Smack Down [part 1]; The Price of Pride ...

Maybe it is cathartic to sit back in the big easy chair and tune in to one of the various professional wrestling groups present a good old fashioned “smack down”.  The villain gets the applause, but ideally the hero comes back in the end to win it.  While it looks so real, everyone understands that no one is actually supposed to get hurt during the fiasco.  Just a lot of melee, chairs getting thrown, people tossed outside the ropes, and a conclusion that seems to leave the audience coming back for more.  I cannot honestly say I am a fan (at least not since Tojo Yamamoto ruled the ring some 40 years ago); but sometimes I sure see the appeal of the villain getting what is coming to him.  And the more trash-talk the villain does before his demise, the sweeter the victory when he is defeated.  That idea the villain seems to nurture about himself, that he is “the greatest”, and “he cannot be defeated” – yup, it is that kind of pride that when it goes before his fall, makes the fall just feel awesome (at least for me, and the audience anyway).

And it is easy to carry that feeling into many other areas of life.  The know-it-all kid who is just so certain of everything they say; sometimes it is just a little bit satisfying when life proves they didn’t after all.  Or that boss who is just so sure they are right about pretty much everything; when the facts reveal they weren’t, I get the wrestling flashbacks in the back of my head.  The hardest part about most of these situations is that argument, and debate, are pretty much useless with these folks.  They get an idea in their heads, and they sink their teeth in like a pitbull on a fresh cow bone – hmmm good.  Nothing seems to shake their self-confidence until life hands them a literal “smack down”.  Only then do they realize their certainty was misplaced, and in truth they were wrong.  Whether they can admit they were wrong tells us a bit more about who they are.  But they know it themselves in their hearts no matter what the public persona is willing to admit.

Enter the church elder.  When you practice religion long enough, you begin to sometimes think of yourself as a “church elder”.  It may or may not be a professional part of who you are, but inside, where only you can see, it takes over how you see yourself.  On matters of doctrine, you are the fountain of learning.  Others should come to you for answers, you don’t go anywhere else to get them.  On matters of counseling, or advice, you think your own words at the top of the heap.  From a priority standpoint you see God first, angels second, and then you – in that order.  Now chances are, you either know folks like this, or if you can’t think of anyone like it; it is probably you.  But these people have existed in every faith, since faith started out.  Lucifer was the first one.  He knew the pecking order in his church.  God first, Jesus second, and then him; the chief of all angels.  But pride got him wondering why Jesus was second, instead of him.  And once he started his Pitbull-on-a-cow-bone ideology, nothing could shake him from it.  He reasoned his logic was as good as anyone else’s, maybe even just a good alternative to what God thinks.  Not bad you see, just different.  And why shouldn’t you control your own thinking, and your own destiny?  6000+ years of pain and death have answered that, including killing God.  So for us the verdict is in on Satan.  But we still seem to follow the same line of prideful thinking he did so so many eons ago, even in our own churches.

I find the term “Pharisee forefather” quite useful.  It reminds me, that all the things I read about them going down the wrong path apply just as much to me today.  While I cannot imagine myself plotting to kill Jesus; I do find myself believing I don’t need anyone other than my choices to save myself.  Sound familiar?  How much are “you” the answer in your own salvation; as opposed to Jesus doing it all.  When you don’t see your need, you stop asking for help.  And before you know it, you are cruising down ACDC’s Highway to Hell, the tune still echoing in your ears.  My Pharisee forefathers did not perceive their own needs either.  They reasoned they were “good” people.  They did perform many good deeds (most of them publicly, you know, for witnesses). 

They followed all the rules, that is to say, they invented rules that were even more detailed to insure they followed them.  They knew scripture better than anyone else (even the author).  Just ask them, they would tell you.  They spent hours reading, studying, debating, and learning.  Not so much loving.  But all that other more meaty stuff anyway.  So why on earth would any elder this prepared and this educated, submit themselves to an upstart Hippy with no formal education, who constantly keeps blathering on about love.  Love, Love, Love; He just won’t shut up about it.  Its like wandering through the hills at Woodstock at one of His rallies, instead of a well-controlled, well-planned, formal study presentation with PowerPoint slides and a multimedia setup.  “Get a job and a haircut”.  “Grow up”; life is more than love.  It has to be right?  Right?

But Jesus just had other ideas.  And Jesus could see right through us.  He knew what we thought about ourselves back then, and right now.  And for my Pharisee forefathers, and maybe for me, it had reached a point where perhaps only a good old fashioned “smack down” was going to get through to either of us.  Our pride had gotten so thick, our eyes were crusted over, and we did not see.  Our ears were crusted over so we barely heard.  And the mind was just full of gook.  We needed then, and sometimes today we still need, an OUTSIDE accurate assessment of where we really are; and where our words lead.  Jesus was here to reconcile, reclaim, and re-create us all.  That is to say, ALL of us, are in need of this.  Perhaps it had come time to tell us more directly.  To get us to stop, and roll back our words, and our thinking.  Maybe the hair isn’t important at all.  Maybe the job of redemption should be the only job we care about.  Maybe the Author of our scriptures will always know them better than us, and it is time we seek His wisdom instead of constantly offering our own.

Matthew starts the story of this in his gospel to the Hebrews in chapter twenty-three picking up in verse 1 saying … “Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples, [verse 2] Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat: [verse 3] All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.”  Many things to unpack here.  First, Jesus recognizes that organized churches do have a need for servant leaders, who are willing to carry that responsibility.  In days of old the phrase sitting in the seat of Moses, meant carrying the weight of decisions and leadership within the church.  Jesus does not complain about this.  Nor does he say, throw the bums out.  Instead, He offers support to them, by asking His followers to listen to what they say.  To pull the truth from the words is paramount.  To attempt to use humans as role models does not work out so good.  While our Pharisee forefathers were well equipped at speaking; they did not seem to have a clue how to go about living it.  Sound familiar?  Pride does that.  Pride keeps us from submitting, and causes us to think we already know it all – even though our lives clearly show we don’t.

Jesus continues in verse 4 saying … “For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.”  The Pharisee and the modern-day legalist share a common phenomenon.  When in doubt, create more rules.  Expand the list.  Make the do’s and don’ts clearer and easier to understand.  This will address action.  But it does not touch motives that drive behavior in the first place.  And so it is flawed.  But as it usually goes, the modern-day legalist, and our Pharisee forefathers get tired of trying to follow so many other rules.  And they give up on all of them.  Hoping God will just forgive them, because it is just too hard to be saved.  A lie the devil longs to enforce for each of us.  This is the problem with these burdens; they never came from God.  They exist because we do not understand harmony with God, because we continue to refuse to submit to Jesus, and let Him re-create us in that image of harmony.  Pride keeps us from allowing Jesus to save us, making us believe it is all up to us to do it.

Jesus continues in verse 5 saying … “But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments, [verse 6] And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues, [verse 7] And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.”  Earning that “good” person title is exhausting, especially when your heart was never in it.  Our modern-day saints who do good works, in order to be known as saints, who do good works, are modeling very old, failed, behavior.  And “titles”, don’t get me started on “titles”.  I am the chief sinner in this regard; always insuring my career path had ever escalating titles that sound important.  The work was the same, whether you lead, manage, or innovate.  But the escalating titles were always meant to show progression and greater responsibilities.  So how could this defective trait of my pride not follow me into the hallowed halls of the church.  Where once I craved the title “elder”, I have learned it is now something I want nothing to do with.  The more I learn, the more I realize I do not know.  But the more I have come to see the wisdom of Jesus knows everything, and truly is The Truth.  So I understand and can equate with my Pharisee forefather, looking to be seen as a “master” of the word.  When in truth, there is but one Master, and it is not us.

Jesus then lays out what He wants His new church to look like picking up in verse 8 saying … “But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren. [verse 9] And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. [verse 10] Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.”  So long to “titles”.  Easy to pick on the Catholics for their use of the title “father”, as this is specifically ruled out by Jesus in plain English.  But the word “master” is equally thrown out.  And do we in our modern lexicon of terminology in the faith exclude specifically these two words, but instead employ a thesaurus of other titles that come to mean the same thing?  The point Jesus was trying to make is that HE alone is in charge.  If you have a question, going to Jesus is the right place to see it answered.  Getting human advice is a horribly risky thing to do.  Prayer yes.  Humanity no so much.  Better to get your potential advisors to join you in prayer to Jesus to ask what the answer is.  Our only Master, and our only Father, are within the God head, nowhere else.  Church leaders are in fact church servants.

Jesus continues in verse 11 saying … “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. [verse 12] And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.”  You cannot truly serve without humility.  To see others as equal, or rather, perhaps even more worthy and more important than yourself.  To value the opinions and diversity of others appreciating how it may enrich the body of Christ, rather than attempting to pigeon hole it into the cookie cutter images you prefer.  The body of Jesus is greater than any single part of it, or perspective of any single member.  To discover the journey of getting to know Jesus, is to let go the idea that He fits in a box of your own design.  He does not.  You must admit that God is greater than yourself.  Without humility, your “service” will emanate from motives of deep-rooted selfishness you may not even consciously perceive.  You will walk comfortably with the Pharisees, and hardly ever with the poor, and those is so great need.  Pride finds friends of the proud, and rarely looks for friends in the lower class.  It is pride that creates “class” to begin with.

The time had come for a spiritual “smack down”.  We are not masters.  We are not “father” to anyone else on earth.  Jesus alone is in charge.  Humility matters.  Motives matter.  Being a “good” person is not something you do, it is only something Jesus can create of you.  And service, that comes from a passionate love of others, is where all the goodies are found.  When you get tired of living the way you do, submission to Jesus, is the easy way out.  He does not leave you the way you are; He re-creates you into what He intends you to be, and puts you in harmony with the law, with Love, and with God the Father.  Only then, can true obedience be found, free from lists, and steeped in passion.  No title can sum that up.  Time to think differently, and as a result, to live differently.  This is the gift Jesus was offering and He was not content to leave my Pharisee forefathers or myself, complacent with where we had evolved.  The Truth had started, but it was not to be over yet.

The Smack-Down was to continue …

 

The Prosecution Against Truth ...

In the work of condemnation, there is always certainty.  Isn’t it amazing how those two things always seem to go together, bound by the human glue of pride.  In our legal system, a jury is asked whether they believe the defendant is guilty beyond a “reasonable” doubt.  This means we look for convictions despite those nagging doubts that may linger, despite a casual doubt a jurist may have in the back of his mind.  The term “reasonable” must be interjected in our jury instructions, or nearly every defendant would be set free.  But the prosecution reflects NO doubts in the case they present.  The prosecution lays out a set of facts and puts together a narrative of what happened, who did it, and why they would do it.  If the only entirety of listening to the case was that of the prosecution, you would have no choice but to convict every time.  Because the prosecution does not present a case with any doubt in it.  They reflect only certainty, no matter what all the facts might reveal.  It is their job to convict no matter what, no matter what truth is.

When was the last time you heard a prosecutor (especially in a high profile case where America was watching), stop the trial and say … you know what, we got it wrong, this defendant is innocent and this case needs to be closed, we are dropping all charges.  Nearly never.  What happens instead is that trials continue despite truth, and the prosecution relies upon the defense to overwhelm them with truth, such that a jury must undo unjust prosecutions.  But then, this places the defense team in the position of striving for acquittal despite the truth as well.  Indeed, defense lawyers are not allowed to state that their clients are guilty and should be punished.  They must fight the prosecution every inch of the way, looking to let go murders, rapists, drug traffickers, simply because our prosecution must ignore truth and reflect certainty once a trial begins.  Our defense must then meet the prosecution’s certainty with certainty of its own.  Legal trickery then becomes the standard for talent once the fray begins.

And lost in our legal system becomes truth.  But it is worse, in the judicial proceedings of our religious bodies, of our churches.  Once a group of our religious leaders reaches unity in the ideas of casting someone out for their sins (perhaps now public), they are rarely if ever deterred.  And it may never get as far as a public ex-communication, it need only get as far as gossip in the mind of the religious leader.  The defendant in these cases can be subtly restricted from roles of leadership & service in the church, because the existing leadership simply thinks that they are “not right for that role”.  The existing leaders of the faith do not want upstarts, free thinkers, or revolutionary’s admitted into leadership roles alongside themselves.  People like “that” must be kept “in their place”.  In our modern age church leadership is not allowed to kill them for heresy (a procedure often used in our past for just such problems), instead we destroy reputations, and restrict service, until they “get the hint”, or have no choice but to move on.

But what happens when the prosecution is dead wrong?  What happens when the facts are contrived to look a certain way, because of the heart of the prosecutor?  What happens when those you personally state are condemned to the fires of hell for their grievous sins, are NOT actually so condemned?  What happens when your certainty is the problem all along?  Religious condemnation never occurs without certainty.  And in a belief system where God alone judges, and He judges based on the heart, and looks to redeem every soul no matter how “evil” they appear … how could any condemnation be so certain?  When mankind attempts to take the role of judge upon himself, when he attempts to dictate the religious standing of another human being, he looks to make himself equal to God.  This is what Satan did before us, and encourages us to do to this day.  It is what Satan inspired a former religious leadership to do.  After all, this Messiah named Jesus, did not conform.  He was not doing what scripture said He should do, according to the church.  He had to be stopped.  And since only death would stop him …

Peter recounts the prosecution of Truth, that is The Truth, from the first point of view that matters – from the religious leadership of the church, the true church.  Keep in mind, the right scriptures, that is the bible will be used in this prosecution.  This is not based on the Quran, or some ancient Hindu book of wisdom, it is based on the Biblical scriptures available in that day, held in Jerusalem where nearly all books would be present.  The prosecutors are not just lay people run amuck.  This is not some out-of-control deacon who thinks he knows best.  This is the pope.  This is the general conference leader.  These men are the esteemed leadership of the day, and they are united, acting in concert for the very first time, over one singular issue … to destroy this upstart Messiah wannabe named Jesus Christ.  A stark mantra emerges in the halls of the Pharisees … The Truth be damned; this prosecution must succeed.  That stark mantra echoes in the hearts of those who call themselves by His name today … The Truth be damned; we must condemn those still steeped in sin, instead of work for their redemption.

Peter begins his recollection to John Mark in his gospel in chapter fourteen picking up in verse 53 saying … “And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes. [verse 54] And Peter followed him afar off, even into the palace of the high priest: and he sat with the servants, and warmed himself at the fire.”  This was a momentous trial.  This was not a matter that only 2 or 3 priests need deal with, everyone in power is here.  Chief Priests, Elders, Scribes, from every part of church leadership, all in power were there.  Peter too, has regained his courage enough to follow at a distance.  He has gone undercover, and now hangs out with the servants, warming themselves by the fire.

John Mark continues in verse 55 saying … “And the chief priests and all the council sought for witness against Jesus to put him to death; and found none. [verse 56] For many bare false witness against him, but their witness agreed not together.”  In Jewish law, there must be at least two witnesses whose testimony agrees before a man can be put to death.  So the hunt for such men begins, but with no luck.  It is very hard to coordinate lies when the witnesses are kept separate.  Guessing at what the other guy said, becomes very difficult, and everybody that night was getting it wrong.  The Truth was hard to testify against.  What could be said against it but lies.  Certainty does not equal correctness.  One can be extremely certain, and extremely wrong.

Mark continues in verse 57 saying … “And there arose certain, and bare false witness against him, saying, [verse 58] We heard him say, I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands. [verse 59] But neither so did their witness agree together.”  The subject of the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem came up.  But the liars could not get that story right either.  They had the jest of it, but again their testimonies stepped upon each other so badly, that facts were getting destroyed.  The prosecution was getting stumped, and this could not happen.  This Man must be found guilty no matter what, no matter how.  Finally, the high priest himself was getting angry.

Mark continues in verse 60 saying … “And the high priest stood up in the midst, and asked Jesus, saying, Answerest thou nothing? what is it which these witness against thee? [verse 61] But he held his peace, and answered nothing. Again the high priest asked him, and said unto him, Art thou the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?”  The prosecution had counted on something they were not getting.  They expected for Jesus to argue with each false witness that came up.  They expected to get Jesus tripped up in His own words, and somehow break His own defense through argument and exaggeration.  But the strangest of all things was happening, Jesus the Lamb of God was remaining perfectly silent.  What should have enraged each of us if we were an innocent party, did nothing to get Jesus talking.  He just sat there and took it all in silence.

Here is the first distinction between The Truth, and those of us who claim truth is on our side.  The need to defend it.  The Truth will stand against all the lies of the evil one.  The Truth needs no defense, for it is The Truth.  We who claim the truth is with us, and bolster our claims in certainty, are rigorous to defend our positions.  We are happy to argue how we are right, and all others are wrong.  We are happy to prove it based in the interpretations of the scriptures we are certain are correct.  Just as these prosecutors of old.  We will fight for our truth to the point of death.  Not our own deaths mind you, but those who claim we are wrong, we are happy to fight with, all the way to the point of killing them to insure our truth lives on.  But this is not needed.  The Truth will live on no matter what the opposing argument comes up with.  It needs no help or defense or violence from us.  Rather it needs our testimony in how we live The Truth in silence, not how we speak about it.

Finally though, the high priest challenges the Superhuman to identify itself.  Strangely this same challenge works on angels of light, and angels of darkness.  It is as if God has setup a rule which cannot be broken.  If asked who they are, a superhuman being must answer in truth, to the human who asks it, whether it is demon, or it is God.  This challenge is meant to protect us.  If or when we encounter the superhuman, the entity that exists beyond our realm, we need only ask it … in the name of Jesus Christ, who are you?  And it will be compelled to answer.  Most of those who encounter the supernatural are not inclined to use this challenge.  They are told by the entity that it would represent a lack of faith.  They are told the encounters between them might stop after that.  They are lied to, and eagerly accept the lie, because most demons tell us what we want to hear, not what we need to hear.  But God has no fear of this challenge.

Jesus answers in verse 62 saying … “And Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.”  Here is where OUR human nature takes over.  We read this text as a threat, as a condemnation to those conducting this trial.  We are absolutely certain of it.  But there is more to it than may first meet the eye.  The prophecy of Christ not long ago, predicted the denial of Peter of even knowing Jesus before the rooster crowed.  Yet that prophecy was not to condemn Peter forever for his sins.  The prophecy here lays out a coming of Christ to this world.  It could be His second coming to gather His redeemed, those who have repented of deeds even as terrible as the prosecution of The Truth unto death.  It could also represent His third coming when the Holy City descends to our earth and the wicked are raised for a final judgment one last time.  The words of Christ are true either way.  But which version of His return these men see, will be a function of their repentance, and acceptance of Jesus Christ as our only Messiah.  This was also true for Peter.  The sins were committed.  The question is only whether a repentance was sought.

The high priest was anxious to get this trial done with.  The story continues in verse 63 saying … “Then the high priest rent his clothes, and saith, What need we any further witnesses? [verse 64] Ye have heard the blasphemy: what think ye? And they all condemned him to be guilty of death.”  The religious leadership of the church prosecuted The Truth, and pronounced Him guilty because He spoke the Truth.  The mob joined in.  There was not one free thinker in that jury box, not one sympathetic ear who might have voiced an opposition to this farce of a trial.  Certainty overwhelmed the mob in that hall.  Certainty backed by Satan himself, that death was needed, blood was needed, an example must be made to keep the faith pure.  So Satan does with us nearly 2000 years later.  He tells us to expel those caught in sin in order to keep the faith pure, keep the leadership pure.  There is no forgiveness in the mind or heart of Satan, but there is overwhelming certainty, certainty steeped in pride.

Whose follower are we truly?  Then begins to happen what happens when Truth has been devalued and discarded; it is hated.  John Mark concludes this section in verse 65 saying … “And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands.”  How we spit on The Truth.  When once we embark on the path of certainty, and when we add our voices to those of condemnation, we spit right on the face of Truth.  We ignore how often our own sins must have been cleansed by the sacrifice of Christ.  We ignore how much we too have earned the sentence of condemnation, and that but for the love and grace of Christ, we too were bound for the hell of separation from God.  So we spit in the face of God, in the face of Truth, with our hypocrisy, and our prosecution of others still steeped in sins (we too so often commit).

Then we torture Truth.  We contrive scriptures and interpretations to support our condemnations of others.  We mangle the Bible, and turn the image of God from one of Love to one of vengeance.  We put a bag over the head of Christ so that He can no longer see.  Then we bang upon His precious face, hitting Him with our palms, and our pretenses.  We take pride in our differences.  We consider only ourselves as right and all other Christian faiths as wrong.  We are absolutely certain of it.  And in our certainty we slap the face of Christ, telling Him He is unable to lead any other faith but ours to Truth, and to the Kingdom of God.  It is not those men, and those hands who remain stained, it is our own.  And still we continue, absolutely certain of our cause, certain of our faith, certain of our interpretation, certainty steeped in a pride of our forefathers and our faith.  We believe we must lead the fight against sin, certain this is our calling, ignoring the calls of Jesus to Love, instead leading a war against evil with the voice of our condemnation. 

This is not the trial against The Truth that happened in the days of Christ, it is the prosecution against The Truth that happens in the hearts of his modern day followers from every denomination.  But like the priests of old, there is still hope held out to us.  Hope that begins in repentance of our certainty.  Hope that grows in the transformation of our hearts by the power of Jesus alone, that leaves our hearts unable to condemn, but infinitely interested in redemption.  When love is our only motivation, we see our hearts brought into alignment with the God of Love, and vengeance has no part in it any longer.

 

A Question of Law (witness number nine) ...

The conflict was to be escalated.  Our story continues in the Gospel of John chapter 5.  The religious leaders of the day had determined that a man healed of a crippling disease that was so intense he was unable to move a few feet into a pool of water on his own, had been “ordered” to carry his bed on Sabbath.  This crime was bad enough, but now they had found the Man who did the “ordering”, and determined He must be killed for His offense.  This is the ultimate definition of conservative fundamentalism; those who would espouse contrary beliefs must be killed because they do not agree with the group thinking.  The religious leaders never so much as paused to determine if the act of carrying a bed on Sabbath was indeed a breakage of the law.  A re-evaluation of their understanding of scripture, never so much as entered their heads.  The law is the law after all.  The interpretation however was decided by committee and the results were to be made edict.  Lost in the entire process; the defiance of physics in the miraculous healing of the man, and the love that cared more about healing, than “when” that healing took place.  Even a miracle was not enough to jolt the stubborn mob into re-thinking its position, instead the miracle acted as a catalyst to inspire them to murder.

A verbal debate on the law, the Jewish leadership felt confident they would win.  They had won for many years, and this is why their collective opinions had never been overturned.  If anything they had simply gotten more and more conservative in their interpretation of laws as the years progressed.  This is the natural course of events when the study of law is absent from the love that inspires it.  When one focuses only on actions and not on motives, an interesting cadre of possibilities is presented.  Loopholes emerge.  Fine print becomes important.  A question of law must be thoroughly vetted and a detailed interpretation agreed upon, much like a contract.  However, love is not something so easily and fully defined.  Love is hard to pen on paper, and make a contract out of.  Love seems to always exceed our understanding, and employ concepts that are counter intuitive to our best interests, such as forgiveness, and patience in the face of hate.  How does one interpret motive, and define it, if it is truly based in love?  Laws about actions are easier to proscribe, than a recipe for how to love another.  And so the law had been separated from the love behind it, and actions were all that mattered now.

A miracle in the face of our “facts” was an event that could not be ignored.  A verbal debate might be won as it was historically.  But a defiance of all the known laws of physics and science is not something easily dismissed.  It undoes perceptions.  It redefines realities.  It causes atheists to scramble, and mistaken religious zealots to either pause and re-evaluate, or as in this case, to harden their positions and seek to kill the opposition.  Truly these were a stiff necked people.  And truly so are we.  We harden our resolve never to re-evaluate our core doctrines, no matter what circumstances we encounter.  As such we block out the Holy Spirit from teaching us, as we focus all our energies on “teaching” others in His name.  Not even miracles, give us pause.  We simply find a way to explain the miraculous as either affirming our positions, or being merely coincidence if it disagrees.  Seems as though nothing has changed in the approach of religious leaders from ancient times to now.  But the conflict was to get worse.

Christ answers them in verse 17 and says … “But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.”  Ouch.  Jesus had said a mouthful.  First, and this point was completely lost on them, this act of love was not the independent will of Jesus in sympathy for the man, it was an act of love done by the will of the Father.  Second, this “work” was not truly work, it was “love” in action.  When God rested on the seventh-day at creation, the animals he had made did not immediately expire from lack of breath.  The plants did not stop growing.  Gravity was not suspended.  Food did not disappear.  The universe kept spinning as it always had.  Love was not the thing God rested from.  And in making the Sabbath holy He was blessing us, by setting aside His time to spend it with us for one day every week in a special way, a way He outlined.  The intent was to free us from our normal distractions and give us time to spend with Him, the source of all love.  Jesus reaching out to this man on Sabbath begins with addressing his most pressing need, a physical restoration.  Love does not consider a healing from pain the “work” that must be delayed on Sabbath.  The salvation of man does not take a day off.  The restorative work of God on the human heart needs no time out on Sabbath, if anything it needs an acceleration on that day.  We appreciate God all the more, when He frees us from the slavery of self, and offers us some dedicated special time with Him.

In effect, Jesus was saying that the Father Himself, was redefining their interpretation of what “work” was, and what He did in heaven and on earth.  Love was not something God needed rest from, it was something He was and is and would always be.  Love incarnate.  In this instance, Jesus was telling these men, they were wrong, and they were not only arguing with Him, they were literally going to argue with God the Father on this one.  Those words should have been the end of the debate.  And they should have caused those who claimed to worship the Father, to take a step back, apologize, and rejoice in the love the Father wished only to show them.  But it did not.

Verse 18 chronicles their very human, and very stubborn response … “Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God.”  Their thinking and their perspective point about their interpretation of the law did not so much as flinch.  They were still certain Jesus had broken the Sabbath, despite only performing an act of love.  Now they saw His reference of the Father as a further crime of Blasphemy, and it only enraged them further.  This is the hallmark of the thinking of Satan.  Reason is abandoned for passion, and steeped in the pride of arrogance.  The Jews were wrong, and they would gladly kill Christ for pointing that out.  The miracle still stood as something beyond their version of “truth”.  Had this been only words, they might have been able to ignore His truth, but when it was bundled with something else they could not explain, they reduced this debate to one of ego, and they were not willing to sacrifice their pride in the study of the law, to the soft-spoken truth of love in action.

Jesus however, does not attempt to dispute this further accusation of blasphemy, he continues his focus on redefining what “work” actually means.  In verse 19 he responds … “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise.”  It was common in the culture of the day, that whatever skills and trades the father did in a family, the sons would learn and inherit.  All throughout nature, parent animals teach their young how to find food, build shelter, and care for their young.  A Jewish son would in all likelihood continue the occupation of his father as there was little opportunity to find something else.  At a minimum he would have been educated in his youth of the trades of his father.  This is the truism Jesus references.  In this He further states, this is what I have been taught by my Father.  My Father’s occupation is acts of love, it is what He has taught me.  Acts of love in the mind of God, is not considered work that transgresses the law.  In this Jesus is again stating their argument over their position on the law is in direct conflict with God the Father.  Love is not work, it is a state of being.

In verse 20, Jesus raises the stakes … “For the Father loveth the Son, and sheweth him all things that himself doeth: and he will shew him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.”  Now to address the reason for their extreme emotional response, the thing they could not ignore; the miracle.  Guess what, there are greater things than this that you will witness and marvel at.  Here was Jesus saying, this was not a single act of love for you to soon forget, and write off as some sort of weird anomaly or coincidence.  There is going to be even greater miracles, that will be even harder to dispute, and you are going to marvel at them more than you marvel at this.  In effect, your inability to explain away the miracle associated with this act of love is about to get compounded in scope and frequency.  This was unwelcome news, as it implies a supernatural power is behind the acts of Christ, and they may be arguing against something larger than humanity on this one.  This is not going to be just another typical verbal debate; this one comes with proof of the divine position on the question of law.

Now recognizing that they are debating something greater than humanity, if one is determined to hold to ones position on the law, then the natural conclusion is that Jesus must be acting on behalf of some evil power, not from God.  But before they can hold on to this conclusion (in spite of all the facts to the contrary), Jesus trumps this idea by offering them a power the devil does not have, in verse 20 He continues … “For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them; even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.”  Lest you think Satan is behind the miracles I do, the ability to raise the dead is something only God could do, and so only the Son can do it as well.  Again following the understanding of Jewish culture of the day, Jesus is saying I have learned what my Father taught me.  And this time He is clearly articulating that only God could do the act of bringing back the dead.

How poignant a lesson for us; here is Jesus saying to us … only God can bring back the dead.  Do you realize that in embracing the pain of sin, you have embraced the death that sin brings?  Only God can bring back the dead, only God can restore the life He intended for you, from the death you have embraced.  And what is more, only Jesus can save you from this death you have chosen.  Without the redemptive, restorative, creative power of God, you would be doomed to your slavery to self, to pain, and to the death you would one day crave as the only escape from such a tortured existence.  God alone can bring you back from this death.  God alone can, not only restore your body, but He can restore your life to one of freedom to love others, not bound to only think of self.  This truth has never been more relevant, and more needed than in our hearts and lives and motives.

In verse 22 and 23 Jesus now outlines the true mission of the Messiah … “For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son: [verse 23] That all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. He that honoureth not the Son honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.”  The work of judgment has been reserved to Christ.  Christ had been sent into the world by His Father to redeem, to restore, to bring life.  Jesus is saying in verse 20, God alone can bring back the dead, and in these verses, I am here to do just that from a spiritual perspective.  The work of the Messiah is not the work of a man.  It is the work of God the Father, in sending His only Son to this world.  Honoring the Father CANNOT happen if honor is not also given to the Son He sent.  There is no bypassing Jesus or the Messiah in the act of judgment.  The judge interprets the law.  The judge has the final say.  The judge overrules the opinions of the lawyers, and makes the final determination.  If this is a question of law, then you are talking to the lawgiver, and the judge.  Judgment on whether acts of love are work on the Sabbath is something Jesus will decide, as God has given Him this role.  The Messiah is more than man, He is God, the Son of God.

What is more, salvation CANNOT occur bypassing Jesus and attempting to appeal directly to the Father.  This is a team effort.  And if we refuse to acknowledge the way of our salvation, we are refusing the gift of the Father as well as the gift of His Son.  God is saying to the world, this is “how” you will be saved, through my Son.  Through the ultimate definition of the law in action, look at the life of Christ, look at how far love will go to save and redeem, this is my method for your redemption.  Jesus is the living embodiment of the law, and when questions of interpretation arise, look to Christ.  Christ is the judge of what the law means, and how it is to be interpreted.  His life is that definition.  The words God gave on the top of Mount Sinai, now have a living example to model after.  The meaning of the law now has a living witness, and a living judge.  Whatever you thought you knew about the law, measure those interpretations against the life of Christ; for Christ is the standard by which we can measure the love that inspires the law.

Verse 24 summarizes the entirety of the gospel … “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”  Jesus plainly states this is how you avoid condemnation and pass from death unto life, is belief that God sent Christ to save you.  Notice, Jesus does not say you are saved by your strict adherence to the law.  He does not say you are saved by the doctrines you believe and by your interpretations of scripture, and understanding of prophecy, and the time you spend in reading and prayer.  You are saved not by the accumulation of your spiritual efforts, but by your belief in something outside of yourself.  You are saved by your belief that Christ can and will save you from yourself.  Christ is not throwing away the Sabbath, or the law, He is instead offering you a way to see clearly what it means, and how to truly “keep” it.  Christ is not throwing away His book, or His word, He is instead telling you that your wisdom in these matters requires further instruction.  You are to be the student, not the teacher.  You are to learn from Christ, not teach Him what your truth is.  Your salvation comes to you as a gift of God, something outside of yourself.  All of your accumulated truth is meaningless outside of submission to Jesus Christ.  All of your attempts to obey are fruitless outside of Jesus Christ.  You are saved first, then you can finally begin to learn what obedience means, and why motives matter.

In verse 25 Jesus continues … “Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live.”  In this Jesus is speaking both literally and spiritually.  Those who accept Jesus are transformed from death unto life.  And Jesus has the power to reach into the grave and cause the dead to hear Him and respond.  Lazarus would soon be a literal example of power of restorative creative love.  But thousands more who heard the sermons of Christ would become living examples of this transformation.  The 12 who were with Him now, would become men to reap the harvest and help change the world.  Millions would pass from death unto life by hearing and believing the words of Christ, if only through the written account of John in his gospel.

Jesus continues in verse 26 and 27 … “For as the Father hath life in himself; so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself; [verse 27] And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.”  Here is Jesus plainly stating God is author of all life.  Life is within God.  Life is also within Christ.  Not life that was placed there, but life that was authored there.  God is the source of life.  Christ is the source of life.  Our restoration is possible because Christ restores life to us.  And the life Christ brings to us is everlasting as He is everlasting.  We will be made to live forever because Christ lives forever.  We are not immortal now.  There is no inherent immortality in us.  Life was placed into us, it did not originate in us.  It originates in God, and as such only God can give it as a gift.  Here is Jesus saying judgment is reserved to Him because He is both God, and by choice, man.  God has become man in order to save that which was lost. 

The act of redemption requires no rest on the Sabbath.  This is the living example of the life of Christ, who is the judge on this matter.  The Sabbath has not been broken, it has been affirmed.  This is the ruling of the Judge, both in heaven and in earth.  The Sabbath is all about companionship with God, time with God, time reserved that is special for man and God.  Nothing Christ has done in his act of love to the man who was diseased for 38 years, was considered “work”, it was considered restoration based in love.  Despite the man’s response which was known before it was committed, despite the act of betrayal of Christ to those bent on killing Him, it did not deter the love of the Father or the Son for this sick man.  No matter how we respond to the love of God, it does not deter God from loving us.  Though we hate Him, He still loves us.  Though we betray Him unto death, He still loves us, and seeks our redemption.  This is the power of love.

Now Jesus looks forward to the end of the work of the Messiah, in verses 28 and 29 He continues … “Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, [verse 29] And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”  Even at the end of the earth, even at the end of all things, it is still the voice of Christ who ALL the dead can hear.  It is still the voice of Christ that can call that which is dead and lost back from the graves they have ALL gone down into.  Notice this does not imply that disembodied souls are floating around somewhere, powered by themselves, that are now compelled to return to their reanimated bodies.  This states the dead who were ALL resting in their graves are restored by the power of Christ at the end of all things, whether righteous, or wicked, dead is dead.  And only Christ can restore what is dead.

The condition and eternal destiny of the dead is not determined by their actions, but it is revealed by them.  Motives inspire action.  Those who have done good, are those who through submission have been freed of themselves, and have learned to love as God loves.  God within them, inspires them to do good.  God in control of their will, their desires, and their actions leads them to do good, from a desire to do good.  Those who refused the gift of God, who instead trusted to their own ideas, their own will power, their own actions, do what is predictable, that which is in their own best interests.  Inevitably this leads to doing evil.  The reasons behind the actions matter.  Doing what is perceived as a “good” action, for a selfish reason, can hardly be classified as truly “good”.  The recipient of this action may benefit, but the one who does it, does not benefit.  Good must come from a restoration within us.  This is not natural to us, and can only happen when it is God who restores us from death unto life, as we submit our entire lives into His control.  This is what determines our destiny, and is revealed by the transformation that takes place within us while we yet live.  What we do, is then a result of our salvation from ourselves, or a revelation that we have refused to let this occur.

In verse 30, Jesus tries again to illustrate that the will of God to save us, is not something just He does, but something His Father is also keenly interested in … “I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.”  Father and Son equally engaged in the effort to redeem mankind.  Nothing Jesus is to do in this world is a one-sided affair; it is the will of His Father.  The miracles that Jesus is to perform are not from the power of His humanity, but from the will of His Father.  Though divine, Christ submits His own life to the will of His Father, as we must also do, if we are to be saved.  Even though He was perfect Christ still submitted His own will to God the Father.  He did not trust to Himself, but to His Father.  Even in this Christ shows us the example of how to live and find salvation from ourselves.

In verses 31 through 38 Christ then moves the conversation to the witnesses that He is speaking the truth.  He first says that it is John the Baptist who for a while they were happy to believe that testified of Christ.  It was only then, that this group of religious leaders lost interest in the message of John.  Interestingly enough while John’s message was to repent, a rather fundamentalist concept, the religious leaders were OK with him.  When he then testified of Jesus, they lost interest.  How reminiscent of modern Christianity, very interested in discussing sin and publicly condemning behavior with which we do not agree.  But when it comes to surrendering to Christ, the message goes eerily quiet.  Christ continues then, His argument that it is the Father in heaven that testifies to the truth of His words, through the divine miracles He performs.  This is the truth they did not want to hear, and the one for which there was no other answer, than that they were wrong.  And so they chose to disregard it anyway.

In verse 38 Jesus offers a stinging criticism.  The study of the law is not the same as the embracing of the law.  The study of scripture is not the same as the embracing of scripture.  Had the leadership embraced the law they would have by extent embraced the love that stood behind the law.  Had they placed their focus on motive over actions, they would have recognized the healing of the man to be an occasion of great joy, great love, and great rejoicing.  Love had renewed a life.  Those who had the word of God within them, would know this.  But as Jesus said to them … “ye have not his word abiding in you: for whom he hath sent, him ye believe not.”  In the rejection of Christ, was bound the rejection of the testimonies that pointed to Christ, and the Father who sent Him.  You cannot have the word of God abiding within you, and then reject the words and message and life that is represented in Christ.  It is not the law that saves; it is the love behind the law.  It is only the Lawgiver who saves.

In verses 39 and 40 Christ undoes the foundation of their religious thinking.  He likewise undoes the basis for every Christian denomination on planet earth.  Jesus says … “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. [verse 40] And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.”  The Jews had gotten so hung up on studying the scripture that they thought that act alone would offer them eternal life.  Christianity likewise today, gets so hung up on the differences in doctrine from the examination of scripture we hold to, that we believe these distinctions alone are what save us, or doom us for eternity.  We are both wrong.  We are all wrong.  The scriptures testify of Jesus Christ as our one salvation.  We ALL need to surrender to the one Lord alone.  Jew, Christian alike, are wrong that it is the study of scripture that saves.  It is only in coming to Christ that we are saved.  We may have memorized the entire Bible word for word, but if we have not embraced the point of the testimony, if we have yet to come to Christ, we are as lost as we ever were before we opened the book.  Salvation comes from Christ, not from study, not from the perceived distinctions that separate modern Christians.  Salvation comes from Christ.  Only in Christ can truth or unity ever be discovered.  Only will love ever heal the pain and differences we have allowed to take precedence over the love that emanates from the heart of God.

The words of verse 40 still haunt my ears … “But I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.”  He was speaking to the those who thought they had the truth.  He was speaking to a nation who had dedicated itself to the keeping of the law, to the preservation of the prophets, to a worship system that Christ had setup all those years ago in the desert.  And despite all this blessing, and all this truth, and all this scripture, they STILL did not have the love of God within them.  Could it be those same haunting words are equally applied to me in the church pew in which I find myself?  Could it be that modern Christianity despite having yet another Testament of Christ, the gospels of John and His contemporaries, that we would STILL not have the love of God within us?  This prospect is terrifying and predictable.  If we have refused to surrender, even with all the accumulated knowledge of our age; if we still prefer to trust our own wisdom instead of surrendering it to Christ, we stand with the mob that day bent on taking the life of God.  There is no difference between us.

In verse 43 and 44 Jesus goes on to point out the absurdity of ignoring the divine stamp of approval on the life of Christ and miracles He performs, with a preference to have one man testify of another.  Christ tells this group that they argue against the Ruler of the Universe, instead preferring human wisdom, human honor, human approval.  This is not a question of law that has been raised.  This has become a question of ego.  These folks do not want to submit to the idea that they could be wrong about what they believe.  It is not the law that is wrong, it is the interpretation they have devised that is in error.  It is not the words Moses penned on paper that were in error.  It is the focus on humanity and human judgment and the refusal to submit to God, that has resulted in the errors associated with the keeping of the law.  It has resulted in blinding them to the joy of a healing, and instead a focus on the fact that it was done on the Sabbath.  This is the crazy, that develops when human wisdom is preferred to the divine.

Christ concludes His dissertation by referring them back to the author they most revere.  In verse 45 He says … “Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. [verse 46] For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me: for he wrote of me. [verse 47] But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?”  Here Jesus plainly says, all of scripture, including the writings of Moses testify of Christ.  If they have missed this, they have missed the point entirely.  If Moses testifies of Jesus, and though they say the follow Moses, they still deny Jesus, they are not likely to accept the words of Christ as proof.  But in this their problem is compounded.  If Moses truly condemns them for their lack of belief, is there any hope left to them?  They have made a career, and a life, out of the study of the law.  Now Jesus tells them, they have missed the point entirely, and the patriarch they so revere is condemning them for their choice to trust in their own wisdom.

Many years ago when Moses died before entering the Promised Land he was buried in secret by God.  But apparently the devil found his body, and contended for it.  So God called Moses out of the grave and had taken him into heaven.  Perhaps the devil was looking for his body, to attempt to use it to cause the people to believe a lie.  Who knows?  But the Jews did believe that Moses had been taken to heaven.  So the idea that Moses might be in heaven actually accusing them to God the Father, was literally un-nerving.  At this idea, their animosity and intent to kill Christ was quelled for the moment.  This idea took them back, caused them to pause and re-group.  At this point, Jesus had told them He was the Messiah, the Son of God, the judge and final arbiter of what it means to obey the law, and now that Moses testified of His divinity.  A question of law had evolved into the larger question of salvation in general.  For now, whether the man carried his bed or not did not matter.  For now, whether Jesus had blasphemed did not matter.  For now what mattered was to consider the words of Christ and just make sure Moses was not on His team.

And so Christ was able to withdraw from this confrontation, and travel away from Jerusalem once again.  This had been the first time in His ministry, when Jesus so clearly had told the people and leaders who He was, and what the mission of the Messiah was.  Though judge, He was not here to judge, but to redeem.  Though God, He would daily submit His own will to the will of the Father.  His teachings focused on motives, and demonstrated love in action, not just in theory, or in words.  He was there to restore life.  He was here to bring the dead back to life, those who had died spiritually were to be awakened through the power of His words.  Nothing, not even death, could separate us from the love of God, both Father and Son. 

I do not know if the man who had been healed heard this discourse.  I do not know if he ever later read the encounter John would record.  I can only imagine that if he did, he would have been covered in the shame of his betrayal of God to a mob bent on killing Him.  I can only imagine he would have been SO sorry that he clung to his traditional ideas about the law, instead of embracing the love Christ was offering to him.  But in the same way, as I examine my own life, I see all the times I clung to my own ideas about scripture and the law, trusting to my own wisdom instead of submitting it to the only God who would save me.  I see all the times when I thought to conquer sin on my own, instead of abandoning this work to Christ who alone is capable of doing it for me.  And I too share the shame of the healed man.  I hope we both learned from our mistakes, and going forward, were neither of us ashamed to surrender fully to Jesus Christ each day forever more.  For in this is salvation, even for one who betrayed Him, like the healed man, and like me.

 

Circles of Pain ...

 “This won’t hurt a bit” is a common expression that instinctively brings up in my mind the thought, “then why do you need to tell me that”?  Perhaps “hurt” is in the eye of the beholder.  A pin prick for example, does not hurt nearly as much as breaking a bone.  And the pain from a pin prick does not linger and have nearly as many adverse effects as breaking a bone.  So when compared against that pain, a pin prick may very well “not hurt a bit”.  But compare the sensation of a pin prick with eating an ice cream cone, and suddenly the pin prick hurts.  In fact, next to that, the pin prick is devastating.  Of course part of the pain of shot at the doctor’s office, comes in the form of the anticipation that it is going to happen.  Sometimes, worse yet, you are allowed to see the needle and syringe get prepared.  A several inch long needle makes one squirm even more.  Knowing it is coming, can multiply the actual pain, by the anticipated pain in my imagination (which is highly developed and over achieves even in this instance).

Lucifer has done a masterful job at separating the consequences of evil from the actions of evil.  He delays consequences as long as he can, in order to propagate the evil activities until they reach habit stage.  But the effect of delaying consequences seems only to multiply their pain when they finally do ensue; and they ALWAYS follow our behavior.  We may evade them for a while, but eventually everything we do catches up with us.  It is not so much Karma as if we spread evil in the ether and it somehow materializes in our lives later; it is more like the laws of gravity – cause and effect.  Evil tries to hide its nature from us, mask the pain from the actions that will surely come, and blame everyone and everything else for its existence; but in the end it fails.  Evil is the opposite of God, therefore by nature, nothing we would ever desire.

Sometimes in our quest to measure evil, and separate some actions into “less harmful” than others, we develop a belief that certain “sins” or evil actions, are personal, just between you and God.  Personal sins, or private sins then, need only be discussed between you and God, and so are thought to be “less harmful” to others than say assault and battery might be.  But this belief is incorrect.  It is yet another deception created by the master deceiver of souls.  It is the equivalent of dropping a 3 pound rock in a bathtub full of water, and expecting only the original splash will be the result.  In addition to the splash, are generated waves of displaced water that traverse the tub from end to end – only constricted by the boundaries of the size of the tub.  If the tub were 12 feet across, the waves would travel 12 feet.  But because most tubs are only a couple feet across, and 4 or 5 feet in length, the waves simply double back on themselves making quite a havoc.  This is similar to how “private” sins disturb your own life, and the lives of those you encounter.

Take for example, the personal sin of pride.  Pride is something held only in the heart.  It does not appear at first glance to affect anyone else directly and therefore would seem to be only between you and God.  But examine it closer for a minute.  I can allow my pride to overtake my humility, as such, I become unwilling to learn from another believing no-one knows more than I.  I can become unwilling to help those less fortunate believing that “helping” is a job for those who are not as smart or as capable, or as rich as I am.  I can begin to treat others by cast, category, and classification – all of which are governed strictly by my pride.  In so doing, I tear down the image of Christ who loved all without condition, and instead erect an idol of me to worship instead.  My ill treatment of others may lead to direct evil against them, but even if that is restrained, by attitudes will definitively be affected.

Another common misperception about personal sin is that of sexual self-gratification.  This one is worse, because it is looked at as the “lesser” of a great many evils that we are capable of performing related to our sexual expression.  It sounds good at first glance.  But examine it a bit closer; the very words “self-gratification” define the basic problem at its core – pleasing one’s self.  Our entire legal system is built to keep my propensity to serve self, from interfering with yours.  Limitations and punishments are outlined to try to keep us from causing serious harm to each other while pursuing the happiness of pleasing number one.  In a sexual sense, we replace intimacy, and the concept of pleasing our partner/spouse FIRST, with searching for the bio-chemical “high” of orgasm.  Self-gratification begins by focusing solely on what pleases me, with complete and total disregard for what makes my spouse happy, as there is no spouse to even consider in the scenario.  Over time, habits form, and when my spouse does enter the scenario, I could be disappointed that it does not coincide with my mental picture of what “should” happen.

There are those who believe self-gratification hurts no-one; that it is a victimless crime.  But this is untrue.  Those who engage in this behavior are almost always unable to stop.  They extinguish the value of intimacy and vulnerability with someone else, and turn people into objects, objects without meaning or consequence.  The kind of mental imagery associated with self-gratification is usually degenerative.  Comedians joke about being children and looking at the underwear sections of the Sears catalog, or at the National Geographic magazines with naked natives.  But this soon turns to the “art” of Playboy, then to the eroticism of Penthouse, and finally to the pure hardcore smut found in an infinite number of specific Internet sites, or former print publications.  The imagery degenerates further into sub cultures like S&M, Bondage, Baby-Play, Anal fetishes, etc..  But it is not limited to these, further degeneration leads to the infliction of severe or permanent pain, child molestation, animal molestation, and finally the association of death and sex together.  A downward spiral, no-one believes themselves capable of, until they find themselves in it.  Yet still the belief, that we remain unharmed by our actions.

For those who believe they only hurt themselves, yet another revelation.  The industry that provides the materials for your mental imagery could care less who it hurts in the manufacture of these materials.  Countless daughters, sisters, mothers, even elderly – both women and men – put into positions where self-esteem is destroyed, where the danger of disease is rampant, where intimacy loses all value.  And for the person unable to control their baser passions, often this behavior does not end when marriage begins.  It continues into the marriage, depriving the spouse of true intimacy.  It is bringing baggage and expectations into our sexual expression that should have never been in the first place.  Men must unlearn almost everything they think they know, before they will ever be capable of sharing true beauty and intimacy in giving to their wives.

Lucifer, under the guise of social norms, propagates these ideas that a women or wife should be a gentle lady out of the house, and a “freak” in the bedroom.  Countless women’s magazines offer advice on how to please and keep a man through sexual proficiency when the reality is far from these ideals.  Honesty, vulnerability, clear communication, intimacy, even spiritual dependency on Christ will do more to keep a man, than will tricks dreamed up in a magazine.  There is nothing wrong with creativity or invention in the bedroom, it is only a problem when biology replaces intimacy as the primary objective.  Orgasm is not the ultimate goal, a union of mind, body, and soul, - is.

So our thought to be personal sin, hurts us, hurts those we claim to love most, hurts our families as it affects our attitudes in what we teach our children, our community in how we treat others, and finally God as He must bear witness to the pain we cause in our “personal” acts of evil.  In the end, sin, or evil actions always cause ripples of pain, that grow as they reach others.  Our 3 pound rock in the pond may be a veritable Tsunami by the time its full effects are cataloged by unseen hands.  This is the nature of evil.  This is the nature of poo.  Poo smells.  You can hardly conceal it when it is physically nearby.  Even its after effects will be known for a while after it has left the area.  So it is with evil.  Evil is nothing more than poo, wrapped in a shiny wrapper.  The shiny wrapper is at best a momentary distraction until the clear evil of poo is revealed.  But by then sometimes it is already too late.  Behaviors are formed, habits ensue, slavery is initiated, and thus the need for Savior.  Thus the need for a “creator” God who can re-create IN me what must be completely redone.

It is not enough to want only some of the poo, out of my life.  It can only be enough when ALL of the poo is out of my life.  No more habits, no more chains, no more bad choices, no more regrets – just the freedom that comes from giving the problem to the only God who wants to take it over and remove it FROM us.  It does no good to clean half of the cesspool of our lives.  We must let Him clean it all.  I know the work is hard, and atrocious, and was made so by us in our persistence at spreading our feces from wall to wall.  But this is the work Christ is willing to do in our lives.  He sees evil as this level of abhorrent, and wishes only to see it completely removed from your day to day.  Let go the shiny wrappers, and embrace the freedom of Christ.  Let us stop making ripples of pain in the oceans of our lives, and replace it with wave after wave of His love for ALL who we encounter.