Adherence to the Law by the Grace of God

Have you ever used one of those fitness apps or devices? This convenient, inflexible program meticulously records health-related details: blood pressure, weight, activity, sleep, etc. There is a not-so-terrible mission behind it all: quantification for the purpose of better health and better living. Take more steps today than you did yesterday! Get more sleep than you did last night! Stay healthy! Good numbers are equated with good health, and good health is, of course, equated with a good life. But there's something of a dark side: Take a day off, grab a treat, and watch your numbers suffer. Nothing like heavy-handed restriction to engage folks in the practice of wellness! The device that sits on the wrists of my family and friends is little more than a legalistic little tyrant. Some are crippled by its judgment, while others have become calloused and ignore it altogether. Neither choice is helpful and its mission goes unaccomplished.     

The law of the Lord has been perverted in much the same way. This is nothing new: God, through Solomon warns, There is nothing new under the sun (Ecclesiastes 1:9). When the law, the rules become your god; when specifics and boxes checked become the things you worship, perversion has occurred. Going back to the aforementioned gadget, if its numbers are meant to give us a picture or a path to good health with the objective of improving our life, we take those numbers as a part of a whole, the means to an end; not the end itself. Changing these criteria for the better will improve one aspect of my life, but they are not life as a whole. God's people, Israel, looked at the criteria God had given them and made adherence to it their god. Finger pointing and added benchmarks were the result; heavy burdens laid on the people. Others wearied of trying to keep up and simply gave up, following the practices of nearby religions instead or merging the practices of Mosaic law with other ideas in a wholly undefined syncretism. The same is true today. Again, mission unaccomplished. So, why did God write things like the Ten Commandments? Why were there so many laws in the Book of Leviticus? Am I saying we are free from obeying them?

Well, there were laws given that were specific to the circumstances of God's people at the time; laws for living as a nation and laws for living without things like refrigeration and toaster ovens; laws meant for their protection in an ancient agrarian society that was, for a period, nomadic and would eventually be called upon to fight some pretty fierce enemies. I'm not getting into the woods with those things, but the law of God's word is generally viewed as having three purposes: a rule, a mirror, and a curb. 

    A rule: God's laws give the blueprint for the life we are able to live when believers allow themselves to be governed by the Holy Spirit. It shows us how to honor the God we worship and what the standard of being holy as our God is holy looks like. 

    A mirror: When we consider a holy, perfect God, and experience our own inability to achieve that holiness and perfection, we see ourselves more rightly. Without a list of criteria to meet, we can feel pretty good about ourselves. The law is that criteria and our true state is woefully inept (at the least), wicked at its core. This is our need for a perfect Savior.

    A curb: Societies throughout history have thrived when they have obeyed God's laws. Call it pragmatic, but the law of God is good for all of humanity. Obedience to it staves off the reign of darkness across the globe.

So, yes, we should obey God's law. Yes, we should want to obey the commands of our King. No, they did not become obsolete when Jesus paid our debt on the cross. And no, they do not offer us salvation or guarantee a relationship with Jesus Christ. Praise God, His people today are offered the ability to live under the grace of God by the mercy of God poured forth at the cross. By His grace, we receive the Holy Spirit who enables us to obey His precepts and become holy in heart and conduct. Our infractions are no more calculated on some spiritual scale than our good deeds are tallied to establish our worth before Him. His children are freed to delight in His law, giving thanks for perfect boundaries set not by a legalistic tyrant but by a loving God. And His work will be brought to completion. Of that we are assured!

Rather Than Yield to Temptation...

There's an old bumper sticker: Lead me not into temptation: I can find it myself. What expert navigators we can be at times! Many of us are familiar with the part of the Our Father which asks of the Lord, Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil (Matthew 6:13); but how many of us really know what we are asking of Him? How many of us share the same sentiment as that bumper sticker: Why would God lead me into temptation? I am pretty adept at finding sin all on my own. And if James 1:13 clearly states that God cannot be tempted, nor does He tempt any person, why would He lead us to a place of temptation? Isn't that the same thing as someone setting up another to be robbed? Both are guilty of the crime, aren't they?

First of all, let me just share what an incredible statement of helplessness this request is. Sometimes we are going about our day, doing the same things we are accustomed to doing --sort of mindlessly, I must say --and we find ourselves in a traffic jam that isn't usually present. What is this all about? We didn't know it was before us. We had no way of knowing. Sometimes the same is true of the temptations that face us. We have no idea that someone is going to do something so out of character or so offensive we feel compelled to respond in an equally out of character or offensive way. We are tempted. We didn't see it coming. We didn't put ourselves in that predicament; we were simply going about our day as we usually do. But our Shepherd, who knows the end from the beginning, was well aware of it all. And, not that He was intentionally provoking us to yield to our flesh, but we can rely on Him to know the way. This is our admission that we don't know what will befall us throughout the most mundane of days, but, Dear Jesus, we rely on You to know the way. We yield our path and our activities to Your great wisdom.

Secondly, the Greek word rendered "temptation" is peirasmos which means both an allurement and a trial or test. So, in asking God not to lead us into temptation, and enticement that would dishonor Him and potentially cause us harm, we are not asking Him to suspend some regular activity (for, again, He tempts no man), but we are asking Him to lead us in the ways that would bring Him glory alone. We no longer want to walk the way we used to walk, in ways that made us susceptible to sin; in ignorance and independence; in foolishness. Lead me, Lord God, in Your ways and not in the way I used to walk. Lead me as I choose to avoid those things to which I was once drawn. 

And, in asking God not to lead us into peirasmos, trial or testing, we are making our petition for His mercy. Imagine waking up, your head pounding, your body aching; you've come down with the flu, but you have determined to power through it. You have errands to run and things that must be accomplished. As you go out to start your car, you miss a step; you hear a SNAP! and your ankle begins to swell immediately. You will have your rest, but you've surrendered to it the hard way. Which of us would not rather learn a lesson or have their faith strengthened by obedience to the Scriptures rather than enduring a long and painful proving. The key here, of course, is that we must learn our lesson in ways that do not require some hard discipline from our Heavenly Father. Father God, I surrender to learning all You have for me without necessitating the use of great trial. Please spare me this and soften my heart to receive Your teachings.

Do we know the way to temptation? By all means, we do. But God, in His great mercy, through Jesus Christ, has not only opened the way of communication through which we petition His guidance and mercy, but has Himself become the way by which we can endure whatever should befall us, our Deliverer. It is through Him and by Him our hearts are prepared to receive His words, and our lives are changed to reflect the integrity and strength of Jesus' character. By the power of His Holy Spirit, we yield to imitate His holiness rather than yield to temptation.      

Midweek: God Equips Ezekiel

Last Wednesday, we looked at Ezekiel, the man, and his calling. This week we're going to dig a little more deeply into those things as we look at the third chapter of the book of the Bible that bears his name.

Ezekiel 3:1-3:

Moreover He said to me, “Son of man, eat what you find; eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.” So I opened my mouth, and He caused me to eat that scroll.

And He said to me, “Son of man, feed your belly, and fill your stomach with this scroll that I give you.” So I ate, and it was in my mouth like honey in sweetness.

Strange, right? For sure, but Ezekiel's consumption of a scroll signified his acceptance of God's message which he was given to deliver. I'm sure he didn't want to see Jerusalem and God's temple destroyed; I'm sure he didn't want to see God's people spread all over the globe and in chaos any more than God Himself did, but Ezekiel trusted that God's actions were true and appropriate. This made his consumption of the scroll filled with God's message sweet to the taste. Have you ever been tasked with giving someone a word of correction? Not a pleasant task. But knowing it is from God and praying it is received and followed makes the assignment a bit more palatable.

The point of such an odd lunch doesn't end there. By Ezekiel's eating of the scroll, it symbolized he had internalized the message to Israel. He took the words of God unto himself, making them a part of his substance, his essence; he made them a part of who he is. Those words were his sustenance, to strengthen him as he walked in obedience to God, and those words were known to him so well, he could speak them in his sleep. If someone had approached him and questioned the message, he could clearly expound its every detail and the reasons for it. Is the same true of our familiarity with the Scriptures today? Is it our sustenance, our daily bread? Do we know the Scriptures so well we can teach others as Philip taught the Ethiopian? Can we concisely give the reason for the hope that is in us and encourage others to place their trust in Him as well? 

Back to Ezekiel. Ezekiel had been sent to his own people, people who spoke as he spoke; but they were impudent and hard-hearted. Now, there's really no backstory on Ezekiel. There's no record of him killing an Egyptian or dismembering a lion with his bare hands. We know from his own writing, he was the son of a priest, and we will see later, he was faithful in keeping God's dietary laws. I think it's pretty safe to say he was an ordinary guy and not necessarily inclined to confronting folks. So, when God called him to speak to an impudent and hard-hearted people, I can imagine he had reservations. But God told him:

I have made your face strong against their faces, and your forehead strong against their foreheads. Like adamant stone, harder than flint, I have made your forehead; do not be afraid of them, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they are a rebellious house. ~ Ezekiel 3:8, 9

The Complete Jewish Bible renders this:

I am making you as defiant and obstinate as they are. Yes, I am making your resoluteness harder than flint, as hard as a diamond.

Ezekiel needed to be toughened up a bit. Was he a people pleaser? a coward? an introvert? Whatever his personality, whatever his upbringing, God was not intimidated or dissuaded by those things. Ezekiel, standing among the other captives, fell on his face when he saw the vision of God's glory; he didn't wait until he was in private, he didn't stop to consider what others thought (and, I'm assuming, he was the only one hearing or seeing anything. Imagine that!). It was instantaneous; he fell to his face! That type of humility, that innate, spontaneous reaction to the things of God qualifies each one called by God. Whatever your personality, whatever your background, the equipping comes through the One who knows exactly what is needed when it is needed. He is the Master at Equipping the Called as the called surrender. As we faithfully read His word and think on it day after day, as we (I'm using the word "attempt" here, since our society tends to make the memorization of anything redundant) attempt to memorize Scripture, as we listen to solid teaching, as we ingest it metaphorically, we are equipped. As we pray, worship, and submit to His will, the Holy Spirit transforms us, growing in us the qualities necessary to work for the glory of our King. We can wake up each day knowing we are not where we were yesterday and God is ever-increasing and honing our qualifications. 

  

Not Every Great Guy Does Well

He was a great guy! 

The world is full of great guys. They're usually found hanging out (or lying about) in funeral parlors or cemeteries. Wouldn't we all like to know that, when we're gone, we are fondly remembered; that we made a positive difference in another's life? Of course, we would. But is that our goal, or are we striving to hear the words, Well done, good and faithful servant, when we arrive before the King of Heaven's throne? Those two things may not be mutually exclusive every time, but on occasion, they just might be.

In Jeremiah 40:7-16, we are told of a man named Gedaliah. Most of the people of Judah had been carried off by the Chaldeans to live in Babylon, far away from their holy city of Jerusalem and God's temple. 

Short version: They'd rejected God and His standards for proper worship, why did they care if His city and His temple were taken from them? But they did, and they were sad.

However, God (via the Chaldeans) allowed some people to remain in Jerusalem, and the Babylonian king appointed a governor from among Israel, Gedaliah. Gedaliah concurred with all God (through Jeremiah) had spoken regarding this remnant. He told the people:

Do not be afraid to serve the Chaldeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it shall be well with you. As for me, I will indeed dwell at Mizpah and serve the Chaldeans who come to us. But you, gather wine and summer fruit and oil, put them in your vessels, and dwell in your cities that you have taken. (vv. 9, 10)

And the people listened! In fact, some who had originally fled, returned to Jerusalem and began to live their lives. Things appeared to be going pretty well, BUT there was a fly (or several flies) in the ointment. For whatever reason, a man named Ishmael and some of his powerful friends hatched a plot to get rid of Gedaliah.

Now, Gedaliah had a friend or two as well, and several of them attempted to warn him of the conspiracy. Gedaliah refused to believe it. Johanan, one of the governor's allies, even took him aside privately and offered to do away with Ishmael, pleading with him on behalf of the people in his care. If you're dead, what will happen to them? (paraphrase mine) But, again, Gedaliah refused to listen. Jeremiah 41, delivers the answer: Gedaliah was murdered and many of those under him taken captive or murdered as well.

From all appearances, Gedaliah was a great guy. He sided with Jeremiah, God's prophet. He encouraged the people and obeyed authority. No one would risk life and limb to expose an assassination plot --even offering to murder the perpetrator --for a terrible guy. But Gedaliah had a problem: he refused to believe the worst of Ishmael, and his lack of discernment became the problem of everyone under his governance. Was it pride? No one could possibly want to off me! Look at the great job I'm doing! Was it naiveté? We have such an intimate group remaining in Jerusalem; I know each one personally. They're such hard workers and kind people. None would ever betray another. Was it myopia? Did he trust the words of hope delivered by Jeremiah without actually trusting the God who authored them, putting his faith in the promise rather than the Promise Keeper? And that's where I'm going to pause.

I've spoken before of Dorothy Sayers' take on the old saying, The road to hell is paved with good intentions. If you've missed it, she says we often assume that refers to undertakings intended but never completed; but she believes it applies to those things we conceive and work diligently toward which then become an end unto itself. We start out wanting to help or speak truth or think the best of others --to be a great guy!, but our efforts become our life's blood, the thing that keeps us in the race no matter how many times God has told us to rest. We ignore His cautions to stop because this is our work, and not His. The work has discarded the very goal (or people) it was meant to serve, and we have lost sight of the forest for the trees.

Prayer is our weapon against spiritual myopia. Especially those of us engaged in leadership, service, teaching, evangelism, parenting --okay, for every believer. It is the way we confess before God our deepest fears, our greatest weaknesses --not that He is unaware, but that we have become aware of our needs and the only One who can meet them. Whatever you undertake today, the simplest bits of life, commit them to the Lord in prayer and seek His leadership in them. You may not be one of those great guys, but you will have done well.