Fat Tuesday

It occurs to me, since tomorrow is Fat Tuesday and since Wendy is busy preparing to take folks to France, it would be cool if you'd like to bring some foodstuffs to feast upon. Mark said there was a possibility of hummus, but no pressure. We'll still have chips, salsa and coffee, and if you're broke or don't have time, or just don't want to, no problem. However, if you feel inclined to bring some food to house church, I'll help you eat it and praise God for it.

Scripture for Tuesday

Wendy, Danny, Michelle and I visited Christ Church with Mark and Rosie on Sunday, where the pastor's sermon focused on having a heart for God's house, for God's word--essentially, for God. He suggested that members find out what scripture the pastor would be preaching on the following Sunday so that they could prepare their hearts and minds to feast on God's word on Sunday. In keeping with that idea, here's this week's scripture along with some questions to get you thinking before you arrive.

Scripture: Matthew 7

Questions:
(verses 1-2)
1) Paul writes in Romans 14:10 "...why do you judge your brother? Or why do you look down on your brother? For we will all stand before God's judgment seat." Does all judging imply a looking down? What is the difference between 'judging' and correcting our brothers?
2) Just from personal experience, how are people who are judgmental received in society?
(verses 3-5)
3) If we are to pluck from our own eye the plank before helping our brother with his speck of dust, just how sanctified do we need to be before correcting or seeking to lead our brother?
(verse 6)
4) I've always taken this verse pretty literally, and never really considered its context. Looking at it now, is it possible that Jesus is being a little ironic? Is it possible that our 'pearls' are our corrections and sniping criticisms? If so, it certainly makes sense that they would be received with violence.
(verses 13-29)
5) The rest of the passage seems centered around receiving the kingdom of Heaven. What theme is central to achieving that?

Now, don't feel the need to answer all of these just because I put a tremendous amount of work into them and formatted the post ever-so-thoughtfully. Seriously, I do suggest at least a quick look at the scripture before we meet up tomorrow because, hey, God's word is good.

Love thoughts

I had some thoughts to share on love and Valentine's day last night, but things just didn't really go in that direction, so I thought I'd post them here.
I think the core idea of Valentine's Day is a good one--show by your actions and words how much the ones you love mean to you. Of course, Valentine's Day restricts this almost entirely to romantic love, about which the Bible has surprisingly little to say. Valentine's Day, while technically a Christian holiday, appears far more worldly than spiritual. Of course, of course, there's the blatant, crass materialism, but to focus on that is to ignore the more fundamental flaw in our celebration of this holiday. Our celebrations of Valentine's Day center around the people to whom we feel strong affection: husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, parents and children. Yet this holiday of love bears almost no relation to God's commands concerning love, specifically Matthew 5:46-47: "If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?"
The love we celebrate on Valentine's day is the love with which the world is totally familiar--eros, desire--not necessarily lust, but the desire to be around people whose company we enjoy, who make us feel good, people who build us up and care for us. We all like that. Heck, who minds buying a card for someone who makes us feel good? But the love to which Jesus calls us asks more than that--to love our enemies.
To get another great kick in the teeth, flip on over to 1 John 4:10- "This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." To drive the point home, you can turn to Romans 5:8- " But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
When I think on these things, my love seems so paltry. As I've said many times, it's easy to love Wendy, and most of you guys for that matter, but would I die for your sins? Well, that's okay, I'm not asked to do that, but I am asked to love my enemies... That's really, really hard. Getting to Art's post, I'm not sure how to even begin to get to that point. I clearly can't do it on my own, but can I blame God for not getting me there sooner? That seems unlikely. For now, I'm going to suggest one more bit of scripture and leave you all to have a lovely day.

ps-Sorry if this post is a bit disjointed; I'm due for a nap.

Tonight (Valentine's Day)

Hey all, just a little reminder about tonight's activities. We'll be meeting, as usual, at Wendy's apartment at 7:30 and departing for Fuddruckers shortly thereafter. If you can't make it to the apartment by 7:45, feel free to head on over to Fuddruckers. We're going to set aside Matthew for this week to talk about pretty much any love-related theme, which actually includes much of Matthew, so that's ok, too.

What Now?

I saw a quote once that claimed "If you educate a bastard, all you get is an educated bastard." That rang true for me. Self awareness does not change our situation outside of bringing us to repentance. When I gained self knowledge I found out I really need Jesus, my moment of “self awareness” clarity was a picture of me trying to nail myself to the cross. The fruitless venture brought me to the one true realization that has had any real lasting profound effect in my life, the gospel is not about what we do, but it is about what the Lord has done and what he is doing. The law gives us a certain amount of self realization however, that we are sinful, and that we are incapable of achieving the standard of absolute perfection that only the Lord has done. So, if there was any room for self knowledge, self knowledge only serves us as far as "I can not do it, I need Jesus". The law serves this purpose coupled with our own experience. The law sets the mark, and our experience will show us, when we are honest, that we miss the mark again and again. However, I want to look a little further into our situation (if there is any further to look). If we agree that we are flawed and helpless within our own means, what does it look like to fully walk in the spirit and not in the flesh? Must we wait until the resurrection? What is going on here? Why is it, in my completely saved position, that “what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do?”

I do not believe that salvation can be lost. I think that to loose it would imply control over the situation, and that control would negate any need for the cross in the first place. In fact, I don’t know about coming to the Lord, I think He comes to us. Basically, I don’t see our part in anything. However, Paul seemingly speaks to our part directly in the Epistles. My view of no control can leave me a little confused at times, where we are asked to exercise self control and yet we hold a position as “slaves to sin”. Paul says: “Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.” I do not base my salvation on my actions, but I do wonder why Paul describes this position of slavery to righteousness. I believe we are spiritually what we are not physically and things are not as they appear. We are spiritually full in Christ and therefore fully perfect in him, yet we are physically in the world. So, while I accept that the Lord has taken care of all for all time (“It is finished”- from the cross), I still see the force of sin working in my life. Paul says “thanks be to God that, though you used to be slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were entrusted.” (Rom). I see the form of teaching as this: “In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.” (Eph).

Someone once told me that "Because of Jesus, the requirement is not a perfect life, which, for all intensive purposes, would look like walking in the spirit fully and completely.” I agree with this. I also believe the Lord does it all and any morally right actions are a result of the works of the Lord through us. But, what about when Paul says things like: “Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the [people committing a list of sins] will inherit the kingdom of God. And that is what some of you were.”(Cor). Does this not apply to believers? Does this mean that once we were these things (sinful) but now in Christ we no longer are, even if the behavior is still exhibited? Is it that something more fundamental has changed, but if it has why do we not see it coming out from the core of our being and flowing into our behavior? I know we are covered by the blood, but shouldn’t the power of the Holy Spirit be enough to work this sin out of our lives in the here and now? To me the big question of Christianity is: "We are saved- what now?"

Here's a brief selection from an email I sent to Wendy today. The context is my own thoughts about being health-conscious.

That's cool and all, but I was struck by a frustrating irony. I read the Abs Diet book for about an hour last night, taking notes and designing my workout. That's good, right? Well, yeah, except that I'd just finished delivering a sermon about human excellence and PRIORITIES. I actually woke up this morning thinking about the Abs Diet--not about how I could love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength. Still, through some combination of factors, I am in a really good mood, and that has led to my being fairly loving toward my students, so that's a plus.

This was Wendy's wise reply:

About priorities, I'll reiterate something we've said before, and that is that feeling tension between your fleshly self and your spiritual self is a good thing. Yay that it even occurred to you that something might be in danger of becoming too much of a priority.

That said, it doesn't seem to me that it _has_ become too much of a priority. As long as your health prospects (and any other prospects you have) can contribute to your ultimate goal of living for God, then do your best at those prospects. Maybe a way to make sure they're not getting in the way is to pray earnestly that they will somehow bring glory to God. It may seem like a trite sort of prayer because you're asking for something so seemingly unspecific, but on the contrary, I think it's an important one and one that is unspecific because we really can't know how God would be willing to answer it. All of this is to say that we can trust God to help us make good out of our earthly decisions. Does that make any sense?

Do you guys have any thoughts about earthly priorities and where they fit into a Christian's life? To address Michael's post--if one is a lawyer, how much effort/energy should one devote to being a lawyer? Is it even right to care about one's weight, re: Matt 6:25? It may be that this is a discussion that has come up before, perhaps even often before, but it's one that continues to confuse me. Please feel free to comment, or bring your thoughts to house church tomorrow night--Blur has promised to be especially loud.