FREEDOM FROM MORALISM

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Let’s define moralism (adding an ism to a word is never a good thing) as being overly concerned and judgmental about another’s behavior.

The Pharisees were moralists in that they always considered their righteousness to be above that of others. Moralism means that we think we know best how one approaches God. I once had a Christian pastor say to me that unless I was ‘born again’ we could not have fellowship. That pretty much signaled the end of that relationship. I don’t want to be defined by a set of terms or phrase that makes me acceptable to others.

I recall doing a funeral once for an elderly woman. Her niece approached me before the ceremony urging me to ‘really’ preach the Gospel because some of her ‘unsaved’ family were attending the memorial service. That really gets my gall, as they say. And I subsequently have the tendency to judge the niece as though my thoughts and actions are more acceptable to God than hers were. That’s the way life goes and I make peace with God and hopefully ‘let it go’ because I want to be free of any emotional attachment with people who are not close to me.

The conservative churches sometimes speak as though they have a corner on truth or they find a truth in scripture and use it to prove their own righteousness. I am acquainted with churches that leave a particular denomination over the ‘sin’ of that denomination. They head off to another where they find greener pastures. It would be great if they did such in a spirit of love and peace but from my experience there is too much judgment on their part and mine. There’s something else I need to ‘let go’.

Liberal churches can take that same route. Usually the only people who don’t ‘go there’ are the sinners in life, people who understand their own sickness and need of a Savior, a savior who graces all people’s lives.

I think it was Jesus who said that God makes his sun to shine on the good, the bad and the ugly. Who are we to act any differently than God? We are people invited in our newfound freedom to love others. Jesus was free and that’s what he did. And when he had a problem with, for example, the Pharisees, he called them on it. He spoke very little in private, that I know, of their ‘sins’.

I love the story that is told in John about the woman caught, red-handed, as they say in the very act of adultery and was brought to Jesus for judgment but Jesus was FREE of that kind of judgment. He would rather forgive and love that lady than to have her condemned. And when he told the crowd that the one without sin should throw the first stone, they all left. People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones and we all live in such houses made safe only by the grace of God.

Jesus was so free that I like to call him the RIGHTEOUS OUTLAW. He needed no rules and laws. He and the Father worked and loved together, side-by-side. Maybe we should all be such righteous outlaws, free from any inhibition to love others as well as ourselves. Which brings me to another observation.

We followers of Jesus have a tendency at times to practice ‘moralism’ on ourselves, never satisfied with the standards we have set up to meet God’s expectations. I do that too often in my life. Let’s take today as an example. I enjoy a good smoke now and then. Al Capone little cigars are my favorite. So as I think of going outside I have this feeling of guilt associated with my smoke. Why is that? I might be doing something that’s not great for my health but I am certainly not being separated from the love of God in my action. Thereby I know I am not really free. And if some self-righteous follower of Christ judges me then I have to let it go. But it usually me that judges me. Christ did not die so that I would not smoke. He gave his life so that I could have a FREE relationship with him. Who knows? Maybe Jesus even enjoys a smoke now and then.

ORDINARY GRACE

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So there was the day I was walking through the kitchen and noticed that the dishwasher had not been emptied.  My first thought? That’s not MY job. Didn’t I mow the lawn yesterday?  I kept walking through the kitchen and suddenly stopped. “What did I just say?”  This is how it goes when you talk with yourself, which may well be conversation in the Spirit with God.

Anyway after stopping and turned and looked at the dishwasher door partly open and noticed all those clean dishes inside and remembered that Jesus once told his disciples upon washing their feet, ‘as have done this for you, you are to serve others in the same way.’  I am not sure that Jesus literally meant to always wash each other’s feet, though it IS a beautiful act of love.  He meant that we should serve one another with the same kind of love he had for us and what better place to practice that service than in the kitchen, cheerfully, thoughtfully, and with much gratitude that we have a dishwasher.

So I emptied it thinking ‘here I am actually practicing a spiritual discipline to draw closer to the character of Christ.’

Until now I told no one so my deed could be done in secret but now that the secret is out let it shine on a hill for you husbands who have walked on by those light and momentary chores in the Kitchen.

I call this ordinary grace because grace can become a normal part of the changed heart life of Christ. For Jesus, grace just happened.

 

POINT OF CONTACT

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My friend, Larry, says that everyone has a point of contact with God. Somehow and at sometimes there is a way that humans want to touch God. The old saying that ‘there are no atheists in foxholes’ has some merit. People need God. They may call God by another name, higher power, the one upstairs and they may even worship an idol to reach out to God as seen in Acts 17 nonetheless somehow people stop looking inward and they look outward.

Take the woman in Luke 8 who has a serious bleeding problem that has persisted for years and through the care of many doctors but there is still no relief. This would have been an amazing story for Luke to tell since he WAS a physician.

The woman comes up behind Jesus just to get close enough to perhaps touch him in HOPE that some healing might come to her. And as she touches the fringe of Jesus’ robe Jesus himself experiences power going out from him and the woman is healed.

Just a touch, a point of contact. A prayer of help. A baptism. A wedding. An hospital visit. A telephone call. A word of encouragement. Who knows how that point of contact will bring healing and salvation to a soul in need?

You and I are the body of Christ. We wear the garment that people want to touch. Let’s find ways for them to find Jesus in us.

SOME THOUGHTS ON BAPTISM

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I am of the reformed tradition where as part of covenant theology we baptize children of believers. Sometimes it’s call ‘paedobaptism’.

I believe that children are a part of the new covenant in Christ as much as the children of Abraham are part of that original covenant of identifying God’s people. And even though some turned their back on the Abrahamic Covenant the children were all baptized.

I realized there is little if any evidence in the New Testament of a child being baptized. The faith of the first century was an adult faith amidst an adult society and there is no particular reason for children being mentioned. Or is there?

Jesus took the children into his arms and blessed them conveying I believe God’s particular grace upon and within that child.

Jesus told people that unless they had faith like a child they would not enter the Kingdom of God.

When we see John the Baptist graced by God (filled with the Holy Spirit) (Luke 1:15), while still in the womb I would say he is part of the new covenant in Christ Jesus.

When Paul writes that the children of believers are holy, separated to God (1Cor. 7) I believe they are part of the covenant.

See if God’s covenant is a covenant of grace and not works and none of us deserves it then children most of all are the trusting recipients of God’s love and thus candidates of baptism.

As far as faith, confession, belief are concerned they are all part of the process of the new covenant, covenant theology. No one is saved without grace through faith. Children at birth are forgiven, not innocent. They too can come under the understanding of dying and rising with Christ through baptism and then faith.

And I love the passage in Psalm 139:

You are the one who created my innermost parts;
    you knit me together while I was still in my mother’s womb.
14 I give thanks to you that I was marvelously set apart.
    Your works are wonderful—I know that very well.
15 My bones weren’t hidden from you
    when I was being put together in a secret place,
    when I was being woven together in the deep parts of the earth.
16 Your eyes saw my embryo,
    and on your scroll every day was written that was being formed for me,[b]
    before any one of them had yet happened.[c]
17 God, your plans are incomprehensible to me!
    Their total number is countless!
18 If I tried to count them—they outnumber grains of sand!
    If I came to the very end—I’d still be with you” (CEB in Gateway)

If this is how God’s grace impacts and surrounds the unborn then it is my humble opinion these little ones should be baptized as a was of showing they belong to Christ.

Children in the early church were part of the family’s interaction of faith and community. Most likely in the first century at least they would grow up to be believers. The problem today is that we practice ‘cheap grace’ willy nilly baptizing anything that moves. Parents who are not faithful have their children ‘done’. I had one woman tell me that her child’s baptism had to be on a certain date because the great grandmother’s dress would not fit otherwise. I have been guilty of that cheap grace, God forgive me. There should be strenuous testing of the faith and fruits of parents who want their children to be baptized.

Some ask ‘Why not baptize all children into the covenant?’ It’s a good question that could be answered in the affirmative if we sought to disciple people. Jesus said go and baptize all nations and ‘disciple’ them.

Well, I expect to hear from some folks and that’s good. I can always learn.

Grace and peace

george

 

POOP ON MY SIDEWALK

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So here’s a little parable of what it’s like to be a Christian in the world with hopefully a good witness so that others are drawn into the faith.

My neighbors’ dog likes to poop on my sidewalk. It’s a little dog and (oh, there are two little dogs) and they don’t like trudging into the snow.

Well, one day I mentioned it somewhat humorously to my neighbor who was then cleaning up the sidewalk. The next time it happened I shoveled it on to the neighbor’s lawn. Now the poop is back. They are sweet people. They are busy with a little child. But it’s a small thing to pick up the poop. Everybody should. It’s sort of the rule of the community.

So what to do? I could photograph the poop and take it to the HOA committee. I could have another talk with the neighbor. I could pick it up myself. My son tells me not to reward laziness. And then again I want to be the kind of Christian neighbor who is liked and thereby gains entrance for a conversation about faith. (My neighbors are agnostics).

It’s not only about the poop. It’s about a lot of things in life. There are times to be kind even to those who are not kind to you. There are times to be firm about issues of justice. I am not saying that poop on my sidewalk is all that much about justice. A little fairness perhaps.

How to make the best Christian witness, letting our light shine in order that others see our good works and glorify God. That really is the question in so many cases within our home and out there in the world.

If a person’s dog poops on your sidewalk let the dog poop on your lawn. If your neighbor won’t carry the poor 10 feet then you carry it 20 feet.

I suppose I could pray that the dog be constipated but that doesn’t seem very Christian or that the neighbor gets some common sense. Or that the dogs grow longer legs to poop in the higher snow.

Think for a moment about the little situations in life and how to react. I can’t do much about North Korea at the moment. And I don’t wish to get involved in the Middle East. Does the way I vote affect my testimony? Do my tattoos detract from my witness for Christ?

But then again who is anyone to judge me and make me so self-conscious about such little things in life? I am even thinking these days to vote for Bernie Sanders.

By the way. I am going to pick up the dog poop, put it in a little plastic bag and set it on the lawn, as a favor and suggestion. And then I will tell them God loves them.

THE TRUE LEADER

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In 1933 just after Hitler had become Chancellor of Germany, Dietrich Bonhoeffer was giving a radio address which was to be cut short. But these are part of his words to the Nation of Germany.

If the leader tries to become the idol the led are looking for–something the led always hope from their leader–then the image of the leader shifts to one of a mis-leader, then the leader is acting improperly toward the led as well as toward himself. The true leader must always be able to disappoint. This, especially, is part of the leader’s responsibility and objectivity.

To be a leader of any people one must not attempt to make him or herself anyone’s idol. Sometimes our candidates seem like they are trying to become the next AMERICAN IDOL. There must be a grace and an humility that characterizes the true leader or he or she becomes in Bonhoeffer’s words ‘a mis-leader’. God is not mocked. God will not tolerate any idol. We look for leaders who are willing to take courageous stands, some that will disappoint the national furor of the populace. Leaders today just want to ‘win’ and thus the rhetoric we hear is not dissimilar to that heard in the Beer Halls of Germany in the early 30’s.

Let us seek good character, one that stands on the side of the poor and marginalized, one that seeks life and not death, one that will take risks to help the ‘least of these’. Is there such a one? I am not sure but I will pray to God that the correct candidate comes to the fore in the months ahead. ‘You will know them by their fruits.’

BACK TO THE GARDEN

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Back to the Garden

So, I am not really sure how evil got here. Oh, I know about the fallen angel, about the serpent, about the disobedience of our first parents and subsequent rebellion of humanity to God and how death and destruction has pervaded the world ever since. But concepts like original evil elude me.

What I do know is that since the coming of Christ we are making our way back to Eden not driven farther from it. There may be an allusion to this idea even back in Psalm One. I print it here from the MESSAGE paraphrase:

 

  • You’re a tree replanted in Eden,
  • bearing fresh fruit every month, Never dropping a leaf, always in blossom.

This is from the Psalm that speaks about staying close to God and to God’s word. The word ‘Eden’ is not in the original translation but the idea remains that we who now place our confidence in Christ and obey his commands are really ‘like those trees planted by the rivers’ and later in Revelation will see the completion of that vision. Revelation 22:

 

The River of Life
1Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations…

Read how Paul puts it in 2Corinthians5 (NIV):

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

In one place in Ephesians 2:6 Paul writes that we are seated with Christ in the Kingdom of God, in Heaven. That’s our position and from that position we bear fruit for him.

The Resurrection of Christ is proof of the Eden to which are returning and wherever and whenever the presence of Christ breaks into our lives, the Kingdom is there, and Eden’s rivers run strong. Whenever evil is overcome by good, there is Eden. Where reconciliation takes place the fruit of Eden becomes a witness to the world.

I am afraid that America as a whole is not Eden, nor is it on the way to Eden as long as the nation maintains its level of violence against anyone. Recall how Jesus overcame evil. And maybe most people don’t really care about Eden but I believe that the church, where the church proclaims good and places its confidence in Christ, cannot be held back from

Eden and not even the gates of hell can stop the progress of the church especially where the church and Christians are so badly persecuted.And the hurting people of the world may be the first find Eden.

Eden’s guardian angels are letting God’s people back to paradise. Some of us can see it now in front of us. Some are yearning for the day but fear not says God for God is making all things new and restoring God’s creation. Let us pray, worship and work for the day when God’s grace will lead the way back.

Guns and the President

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My initial reaction to Mr. Obama’s executive actions concerning guns?  Wonderful, amazing, astounding, courageous and in line with the Christian ethic.

Whatever this nation can do to save some of the 30,000 lives that were destroyed last year by guns is a step in the right direction and in accord with everything I believe about what it means to follow Christ in this particular matter.

Gun violence is evil whether done agains oneself or another. It destroys life. There are good and proper ways for people to own guns for the right reasons. With all the other laws and resources we use to make life safer in this nation how can anyone deny the moral validity of doing the same things about guns.

And about the evil people who use guns to destroy the lives of others? More enforcement is in line with why God institutes the governments of the earth. Helping people with mental illness is a noble cause to strive for.

I am not a particularly political person and when I have leanings they are usually on the ‘right’ but this matter has no left or right, only what is good in the sight of the Lord, right along with caring for widows and orphans.

To be pro life means to take action with regards to what the President suggested. I will be looking at candidates who are pro life across the board. I will not have many choices, I fear, and wonder exactly why that is.

But I will, as best a Christian can, support the President in this action. I will do so not because of any political affiliation but because my conscience is held captive by God.

THE DARKNESS DOESN’T UNDERSTAND

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John 1:5: The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (NASB)

I like this rather literal translation of John 1:5. It means that when Christ came into the world, as light, the darkness had no idea how to handle him.

If you have ever been in a bar you will notice that the lights are very dim. The thinking is that people enjoy pleasing themselves with alcohol in a place where it seems they are not so seem.

But the great think about Jesus is that he came to enlighten the world and let us see who we are even in our bad times and let us know that no matter who we are we are loved. The darkness doesn’t know what to do with that.

Darkness has sort of a life of its own; calling people to live for themselves.

When Jesus enters the world the darkness cringes because any amount of light dispels the darkness.

When I was young and afraid of the dark I always had to have a nightlight, just one little light on in the hallway somewhere letting me know I was safe. There is no darkness that can overcome a nightlight. When you light one little candle the darkness goes away. The darkness, if can talk to itself, says, ‘Now what do I do? I can’t make the light go away. I have to go away and look for a place where there is no light.’

But Jesus is the light of the world, the whole world and there is no place that darkness can overcome him. Oh, we can close the door, run away from the light but it will always be there and sooner or later the light will find a way into the darkness and the darkness will once again say, ‘Darn, now where do I go?’

The scripture says that Jesus is the light that enlightens every person. That’s good news because it means that in every corner of this world the light of Christ shines and people will see it and run to it knowing that in the light they are much safer than in the dark. And even our sins that will be discovered in the light will be forgiven by Christ.

On this night there are many candlelight services demonstrating how little lights dispel the darkness. Tonight we celebrate the death of darkness even as we celebrate the birth of Christ and the light. Run to the light. He is our only hope.

And don’t worry. No matter how dark your or my situation or that of the world, once we receive the light, the darkness will once again be stumped, hang its head and disappear.

 

 

GRACE TRUMPS TRADITION & LAW

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So I was reading a devotional book I wrote a few years ago. I enjoyed it, which says something about either my ego or self-confidence.

It was a story I wrote about a guy named Max that I met in Haiti. I had been sitting outside the church on Sunday morning working on my message for worship. A couple guys approached me and one of them, Max, asked if he could have my shoes so he could go to church. Well, I wasn’t about to give up my shoes at that moment and so told him he didn’t need shoes to come into church. I later learned that he indeed needed shoes as a sign of respect. Interestingly I remembered that Moses was asked to take off his shoes as a sign of respect before God.

Anyway as we talked I noticed that a cigarette Max had tucked behind his ear fell to the ground. He pushed it away with his bare foot, which upon noticing I commented, ‘Max, I think you dropped your cigarette.’ Max responded that it wasn’t his cigarette, another taboo in Haiti for the worshipping people. I told Max that God loved him with or without the cigarette and that as long as I was the preacher he could come to worship without shoes. I probably should have gone shoeless myself but I am a slow learner.

At worship that day I looked in vain for Max. And I told the congregation about a man who needed their love and acceptance. I don’t know what happened to Max but I was sorry that law and tradition got in the way of grace.

Besides I enjoy a good smoke now and then and wonder what people would think of me. I know what Jesus thinks. Sometimes during a smoke we talk with each other, with or without shoes.

I want to be a person of grace, more than disciplines, traditions, laws- even some laws found in the Bible. Jesus didn’t always comply with the rules so that people would know love. The church needs to be that way too. Nuf said, which is like saying Amen.