Fields of Perfection [part one] ...

So many of us look for gratification in an instant, or at least, I do.  It’s easy to do so because in some senses our brains are wired that way.  Take the first bite of food when meals have been long delayed and in that first bite you will find a chemical release in the brain to the effect of “aaah”.  Its better if the food is something we like, but satisfying a hunger is not something that takes an inordinate amount of time, just sit, eat, and in 30-45 minutes (on the high side), you go from hungry to satisfied.  If you chose healthy foods, your body will continue to thank you for several hours, and if your choices are consistent in healthy foods, your body will thank you with a richer life generally over a longer span.  But you can’t feel that same gratification of health and long life in a moment.  That takes time and history to demonstrate.

Relationships provide a similar gratification model.  Courtship, when romance is new, provides those immediate chemical lifts in the brain.  A body just feels good in the presence of that one we seek, and long to pour out our affection upon.  Intimacy may be the height of that expression, but even simple human contact can go a long way in the brain in satisfying our need to love and be loved in return.  Like healthy choices in our diets, healthy choices in our relationships can yield a level of satisfaction and comfort in our entire lives the depth and breadth of which we cannot contain in just a few moments in time.  Looking back over years however, into relationships founded in Jesus, intimacy will have grown, unity will have grown, even similarity in tastes and interests will have grown (never identical, but enriched from the embrace of tolerance and a desire to please).  None of the real benefits of a loving relationships can be captured completely in any one moment.  Instead moments accumulate, and aggregate over time.  The present and the end being ever better than yesterday ever could, defying imagination.

But still we search out the gratification that happens in the moment.  Even rising from a night’s deep sleep has a satisfying appeal.  And on occasion, when any gratification is not fast enough, we tend to make worse choices to try to compensate for the delay we are reluctant to wait out.  I want the good health, and I know my life will be better with it, but a string of donuts just seems to have my name on them.  For me, this “Dunkin Donuts” phenomenon is not isolated just to my choices in diet.  The same, get rich-quick-ideas, begin to infect my notions of spiritual growth.  In fact, I wonder who ever coined the phrase “spiritual growth”, isn’t it possible to just get there, and be there, and not have to wait?  I mean, look at what happens in the resurrection of the righteous; everything is transformed in the “twinkling of an eye”.  Whatever work that has not been completed in us by then, will be completed in a moment.  So why is that moment delayed in the here and now?  Why do we have to endure “journey”, instead of just attain immediate “arrival”?

Matthew wrote about this rather unpleasant notion of delays in his gospel in chapter thirteen.  Don’t get me wrong, the fact that there is journey gives us hope.  Being stuck in our sins, just as we are today, would be crushing.  But being freed from them quickly is a hard idea to let pass-by without human regret.  Strangely, these concepts emerge from the lips of Jesus Himself, through the mechanism of parables.  And while a parable is obviously not a direct examination of facts, the themes and concepts reveal a truth that only stories do.  And when every parable in a series are based on the same commonality, the same underlying theme, it is even more difficult to ignore, or press for some other way that “we” might prefer, but the Savior clearly does not.  The context for the preaching begins picking up in verse 1 saying … “The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side. [verse 2] And great multitudes were gathered together unto him, so that he went into a ship, and sat; and the whole multitude stood on the shore. [verse 3] And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow;”

The same day Matthew talks about is a continuation of the preaching Jesus has been doing, likely in the home of Peter, where Jesus’ mother, brother, and sister were unable to gain access to Him because of how packed the crowd size was.  It looks as though crowds continue to grow there, so Jesus decides to go down to the shores of the Sea where there might be better acoustics and more room for such a great crowd.  But even here the people continue to press in upon Him, to the point where it is getting impractical to preach even here.  The solution presents itself in the form of a small boat which Jesus gets in and takes just a little way offshore.  Jesus is then able to preach there while the people make themselves comfortable on the beaches, and up the nearby hills around the water, somehow able to hear every word He utters.  Jesus opens with a parable (or targeted story) about a farmer.  Any story about a farmer does not present a get-rich-quick model, the farming model is anything but.  And so this story stays in the lane of a journey, not an instant arrival.

Jesus continues in verse 4 saying … “And when he sowed, some seeds fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:”  The notion of planting seeds itself creates an entire series of events that will need to follow in order for a harvest to be gained at the end of what is clearly a process.  No farmer goes out, plants a seed in the morning, and harvests an orange tree in the afternoon, or wheat, or any other kind of fruit, vegetable, or nut we eat from plants planted in the morning.  It is going to take time from seed to harvest, that timing fact is indisputable.  Thus this parable relies upon a model of journey, not instant arrival.  The other ideas of this story are worth examination.  This farmer would appear to be a bit careless to us.  Instead of first plowing only a dedicated place in the earth, and only there planting His seed, He throws it nearly everywhere He goes.  And so this story is about how the earth and conditions react to having seed thrown there, not about a restrictive Farmer who only plants in a dedicated place.

Before we continue with the story it might be worth getting the explanation in real time (for those of us who hate waiting) 😊.  Jesus offers that interpretation Himself beginning in verse 18 saying … “Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. [verse 19] When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.”  The Word of God is the seed.  The Farmer is Jesus.  The folks who hear it are us, the people of the world, and of the church.  And as sad as it is to say, even when Jesus, through the means of the Holy Spirit, brings to us His word, we sometimes are reluctant to hear His word, delivered His way.  Instead we maintain our own ideas about what His Word says.  We look at the same words, and continue to hold to an entirely different interpretation than the lens of the Love of God might reveal to us.  This stubborn internal interpretation stands against what Jesus says, and what Jesus means.  It might even have the complete support of the church, as it did in the days of Christ Himself.  It is entirely possible “the church”, that is “any” church could be wrong about what Jesus is trying to tell them.

And in this error is found a foothold for the devil to use this stubborn point-of-view as leverage to bring down the rest of our faith, until no faith remains.  He only needs on stubborn point-of-view we refuse to yield, whether that is church doctrine, or our own stubborn ego that will not let go to the leadership of Jesus trying to get us His message, His way, into our stubborn hearts.  To refuse to be led is to open this door wide open.  The phenomenon is no different than what you have in your real life every day.  You watch CNN or FOX news, and you must make a choice what to believe.  The same events are portrayed widely differently, from widely different perspectives, and you must choose which one you believe.  That choice is often governed by your point-of-view long before you turn on the television itself.  You watch the one that already fits your point-of-view, and perhaps only consider changing the channel when the story or presentation does not.  You likely have some friend which you can listen to, and believe implicitly.  Others you listen to, but take nearly every word with a grain of salt.  This comes from experience that has likely taught you (perhaps the hard way), who you can believe, and who you should validate highly before you do so.

Understand here though, it is not just the fact that you have an incorrect point-of-view that leads to the trouble of a lack of harvest.  It is that you refuse to be led.  It is that you refuse to hear what Jesus says, clinging rather to what you want to believe, or what your church tells you to believe.  What Love has to say, what Truth has to say, what the Holy Spirit is prompting you to reconsider; are all things you discard in favor of the certainty of your point-of-view.  You lack trust in Jesus to perhaps know better than you, or the church, or anyone else might “know”.  And in this condition, the devil attacks.  You are not just left alone, you are under attack by satanic forces.  And with this improper understanding you leave yourself open to a chain of events, which eventually deny a loving God, and embrace the “power” of self-reliance and self-love.  This attack is relentless and spoils what otherwise might have been a full harvest based on Trust in the Truth, and the Love of God.

Let us return to the parable in verse 5 saying … “Some fell upon stony places, where they had not much earth: and forthwith they sprung up, because they had no deepness of earth: [verse 6] And when the sun was up, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away.”  Yikes, this sound like me, and folks like me, who look for the quick fix, instead of the recognition of the journey itself.  The interpretation is found in verse 20 saying … “But he that received the seed into stony places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it; [verse 21] Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.”  Yup, looks like I was right.  We have moved from an audience of folks outside of the church to an audience of folks inside the church (in case that was not clear).  This section of the story talks about people who hear the word, understand it, and embrace it, at least at first.

The Love of God has a very strong initial appeal to anyone who hears it.  It is a very strong lure, as only love can truly be.  So in this case, that love is embraced with joy.  Folks in the church might remember when the gospel of Jesus saving them caused joy within them.  But for Jesus to save you, you must allow Him to save you, just like you did when you first heard the word.  What happens here is not a day-one problem, it is a day-two problem.  You hear the word and then after the feelings subside, it comes down to “now what”?  Forgiveness has been assured so you have that.  Salvation has been promised so you believe you should have that.  But 2 months after a baptism, or first acceptance of Jesus, comes the nagging question “now what”?  And to answer that question, your friends, family, and the church have an entire list of things for you to do to fill it that are missing one critical ingredient. 

You are told to pray more, read more, study the word more, attend church more, and perhaps even take a leadership position in the church ministries area somewhere.  This list is not a bad one.  This like might have secondary benefits for you and people you serve.  But at its heart, this list is a list, a set of activities designed to distract your brain from asking the critical question “now what”?  The entire list is designed to bring you closer to God, but that closeness is based on what you do, what actions you take.  Then there is the experimental learners list.  These are the folks who do and recommend to you, that you do what Jesus did.  Instead of reading and praying and being largely alone, or relying upon group think, they ask you to do what Jesus did with others.  Get out there and feed the homeless, shelter those in need, reach out to the poor, the sick, and the ones in prison.  Don’t just focus on kids in the church, reach out to kids on the street, or kids who have little to eat.

Another excellent set of recommendations that constitute nothing more than another list.  And frankly both lists are awesome sounding lists of distraction designed to keep you from asking the nagging question “now what”?  The essential problem here is that by following both lists, you “do” the work of getting closer to Jesus in your own hands, for your own reasons.  You are not being led, you are leading.  You are busy in doing this, perhaps too busy to hear a still small voice.  “Who” you are has not changed.  Not at all.  You may find pleasure, and spiritual “joy” in following the lists, or you may just be getting tired of following them.  The basic problem there is that you are “doing” your salvation, instead of having Jesus “be” your salvation.  Any changes in you, are likely coming from what “you” do, and therefore are short lived.  You are not truly trusting Jesus to save you, because you are not submitting first and asking Him what He wants.  Being led, is entirely different than presuming leadership, or taking action blindly.

When Jesus drives your car, you will go to places you did not imagine.  Not because they were on a list, but because that is where Jesus wants you to be.  Like Jonah, you may highly prefer NOT to go.  Like Saul, you may believe you are not worthy of being there and are the “smallest” of your church or faith.  But where Jesus brings you is where He wants you to be.  Who you encounter then, becomes who He wants you to reach out to.  That may just be an old nemesis at work, or a long-estranged family member, or worse one of those “sinner” people who exist outside of the church and commit plain and open sins on purpose with no regard for the law or obedience or any other list.  But if you submit, submit your desires, and submit your thinking, you will grow and have a testimony only you can actually have.  Submission leads to transformation, and a harmony with how God loves.  Without that in you first, all the actions are fruitless, or highly dwarfed compared to what they could be.  Actions must begin with submission, and come from being led, not forever laying out your own pathway.

But folks who follow the distracted list method eventually wind up in the same place … offended.  They are not ashamed of following Jesus, they are irked that they do not get enough credit for what they do.  A great minister should be a GREAT minister, recognized by his congress and congregation for what he does.  A great worker for the poor should be honored for his work, and cheered on by his peers.  Humble service is only humble when other people are watching, and great works for those in need are only great if they are cataloged somewhere.  When disputes over doctrine arise, churches split because the ego of believers would rather split than find resolution, common ground, or failing that, tolerance.  Instead the ego of these believers leads them to equate “the Word of the Lord”, with the position they hold in their minds, the other guys clearly wrong, and the survival of the faith dependent upon separation with those others, who are now clearly wicked people.  They offend us with their presence.  We must depart from them immediately.

Whether conservative or liberal in positions and inclinations, the result of following the list-based method of distracting yourself from the nagging question “now what?” leads to the same result … offended.  The joy of first hearing that Jesus would save you, is lost in trying to figure out what to “do” next, instead of figuring out how to “submit” next and let Jesus drive the car completely.  Instead of learning to follow His leadership we assert ourselves believing “we” must do something.  And the still small voice is over-shouted.  And the ones who truly need us never find us, because we never go there, preferring to stay out of Nineveh, leading a quiet happy life in the hills of Judea, never having encountered a whale let alone be saved from its belly by a force far greater than ourselves.  And the potential Jonah becomes an influential member of the Sanhedrin, “doing” what he believes is right, while the people of an entire city perish for lack of him following God and reaching out to the broken when called.  For who could hear the call, we were talking too loud already.  And besides those Ninevites offend me, with all their wicked ways, and unrepentant attitude about it.  This section of the parable was targeted at those in the church.

Returning to the parable we pick up in verse 7 saying … “And some fell among thorns; and the thorns sprung up, and choked them:”  The usual thought here is that the company we keep acted as the devils agents in our demise but hold that thought.  Jesus interprets in verse 22 saying … “He also that received seed among the thorns is he that heareth the word; and the care of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, choke the word, and he becometh unfruitful.”  Aaarrgh!  American idealism exposed for what it is in two quick verses, a method of finding your way out of harvest.  Again the audience is inside the church, those who did hear the word, but were pragmatists.  The pragmatic believer thinks the wealth of his church depends upon him, upon his gifts of tithe and offering.  The pragmatic believer thinks his family should be safe and sound first, before charity can truly begin.  The pragmatic believer accepts the ideas of the ”blessings” of wealth, not of destitute dependence.  And so is deceived by riches.

How many of us have prayed to “win the lottery, so that we can fund various ministries in need”.  How many of us have prayed for that job, that promotion, that bonus, so we can pay off our debts and keep our family secure.  And how many of us have been willing to work to get there, skip the vacations, work the excessively long hours, miss meals, miss kid’s events, be more or less an absent parent in favor of providing bread on the table and a roof over the head.  How many families use day care, because both parents work, because “they have no choice”.  How many of those same families skip tithe or offerings all together because there is “no” increase, too much debt, and are barely scraping by at the moment.  We shun charity because of our pride.  We buy things that perpetually keep us in debt.  And the deceitfulness of riches is something we consider a message for somebody else.  After all, we are in the church, and we are only being pragmatic, relying upon “doing our best” and waiting for the Lord to “do His part”.

But that is not how salvation works.  That is not how total trust in Jesus works.  It is how we try to hold on to control, keep our faith in ourselves and what we “can do” not in the nebulous promises of some old book 4000 years in the making.  Faith, in the world of pragmatism, is the last straw, the last option, after all other actions have already been exhausted.  It is never the first thing, the first option, only the last.  And deceitfulness robs us of what could have otherwise been real blessing and real salvation and real change in us.

Jesus concludes the story of this particular parable beginning in verse 8 saying … “But other fell into good ground, and brought forth fruit, some an hundredfold, some sixtyfold, some thirtyfold. [verse 9] Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.”  He then interprets in verse 23 saying … “But he that received seed into the good ground is he that heareth the word, and understandeth it; which also beareth fruit, and bringeth forth, some an hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.”  The journey is not the same for everyone.  The potential of every life is not the same.  But the theme is.  The results are similar even if the path taken, and the end result differ in expression.  Hearing the word is the beginning.  Understanding it, that is letting it change “who” you are.  This is understanding not based in lists of activities, but in full submission and surrender to Jesus, for Jesus to do ALL the work of saving you and perfecting you.  Throw the lists out the window and let Jesus decide what today will bring, and only today.  Because today is all you get.

And what happens to your life?  What is the answer to “now what?”  It is submit, and open your eyes.  Some will have thirty, but not just thirty people they influence towards the kingdom of heaven, not just thirty but thirtyfold.  Thirty times some number.  Or sixty times some number.  Or a hundred times some number.  Maybe the base number is only you, but maybe they multiply against each other – thirty times sixty times one hundred.  Or maybe they multiply annually, each year taking 30 times 60 times 100, and multiplying that sum again each year.  The point is not the size of the harvest, it is that there will be one.  The reason why giving you instant attainment is not the right idea, is that you would miss the harvest every year and lose the testimony that comes from growth.  The failures may not be your proudest moments, but the redemption from those failures point others to “how” to connect to Jesus to see perfection begin in them as well.  Learning to trust, instead of do, takes time.

And other people are impacted and affected along the way.  To lose your own journey is to lose your opportunity to accompany others in theirs.  The point of redemption is not just about you, it is about the entire world.  Instant attainment of perfection leaves you with too big a mystery to explain, and too little time to learn to truly trust in Jesus to save what ONLY Jesus can save, namely you.  What we miss, will be completed at the end of all things.  But what we might impact before then could be substantial.  Not because it was a line item on a list of things meant for you to do to keep you focused on the fact you were doing something.  But because what you do, is what He leads you to do.  It will not always go perfectly.  You will make mistakes.  But you will learn from them.  And when your motives come from a harmony with God, through a submission to Jesus, then “who” you are led to, will make all the difference in the world.

I pray we have the surrender to be “Jonah”, and not just read his story.  I pray we have the submission to be “Daniel” or make a different ending for “Saul” should the temptation of power and wealth ever come our way.  Instead of doing what we think is right, and believing we have certainty in His word – let us be led to what He thinks is right, and hear His Word the way His Love shows us, through a lens of Jesus Christ, and through a still small Voice, that we do not ignore, or over-shout with our arrogance and pride.  Even when our beliefs are grounded in the church and its traditions, there is room to be wrong, and room to hear Him over the noise.  And these thematic parables had only just begun …

 

The Way to a Man's Heart is Through? ... (witness number ten)

Folklore would say his stomach.  But would God agree?  John’s Gospel continues in chapter six as Christ moves away from the confrontation with the “religious” leaders, over a healing performed on Sabbath and He crosses the Sea of Galilee.  By this time, as later scriptures will reveal, His fame was well known, and his disciples numbered well over the original 12.  Many had come to follow Christ, none were ever sent away.  It is interesting to note, that Jesus did not cap the number of His followers to 12, it was only those first few who were “invited”, perhaps because also as later scriptures will reveal, they were the only ones who did not decide to change their minds and leave Him.  The same object lesson may apply to us today.  Many claim to follow Jesus Christ.  But when following leads to surrender of our own ideas, our own long cherished desires, our own decisions about our lives; we too, often decide it is not worth it, and leave Him.  How sad.

At this point, those with diseases sought out Christ, and He healed all those He encountered.  A great crowd met Him in Galilee and desired to be near Him, listen, and see what might happen next.  Jesus finds Himself on a mountain, with a great multitude, near the time of the Passover feast.  Time to eat.  But the logistics of pulling off an unplanned picnic were still to be figured out.  In an effort to build the faith of His follow, Jesus (in verse 5) asks Phillip the obvious question … “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?”  Verse 6 reveals Jesus already knew what He was going to do, but He was about to make a point about how each of us, and all of us, are taken care of by God.  Now, remember for a moment the time in which Jesus lived.  There was no Safeway, or Publix, or Walmart, you could conceivably run down to and pick up enough bread to feed what would soon be numbered as 5,000 men.  And this was not an event where only men attended.  Rest assured they were accompanied by their wives, sisters, children, and old folks.  This was a gathering of epic proportions.  It was spontaneous and unplanned.  It was nearly the size of a small army.

No bakery of the day would have been prepared to sell enough food to feed this many people.  If the families did not bring their own food with them, they would likely not be eating that day.  Even if you went to every baker in the region (which may well be time prohibitive), you would still come up well short of having enough stock on hand to handle this many people in this small an area.   Next, would be the problem of funding.  Christ owned nothing.  His disciples did not have revenue generating occupations.  They followed Jesus around from place to place, relying on the charity of others anywhere they ventured.  The money they collected in donations Judas held … “for the poor”.  So even if Walmart had been open to them with enough bread on hand, they would not have had the funds to make the purchase.  Phillip realizes these truths, but decides to take inventory of what they have on hand, and “explain” the situation to Christ.

How often do we answer the questions of Christ, that were meant to grow our faith, based on the “facts” we know to be true?  There is no store.  There is no money.  There is only little bread.  What are you talking about Lord?  Or in our day … we have no funds for this mission in our community, we have no space zoned properly to open it, we have no staff to man it with volunteer labor … what are you talking about Lord?  The facts do not suit your question.  The budget does not allow for your crazy ideas about spending.  We simply “cannot” accommodate your request Lord, as the “facts” on the ground make it “impossible”.  This was Phillip’s assessment as in verse 7 he offers … “Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not sufficient for them, that every one of them may take a little.”  This is all we have Lord, and it is obviously not enough.  We simply cannot accommodate your request.  How many church board meetings have resulted in the same conclusion?  How many times have Christians looked at what is “possible” and made their decisions based on the facts, rather than on the faith that lies behind the question?

Andrew, Peter’s brother, gets the spark of an idea.  One of Christ’s disciples is a child, apparently a smart child, as he came prepared to this unplanned picnic with a lunch his mom had made him for the event.  Here is a mother’s love reflected in the life of her child.  It was no gourmet feast, it was a humble meal, made in love for a small child.  But the child, in the true Spirit of love, is more than willing to offer up his entire meal to Jesus to use as He sees fit.  Leave it to a child, to set the example of what we ALL should be willing to give to Christ, literally everything.  The child does not first remove what he needs for himself, and then offer what is left to Jesus.  He does not eat first, and offer the scraps to God.  He decides he is simply not hungry, if Jesus has need of his food.  So he tells Andrew, he wants to offer up his lunch to Jesus.  After all mom will gladly make him another one tomorrow, worst case.  So Andrew takes it to Christ … but then almost immediately realizes that while this child is giving everything he owns up to Jesus, it is still a small thing against so much need.  In verse 9 he explains … “There is a lad here, which hath five barley loaves, and two small fishes: but what are they among so many?”

What Phillip did not consider, was that the person asking the question ALREADY knew the answer.  What Andrew did not consider, was that even though this offering of a child was small against so great a need, all Christ ever asks of us is what we are WILLING to offer Him, and when we do offer Him something, He takes it and uses it completely.  The blessing the child understood that day, was that when you hold nothing back from Christ, it is YOU who is blessed beyond on all measure.  While we do not know that child’s name today, we all know his offering.  For it is based on his gift, that the ensuing miracle would occur.  At this point Jesus asks the disciples to have all the men sit down (with their families), the men numbering about 5000.  It happened there was a lot of grass in that place, so everyone complied.  I wonder had it been barren if they would have still agreed?  But in any case, they did.

And then Jesus offers us yet another example, of the point of this story.  It is God who provides for our needs.  Even when we have yet to realize our needs have been met.  Before He distributes the food to His disciples in verse 10 … “And Jesus took the loaves; and when he had given thanks …”  He gives thanks.  Thanks to who?  Thanks to the little child who “owned” the bread and fishes?  Thanks to the loving mother who had prepared that lunch for her child that day?  Thanks for the boy’s father for “earning” the money that would pay for the food, that mom would pack for her generous child?  No.  Though all those acts of love culminated in an offering to God, Jesus pauses to give thanks to the real source of ALL our food, and the one who meets ALL our needs, His Father God.  It is not merely for the food that will be consumed, but for the miracle that will mark this day in His ministry for a great many to remember.  Long after He is crucified and rejected by those who today will join Him in feasting, His miracle will be a seed that will result in a harvest of souls.  When His true mission is finally understood and accepted, those who eat this day, will remember this act.  It is for this miracle that results in a harvest of souls that Jesus is most thankful for.  For His primary happiness is found in the redemption of those who are lost.  This is a joy He shares with His Father.

And so, He begins to give out food to His disciples to serve to the crowd.  Here too, is another example of the priority of the ministry of Christ.  To serve others.  Notice that he does not begin by eating Himself, but by serving to others.  His servants, or disciples in this case, are given food to serve first to others, not to themselves.  I am certain Jesus in His humanity was hungry.  So were His disciples.  But when serving others, following the will of God, hunger was not something of primary concern.  The act of serving in concert with the miracle of the seemingly endless supply of food had made those serving it completely forget their own needs.  The entire multitude was fed.  Notice again, not one soul went hungry.  Nor was this gift rationed in any way.  He did not restrict any who wanted food from eating it.  If they wanted seconds or thirds, or more, have at it.  Those who were poor, were fed.  Here in an impossible situation, in impossible circumstances, God finds a way.

What man cannot do for himself, only God can do.  When man realizes his own inability, he is finally free to allow God to do, what God already knows He is going to do.  When our budget does not allow for us to accommodate the request of God, but we move forward anyway, we find the impossible becomes possible.  For it was never our money being adequate that our God was looking for, it was our willingness to follow in spite of our lack of funds and negative “facts”.  It is our faith that frees God to work His miracles in our lives, and allow us to serve others as our first priority.  This story is a living example of this truth from end to end.  The miracle was as much for the disciples of Christ to understand service as it was for the hungry who sat on that grassy mountainside.  And they ALL ate, and were filled.  The gift of God is not casual, partial, or insufficient.  It is overflowing. 

Now to punctuate just how large a miracle this really was … in verse 12 and 13 it continues “When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost. [verse 13] Therefore they gathered them together, and filled twelve baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves, which remained over and above unto them that had eaten.”  Imagine this.  More left-overs after all had eaten than any store would have had in inventory to start with.  These left-overs could be distributed to the poor who were not there that day, nothing would be wasted or lost, when God gives a gift to mankind.  The child who offered up his lunch, still had a lunch, even greater than the one he offered to God.  You CANNOT out-give God.  You simply cannot out-love the source of all love.  The child, thought it not too great a sacrifice to give Jesus everything he had.  And this simple loving gift was returned to him in fuller measure than what he had offered.  He lost nothing in the giving.  This was no investment scheme designed for the child to profit from.  He had no expectations his offering would be returned to him.  But God knows our needs, and loves us far more than we could ever love Him in return.  And mom’s lunch was blessed, multiplied, and returned to her son completely.  So it is, when we offer God our all, no matter how small our all is, against so great a need.

It would be nice to end this recollection at this point, at the pinnacle of a tremendous event.  But when our own ideas about truth are too stubborn to be taught, the ending cannot always be the blessing it was intended to be.  The people you see, were not looking for the lamb of God, to be slain for their sins.  They were looking for a king and conqueror to drive out the Roman oppressor and lead Israel back to its former glory.  Had Jesus accepted this role, He would have been loved by priest, leader, and commoner alike.  Had Jesus accepted this role, His divine power could have quickly made an end to Roman occupation, and restored Israel to be the greatest kingdom the world had ever known.  He had the power to control everything to insure this happened.  But His mission was not one of power, of control, or of earthly glory.  God does not measure glory in power or control, He measures it in love, forgiveness, and restoration of that which was lost.  What men wanted, was not what God wanted.

The reaction of the crowd (in verse 14) was certainty … “Then those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth that prophet that should come into the world.”  The healings, and now the ability to feed an army out of nothing, was exactly the right combination to drive out the Romans.  You could eat every day, and be healed if you were wounded in battle.  They did not even need Christ to fight, He could just sit in the back of the army and do the healing and feeding duties.  These men would gladly have done the fighting for Him.  Here was Satan yet again trying to offer Christ a way to gain the love of His people without having to die for them.  Here was Satan again trying to setup an “alternative” to the ways of God.  No need to die to redeem Israel, no need to die to obtain their love, a simple gesture of liberation, and the whole of the country would worship You.  If you want the people to believe in you, here is a sure fire way to make that happen.  But God does not attempt to control, or manipulate, instead He only offers love, and asks for us to accept it.  So the crowd was to be disappointed. 

In verse 15 … “When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone.”  Teleportation anyone?  Invisibility perhaps?  I find this text interesting as the will of those men was bent on making Christ a king, whether He wanted it or not.  How does one “depart” from a mountain where 5000 men know who you are, and are united in their goal of making you king, whether you want it or not?  How do you just “walk away” from 5000 people without attracting the unwanted attention of this crowd?  I can only believe on occasion to avoid the snares of Satan, Jesus simply had to move through space in a way we may never fully understand.  In this instance, He would reject the alternative Satan offered, and escape Satan’s plans to force Him into compliance. 

Here again was another object lesson for us.  These people believed they knew the “truth” about the mission of the Messiah.  They had read the works of the prophets that foretold of Him, and had confused some of the writings about heaven, as being in the time of His first appearing.  Their misinterpretation had become defacto truth, and they were unwilling to alter their hopes around what the Messiah was truly here to do.  Using their religious ideas, and fervor for achieving personal goals, under the guise of divine approval, they sought to force God to do as they wished.  How often do we allow our own ideas and desires about how we live, to offer God an “alternative” to His ideas that is “equally” acceptable?  We decide one day in seven is enough to worship God, it should not matter which day we choose to do it on.  We decide our tithes and our offerings are discretionary and should only be spent the way we see fit.  We decide “who” we love is our business, and if we change our minds, we should be free to do so, no matter how many times we change it, and who we hurt in the process.  Our time, our money, our relationships, should after all be up to us.  So we attempt to define for God, why our alternatives should be just as good as anything He outlined.  We attempt to control Him, by what we do, instead of surrendering everything to Him, and experiencing the freedom of not being bound to control at all.

It was not to be through a miraculous meal that the hearts of this crowd would be reached.  The miracle mattered, the meal was incidental.  But the lesson would last, it is God who provides for our needs even when we cannot see this plain and simple truth.  Even before the disciples had seen the food that would be distributed, Jesus was thanking the Father for it.  No miracle had yet been performed, but the gratitude was already there from Christ.  Why?  Because Jesus knew what His followers did not.  That God Himself provides for our every need, and sees to our existence, no matter what came out of that lunch basket.  When man faces the impossible, he can finally see it was God there all the while meeting the need. 

When man finally surrenders his own will to God, it is then that God can remake us into the creations He intended us to be, freed from the bondage to self, free to serve others, free to love others as God loves.  When the miraculous food started to flow, it was first served to others.  Christ, who by all rights should have been the first to eat, was the last to do so.  God put Himself last, by His own choice.  Only after everyone else had eaten would He have the chance to eat Himself.  Those who followed Christ, were also FIRST to serve others, and last to eat themselves.  Then they went the further step of doing the clean-up of the left-overs.  Service to others is the hallmark of love, the witness that the work comes from God.  It was natural for Jesus to serve first and eat last.  This is foreign to us, and can only come naturally when we allow God to remake “who” we are.  Instead of trying to control God with our alternatives to His ideas, perhaps we can finally be ready to forsake our own wisdom, and begin learning from Him who so longs to free us from ourselves.  It is in this way, that the hearts of men can finally be reached.

 

ProCreation ...

The most difficult question for an evolutionist to answer is simply “why”.  The process of cell division can be clearly articulated, but the reason for it is completely absent.  We understand what takes place when cells divide and multiply.  We can even understand how life can evolve.  But why do cells divide in the first place?  “Why” does life find a way?  To answer “it just does”, seems a bit superficial to me.  But where there is a God who creates, who innovates, and who loves – growth and change – would be a logical conclusion witnessed in infinite expansion.  God, it would appear, is constantly looking for new ways to express His love for everything He creates.  It is why bringing something new into existence makes sense.  He designs creation to be the next physical expression of His love.  Our senses, our ability to think on our own, to choose, to love by choice, to experience existence – all hallmarks of a God keenly interested in sharing His own experience with what He has made in us.  We share His image by intent, by design, through the execution of deliberate planning on His part.  The evil we embraced was not His wish or His intent for us; but our ability to choose evil had to exist, in order that our ability to reject it and accept love could also exist.  We choose to love God, not because He forces us, but because He loves us.  We grow, we learn, we love – not because we invented these concepts – but because we were created to experience them.  Growth, change, and innovation are characteristics of our God reflected in our existence.  God succinctly answers the question “why” in perhaps the only way that could make sense.

Our growth then, our ability to think and learn and expand our experience as a result, is placed within us by His creative design.  We are meant to increase our knowledge, our love, and our joy.  Life grows and with it love grows.  As we introduce children into our lives for example, when our first child is born and is only minutes old, there is already a connection, a bond, a feeling.  It is the infancy of a love for our child that is destined to ever expand.  Our love for our first child does not diminish over time (normally), it grows, it expands, it deepens.  As our children develop individual personalities, likes, dislikes, habits – they become distinct, and we love them all the more for their distinctions.  As they grow still and age for many years, the nature of our relationship alters from provider to consultant and friend.  Still our love deepens as does our appreciation for the person or adult our child has become.  At each stage of life love exists, but because life grows and expands, it gives with it the opportunity for love to grow and expand as well.  This is by design.  The author of love looks to constantly expand His love to us, and in so doing He creates the processes of growth, so that we might share in what it means to see love grow.  Every healthy cell that divides and expands carries with it an incremental opportunity to see love grow as well.  This is perhaps “why” life is ever expanding.

It is only the antithesis of God that introduces decay and demise.  Where love is constantly expanding, self is constantly contracting.  Where a focus outward on the needs of others brings joy to the object of love, a focus inward on the needs of self, diminishes the joy we and those around us can experience.  This is why love is life, and self is death.  But perfection was not designed to have evil corrupt it, and one day, evil will make a full exit from our existence, purged by choice, by grace, and by fire.  After that, evil will be no more, all that will remain is love.  Therefore the process of expansion, the concept of innovation, the ability to reason, these things will ever be present, a part of who and what we are.  It would seem then, that love is the reason why we exist and why our experience and our existence are destined to forever be better every day.  There is no plateau of joy or experience we will reach and maintain; rather we are destined to forever be in a pattern of expansion and growth.  In this sense, our creation in the image of God is reflected in our creative impulses.

While we do not share our God’s ability to call things into existence by sheer will or thought, we were created with the ability to find new combinations of thoughts or elements and in the combination produce something “new”.  The concept of music for example would likely have been created by God.  However the infinite variations of musical sound are left to us to perform, compose, alter, innovate, and expand for all of eternity.  The shear variance in instrumentation can produce wide varieties of music, let alone the unique vocal tones each of us possess.  While God likely invented the idea of music, He seems perfectly happy to bless us with abilities to share in it.  There are those who write, who play, who perform, or simply who appreciate it; a wide range of experience where it comes to the concept of music.  The topic of pro-creation then is not merely about the offspring of a couple paired in sexual intimacy, it is about the pro-creation of ideas, of concepts, or constructions.  When we build a building, when we form new thoughts, when we imagine – we are in effect expressing a reflection of the creative nature of our God.  In this we are procreating.

To be called the sons and daughters of God is not only an honor we will never deserve; it may also reflect a desire on God’s part to see us join with Him in the process of creation, of innovation, of expansion.  Every minuet shred of life in our world was created to grow, to expand, and to procreate.  The methods of procreation, rates of growth and change vary widely; but every tiny particle of life shares in the process in its own way.  The process is the constant.  The expression is the variable.  Life did not have to have this characteristic.  God could have brought in to existence only a fixed number of animated creations, and not given them the ability to expand or grow.  He could have created only a fixed number of trees, or fish, or lions – exactly enough to populate our perfect world, or His perfect heaven.  Had He done so, He would have not needed the command to go and be fruitful and multiply.  Perfection after all, did not require expansion.  Expansion, or procreation, was a choice God made in His designs of all life.  Because the love of God grows, life grows with it.  Because love is not content to be stagnant, life is not designed to be stagnant.  The concepts that we have a hard time understanding are how the love of God is infinite, yet expanding.  Perhaps it is only our perceptions that are expanding as we grow.

The question a Christian should perhaps give a bit more thought to, is “how much is enough?”.  Could you ever envision yourself as having had “enough” of the company of God?  Could you ever envision being loved “enough”?  Being close to author of all Love, is not something any sentient life can imagine tiring of, particularly when our own growth reveals deeper and deeper revelations of what love is, and what it means to us, and to those we treasure.  I do not believe there is a “just right” number of close friends.  Whether you have one, two, three, or any number beyond that, you tend to treasure each one because they are unique, and bring a unique perspective to the friendship you share.  In eternity, through the eons of time, we will come to know every single person who was saved in this world.  We will think of them as our family, as our friends.  We will love them all intensely.  And will we have finally hit just the right number of objects upon which to share our love?  God didn’t.

The reason we were created with the ability to pro-create is precisely because there is no limit, no perfect number of recipients of the love of God.  Our species, and every other could have been created with only a limited ability to expand – procreate until we reach a certain population, or saturation of the earth, and then by miraculous design, lose the ability to procreate further.  Perhaps only achieving procreation to cover losses from whatever the perfect number was.  But this is not how God created us.  The ability to infinitely expand eventually puts the limits of this world to the test.  Our destiny however was not be constrained by the limits of only this world.  There is no cap on the edict of being fruitful and multiplying, as there is no cap on the number of other potential worlds which we might inhabit and enjoy.  Our galaxy alone could keep us “multiplying” for quite a while.  The point is not about population explosion, it is about the lack of population controls – love does not seek to control or limit itself and its expression to others.  As we find love for the newborn baby who enters our lives, so God finds infinite love for it as well.  It is not merely the parents, grandparents, and siblings who may be elated at the birth of someone new – it is ALL of heaven.  God too, finds His own joy, in the introduction of a new life into the universe.  This is what He intended.  This is what He designed.  This is another way in which He finds His joy – to express His infinite love to yet another life.  It is also why each life is precious, and in His view, absolutely of infinite value.

Given our current condition, it is hard for us to appreciate why any particular life is so important to God.  After all some folks are not exactly go-getters, there are many who appear so steeped in selfishness that they are offensive, obnoxious, and some even psychotic (and that may be just the one in the mirror).  Our embrace of evil does not make our existence one to envy or admire, it is more pathetic and sad.  But our God sees beyond our current disease to the existence we were destined for from creation.  He sees us after His work of re-creation is completed.  He sees our potential to forsake the evil of self, and embrace what it means to surrender and then truly love.  And there has not been a single addition to our population whose life God would not treasure and desire to redeem.  Upon entering heaven, it will not matter how many of us there are, because no matter how great a number that will be, each particular person will be of infinite value to God.  If God could have persuaded even one more person to accept His gift of redemption from self, He would be elated to accept that additional life.  There is room in heaven for more than will choose to be there.  There is room in the heart of God to love every single person who has ever lived, or who will ever live.  Every despot in history, from the wicked pharaoh, to the current folks like Joseph Kony, are not beyond the ability of God to love, or His desire to redeem.  There is no waste of a life or a waste of existence where God is concerned.  If every single person from Adam to the end of time had accepted the gift of God of freedom from self and evil, heaven would be overjoyed, and considered complete.  It mourns greatly however that many have rejected this gift, and elected to hold on to their chains of bondage to evil.

It seems only logical that if the population of our re-created perfect world expands, it would be in character with the designs of God.  If God creates our world anew as He did the first time He set it up, the trees and plants will still germinate and expand, the birds, fishes, and animals will still carry the ability to have families, and perhaps we too will still carry the designs of a family unit.  It may be that marriage and family still constitute the designs God intended before evil was embraced.  Our notions of love will certainly expand, but perhaps the designs of God of a special relationship may survive what damage evil and self have done to it in this world of sin.  Perhaps the restoration of family will be the last redemption God extends the species of man.  To me, it does not really matter.  I trust the wishes of God in this regard, and believe whatever He has in mind with respect to family and human procreation, I will be elated with His choice.  However, what I have learned of God, is that He truly never seems to have a limit to His love.  He loves each of us so thoroughly and completely.  He does not get tired.  He does not change His mind about who He loves, or how He loves.  No matter how many others He loves, He does not get tired of loving someone new, a new child in His Kingdom.  It seems only reasonable to me, that heaven will not be the starting point for putting a cap on any new additions to the family.  In fact, it seems only more reasonable and consistent with what He designed so far, that heaven may be the starting point for an explosion of love, and perhaps with it, an explosion of new life, new families, and even greater love.

Fart Jokes ...

George Carlin once did a hilarious routine centered around one of the oldest sources of humor known to man, the fart joke. George had a unique ability to take human weakness or uncomfortable situations and by meticulously examining the strange behavior humans do, he could make humor from it. It is not so much that expelling gas is funny (though infants seem to find this the height of humor), it is the commonality all humans share when it comes to uncomfortable situations. What to do in a crowded office party when the urge suddenly strikes and there is no bathroom available. George postulated the idea of omitting what he called “a test fart”, just a small sample of what was to come, you know, to see how bad it might be, and judge whether allowing more would be acceptable or would melt the wall paper and cause permanent chemical damage to the folks standing nearby.

One of the chief ploys of our enemy is another tactic he likes called desensitizing the effects of evil. By making light of evil, we can sometimes gloss over the pain it causes. We can treat it less, like the chemical warfare agent it is, and more like simply an understandable social faux-paux [sp]. Much like finding the humor in something that is otherwise disgusting, we can elect to change our reactions to evil and begin to treat it on more a scaled system. Murder would top the evil severity list, Rape just under it, theft under that, perhaps gossip or lieing under that, and at the bottom of the list – George’s test fart; after all the impact of evil on us personally is scaled in this way. Our justice system treats offenses in this way, and is supposed to meter out punishments – to fit the crime. This is our sense of fair play at work. This is our sense of eye-for-an-eye that leads us to believe punishments should fit the severity of the crime. Only in backwards, third world countries, do they mete out the most severe punishments for least offensive crimes, right?

So why does our God see every evil on the same scale? Why is His punishment for evil always death, no matter what the severity of the crime committed? How can we call Him a fair and loving God, when only the slightest sin results in the penalty of death – even one – even something seemingly innocuous – if test farts were a sin, they would merit the death penalty the same as genocide does. How can this be?

The truth is, our justice system and God have very different ideas and agenda’s when it comes to “crime prevention”. Our justice system looks to insure compliance with the laws by widely publishing the punishments that will occur if the laws are broken. Yet despite the threat of these punishments, men and women still break the laws with regularity. Some believe they will not be caught. Some are not. Some believe that even if caught, they may get off on a technicality, or through the mercy of a judge, or through the overcrowding of our prison system. Some do. But some get punished anyway, they “do the time”, serve their sentence, return home – and many fall right back into criminal activity once again. How effective is a penal system in reforming the nature of a person? At best, the threat of punishment, is enough to deter the timid, and the satisfied.

Once could argue that God’s death penalty for every crime might do better at deterring crime. But states with death penalty laws seem to have per capita as many murders as those without them. In fact, in order to insure the guilt of those condemned to die, we often spend more money on death row inmates than on those sentenced to life in prison without parole; so even the threat of death does not seem to stop the determined murderer. Although one could argue, it might put a real dent in say shoplifting. And let’s be honest, having an executioner standing at the door of the Walmart, might give even the bravest and most skilled thief a reason to stay honest.

But there is a problem with looking at the penalty of sin as being something God instigated. God Himself is life. He is love. He is the source of all that is good. To deviate away from that can only lead to what is opposite of God. It is more like this, imagine sticking your tongue into the place you would normally put a light bulb inside a lamp, with the lamp turned on, and power cord plugged in. You would be electrocuted would you not? Is that the “punishment” for putting your tongue in a socket, or is that merely “the result.” When your toddler reaches for the hot stove burner, and you remind him that he will hurt himself if he continues on his present course, are you threatening him with punishment, or revealing to him the impending nature of his actions, and the results that will occur if he continues?

So in essence does every sin result in death? Yes. But the process must be understood a little better first. Take something we might call merely annoying on our scale of sin, say “pride” for example. A proud or arrogant person is at worst obnoxious right. We tend to avoid them if we can, put up with them if we have to. But they are generally not well liked, and have few true friends, as no-one really wants to spend time with someone who always reminds them how much better he is than them. How does pride result in death? Look deeper. In an effort to maintain the illusion of superiority over others, the proud person must take steps to prove his point. Ever been usurped at work for a promotion by that guy that only thinks he works harder than you? Ever been targeted by the “cool kids” in school and put down for being “less” than they were in some way? Ever been discriminated against because you belong to minority group, or hold a minority opinion? Wonder why? Because superiority or pride is only an illusion at best, so to be proven, actions that hurt others ensue. Sometimes those actions make enemies of those who are belittled, or robbed of their due. Sometimes the proud are the enemies, say Hitler for instance.

It does not take long for sin to escalate. It does not take long for the innocuous sins in our scale to move up to the next steps, all of them eventually leading to murder, and ironically enough eventually to suicide. Ever wonder why after a life of getting away with it, some serial murders are finally brought to justice? Most cops will tell you that they “wanted” to get caught. At some point they realize the monsters they have become and with that realization know they need outside help to be stopped. So while they will not surrender, they begin to make subconscious “mistakes”. And to reinforce the point of where pride can lead – Satan’s first sin was pride – it led him all the way to the cross of Christ putting our God on a tree of torture and death. That could not have been the first thought Satan had, when he turned from serving others and began to serve himself. But it is where those thoughts eventually led him to commit a murder of God Himself.

The biggest problem with poo, is that we are never really done producing it. The problem with sin, is that once we embark on it, no matter how seemingly small, it leads us down the scale of escalation until murder itself seems reasonable, and suicide as our only hope to end the pain. When tortured enough, every human will begin to crave death over pain. Most rational people never believe they would ask someone else to kill them, let alone beg for death. But those people have not endured torture without mercy, or without end. When hope leaves, the goal of death itself becomes plausible. And how funny is that? Where is the humor in our desire to cease to exist? The only one laughing is Satan himself, who alone finds joy in our demise.

This is the truth he wishes to cover up. He does not want you to know, that ALL sin results in death. He does not want you to see, that ALL sin is addictive and destructive and is only a mile marker on the way to the grave. He does not want you to believe that death is a RESULT but rather only a punishment by an angry God. So he lies about everything. He makes what seems disgusting look funny. He covers up the effects of our evil, and tries to mask the pain we cause, so we will feel freer to spread even more of it. The nature of evil is pain and death – having deviated away from God it had nowhere else to go but that.

This is why our hope is based on a Savior God who does the work of saving us from the monsters we have become. This is why allowing Christ to change our nature is so important. It is not just our deeds that need alteration – it is our thinking, our motives, and our desires that must be reformed. We must become new creations, of a creator God. We must die to what we are, and be reborn to what He intends. In order for this to happen, we must let go the illusions of superiority, and self-control. We must abandon the idea that we are capable of helping. We must learn to be still, and KNOW that He is our God, and our Savior. That His will alone can live in us, and that our will must die, if we are truly to be saved from slavery of evil. Our hope and our salvation rest in our Savior Jesus Christ. This is why only our religion and our God offer a plausible way of escaping pain and death. It is not a threat, but a singular ray of hope, that anyone is free to grasp and realize.