Hebrews 1:2b-c

Hebrews 1,1-2a

Hebrews overview slides

He had a great capacity for love and he loved greatly.  Sadly (to me), he took his own life in the end.

Does love allow for such a compromise?

What is love that we may know when we have compromised?

This past week we opened our study of the Song of Songs.  Right out of the gate we witness a love that is operating with deep passion.

We read in chapter 1, verses 1-4, of a woman who longs for her lover, whose character and ability to love is without blemish and celebrated.

We could dismiss this as unrealistic and fanciful and simply enjoy it as a pretty poem of love.

But……..hmmmmmm…….it is a pretty little poem of love that, considering all that was left out, is in the Bible.

The Bible.  God making himself known. To us.  In this poem.

Perhaps God has something to say objectively about love — about passionately loving.

Perhaps the Creator holds the rights to love and its expression between mortals.

Perhaps its a bit more than a pretty little poem.  Perhaps it is a design.

Does someone desire you?  Why?  What would they say?  And would what they say be worth desiring?

How do you know what is desirable in another?

Who holds the rulebook?

Your feelings? Your hormones?  Your vulnerability?  Your loneliness?

Does sex satisfy love?  Or does love make sex satisfactory? What makes sex satisfactory? To a man?  To a woman?

Does someone desire you?  Why?  What would they say?

How far would you be willing to go in order to love another? (In such a Way that the lover flourishes.)

To what lengths would you go to be able to be loved? (In such a Way that the loved flourishes.)

You see how all these questions depend on your experience and current understanding of love.

Who taught you? What is your example?

How have you compromised the idea of love?

How have you been compromised by this world’s idea of love?

Should love ever involve compromise?

How do you know?

“I left you with no bread, anywhere.  So scarce was the bread that your teeth were without need of cleaning.”

“I did this hoping you would forsake a life lived apart from me.  I was hoping you would come to me.  But you didn’t.”

“I stopped the rain from falling when you needed it, and where you needed it. In your exhaustion, you looked for it everywhere.”

“I did this hoping you would see the severity of life lived apart from me.  I was hoping you would come to me.  But you didn’t.”

“I destroyed your food.”

“I did this hoping you would see the severity of life lived apart from me.  I was hoping you would come to me.  But you didn’t.”

“I destroyed some of you.”

“I did this hoping you would see the severity of life lived apart from me.  I was hoping you would come to me.  But you didn’t.”

You see, God has always sent signs to mankind.  These signs indicate danger.  We as a world recognize the need for such signs.  We put them on almost everything we produce.  And in Amos, as throughout the Bible, God wants us to see the severity of the danger in which we find ourselves.

Ultimately Hell is our greatest danger.  Yet its not physical fames that should haunt us.

No.  Hell is rejecting God.  The worst thing a person can say (the worst!) is that I don’t need God.  So the Bible teaches us to fear Him, not flames, mankind, nor imps and demons. (Isa 8, Mt 10:28).

To fear God is to know Him, and to know you need Him.  To fear God is to see clearly and to know who you are as you observe Him.

And God wants Israel to know the danger of living apart from Him. More specifically, he wants them to know the severity of the danger.

“It is too severe,” says man, “for God to take my bread from me.”  God agrees.  That’s half the point.

“It is equally too severe,” says God, “for you to keep yourself from me!”

Life without bread? Death.   Life without God. Death.

Death is serious, because God is serious about life.

Now consider…

Jesus Christ….crucified….for your sins.

Son of God….abandoned by man and His Father….for your life apart from God.

Do you hear God?

No really.  Do you hear Him?

“I did this hoping you would see the severity of life lived apart from me.  I was hoping you would come to me.  But you refuse to believe me.”

Company of a certain kind.

A kind that yields no form, nor state,

Yet solid more than breath I take.

Desire is the name.

Choosing choices incessantly;

Choices chosen to create Un-me.

Un-me to be to enslaved by thee,

This company I sense in me.

My will of liberty demonstrated,

Has not the fruits once intimated.

From this company comes my stew of red,

Revealing dispositions to incline my head.

Desire for freedom still undefined.

This company is speaking quietly,

Prescribing paths to free Un-me.

Un-me to be oppressed by thee,

This company I permit in me.

Confidence fading, ability lacking;

Fideism abating, dexterity contracting.

In me, Un-me, this company,

Moves my soul so easily.

Freedom of desires now redefined.

Blind on the road of infinity,

Each step I’m told, “You’re free! Your-free!”

Un-me to be misled by thee,

This company I trust in me.

Lost in freedom, independently,

Now free to be lost, regrettably.

Alone in being, Alone in thought,

The Un-me is free, the corpse is taught.

Our desires choose us.

You see Un-me knows thoroughly,

Freedom depends on who’s choosing thee.

Only fools believe in autonomy,

My God of Desire, He chooses me,

His company’s work to kill Un-me.

Oh!

What a word.  What a concept.  And who likes to hear of it?

Anybody talk about Hell over coffee lately?

Its not a subject we like.  But, according to the Bible, like death, it is something that applies to everyone. (And everything?)

Well there I go.  The Bible mentions Hell (sort of).  Well, that’s easy isn’t it?

If I can throw the Bible into the sea of  ”can’t-be-sure-its-true,” then Hell is hardly a consideration.

That’s obviously the easy way out though.

But what if, just what if, we consider the warning that Hell screams?

What if we grant the reality of it?

What if we haven’t really grasped the implications of it?

What if implications of Hell grasped us today? In our world.  Not waiting for the next.  But, now.

What if, after screwing around with people and yourself, you actually wanted to do good and you couldn’t.

What if, after having your way with people, you actually wanted to serve them–but couldn’t.

What if happiness endures forever as it does now?

What if you endured forever never wanting to stop screwing around with people? Hurting? Deceiving? Using?

What if you grew tired of the ups and downs of your existence and found them never to change?

What if the reason you don’t care is because you believe death will free you from them? What if it doesn’t?

What if you endured forever never knowing what is best?

What if, after a life of not needing people, you find that you need them and hate it.

What if you endured forever in your complaints? In your self-justification?

What if your idea of life is all that there will be?

What if the cold splash of water on your soul quickens you to reality, and you awaken to eternity?

What if your idea of relationships is all that there will be?

What if you could never appreciate beauty? Nature? People?

What if the longing to appreciate is never fulfilled?

What if there was always a condition?  What if there were always odds?  What if chance is god?

What if  you endured, lived, forever?

What if eighty years is like hearing a song you like for the first time?

What if one-hundred sixty years is like the second hearing?

What if death doesn’t free you?  What if Hell is the 480th song of your existence, unchanged and counting.

Unchanged.

What if Hell is wanting something to end, and it doesn’t?

What if Heaven is wanting something to endure, and it does?

What if, right now, you don’t know what you want? Who is to help you choose?

What if the judgement we all will face one day is not what we expect?

What if it won’t be a shock?  What if it won’t be a surprise?

What if judgement is merely a confession? An agreement? An Amen?

What if, on the day of judgement, the only true shock is your desire to remain true to yourself? Unchanged?

Unchanged.

What if you won’t appeal the judgement?

What if you welcome it?

What if the true shock will be your willingness to agree with condemnation, but unwilling to make reparations?

What if you endure forever never wanting truth?

What if C.S. Lewis is right? That, the gates of Hell are locked from the inside?

What if a taste…

a glimpse…

a feeling…

a whisper of Hell…

is where you find yourself, now. And you know it, but in spite cherish it?

What then?

What then?

Forever asking.

Never wanting an answer.

For those of you who have been part of Transit this year, I want to first congratulate your effort of pressing through the studies we have been through the past eight months.  Why congratulate? Well, not many groups I am aware of dig so deep, for so long, in the Old Testament.  Ruth started our year and brought us to the beginning of April.  And it has been the elephantine study of Qoheleth (aka, Ecclesiastes) ever since.  And these were no mere glances at the books.  In each study my whole being was brought to the spotlight.

Ruth exposed my lack of sacrifice to others.

Qohleth exposed my lacking sacrifice of myself to God.

Ruth exposed my lack of trust in Providence.

Qoheleth exposed me to Providence.

Ruth exposed  me the path of life.

Qoheleth exposed me to the route of fultility.

OH!!! God thank you!

Thank you for your examples in flesh!

Thank you that life MUST never be relegated to the realm of the abstract!

Thank you that life, religion, and love wear flesh and are saturated with blood.

With nerves…

With feelings…

With beatings of hearts and of barley harvests…

With laments and cries for justice…

Thank you Oh God, for a look behind the curtain of illusion that this world and its systems proffer as realtiy;

…as peace,

…as happiness,

…as meaning.

God, Oh glorious One, thank you for dismissing me…

Ruth…

Qoheleth…

from ourselves.

And thank you for admitting Truth, Peace, Security, Hope, and Love which never fail.

(even though I do)

Thank you for the dignity to be human.

To know how to teach others the gift…

To know how to share the pain…

To know that only Jesus Christ is sufficient…

To have His heart to help people.

Thank you.

So, now that we have finished our current study, I feel compelled after so much time pointing to Christ, to actually focus on Christ.

So, we will spend the remainder of the year looking at the book of Colossians.

I hope to see as many of you as possible this Fall.

By way of reminder and legitimate concern, please consider how vulnerable you are to

this world,

to others,

to yourself,

without a community of people who are sincere about knowing you,

welcoming you,

and accepting you where you are, right now.

This world will consume you whole,

so seek Christ, who gives peace, but not as the world gives peace.

And seek those who have His example, in themselves.

The general fear of someone who is claustrophobic is that of being restricted, confined, or trapped.

While not everyone goes into a panic attack while  in an elevator or locked rooms, most get very uncomfortable when there is no way out of an elevator or room.

Most get uncomfortable when they have no way out of a place…

when they have no way to change a circumstance…

when they have no control of an outcome…

when walls go up around one’s life.

The author of Ecclesiastes can relate.  For as he begins to survey the system of the world…

its routines…

its axioms…

its contradictions…

its lack of reliability…

he becomes uneasy.  In fact, as he reflects on life, he remembers a time when these thoughts led him to hate life and despair over all his actions.

Ecclesiastes is a book that builds walls.  For it has the reader confront the reality of limits.

And this reality is one which ultimately restricts and confines you.  A reality that traps you.

With no hope of changing.  No hope of escaping.  No hope of reasoning away.

“You see,” says the Author, “as I tried to make sense of the world…”

“a man cannot utter it.”

Ecc 1:8 (ESV)

As much intuition and intelligence that man has been given, we cannot make complete sense of everything.

The Nihilist may then resign the task and  say, “Yes! So screw it all! Since we cannot know everything, we can then truly know nothing! Everything IS meaningless!”

Besides being a meaningless thing to say,  the true problem with this is that we as sentient beings have been given an inner a priori yearning to make sense of life.

“Also he put eternity into man’s heart,

yet so that he cannot find out what God has done

from the beginning to the end.
Ecc 3:11 (ESV)

Consider all the books, articles, movies, commercials, debates, through the ages and you’ll agree that man’s search for meaning is as fundamental as the blood in our veins.

Yet Ecclesiastes says that we posses a limited understanding…

we reach a limit within our abilities…

we can only get so far…

before we have to admit…

“What is crooked cannot be made straight.

What is lacking cannot be counted.”

Ecc 1:15 (ESV)

Is it possible that the ultimate source of man’s rebellion against God, who made the system (cf. Ecc 7:13), is due to the fear of being bolted down…

locked in…

restricted…

controlled?

In our souls, claustrophobes?

Hating instruction.  Hating limitations.  Hating obedience.  Hating prescriptions.  Hating subordination.  Hating dependency.

Ecclesiastes for most of us may turn out to be a house of mourning because it will reestablish the wall of a system that you despise.

That God has established a system which confronts all mankind…

a system which reminds us that we are the created, not the Creator…

a system which reorients your priorities…

a system which defeats your arrogance and strength…

a system which blasphemes your autonomy…

a system so out of your control.

Yet,

“The heart of the wise is in the house of the mourning.”

Ecc 7:4

Walled within this house of mourning.

Phobic of what I am before it.

Walled within this system.

Phobic of Who began it.

When all of man’s talk of things ring out to the heavens,

millions of voices over time crying, screaming, asking, debating, pontificating,

millions of voices coalesce into a massive groan within these walls,

“Why! Why this way!”

To which the Creator of walls replies,

“But who are you,

O man,

to answer back to God?”
Romans 9:20

Good question.

Who are you within these walls?

What if we have been given the Gospel in order to develop similarities with the world instead of differences?

What if we have been given the Gospel in order to bring us back to earth instead of away from it?

Back to life?

Back to people?

Near to people?

Close…

to people.

Is there a difference between living for Christ

vs.

as Christ?

Is there a difference between living for Christianity

vs.

as a Christian?

Is there a difference between living for people

vs.

as people?

That is, have we been given the Gospel in order to create a gap between ideas and experience?

“But someone will say,

‘You have faith and I have works.’

Show me your faith apart from your works,

and I will show you my faith by my works.”

James 2:18 (ESV)

You see, I believe that the Gospel not only enables us to be reconciled with God,

but by being reconciled with God we may also be reconciled with one another.

But how does the Church reconcile Herself with Her dead brother’s and sister’s of the human race?

By shouting at them from a distance,”Hey! Its bad to go there!”

“Hey!  Its wrong to say that!”

“Hey!  You are sinful for doing that!”

“Hey! Yeah you! God hates your behavior!”

“Your lifestyle!”

“Your past!”

“Your…..your…..existence!”

From a distance She shouts.

From a distance!

(OH!)

So many in the church have lost touch with the people of this world! And how have we lost touch?

By not relating with them any more!

Ahh!

And why can’t we relate?  Well in God’s name we tell them that we have been made new in Christ! YES! The old is gone and the new has come! Ah!

“Christ!” She shouts, “Christ! He has caused our division!  He has caused the breach!”

“Ah! We live now for Christ,” says the Church.

Yet…

“…the scribes of the Pharisees,

when they saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors,

said to his disciples, ‘Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?’”

Mark 2:16 (ESV)

Hmmm…

What have we done with the Gospel?

What will we do with Ecclesiastes?

For we have been given Ecclesiastes in order to push us into the world so that we might see things as they are and:

Share the universal mystery…

Feel the unified lament…

Relate with the all-inclusive insecurity…

Embrace the pandemic problem of death.

We have been given Ecclesiastes in order that we might be…

close to people.

As my Lord was…

Who shared in the instability of this world…

Who was crushed under the will of God…

Who had his life cut short….unjustly…

Who draws near…

Who shares in difficulty…

Who experienced rejection…

Who sympathizes with our weaknesses…

Who knows pain…temptation…

Who in every way walks with us in our daily experiences in this world…

Who was close…

And behold,

a leper

came to him

and knelt before him,

saying, “Lord, if you will, you can make me clean.”

And Jesus stretched out his hand

and touched him…

Matthew 8:2–3 (ESV)

Perhaps we have been given the Gospel in order that we may tell people what it is to be human.

Can you?

Are you even close?

As we have noted in our study, the placement of Ruth after Judges in our Bibles is significant.  Not only because Ruth is of the same time period, but also, I believe, because the story of Ruth gives a modicum of hope after such a pathetic end to the book of Judges.  Notice the last verse of Judges:

In those days

there was no king in Israel.

Everyone did

what was right

in his own eyes.

Judges 21:25 (ESV, emphasis mine).

Everyone?

I mean…..everyone?

I have reasons to believe that the author of Judges is overstating for effect. In other words, the practice of deferring to one’s own judgment in matters of life was ubiquitos.  Read Judges 19-21, and discover just how low a society OF BELIEVERS can sink when a religious people set themselves up as a legitimate source of counsel in matters pertaining to life.

Ruth and Boaz buck the trend.

But what I would like to call your attention to as you look at the verse above is that “everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

You see there is a refrain throughout Judges that gives us a clue how to understand a reason for why Judges was written.  And it goes like this:

“And the people of Israel

did what was

evil

in the sight of the LORD“

Judges 2:11.  See also 3:7; 3:12; 4:1; 6:1; 10:6; 13:1.

“In the sight of the LORD,” is best translated, at least in Judges, as, “in the eyes of the LORD.”

Thus, Israel did what they believed was right in their own eyes; but God’s eyes perceived and reckoned  their actions as evil.

A religious people only doing what they believe is right. Right?

Thats the language of our day.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion.  Right?

Everyone is a unique person and is free to pursue life accordingly.  Right?

What’s good for you is good for you.  What’s good for me is good for me.  Right?

Its all about you.  Right?

Happiness is having it your way.  Right?

Its my life and I can do what I want with it.  Right?

Don’t bother me, and I won’t bother you. Right?

Right?

(sigh)

What an abusive lot humanity is.

What horrifying vision we have.

What distorted perspective we have.

What…bad eyes.

“If then the light in you

is darkness,

how great is that darkness!”

Mt 6:23

How do you gauge the credibility of your perspective?

What source illuminates truth? Shines stability? Measures fitness?

What will you confer with today in order to have some, JUST SOME, indication that life in this world has a purpose?

Who will you trust in to give you an answer that will satisfy EVERY generation of mankind?

Where will you go to find rest?

Who tells you, “This way to love?”

“This way to respect?”

“This way to contentment?”

“This way to justice?”

Who?

And, how are their eyes?

“Let them alone.

They are blind guides.

And if the blind lead the blind,

both

will

fall

into

a

pit.”

Mt 15:14 (ESV)

Are you at rest?

Really…are you?

Can you be honest?

How are your eyes?

Do they see only what you want to believe?

Is it in you to be honest?

Are you forcing life to look like what it is not?

What basis do you have to believe that what you perceive is accurate? Reliable? Secure?

Maybe you don’t care anymore. Maybe you eyes are for you and you alone now.

“Enough!” you say.  ”Enough!”

“Its time I see the world as I like!”

“Its time that I do what I believe is right!”

“Its time that I trust in myself!”

“Its time that I believe in myself!”

(sigh)

I understand.

But…

“I will lead the blind

in a way that they do not know,

in paths that they have not known

I will guide them.

I will turn the darkness before them into light,

the rough places into level ground.

These are things I do,

and I do not forsake them.”

Isa 42:16 (ESV)

(inhale deeply)

(smirk)

Almighty, Loving, Beneficent Father.  Thank you that in Jesus Christ,

you have ripped my destructive eyes from their sockets,

and have given me Your eyes,

so that now I see all things through you.

Oh God, thank you.  For saving me from myself.

God, like Ruth and Boaz, lead me to  do what is right in your eyes.

God please….for Jesus sake.

This portion of verse 3, as we noticed last week, is one of those allusions to the providence of God in the story of Ruth, Naomi, and Boaz, though God, Himself, is hardly mentioned in Ruth.  And, again, this is the brilliance of Ruth: that while life on earth is in focus, in no way is it severed from a focus on God.

Ruth, though a Moabite, will not let us break the connection (1:16).

Naomi, though embittered by God, will not let us break the connection (1:20).

Boaz will not let us break the connection either (2:12).

Yet why is it so many Christians in this country do?

(sigh….and we have You Lord.)

Why is it God has to be imported into the affairs of our lives by books, and preachers, and seminars, and the like, as if our lives had some sort of being apart from the Pure Reality of God’s being and work, both presently and historically?

Why do we have to talk of making God relevant to our lives when the Lord Jesus says that our lives apart from him are considered irrelevant? (cf, Jn 15:5)

Read Joshua 22.

Breath in the refreshment of a people who could not separate earthly reality and Heavenly Sovereignty.

AHHHH! Disobedient, faithless body of Christ!!!

We, as Israel of old, have become a festering wound from head to toe, with no one to clean and press us with bandages! (Isa 1:6)

And why?

“And the Lord said:

‘Because these people draw near

with their mouth

and honor me with their lips,

while their hearts are far from me…’ “

Isa 29:13 (ESV)

“And [Jesus] said to them,

‘Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

in vain do they worship me…” ‘ “

Mk 7:6 (ESV

Distant!

O Distant are you Lord from our hearts!

Praise You! O praise you distant God!

Impotent Master!  Feeble God!

Your sovereignty has the power of a dead battery!

Your existence has the has the effect of a dead relative!

Your will is evil! Your jealousy is selfish! Your Christ is impotent!

O praise you distant One! O praise you distant one!

O God, be it your will, fill the churches of northern Illinois with those who know you,

BUT remain infantile murderers of you as we cut ourselves and others to pieces by our worship of W-2, sex, pride, hate, fear, surrealism, presumption, and excuses.

O distant One! Far are you! Far away from hearts who couldn’t sense love if drowned in it!

O distant One! Far are you! Far away from ears who hear only rules and restriction from your despotic mouth!

O distant One! Far are you! Far away from souls which curl their lips and retch at the fresh wind of your Spirit!

O God YES! Let us gather this week! Oh yes God! Let us arrive with all our crooked intentions!

Oh our cellulose encased hearts! Thick as concrete! Insoluble!

O distant God! Worship us!  Give us what we want! We have sought you from afar.  And having found you we ask only this:

Stay there! Stay there Obtrusive One! Stay there Tenacious One!

Stay there! Stay away ! Stay away and fill my perceived needs.

AHHHH! Yes Lord! Keep me intact! Profane yourself for my sake!

For Mother Earth speaks! Time is my god! Science my Sage! Thought my Wisdom!

And you….?

You?

…………….?

________.

You are as efficacious a dream…

A thought that whispers possiblity….

A phantasmagoria of hope…of practicality…of relevance….

A dream…

(oh…)

(oh God…)

Oh God.

Maintain Your promise to not be mocked. (Gal 6:6)

Not by me.

Not by your Bride.

By no one.

By Your Mercy and Covenant Love and Supreme Glory, give us a

sense

of Your omnipresence.

My soul, as a reborn child, yearns for You.

In spite of me, spite me.

Spite me with You, Oh Blessed Destroyer, the last thing I could want on my own.

Merciful Master…

“Have mercy on me, O God,

according to your steadfast love;

according to you abundnat mercy

blot out my transgressions.

Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,

and cleanse me from my sin!”

Ps 51:1, 2.

]]> http://transitwauconda.com/2011/02/16/chimerical/feed/ 0 http://transitwauconda.com/2011/01/26/whynaomiwhy/ http://transitwauconda.com/2011/01/26/whynaomiwhy/#comments Thu, 27 Jan 2011 04:20:08 +0000 Chris Marx http://transitwauconda.com/?p=646 “…so that the woman was left without her two sons and her husband.” Ruth 1:5 (ESV)

C.S Lewis, in The Problem of Pain writes, “Be sure that the ins and outs of your individuality are no mystery to [God]…”

As we discussed last week in our first look into Ruth, there is no way to pinpoint just how involved God was in bringing Naomi to this point of isolation (notice there is in the above verse, no mention of her daughter’s in-law, though she was left with them).  Verse 6, does make it valid to believe that just as God was active in visiting his people temporarily  with food, God also is the one withholding food, bringing Bethlehem to famine, because of the breach of covenant in the times of the Judges (v.1; cf. Judges 21:25). Yet we have no voice from heaven, no Job 1 & 2, to give us some background about what it is that God may be up to, if anything, in Naomi’s life.

And if this is intentional, I believe that it is brilliant on the part of the author.  For the way that he writes Naomi’s life, well….he writes yours and mine.

Christian’s believe in the One True Everlasting God. Right?

We believe that He is Providential and Sovereign. Right?

Evangelicals go to extreme (and ridiculous) measures to teach the truth of an intimate relationship with Christ.  Right?

God leads.  God is close.

God shepherds.  God is intimate.

God is Holy.  Jesus is Brother.

God is Holy. Jesus sympathizes with our weaknesses.

From age to age,

century to century,

year to year,

day to day,

hour by hour,

minute by minute,

second by second,

moment by moment,

God is aware.

But how Ruth’s author writes our lives is in this:

We don’t know what he may do next.

This is not to make God seem chaotic. NEVER!

We, as Chesterton notes, “We talk of wild animals; but man is the only wild animal. It is man who has broken out…man alone is ever undomestic.”

We are so unstable that God’s consistency is chaotic!

We are the ones refusing peace, which makes his law seem harsh!

“Ah!

Stubborn children,” declares the LORD.

“Who carry out a plan,

but not mine…”

Isa 30:1

In fact the author of Ruth may not completely isolate us in our uncertainty about God.

No.

I believe that he isolates us in our mortality before God.

You see, people may say that sex, drugs, materialism, fame, popularity, security, love, money, alcohol are gateways to addictive behavior.

Our manner of pursuit for them is indeed confirmation of this.

But not everyone is addicted to any or all of these.

But, nevertheless, we are ALL addicts.

Oh yes, we are junkies of the worst kind.

For we as mortals are all raving, mad, uncouth, degenerates when it comes to the drug of “Why?”

And just as a drug gives a temporary distraction from reality, so also does our preoccupation for knowledge and our quest for answers stimulate us and distract us from accepting our lives as they are and have been handed to us.

“I form light and create darkness,

I make well-being

and create calamity,

I am the Lord, who does all these things.”

Isa 45:7

Why this? Why that?

Why now? Why later?

Why him? Why me?

Why here? Why there?

Why me?

Why me?

Why Naomi?

Why God!!!!!!!???!!!!!!!!

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!

YOU!!! YOU!!! YOU STRIPPED ME FROM MY HOME!!!

YOU!!!! YOU ROBBED ME OF MY HUSBAND!!!!

YOU STOLE FROM ME MY SONS!!!!!

YOU!!! YOU ABANDONED ME IN MOAB!!!!

YOU!!! O SOVEREIGN EVERLASTING COVENANT KEEPING BENEFICIENT EVER LOVING SYMPATHETIC GOD!!!!!!!!!

GOD!!! WHY!!!!

WHY!!!!

Why?

silence

Why Naomi?

silence

Why you?

silence

“And about the ninth hour

Jesus cried out

with a loud voice, saying…,

‘My God,

My God,

why have you forsaken me?’”

Mt 27:28

silence

And as I read this quote (or the whole book for that matter) I realize how desperately I need God to protect me from myself.

Sure I need protection from enemies.  Sure I need protection from disease.

Sure I need protection from starvation.  Sure I need protection from the harsh cold of January.

But Jesus asks me, “Is not life more than food and clothing?”  And when I consider his question and how I, like Lewis, am reluctant to answer, “Yes,” I am forced to look at my life and confess that all these needs and more than those mentioned above have a hold on me and play with me and leave me in a place of dis-ease; that is, anti-rest.

Is it not right then that, as Lewis mentions earlier in the book, God makes my life less agreeable to me.  Are the comforts of my life an illusion of peace?  For sure heat is something I need in the winter.  And no doubt, it makes me comfortable.  But what about when it is removed?  What then do I do?

The potential of frostbite is there.  The potential of death is there.

In fact millions of people in the world, I’m sure, consider the potential of this world overcoming them today as a viable consideration.

How……..no……..who would I be then?  What would be revealed then about my faith?  About my understanding of peace?  About my love for Christ?  In fact the mere fact that I am now somewhat frightened by the possibility that I am not what I think of myself in a way guarantees that God MUST test me……..no……no……no………put me at ease.

“In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary,

you have been grieved by various trials,

so that the tested genuineness of your faith

–more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire–

may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

1Pe 1:6-7 (ESV)

Looking out the window right now I realize that God will test me.

I realize that my day is a mixture of faith in the sovereignty of God

and fear in the sovereignty of God.

I realize that I am not prepared to suffer.

I realize my willingness to show God my back.

I realize my desperate disease;

My dis-ease.

And now comes the fearful boldness to pray:

“Lord, you know more than I the state of my heart for You

and before You.

In Your intimate work with me have mercy on me Gentle Shepherd

for I am fragile.

My peace is fragile.  My happiness is fragile.

Penetrate me with Your will.

Make me sensitive to my fears and sloppy contentment.

Withdraw me from my disease.

I suppose…

I understand that I must….first….see it

and let you bring me through it.

For if I do not, I’ll never rejoice; never be thankful; never be me.

Oh God! For Christ sake, in me, for You, let the world see a man in You at ease.”

Joseph was betrothed to Mary.  What that means is that in all matters concerning the law, He and Mary were what we would call married.  Many obligations had been met and gifts had been exchanged between the bride, her family, and the bride-groom, Joseph.  Now it was only a matter of time, having made all final arrangements, for Joseph to ceremonially show up with his entourage one night to claim his wife and enjoy the wedding feast and celebration for a week or two.

Yet Matthew, in furthering his apologetic about the legitimacy of the Messianic advent, drops a bomb that we may not fully appreciate.

You see, we as members of the front-lines of history have an increasingly more difficult time relating with the past; especially if the past is really long ago.  1490 was a long time ago to us, but not for those in 1501. And the more we walk into the future, the more etic we become.

To be etic, as far as linguistics or culture is concerned, means that one is an outsider.  As such, one will never have an indigenous or emic understanding of a culture or language.  My approach will always be, in one way or another, scientific and objective, but not relational.  For instance, I can collect data and study the history of the Native Americans during the colonization period of our nation’s history; I may write a paper or dissertation about them; I may produce a movie, but I’ll NEVER know what it means to be a Native American from the inside. (Incidentally, this is a reasonable basis for humility even between siblings!)

Now, consider how far you are today from these events in Matthew.  Consider, in humility, that you have not (and may not) fully appreciated the reality of the breath, sweat, work, pains, mysteries, systems, and lives of the people of Scripture.  Consider that you may have never thought Mary a real woman, or Joseph a real man.  Consider that your etic approach to such events and people in Scripture may have unwittingly taught you to regard them as mythical.

“before they came together

she was found

to be with child…”

Mt 1:18 (ESV)

Oh, by the way….

If you missed it…

That was the bomb.

“If there is a betrothed virgin,

and a man meets her in the city and lies with her,

then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city,

and you shall stone them

to death

with stones,

the young woman because she did not cry for help

though she was in the city…”

Deut 22:23 (ESV)

You see silence, at least in many cases of moral obligation, can be mistaken for acceptance.

This passage from Deuteronomy condemns both man an woman: the man for his volitional act of adultery, and the woman for receiving the act without contest. After all, being in the city would have made it easy for the betrothed woman to scream and be heard.  But if the woman remains silent, well,it seems she is okay with the incident and thusly accused of the same crime as that of the man.  It takes two to make a thing go right.

Now consider Joseph, “being a just man.”

Be careful not to run to his attribute of being merciful for not wanting to bring Mary to the gate for public divorce (the Romans would not have allowed the Jews to stone her).  Joseph is not “being just” because of  his mercy, but because he knew the law as was known to follow it.  This is why he,

“resolved to divorce her…”

Think about it.

Did Mary scream for help?

Was Mary accosted in the wilderness by a rapist, where her screams would have been unheard?

If she had, Deut 22:25-27 makes allowance for any pregnancy that may follow and dismisses any disgrace she might incur otherwise.

Did Mary scream?

“Behold, I am the servant of the Lord;

let it be to me

according to your word.”

Lk 4:38 (ESV, emphasis mine)

Think how difficult it was for Joseph.

Think what he saw.

Think what he heard.

Think of the utter nonsense that came into his reasoning.

It was so difficult to believe that it required angelic intervention.

But……

No! No! Joseph! No!

Stay with Mary………..God is at work.

No…

Better….

Joseph…….in Mary…..

God is with us.

Hmmm…..

Can I hazard a suggestion?

I suggest that we make faith in God too simplistic.

Think of Joseph.

Ah!

Think of Ahaz.

For this event in Matthew demands of Joseph the same faith that Ahaz needed in Isaiah 7, the passage from which Mt 1:22, 23 is derived.

The faith that, in spite of all evidence to the contrary, takes God simply at His word.

Joseph, I know what this looks like…

And you are just in resolving to do away with Mary in any other circumstance…

But…..

“if anyone comes to me…

(Notice the emphasis on the word “me.”)

“and does not hate

his own father, and mother

and wife and children

brothers and sisters,

yes,

and even his own life,

he cannot be my disciple.”

Lk 14:26 (ESV)

I tell myself that the good news of the Messiah is simple.

But Joseph tells me that it is deep.

Joseph tells me its a mystery.

Joseph tells me it is bigger than I know.

Joseph tells me that my rationale only gets me so far.

Joseph tells me that I am near the Supernatural.

Joseph tells me….take a seat….consider the Wonder,

….the Unpredictable,

….the Infinity,

….the Power,

….the Unstoppable,

….the…

….the…

the…

fear.

Joseph, in weakness, whispers to me…

“Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy,

and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread…”

(Now clearing his throat!)

“But the LORD of hosts!

Him you shall honor as Holy!

Let Him be your fear!

And let Him be your dread.”

Isa 8:12,13

For, says Joseph to me, He is,

“doing a work in your days

that you would not believe if told.”

Hab 1:5 (ESV)

Oh, Immanuel! (Isa 8:8)

]]> http://transitwauconda.com/2010/12/08/advent-joseph-the-just/feed/ 0 http://transitwauconda.com/2010/12/02/advent-1/ http://transitwauconda.com/2010/12/02/advent-1/#comments Thu, 02 Dec 2010 08:16:17 +0000 Chris Marx http://transitwauconda.com/?p=610 “Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted” (Isa 52:13)

If you didn’t know it, then, welcome!, we are in the time traditionally known in the Church as Advent. Now advent means: the arrival of a notable person, thing, or event. So for the Church, Advent is the time of reflection and meditation which brings us to Christmas, which commemorates, no, not Jesus’ birthday, but more notably, the arrival of the Messiah.  Messiah (or Christ, in Greek) simply means “anointed one.”  To be anointed for something, especially in the Old Testament, means that by God someone or something has been appointed for a special purpose.

“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor;

he has sent me to bind up the broken hearted,

to proclaim liberty to the captives

and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;

to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor,

and the day of vengance of our God;

to comfort all who mourn;

to grant those who mourn in Zion–

to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,

[to give them] the oil of gladness instead of mourning,

[to give them] the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;

that they may be called oaks of righteousness,

the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.”

Isa 61:1-3

Who is this Anointed One?

This Messiah?

Who must we look for?

Who must we listen to?

Who will bring these things about?

“There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.

And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him,

the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,

the Spirit of counsel and might,

the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.

And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.

He shall not judge by what his eyes see,

or decide disputes by what his ears hear,

but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,

and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;

and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,

and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist,

and faithfulness the belt of his loins.

Isa 11:1-5 (ESV)

Shhhhhhhhhh……

You are about to meet him……..this,

Messiah.

This,

Anointed One.

Shhhhhhhhh……

It will happen too easily!

Caution.  These word may be familiar to you.

(Though their impact may still allude you.)

Your heart may be dull….

Your ears may be dull…..

You sight may be dull….

” ‘Keep on hearing, but do not understand; keep on seeing, but do not perceive.’

Make the heart of this people dull…”

Isa 6:9,10 (ESV)

You may not realize how many generations have been desperately waiting for this news…

“For truly, I say to you,

many prophets and righteous people longed

to see what you see, and did not see it,

and to hear what you hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”

Mt 13:17

this gospel…..

“O Jerusalem, herald of good news;

lift it up, fear not;

say to the cities of Judah….”

Isa 40:9

Shhhhhhhhh……

….

….

Pssst…

Over there….

look….

Shhhhh……..

“Then Jesus came

form Galilee to the Jordan…”

“And when Jesus was baptized,

immediately he went up from the water,

and behold….”

(BEHOLD!!! OH MATTHEW WANTS TO SCREAM IT!!)

(BEHOLD!!! LOOK!!!)

(WATCH!!!!)

…and behold,

the heavens were opened to him,

and he saw

the Spirit of God descending like a dove

and coming

to rest

on

him.”

Mt 3:13, 16

Oh!…….

Messiah…..

“And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee…”

“And he came to Nazareth…to the synagogue…

and he stood up to read…

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

because he has anointed me

to proclaim good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives

and recovering of sight to the blind,

to set at liberty those who are oppressed,

to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ “

Lk 4:14,16,18,19 (ESV)

Jesus.

Messiah.

Jesus.

Christ.

Behold,

Your God.

My prayer for you this Advent season is that Jesus ”shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted” equally in your thinking of Him and in your life for Him.

“And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also, ⁷ and Jason has received them, and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying

that there is another king,

Jesus.”

Acts 17:6–7 (ESV)

“On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written,

King of kings

and

Lord of Lords.”

Rev 19:16 (ESV)

]]> http://transitwauconda.com/2010/12/02/advent-1/feed/ 0 http://transitwauconda.com/2010/11/01/kept/ http://transitwauconda.com/2010/11/01/kept/#comments Mon, 01 Nov 2010 16:06:32 +0000 Chris Marx http://transitwauconda.com/?p=421 “…keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life.” (Jude 21, ESV)

We are nearing the end of our look into Jude.  And as I have mentioned repeatedly, I believe that Jude is a book stressing the need to be humble before order; before objectivity.  And if you give any serious thought to your past and present circumstances, you may not need much time to discover that you do not like order.  Or at least, you may find that you are selective about the order you want and the order you do not want.  I suspect that for those of you that drive a car, you cherish the fact of order, not only because of the essential fixed properties that make your engine functional and reliable, but also because of the yellow lines in the road determining which side of the road traffic must remain.  And should you disregard the need for order, a police officer will kindly remind you.

Order demands something from us.

Objectivity requires adherence.

Obejectivity points to something fixed.

Hear G.K. Chesterton in his work Orthodoxy:

“Now here comes in the whole collapse and huge blunder of our age. We have mixed up two different things, two opposite things.  Progress should mean that we are aways changing the world to suit the vision.  Progress does mean (just now) that we are always changing the vision.  It should mean that we are slow but sure in bringing justice and mercy among men: it does mean that we are very swift in doubting the desirability of justice and mercy…

Progress should mean that we are always walking towards the New Jerusalem.  It does mean that the New Jerusalem is always walking away from us.

We are not altering the real to suit the ideal.

We are altering the ideal: it is easier.”

(p.91, emphasis mine.)

Do you hear Chesterton?

We have torn down the walls of truth.  We have eliminated the goal.  We have no image to be built into.

We have no vision to tell us this way or that way..

We have no borders to guide us in the mist of our creatureliness.

We believe that becasue we can think that we will think rightly.

We think that because we are alive that we understand how to live.

We believe that we can speak meaning into our lives without an objective source telling us when we are or are not speaking correctly.

We beleive that we have been left to ourselves to discover why and how to live, but we have not found out who is right about these things.

And I believe Chesterton when he says that this is the easy way.

For in the end, it is more difficult to obey order; to fall into line; to submit to authority; to be humble before a God who defines life and our purpose as humans.

And without the One who gives order, which culture do we trust?  Which age of man do we trust?  Which philosophy do we trust?  Who has it right?

Evolution cannot define a thing for me, for I have no purpose for being, other than that I am alive today.  But for what?

In what way will evolution help me to define what is true progress of the species and that which I perceive to be true progress?

Are we to define peace or organize ourselves under the vision of peace?

Are we to define life or organize ourselves under the vision of life?

Are we to define love or organize ourselves under the vision of love?

Yet who will cast the vision?

Who knows when truth is truth or an illusion of truth?

Who blesses us with law that is truly law?

Who will show us the way to a universal confession of why being alive matters and why dying for this confession is at time required?

Who can speak life into my morning in such a way that I free to be humble before something bigger than myself?

Bigger than my weak definitions?

Bigger than my finiteness?

Bigger than my duplicity?

Who is it that has the power to keep me keeping on the way when I am inclined to make the vision easier? When I am inclined to erase the ideal for me

and for you…?

John 14:6 (ESV)

⁶ Jesus said to him,

“I am the way,

and the truth,

and the life.

No one comes to the Father

except through me.

Hear Jesus bless us with what we hate: exceptions.

We hate exceptions because the truth, the vision, the ideal, the law, the most holy faith require them.

Hear the world hate Christ.

Hear the world hate exclusivity.

Take note of your irritation or overt hatred for order.  And let it be your confession and basis for crying out for God’s grace to keep you…

to keep yourselves…

in the love of God.

It is the way of true living

says our Master

and Lord

Jesus Christ.

Hear  Jude command us, “Contend, contend for life!  Let no one take you from the way.  Let no one pervert the grace of God.”

Oh Christian, hear Jude tell us to wait, wait for the mercy to to be revealed to us that will one day bring us in fullness to the righteousness of Christ,

which is and will be given to us that we may live wonderfully, joyfully, thankfully as humans being created weak and humble in constant need of our God’s direction.

For a people shall dwell in Zion, in Jerusalem; you shall weep no more.

He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry.

As soon as he hears it, he answers you.

And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction,

yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore,

but your eyes shall see your Teacher.

And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying,

“This is the way, walk in it,”

when you turn to the right

or when you turn to the left.

Isaiah 30:19–21 (ESV)

You call me Teacher

and Lord,

and you are right,

for so I am…

If you know these things,

blessed are you

if you do them.

(Jesus Christ in Jn 13:13, 17, ESV)

As I have mentioned lately, there is a risk, I say, of reading Jude myopically. The verse above tells us that there will be scoffers within the community of believers to whom Jude is writing.  Scoffers can be those who mock and disregard others to the point of taking a persons life.  Yet this does not seem to be the threat in Jude.  Scoffers can also be those who are simply at play like children.  Children have a difficult time learning reverence.  It is difficult to teach a child the concept of “worth” or “esteem.”  In fact , I believe what makes this so difficult is that we as children have, what seems to be, a preconditioned inclination towards irreverence.  And the people Jude has been talking about are simply this, irreverent (see v.12).

They have no regard for what is sacred to the community.

They have no regard for the benefit of others.

They have no regard for God’s law.

They have no regard for The Lord’s authority.

They have no reverence.

Like children they put on a show that will ultimately benefit themselves (see vv. 11, 12, 16).

Children! Irreverent godless babies! Immature infants!  Fools! (v.10)

They have no regard for….godliness!  They have no fear of holiness!

And here is the risk of the potential myopia mentioned above:

These people have crept in (v.4)…

Unnoticed…

The sound like you and me…

They eat like you and me…

They worship like you and me…

The warning from Jude is that they are difficult to distinguish at a moment’s glance…

These people who appear to be Christian and are in fact recipients of the wrath of God in Christ.

¹⁵ to execute judgment on all

and to convict all the ungodly

of all their deeds of ungodliness

that they have committed in such an ungodly way,

and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners

have spoken against him.”

Jude 15 (ESV)

We become nearsighted when we look to the godless world in order to confirm our salvation.

We can begin to reorder Christianity this way.  And please remember that Jude is about contending for the faith once delivered to all the saints.

That faith once delivered to to stay in order.  Unedited.  Unchanged.

There is only one way to hope.  One way to life.  One pattern.  One system. One path.  One faith.  One Lord.

Christianity was not born out of a contrast.  To be different for difference’s sake is not a reason to live.  It’s not a sufficient reason to go to death satisfied either.

Christianity was born when the force of God appeared.  Israel was born when God appeared.  Not because Israel decided to buck the system in order to be different.

And this is what we can miss in Jude.

You were not saved just to be different.

You were not saved so that you can feel better about what you do and do not do.

You were not saved so that you could find the scoffers, condemn them, and simply feel glad that you are not them.

You were saved to:

Behold, the Lord God…

Isaiah 40:10 (ESV)

See!  God!

See! His Holiness!

See!  His Power!

See! His Effect!

See! His Holiness!

See! His Salvation!

Regard!

Regard!

Fall!

Weep!

Sing!

Die!  Die! Die!  Die! Die!  Die! Die!  Die!

before Holiness…

Revere Him.

This brings the power for contending.

This is godliness.

Stop looking down!  Christian!  Stop looking to the world!

Set your minds on things that are above,

not on things that are on earth.

Colossians 3:2 (ESV)

God says, “Be Holy.”

For he is Holy.

Lets contend for holiness, not difference.

The imagery of wild waves is not to difficult to imagine.  But more importantly, the imagery I believe Jude has in mind here is not the vastness of the sea; not the clarity or murkiness of water; not the crashing waves against rock; not riptides; not undertows.  No, he is focus more on the ceaseless motion of the sea.  Waters of sea, though they may appear to be like a sheet of glass, never stop moving (saving of course for water that is frozen).  Waters of the sea are symbolic of restlessness.  Notice the parallel of Jude in Isaiah 57:

²⁰ But the wicked are like the tossing sea;

for it cannot be quiet,

and its waters toss up mire and dirt.

²¹ There is no peace,” says my God, “for the wicked.”

Isaiah 57:20–21 (ESV)

Notice the relationship between the wicked and the tossing sea.  Simile.  The wicked are restless.  They are chaotic.  They are without peace.

And if we keep Jude 13 in context of his entire letter, we can see that Jude’s use of Isaiah 57:20  is a result of “these people” being out of order; a premise Jude has labored to establish since verse 5.

The wicked are without order…

The wicked are without peace…

Wickedness to God is restlessness…

Why (Oh!) why with all our affluence and information are we as a nation restless?

Could it be that we crave security?

Could it be that truthfully no one has found it?

Could it be a a base level that the one thing we hate most about existing is that we seem to always be in a state of vulnerability?

Vulnerability.  Woundability.  The ability, the capacity, the fragility, to be wounded. Dependant

Yet what if vulnerablity was not meant to be regarded as a negative?

What if vulnerability was a Creative gift?

What if we have exploited the gift by taking evil advantage of one another?  Is this God’s fault?  Or is it ours?

What if we could see what God sees?

¹³ And no creature is hidden from his sight,

but all are naked

and exposed to the eyes of him

to whom we must give account.

Hebrews 4:13 (ESV)

What if we saw that all of our motives for living, especially those on the mind of those who are malignant to society, have the component of vulnerability as a motivating factor for:

Hiding…

Hoping, but never expecting…

Withdrawing…

Shaming…

Gossiping…

Lying…

Blaming…

Complaining…

Murdering…

Stealing…

Maligning…

And so on….

What if rest is the full expression of our loving our creatureliness…our genetic frame of fragility…

But where…

Where can I find a place where my vulnerability can be defined, accepted, nourished, tested, nurtured, loved, safeguarded, respected, maintained, praised, encouraged………..?

Where is the ceasing of the waters?

The absence of chaos?

Peace?

91 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High

will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.

² I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,

my God, in whom I trust.”

Psalm 91:1–2 (ESV)

³ You keep him in perfect peace

whose mind is stayed on you,

because he trusts in you.

⁴ Trust in the Lord forever,

for the Lord God is an everlasting rock.

Isaiah 26:3–4 (ESV)

]]> http://transitwauconda.com/2010/10/07/ahhhhhh-so-vulnerable/feed/ 0 http://transitwauconda.com/2010/09/28/just-sticks/ http://transitwauconda.com/2010/09/28/just-sticks/#comments Tue, 28 Sep 2010 16:00:09 +0000 Chris Marx http://transitwauconda.com/?p=395 “Yet in like manner, these people people also, relying on there dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme glorious ones.” (Jd 8, ESV)

Jude is a letter for maintaining order; to keep the message of the gospel in tact through the tumultuous waves of generations which incorporate different cultures, nations, philosophies, ideologies, and so forth.  Yet Jude’s particular focus is on not only concerned for the oral, written, and didactic purity of the faith, but also for its expression.   What I love about truth is that it cannot be divorced from our existential experiences.  These both need to be coherent.  Philosophy is only as valuable as its practicality.  So it is the same with religion.  Any theological system, though it may give us a glimpse into life beyond the grave and eternal matters, is only valuable if it makes sense to our experiences on earth; that is, it defines us and gives us meaning for existence.  So all our fancy talk and robust theological terms and systems only mean something if they have effect for life today.

So where are the Christians?

So where are the Good people?

So where is the collision between the eternal and the practical?

So where is expression of it in your day?

Consider a time ages ago…

Numbers 15:32–36 (ESV)

^“32 While the people of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. ³³ And those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation. ³⁴ They put him in custody, because it had not been made clear what should be done to him. ³⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.” ³⁶ And all the congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death with stones, as the Lord commanded Moses.”

Who are the those that found this man?

Who are the those who brought this man to judgement?

Who are the those that restrained this individual to bring him before MOSES and AARON!!!

Who are the those that brought this man, this simple man…

by the arms…

Hear the plea…No! No! No! Sticks only sticks!

I need to build a fire for my family!

For food! For warmth!

No!  This is too much!  No! IT ‘S ONLY STICKS

Please! Just this one time! MERCY!! Please! No!  OH God! Oh God! No!

Who are the those that brought this man to his death?

“The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones outside the camp.”

Who are the those that picked up the stones?

Who are the those the watched him shelter his head and fetal positioned body?

Who are the those who crushed his skull, his jaw, his chest, his lips, his ears, his face?

Who are the those who left him there unconscious, moaning, convulsing?

Read Numbers 15:31 (ESV)

³¹ Because he has despised the word of the Lord and has broken his commandment, that person shall be utterly cut off; his iniquity shall be on him.”

The man was a lawbreaker.  We are the crooked, perverted ones who reduce and dilute the crime.  We reduce the crime…we reduce the holiness of God.

This man lifted his fist to God and presumed that gathering sticks could be overlooked.

This man sought to reduce God’s holiness…

He despised his Word…

Thus he despised his God…

Who were these people?

They were those who put the thought of God into practice.

These were people who did not play the games of romantic abstract thinking and churchy-consumerism.

These people had consistency.

These people were determined to make the holiness of God a demonstrated reality.

You may want to reduce them to barbarians? And if so, it may be if time was given to study the coherence between what you believe and what you practice that the results may yield a diagnosis that you are clinically schizophrenic.

Oh hah! A bit much I’m sure!

Careful…………

Pay attention to your persistent desire to reduce..to compartmentalize reality.

Shhhhhhhh……..

Listen!  It’s in your nature to reduce God…

…and others…

…and yourself.

So crazy person…..go on with your life.  You lazy person…who fails to make connections, so numb in conscience and soul.

Go on drifitng…reducing…maligning….

Go on Christian….gather your sticks.

]]> http://transitwauconda.com/2010/09/28/just-sticks/feed/ 0 http://transitwauconda.com/2010/09/09/feel-judas/ http://transitwauconda.com/2010/09/09/feel-judas/#comments Thu, 09 Sep 2010 17:59:07 +0000 Chris Marx http://transitwauconda.com/?p=377 “Beloved, with all earnestness being made to write to you concerning our common salivation I am obligated to write to you commanding to contend for the faith once and for all delivered to the saints.” (Jude 3)

I suppose most of us would agree that a particular saying or word of instruction may be received in many different ways.  For instance, when we observe in the news the threat of an encroaching hurricane on the gulf coast of America, I would expect the words which comprise that report (or warning) to affect the inhabitants in Florida in a way which is different from those who live in Oregon.

I think this is a truth we often do not consider when we read a book like Jude or any historical account for that matter.  The Bible, though eternally relevant in the substance of its truth, was written to people in a time and place, and world with which we have no relationship.  Think about it.  A historical faith which had been maintained, contended for, celebrated, passed on, beat up, attacked, persecuted, nearly eliminated and scorned–that is, the Hebrew faith–has now in the first century been attacked (so it would seem) in such a way that the faith would never be the same again.  This attack came from, of course, their own Messiah, Jesus.

Now try (as best you can) to place yourself in the shoes (or sandals) of a Hebrew of the first century.  What do you do?  Its not like a muslim today embracing Christianity.  Its not like a first century Roman pantheist becoming a Hebrew.  No.  These are conversions from polar religious systems.  Christianity does not disavow the Hebrew faith because one is antagonistic toward the other (at least not in essence).  Instead Christianity consumes Judaism.  Now which way do you turn as a Jew of the first century?  This new Way has embraced and reoriented everything you know about Yahweh and your culture.

Feel the pressure.

Oh God make me feel the pressure!

What do I know about contending for the faith Lord!?!

Remember that “contending” in Jude 3 (ESV) is not to be understood strictly as defending.  Rather it means work through or to exercise.

Feel the daily pressure of the Old Way beating on a new convert of this New Way.

Feel the pressure of the new convert.  Feel the confusion.  Feel the uncertainty.  Remember the recipients of the “faith once and for all delivered to the saints” had not received the gospel from the Living and Breathing Christ, but from people. Feel the dilemma.

Feel the reluctance to live for this New Way.

Feel how fresh the message was.  Consider how vulnerable the message was and maligned by those who say they believe in the Faith but only use it to gain power and dominance over people.

Feel the pressure of Judas.

See the disciples flee Christ.

Hear Peter betray Christ.

Oh God!!

See Jesus contend.  Think, oh think, about your Master!  He was the agent of our contention!

Think of the temptation by Satan to yield; to amend; to change; to add; to back off; to relax………………………

(sigh)

See Paul. .beaten.  Beaten.  Beaten. Beaten within an inch of his life

(hear the whisper)

Paul…………..change…………don’t go so far…………yield…………….relax.

“For we who live

are always

being given over to death

for Jesus sake…”

1Co 4:11

” ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’

If they persecuted me,

they will also persecute,

you.”

Jn 15:20

Think about the external difficulty; the internal difficulty; the economic difficulty; the social difficulty; the material difficulty; the ethical difficulty the gospel brings towards your life.

Are you a Christian who contends, strives for the faith….. or for yourself?

Do you feel the pressure?

Do you contend for your rights in the workplace?

Do you contend for understanding in your marriage?

Do you contend for your race?

Do you contend for your denomination?

Do you contend for your doctrine?

Do you contend for your pleasure?

Do you contend for your popularity?

Do you contend for your comfort?

Do you contend for your putrid selfishness?

Do you contend for a diluted gospel that’s been twisted to meet your insatiable idolatry?

Or…

Are you Christian, a little Messiah, who contends as your Lord and your Apostles both internally and externally for the faith once delivered to the saints of ages past; the faith of the gospel, the only means to life.

Do you exercise it within yourself?

Do you strive for it in this world?

Consider these things.

And consider carefully please…

for the sake of the gospel…

for the sake of your judgement appointment before Christ…

….that if you don’t, you may very well be one of the snakes that slipped into Jude 4 to pervert God as the serpent did surreptitiously before Eve.

]]> http://transitwauconda.com/2010/09/09/feel-judas/feed/ 0 http://transitwauconda.com/2010/08/31/finished/ http://transitwauconda.com/2010/08/31/finished/#comments Tue, 31 Aug 2010 15:59:57 +0000 Chris Marx http://transitwauconda.com/?p=359

Jude 1 (NET)

1:1 From Jude,

a slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

to those who are called,

wrapped in the love of God the Father and

kept for Jesus Christ.

“Search me, O God,

and know my heart!

Try me

and know my thoughts!”

Ps 139:23

(Alone)

(Seeking)

You know what I really want right now God.  I want what every one else does. I want…..

“That which was from the beginning,

which we have heard,

which we have seen with our eyes,

which we looked upon,

and have touched with our hands…”

1Jn 1:1

I want…I want……damn!!!!

(Always I)

(Always I)

Really I want something different.

Okay what will it be?

I cannot be sure.

Yet this desire causes you grief, this ambiguous desire for difference?

I just have a hunch things are not as they should be.

Things or you?

Yes, I am not as I should be, I believe.

Oh God I’m sad. What am I to be?

Is this your understanding of freedom?

What?

Will the answer set you free, this year, this day, this hour, this moment?

No I don’t believe it could.  I suppose it opens up for me, then, the

fear of wondering what I must do to become what I must be.

There is no freedom in fear.

Ahhh. Are you free now?

No. Not in the least.

My beloved, faithless child. You are more free than you know.

My Freedom causes you fear because you are faithless.

Do not let a hunch be your excuse for weakness and duplicity.

Quiet your soul for a moment loved one.

Quiet .

Shhhhhhh.

(shhhhh)

Pray.

Prepare your heart for truth.

Ask for My grace to make this as real as your quivering lip.

As real as tears.

As real as your pulse.

What you are to be has been settled.

What you are is accomplished.

What I have done is sure.

You have been…

You are…

You will forever be…

wrapped in my love.

For I am sure,

that neither death nor life,

nor angels nor rulers,

nor things present, nor things to come,

nor powers, nor height nor depth,

nor ANYTHING ESLE

IN ALL CREATION

has the power

to separate us

from My love for you

in Jesus

My Son

and your Lord.

Loved one, wrapped in the truth of My eternal perfect love, who are you?

Loved.

So what are you to be this year, this day, this hour, this moment?

What I am.

So now, what must you do?

Be as I am.

The power of God is, I believe , something (at least in our current finite state of affairs) that catches us by surprise.

It can happen as fast as a thought.  It is as close as a touch.  It is as powerful as a shock.

Yet this Power which reveals itself is not the same as the Power revealed in nature.  For this Material Power we can perceive.

We can see a tree coming.  We can see sunlight about to appear from behind a hill or cloud.  We can guess lighting may appear in a storm.

No doubt, we cannot control It, but It is predictable.

We have something even in this broken Being, which is ourselves, the potential to interact and to engage with this Power.  And this Power is for the whole world, saved or not.

Yet there is a Power that is hidden.

“But we impart a secret…”

There is the Power that is a secret.

“…and hidden wisdom of God.” (1Co 2:7)

It is the Power that enables us to live; to define ourselves; to believe in purpose; to give meaning to suffering; to make sense of where we have been, are, and are going.

It is, is essence, the Power of the moment, for the moment, in all moments.

And it is hidden.

We cannot see It coming.  We cannot predict It.  We cannot approximate Its worth in advance.  We have nothing to do with It.

It is in all ways something outside of us and something by which we find we are in complete dependence.

(Sigh………..)

And Lord this morning You broke me open with It.

When I was stuck in my system of thinking.

When I allowed that system to activate me.

When I allowed that system to dominate me.

When I believed I was thinking rightly.

When I believed I had good cause for what and how I was thinking.

When I denied something beyond the perceptible.

When I had faith only in the moment.

When I blamed others.

When I solicited pity.

When I complained.

When I could not see beyond myself.

When I became a Sadducee.

Lord, it was about  the twelfth time when I in that hymn was singing Hallelujah..

It was at about that first time time I sang Hallelujah from my heart…

It came as fast as a thought…

As close a a touch…

As powerful as a shock…

And I cried when You came to me this morning…to free me.

I cried when I realized how much I depend on this Power.

I cried when I realized It can’t be found…

I cried when I realized my need of It…

Oh God!!!

“I will run in the way of your commandments

when you

enlarge my heart.”

Psalm 119:32

Thank you Divine Power.

Thank you Living Bread.

Thank you unseen….

unknown…

unmistakeable…

God of Power.

In this passage and the forthcoming references to becoming children which follow, Jesus is calling us to accept and operate from the position or status of a child in society.  If we read on to v.4 we would read that a child’s status in society is that which is marked by humility.  Now this is not humility that counts oneself less than others.  Instead, it is a humility that acknowledges its position in society; a position of dependency and of subordination to authority.  So Jesus uses a child, who is completely and in all ways subject to the authority of his parents, to illustrate our need to turn from a particular frame of thinking about ourselves and to turn to the acceptance of Kingdom of God authority.  Its a desperate and crucial need.  For if this need is spurned or is accepted with a half-assed attitude, then access into the presence of God is impossible (never, Jesus says).

Children who cannot accept authority are mutinous, accepting no authority whatsoever.  Children who accept authority one day but not the next; one moment but not the next are two-faced.   Now it is one thing to not carry out one’s position in an appropriate manner all the time.  We are all weak and would hope that this weakness would be the cause for mercy and sympathy.  But it is something altogether different when one will not accept and carry out one’s place (let’s say in the workplace or family) with an attitude of insubordination.

Hear Jesus say “turn.”

Hear Jesus say “become.”

Notice the action required. Its not a mental feat alone.

Hear Jesus say, “Never.”

Jesus said to him,

“I am the way

and the truth

and the life,

no one come to the Father

except through me.”

Tally up your actions at the end of the day.  Let this actuality be that which defines your position in the Kingdom of God. Your acceptance.  Your reluctance.

Insubordinate child.

So obstinate.

So arrogant.

I am.

Delinquent, disorderly, and defiant.

Unmanageable, uncontrollable, undisciplined.

Subordination is the key to your kingdom.

Inferior.

God all my pride and sinfulness is due to my belief that I am more than what is true.

I am the First Adam.

Lord I am sorry that I want to be more than Your Kingdom allows.

Lord I am sorry that I do not delightfully accept Your Authority. (nasty  sinner, ah!)

I’m sorry…..Father. I’m sorry that I’m not truly sorry.

So here in my understanding…(so lacking)

So here in my weakness…(so despised)

So here in my hope…(so wavering)

God I beat my chest asking…simply asking…discipline me.

Teach me and give me grace to live first in subordination.

]]> http://transitwauconda.com/2010/08/03/in-subordination/feed/ 0 http://transitwauconda.com/2010/07/13/whatever/ http://transitwauconda.com/2010/07/13/whatever/#comments Tue, 13 Jul 2010 17:12:06 +0000 Chris Marx http://transitwauconda.com/?p=321 “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.” (Php 4:11, ESV, emphasis mine.)

Whatever…

(sigh…)

Whatever…

Whatever situation.

What…ever…(a reference to any entity, event, or state.)

Whatever = Any?

Any entity…

Any event…

Any state…

(God help me!)

Now I know I should be embarrassed.

(Lord I’m looking into the world, the people, history, my family, and I am speechless. No! I am bound!)

Any = Every?

(Now I am excited!)

C.S Lewis, in The Problem of Pain, writes:

“Now God, who has made us, knows what we are

and that our happiness lies in Him.

Yet we will not seek it in Him

as long as He leaves us any other resort

where it can even plausibly be looked for.

While what we call ‘our own life’ remains agreeable

we will not surrender it to Him.

What then can God do in our interests

but make ‘our own life’ less agreeable to us,

and take away the plausible source of

false happiness?”

I feel Eden coming on!

I sense the imminence of God! It’s…it’s…right now!

Your will, Lord. O Holy God, Perfecter of my soul; of my being; of my life; of my….my….moment.

(O God my chest is tight!)

No second is disposable to You!

You import eternal essence into what I so profanely consider the mundane!

O GOD HELP ME! I AM THE DEAD ONE!

O LORD! The beating, the beating of the moment! The beating of your instruction as you go about the ONLY work no other would be blasphemous god has suggested or claimed or managed to undertake!

You are stuffing it…

You are jamming it…

You are cracking me open…

You are exposing the raw wounds of my death to clean…

…clean

…clean

…life.

” I came

that they

may have

life…”

(Jn 10:10)

In my anxieties I feel the singe…O Pleasing Cure!

In my helplessness I feel my grief..O Blessed Dependency!

In my anger I feel the hell…O Sustained Joy!

O God!

ANY STATE!

ANY EVENT!

EVERY MOMENT!

In every discomfort and trial,

In every comfort and repose,

You are teaching this Death, to die.

It seems nothing can truly kill me now.

Not when every form of death leads me back to a complete dependency of You.

What can man do to me?

What can I do to myself?

(It’s quiet now.)

Whatever is your delight…

Whatever is your will…

Whatever is You…

By your grace lay me down beside the still waters of Your Sovereignty…

of Your Promises…

of Your Faithfulness…

Lay me down too look into the clouds and beyond them to infinite truth,

To look into my identity before you…

and confess with all honesty and truth, delight and resignation…

whatever.

James Houston in his work Joyful Exiles writes, “Hiding ourselves when the world tempts us to exhibit our selves is an effective way of ‘dying away.’ ” (p.35)

I believe that the Christian life is death sentence. In a way, I would consider it to be the supreme capital punishment. But let’s try not to think of it in a strict legal sense.  For this practice of punishment calls one into court for wrongs done deserving death and ends in death (i.e., our sins warranting the wrath of divine justice). And that is the end goal of the process (although one may argue that the end really helps to contribute to the ongoing preservation of peace and security in society; but it is nevertheless the end for the individual). But the Christian death sentence is different. No doubt our death is brought about in a legal way, but its not for Legality’s sake.

“We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death,

in order that,

just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father,

we too might walk in newness of life.

(Rom 6:4, ESV, emphasis mine)

God does not intend to simply mete out justice for the law’s sake.  Rather by meeting the requirements of Justice he intends to

set

us

free.

Ah!  And here it is.  Here we find the ongoing punishment.  Here is where the rubber meets the road. Here is the root of Philippians 4:6:

We do not want to be free.

We do not want to be free.

We do not want to be free.

“Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD

in the land of Egypt,

when sat by the meat pots and ate bread to the full,

for you have brought us out into

this wilderness

to kill this whole assembly.”

(Ex 16:3, ESV))

As much as we may treasure the idea of freedom, we find it nearly impossible to treasure the freedom of God; to live freely before God.

We grumble.

We complain.

We worry.

We scheme.

We justify every last second of it.

We hate people who write things such as this.

We hold Pity parties in the corner’s of our existence hoping some one will notice our anger.

We demand that God explain how he loves us in the midst of uncertainty, suffering, abuse, hardship, and slavery.

All things spoken by those in enslaved to their idea, philosophy, and theology of freedom.

So God in his love is killing our ungratefulness.

“Your grumbling is not against us

but against the LORD.”

(Ex 16:8, ESV)

We severely underestimate how profoundly and ardently ungrateful we truly are. I know not what I do.

I believe that as far as a humanly possible the Apostle Paul (and others in Christian history, I’m sure) discovered freedom.

The freedom that comes through knowing who Christ is, what he has and is doing. The freedom that is manifest in a gentle person trained to be pleased at the revealed will of God.

Are things that happen in this life unfair? Yes.  The Son of God experienced the highest degree of injustice at the hands of men and all under the purview of God’s sovereignty; His perfect will.

Yet, on the eve of his being murdered Christ prays,

“But now I am coming to you,

and these things I speak in the world,

that they may have

my joy

fulfilled in themselves.”

(Jn 17:13, ESV)

Every moment of your life today is begging you to exhibit yourself (see quote above); to claim rights; to demand fairness; to be understood; to be recognized; to be pleased; to be cared for; to be loved.

But in all these things God intends for you to find their fulfillment in Him and Him alone.

Bring your whole life and understanding of freedom and satisfaction to the will of God.

Let him kill your misconceptions.  Let the fire rage in your doubts.  Abide! Abide! Abide in Christ!

“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken,

and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship,

with reverence

and awe

for our God

is a consuming fire.”

(Heb 12:28,29, ESV)

Oh God, my desire to remain a slave to Slavery begs to me to reconsider praying this but…

but I turn inside, where only You and I relate; this hidden, quiet place…

and pray…

…

Burn me, O Consuming Love, ’til I’m free before You.

You were with me this morning Lord.

I mean, I was aware of it.

As I held my son.

As he laid in my arms.

As my arm was around him.

As I ran my fingers through his hair.

As I reassured him of my love.

As I protected him.

As I fed him.

As security was embodied.

No one was more safe then you my son, this morning, in my arms.

Oh God,  I saw something of my future this morning in my son.

Oh God I saw something of you in my love for him.

Oh God I know what it means!

I know what you mean, O to depths of my heart,

“he will quiet you

by his love.”

Zeph 3:17, ESV

Oh GOD!

Oh God I felt some of your grief in the waiting. As you wait to hold me. As I become the son of this morning.

Observing the length of my finger nails…

Observing the smoothness of my eyelids…

Caressing my brow with the lightness of your thumb…

Watching me drift away…

Grinning within the security you give me.

“I will rejoice in doing them good,

and I will plant them in this land of faithfulness,

with all my heart and all my soul.”

Jer 32:41, ESV

I felt the reality of you this morning in a chair.  The power that comes with this existential grace.

The power that overwhelms me. That gives me love for my neighbor.

Oh God my hands are shaking.

Oh God your stripping me of fear, of lifelessness, of selfishness, of faithlessness.

“…O Immanuel.”

Isa 8:8

Your quieting the hell in me!

The death in me!

The rebellion in me!

Oh GOD!! the crust of death is falling from my heart and I can hardly breathe.

Oh God please, for every reason Christ died…

For every reason you sent him…

For every reason you chose me…

Continue this work unitl I am a stranger to myself.

Until I am killed completely.

(Exhale)

You give power the mind could never imagine.  You give light to the soul.  You empower the intangible.

You hold what we can’t see.  You animate our being.

“In him we live

and move

and have our being.”

Acts 17:28, ESV

I reaffirm to you Lord my full desire that you would have your way with me.

And may I and the world sit in wonder…

“Look among the nations,

and see;

wonder and be astounded.

For I am doing a work in your days that

you would not believe if told.”

Hab 1:5, ESV (cf., Acts 13:41)

O Immanuel, what a robust repose you give.

I am beginning to understand the gospel.

I am beginning to understand God.

All religions appeal to the mystical.  All people think of religion as eternal.

All creeds have their language for the unseen.

They all have their images of colors and clouds and light.  Everyone aspires, desires for celestial sensibilities.

We all want the sea parted.  We all want fireworks.  We all want heroes that fly.  We all want animals to speak.  We all want life from death.  We all want ghosts.  We all want people to glow.  We all want miracles.  We all want the miraculous.  We all want the spectacle.  We all want the spectacular. We all want the entertainment.  We all want amusement.

But…

But who wants the gospel? It’s too, fleshy; too incarnate; too normal.

Ahh!  The gospel is a miracle.  Ahh!  The gospel gives us what we want.  But… how?

What is the route to want we want?

What is the technique?

What is the path?

What is the method?

What is the prayer? The money required? The lights required? The song required? The mind required? The pedigree? The pedagogy? The premium?

With all the confusion and all the desire, HOW do I achieve the eternal and miraculous rest my soul longs for and my life requires if I am to every believe in meaning and truth?

I…I am beginning to understand the gospel; the paradox.

In a moment, in a second, in a turn of mind and action, all the gospel, all that I am in Christ, all I’ll ever have as my heart beats is waiting for me in this:

“But in humilty

count others

more significant

than yourselves.”

Php 2:3

Who wants this?

Who is doing this?

Who really wants Jesus? Who came. Who loved at the cost of his life.  Who demonstrated life; eternal life.

“But [Jesus] answered them,

‘An evil and adulterous generation

seeks for a sign…’”

Mt 12:39

I am beginning to understand that the gospel is more real than anything dreamed by man.

I am beginning to understand that the dream and reality, though distinct, cannot be divorced.

All of heaven is waiting for me in the moment.

I believe that gospel teaches me life, eternal life. The life I can live….now.

So, I saw you yesterday.

You were on your Harley. Your Harley wasn’t loud. Odd.

It wasn’t clean. Hmmmm…..

And I agreed with your sticker to watch out for bikers.

You had the image but…….. something was different.

Good grief! Who told you to leave the house dressed as you were. Buddy, all leather work boots with black socks up to your calves in shorts?  Oooooooold, I mean Old black jean shorts?

And come on, what the hell are all those keys for?  Honestly, is your job locking and unlocking things?  Is the left side of your tire tread worn down to compensate for the imbalance?

And your facial hair.  What in the world is that!  All grey beard somewhat short with two wiry extensions under your chin. It looks like a mess!  You, you look like a mess and your day has just started.

But (as my eyes well up) I felt……free……. looking at you.

No child seeing a picture of you would aspire to grow into such an image.  At sometime you made a choice.

At sometime you left behind what you were told you should be….

At sometime you left behind what you told yourself you should be…

At sometime you decided what you would be…

I have the sense that there is a person I would want to meet in you…

I have the sense that there is a person I would want to be in light of you…

I have the sense that you have integrity…that you have a story I would want to hear.

There seems something of worth in you.

I feel embarrassed by my immaturity next to you; by my wavering; by my people pleasing; by my superficiality; by my poor understanding of responsibility.

You reminded me to know myself and to live with consistency.

You remind me of my true identity.  You remind me to embrace it.

You remind me not to apologize. You remind me to make it my lifestyle.

You remind me that proven worth in the ultimate sense is the overflow pouring from my integrity as a disciple of the gospel.

Yeah.  Right.  You got it Paul.

Sure.

No grumbling?  No complaining?  Uh oh.  I feel that tightness in my chest again.

This is ludicrous.  This is unrealistic.

My culture prides itself with freedom of speech. My culture expresses itself through its opinions.

My culture seeks progress through dissatisfaction. My culture gets high on demanding its rights.

My culture cries for reparations.

My culture is dependent on the law, lawyers, oh they lust after their law-whores.

My culture knows the squeaky wheel gets the oil.  My culture will not tolerate the intolerant.

My culture is bitchy.

And they pride themselves by exercising the right to open their mouths and ejaculate complaints when they feel betrayed, bereaved, badmouthed, bereft, and berated.

Its their identity.  Its what separates them from the rest of the oppressed world.  Its the system Paul!  Its reality!

Its  what works…right?

Oh wait………..

Really I’m beginning to see what is against me.  This culture.  This crooked generation.

I’m beginning to see the simplicity within the complexity; the complexity of a culture which determines for itself what is right and wrong; the complexity which results from the dead believing they are living.

I’m beginning to see the simplicity of the program.

I’m beginning to see the simplicity of the method.

As a citizen of my culture I’m beginning to see the cost. Oh Lord don’t say it,

“Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,

so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.

For he makes the sun rise on the evil and the good,

and sends rain on the just and the unjust.

For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have?”

Matthew 5:44-45

James Houston in Joyful Exiles writes, “Anyone who depicts reality must be of humble character, prepared to suffer greatly in renouncing the ways of the world” (p.99).

When I begin to calculate how impossible it is to do something so simple as keep my mouth closed and think better of others, I believe that in reality I am expressing my unwillingness to break from this culture and cleave to my Father who is in secret and sees what is done in secret…

the secret obedience which screams to my Father, ” I love you above all!”

the secrecy of love in silence…

“He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,

yet he opened not his mouth;

like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,

and like a sheep that is before its shearers is silent,

so he opened not his mouth.”

Isaiah 53:7

G.K Chesterton writes in his work Orthodoxy, “The primary paradox of Christianity is that the ordinary condition of man is not his sane or sensible condition; that the normal self is the abnormality.”

And so I begin to understand something when I read of Jesus humbling himself while existing in the form of God.  I understand that the form of God is described by insane people like me as “humble,” but he was not really humble.

After all, for me to call something red, I would expect that there is another color that is not red.  Purple and blue help me know when something is not red.  As far as red is concerned, purple and blue are abnormal. They are not red.  However, if there were no other colors and everything was only seen as red, then red would cease to be a color. Then what we see would be free of abnormalities.

So, I possess an abnormality.  In fact, in form, I am abnormal, insane.

Did Christ really humble himself?  Or is this language of crazy people?

“For I the Lord do not change…”

Mal 3:6

A new color has been introduced in the incarnation….

A color unseen previously…

A color which throws everything to the uttermost nicety into contrast…

It looks abnormal. In fact it is universally and timelessly abnormal.

God came to earth simply as God and my brutishness dubs him humble.

“And this is the judgment:

the light has come into the world,

and people loved the darkness rather that the light

because their works were evil.”

John 3:19

O God give me clarity of sight and mind to see the normality you expose;

Teach me to pray and sing in the manifestations of my insanity;

To rejoice in your promise of reformation.

Reform me to proper form: your form.

Thank you Jesus for being The Usual.

You surpised me this morning, Lord.

It was when I looked up and realized the leaves had crept up on me.

You surprised me this morning, Lord.

It was when I looked up and realized the sky was empty, an infinite canvas painted clean blue.

You surprised me this morning, Lord.

It was when I looked up and realized how white that star is, that warm star.

You surprised me this morning, Lord.

It was when I looked in…

and realized my anger…

and how I can’t give it away in the moment…

and how I mull over it…

and how it permit it…

and how I enslave myself…

how I worship it.

You surprised me this morning Lord,

It was when I looked in and realized again, my inability…

my captivity…

my dependency…

…when the infinite became the obvious.

I’m surprised by my unwillingness to live freely…

I’m surprised at how much I prefer to reside in my illusion which welcomes me spitefully every time I enter for control (my technique for rest).

But you, Lord Jesus Christ, give…the leaves, the painted sky,  the white star, to me this morning as a reminder of your power.

I was comforted when the infinite became the obvious.

You comforted me this morning, Lord.

It was when your trees laughed,

when your sky submerged me,

when your star seared my eyes,

when I looked at and read,

“I am the LORD.

I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob

as God Almighty…”

(Ex 6:2, ESV)

Jesus, master of the house, is called Beelzebul.

Jesus, master of the house, is called demonic.

Jesus, master of the house, is called Satan.

Jesus misunderstood.

“It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher.”

Jesus was patiently willing to let the relevant to look irrelevant.

Jesus was patiently willing to let truth look like a lie.

Jesus, Son of God, was called demonic by man.

By man the Son of God was called demonic.

To man Jesus was irrelevant.

“It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher.”

Touchy Christians…..

Touchy Christians everywhere…

Touchy, touchy Christians…

Touchy Christian fighting for your rights…

Touchy Christian fighting for your respect…

Touchy Christian fighting to be understood…

Touchy Christian fighting for your life…

Touchy Christian fighting to be heard…

Touchy Christian fighting to make God answer you…

to make people like you…

to make people think like you…

to make people like what you think…

Touchy Christian in such fear of what people think of you…

in such fear of the scabbed blood and dried flesh of the altar meant for your body…

for your mind…

for your will…

So sensitive…

So insensitive..

So discontent…

So dissatisfied…

“It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher.”

It is enough to…

It is sufficient to…

It is satisfying to…

“have no fear of them, for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known.”

True freedom, identity, purpose, patience, contentment, desire, release, rest, found in God, and God only.

“Rather fear him,

who can destroy both soul and body

in hell.”

(Mt 10:28)

“Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ,

so that you are…not being frightened in anything by your opponents.” (Php 1:27,28)

“For to me to live is Christ, and die is gain.” (Php 1:21)

Indeed Paul, my teacher, my mentor, it is enough for me to be like you.

God make this reality my pleasure.

As always, Paul says.

As always.

There is more, I’m sure,  wrapped in these two words than we will ever know.  It includes what we don’t know about Paul.  It’s what he didn’t write.  It includes all the life before he wrote these epistles.  Its all the words and activities of his humanity.  It goes beyond inspiration.  It includes his reputation. His character.  His integrity.  His identity.

As always.

As it has been up until this point.  As it has been my habit.  As it will continue….

Intimidating freedom.

I feel that heaviness on my chest.  Sigh.

That fear that I’m not ready to really let go of control is very real now, as always.  The thought that I’m half-stepping or marking time is weighing on me.  Oh God, to let go.  To let life fall in line or fall apart…to let it go and let my peace honor you.

I know nothing of as always.

I have doctorate in ambivalence.  I’m a master of sometimes.  I’m a fellow of facade.

As always.

What a solid peace!  What a guarantee!  What freedom!  To place my flesh in the hands of God, whether in expiration or in animation.  To allow God to determine my existence.  To be free! Free to accept his will.  To be thankful for it.  To sing about it.  To brag about it. To honor it.  To live it.  To die for it!

As always.

As always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death.

God prevent the regret which is already present,

waiting patiently at my death bed, from seizing and spiting me.

God let me in the weakness of my death muster the awareness to breathe…amen….as always…..Christ was honored.

What then?  Hmmmmmmm….

What then?

Paul, I do not think I can answer such a simple question.

But my pulse is rising and my eyes are welling up,

because your humanity, your hunger, your imprisonment, your joy demands that I give an answer!

I’m nervous, Paul.  I don’t want to pretend!  I don’t want your suffering to be a myth or fable. I don’t want you to be less human. Or….

What then?    What can I say?

Paul I have never been treated like you…

“We are afflicted in every way…” (1Cor 4:8)

Much less have I had the need to answer your question in circumstances such as yours.

“…I have learned the secret…” (Php 4:12)

Sigh.

Paul, I have no idea what it means to be you, yet you are the embodiment of a disciple.

“…be imitators of me.” (1Cor 4:16)

You are my possibility.

You are my potential.

You are my judgment.

What then?   What then!?!

Paul you are really asking “Who are you?!?”

I’m a ………

I’m…….

I …

I’m not sure.

I’m one person living with two identities.  I lay claim to my birthright as a son of God.  But I’m Esau, a soup lover.

“that no one is sexually immoral or unholy like Esau,

who sold his birthright for

a single meal.”

(Heb 12:16)

O God I suffer from the most acute form of schizophrenia! Your life, Paul, is reality.

Oh Paul!  I live in a fantasy and delusion!  I don’t want the correction of God!  I don’t want the learning!  I want………………………..I wan’t to cry.

I just want to cry.

I get so comfortable.  I justify every last bit of it.  I am in control.  I buy.  I consume.  I plan.  I budget.  I predict.  I arrange.  I complain.  I criticize.

And there you are my model…my objective…my identity…

sitting there…imprisoned..

and all you can think about in the dark, in the cold, in the stench, in solitude, in death is…

“Is Christ being proclaimed?”

“Is Christ being proclaimed?”

“Is Christ being proclaimed?”

“Is Christ being proclaimed?”

You embarrass me.

Thank you.

God for Jesus’ sake work mightily in me to will and act according to your good pleasure.

Be pleased God to make me less an intimation and more an imitation.

Theologians and missiologists debate the distinctives between Christianity and other world religions as well as the place for other religions within orthodox Christianity.  While there will certainly be elements that can and cannot be incorporated into Christianity, one thing is for certain: people have and will always be religious. This is something we as Christians can accept.  People love religion.  I suppose there are plenty of reasons for this being so.  But I would suggest that one the primary reasons for the history and love of religion rests on the earthly benefit the particular religion produces.  Now benefit is a relative term.  While religion may give a person a positive regiment for discipline leading to a pleasing life, it can also produce a regiment of murder for the benefit of power.  Benefit for me and benefit for you may differ. And we may differ on how that benefit may be achieved.

But what happens when religion is used in the latter sense?  When religion is used as a means for control and power and dominance?  Clearly, it is easy to criticize the use of religion in this way and begin to seek for a faith that supports life and benevolence.  Right?

But wait.  What about the reality that every faith, every religion must pass through?  What about the one stumbling block every creed must be refined and defined within?   What about the event which tests every epistemological and ontological debate, theory, or thesis?  What about the final malignant moment which tests even the most benevolent of faiths?  What about you…your faith…and your heart stopping. What about death?

What then?

Christian, what was the resurrection meant to inspire?  What’s the benefit?  You see, our lives now are more tangible today than they will be tomorrow.  So, it naturally follows that we would place a greater emphasis on today.  The Lord Jesus in Mt 6 supports such a concept.  And since we have a pulse, sweat, and breath, we then focus on, well… living.  Intuitively (or unconsciously), then, we make Christianity a regiment or discipline leading us to that end; that is, living.  In fact, if you listen to the way Christians pray (and this may be why most are hesitant to pray out loud) you may quickly discover where they have place the significance of the resurrection–that it has its primary benefit in this life.  Not that anyone would say this out loud, of course.

Now, Christianity is of value for this life.  Good grief!  Lord knows I’m grateful that I can’t remember who I was and the life I lived before He interrupted me!  But are we to place the significance of our religion, of our faith, of the resurrection in this life?  Is Christianity meant to move us or preserve us?  Is Christianity primarily meant to activate us or secure us?  Is Christianity primarily an activity or a sanctuary?  Notice from the verses above, that Paul places the hope which the resurrection inspires and secures beyond this life; beyond other religions; beyond our grave; beyond our pulse, breath, doubt, inabilities, anxieties.  If Christianity was only meant to bring us the benefits of religion in this life, Paul says we are worse off than any other person on the planet.  Christianity, Jesus, the cross, the resurrection, the faith FORGIVES SINS.  Christianity, Jesus, the cross, the resurrection, the faith FORGIVES SINS. Christianity, Jesus, the cross, the resurrection, the faith FORGIVES SINS.  Without out this essential component is view, your and my faith in Christ is futile and blasphemous (1Co 15:15).  Without this reality and orthodoxy, Christianity is an impotent belief system with all its rules and earthly benefits which never passes beyond the test and scrutiny of death.  Ultimately it offers no hope.  Ever met someone who has resigned the idea of hope?

Yet IT IS this essential compnent that provides the most meaning and purpose to this monent, as my fingers touch these keys and as the breath issues from my nose, as my faces rises to smile.

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”

“O death, where is your victory?

O death, where is your sting?”

(1Co 15:55, ESV)

No conference will enable you to meet with empathy the eyes of  the Apostle Paul as his body languishes and as his souls soars in jail…

No sermon will inform you beyond activism to conviction…

No system will conquer your limitations…your fragility…your dependency…

No….

Only baptism in death…

Only newness of life…

Only reconciliation with God…

Only forgiveness…

Only Christ can teach you the joy of the Apostle Paul…

Only Christ and the power of his resurrection will see you beyond the grave, beyond hopelessness,  so that in this life you may truly, more than anyone…….live.

“that I may know him and the power of his resurrection…” (Php 3:10, ESV)

“I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me own…” (Php 3:12)

“I press on toward the goal for the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” (Php 3:14, ESV)

Oh Lord I’m speechless..

Break me! Crack open this hell,

So I can rest and live in the security of your resurrection.

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” (Jn 10:10, ESV)

Deeply moved Jesus comes to us.  Deeply moved in his spirit he comes to us.  Greatly troubled he comes to us.

“Jesus cried.” (Jn 11:35)

He does not come to us in our obedience.  He does not come to us to reward our merit.  He does not come with commendation.

He comes to our tomb.  There our being lies without light. Cold. Decomposing, leaving only a putrid fragrance. Our only offering.

He comes to us in our death.  When he comes he sees no potential. No ability.  No movement.  No breath. No spirit. No-thing.

He comes to us in our restriction; in our grave clothes; in our limitations.

Deeply moved he comes to us.  Deeply moved in his spirit he comes to us.  Greatly troubled he comes to us.

“Jesus cried.”

The sister of the dead man says, “What is the use?”  The  sister of the dead man says, “What’s the point?”

The sister of the dead man says, “He’s beyond hope!”  The sister of the dead man says, “Don’t bother!”

The sister of the dead man says, “Let him be!”  The sister of the dead man cries behind doubt, “Help my brother.” The sister cries, “For he is me.”

Deeply moved Jesus comes to us.  Deeply moved in his spirit he comes to us.  Greatly troubled he comes to us.

“Jesus cried.” (Jn 11:35)

For me Jesus lifts his weary eyes to the Father.  For me Jesus lifts his tear moistened beard to the Father.

For me Jesus lifts the volume of his voice.  For me Jesus lifts a prayer.

To the tomb of my inability he comes. To the tomb of my filthiness he comes.  To the tomb of my slavery he comes.  To the tomb of my death.

Deeply moved.

Greatly troubled.

To my frozen death; to my stiff carcass; to my rancid state; to my sin; to my weakness; to my faithlessness,

yet, he comes.

In the silence, my soul’s ear hears a distressed, moved, troubled voice, crying for me,

“Christopher, come out.”

I have been called out.

I have been separated from death.  I am sanctified.  I am holy.  I am a saint.

“As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance,

but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct,

since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1Pe 1:14-16)

O Lord, my spirit weighs heavy on my heart when I try to thank you.

So let the life you have given me be that thank offering. I love you Lord.

O Lord, with a smile and misty eyes, I love you. I love you.

This is a portion of Scripture which continues to cause in me mixed feelings and emotions.  In fact, considering debates about the existence of God, this passage is in many ways most troubling for me because I  agree that God does in fact exist. I mean what kind of God gives a man a son and some time later require that man to sacrifice his son.  And this is no metaphorical sacrifice.  Its real wood; real fire; a real ascent  up real rocks; a real binding; and a real knife.  Its a real slaughter (22:10).  Try selling this God in 2010.  Have you comfort before this God?  Can you explain this God?

Do you run to the imminent verses which stay the hand of Abraham and spare Isaac?

Do you stop your ears to the silence of the long walk up the mount?

Do you turn your eyes from the binding of a child by his father?

Do you see the confusion and stress in Isaac’s eyes?

Do you feel it in Abraham as he wrestles with the silence of God?

Do you hear the confusion screaming……screaming………SCREEEEEAMING!!!

“Take your son…….

your only son……

Isaac……

whom you love….”

In fact, to these questions, I answer no.      Nope.

No, I want the following verses.  I want resolution.  I want rest in the ending I would hope for, no….expect.  I want the end, the day, the moment to be aligned with my expectations.

Hmmmmm.

I wonder how much of my time is spent with my eyes closed and my fingers in my ears when I read the Bible and go through my day, so that God can’t get through and that I might construct for myself a God who comforts, acts, saves, refines, and loves according to my expectations?  Are not my mixed feelings as mentioned above evidence of the god I have constructed warring with God, who is True?  This is the difficulty.  I am, after all (as is Isaac) entitled to life.  It seems intrinsic to my existence.  If (or since)I have been created; if I exist; if I have life , I have, at the very least an entitlement to received those things, events, needs which would support, merely, my existence.  Right? Yet, Gen 22 betrays this.  It betrays us.  It betrays me at the essential level of being or not being. It betrays the reasons I have to demand of God certain rights and privileges.

God tests me here, as he tests Abraham.

Engineers can draw a bridge and surmise about its capabilities.  But the math and physics of the structure are confirmed in results which comes about via testing.  Talk all day about the strength of a bridge; the endurance of a bridge; the science of a bridge, but the evidence is in the testing.

Talk all day about your faith.  Sing all Sunday about your God.  Speak all week about your love for Christ, your friends, and your family.  But the evidence is revealed in the testing.

What do we do; how do we respond; where do we go when God reveals Himself in a way that seems contrary to us in every way.  What do we do:

When we are physically harmed or maimed?

When we are rejected?

When we lose a loved one?

When life does a 180?

When……when……

God says I allowed all of it?

God says I willed it?

What do you do when its your existence being compromised by the will of God?

(Sigh)

Faith.  Hmmmmmm.

Such an abstract notion demanding all of my being, which cries, hungers, feels….

I am confronted with the love of God which seems to me to be cruelty.  Ahhhhh! What a betrayal!

“My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?

Oh my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer,

and by night, but I find no rest.”

Ps 22:1-2, ESV

“For it was fitting that he, for whom and by whom all things exist, in bringing many sons to glory,

should make the founder of their salvation perfect

through suffering.”

Heb 2:10

“And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out

with a loud voice,

saying,

‘Eli Eli, lema sabachthani?’

that is,

‘My God, my God,

why have you forsaken me?’ “

Mt 27:46, ESV

“In this is love,

not that we loved God

but that he loved us

and sent

his son

to be the the propitiation for our sins.“

1Jn 4:10

“And a voice came from heaven,

‘You are my beloved Son;

with you I am well pleased.’ “

Mk 1:11

Is it that the atheist doesn’t believe in the existence of God?  Or is it that he believes and does not want such a God as revealed in the Bible?

When the rubber hits the road, I am the same.

Yet it is you, my Lord, who opens my eyes and gives me the perspective beyond my capabilities which leads and defines and offers real hope; real joy; true purpose.

In my confusion, in my limitations, in my decay, in my grave…

“Father,

into your hands I commit my spirit!”

Lk 23:46

]]> http://transitwauconda.com/2010/03/22/tested/feed/ 0 http://transitwauconda.com/2010/03/15/death-cache/ http://transitwauconda.com/2010/03/15/death-cache/#comments Tue, 16 Mar 2010 00:45:18 +0000 Chris Marx http://transitwauconda.com/?p=159 “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.  And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” (Gen 2:15-17, ESV)

Here we have a look back, to the beginning–the first Adam, as Paul puts it.  Its a look back from our study in Zephaniah.  I would like to suggest (humanly speaking) that Zephaniah would have never been spoken or written if only our most early of predecessors would have chosen on that day to “surely live.”  But chapter 3 of Genesis does begin, however, with “now,” introducing the next phase in man’s relating with God.  And anyone familiar with Old Testament knows what happened next: the fall.

The fall?  Wait.  What fall?  The verb fall doesn’t appear in chapter 3.  No.  What happened is what the LORD God said would happen: the death. And that death manifest itself  in the  opening of  eyes and a new knowledge.  And now the presence of the LORD God invoked fear; it invokes shame.  So…we hide.

And to this day we hide.  And for good reasons.  After all, this world has demonstrated its cruelty and unpredictability, both through people and the creation itself.  Or it could be that you lament over your own instability.  You, who confess love for God, see daily reminders of your duplicity.  You are burdened by the weariness brought about by your own efforts to match the concept of love with the manifestation of love.  You can’t pull it off.  You realize that you are backed into a corner.  Trapped within yourself.  Inescapable.  You beg for a place to hide from your thoughts, from yourself, from this world, from…God.

“What is man, that you make so much of him, and that you set your heart on him,
visit him every morning and test him every moment?
How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
If I sin, what do I do to you, you watcher of mankind?
Why have you made me your mark?
Why have I become a burden to you?”
Job 7:17-20, ESV.

Reality is defined as the state of things as they actually exist (in contrast to a notion).  Reality is the sun.  Reality is the earth.  Reality is the ocean.  Reality is the breath issuing from your mouth as you read this.  These are not notions of existence.  And if I look for the death in Gen 3, I see it manifested in hiding.  Hiding is an effort to escape from reality.  It’s a desire to alter, change, redefine, rearrange, the state of things as they actually exist by intentionally redefining, refusing, or ignoring things as they actually are.  It a striving for a notion of existence. Its living a lie.  It’s the antithesis of life. It’s death.
But BEHOLD GOD!!  See how he calls us from the shadows!  How he still condescends to our early mother and father in their duplicity, instability, corruption, lies, and shame.  Behold how God shies not from the proclamation of truth and consequences; from reality!
BEHOLD GOD!!! He draws near, nevertheless!  He draws near!

“And the LORD God made
for Adam and for his wife
garments of skins
and he clothed them.

Oh…see.  See him clothe them in their death.  See him clothe us.

“And they came to Jesus and saw the demon-possessed man, the one who had the legion,
sitting there,
clothed
and in his right mind…”
Mark 5:15, ESV

Allow God to be as He is in Zephaniah.  Allow Him to hate death.  Allow Him to finish what He began so long ago.  Allow Him to bring you back to Himself.  Allow Him to clothe you with the garment of His choosing.  Simply allow Him. And,
Let your joy be the expression…
Let your peace be the expression…
Let you love be the expression…
Let your thankfulness be the expression…
Let your trust be the expression…
Let your zeal be the expression…

of…….

“Your will be done.”

Draw near to God.

Lamentations is a book chronicling the grief of one who has observed the aftermath of the day of the LORD as promised in Zephaniah. And we have come to the point in Zephaniah where we should indeed lament such a future.  For the people have refused God and have thus become defiled, rebellious, and oppressive–fit for God’s purifying blaze of jealous fury.  It has been a painstaking report of a very sad state of affairs within the walls of the City of God as well as in the world.  But, I wonder,  what is it that brings about the lament?  Yes, physical suffering is a no-brainer.  Change in plans is often a good reason to become unhappy.  And more permanent and unfortunate changes can bring about corresponding degrees of sorrow.  But what do we know of Judah’s lament?

“Look, O Lord, and see! With whom have you dealt thus?

Should women eat the fruit of their womb, the children of their tender care?

Should priest and prophet be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?”

Lam 2:20

As difficult as this is, why the lament?

Dante Alighieri in his work The Divine Comedy is being escorted through the various circles of Hell by his guide Virgil.  Having arrived at a particular region of Hell, Dante begins to weep as he observes the condition of those condemned:

“I certainly wept, supported on one of the rocks of the projecting stone so that my escort said to me:

‘Are you too like the other fools?  Here pity is alive when it is dead:

Who is more criminal than he who suffers because he does not like the divine judgment?’”

Inferno XX.25-30

I believe we are in many ways like Dante as he observes the suffering in Hell. For as we read a book such as Lamentations or Zephaniah we are moved to compassion, sympathy, empathy, perplexity, enmity, and grief in light  of the condition and coming destruction of God’s people.  And not only God’s people are in view here.  After all, we would do well to remember that Israel and Judah are representatives in many ways of the human race.  So we find it easy to grieve over that which afflicts us, but difficult to rejoice and find contentment in the Divine will.  We become mad at God and tell Him that we don’t like this side of Him (if such a thing could be said reasonably).  We question His goodness.  We doubt His goodness. O, God is just an angry God.  Oh yeah, this is the God of the Old Testament.  Thus we join the mob and say, “If God were a loving God, why______________”

But is it right to value lament at the expense of the Divine will?

Is it right to mourn for your circumstance with real tears and pain and not for your callousness toward of God and His perfect will?

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”  Romans 8:28

“We are afflicted in every way…” 1Cor 4:8

“Yet is was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief…” Isa 53:10

“So Jesus said to Peter, ’Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?’” John 18:11

Now I’m not suggesting that we find a way to put on a smile in the name of “God’s will” when reading  Zephaniah and Lamentations.  Pain is painful.  But what I want to ask is, what do you do when you observe God speaking and acting in such a way in these books?  Or better, what do you do when you consider your life?  How much do you suffer because you do not agree with God’s will for your life.   Is your case against God stronger and more zealous than your pleasure in His will?  I know (trust me) that we are finite beings.  Thus we have limitations.  Some people may be stronger and more long-suffering than others to be sure–but limited nonetheless.  And  God’s will has driven the author of Lamentations to despair; to lament.  But he doesn’t stay there:

“But this I call to mind and therefore I have hope: The steadfast love of the LORD

never ceases;

his mercies never come to an end;

they are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

‘The LORD is my portion,’ says my soul,’therefore I will hope in him.’

The LORD is good to those who wait for him,to the soul who seeks him.

It is good that one should wait quietly for the salvation of the LORD.

It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.”

Lam 3:21-27

O Lord, had we our way and opportunity to travel back in time, we would beg the Apostles to not ask you how to pray.  For we have been trained to ask of you, “Your will be done.”

Teach us the pleasure in this request and the contentment in your revelation.

Teach us to love you, and to hope in you, and to wait for you…..quietly.

Zeph 3:5

Last week in Zeph 3:1-5 we observed the ways the Lord characterizes the leaders of Jerusalem. The officials are roaring lions who have seized their own people as prey.  The judges are evening wolves who operate under the cloak of night in order that they might tear down the people until there is nothing left of them.  The prophets are arrogant men who speak in behalf of themselves and not YHWH.  The priests casually disregard what is sacred and they mutilate the instruction of God.  The people who are charged to care for those entrusted to them are  the agents of their destruction, as portrayed in 3:1-2.

So when we arrive at v.5, we applaud the perfect unfailing justice of YHWH.  He is just when no one is.

“None is righteous, no, not one;

no one understands;

no one seeks for God.”

Rom 3:11 (cf. Zeph 3:1-2; 1:6.)

While vv. 1-5 specifically address the city and the rulers within her, we remember that the justice of God comes in His day when He  will consume the entire earth in a purifying fire (Zeph 1:2, 18, 3:8).  Okay, now we may have difficulty maintaining our applause.  I mean, God’s justice is clearly warranted for those who intentionally harm other people, right? Then I read:

“Behold, this was the guilt of your sister Sodom:

she and her daughters had pride,

excess of food,

and prosperous ease,

but did not aid the poor and needy.”

Ezek 16:49

One Sunday, while at church, I noticed in the foyer a note posted on the wall that read something like:

” I will be homeless soon and living out of my vehicle with some pets to feed.

Please help.”

I remember the dilemma I felt after I read the letter.   I remember that the gospel became so clear in terms of its practicality.  In my mind I saw the Lord Jesus standing next to this person, silent, waiting for my response.  And He remained silent as I passed on the responsibility to someone else, ah!, in prayer!

Please understand, I am not trying to pass off a guilt trip.  Rather, I am highlighting my mendacity concerning my desire and pleasure that God be just.  I see how deep my double standard runs.  I see that I am a consumer of justice (and a fickle one at that) but hardly a producer of justice.  I see that I am not committed to God’s justice, though I applaud it in Zephaniah.  I am partially committed.

You would not want a doctor partially committed to his profession.  Not the day you need surgery!  You would not want a mechanic partially committed to his work.  Not when your car is in need of repair!  You would not want a friend partially committed to the principles of a relationship.  Not when give yourself in trust to your friend.   I would not want a wife partially committed to the marriage.  You see, when universal issues of justice are under consideration, it is easy, in an abstract sense, to applaud or value justice, as in Zephaniah.  But when it becomes personal, with real consequences and feelings, our understanding and practice of justice gets a bit unstable or partial.

Can there really be such a thing as a partial judge.  Yuck!  Christian or not, no human would sincerely believe or nurture such an idea; again, not when the idea has a bearing upon the individual.  Could you say that you are an impartial judge?  If (or since) the answer is no;  if you are as much as anyone part of the problem;  if you continue to play favorites; how do we really expect the world to embrace the practicality of belief in Jesus Christ?  Remember as His disciples we are called to the same mind of Christ (Php 2:5) as well as practice of Christ (Mt 5:43-48)

But after all is said and done and my grave is filled,  I confess my complete inability to be just.  Ah!, it’s worse!  I have an complete inability to desire and promote impartial justice!

Unstoppable justice.

What happens when the unable collides with the Able?

What does it look like when Unfailing Justice merges with partiality?

Is it not a fire?  A violent destructive fire?

Take a moment today, and sit quietly beside your Lord, observe Him in all His humanity, as He sweats blood…preparing to receive your due complete justice.

“Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;

he has put him to grief;

when his soul makes an offering for guilt…”

Isa 53:10

Worship Jesus from an overflowing heart, in behalf of what he has done for us. And let it be evident in our lives.  Let it be, impartial.

]]> http://transitwauconda.com/2010/02/23/partially-impartial/feed/ 0 http://transitwauconda.com/2010/02/16/unsatisfied-bride/ http://transitwauconda.com/2010/02/16/unsatisfied-bride/#comments Tue, 16 Feb 2010 17:10:59 +0000 Chris Marx http://transitwauconda.com/?p=113 “I will make you stop playing the whore…”  Ezekiel 16:41

Or put another way, “I will cease you from being a whore.”

If we look back to Ex 31:12 we read, ” ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you.’ ”   This was a sign of the covenant.  This was, as it were, a ring on the finger of Israel to remind them of the relationship to which they had committed. And what was the sign?  The Sabbath, which really means rest or cease.

In Ezekiel 16:8 the LORD reminds His people that there was a time in the past when, “I made a vow to you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord God.”  Yet the LORD’s people cheated on God by leaving Him for other religions, securities, pleasures, etc. They became what I would be if I cheated on my wife:  an adulterer.  Or better: an idolater.  You see, an adulterer/idolater is never at rest because he never realizes or experiences satisfaction.  And with the law of diminishing returns always in effect, the idolater/adulterer will never achieve satisfaction.  It will always take something more or different to achieve prior stimulation or pleasure. It’s a vicious downward spiral. For it is not only a cruel cycle of seeking pleasure and not being fully pleased, seeking pleasure and not being fully pleased, seeking pleasure and not being fully pleased, but is also a plunge into experiences which need to surpass the impotent pleasure achieved previously.

Ezekiel 16:28, “You played the whore also with the Assyrians, because you were not satisfied; yes you played the whore with them, and still you were not satisfied.”  Ah!

Another love!  Another place!  Another treasure!  Another touch!  Another life!  Yes Lord another life!  Give me more!  Give me something different! Give me something else!  I am not satisfied!  I am never satisfied! I am a beast! I am a drooling beast!  I want what You have and I will drool over it and gnaw at it and tear to pieces!  Then I’ll  push You aside and like a beast seek more!  More me! More time! More money!  More death!  More death!  More, You Withholding God!  More You weak God!  More! More! MORE! MORE! MORE!

” ‘There is no peace,’

says the LORD,

“for the wicked.’ “

Isa 48:22

Sigh…

“I will make you stop…”

Sigh…

Stop. Christopher.

Stop.

“I will make you cease…”

“I will make you rest…”

That word in the opening verse translated “stop”, is the same term for sabbath.

God will make me faithful to the covenant.  In all my desires for something different, something more, something satisfying, something secure, something predictable, something rational, something…..real, God is teaching me through Zephaniah, through His burning, consuming jealousy  to trust Him in the fire of His refining work, which is producing for Him a faithful Bride.

Good Lord as my eyes well up,

I love you for calming me; for leading me; for burning me.

For the sake of Christ and all He accomplished,

Make me rest.

]]> http://transitwauconda.com/2010/02/16/unsatisfied-bride/feed/ 0 http://transitwauconda.com/2010/02/09/the-threat-in-snow/ http://transitwauconda.com/2010/02/09/the-threat-in-snow/#comments Tue, 09 Feb 2010 16:43:33 +0000 Chris Marx http://transitwauconda.com/?p=80 The Threat in Snow

Without a doubt, our brief look at Zephaniah thus far has been tough. But I, even ask myself now, “Why has it been tough?” I believe it has been tough because in the end my mortality is threatened.  I spend everyday making sure, in one way or another, that I care for myself and for my family.  My entire life is consumed with the plans I have for the next thought, moment, hour, week, and year.  I believe that no one cares for my life more than myself.  And in many ways I am correct.  In fact, I believe that I am charged by my Creator to think in such a way–well, at least to a certain point.

Looking out the window I am confronted with this “certain point” or limit that I speak of.  I see the snow falling.  And there is absolutely positively nothing I can do about its coming, its falling.  As gentle as it falls, it nevertheless demonstrates a powerful intrusion into my day.  Is there a person in the world, at this moment that can stop it?  Who has harnessed the power of the weather?  Who can?  Yet we are all subject to its effects everyday!  In fact we build and conduct our lives according to the weather.  Our autonomy is an illusion.  In fact you can’t keep one leaf attached to one branch after a tree has shut down for the year.  Sure, you could tape it or tie it to the tree, but there would yet be no life in the leaf, only an illusion.

“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow…” Job 38:22 (ESV)

And so I am confronted in the snow with the Day of the Lord, the Day of wrath, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet blast and battle cry.  A day illuminating Whose world this is, Who own humanity, Who owns me.  He owns me.  He owns me.  He owns me.

“You turn things upside down!  Shall the potter be regarded as the clay, the the thing made should say of its maker, ‘He did not make me’; or the thing formed say of him who formed it, ‘He has no understanding’?” Isaiah 29:16 (ESV)

Your independence is an illusion. Yes, you have a great capacity to regulate your lives.  But ultimate independence is an illusion. Is not most of human history a story of man’s quest for independence only to find himself a slave to the idea.  Sure we may have a measure of independence and for some time.  But in time man has a way and habit of spoiling that which he holds most dear. Independence is an illusion.  We were created to be dependants.  ”Your life is not your own,” is what I hear in the day of the Lord. “Your life is not your own!”

“Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.

If any one does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers;

and the branches are gathered , thrown into the fire, and burned.”

John 15:5; cf. Zeph 2:1.

Lord God, for the glory of Christ, give us an accurate vision of You and who we are before You, that we might live here as we ought.

Ezekiel 7 proclaims the Day of the Lord as we have just begun to discuss in Zephaniah. We noticed that the earth > Judah > the nobles have become chaotic and, therefore, produce chaos. Ezekiel 8 gives us a private look into the chaos; into the syncretism:

“[He] brought me in visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entrance of the gateway of the inner court where was the seat of the image of jealousy…” (Ezek 8:3)

“Son of man, do you see what they are doing,
the great abominations that the house of Israel are committing
here
to drive me far from my sanctuary?
But you will see greater abominations.”
8:6

He brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. 8:7

“Go in,
and see
the vile abominations
that they are committing
here.”
8:9

So I went and saw.

And there engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel…8:10-11

“Son of man, have you seen what
the elders
of the house of Israel
are doing
in the dark,
each in his room of pictures?
For they say,
‘The Lord does not see us.
the Lord has forsaken the land.’”
“You will see greater abominations
that they commit.”
8:12-13

Then he brought me to the entrance of the north gate of the house of the Lord,
and behold, there sat women weeping for Tammuz (see attachment). 8:14

“Have you seen this,
O son of man?
You will see greater abominations
than these.”
8:15

And he brought me to the inner court of the house of the Lord.
And behold, at the entrance of the temple of the Lord,
between the porch and the altar,
were about twenty five men, with their backs to the temple of the Lord,
and their faces toward the east, worshiping the sun toward the east. (8:16)

“Have you see this,
O son of man?
Is it too light s thing for the the house of Judah
to commit the abominations that they commit
here
that they should fill the land with
violence
and provoke me still further
to anger?”
(8:17)

Christian:
“…do you not know that your body
is a temple
of the Holy Spirit,
whom you have
from God?”
1 Cor 6:19

What if the Lord, today, should take a prophet from somewhere in the world, a prophet unknown to mankind or the Church, and by a lock of his hair and in visions of God brought him to you, a temple of the the Living God,

into your the inner courts of you mind;
to the hidden dark rooms of your heart;
would the Lord say of you,

“O, Son of man,
O,
can you believe your eyes?”

Syncretism provokes God to anger.
Is not his wrath just?

Why are we blinded to these manifestations of God?
Is it because we are comfortable and secure
in our way of life, our certitudes and our feeling of elitism
and we do not want to change?
Are we frightened of anything that might disturb us?
The God of Love and the love of God are calling us to go forth
on this journey to union with God.
That means deepening our interior life -
which is our only real security -
in order to walk more confidently into the things
God may be calling us to do” (pp. 178-79).

As we observed last week, our Lord Jesus requires his disciples to be perfect as their Heavenly Father is perfect (Mt 5:48). And this quote from Vanier reminds me of the need to know who this Father is–who this God of Love is. And what we know of the Father is that he encounters the world with impartiality. This is difficult for most of us because we are afraid mostly of what we don’t know. We are also afraid of what has hurt us in the past. We may also be afraid of unpleasant consequences we know to be coming in light of what God’s will requires.

Whatever the case, if we are to engage the world with the same mind as the Father, we need to be prepared to lower our selves and our propensity for distinction, discrimination, and trepidation for the sake of loving the uncertain, unfamiliar, unaccepted, unwanted, unforgiving, unlovely, and the unknown. This requires, as Vanier states, and interior life which is deeply abiding and interacting in and with knowledge of the One who is amazingly able to love all and encounter all. Jesus tells us to be perfect as our Father! While we will never be perfect at being perfect, we, nevertheless, are called to absorb the external and internal implications of God’s will in order to live as those with consistent and reliable integrity.

Love does not, nor will it ever, play favorites. Love welcomes acceptance and rejection. It matters not the result! Love is not subject to results. Love is the motivation! Whatever the results Love yields, it does not matter! Love loves for Love’s sake! It plays no favorites! Be perfect! Do you hear your Lord from the cross of his murder? Of his humiliation? Of his depreciation? Of his condescension? To the whole world he cries out for the sake of Love,

“Father,
Forgive them,
For they know not,
What they do.”

Do you play favorites with God’s will?
Do you abide in the convenient?
Do you abide in your favorite?
Do you abide in your past?
Do you play favorites?

“What more are you doing than others? Don’t even the Gentiles do the same?” (Mt 5:47)

We need to die away from the aesthetic stage in which we habitually exhibit ourselves like Hollywood stars–showing off our bodies, our intelligence, our accomplishments and our passions for happiness and living impatiently in the quest for instant gratification.  No wonder such worldly aesthetes have such fragile and brittle identities, fostered by narcissistic personalities in a narcissistic culture.  The cure lies in our ongoing dying away to all these things, in learning the importance of a hidden way of life” (p.44).  With this thought, consider what we learned as we looked to Mt 5:3-10 last week.

Consider how Christ calls his disciples to recognize their poverty, thirst, and need; how Christ calls you to turn to the inward parts of your soul.  See how Christ calls you from the world ,which seeks to mold and define and determine your identity, to an inner realization, which identifies you as a creature in constant and complete need.  Are you intimately aware of your weaknesses and poverty before God? Are you numb to such a question? Has your life of exhibitionism left you to believe that the kingdom of God (or rule of God) is a thought only to be agreed with and not a reality to be lived within?

Remember, EVERY MOMENT of your life is an opportunity to express yourself to the world, family, and to yourself.  And it will be here that your identity exists, tossed back and forth, and eventually broken.  Yet God calls us to deny all such things up to and including ourselves and to resist the temptation to make ourselves something we are not.  Remember the Christian paradox, that to be in need is to have everything.  For the Christian knows that his greatest need as a Being, is infinitely met in Christ.  Christ is your life.  He is the life you turn to, always.  Hide yourself in the life he gives.  We should not only agree with the rule of God.  Instead we must get to the place were we delight to beg for it.

Blessed are those who thirst for righteousness…