Self-Imposed Slavery - 9.23.10 0820

In the days of the Old Testament and in the lives of those without Christ, life was governed by rules, rituals and regulations. There were foods you could not eat or touch. There were drinks you could not have, and holy days that had to be observed. People were unclean and untouchable, ostracized from society. Those were the days of the Law. And we are fighting not to return to them.

One of the innumerable benefits of the death and resurrection of our Lord is that we were set free from that life. Not only from the slavery the Law had put us under, but from the slavery of earning other people's respect and admiration by following the Law. The Pharisees were lifted above other people for their continued observance of both the written and the oral Law. In turn, Pharisees would look down on those who had not the will nor the means to follow it themselves. Knowledge became power, and abstinence from certain foods and drinks became righteousness. Christ set us free from that! And yet there are groups and churches that would have us return to that life of burden.

Paul consistently wrote church after church warning them of submitting themselves back to a life lived by a law. We are to live by the Spirit instead. To the Corinthians he warned against the eating of certain foods, but by telling them to be discerning of the situation rather than placing on themselves a law of abstinence from food offered to idols. To the Galatians, he warned about slipping back into the practice of circumcision to attain God's favor and righteousness, admonishing instead the circumcision of the heart by the Spirit, and following God with inner motivations as opposed to outter laws placed by other people on you. To the Colossians, his words were much less specific and much more encompassing, telling them not to let any person judge them simply by what they eat, drink, or observe - "things that are destined to perish with use."

There is a time and place for human rules and laws. If you struggle with alcohol abuse and have a hard time with self-control, abstain! Don't tempt yourself with a drink saying you'll have "just one" when you know a fifth or sixth will follow. But don't look down on others because they don't have the same problem and don't impose your abstinence on them, dressing it as if it is a mandate from God for everyone. At the same time, the rest of us shouldn't drink around those we know have a problem. Help your brother or sister by not drinking around them, encouraging them in their battle against an addiction.

In the same way, if deep down you do not feel right about killing animals for food, abstain! There are plenty of meat-free diets that can keep you healthy, but if someone else does not have the same conviction don't impose your abstinence on them. And for the other side, don't balk or scoff at people who are moved with such compassion for the rest of God's creation. Love is driving them to such abstinence and it should be respected by not eating meat around them and enjoying the meal they prepare for you.

The list can go on (smoking, Christmas and Easter and Halloween observance, Sunday as the holiest day of the week, etc.), but the point is the same for each. There is freedom in Christ from man-made laws to attain more righteousness. That freedom is not to be abused and the Spirit is to be discerned in any given situation. Nothing is evil in and of itself, but brothers and sisters should be respected for their convictions. There is a law, but it is the law of love. For God, for others. Above that, there is no greater law.

Remember that Christ died to set us free from man-made laws that make you "holy." He made you into a new creation that is already holy through your faith in him. God will direct you on what you should abstain from and where self-control may be more appropriate, because they can be two separate things. I cannot find or recall one passage in the New Testament that says abstinence on food, alcohol, or days in the year is mandated for all believers, but there are copious passages saying self-control (possibly, moderation?), discernment and respect are to be practiced. In fact, self-control is named as one of the obvious fruits of the Spirit. Can the same be said for abstinence from food or drink? No, and in fact Paul specifically condemns such actions, saying they have the "appearance of wisdom," but are lacking in value in restraining indulgence. If you lead a ministry and require followers of Christ to follow such things to be more "holy," then I can unhesitatingly say you are wrong. Your heart may be in the right place, but do not force a calling you might have on others. Allow God to govern the flock, and allow him to use you to encourage it.

What makes it real for you? - 9.19.10 0930

What if this was a true story:

Sleeping alone in my house, three men in masks broke into my apartment and dragged me naked from my bed. Roughly, they gagged me and pushed me into their car and drove. Not seeing past my blindfold and disoriented from the abuse, I struggled to think of what I might have done to warrant this hatred from these men. The car stopped and I was tossed into an abandoned warehouse of some type where they tied me to a chair and began to describe in detail how I would slowly die over the next month, the things they would do to me to prolong the pain, and how my family would follow close in my footsteps. Nothing would satisfy their anger except the death of me and my loved ones.

The next morning, after a sleepless night of kicks, punches, and wordless nightmares they suddenly stopped. With barely a word they tossed me a ragged shirt, some pants, led me to a car, and drove me home. They then pushed me out of the car and told me to get out of here, just saying I don't have to worry anymore because they had gotten the man they were really after. Then they drove off with merciless smiles, obviously relishing what would be done to their hapless victim.

See, my friend Jeremy had quickly learned what had happened to me almost as soon as I was taken, and he knew why. For reasons I still don't understand, they had been after him and his family the whole time. Understanding what they would do to me, he made the gut wrenching decision he had known would one day have to be made. He knew there was but one thing, one target for their anger, that would save the life of me and my family. And he did it. He sent his 3 year old boy to the men, to die instead of me.




I began the story by saying what if this was true. I'm finishing it now by saying it is.

If this had happened in the details I described, I would be living my life completely different with respect to Jeremy. I would be at his house immediately, on my knees, thanking him for giving up his young man to save me and my family. I would be crying with him as he struggled to tell me how hard the decision had been for him, but how he knew it was only by this self-less act that so many others he loved would be rescued. I would never leave his side, day or night, acting the part of a slave to his every need or request, knowing that his action I would never be able to duplicate in my own life. I would wake up and go to sleep everyday thanking him to his face for the ransom he paid to save me. Knowing it to be useless, some days I might angrily tell him it wasn't worth it, that he should have let us all die instead of giving his son to those horrible men to do unspeakable things to him. And every time, he would remind me that one had to die for the good of the many, that it had been horrible that the decision had to have been his, but that because of his love for me and mine, it was a decision that had to have been made.

Why is it so hard to live that life now?

Why do I have such difficulty in living for God the way I would assuredly be living for Jeremy in this situation? The event was 2000 years ago, but the results are the same. Some of the means are different, but the end product is not. I was a captive and God did what needed to be done, at great cost to himself, to free me. Not only that, he did it for those people that wanted absolutely nothing to do with him! Who does that? What kind of person does that?

A person of love.

A God of love.

Lord, help me to be a man after your own heart.

Ringing Moments - Limbo of Victory

"Frodo, neither the Voice nor the Eye: free to choose, and with one remaining instant to do so. He took the Ring off his finger." -Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

The struggle. Daily, even minute by minute at times. So accurately described in so many places, and yet no easier to deal with each time.

We are neither the Voice nor the Eye, the Holy Spirit nor the Spirit of Evil. We are the agent in the middle, free to choose and at times with only an instant to do so.

"But i see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind..."

Freed from the bondage of sin, and yet not yet given our new bodies, we find ourselves in limbo, struggling to listen to the Voice of God and constantly aware of being under the ever watchful Eye of the Accuser. This classic struggle of good versus evil is masterfully rendered by Tolkien with Frodo fighting to take off the Ring before he is found and over taken by the Enemy.

"Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me..."

But we have a hope. We know our sins no longer condemn us, for there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. We know that there is an ever present second chance for the prodigal children, that our mistake of not taking the Ring off in time is never the final word. Paul's parallel to this scene in Romans 7:15-25 ends with this ringing declaration of victory, "Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!" Thanks be to God indeed, that our struggle is not in vain and that we have more than the Voice to help, but also the strength of God and the freedom of Christ to see us persevere until the end.

Salvation - 4.29.09 1045 (part 3)

But what is salvation anyway? This is what i can gather so far. It is a restored relationship with God. What was broken before is now fixed. There is a big emphasis on the fact that something that was once dead has been revived, resurrected, brought back to life. Because it has been restored, God also dwells in you. We have a fuller and a more untainted access to his guidance and influence and discernment. You have eternal life that is sustained by God, not inherent in yourself. God is the life-giver. Salvation also means freedom from bondage/slavery to sin. We are no longer obligated to follow those desires. When we do, it's because we let it, where as before, without God's restored indwelling, we were obligated to follow it. With salvation comes God's righteousness. But salvation and righteousness are distinct from each other. There were righteous people before Christ's coming, but there weren't saved people.

One of the most interesting parts about salvation is how it's talked about in the New Testament; it's timeless. It is a past, completed action. "I was saved three years ago." But it's also a continuous action in the present. "I am being saved" or "I'm in the process of being renewed." There's this whole idea surrounding salvation that we are to "work it out" and that we are being "conformed to his image." These are actions happening right now that are in motion towards a goal; Christlikeness. And then there is the future hope of salvation, this idea that it hasn't happened yet - at least not in all it's fullness - but that it will. In fact, it is a "sure hope," in the sense that we can have absolute confidence in it's completion. Salvation has a much more, well, Hebraic sense to it where it's not spoken of completely in a "past/present/future" tense, but a timeless understanding of whether it's a completed or "perfect" tense (in grammar-like terms). That's why Paul, who is fundamentally Hebrew in his thinking, can talk about it as a finished action, whether he's referring to it in past, present or future. It has happened, is happening, and most assuredly will completely happen without fail.

Salvation - 4.29.09 1045 (Part 2)

Salvation is a gift, 100% from God and of God. Nothing about us or from us causes, earns, draws out of God, obligates it. You can live a wonderful life, love God, give to the poor, etc. but you don't get salvation because of it. If you did, it would, again, be about works. Salvation is not given to just those types because then it would not be available to all. Prostitutes. Druggies. Alcoholics. They wouldn't have access to it. That is the beautiful thing about it. It is Free. Free in the sense that you don't get it by exchanging something for it. "I'll give you good deeds, my first born, my tithes, my time, in exchange for eternal life." But it is not free in the sense of unconditional.

This may seem like semantics, but it's an important distinction that some get confused. IT IS CONDITIONAL. You get it by faith. That is why everyone has access to it! Anyone can put their faith in God. Not everyone can live a drug free life (on their own) or get rid of habits to live a perfect life (on their own). In fact, no one can. That's one of the points of Christ's ministry and Paul's Roman epistle! But everyone has been given a chance to trust/believe/be loyal to God. You have your whole life to do it. And when you have faith in God, God is still not obligated to give you salvation. But He chooses to! That is why it remains 100% from God, 100% gift. He has made the gift available by faith. We didn't make the conditions, but God has made conditions. You have to accept the gift through faith. "Free" and "unconditional" are two very different things. If salvation were unconditional, everyone would have it. But since it's free and conditional, everyone can have it, because everyone can meet the God ordained conditions. Question is, do you want to?