Attitude Adjustment

Thoughts on the Sabbath School lesson dated 12.2.11

If someone asked you to explain the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant in the Bible, could you?  I would have a really hard time, but with a lot of help from the Holy Spirit, I’m going to try.  Hold on to your seats.

I’ve always heard that the old covenant was grounded in salvation by keeping the law, while the new covenant was all about faith.  That always made me vaguely uncomfortable.  Why would a God who never changes, change the rules in the middle of the game?  Especially when the rule change seemed to be in our favor…what about all those folks who came before?  That just didn’t seem fair. 

I think I’ve learned something very important recently, though.  I think that the old and new covenants didn’t change the way God deals with us, but the way we deal with Him.

 

Hang on, let me explain – Abraham and Sarah’s story can illustrate both attitudes.  When Sarah and Abraham decided to help God by having a son through Hagar, they were living by the old covenant.  When they trusted God to keep His promise to them, they were under the new covenant.  God had not changed; they had.

“When I started a new church in Los Angeles County, California, I found that I was overwhelmed with pressure and stress. I was working more than seventy hours a week. My wife would ask me to take a day off, and I would say, ‘I can't.’ I wasn't sleeping at night, and I started to take sleeping pills. When the church was about a year old, I woke up in the night, and I had this strange sense that God was laughing at me. As I lay in bed, I wondered, Why is God laughing at me?
“It would take five years before I finally got an answer to that question. Here's how it happened: when we moved into our current house, I saved the heaviest piece of furniture for last—the desk from my office. As I was pushing and pulling the desk with all my might, my four-year-old son came over and asked if he could help. So together we started sliding it across the floor. He was pushing and grunting as we inched our way along. After a few minutes, my son stopped pushing, looked up at me, and said, ‘Dad, you're in my way.’ And then he tried to push the desk by himself. Of course it didn't budge. Then I realized that he thought he was actually doing all the work, instead of me. I couldn't help but laugh.
“The moment I started laughing at my son's comment, I recalled that middle-of-the-night incident and I realized why God was laughing at me. I thought I was pushing the desk. I know that's ridiculous, but instead of recognizing God's power and strength, I started to think it all depended on me.”[1]

That’s why Israel carried God’s covenant with them like it was such a burden; they believed that keeping the law was all about them. God intended the covenant to be a joy and a privilege pointing to the promise of salvation and the debt being paid by His Son.

“If we could be saved through our works, there would have been no need for the law or the sacrificial system, which pointed to Christ’s atoning sacrifice. The law is a ‘shadow of the good things that are coming’ (Heb. 10:1, NIV), but it could not save in Moses’ time, and it cannot save now.
“If an animal sacrifice could really make the people perfect, then there would have been no need for Jesus’ sacrifice. But “‘“sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings [God] did not desire”’” (Heb. 10:8, NIV). So Jesus came to earth to do His Father’s will (Heb. 10:9). Jesus was sent to do what the law and sacrifices were too weak to do.”[2]

That makes so much more sense to me.  Doesn’t it to you?

Check out this scene from the movie Get Low. It takes place in the 1930s in Tennessee.  An old hermit, Felix Bush (Robert Duvall), wants to throw his own funeral party while he was still alive. Felix visits the Rev. Gus Horton to get his help arranging his funeral.

Bush puts a wad of cash in front of the pastor, and says,

"‘It's time for me to get low.’ When Rev. Horton asks what he means by that, Felix replies, ‘Down to business. I need a funeral.’ When the pastor asks who the funeral is for, Felix says, ‘Me.’
“Rev. Horton is bewildered by the request, but Felix presses forward, asking, ‘Well, what would you say [about me]?’
“‘Oh, eulogy. Well, ah, I don't know. What would you want me to say?’
“‘Say what you'd say right now to my face.’ Felix replies sternly.
“‘Mr. Bush, I don't know much about you,’ the reverend responds. ‘I've heard stories, but …’
“‘What stories?’ asks Felix.
“‘Stories, you know. People talk,’ replies the reverend.
“‘What kind of stories?’ Felix asks.
“‘Well sir,’ the reverend answers, ‘my mother used to say that gossip is the devil's radio. What matters is when you come to the end of your life that you're ready for the next one. Now, have you made peace with God, sir?’
“‘I paid,’ replies Felix.
“By ‘I paid’ Felix means he has spent most of his adult life trying to atone for his sins. … Now forty years later, after his long self-atonement project, he hopes that he's finally paid his debt.
“But Rev. Horton wisely disagrees with Felix. ‘Mr. Bush,’ he replies firmly, ‘you can't buy forgiveness. It's free, but you do have to ask for it.’
“With that, Felix reaches and picks up the wad of cash and stomps out of the church.”[3]

Isn’t that really sad?  We would rather torture ourselves to earn our own salvation than to just ask for forgiveness.  That’s what living under the law is.  From the instant that Adam and Eve sinned, God promised them salvation by faith in Jesus Christ – period.

God never told Abraham that if he worked hard enough and never made any mistakes, that He would make him the father of many nations.  God just asked Abraham to trust Him, and “Abram believed the LORD, and he credited it to him as righteousness.”  Genesis 15:6

“As Scripture says, ‘Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.’  For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, for, ‘Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’”  Romans 10:11-13

[1] Adapted from Kyle Idleman, Not a Fan (Zondervan, 2011), pp. 96-97

[2] Dan Solis, associate pastor, Village Seventh-day Adventist Church, “Lesson 10 The Two Covenants,” The Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide

[3] Get Low (Sony Pictures, 2009), Directed by Aaron Schneider, Scene 2; submitted by Van Morris, Mt. Washington, Kentucky

Flavored or Filled?

Thoughts on the Sabbath School Lesson dated 11.26.11

“[The label on the bottle said:] 'Blueberry Pomegranate, 100 percent juice, all natural.'  [There was also a picture of] a ripe pomegranate [spilling] its exotic, glistening seeds onto mounds of fat, perfect blueberries. …
“And then I read the ingredients list: ‘Filtered water, pear juice concentrate, apple juice concentrate, grape juice concentrate.’ Where was the blueberry? Where was the pomegranate? Finally I found them, fifth and seventh on a list of nine ingredients, after mysteriously unspecified ‘natural flavors.’
“By law, food ingredients are listed in descending order of weight. That means a product contains the greatest proportion of the first ingredient on the list and successively less of those farther down. So according to this list, the jug in my hand held mostly water and other juices, with just enough blueberry and pomegranate for flavor and color.
“In the bottom corner of the front label, in small, easy-to-miss type, were the tell-tale words: ‘Flavored juice blend with other natural ingredients.’ The enticing pictures and clever labeling were decoys to sell a diluted, blueberry-pomegranate flavored product, convincingly disguised to look like something it wasn't. I put the juice back on the shelf.
“I left the store empty-handed and wondering, What if I had an ingredients list printed on me? Would Jesus be the main ingredient? If not, how far down the list would he be? Would my ‘label’ accurately represent my contents? Or would I falsely project a misleading outward appearance that cleverly masked diluted ingredients? My packaging may be convincing. I may look and sound like the real thing. But what if someone came to me looking for Jesus beneath my ‘Christian’ label and found something else? Something Jesus-flavored, but not Jesus-filled? …”[1]

When Paul wrote to the Galatians, he begged them to be Christ-filled. Being Christ-filled is the antidote for being led into legalism by false teachers.  Legalism is being Christ-flavored: looking, smelling and maybe even tasting like Christ, but lacking that One Essential Ingredient – Jesus.

It’s interesting that if you ask a bunch of people if they are Christians, chances are good that they’ll say yes, but in some cases, they haven’t really made a full commitment to Jesus.  They want to be associated with Christianity but don’t really want to change their lives.

Steve Sample, president of the University of Southern California, offers this illustration:

“In the spring of 1970, when I was 29, I learned I had won a fellowship from the American Council on Education, which would allow me to serve an administrative internship with Purdue University President Fred Hovde for the 1970–71 academic year. I was elated by the opportunity. Despite having only recently been awarded tenure and promoted to associate professor of electrical engineering at Purdue, I was already leaning toward a career in administration….
“Soon after the award was announced, I happened to bump into a colleague, Vern Newhouse, who was a highly respected senior member of the electrical engineering faculty. ‘So, Sample,’ Newhouse said, ‘I see you've won some sort of administrative fellowship in the president's office.
“‘Yes, that's true,’ I said.
“‘And you'll be learning how to become an administrator?’
“‘I suppose so.’
“‘And then you'll probably want to be president of a university somewhere down the road?’
“‘Well, I don't know. I guess I've thought about it now and then,’ I said, somewhat disingenuously.
“He smiled and said: ‘Personally, I've never had any ambition whatsoever to be an administrator. I am totally inept at managing things…. But I've been a careful observer of ambitious men all my life. And here, for what it's worth, is what I've learned: many men want to be president, but very few want to do president.’ And with that he wished me well and walked away.”[2]

It’s so easy to slip away, isn’t it?  We want to be Christian, but we don’t necessarily want to do Christian.  It’s a moment by moment commitment, and if someone comes along and tells us there’s an easier way, our instinct is to jump at it.

 We want the benefits without the hard work so we listen to the folks who say that following Jesus is as easy as checking off the boxes on a list of do’s and don’ts.  That’s what the false teachers were telling the Galatians – that relationship was nothing, following the rules was the way to go.  Paul is using every argument to convince them of the truth.

“Tell me, you who want to be under the law, are you not aware of what the law says? For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman and the other by the free woman. His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh, but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.”  Galatians 4:21-23

In other words, “Come on people, you know better!  Where are you getting your information?”

Can you imagine how frustrating it must have been for Paul? This group of people that he felt like he practically had given birth to, had started placing greater value on their behavior than on their identity in Christ.  And that was because of where they were getting their information.

“My eight-year-old embraces some interesting sources of truth. We were coming home from the grocery store recently when he asked, ‘Dad, do you believe in the Bermuda Triangle?’
“‘Jack,’ I replied, ‘if you're asking me if I believe that this place exists, my answer is yes. If you're asking me if I believe all the mysterious stories about ships and planes disappearing, no: I think that's all baloney.’
“‘Well, Dad,’ Jack said with a note of defensiveness, ‘I believe in it. And I bet you want to know why.’
“‘Yes, Jack. I do.’
“‘Well, I was watching Scooby Doo …’”[3]

Where are we getting our information?  Someone who wants to convince us of the easy way?  or someone who tells us the truth?  Someone who agonizes over our salvation as though it were his own – Christ-flavored or Christ-filled?

---

[1] Erin Bunting, "Jesus Flavored, or Jesus Filled?" Kyria.com (10-7-09)

[2] Steve Sample, The Contrarian's Guide to Leadership (Jossey-Bass, 2002), pp. 159-160

[3] David Slagle, Atlanta, Georgia

Mirror? Mirror!

Thoughts on the Sabbath School Lesson dated  11.5.11

Have you ever seen someone and found yourself thinking, “Did he (she) look in the mirror before he left the house?”  Ok, I know it’s wrong to judge people by the way they look, but sometimes I have to wonder…

 Anyway, the reason I thought of that was that I’ve heard/read some folks describe “the Law” as a kind of mirror.  A mirror can show us what we look like; it can show us if we have a piece of broccoli in our teeth or smudged mascara, but it can’t do anything about it.  The Law can’t save us, but it can show us our need for Jesus.

I’ve also seen the law compared to a microscope and to a light on a windshield.

“On a warm, summer night, my wife and I were traveling in our car with Micah, our 3-year-old son, who sat in the back seat. After many miles of driving in the darkness, we came to a stop in a remote area. The brightness of the traffic light revealed all of the dirt, dead bugs, and insects on our windshield. Micah said, ‘Look, how dirty!’
“My wife and I didn't think much of his comment until a moment later when we drove on—away from the light and back into the darkness. Upon reentering the darkness, we could no longer see the mess on our windshield, and Micah quickly piped up and said, ‘Now the glass is clean!’
“Before the law came, the dirt within us hid under the darkness. But when God gave the law, its light shined on the windshield of our hearts and revealed the filth of sin we'd collected on our journey. The law, then, is a light that shows us how sinful we really are. It cannot cleanse us or make us whole. But it does starkly highlight the true situation of our souls—and thus can lead us to Christ.”[1]

I love the way D.L. Moody said it: 

“Law tells me how crooked I am; grace comes along and straightens me out.”[2]  

Isn’t that great?  I really like that.

As simple as that is to say, the relationship between law and grace can really give us fits sometimes.  I’m surprised at just how much I take “justification by faith” for granted.  But then I’ll hear somebody say something like Mohammad Ali said in a Reader’s Digest article.  

"One day we're all going to die, and God is going to judge us—[our] good deeds and bad deeds. If the bad outweighs the good, you go to hell. If the good outweighs the bad, you go to heaven."[3]

The idea that we can earn our way to heaven is shockingly prevalent in Christianity, the one place where it has absolutely no business!

“In What's So Amazing about Grace, Philip Yancey recounts this story about C.S. Lewis:
“During a British conference on comparative religions, experts from around the world debated what, if any, belief was unique to the Christian faith.
“They began eliminating possibilities. Incarnation? Other religions had different versions of gods appearing in human form. Resurrection? Again, other religions had accounts of return from death.
“The debate went on for some time until C.S. Lewis wandered into the room. ‘What's the rumpus about?’ he asked, and heard in reply that his colleagues were discussing Christianity's unique contribution among world religions. Lewis responded, ‘Oh, that's easy. It's grace.’ “After some discussion, the conferees had to agree.
“The notion of God's love coming to us free of charge, no strings attached, seems to go against every instinct of humanity. The Buddhist eight-fold path, the Hindu doctrine of Karma, … , and Muslim code of law—each of these offers a way to earn approval. Only Christianity dares to make God's love unconditional.”[4]

So, how does it happen that we wander off into legalism so often when, if you think about it, living under grace is so much easier?  I mean, most of the time, we choose the path of least resistance, but when it comes to Salvation, we try to slog through the hard way…what’s up with that?

Talk about doing it the hard way, check this out: 

“It's amazing what some people will do to be spiritual. On September 18, 2003, Genshin Fujinami, 44, a Buddhist priest nicknamed the ‘Marathon Monk,’ finished a seven-year, 24,800-mile journey in the Hiei Mountains of Japan. It was intended to be a trek to enlightenment.

“Once a monk starts this journey he must finish or kill himself. According to an Associated Press article, for the first three years the pilgrim must rise at midnight for 100 consecutive days to pray and run 18 miles per day, stopping 250 times to pray along the way. During the next two years, he must up his schedule to 200 days. In the fifth year the pilgrim must sit and chant mantras for nine days without food, water, or sleep in a trial called doiri, or ‘entering the temple.’ In the sixth year, he must walk 37.5 miles every day for 100 days. In the seventh year, he must run 52.5 miles for 100 days, 18 miles for another 100 days, and then complete a 234-mile trek back to his home base.”[5]

It’s really easy for us to read that and shake our heads because we know that even a ritual that extreme will not earn anybody a spot in Heaven.

“Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: ‘All nations will be blessed through you.’  So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.  For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.’ Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because ‘the righteous will live by faith.’  The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, ‘The person who does these things will live by them.’  Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.’  He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”  Galatians 3:8-14

Have you looked in “The Mirror” lately?  What do you see?  Are you covered with sin?  What will you do about it?

We all have a choice to make, the moment the Law shows us our sin.  We can either bash ourselves repeatedly with the Law, or we can turn our sins over to Jesus.  Which choice is less painful?  easier?   the only choice that leads to Salvation? 

“So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”  Galatians 3:26-29

---

[1] William Wimmer, pastor of Grace Chapel Church of God, Benton, Arkansas

[2] D.L. Moody, Christian History, no. 25.

[3] "Ali," Reader's Digest (December 2001), p. 93

[4] Philip Yancey, What’s So Amazing about Grace? (Zondervan, 1997), p.11

[5] 'Marathon Monk' Ends Seven Years on the Run, Chicago Tribune (9-20-03)

The Happiest Place on Earth

Thoughts on the Sabbath School lesson dated 10.29.2011

Where is the happiest place on earth?  I know a place that claims to be.  If you are a person of a certain age, you have grown up with the “knowledge” that the happiest place on earth is somewhere with the name Disney in the title.  If the advertising is to be believed, any place “Disney” is where people go to celebrate victories, for birthdays and anniversaries, for family reunions…or just because.  Just recently I have noticed that it’s a big deal to video the moment when someone learns he or she is going to some place Disney.  The person, adult or child, usually explodes with screams and/or dissolves into tears.  I guess I just don’t get it.  I went to Disneyland and, well, just never felt the magic, I guess.

Anyway, Disney[fill in the blank] is supposed to be the happiest place on earth; so happy, in fact, that Disney designed a town based on “Disney values.” 

“It was supposed to be the ‘perfect’ town. After all, it was planned by Disney itself. The town of Celebration, Florida, a 16-acre utopian community just ten minutes from Walt Disney World, was developed in order to promote ‘Disney values.’ Disney designed the buildings, as well as its education and health policies. Most homes look identical, even with the same plants in the front garden. During winter evenings, the town even gets a gentle dusting of artificial snow every hour on the hour. (If you're familiar with the movie The Truman Show, you probably get the idea).”[1]

Okay, so my question is, what exactly are “Disney values?”  Where does a person learn what they are – by watching Disney movies?  Are they written down anywhere?  Are they concrete enough to live by?  Well, I’m thinking not, because the article quoted above, goes on:

“But this carefully planned, picture-perfect world was shattered in 2010 by two violent deaths: a murder and a suicide. Matteo Giovanditto, aged 58, was the victim of the town's first murder. Just three days later, Craig Foushee, distraught over his impending divorce and bankruptcy, barricaded himself in his home and started firing shots. After a tense standoff with authorities, Mr. Foushee eventually shot and killed himself.”[2]

Heartbreaking!  I can understand wanting to live in a perfect place, with perfect weather and perfect people, but we live on a fallen planet with sinful people.  We can pretend that it snows politely in Florida, but can we pretend that highly impolite hurricanes don’t hit Florida from time to time?  Can we pretend that tragic things don’t happen?

That’s kind of like trying to save ourselves through our own works.  We might be able to fool ourselves for a little while, but eventually most of us are going to have to admit that we’re fighting a losing battle.  We can’t pretend that we’re perfect, forever.  

Paul had to get pretty harsh with the church members in Galatia because they had forgotten that faith in Jesus was their only hope for justification.

“You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? … For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.’ Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because ‘the righteous will live by faith.’ … Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: ‘Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.’ He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.”  Galatians 13:1-3,10-11,13-15

Paul pointed to Abraham quite a bit; whenever he wants his readers to understand what real faith is, Paul mentions Abraham.  Why do you think that is? 

I think it’s because Abraham didn’t give up on God.  That sounds strange, but we know that God would never have given up on Abraham.  So many times through Abraham’s lifetime, he could have said, “You know what, God; this just isn’t working for me.  I’m done.” 

Abraham could have refused to move away from his family’s land in the first place or given up on the promise of a son, or walked away when God asked him to sacrifice that son.  Abraham could have walked away from God at any time, but he didn’t.  He kept on believing when the believing seemed impossible. 

“By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.  And by faith even Sarah, who was past childbearing age, was enabled to bear children because she considered him faithful who had made the promise. And so from this one man, and he as good as dead, came descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as countless as the sand on the seashore.
“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth.”  Hebrews 11:8-13 

Abraham (along with everybody else listed in Hebrews 11) knew something we all need to learn about what real happiness, joy, success, wealth, peace, and salvation come from.  Those things don’t come by pretending life is just a Disney-esque adventure with scheduled snowfall and assured of a happy ending.  Those things only come when we have learned to walk and talk with our Savior and Redeemer.

“It was no light test that was thus brought upon Abraham, no small sacrifice that was required of him. There were strong ties to bind him to his country, his kindred, and his home. But he did not hesitate to obey the call. He had no question to ask concerning the land of promise—whether the soil was fertile and the climate healthful; whether the country afforded agreeable surroundings and would afford opportunities for amassing wealth. God has spoken, and His servant must obey; the happiest place on earth for him was the place where God would have him to be.”[3]

---

[1] Matt Woodley, managing editor, PreachingToday.com; sources: Mark Mynell, "Quaerentia," (12-7-10); Jon Swaine, "Murder and suicide in Celebration, the perfect town built by Disney," The Telegraph, (12-3-10)

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ellen G. White, Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 126

Oh, What You Said!

It’s not a four letter word, but it’s a word we, especially Americans, extra-especially Texans, really, really hate… Can you guess what word it is?  OK, I’ll tell you, but you’ve got to promise not to get too upset… Are you sitting down?  Submission – ummm, I’m telling!

So, it’s not a bad word, but it’s a word most of us aren’t comfortable with.  Folks get all excited when somebody starts talking about how one group of people needs to submit to another group of people.  Somebody will make a comment about the text in the Bible that says that wives should submit to their husbands (“Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.” Ephesians 5:24NIV) and people just start going off the deep end all over the place!  Have you ever noticed that?  Why do you think that is?

Some folks would say that we have come so far as a race/species that we are self-sufficient and don’t need to-and shouldn’t-submit to anyone.  The problem with that argument is that the first two people on earth had problems being submissive right off the bat.  So did at least one of their children.  In fact, it goes back even farther than that, doesn’t it?  Lucifer had issues with submitting to authority, and he makes sure that we do to.

What does it mean to submit to someone?  When most of us think of a definition, we go straight to the most negative definition, “abjectly submissive; characteristic of a slave or servant; ‘slavish devotion to her job ruled her life’; ‘a slavish yes-man to the party bosses’- ‘she has become submissive and subservient’ [syn: slavish] “  submissive. (n.d.). WordNet® 3.0. Retrieved July 06, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/submissive

I don’t know about you, but the thought of being slavish doesn’t sound like much fun to me.  We certainly don’t want to consider ourselves slaves.  Only weaklings submit their will to anyone else, right?  But look what the Bible says in Romans 8:6-8: “The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace; the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God's law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.” NIV

Well, that definitely puts a different spin on the whole idea. Those verses make it sound like we cannot please God unless we submit to Him.  In fact, Mrs. White goes beyond that:

“I know that human beings suffer much because they step out of the path that God has chosen for them to follow. They walk in the sparks of the fire they have kindled themselves, and the sure result is affliction, unrest, and sorrow, which they might have avoided if they had submitted their will to God and had permitted Him to control their ways. God sees that it is necessary to oppose our will and our way, and bring our human will into subjection.
“Whatever path God chooses for us, whatever way He ordains for our feet, that is the only path of safety. We are daily to cherish a spirit of childlike submission, and pray that our eyes may be anointed with the heavenly eyesalve in order that we may discern the indications of the divine will, lest we become confused in our ideas, because our will seems to be all-controlling. With the eye of faith, with childlike submission as obedient children, we must look to God, to follow His guidance, and difficulties will clear away. The promise is, "I will instruct thee and teach thee . . . : I will guide thee with mine eye" (Ps. 32:8). . . .
“If we come to God in a humble and teachable spirit, not with our plans all formed before we ask Him, and shaped according to our own will, but in submission, in willingness to be taught, in faith, it is our privilege to claim the promise every hour of the day. We may distrust ourselves, and we need to guard against our own inclinations and strong tendencies lest we shall follow our mind and plans and think it is the way of the Lord. . . .
“Our heavenly Father is our Ruler, and we must submit to His discipline. We are members of His family. He has a right to our service, and if one of the members of His family would persist in having his own way, persist in doing just that which he pleased, that spirit would bring about a disordered and perplexing state of things. We must not study to have our own way, but God's way and God's will.” That I May Know Him 249}

So, we can’t please God without submissive hearts and spirits, but we can’t even please ourselves.

Abraham and Sarah are given as examples of that kind of submission.  And just so we don’t get discouraged right away, Abraham and Sarah also are examples of what can happen when we get impatient and don’t submit ourselves to God. 

I think we’re mostly comfortable with those pictures of submission.  In theory, we agree that we need to submit to God’s will in our lives, and when we take things into our own hands, they usually don’t go so well.

But there’s something else in that story that becomes very uncomfortable for us (well, for me anyway) to think about.  It’s that pesky idea of one person submitting to another person.  I’m not just talking about wives to husbands, because as I read it, everybody gets the same message at some point or another.  Uh-huh, I saw that eye-roll.  You aren’t any more comfortable with it than I am.

In Ephesians 5:22-33; 6:1-9; Romans 13:1-5; Colossians 3:18-22 and, most simply, Ephesians 5:21 (“Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.”) we read that God wants us to submit to each other.  So, if we want to submit to God, we have to also submit to humans.  How far do you think we have to take that, do you think?

When we think about the husband/wife or parent/child relationships, we can kind of go along with those, right?  At least in those situations we can usually count on the positive feelings from the people we’re submitting to.  And we know that God wants what’s best.  But those verses don’t stop there. 

“Slaves, obey your earthly masters with respect and fear, and with sincerity of heart, just as you would obey Christ. Obey them not only to win their favor when their eye is on you, but like slaves of Christ, doing the will of God from your heart. Serve wholeheartedly, as if you were serving the Lord, not men, because you know that the Lord will reward everyone for whatever good he does, whether he is slave or free.” Ephesians 6:5-9 NIV

Slaves?  Slaves?  We’re not slaves.  Those verses were written for another time and place.  They aren’t talking about us.  Are they?

Well, no, but I think these verses have some very important things to say about the spirit of submission that can be applied in all the other areas. 

Be honest with yourself now, how often have you (me too) done a task just well enough to slide by, or only tried to look busy when your boss was walking through?  Is that the kind of submission God wants?  ‘Fraid not.  Your boss doesn’t want it either.

And what about when you believe your boss/husband/parent is wrong?  Not going against God in anyway, but just wrong…do you have to submit then?

Think about Sarah’s life with Abraham.  We don’t think much about her part of this adventure.  Can you imagine your husband walking in and saying to you, “Morning dear, we’re moving.”

“Where?”

“Don’t know.”

And your response would be…?  Would you submit at that point?  Or would you have some opinions to share before you started packing?

What about later when Abraham told the pharaoh that Sarah was his sister.  Maybe the first time, we would have played along without any discussion, but what about the second time?  What do you think that discussion might have sounded like in your family?

I don’t believe that Sarah was a passive, weak, dependent person; I do believe that after giving her thoughts she submitted to Abraham’s will.  She trusted God enough to be able to trust Abraham.  Just like Isaac trusted God enough to trust Abraham on Mount Moriah.

“We shall see the salvation of God if we trust in God in the darkness as well as in the light.
“All trials, all afflictions, all peace, all safety, health, hope, life, and success are in God's hands, and He can control them all for the good of His children. It is our privilege to be suppliants, to ask anything and everything of God, submitting our request in submission to His wise purposes and infinite will.” E.G.White, Our High Calling 318

Judged by Works -- Saved by Faith

Does that statement come across as completely against what you’ve always believed?  Well, not the saved by faith part, but the judged by works part…I mean, we’ve heard all of our lives that it’s not about works.  It’s all about faith, right?  So when I read this headline in the quarterly, I was definitely temporarily stunned.  But only temporarily.

The author of the lesson draws the perfect circle in explanation:

    “That we are judged by works doesn’t mean that we are saved by them; we are saved, instead, only through the righteousness of Jesus, which is credited to us by faith, a faith that is always manifested by works.”

Wow! Isn’t that an amazing explanation?  It’s the circle of life eternal!

These days, judgment is not a politically correct idea.  Nobody’s supposed to be judged at anytime for anything.  (I’m not talking about people judging people, here.)  I’ll bet you’ve talked to someone who believes the “once saved, always saved” doctrine.  That’s kind of a judgment free theory.  No matter how you try to explain that the natural product of salvation is works, that person claims that you are living “under the law” and being legalistic.  In his explanation, no matter what a person does once he’s saved, he cannot be lost…there is not unpardonable sin—once a person is saved.

James would beg to differ.  Read James 2:14-26:

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."  Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.  You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder.  You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. And the scripture was fulfilled that says, "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness," and he was called God's friend. You see that a person is justified by what he does and not by faith alone.  In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction? As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.

That’s a really long text, I know, but each time I read through it to make it shorter, I couldn’t find anything that was less important and could be left out.  Look also at Matthew 12:36,

 “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken.”  

Does that sound like the things we do don’t count?  God is going to keep track of every word we say, and if He can keep track of every hair on every person’s head, I’m pretty sure He won’t miss anything.

Oh my, when I think about all the things I’ve thought and said and done, that I shouldn’t have…well, it’s overwhelming!  So how can I ever declare myself saved if I’m being judged by my words and deeds?   That’s where faith comes in.  PRAISE GOD!!!  When we accept Jesus’ sacrifice for us, by faith, God sees His words and deeds, not yours or mine.

Our actions don’t save us, but our salvation shows through our actions.  What if someone that you cared about told you everyday that he (or she) loved you, but then went around town telling people that you were a control freak who never let him do anything he wanted to do.  Would you believe it when that person told you he loved you?  Or, what about this, the person told everyone he met how much he loved you, but when you needed his help, he couldn’t be bothered to stop with his everyday business to help you.  Again, would you believe it when he said he loved you?  I think that’s a lot like accepting the invitation to the wedding feast, but not accepting the conditions (putting on the wedding garment).  Are we accepting God’s invitation and then refusing to wear Christ’s righteousness?  The Bible tells us that our righteousness is like filthy rags, but still we cling to those rags like they were material made of golden thread.  If we insist on presenting our own righteousness to God, we are doomed.  The only thing we have to DO to be saved, is let Jesus dress us in His own beautiful clothes.

Then, we will want to show everyone how much we love the One who died to save us through our words, actions and thoughts.

“By faith Abraham…”

I’ve thought a lot about Abram/Abraham. He is an amazing man of God. Think about him for a minute. Can you imagine leaving your family, your friends and your livelihood on the strength of a…of a what? See, that’s my problem right there. The Bible says that God appeared to Abram and told him to leave everything he knew. Well, for the most part, I know that people don’t see God these days, but I hear people say pretty often that God has told them to do this or that thing. If you ask these people if they heard an actual voice, they will say they didn’t hear an audible voice (because we have medication for people who hear voices that nobody else hears, right?). These people will say that they had an impression or a thought and they knew it was “God’s Voice”. My question is, “How did they know?”

OK, OK, I know, if the impression is to buy a lunch for the homeless guy on the corner or to sponsor a missionary trip, that makes total sense. But what do you do when that impression is to quit your job? or sell your house and move into a trailer? or anything else that doesn’t seem to make sense? How do I know that it’s God telling me to do that thing? Maybe I’ve just lost my mind.

I have to say that, in retrospect, I have seen God’s leading in my life. But, while I’m in the midst of day-to-day life, I can’t say that I feel with any certainty God is leading in my life. I’m not saying that I don’t KNOW with every fiber of my being that He’s there; I believe that He is always with me and leading me. But sometimes I don’t feel it, and sometimes, I’m not sure that I’m following His leading. And that’s my point. How do I know that I am doing what God wants me to do?

Some of you will remember the slogan of the ‘70’s – “If it feels good, do it!” I hear people who apply that theory to finding the will of God. You’ll know that you are walking with God when your path opens up, and it’s clear sailing. There are others who say just the opposite: If you run into one roadblock after another, you must be in God’s will because Satan is trying to side track you. So…which is it?

Last May, my family and I planned a trip to go visit my brother and his family up near Ft. Worth for Memorial Day. My son was going to preach in my brother’s church. In preparation, I took my car in to be checked over for the trip. The mechanic calls and says that there is something major wrong, but he can’t figure it out. The car was all taken apart and wouldn’t be ready in time for our trip. We decided to rent an SUV and go on with the trip. Thursday afternoon, I picked up the car. It was soooo nice!

We were leaving on Friday afternoon. I needed to do a bunch of stuff before we left, so I was out running errands in the morning. One of the first things I did was to take some stuff here to the church so that it would be there for Sabbath. I pulled up, grabbed the stuff and my church keys and ran into the building. I dropped the things I had brought, wrote a quick note, and ran back to the car…only to find the driver’s side window bashed in and my purse gone. A lot of you have probably had similar experiences and can remember that initial feeling of complete and total disbelief. Followed almost immediately anger, frustration and panic… I know, guys, that doesn’t seem such a big deal, but my purse was BRAND NEW!! No, really, the actual purse was the least of my worries. I carry everything in my purse – checkbook, credit cards, cell phone, cash (thankfully not much), my social security card and both of my sons’ cards as well, my medication, spare car keys, library cards, and, horror of horrors, my make-up!

The point of this whole story is that my first thought was, “God doesn’t want us to take this trip.” And my second thought was, “Satan doesn’t want us to take this trip.” Or, maybe it was neither. Maybe, it was just one of those random happenings with no cosmic importance attached to it.

So, where does that leave us on the big decisions like jobs, houses, and marriage? I’ve met people who have prayed for help and wisdom and received amazing answers to their prayers. They’ve asked for a sign and received an unmistakable, undeniable sign from God. Others have turned to the Bible and God has led them to the exact scripture that they need to read at that moment. What a blessing! I have to admit that I can’t think of any times that I have experienced such concrete information. And, as I think of it, I think that finding the will of God is more of a relationship issue than anything else. What I mean is, I can’t go along following my own way until I think I need God’s help. I can open my Bible over and over again, and I can read a bunch of verses/chapters, but I don’t think my answer will be there. Especially if I haven’t been reading my Bible every day to begin with.

Abraham had that kind of relationship with God. He left everything he knew because God asked him to. He didn’t even know where God was taking him! Abraham knew the sound of God’s voice (whether or not it was audible to anyone else). Even so, Abraham had a couple of fairly significant lapses of faith. Even though he talked to God, he struggled like we do. Abraham walked with God step by step, every minute of everyday, and he still made mistakes and had crises of faith. That gives me so much hope.

I want to learn to recognize the sound of God’s voice in my heart. I want to know His voice so well that whatever He asks of me, I will do it – without question. I want to recognize God’s leading in every situation, and not get God’s directions mixed up with Satan’s misdirections.

God and Abraham

I heard a speaker who was pretty tough on Abraham for doubting God when God told him he was going to be the father of many nations. I don’t know if I can be that hard on Abraham. I mean, it was really a case of, “Who are ya gonna believe, me or your own eyes?” Right? Abraham knew the earthly reality of the situation: Sarah was just plain too old to have kids! I think he wanted to believe what God told him, but he could only get as far as his human brain would take him. He forgot that God doesn’t have to color inside the lines. Very simply, Abraham limited God, and in doing so, cost himself and Sarah a lot of happiness, not to mention, the world a lot of peace!

Do you ever think about that? All the problems in the Middle East, even the 9/11 attack, can be traced back to Abraham and Sarah trying to help God keep His promise for a son. Did God need their help? Does God need our help to keep His promises to us? I have a hard time with that…I want to help! I want to speed things up! So I run out in front of God and smack into a brick wall. One of these days, I’m going to quit trying to help God give me what I think I need. But until then, I can read the story of Abraham and Sarah and be reassured that even when I lack the faith that God wants me to have, He still loves me. Even when I get out in front of Him and mess things up, He will keep His promise. In Abraham’s case, not only did God keep His promise, but He came and told Abraham face to face! Isn’t God wonderful?

God keeps all kinds of promises; the promises we like and the ones we don’t like so well. And this next part of Abraham’s story is about that other kind of promise.

Remember, Lot picked Sodom because it looked like the most comfortable part of the landscape. He did not want to have to work too hard. He wanted an easier life. And that got him in trouble. In Patriarchs and Prophets, Ellen White says that few things are more dangerous to the human heart and soul than a life where there is not want. “Idleness and riches make the heart hard that has never been oppressed by want or burdened by sorrow.” (p.156) She goes on to describe the people of Sodom:

There is nothing more desired among me than riches and leisure, and yet these gave birth to the sins that brought destruction upon the cities of the plain. Their useless, idle life made them a prey to Satan’s temptations, and they defaced the image of God, and became satanic rather than divine. Idleness is the greatest curse that can fall on man, for vice and crime follow in its train. It enfeebles the mind, perverts the understanding, and debases the soul. Satan lies in ambush, ready to destroy those who are unguarded, whose leisure gives him opportunity to insinuate himself under some attractive disguise. He is never more successful than when he comes to men in their idle hours. (pp.156-157)

Man, she could be describing people today! That’s the kind of people that Lot chose to live and raise his children with. I don’t believe Lot was a bad guy. I mean, he had lived with Abraham long enough to learn the right way to live and I think he tried to hang onto that as Sodom became more and more corrupt and evil all around him. Again, from Patriarchs and Prophets, I read that he was eager to protect the two strangers that came to warn him about Sodom’s destruction, even though he didn’t know who they really were or why they had come to Sodom. He had learned many of Abraham’s lessons. Those lessons may have been what made the difference between him being left to die in Sodom and being rescued by the angels.

Unfortunately, Lot’s children and wife were harder to convince. Maybe because they had not had the opportunity to learn directly from Abraham; maybe because Lot was not as good a teacher; but it may have been just the fact that their beliefs and convictions had been worn down by living in the middle of this sinful place. It just didn’t look that bad anymore. Remember the story of the frog? If you put a frog in boiling water, it will hop right out. But, if you put a frog in cool water and then slowly turn up the heat, he’ll stay right in the water and get cooked.

Lot’s older daughters didn’t want to leave their husbands. In fact, they laughed at their dad’s efforts to save them. His younger daughters and his wife didn’t want to leave their comfy house, their friends and their sisters/daughters. They wanted to stay where they were.

How much like them are we? We want to be saved, as long as it’s not too inconvenient for us. When I was in junior high, I remember praying that Jesus wouldn’t come back until I’d finished high school, and then in high school, I wanted Him to wait till I’d graduated from college. I wanted to go to heaven, but after I’d had my fun. Am I the only one who felt that way?

Thank goodness God saves us in spite of ourselves, like He did Lot and his family. The angels took them by the hand and literally pulled them away. Would Lot and his family have left without that extra pull? Probably not. Even so, they didn’t go far enough. They ended up in another evil little town. Mrs. Lot didn’t make it at all. Ellen White says,

“If Lot himself had manifested no hesitancy to obey the angels’ warning, but had earnestly fled toward the mountains, without one word of pleading or remonstrance, his wife also would have made her escape. The influence of his example would have saved her from the sin that sealed her doom.” Patriarchs & Prophets p 161

I want to set the right example for my family. What about you?