Category Archives: Theology

Bible Study, Preaching, Theology

Compare and contrast of Sin

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Good or Bad.  Right or Wrong.  Fun or Boring.  Easy or Difficult.  Beautiful or Ugly.  Every day, we’re surrounded by judgments, whether on the television or in our own minds.  Our culture is strongly attached to categorizing and comparing.

Yet we’re also told that it’s not politically or even spiritually correct to judge.  Accept difference, see similarity, no one is better or worse than anyone else.  Some kid’s baseball games no longer keep score for fear of being the “losers.”  I am not bald; I am just hair-challenged”.

In a Bible study the other day I was totally distracted by the concept of compare and contrast of two disciples of Jesus.  One is proclaimed as the founder of the church named Peter and the other Judas who is most remembered as the betrayer of Jesus.  One is held in high esteem and the other has become catch phrase for deceit and disloyalty.

So what was the difference?  What is the judgement Christianity has made through the eons?  I think we have to get down to motives or the mindsets of the two characters in question.

Peter betrayed Jesus purely out of fear.  Three times he denied Jesus.  We all know the story.  There is but one conclusion to Peter’s motives.  He was fearful of being put on trial himself just for being associated with Jesus.  Now fear as a motive can be a good thing.  It keeps us from driving into walls and drinking unknown liquids.  The problem is that is a very selfish motive.  Self-preservation is a natural desire.  The issue comes up that Peter knew it was going to happen.  Jesus had told him just the night before in response of Peter’s claim he would have Jesus’s back no matter what.

OK, how about Judas?  What was his motive?  What caused Judas to approach the religious leaders of Judah?  It could not be about the money.  I would not turn anyone in to the religious hierarch for a few pieces of silver.  He was the treasurer for the twelve.  He could have just taken the purse and run off at any time.  There must be more to the equation.

Judas was the only disciple from Judah.  All the others were from Galilee. The only one that had lived his life in a society that was saturated with religion and the devout.  His life was filled with temple and biblical festivals.  He was familiar with the roles and jobs of the priests.  The Temple was the center of his life.  He saw the Priestly system as a vital part of society.

I can really see Judas being the only one trying to bridge the gap.  When Jesus went to Jerusalem, he condemned the very ones Judas had held in the highest esteem.  Judas naturally tried to stand in the gap between the radical Galilee preacher and the establishment.  When Jesus started to talk about the great confrontation with religion it was just too much for Judas.

Judas thought if he could just bring the two parties together into on final confrontation both the Priestly class and Jesus would reconcile and he would be seen as the peacemaker.  But when it all went sour, when the priests started talking about death and crucifixion, when they brought in the Roman’s into the discussion, when they started to whip Jesus; Judas realized the reconciliation would never happen.  When the ones he had tried to bring together with his Rabbi betrayed, Judas could not take it.  His good motive was dashed by the results.  So Judas, now rejected by both his society and his teacher, could not combine his world of the past and the world of the present, he went out and killed himself.

Was Peter’s motive, what was in his heart, the silent just call of his heart to do better was just stuffed down and he betrayed Jesus.  Judas with a good motive and the best of intentions could not handle the impact of his actions.  Peter’s denial hurt no one, Judas betrayal set in motion the death of Jesus and his ultimate suicide.

Which of these two committed the greater sin?

Neither.  Sin is Sin.  The difference was that Peter found a place to be forgiven, Judas did not.  And so we make a judgement that Judas was bad and Peter was good.

Sin is sin, bad things happen to everyone.  Bad things like disappointment, betrayal, physical problems, rejection of love, broken relationships, all happen to everyone.  Bad things happen to good people.  Bad things happen to bad people.  Bad is not sin.  Bad can lead to sin.  And what can be concluded from this comparison of Judas and Peter is that sin can lead to bad.

What do you think?

Theology

Humanity of God

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Many struggle with the concept of the humanity of God.  Or for that matter the Godliness of man.  What is the significance of Jesus as the perfect man and the perfect God at the same time.  Is it all that important?  Is it necessary for me, as a Christian, to believe this dual congruence?

If Jesus was just a very holy man, a great teacher or rabbi, just a great pious person or a holy man with a charismatic character it is enough?   I have found sources that see Jesus as a not single unified being but a physical entity that had a divine consciousness.  But on further study that philosophy has too many pitfalls.  And while you are at it contrary to the Bible.

In my simple mind there are two truths on this subject:
1.  The mark of humanity is birth (Jesus was born of a woman)
2.  The mark of divinity is resurrection (the empty tomb of Jesus)

So why did God become man?  Why did Jesus become God with us?
Why did Jesus become like us?  Why did Jesus become God for us?

It is all about feelings.  Not empathy.  I have never given birth.  I will never know the pain or the changes a mother goes through.  But for that matter I really don’t want to know. I don’t want to experience child birth.  But without being a woman how will I ever understand?

Only a human could sympathize with our weaknesses and temptations. In His humanity, Jesus was subjected to all the same kinds of trials that we are, and He is, therefore, able to sympathize with us and to aid us. He was tempted; He was persecuted; He was poor; He was despised; He suffered physical pain; and He endured the sorrows of a lingering and most cruel death. Only a human being could experience these things, and only a human being could fully understand them through experience.

God’s deity limits His intimacy. God is omniscient up to a point of experience.  Science has examined it all, but not one can know what it is like to be me.

What do you think?

Life, Theology, Worship

Lent

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Lent is a season in which the Church proclaims life is more than just getting by day to day. Lent is about renewal.  It is observed by self-denial. It is saying I can do without something that may well be set in concrete in our lives.  For some it is giving up sweets, for others it is giving up certain meals, for others it is not eating meat of any kind two or three days a week. Lent is a kind of short term “New Year’s Resolution.”

The word Lent means “Spring;” we use it now when we speak of the spring fast–the forty days before Easter Day–I mean forty days not including Sundays, for Sundays are never fast days.

Does the word “fast” frighten you? Does it mean something hard, something very distasteful, or perhaps something that does not concern you at all? If so, it is because you have not yet learnt for yourself (as I hope you will this Lent) its true meaning and happiness.

This is the invitation which our LORD sends to each one of us this Lent–listen to His Voice.  It is as if Jesus is speaking to us “Come ye yourselves (here mention your own name) apart into a desert place, and rest awhile.”

Lent is about realizing I’m on a journey I don’t really get, led by a God I can’t really grasp.  And the end of it all is God.

Life, Sermon Illustration, Theology

Absurd

ab·surd

adjective

    wildly unreasonable, illogical, or inappropriate.

   “the allegations are patently absurd”

    synonyms:      preposterous, ridiculous, ludicrous, farcical, laughable, risible, idiotic, stupid, foolish, silly, inane, imbecilic, insane, harebrained, cockamamie;

It just does not make sense.

I am a man without parents.  They are both deceased. I am an orphan. But, you would say, “most people out live their parents.”  Sure, but it is more than that.  I am an orphan in other ways. To my knowledge man, (and I use that as a generic term for human kind), is the only creature in the universe who asks, “Why?” Other animals have instincts to guide them, but man has learned to ask questions. “Who am I?” man asks. “Why am I here? Where am I going?” Generations have come and gone. There have been repeated efforts to eliminate anything that would amount to authority. More and more are trying to throw off the metaphorical shackles of religion.  But the questions still exist.  If there is no God, “Shy am I here? And Where am I going?”  still need answers.

If we take God out of the answer, if we try to answer the questions of life without reference to God we are faced with dismal answers. The answers are not hopeful, helpful, encouraging, but dark and terrible. Without God in the answer then man is nothing more than the accidental by-product of nature, a result of matter plus time plus chance. There is no reason for your existence. All you face is death.

Modern man thought that when he had gotten rid of God, he had freed himself from all that repressed and stifled him. Instead, he discovered that in killing God, he had also killed himself. For if there is no God, then man’s life becomes absurd.

The absence of God means that both man and the universe has but one end.  And that end is death.  Man like a bug hiding under a rock, must die. Without a hope for immortality there is just bleakness and despair.  Might as well “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow die.” Like Shakespeare said in Macbeth:

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day To the last syllable of recorded time, And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

Without God we are just food for the worms, a flash amid the thousand stars, lost amid the blackness. If you push out God you also push out eternity.

Call me absurd but, for me there has to be more than that.

I know not why God’s wondrous grace to me he hath made known,

nor why, unworthy, Christ in love redeemed me for his own.

But I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able

to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day.

I know not how this saving faith to me he did impart,

nor how believing in his word wrought peace within my heart.

But I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able

to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day.

I know not how the Spirit moves, convincing us of sin,

revealing Jesus through the word, creating faith in him.

But I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able

to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day.

I know not when my Lord may come, at night or noonday fair,

nor if I walk the vale with him, or meet him in the air.

But I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able

to keep that which I’ve committed unto him against that day.

Words: Daniel W. Whittle

Music: James McGranahan

Preaching, Sermon Illustration, Theology, Worship

Home Plate and God

Kids today are introduced to sports at earlier and earlier in their lives. Sports teach valuable lessons on teamwork, creates opportunities to get exercise, and gets them out of the house.  When I was young, and that was a very long time ago, my first organized sport was baseball. In our little town, there were two levels of Little League: National League and American League.  All the good kids, the ones that actually had talent were all in the National League and the not so talented were in the lower American League.  The year I started I was in the not so good group.  For some unknown reason the coach decided that I was going to be the catcher.

I played in the American League for two years and finally moved up to the big league.  I never moved out of the role of catcher.  I learned the game from the side of the plate most don’t see.  All the other players had positions inside of the playing field.  Only the catcher has a position outside of the foul lines.

Since that time, I have played both baseball and softball.  Most of the time I always was outside of the lines.  Once in a while I pitched, but most of the time you could find me squatting down behind the batter with a mask, a breast protector, knee pads and waiting on someone else to do something.

The game has changed much from a little kid with a wood bat to modern aluminum double walled nitrogen filled force multiplying bats of vengeance.  But one thing has not changed.  The home shaped base where everything started and ended never changed.  It was always seventeen inches wide.  In the first year of the American League to now that seventeen-inch-wide white home plate has always been the same. Uniforms would change, bats would change, even the ball changed, but the plate stayed the exact width of seventeen inches.

If a pitcher would miss the edge of the plate it was not up to the umpire to make the strike zone a little wider because the pitcher was outside by only an inch.  The strike zone was defined by the width of the plate and the plate was always seventeen inches.  The strike zone was not fungible because the plate did not change.  It was a constant.  No matter what park you went to, no matter what game you saw on the television it was unalterable.

During all of those games and practices, I noticed something.

The plate was one of the most holy things in baseball.  It was holy because it was unchangeable.  It was always an absolute part of every game, the size and position of the plate was immutable.  It was holy because it was set apart from opinion; it was not dependent upon public opinion.  It was holy because majority rule did not dictate the width.  A pitchers preference has no bearing on it.  No one can change it.  It is sacrosanct from the smallest Little Leaguer, to the big show of the major leagues.

So what does this mean to theology?  What can we learn? If a man made game can consider something as small as the width of a piece of rubber being holy, what does God consider as Holy?  What does God set as his seventeen-inch home plate?  What does God consider Holy?  For that matter is raises the question of “Why is it Holy to God?”  And one more step in our rise to understanding, “Are God’s concept of Holy the same as my concept of Holy?”

Quickly here is a list that I believe is on the God’s Home Plate list.

You are holy.

If you are a follower of Christ, you have been bought with a price.  You are united with Christ and you are now holy because God’s holiness is your holiness.  You because of your acceptance of a free gift from God you are “set apart for a purpose.”

Human life is holy.

God’s plan was to create life that would be his.  Every beating heart matters to God.   It does not matter if that heart is in the chest of a prisoner, in the chest of an elderly senior in a convalescent home, in the chest of a great theologian, in the chest of a child in the womb of a mother.  All are holy to God

Marriage is holy.

When the officiant speaks of holy matrimony, it is not by mistake. Marriage is a set apart relationship.  That is true for good marriages or not so good.  It is not stretched to a different dimension just because the pitcher would like to be a little wider.  I believe that marriage even if there has been betrayal, or other circumstances that have broken trust, marriage is still holy.

The Sabbath is holy.

It is God’s dimension of our lives to take a day off.  Six days are enough.  And now that I am older I am thinking one and a half may suit me better.  But at last one day for God as the only focus of my life is what is designed.

Our tithe is holy.

“A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD.” (Leviticus 27:30 NIV) The first ten per cent of everything you earn is, in God’s eyes, holy money. We never give it to God, we return what is already his. The tithe is holy.

The name of God is holy.

God’s name is holy.  It is not to be used in a slur or in a time of frustration.  The use of God’s name in profanity is simply making something holy to extend into the unholy.  It dilutes the holy name of God; it rubs the shine of His Glory of the beauty of God.  The world would like the children of God to be so common that God’s holy name becomes common.

The Holy things of God are few and many.  But they must be the same as they were in the old times and the modern.  As the width of the home plate will always stay at seventeen inches, so God will be the same and with that unchangeability comes the Holy things of God.

Our world around would have us change the definition of life not to include the unborn.  Sex outside of marriage is seen as the normal.  We work every day with the expectation to rest latter and we are rewarded for it by a bigger paycheck.  We want make it a free will offering and not a tithe. People become disposable.  Life becomes more of an existence instead of something to please God.  Everything of the world would have us say “that home plate is old school.”  “We need to make is broader so everyone can get a better shot at winning.”

The width of home plate is not up for discussion, neither is God’s call to holiness.

Ramblings, Theology

Judgement

There is a difference between discernment and judgement.  Further more there is a fine line between them.  I believe you can and should discern that which you encounter in our lives and things in our lives.  I also believe we should not and can not judge anyone. So what is the difference.  In the process of discernment, if the examination includes a comparison and yourself, you have reached the line.  And the moment you think yourself as being better you have crossed the line.  The difference between examination and condemnation, the difference between discernment and judgement is comparison to self.

Bible Study, Theology

Quit trying to please everyone!

“It is dangerous to be concerned with what others think of you” (Proverbs 29:25 GN)

*When we worry about what other people think, we let them control us. We waste a lot of time and energy trying to figure out what other people want us to be. Then, we waste a lot of time and energy trying to become like that rather than just being what God made us to be. You’re manipulated and controlled by somebody else.

Worrying about what other people think is dangerous because we’re more likely to cave in to criticism. It means we don’t always do the right thing; instead, we do the thing that everybody wants us to do.

And we’re in danger of missing God’s best because we’re so worried about what other people want us to do that we can’t stop to think about what God wants us to do.

Fact #1: You cannot please everybody. Even God can’t please everybody. One person prays for it to rain; another prays for it to be sunny. In the Super Bowl, both teams are praying that they will win. Who is God going to answer? God can’t please everybody. Only a fool would try to do what even God can’t do. You can’t please everybody.

Fact #2: It’s not necessary to please everybody. There is a myth that says you must be loved and approved by everybody in order to be happy. That’s just not true. You don’t have to please everybody in order to be happy in life.

Fact #3: Rejection will not ruin your life. It hurts, sure. It’s not fun. It’s uncomfortable. But rejection will not ruin your life unless you let it.

Quit trying to please everybody! Remember that nobody can make you feel inferior unless you give them permission.

The Apostle Paul says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31 TEV) This means we can think like this: ‘God likes me, and I like me; if you don’t like me, then you’ve got a problem. If God likes me, who cares that everybody doesn’t approve of everything I do.’

Remember, nothing you ever do will make God love you less. Nothing you ever do will make God love you more. He loves you completely right now.

Theology

Stink

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Christian graciousness is often misused by many to allow the presence of sin around us to become more tolerable. “We are not of the world” so we must allow the sin of others to continue and we become mere spectators. We allow others, even those we love and closest to us, to continue in their behaviors in the name of Christian love.  The result is allowance of the stink around us.  Christian graciousness is not trying to make someone else’s sin less odoriferous.  It is, in part, always remembering that mine stinks every bit as bad.

Bible Study, Theology

Willing is the first step

Matthew 8:1-4
Being an outcast throughout his life a leper was willing to try most anything to be included.  I heard a song today about a woman who was struggling to be included.  She sung, “We are all the same inside but everyone wants to compare me by my outside.”  The leper was just like you and I on the inside but the only thing that was seen was his medical handicap.
So he came to Jesus and  made the statement: “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” He had acknowledged the very evident power of God.  He acknowledged the ability of Jesus to heal.  He didn’t ask to be healed he just stated facts.  His willingness was a statement, not a question or even a request.  He had fallen down at the feet of Jesus and in an attitude of worship he proclaimed that the power of God through his Only Begotten Son can heal. God in human form was able to make the outside just like the inside. To become like everyone else.
Jesus stretched out his hand and made the astonishing statement, “I am willing, and you are clean.”  the leper was as clean on the outside as he was on the inside.  The scabs fell off.  The red splotches that had itched and pained this man for years turned like a pale rose.
He was probably very excited and wanted to tell everyone around him the news. But Jesus told him to keep his tongue, and to perform some required tasks in the local synagogue.
Not words, not exciting verbosities exclaimed to everyone around him proclaiming the Chosen One of Israel.
Go and make sacrifices. Do what Moses would have him do.  Do the things that normal Israelites would do if healed.  Let the outside be the same as the inside.
His actions were his testimony.  And the result of being normal in the middle of everyone else that once saw him as different, was spectacular.  The non-verbal became the verbal.  Action became the testimony.  The testimony became a calling to those who are not the same on the inside and the outside.  His miracle in itself became a shout to the world of the healing power of God.
God is still making the unlovely, the strange, the unique, the ones that shrink from the norm, the ones that are different inside and the ones that different on the outside, in an instant to become whole.
He is willing as soon as you are willing.

Bible Study, Theology

Dig another well

I have never been one to point fingers.  I believe that the effort expended in the pursuit of whom or what was at fault is simply wasted energy. My belief comes from two other mantras which I have accepted; 1) control is a myth, and 2) we are responsible for our own decisions. But we seem to live in a culture that seems to be always looking for an excuse. Things happen to both good people and not so good people.  Good things happen and we want to take credit and when the opposite raises its ugly face we want to blame. Blame is easier than understanding the reasons for tragedy and hardship.

In the recent Supreme Court decision on marriage our first reaction is to blame someone.  It is all those liberal judges, or it is that small group of dissidents that prevailed against my own sense of right and wrong. We end up singing the “woe is me” song or chant “our country is going to hell in a hand basket.”

We want to blame someone for our own personal lack of control of those black robed judges in Washington.  Our lack of control wants us to blame. Our frustration which comes from the lack of control is vented outward.

Yes there is a moral crisis in our country and in our world.  And the most followed religion in this world is seemingly unable to slow it down.  The counter-forces against the Church seem to be winning.  The cannon fire of the opposition seems to be better aimed and more powerful.  We are exasperated at our own personal and corporate control of the terrible slide downward.

Country singer Paul Overstreet wrote a song about a story in Genesis 26, which contains an important lesson for us. In this song Isaac is renamed Ike. Listen to the lyrics:

Ike had a blessing from the Lord up above,
Gave him a beautiful woman to love,
A place to live, some land to farm,
Two good legs and two good arms.

The Devil came sneaking around one night,
Decided he would do a little evil to Ike.
Figured he hit ole Ike where it hurts so he
Filled up all Ike’s wells with dirt

Ike went out to get his morning drink,
Got a dip full of dirt and his heart did sink
He knew it was the Devil so he said with a grin
God blessed me once, he can do it again

So when the rains don’t fall, and the crops all fail,
And the cow ain’t putting any milk in the pail,
Don’t sit around waiting for a check in the mail,
Just pick up your shovel and dig another well,
Pick up your shovel and dig another well.
Adversity is part of life.  For the Christian it just means we should realize God’s blessed and loved people will undergo uncontrollable problems. We can’t control the adversity. And it is not about fault.  It is how we react to adversity that counts. Life can be unfair.  People and circumstances can hurt you and steal from you, people can make decisions that you don’t agree with, the music may not be to your liking, but how we react is more important than all these things.  It is a personal decision to pick up your shovel and dig another well; because God blessed me once, he can do it again.

It is more than just smiling and setting your jaw to keep on keeping on.  There is an expectation, a faith  that God will be vindicated. In the end there is hope.  Because God is still in the blessing business.