Welcoming the Stranger

This week for one of my classes I studied the tale of Philip and the Ethiopian Eunuch in Acts 8. I've often visualized a black man in royal robes, bouncing along in a chariot, while a young Jewish man runs up alongside and is able to

Known and Loved by God?

Apparently there's a website out in internet-land that invites people to be unfaithful to their spouses. It matches them up with other unfaithful people (why would you want that?). The site attracted bazillions of users by peddling adultery like it was ice cream. The scandal is that some hackers got into their client base and published the list of names, and now those folks are feeling embarrassed. But of course, God knew it all along. Not only that, God loves all those unfaithful people, just like

How Do We Believe?

Do people become Jesus-followers because someone presents an argument, in a series of logical steps designed to convince them? Why do people begin to believe? Some of us are actively praying for others to believe, and some are actively involved in helping others believe, as best we can. So what is our part, if any, that we should be careful to follow?  Let's look.

Humility and Trust

To be frank, I don't know if I want to trust you. I've trusted people before, and some of them betrayed me, gossiped, and made fun of me. Some of them abandoned me, just hung me out to dry and walked away. So if I ask you to pray about something, or open up and tell you about my problems, what will you do? Or maybe this is you, asking me

Sons and Daughters, not Slaves

From another blog, a post quoting John Stott's commentary on Galatians: 
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/gospeldrivenchurch/2014/07/30/the-life-of-sons-and-daughters/

Here's the quote:
“The Christian life is the life of sons and daughters; it is not the life of slaves. It is freedom, not bondage. Of course, we are slaves of God, of Christ, and of one another. We belong to God, to Christ, to one another, and we love to serve those to whom we belong. But this kind of service is freedom.
“What the Christian life is not, is a bondage to the law, as if our salvation hung in the balance and depended on our meticulous and slavish obedience to the letter of the law.
“As it is, our salvation rests upon the finished work of Christ, on His sin-bearing, curse-bearing death, embraced by faith.”

Rooted to Be Fruited

We moderns think fruit comes out of a can or from a grocery store, so the illustration Jesus used of a vine in John 15 to describe bearing spiritual fruit is less clear than when people had more knowledge of agriculture. We might think it's about us (the branches) making fruit

Can the Gospel Change Your Life?

Romans 12:2 - Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn
to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

The Bible isn't just a chapter of history told from a particular perspective, or a series of letters to a long-gone church, or a bunch of poems from a prophet to ancient Israel, or even an instruction manual for human life.  It's a telling of human struggles, and the love story of our rescue from those struggles by God himself, as he gives imperfect and messy humans a new way of living with him and with each other (and even with ourselves). 

The critical moment for each of us is when we can see the Bible as the words of God to us, personally, individually, for right now, even though they were written two thousand or more years ago.  But please notice, taking God's words personally doesn't mean saying "Yes, that's right, I have to try harder to do these things so God will be pleased with me."  It's more like a cry of wonder and awe:  "Is God really saying that he loves me and wants my love in return?  Is God really offering me a new life in what he says here?  Can God really take away my old habits, unclean desires, and horrible memories of my past?  Can I trust that God will help me change?  Will I ever be able to say that in my life I'm reflecting the image of Christ?"  The answer to all those questions is "YES!" 

The Gospel -- the Good News of God's love for us -- really does have the power to changes your life.  I know that because I've seen people changed from the inside out once they learn it.  I know a man who was once self-centered and abusive, who came to see the love of God for him.  He is now a stable, loving man who has renewed relationships with his children, and who expresses God's love through the gifts of the Spirit in the body of Christ.  The love, peace, patience and other fruits of God's love in his life (see Galatians 5:22-23 for one list) are directly from God's heart to our hearts -- God condescending to live in us and express himself through us -- not from our broken methods of trying harder.

How does the Gospel change our lives?  When we look to the Son of God, Jesus the Christ, who has already made it possible for us:  "So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image."  Let the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ change you. 

Daddy

The picture many of us have of God is often one of a stern, harsh ruler, ready to 'take us out' at our next infraction. Some see the OT God as some sort of angry authority figure, balanced out by his really nice and loving son Jesus. The angry God sent the Son, the idea goes, to be punished because of us -- sort of like the vicarious 'whipping boy' employed by royalty when the prince messes up.

But we need to remember that God is one (Deut. 6:4, etc). So there is no difference between the God of the Hebrew scriptures and the God of the Greek New Testament. Whether we think of the Father or the Son, or the Holy Spirit, the passions and love and desires of God are the same.

Jesus referred to God as his Father. To do so in a personal sense was unheard of in Israel's thinking. Observant Jews of his day would not have dared claim God as a Father. But Jesus did!

He told us to pray to "Our Father" in a personal way (Matt. 6:9). So he was opening up that relationship of love and acceptance, tenderness and grace, on a personal level, for the first time.

The Father wants us to experience that relationship with him, not just learn about it in some sort of classroom way. Paul uses some OT verses to construct a new thought in 2 Cor 6:18: "And I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." The Father is serious about being our Father, and he wants us to accept our status as his children. He thinks of us as his children, and he wants us to think of him as Father.

Those of us who are fathers know how much we want to be Daddy to our kids. We desire to be close to our children emotionally, to have a deep relationship with them. That's just what the Father says to us also. His love for us was so strong that, before the universe existed, he knew he would have to sacrifice his own self, through the Son, to bring us into intimacy with him: “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life"(John 3:16).

God has already made that move. We already belong to him as his children and he yearns for us to have that same intimacy with him. That relationship already exists, whether we see it or not. But the experience of it is up to us. How about it? Will you run into his arms and call him Daddy? It will change your life forever.

Investments

One of today's news items is something like "Stock Markets Soar on Recovery Hopes." People invest money in those markets hoping to make more money. Their hopes rise and fall along with the fortunes of the companies or funds they invest in. Some have made good money, while others have lost it all. Some have spent their whole lives trying to make more and more money, to the point of obsession.

The Bible has several messages about money. The first is to invest, first and most intensively, with God; to give to him in response to his generous gifts to you. The second is to treat money as something that is not given to you, but invested with you by God; so that you are the "steward" or the fund manager, and it's your job to use it wisely. The third is to be generous with it; not to hoard it for yourself, but to give to others as you can, and as you find them in need. All of these are based on one other principle: that God loves us and will take care of us, if only we will let him.

Jesus covered several of these principles in "The Sermon on the Mount" as some call his teachings in Matthew 5-7 (and some parallels in Luke). Especially in chapter 6, he brings out generosity (verses 1-4) by teaching that we shouldn't have our gifts limited to what will make us look good; dependence on God (verse 11) by reminding us to ask him for our daily needs; focusing on God, not our own financial security (verses 19-21), which would include giving generous offerings instead of just building up a bank account; and again, dependence on God (verses 24-31) by showing us how much God cares for us and looks after our welfare.

None of those teachings includes our being careless with what God has given us, or goofing off and making others carry us. So we shouldn't mistake his teachings about relying on God in faith with encouraging laziness or slacking.

The whole investment thing is a mystery to me. But I do know a couple of things about money. One is that God has taken care of me, umpteen times, using resources I didn't know existed. The other is that no matter how careful I am to save up money, at the end of my life I won't take any of it with me. I hope that the legacy I leave behind will be one of loving generosity to others, and a wise management of the resources God has given me. And complete reliance on God for all the things I can't control anyway -- because he is the one who does control it.

How about you?

Pentecost

On the day of Pentecost, back about 30 AD, dramatic events grabbed the attention of people in Jerusalem. A bunch of men and women in a house, probably near the temple, suddenly heard a sound like a 'mighty windstorm' and saw what looked like fire sprouting out of each others' heads. They were 'filled with the Holy Spirit' and started speaking in foreign languages. All three of those signs -- the wind, the fire and the languages -- were outward signs of what was happening inwardly: they were being filled with the Spirit of God.

The outward sign of speaking in foreign tongues was repeated at least twice more in the book of Acts, although the wind and fire were not recorded again. What's it all mean? Peter, the most outspoken of the apostles, interprets it for us: "What you see was predicted long ago by the prophet Joel", referring to Joel chapter 2. Peter continues telling people that Jesus, whom many had heard about the last few weeks in Jerusalem, was the Messiah, and that they need to repent and be baptized in Jesus' name (Acts 2:14-40).

Some teach that we need to experience this moment ourselves, to make sure we really have God's grace and power. But the major point that day was that God had brought his message of salvation into the world, and that this message was in the person of his Son, Jesus Christ. The dramatic signs of the Spirit's entrance were to create attention for God's new offer in Jesus Christ, not to create a new avenue of relating to God. Jesus himself was that new avenue.

On the other hand, let's not mistake this: the Holy Spirit is important! His job, as Jesus himself said (John 14:26, 15:26, 16:5-15) is to bring glory to Jesus, teach what he hears from God, convict people of sin (first of all, of not believing in Jesus) and teach about righteousness and judgment. The Spirit brings us into fellowship with Jesus and the Father (2 Cor. 13:14), helps us to focus our thoughts on godly things (Romans 8:5-6), pray (Romans 8:26) and be reassured that we belong to God (Romans 8:16). Without the Spirit, we would have none of these.

So as we celebrate Pentecost, we can be grateful that God himself has adopted us as his children (Eph. 1:4-5) and now lives in us (John 14:15-23). The fact that we care about that, and want to know God more and more, is evidence that the Holy Spirit lives in us. The fruits of the Spirit in our renewed lives, and the gifts he gives for the work of the church, are also ample evidence that he is busy among us. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gifts!

Parakletos: Helping Alongside

Most of us have helped someone pick up something bulky or heavy. And when life itself is too heavy or awkward for us to handle alone, it's a blessing to have someone come alongside and help.

Jesus had been walking with the disciples for three years or so. He had been their teacher, encourager, and leader. He had taught them about the Father, about his work on the cross for our salvation, and many other topics. But he was about to leave them, and so he promised, in John 14:16, "And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you."

Here, to describe the Holy Spirit, Jesus uses the word 'parakletos'. That's a Greek word with no exact equivalent in English, but its usages in Greek literature include 'advocate,' such as in a court of law; 'counselor;' and 'comforter'. Some translations use the word "Encourager" or "Helper" to describe the concept Jesus was using, and those are okay too.

Jesus also used the word "another" here -- and the Greek word he used means "another of the same kind" not "another thing, something different." So even though he had to leave, he wasn't going to leave them alone; in fact in verse 18, he says "I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you."

Whenever the disciples got confused or afraid, they turned to Jesus for answers and help. Since he wasn't going to be with them bodily from then on, Jesus reassured them that the comfort, help and answers would still be with them. And as we read on in the New Testament, we see many times where the Holy Spirit spoke the mind of God to the church. We see the church gathering to pray and ask for assistance (Acts 1:14, 4:23-31, 12:12, 13:1-3, etc) and we see God answering their prayers by giving them understanding, instruction and encouragement by the Holy Spirit.

That same Holy Spirit lives in Christians today. We have Someone who will come alongside of us when life is too heavy, too bulky and too difficult for us (and that's pretty often, isn't it?). We are led, comforted, encouraged and instructed by His mind in us. We get to have the "mind of Christ" (2 Corinthians 2:16) so we can know "What would Jesus do?" and have the courage and faith to do it.

We don't have to travel the road alone, and we don't have to wonder if God will help us. He already has, and he always will: "...another Advocate, who will never leave you." Isn't that comforting, all by itself?

The Flu

This H1N1 influenza, known commonly as the swine flu, has a lot of people worried, even scared. The Centers for Disease Control (US) has put out a lot of information on it, and the World Health Organization has mobilized to fight it. So what do we do? Wear a mask, stay home, shoot traveling salespeople who might be spreading it? (Obviously, at least one of these is an extreme, for the sake of humor.)

One of my colleagues suggested several points that we really can use, and I'm starting from his ideas here.

1. Strike a balance: don't panic, but don't ignore it either. Take prudent steps and then leave it in God's hands. Right now, there's no need to stay at home if you are well; but it would be prudent, when you go out, to avoid people who are coughing and sneezing -- the primary way this flu (like others) is spread. And if you or your child is sick, stay home.

2. Obey your mother's advice: cover your nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing (with a hanky if you can) and then wash your hands. These two points are the main emphasis on the CDC's website. Wash your hands frequently, (I can hear my mom now, "You call those clean? Go back and start over!"). Alcohol-based hand sanitizers are also useful. Don't touch your mouth, nose or eyes -- that's how the virus gets into you.

3. Be a calming presence around others. We know of our Father's love and care for us, so we can be confident even when things don't look as good outwardly as we'd like. That calm will be a blessing to those who are fearful.

4. Ask God what you can do to help others, even if they fall ill. Christians love others as Christ loved us, following the command of Jesus in John 13:34. It's said that during the bubonic plague that hit the Roman Empire during the 2nd Century AD, Christians stayed behind to nurse the sick whose own family had abandoned them. Many of those who were struck with the illness became Christians due to the example of their care-givers. We today can love the sick in practical ways, even without exposing ourselves to the illness, and it transmits the love of Christ to them.

Now there's a thought: people can get sick from a germ being transmitted to them. They can get Jesus in their lives from his love being transmitted to them. Which do you think will last longer and have a better effect? Let's give the gift that keeps on giving!

p.s. If you use the internet, you can go to www.cdc.gov/H1n1 for more information. As of today, they'll tell you the same things: cover your mouth and nose when you sneeze, wash your hands often, don't touch your mouth, nose and eyes, and stay home if you're sick.

Anniversary

Today is the wedding anniversary of Stuart and Joyce Powell, parents of The Lovely Joanne. It's a day that they remember, not so much for the church ceremony they had all these years ago but for the meaning of their marriage. The two of them have grown in love and care for each other over the decades, deepening in their mutual concern, their understanding of each other and their desire to serve one another.

Joanne and I also treasure our marriage, and we celebrate our anniversary with joy. Another anniversary I treasure is my baptism. I had committed my life to God through Jesus Christ quite some time before that date. But on one certain day, I submitted to a ritual that showed what was already true; 'an outward sign of an inward intent' as we say. That ritual of baptism celebrated three things: that I had died with Christ; that I was raised into new life with him; and that I was made part of the body of Christ, the church.

I can still feel the water closing over my head as I was plunged under the water and then came up out of it. But as with marriage, I value what baptism stands for, not the actual ceremony itself. I value the on-going relationship I have with Jesus Christ and with his other children. I don't bother celebrating the actual date of my baptism when it rolls around every year. I do, however, celebrate what it means, every day of my life.

Being dunked in water doesn't save us, nor does it even transmit to us the salvation given us by God. But we are baptized to obey the command of Jesus in Matthew 28:19 that new disciples should be baptized. That baptism ceremony shows to the world and the church, and it shows us, whose we are. Being "raised from the dead" as it were, out of the water, symbolizes the newness of our spiritual lives from then on.

What about you? Is it time for you to commit your life to your Savior through this sacrament? Please ask a servant of Jesus Christ to help you with it. It's one of our greatest joys!

Perfect Love?

Loving others is important -- I think just about anybody on the planet would agree with that. Are you good at it? I'd like to believe I am, but I'm too fickle, too human, to love well, even most of the time. And to love perfectly? Out of the question, unfortunately.

John, the apostle who may have known Jesus best, says in his first epistle, 1 John 4 verse 18, that perfect love drives out fear, and fear is linked to punishment. Well, since my love isn't perfect, won't I get punished by God for that? I've beat myself up for decades on that one, trying to make my love perfect (and failing).

But that isn't the love John is describing here. It's not our love, but God's, that is perfect. Verses 9 and 10 say that "God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us..." So God's love is perfect, but how do we get his love?

John outlines God's love through the whole chapter in this way: Starting in verse 7, he says "Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God." Well, this love must be something special, not just romantic love, or fondness for a pet or for chocolate. Verses 9 and 10 (I quoted those just above) define the love he's talking about: a love that sacrifices what you want, with the good of the other higher than your own good.

In verse 15, he says "All who confess that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God." The Greek word for 'confess' in this verse means to recognize, face and admit, even to promise. It's commonly used in the New Testament to describe people's statement of allegiance to Jesus Christ.

What's with this "God living in them, and they live in God" stuff? In verses 2, 4, 6 and 13, he describes the Spirit of God and that it is the Spirit's work of living in us that produces God's love in us. Our loving like God depends on the Holy Spirit "who lives in" us (verse 4) -- not on our own effort. How do we 'live in God' then? By belief in -- allegiance to -- Jesus Christ, we have the promise of "eternal life" (verse 9); not just in the future, but since our life comes from him, we can say that we live 'because of him' and our lives are 'wrapped up in him' already in the present moment.

How do you know if you have the Holy Spirit living in you? Typically, from the time of baptism, although scripture also shows the Spirit drawing us before then. It gets down to this: if what John says about God's love, and our loving others, makes sense, if you know that you love this way (which is beyond yourself) and you desperately want to love more and know God's love more, that's the Holy Spirit's work. If you don't care, then the Holy Spirit hasn't gotten through to you yet.

But -- if this love is what your life has been missing, now's the time to pursue it. God has loved you since before he made the universe, but you can only experience his love by admitting how much you need it and asking him for it. How 'bout it? Why not now?

Mortgage Life Insurance

Well, it's the first of the month again, and time to pay the mortgage. The loan is a lot of money -- there's a comma in the middle, and the rest of the numbers are a little frightening sometimes. And it's hanging over my head for the next 30 years! Sometimes people buy 'mortgage life insurance' so that if they die, the loan is paid off and their surviving family have a place to stay without paying for it.

In 30 years, I'll be (well, never mind how old) but I hope I'm still enjoying living here. In 30 years, some of us will finally be grown up, and some of us won't be here any more. But did you know that Jesus promises us a place to live, forever, with no mortgage payment?

In John 14, Jesus was telling his disciples that he was going to leave them, but 'prepare a place' for them -- and for us, of course, as the disciples of this day. What kind of place was it he planned to prepare? We don't know exactly, but look at what he says next: 'When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.' Wherever and whatever that is, it sounds like a lot of security to me.

One more thing: there's no mortgage. No monthly payments.

See, Jesus had what we might call, in this context, "mortgage life insurance" with you and me as the beneficiaries. In John 19:30, as he was ready to die on the Cross, he said "It is finished." That was a sound of triumph as well as relief; the job was done. But you may also know that the Greek word translated "it is finished" is 'tetelestai' which also has a technical meaning: it was often written at the bottom of loan documents to show the loan had been paid. Your sins, and every other thing against you and God have been taken care of, completely.

Yup, that's the deal. He paid off the loan with his death. He made sure that we don't have to make even the first payment on the new place. It's all done! He invites us to move, rent-free, now and forever, into his Father's house, where there's lots of room, endless love and more enjoyment than we can imagine.

If you haven't yet decided that this is the life for you, now's the time. (Shoot, when will there be a better time?) All you have to do is stop running away, face God through his Son, and start walking forward again. He'll show you the Way (John 14:6) and help you move, step by step. Ready? On three: One, two, ...

We Are All One (5): Building Bridges

We've been talking a lot about how, under the skin, we're all pretty much the same. But the exterior differences, combined with our human way of mis-trusting each other and being suspicious of differences, have made our relationships less than open, to put it mildly. (Sometimes it's important to be wary, but that's different.)

On the higher plane, the spiritual one, we've all been made 'one people' in Jesus Christ. The Son of God, the immortal Word, took on human flesh with all its weaknesses, and by doing that as our 'representative', he completely brought us back to the Father. Not just the people at the time, and in fact, not just those who already believe it today (but that's a story for another time.) So every single human has been re-united with God, and that means we are all together in one family.

Paul gave this message, in terms of his culture of Jews and Gentiles, saying this in Ephesians 2:
"He made peace between Jews and Gentiles by creating in himself one new people from the two groups. Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death. He brought this Good News of peace to you Gentiles who were far away from him, and peace to the Jews who were near. Now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ has done for us."

In today's culture, that would say, perhaps: "He made peace between the races, and all the language groups, by creating one new people in himself from all peoples. So no matter where our parents came from, we are all one family of God through the same Holy Spirit, because of what Christ did for us." Maybe we also have to say, "Whether they believe this or not, we're going to believe it, and we'll treat them like it's true."

That's the truth, on the spiritual plane. Which means that's also the truth in our physical lives. So when I meet people of some other race or nationality or language, in the post office or grocery store or out for a walk, what's my response? I have to admit, it isn't always the welcoming smile or handshake that I know I should offer another person in the image of God.

And I have to stop and remember, kind of like this: I know God loves me, because of what his Son, Jesus did for me; hold on, Jesus also did that for the other guy too. Even if that other guy believes in Vishnu and karma and all that stuff. So what he really needs is for me to treat him like I really believe that Jesus united us all. That might change his opinion about people unlike him, and he might become willing to give Christianity a fair hearing, too.

I think it's worth a shot. How about you?

We Are All One (2)

All humans came from the ground, and we're going back there too, eventually. We all came from original parents, so sooner or later we are all related, have a lot of the same genetic material in our cells, and are far, far more alike than we are different. So it might follow, logically, that we all see each other as part of the same extended family -- somebody you'd run into at the buffet during a family reunion.

But that's not what we see in the world around us, is it? We have a category of felony in the US called a "hate crime". People in Africa who belong to different tribes, differences I can't see from looking at their pictures, are slaughtering each other. Same goes for other parts of the world. We cry "Why?" It doesn't make sense.

Here's a possible root cause. When Adam and Eve, our first parents, turned their backs on God and decided to work out life on their own, they did it because of a basic mistrust: believing that God had held back something good (see Genesis 3). Then they had to work out life by their best estimates, since they refused to hear their Maker's wisdom. And lo and behold, the same lack of trust got extended to each other. (Shoot, if we can't trust God to take care of us, why should we trust someone we don't know, or who looks and sounds different from us, to do the right thing?) And face it, we have been mistreated by others, every one of us, from our childhood. So why should we trust others?

So we lock our car doors for safety when we're stopped at a busy street corner, and we watch the other people in the parking lot when we're walking to our car -- afraid that somebody might attack us. And all that goes double if the people around us appear to be of a different people group than our own.

If that's the cause, what's the cure? Seems to me that it means going back to where we came from -- back to trusting God for everything, believing that he alone has the answer to all our questions and insecurities. Listening to what he has to say -- then doing it. And remembering that, not only are we all children of Adam and Eve, we have been brought back from our silly dead-end rebellion against God by his own Son: "Adam brought death to all of us, and Christ will bring life to all of us" (1 Cor. 15:22).

The Son made us all one again, the whole river of humanity, no matter what we look like: "For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27 And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. 28 There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3:26-28).

That's the spiritual reality. If the physical reality doesn't look like that, then you and I need to go back to the spiritual reality and ask God to help us see the physical with spiritual eyes. And then start treating one another according to reality. Need hands-on help? I know a bunch of people who treat each other this way already. I go to church with them every week.

We Are All One (1)

Dirt and Humanity

A little boy was learning from his father that God had made the first man, Adam, out of dirt, and that eventually, all humans turn back into dirt when we die. ("For you were made from dust, and to dust you will return", taken from Genesis 3:19) A funny look came over his face, and he blurted out, "Well, I looked under my bed this morning, and it looks like somebody's either coming or going!"

The Hebrew words in that verse in Genesis show a connection between the first man ("Adam") and the dirt ("adamah") that he came from. I think God was trying to remind him, and maybe us, not to get too 'uppity' as my mom used to say. But isn't that what we tend to do, get uppity? It's sure easy for me to start thinking I'm something better than the rest of the people around me.

Am I, really? Are you, really, better than others? Well, according to God, we all came from the same source: him! And he made us all from the same dirt, and since we all came from the same original parents, then it looks like we are the same, in so many ways. Scientists have figured out how to 'read' our DNA strands, and tell us how very closely we are all related genetically. (Even the science of genetics comes from the same Latin root as Genesis, or beginnings.)

When we see others, though, we tend to look at differences: he's taller than me and has bigger muscles. She weighs less than I do, and has better hair. He's got dark skin, I wonder where he's from. She looks Chinese or Korean or something, not from around here. And the envy or the distrust starts to arise, and the next reaction to that is defensiveness and self-protection, shutting others out instead of including them.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, God told the Israelites not to mingle with the nations around them -- not because they were inferior peoples, but so Israel wouldn't pick up the false and destructive religions of those people. (See Numbers 33:51-55, Deuteronomy 7:1-8, Deuteronomy 12:29-31, etc.) But the New Covenant is a relationship with God where everybody belongs, no matter where we're from: "Don’t forget that you Gentiles used to be outsiders. You were called “uncircumcised heathens” by the Jews, who were proud of their circumcision, even though it affected only their bodies and not their hearts...Together as one body, Christ reconciled both groups to God by means of his death on the cross, and our hostility toward each other was put to death." (Ephesians 2, especially verses 11 and 16).

The spiritual reality is greater than the physical reality of our external, visible differences. In Christ, we are one. How does that play out when we like different foods, use different grammar, enjoy different music, and naturally think ours is better? Let's keep considering those ideas in the next few posts.

Joshua

There the Israelites were, on the east side of the Jordan river, staring at the land they'd been told about, dreamed about, salivated over for 40 years -- a land flowing with milk and honey, where you could have your own place, grow your own food, raise a family and make something of yourself. The land was waiting for them, and the blessings were going to roll in.

A lot was changing. Moses was dead. The cloud, something they'd seen between them and the horizon for as long as they could remember, was gone. And they were about to cross into a place of many unknowns.

Who was to lead them now? Joshua -- a name meaning "The Lord saves". His job was to bring them over the Jordan river and conquer the land they had been promised. But the Jordan was in the spring flood stage, and unknown enemies on the other side might mean their defeat once they got over anyway. Then God stepped in, as he always did. The priests went in front, carrying the ark of the covenant, and as soon as their feet touched the river, it moved away on both sides -- ripped apart by the power of God, so they could go through. You can read the story starting in Joshua 3.

About 1,400 years later, another Joshua ripped open another barrier, and led all humanity into a new land of plenty and blessing. Jesus (the Greek form of Joshua) opened up the way between death and life through his own death and bodily resurrection. The temple veil was ripped open (Mark 15:38), signifying both a new, unrestricted access between God and humanity, and the coming end of the old covenant system. And a whole new land of opportunity and blessing -- the land of constant contact with God, and spiritual riches beyond man's imagination -- was given to us as a free inheritance.

It took faith for Joshua to believe that God would defeat all his enemies in front of him. It took faith for the priests to step into the surging waters of a flooded river. It took faith for Jesus to face his Roman captors and Jewish accusers, knowing he was going to die but trusting his Father to raise him from the dead.

And it takes faith for us to believe that Jesus' perfect rightousness, and his perfect sacrifice for our sins, is sufficient for our salvation. We humans like to think that we can somehow solidify the deal by our effort. But God saves us by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-10), not by our obedience. Then he begins to transform our formerly self-willed hearts into willing servants of our Lord (more on that next time).

If Joshua and the Israelites had chickened out and stayed on the east side of the Jordan, they never would have inherited the land of milk and honey. If Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God, had allowed his flesh to overcome his perfect faith, he wouldn't have conquered sin and the grave. But he was God, he couldn't fail, he didn't fail, and he leads us out of the wilderness of our broken nature and into the awesome blessings of God's adopted children (Ephesians 1:3-8).

What part of your life might be considered 'unconquered territory'? Have you been standing on the wrong side of the Jordan, so to speak, not yet moving ahead into victory? Whether this is your first time or your hundredth time to surrender something to God and step out on faith, the process is still the same: turn and face Jesus Christ, ask him for help, and start moving forward. If you need some help with that, please let me know.

What Greater Gift?

I read something this morning that boiled a lot of theology down to one sentence. It was written by C. S. Lewis, someone who had the gift of saying a lot with a few words. He said this about the birth of our Savior, Jesus of Nazareth: "The Son of God became a man to enable men to become the sons of God."

This is sometimes called "The Great Reversal" in theological circles, or to us common folk, just a most amazing contradiction. It's something I contemplate, as much as my poor brain will let me try to plumb the depths of something, and every time I do, it leaves me speechless. (Of course, if you know me, it doesn't leave me that way for long...) I don't think we'll ever truly understand how great the difference is between being God and being human, until we finally see God (1 John 3:1-2) and begin to understand how truly great he is. Then, perhaps only then, we will start to understand what an enormous sacrifice was made by the eternal Son of God, just to put on human flesh. And even at that, this huge move was only the first step in bringing us back to himself. He also had to die, was destined to die from the foundation of the world (Matthew 25:34, 2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 1:1-2, Revelation 21:6), to perfectly erase the guilt of our sins.

Not that there was any guarantee we would respond. We humans are famous for not paying attention to what's best for us. Several of Jesus' parables were about people who spurned God's gracious invitation. Even many of the people who heard him teach, standing there in the dusty streets of their own city, didn't believe him. How much less we who sit here in the comfort of our warm homes 2,000 years later? Nonetheless, God made the effort, all on his own, to give us life: everlasting, abundant, joyful, and full of absolute love.

Our loving God has already given us the greatest gift he could offer: himself. He asks in return that we love him with all our heart and mind and soul and strength -- that is, without holding anything back -- the same way he has already loved us.

How about giving God that complete, unreserved gift of your love today?