What We Never Watch ...

I hate it when networks cancel a perfectly good TV show.  No, I am not talking about Modern Family, which turns out to be one of my favs.  But some group of writers come up with a really good idea.  They pitch it with success.  They hire an ensemble cast of actors to give the script life.  And great TV is born.  However, just because a show is great, does not mean everyone watches it.  People are busy.  Sometimes there is an even better alternative on another network.  Sometimes the DVR just never seems to get watched.  And for reasons completely mysterious to a fan like me, the great TV, becomes extinct TV.  And I am left buying whatever seasons they make and adding them into my Vudu account.  I’m also left wishing some other network would buy the show, and restart it, picking up right where the story last ended.  But most often, those idealized episodes never come to be, and they remain something I will never watch.

Something else I never seem to watch, is a fig tree.  I would bet most of us are not fig tree farmers, and even the ones who like fig newtons get them at the supermarket.  So why would any of us take the time to watch a fig tree?  Matthew provides a metaphorical answer in his gospel in chapter 24 picking up with the words of Jesus about what we watch, what we pay attention to, and why it matters.  Jesus begins to transition His conversation with His disciples from the signs they will witness before His coming – to the conditions they will see.  It begins in verse 32 saying … “Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: [verse 33] So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.”  Turns out fig trees have a “tell”.  That is when leaves start coming out, summer is near.  A metaphor for us, in that when we see the signs Jesus previously outlines in this chapter, we would know the Temple destruction is near, as well as looking across time, His second coming would be near as well.  Right at the door.

Despite the text, I still have never paid attention to a fig tree.  But it does make me wonder, do I pay any more attention to the signs that have already come to pass, or the ones currently taking place.  Or am I just as blind to them, as I am to TV shows that never seem to materialize?  But Jesus is steadfast as He continues in verse 34 saying … “Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. [verse 35] Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. [verse 36] But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.”  The certainty of what Jesus prophecies is sure.  The Temple was destroyed exactly as He described within the lifespan of the generation He was talking to.  No Christian died in that tragedy because they all read the signs and fled as Christ had instructed.  History bears that out.  But as certain as the signs are of the second coming, no one will know what day that will occur on except the Father in Heaven.  Angels don’t know it.  Only the Father.  Despite how many Christian sects, or movements, have thought they knew better.  They don’t.

There is another kind of TV show that I have enjoyed over the years.  Family style dramas.  Shows like “This is Us”, “Desperate Housewives”, “The OC”, etc.  They depict Hollywood versions of what real life looks like.  We get engrossed in the characters and start wondering what they will do next, or how they will react to the next thing life throws at them.  But Hollywood understands well, these characters need to include some pretty folks for us to look at.  The shows seem to do better if there is some passion and intimacy thrown in.  But fidelity?  It would appear by dissecting a litany of network TV family drama’s that fidelity is not as good for ratings as variety in the bedroom.  Recent TV is starting to buck this trend, but it is not gone altogether.  Of course, the latest trend today is to “normalize” what used to be “unusual” behavior at least in the Christian community.  Divorce has long since been transformed from the shame of broken relationships to a simple alterative choice if things get bad, or the wind blows.  Gay relationships look just like traditional ones (fidelity, divorce, adoption, all the same).  When transgender issues come to the forefront, you can bet they will introduce characters in “lifestyle” TV that deal with these issues until fluid sexuality is accepted as commonplace.  It’s not about judging these things it is just about how quickly we normalize them into our societal view as we watch them over and over on TV.

It is the ability of great TV to normalize for us, what we do not even realize is being normalized.  Constant exposure to ideas, embedded in characters, shows us a portrait of the struggles people have until we identify with them.  But when how we live is something we think so normal, we just stop paying attention to it.  It becomes something we just do not watch.  But this condition we find ourselves in was exactly what Jesus predicted we would face before His coming.  He continues in verse 37 saying … “But as the days of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of man be. [verse 38] For as in the days that were before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, [verse 39] And knew not until the flood came, and took them all away; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.”  In a word unexpected.  Because what we think of as normal life, will be the conditions that prevail all the way up until when Jesus does return.  It is what we never watch.  Or perhaps more accurately, what we never see coming.

And what do you think Jesus will find when He does return, if our version of normal life is what He predicted?  I would imagine there will be thousands of Christian churches, because there are nearly that many denominations (or variants of denominations) that exist today.  That would be normal.  I would imagine there a great many people who claim the name of Christ, but look just like their worldly counterparts.  They live the same, sin the same, love the same.  That would be normal.  It is what exists today.  But even in normality, there are a few odd balls.  Noah and his family were odd balls back in their day.  Noah actually listened to God who spoke to him.  In our world today, there are a few Christians who are not as interested in that moniker as they are in watching Jesus transform who they are into something else.  There are a few odd ball Christians who have discovered love is what it is all about.  Not some mamby-pamby love people use as an excuse to do anything they want – but real transformative love that seems to burn the sin right out of you while you were not paying attention to it.  Mysterious love that makes the life of another person worth more to you, than your own.

That kind of transformation over time makes you different.  It gives you a different set of priorities.  It may not change your career, or the fact that you still function in the same society everyone else does.  But it makes you a different person on the inside, which begins to infect what you do, how you love, and how you make the world around you a better place.  Not to earn points, not to earn anything, but because it is just who you become.  To a casual observer you look just like everyone else.  But to those you encounter, you look totally different.  Because what emanates from within you is totally different.  It is the love of Jesus flowing through you like Niagara Falls.  And to the world, you would be considered an odd ball, because that kind of love is just not normal.  Judgment, condemnation, and hate speech, the world is used to.  But that kind of redemptive love is a new thing, a rare thing, and remains bottled up in a bunch of odd balls across all walks of life you would never expect.  That is, you would never see coming.

Jesus continues describing what He finds upon His return in verse 40 saying … “Then shall two be in the field; the one shall be taken, and the other left. [verse 41] Two women shall be grinding at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other left. [verse 42] Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.”  Not everyone who carries the banner Christian, has discovered Jesus yet.  This is the sad fact the Lord describes upon His return.  One is ready.  One is not.  Whether you live and work in a rural area, or in the city.  One is ready.  One is not.  This is not about the manner of the Lord’s return.  Jesus has just described the manner of His return only a few verses ago as being something “everyone” will see (at once).  It will be as lightning that shines from east unto west.  That is the “how”.  This is the conditions Jesus will find upon His return, when our version of “normal” Christian pervades across the Christian church.  And only a few odd balls remain across all walks of life.  Odd balls running over with the love of Jesus.

We are told right here specifically to “watch”.  But for most of us “normal” Christians it is as if Jesus asked us to watch a network that is just not on TV.  We are more like the disciples who were asked to watch and pray with Him in Gethsemane, and instead we find ourselves asleep comfortably in the normality of our lives, and the normality of our Christian experience.  But “normal” is not ever what was called for.  And what we watch, even great TV, was not the thing we were supposed to keep our eyes on.  What we do watch is changing us.  But sadly, even great TV is probably not changing us for the better.  And it is totally devoid of transforming who we are for the better.  It is more adept at normalizing.  That it excels at.  Meanwhile Jesus is asking us to wake up and keep our eyes planted on Him.  And as we watch Jesus, read scripture through the lens of Jesus, submit our very thinking over to Jesus – we do change.  And that change is for the better.  It makes odd balls out of us all.  Odd balls that just can’t seem to stop loving others.  In that alone are we odd.  Everything may look the same, but how we love makes us different people.

We were told to watch.  Are you watching Jesus yet?  Or as it turns out, is Jesus the channel you just never get around to watching at all …

 

Marriage and Original Intent ...

What do you know about Ebola?  Chances are you know it is dangerous, contagious, and left untreated, highly lethal.  It is a virus.  You don’t see it coming.  You get exposed and before you know it, symptoms like the flu, and from there it gets worse fast.  What has this to do with marriage?  Nothing.  What does it have to do with sin, on the other hand, a great deal.  Sin and Ebola have a lot in common.  Where Ebola focuses on your internal organs; sin takes particular aim at your heart.  Where Ebola begins to block the normal functions of your organs turning them into soup; sin blocks your heart’s ability to love turning it into stone, well at least to love anyone other than yourself.  Sin, and it does not matter what type you consider, is extremely effective at turning loving hearts, into rock-hard useless hearts, that no longer care about others, nearly at all.  Sin is a disease.  It is difficult to treat, and is dangerous, mostly because we take our own medical advice, instead of the One Physician who is capable to fixing us.

But why talk about sin, when the topic of this study has to do with Marriage?  Because so much of our thinking about Marriage is steeped in sin, and we are unaware of it.  Our modern day versions of Marriage are nearly as far from the original intent as possible.  We treat Marriage like the legal contract it has become in our country; enforceable by the courts, with terms and conditions like a “pre-nuptial” becoming commonplace for anyone with means.  The very idea of a pre-nup is to protect yourself against the inevitability of “failing” at marriage.  But then, if Marriage has become nothing more than a particular version of a contract, requiring the “permission” of the state to be legal, then protections like a “pre-nup” would seem to make a lot of sense.  This is especially true when the failure rate persists at close to 50% in and out of the church.  But succumbing to this definition of marriage, is injecting so much sin into our thinking, we can hardly see past it.  How about instead of these modern ideas, we try a reset.

To truly understand Marriage, we need to go back to where it was invented.  At Creation, the animals were all created male and female, and the concept of families across every specie was born.  That is every specie but ours.  Adam was created alone.  It did not take him long, to realize he was alone.  Adam began to see and sense his need.  As perfect as the garden was, as perfect as he was, as indeed all of creation was, it was still missing something.  What it was missing could not even be replaced by God in the Trinity.  Companionship with Jesus was still not enough for Adam as a singular entity.  Perhaps because Adam was created in the image of God, he felt a sense of incompleteness that only another human could suffice.  Adam needed to be able to pour out his love on someone else.  Adam needed someone he could cherish above all other forms of creation.  Someone who could give his perfect heart, a target to serve, to love, to make happy, and as God made possible, to become One with.

God allowed Adam to see this need even before Eve was created.  Once he realized it, the need was met, not using some other foreign dust, but literally using some of Adam own’s flesh, his ribs and some tissue to be precise.  At the outset, the personage of Eve was already One with Adam in that she came directly from him, through the process of God’s creation.  The creation of both people, allowed both people to pour out their love on each other, without limits, without worry, with total trust and respect.  Two caring hearts totally invested in each other.  Then to top it off, future pro-creations would occur, ONLY, by two people becoming One flesh.  The act of reuniting bodies (and souls), so that two bodies became one, of unified purpose, would result in the process of procreation.  Neither could just will it to happen, or do something alone to see it done.  It took two.  It still does.  This ultimate act of intimacy between husband and wife, brought about family, even more targets to cherish, and pour out our love upon.

And here is something to consider.  Had Adam and Eve never disobeyed God, never broke trust with God, their Marriage would have lasted eternally – no expiration date, ever.  God did not create Marriage, to be some summer thing, that ends when the world fills up with babies.  The need for marriage had nothing to do with making a quotient of babies, it had to do with meeting the need of two people to become One in heart – pouring their love out on each other, first, foremost, and forever.  Babies, and the generations that would follow, would be icing on the cake, never replace the cake itself.  The intimacy God created, He had NO intention of ever undoing.  It is a need, hard woven, into the DNA of His creation.  A need that can only be met in one way.  To ignore that, is to ignore who we are, and who made us.

So as Marriage was created prior to sin, there is no reason to think, it will not survive sin, live past the destruction of sin, and be an institution that survives eternity.  The original intent of it, was something that was to live forever.  Perfect hearts, understand the need to pour out their love, not on themselves, like Lucifer did, but on each other like God does, and like Adam and Eve did.  It is only ever the Ebola of sin that can mess that up.  Sin brings pain, and eventually death.  Neither of those things were ever supposed to be here.  Life and happiness were supposed to be our daily routine, not pain and death.  There was never supposed to be such a thing as a “widow”.  You cannot by definition have a “widow” if neither spouse ever dies.  Original intent did not account for widows.  Sin gave us that term, and the sadness of its meaning.

Divorce.  That is, the elective choice to refuse to pour out your love any longer, for whatever the reason, between two people, was NEVER supposed to happen.  Why would it?  In perfection, with people who have perfect hearts, who have never tasted sin, Divorce would be crazy talk.  It is purely coo-coo-lu-lu.  Nonsense.  Do you seriously think Adam and Eve, if they never tasted sin, would spontaneous decide to stop loving?  Do you think they would have preferred loneliness to companionship, without the ebola-like virus of sin targeting their hearts?  Nope.  Once again, original intent did not account for divorce.  It took the embrace of sin, to create that term, and the sadness of its meaning.  And you can bet, once heaven is all that is left, and sin has gone the way of extinction.  Divorce will leave with it.  Leaving behind only married couples, and families, who pour out their love on each other without limits, with total trust, respect, and unrivaled care.  The interest of husband in wife, and of wife in husband, will be so great our feeble minds, can barely comprehend it.  But in perfection, we will understand it perfectly, and prefer nothing else.  Like Adam did, as soon as he saw his need, prior to even Eve’s existence.

So as Matthew begins to write of the topic of divorce, we must remember the context, in which we have this discussion.  We must remember what was originally intended, and how far we have come from that, and why.  And we must remember, where we are heading back to, and what future lives will be like, once the Ebola of sin is gone from us forever.  It is in that vein Matthew begins his counsel to the Hebrews in chapter nineteen of his gospel, picking up in verse one saying … “And it came to pass, that when Jesus had finished these sayings, he departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judaea beyond Jordan; [verse 2] And great multitudes followed him; and he healed them there.”  It begins with a change of venue from the events and teachings of chapter 18, moving to a new place, but picking right up with the healing and restoration ministry Jesus was so famous for.

Matthew continues in verse 3 saying … “The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause?”  The Pharisees could not allow so many to be healed, without once again trying to challenge the authority of Jesus.  You will note the word “tempting” as they come to Jesus, with what they think is an impossible question.  This is intended as a trap, it is not good Biblical theological discussion.  For that they would have referred themselves back to original intent, and what it takes our hearts to be, to preserve marriage in a world of sin, pain, and death.  Nonetheless, Jesus has an answer picking up in verse 4 saying … “And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female,”  Jesus refers us all back to Creation.  He calls their attention (and ours) to the fact that He made us all (every specie) male and female.

Jesus continues in verse 5 saying … “And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?”  This is actually a reference all the way back to texts in Genesis that Moses wrote when considering the beginning of our specie.  Moses wrote the words many millenia after creation, but his perspective was right on, and here Jesus affirms the cause and effect, and reasoning of what happens now, when boy meets girl, and their love drives them to be together.  Even the draw of family must be secondary to the draw of the love between them.  This is what was intended, and what still happens at the outset.

Jesus continues in verse 6 saying … “Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.”  What God has joined.  This is not just a momentary joining of genitals, it is a permanent joining of hearts, of minds, of souls.  Two becoming One, means that neither is complete without the other, we do not speak as one person anymore, but as two people joined as one.  We share the unity model that the Trinity provides us example of.  Distinct individual parts of a Godhead that choose to act as One, in One accord with each other.  This is the level of intimacy intended to exist in our marriage.  To inflict pain upon each other is to inflict pain upon ourselves.  Pain was never intended to exist.  It took the Ebola of sin, to give us that.  And it takes our continued stupidity of trying to fix that version of Ebola on our own, with no medical understanding of how this version works, instead of surrendering to the Master Physician, who alone can bring us peace, and restore our hearts to each other once again.  The third member of our marital unit was always going to be the Creator who gifted us with it.  Our own trinities would always have that foundation, but only if we choose it.

But the Pharisees just cannot leave well enough alone.  They have to push it.  So Matthew records the escalation in verse 7 saying … “They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away?”  The cite the counsel of Moses, out of context by the way, and attempt to put Jesus at odds with Moses, even though Jesus has just affirmed one of Moses’ earlier scriptures in Genesis.  But Jesus has another answer for them, they are likely not going to like, and frankly none of us Ebola infected sinners are too fond of either.  Jesus responds in verse 8 saying … “He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.”  The dissolution of marriage stems only from one key reason, the hardness of our hearts.  We love ourselves, more than we love another, even the one we pledged ourselves to, and who at the outset of our relationship, could not imagine living without.

Once again Jesus reaffirms, even the idea of divorce, was not something that existed at creation, the idea was ludicrous prior to the introduction of the Ebola of sin.  We have gotten so used to the idea of divorce, and so comfortable with it, we forget that.  We forget, it was never intended, or needed, at creation.  If sin had never found its way into this world, divorce would have been a non-sense word, nobody could comprehend the meaning of.  As useless as poo, which is another concept we would have never experienced.  Then Jesus continues his response saying in verse 9 … “And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery.”  This is the text that get us all twisted up, in our ideas of interpretation.

But there is a difference in perspective.  Jesus puts on a lens of original intent, and then looks at the behaviors our hard hearts are willing to embrace.  We are so casual with our eternal commitments.  We jump from one “intimate” relationship to another.  But heaven sees only the first commitment we ever made, not understanding how we would ever choose to let that one go.  If we bound ourselves to what we said, that is, to live by the vows of eternity – then anything else we do with others down the line, by definition can only be adultery (no matter what the state says is legal or not), and no matter how many papers we obtain from the church that have the word divorce printed on them.  When God says forever, He actually means forever.  He does not change His mind about loving us, just because the going gets tough.  He died to prove that point.  Even His own life was not more important to Him, than eternal companionship with you.

His disciples heard all of this, and decided better to just avoid marriage altogether.  Matthew continues in verse 10 saying … “His disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry.”  Imagine that.  Better loneliness, better to deny our nature, than to misuse the institutions of our creator, or find strength in the unity He advocated all the way back in the garden, when Jesus asked Eve and Adam to never leave each other’s side.  Jesus responds in verse 11 saying … “But he said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. [verse 12] For there are some eunuchs, which were so born from their mother's womb: and there are some eunuchs, which were made eunuchs of men: and there be eunuchs, which have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of heaven's sake. He that is able to receive it, let him receive it.”

Jesus then offers a very profound observation on the condition of man, still impacted by the Ebola of sin.  We must decide, how far are will willing to trust Jesus, with who we are.  Are we willing to trust Him so far, we are willing to turn over even our sexuality to Him?  Eunichs (men unable to have sex); some were born this way, others forced into this by the evil of men, still others who would prefer it, rather than lose the Kingdom of heaven.  Not everyone was intended to be one way, or another.  The message is personal.  And it is for each of us.  The only commonality between us, is the level to which we trust our God with who we are.  Are we willing to do what Adam would not?  Are we willing to turn over our spouse to God, and trust in His wisdom.  You can bet there is going to need to be a lot of heart healing in heaven because of the messes we have made with marriages here on earth.  “Till death do you part” is NOT how God sees it.  Keep in mind, death was never supposed to be part of the equation.  But the human condition of marrying again after the separation of death seems understandable.  Yet still on resurrection day, someone will be trusting God with their heart, enough to let go, and let God decide where to look again, and when, and to who.  Do you trust God that much?  Adam did not.

For those of my gay brothers and sisters, who are absolutely convinced God has made them this way.  I will not argue with you.  I will only ask you the same cutting question, I have to ask myself.  Am I willing to turn over even my sexuality, and the love of my life, to God?  And allow Him to do with me, and with her, as He pleases, even though that is not what I might want?  If so.  God may remake me, according to His will, which may have been different than what I thought I was to be.  God may remake my marriage, perhaps dissolve it, and move it to the proper objectives, thus healing many in the process when once we walk on golden streets.  He may however, also affirm who I am, and affirm my marriage intending it for eternal longevity.  It is not what He does that matters, it is whether or not, I am willing to let Him do it.  If I am willing, then I should have no fear, for even if I am wrong now, I will be healed, and find greater happiness in Him, than I could have on my own.  It is this level of trust in Jesus, that allows us to relearn how to love.  It makes me a completely different kind of husband.  And it resets my perceptions of marriage into something I will spend eternity trying to learn more about.  It makes me want to serve my wife, not just in the now, but with an eternal eye.

It is the Ebola of sin, that warps our thinking, dwarfs our potential, and causes us to accept modern ideas of marriage that depend on state concurrence, or support even the church’s earthly perspectives.  This instead of turning back to original intent.  And seeking Jesus to become the third part of the trinity of our relationships, to provide the foundations we need, and alter how we love.  It is Jesus that softens our hearts of stone, and turns the minds of husbands back to wives, and wives back to husbands, until the two of them appear as One, to any who pay attention.  It is Jesus alone who brings this level of unity.

And there was so much more that our Lord had to say …

Revelation, Authority, & Infallibility ...

Who are you?  What are you?  The answers to these questions will say a lot about you.  Your identity can be self-described in a number of ways.  It may begin with your name.  When others pose the question to you, “who are you”, the most common response may well be your name.  Your name is a title given to you since birth.  It is meant to distinguish you from others in your family.  It is meant to identify you in terms of great affection, originating from your parents, where no matter the relationship you have today, it most probably began with one of extreme love at the birth of a new child to them.  But over time, some decide the name given them at birth, does not suit them, and they decide to change it to something better in their minds, to something else.  This is not meant as disrespect.  And in fact, in the Bible it happens a few times.  Abram, was changed to Abraham, and Simon to Peter.  The change for Abraham had meaning beyond affection, it meaning in designation to “who” he would become.  The same is true is for Peter.  And at the end of all things, Jesus intends to give us all new names in the Kingdom of heaven, names better suited to identify who we are meant to be, and who we will also become in the state of perfection throughout eternity.

What are you; is perhaps the more interesting question.  The answer here could originate in a combination of your age, or sex, or religious or political affiliation.  But most commonly your answer may find root in your job, your occupation, your skill set – that help you earn a living and sustain yourself.  Most of us grow up into the job we have, through a series of educational progressions, and then influenced by a set of circumstances we never could have predicted but find ourselves either victim of; or reaching the aspirations of.  We do what we need to do, to make a living, to provide for ourselves, or for our families.  So what we are matches the demands of the place, opportunities, and times we live in.  And there are few among us who answer this question as … I am a prophet of God.  The ones who do answer this way, are pretty much seen as “cuckoo lulu” right out of the gate.  Our minds jump right to the ideas of con-man, or self-deluded, and in the worst of all states, an agent of Satan.  So what kind of revelation, does it take to be a prophet of God?  And could it be a position more of us could occupy, if we only understood it better?

When we think of the great heroes of the Bible a few of them stand out because they are most closely associated with the ideas and the term prophet.  Isaiah prophesied of the coming Messiah.  Daniel of the Old Testament and the apostle John of the New, prophesied in tandem of the timeline of our world, all the way to the end of all things as we know them.  So it is easier to look at John and declare he was a prophet, even though He was also a disciple, and a fisherman, and a searcher of God.  After reading the book of Revelations however, it is easy to see how John could carry the title “prophet”.  But then is the gift of prophecy a full-time occupation?  Saul, the first king of Israel, who is known more for his ignominious end than his life, was given to bouts of prophecy.  So much so, that it was a common expression to ask, is Saul among the prophets.  And Matthew reveals to us that Peter too was given revelations that would become prophetic.  Does this make Peter a prophet, and if not, could the idea of prophecy being a more limited thing that happens in the course of one’s life, make you a more likely candidate than you might have once believed?

I ask for many reasons, but the context of my question comes from personal experience.  No, it was not me this time 😊.  In this instance it was my wife of 30+ years.  Over the course of our life together my life has not always been what it should have been.  I went to the Lord in prayer asking what His will was as I struggled with the situations I put myself in.  And out of the mouth of my wife (totally unbeknownst to her) were descriptions of my situation as clear as if she had first-hand knowledge – which she did not at the time.  My answers came from her lips, and all the way to the writing of this blog she has never known it.  But I did.  And God did.  His word passed the lips of my wife without her knowledge or cognition.  Does this make her a prophet, perhaps, perhaps not.  But more importantly, does it mean that revelation that comes from God, can pass through any human vessel – even when they are unaware it is happening, this I think is how it happens.  Matthew in his gospel to the Hebrews seems to cite an example of just such a case.

The story begins in chapter sixteen picking up in verse 13 saying … “When Jesus came into the coasts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, Whom do men say that I the Son of man am?’  The story begins with a simple question of identity.  Jesus is not looking for an answer directly from the crowds, He has chosen to wait until the troop has traveled far from the last crowds, and He is now                                                                                                                                                           focusing in on what the disciples think about who He is.  His question (like many a helpful teacher) already has the answer in it.  The “Son of Man” is another way of referring to the Messiah, the Christ, or the Son of God.  Nevertheless His disciples appear to miss the clue and offer more genuine insights into what the common answers are (perhaps including what they themselves are thinking).  They respond in verse 14 answering … “And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.”  This answer is meant to be flattering.  For Jesus to be associated or identified with Elijah or Jeremiah or even more recently John the Baptist (all of them back from the dead) means that Jesus would definitely be a hero to the nation.

It might account for all the miracles, if God saw fit to bring back a prophet of such high caliber back from the dead to be His messenger / Messiah to His people.  While a “normal” Jewish believer could not do what Jesus does, perhaps a resurrected hero of the past could do it.  So it is not altogether impossible to believe that the disciples were using the response of the people to this question, to hide the fact that they may have shared these beliefs.  As such, Jesus gets more specific, and removes the cover of the people and the collective “they” in their answers.  Picking up in verse 15 He asks … “He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?”  Now the veneer of what other people think has been stripped away from the answers they will give.  And to us the answer should be obvious.  Frankly, they must have been having a collective memory problem for it to be anything less than obvious to them.  It was only days ago when Jesus walked on water, calmed a storm, instantly bent time and space for them to move a great distance.  He fed 5000 then 4000 men (plus their women and children).  He healed like Israel had never seen before.  No prophet of the past had ever done anything like this, on any scale like this, ever.  So why did they hesitate in their response?

Could it be, that they, like us, get fixated on an idea, and even when the Truth is presented differently to us, we may declare it for a moment, but begin reverting to our preferred ideas almost immediately.  The disciples were falling victim to their respect of the existing church leadership, believing that it would be hard for them to get it entirely wrong.  These ideas of an answer they already offered, while supposed to be flattering, were also a compromise between what they should have known, and what the church leadership would offer as a counter argument at the time.  The miracles of Jesus were undeniable.  But if Jesus were Elijah come back from heaven, then perhaps not so implausible.  It keeps Jesus from being the Son of God, while offering a “logical” argument on how Jesus did what He did.  And generations of non-believers continue to look for compromises of the idea of faith where the identity of Jesus remains.  Make Jesus a “really good guy” and throw out the miracle stuff as exaggeration.  Even within in the church, make Jesus a partner in your salvation, not the author and finisher of it.  A compromise between what the Truth says about Himself, and what we will allow ourselves to believe about Jesus and how it all works.

However Peter offered a dissenting voice from his peers continuing in verse 16 saying … “And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. [verse 17] And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.”  The revelation of who Jesus is, is indeed a revelation sent from God the Father to Simon Barjona (who will be called Peter momentarily).  This revelation cuts through all the compromises and makes clear who the Truth is.  Peter did not know it was coming.  Peter was not in deep prayer asking for a revelation.  Peter was there, and God spoke through him.  The words of the Father God sent through the mouth of Peter, not for the benefit of Jesus (who already knows who He is), but for the benefit of the church (those others around him) who needed to hear it loud and clear.  To chase the compromise out of the room, and out of the thinking, God spoke through Peter.  And because of this Jesus rightly points out that this revelation is a blessing.

Prophecy, and revelation, need not be a full-time occupation, or gift of the Spirit that happens every moment of every day.  It can come as it is needed and through any vehicle our God chooses, at the time when it is needed most.  It is not a casual thing, it is an important thing.  It is not needed to predict the conditions of the roads before you travel to work, or help you find your misplaced keys.  God may help you find those keys, but that is not revelation, it is the love of a Father.  Revelation has immediate impact on the church, it drives away compromise.  The words of my wife had exactly that effect for me.  They made clear my compromises and clear what Jesus is capable of fixing, even when I could not see the way clear for it.  The words of Peter did the same thing for those like-minded friends & followers in that venue, and were verified by Jesus Himself as being true.  This was revelation indeed, but was it authority?

Jesus continues in verse 18 saying … “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”  The first thing Jesus does after this revelation is to change the name of Simon Barjona into Peter, which has the meaning of a small stone.  Throughout scripture Jesus is referred to as the cornerstone (or the stone upon which everything else relies in the structure).  Telling now formerly Simon, that his new position is Peter, is telling him that he too will be a stone in the structure of the church Jesus is going to build.  Peter will NOT be the cornerstone.  Only Jesus could ever be that.  A church built upon any man is sure to fall.  But a church built upon God will last and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, and believe me, they have tried, and continue to try.  Jesus is trying to convey to Peter that he has a position in the new church, that it will be his shared mission to promote and grow the church Jesus will build.  This is the same position Jesus offers you and I.

Jesus then looks across the group of His disciples and continues saying in verse 19 saying … “And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.”  The disciples are to be given the keys of the kingdom.  This is obviously symbolism.  There were no literal keys ever minted or transferred.  The meaning was to be symbolic.  Whatever the church was to ask for (in unity) would be granted and done by Jesus who would soon return to heaven.  Whether to open a door, or to seal one up for protection, requests of the church (when two or more would gather), were to be heard by the kingdom of heaven. 

It is important to understand how DIFFERENT this model was, than the one Israel had since the days of Moses and the Exodus from Egypt.  Since the wilderness wanderings, Israel had a temple first constructed with gold plated boards, and covered in tent materials, containing a physical ark with a mercy seat.  Later king David would collect the materials and make the plans for a temple his son Solomon would build over many years.  That temple would survive until Nebuchadnezzar invaded and twice destroyed it progressively.  Israel would rebuild it and in the days of Christ it would be only a former shadow of itself yet still magnificent.  Even then Israelites tended to face the temple when they prayed (no matter where they were in the world).  They were proud of their temple and believed that the presence of God Himself could only be found in that location.  What Jesus was saying now, was something entirely different.  From now on, the unity of believers would represent His church and as few as two of them could open or seal up the kingdom.  The presence of God would be found anywhere instead of only in one place.  That was radical.  That was contradictory to the prescriptions of Moses at the time, and for centuries of tradition since.  But this was to be the new model.

So then the question; was authority transferred by the words of Jesus?  And what authority?  Obviously the church of Jesus would forever belong to Jesus not men.  Obviously the work of our salvation would forever belong to Jesus not men.  And often we would not understand it, or even like it.  Matthew continues picking up in verse 20 saying … “Then charged he his disciples that they should tell no man that he was Jesus the Christ. [verse 21] From that time forth began Jesus to shew unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.”  Right off the bat instructions from Jesus regarding His church include NOT sharing the revelation that Jesus was the Son of God.  How completely counterintuitive.  You would think the idea of sharing the identity of Christ would be priority one.  But the timing was not right.  So it was not.  Had the disciples been wholesale sharing their beliefs at this time, the anger of the church leadership would have cut short the ministry of Jesus.  And Jesus knew that cutting short His ministry without time to prepare His disciples would have an even more catastrophic effect on them with what was coming.

Jesus also begins revealing to His church what was to come in the near future.  This was prophetic, as it had not happened yet.  Yes, Jesus was a prophet in the terms we think of.  But then Jesus was God, so knowing what God knows, can it still be considered prophecy, or just more of the Truth.  But it did not matter, the message of the Truth, was something His church did not want to hear.  The shortsightedness of man sees the death of Jesus as the end of hope with respect to the Romans.  This was true.  The reign of Rome was to continue for centuries after Jesus (first militarily, and then as a great religious persecuting power).  Jesus did nothing to undo that.  And the Truth He was sharing with them was about His death, but also about His resurrection.  It seemed the back half of that news never could pierce the hearing of His own church leadership.  Peter (the newly identified small stone in the house of the Lord) now does what any prudent deacon should do, when the Pastor seems to be running amuck.

Matthew continues in verse 22 saying … “Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.”  Peter takes Jesus aside (keep in mind this is a rebuke) and says to Him, hey look, this just isn’t going to happen to You.  The people are ready to make You our King.  In fact, they have tried several times by force already, and somehow You have been able to disappear from the adoring crowds.  But in any case; You have a job to do according to our interpretation of scripture, where You are supposed to throw off Roman oppression, and setup Your Kingdom forever.  So You need to put this death nonsense out of Your head, and get busy with Your primary mission.  No more death talk, you get it.  Especially accusing the church leadership of wanting to torture and kill You.  That kind of talk is going to get You tortured and killed, by the people who still trust them, if not by them.  Now are we clear with what needs to happen?  I am sure all of us believe the same way here, and want the same things here.  You just gave us keys, so this is how we intend to use them.

And there it is folks, a paraphrase of every church leader throughout the ages reacting to news and the Truth they did not want to hear.  Reciting every logical reason why the Truth was wrong.  Reciting every long held doctrinal position so clearly backed up by scripture there could be no possible argument against it, except the words of the Truth, they do not want to hear.  In short, they all net down to the desires and vision of men, stacked against the will of God, that remains in our best interest, and not the best interest of God.  That is what Love means to Him.  Jesus responds in verse 23 saying … “But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.”  Ouch!  There is no stronger rebuke in history.  If Peter was given this name of affection because of his new role as being a stone in the construction of the church, he has just gone from blessed – to an offense as bad as Satan himself.

It is interesting that Jesus does not throw Peter out of the church.  But what occurs here is an object lesson on why authority can never be transferred from Jesus to any human.  Peter, and men throughout the ages, and in our churches still, and in our mirrors still; value our own desires – the desires of men – more than the will of God.  It is Satan himself behind this phenomenon.  And it seems perfectly reasonable, perfectly logical, perfectly sensible.  We know God loves His people.  We know God does not want His people to suffer at the hands of injustice.  We know God does not enjoy people worshipping pagan gods as a substitute for Himself.  So it only makes sense that Jesus end all the suffering brought on by Rome.  How could He not?  How could He leave the most cruel empire in human history in charge of the fates of His own people?  This empire ultimately being responsible for the deaths of so many of them.  That does not make any sense.  Yet Jesus looks at that line of thinking, and states, get thee behind me Satan.

In a short period of time Peter has gone from reciting the will of God through his lips, to reciting the will of Satan.  He has fallen so far he is literally “an offense” to Jesus.  No person is perfect, or should be revered just because the words of prophecy have passed their lips.  The message is what is important.  And as to the message, just because you have recited the will of God through your lips, does not make you immune to becoming the messenger of Satan and allowing his words to escape your lips as well.  There is fallibility in mankind, or in any office within the church of Jesus.  Leaders, and lay people alike, make mistakes.  We sometimes pursue a direction that is more akin to the will of Satan than it is the will of God.  To avoid this, we must heed the council of Jesus.  Put aside our own desires, as He did.  Submit our very desires to the transformation only Jesus can enact in us.  And allow Jesus to put our will in harmony with the will of God.  This takes submission on our part, and transformation on His.  But He does not fail.

Our Catholic friends like to use this sequence of texts to proffer the idea that here is where Jesus made Peter the first pope.  I see no evidence of that.  Nor do I see any evidence of establishing a line of succession of the transference of power through the ages.  What is clear, is the absolute fallibility of men, even of Peter.  Peter went from the revelation of God the Father, to attempting to rebuke Jesus citing the words of Satan as what Jesus should do.  That is not the mark of perfection, or of a church leader who can do no wrong.  It is quite the opposite.  It is also a demonstration of what occurs when the will of one person is offered without submission.  Even groups can be convinced of the wrong thing.  It is not just that when two or more are gathered.  It is not just the gathering.  It is the submission of self in the name of, to the person of, Jesus – only then can the will of God can be discerned.

And we must be willing to accept that will and that direction, even when we do not understand it.  Even when we do not think it makes sense.  Even when it seems entirely counterintuitive.  No matter what the revelation we receive over the course of our lifetimes, He is always right, we are often wrong.  Better to rely upon the authority of Jesus to run His church, and your life.  Better to trust the infallibility of Jesus who has never been wrong, than the record of your decisions which are scattered with wrong choices.  Better to look for the revelation of the will of God which comes when we are in submission to Jesus, than find ourselves uttering the revelations of Satan that are so much more pleasing to ourselves, and aligned with our desires and goals.  And the Truth has so much more to say …

 

 

Gravity and Other Laws of Physics ...

People like to argue over opinions, but few question facts like gravity, at least without paying the price.  It does not take a physicist to understand the simple law of gravity.  Even a two-year-old begins to understand, if I jump up, I will come back down again.  It is said Sir Isaac Newton discovered gravity when an apple fell from a tree and hit his head.  But then, how does a figure from the middle-ages get to claim something my two-year-old child understood on his first journey down, from a jump he made going up?  Seems to me, many 2-year-olds made this self-same discovery since Cain and Able were playing just outside of Eden.  Now taking credit for the obvious, that is entirely another matter.  Sounds like a wonderfully English thing to do.  And Americans have had no hesitation in inheriting this fine English trait, with which we add the concept of “abundance” and there you have it.  Everyone gets gravity, almost nobody understands democracy.

But there are few debates (outside of the world of physics and the study thereof) about the notion of gravity.  Common folks, from children to senior citizens, just understand what gravity does, and what happens when we try to defy it.  There is little sense in arguing that gravity does not exist, because people simply throw apples at you, until you change your mind, or at least until you be quiet about your lunacy.  Some things just are.  They exist despite our opinions about them.  They can be easily understood by the masses.  And they spark little debate.  This kind of commonly accepted fact can be used to great effect, when discussing more seemingly complex topics.  Discussing salvation for example; were I to compare something about salvation to gravity, since gravity is well understood, perhaps the point I am making about salvation might be equally well understood.  Enter Jesus.

Nearly 2000+ years ago, Jesus had a ton of people following Him around.  Perhaps not a ton, perhaps a legion, or maybe many legions.  The term ton may be well understood today, but it lacks the kind of comparison a Roman would have been keenly aware of in this day and time.  Suffice it to say, the crowd following Jesus was spread across the entire side of a mountain.  And His sermon had begun from near the top of it.  Jesus began by listing a state of blessing, few listeners could agree with, let alone understand.  His expressions were deep, they were profound.  These were teachings no member of the Sanhedrin had ever offered.  The sermon being done in a place no Pharisee had ever thought to preach at.  This was new.  His words might be interpreted, and then re-interpreted for 2 millennia to come, as Christians debated what it means to be blessed.  Something more basic was needed.  Something more akin to gravity.

Matthew records what followed in his gospel in chapter five picking up in verse 13 saying … “Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.”  Let’s talk about food.  Everybody eats.  And nearly everybody knows what salt tastes like, or at least what salt is supposed to taste like.  Even little kids and animals seem to get this concept.  But what happens when your salt, no longer tastes like salt?  What happens when your salt is nothing more than a white grainy powder with no taste at all, and with our collective luck, all the same health detriments that tasty salt still had?  Would you keep using it?  Would you keep putting the dead no-taste-salt on the food you were trying to season?  Would your two-year-old still eat it?  No.  You would ditch the stuff down the drain.  If you were American, you would take the empty container back to Walmart and scream at the sales lady until she gives you a new one, and a gift card for the added luxury of hearing you scream.  But the bottom line is, you would not use a worthless pile of white tasteless grains on your food.

This is what Jesus has just stated for His audience.  But here is where the analogy of crappy salt and a people who do not understand what salvation is, begins to form.  People who know Jesus, become different people.  Jesus does not change.  But you do.  The more time you spend with Jesus the tastier you get.  Just going to Temple, or church in our case, does not make you tasty, it just makes you a white grainy powder no one wants to use.  The container does not make the salt, salty.  The Creator of salt does. 

Hanging out with other pasty white grainy tasteless people does not improve the flavor of your salt, it just makes a sad statement about how much wasted salt there is in the land of Christianity.  A bunch of white tasteless power talking about religious “stuff” with another bunch of white tasteless powder is a waste of breath.  But learning from Jesus what Jesus has to say, that is an entirely different matter.  Jesus is not just a concept.  He digs in to your life.  He gets in to your business.  He digs down, and begins to work on areas of your life you do not want anyone else to know even exist.  But that is what Jesus does.  He gets in there and begins to make things better.  He gets in there and changes how you think, who you love, how you love, and what you want.  You become someone else.  You start getting very tasty.  At that point, church is over, and salvation has begun.

Salt is either worth using, or it’s not.  Jesus continues in verse 14 saying … “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. [verse 15] Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. [verse 16] Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”  The light of a candle in a dark place is not camouflage, it is the opposite of camouflage.  Everybody sitting in darkness will immediately see the light of a candle.  They may not see everything else there is in the room, but they will surely see the fire burning on the candle.  This is one of those gravity kinds of things.  Light fills darkness and few debate the nature of this idea.

So how does this apply to salvation?  Jesus changes who you are.  In short, He puts a passion in you, you have yet to even understand before He does it.  He makes you passionate about other people.  He makes you love them, truly care about their lives.  To the point where you forget to care about your own life.  You get so wrapped up in how others feel, you forget to take care of you, and somehow God takes care of you without even needing to ask.  But that passion for others, makes you different than who you were.  And believe me, people notice.  The guy or girl at the other end of you loving, really notices.  Whether a former enemy, a homeless person on the street, a person just down the pew from you in “church”, or a family member who has never seen you like this before.  People notice.  The fire of your love is like a candle in a dark room.  It chases darkness out, and draws attention.  And the question is … where did it come from?

Let’s face it, you don’t love like that today.  Maybe for someone, or even a few someone’s, but not like that for people you hardly knew, or hardly cared about before.  Those folks are bound to notice.  Because it was not there before, and now it is.  So where does it come from?  Well guess what, it doesn’t come from you.  If it did, it would be there today.  You cannot fake this kind of passion, it is too tiring to do.  But when it is real, when it is genuine, it comes with the energy you need to share it 24/7.  And the fire burns brightly, and people notice.  The question remains, where does it come?  The only explanation.  The only real answer is Jesus.  Jesus can put love in a heart of stone, and transform it to a heart of flesh.  Jesus can burn the apathy away, and replace it with a burning passion that just cannot sit still.  Once you catch fire, you begin to understand … this love does not come from you, it passes through you and originates in Jesus Christ.  You are just His candle, not the flame.  Jesus will always be the flame.  He just needs to put His fire into your vessel, and for that you must be willing to let Him transform you into one who wants it.

So most Christians are eager to hear this news, and get right into the waiting room of Jesus’ transformation area.  They are excited to hear they are going to be different.  But while they wait, and instead of submitting themselves, they decide to “live a little”.  If salvation is truly a gift from God, then perhaps we can accept that gift any old time.  Leave ourselves a little time to take care of number one, before we start getting all passionate about taking care of others.  And so begins the idea in the Christian’s head, that the law doesn’t matter anymore.  Love is what it is all about, so as long as I am loving me, and loving others, I should be OK.  Wrong.  Loving me leads to doing things to make me happy, most often at the expense of others.  Loving me, is not really loving at all.  The Law was given to point this physics based phenomenon out to us.

Jesus continues in verse 17 saying … “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. [verse 18] For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.”  Ta-da!  The Law stands as a mirror to show us who we truly love.  When we love others we would not even think to lie to them, dishonor them, steal from them, hate them or kill them.  You would not even need a law, if these thoughts never came into your mind.  But they do.  The thoughts that would hurt another enter the mind, because we are too focused on pleasing ourselves.  I want what you have, so I would lie to you to get it, steal from you if I could, hurt you if I have to.  All of the actions that hurt others reveal that I love myself, not others.  We justify our misdeeds in any number of ways, but the revelation who we love is made clear by the Law.  It is why Jesus does not come to destroy our mirror, but to give us a new perspective when we look into it.  We become someone else, someone in harmony with the law, instead of at war with it.  The transformation changes who we love, others not us.

Jesus continues in verse 19 saying … “ Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. [verse 20] For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.”  So Jesus makes a couple of points here.  Notice that breaking a commandment does not keep you “out” of the Kingdom of heaven.  Forgiveness covers our mistakes.  But it cannot make up for our opportunities we lose while breaking His Law, and loving only ourselves.  It is we who we punish when we love ourselves instead of letting Jesus make us passionate about loving others.  On the other hand, being in harmony with God’s law, understanding what it is like to truly be passionate about loving others, grants us every opportunity, and offers us a level of fulfillment we can hardly imagine today.

The second point Jesus makes and it is an important one … we cannot compare ourselves against other “people” to judge the state of our salvation.  Comparing yourself, even against a pastor or priest or Pharisee, does not make you one bit better off, or them one bit worse off.  It is like tasteless salt comparing grain sizes to determine who is better off, a big grain, or a little grain, both equally useless.  The religious intelligencia have their own problems to overcome.  They do not believe they need Jesus.  They believe intellect and a study of the Word can compensate for the lack of an intimate knowledge of Jesus.  They believe perfection can be achieved by force of will.  They only entertain partnerships with God where they do for themselves, and ask God to make up for the difference.  And they find no perfection, no relief from the desire to sin, and ultimately no salvation from themselves.  For they have dictated the terms of their salvation to be interlocked with self at the center of their Christian religion.  And these are the smart people.  Imagine the state of you and me.

But then … imagine the state of you and me.  Imagine what it would be like to be freed from who you are, by doing nothing more than letting Jesus free you from it.  Imagine becoming passionate about loving others not by “trying” to be passionate, but by letting Jesus reflect His love through you, instead of shutting it off to go do something else.  Imagine what it is like to have Jesus all up in your business.  Letting Jesus get to places you don’t want anyone else even knowing about.  Imagine knowing it is OK to let Jesus in there, because He makes all things new.  Imagine letting Jesus change how you think, who you love, how you love, and what you want.  You would be someone else.  And that would be a good thing.  A good thing for you, for those you love, for everybody.  You would be catching fire.  And once you get a taste of this, you won’t ever want to put it down.  You will reflect a fire, everyone else cannot help but see.  And that fire will consume everything about you, in a good way, in a great way.  Are you ready to let Jesus strike the match?

And the sermon was nowhere near finished yet …