Honesty

For all who do such things, all who act dishonestly, are an abomination to the LORD your God.
Deuteronomy 25:16

You are truth
Your words are true
You do not lie
In all You do
You are the Truth

But we believed The Lie
and now dishonesty
is everywhere with us
the truth is hard to see
because we believed The Lie

You call us to truth
and You change us within us
so that righteousness can be known
as we find truth and life in Jesus
You call us to truth

We know the Truth
You set us free from sin
so that honesty can be known
and truth can flow from within
We know the Truth


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

Truth & Love: a beautiful balance

And now I ask you, dear lady - not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning - that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.
2 John 5-6

Love is a dominant theme in all of the apostle John's writings. And this little postcard is no exception. But it isn't about gushy emotions. There is a necessary relationship between love for fellow believers and love for the Lord shown by obedience to the truth of His commands. John says that walking in obedience to the Lord is the first step in real love among Christians.

This is important because the very next section (2 John 7-11) - what is really the heart of the epistle - warns against associating with false teachers. False doctrine is wrong because it does not walk in Christ's commands. It cannot be love. It must be avoided and confronted.

The necessary relationship between truth and love is vital to the church. It makes us unique. Truth cannot exist without love or it is just stale fact that is void of life. Love cannot exist without truth or it is just sappy emotionalism. Both must exist in commitment to each other as evidenced in the lives of Christians who together walk in love according to Christ's commands.

- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

The Truth Lives Among Us

The elder to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all who know the truth, because of the truth that abides in us and will be with us forever:
2 John 1-2

This short little scrap of a note of a letter was meant to encourage Christians in their commitment to the truth. Truth is certainly doctrinal, but it is not JUST that alone. Truth lives in God's people. I love the way that John puts it here. The Greek that the ESV translates as "abides in us" can be translated as "lives among us." This is a community effort. Yes, individual believers must know and obey the truth of the gospel. But it lives, it remains, it is seen in us as a group. This is about the primacy of the local church.

Christians are to thrive in a church, a community of fellow believers, because that is how the truth remains. Lone wolf Christians will be more likely to have shortcomings in truth and obedience. God designed Christians to need one another. It is maturity in community that is the bond of disciples to one another.

The problem is that we focus in on the areas where my brother or sister still needs maturity. And it is easy to pridefully pick on the collective church as a group of hypocrites and liars. But that is taking our eyes of the truth and our own need to grow in it. The truth challenges us individually to change and to grow. And it challenges us to lovingly challenge one another. That is how the truth of the gospel lives among us.


- Posted with my iPad. The Apple Kool-Aide tastes fine.

Prophet for hire: part 2

God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? Behold, I received a command to bless: he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it.

Numbers 23:19-20

 

Poor Balak! He has paid good money to hire Balaam to place a curse on Israel. He has tried three different times, really four if you count the initial encounter with Balaam, and each time Balaam comes back with a blessing for the people that Balak hates. And it comes at the cost of building 21 altars and sacrificing 21 oxen and 21 sheep. This was a serious investment on his part in the hopes he could secure Israel’s demise.

 

But this much was true about Balaam… whatever message he “channeled” he stayed faithful to the content. He may have sold out to the highest bidder in terms of religious services, but he had enough sense to realize that he was dealing with the “real deal” when the God of Israel spoke to him. He may have been easy, but he was not quite sleazy.

 

The humor in these episodes is obvious. A pagan king and a flim-flam celebrity psychic “to the stars” would be used by God to confirm Israel’s purposes in His plan. And no one was going to stand in the way of what God was doing. Even the gods and religious practices of the people of Canaan would fall before the power and will of Yahweh. Israel’s God would be shown as having sovereignty over all people. They might get frustrated at the collapse of their pagan worldview. But they clearly and repeatedly saw the truth.

 

God gave grace to Balak through Balaam’s oracles. It enraged the pagan king, but he could not deny the truth of it. God managed to irrefutably establish His sovereignty, literally at Balak’s expense! It is funny, powerful, and tragic all at the same time!

 

Technorati Tags: Religion,Christianity,Discipleship

Prophet for hire: part 1

But Balaam answered and said to the servants of Balak, "Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not go beyond the command of the LORD my God to do less or more.”

Numbers 22:18

 

The story of Balaam is an interesting one, and not just because of the part of the story where his donkey speaks to him. It is a crucial story because it is clear that regardless of his past practices, Balaam 1) knows he has heard from the true God on this matter, and 2) claims some level of commitment to being faithful to God’s Word. This is seen in his statement that he cannot say “less or more” than what God has given to him. It is seen in his claim that to “the LORD my God.”

 

But Balaam is a study in decline. His firm resolve that no amount of money could persuade him to curse Israel if this was not God’s command begins to wilt in the repeated offers from Balak. Eventually he caves in, at least to meet with this rich patron who believes Balaam has the power to curse an entire nation. But even then, God has a bigger plan at work. The reluctant “prophet for hire” will still be used to get Balak’s attention and to witness to the greatness of what God is doing with His people Israel.

 

Balaam, however, would eventually be undone by these slow accommodations to greed.  He is known in future generations as a false prophet who loved to gain from wrongdoing (2 Peter 2:15). He would eventually die under the later conquest of Canaan because his advice to Balak resulted in Israel falling to prostitution and idolatry.

 

The lesson of Balaam is that little choices can lead to major slides from truth and from commitment to God. Balaam was a pagan oracle who had a brief dramatic encounter with the true God, only to fall away into materialistic greed and be judged by God. He serves forever as a warning to be true to God’s message, no matter what tempts us away.

 

Technorati Tags: Religion,Discipleship,Christianity

joy in making disciples

I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

3 John 4

A disciplemaker’s heart is filled with a nearly inexpressible joy at the witness of a life that is walking the walk of a follower of Jesus. This is an ancient joy and a reward of the faith. It grips John the Apostle as he wrote these words in the shortest and most personal of his epistles.

He writes to a disciple named Gaius. We know nothing of him except what can be discerned from this text. He was loved by John and he was a faithful follower of Jesus. His Christian testimony was one of faithful commitment that expressed itself visibly. He may have been a church leader, but not necessarily a pastor or elder, given the situation that John addresses in 3 John 9-10.  It appears that this letter to Gaius was meant to address an issue in a local church that existed back then. And I believe it led to a successful outcome, which is way it survives for us to read it today.

The testimony of this faithful saint was known to John. And it brought him joy. That sort of joy is known by those who help others grow and mature in Christian commitment. It is known by Christian parents as they witness the work of God in their kids. Then there is a joy as ther children literally learn to walk in the truth.

I have the unique privilege of sharing in this joy in an entire church. As a pastor, I work in the spiritual experiences of dozens of people at any one time. I honestly have to keep notes so as to not get the details of one life mixed up with another! But that administrative detail is not the point of ministry and it is worth it, mixed as it is with both the sorrows and pleasures of life. Most Sundays I can look out across a large congregation and feel this surge of joy in my heart at what God is doing in lives. I know more than a lot of people do about the details, and the details are amazing.

There is nothing else in life quite like this. It is hard for me even now to put it into words this morning. It is, as I have written, an ancient joy. And it does not compare to the joy that most be in God’s heart!

Technorati Tags: Religion,Christianity

Everlasting Words

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.

Luke 21:33

The place to build

my life upon

a firm foundation

never to be gone

 

The content of my life

to last and stay

is on Your words

that never pass away

 

Kingdoms rise and fall

human economies grow stale

but You are more powerful

and precious, You never fail

 

I am prone to wander

and can stray

But You stay true

and never pass away

 

So I will hold by faith

to the words of my Savior

And in my heart find peace

to embrace and savor

 

This powerful truth in a world

of uncertainty

will hold me firm when winds blow

I will know Your security

 

Heaven and earth may tumble

and eventually fall

But what God has said will

always stand tall

Technorati Tags: Luke,Jesus,Truth

True & Just

And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, "Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments.
For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!"
And I heard the altar saying, "Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!"

Revelation 16:5-7

This song of worship comes as a direct response to God’s retributive judgment on those who have rejected and rebelled against Him. It praises God for His justice. The praise follows a simple line of thinking. God is just because He brought the judgments. He acts in judgment and that alone is cause for Him being seen as just. Secondly. God acts in such a way that those who are judged are judged in a deserving manner. There is an irony in the judgment that turns the water to blood, since the beast and his followers have led a bloody persecution against God’s people. The punishment fits the crime, and that is just.

Thirdly, God is just because He is the Almighty. God has all power at His disposal to dispense His justice. He is remarkably restrained when one considers that fact! He could just obliterate the world of humanity at any time, but does not do so. And the final observation about His justice is that He is true. He does not cause further sinful behavior, neither are His judgments subject to debate about their moral equity. He is true and so are His actions.

Lord,

I do not pause to consider these truths enough, because like most Christians, I tend to associate judgment with rage or anger. But Your justice is fundamental to Your very person and nature, as the angels sing of in this passage. May I be equally impressed and worship You Who are just and true.

Amen

Technorati Tags: Revelation,Justice,Truth,Judgment

Exclusivity

All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
Matthew 11:27

In an age of pluralism, this exclusive claim of Jesus needs to be investigated! And it is a claim to a unique and exclusive "way to God". Just a couple of nights ago while watching a news channel show run through the events of the day, the host brought together a panel of Americans to discuss a comment from our president that America is "not a Christian nation". Included in the panel were an aging model, a former NFL football player, and a political pundit. To a person, they agreed that it is wrong to claim that Christianity is the "only way to God". "I think we all know there are many ways to God". Well Jesus did not preach that!

As we head into contemplation on the events of that Passover Week so long ago, it is good to remember that what Jesus did is exclusive. It is the only way that we may be saved. Jesus claimed it. His apostles preached it. The church has held exclusive claim to it for two millennia. And just because secular arrogance wants human sovereignty to rule does not diminish its impact.

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