Minor catastrophe today. Someone with a bent toward evil hacked this sight and erased most of the content. Spent most of the day getting most of it back. Lost about a month of posts. I will try and get them back up this week. Pray for me that I don’t explode!
The truth is not enough.
Sometimes I just don’t get some of the assumptions I hear from my brothers and sisters in the church. It could well stem from personal experiences or even pre-conceived understandings of my own. Whatever my problem may well be, I hear some of the strangest voiced conclusions and they set my own sensibilities on edge.
A few years back I was teaching a class on the book of John. We were trying as a group to understand Jesus. What brought up the edgy feeling was the response to the question, “Why do you study the Bible?” That question had many answers. Some of the answers were conditioned “Sunday School” answers, while others were a little more honest, and others from those who were truly seeking more in their spiritual lives. It was the last answer that didn’t seem quite right. “I study the bible to be a better Christian.” What it sounded like to me was this apt student was equating the accumulation of facts and theological understanding with growth.
I pressed him to clarify and he quoted from John 8:32, “The truth will make you free.” He was saying when there is enough truth in your life you will, by that accumulation, become a better Christian.
I didn’t argue or tell him he was wrong, I simply smiled and jotted down a note to get a better understanding of his perceived pathway to growth.
At issue is endemic to many in the church. The idea of filling your heart with so much knowledge, so much scripture, that you become a super Christian, is often proclaimed. What a terrible thought. What an indictment against the very God in which we serve. Before you get your own hackles up, let me explain.
First, the Gospel of John does say, “the truth will set you free.” But like most misconceptions of the will of God, it was taken out of a larger portion of scripture. Jesus was speaking to Jews who had been influenced by the Pharisees and had come to an understanding of Jesus. They had the head knowledge. They had accumulated so much Jewish theology and insight of the prophets, they saw these as pointers to Jesus being the Messiah. Consequently, they had accepted the words of Jesus as truth.
Second, the Gospel of John in the same eighth chapter and which this “make you free” statement was stated also includes a preface. “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and that truth will set you free.” The key is not accumulation but a holding.
Holding is not just gathering the wheat in the fields and taking it as an accomplishment. Holding is knowing the purpose of the wheat and making bread. To be a disciple is to conform to the teachings of God, to stay on a prescribed path set by God, and it is to be more than a sponge.
Why do I study the Bible? Two things. I study to understand God and His path for me. And subsequently, to finding that path, I utilize my new understanding to follow that path. My life is one of revelation and reconciliation. Without the second part, the first part is without much help to my growth. My growth is dependent upon my understanding of God’s place for me AND my willingness to do something about it.
GREAT High Priest
I am not a catholic. Further, the hierarchy of my local church does not include anyone with the title of Priest. Sometimes I wonder about the necessity to have a priest at all. Again, it is probably part of my Protestant background. Never-the-less, as I am studying a portion of the New Testament entitled Hebrews, I find several passages depicting Jesus as the High Priest (Hebrews 2:17; 3:1; 4:14-5:10; 6:20; 7:11-8:2; 10:12). The office of priest was an important one in the Old Testament system and is fulfilled by Jesus.
In the Jewish system, a priest mediated between the people and God. They seemed to need a person to assume a job as middleman. Appointed to that job was Aaron and his descendants, with the tribe of Levi serving as assistants in the Tabernacle (Numbers 3:5-10). The Levites were viewed as belonging to God (Numbers 3:12); they were set apart and very special. I found specific regulations for the priests in Leviticus 21 – 22. The high priest was the chief religious leader and had certain duties. The most important, of these duties, was the high priest who entered the Most Holy Place on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). Only the high priest could enter and, before doing so, he was required to make a sacrifice for himself. In this way the high priest was cleansed and could then go on to offer the cleansing sacrifices for the people (Leviticus 16).
This is where Hebrews comes in speaking to a group of Jewish Christians, and tells them that Jesus is the Great High Priest who mediates. His sacrifice is what provides cleansing for our sins. Rather than a yearly (or daily) atonement, Jesus’ sacrifice is once-for-all (Hebrews 10:1-18). Jesus, like the high priests of Old Testament times, stands in the gap between us (the people) and God. He made the necessary sacrifice for us (Jesus was without sin so did not need to offer a sacrifice for Himself as did the high priests of the Old Testament). Those who have put their faith in Jesus have been made righteous by Him (2 Corinthians 5:21) and are now able to enter God’s presence. This mediation of Jesus is permanent and continual. Hebrews 7:23-25 says, “The former priests were many in number, because they were prevented by death from continuing in office, but he holds his priesthood permanently, because he continues forever.” While Jesus’ sacrifice was once-for-all, His mediation for us continues. Jesus also communicates the will of God to us through His teachings and through the Holy Spirit (John 14:26).
Jesus is not only our High Priest, but also a “priest forever after the order of Melchizedek” (Hebrews 7:11-22). Melchizedek is introduced in Genesis 14. He is said to be both a king and a priest (Genesis 14:18). He met Abram (later known as Abraham) after Abram’s battle victory. In their meeting, Melchizedek blessed Abram, and Abram gave him a tenth of everything, thus confirming Melchizedek’s priesthood and authority. The writer of Hebrews explains that Jesus is of this order of priests – His priesthood is based on authority rather than on lineage (Hebrews 7:11-17), and it is also kingly. Therefore, Jesus’ priesthood institutes a new way of being: “For when there is a change in the priesthood, there is necessarily a change in the law as well” (Hebrews 7:12). With Jesus as High Priest, a new covenant is in effect.
So do we need someone to stand in the gap? Yes. Do we need someone to make a sacrifice? Yes. Do we need someone to represent us? Yes. Do we need a new covenant? Yes. Do we need a new relationship to God? Yes. Yes to all these. Perhaps the most crucial thing for believers to understand today is that it is because Jesus is our High Priest that we can approach God with confidence (Hebrews 4:16). We no longer need to go through earthly mediators. Jesus has broken the barrier, made the sacrifice, established a new covenant, and re-instituted our relationship with God. Because of our High Priest, we are free to come to God.
Christian Sabbath?
The big question for the Sabbath is whether in the New Testament a commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy, is the same it was commanded in the Old Testament. Do we, as enlightened new covenant Christians, be constrained in the same manner and constricted like the Hebrews.
Remember, if you will, if we say yes to this conformity, then the same punishment is also attached. The Hebrew law for Sabbath keeping states you could be killed for carrying sticks on the sabbath day.
Let’s ignore the issue of which day is the sabbath, we can address that some other day. That issue need not be addressed here because we have to understand the requirements of sabbath and their relevance to us before setting a time and place.
In Romans 14 we are admonished not to quarrel and accept those whose faith is weak. But it goes on to speak to the sabbath issue in verse 5: “One person considers one day more sacred than another; another considers every day alike. Each of them should be fully convinced in their own mind.” Please notice this is not an indictment of those who keep one day holy and another as secular or unholy. The argument is the keeping a day holy when they all should be kept as holy. So what Paul was saying in Romans was that every day is to be holy AND one day is special. Holiness of the Sabbath is a good thing AND Holiness of every day is even better.
Paul did not take a side. He simply said, “Let both honor God.” Keeping the sabbath is making it special. For the Christian, the sabbath should be holy, like every other day. Where we get confused is the special part.
How do we make one day special? This special day, in my opinion, is the day I STOP. That is what SHABOTH in Hebrew means. Stop and set a day and “BE STILL and KNOW THAT I AM GOD.” My sabbath is that day of the week that I set aside to first, STOP my usual life, second WORSHIP, third to FELLOWSHIP with fellow believers. It is a day of POINTED REST. It is a day when I express my “I LOVE YOU GOD”, “I COUNT YOU MY LORD”, “I AM YOURS IN WHAT EVER HAPPENS.” That is the rest meant for the Israelites in the wilderness. That was the rest for the Hebrews in Canaan. That is the rest that Jesus talked about in Matthew 11:28,29.
Encouragement
Encouragement is not telling someone they have done well. That is simply a reward for something done. You may well call it honor, or accolade but it is simply something which acknowledges effort. It is a pat on the back for something accomplished. It is something well expected after a job is well done. While this reward, this acknowledgement is a good thing, encouragement, is telling others that you believe in them before they even start. It is action before the battle. Encouragement is to help someone to make a good start. It is the coach telling the team they have it within them to beat the other team. It is one Christian putting an arm around another when he is about to face a big decision. Encouragement is not a, “I knew you could do it” but a “I know you can do it.” It may be a subtle difference but the very act of encouragement leads to better results than a pat on the back afterwards.
Sure, there is always a possibility of failure, of not living up to the encouragement, never-the-less it is a much better than waiting for that failure. Those things, those efforts that never begin are always failures. It is better to start well than to do nothing.
I believe there are six ways to encourage:
- Show you care – When you take the time to learn about others, it shows that you care. This empowers and encourages them. It confirms both our understanding of the task and an honest assessment of the possibility of success. One of the single best ways to encourage others is to care about what they care about.
- Tell them with words – Take the time to tell your small group, your brothers in Christ, that you believe in their abilities and that you are confident that they will succeed. It is never enough to just sit and think about success or failure. Encouragement should be more than good thoughts. It is not about awareness of the task. It must go further to be encouragement. It takes effort and a communication of that encouragement.
- Tell them in writing – The great thing about encouraging someone in writing is that he can keep the note forever. An email, or better yet a real, post office delivered letter is something that may well make the difference. That is why Hallmark is successful; they make a palpable, touchable, savable product that conveys encouragement. It is the gift that keeps on giving.
- Share with others – When you are in public praise your fellow Christians. Be open with our praise and private with your criticisms. And while you are at it praise and encourage when no one expects it. Encourage when they are faced with both little and great things. Tell others of your confidence, your trusting faith in someone to everyone who do or do not want to hear it.
- Trust them with greater responsibilities – When you assign responsibility to someone, even if you verbalize it, you are saying, “I trust you.” Trust conveys belief. When you give someone responsibility, remember you are not only trusting them with the expectation of success, but you are allowing them to make mistakes. When you micromanage or try to “fix” things along the way, it is discouraging and demotivating. Give responsibility, trust the person, and get out of the way.
- Help them – This might sound like the opposite of #5, but let me be clear that helping is not micromanaging or meddling. Simply ask how you can help them. Sharing in a task delegated by the person responsible is not taking over. It’s important for others to know that while you trust them, you are also there to help. This goes beyond just helping with projects or task. It is saying I trust your way of doing things.
Hebrews 3:12-13 See to it brothers and sisters, than none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But ENCOURAGE, one another daily, as long as it called today.
Did you learn anything?
It was an accomplishment. Stepping off the school bus in rural Iowa. It had been the first day of school. Her clothes were a little more wrinkled that when he set off that morning to learn, to study, to be a grown up. There was a little mud on the sweet pink and white checked dress from playing with the kids at recess. And now she was boldly walking up the path to home where dad was waiting to see how it had went.
After a big hug, a peanut butter sandwich made with extra grape jelly, and a cold glass of milk, Dad asked the big question, “Well did you learn anything at your school?”
The daughter stopped and looked at her dad and with a look of disappointment she answered, “I guess I didn’t learn enough”
“Why do you say that my little sweet pea?”
“Well Dad it is like this, I have to go back tomorrow.”
Learning takes a lifetime.
My path, my hope!
Tell me Lord, in your merciful grace,
What would you desire for me in this place,
In my life lived out both near and far?
Or Should I look up and yearn for a star?
Or should we be content with things that are?
What is your will? What is your plan?
Living a life and doing what I can?
Or perhaps to find a greater call,
Giving myself up, and relinquishing all
And adverting my eyes and hazarding
a fall.
Tell me Lord, shall I grunt and grown beneath a load,
Or give it all up that I may skip along the golden road?
Do I simply keep on keeping on with a load to hard to bear?
With my head held low in total defeat and woefull despair?
Is this my destined plight, is it a dull prospect or fair?
Would you have me, just as I am , my Lord?
Sinking beneath the load I bear and can ill afford,
What is your will, shall I drag on or or make footsteps fleet?
My choice is before me, living the path set by your feet,
Or living a life full of pain and defeat.
I hear and echo your voice, I smile with a pure inner warm,
A voice that healed the lepers and calmed my inner storm.
“Your yoke is easy, your burden is light.”
Your path for me is simple and a gracious delight.
Steady on to the higher prize to a
place of perfect light.
A very small piece of the action?
I am studying the book of Hebrews and this morning I was struck by a single thought which disturbed me. Hebrews is a singular general letter which God only knows who wrote it. It has made it through 950 years of telling, retelling, study, exhortation, training, and even speculation. My experience in the business world would classify Hebrews as written to a niche market; a very small group of people with very specific needs.
It was written for an audience that was a piece of a piece of a piece of a piece. First, it was written to the Christians of the time during the Jewish revolt from Rome. Perilous times. Most Christians had left the bosom of Jerusalem 5 years earlier. So, compared to the entire population of Rome, Christians were a small piece of the grand whole. It has been estimated the total Christian population 40 years later at the end of the First century the total count was 500,000.
Secondly it was written to a piece of those persecuted dispersed Christians that were ethnically Hebrew. This piece was the major part of Christian world at the time. Christianity came from and was seen at the time as primarily a Jewish thing. Even though Peter and Paul had extended invitations to the Gentiles, these converts sometimes were required to worship as a Jew first.
Of these Ethnic Jews, who were Christians, who were persecuted, also most had never seen Jesus. It was all second and third hand knowledge. They had access to many of the letters from Paul and Peter and even James, but never-the-less their experiences, their understanding was from those who had seen and which they had not. They had not seen the miracles. They had not seen the fire in he eyes of John the Baptist. They had not been there for the resurrection. They had not been there at the assention. The piece, the audience was becoming very small.
And the smallest piece of the piece of the piece of the piece, was being tempted by all the things going out to forsake the faith to go back to pure Judaism. Back to their friends, and neighbors, and family. To through off all the ideas of grace and go back to a life of keeping the law.
The only conclusion is that there must be a plausible connection between the very small group that was written to and today’s Christians. Otherwise we might not need it in the bible unless we are preaching or teaching to saved persecuted ethnic Jewish Christians which are wanting to go back to their Jewish roots. In today’s world it may well be an even smaller piece than it was in 69 AD. Could it well be for any saved, having a hard time, gentiles, who are just wanting to go back to there old ways? To chuck it all and live a life that world would have them live?
That is my conclusion. What do you think?
God in the trunk.
Sometimes God seems distant. You know what I mean, sometimes the Preachers sermon doesn’t quite hit the right spots for you. It is when you go about your day and you know full well that God is everywhere, but you feel as thought instead of being in the passenger seat but more like back in the trunk. I don’t think that the God I serve and love and adore and most highly esteem is hiding but He seems a little far off. It is as if He may well be taking a rest from all the junk He has to put up with from me. I stick my nose into something when I shouldn’t, or I make a supposedly humorous remark that puts someone on edge. It is probably a self-imposed distance, but it is hard to not notice the gap sometimes.
The good thing is that in a 50 years or less, God will not know me better than He does right now. He knows my weaknesses and my foibles yet He still loves me. The second thing is that in 50 years or less I will know God much more than I do now.
The Changing Church
Has the church changed so much that some really cannot relate with the Bible. Have we trod the path from Acts when Peter preached and 3,000 repented? The church has changed from a bible believing, monotheistic, well accustomed to digging deep into scripture and willing to talk about it. The group to which Peter in Acts 2 were like that, full of knowledge and willing to understand and accept the teachings of the new rabbi. But the church has become like the audience in Acts 17:22, “I see that in every way you are religious.” Paul walked around in their city and what he saw was great belief in the wrong things. They even had an altar with the title, “To an unknown God.” He accused the believers in all the religions that abounded and simply told them, “you are ignorant of the very thing you worship.”
Have we come so far as to having a form of religion without the very reason for that effort? Isn’t Paul’s logic still hold true:
24 The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. 26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands. 27 God did this so that they would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from any one of us. 28 ‘For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’
29 “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone—an image made by human design and skill. 30 In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. 31 For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to everyone by raising him from the dead.”