Proverbs 22:6
"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."
I’m a special ed teacher at an elementary school. Most of my students have difficulty with social interactions. They don’t get social cues; they don’t understand subtlety, humor, and sarcasm (though they often try to use it); and they don’t know what to do when they hurt someone. Frankly, though, those kinds of difficulties in dealing in society seem to be far more pervasive than simply with students in special education. More and more kids (and adults) seem lost when trying to navigate civilly. To put it bluntly, we are creating an uncivil world and it doesn’t have to be that way. It is possible for children to interact civilly if we take time to teach them.
Recently, my class was working on a word processing project. We were near the end of the project with many hours already put in with the processes of writing and editing. One of my students, whose parents have told me that he has a great deal of difficulty making friends, thought it would be funny to reach over and punch a few keys on a fellow student’s computer. The result wasn’t nearly as funny as he had anticipated. It was, in fact, immediately disastrous. It caused that other student’s work to entirely disappear from the screen! Fortunately, the file had recently been saved and I was able to retrieve it for the student. But it wasn’t even the initial act that so distressed me. It was that the student who caused the chaos thought that even the missing file was funny and refused to apologize (and apologize profusely) for the distress he had caused.
Pain is funny. Distress is funny. We see it every day in the media. Many of our comedy shows and movies are based on pain and distress. But we know that, in real life, pain is never funny. Distress is never funny.
This morning I was reading on the Internet about a student who was recently expelled for pulling a knife on a another student and saying, "Snitches get stitches." The incident so intimidated the student that she was out of school for almost two weeks in fear of returning. The mother of the perpetrator had these things to say: "He’s not a dangerous child. He’s a good kid. Boys will be boys. He did everything they said, but he’s not malicious. They’re kids. Kids say dumb things. But does it mean my son is bad? He’s not." And she continued to assert that he shouldn’t have been expelled for his behavior.
Pain is belittled. Distress is belittled. The mom was more concerned about trying to defend her son and make everything think that he was an okay kid. He may have been. But the fact is that he used a weapon against another student and threatened her. That’s a serious issue that shouldn’t be belittled. Where was her concern about her son’s extremely antisocial behavior? If he was willing to use a knife to threaten a little girl—and he likely did it because he thought it was funny—then what might he do when he’s 12? 16? 20? Would he continue to use weapons as a method of amusement?
Recently our country has become even more aware of the racial inequities between police practice and racial minorities. There is a strong truth in DWB (driving while black) or WWB (walking while black) in that young black men are accosted—often for no reason—far more often by police officers than any other group in society. There’s something very wrong with that practice! That being said, there is also a widespread growing antagonism toward authority and a feeling among all groups that it’s okay to violate laws and civil constraints if one wants to. This isn’t restricted to just one group, but rather is becoming an almost pervasive feeling in America.
"Whatever they should do, people don't obey laws they strongly oppose. . . . And I think that each of us has both a right and a duty to undermine laws that intrude on our rights and oppress our freedom." (http://www.tuccille.com/blog/2008/03/should-we-obey-law.html)
This is an interesting and thoughtful essay and I would encourage everyone to read it; however, I believe there are two flaws in this way of thinking. First, it pre-supposes that everyone possesses a morality or personal moral code that would produce a healthy society. Secondly, it assumes that people would embrace that moral code in all situations, rather than reverting to their own indulgences.
The fact is, we as a society are in trouble. We are most in trouble because we have come to believe that, at the core, people are good. As Christians, we should know (and should base our decisions upon the fact) that we aren’t good at all; we are, in fact, desperately wicked: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked" (Jeremiah 17:9 NKJV). The connotation in the Hebrew is that there is not even a cure for this wickedness. While we are born innocent (unable to see that we are in need of salvation), we are not born good. We need the Lord’s mercy and forgiveness, we need His righteousness put upon us, in order to be good. But we aren’t born good. Not one of us!
As Christians we should be well aware of that fact, not only because it says so in God’s Word (and that should be enough), but because we know it in our hearts! We know our own heart and we know how desperately wicked we can be and are when we act apart from the Holy Spirit. So it shouldn’t take anything for us to know that our society, without the morality of God, is going literally to hell.
It is happening to our children . . . and it is happening to them because we are failing to teach them how to embrace morality. Even many children growing up in Christian homes are losing their way! And as a teacher in a public school, I see at least four things we need to stop doing in order to help our children.
(1) We need to stop "teaching" them that jokes that hurt others are funny.
Jokes that hurt others isn’t a new phenomena nor is it an isolated incident. P. Valerie Dauphin, a student at Penn State, did a study on sarcasm in social situations. She began by defining sarcasm:
"Sarcasm is a large component of social interaction and conversation. To demonstrate a sense of humor, people frequently use sarcasm as a means of ‘breaking the ice’ during initial encounters with others. People also use sarcasm as a means of being comedic with groups of friends. They say something contrary to what they feel and/or believe for the purpose of being funny. Sarcasm, in these instances, seems harmless and playful. But is it really? Too much sarcasm is annoying and hurtful, but can even a minimal amount be too much?"
She then went on to analyze her study:
"It is interesting to note that every male, except one, viewed sarcasm as lighthearted humor, whereas the females were divided on the issue. Males expressed more tolerance of this type of verbal aggression. It is also interesting to note that they did not view sarcasm as a form of aggression. Their approval is apparent in their responses to question 3 in the survey. None of them viewed sarcasm as a negative thing. Another interesting thing is while four females thought females make more sarcastic remarks than males, no male thought similarly. In addition, a majority of the males said they are sarcastic most of the time while a majority of the females said they are rarely sarcastic. These two findings support the statement that sarcasm is a male-dominated form of communication." (http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/plc/communication/valerie.htm)
Dauphin characterizes sarcasm as "verbal aggression" and yet in the results of her study, none of the males viewed sarcasm as a negative thing. Now of course this study is nowhere definitive, but I believe there is validity in saying that it is at least representative of the views of many people in our society who embrace hurtful humor as valid communication and social interaction.
We have taught our children that hurting someone else can be funny. But what does scripture say?
"Whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things. The things which you learned and received and heard and saw in me, these do, and the God of peace will be with you" (Philippians 4:8-9 NKJV). Is it noble to make fun of someone else? Is it just to laugh at their expense? Of course not! And we need to teach our children that "all those jokes" need to be gone from our lives, from our conversation, from even our thoughts.
(2) We need to teach our children that for much of life, there are no do-overs.
I’m an avid computer gamer. I love all kinds of board games and with computer graphics, playing games takes on a whole new level. You can live fantasy lives, build cities (my favorite is building roller coasters that, in real life, I would be terrified to ride), run races, even fly airplanes and space ships! And of course, the amazing thing about computer gaming is that even if the game lets you "die," you are instantly reborn to try again.
Many of our kids spend a lot of time playing computer games. And so, our kids play games where they can "die" and they come back to life to start again. How do I know this? Because, during their free time, your kids play those kinds of games on my computers at school.
When it comes to games, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with allowing someone to "get killed and start over." But our children need to know that there aren’t usually do-overs in life. Once we mess up, instead of being able to start over, we have to deal with the consequences of our mess. Often those consequences touch the lives of those around us and we have ended up, even unintentionally, hurting others.
The fact is, do-overs are great for gaming, but life isn’t a game. Our children often don’t understand the difference. Most of my school kids believe that everything they see on television is true; so do many of their parents! We can’t assume that maturity will somehow sort out the differences for our children. We need to teach them the difference between fantasy and reality, the difference between a do-over in a game and being stuck with the consequences of real life. I learned being stuck with consequences very early in my life.
My mom had a drawer full of beautiful scarves. She would often let me play with them at home. I loved all the colors and designs. A number of scarves had stories behind them that Mom would share with me. One scarf in particular fascinated me. It was a map of the United States. Mom had explained to me that she probably could never find another like it and that I needed to be careful with it.
One day when I was in the car with my family, I had that scarf. I took it and held it out the window, watching it fluttering in the wind as the car went down the street. Mom warned me that doing that wasn’t a good idea, but I kept on. Suddenly the scarf was pulled out of my little hand and was gone! For whatever reason, we couldn’t stop and go look for it. I was devastated because I knew I had lost one of my mom’s favorite scarves. There was no do-over!
Parents often try to soften the consequences of childish decisions. The mother of the boy with the knife was perhaps doing that when she was trying to "explain away" his actions. I would have been more convinced that she loved him if she had taken a much harder stance and identified with his terrified victim. That boy doesn’t need his actions excused away; he needs to understand that he crossed a line, a line that should never have even been approached. He didn’t just have a knife at school and show it to kids; he threatened another student with it. He threatened to cut her to the point she would need stitches! This boy doesn’t need to be defended; he needs to be taught that he can’t behave like that . . . ever . . . again! It wasn’t kid stuff. It wasn’t a dumb thing. It was a serious threat! This boy needs to learn that he has terrorized that little girl to the point where she is afraid to come to school, where the family is afraid they may all be harmed. He needs to understand that he can’t take this back or get a do-over. His actions have consequences and some of those consequences cannot be undone.
Life doesn’t offer do-overs. Our kids need to know that.
(3) We need to teach our children that there is no such thing as an excuse for age, immaturity or ignorance.
Children need to be given limits at a very early age and then taught that they cannot cross those limits, regardless of the situation. Why? Because children lack the wisdom of experience to make good choices. They make choices based on their lusts. "I want this." It feels good; it tastes good; it will attract attention.
I have children come to school in the snow without jackets because they were more concerned about watching television before school than getting ready. Is that a wise decision? Of course not, but it’s predictable since a child can only make a decision based on the indulgence of the moment. They don’t know how to self-discipline or self-sacrifice; those are skills they have to be taught. (In fact, many adults I know don’t know how to self-discipline or self-sacrifice.)
We often excuse self-indulgent and lustful decisions as being due to age and there is some validity in that! Paul tells us that wisdom is discussed with those who are mature: "We speak wisdom among those who are mature" (1 Corinthians 2:6 NKJV). One can have an amount of spiritual maturity at a young age, but most of us require a number of years of living, of falling down and getting back up again, of failing and trying again, before we even begin to reach maturity.
But just because one isn’t mature isn’t an excuse for stupid stuff! God gave us parents for a reason and that is because the immature shouldn’t be making decisions, and if they are, those decisions should be make within very strict limitations. That being said, it’s wrong for us to use immaturity or youth to excuse harmful behavior. There is no such thing as "it was just kids being kids" that can excuse the kinds of insanity that our children are allowed to do to each other. Children prior to the teen-age years do not self-regulate well. They usually don’t learn from their mistakes.
"Eight-year-olds learn primarily from positive feedback ('Well done!'), whereas negative feedback ('Got it wrong this time') scarcely causes any alarm bells to ring. Twelve-year-olds are better able to process negative feedback, and use it to learn from their mistakes." (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080925104309.htm)
This study is based on finding an "average" among a number of test subjects. That means that there are even twelve-year-olds who cannot process negative feedback. We need to wisely know our child in order to know if they are truly able to handle learning from their mistakes.
For the most part, if children get away with one thing, they will try something more daring the next time. Even if they get caught, they will often continue to try something that reaches beyond what they did before. (This is even true for many adults). They need wise parents to teach them that there may be some things they do where the consequences could be life changing!
As I was growing up, my mom continually taught me to cherish the things I had, even the most trivial toy, because if something was lost or broken, there wasn’t enough money to replace it. I didn’t know at the time how real that lesson was to my mom. When she was a child, her parents divorced. My grandmother had made a hasty decision as a young teen to marry a man who she didn’t know well, a man who swept her off her feet, but a man whose temper was as yet unknown to her. Ten years later, after suffering years of abuse, my grandmother—during a time when divorce was not common—divorced her husband and fled with her 9-year-old daughter, my mom. Without the resources to find shelter, my grandmother and mom moved in with relatives, relatives who themselves had a very small house. Because of that, my grandmother and mom could only have one small suitcase between them for all their worldly possessions. My mom had to give up all of her toys and dolls, including a beautiful Shirley Temple doll that she greatly cherished. My grandmother’s decision to marry without thought created consequences that were life changing for herself and her young daughter. It doesn’t matter that my grandmother was a teen and that teens make stupid decisions. The consequences were nevertheless very real and very severe.
Our children need to be taught, very early on, that life is unforgiving. We, as those who love them, may always forgive them as does the Lord, but there may still be consequences that are hard to face and yet must be. Children must be guided to learn to make decisions based on facing the consequences so that they can learn to make wiser decisions. We shouldn’t have to excuse behavior due to youth.
(4) We need to stop teaching our children that failure is never bad.
Failure isn’t bad . . . sometimes. Thomas Edison is often heralded as an example of not giving up due to failure. When inventing the lightbulb, Edison continued to try:
"When it didn't work the first time, Edison made a note of exactly what he'd done and what components he had used. Then he made an adjustment to the experiment and tried again. And when that "failed" he made a note of that, readjusted and tried again. He kept learning from every experiment. He learned all the ways that it wouldn't work. He discovered all the chemicals and elements that wouldn't work. And each time he found a way that wouldn't work, he knew he was closer to finding a way that would work.
It took him approximately 10,000 experiments to invent the perfect set-up for the electric light bulb. There was a lot of learning to go through. Nobody had done it before. He couldn't read a book about it. He simply had to plug away, failing and learning, until he and his muckers worked out the right way to do it." (http://www.wilywalnut.com/Fail-Fast-Success-Failure-Wonderful-Edison.html).
The thing is, this idea—that failure can be the precursor to success—isn’t a universal truth. In other words, it works sometimes and sometimes it doesn’t! Failure only works as a precursor to success when the consequences of failure aren’t such that they prevent another try. What if Edison, in trying to invent the light bulb, had succeeded in electrocuting himself? He wouldn’t have been held up in esteem as the great inventor who failed 10,000 times only to succeed the 10,001! He would have, instead, died in obscurity.
With the advent of the Common Core in public schools, we are now told, as teachers, to encourage our students to fail. I totally understand the logic behind this and applaud this wisdom in certain circumstances! However, like most governmental mandates, it seems to be an all-or-nothing proposition.
The fact is, we need to stop teaching our children that failure is never bad and teach them what scripture says, that we are fallible human beings whom God loves and whom He will forgive if we accept His salvation. We need to teach them to follow His will with that will being the path of success. We need to teach them that earthly success is meaningless if we fail to please God.
We also need to teach them that there are many instances where failure will bring serious consequences. Failure to obey the laws of the land may result in being thrown in jail. Failure to respect others may result in loss of relationship. Failure to obey authority may result in loss of jobs. There are many failures that have serious and life-changing consequences. But if we teach our children to follow the Lord Jesus, they won’t ever need to be afraid of failure because His way is life. It’s always life!
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
Musing
Thursday, January 29, 2015
Monday, January 19, 2015
Biblical Literacy: Adding to Virtue Knowledge -- 1 Peter 1:5-7
1 Peter 1:5-7
"For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love." (NRSV)
We are to add to our faith virtue (or goodness) and then add to our virtue knowledge.
I find it interesting that Peter places virtue before knowledge. This isn’t any kind of special knowledge; it’s simply the knowledge that comes from learning, from study. It is another word that describes, simply put, literacy. Peter is saying that we can’t understand what we read until we have decided to control our behavior and our choices. But once we do that, then we need to add knowledge to that virtue.
Illiterate and literate. These are two words that I use almost daily, being a teacher. For me, working in an elementary school, these words immediately describe the state of a student’s ability to use the English language. A student who is literate can both pronounce and understand what she reads. A student who is illiterate struggles with pronunciations, even of simpler words, and often has difficulty understanding what was read.
Literacy can apply to any number of subjects. Someone who is literate in math understands math concepts and can use them to solve math problems. Someone who is literate in science can define science terms and discuss, at length, various scientific concepts.
There is also spiritual literacy, biblical literacy. Literacy for a believer has to do with knowing what the Bible says and being able to accurately apply it to their lives. And there are various levels of literacy for Christians.
The first level of literacy is general familiarization. This would be similar to learning how to recognize and pronounce words in reading literacy. When a child learns how to read, he first learns the sounds of the letters, then how the sounds are blended together, then how to recognize syllables, and so forth. He then learns the meanings of new words. In the first level of biblical literacy, it’s important for the Christian to become just generally familiar with the structure of the Bible, the fact that it’s divided into two sections (with a 400 year gap in between), the issue of why certain books were accepted into the Bible and why others weren’t, why the books are divided the way they are and so forth. There are any number of websites that can be used to learn introductory literacy. Doing a quick search, I came up with a couple (but there are more):
http://basicsofthebible.org/studyguide/index.html
http://www.teensundayschool.com/97/overview/bible-basics.php
It’s important for believers to have a firm grasp of the basics of biblical literacy so that we can "rightly divide" the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
The second level of literacy is getting a general familiarization with each book of the Bible. This is easily done by simply reading through the Bible. There are a vast number of "plans" that allow you to read through the Bible in a year. Here’s one plan that organizes you to read through the Bible in 90 days: http://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-reading-plan/ninety-day-challenge.html. Reading through the Bible once—simply reading it—is important to get a good overview of what each book actually says. When you read through the Bible, you are doing that, just reading. You are getting the bigger picture.
The third level of literacy is then to begin studying more in depth. This level of literacy is actually divided into three parts of study: Biblical deep study, doctrinal study, and historical study. At this point, the believer should begin to add Christians books to their study (but not to substitute those books for the Bible). It’s important to know which books to read (and which authors to trust). Pastors or trusted Christian elders may be able to point you in the right direction (though, unfortunately, not all pastors are readers). Some authors that I recommend to other Christians include A. W. Tozer, John Wesley, Paul E. Billheimer (particularly Destined for the Throne), and Alan Redpath. There are also good resources on the Internet, though you have to be very careful because there’s a lot of junk out there as well.
Once a believer has reached the third level of literacy, she should begin to learn about the various doctrinal positions presented in the Bible, be able to compare those with the church of her choice, and then research those in scripture. This is a lot of work, so you may want, at this point, to join up with other believers in a study group to do this together. But it’s important to know what various doctrines believe and then to prayerfully decide where the Lord would have you.
Unfortunately, in America, biblical illiteracy is becoming more and more prevalent:
"According to the 2014 ‘The State of the Bible’ report by Barna Group and American Bible Society, a majority of U.S. adults (81 percent) said they consider themselves highly, moderately or somewhat knowledgeable about the Bible. Yet less than half (43 percent) were able to name the first five books of the Bible. The statistics are similar to the previous 2013 report which also showed that only half knew that John the Baptist was not one of the 12 apostles." (I highly recommend reading this entire article if you are interested in this issue: http://www.christianpost.com/news/biblical-illiteracy-in-us-at-crisis-point-says-bible-expert-121626/)
The problem with biblical illiteracy is that it stands between us and Christian maturity. We cannot move onto self-control, endurance, and godliness until we actually learn what scripture has to say about these things. We cannot become more like Christ—Who is the Word—until we learn what the Word actually says.
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
"For this very reason, you must make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love." (NRSV)
We are to add to our faith virtue (or goodness) and then add to our virtue knowledge.
I find it interesting that Peter places virtue before knowledge. This isn’t any kind of special knowledge; it’s simply the knowledge that comes from learning, from study. It is another word that describes, simply put, literacy. Peter is saying that we can’t understand what we read until we have decided to control our behavior and our choices. But once we do that, then we need to add knowledge to that virtue.
Illiterate and literate. These are two words that I use almost daily, being a teacher. For me, working in an elementary school, these words immediately describe the state of a student’s ability to use the English language. A student who is literate can both pronounce and understand what she reads. A student who is illiterate struggles with pronunciations, even of simpler words, and often has difficulty understanding what was read.
Literacy can apply to any number of subjects. Someone who is literate in math understands math concepts and can use them to solve math problems. Someone who is literate in science can define science terms and discuss, at length, various scientific concepts.
There is also spiritual literacy, biblical literacy. Literacy for a believer has to do with knowing what the Bible says and being able to accurately apply it to their lives. And there are various levels of literacy for Christians.
The first level of literacy is general familiarization. This would be similar to learning how to recognize and pronounce words in reading literacy. When a child learns how to read, he first learns the sounds of the letters, then how the sounds are blended together, then how to recognize syllables, and so forth. He then learns the meanings of new words. In the first level of biblical literacy, it’s important for the Christian to become just generally familiar with the structure of the Bible, the fact that it’s divided into two sections (with a 400 year gap in between), the issue of why certain books were accepted into the Bible and why others weren’t, why the books are divided the way they are and so forth. There are any number of websites that can be used to learn introductory literacy. Doing a quick search, I came up with a couple (but there are more):
http://basicsofthebible.org/studyguide/index.html
http://www.teensundayschool.com/97/overview/bible-basics.php
It’s important for believers to have a firm grasp of the basics of biblical literacy so that we can "rightly divide" the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15).
The second level of literacy is getting a general familiarization with each book of the Bible. This is easily done by simply reading through the Bible. There are a vast number of "plans" that allow you to read through the Bible in a year. Here’s one plan that organizes you to read through the Bible in 90 days: http://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-reading-plan/ninety-day-challenge.html. Reading through the Bible once—simply reading it—is important to get a good overview of what each book actually says. When you read through the Bible, you are doing that, just reading. You are getting the bigger picture.
The third level of literacy is then to begin studying more in depth. This level of literacy is actually divided into three parts of study: Biblical deep study, doctrinal study, and historical study. At this point, the believer should begin to add Christians books to their study (but not to substitute those books for the Bible). It’s important to know which books to read (and which authors to trust). Pastors or trusted Christian elders may be able to point you in the right direction (though, unfortunately, not all pastors are readers). Some authors that I recommend to other Christians include A. W. Tozer, John Wesley, Paul E. Billheimer (particularly Destined for the Throne), and Alan Redpath. There are also good resources on the Internet, though you have to be very careful because there’s a lot of junk out there as well.
Once a believer has reached the third level of literacy, she should begin to learn about the various doctrinal positions presented in the Bible, be able to compare those with the church of her choice, and then research those in scripture. This is a lot of work, so you may want, at this point, to join up with other believers in a study group to do this together. But it’s important to know what various doctrines believe and then to prayerfully decide where the Lord would have you.
Unfortunately, in America, biblical illiteracy is becoming more and more prevalent:
"According to the 2014 ‘The State of the Bible’ report by Barna Group and American Bible Society, a majority of U.S. adults (81 percent) said they consider themselves highly, moderately or somewhat knowledgeable about the Bible. Yet less than half (43 percent) were able to name the first five books of the Bible. The statistics are similar to the previous 2013 report which also showed that only half knew that John the Baptist was not one of the 12 apostles." (I highly recommend reading this entire article if you are interested in this issue: http://www.christianpost.com/news/biblical-illiteracy-in-us-at-crisis-point-says-bible-expert-121626/)
The problem with biblical illiteracy is that it stands between us and Christian maturity. We cannot move onto self-control, endurance, and godliness until we actually learn what scripture has to say about these things. We cannot become more like Christ—Who is the Word—until we learn what the Word actually says.
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
Sunday, January 18, 2015
Stay Out of the Survival Mode -- Philippians 1:19-24
Philippians 1;19-24
"For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you." (NKJV)
The world is getting worse and worse. Of course, it’s easier to find out all the things that are going wrong due to pervasive mass communication. But regardless, things are getting worse and worse. There are literally wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, pandemics, corruption, and all sorts of evil things.
As Christians, how should we respond? There is a natural tendency to want to withdraw and begin to care only for ourselves and our loved ones. It would be easy to start hoarding all of our resources in order to "prepare" for the future. There are even Christians who are moving from here to there (or from there to here) in order to find a "safer" place to live.
Is that how we should respond to the world’s craziness?
Paul lived in a time when Christians faced suffering frequently. Many were poor and without adequate resources for daily living. Others were hounded and persecuted. Paul himself suffered through trials and persecutions as part of his ministry:
"With far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked." (2 Corinthians 11:23b-27 NRSV).
Paul didn’t just live in the threat of suffering, he lived in (and through) sufferings of all kinds. Yet, his response wasn’t to run away and try to avoid the suffering. His response was to meet it head-on because "to remain in the flesh is more needful for you." His response was to embrace the Lord’s call on his life and to understand who we are supposed to be as Christians.
Why are we here? Once we have accepted the Lord as our Savior, why are we not just miraculously transported to Heaven? Because we each have a calling on our lives . . . and that calling is the same for all Christians! We are to pray and to make disciples. It’s as simple as that. We are to engage in spiritual warfare through prayer (Daniel 10) and we are to go into all the world, making disciples (Mark 16:15-18).
It’s natural to fear suffering and death. That fear is instilled within us, both socially and physically. But as believers, we know that this body is only a temporary home. It isn’t our eternal body nor should we treat it as something that is to be protected at all costs. Are we to be prudent with these bodies? Yes, of course. We are commanded to be self-controlled (Galatians 5:23), but our focus shouldn’t be on trying to maintain these bodies!
"Exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come." (1 Timothy 4:7-8 NKJV).
How do we exercise toward godliness? By being in the center of God’s will. And what is His will? That we pray and make disciples! When we focus on ourselves, on maintaining our lifestyles (health and/or wealth), on trying to avoid suffering, we are focused in the wrong direction! Yes, suffering has come and is coming to many. And where, as believers, should we be? Perhaps the best place might be in the midst. People who are happy and content are often unwilling to listen to the gospel because they are "blissfully" unaware of their need for God’s love. But those who are suffering? Those who are in the midst of trials and suffering are frequently more willing to listen to how much God loves them and wants to care for them. As Christians, we may miss our greatest opportunities for making disciples if we are focused on trying to survive, rather than throwing ourselves in the middle of the chaos and looking to the needs of those around us.
For believers, this life is always a win-win situation. It should never matter to believers that we die. We should live confidently, trusting the Lord:
"So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him." (2 Corinthians 5:6-9 NKJV).
Do we trust Him? Do we truly trust Him? If so, we will walk into situations of peril and hardship with confidence, knowing that He is going to take care of us! It doesn’t matter if we have nothing; it doesn’t matter if we are hungry; it doesn’t matter if we are at risk for sickness or danger or harm. What matters is that we, like Paul, learn to be content in the center of God’s will and trust Him to take care of us.
"For I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:11b-13 NRSV).
It’s time for the Church to lay aside its fears and begin to live as if we really trusted the Lord to take care of us. It’s time for us to get an "eternity" view of things and to get serious about doing His will.
"For I know that this will turn out for my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ, according to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. But if I live on in the flesh, this will mean fruit from my labor; yet what I shall choose I cannot tell. For I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better. Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you." (NKJV)
The world is getting worse and worse. Of course, it’s easier to find out all the things that are going wrong due to pervasive mass communication. But regardless, things are getting worse and worse. There are literally wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes, pandemics, corruption, and all sorts of evil things.
As Christians, how should we respond? There is a natural tendency to want to withdraw and begin to care only for ourselves and our loved ones. It would be easy to start hoarding all of our resources in order to "prepare" for the future. There are even Christians who are moving from here to there (or from there to here) in order to find a "safer" place to live.
Is that how we should respond to the world’s craziness?
Paul lived in a time when Christians faced suffering frequently. Many were poor and without adequate resources for daily living. Others were hounded and persecuted. Paul himself suffered through trials and persecutions as part of his ministry:
"With far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless floggings, and often near death. Five times I have received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I received a stoning. Three times I was shipwrecked; for a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from bandits, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers and sisters; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, hungry and thirsty, often without food, cold and naked." (2 Corinthians 11:23b-27 NRSV).
Paul didn’t just live in the threat of suffering, he lived in (and through) sufferings of all kinds. Yet, his response wasn’t to run away and try to avoid the suffering. His response was to meet it head-on because "to remain in the flesh is more needful for you." His response was to embrace the Lord’s call on his life and to understand who we are supposed to be as Christians.
Why are we here? Once we have accepted the Lord as our Savior, why are we not just miraculously transported to Heaven? Because we each have a calling on our lives . . . and that calling is the same for all Christians! We are to pray and to make disciples. It’s as simple as that. We are to engage in spiritual warfare through prayer (Daniel 10) and we are to go into all the world, making disciples (Mark 16:15-18).
It’s natural to fear suffering and death. That fear is instilled within us, both socially and physically. But as believers, we know that this body is only a temporary home. It isn’t our eternal body nor should we treat it as something that is to be protected at all costs. Are we to be prudent with these bodies? Yes, of course. We are commanded to be self-controlled (Galatians 5:23), but our focus shouldn’t be on trying to maintain these bodies!
"Exercise yourself toward godliness. For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come." (1 Timothy 4:7-8 NKJV).
How do we exercise toward godliness? By being in the center of God’s will. And what is His will? That we pray and make disciples! When we focus on ourselves, on maintaining our lifestyles (health and/or wealth), on trying to avoid suffering, we are focused in the wrong direction! Yes, suffering has come and is coming to many. And where, as believers, should we be? Perhaps the best place might be in the midst. People who are happy and content are often unwilling to listen to the gospel because they are "blissfully" unaware of their need for God’s love. But those who are suffering? Those who are in the midst of trials and suffering are frequently more willing to listen to how much God loves them and wants to care for them. As Christians, we may miss our greatest opportunities for making disciples if we are focused on trying to survive, rather than throwing ourselves in the middle of the chaos and looking to the needs of those around us.
For believers, this life is always a win-win situation. It should never matter to believers that we die. We should live confidently, trusting the Lord:
"So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well pleasing to Him." (2 Corinthians 5:6-9 NKJV).
Do we trust Him? Do we truly trust Him? If so, we will walk into situations of peril and hardship with confidence, knowing that He is going to take care of us! It doesn’t matter if we have nothing; it doesn’t matter if we are hungry; it doesn’t matter if we are at risk for sickness or danger or harm. What matters is that we, like Paul, learn to be content in the center of God’s will and trust Him to take care of us.
"For I have learned to be content with whatever I have. I know what it is to have little, and I know what it is to have plenty. In any and all circumstances I have learned the secret of being well-fed and of going hungry, of having plenty and of being in need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me." (Philippians 4:11b-13 NRSV).
It’s time for the Church to lay aside its fears and begin to live as if we really trusted the Lord to take care of us. It’s time for us to get an "eternity" view of things and to get serious about doing His will.
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
Saturday, January 17, 2015
Reaching Out . . . One at a Time -- John 4:9-15
John 4:9-15
"Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, ‘How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’ For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the fgift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?’ Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.’" (NKJV)
For those of us who are believers, this passage is quite familiar. The Lord Jesus and His disciples were traveling from Judea to Galilee. The trip would take them through the area of Samaria. Samaria was legally considered to still be Jewish, but the Samaritans were considered heretics by Jewish society. The Samaritans were, during the long captivity into Assyria, the poor that had been left behind by the invaders. They had intermarried with non-Jews during that time, but had also continued to consider themselves worshipers of Yahweh. Because the Temple in Jerusalem had been desecrated, they had built their own "temple" on mount Gerizim. Once the land was restored, the Jews in captivity had returned home, and the Temple had been rebuilt, the Jews living in Judea and Galilee had scorned the Samaritans to the point of refusing to touch them or talk to them.
Now comes the day when the Lord Jesus walks through Samaria. This is one of several encounters that He has in the gospel with "non" Jews. And yet, in all those cases, the Lord’s purpose was to reach out to all people, to model to His disciples that His ultimate purpose was to provide salvation to everyone, not to just God’s chosen people. But more than that, it is the manner in which the Lord Jesus often took to reach people . . . individually. While there were times that the Lord preached sermons to large groups of people, it is in His individual encounters where we see the greatest influence and power to change lives.
After His conversation with this one woman, she returned to her village and spoke to many there. The Lord waited for the result of her sharing her experience with Him. He knew her one-on-one encounter with Him would produce fruit.
"And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world." (v. 39-42).
As Americans, we are used to mass marketing, mass communication, mass schooling, mass entertainment, mass . . . well, everything! We are so used to being dealt with in a group that we often reduce our evangelism and discipleship to mass methods. But the Lord Jesus knew that the most effective way to reach a soul, to change a heart was in caring for the individual! Dealing with people one-on-one. The problem with that method is that it exposes us and requires us to be vulnerable. We have to risk rejection. It’s much easier to ask someone to church or to a stadium revival (mass preaching). It’s much easier to give someone a DVD to watch or a book to read (mass communication). It’s much easier to post to social networking or webpages (mass networking). It’s much harder to reach out, one at a time, to those around us, to actually see the faces and the hearts of those we encounter. And yet, that is exactly what the world is longing for. What made the woman respond to the Lord was that He was willing to go against all social and religious customs of the time and acknowledge her. He was willing to care enough to actually engage her in conversation. And the first thing He said to her was to ask her to help Him. He put Himself in a position of humility and risk in order to show that He cared about her as a person! He met her, not even as an equal, but as someone who needed her! He showed her that she had value to Him and then He began to meet the deep needs of her heart and soul.
There are so many people around us who are hurting and who just need to be seen by us. People who we may even be around regularly but who for us have become invisible . . . the waiters, the receptionists, other employees, children in the neighborhood. Jesus didn’t plan mass meetings, send out flyers, or announce His arrival. He humbly met this woman at the village well, opened Himself up as needing something that she could give, and then began to love on her. That is something that each of us can do. It’s something that we need to do if we want to truly obey our Lord’s command to "go into all the world and make disciples."
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
"Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, ‘How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’ For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans. Jesus answered and said to her, ‘If you knew the fgift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him, and He would have given you living water.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, You have nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. Where then do You get that living water? Are You greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well, and drank from it himself, as well as his sons and his livestock?’ Jesus answered and said to her, ‘Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.’ The woman said to Him, ‘Sir, give me this water, that I may not thirst, nor come here to draw.’" (NKJV)
For those of us who are believers, this passage is quite familiar. The Lord Jesus and His disciples were traveling from Judea to Galilee. The trip would take them through the area of Samaria. Samaria was legally considered to still be Jewish, but the Samaritans were considered heretics by Jewish society. The Samaritans were, during the long captivity into Assyria, the poor that had been left behind by the invaders. They had intermarried with non-Jews during that time, but had also continued to consider themselves worshipers of Yahweh. Because the Temple in Jerusalem had been desecrated, they had built their own "temple" on mount Gerizim. Once the land was restored, the Jews in captivity had returned home, and the Temple had been rebuilt, the Jews living in Judea and Galilee had scorned the Samaritans to the point of refusing to touch them or talk to them.
Now comes the day when the Lord Jesus walks through Samaria. This is one of several encounters that He has in the gospel with "non" Jews. And yet, in all those cases, the Lord’s purpose was to reach out to all people, to model to His disciples that His ultimate purpose was to provide salvation to everyone, not to just God’s chosen people. But more than that, it is the manner in which the Lord Jesus often took to reach people . . . individually. While there were times that the Lord preached sermons to large groups of people, it is in His individual encounters where we see the greatest influence and power to change lives.
After His conversation with this one woman, she returned to her village and spoke to many there. The Lord waited for the result of her sharing her experience with Him. He knew her one-on-one encounter with Him would produce fruit.
"And many of the Samaritans of that city believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all that I ever did." So when the Samaritans had come to Him, they urged Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. And many more believed because of His own word. Then they said to the woman, "Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world." (v. 39-42).
As Americans, we are used to mass marketing, mass communication, mass schooling, mass entertainment, mass . . . well, everything! We are so used to being dealt with in a group that we often reduce our evangelism and discipleship to mass methods. But the Lord Jesus knew that the most effective way to reach a soul, to change a heart was in caring for the individual! Dealing with people one-on-one. The problem with that method is that it exposes us and requires us to be vulnerable. We have to risk rejection. It’s much easier to ask someone to church or to a stadium revival (mass preaching). It’s much easier to give someone a DVD to watch or a book to read (mass communication). It’s much easier to post to social networking or webpages (mass networking). It’s much harder to reach out, one at a time, to those around us, to actually see the faces and the hearts of those we encounter. And yet, that is exactly what the world is longing for. What made the woman respond to the Lord was that He was willing to go against all social and religious customs of the time and acknowledge her. He was willing to care enough to actually engage her in conversation. And the first thing He said to her was to ask her to help Him. He put Himself in a position of humility and risk in order to show that He cared about her as a person! He met her, not even as an equal, but as someone who needed her! He showed her that she had value to Him and then He began to meet the deep needs of her heart and soul.
There are so many people around us who are hurting and who just need to be seen by us. People who we may even be around regularly but who for us have become invisible . . . the waiters, the receptionists, other employees, children in the neighborhood. Jesus didn’t plan mass meetings, send out flyers, or announce His arrival. He humbly met this woman at the village well, opened Himself up as needing something that she could give, and then began to love on her. That is something that each of us can do. It’s something that we need to do if we want to truly obey our Lord’s command to "go into all the world and make disciples."
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
Friday, January 9, 2015
Add to Faith, Virtue -- 2 Peter 1:5b-11
2 Peter 1:5b-11
"Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (NKJV)
I’ve been studying this passage for several weeks. I find it interesting that all the mainline translations (the more literal translations) translate this passage as a continuum of sorts: add to faith virtue, add to virtue knowledge, etc. There is a real sense that Peter is saying that once we are saved (once we have faith), there is a path for us to follow in order to become loving as our Lord Jesus is loving.
Wouldn’t you like to love like Jesus loves?
I’m beginning to feel like the Church is heading down a very slippery slope, away from the character of Christ, away from the fruit of the Spirit, and closer and closer to the "righteousness" of the Pharisees. We seem to be looking for cultural morality, believing that if things "around us" seem right, then it reinforces our salvation. But we are rather unwilling within the Church to police ourselves (or each other) as scripture mandates that we are supposed to do. We are, however, very willing to try to police those outside the Church (those who, by the way, are only acting according to their nature). We are acting very much like Pharisees.
"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:10-14 NKJV).
In terms of our own culture, perhaps the "Pharisee" might have pray like this:
"God, I thank You that I am not like other men—homosexuals, drug addicts, Muslims, or atheists. I go to church; I donate to the latest anti-gay movement; I picket outside of abortion clinics." Meanwhile, this "Pharisee" watches R-rated movies, sneaks looks at porn on the Internet, refuses to give money to the poor (feeling he and his family need it more than anyone else), criticizes those with tattoos and piercings, and refuses to share with those in need.
I think we have, as a Church, lost our way. We have come to believe that we can replace true evangelism with civil laws, true repentance with refusing to "serve" those whose unbelieving lifestyles make us uncomfortable, and true worship with Christian "cheerleading" at our Sunday services. We have lost who we are supposed to be. Embraced in our creature comforts, we are unwilling to share, unwilling to change, and adept at lamenting the loss of a cultural morality that never truly reflected the Lord Jesus anyway!
We have to become more than converts! We have to become Christians. Christ-ones. We have to grow in our faith to the point that we love as our Lord Jesus loves, even to the point of dying for those who are still sinners. "God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8 RSV).
How do we do that?
Peter tells us that salvation—faith—is only the beginning. There is a whole continuum of changes that must occur in our lives and that first one is virtue. We don’t talk a lot about virtue these days. It’s really pretty unpopular to preach from the pulpit a list of "don’ts" because so many pastors themselves are doing the "don’ts." What kinds of things am I talking about? Paul gives what he calls a "plain" list: "Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5:19-21 RSV). This list isn’t comprehensive; it’s not complete. It’s simply an example of the kinds of things that are not virtuous, the kinds of behavior that shouldn’t be done by Christians ever, for any reason.
Fornication: Any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage including watching sex (R-rated movies, books, Internet, etc.). (The original Greek also adds a word usually translated "adultery." So the passage really says "adultery fornication" meaning that every kind of sexual sin is included.)
Impurity: The Greek is akatharsia (G167) and means "the impurity of lustful, luxurious, profligate (wildly extravagant) living." In other words, a lifestyle that is self-centered and self-indulgent.
Licentiousness: Looking for and/or causing sexual excitement
Idolatry: From Vine’s, "the sin of the mind against God and immorality. An ‘idolater’ is a slave to the depraved ideas his idols represent." Idolatry is really service to something other than God. (How many values do we hold that are cultural rather than godly? How many lifestyle practices are we unwilling to give up?)
Sorcery: Any kind of witchcraft which could include horoscopes, certain kinds of meditation, chanted prayers, and anything where we think that a certain "formula" (behavior and/or belief) will result in a specific result.
Enmity: Hatred (the opposite of agape love)
Strife: Quarrel, contention, wrangling, the eagerness to contend, the desire to "be right" above all else.
Jealousy: Envy, wanting what we don’t have but wished we did
Anger, selfishness: Fierce, heated anger, particularly anger than results in fights or quarrels
Dissension: Divisions; incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority
Party spirit: "Heresy, a self-willed opinion which is substituted for submission to the power of truth and leads to division and the format of sects; such erroneous opinions are frequently the outcome of personal preference or the prospect of advantage" (Vine’s, G139)
Envy: "The feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the advantage or prosperity of others" (Vine’s G5355)
Drunkenness: Intoxication (through any means that changes the brain chemistry)
Carousing: The kind of behavior that accompanies drunkenness
So, that’s a long list. Why would I think it necessary to list each one individually? Because I think we gloss over this passage thinking that we won’t find ourselves in it. And we very likely do find ourselves there! And Paul even ends this passage by saying, "and the like" meaning that the list could go on and on. (So even if we don’t find that specific behavior we continue to embrace and refuse to discard, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t include ourselves in this list.)
Peter tells us, "Add to your faith virtue." From the Greek arete (G703). Vine’s says: "Intrinsic eminence, moral goodness, virtue. Virtue is enjoined as an essential quality in the exercise of faith." Strong’s says: "A virtuous course of thought, feeling and action; moral goodness; moral excellence, as modesty, purity." Virtue is the opposite of Paul’s list in Galatians. It is everything righteous, holy, and moral. And we are to add virtue to our own lives (not to the lives of others). In fact, virtue is the first thing we should add to our lives once we were saved.
No wonder the Church is so upside down and sideways. The Church is filled with people—leaders and laity alike—who are filling their minds and hearts with all kinds of evil found through the media; who are filling their time with all kinds of self-indulgent choices; who are practicing, over and over again, all kinds of evil choices . . . and then demanding that our unsaved neighbors clean up "their" act simply to make our lives more comfortable.
So what does virtue look like? Obviously, it’s the outpouring of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives: "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Galatians 5:22b-23). And it’s not one of these things every once in a while; it’s all of these things all the time to everyone!
It’s interesting to know that Jesus always first gave of Himself, meeting whatever need was presented, and then presented the gospel.
"A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give Me a drink.’ For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, ‘How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’ For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." (John 4:7-9 NKJV).
The Lord Jesus was willing to touch those who were shunned, to reach out to those who were sinners (this woman had been married five times and was shacking up with a new boyfriend). Jesus validated her existence, honored her as a person before He began to even comment on her sin and then only after she expressed interest in what He was saying. But why was she interested? Because He had demonstrated that He was interested in her as an individual; He had shown her that she had value.
"Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?’ This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, ‘He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.’ And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, ‘Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.’" (John 8:3-11 NKJV).
And here, Jesus saves this woman from being unjustly stoned (How can you commit adultery by yourself?) before He addressed her sin. He saw the person and loved her . . . before He saw the sinner. The love came first! It came first for us and it needs to come first from us.
The only way we can love this way is to love with agape love. Agape love is at the end of the list in 2 Peter. First comes faith, believing in and trusting the Lord Jesus for our salvation. Secondly comes virtue. We cannot move on this continuum—we cannot learn to love as Jesus loves and as He longs for us to love those around us—until we have decided to discard all the junk in our lives and to live virtuously for Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. It was never about cleaning up the society around us; it was always about making disciples. And disciples—true disciples—will want to live lives that are pleasing to the Lord, lives that are virtuous in thought, word, and deed.
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
"Giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For he who lacks these things is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten that he was cleansed from his old sins. Therefore, brethren, be even more diligent to make your call and election sure, for if you do these things you will never stumble; for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." (NKJV)
I’ve been studying this passage for several weeks. I find it interesting that all the mainline translations (the more literal translations) translate this passage as a continuum of sorts: add to faith virtue, add to virtue knowledge, etc. There is a real sense that Peter is saying that once we are saved (once we have faith), there is a path for us to follow in order to become loving as our Lord Jesus is loving.
Wouldn’t you like to love like Jesus loves?
I’m beginning to feel like the Church is heading down a very slippery slope, away from the character of Christ, away from the fruit of the Spirit, and closer and closer to the "righteousness" of the Pharisees. We seem to be looking for cultural morality, believing that if things "around us" seem right, then it reinforces our salvation. But we are rather unwilling within the Church to police ourselves (or each other) as scripture mandates that we are supposed to do. We are, however, very willing to try to police those outside the Church (those who, by the way, are only acting according to their nature). We are acting very much like Pharisees.
"Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other men—extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I possess.’ And the tax collector, standing afar off, would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:10-14 NKJV).
In terms of our own culture, perhaps the "Pharisee" might have pray like this:
"God, I thank You that I am not like other men—homosexuals, drug addicts, Muslims, or atheists. I go to church; I donate to the latest anti-gay movement; I picket outside of abortion clinics." Meanwhile, this "Pharisee" watches R-rated movies, sneaks looks at porn on the Internet, refuses to give money to the poor (feeling he and his family need it more than anyone else), criticizes those with tattoos and piercings, and refuses to share with those in need.
I think we have, as a Church, lost our way. We have come to believe that we can replace true evangelism with civil laws, true repentance with refusing to "serve" those whose unbelieving lifestyles make us uncomfortable, and true worship with Christian "cheerleading" at our Sunday services. We have lost who we are supposed to be. Embraced in our creature comforts, we are unwilling to share, unwilling to change, and adept at lamenting the loss of a cultural morality that never truly reflected the Lord Jesus anyway!
We have to become more than converts! We have to become Christians. Christ-ones. We have to grow in our faith to the point that we love as our Lord Jesus loves, even to the point of dying for those who are still sinners. "God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8 RSV).
How do we do that?
Peter tells us that salvation—faith—is only the beginning. There is a whole continuum of changes that must occur in our lives and that first one is virtue. We don’t talk a lot about virtue these days. It’s really pretty unpopular to preach from the pulpit a list of "don’ts" because so many pastors themselves are doing the "don’ts." What kinds of things am I talking about? Paul gives what he calls a "plain" list: "Now the works of the flesh are plain: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and the like. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God." (Galatians 5:19-21 RSV). This list isn’t comprehensive; it’s not complete. It’s simply an example of the kinds of things that are not virtuous, the kinds of behavior that shouldn’t be done by Christians ever, for any reason.
Fornication: Any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage including watching sex (R-rated movies, books, Internet, etc.). (The original Greek also adds a word usually translated "adultery." So the passage really says "adultery fornication" meaning that every kind of sexual sin is included.)
Impurity: The Greek is akatharsia (G167) and means "the impurity of lustful, luxurious, profligate (wildly extravagant) living." In other words, a lifestyle that is self-centered and self-indulgent.
Licentiousness: Looking for and/or causing sexual excitement
Idolatry: From Vine’s, "the sin of the mind against God and immorality. An ‘idolater’ is a slave to the depraved ideas his idols represent." Idolatry is really service to something other than God. (How many values do we hold that are cultural rather than godly? How many lifestyle practices are we unwilling to give up?)
Sorcery: Any kind of witchcraft which could include horoscopes, certain kinds of meditation, chanted prayers, and anything where we think that a certain "formula" (behavior and/or belief) will result in a specific result.
Enmity: Hatred (the opposite of agape love)
Strife: Quarrel, contention, wrangling, the eagerness to contend, the desire to "be right" above all else.
Jealousy: Envy, wanting what we don’t have but wished we did
Anger, selfishness: Fierce, heated anger, particularly anger than results in fights or quarrels
Dissension: Divisions; incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority
Party spirit: "Heresy, a self-willed opinion which is substituted for submission to the power of truth and leads to division and the format of sects; such erroneous opinions are frequently the outcome of personal preference or the prospect of advantage" (Vine’s, G139)
Envy: "The feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the advantage or prosperity of others" (Vine’s G5355)
Drunkenness: Intoxication (through any means that changes the brain chemistry)
Carousing: The kind of behavior that accompanies drunkenness
So, that’s a long list. Why would I think it necessary to list each one individually? Because I think we gloss over this passage thinking that we won’t find ourselves in it. And we very likely do find ourselves there! And Paul even ends this passage by saying, "and the like" meaning that the list could go on and on. (So even if we don’t find that specific behavior we continue to embrace and refuse to discard, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t include ourselves in this list.)
Peter tells us, "Add to your faith virtue." From the Greek arete (G703). Vine’s says: "Intrinsic eminence, moral goodness, virtue. Virtue is enjoined as an essential quality in the exercise of faith." Strong’s says: "A virtuous course of thought, feeling and action; moral goodness; moral excellence, as modesty, purity." Virtue is the opposite of Paul’s list in Galatians. It is everything righteous, holy, and moral. And we are to add virtue to our own lives (not to the lives of others). In fact, virtue is the first thing we should add to our lives once we were saved.
No wonder the Church is so upside down and sideways. The Church is filled with people—leaders and laity alike—who are filling their minds and hearts with all kinds of evil found through the media; who are filling their time with all kinds of self-indulgent choices; who are practicing, over and over again, all kinds of evil choices . . . and then demanding that our unsaved neighbors clean up "their" act simply to make our lives more comfortable.
So what does virtue look like? Obviously, it’s the outpouring of the fruit of the Spirit in our lives: "love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control" (Galatians 5:22b-23). And it’s not one of these things every once in a while; it’s all of these things all the time to everyone!
It’s interesting to know that Jesus always first gave of Himself, meeting whatever need was presented, and then presented the gospel.
"A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, ‘Give Me a drink.’ For His disciples had gone away into the city to buy food. Then the woman of Samaria said to Him, ‘How is it that You, being a Jew, ask a drink from me, a Samaritan woman?’ For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans." (John 4:7-9 NKJV).
The Lord Jesus was willing to touch those who were shunned, to reach out to those who were sinners (this woman had been married five times and was shacking up with a new boyfriend). Jesus validated her existence, honored her as a person before He began to even comment on her sin and then only after she expressed interest in what He was saying. But why was she interested? Because He had demonstrated that He was interested in her as an individual; He had shown her that she had value.
"Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, they said to Him, ‘Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?’ This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear. So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, ‘He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.’ And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, ‘Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, Lord.’ And Jesus said to her, ‘Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.’" (John 8:3-11 NKJV).
And here, Jesus saves this woman from being unjustly stoned (How can you commit adultery by yourself?) before He addressed her sin. He saw the person and loved her . . . before He saw the sinner. The love came first! It came first for us and it needs to come first from us.
The only way we can love this way is to love with agape love. Agape love is at the end of the list in 2 Peter. First comes faith, believing in and trusting the Lord Jesus for our salvation. Secondly comes virtue. We cannot move on this continuum—we cannot learn to love as Jesus loves and as He longs for us to love those around us—until we have decided to discard all the junk in our lives and to live virtuously for Him through the power of the Holy Spirit. It was never about cleaning up the society around us; it was always about making disciples. And disciples—true disciples—will want to live lives that are pleasing to the Lord, lives that are virtuous in thought, word, and deed.
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
Wednesday, January 7, 2015
By the Will of God -- 2 Timothy 1:1
2 Timothy 1:1
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus" (NRSV)
There are two reasons that we serve God, two reasons which are intertwined, which cannot be separated. We serve first because it is His will that we do so. For some, that seems unreasonable; it makes God a "user." They think that He simply uses people for His own purposes and that such an act is disrespectful.
But what if He does? God is more than just God. He is the Creator of all things, all things, including time, including matter, including life itself. And as Creator, He has the full authority and right to do what He wants with what He created.
"Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord, and their works are in the dark; they say, "Who sees us?" and, "Who knows us?" Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; for shall the thing made say of him who made it, "He did not make me"? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?" (Isaiah 29:15-16)
"But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay?" (Romans 9:20-21a NKJV).
We have, as Americans, become so accustomed to the idea that we are self-determining, as Christians we often forget that we don’t own ourselves; we are owned—and always have been—by the Creator of the universe. It is only His amazing mercy that allows us to run around with the foolish notion that we somehow are independent of Him or that we can exist in autonomy.
But the fact is God doesn’t "use" us at all! Rather He has created a plan in which the Church partners with Him in the most amazing act of all, the ongoing rule of creation. Billheimer, in Destined for the Throne, writes:
"The primary purpose of the universe from all eternity is the production and preparation of an Eternal Companion for the Son, called the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife. Since she is to share the throne of the universe with her Divine Lover and Lord, privileged to judge the world with Him, she must be trained, educated, and prepared for her role."
So we serve God because it’s His will that we do so. He has a divine purpose in this will and that purpose has always been to prepare us for what lies ahead in eternity.
Paul found himself an apostle by the will of God. It wasn’t in Paul’s plan to find himself there, but once he was redirected by God, Paul realized that this was his life’s purpose, not only by godly design, but also by his own desire. Serving as an apostle was Paul’s great joy in life:
"For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:9-10a NKJV).
When we serve God, He doesn’t want our service to be grudging or limited, but rather He desires that we freely serve Him, trusting Him that His will is best for us, that His grace will make us who we were always intended to be. "By the grace of God, I am what I am," Paul writes. Paul saw who he was prior to becoming saved and now sees himself as someone who is at the center of God’s will, not because of what he did, because of God’s grace. That’s exactly what we need to do; surrender ourselves to God’s will, knowing that His will is the very best place for us to be.
We also serve God because of those around us, those who desperately need the good news of Jesus Christ, those who need to know that they are loved, that they have value, that there is a better way than their self-destructive lives. You see, it doesn’t matter what we do or where we are headed. If we are doing those things, heading that way, outside of God’s will, we are heading for destruction. Plain and simple. There are no gray areas in life, no time-outs, no neutral choices. We are either moving toward God or moving away from Him. We are either surrendering to His will or living in rebellion. And the only place to find peace, to find purpose is in His will. Why? Because that’s how He created us! He created us to become an eternal companion for His Son, to become the Bride of the Christ! Every single person who ever lived or who will ever lived was created for this purpose. And then, because this is truly a love story, God gave us the free will to reject Him so that when we do embrace Him, it is with a heart freely given.
As Christians, we have the highest calling: to do the will of God which is for the sake of the promise of life in Jesus Christ. The purpose of His will is to give life and to give it more abundantly that we could ever imagine (John 10:10). Living out the will of God in our lives isn’t some kind of prison sentence, but rather a complete freeing of who we were created to be. When we give up "our" hopes and dreams and allow God to direct our paths, life will become far greater, far more exciting than we had ever imagined.
Isn’t it time we let the Creator have a say in what His creations should do? Isn’t it time we truly trusted God with our lives?
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
"Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, for the sake of the promise of life that is in Christ Jesus" (NRSV)
There are two reasons that we serve God, two reasons which are intertwined, which cannot be separated. We serve first because it is His will that we do so. For some, that seems unreasonable; it makes God a "user." They think that He simply uses people for His own purposes and that such an act is disrespectful.
But what if He does? God is more than just God. He is the Creator of all things, all things, including time, including matter, including life itself. And as Creator, He has the full authority and right to do what He wants with what He created.
"Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord, and their works are in the dark; they say, "Who sees us?" and, "Who knows us?" Surely you have things turned around! Shall the potter be esteemed as the clay; for shall the thing made say of him who made it, "He did not make me"? Or shall the thing formed say of him who formed it, "He has no understanding"?" (Isaiah 29:15-16)
"But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why have you made me like this?’ Does not the potter have power over the clay?" (Romans 9:20-21a NKJV).
We have, as Americans, become so accustomed to the idea that we are self-determining, as Christians we often forget that we don’t own ourselves; we are owned—and always have been—by the Creator of the universe. It is only His amazing mercy that allows us to run around with the foolish notion that we somehow are independent of Him or that we can exist in autonomy.
But the fact is God doesn’t "use" us at all! Rather He has created a plan in which the Church partners with Him in the most amazing act of all, the ongoing rule of creation. Billheimer, in Destined for the Throne, writes:
"The primary purpose of the universe from all eternity is the production and preparation of an Eternal Companion for the Son, called the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife. Since she is to share the throne of the universe with her Divine Lover and Lord, privileged to judge the world with Him, she must be trained, educated, and prepared for her role."
So we serve God because it’s His will that we do so. He has a divine purpose in this will and that purpose has always been to prepare us for what lies ahead in eternity.
Paul found himself an apostle by the will of God. It wasn’t in Paul’s plan to find himself there, but once he was redirected by God, Paul realized that this was his life’s purpose, not only by godly design, but also by his own desire. Serving as an apostle was Paul’s great joy in life:
"For I am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am" (1 Corinthians 15:9-10a NKJV).
When we serve God, He doesn’t want our service to be grudging or limited, but rather He desires that we freely serve Him, trusting Him that His will is best for us, that His grace will make us who we were always intended to be. "By the grace of God, I am what I am," Paul writes. Paul saw who he was prior to becoming saved and now sees himself as someone who is at the center of God’s will, not because of what he did, because of God’s grace. That’s exactly what we need to do; surrender ourselves to God’s will, knowing that His will is the very best place for us to be.
We also serve God because of those around us, those who desperately need the good news of Jesus Christ, those who need to know that they are loved, that they have value, that there is a better way than their self-destructive lives. You see, it doesn’t matter what we do or where we are headed. If we are doing those things, heading that way, outside of God’s will, we are heading for destruction. Plain and simple. There are no gray areas in life, no time-outs, no neutral choices. We are either moving toward God or moving away from Him. We are either surrendering to His will or living in rebellion. And the only place to find peace, to find purpose is in His will. Why? Because that’s how He created us! He created us to become an eternal companion for His Son, to become the Bride of the Christ! Every single person who ever lived or who will ever lived was created for this purpose. And then, because this is truly a love story, God gave us the free will to reject Him so that when we do embrace Him, it is with a heart freely given.
As Christians, we have the highest calling: to do the will of God which is for the sake of the promise of life in Jesus Christ. The purpose of His will is to give life and to give it more abundantly that we could ever imagine (John 10:10). Living out the will of God in our lives isn’t some kind of prison sentence, but rather a complete freeing of who we were created to be. When we give up "our" hopes and dreams and allow God to direct our paths, life will become far greater, far more exciting than we had ever imagined.
Isn’t it time we let the Creator have a say in what His creations should do? Isn’t it time we truly trusted God with our lives?
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
Tuesday, January 6, 2015
America Was Never a Christian Nation -- 2 Chronicles 7:14
2 Chronicles 7:14
"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Church and the United States lately. I am a child of the generation that spans two cultures, the "Christian" culture and the post-Christian culture in America. I have lived in the 50's and early 60's and know what it’s like to live in a society that generally reflects Judeo-Christian values. I have been part of the evangelical political movement that believes not only that you can, but that as a Christian, you should legislate morality. And now I’m living in an era that is beginning soundly to reject those previous values and to embrace the idea that individuals should determine their own morality, not have it imposed upon them by others. I know solidly why the "Moral Majority" lost their hold on the social consciousness of this country and I lay the fault absolutely at the feet of the American Church that wanted to have their cake and to be able to eat it, too.
The fact is, however, that it doesn’t matter because the United States was never a Christian nation. It doesn’t matter how much we try to convince ourselves (or others) that there is something meaningful to "go back to" or that we should somehow restore the USA to a previous condition. The US was never a Christian nation. If it actually had been, the atrocities that have occurred in the name of our country would never have occurred.
What the US has always been is a society that embraced the idea of freedom for those in control. Rather than have a single ruler (a monarchy) or a inherited ruling class (royals) be in control, the US was a nation established upon the premise that white educated males could move "out of their class" into positions of influence and power if they so chose. The US was established as a nation to promote the welfare and betterment of white males. Period. End of story. And that in itself proves that it was never a "Christian" nation.
What the establishment of the US did allow to develop was a strong Christian church. Rather than being forced to affiliate with a specific religious institution (as had occurred for many years in Europe), Christians who dissented with the mainline European churches (predominantly the Anglican, Lutheran, and Catholic churches) were now allowed to worship in a church that they could choose. And while many communities were still hindered from total free choice by the lack of an appropriate church leader (pastors, bishops, or priests), in larger urban areas, one might find a variety of denominations and organizations with which to affiliate. Further, the creation of new denominations wasn’t hindered by governmental rules and regulations. Christians were free to establish their own denominations and organizations and to break from historical denominations if they so chose. Congregations could even establish local churches without denominational affiliation or oversight.
However, socially (and governmentally), until the early 1900's, the US was still a nation solidly controlled by white males and for their benefit. Up until 1860, only white men owning property could vote. In 1870, non-white men were given the right to vote (but often weren’t allowed to exercise that right). Only in 1920 were women given the right to vote. First Nations peoples couldn’t vote until 1924. And states continued to discriminate against minorities and the poor in voting rights until 1965. The US was not a Christian nation or it would have embraced all people with love and compassion as did our Lord and Savior when He walked the earth.
The US has also traditionally not embraced those who were different than the ruling majority. First Nations peoples were slaughtered without reprisal. A good example is the Salt Creek Massacre where a Methodist pastor and Army colonel led the slaughter of hundreds of natives because they refused to sell their lands to settlers (http://www.lastoftheindependents.com/sandcreek.htm). In the 1600's, more Irish were sold as slaves than Africans, with many coming to the US. As a result, much Irish culture, including their unique language, has been all but lost. And in the 1900's and 2000's, illegal aliens have been embraced by farm owners (many of them corporations and wealthy) as "legalized" slaves. If the US was a Christian nation, how could this have happened?
It happened . . . because . . . there is no such thing as a Christian nation. There is only and always the Church. Even in the Old Testament, in the law given to the nation of Israel, the Lord refused to allow those who would disobey His law to continue as members of Israel:
"If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear" (Deuteronomy 21:18-22 NKJ). (See also Deuteronomy 22 for many other examples).
In other words, it wasn’t enough to be a citizen of Israel (regardless of how you acquired that citizenship); one had to obey God’s laws. There are no differences today. There is no Christian nation; there is only the Church which encompasses not only the believers in America, but all believers around the world. For this reason alone, there can be no Christian nation. There are no believers above or better than any other believers.
It is meaningless for Americans to wish that the US could be "restored" back to the good ol’ days. There were no "good ol’ days" for many who lived in and embraced the US. In fact, for the Christian, there can be no "good ol’ days." There can only be a future, moving toward God, toward His will, toward being perfected into the likeness of Christ: "forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13b-14 NKJ).
Does this mean there is no hope for the US? Of course not. God has promised to restore "the land" when His people—the ones called by His name (Christians)—humble themselves, pray, and turn from their wicked ways. There is hope yet for the US, but that hope comes only through the restoration and revival of the American Church. But when we turn from "our wicked ways," we need to also realize that we cannot turn back to how things were (or how we remembered they were), but rather we must press forward to the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. We must forget what was behind; it was never like we remember it anyway. And we must move toward God, move toward His calling, move toward His will in our lives. That will likely mean giving up any hope of having things "restored" so that we are once again comfortable in this society. But it also means that perhaps the piece of the Universal Church that exists in the US could actually become that which God so desires—a Church that loves the world more than itself, a Church that is willing to be the hands and heart of Christ here on earth, a Church that truly understands what the "upward call of God" really is.
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
"If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land."
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Church and the United States lately. I am a child of the generation that spans two cultures, the "Christian" culture and the post-Christian culture in America. I have lived in the 50's and early 60's and know what it’s like to live in a society that generally reflects Judeo-Christian values. I have been part of the evangelical political movement that believes not only that you can, but that as a Christian, you should legislate morality. And now I’m living in an era that is beginning soundly to reject those previous values and to embrace the idea that individuals should determine their own morality, not have it imposed upon them by others. I know solidly why the "Moral Majority" lost their hold on the social consciousness of this country and I lay the fault absolutely at the feet of the American Church that wanted to have their cake and to be able to eat it, too.
The fact is, however, that it doesn’t matter because the United States was never a Christian nation. It doesn’t matter how much we try to convince ourselves (or others) that there is something meaningful to "go back to" or that we should somehow restore the USA to a previous condition. The US was never a Christian nation. If it actually had been, the atrocities that have occurred in the name of our country would never have occurred.
What the US has always been is a society that embraced the idea of freedom for those in control. Rather than have a single ruler (a monarchy) or a inherited ruling class (royals) be in control, the US was a nation established upon the premise that white educated males could move "out of their class" into positions of influence and power if they so chose. The US was established as a nation to promote the welfare and betterment of white males. Period. End of story. And that in itself proves that it was never a "Christian" nation.
What the establishment of the US did allow to develop was a strong Christian church. Rather than being forced to affiliate with a specific religious institution (as had occurred for many years in Europe), Christians who dissented with the mainline European churches (predominantly the Anglican, Lutheran, and Catholic churches) were now allowed to worship in a church that they could choose. And while many communities were still hindered from total free choice by the lack of an appropriate church leader (pastors, bishops, or priests), in larger urban areas, one might find a variety of denominations and organizations with which to affiliate. Further, the creation of new denominations wasn’t hindered by governmental rules and regulations. Christians were free to establish their own denominations and organizations and to break from historical denominations if they so chose. Congregations could even establish local churches without denominational affiliation or oversight.
However, socially (and governmentally), until the early 1900's, the US was still a nation solidly controlled by white males and for their benefit. Up until 1860, only white men owning property could vote. In 1870, non-white men were given the right to vote (but often weren’t allowed to exercise that right). Only in 1920 were women given the right to vote. First Nations peoples couldn’t vote until 1924. And states continued to discriminate against minorities and the poor in voting rights until 1965. The US was not a Christian nation or it would have embraced all people with love and compassion as did our Lord and Savior when He walked the earth.
The US has also traditionally not embraced those who were different than the ruling majority. First Nations peoples were slaughtered without reprisal. A good example is the Salt Creek Massacre where a Methodist pastor and Army colonel led the slaughter of hundreds of natives because they refused to sell their lands to settlers (http://www.lastoftheindependents.com/sandcreek.htm). In the 1600's, more Irish were sold as slaves than Africans, with many coming to the US. As a result, much Irish culture, including their unique language, has been all but lost. And in the 1900's and 2000's, illegal aliens have been embraced by farm owners (many of them corporations and wealthy) as "legalized" slaves. If the US was a Christian nation, how could this have happened?
It happened . . . because . . . there is no such thing as a Christian nation. There is only and always the Church. Even in the Old Testament, in the law given to the nation of Israel, the Lord refused to allow those who would disobey His law to continue as members of Israel:
"If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear" (Deuteronomy 21:18-22 NKJ). (See also Deuteronomy 22 for many other examples).
In other words, it wasn’t enough to be a citizen of Israel (regardless of how you acquired that citizenship); one had to obey God’s laws. There are no differences today. There is no Christian nation; there is only the Church which encompasses not only the believers in America, but all believers around the world. For this reason alone, there can be no Christian nation. There are no believers above or better than any other believers.
It is meaningless for Americans to wish that the US could be "restored" back to the good ol’ days. There were no "good ol’ days" for many who lived in and embraced the US. In fact, for the Christian, there can be no "good ol’ days." There can only be a future, moving toward God, toward His will, toward being perfected into the likeness of Christ: "forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13b-14 NKJ).
Does this mean there is no hope for the US? Of course not. God has promised to restore "the land" when His people—the ones called by His name (Christians)—humble themselves, pray, and turn from their wicked ways. There is hope yet for the US, but that hope comes only through the restoration and revival of the American Church. But when we turn from "our wicked ways," we need to also realize that we cannot turn back to how things were (or how we remembered they were), but rather we must press forward to the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. We must forget what was behind; it was never like we remember it anyway. And we must move toward God, move toward His calling, move toward His will in our lives. That will likely mean giving up any hope of having things "restored" so that we are once again comfortable in this society. But it also means that perhaps the piece of the Universal Church that exists in the US could actually become that which God so desires—a Church that loves the world more than itself, a Church that is willing to be the hands and heart of Christ here on earth, a Church that truly understands what the "upward call of God" really is.
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
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