Tag: Grace

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The Scoffer’s Antidote.

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“But you, my dear friends, must remember what the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ predicted. They told you that in the last times there would be scoffers whose purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires. These people are the ones who are creating divisions among you. They follow their natural instincts because they do not have God’s Spirit in them.” ‭‭Jude‬ ‭1‬:‭17‬-‭19‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It was predictable. It was inevitable. Scoffers will be mockers. It’s become a ubiquitous, socially praised art-form. Their numbers are low, but their voices are so loud and obnoxiously consistent. Scoffing, mocking and trash-talking truth is somewhat of a new source of side-gigging income. It’s the scourge of social media. Jude writes out their motivation and job description; their purpose in life is to satisfy their ungodly desires! They are just following their natural instincts.

Then Jude quickly shifts to the answer, the antidote that must be constantly and consistently administered. Here’s the list of ingredients that must be combined to make the cure.

  1. Build each other up in your most holy faith. Turn to, lean on one another to counteract the cultural poisons. Reminding each other of our faith, our self-differentiated belief in what God has said.
  2. Pray in the power of the Holy Spirit. Now is not the time to be weary or succumb to being a faulter, knowing that a noisy mob doesn’t mean their right or even aware of what they do.
  3. Await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love. Have patience under pressure. God is faithful to be present even under the most dire circumstances.
  4. Show mercy to those whose faith is wavering. This word, wavering, “diakrínō” is “judging back and forth,” or negatively “over-judging.” Don’t return to judging or predicting the outcome of someone else’s weakness, failure,or sin. Throw them mercy, toss them regular life-lines of grace.
  5. Rescue others by snatching them from the flames of judgment. Love them enough to be honest and supportive. Don’t let them go dark or silent, ghosting you without a fight for their soul.
  6. Show mercy to still others, but do so with great caution, hating the sins that contaminate their lives. Love the sinner, hate the sin. Just as you know how much God loves you and hates your own sin. Don’t give mercy from a high moral position, rather humbly boost others from below. Let our mercy lift and not pity!

These six ingredients are the contents of the antidote to scoffing and mocking that is now a constant thread and threat of every conversation. We need to be united in our attitudes and behaviors against towards those who would cause “division” or apodiorizó, “marking off boundaries” to separate us from each other and from God.

Jude knew we needed one another. And, through the Holy Spirit, he knew that this would only intensify as we get nearer to the end. Don’t let anyone lay down fake or false issues or boundaries that would separate us. Let’s stick together in our holy, humble faith!

Prayer

Dad,
We need you so desperately as times darken and shadows seem to be everywhere. And, we need each other more than ever before. Help us help each other to follow Jude’s prescribed antidote against disunity and tearing each other apart because of scoffer and mockers. Let God arise and His enemies be scattered!

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Fake rainbows.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me. Let all Israel repeat this: From my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me, but they have never defeated me. My back is covered with cuts, as if a farmer had plowed long furrows. But the Lord is good; he has cut me free from the ropes of the ungodly.” Psalms‬ ‭129:1-4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

It is true, that from the time of Israel’s birth, back in the days of Abraham, the founding father, it is evident that the world, their enemies have been against them. And, reflecting back to 400 years of Egyptian slavery, their backs, as a collective illustration, are covered with lashes received as slaves back in this early years and metaphorically even today. Israel has been used as a the whipping post for the global animosities against the people of God, even against God himself. As Israel makes yet another trip back up to Jerusalem, there are many reflections for the way back home. Yes, Israel was disciplined and taken away specifically for their sins, their arrogant and very public flaunting of idols mixed with sexual, physical and sacrificial offerings to wooden poles creepy little stone-carved idols that sat in prominence in their homes.

Israel, like all prodigal sons and daughters did the shame-walk back home. Yet, through this very long and sad cyclical story, it is undeniable that we see ourselves – all of humanity living out this very same pattern. We want, we desire, we frolic after fancy things. We search, we run to and fro, from promise to promise that this pole, or that carving, this high or experience, these gods will fulfill and give us everything we desire!

We, like Israel, like the psalmist could say, “from my earliest youth my enemies have persecuted me.” The enemy is very real and very alluring, but the end results are ALWAYS the same. Brokenness, sin and shame await at the end of the fake rainbow. The enemy of our souls and of God delight in us finding broken promises of happiness and, of all things, freedom. We constantly struggle to be free of this presence of a holy God, so we run towards a gleeful captor ready to slap on the cuffs or ropes of slavery.

It is then that all the warnings, pleas and truth begin to dawn on us. Like Pinocchio found out on the island of pleasure, it was all a lie. Like Christian, in Pilgrim’s Progress, who seeks paradise but only finds detours, yet never releasing his burden and only increases it.

All of us are welcome to come to the same place the psalmist describes. The place where we see that God is good and can permanently CUT the ropes of the ungodly. For those searching for real freedom, not fake, flashy, self-fulling nonsense – but real and eternal freedom. There is but one way, the only way. That is through Jesus Christ and his gift of death, of salvation, of redemption, of transformation offered to pay for that freedom. But it requires our very life to be given in exchange!

Prayer

Dad,
The return to what’s good and right is a tough one. It feels so good to “come clean,” and rid the backpack of burdened sin and stupidity. It also feels so humiliating to return to the right path. Oftentimes I have seen my friends treated so badly when they wander, or even blow up their lives and families, knowing full well that judging them this way makes it near impossible to come home, returning to community. This walk back to Jerusalem is Israel’s shame walk, but at some point in our lives, it’s everyone’s walk. Help us love folks through their sin and welcome them when they’ve come home. We need your extraordinary, lavished grace to embrace.

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BIG life, boulder free.

Reading Time: 3 minutes 
“What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place. But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded. Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path.” Romans‬ ‭9:30-32‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​Imagine the walkway leading up to your house or your apartment complex. The reason it exists is for easy access to the entry to your home. Now imagine, if you decided to put a big boulder right in the middle of that path. Now the path is blocked, making it harder to get to your front door.

Paul says the law, the perfect commandments of God are that boulder, that ROCK. Paul says that for the Jewish folk, God himself put that boulder there. Then, by inference says, as a Gentile why would you put the rock 🪨 there by yourself, when God did not want it there?

Paul’s rock analogy is about the law. Gentiles, non-Jewish folk, weren’t even aware that there was a rock at all and thus, their path to God was not based on WORKING around the rock to get to himself. Gentiles had faith in Christ, who permanently removed the rock to freely allow access to God? To the Jews, Paul says elsewhere, Jesus is a stumbling block (boulder), because faith in Christ’s work removes the barrier between us and God. However, even as Gentiles (most of us), came to Christ, through faith and not having to work to get around or over the boulder, it seems that we still easily pickup Jewish ways.

We put the boulder back in the way and then struggle to get around it! Why? Because faith in Christ is HARDER than working to keep all the commandments. Strange huh? Faith in Christ is a humbling trust that God moved towards us and removed all the barriers to perfection and yes, holiness, to have a full grace-filled life with himself. Doesn’t grace make us like, sin-lazy, easy to just take the gift and do whatever we want? That is possible. Isn’t grace too easy? Not according to God it’s not. This grace was the most costly, extravagant gift God could ever give. It cost the suffering and death of his own Son, Jesus. But can’t that be taken advantage of or spurned (treated cheaply)? Yes, but what’s the advantage of that? That just puts us, automatically under the curse of the law – the souls that sins MUST die. Treating God’s gift of grace flippantly puts the boulder right back in our path.

God expects us to not only be thankful for His gift but to trust Him to live as BIG of a life as we can in this miracle of forgiveness. Living a Big life, boulder free!

Prayer

Dad,
It is so frustrating when we want to move towards being better, sinning less and try to live a life of perfection, the first thing we think of is putting ourselves back under the law and work hard to impress you. We’re just putting the rock back in our our path! The only path to perfection is running towards your presence and through your Holy Spirit live this life of grace and trust. Of course there is confession of sin and a repentance from those sins, but not to work harder or “do good” to try to erase our own sins. You designed us to walk with you and have provided a perfect way to make that happen – through Jesus. Thank you!

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What farmers know that I don’t.

Reading Time: 4 minutes 
“This is the meaning of the parable: The seed is God’s word. The seeds that fell on the footpath represent those who hear the message, only to have the devil come and take it away from their hearts and prevent them from believing and being saved. The seeds on the rocky soil represent those who hear the message and receive it with joy. But since they don’t have deep roots, they believe for a while, then they fall away when they face temptation. The seeds that fell among the thorns represent those who hear the message, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the cares and riches and pleasures of this life. And so they never grow into maturity. And the seeds that fell on the good soil represent honest, good-hearted people who hear God’s word, cling to it, and patiently produce a huge harvest.” Luke‬ ‭8:11-15‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​Thank goodness Jesus explained this one to his disciples, thus explaining it to all of Luke’s readers! I love the fact that Jesus told stories and parables that were fitting for the audience who,was listening. This is an “aggie” story. This is a story for farmers and families who live in an agricultural community. Jesus wouldn’t have told this story, say in downtown Los Angeles. And he wouldn’t have told an urban story to a bunch of Fresno, California peeps. These are rural stories for rural people.

As a non-farmer and the son of a non-farmer, I can get the point, but I will never be able to feel the story or experience the story like those who hands are worn with dirt. How could Jesus, being a Rabbi and a mason, tell a good ‘ol farmer story. I believe Jesus spent an enormous amount of time with a massive cross section of people from all walks of life, all income brackets and social standing.

Did you know that Jesus often told stories with words and concepts from the entertainment industry of that day? Yeah, one example is using the word “hypocrite.” The word comes from theatre troops, popular in Jesus’s day. Jesus would not have attended many of these performances, because they were NSFW, but he did talk with theater people. Same here. Jesus probably did not farm himself, but he spent a lot of time with ordinary farmers. His ability to not just BE with people, but to listen and learn their lingo and their needs is extraordinary! I read this story of “a farmer goes out to sow seeds” and it feels a little flat to me. I’ve never gone out and sown seed. And when I read it, I think, “why is the guy throwing seed on paths, weed patches and unprepared ground?” Seems like a waste of seed to me. But you know what? I’m NOT a farmer, so I have no idea what they really do or why they do it! But the audience knew exactly what Jesus was taking about, probably nodding their heads in agreement with each point he made.

I have friends that live in places like Nebraska, Missouri and Kansas who constantly educate me on the ways of agriculture or livestock. I don’t think our school even had a 4h club, so I wasn’t going to learn about the land that way.

Jesus’ parable, especially with the key-code to unlock the mystery really helps. And, it helps understand a facet of how God works and the Kingdom of God works among us.

One more question before I wrap this up. When Jesus said, “The seed is God’s Word,” I wonder – exactly what “Word” was Jesus referring to? The Old Testament Law? The entire Old Testament, including Psalms, Proverbs and the Prophets? Was Jesus referring to himself, the “Logos” even as he was living and speaking while he was Son of Man/Son of God on the planet? The gospels and the epistles (letters) wouldn’t be written down for several decades, possibly even a hundred years.

I believe, wholeheartedly in the now written Word of God, but I also believe that God continues to speak to men and women’s hearts through all kinds of ways. I don’t claim that any of it is scripture, but God still has ways of delivering his seed, his word our world today. And as it is scattered everywhere in hopes that it finds fertile ground, it is still up to the soil/heart of the hearer to keep their soil in good shape or for sure, clear out rocks, weeds and hardness to allow God’s word to be productive in our salvation and redemption.

Prayer:

Dad,
I love the parables and stories, filled with mystery and just begging to be explored by curious or needy minds. I love the beauty of Jesus’ ability to talk with any and every human no matter their background or way of life. You know us so intimately! You love us so thoroughly. I am grateful that we get to be seed sowers of your love and grace. We get to be wild and liberally tossing out your gracious words of hope and not have to be concerned that every seed finds its rich target in good soil. And, we even get to continue to keep our own heart and soul in a state of preparedness taking care of our own hardness, rockiness, weedyness. I take it this picture of a farmer sowing isn’t a one and done kind of story. It continues on while we live on a very earthy, soiled planet!

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Don’t be like the ancients

Reading Time: 2 minutes 
“These things happened as a warning to us, so that we would not crave evil things as they did, or worship idols as some of them did. As the Scriptures say, “The people celebrated with feasting and drinking, and they indulged in pagan revelry.” And we must not engage in sexual immorality as some of them did, causing 23,000 of them to die in one day. Nor should we put Christ to the test, as some of them did and then died from snakebites. And don’t grumble as some of them did, and then were destroyed by the angel of death. These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.” 1 Corinthians‬ ‭10:6-11‬ ‭NLT‬‬

​Here we have Paul giving us a great example of how a well trained, former Pharisee interprets an ancient passage of scripture from Exodus. I read Exodus and see lessons of Old Testament theology and practical advice for living while looking through the lens of Jesus’ saving grace.

Not so much with Paul. Paul tells the church in Corinth – it’s a WARNING. Paul gives the text the same amount of veracity that Moses gave when he wrote it! I see the Old Testament as a little outdated. Paul sees it as current. My sense of context is therefore dulled by a distorted view of grace when I do this with scripture. Paul’s high TRUTH, high LOVE compels him to admonish (warn & encourage) the modern, metropolitan church filled with a city bursting with immoral opportunity to sin!

Paul starts with our commonality with the ancient wanderers (same baptism, same food and water, same God) and writes, “Yet God was not pleased with most of them, and their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.” Paul – haven’t you read “what’s so amazing about grace?” Don’t you know that God isn’t mad at us and we live in a very long season of mercy? Oh, Paul knows alright. He wrote much, if not most of the theology on the topic of God’s grace. But it’s never an excuse to sin more! And, Paul never throws shade on God’s holiness, wrath or judgment?

Paul tells the Church, don’t be like the ancients in these areas: partying, feasting and drinking, indulging in pagan revelry. Don’t engage in sexual immorality, don’t TEST Christ [mercy], and don’t grumble. Paul suggests that these human behaviors only INCREASE as the end approaches! God’s grace covers my sin, but will never accommodate my sin!

PRAYER:

Dad,
I am thankful for your word. I am thankful for Pastor Paul who’s words still preach about holiness and godliness. I am thankful for your Holy Spirit to lead away from temptation not towards it, who leads me in confession of sin, not denial of it. I am thankful for your mercy. I am also thankful for your wrath – your pure sense of justice for all wrongs, not just the ones I agree with. I am most thankful for your grace that came at the ultimate price of death of the Son who was completely innocent and perfect.