Sabbath Subterfuge

A sip of coffee, a glance out the window, another sip of coffee.  I am not fooling myself, these actions are distractions, inconsequential sideshows intended to postpone the main event.  “Sabbath rest” is the headliner of today’s post, but I fear that when the curtain rises on that topic, my on-stage performance will belie my off-stage beliefs.

Right within the worry I just voiced is my problem when it  comes to sabbath.  Resting rightly has become work, another task to be completed well.  It reminds me of what would typically happen if I was home sick from school.  Following lunch, I would be dispatched to my room to rest.  Usually I did not.  I would pass the time begrudgingly, staring at my clock, waiting impatiently for the required minutes to tick by.  At the appointed hour, I would emerge from my room, rubbing my eyes, yawning and the like, hoping my dramatic efforts would persuade my mother that I had indeed rested.  It was a performance.

Decades later I still engage in that charade only now it is before my Father in Heaven.  I disengage from activities that characterize my vocation and I purposely do things that will renew me and those that I love.  I have suggested and would do still that those choices are headed in the right direction.  The problem lies deeper, it lies within my attitudes.

God’s work week, depicted in the Genesis creation account, concluded with God resting from all he had been doing (Ge 2:1-3 ESV).  God then blessed that day and set it apart from the others because it was the day upon which he rested.  The Creator of time, modeled a rhythm of life for us: six days we labour, one day we rest.  That sabbath day is unique; it is a gift for us, it is a blessing, it is holy.

Where my attitude falls short is that I fail to appreciate sabbath as a God-given blessing.  I fail to accept that the work-rest rhythm as a necessary limit to my creatureliness.  I do not submit to the Lord of time, but slyly engage in subterfuge by advancing my case with God by working hard at resting rightly.

Sabbath rest should be a blessing I enter into, a renewal I enjoy, a rest by which I am restored, it is not something I do for myself or for God.  I doubt I fooled my mother with my play-acting, for sure I am not fooling God with my self-promoting stretching and eye-rubbing.

The journey continues.

Two Steps to the Slippery Slope

It was spring.  It was the time of year that kings go to war.  But King David didn’t go.  He remained behind in the comfort of his “palace”.  In so doing he took the first step toward the proverbial slippery slope.

That first step is choosing not to be where you ought to be. David ought to be with his troops fighting the Ammonites.  Instead he chose the leisure of his home.

Then “it happened”, that is how the ESV phrases what took place next (see v. 2).  If David had been where he should have been then he wouldn’t have been walking on his roof top at the end of the day.  And he wouldn’t have been some place from which he spotted a beautiful women bathing.  Welcome to step two: being where you ought not to be.  David arrived at the slippery slope and his look slid into lust, adultery and eventually murder.  He fell hard and his failure had profound implications on his family.

Pretty simple and pretty scary.  Guys when we choose not to be where we ought and then choose to be some place where we ought not to be we are pushing the gate open to the slippery slope.

¹²So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall! ¹³No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. (1Co 10:12-13 NIV)

The Godless Gospel – Part 3

Things and techniques: those are the means of a godless salvation so suggests David Wells (see previous post).  In other words, people are trying to remake themselves, to “regenerate” themselves through what they possess and what they know.

Not long ago I had the chance to upgrade my basic mobile phone to an iPhone.  No suspense here, I did.  But now as I reflect back on that decision in light of what Wells is saying I see vestiges of the godless gospel at work…in me!

On the surface I had “good” reasons to upgrade, but down deeper something else was going on.  The upgrade would move me from the “basic and boring” niche of mobile phones to the “cutting edge”.  By possessing this phone my image would be remade, I would be remade; no longer would I be yesterday’s man.  Moreover, this upgrade would give me tools I did not have.  My phone was now a “smart phone” and I would be smarter because of it.  I would know when my appointments were, I would know people’s contact information, I could GPS them and a boat-load of other things.  Down time would be a thing of the past, now I could surf the web waiting in line, read the news, listen to podcasts, and more.  In my hand would be technology that I could leverage to be more than I ever was.

Do you see the godless gospel at work?  Do you see me trying to assuage my insecurities and failings through things and techniques?

It isn’t going to work.  My soul needs a redeemer, my hurts need a healer, my vices need a deliverer and my life needs a lord.  I am not going to find that is the things I possess or the techniques that I master.  I need a God-based grace filled gospel.  They don’t sell that on-line.

The Godless Gospel – Part 2

“I am looking for help and happiness, just don’t include God in the gospel” is the stance of some that we know. Last post we noted that David Wells argues that for many today salvation is no longer understood in a moral framework but instead in a psychological one.  This has led to four significant shifts.

First, people no longer esteem virtues; personal preferences is what is valued and vaunted.  People don’t talk about the “character” of a person, instead they talk about their personality.  Third, we don’t recognize our shared human nature but rather view life from our individualistic perspective.  And finally the experience of guilt from  violating God’s law has been replaced by private shame for which treatment not confession is necessary.

The gospel that is proclaimed to those that want deliverance without a deliverer is one based on things and techniques.  Without God we are left saving ourselves and our means is through the things that we possess and the things that we know.

Sound bizarre?  Next post I will talk about how the godless gospel showed up in my life.

The Godless Gospel – Part 1

Think of the people that surround you on a regular basis.  Do they not want happiness and security?  Do they not want wholeness and hope?  Do they not want to be delivered from disease and despair?  Do they not want affirmation and significance?

The people that surround me do!  And that which would provide all of that would be considered by them to be good news, it to them would be “gospel”.  However, what they don’t want (or so they think) is a God-based gospel.  Good news yes, God no.

David Wells, argues that when one removes God from the picture, there remains no adequate basis for moral absolutes.  Salvation is no longer understood in a moral framework but instead, he argues, in a psychological framework.  People are not seeking deliverance from sin and its effects, rather they desire to be saved from their inner angst.  Have you seen that?

In the next post of this series we will talk about some key shifts that have accompanied a move from a God-based gospel to a godless one.

Enemies

For many of us we can remember exactly where we were when we first heard about the devastation of the Word Trade Center Towers.  Although etched on the blackboards of our minds, for most of us the tragedy of that day is still distant, not just geographically but personally.

On the other hand, we know of attacks and we know of enemies that do not capture international headlines yet their impact on our lives is devastating.  The reason is simple: the attacks are against us and the perpetrators are our enemies.

Centuries ago, in a time before jets and skyscrapers, a man named David was hunted and haunted by his enemy King Saul.  Saul wanted David destroyed, he wanted his life snuffed out.

On two occasions God providentially delivered Saul into the hands of David.  David had a clear opportunity to avenge himself against his enemy, yet both times David stayed his hand out of respect for the fact that Saul still represented God’s chosen leader.

I can’t imagine that was an easy choice for David.  By letting the opportunity pass him by, David was entrusting his life and well-being into God’s care, rather than trying to secure it by his own efforts.  He was also trusting in God’s character, that a holy God would not shrug off evil but that true justice would prevail.

Don’t we face the same choice when we are attacked?  I don’t mean that we contemplate taking out our “enemy” (or we shouldn’t!), rather I mean we have to decide whether to trust God and his justice or to take matters into our own hands.

What David exemplified in this situation is what Jesus taught.  Jesus put it this way, “But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.” (Mt 5:44-45)  That kind of response is counter-instinctive, it just isn’t today’s norm.

That is my main point, I used our reaction to “enemies” to illustrate it.  Following Jesus is radical, he calls us to live a life that in many ways runs against the current of contemporary culture.  He is asking for our loyal allegiance not some tame and casual association.

Here is the question I want you to ponder: What keeps men from making that kind of commitment to Jesus?  What keeps men from serving under Jesus’ leadership?

Two good choices, right?

“Pleasing God” or “Trusting God”.  If you had to pick between these two where would you land?

That question was raised in material our accountability group was discussing not long ago.  Both seem good don’t they?

The catch comes if we seek to please God by self-effort.  You know what I mean, we work hard at saying the right things, we work hard at doing the right things, we work hard at stopping a bad habit, we work hard at…you fill in the rest.  We’re working hard but it isn’t quite enough we fear, in fact we begin to doubt whether we will ever be able to please God.

Trusting God is different.  It takes my focus off of what I am going to do for God and places it on what God is going to do in me.  Sure I still have the same hang-ups, the same hurts, the same sin issues; but instead of a bunch of self-effort to improve myself, I am looking to God to change me, from the inside out.  As he does that transformational work in me, I begin to live a life that is truly pleasing to him.

What pathway are you on right now?  Pleasing God?  Trusting God?

Role of Man

How do you define masculinity?  What does it mean to be a man?

Matt Chandler, lead pastor of The Village Church, looks at the first three chapters of Genesis and contends that man is wired to be a builder, a cultivator, and achiever and that this distinctive role informs what it means to be husband and father.

Matt was the voice in my head as I ran this past week.  I have no hesitation in recommending these 3 talks: Defining Masculinity, Role of Man as Husband and Role of Man as Father.

Here are a few of my take-aways:

• God has given man the primary (not sole!) leadership role in the family
• Being there and taking initiative are key
• God is committed to who we are right now as men, not to some future version of who we ought to be
• Where our present situation and practice is less than God’s ideal, that is the place where God’s grace abounds

2009 Read thru Scripture

The ESV Study Bible was one of my Christmas gifts (thanks mom!).  Every year at this time I pick a bible reading schedule to guide me, or should I say prod me along in my read through Scripture.  This year I am using something by Navigators, but there is a ton free guides on-line to pick from (here is one site).

If you have used a reading schedule before you might be familiar with a possible down side; reading to complete the schedule rather than to be moved by the truth.  To help guard against that tendency here are some ideas I have gathered to help me (and maybe you) process more deeply what we are reading.

• Underline key words in the passage
• Ask questions of the text: Who? What? Why? Where? When? How?
• Look for application: Ask “So What?” and “Now What?”
• Pray through the text

What ideas would you suggest to dig deeper into God’s Word?