Okay, so this week I have been helping at LEAP, my church's annual mission camp/community service week, serving as a small group leader. I just want to start off by THANKING GOD for this week and for my group and co-leader. If you know me personally, then you know that I tend to be pretty quiet, just keeping my thoughts to myself most of the time. (Unless I'm writing/typing. Then I'll just ramble on and on, and you'll have a hard time getting me to stop. Haha.) Well, I'm really thankful for my co-leader Katie because whenever I don't have anything to say (which happens a lot), she does. And she does a great job relating to the students in our group, showing God's love to them, and keeping them engaged in whatever activity we're doing. I can't help but think that maybe I'm not really trying to show God's love, and I know that I should definitely rely on Him more to express that love through me, but I also know that I shouldn't compare myself to others and be envious because "it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His purpose" (Philippians 2:13). That comparison is from the enemy, and I know that the Lord is allowing me to serve and show His grace, love, and mercy in other ways specific to who I am. And I'm thankful that Katie is there to serve in the ways that I can't. It's amazing how God can use anyone in any way to serve His purposes.
Anyway, on to my small group. I won't give names, so I'll just give initials (from oldest to youngest): (the guys) A, BK, BP, T, H, (and the girls) K, S, J, MM and MN. They're all great (in their own ways, of course). T, BK, MM, and S seem to be the ones I'm investing in the most out of the group. Not that I'm completely ignoring the others and that they're not important to me; T, BK, MM, and S are just the ones that I talk to/relate to the most, so God has been using me to minister to them, whether it's by listening and talking to MM about school, or exchanging names of various Christian bands with BK, or talking to BK and S about marching band, or just hanging around T and occasionally letting him mess with me. And of course the students are making friends with each other within the group. MM and MN seem to be hanging out a lot, which is a good change from Monday when MN was kind of off by herself a lot. And apparently H has become A's son. They even strike the same poses on command without discussing it beforehand. Haha. And Katie and J became really good friends within the first day, which is awesome because J already seems to have that fire that comes from the Holy Spirit, and having someone to mentor her through the rest of middle school and high school will be very helpful for her. So yeah, it's been really enjoyable so far. I can't believe tomorrow is already the last day of LEAP... I don't want it to be over yet.
Since we've already done so much this week, I'll give a recap of the service we did. And by "so much," I mean, "two days of attempting to find work to do and only one day of a consistent supply of jobs at one location." On Monday my group, the blue team, went to Durham Middle School to move furniture and clean classrooms and offices. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), a group of guys was already there, and most of the work that the school originally had for us was already done. So we finished up with all the cleaning, then headed over to Frey Elementary right next door to join the orange team in doing the same thing. Since the orange team had already been working at Frey, the inside work was almost done by the time we got there, so we all ended up pulling weeds outside. We split up into smaller groups of four or five and turned it into a competition to see who could fill their trash bag with the most weeds. (My team won. Just saying.)
Then yesterday we went to Wellspring Treasures. I was entertained simply by being able to drive the group there in one of the big church vans. Haha. (And I'm looking forward to doing it again on the way to Northstar Church's Dallas campus. Simple pleasures.) Anyway, we all enjoyed working at Wellspring (as far as I know). Cindy, the owner, was very nice and appreciative, and she is also a member of Northstar herself, which is cool. Wellspring Treasures, which is a part of Wellspring Living, is a non-profit Christian organization that mends and sells gently-used clothes, furniture, and accessories that have been donated to them, and they use the money to support a restoration project for girls and women involved in human trafficking. It's definitely worth checking out. Basically what we did was typical volunteer work at the store (you can sign up to volunteer on their website here). They were reorganizing the back of the store, where they do all the mending, so some of us reorganized shelves, some painted, some steamed clothes, some rehung clothes in their proper places, and some did other miscellaneous jobs. And before we left, we got to write some Bible verses on the wall in the back room. Then Cindy prayed with us and sent us on our way with some popcorn and a bag of hotel shampoo/soap/lotion/etc. to give to the church for MUST Ministries. The time went by very smoothly, we got a good amount of work done, and we had a fun time doing it.
Then today we went back to Frey Elementary. Again we found that we didn't have very much to do, which was a little disappointing because not only did we have little to do, but the "Yellow Plus" team had nothing at all to do at Durham, so they ended up joining us like we did on Monday. But it turned out that, even though there weren't many jobs for us to do, the few jobs they had for us took a good amount of time, specifically taking inventory in the book room. Most of us got to pull weeds again before we joined the inventory team, though. (I actually enjoyed taking inventory when I got to it, because apparently I'm a fast writer according to a couple kids in my group, so I sped through my part of material.) While we were pulling weeds, I got to talk to someone from Yellow Plus (initial: D) who was in my brother's small group at LEAP last year. Something about it just filled me with joy and peace. Maybe because she was telling me about how she was a little stressed about starting her college application process this fall, and when I told her not to worry about it too much and to just let God handle it, she said that that was the best advice she had gotten on the topic. That didn't give me joy because of pride; it gave me joy because she understood that dependence on God is the best way to handle any situation. And maybe because she's also visiting UGA this Friday and strongly considering going there. (Go Dawgs!) Haha. Anyway, when we were finished taking inventory, we went to Acworth Beach to pick up trash. We had about half an hour to kill, so we split up into four groups, scoured the beach and the park for trash, then met up at the playground to just hang out until our bus driver came to pick us up. And I also got to talk to the bus driver on the way to the park and on the way back to church, which was cool.
Well, that's what we've done so far. Tomorrow the blue team is heading over to Northstar of Dallas to help set up for their service on Sunday, and we'll be working with Brad Parkhurst, who was the high school pastor at Northstar of Kennesaw my whole time in high school, so that should be fun. And tomorrow night we're having a special baptism service, which is exciting. Nobody from my small group has mentioned wanting to be baptized, but we just have to keep praying for them. And we can still rejoice in knowing that at least someone will be baptized tomorrow. It doesn't matter if that person comes from my group as long as someone comes to know the Lord as their Savior!
So please be praying for all of us: for me, for Katie, for our small group, for all the other leaders and students, and for the praise band and the guest speaker as we prepare for the last day of LEAP. Thanks, and God bless!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
"Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."
Galatians 5:25
An analogy for a godly marriage. (This is just another way of explaining something you’ve probably heard before.)
If you and your spouse are both Christians, you have Jesus in common—God stands in between you. Imagine you’re in a marching band/military parade block. If you know anything about marching/walking in step with someone, you know that it works best if you follow the person right next to you, not the person two rows over (especially if you’re only using your peripheral vision, like you’re supposed to in marching band).
(This analogy will be split into two versions: the version specialized for my fellow band geeks, and the version better understood by everyone else.)
First, the band geek version. You, Jesus, and your spouse are in line. God is your center dress point. Like we’ve all been told about dressing to the center, the center is always right, even if he/she is wrong. Well, God is always right. Period. If you’re out of line with Him, there’s very little chance that you will be in line with your spouse. (And even if you do somehow end up in line with your spouse, it won’t last for long.) So if you both dress to God, you will be better in line with each other than if you tried to dress to each other around God. (Peripheral vision isn’t that good.)
Now for everyone else (even though you may have gotten the point already if you read the first version). You’re walking in line with your spouse, with God in between you, and you’re trying to stay in step with each other. If you want to be in step with your spouse, but you can’t turn your head side-to-side (for the sake of the analogy), what’s the best way to stay in step? Watching Jesus, right? You can easily see His feet moving next to you, and so can your spouse. So even though you can’t see your spouse’s feet moving in time with yours, by watching Christ, you will stay in step, not only with God, but with your spouse as well. But if you try to follow your spouse’s feet, you’ll get into all kinds of trouble, failing to stay in step with each other (except for the rare occasions) and with God. So if you “keep in step with the Spirit,” you will also keep in step with your spouse much better than you would if you only tried to stay in step with your spouse and not with Christ.
In a non-Christian marriage, Jesus doesn’t stand between the couple. You may think that’s a good thing because then the couple can just watch each other, but it’s not. For all of you who don’t have a clue what any of the band geek version meant, the center is the person everyone in that line looks to in order to stay in line. If you can’t see the center out of the corner of your eye, than you look at the person next to you and trust that he/she is in line with the center (or whoever is between him/her and the center, who should also be in line with the center), making a straight line. The center is always right, even if they’re in the wrong place. As long as you stay in line with the center, it’ll look like you’re right. God is the perfect Center. He is never wrong. He is always in the right place, so if you follow Him, you will be in the right place too. But if you take God out of the picture, you no longer have a perfect Center. You and your spouse are left looking at each other in all your imperfection. One of you is bound to be wrong at some point, and even if the line follows you and makes the formation look right, the whole line will be wrong because you are wrong. With God out of the picture, your imperfect center is bound to ruin the formation at some point. But with God as your perfect Center (as long as you and your spouse both keep your eyes fixed on Him), your marriage will be more blessed than you could hope.
The moral: Love God before your spouse, and you will show your love to your spouse in a much more meaningful way than possible otherwise.
An analogy for a godly marriage. (This is just another way of explaining something you’ve probably heard before.)
If you and your spouse are both Christians, you have Jesus in common—God stands in between you. Imagine you’re in a marching band/military parade block. If you know anything about marching/walking in step with someone, you know that it works best if you follow the person right next to you, not the person two rows over (especially if you’re only using your peripheral vision, like you’re supposed to in marching band).
(This analogy will be split into two versions: the version specialized for my fellow band geeks, and the version better understood by everyone else.)
First, the band geek version. You, Jesus, and your spouse are in line. God is your center dress point. Like we’ve all been told about dressing to the center, the center is always right, even if he/she is wrong. Well, God is always right. Period. If you’re out of line with Him, there’s very little chance that you will be in line with your spouse. (And even if you do somehow end up in line with your spouse, it won’t last for long.) So if you both dress to God, you will be better in line with each other than if you tried to dress to each other around God. (Peripheral vision isn’t that good.)
Now for everyone else (even though you may have gotten the point already if you read the first version). You’re walking in line with your spouse, with God in between you, and you’re trying to stay in step with each other. If you want to be in step with your spouse, but you can’t turn your head side-to-side (for the sake of the analogy), what’s the best way to stay in step? Watching Jesus, right? You can easily see His feet moving next to you, and so can your spouse. So even though you can’t see your spouse’s feet moving in time with yours, by watching Christ, you will stay in step, not only with God, but with your spouse as well. But if you try to follow your spouse’s feet, you’ll get into all kinds of trouble, failing to stay in step with each other (except for the rare occasions) and with God. So if you “keep in step with the Spirit,” you will also keep in step with your spouse much better than you would if you only tried to stay in step with your spouse and not with Christ.
In a non-Christian marriage, Jesus doesn’t stand between the couple. You may think that’s a good thing because then the couple can just watch each other, but it’s not. For all of you who don’t have a clue what any of the band geek version meant, the center is the person everyone in that line looks to in order to stay in line. If you can’t see the center out of the corner of your eye, than you look at the person next to you and trust that he/she is in line with the center (or whoever is between him/her and the center, who should also be in line with the center), making a straight line. The center is always right, even if they’re in the wrong place. As long as you stay in line with the center, it’ll look like you’re right. God is the perfect Center. He is never wrong. He is always in the right place, so if you follow Him, you will be in the right place too. But if you take God out of the picture, you no longer have a perfect Center. You and your spouse are left looking at each other in all your imperfection. One of you is bound to be wrong at some point, and even if the line follows you and makes the formation look right, the whole line will be wrong because you are wrong. With God out of the picture, your imperfect center is bound to ruin the formation at some point. But with God as your perfect Center (as long as you and your spouse both keep your eyes fixed on Him), your marriage will be more blessed than you could hope.
The moral: Love God before your spouse, and you will show your love to your spouse in a much more meaningful way than possible otherwise.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Matthew 5:14-16
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
"A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl." Why? Because it's useless that way. You can't see its light, and besides... a candle hidden under a bowl will get snuffed out.
Food for thought.
"A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl." Why? Because it's useless that way. You can't see its light, and besides... a candle hidden under a bowl will get snuffed out.
Food for thought.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
Hebrews 4:12
Wow. This just hit me like a ton of bricks. I was reading something about how being a sold-out Christian separates us from everyone else around us (everyone who isn't sold out to Christ), and it made me think about persecuted Christians in places labeled as hostile or restricted countries regarding Christianity. Christians in those countries really know what it means to love God and follow Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Many of them lose their jobs or are disowned by their families because of their faith, and Jesus is all they have, so they pursue Him with their whole lives. They have to meet with other Christians in secret in order to avoid persecution, and even then they aren't totally safe.
As I thought about that, I asked myself, "What would I be like if I went to one of those countries for a time? What if I had to face persecution like that? What if I had so little access to the Bible that I became so thirsty for the Word that I spent hours at a time studying with my brothers and sisters in Christ?" But I never got to come up with any possible answers because another question came up: What would happen if/when I came back home to America? How would I readjust to life here after spending time in another culture? How would I get used to not having to keep my beliefs a secret anymore?
Then I realized something. Christians in hostile/restricted nations have to keep their beliefs secret to protect themselves, so their lives are their only testimony. They live in such a way that people would wonder why they live the way they do. They live in a way that would lead people to ask them what motivates them, so that they can tell them about Jesus. Christianity grows in hostile/restricted nations because people see the impact Christ has on their lives. Their daily living makes them the walking gospel. That's why Hebrews 4:12 says that "the word of God is living and active." The gospel comes alive in them, and their actions show what the Bible teaches.
And that's the way we should be living here in America, where Christianity is still legal. Even though we are free to talk about our faith in the open, a profession of faith shouldn't be necessary for people to recognize that something is different about us—in fact, in a culture where the teachings of the Bible are so widely recognized, our daily lives should make it obvious that we are wholehearted followers of Christ, not just different. That's what Saint Francis of Assisi meant when he said, "Preach the gospel always; when necessary, use words."
Of course, that doesn't mean that words aren't necessary. We still have to share the gospel of salvation through Christ, and we have to teach Jesus' commands. But in a culture where we are free to do so, it seems that we have come to understand that that is all that's necessary. Since we're allowed to preach the gospel verbally, we don't have to live it out because people only need to know what the gospel says. Actions serve only to draw people to Christianity in cultures where a public profession of faith can get you killed; if you're able to speak about your faith openly, then actions have no purpose. But that's not true at all. Our actions show the truth of the gospel. Our daily living shows the impact Christ's saving grace has had on us. If our actions don't change when we accept Christ as our Savior, there's reason to believe that we haven't really been saved. After all, Jesus taught us how we should live, and if we don't obey Him, we're basically saying that we don't need to and that we don't believe obedience will make things any better for us; and if we don't believe Him on that topic, how can we claim to believe Him about anything else? As the last part of Hebrews 4:12 says, "[The word of God] judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Our good deeds prove that we have been changed by saving grace.
So to answer my question about readjusting, I shouldn't really have to adapt that much. I should continue living in a way that preaches the gospel without words. And in hostile/restricted nations, there's such an urgency attached to the gospel, that I should feel compelled to tell everyone I know about the good news of the gospel. So if/when I came back, I would rejoice in finally being able to openly share my faith verbally, and I would do it as if I would be killed if I didn't.
Wow. This just hit me like a ton of bricks. I was reading something about how being a sold-out Christian separates us from everyone else around us (everyone who isn't sold out to Christ), and it made me think about persecuted Christians in places labeled as hostile or restricted countries regarding Christianity. Christians in those countries really know what it means to love God and follow Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Many of them lose their jobs or are disowned by their families because of their faith, and Jesus is all they have, so they pursue Him with their whole lives. They have to meet with other Christians in secret in order to avoid persecution, and even then they aren't totally safe.
As I thought about that, I asked myself, "What would I be like if I went to one of those countries for a time? What if I had to face persecution like that? What if I had so little access to the Bible that I became so thirsty for the Word that I spent hours at a time studying with my brothers and sisters in Christ?" But I never got to come up with any possible answers because another question came up: What would happen if/when I came back home to America? How would I readjust to life here after spending time in another culture? How would I get used to not having to keep my beliefs a secret anymore?
Then I realized something. Christians in hostile/restricted nations have to keep their beliefs secret to protect themselves, so their lives are their only testimony. They live in such a way that people would wonder why they live the way they do. They live in a way that would lead people to ask them what motivates them, so that they can tell them about Jesus. Christianity grows in hostile/restricted nations because people see the impact Christ has on their lives. Their daily living makes them the walking gospel. That's why Hebrews 4:12 says that "the word of God is living and active." The gospel comes alive in them, and their actions show what the Bible teaches.
And that's the way we should be living here in America, where Christianity is still legal. Even though we are free to talk about our faith in the open, a profession of faith shouldn't be necessary for people to recognize that something is different about us—in fact, in a culture where the teachings of the Bible are so widely recognized, our daily lives should make it obvious that we are wholehearted followers of Christ, not just different. That's what Saint Francis of Assisi meant when he said, "Preach the gospel always; when necessary, use words."
Of course, that doesn't mean that words aren't necessary. We still have to share the gospel of salvation through Christ, and we have to teach Jesus' commands. But in a culture where we are free to do so, it seems that we have come to understand that that is all that's necessary. Since we're allowed to preach the gospel verbally, we don't have to live it out because people only need to know what the gospel says. Actions serve only to draw people to Christianity in cultures where a public profession of faith can get you killed; if you're able to speak about your faith openly, then actions have no purpose. But that's not true at all. Our actions show the truth of the gospel. Our daily living shows the impact Christ's saving grace has had on us. If our actions don't change when we accept Christ as our Savior, there's reason to believe that we haven't really been saved. After all, Jesus taught us how we should live, and if we don't obey Him, we're basically saying that we don't need to and that we don't believe obedience will make things any better for us; and if we don't believe Him on that topic, how can we claim to believe Him about anything else? As the last part of Hebrews 4:12 says, "[The word of God] judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Our good deeds prove that we have been changed by saving grace.
So to answer my question about readjusting, I shouldn't really have to adapt that much. I should continue living in a way that preaches the gospel without words. And in hostile/restricted nations, there's such an urgency attached to the gospel, that I should feel compelled to tell everyone I know about the good news of the gospel. So if/when I came back, I would rejoice in finally being able to openly share my faith verbally, and I would do it as if I would be killed if I didn't.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Life and Idols
We all live for something. Everyone has some god or idol that they chase after or look after with meticulous care, whether it's fame, fortune, pleasure, cars, video games, books, music, or the only true God. Even desirable traits like attractiveness, charm, and leadership skills can be idols. The most common understanding of "idols" is that they are things that come between us and God, things that we value more highly than getting to know our heavenly Father. But as I was going through the Freshley leadership devotional for this week (and actually for two weeks ago because there was something I missed that I wanted to go back to), God showed me another meaning of the word idol. An idol is something that you live for—it's your reason for living. If your life goal is to become famous, that's the only reason you live; everything you do will be for the sole purpose of becoming famous, and once you're famous, everything you do will be to maintain that fame. Even if you lose all your possessions, it won't faze you as long as you're still famous. If you live for wealth wealth, you live only to become rich; you devote all your time and energy to gaining, saving, flaunting, and maintaining your wealth, and nothing else. Even if your relative dies, you'll be okay as long as you have your money. If your appearance is your idol, you live to be attractive, and everything you do will be to become as attractive as possible. As long as you look good, everything will be alright, no matter what happens; but if you don't like how you look, you'll never be satisfied with anything.
The question from two weeks ago that I wanted to go back to was this: What does it mean that your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)? I wanted to put off that question because it seemed easy at first, but when I finally got to it, I realized how difficult it was to answer it. So I didn't answer it. But now God is starting to answer the question for me. Our lives become hidden with Christ in God when we begin living for Him and nothing else. As long as we have Christ, nothing can steal our joy from us; if we feel distant from Jesus, we will do anything and stop at nothing to get closer to Him. When we idolize earthly things, we hide our lives in those things. If Satan can damage your idol in some way, he will gain complete control over you. But when we hide our lives in Christ—when Jesus is all we need and all we want—Satan has no power over us because God cannot be conquered. No matter how hard he attacks the idols of our past, he can never take our life, our reason for living. He can try to take Jesus from us all he wants, but he will never be able to, so our lives are safe in Christ. We live for Christ, so we live forever.
When I wrote that last sentence in my notes as I was going through the devotional, it hit me: our God/god, who/what we live for, determines our final destination in eternity. That seems simple and obvious, but it seemed really profound to me. If we live for something that's perishing, we will perish with it; if we live for something eternal, we will live forever. Only Jesus is eternal, so if we live for Him, emulating His life and seeking to dwell in His presence through prayer and worship, we will live forever in heaven. We live to be with Him, so that's what we get. But if we live for fame, fortune, attractiveness, etc., which are all temporary, we will die along with our idols. Even if your idol is a Christian who will live forever with Christ, if you are not consciously living to glorify God, you are only idolizing that person's earthly life, and all earthly life will pass away. We will only live as long as our gods. If your god is temporary, your life will be temporary; but if your God is everlasting, you will never die (the second death in hell, that is).
I feel like my words can't quite capture the depth of this discovery. Maybe it's because it's 6am and I haven't gotten any sleep. But whatever the reason, I'll end with this: Your life on earth will show where you will be going for eternity. If you live for a temporary idol, it will be clear by your speech and behavior. But if Jesus really is your God and you love Him with your life, you will live as if you are already with Him in heaven, because you kind of are. After all, if Satan has no power to take away your joy in Christ now, this life is really not that different to you than the next.
The question from two weeks ago that I wanted to go back to was this: What does it mean that your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)? I wanted to put off that question because it seemed easy at first, but when I finally got to it, I realized how difficult it was to answer it. So I didn't answer it. But now God is starting to answer the question for me. Our lives become hidden with Christ in God when we begin living for Him and nothing else. As long as we have Christ, nothing can steal our joy from us; if we feel distant from Jesus, we will do anything and stop at nothing to get closer to Him. When we idolize earthly things, we hide our lives in those things. If Satan can damage your idol in some way, he will gain complete control over you. But when we hide our lives in Christ—when Jesus is all we need and all we want—Satan has no power over us because God cannot be conquered. No matter how hard he attacks the idols of our past, he can never take our life, our reason for living. He can try to take Jesus from us all he wants, but he will never be able to, so our lives are safe in Christ. We live for Christ, so we live forever.
When I wrote that last sentence in my notes as I was going through the devotional, it hit me: our God/god, who/what we live for, determines our final destination in eternity. That seems simple and obvious, but it seemed really profound to me. If we live for something that's perishing, we will perish with it; if we live for something eternal, we will live forever. Only Jesus is eternal, so if we live for Him, emulating His life and seeking to dwell in His presence through prayer and worship, we will live forever in heaven. We live to be with Him, so that's what we get. But if we live for fame, fortune, attractiveness, etc., which are all temporary, we will die along with our idols. Even if your idol is a Christian who will live forever with Christ, if you are not consciously living to glorify God, you are only idolizing that person's earthly life, and all earthly life will pass away. We will only live as long as our gods. If your god is temporary, your life will be temporary; but if your God is everlasting, you will never die (the second death in hell, that is).
I feel like my words can't quite capture the depth of this discovery. Maybe it's because it's 6am and I haven't gotten any sleep. But whatever the reason, I'll end with this: Your life on earth will show where you will be going for eternity. If you live for a temporary idol, it will be clear by your speech and behavior. But if Jesus really is your God and you love Him with your life, you will live as if you are already with Him in heaven, because you kind of are. After all, if Satan has no power to take away your joy in Christ now, this life is really not that different to you than the next.
Monday, June 20, 2011
The Saving One
This song was written and performed by Jon Joiner, who God has blessed me to be in the same campus ministry with at UGA. In fact, we were on the same team (Port Maria) when we went on the Freshley mission trip to Jamaica over spring break.
Monday, June 13, 2011
The Beginning and the End
So two nights ago I started thinking about Adam and Eve, Cain's wife, the "sons of God" and the Nephilim in Genesis 6, the serpent in the Garden of Eden, and the dragon and the two beasts in Revelation 12-13. I don't even remember what made me think about all of it, and my thoughts were really scattered, and it's difficult to form coherent thoughts out of all of the discoveries God gave me. But I tried anyway. I talked with my mom about it last night, and we had a really in depth discussion about all of it, and it really helped. A lot of what confused me got cleared up. Well, it wasn't really "cleared up" in the sense that I learned the truth, but we found possible explanations. Anyway, I'm going to attempt to write down most, if not all, of what we discovered.
None of these "discoveries" is definitely true. It's all up to your interpretation. These interpretations seemed reasonable to me, though, so I thought I'd offer another different point of view from what you may have heard before. It's up to you to decide (and for God to reveal to you) whether or not any of this makes sense. But when it comes right down to it, the prediction of what is going to happen is nothing compared to the opportunity to spend eternity with our Maker and Savior. Don't get too caught up in the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the end times, but devote yourself to growing in the knowledge and love of Christ and in love for each other. If you do that, the details of the end won't matter because the end will just be the beginning for those who are in Christ.
- The "sons of God" in Genesis 6 were probably the same as the Nephilim (also mentioned in Genesis 6). These "sons of God" could have been Adam and Eve's sinless children before they ate of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Evidence: Genesis 3:16—Eve must have had children before the original sin, because how could she know that her pains in childbirth were "greatly increased" if she hadn't already experienced childbirth? The image of God contained in man would not have been distorted in these children because they were not directly affected by Adam and Eve's sin. (They did, however, have sins of their own, which I'll get to later.) The Nephilim had to be wiped out in the flood along with the rest of mankind so that all people would be able to link themselves back to Adam and Eve through Noah. While everyone, even descendants of the Nephilim, could still trace their family tree back to Adam and Eve, not everyone would be able to trace their line back to Adam and Eve after the original sin, so the sin nature would not have been passed down to everyone. By wiping out the Nephilim, everyone after Noah was guaranteed to carry the sin nature, giving a reason for Jesus to come as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins and allowing Him to atone for everyone's sins by taking the place of Adam, the original sinner.)
- The reason these “sons of God” are not listed among Adam and Eve’s children is that there was no need to record genealogies at the time. If everyone lived forever and never died, there would be no reason to keep track of who was still alive. But when Adam and Eve sinned and were cast out of the Garden of Eden, and when they learned that they would eventually die, records became necessary to keep track of family lines, as well as accomplishments that would be told of in stories. This record keeping was an act of pride because all men want to leave behind a legacy; everyone wants to be remembered, so the passing on of stories and the tracing of family lines were ways to ensure that a person would not be forgotten.
- The Nephilim are called "heroes of old, men of renown" (Genesis 6:4). It's very possible that they may have been the Greek "gods" and "goddesses." When they were wiped out in the flood, Noah's sons and their wives may have passed on stories of the Nephilim to their children and their children and so on, eventually distorting by the telephone effect so that they came to be considered gods.
- Noah's sons' wives, and even his own wife, may have been of Nephilim descent, which may account for giants like Goliath and the people of Canaan.
- Because the Nephilim were born to Adam and Eve before the original sin, they were sinless and were allowed to remain in the Garden of Eden. But unlike Adam and Eve, who could not reenter the Garden, the Nephilim were free to leave the Garden and go into the rest of the world if they pleased. Evidence: Genesis 6:1-2, 4—the sons of God left the Garden to marry the daughters of men, preferring the sinful world over God's perfect Garden, and this was their sin.
- There's some connection between the serpent in Genesis 3 and the serpent in Revelation 12, beyond the obvious connection that they're both Satan. It may explain why the serpent in Genesis was able to talk and why God had to curse the serpent to crawl on its belly, as if it had been able to walk before. I still haven't figured out this extra connection though.
- The dragon and the two beasts form an interesting evil trinity: the dragon (or the beast out of the sky), the beast out of the sea, and the beast out of the earth. The beast out of the sky is the devil, the strongest beast and the leader. The beast out of the earth is a person: just as Adam was taken from the dust of the earth, so the beast rose out of the earth. And the beast out of the sea is the beast of the multitude. Out of the sea of people arises a monstrosity with seven heads and ten horns and crowns: seven powers, or nations, with ten leaders. The "antichrist," as so many people call the beast, does not appear to me to be one person, but a political group with authority. The horns are the individual people who are the leaders of the powers/nations, and together they form the beast. The real antichrist is Satan himself.
- In Daniel, another horn is said to rise up, separate from the first ten, and overthrow three of the original ten. This eleventh horn in Daniel 7 is the beast out of the earth in Revelation 13. This single man will unseat three of the rulers of the seven nations and take their place, and he will force everyone to worship (or follow religiously) the beast out of the sea, the political group, because it appeared that a catastrophe had fatally wounded the economy of one of the seven nations, yet they emerged miraculously victorious and unscathed. The beast out of the earth will then establish a world-wide economy so that such a catastrophe will not happen again. If there actually is a single human antichrist, the beast out of the earth appears to be it, not the beast out of the sea. As Revelation 13:7 says, "He exercised all the authority of the first beast on his behalf, and made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed." The beast out of the sea, the world-wide political power, will give the beast out of the earth authority to be the representative of the beast of the sea.
- The beast out of the sea is obviously an abomination with its seven heads and ten horns, but the beast out of the earth, with only "two horns like a lamb" (Revelation 13:11), will be much harder to recognize. There will be something recognizably off about the political group, but the antichrist will be so charismatic that he will dispel any concerns about the beast of the sea, and the people will willingly—even eagerly—follow the beast of the sea because the beast of the earth is leading it.
None of these "discoveries" is definitely true. It's all up to your interpretation. These interpretations seemed reasonable to me, though, so I thought I'd offer another different point of view from what you may have heard before. It's up to you to decide (and for God to reveal to you) whether or not any of this makes sense. But when it comes right down to it, the prediction of what is going to happen is nothing compared to the opportunity to spend eternity with our Maker and Savior. Don't get too caught up in the who, what, when, where, why, and how of the end times, but devote yourself to growing in the knowledge and love of Christ and in love for each other. If you do that, the details of the end won't matter because the end will just be the beginning for those who are in Christ.
Friday, June 10, 2011
Authority and Gifts
"I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you." ~ Luke 10:19
Last week some of my friends from TNT and some of their friends from KSU started meeting for a college Bible study. (I think just about all of us are involved with the Wesley Foundation at each of our schools (UGA, Tech, KSU, Georgia State, and App. State), so that was an easy way to connect.) Today our topic was spiritual gifts, but we were all over the place. We stayed on topic, but very loosely. Anyway, Steve, the high school pastor, was there "supervising" (he was there to make sure things stayed under control and just in case we got stumped on something, but he had a lot of insight to offer), and he started talking about prayer and our authority in Christ. I had never really thought about it this way, but when Hebrews 4:16 tells us to boldly "approach the throne of grace with confidence," that doesn't just mean ask for the impossible, although that is more than encouraged. It means, "Stop praying so passively, saying, 'God, please do this,' and "Please do that,' and start praying with authority! Pray as if you have the authority to make it happen, because Jesus has given you that authority." When you pray over someone for healing, speak healing into them. Command their spirit and their flesh to be healed by the power of Jesus Christ. When facing temptation, command Satan to leave and give up his efforts. If you carefully follow Jesus' public ministry, He doesn't pray, "Father, heal this man or woman," or "Father, please cast out this demon." He speaks with authority: "Be healed!" "Evil spirit, come out of this person!" Jesus had this authority because He frequently spent time with His Father and because the Holy Spirit was in Him. He left His requests for His alone time with God.
Wait a minute... Don't we have the Spirit in us too? And shouldn't we be in constant communion with God, "[praying] continually" (1 Thessalonians 5:17)? And didn't Jesus say, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father" (John 14:12)? So shouldn't that mean that we have the authority (through Christ) to speak truth into being? We ask people if we can pray for healing over them, and we say, "I believe God wants you to be healed," and then we ask God to heal them. That's fine, but why waste time? I understand that walking up to a non-Christian and saying, "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, be healed," may be weird for them, but when dealing with fellow Christians who are deeply rooted in their faith, just get to the point: "Our Father has a message for you: Be healed, my child."
I just thought that was a really cool concept. And I think it has a lot to do with pride, which kept coming up throughout the night. The "greater gifts" of prophecy and tongues have to do with edification by complete surrender to the work of the Spirit. While the other spiritual gifts of wisdom, healing, teaching, etc. are also edifying and require the Spirit, they also edify the human mind and body. Prophecy and tongues, however, are predominantly for spiritual edification. When a person prays in tongues, he surrenders himself to God, allowing the Spirit to pray through him. Romans 8:26 says, "We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." Praying in tongues is kind of a new, weird topic for me because I never really looked into it until this year, but here's what I think about it: When I don't know what to pray, when I simply cannot find anything to pray about, I'll ask God to pray for me, and then I'll pray in tongues; and by praying in tongues, I give the Spirit a voice—not that prayers need to be spoken in order for God to hear them—and by allowing the Spirit to use my voice to say His prayers, I affirm His prayers. The Spirit prays silently, but when I pray in tongues, I am saying "Amen" to the Spirit's prayer. But the weird thing about praying in tongues is that I don't know what I'm saying—or, more accurately, what the Spirit is saying. It just sounds like gibberish. I can't even be positive that it's actually a real prayer language. I could just be making it all up... but even if I am, I'm going to offer it up to God in worship as if it really were the language of the Spirit speaking through me. (One thing I thought was really cool about the Bible study tonight was that Steve's description of his experience with praying in tongues was exactly like mine, which cleared up a lot of my doubt about the authenticity of my prayer language. He even used the same words I used to explain it. Haha. As soon as he said "gibberish," I knew we were on the same page.) And because it's so easy to doubt that your "prayer language" is real, it forces you to lay down your pride. If you're going to use it, that is. Of course, I do believe that the Spirit moves in people in ways that forcibly draw prayer out of them in unknown languages without their realization, but my experience with praying in tongues has been by my conscious decision. And so when I pray in tongues, I have to humble myself. After all, who can be prideful when they're talking gibberish? Even in private, carrying on a conversation with God in gibberish is weird. So by humbling yourself so that you can allow the Spirit to pray in tongues, you surrender yourself completely to God's will. (That surrender is also seen in the fact that, by simply giving the Spirit a voice, you are saying, "I agree with everything You have just prayed over me. Let Your will be done.")
And then there's prophecy. The most common understanding of prophecy is just a religious version of fortune telling: make a prediction, put Jesus' stamp of approval on it, and you've got a prophecy. But that's not the only purpose for prophecy. While much of the Old Testament demonstrates that kind of prophecy, Paul says that prophecy is meant for the edification of the church (1 Corinthians 14:4). I don't know about you, but if I were to go to a fortune teller, I wouldn't go because I want to feel good about myself; I would go because I want to know what's coming in my future. (I don't go to fortune tellers though.) So Paul must have had a different idea of what prophecy is. I liked the way Steve explained it tonight: Prophecy is when God reveals something about someone, when He tells us what He sees in us and what He wants to see in us. For example, God is working in me to make me some kind of teacher, whether it's a small group leader, a band director, a missionary, or whatever. I know because 1) He blessed me with this blog, 2) I'm a Music Education major, and 3) He sent two people to tell me so in the same night, one right after the other without any communication between the two of them on the matter... and without any prior knowledge of who I am.
Paul actually explains exactly what prophecy is in 1 Corinthians 14:3: "But everyone who prophecies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort." Prophecy is for the strengthening of our faith, for encouraging the pursuit of the Lord and His gifts and blessings in certain ways, and for comfort in doubt and in tough times. (I just want to thank God for revealing the reason Paul mentions both strengthening and encouragement, because I couldn't figure it out until He told me.) Comfort is obvious: sometimes a person will be going through a hard time and someone will say exactly what they needed to hear to let them know that "God is watching, watching over you." (Sorry, I've been helping with VBS this week. Haha. The songs are catchy.) Encouragement may look like this: I have a friend from my Jamaica trip (nickname: Mags) who is so filled with joy. Even before I matched the name to the person, if you mentioned the red-haired Freshley small group leader who's always smiling, I would know exactly who you were talking about. So if I were to go to her and tell her just how contagious her joy is and how great a listener she is because she always seems interested and happy to listen, that would be a prophecy of encouragement. Especially if I had told her when I first met her. And then there's prophecy for strengthening. This example is a little unusual because the prophecy was about the person making the prophecy, but it still strengthened a lot of people's faith because of the amazing faith he had that the prophecy would be fulfilled. This is where future predictions come into play. I said that "fortune telling" isn't the only form of prophecy, which means that it is still one of the forms, and my friend Josh (the same one who was in the ManVan on our 23-hour road trip) is living proof. He applied to be a Resident Assistant at UGA. He believed that God's plan was to make him an RA. He had no back-up plan for housing. Dorm sign-ups were done, and the deadline to rent an apartment was closing in fast. He was determined to either get the job or live on the streets for a year, but he just knew he would get the job. He was denied. He wasn't even on the alternate list in case someone decided to decline the job. He had no chance. Almost two months passed before he told me about his firm belief that God had promised him the job (I didn't really know him very well before then). A week later, he was in. He had heard a promise from God, accepted it, and held on to it firmly until God gave him what He promised. Not only did the fulfillment of the prophecy strengthen his own faith in knowing that God keeps His word, it also strengthened the faith of everyone around him. We all got to see how reckless faith can work miracles.
In all of these forms of prophecy, a surrender of pride is necessary because nobody wants to make a prediction that turns out to be wrong or try to comfort someone who doesn't need comforting or compliment someone on a characteristic they don't possess. We don't want to make mistakes. But because we're all human, we're going to make mistakes. So we have to let go and trust God to give us the words to say, even if we misunderstand God's voice.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:1, "Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy." By laying down our pride and stepping out in faith, by taking a risk in prophesying or speaking in tongues, we are seeking to obtain those gifts. By testing ourselves to see if we have the gifts, we find that we do have them. But they take practice. The gifts themselves don't take practice, but surrendering to God so He can use the gifts in us does.
So... Yeah, that's what I learned from the college Bible study tonight and from my own studying afterward. I only meant to write the part about authority, but then I knew I had to mention the gifts too... I just didn't realize how much I had to write about it. Haha. But anyway, I hope this was helpful to someone.
Until next time, God bless!
Michael
———————————————————
"Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way." ~ 1 Corinthians 14:39
"Do everything in love." ~ 1 Corinthians 16:14
Last week some of my friends from TNT and some of their friends from KSU started meeting for a college Bible study. (I think just about all of us are involved with the Wesley Foundation at each of our schools (UGA, Tech, KSU, Georgia State, and App. State), so that was an easy way to connect.) Today our topic was spiritual gifts, but we were all over the place. We stayed on topic, but very loosely. Anyway, Steve, the high school pastor, was there "supervising" (he was there to make sure things stayed under control and just in case we got stumped on something, but he had a lot of insight to offer), and he started talking about prayer and our authority in Christ. I had never really thought about it this way, but when Hebrews 4:16 tells us to boldly "approach the throne of grace with confidence," that doesn't just mean ask for the impossible, although that is more than encouraged. It means, "Stop praying so passively, saying, 'God, please do this,' and "Please do that,' and start praying with authority! Pray as if you have the authority to make it happen, because Jesus has given you that authority." When you pray over someone for healing, speak healing into them. Command their spirit and their flesh to be healed by the power of Jesus Christ. When facing temptation, command Satan to leave and give up his efforts. If you carefully follow Jesus' public ministry, He doesn't pray, "Father, heal this man or woman," or "Father, please cast out this demon." He speaks with authority: "Be healed!" "Evil spirit, come out of this person!" Jesus had this authority because He frequently spent time with His Father and because the Holy Spirit was in Him. He left His requests for His alone time with God.
Wait a minute... Don't we have the Spirit in us too? And shouldn't we be in constant communion with God, "[praying] continually" (1 Thessalonians 5:17)? And didn't Jesus say, "I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father" (John 14:12)? So shouldn't that mean that we have the authority (through Christ) to speak truth into being? We ask people if we can pray for healing over them, and we say, "I believe God wants you to be healed," and then we ask God to heal them. That's fine, but why waste time? I understand that walking up to a non-Christian and saying, "In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, be healed," may be weird for them, but when dealing with fellow Christians who are deeply rooted in their faith, just get to the point: "Our Father has a message for you: Be healed, my child."
I just thought that was a really cool concept. And I think it has a lot to do with pride, which kept coming up throughout the night. The "greater gifts" of prophecy and tongues have to do with edification by complete surrender to the work of the Spirit. While the other spiritual gifts of wisdom, healing, teaching, etc. are also edifying and require the Spirit, they also edify the human mind and body. Prophecy and tongues, however, are predominantly for spiritual edification. When a person prays in tongues, he surrenders himself to God, allowing the Spirit to pray through him. Romans 8:26 says, "We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express." Praying in tongues is kind of a new, weird topic for me because I never really looked into it until this year, but here's what I think about it: When I don't know what to pray, when I simply cannot find anything to pray about, I'll ask God to pray for me, and then I'll pray in tongues; and by praying in tongues, I give the Spirit a voice—not that prayers need to be spoken in order for God to hear them—and by allowing the Spirit to use my voice to say His prayers, I affirm His prayers. The Spirit prays silently, but when I pray in tongues, I am saying "Amen" to the Spirit's prayer. But the weird thing about praying in tongues is that I don't know what I'm saying—or, more accurately, what the Spirit is saying. It just sounds like gibberish. I can't even be positive that it's actually a real prayer language. I could just be making it all up... but even if I am, I'm going to offer it up to God in worship as if it really were the language of the Spirit speaking through me. (One thing I thought was really cool about the Bible study tonight was that Steve's description of his experience with praying in tongues was exactly like mine, which cleared up a lot of my doubt about the authenticity of my prayer language. He even used the same words I used to explain it. Haha. As soon as he said "gibberish," I knew we were on the same page.) And because it's so easy to doubt that your "prayer language" is real, it forces you to lay down your pride. If you're going to use it, that is. Of course, I do believe that the Spirit moves in people in ways that forcibly draw prayer out of them in unknown languages without their realization, but my experience with praying in tongues has been by my conscious decision. And so when I pray in tongues, I have to humble myself. After all, who can be prideful when they're talking gibberish? Even in private, carrying on a conversation with God in gibberish is weird. So by humbling yourself so that you can allow the Spirit to pray in tongues, you surrender yourself completely to God's will. (That surrender is also seen in the fact that, by simply giving the Spirit a voice, you are saying, "I agree with everything You have just prayed over me. Let Your will be done.")
And then there's prophecy. The most common understanding of prophecy is just a religious version of fortune telling: make a prediction, put Jesus' stamp of approval on it, and you've got a prophecy. But that's not the only purpose for prophecy. While much of the Old Testament demonstrates that kind of prophecy, Paul says that prophecy is meant for the edification of the church (1 Corinthians 14:4). I don't know about you, but if I were to go to a fortune teller, I wouldn't go because I want to feel good about myself; I would go because I want to know what's coming in my future. (I don't go to fortune tellers though.) So Paul must have had a different idea of what prophecy is. I liked the way Steve explained it tonight: Prophecy is when God reveals something about someone, when He tells us what He sees in us and what He wants to see in us. For example, God is working in me to make me some kind of teacher, whether it's a small group leader, a band director, a missionary, or whatever. I know because 1) He blessed me with this blog, 2) I'm a Music Education major, and 3) He sent two people to tell me so in the same night, one right after the other without any communication between the two of them on the matter... and without any prior knowledge of who I am.
Paul actually explains exactly what prophecy is in 1 Corinthians 14:3: "But everyone who prophecies speaks to men for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort." Prophecy is for the strengthening of our faith, for encouraging the pursuit of the Lord and His gifts and blessings in certain ways, and for comfort in doubt and in tough times. (I just want to thank God for revealing the reason Paul mentions both strengthening and encouragement, because I couldn't figure it out until He told me.) Comfort is obvious: sometimes a person will be going through a hard time and someone will say exactly what they needed to hear to let them know that "God is watching, watching over you." (Sorry, I've been helping with VBS this week. Haha. The songs are catchy.) Encouragement may look like this: I have a friend from my Jamaica trip (nickname: Mags) who is so filled with joy. Even before I matched the name to the person, if you mentioned the red-haired Freshley small group leader who's always smiling, I would know exactly who you were talking about. So if I were to go to her and tell her just how contagious her joy is and how great a listener she is because she always seems interested and happy to listen, that would be a prophecy of encouragement. Especially if I had told her when I first met her. And then there's prophecy for strengthening. This example is a little unusual because the prophecy was about the person making the prophecy, but it still strengthened a lot of people's faith because of the amazing faith he had that the prophecy would be fulfilled. This is where future predictions come into play. I said that "fortune telling" isn't the only form of prophecy, which means that it is still one of the forms, and my friend Josh (the same one who was in the ManVan on our 23-hour road trip) is living proof. He applied to be a Resident Assistant at UGA. He believed that God's plan was to make him an RA. He had no back-up plan for housing. Dorm sign-ups were done, and the deadline to rent an apartment was closing in fast. He was determined to either get the job or live on the streets for a year, but he just knew he would get the job. He was denied. He wasn't even on the alternate list in case someone decided to decline the job. He had no chance. Almost two months passed before he told me about his firm belief that God had promised him the job (I didn't really know him very well before then). A week later, he was in. He had heard a promise from God, accepted it, and held on to it firmly until God gave him what He promised. Not only did the fulfillment of the prophecy strengthen his own faith in knowing that God keeps His word, it also strengthened the faith of everyone around him. We all got to see how reckless faith can work miracles.
In all of these forms of prophecy, a surrender of pride is necessary because nobody wants to make a prediction that turns out to be wrong or try to comfort someone who doesn't need comforting or compliment someone on a characteristic they don't possess. We don't want to make mistakes. But because we're all human, we're going to make mistakes. So we have to let go and trust God to give us the words to say, even if we misunderstand God's voice.
Paul says in 1 Corinthians 14:1, "Follow the way of love and eagerly desire spiritual gifts, especially the gift of prophecy." By laying down our pride and stepping out in faith, by taking a risk in prophesying or speaking in tongues, we are seeking to obtain those gifts. By testing ourselves to see if we have the gifts, we find that we do have them. But they take practice. The gifts themselves don't take practice, but surrendering to God so He can use the gifts in us does.
So... Yeah, that's what I learned from the college Bible study tonight and from my own studying afterward. I only meant to write the part about authority, but then I knew I had to mention the gifts too... I just didn't realize how much I had to write about it. Haha. But anyway, I hope this was helpful to someone.
Until next time, God bless!
Michael
———————————————————
"Therefore, my brothers, be eager to prophesy, and do not forbid speaking in tongues. But everything should be done in a fitting and orderly way." ~ 1 Corinthians 14:39
"Do everything in love." ~ 1 Corinthians 16:14
Thursday, June 9, 2011
Undignified
Last week I was reading about David in 1 & 2 Samuel, and I found 2 Samuel 6:22 hilariously awesome. In 2 Samuel 6, David and his men were bringing the ark of the covenant to the City of David, and they were celebrating because the Lord had given them victory over their enemies. Verse 5 says, “David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.” They were celebrating with “all their might.” Nothing could stop their rejoicing, and they were having the party of their lives, simply praising God.
But Saul’s daughter Michal was watching in disgust. Saul had given Michal to David in marriage as a reward for his many victories (the exact reason for the reward is a little graphic; read 1 Samuel 18 if you want to see why), but when Saul became murderous toward David, Michal helped David escape, and in his anger, Saul married off Michal to another man. Anyway, Michal saw David dancing and celebrating, and 2 Samuel 6:16 says, “And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.” So she approached David and accused him of dishonoring Israel by behaving in a manner unfitting for a king, “disrobing” of his dignity “in the sight of the slave girls” and dancing “as any vulgar fellow would” (2 Samuel 6:20).
I found David’s response very amusing: “I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor” (2 Samuel 6:21-22). He just brushed off Michal’s accusation, saying, “I’m celebrating because my God has done great things for me. You can’t guilt me out of praising Him with everything I am. I will dance like a madman, like a crippled man whose legs have been restored; I will sing like a mute man whose voice has been restored, like a deaf man who has just heard the sound of music for the first time since childhood, because I was doomed to failure but my God has given me victory! I was sentenced to death, but the Lord has given me life! I will humiliate myself with all my might in worship to the Lord, but these slave girls will look on my shame as honor. They acknowledge that I am but a man and that I deserve the right and the privilege to worship the Lord however I please, and they thank God because their king rejoices in Him and joins in their celebration. No king is too noble to dance before the King of kings and Lord of lords.”
David, the man after God’s own heart, found it pleasing to humiliate himself in worship. And similarly, Jesus Himself found it pleasing to be humiliated and made low in order that He might include us and give us the opportunity to praise God alongside the angels. So when it comes to worship and service, there is nothing too humiliating for a son or daughter of God. No one is above humbling himself before the King. So join the lowly in their work. Do the menial tasks so the janitors/maids don’t have to. And dance! (Easier said than done, I know, but I’m getting there, and you can too.) Celebrate “with all your might” because God has done great things for us! We were dead in sin, but now we are alive in Christ!
“Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” ~ Psalm 126:2-3
But Saul’s daughter Michal was watching in disgust. Saul had given Michal to David in marriage as a reward for his many victories (the exact reason for the reward is a little graphic; read 1 Samuel 18 if you want to see why), but when Saul became murderous toward David, Michal helped David escape, and in his anger, Saul married off Michal to another man. Anyway, Michal saw David dancing and celebrating, and 2 Samuel 6:16 says, “And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.” So she approached David and accused him of dishonoring Israel by behaving in a manner unfitting for a king, “disrobing” of his dignity “in the sight of the slave girls” and dancing “as any vulgar fellow would” (2 Samuel 6:20).
I found David’s response very amusing: “I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor” (2 Samuel 6:21-22). He just brushed off Michal’s accusation, saying, “I’m celebrating because my God has done great things for me. You can’t guilt me out of praising Him with everything I am. I will dance like a madman, like a crippled man whose legs have been restored; I will sing like a mute man whose voice has been restored, like a deaf man who has just heard the sound of music for the first time since childhood, because I was doomed to failure but my God has given me victory! I was sentenced to death, but the Lord has given me life! I will humiliate myself with all my might in worship to the Lord, but these slave girls will look on my shame as honor. They acknowledge that I am but a man and that I deserve the right and the privilege to worship the Lord however I please, and they thank God because their king rejoices in Him and joins in their celebration. No king is too noble to dance before the King of kings and Lord of lords.”
David, the man after God’s own heart, found it pleasing to humiliate himself in worship. And similarly, Jesus Himself found it pleasing to be humiliated and made low in order that He might include us and give us the opportunity to praise God alongside the angels. So when it comes to worship and service, there is nothing too humiliating for a son or daughter of God. No one is above humbling himself before the King. So join the lowly in their work. Do the menial tasks so the janitors/maids don’t have to. And dance! (Easier said than done, I know, but I’m getting there, and you can too.) Celebrate “with all your might” because God has done great things for us! We were dead in sin, but now we are alive in Christ!
“Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, ‘The Lord has done great things for them.’ The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy.” ~ Psalm 126:2-3
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Prodigal
“We have to repent not only of our sin, but also of our [self]righteousness.”
Wow. For someone who grew up in a Christian family, never really getting in trouble in school and living a “good” life, that really struck a chord. We watched Tim Keller’s video on Prodigal God at Upper Room tonight, and it was thought-provoking, to say the least. It was wordy and he repeated a lot of stuff in different ways, but when he finally got to the point, it hit hard. The story of the prodigal son is not just about the prodigal son. That’s who we always focus on because that’s what we want to focus on: the son who wishes his father dead, takes his inheritance and wastes it, and then comes home to a loving father who eagerly welcomes him back without even giving him a chance to offer a repayment.
But the story doesn’t end there. The older brother comes to the father complaining that he had obeyed everything the father had said, yet when his wasteful brother returns, the prodigal is the one who gets the feast, not the obedient son. Now, when the prodigal son ran off, he did it because he was primarily after his father’s stuff. He wanted his father’s inheritance, which he could only obtain if his died. So he basically said, “You’re already dead to me. Give me my inheritance.” He wanted nothing to do with his father. He gave up his relationship with him in order to gain momentary pleasure in his belongings. As Keller said in the video, “Home is not a place, but a relationship.” The prodigal son didn’t leave home when he took the inheritance and left, but when he demanded the inheritance from his father. But when he returned, he came back home to a renewed relationship with his father. He returned to a home he had never known before, a real relationship with his father.
But his older brother… Well, even though he never left his father’s side, he was never really home either. When the prodigal son left, he took his part of the inheritance and left the rest with his father. Because the inheritance was meant to be passed on at death, what remained of the inheritance belonged to the older brother. So when the father said to the older brother, “‘My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours” (Luke 15:31), he meant it. Everything he owned would be passed on to the older brother. So he had a reason to be upset when his father killed the fattened calf and had a feast for his brother because the feast was held at his expense. But the fact that he was upset reveals something: he was after his father’s stuff, just like his younger brother was. But the older brother went about obtaining his inheritance in a very different way: he obeyed his father, serving him so that his father would be pleased to give him everything he owned. Just like the prodigal son, the older brother cared nothing for his relationship with his father. He was working legalistically, obeying because it would benefit his wealth, not because he genuinely loved his father.
Keller made a big point about the way Jesus went about telling this parable. Jesus told the prodigal son’s part of the story completely, giving conflict and resolution (the son’s wastefulness, his return, and his father’s joyful welcome), but He only gave the conflict and a hint at a resolution in the older brother’s part of the story (the brother’s anger and the father’s pleading for him to come in to the feast). We never find out if the older brother calms down and returns “home,” coming into a real relationship with his father. Keller seemed to hint at the reason for this, but he never got to the point that I was expecting. Keller went back to the two parables Jesus told before the parable of the prodigal son: the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin. In the first two parables, someone went looking for what was lost, but in the parable of the prodigal son, nobody went looking. It should have been the older brother’s responsibility to go find his younger brother, but he was more concerned with building up his inheritance by kissing up to his father. Keller’s reasoning for why Jesus cut off the story abruptly is that He wanted to show what probably would have happened if the story had played out the way it did up until the point where the older brother made his first appearance; and by showing the uncaring brother, He compared Himself to him, implying, “I am the good older Brother. I have not left you to die in the poverty of your sins. I have come searching for my lost brothers, my lost sheep, my lost coins, and I have come to bring you home. Come, our Father has forgiven you, and He awaits your return.” Very sentimental, and while I agree with that interpretation, I think there was another reason for the abrupt ending.
While Jesus was telling these parables, there were two groups around Him: the sinners and the tax collectors—the prodigal sons—and the Pharisees and teachers of the law—the older brothers. All throughout His ministry, Jesus made two things very clear: 1) anyone, even the hated tax collectors, can be saved if they repent of their sinful ways and come to the Savior for redemption, and 2) the Pharisees, in all their self-righteousness, were not on the path to heaven. By completing the prodigal son’s part of the story, Jesus assured the sinners and tax collectors that He had come for them, and that their Father would welcome them home celebrating. But by showing that the older brother was just as lost, just as separated from the father as the prodigal son, Jesus revealed that the Pharisees were not any closer to God than the sinners and tax collectors were; and by leaving the older brother’s part of the story unfinished, He issued a challenge to the Pharisees: Continue in your legalistic ways, obeying the law to build up your reputation, and alienate the God who made you, or repent of your self-righteousness and come to My Father, admitting that you don’t deserve the rights of His sons, and be welcomed home joyfully. The righteousness given by the blood I will shed is more than enough to save you, but your own righteousness doesn’t even make you worthy to be My Father’s hired hand. It’s your choice. Your brothers over here, these “sinners” and tax collectors, will be there with Me. Will you?”
Often I’m like the Pharisees, subconsciously thinking that my good works make me better off than Christians who drink alcohol and even get drunk sometimes. But I’m no better than the biggest alcoholic in the world. We are all prodigal sons (and daughters), and we all have to repent and return to our Father. But when we do, we often become legalistic and judgmental like the older brother. The difference between me and the alcoholic isn’t in what I have and haven’t done (well, technically speaking, yes, it is, but you know what I mean). The difference is that I have returned to God, my Father. My good older Brother Jesus found me and brought me home to a real relationship with our Father. And now, like a good older brother, it’s my duty to go out into the world to take this message to all my prodigal brothers and sisters: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2); and to all you older brothers (and sisters) out there, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Don't waste your efforts trying to earn God's blessings when He has already given them to you freely. Besides, His stuff is worthless without Him. We should be seeking Him, serving Him out of thanks, not out of obligation. We can't earn our way to God, and we don't have to. Jesus has already bridged the gap; there's no reason to build another bridge. Just walk across.
Jesus left the parable of the prodigal son open-ended so that the Pharisees had the opportunity to give it a happy ending. We have the same opportunity. Our prodigal brothers will return home to our Father. Will we?
Wow. For someone who grew up in a Christian family, never really getting in trouble in school and living a “good” life, that really struck a chord. We watched Tim Keller’s video on Prodigal God at Upper Room tonight, and it was thought-provoking, to say the least. It was wordy and he repeated a lot of stuff in different ways, but when he finally got to the point, it hit hard. The story of the prodigal son is not just about the prodigal son. That’s who we always focus on because that’s what we want to focus on: the son who wishes his father dead, takes his inheritance and wastes it, and then comes home to a loving father who eagerly welcomes him back without even giving him a chance to offer a repayment.
But the story doesn’t end there. The older brother comes to the father complaining that he had obeyed everything the father had said, yet when his wasteful brother returns, the prodigal is the one who gets the feast, not the obedient son. Now, when the prodigal son ran off, he did it because he was primarily after his father’s stuff. He wanted his father’s inheritance, which he could only obtain if his died. So he basically said, “You’re already dead to me. Give me my inheritance.” He wanted nothing to do with his father. He gave up his relationship with him in order to gain momentary pleasure in his belongings. As Keller said in the video, “Home is not a place, but a relationship.” The prodigal son didn’t leave home when he took the inheritance and left, but when he demanded the inheritance from his father. But when he returned, he came back home to a renewed relationship with his father. He returned to a home he had never known before, a real relationship with his father.
But his older brother… Well, even though he never left his father’s side, he was never really home either. When the prodigal son left, he took his part of the inheritance and left the rest with his father. Because the inheritance was meant to be passed on at death, what remained of the inheritance belonged to the older brother. So when the father said to the older brother, “‘My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours” (Luke 15:31), he meant it. Everything he owned would be passed on to the older brother. So he had a reason to be upset when his father killed the fattened calf and had a feast for his brother because the feast was held at his expense. But the fact that he was upset reveals something: he was after his father’s stuff, just like his younger brother was. But the older brother went about obtaining his inheritance in a very different way: he obeyed his father, serving him so that his father would be pleased to give him everything he owned. Just like the prodigal son, the older brother cared nothing for his relationship with his father. He was working legalistically, obeying because it would benefit his wealth, not because he genuinely loved his father.
Keller made a big point about the way Jesus went about telling this parable. Jesus told the prodigal son’s part of the story completely, giving conflict and resolution (the son’s wastefulness, his return, and his father’s joyful welcome), but He only gave the conflict and a hint at a resolution in the older brother’s part of the story (the brother’s anger and the father’s pleading for him to come in to the feast). We never find out if the older brother calms down and returns “home,” coming into a real relationship with his father. Keller seemed to hint at the reason for this, but he never got to the point that I was expecting. Keller went back to the two parables Jesus told before the parable of the prodigal son: the parable of the lost sheep and the parable of the lost coin. In the first two parables, someone went looking for what was lost, but in the parable of the prodigal son, nobody went looking. It should have been the older brother’s responsibility to go find his younger brother, but he was more concerned with building up his inheritance by kissing up to his father. Keller’s reasoning for why Jesus cut off the story abruptly is that He wanted to show what probably would have happened if the story had played out the way it did up until the point where the older brother made his first appearance; and by showing the uncaring brother, He compared Himself to him, implying, “I am the good older Brother. I have not left you to die in the poverty of your sins. I have come searching for my lost brothers, my lost sheep, my lost coins, and I have come to bring you home. Come, our Father has forgiven you, and He awaits your return.” Very sentimental, and while I agree with that interpretation, I think there was another reason for the abrupt ending.
While Jesus was telling these parables, there were two groups around Him: the sinners and the tax collectors—the prodigal sons—and the Pharisees and teachers of the law—the older brothers. All throughout His ministry, Jesus made two things very clear: 1) anyone, even the hated tax collectors, can be saved if they repent of their sinful ways and come to the Savior for redemption, and 2) the Pharisees, in all their self-righteousness, were not on the path to heaven. By completing the prodigal son’s part of the story, Jesus assured the sinners and tax collectors that He had come for them, and that their Father would welcome them home celebrating. But by showing that the older brother was just as lost, just as separated from the father as the prodigal son, Jesus revealed that the Pharisees were not any closer to God than the sinners and tax collectors were; and by leaving the older brother’s part of the story unfinished, He issued a challenge to the Pharisees: Continue in your legalistic ways, obeying the law to build up your reputation, and alienate the God who made you, or repent of your self-righteousness and come to My Father, admitting that you don’t deserve the rights of His sons, and be welcomed home joyfully. The righteousness given by the blood I will shed is more than enough to save you, but your own righteousness doesn’t even make you worthy to be My Father’s hired hand. It’s your choice. Your brothers over here, these “sinners” and tax collectors, will be there with Me. Will you?”
Often I’m like the Pharisees, subconsciously thinking that my good works make me better off than Christians who drink alcohol and even get drunk sometimes. But I’m no better than the biggest alcoholic in the world. We are all prodigal sons (and daughters), and we all have to repent and return to our Father. But when we do, we often become legalistic and judgmental like the older brother. The difference between me and the alcoholic isn’t in what I have and haven’t done (well, technically speaking, yes, it is, but you know what I mean). The difference is that I have returned to God, my Father. My good older Brother Jesus found me and brought me home to a real relationship with our Father. And now, like a good older brother, it’s my duty to go out into the world to take this message to all my prodigal brothers and sisters: “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2); and to all you older brothers (and sisters) out there, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9). Don't waste your efforts trying to earn God's blessings when He has already given them to you freely. Besides, His stuff is worthless without Him. We should be seeking Him, serving Him out of thanks, not out of obligation. We can't earn our way to God, and we don't have to. Jesus has already bridged the gap; there's no reason to build another bridge. Just walk across.
Jesus left the parable of the prodigal son open-ended so that the Pharisees had the opportunity to give it a happy ending. We have the same opportunity. Our prodigal brothers will return home to our Father. Will we?
Sunday, June 5, 2011
He's got the whole world in His hands
Wow.
"Who is like the Lord our God, the One who sits enthroned on high, who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?" ~ Psalm 113:5-6
"Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God?" ~ Psalm 77:13
My God can do the impossible. What can yours do?
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
"Stay with me; don't be afraid; the man who is seeking your life is seeking mine also. You will be safe with me."
1 Samuel 22:23
Interesting verse, right? David was running from King Saul, who was trying to kill him, and he had passed through the town of Nob. While he was there, he had spoken with Ahimelech the priest, who gave him food and a sword for protection (the sword of Goliath, no less). Unfortunately, one of Saul's servants had witnessed the exchange and had reported it to Saul as a conspiracy; so Saul was convinced that the priests of Nob had sided with David against Saul, although Saul was the one who was against David, not the other way around. So Saul had all the priests of Nob killed, but Ahimelech's son Abiathar escaped to report it to David. And upon hearing this report, David spoke the strangely comforting words of this verse.
How can it be comforting to hear, "I'm sorry I'm the reason your entire family was killed. Stay with me; I'll protect you. The same man who wants to kill you wants to kill me too"? I guess in the historical context (and in the exact words that David spoke), it would have been much more comforting: "Then David said to Abiathar: 'That day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, I knew he would be sure to tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of your father's whole family. Stay with me; don't be afraid; the man who is seeking your life is seeking mine also. You will be safe with me'" (1 Samuel 22:22-23). It was David's fault that Abiathar's family had been killed, so he took it upon himself as his duty to protect Abiathar with his life. And in that time, if David was your personal bodyguard, you were set. It was well-known throughout all the land that the Lord was with David, and no harm could come to him or to those under his care. So it makes sense that Abiathar would have been comforted by those words.
But what about the part that says, "the man who is seeking your life is seeking mine also"? It seems to go against logic that Abiathar should stay with David to protect himself if the man who was trying to kill him was also looking for his protector. If Saul found one of them, he would find both of them, and what's better than killing two birds with one stone? David was clearly the more hated and more endangered of the two, so wouldn't it make more sense for Abiathar to get as far away from David as possible so that Saul would go after David rather than Abiathar?
Nope. The thing is that that logic is only human logic. It leaves God out of the equation. With God on David's side, Saul would never succeed against him. And because of that, two things are true: 1) Saul may have realized his inability to defeat David (doubtful, but possible) and turned after Abiathar instead because he was much more likely to be able to kill him than David; and 2) to be under David's protection meant to be under God's own protection, which meant certain victory and survival. David and Abiathar both knew this to be true, and so Abiathar found a strange comfort in David's promise of safety.
My original intent for reading through 1 Samuel was to read about David and his relationship with the Lord. (I'm going through a devotional this summer for Freshley leadership, and one of this week's questions asks about the relationships of various men of the Bible with God.) I was just reading, doing my devotional, when out of nowhere, this verse appeared and caught my attention so suddenly that I just had to stop. What really made 1 Samuel 22:23 stick out to me the most was the statement, "the man who is seeking your life is seeking mine also." Maybe it's because I was just reading last night in John 15:18-20 when Jesus told the disciples that the world would hate them because it hates Him, and that they could be sure that they would be persecuted because He had been persecuted. Anyway, I want to offer this interpretation of 1 Samuel 22:23:
Jesus said to mankind: "That day when I conquered sin and death before the eyes of Satan, I knew that he would seek to hinder the growth of My kingdom. I am responsible for the passing of your earthly life and everything that is temporary. Stay with Me; don't be afraid; the enemy who is seeking your life is seeking Mine as well. If you run away from Me to protect yourself, the enemy will come after you because he knows that I cannot be defeated, but you can. But if you stay with Me, I will protect you; my Father is with Me, and He will not allow any harm to come to you. Because you are now My responsibility, I will protect you with My life. You will be safe with Me, and in return for the temporary life you are losing, I will give you eternal life."
If that isn't comforting, I don't know what is!
"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." ~ Philippians 4:7
Interesting verse, right? David was running from King Saul, who was trying to kill him, and he had passed through the town of Nob. While he was there, he had spoken with Ahimelech the priest, who gave him food and a sword for protection (the sword of Goliath, no less). Unfortunately, one of Saul's servants had witnessed the exchange and had reported it to Saul as a conspiracy; so Saul was convinced that the priests of Nob had sided with David against Saul, although Saul was the one who was against David, not the other way around. So Saul had all the priests of Nob killed, but Ahimelech's son Abiathar escaped to report it to David. And upon hearing this report, David spoke the strangely comforting words of this verse.
How can it be comforting to hear, "I'm sorry I'm the reason your entire family was killed. Stay with me; I'll protect you. The same man who wants to kill you wants to kill me too"? I guess in the historical context (and in the exact words that David spoke), it would have been much more comforting: "Then David said to Abiathar: 'That day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, I knew he would be sure to tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of your father's whole family. Stay with me; don't be afraid; the man who is seeking your life is seeking mine also. You will be safe with me'" (1 Samuel 22:22-23). It was David's fault that Abiathar's family had been killed, so he took it upon himself as his duty to protect Abiathar with his life. And in that time, if David was your personal bodyguard, you were set. It was well-known throughout all the land that the Lord was with David, and no harm could come to him or to those under his care. So it makes sense that Abiathar would have been comforted by those words.
But what about the part that says, "the man who is seeking your life is seeking mine also"? It seems to go against logic that Abiathar should stay with David to protect himself if the man who was trying to kill him was also looking for his protector. If Saul found one of them, he would find both of them, and what's better than killing two birds with one stone? David was clearly the more hated and more endangered of the two, so wouldn't it make more sense for Abiathar to get as far away from David as possible so that Saul would go after David rather than Abiathar?
Nope. The thing is that that logic is only human logic. It leaves God out of the equation. With God on David's side, Saul would never succeed against him. And because of that, two things are true: 1) Saul may have realized his inability to defeat David (doubtful, but possible) and turned after Abiathar instead because he was much more likely to be able to kill him than David; and 2) to be under David's protection meant to be under God's own protection, which meant certain victory and survival. David and Abiathar both knew this to be true, and so Abiathar found a strange comfort in David's promise of safety.
My original intent for reading through 1 Samuel was to read about David and his relationship with the Lord. (I'm going through a devotional this summer for Freshley leadership, and one of this week's questions asks about the relationships of various men of the Bible with God.) I was just reading, doing my devotional, when out of nowhere, this verse appeared and caught my attention so suddenly that I just had to stop. What really made 1 Samuel 22:23 stick out to me the most was the statement, "the man who is seeking your life is seeking mine also." Maybe it's because I was just reading last night in John 15:18-20 when Jesus told the disciples that the world would hate them because it hates Him, and that they could be sure that they would be persecuted because He had been persecuted. Anyway, I want to offer this interpretation of 1 Samuel 22:23:
Jesus said to mankind: "That day when I conquered sin and death before the eyes of Satan, I knew that he would seek to hinder the growth of My kingdom. I am responsible for the passing of your earthly life and everything that is temporary. Stay with Me; don't be afraid; the enemy who is seeking your life is seeking Mine as well. If you run away from Me to protect yourself, the enemy will come after you because he knows that I cannot be defeated, but you can. But if you stay with Me, I will protect you; my Father is with Me, and He will not allow any harm to come to you. Because you are now My responsibility, I will protect you with My life. You will be safe with Me, and in return for the temporary life you are losing, I will give you eternal life."
If that isn't comforting, I don't know what is!
"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." ~ Philippians 4:7
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