Let It Rip

01.31.12

Acts 7.2 2 And he said, “Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran... NASB

In Luke, Jesus told His disciples, “But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and will persecute you, delivering you to the synagogues and prisons, bringing you before kings and governors for My name’s sake. It will lead to an opportunity for your testimony. So make up your minds not to prepare beforehand to defend yourselves; for I will give you utterance and wisdom which none of your opponents will be able to resist or refute.” (Luke 21.12-15 NASB) Now here, in Acts 7, Stephen, one of the seven appointed in Acts 6, has been dragged before the Jewish Council to bear witness to the truth of God’s word.

In Acts 7, I don’t think Stephen had time to rehearse his speech. When the High Priest demanded an answer (v. 1) Stephen just opened his mouth and let it rip. His point was that Israel, despite the mercy and grace of God to befriend them down through the centuries since Abraham, had always resisted the grace of God and gone their own way. Man does not – in his nature – want to be ruled by a God. And Stephen made his point.

The outcome was that Stephen was stoned to death. I can’t imagine stoning except to think that it must hurt; and the hurt must magnify to the point where you cannot defend yourself and thus succumb to the ‘beating’ of the rocks being thrown at you. How can you defend yourself from an enraged mob of men whose sole goal is to pound you into bloody pulp by pummeling you with stones? Had they had God Himself on the ground they would have attempted to pummel Him into a bloody mass as well. Such is the anger of men against God.

The question is will we speak? This world (i.e. all that is opposed to God) cannot handle the truth because they are afraid of it. They are afraid because their lives center on punishment in that they recognize the wrongs of sin (either outwardly or inwardly) and they are afraid of its consequences: somehow, some way, someone must pay for the wrongs – and it might just be them. That’s why men go to such lengths to factor God out of the equation. If God is gone then so is responsibility and accountability.

And so, God confronts us with the truth. God is not cruel or mean-spirited; He simply would like to show us the way out of this mess through fearless love where punishment is gone…taken by Someone else so we don’t have to go through it. But the fear of fear is just too great for some to overcome; and then here come the rocks.

We will all find ourselves at some point where we will have to defend the truth we hold to if we hold to the truth. But Jesus tells us, don’t think about that beforehand. Just trust Me when it comes; I’ll tell you what to say that will be appropriate for the moment. Jesus’ advice to us is walk with Him and when the time comes just open your mouth and let it rip. He doesn’t say it won’t come without pain, but it will evoke a response. And He will be our Guide.

The Thornier Issues

01.29.12

Acts 5.41 41 So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. NASB

Apparently these zealous nuisances didn’t get the message the first time. Apparently it was going to take more than a verbal threat to get them to shut up. So this time they got a threat and a flogging. The flogging hurt; it was meant to! They needed something to help them to get it that speaking out in that Name was not going to be tolerated…

Yesterday, a friend of mine posed this thought: Have you ever had a context in which you could be completely honest about scripture and spirituality questions, large and small, without having your foundational faith questioned or without danger of causing someone to stumble? I do love God's Book, but I have some suggestions he might want to consider if he does another one! He posed this in reference to this thought: “If a man beats his male or female slave with a club and the slave dies as a result, the owner must be punished. 21 But if the slave recovers within a day or two, then the owner shall not be punished, since the slave is his property.”  (Exodus 21:20-21 NLT)

An e-discussion of sorts has ensued with others offering their opinions regarding some of the thornier issues of Scripture and whether we’re to take them literally or figuratively (e.g. Noah’s ark); or whether there are legitimate overstatements in Scripture that are questionable, inaccurate, or flatly impossible. Did the ancients embellish then as we tend to do now? Were their fishing stories then, like ours now?

Here’s one more thorn to add to the mix: So they went on their way from the presence of the Council, rejoicing that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for His name. (Acts 5.41 NASB) I’m not sure which is harder to believe: the account of Noah’s ark, or the disciples leaving the Council, rejoicing (in their pain, brutal, and bloody bodily injury) that they had been considered worthy to suffer shame for [Christ’s] name. What happened to these men that they would react this way?

The Bible is probably one of the most enigmatic books on the planet. Most people (I believe) gloss over the thornier issues of Scripture by either ignoring the obvious, or concocting some kind of cover that makes the hard stuff easier to swallow. The bottom line is, with the Bible – warts and all – are we able to get to know God in a way that our very lives are changed and transformed into something of use for God? Does reading the Bible draw us closer to the Almighty or drive us away? Does it change our lives in such a manner as we would endure 39 lashes (or whatever modern equivalent) from an oppressive civil authority and walk away rejoicing that we had been found worthy to suffer such treatment for the sake of Christ and our speaking out on His behalf? What then has our belief done to us?

If we choose to compare everything in Holy Writ to our experience (or culture) today then we may bump into some difficulties in making all the ends meet squarely. But if we can, without making excuses for the things we can’t mentally reconcile, draw closer to God through His word as it is presented to us (i.e. without our input or approval) then what is important in life will truly become clear to us: that God has made us specifically and specially for the purpose of our becoming His friends and allowing our lives to be transformed into something of remarkable beauty because of that relationship.

The Presence of Power

01.28.12

Acts 4.16-18 16 ...saying, “What shall we do with these men? For the fact that a noteworthy miracle has taken place through them is apparent to all who live in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. 17 But so that it will not spread any further among the people, let us warn them to speak no longer to any man in this name.” 18 And when they had summoned them, they commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. NASB

This passage of Acts is rich with all kinds of historical evidence of the reality of Jesus, the perception of the Sadducees, the mindset of the times, and the presence of the power of God in a miracle that took place in the life of a lame beggar.

As to the reality of Jesus Christ, we don’t walk by historical evidence, we walk by faith. But it is interesting to note that the Sadducees recognized Peter and John as being followers (disciples) of Christ. They said that! There are historical facts surrounding the earthly life of Jesus that are undeniable. Whether or not they are believed is another story. There is the evidence of the power of God in a miracle that is undeniable. Whether it is believed or not is another story.

The mindset of the times was that people believed in the presence (or possibility) of miracles; the unexplainable. We have those things in our day, that when they take place, are written off as unexplainable events, and categorized as miracles. There are those among us today who would simply affirm these events as the presence of God – like the Sadducees did. What is interesting is the Sadducees didn’t believe in the power of God; they believed in the power of politics. So for them to affirm something as a miracle was in itself, a miracle. Their only other choice was to deny the cripple had ever been crippled and the whole thing was staged. There was simply too much evidence to the contrary, he was standing right in front of them!

So, the Sadducees ordered Peter and John to shut-up about Jesus. (That in itself is lame!) They recognized the presence of a Power and though they couldn’t explain it, they realized that even talking about Jesus did something to people, and they demanded the disciples to cease speaking about the Lord. Peter’s response is classic: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to give heed to you rather than to God, you be the judge; for we cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4.19b-20a NASB) Way to go Peter! All the Sadducees had was their political threats… compare those to the power and presence of God!

So we are faced with the same thing today: there are those people who will acknowledge a miracle and yet won’t believe. There are those who believe in the power of politics. And there are those who think by political threats they can squelch faith in Christ. These tactics are centuries old and yet seem to have failed time after time.

What doesn’t fail today however, is watered-down faith. That’s why there is such a move to explain the unexplainable, and to paint Believers as just normal folks with quirky beliefs who like to meet together once a week or so to make themselves feel better. Church in America is not a threat as long as it stays in its kennel and out of the marketplace. The world today needs people like Peter and John to upset the societal apple cart and display the obvious: that they have been with Jesus, and noteworthy miracles happen when they publicly talk about Jesus. Whatcha say guys, are we in?

The God Exam

01.27.12

Exodus 17.2 2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the LORD?” NASB

It is one thing for the Lord to put us to the test – it is quite another to put Him to the test. Putting the Lord to the test is unbelief. Asking the Lord for a sign is unbelief. Questioning His presence or His methods is unbelief. As I said yesterday, the Lord expects from us complete obedience and a fully trusting heart. The surest indicator that we are failing God’s test is to try to test Him.

I know the people were just learning how to walk in faith and for most of them it was a struggle. They hadn’t been used to walking in much faith while they were in Egypt under their taskmasters. But it was the cruel oppression of the Egyptians that awoke in them a desire for deliverance. And they cried out to the Lord. And God responded. But they found that crying out for deliverance was one thing and for it to actually happen was another. They began to realize that part of crying out to the Lord meant their walking in faith to His response. They were being asked to trust God. Sometimes that is really a struggle for us. I know it is for me.

Testing the Lord is my asking for Him to prove Himself. The Lord doesn’t need to prove Himself. I need to be proven faithful, but God never does – He is always only faithful. So my response to the things in my life that don’t go my way needs simply to be: may the Lord’s will be done. He is testing me, and will use whatever means necessary to accomplish the test. I must accept that. But I also must accept that only He gets to do the testing, not me. It’s a hard lesson to learn but it is the only lesson I’m allowed: He is God and I am not.

And Moses was being tested as well. Whatever is good for those being led, is also good for those leading. Moses, we’ll note, was also given explicit instructions of what to do and how to do it. We’re the ones who need tested.

I am guilty of asking the Lord to prove Himself. I have actually prayed – when in difficult times – Lord, You brought me here! In other words, why are You treating me this way since You brought me to this!? It’s usually more accusatory than that. My arrogance reaches fever pitch when I go through tough stuff and then accuse the Lord of mistreating me. I know that sounds harsh, but it’s true. In the current test, I am learning to stop doing that and to stop asking for the Lord to give me a sign – I don’t need signs, I need faith. We all need to learn that lesson at some point and to some degree.

Moses, to whom I look to as an example, not to equate my life with his, spent nearly forty years wandering around in a desert ignoring God. And then one day the Lord showed up and asked Moses to be the leader of His people and to bring them out of Egypt. That was a big ask. Moses needed to unlearn some stuff and so do we when God shows up in our lives and asks us to do something bigger than we can accept: like walk with Him and do His will. The last thing we should do is ask Him to prove Himself. The last thing we should do is to put Him to the test. We are called to be faithful and that is exactly what the Lord is perfecting in each of us…

The Test

01.26.12

Exodus 16.4 4 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction. NASB

What if we filtered all of our life’s events through this one statement: “Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day’s portion every day, that I may test them, whether or not they will walk in My instruction.”? What if everything that happens to us every day was a test from the Lord as to whether or not we will walk in His instruction? It sure makes life look different if it is.

The test seemed simple enough: the Lord would provide this ‘bread’ and they would go out and gather what they needed every day except for the day before the seventh day. They would then go out and gather twice as much. If they tried to gather more than they needed on any other day it would be rotten by morning except for what was gathered on the sixth day and help over to the seventh. By the way, there would be none to be gathered on the seventh day.

It all seemed simple enough – except – they didn’t all obey. Some gathered and tried to hold it over until the next day only to find it putrid and full of worms. Some gathered what they needed for each day but didn’t gather enough to hold them over from the sixth through the seventh day. Some were just failing the test.

The Lord expects a certain response out of us. He expects complete obedience and a fully trusting heart. That’s why He tested them and, I believe, why He tests us. And the testing is so that we gain – not Him. God doesn’t gain anything by our obeying or disobeying; the reward or consequence is all on us. That’s why our pitiful attempts to manipulate Him are so pathetic and weak. All they show is that we still haven’t got it. And if God could be insulted by us, our attempts to manipulate Him would be very insulting. But that’s why the tests: He is looking into our souls to see if we get it. And when we don’t, another test comes to see if we do.

God, it seems, is in the business of making us into something we cannot yet believe He would do; and it appears it will take an eternity to do it. When the Scripture says: “For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore your fortunes and will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will bring you back to the place from where I sent you into exile.’” (Jeremiah 29.11-14 NASB) it means it.

It also means that whatever His plans for us are, they are infinitely beyond what we can hope or imagine, but by His hand, and for however long it takes, He will, and thereby we will, succeed. Our existence however painful and pitiful it may be at the moment, is only just the beginning of what our God has in store for us. But we must be prepared for what awaits us. And so we must be tested to see if any of what God is doing in us is making a difference in us. What lies ahead is worth the wait and worth the testing. And our Father never gives up.

Motor Honey Theology

01.25.12

Acts 1.7-8 7 He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8 but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” NASB

Years ago, when I was much younger, weighed less, and had less of a receding hairline, there was an automotive product called motor honey. It was this thick, gooey, amber-colored viscous substance that one poured into the oil of an older motor. I think it was designed to glue older motors together to make them last a few more miles before they leaked all of their oil out and seized up in the old age of too many miles on them. I’m not sure it worked all that well but the gas stations where I worked sure sold a ton of it… I actually used some myself.

The thing I remember about motor honey was how it stuck to your hands and how nearly impossible it was to remove. It was not only thick and gooey, but also really sticky. It is surprising that it didn’t seize up the motor! So cleaning it off usually meant using some kind of solvent to cut it and leaving the remainder wear off. Sticky stuff.

It seems in Acts 1, the issue of God restoring the kingdom of Israel was still on the minds of the disciples who’d seen the Lord crucified, killed, buried, and now standing before them resurrected. They still expected Jesus to pull some last minute coup out of a hat and bring back the grandeur of a kingdom long, long ago. The disciples were caught up in the amber threads of motor honey theology. What they believed and had been taught since they were very young had stuck with them and it was going to take something greater than the resurrection (if that wasn’t enough) to get them to get free of their thinking and expectations. Enter: the Holy Spirit.

One of the things we wrestle with is our incessant wishful thinking that God is somehow going to direct our ship to come in and we will live out the remainder of our days healthy, wealthy, and free from the drag of this world on our lives. I don’t know too many people (if any at all) who would refuse to win the MegaBux Lottery. Most everybody I know is looking for, either inwardly or outwardly, a ship to come in… I think the disciples of old were too.

And Jesus said, “It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” In other words, “Boys, the kingdom you are looking for doesn’t compare with the One I am ushering in! What you really want to see is what I am bringing, not for your non-existent ship to come in!”

What they needed was the Holy Spirit to free them from their motor honey theology. And when that happened on Pentecost, their lives changed forever. What do you need to free you from wishful thinking and sticky, gooey old untruths in your mind that just won’t go away? The men of Galilee waited for the Holy Spirit – for us, I’d say that’s a great place to start… The presence of God will do for us infinitely beyond what our wishful fantasies can never do: His power and presence will bring out of us the things He’s put in us to change the world around us. We just need to focus on that and wait patiently for it – He’ll come through every time!

For Truth to Become Believable

01.24.12

Luke 24.11 11 But these words appeared to them as nonsense, and they would not believe them. NASB

It is my firm conviction that spiritual truths are often accepted as nonsense by unbelievers. Unbelief retards the capacity of the human heart to accept truth. This is why the ministry of the Holy Spirit is non-negotiable and essential to the sharing of the truth with those to whom the Lord sends us.

The ministry of the Holy Spirit is mysterious in that we can’t explain how He enables the heart of one in darkness and death to receive light and life. How it happens is mysterious – that it happens is marvelous.

But further, unbelief also happens in the life of those who say they believe. Many who believe do not read the Scripture because it appears as nonsense to them. They try, with human understanding, to apply truth to their minds that only the Spirit of God can illumine. That’s why the prayerful invitation for the ministry of the Holy Spirit is so important when we sit down to read the Bible: Lord, help me to understand what You are teaching me that I may follow Your instruction.

Now, in the verse above, Peter and the other disciples were clueless as to what the women were saying when they returned from the tomb to excitedly tell the men what they had heard and seen. Obviously these women were overjoyed and in their excitement the words may have been less that orderly but Peter and the gang were too bummed out to be encouraged by a bunch of hysterical women.

Again, that’s why in verse 45 it says, “Then He opened their minds to understand the Scriptures...” It takes the power of God to make our minds understand. We cannot, in our pitiful human reasoning, even begin to roll away death and darkness in our own lives let alone in the lives of others. Only death can be conquered by life and then at the hand of the Spirit of God.

So when we pray for our children, our loved ones, our friends and neighbors – or even that guy at work who bugs the crap out of us – we must pray for the ministry of the Holy Spirit in their lives to illumine the darkness that is in them and to ask that He help them see how dark that darkness is.

Now, we must realize that when we do, we must accept that in many cases this illumination will be less than comfortable for them and that at some point it may even take a full-blown life crisis for them to get it. But we must also accept that even a full-blown life crisis, at the hand of God, is done in love and will accomplish in them infinitely more that we can hope for or imagine. We must pray for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. It’s what it took for us to believe, and it is the only thing that it will take in their lives as well.  For truth to become believable the presence of God is necessary.