him, and never let Him speak of her long list of evils in front of the entire village.  Instead, Christ does not center His encounter with her on what she may have done wrong, but on how she can be freed from the pain of evil.  This freedom, this hope, this love is what she is compelled to share with everyone she knew.  Christ brings reform, criticism accomplishes nothing.

Yet somehow over the years “Christian” has become synonymous more with “critic” than with “Christ”.  Too often Christians focus on what is wrong with the world around them, and more specifically with the people they encounter, than on the hope the Christ brings to escape the pain of evil that plagues our souls.  When an outsider looks at a Christian for the first time, they mark whether they see a person who loves them unconditionally, much like our Lord – or someone who seems to think their sole mission is to point out every flaw, every shortcoming, every sin that might be preventing them from “finding God”. 

As when Christ encountered Mary, there was no question that the crowd was right, she was guilty.  But the lesson is not about judging the guilty, it is about reforming a life from guilty to one that is not slave to the pain that evil brings.  So too, when we encounter the sinners that surround us in the world, it is not our mission to focus and call attention to the obvious evils they commit – but to point them to a God who loves them SO much He was willing to die to heal them.  People avoid criticism, but are drawn to love.  If we are to represent Christ, we must be a picture of unconditional love.  Proving that we actually do love the sinner, despite his sin; for our Lord loves us despite the evil we continue to cling to.  Our mission is not to “fix” people, we are incapable of that.  Our mission is to point people to the source of all love and let Him “fix” them, as He does with us.

Christ does not discriminate against “some” of His children, choosing not to love them because of a particular evil they commit.  Instead He loves ALL of His children, despite the condition they find themselves in, despite the sin and pain they have chosen to embrace.  He longs to free ALL of those He loves from the pain in their lives.  He wants ALL to come to Him; age is no barrier, sex is no barrier, race is no barrier, even our sin is no barrier to come to the Lord of Lords.  He did not ask anyone He encountered to go become blameless and give up certain vices before they could be with Him.  He knows that is not something humans can do.  Instead He bids us all to come to Him.  He knows when we do we find rest.  Only when we come to Him can we find the peace, the hope, and the change we ALL so desperately need.  In this He presents an infallible picture of unconditional love.  How can Christians then, those who bear His name, love others any less?  How can we claim the name of Christ and then totally reverse His ministry from one of hope, to one of condemnation and fear.

Notice that Christ never once threatened any of His listeners with eternal Hellfire and damnation if they did not choose to believe in Him.  His ministry was not one based on … “you better or else”.  The Beatitudes are not followed by ten curses to those who refuse to embrace Him.  Yes, on occasion Christ warned His listeners about the dangers of disobedience (mostly to those who thought themselves the religious leaders of the day); but even then it was always couched in an appeal of love.  Christ’s evangelism was not based on the soon coming end of the world, the last plagues, persecution, torment, and the evils of going to hell for our sins.  He did not preach long sermons designed to scare people into submission to an all-powerful vengeful God.  That is not who He was.  That is not who His Father is.  Instead, He presents the perfect picture of love, acceptance, and freedom from the pain of evil.  The Bible is not written to show the justice of God in condemning the evil ones, it is written to show the mercy of God to those who do not deserve it.  We are the beneficiaries of His love, His mercy, and His sacrifice.  We receive it as a gift, unearned.  He needs no fear to motivate us.  He has something considerably better to offer than merely an escape from fear.  He has a real alternative to the pain of slavery in serving only one’s self.

Christ does not need fear to transform His listeners.  He does not criticize to reform.  He loves.  He genuinely loves, each person, each encounter is one designed to redeem.  Christ knew the mind of Judas.  He knew that Judas was skimming from the collection plates.  He knew that Judas would betray Him.  He knew what would become of Judas.  So why not reveal him?  Wouldn’t you?  Why tolerate a known traitor in your midst?  But Christ did.  Not just to fulfill some prophecy written centuries earlier, or not because He intended to provide Judas with false intel to give the Pharisees.  He allowed Judas to be one of the twelve, because He desperately wanted to save Judas from himself.  He hoped that close-up, constant exposure to love might reach into the heart of Judas and reform him. 

But to do this, Judas must be willing.  Judas thought he knew better what the mission of Christ should be, and while he believed in the divinity of Christ, he never imagined that one who had such power would not use it to free himself from certain death.  Judas never accepted the freedom Christ offered, yet that did not ever give Christ an occasion to criticize Judas, and point out his every fault.  Christ did not try to frighten Judas into reform.  He did not tell Judas that what he was doing, and how he was thinking, might lead him to the very gates of hell.  Instead, He was patient and loving with Judas.  He accepted Judas as one of His own.  Judas was a member of the 12.  He could have had his name written on one of the gates of Heaven itself.  He could have been a mighty leader of the early Christian church.  But Judas would not have it.  And Christ never changed his approach with Judas, no matter what Judas did or said.  Christ only ever showed him love and acceptance.

If criticism is to end within the Christian church it must first end inside of me.  I must look in the mirror and confess to my Lord that my heart is one full of critique and empty of love.  I must ask the Lord to change how I speak, how I love, and how I communicate with others.   I must find a way to focus on what is good, and allow Christ to fix what is not.  I must become an encourager of the faith, and an unfailing reflection of His love through me to those I encounter.  I must love those who are hard to love.  I must remember not to respond to criticism with barbs of my own.  Instead I must return love for insults, love for hate, love for dislike, love for apathy, love for greed.  Whatever is thrown at me by those I meet, whether inside or outside the church walls, I must only ever return love. 

This is what my Savior did.  This is how Christ ministered.  He was not obsessed with a list of woes.  He was laser focused on how to redeem people with love.  He wanted to reconcile ALL of us to His Father, not just the ones struggling with “certain pre-approved sins”, but everyone, no matter what their particular sin was.  He did not care about the belief systems a person held to be valid, He knew He would have to help them see truth.  But we can only see truth AFTER we come to Christ, not before it.  He knew it might take years to help us believers find the truth we ignore thinking we know better – like Judas.  But He does not give up on us.  Therefore let us not give up on each other, and let us find His strength in our hearts, to destroy any shred of criticism that might remain.  And perhaps then redefine “Christian” to be synonymous with “unconditional acceptance” rather than “critic”.

Modern Prophets ...

How do you sort out the nuts?  In the last days your young men will dream dreams, and your old men will prophesy.  Scripture foretells that the supernatural will increase before the Lord returns.  Many believe that a “latter rain” will fall before time ends, where the outpouring of the Holy Spirit will combat the forces of Satan in attempt to turn the hearts of men to the true God.  All of these beliefs predict that there will be forces of the supernatural at work in our world, both for good, and for evil.  Even using the Bible as the basis for truth, there are those who claim the Bible and yet still prophesy of things and events that seem bent on destruction or greed.  So how do you sort out those who are “touched” by God from those who are simply “touched”?

Scripture gives us several criterion to use when evaluating the counsel of those who believe they commune with something larger than themselves.  First … “to the law, and to the testimonies, if they speak not according to these, there is no light in them.”  Those who would claim that a divine Spirit has revealed truth outside of the Bible, or to disregard scripture in favor of the supernatural, are in error.  God does not contradict Himself.  God could not logically claim to be both the inspiration and protector of the Bible, and also claim that He has revealed the “real” truth only to another individual.  The logical exclusion would prevent Him from being God.  This is not about how one interprets scriptures, this is about disregarding them entirely.  Those who would reject the Bible in favor of the supernatural forsake truth and follow only the ways of deceit.  Their conclusions can only be based in error and we should take care to disregard them accordingly.

Scripture also declare who God is; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.  Those who would claim parity or equality with God, or would claim that the “true” Messiah is themselves, are also in error.  It is rumored that Jim Jones, David Koresh, and Reverend Moon all claimed parity with God or Christ.  It is possible these claims are exaggerations of the media; however all seem to demand total servitude in order that enlightenment be achieved.  Christ Himself stated false Christ’s would appear in the deserts or in the secret places.  He warned us to avoid them, as when He returns every eye would see Him.  Those charismatic individuals who take their spiritual zeal and morph it into cult like allegiance do themselves and their followers a disservice.  Though He worked many miracles beyond explanation during His ministry, Christ always pointed His followers to His Father.  He was a constant servant, not looking to be served, but to serve others in all things.  Most of the spiritual guru’s of today are all too happy to garner attention and devotion, pointing to no other but themselves as the way of salvation.  In this they blaspheme the ministry of Christ, and point out the error in their teachings.

Scripture tells us to examine their “works” or their “fruits” to see what they yield.  If the results of their counsel increases love, peace, hope, faith, and service to others – it is far more likely to be from God, than if it results in greed, ambition, fame, or destruction.  God does not spend His supernatural energies in the destruction of mankind, but rather in its salvation.  The devil predicts doom and destruction.  The Lord always predicts a way of escape with any impending doom.  Noah preached for 120 years before the flood.  Sodom and Gomorrah were visited in person before their destruction, and Lot was spared.  Israel was warned repeatedly that destruction would follow disobedience, these warnings reached fulfillment when they forsook following God in favor of temple orgies and casting male babies into the fires of Moloch.  At that point invasion always followed until repentance was sought.  When a “prophet” preaches only of doom, and never of salvation, their inspiration is from the one who deals only in doom and never in salvation.

Scripture also tells us … “that God is no respecter of persons”.  This means while we tend to make distinctions between ourselves, God sees us all as His children; each of equal value and equal importance.  We make false distinctions between rich and poor, male and female, young and old, royal and common.  God sees none of these.  He has used Samuel at age 7, and Christ and age 12.  He has used Noah at age 400, and Abraham at 100.  He has used Miriam to prophesy along with her brothers Moses and Aaron.  He revealed His plans for the world to Pharaoh, and to Nebuchadnezzar despite that neither of these people were servants of the Most High.  Servants of God have only humility in common.  They have only willingness to serve in common.  They come from every walk of life, from every background; from the Messiah born in a stable, to Solomon born to a King; from a slave girl called Miriam, to a Hebrew raised in Egyptian royalty.  Truly the Lord does not draw the distinctions that so often prejudice our willingness to listen.  We prefer to listen to Warren Buffet or Bill Gates, than to listen to the six year old in Kindergarten, or the homeless man on the corner.

Scripture also gives us countless examples of the imperfections of our Lord’s servants.  None of the Biblical authors were perfect, or led perfect lives.  Christ alone was without blemish.  God does not demand or expect perfection from those who speak His truths.  Instead He asks for willingness to serve and humility to speak His truths and not our own.  Often the messages are unpopular and put the very lives and wellbeing of His servants in jeopardy.  He does not make them speak unpopular truths for the sake of being different or unpopular, but only to reveal error, and redeem unto salvation.  Elijah’s prophecies of drought for 3 years made him public enemy number one to the wicked king Ahab.  But it was not the Lord’s intent to simply stop the rain, but rather to turn the hearts of the people back to the source of all blessings.  Daniels interpretations of Nebuchadnezzar’s dreams that foretold the end of his kingdom no matter how glorious did not sit well with the monarch, who sent him away and built a 90 foot statue of solid gold in defiance of the words of God.  Joseph’s interpretation of Pharoah’s dreams of feast and famine could well have resulted in his head on a pike, particularly since he would not bow to the “son of Ra” on earth.  But all spoke in an effort to save, despite their own character flaws, sins, and imperfections.  We must learn from the Bible to separate the truth of the message from the expectation of perfection in the instrument of delivery.

Our tendency when presented with truths from God that we do not relish is to find a way to disregard them.  In this we are no different than any of the kings, or peoples of the past, that also tried to find a way to ignore unpopular truths.  We tend to focus first on the person delivering the message.  Can we criticize them for some sort of hypocrisy?  Can we catch them in public sin?  Is there something in their past we can use against them, claiming perhaps it is still a part of their present.  We may not like their age, their gender, their socio-economic standing, their lack of education, their sexual preference – any imperfection we can find to use to disregard the message they are willing to bring.  But to eliminate all messages that do not come from people who we believe are imperfect, is to eliminate all truth and scripture itself.  God has only sinners available to Him to speak His truths.  There are none of us perfect instruments for him to use.  We are ALL broken and dysfunctional.

It is a testament to the love and grace of God, that He uses us in His service in spite of our weaknesses and failures.  Out of the mouth of a murderer came the blessed words of the Torah.  Out of the mouth of an adulterer, serial womanizer, and murderer came the Psalms of praise to our God.  Out of the mouth of a man controlled by his baser sexual passions came the wisest proverbs ever penned by man.  Out of the mouth of a traiter who betrayed his nation for the sake of greed came the account of the gospel of Christ.  Out of the mouth of a religious zealot who used his zeal to kill those who followed our Savior came the most wonderful letters of the love and salvation of the Christ he used to condemn.  Out God is able to use imperfect people to work wonders that live well beyond the scope of their lives.  How many have read the letters of Paul and come to know the Christ of our salvation in the perfect love he describes for the last 2000+ years?  How many have read the words of Moses in the Torah and have learned of the great miracles of salvation God did for His people even before the Messiah entered the world?  How many have read David and Solomon and learned wisdom in the study of our God?  All these men are long dead, but their work of redemption lives on.

One should not disregard truth because it is misused by others.  People seeking greed and control over others have long used the Bible in an effort to gain control over the lives of those they wish to dominate.  It does not make the Bible less true, because someone misuses it.  It only means the devil seeks to exert control by misusing the very love letter God penned to the world to show them redemption.  A young woman named Ellen White has also been misused by those within the Seventh Day Adventist church as a tool of condemnation rather than a tool of redemption.  Counsel given to provide context, or to avoid pain, has been turned into ruthless condemnation by those seeking only to exalt themselves above others.  They do not use her works to redeem only to beat into submission those with opposing ideas, generally when those ideas are steeped in love and liberality.  It makes her counsel of no less value, it is only a repeat of how the devil attacks anything that might lead man to redemption or discovery of the one true God.  The devil seeks to turn words of love and hope into a tools of condemnation  and reproach.  It is an old technique that he will continue to use.  But it does not diminish the truth of the love of God as revealed by His servants willing to serve.

Atheists demand prove they will never choose to accept.  Yet scripture foretells that the incidents of the supernatural are to increase as time grows short.  Things that cannot be explained in normal or scientific terms are destined to become more prevalent in our world.  Perhaps God waits for a people who will not seek the fame of these miracles, but like Christ seek to steadfastly avoid it.  But in any case as time grows short, the nut-balls will be crawling out of the woodwork.  The devil will counter truth with a plethora of mixed lies, and alternate explanations.  He will try to drown the truth in the noise of the day, supplanting the plain truth of God, with the convoluted lies that feed the egos of men.  His attacks will be relentless, but God will not have his truth or His words drowned out.  The world is destined to hear the final warnings and calls to redemption.  God would not have us ignorant of His plans or His love.  Miracles will happen.  They will occur on a wider and wider scale.  Let us be judicious in sorting the nuts, but also humble to accept truth without demanding perfection in the person who delivers it.  Let us not let our prejudices deny our ears.  But rather let us absorb His truths and integrate them into our lives, as we did with Moses, David, Matthew, and Paul.  There is much God may yet have to say to our world as its time grows short.

Parables and Stories ...

When does an analogy end and reality begin? Grimm’s fairytales are designed to pass along a moral to each story for children to absorb. Of course the stories are based largely in fantasy and usually only a single point emerges. The Bible is also full of stories, some intended to be real such as Creation, or the flood of Noah’s time; and some intended to be parables like the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus, or the King who forgives those who owe him. The New Testament clearly identifies when a parable or story or allegory is being told to make a point. But are the points always singular in nature or should we try to take more from the stories and the symbolism?

I sometimes wonder if we allow our perceptions about the character of God to be colored more by parables in the Bible, than by facts. For instance, the story of the King who forgives a man who owes him much money, and then the man turns around and is harsh with someone who owes him very little. This parable is designed to illustrate how many Christians miss the point of forgiveness and redemption. They eagerly accept mercy for themselves, yet withhold it from those in need. Once saved, the Christian begins looking down on those who are not so blessed, forgetting their own recent condition. The point of the parable was to illustrate that those who have been forgiven much, should be the most willing to forgive, instead of the least willing.

But this is not always the point well-meaning Christians walk away with. They examine the same story and determine that God will NOT forgive those who do NOT forgive others. In this way, they make our forgiveness “conditional” based on our subsequent behavior. This puts our ability to get a pardon back in our own hands again – we must earn it – based on how we treat others. They further reinforce this position using the phrase Christ spoke in the Lord’s prayer … “forgive us as we forgive our debtors.” This phrase too was designed to remind us of the gift of our forgiveness, the humility in which we are to receive it, and the mission to redeem those who continue in wrong doing through forgiveness. But instead the phrase and the story are used to create an atmosphere that forgiveness is based on our actions, not a gift given of God for our salvation.

This idea that salvation or forgiveness can be earned in any way denies the fundamental teachings of the entire message of the Bible. It reduces God’s unconditional love for us, by making it conditional. It says He really does not forgive, UNTIL He sees what we do with it. All of these ideas are perversions of scripture by the evil one. And all share a common theme, they tear down the character of God, making Him arbitrary and not nearly the definition of love that Truth would have us believe. But when someone uses a parable incorrectly, they can easily bring ideas into the story that were not intended by its author to make points that are not based in intentions of the author.

When being led by the Holy Spirit, these kinds of mistakes are all but non-existent. But ironically, those who misinterpret the story of forgiveness are the very ones for whom it was intended. Those with a personal experience with the Lord, those who have experienced the deep forgiveness of the Lord and therefore know His love firsthand, get the point. Those who know about God, and about forgiveness, but have never really taken it to heart – seem to miss the point. The least point of the story one could make centers around the punishment for our evil behavior. As God knows our evil is already our punishment. Forgiveness then is a tangible example of redeeming grace. Forgiveness is not something we deserve, but something we are given freely by our loving King. Forgiveness even though we may owe our lives as collateral for our debt is the point. We are all doomed to die, but forgiveness is designed to relieve our ultimate punishment. This is the point of the Bible and the story of the King.

Other stories are used in an incorrect way to color our perceptions of God’s character. The story of the Rich Man and Lazarus found in Luke 16 starting in verse 19 comes to mind. The rich man who lived a life of opulence and indulgence while here on earth dies and finds himself in hell. By contrast, Lazarus who lives a life of relative poverty and sickness dies and finds himself in heaven. The rich man pleads for relief, but is given none. Then the rich man pleads for his family that is still alive on earth, and the answer that comes is that the truth has already been revealed and it is enough for those who choose to believe. If they will not believe Moses and the Prophets they will not believe one who rose from the dead.

The central point of this story was about faith in Jesus Christ as the Messiah of God, according to all the writings of Moses and the Prophets. There are in fact several hundred prophesies about the Messiah that Jesus Christ filled in every detail. Yet the stubborn religious leadership of the day, rather than give up power to the true spiritual leader, determined not to believe in Jesus. They held to their beliefs, even though Christ had actually raised Lazarus (brother of Mary and Martha) from the dead. This resurrection was conclusive proof of His divinity, that even the priests could not deny. So rather than accept Him, they determined to kill Him.

Christ, in trying to reach the Pharisees, Sadducees, and priests was reminding them of the testimony of all their scriptures to date, and the actual resurrection of one Lazarus He had performed. The leadership was richly blessed with education, the scrolls, and easy access to the word of God. The poor had no such easy access. Yet the poor found in Christ, the redeemer He was. He was extending redemption to the leaders yet another time. He was reminding them that refusal to accept Him as their Messiah would leave them to the hell of separation from God. The story of the Rich Man and Lazarus is another attempt to reach a stubborn crowd of religious leaders who thought they knew better than Christ, the mind and intentions of God His Father.

But modern Christians lose this point completely. Like with the story of forgiveness, they focus on the idea of eternal punishment instead of redemption. They conclude that there is a hell of torturing flames that exists for people after they die. All of this without examining why the rich man went to hell in the first place. Which deducting from the story alone was because he was rich. And the poor man went to heaven because he was poor. Neither makes sense with what we know of Salvation. We are not saved by our poverty, or doomed by our affluence. We are saved by grace which is enough to cover the rich and the poor. So determining judgment and punishment could NOT have been the point of the story. Yet we assume it to be so.

In addition, the concept of an eternally burning hell, does not reconcile with the character of a just and loving God. But it did fit well with the Pharisees idea of God’s character. The religious leadership did not follow or preach about a God of infinite love. Rather they followed God in fear, developing lists of things that God would approve and disapprove of. They were devout legalists. They believed that the law was sacred and could save them from evil if they followed it exactly. They understood nothing of forgiveness or repentance and were mystified by the preaching of John the Baptist. Corruption had taken hold of their hearts and much evil was done in the temple of God that profited them personally. They presented themselves as publically holy, and when inwardly they were completely evil. The Pharisees believed firmly in punishment, even the eternal kind, as they could not comprehend grace. So this analogy designed for their redemption would be effective for them.

Yet modern Christians cling to the idea of eternally burning flames, rather than a punishment with eternal consequences. Those who embrace evil and refuse to accept grace, will like the priests who rejected Christ in His day, will find themselves in the lake of fire talked about in Revelations. However, after the appointed amount of punishment, evil will finally be consumed forever. Burnt up, not still burning. And then the world will be made new once again as also prophesied in Revelations. Evil eternally extinguished, and love eternally established. This is the reality of our God. But Christians hold to an idea of eternal flames over eternal sleep, and in so doing make God once again arbitrary and unjust. For at some point even the most evil of us, will have paid in punishment for our crimes. To continue to burn us beyond that point is not an act of love, but one of cruelty that cannot be denied. This false idea taken from a parable destroys the character of God, rather than proves His attempts at redemption of a stubborn few once again.

When we look at scripture to prove our guilt and determine our punishment, we look for the wrong things. Our guilt is easy to establish. What we deserve is easy to determine. The reason why we have a Bible is due to a loving God that is looking to redeem His fallen creation. The point of scripture is not to condemn us, but to offer us hope in Christ, salvation from our evil, and heaven in our future. When we remember that our God is one of infinite love, we can begin to interpret parables as they were intended. We must not let our perceptions of God be colored by ideas that denigrate his love, grace, and efforts to redeem us. Redemption is the goal of our entire communications with our God. Let us look at all the symbolism, analogies, parables, and texts in the light of this truth.