Finding the Will of God Christmas Style

When I look at the narrative of Joseph (and Mary) in the Christmas story an interesting means of discerning God's will emerges. Joseph becomes aware of his fiancee's pregnancy (and implied immorality) and "he decided to divorce her privately not wishing to cause her shame." I infer that Joseph was making a decision based on his being a "good man" (Matthew1). His decision was founded on grace. He didn't want to cause her shame (the NASB reads 'disgrace'). He was not deciding to divorce her due to vindictiveness or anger. In fact, clearly he based his decision on God's Word (the allowance that Moses made for people so that they could divorce). He seems to have logically interpreted the Scripture and was moving toward action based on that logic. In summary Joseph was about to make a difficult decision based on grace, common sense and Scripture. Wow! He had to be on the right track ( I wish I could more often make decisions based on grace, common sense and Scripture). Except he was about to go against God's will.
God did intervene and redirected Joseph's decision clearly, aligning it with the revelation that Mary had received and the revelation of an ancient prophet (Isaiah). So God's plan was consistent and in place from centuries before and He made it clear to those who were faithful.
Mary's example adds to my understanding. She hears the good news (that will mean a considerable amount of bad news in her life) and yet she welcomes the Word of God, saying, "Be it done to me according to all that you (the angel Gabriel) have said."
I conclude that although we should make decisions based on grace, common sense and Scripture that does not guarantee that we will always make the correct decision. It is still important to recognize human weakness within us and seek a clear directive (conviction?) from God, always welcoming the Word of God and its principles into our lives.

The Real Grinch of Christmas

In the time of Jesus there was a real 'grinch', his name was Herod the Great. The world still sees him as one of the greatest builders of all time. This is an amazing accomplishment when one thinks of all the great builders, like the builder of the Taj Mahal, the Great Wall of China and other fabulous building ventures. Herod is probably best known for his building of the fortress of Masada, the port city of Caesarea and the Temple in Jerusalem.
Unfortunately, Herod may have been more prolific in murder than in building. It is known that he had a large number (in the hundreds) of rabbis killed. He killed among others two of his sons, his brother-in-law and his 'favorite' wife. Imagine the danger of being less than his favorite wife. After he murdered his sons, Caesar is said to have commented that it was safer to be one of Herod's dogs than one of his sons.
In approximately 4 BCE some Eastern astrologer/philosophers came into Herod's capital city of Jerusalem looking for a child "born to be king". Matthew 2 notes that, "Herod was troubled at this and all Jerusalem with him." According to Matthew it took two supernatural and very direct dreams to thwart Herod's attempt to kill the One born to be king. When Herod recognized that the baby Jesus had escaped, his anger boiled over. He ordered his soldiers to kill all the baby boys in the vicinity of Bethlehem that were two years old and younger. Undoubtedly, hundreds of baby boys were killed.
Thus Herod attempted to destroy Christmas before it got started. God thwarted Herod's evil attempts to kill Jesus before His time. And God would ultimately thwart 'the murder of the innocents' by sending Jesus to die on a cross so the world could overcome death.
So Herod is known as the builder of great buildings and the destroyer of lives, while the One he tried to kill never built a single building, yet He is the Savior of all our lives.

The Odd Couples of Christmas

Luke presents the Odd Couples of Christmas and the reality that their blessings from God go global. In Luke 1.5-25 a couple of old people, Zacharias & Elizabeth live in obedience and find that God makes an appointment for them in the midst of their greatest disappointment (the fact that they have no child). At appropriate and appointed times God provides blessings that begin in times of worship and ultimately go global. As followers of Jesus we can persistently worship in spite of disappointments, knowing that God will provide blessings that may ultimately go global. Keep the faith and share it widely!
In Luke 1.26-56 a couple of woman, Mary & Elizabeth, encourage each other's faith and meet together in fellowship and worship. Mary & Elizabeth share with each other their contact with God and His promises to them (the promise that nothing is impossible with God). Controlled by the Holy Spirit they expect their blessing will go global (verses 33,48, 50 and 53). As followers of Jesus we can share our contact with God (thru the Word and His Spirit) and encourage others to expect the impossible from Him. Keep the faith and share it widely!
In Luke 2.1-21 a couple of young people, Joseph & Mary find God's blessing in the midst of difficulty (homeless in their hometown!) and see it begin to go global (as angels share the good news with shepherds who share the good news widely). Joseph & Mary are complete unknowns in the world & unwanted in their hometown, but God's blessing blazes through the difficulty. As we see God make appointments with us in the midst of disappointment we can see God begin to take the Good News global. As followers of Jesus we can maintain our faith in difficulty and see God work in us and others (God uses exalted angels and impoverished shepherds to take His blessing global). Keep the faith and share it widely!
In Luke 2.21-38 a couple of prophets, Simeon & Anna, persist in faith and encourage others that God will take His blessing global. Simeon & Anna are outstanding examples of long term faithfulness that God rewards. As followers of Jesus we can commit to long term faithfulness and expect to see God's blessing. Further, we can share God's Word with others to warn and encourage them. Keep the faith and share it widely!!

Life Issue

I just read Barack Obama's pro partial-birth abortion statement (as he opposed a recent Supreme Court decision). I am not surprised, but am disappointed that none of the top three democratic presidential candidates will take a stand against partial-birth abortion. This procedure has been noted by the American Medical Association to never be necessary to protect the life of the mother. How in the world can these candidates who severely oppose war because of its cost in human lives justify killing a viable unborn child? Obama, I am sure in agreement with the other democrats, concentrated on only half the issue. He would not consider the baby's choice, the baby's rights over his or her body, or the baby's pain. In fact, he referred to the baby as an 'it'. With this commitment among democrats why is there so much surprise when mothers and fathers leave their young children to die in cars, or even abuse young children? I want to hear/see one person who favors partial-birth abortion argue their case in an open and honest way. That is, in a way that deals with more than the mother's half of the issue. How can anyone justify a selfish, violent and heinous procedure such as partial-birth abortion?

Thank God

In reading Psalm 100 I found listed four reasons that we should give God joyous thanks. In verse 3 we can thank God because He is God and we are not self-made people. Interesting.
In verse 5, we can thank God because He is good, He offers an eternal love and He is continuously faithful (loyal). That last reason is really the clincher. It reminds me of Jesus' parable of the unjust judge. This widow continuously pestered an unjust judge to provide her with legal help. Finally, the judge decided that the widow was wearing him out so even with no concern for justice he took care of her case. Jesus concludes that if the unjust judge would provide help, the Almighty Judge (who is just) will certainly take care of us. The question that Jesus leaves His followers with is, "Will the Son of Man find faithfulness on earth." On judgment day God IS going to be found faithful (loyal). We will have to agree with that. On judgment day am I going to be found faithful and loyal to Him? Sometimes I catch my thoughts in prayer being along the line of wondering if God will be faithful. Hopefully, I quickly realize that God's faithfulness is not the question.

Growing my purpose for Living

I like the old hymn, 'I know Whom I have Believed'. My problem was that I could not wrap my brain around what the verse (2 Timothy 1.12) quoted in the hymn meant. Peterson's 'The Message' paraphrase really helped, and so did some time put in studying the actual verse and the context. The Apostle's second letter to Timothy presents an urgent message for two reasons. The first, is that Paul senses that he will not be alive much longer. The second, is that Timothy is on the verge of quitting the ministry. Apparently, disappointment and persecution had pushed Timothy to the end of his spiritual rope. Paul, resoundingly, encourages the young pastor beginning in the first chapter.
Paul exhorts Timothy concerning the rewards, resources and repercussions of his faith in Christ. The rewards include the current gifts of God (vss. 6,7) and the unique calling of God (vs 9). The resources include the spiritual heritage he has from his mother and grandmother (vs 5), the companionship of the Apostle Paul (vs 8) and the purpose and grace of God Himself (vs 9). The repercussions are the various sufferings that must be overcome (vs 12 ff). The Apostle encourages Timothy to join him, even in suffering, unashamedly devoted to investing what he has received as a 'treasure'. Paul states in verse 12 that he has no regrets. He knows that his faith is founded solidly in the Almighty God of the universe. He is entirely convinced that God will guard and protect that 'treasure' forever, even as he and Timothy invest it in the world by making disciples of the nations.
2 Timothy 1.12 "Because of the work I have from God, I suffer. But, I have no regrets. For I know the ONE in whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard my treasure until the day Jesus returns."

Why I believe in God

Atheism is illogical and impractical. It is self-contradictory because the one who does not believe God exists is effectively claiming to have infinite knowledge that One with infinite knowledge does not exist (Huh?). It is impractical because atheism was tried by numerous tyrants including Hitler and Stalin, and it failed miserably. Hitler, who followed the philosophy of F Nietzsche and gave a copy of Nietzsche's book to his ally Benito Mussolini, made the choice to oppose all religion (yet every major denomination supported him originally) and specifically Christianity. Remember Hitler was merely trying to help evolution along by destroying the weaker races and people. Stalin made Hitler look like a saint by killing at least 50 million people in trying to follow F Nietzsche and K Marx. F Nietzsche wrote that "God is dead, and we killed him." He also understood that with god gone a "superman" or "super race" would be created to fill the void. He predicted that with god dead mankind would see the 20th century as the bloodiest century ever. He was right, in fact, it has been argued that the 20th century was bloodier than the previous 19 centuries put together. Atheism applied is not practical to human civilization. The question that remains is, why in the world do we, as followers of Jesus, make decisions without considering or by effectively denying God. That is, why do I make choices from an atheistic perspective? That is worse than illogical and impractical... it is close to pure stupid. May God be merciful to me a sinner.

pic

Five undeniable Truths of Life

Here are 5 undeniable truths of life.

The first 'truth' is that "timing is everything" It is hard to actually deny, but easy to ignore.

Second, "condiments are free". This is the idea that in any project or decision making plan there are freebies that one really should look for and take advantage of.

Third, "fail simple first". This encourages us as we are trying to figure out a right answer in, typically a material project, that we make sure we test an area that is simple first. That way one doesn’t waste time figuring out that a difficult answer is not the right answer. Make sure the answer to a problem is not the easy answer before testing more complex potential answers.

Next, "play every card". This is the idea that sometimes we give up when we havent used every resource, or when there is still time left. Because God seems to do things at the 11th hour humanly speaking, it seems we often need to "play every card" He gives us to play and look for Him to bless.

Finally, "if you cant fix it, feature it". When there is a problem that arises in a project that just will not go away, the best thing to do is not just live with it, but actually feature it. This can come about particularly in spiritual areas where there is a physical, material or financial adversity, and a leader can demonstrate that this appearance of difficulty is all the more reason to press on. The Apostle Paul stated, "A wide door of opportunity has opened for us, and there are many adversaries." He didn't exactly feature the adversaries, but he sure was up front with them.

Obviously, one often has to balance between these 'truths'. For instance, because timing is everything one may want to be careful before playing every card.

Juggling Family Priorities

I just watched 'Cheaper by the Dozen' with Steve Martin, Hillary Duff and a host of others. I guess that movie represents the extreme of trying to juggle the responsibilities of a family. Although few people can identify with having 12 children, we can all identify with the difficulties of trying to juggle our time to meet the responsibilities we have for each individual while pursuing a relationship with God... and maybe even attempting to keep sane. Ephesians provides some principles that help. Beginning with chapter 4 the Apostle Paul explains how we can now live in light of the new people that we are based on our faith in Christ. In chapter 5 under the category of living (NASB 'walking') wisely the Apostle applies a principle that a non-spiritual person would never consider. The first priority is to submit to God. One submits to God by being 'filled with the Holy Spirit'. 'Filled with the Holy Spirit' has little to do with charismatic gifting. Rather it is primarily letting God control our choices in somewhat the same way as alcohol controls the choices of a drunk. The parallel seems crude, but is legitimate. So the 'let go and let God' theology does have some merit.
After one submits to God, the Apostle calls families to submit to each other (and we can apply this idea of submission to the broader church family). Husbands are to submit to wives by means of offering a sacrificial love. Wives are to submit to husbands by offering them respect. And finally, children are to submit to their parents by offering respect. With any normal interpretation of this text the follower of Christ is quickly driven to make sure that he/she has first submitted to God or the remaining submissions will never see the light of day.

God and Man in Communion

The Lord's Supper, otherwise called the Eucharist or Communion has critical significance in the Christian faith. Communion has an 'all time' perspective as well because we "do this" and "show forth" in the present His death which is in the past, until He returns in the future. Jesus took the most familiar element of a Jewish meal, bread, and said, "This is my body." One point made is the universal availability of Jesus (His body). So, first Jesus' body as our sin substitute is immediately and completely available. Jesus then took a familiar element, wine, and identified it with an element, blood, that would never be at any Jewish table. To offer blood to a Jew was traditionally and morally repugnant. Blood represents life, and man was not to merely ingest by mouth such a sacred thing. The followers of Jesus are specifically to remember Him by symbolically partaking of His blood... His life. Partaking of the cup, pointed to the sacrificial death of Jesus and the life-giving purpose of His ministry. The truth is our lives are temporary and by partaking of His life we have the assurance of eternal life. Our celebration of His death is acceptable because His death provides us with life, and further proclaims the benefits of His death to the world. Communion emphasises fellowship, gratitude, worship and proclamation.

But, What about People?

As I consider purpose in life I have to think about where "others" fit into my reason for living. In Ecclesiastes 4 Solomon considered others in his 'under the sun' (that is, without considering God) sort of way. His conclusion was that there are two maybe three sorts of people, they are competitors, companions, and maybe kings. His understanding of 'others' does not fit neatly into western philosophical thinking, but if one looks at chapter 4 it is hard to come to another conclusion. So, 'under the sun' "others" are either a great source of pain and hurt or a pretty essential source of help and comfort. No matter, according to Solomon, all is still vanity due to the exceptional brevity of life.
Jesus asks us to consider "others" in a singular sort of way. "Others" are always to be thought of as our "neighbors" (read the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10). Further, the 'Jesus way' of looking at others was not so much at their offenses or blessings toward me, but the blessing I should be to them. Wow, even "others" whom I would call my enemies, Jesus commanded me to love.

Can Life have purpose? Does Ecclesiastes help?

I am amazed at how relevant the book of Ecclesiastes is for the 21st century. The book is set in the wisdom literature of the Bible. It may be that Solomon wrote Song of Songs when he was young (and about to marry his first wife, and prior to his marrying the 699 other wives). Proverbs may have been written throughout his life and finally Ecclesiastes written to his sons and closer to the end of his life. I guess one could say that The Song looks at life with the cup full, Proverbs with the cup half full, and Ecclesiastes with the cup at least half empty.
Ecclesiastes loses some of its mystery when one notices a couple of repeated and emphasized ideas. 27 times the phrase 'under the sun' (meaning more or less 'without considering God') is repeated in Ecclesiastes. The phrase is used no where else in the Bible. 15 times the idea of God giving something to man is used. The point is that only by honoring God and pursuing His wisdom will one be able to overcome the incredible emptiness that consumes life in this world (or 'under the sun'). When reading Ecclesiastes one must consider from what viewpoint the author is speaking. Obviously, the author can write some pretty outrageous things if he writes from the 'under the sun' view. Regularly, the author evaluates his experience and philosophy beyond the horizon. In fact, the author will quickly (chapter three) point to the wisdom and common sense of submitting to God's authority, and working with an attitude that God is good and in control. The only place we find "a handful of rest" (Ecclesiastes 4.6) in this empty world is with at least a glimpse beyond the horizon. ( footnote: Derek Kidner and Michael Eaton (not Keaton, silly!) provided me huge insight into Ecclesiastes)

Take a Walk on Water

I was looking at Matthew 14.22-33. Jesus sends off the disciples in a boat, He goes to pray and then decides to catch up later on foot. The disciples, experienced fishermen, are facing contrary winds and waves. Then Jesus appears, walking on the water, as if to just pass by. The disciples go bananas with fear at seeing what they think is a ghost on the water. It is important to keep in mind a 1st century view of ghosts. Ghosts have one purpose in the 1st century, to take someone with them to the place of the dead. The disciples thought that Jesus was literally the angel of death. Jesus introduces Himself and calls on them to not be afraid. Peter, and I cannot imagine why, says, "If you are Jesus, command me to come to you." Ummm, does he have a clue that if it is the angel of death the ghost may lie? Well, Jesus says, "Sure, come." Peter initiates his relatively short walk on water. Though short I like that walk. The critics will always say that following the principles of the Bible will limit your options and even take away your fun. This text seems to show that following Jesus provides virtually unlimited options. Who would have thought you could step out of the boat in the middle of the sea and take a walk?

What is "fear of God"

In response to comment of E. Peevie. Oddly, there are about 12 words in Hebrew that are translated 'fear' in the NASB. The two major words in Hebrew translated 'fear' are both used of the fear of God. It is sort of a 'good grief!' moment that the fear of God is not more narrowly defined. Personally, I like the idea that the fear of God is an awesome respect and reverence for God. I am sure that is primarily what the fear of God is for one who has an actual relationship with God. I also like the idea that once I have a "fear" of God it can regularly be diminished and ultimately be set aside because "There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear. " Obviously, no person has a perfect love, but I am thinking that those who enter Christ's kingdom will have an eternity without any fear.

Overcoming FEAR

Have just studied fear for over a week. Interviewed 4 people on subject. Now I have more questions than answers. What I know: fear is an emotion that affects all of us motivating us toward faith, fight, flight, or freeze. Fear pushes us to develop behavioral responses that can become habits. We generally minimize or exaggerate fear, and therefore respond with some inappropriateness to reality. The Bible says that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The most repeated command of the Bible is "Do not be afraid" or "Fear not." (42 times) What I am thinking about: How can I identify my own fears and their significance in my life? Is the love of the Lord the perfection (or end) of wisdom (1 John 4..."There is no fear in love. Perfect love casts out fear". I tend to minimize my fear of God. I think of Him as a loving Father rather than the scary person He could be. If I have a proper fear of God will that help put my other fears in perspective? Want to know how I can realistically evaluate my fears so that I respond to fear in a way that helps and does not hurt the enjoyment I have in life.