Chapter One - Stop Praying
Do you "know something is wrong?" Have you ever read the New Testament and wondered if we in the modern American church are "missing it"? What might be some things that are missing or different from what we read in the Bible?
Our first answer is "Yes" something is wrong. We have read the New Testament and that is how we ended up in a RV. Do we wonder if the modern American church is missing it? Well, yes but I don't think that is anything new. Even the original disciples "missed it". Our travels have allowed us to visit and experience MANY churches throughout the country. It seems that the common missing piece is the Bible itself. It was enlightening and disgusting how many churches do not actually teach the bible. My personal opinion is that we do not have churches filled with actual Christians but rather people who live out Diesm in the name of Christianity.
Have you ever been in total awe of God? When?
Yes, many times. From the clearest, bluest water off a remote island in Fiji, to the tallest bamboo on a secluded hike on Maui to the first time I saw each one of my babies faces for the first time but the most recent memory I have is driving in the night across Nebraska into the biggest, most orange moon that I didn't know was actually the moon until it got so big that it was bigger then the earth in that moment.
Do you believe that God and science are at odds or supportive of one another? Why?
This one I love because it lets me ramble about one of my favorite things, Apologetics. I absolutely believe God and science are supportive of each other because I know science IS God's. I have spent hours researching creation. I have spent hours researching science. The more time I spend in either place the more proof I find that they belong to each other, no questions, without a doubt. I believe that the reason for the big search of the origin of life is because God is so much bigger then our limited human minds. Time is linear and recordable to us. We, as humans, have to have a beginning and an end to everything we do. We, as humans, have a very difficult time with God being always, past, present and future without an established beginning to God himself. I don't think what we are searching for is the truth to the origin of creation but rather the search is for the beginning of God.
What do you think of A.W. Tozer's quote "What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us"? Do you agree with this quote?
Yes. I agree with it. And I agree with it because the words that flood a persons mind are descriptive. The descriptive words that enter a persons mind when we think about God actually tells us what we actually think about God. It reveals what we think we know about him. It reveals our opinion of him. It almost never reveals the truth of him.
What does it really mean when we say God is "holy"?
Well, as the previous question lined out for us, descriptive words start popping out which reveals exactly who I think God is. Complete, perfect, pure. Unattainable also sneaks in there. It used to mean to me a God who is unapproachable and militant. I used to have an illusive self-image and therefor an dis-illusioned image of God. When I learned about myself the same words show up but now they portray a different definition. Complete, perfect, pure, and unattainable now mean not like me. I am not unlike anyone else, I desire what I don't have. I do not have completeness, perfection, and purity and the only way to attain it is by God through Christ. I crave God and Jesus because they are those things.
Read Hebrews 4:13 aloud. God is all-knowing. How could that be comforting in some ways? How is that an uncomfortable truth for us?
Hebrews 4:13 "Nothing in all creation is hidden from God's sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account."
I find this comforting because unlike people, God cannot be disappointed in me. There is safety and comfort in that. He can be dis-pleased with me but not disappointed. Disappointment is a response to a result that revealed itself to be unfavorable. He already knows the result. However, it is an uncomfortable truth because I, like everyone, have made some moves that I wish would go away. You all reading this don't know what these moves are but God does. Thats embarrassing.
Read Colossians 1:16 aloud. Why do you personally believe people are here? Why are you here?
Colossians 1:16 "For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him"
Well, the first "Christian" answer to that is to glorify him. But I believe that any casual church attendee has that one in their arsenal. So what really is the question, "what is my purpose" or "how do I fit in to this equation"? It isn't about fitting in and finding our destiny. I think the question gets unnecessarily complicated. All I have to do is look at the last part of that verse, "by him and for him". Remember the story of creation? God enjoyed creating the things of this universe. He created it because he liked it. I think we were created like a piece of art that is relational and interactive for God to enjoy. As far as why I am here, well, to interact with God other then that only God knows. What I do know is that I am here and I don't have to be. I am here because God put me here and he didn't have to. I am here because he said so. That is where I understand what it means to glorify God, because he didn't have to put me here at all.
Read Daniel 4:35 aloud. Does God owe you an explanation? Why or why not?
Daniel 4:35 "All the peoples of the earth are regarded as nothing. He does as he pleases with the powers of heaven and the peoples of earth. No one can hold back his hand or say to him: 'what have you done?' ".
Does God owe me an explanation? Yeah...that would be a big no. Antagonistic to what popular culture would like to believe, we answer to God, he doesn't answer to us.
Has this chapter changed your view of God? If so, how?
Yes. Everyday that I immerse myself in scripture, godly companions or edifying tools like this book, I have my view of God changed. My understanding of God is progressive. When it isn't, then I have a problem. But specific to this chapter is the point on disappointment. That has taken me a long time to come to understand. Thank the Lord for his patience :)
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Saturday, December 18, 2010
The Fruit of the Spirit
The Fruit of the Spirit.
Galatians 5:22-26
“For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
A few years back I tried to be part of a bible study that was put on by the church I attended. It was on the Fruits of the Spirit and examining ourselves to see where we were lacking fruit in our lives. I did not finish it, in fact I didn’t get past the second chapter. I contribute that to my lack of interest at the time which was fueled by my complete immaturity. I didn’t believe that I needed many lessons on the Fruits of the Spirit. I have already taken the secular Meyers-Briggs personality tests. I knew where I shined and where I didn’t. What I was hearing was a lesson on how to be more (insert virtue of choice here) and how to create that in myself. I am pleased to say that I have grown out of that ditch and by maturity, issued by God himself, have come to a place of understanding. However, after all my learning, I still couldn’t understand (immature or not) why it was, that what I had heard, was that I could create any of these attributes in myself. Until I came across the mighty question of free-will. I can now see that I was being taught from a perspective of theology that supports a road map to salvation based on a persons ability to freely choose God. I no longer question the importance of the Fruits of the Spirit. But I also now fully understand the dynamic of the parties involved. When I was able to do that, I was able to see the power of the Spirit in these attributes, but only after I came to a full understanding of the natures of the wills involved and only after I understood the relationship between these wills. SO, with that said, I am compelled to write about my journey from free-will to pre-destination, a journey I did not know I was on. I share this only to plant the seed for anyone who might be on the same journey and do not know it as I did not.
The passage above is used a lot. So much so that it seems to me that a lot of us are probably desensitized to its meaning. My problem is that I do not believe it is taught properly. Actually, I have a hard time with the way the gospel is taught by many teachers. It seems to me that the first focus is on the good things of the gospel, and there should be a ton of that taught. But how can something be good for me if I do not know that I need it. The only way that I can understand that I need something is to be shown that I don’t have it in the first place. So, instead of focusing on the good stuff in this particular passage, lets just take some time to read it in its entirety and see what happens. This passage starts back at verse 16 and this is where we will pick it up.
Galatians 5:16-21
“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.”
“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
“For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
I broke it up into four sections. I did this to help us with our ability to organize the dissection of the scripture. We start with the first section that explains to us the relational dynamic of the two wills.
“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. “
It is obvious that there are two separate entities here. They are identified as “sinful nature” and “the will of the Spirit”. They are assigned as human flesh (heart, mind and soul) or the will of man and the Holy Spirit (a power of the Trinity of the Godhead) or the will of God. They are polar opposites of each other, “for the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature”. They cannot get along, “They are in conflict with each other”. Here is the sentence that so many will glaze over “so that you do not do what you want”. This sentence is key. It is key because it explains the limitations of each will and defines the boundaries of each will. Here is why we “do not do what we want” and why the philosophy of mans free-will to choose God and subsequently good cannot be. If God is all things good and His spirit is on one end of the spectrum, than human will, being the opposite and in conflict with the Spirit is on the opposite end at a position of all things bad or as the bible tells us, evil. Think of two polarized magnets, no matter how hard you try to connect them, they resist each other. When something is in conflict with something else it is because it is immovable from its position. Here we have something good that cannot shift to bad and something bad that cannot shift to good. Here is the light at the end of the tunnel, “but if you are led by the spirit”. This defines the power of the spirit to be able to lead or control the human vessel. It does not compromise and meet the sinful nature in the middle but controls and leads the man by overpowering the sinful nature. It is the stronger of the two wills. And the last part, “you are not under the law”. What does that mean? And what law is Paul talking about? First the law Paul is referring to is the Mosaic Law, or the law of the Ten Commandments. Second, we have defined that the Spirit is the Holy Spirit or God himself. Therefore someone who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit or “led by the Spirit”, cannot be under the law because God himself cannot be under the law. God is the law. That does not mean any choice we make within the boundaries of our sinful nature are above the law once we claim to be saved but rather the actions and choices made by moving of the Holy Spirit will be of God himself.
“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
So we have previously established that there are two wills at battle in the flesh of man, sinful nature and the Holy Spirit. Here we are defining what the sinful nature looks like. The true attributes of the man without God. I do not know about you but I can just glance at these and instantly see a handful of the ones I like to use most starring at me. And to make it worse, this is an incomplete list. There are many other references that point out what a person in their sinful nature looks like. Not to mention that when this list is compared to the Ten Commandments many of them are violations in varying degrees. We are not measuring ourselves against the modern standard of the “golden rule” to define ourselves as “good people”. We are using Gods standards which are not the worlds. So when evaluating these characteristics in comparison to the law we see that we aren’t even very “good people”. God says that anyone who hates his brother has committed murder in his heart (1 John 3:15) and that any man who lusts after a women with his eyes has committed adultery. Jealousy and envy are forms of coveting your neighbor’s house, ox, spouse, etc. The last part of this section gives us a warning and it is not to be taken like a mother who threatens to spank and never does. It is a warning from God through Paul to let us, and the church in Galatia, know that it will be evident who is submitted to the Holy Spirit and who is not. If the Holy Spirit is the stronger of the two wills then it will be the most visual nature. With that, the warning itself states that anyone who exhibits the acts of the flesh (consistently) will not inherit the kingdom of God. That is pretty loud and clear and doesn’t need any elaboration. Live in the flesh and burn in hell.
“For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
This also is not a complete list of Spirit virtues and it also does not need much commentary. They are what they are. What we do need to recognize is that the fruits of the Spirit belong to the Spirit alone. The sinful nature is not capable of owning these attributes so when you see them in yourself and when you see them in others you are getting to see the Holy Spirit in the flesh. The second part of understanding the fruits is to come to a realization that you cannot create or nurture these characteristics in the human nature. If you have any of these that come naturally, they are a gift of the Holy Spirit. Nothing else, nothing less, pure and simple. There is no law against these things because, to reiterate, God is the law.
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires” tells us that we are no longer enslaved to our sinful nature. It is still there but it cannot control us anymore. The ability to do that has been gifted to us by God. “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit” and since it has been given to us by God, let us submit to its presence and nurture the Spirit. Let us nurture it in all of the ways that God has given us to nurture it. “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other” Paul is warning us of other fleshly attributes that are a result of misunderstanding the presence of the Holy Spirit in our being. These additional characteristics happen when we allow our natural sinful pride to place a higher importance on some virtues over other virtues. Since the fruits are a gift of God, there can be nothing to become conceited about, provoking of others and envying of what we do not have because we have nothing to do with not only which ones God gives us but their presence at all.
So here it is wrapped up in summary:
1.There are two wills present, the sinful nature and the Holy Spirit.
2.They are constantly at battle.
3.We cannot improve our sinful nature, nor can we choose or make choices that are outside the boundaries of our sinful nature i.e. go from bad to good.
4.The description of the acts of the sinful nature shows that it is motivated out of self-preservation.
5.The Holy Spirit cannot make choices against its good nature i.e. go from good to bad.
6.The description of the virtues of the Holy Spirit shows that it is calming and peaceful.
7.The presence of any good virtue is a gift from the Holy Spirit himself.
8.When indwelt with the Spirit, it is our job to care for it, feed it and nurture it or institute our “free-will” to be a proper host to the Spirit.
9.We need to remember to keep perspective that any gift we might have from God is assigned by his mercy alone.
Now I know. Now I can see. I cannot create the virtues of the Spirit in myself. I do not have the capability to create, only God does. I do not have the free-will to choose good (by Gods definition of good, not mans). I do not have the free-will to choose God. I cannot have free-will to choose between different options because my only option is my sinful nature. It is by the presence of the Holy Spirit in me that I am granted “free-will” because it is by the power of the Holy Spirit guiding and directing me to show me that I have options. So, in essence, free-will itself, is a gift from God as well. I never owned it to begin with.
Galatians 5:22-26
“For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
A few years back I tried to be part of a bible study that was put on by the church I attended. It was on the Fruits of the Spirit and examining ourselves to see where we were lacking fruit in our lives. I did not finish it, in fact I didn’t get past the second chapter. I contribute that to my lack of interest at the time which was fueled by my complete immaturity. I didn’t believe that I needed many lessons on the Fruits of the Spirit. I have already taken the secular Meyers-Briggs personality tests. I knew where I shined and where I didn’t. What I was hearing was a lesson on how to be more (insert virtue of choice here) and how to create that in myself. I am pleased to say that I have grown out of that ditch and by maturity, issued by God himself, have come to a place of understanding. However, after all my learning, I still couldn’t understand (immature or not) why it was, that what I had heard, was that I could create any of these attributes in myself. Until I came across the mighty question of free-will. I can now see that I was being taught from a perspective of theology that supports a road map to salvation based on a persons ability to freely choose God. I no longer question the importance of the Fruits of the Spirit. But I also now fully understand the dynamic of the parties involved. When I was able to do that, I was able to see the power of the Spirit in these attributes, but only after I came to a full understanding of the natures of the wills involved and only after I understood the relationship between these wills. SO, with that said, I am compelled to write about my journey from free-will to pre-destination, a journey I did not know I was on. I share this only to plant the seed for anyone who might be on the same journey and do not know it as I did not.
The passage above is used a lot. So much so that it seems to me that a lot of us are probably desensitized to its meaning. My problem is that I do not believe it is taught properly. Actually, I have a hard time with the way the gospel is taught by many teachers. It seems to me that the first focus is on the good things of the gospel, and there should be a ton of that taught. But how can something be good for me if I do not know that I need it. The only way that I can understand that I need something is to be shown that I don’t have it in the first place. So, instead of focusing on the good stuff in this particular passage, lets just take some time to read it in its entirety and see what happens. This passage starts back at verse 16 and this is where we will pick it up.
Galatians 5:16-21
“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the spirit, you are not under the law.”
“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
“For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
I broke it up into four sections. I did this to help us with our ability to organize the dissection of the scripture. We start with the first section that explains to us the relational dynamic of the two wills.
“So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. “
It is obvious that there are two separate entities here. They are identified as “sinful nature” and “the will of the Spirit”. They are assigned as human flesh (heart, mind and soul) or the will of man and the Holy Spirit (a power of the Trinity of the Godhead) or the will of God. They are polar opposites of each other, “for the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature”. They cannot get along, “They are in conflict with each other”. Here is the sentence that so many will glaze over “so that you do not do what you want”. This sentence is key. It is key because it explains the limitations of each will and defines the boundaries of each will. Here is why we “do not do what we want” and why the philosophy of mans free-will to choose God and subsequently good cannot be. If God is all things good and His spirit is on one end of the spectrum, than human will, being the opposite and in conflict with the Spirit is on the opposite end at a position of all things bad or as the bible tells us, evil. Think of two polarized magnets, no matter how hard you try to connect them, they resist each other. When something is in conflict with something else it is because it is immovable from its position. Here we have something good that cannot shift to bad and something bad that cannot shift to good. Here is the light at the end of the tunnel, “but if you are led by the spirit”. This defines the power of the spirit to be able to lead or control the human vessel. It does not compromise and meet the sinful nature in the middle but controls and leads the man by overpowering the sinful nature. It is the stronger of the two wills. And the last part, “you are not under the law”. What does that mean? And what law is Paul talking about? First the law Paul is referring to is the Mosaic Law, or the law of the Ten Commandments. Second, we have defined that the Spirit is the Holy Spirit or God himself. Therefore someone who is indwelt by the Holy Spirit or “led by the Spirit”, cannot be under the law because God himself cannot be under the law. God is the law. That does not mean any choice we make within the boundaries of our sinful nature are above the law once we claim to be saved but rather the actions and choices made by moving of the Holy Spirit will be of God himself.
“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy, drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
So we have previously established that there are two wills at battle in the flesh of man, sinful nature and the Holy Spirit. Here we are defining what the sinful nature looks like. The true attributes of the man without God. I do not know about you but I can just glance at these and instantly see a handful of the ones I like to use most starring at me. And to make it worse, this is an incomplete list. There are many other references that point out what a person in their sinful nature looks like. Not to mention that when this list is compared to the Ten Commandments many of them are violations in varying degrees. We are not measuring ourselves against the modern standard of the “golden rule” to define ourselves as “good people”. We are using Gods standards which are not the worlds. So when evaluating these characteristics in comparison to the law we see that we aren’t even very “good people”. God says that anyone who hates his brother has committed murder in his heart (1 John 3:15) and that any man who lusts after a women with his eyes has committed adultery. Jealousy and envy are forms of coveting your neighbor’s house, ox, spouse, etc. The last part of this section gives us a warning and it is not to be taken like a mother who threatens to spank and never does. It is a warning from God through Paul to let us, and the church in Galatia, know that it will be evident who is submitted to the Holy Spirit and who is not. If the Holy Spirit is the stronger of the two wills then it will be the most visual nature. With that, the warning itself states that anyone who exhibits the acts of the flesh (consistently) will not inherit the kingdom of God. That is pretty loud and clear and doesn’t need any elaboration. Live in the flesh and burn in hell.
“For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”
This also is not a complete list of Spirit virtues and it also does not need much commentary. They are what they are. What we do need to recognize is that the fruits of the Spirit belong to the Spirit alone. The sinful nature is not capable of owning these attributes so when you see them in yourself and when you see them in others you are getting to see the Holy Spirit in the flesh. The second part of understanding the fruits is to come to a realization that you cannot create or nurture these characteristics in the human nature. If you have any of these that come naturally, they are a gift of the Holy Spirit. Nothing else, nothing less, pure and simple. There is no law against these things because, to reiterate, God is the law.
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.”
“Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires” tells us that we are no longer enslaved to our sinful nature. It is still there but it cannot control us anymore. The ability to do that has been gifted to us by God. “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the spirit” and since it has been given to us by God, let us submit to its presence and nurture the Spirit. Let us nurture it in all of the ways that God has given us to nurture it. “Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other” Paul is warning us of other fleshly attributes that are a result of misunderstanding the presence of the Holy Spirit in our being. These additional characteristics happen when we allow our natural sinful pride to place a higher importance on some virtues over other virtues. Since the fruits are a gift of God, there can be nothing to become conceited about, provoking of others and envying of what we do not have because we have nothing to do with not only which ones God gives us but their presence at all.
So here it is wrapped up in summary:
1.There are two wills present, the sinful nature and the Holy Spirit.
2.They are constantly at battle.
3.We cannot improve our sinful nature, nor can we choose or make choices that are outside the boundaries of our sinful nature i.e. go from bad to good.
4.The description of the acts of the sinful nature shows that it is motivated out of self-preservation.
5.The Holy Spirit cannot make choices against its good nature i.e. go from good to bad.
6.The description of the virtues of the Holy Spirit shows that it is calming and peaceful.
7.The presence of any good virtue is a gift from the Holy Spirit himself.
8.When indwelt with the Spirit, it is our job to care for it, feed it and nurture it or institute our “free-will” to be a proper host to the Spirit.
9.We need to remember to keep perspective that any gift we might have from God is assigned by his mercy alone.
Now I know. Now I can see. I cannot create the virtues of the Spirit in myself. I do not have the capability to create, only God does. I do not have the free-will to choose good (by Gods definition of good, not mans). I do not have the free-will to choose God. I cannot have free-will to choose between different options because my only option is my sinful nature. It is by the presence of the Holy Spirit in me that I am granted “free-will” because it is by the power of the Holy Spirit guiding and directing me to show me that I have options. So, in essence, free-will itself, is a gift from God as well. I never owned it to begin with.
Thursday, December 2, 2010
The Wedding Banquet
Matthew 22:1-14
The parable of the Wedding Banquet
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet,’ But they paid no attention and went off-one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
There has been a lot going on in my brain and heart recently. God has been stirring me in a way that makes it hard to organize my thoughts and learnings. However, the thing that I am most bothered by today is that there are many Christians who take what their teacher (pastor) is teaching them and not search out the bible for themselves. I understand it seems that the bible is difficult to understand and I too have struggled with it extensively and as a result it can be intimidating and defeating. So, in the effort to help edify anyone who is reading this, I want to share what it is that I have learned that made the bible reveal things more clearly. However, I didn’t feel that I could just outline a number of study techniques. I had to have scripture that could explain to me and for me how these study skills can come together and work.
To begin with here are the things that I try to keep in mind when I read any section of the bible:
1. Who is the bible, or God, talking to in the scripture?
It is very important to remember that the bible is not written as a whole to Jews and Gentiles alike. In fact, the majority of it is written to only the Jews. In my relationship to the bible, I am the Gentile.
2. What era are we in when cross referencing verses?
I follow a structural framework that the bible is actually divided into different Dispensations, or periods based on Bible Hermeneutics in which God relates and deals with humans in different ways under different biblical covenants (or promises). There are varying opinions of how many dispensations there are but I myself am not super concerned about that point.
3. Research the scripture from a cultural perspective.
The traditions and “times” within our own culture are very different today than they were even only 50 years ago. For the most part of the bible we are dealing with an entirely different culture then ourselves as Americans. It is important to know who the people of the bible were and the cultural traditions so that you can understand their actions and Gods dealing with them. When you understand this, a lot of the language and especially the parables Jesus uses make a whole lot more sense.
4. Do not only hear what the bible is saying but also ask what the bible is NOT saying.
There is a lot of answer in scripture when you listen to what the bible does NOT say.
The passage above stood out to me to help me better grasp a lot of the questions that I have been researching and although I have found positions on many of these issues, I thought it was a confirming passage tying together most of my questions in one single parable from the words of Jesus himself. I am not going to outline the questions I have had in the beginning because I do not want to approach this from a topical perspective. I think that is where a lot of us go wrong in our bible reading. We are trying to find answers instead of just learning what the bible does and does not say. We can take any scripture out of context of the true meaning when we are trying to find supporting evidence to a topic and make it fit into our already preconceived idea of what we want the answer to be. The end result leaves us confused and mislead. So here we go.
First off whom is the bible talking to, or about, in this section of scripture?
The answer to this is in the section of verses BEFORE it. This draws attention to the point that you have to read what the bible says. Without that knowledge, the parable could be to anybody and I believe it is not. In Matthew 21:45 Jesus is talking to the chief priests and the Pharisees. The chief priests were the primary teachers of the temple and the Pharisees were a special group or sect of the Jews. They were distinguished by their strict observance of the traditional (see there it is, “what was the culture like?”) and written law (here we have the question to ask “what covenant are we dealing with, or better yet, what covenant do the Jewish leaders think we are dealing with?”).
Next, what era or dispensation, are we in?
We are still in the age of the law, or the Mosaic dispensation. We know this because Jesus is down here, trying to get the Jews attention and teach them, in the flesh, that the covenant is changing. He is warning them of things to come. The church age, or the dispensation of Grace doesn’t actually start until the death of Christ. A lot of us have misunderstood that. I thought for a long time that the age of the church started with the beginning of the New Testament. There are deeper answers to that but we will leave it right there for now.
What is the culture like?
Well, we are dealing with orthodox Jews here about 1900+ years ago. It was a lifestyle very different than today. They are part of the elite group that they are because of their ability to uphold the Law that was presented by Moses. Now, in their defense, that was the primary responsibility of that time. To obey the Law. So to know that helps me understand why these people are as resistant as they are. The parable itself covers many things that can only be understood if you know what their culture was like and the history of the promises that God has made withthem. And it makes sense that it would take understanding their culture to “get” the parable because Jesus is not talking to Gentiles, he is speaking specifically to a group that is not ours, just like our group of Gentiles is not their group. I couldn’t expect the Pharisees to be able to understand our modern culture. One, it didn’t exist and two, they wouldn’t have interacted with us anyways.
What is the bible not saying?
I will ask this after I exhaust the first three study questions.
So knowing Jesus is not talking to us, but rather the chief priests and Pharisees and they are people who are to uphold the Law of Moses and not only that but they are the group considered elite in their ability to do that we start in on the scripture.
Matthew 22:2
My NIV version says “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.”
My KJV puts this verse like this “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,”
When comparing the two versions it makes more sense to understand that Matthew 22:2 is confirming that there was an arranged marriage planned. In Hebrew tradition it was customary that the son would leave his fathers’ house to prepare a tent for his bride. A bride that he had selected. Here, it is God the Father who arranged for the marriage of the Bride (Jews/Israelites) to his son (Jesus).
Matthew 22:3
NIV
“He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.”
KJV
“He sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.”
When the son would find the girl he wanted for his bride he would approach the father of the girl and negotiate a bid for her to pay for her purchase (I know, hard to understand from a free world perspective but hang in with me here). So here we have a bride (Jews) selected by the son (God the Father and God the Son) and the bride refused the betrothel. The girl could do that. When the father and the son approached the house of the father of the girl, they would knock on the door. The father of the girl would see who was calling and with the door shut look to his daughter to confirm that the door should be opened. If the door was opened it wasn’t about “can I have your blessing to marry your daughter”, simply opening the door stated that. At the time the door was opened it was set that the two would be married. Opening the door meant they have moved on to the negotiation of the price the son had to pay for the daughter. Here we have that God has selected the Jews but they did not open the door for actual betrothal. They denied him. They refused him and gave into themselves and the world over God and his promise. I think the people in this verse are the original people before the flood of Noah. A lot of my opinion comes from what the bible DOESN’T say here. There isn’t much that needs to be said. They rebelled, God wiped them out. They were a group of people who couldn’t get right. Not wouldn’t get it, but couldn’t get it right. I can’t help believe that because they couldn’t get it right God took them out of the world to save them from themselves. But that is just my opinion.
Matthew 22:4
NIV
“Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet”
KJV
“Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, ‘tell them which are bidden, behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.”
First notice that the KJV states “them which are bidden”. The people Jesus is referring to have been betrothed. Which means there can be no backing out of the bride from the arrangement. After the bid had been negotiated, the son would return to his fathers’ house and prepare his own estate to give to his new bride. In Hebrew tradition that took about 12 months. So now we see that not only have the Jews been betrothed and are unable to be separated from God but he is telling them that he has established his estate to give them and that it is time to come to the marriage. The son and the father were the only ones who knew of the wedding date. The bride was to wait for the completion of the preparations until the son called on her on the day of the wedding and announcing it to her only then. Now, she was not without her own duties in the time of betrothal, there were things she was to do as well to be prepared to go.
Matthew 22:5,6,7
NIV
“But they paid no attention and went off-one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.”
KJV
“But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.”
I understand this to mean that here we are dealing with a group of people who know what has been promised to them and they still put their worldly selves, lives, and circumstances at a higher level of importance than the hope of being united with God. Another, totally different group of people who still can’t get it right. And because I have not been trained at the seminary level, right now I assume that this means the current era of Jews that Jesus is talking to, not just the Jews in front of him but the Jews of the most current generations. I assume that because of how many groups that were recorded in this passage to have been elected by God and the way that he dealt with each group (i.e. each dispensation). Once again, they ignored their responsibilities as the bride during the betrothal period. God has taken more time to elaborate the details in this section unlike the lack of detail in the first group. This group has the history of the last group to be able to lay their testimony on and it still didn’t do it for them. I also think that Jesus is sharing some foreknowledge of what the Jews are going to do to him and his disciples. “and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them”. Remember, it was the Jews themselves who crucified Christ and persecuted/murdered his disciples. The Jews of this particular era have lost their land to the Romans through war. And they would continue to battle over it as they still do today.
Matthew 22:8,9,10
NIV
“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find’. So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
NKJV
“When saith he to his servants, “The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.’ So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.”
So previously God has dealt with two separate eras of people, those pre-flood and those post-flood up until the time of Jesus’ ministry. The former refused and the later ignored Gods promises. This third group of people that Jesus is talking about are us! The Gentiles. We see in this parable alone that God has dealt with the two groups of people differently but true to his covenant with them each. The first group he wiped out, the second he is still dealing with at this point and now we see God is changing the dynamic by throwing us in the mix. Jesus is telling the Jews that a new covenant will be made and that the times are changing. But here is the powerful point in this set of verses, we were bidden just like the Jews of the Mosaic dispensation and the entire human race of the pre-flood dispensation. We have been chosen, by Jesus and God as his bride also. We are chosen, both good and bad. The bad. The most broken of all. Who before Christ and the gospel had no hope for anything better and after the gospel are restored with hope. Because we have been chosen. Remember, in Hebrew tradition, if we are chosen we cannot be separated once we respond to the invitation. No one whom God has made a covenant with can be separated. The Jews have been bidden for as well as the Gentiles.
Matthew 22:11,12,13,14
NIV
“But when the king came into see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
NKJV
“And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, ‘Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, ‘bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
In Hebrew tradition, when you were invited to a wedding feast and you could not be properly attired, the host would provide the proper clothing for you. This particular guest was inside the party but not properly attired. Don’t forget, this guest is a Gentile, no Jews have responded to the invitation. The bible doesn’t tell us if this guest was a “good person” or anything else. And the bigger point is that the guest didn’t have an answer to the question. The only reason he would have been improperly attired is because he did not accept clothing that the king or his servants had offered him. He was no longer fit to be a guest of the celebration so he was kicked out of the party but sent into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. He was sent to hell. Lastly, the premise of the parable, many are invited and few are chosen. Many are going to the party but are going to be shocked to find they are not dressed appropriately. God dresses us down for the party. As the king he has supplied us with the proper clothing, the Holy Spirit. He indwells us with the Holy Spirit. He calls us. We respond and then we are clothed with the proper attire by God of the Holy Spirit.
Now that we have come this far, I will share some of the things that have been renting space in my head. I love this parable because it reveals so much about the bible as a whole from beginning to end and amplifies Gods nature on so many levels. More than anything I believe it answers some of these “controversial” theological topics that it seems lots of pastors/teachers avoid answering directly. But I am going to state that these are my OPINIONS. I try very hard not to put to much of my opinion into this journal but it has been pressed on my heart to put it out there. So, because of that, here it is.
Election:
We cannot save ourselves as I just stated above. We CANNOT do it. We make choices controlled by our fleshly nature. Our fleshly nature is sinful and evil and is propelled by what is most appealing to us each in each moment. We cannot choose God because God is the opposite of sin and evil which would be a result of us choosing something against our nature and I don’t think we are able to do that. Only God can save us. We need him but he chooses us. When we understand that concept the words of the bible reveal a whole new level of wisdom to us. Some of us think we have chosen him and are invited to the celebration but many will find that they were not. You either belong or you don’t.
Pre-Destination:
I believe some of us have to be broken in order to truly see that we cannot do this without him. Not all, but some. If you are at that place at the bottom, let it break you. Then you can be surrendered to God (and all the many upon many gifts he will bestow on you-not worldly gifts but untouchable gifts like faith and peace). I don't believe that God will compete for control. He doesn’t have to. God himself does not break us, we break ourselves so if you hear God calling you, then, in keeping with the Hebrew bride-groom analogy, answer the door already! As you have heard it said “we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way”. The bible is a history book of God’s plan unfolding exactly as he predestined. The Jews would not be broken as shown to us in the scripture including this parable. They will be (because the bible tells us they will be), but as of this moment they have not been and have not been for the last 6000 years. Again, all part of Gods plan.
Free-Will
God will save us from ourselves. You may see or hear about a story of a great person who is young with so much life left ahead of them be taken to soon to heaven. I believe that God will take some of us early to protect us from ourselves. Not from Satan but ourselves. God will save us from ourselves because we cannot save ourselves. We can only hurt ourselves. This parable tells us of generations of people who could not save themselves. They kept making choices (instituting their free-will) that fed their sinful nature (as we all do each and every day). I do not subscribe to the theory of free-will in the philosophical perspective that has been presented to the Christian community. I believe we have free-will that is limited to the confines of the nature that we feed the most. If we are saved and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and feed it daily, we are able to make choices that are inline with that righteous nature. If we are not indwelt by the Holy Spirit we will make choices that satisfy our sinful nature. However, once indwelt with the Holy Spirit, our sinful nature is not dead for the long-term. It must die daily. Free-Will as it is presented to Christians sells the theology that we are capable of choosing God. This parable has shown us that every time God has sent out his servants to gather his elect. Never did it say his elect just showed up early without being invited.
How do I know if I am elected?
The parable tells us a story of a man who thinks he is saved but isn’t. So how do I know if I am saved? The key is in the parable. He wasn’t wearing the proper clothing which is code for the Holy Spirit. I know that I am clothed with the Holy Spirit because every day I am able to make choices that are not in line with my true (sinful) nature as the people in the parable were not able to do. Without the Holy Spirit I would make the exact same choices as the examples in the bible. I know I am indwelt with the Holy Spirit because this nature gets hungry just like my sinful nature gets hungry. I feed it with the bible, teachings from sound teachers and edify myself with other believers. When I do not, my sinful nature doesn’t take long to surface to be fed. My sinful nature likes high maintenance houses, high maintenance horses and high maintenance cars. If I wasn’t clothed with the Holy Spirit, I wouldn’t have the ability to make choices against what appeals to my selfish desires.
So there it is, just some of my thoughts wrapped up in the perfect parable spoken by Jesus himself.
The parable of the Wedding Banquet
Jesus spoke to them again in parables, saying: “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son. He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come. Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet,’ But they paid no attention and went off-one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.’ So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad, and the wedding hall was filled with guests. But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
There has been a lot going on in my brain and heart recently. God has been stirring me in a way that makes it hard to organize my thoughts and learnings. However, the thing that I am most bothered by today is that there are many Christians who take what their teacher (pastor) is teaching them and not search out the bible for themselves. I understand it seems that the bible is difficult to understand and I too have struggled with it extensively and as a result it can be intimidating and defeating. So, in the effort to help edify anyone who is reading this, I want to share what it is that I have learned that made the bible reveal things more clearly. However, I didn’t feel that I could just outline a number of study techniques. I had to have scripture that could explain to me and for me how these study skills can come together and work.
To begin with here are the things that I try to keep in mind when I read any section of the bible:
1. Who is the bible, or God, talking to in the scripture?
It is very important to remember that the bible is not written as a whole to Jews and Gentiles alike. In fact, the majority of it is written to only the Jews. In my relationship to the bible, I am the Gentile.
2. What era are we in when cross referencing verses?
I follow a structural framework that the bible is actually divided into different Dispensations, or periods based on Bible Hermeneutics in which God relates and deals with humans in different ways under different biblical covenants (or promises). There are varying opinions of how many dispensations there are but I myself am not super concerned about that point.
3. Research the scripture from a cultural perspective.
The traditions and “times” within our own culture are very different today than they were even only 50 years ago. For the most part of the bible we are dealing with an entirely different culture then ourselves as Americans. It is important to know who the people of the bible were and the cultural traditions so that you can understand their actions and Gods dealing with them. When you understand this, a lot of the language and especially the parables Jesus uses make a whole lot more sense.
4. Do not only hear what the bible is saying but also ask what the bible is NOT saying.
There is a lot of answer in scripture when you listen to what the bible does NOT say.
The passage above stood out to me to help me better grasp a lot of the questions that I have been researching and although I have found positions on many of these issues, I thought it was a confirming passage tying together most of my questions in one single parable from the words of Jesus himself. I am not going to outline the questions I have had in the beginning because I do not want to approach this from a topical perspective. I think that is where a lot of us go wrong in our bible reading. We are trying to find answers instead of just learning what the bible does and does not say. We can take any scripture out of context of the true meaning when we are trying to find supporting evidence to a topic and make it fit into our already preconceived idea of what we want the answer to be. The end result leaves us confused and mislead. So here we go.
First off whom is the bible talking to, or about, in this section of scripture?
The answer to this is in the section of verses BEFORE it. This draws attention to the point that you have to read what the bible says. Without that knowledge, the parable could be to anybody and I believe it is not. In Matthew 21:45 Jesus is talking to the chief priests and the Pharisees. The chief priests were the primary teachers of the temple and the Pharisees were a special group or sect of the Jews. They were distinguished by their strict observance of the traditional (see there it is, “what was the culture like?”) and written law (here we have the question to ask “what covenant are we dealing with, or better yet, what covenant do the Jewish leaders think we are dealing with?”).
Next, what era or dispensation, are we in?
We are still in the age of the law, or the Mosaic dispensation. We know this because Jesus is down here, trying to get the Jews attention and teach them, in the flesh, that the covenant is changing. He is warning them of things to come. The church age, or the dispensation of Grace doesn’t actually start until the death of Christ. A lot of us have misunderstood that. I thought for a long time that the age of the church started with the beginning of the New Testament. There are deeper answers to that but we will leave it right there for now.
What is the culture like?
Well, we are dealing with orthodox Jews here about 1900+ years ago. It was a lifestyle very different than today. They are part of the elite group that they are because of their ability to uphold the Law that was presented by Moses. Now, in their defense, that was the primary responsibility of that time. To obey the Law. So to know that helps me understand why these people are as resistant as they are. The parable itself covers many things that can only be understood if you know what their culture was like and the history of the promises that God has made withthem. And it makes sense that it would take understanding their culture to “get” the parable because Jesus is not talking to Gentiles, he is speaking specifically to a group that is not ours, just like our group of Gentiles is not their group. I couldn’t expect the Pharisees to be able to understand our modern culture. One, it didn’t exist and two, they wouldn’t have interacted with us anyways.
What is the bible not saying?
I will ask this after I exhaust the first three study questions.
So knowing Jesus is not talking to us, but rather the chief priests and Pharisees and they are people who are to uphold the Law of Moses and not only that but they are the group considered elite in their ability to do that we start in on the scripture.
Matthew 22:2
My NIV version says “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding banquet for his son.”
My KJV puts this verse like this “The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,”
When comparing the two versions it makes more sense to understand that Matthew 22:2 is confirming that there was an arranged marriage planned. In Hebrew tradition it was customary that the son would leave his fathers’ house to prepare a tent for his bride. A bride that he had selected. Here, it is God the Father who arranged for the marriage of the Bride (Jews/Israelites) to his son (Jesus).
Matthew 22:3
NIV
“He sent his servants to those who had been invited to the banquet to tell them to come, but they refused to come.”
KJV
“He sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come.”
When the son would find the girl he wanted for his bride he would approach the father of the girl and negotiate a bid for her to pay for her purchase (I know, hard to understand from a free world perspective but hang in with me here). So here we have a bride (Jews) selected by the son (God the Father and God the Son) and the bride refused the betrothel. The girl could do that. When the father and the son approached the house of the father of the girl, they would knock on the door. The father of the girl would see who was calling and with the door shut look to his daughter to confirm that the door should be opened. If the door was opened it wasn’t about “can I have your blessing to marry your daughter”, simply opening the door stated that. At the time the door was opened it was set that the two would be married. Opening the door meant they have moved on to the negotiation of the price the son had to pay for the daughter. Here we have that God has selected the Jews but they did not open the door for actual betrothal. They denied him. They refused him and gave into themselves and the world over God and his promise. I think the people in this verse are the original people before the flood of Noah. A lot of my opinion comes from what the bible DOESN’T say here. There isn’t much that needs to be said. They rebelled, God wiped them out. They were a group of people who couldn’t get right. Not wouldn’t get it, but couldn’t get it right. I can’t help believe that because they couldn’t get it right God took them out of the world to save them from themselves. But that is just my opinion.
Matthew 22:4
NIV
“Then he sent some more servants and said, ‘tell those who have been invited that I have prepared my dinner: My oxen and fattened cattle have been butchered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding banquet”
KJV
“Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, ‘tell them which are bidden, behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage.”
First notice that the KJV states “them which are bidden”. The people Jesus is referring to have been betrothed. Which means there can be no backing out of the bride from the arrangement. After the bid had been negotiated, the son would return to his fathers’ house and prepare his own estate to give to his new bride. In Hebrew tradition that took about 12 months. So now we see that not only have the Jews been betrothed and are unable to be separated from God but he is telling them that he has established his estate to give them and that it is time to come to the marriage. The son and the father were the only ones who knew of the wedding date. The bride was to wait for the completion of the preparations until the son called on her on the day of the wedding and announcing it to her only then. Now, she was not without her own duties in the time of betrothal, there were things she was to do as well to be prepared to go.
Matthew 22:5,6,7
NIV
“But they paid no attention and went off-one to his field, another to his business. The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them. The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city.”
KJV
“But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city.”
I understand this to mean that here we are dealing with a group of people who know what has been promised to them and they still put their worldly selves, lives, and circumstances at a higher level of importance than the hope of being united with God. Another, totally different group of people who still can’t get it right. And because I have not been trained at the seminary level, right now I assume that this means the current era of Jews that Jesus is talking to, not just the Jews in front of him but the Jews of the most current generations. I assume that because of how many groups that were recorded in this passage to have been elected by God and the way that he dealt with each group (i.e. each dispensation). Once again, they ignored their responsibilities as the bride during the betrothal period. God has taken more time to elaborate the details in this section unlike the lack of detail in the first group. This group has the history of the last group to be able to lay their testimony on and it still didn’t do it for them. I also think that Jesus is sharing some foreknowledge of what the Jews are going to do to him and his disciples. “and the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them”. Remember, it was the Jews themselves who crucified Christ and persecuted/murdered his disciples. The Jews of this particular era have lost their land to the Romans through war. And they would continue to battle over it as they still do today.
Matthew 22:8,9,10
NIV
“Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find’. So the servants went out into the streets and gathered all the people they could find, both good and bad and the wedding hall was filled with guests.
NKJV
“When saith he to his servants, “The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage.’ So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.”
So previously God has dealt with two separate eras of people, those pre-flood and those post-flood up until the time of Jesus’ ministry. The former refused and the later ignored Gods promises. This third group of people that Jesus is talking about are us! The Gentiles. We see in this parable alone that God has dealt with the two groups of people differently but true to his covenant with them each. The first group he wiped out, the second he is still dealing with at this point and now we see God is changing the dynamic by throwing us in the mix. Jesus is telling the Jews that a new covenant will be made and that the times are changing. But here is the powerful point in this set of verses, we were bidden just like the Jews of the Mosaic dispensation and the entire human race of the pre-flood dispensation. We have been chosen, by Jesus and God as his bride also. We are chosen, both good and bad. The bad. The most broken of all. Who before Christ and the gospel had no hope for anything better and after the gospel are restored with hope. Because we have been chosen. Remember, in Hebrew tradition, if we are chosen we cannot be separated once we respond to the invitation. No one whom God has made a covenant with can be separated. The Jews have been bidden for as well as the Gentiles.
Matthew 22:11,12,13,14
NIV
“But when the king came into see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?’ The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are invited, but few are chosen.”
NKJV
“And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, ‘Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, ‘bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
In Hebrew tradition, when you were invited to a wedding feast and you could not be properly attired, the host would provide the proper clothing for you. This particular guest was inside the party but not properly attired. Don’t forget, this guest is a Gentile, no Jews have responded to the invitation. The bible doesn’t tell us if this guest was a “good person” or anything else. And the bigger point is that the guest didn’t have an answer to the question. The only reason he would have been improperly attired is because he did not accept clothing that the king or his servants had offered him. He was no longer fit to be a guest of the celebration so he was kicked out of the party but sent into the darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. He was sent to hell. Lastly, the premise of the parable, many are invited and few are chosen. Many are going to the party but are going to be shocked to find they are not dressed appropriately. God dresses us down for the party. As the king he has supplied us with the proper clothing, the Holy Spirit. He indwells us with the Holy Spirit. He calls us. We respond and then we are clothed with the proper attire by God of the Holy Spirit.
Now that we have come this far, I will share some of the things that have been renting space in my head. I love this parable because it reveals so much about the bible as a whole from beginning to end and amplifies Gods nature on so many levels. More than anything I believe it answers some of these “controversial” theological topics that it seems lots of pastors/teachers avoid answering directly. But I am going to state that these are my OPINIONS. I try very hard not to put to much of my opinion into this journal but it has been pressed on my heart to put it out there. So, because of that, here it is.
Election:
We cannot save ourselves as I just stated above. We CANNOT do it. We make choices controlled by our fleshly nature. Our fleshly nature is sinful and evil and is propelled by what is most appealing to us each in each moment. We cannot choose God because God is the opposite of sin and evil which would be a result of us choosing something against our nature and I don’t think we are able to do that. Only God can save us. We need him but he chooses us. When we understand that concept the words of the bible reveal a whole new level of wisdom to us. Some of us think we have chosen him and are invited to the celebration but many will find that they were not. You either belong or you don’t.
Pre-Destination:
I believe some of us have to be broken in order to truly see that we cannot do this without him. Not all, but some. If you are at that place at the bottom, let it break you. Then you can be surrendered to God (and all the many upon many gifts he will bestow on you-not worldly gifts but untouchable gifts like faith and peace). I don't believe that God will compete for control. He doesn’t have to. God himself does not break us, we break ourselves so if you hear God calling you, then, in keeping with the Hebrew bride-groom analogy, answer the door already! As you have heard it said “we can do this the easy way or we can do this the hard way”. The bible is a history book of God’s plan unfolding exactly as he predestined. The Jews would not be broken as shown to us in the scripture including this parable. They will be (because the bible tells us they will be), but as of this moment they have not been and have not been for the last 6000 years. Again, all part of Gods plan.
Free-Will
God will save us from ourselves. You may see or hear about a story of a great person who is young with so much life left ahead of them be taken to soon to heaven. I believe that God will take some of us early to protect us from ourselves. Not from Satan but ourselves. God will save us from ourselves because we cannot save ourselves. We can only hurt ourselves. This parable tells us of generations of people who could not save themselves. They kept making choices (instituting their free-will) that fed their sinful nature (as we all do each and every day). I do not subscribe to the theory of free-will in the philosophical perspective that has been presented to the Christian community. I believe we have free-will that is limited to the confines of the nature that we feed the most. If we are saved and are indwelt by the Holy Spirit and feed it daily, we are able to make choices that are inline with that righteous nature. If we are not indwelt by the Holy Spirit we will make choices that satisfy our sinful nature. However, once indwelt with the Holy Spirit, our sinful nature is not dead for the long-term. It must die daily. Free-Will as it is presented to Christians sells the theology that we are capable of choosing God. This parable has shown us that every time God has sent out his servants to gather his elect. Never did it say his elect just showed up early without being invited.
How do I know if I am elected?
The parable tells us a story of a man who thinks he is saved but isn’t. So how do I know if I am saved? The key is in the parable. He wasn’t wearing the proper clothing which is code for the Holy Spirit. I know that I am clothed with the Holy Spirit because every day I am able to make choices that are not in line with my true (sinful) nature as the people in the parable were not able to do. Without the Holy Spirit I would make the exact same choices as the examples in the bible. I know I am indwelt with the Holy Spirit because this nature gets hungry just like my sinful nature gets hungry. I feed it with the bible, teachings from sound teachers and edify myself with other believers. When I do not, my sinful nature doesn’t take long to surface to be fed. My sinful nature likes high maintenance houses, high maintenance horses and high maintenance cars. If I wasn’t clothed with the Holy Spirit, I wouldn’t have the ability to make choices against what appeals to my selfish desires.
So there it is, just some of my thoughts wrapped up in the perfect parable spoken by Jesus himself.
Friday, October 29, 2010
The Third Commandment
In our modern age of technology we are able to keep in touch with each other quicker, faster and easier. Everything from texting to social networking has opened doors for ease in communication. It is used with such frequency that it now has its own language.
SMS language, textese, txt talk, txtspk. There are so many abbreviations to words out there that even the name for this cyber-language has its own abbreviations. With SMS language, words like "great" become “gr8”, "tomorrow" becomes “2mro”, "your" becomes “ur” and my least favorite and the impetus for writing this article, the highly used “OMG”, to be used in place of “Oh My God”. I see this posted often. It is used more to establish a level of urgency that can be hard to instill in cyber-language. Here’s the deal. Our society has become desensitized to the Holiness of the name of the Lord. So much so that even the self-proclaimed Christians are using “OMG” in their own personal short hand. My first thought is “why can’t they see that they are breaking the 3rd commandment?” Then I was talking with Jeramie about why this bothers me so much and he asked me “what EXACTLY does it mean to break the third commandment?”
Even though we live in the dispensation of the church age and even though no one is righteous, the commandments are still meant to be upheld and used as a compass to increase our awareness of our sin. Do not take the commandments lightly because Paul wrote in Romans 3:19,20;
“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law become conscious of sin.”
And again he makes a statement about the law in Romans 3:28-31;
“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.”
Well then. There you have it. We should not neglect the commandments. But have you really ever studied the commandments? I was taught them as a kid and have never looked back. And recently, because of the bitter taste “OMG” leaves in my mouth, I have been convicted to find out exactly what the third commandment is saying. This is what I have learned.
Of all of the commandments (ten all together), the third is probably the one we most easily over look. In Sunday school as a kid you are taught to not use Gods name as a curse word. That means no “OMG”. Hey, I can do that. Good enough and moving on. If anything the one I need the most help with is number ten “do not covet your neighbor’s house.” This is what my NIV translation writes the third commandment to say:
“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”
Easy enough to understand. Don’t misuse his name. Don’t use it where it isn’t meant to be used. But the NKJV writes it like this:
"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”
Upon comparison of the two translations I can’t help but be compelled to break them down and research the differences. I mean the first glaringly obvious difference of the use of the language is the word “misuse” for “take”. Even in the English language they have different meanings. But to find out exactly what this is saying I had to hear it in the Hebrew language. The second point that this commandment caught my attention on was that God attached a consequence to it. When he does this it is to impress upon us the severity and authority in which he means it, a.k.a. this is a big deal. I have taken the three words from the NKJV that seem to me to need more definition and compared them to what the Hebrew word really translated to.
Take, throughout the Old Testament, is translated into English from seventy-four different Hebrew words. This one means "to lift up," "bear," "carry," "use," and "appropriate."
“Take” is to me extremely different than “misuse”. When I take something I am removing it from one place and putting it in my hands. The best analogy I could visualize was marriage. God uses this imagery A LOT. He refers to Christ as the bridegroom and the church or his Christians as his bride. When I married Jeramie, I took his name. I made an oath in front of God, our friends and family to enter into a covenant with him. I promised to be his wife and all that it means to be a wife. I was previously referred too by my maiden name and now I am referred to by my married name. Jeramie offered me his name to “bear” (although some days I wander why he did). So now, I bear, or wear, his name. If I use my last name which labels me as married but continue to live a life of a single, foolish woman, I misuse Jeramies name. Now I am able to see how “misuse” works here. It damages Jeramies credibility as a husband. It damages his authority as a husband. If as Jeramies wife I use his name then as the bride of Christ, I use or bear his name as well, that of Christian. Christian means “Christ Ones”. When I confessed that Jesus is the son of God I entered into another covenant. I gave another oath. I promised in front of God, my friends and family that I understood what God was offering me. He was offering me Christs name. 1 Corinthians 6:17 states:
“But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.”
Vain has the sense of shallowness; "that which lacks reality, purpose, value, or truth." It may also be translated into "lying," "false," "worthless," "profane,"
In the NIV translation, “vain” isn’t even in the scripture. It appears that the word “misuse” merges the meanings of “take” and “vain” into one word. But when we look at the NKJV vain is used and I think it is important that when we hear the words that we use it as well. It describes the WAY we misuse Gods name. Look at the definitions of the word in Hebrew. False, worthless, profane. Lacks purpose or truth. I don’t like the use of “misuse” in place of take and vain. It leaves room for the reader to fill in the blanks with his own personal definition of “misuse” which is relative. Yes, there is always the dictionary to verify the true definition but so many of us attach our personal take on the definitions that the dictionary becomes a starting point to the result that makes sense to us. We will start with profanity because I have supporting scripture that uses profane elsewhere in the same context as seen in Leviticus 19:12;
“Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.”
To say the Lords name in a profane way would be to use it in an empty manner or attach it to a position of authority that God did not attach it to himself. An empty manner could be “OMG”. You use the term as an empty expression, in fact you probably aren’t even thinking of God when you use it. However, God is the term universally known as the name our Yahweh, the Lord God Almighty. So when you say the name of the Lord in an empty manner you misuse his name. It doesn’t just stop with “OMG” though. One might be curious to explore how easily Christians throw around “God bless You” in a worthless manner. How many of us say that without ever saying a prayer before we say it or after we say it for the people we say it to? The most irritating thing I see within the church right now is “tell me what is going on so that I can pray for you” which to me, means “what is the gossip I just have to know so I will ask with the intention of the use for the Lord so that it really can’t be considered gossip”. If you ask me to pray for you then I do ask this question but I will not use it to initiate the exchange of the low-down at your expense. Matthew 12:36 states;
“But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Psalm 34:13 warns us to –
“Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.”
Which can be complemented with Proverbs 10:19 –
“When words are many sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.”
I will leave the details of all that up to you to decide though. I also like the use of the word false. The reason that I think the word “false” fits so well here is because when we do these things we do them with false motives. Which brings us back to the bride-groom covenant. The US has an astonishing divorce rate, it is higher now than it has ever been. Don’t quote me but it is something like 57%. All I can say is that the majority of these people entered into their covenants with no intention of keeping the promises they made. The made a false oath to their spouse. Because of this, the covenant of marriage no longer means what it is suppose to mean. Because of this marriage no longer represents what God intended it for. The reputation of marriage is damaged. When we take the Lords name in vain we state a false oath. Anyone who proclaims to be a Christian but doesn’t strive to live a pure and righteous life is misusing Gods name. The example speaks louder than words and the example is a misrepresentation of God, his character and his nature. It represents God in a profane way. In a way that is dirty, valueless and empty. When we take the Lords name in vain, we damage God’s credibility. I believe Matthew 5:33-37 outlines some of the areas of Gods authority where we should be careful in referring to God carelessly.
“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Guiltless means "free," "clear," "innocent," "clean," "blameless," "unpunished."
All right. This is were it starts to hurt. The consequence of not valuing the name of God. We have talked about the multi-faceted meaning of taking the Lords name in vain but now we get to decipher what he intends to do about it if we do. He says “for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain”. Lets insert “clean” in place of “guiltless”. It is by the cleansing of Christs blood we will enter the gates of heaven. We are washed clean of all of our sins. It seems to me that God is stating, not warning but stating, that he will not have mercy on those of us who falsely wear the name of “Christian”. James 1:22-27 clearly tells us what he thinks of anyone who damages his authority, credibility and name.
“If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.”
I firmly believe that we will not see these representations of Christians inside the gates of heaven. Not necessarily the people who are still learning to use discerning words and will eventually “clean their temple” by not referring to God in a cursing manner but the ones who wear the cloak of Christianity for their own use. For their personal gain and advancement that will not reach beyond this world. People who deceive themselves also known as “false converts”. God shows us this in Malachi 3:13-18;
“You have said harsh things against me” says the Lord. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ “You have said ‘It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.’” Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. “They will be mine,” says the Lord Almighty, “in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”
Again in Ezekial 36:20-23 he explains that it was said of them that they were the Lords people and yet they had to leave his land because he had a concern for his reputation.
“And wherever they went among the nations they profaned my holy name, for it was said of them, ‘These are the Lord’s people, and yet they had to leave his land.’ I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.”
My challenge thoughts are this, what do you think the third commandment means and how seriously do you take the third commandment?
I believe the third commandment is about not taking God and his saving grace lightly and being intentional in our relationship with him. I believe that if we claim to be christians for our own personal benefit that we are not at all saved but rather going to hell. God is jealous and will protect his name. Do not underestimate him by believing he will make the exception for you. I know that I will never overlook the strength of the third commandment again because its true meaning has put fear and trembling of the Lord in my being.
"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in they sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer."
To you all out of love - Dawn
SMS language, textese, txt talk, txtspk. There are so many abbreviations to words out there that even the name for this cyber-language has its own abbreviations. With SMS language, words like "great" become “gr8”, "tomorrow" becomes “2mro”, "your" becomes “ur” and my least favorite and the impetus for writing this article, the highly used “OMG”, to be used in place of “Oh My God”. I see this posted often. It is used more to establish a level of urgency that can be hard to instill in cyber-language. Here’s the deal. Our society has become desensitized to the Holiness of the name of the Lord. So much so that even the self-proclaimed Christians are using “OMG” in their own personal short hand. My first thought is “why can’t they see that they are breaking the 3rd commandment?” Then I was talking with Jeramie about why this bothers me so much and he asked me “what EXACTLY does it mean to break the third commandment?”
Even though we live in the dispensation of the church age and even though no one is righteous, the commandments are still meant to be upheld and used as a compass to increase our awareness of our sin. Do not take the commandments lightly because Paul wrote in Romans 3:19,20;
“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law become conscious of sin.”
And again he makes a statement about the law in Romans 3:28-31;
“For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith. Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.”
Well then. There you have it. We should not neglect the commandments. But have you really ever studied the commandments? I was taught them as a kid and have never looked back. And recently, because of the bitter taste “OMG” leaves in my mouth, I have been convicted to find out exactly what the third commandment is saying. This is what I have learned.
Of all of the commandments (ten all together), the third is probably the one we most easily over look. In Sunday school as a kid you are taught to not use Gods name as a curse word. That means no “OMG”. Hey, I can do that. Good enough and moving on. If anything the one I need the most help with is number ten “do not covet your neighbor’s house.” This is what my NIV translation writes the third commandment to say:
“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”
Easy enough to understand. Don’t misuse his name. Don’t use it where it isn’t meant to be used. But the NKJV writes it like this:
"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”
Upon comparison of the two translations I can’t help but be compelled to break them down and research the differences. I mean the first glaringly obvious difference of the use of the language is the word “misuse” for “take”. Even in the English language they have different meanings. But to find out exactly what this is saying I had to hear it in the Hebrew language. The second point that this commandment caught my attention on was that God attached a consequence to it. When he does this it is to impress upon us the severity and authority in which he means it, a.k.a. this is a big deal. I have taken the three words from the NKJV that seem to me to need more definition and compared them to what the Hebrew word really translated to.
Take, throughout the Old Testament, is translated into English from seventy-four different Hebrew words. This one means "to lift up," "bear," "carry," "use," and "appropriate."
“Take” is to me extremely different than “misuse”. When I take something I am removing it from one place and putting it in my hands. The best analogy I could visualize was marriage. God uses this imagery A LOT. He refers to Christ as the bridegroom and the church or his Christians as his bride. When I married Jeramie, I took his name. I made an oath in front of God, our friends and family to enter into a covenant with him. I promised to be his wife and all that it means to be a wife. I was previously referred too by my maiden name and now I am referred to by my married name. Jeramie offered me his name to “bear” (although some days I wander why he did). So now, I bear, or wear, his name. If I use my last name which labels me as married but continue to live a life of a single, foolish woman, I misuse Jeramies name. Now I am able to see how “misuse” works here. It damages Jeramies credibility as a husband. It damages his authority as a husband. If as Jeramies wife I use his name then as the bride of Christ, I use or bear his name as well, that of Christian. Christian means “Christ Ones”. When I confessed that Jesus is the son of God I entered into another covenant. I gave another oath. I promised in front of God, my friends and family that I understood what God was offering me. He was offering me Christs name. 1 Corinthians 6:17 states:
“But he who unites himself with the Lord is one with him in spirit.”
Vain has the sense of shallowness; "that which lacks reality, purpose, value, or truth." It may also be translated into "lying," "false," "worthless," "profane,"
In the NIV translation, “vain” isn’t even in the scripture. It appears that the word “misuse” merges the meanings of “take” and “vain” into one word. But when we look at the NKJV vain is used and I think it is important that when we hear the words that we use it as well. It describes the WAY we misuse Gods name. Look at the definitions of the word in Hebrew. False, worthless, profane. Lacks purpose or truth. I don’t like the use of “misuse” in place of take and vain. It leaves room for the reader to fill in the blanks with his own personal definition of “misuse” which is relative. Yes, there is always the dictionary to verify the true definition but so many of us attach our personal take on the definitions that the dictionary becomes a starting point to the result that makes sense to us. We will start with profanity because I have supporting scripture that uses profane elsewhere in the same context as seen in Leviticus 19:12;
“Do not swear falsely by my name and so profane the name of your God. I am the Lord.”
To say the Lords name in a profane way would be to use it in an empty manner or attach it to a position of authority that God did not attach it to himself. An empty manner could be “OMG”. You use the term as an empty expression, in fact you probably aren’t even thinking of God when you use it. However, God is the term universally known as the name our Yahweh, the Lord God Almighty. So when you say the name of the Lord in an empty manner you misuse his name. It doesn’t just stop with “OMG” though. One might be curious to explore how easily Christians throw around “God bless You” in a worthless manner. How many of us say that without ever saying a prayer before we say it or after we say it for the people we say it to? The most irritating thing I see within the church right now is “tell me what is going on so that I can pray for you” which to me, means “what is the gossip I just have to know so I will ask with the intention of the use for the Lord so that it really can’t be considered gossip”. If you ask me to pray for you then I do ask this question but I will not use it to initiate the exchange of the low-down at your expense. Matthew 12:36 states;
“But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
Psalm 34:13 warns us to –
“Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies.”
Which can be complemented with Proverbs 10:19 –
“When words are many sin is not absent, but he who holds his tongue is wise.”
I will leave the details of all that up to you to decide though. I also like the use of the word false. The reason that I think the word “false” fits so well here is because when we do these things we do them with false motives. Which brings us back to the bride-groom covenant. The US has an astonishing divorce rate, it is higher now than it has ever been. Don’t quote me but it is something like 57%. All I can say is that the majority of these people entered into their covenants with no intention of keeping the promises they made. The made a false oath to their spouse. Because of this, the covenant of marriage no longer means what it is suppose to mean. Because of this marriage no longer represents what God intended it for. The reputation of marriage is damaged. When we take the Lords name in vain we state a false oath. Anyone who proclaims to be a Christian but doesn’t strive to live a pure and righteous life is misusing Gods name. The example speaks louder than words and the example is a misrepresentation of God, his character and his nature. It represents God in a profane way. In a way that is dirty, valueless and empty. When we take the Lords name in vain, we damage God’s credibility. I believe Matthew 5:33-37 outlines some of the areas of Gods authority where we should be careful in referring to God carelessly.
“Again, you have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not break your oath, but keep the oaths you have made to the Lord.’ But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is his footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the Great King. And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make even one hair white or black. Simply let your ‘yes’ be ‘Yes’ and your ‘No’ be ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.
Guiltless means "free," "clear," "innocent," "clean," "blameless," "unpunished."
All right. This is were it starts to hurt. The consequence of not valuing the name of God. We have talked about the multi-faceted meaning of taking the Lords name in vain but now we get to decipher what he intends to do about it if we do. He says “for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain”. Lets insert “clean” in place of “guiltless”. It is by the cleansing of Christs blood we will enter the gates of heaven. We are washed clean of all of our sins. It seems to me that God is stating, not warning but stating, that he will not have mercy on those of us who falsely wear the name of “Christian”. James 1:22-27 clearly tells us what he thinks of anyone who damages his authority, credibility and name.
“If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.”
I firmly believe that we will not see these representations of Christians inside the gates of heaven. Not necessarily the people who are still learning to use discerning words and will eventually “clean their temple” by not referring to God in a cursing manner but the ones who wear the cloak of Christianity for their own use. For their personal gain and advancement that will not reach beyond this world. People who deceive themselves also known as “false converts”. God shows us this in Malachi 3:13-18;
“You have said harsh things against me” says the Lord. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ “You have said ‘It is futile to serve God. What did we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape.’” Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name. “They will be mine,” says the Lord Almighty, “in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him. And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.”
Again in Ezekial 36:20-23 he explains that it was said of them that they were the Lords people and yet they had to leave his land because he had a concern for his reputation.
“And wherever they went among the nations they profaned my holy name, for it was said of them, ‘These are the Lord’s people, and yet they had to leave his land.’ I had concern for my holy name, which the house of Israel profaned among the nations where they had gone. I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord, declares the Sovereign Lord, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.”
My challenge thoughts are this, what do you think the third commandment means and how seriously do you take the third commandment?
I believe the third commandment is about not taking God and his saving grace lightly and being intentional in our relationship with him. I believe that if we claim to be christians for our own personal benefit that we are not at all saved but rather going to hell. God is jealous and will protect his name. Do not underestimate him by believing he will make the exception for you. I know that I will never overlook the strength of the third commandment again because its true meaning has put fear and trembling of the Lord in my being.
"Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in they sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer."
To you all out of love - Dawn
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Glorfying God
Every blessing you pour out I’ll turn back in praise…
Philippians 2:14,15
Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God, without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.
What does it mean to glorify God? To love God through worship.
What does it mean to worship God? To praise him by attending church and singing hymns or if you attend a more modern church singing songs about God with a little more hip flair.
This is where so many of us mess up. We go to church and sing songs and listen to our pastors fill us with tidbits that we can take with us into our week and …the end. Until next week. Then we do it all over again.
What does it REALLY mean to glorify God? We really glorify God when we recognize that everything we do, see, say, touch, hear…belongs to God. We really worship God through our actions and deeds as long as they are completed with a pureness of heart. We do it because God wants us to and we do it the way God wants us to. But here is the real kicker. We can do anything the way God wants us to but if we do not find enjoyment in it, even when it is something we do not like to do, like fold 15 loads of laundry, we deny God his portion of enjoyment. It can be really hard to do the mundane and burdensome tasks of our personal lives with enjoyment, unless…you understand that our circumstances are a gift from God. Not burdens. Have you ever watched someone try to do something that you really enjoy but they have a terrible attitude or just don’t seem that into it. It’s painful isn’t. You just want to say, stand back, let me do it. Or if it is your kid that you are watching you want to take away what you gave them because they don’t seem to appreciate it.
My sanctification is, as it should be, a process. I am in the bible every day. I crave it. I start my morning with it and to be honest, when I don’t start my day with it, the day always goes terribly wrong. Awhile back, in the not too distant past, I re-read the book of Ecclesiastes. This book is thought to be written by King Solomon to the people of Israel to reveal that he had discovered that without God at the center of a person’s life, every human effort is meaningless. There were many verses that caught my attention as to the way I should conduct myself as a Christian woman but my eyes were opened with Ecclesiastes 3:11-13.
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men: yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his toil-this is the gift of God.”
My circumstances are all gifts. Every single one of them. Not one has been handed to me as a burden. When I receive these tasks as gifts I can’t help but be joyful. It is a gift to get up in the morning to take care of my husband by making him breakfast and his favorite iced coffee before he goes out to work. It is a gift that he has work. If he didn’t have anywhere to go, I wouldn’t have a reason to get up early. It is a gift to school my own children. I get to see all of the struggle and hard work pay off everyday right before my eyes. It is a gift to have to tackle a mountain of clothing to be folded because it means my family has clothing. It is a gift to have to pick up four hundred pairs of shoes over and over and over because it means that this house is full of little feet that the shoes belong on. It is a gift that I get to do all of these things and see some of the creative world that God made with the scenery always changing. I live in a motorhome but my backyard is the United States of America.
I then came across Ecclesiastes 9:10
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all of your might…” and it complemented another verse from 1 Corinthians. Chapter 10 verse 31 says “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
I sat and marinated in this one for a while. Worship is glorifying God. We call singing worship, which it is, but not all of us were given the gift of a beautiful voice. We show love to God through doing everything we do with a grateful and non-complaining attitude giving it all we have. How many times a day do we tell our kids “I don’t care how you do it, just don’t complain!” Everything I do from making elaborate wedding cakes to making sure the corners of the motorhome are crumb free to patiently dealing with my kids is an act of love to God. This was made clear with Ecclesiastes 5:18-20
“Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him-for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work-this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.”
The point that I want you to see and hear is that God enables us to enjoy our lot including our work and the gladness of heart that any of us have is also given to us as a gift from God.
God has initiated progressive change. Without Him I would be a wandering motorhomemaker distraught because I have no guidance and don’t understand the point.
The natural, fleshly me born into this world is fairly lazy. I find great enjoyment sleeping in until about 11:00 in the morning (which I will say I have only done maybe twice in the last six years by gift from my husband). I would rather eat off of paper plates and disposable utensils then wash any dishes. Laundry is to be done when you need the clothing and putting them away seems extremely futile since they are going to be promptly removed from their designated home sooner rather than later anyway, in fact if you really want to know how I am, I guess I can’t quite justify getting dressed at all. Staying in my jammies all day does not seem terribly unreasonable. I have been accused of being rigid at some points so that I can better argue my points that I am convicted on. I will accuse myself of having been an inter-personal relativist so that I could justify my sinful choices. I can be an emotional over-reactor and a lot of times I have allowed my hormones to control that roller-coaster ride and many times forcefully strapped my husband in as well. I have removed myself from certain tasks claiming to not be any good at it and in fact justified it by affirming my husband’s skills in those areas. I could go on and on and on. But I won’t. I’ll spare you the agony. The point is that I am not naturally little Suzy homemaker. When I became justified in Christ I was given a new will and new spirit.
Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 says
“A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God”
Wisdom, knowledge and happiness. Did you catch that? They are gifts from God also. Everything is his. He has asked me to take care of a small portion of his creation. If you ask me, that is an extemely humbling request. Who am I to be asked to take care of some of his estate? Who are you to have been asked to take care of some of his estate? The fact of the matter is we have been.To be more blunt, God doesn't need me to take care of anything, He asked me to because he wants to share it with me. He asked you to because he wants to share it with you. Regardless of what our “lot” is, it is a “lot” given to us by God. It is my job to do the best I can to take care of everything he has given me, physical, mental, spiritual…
Think on this for awhile, are you turning back in praise every blessing God has poured out on you or are you executing your day in a meaningless fashion?
Use these verses for a place of reference to start your search.
Proverbs 16:3
Commit to the lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.
Proverbs 16:2
All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.
Philippians 2:3,4
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:14,15
Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God, without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.
Ecclesiastes 9:10
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might,
1 Corinthians 10:31
So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God.
Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,
Titus 3:14
Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives.
To you all out of love - Dawn
Philippians 2:14,15
Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God, without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.
What does it mean to glorify God? To love God through worship.
What does it mean to worship God? To praise him by attending church and singing hymns or if you attend a more modern church singing songs about God with a little more hip flair.
This is where so many of us mess up. We go to church and sing songs and listen to our pastors fill us with tidbits that we can take with us into our week and …the end. Until next week. Then we do it all over again.
What does it REALLY mean to glorify God? We really glorify God when we recognize that everything we do, see, say, touch, hear…belongs to God. We really worship God through our actions and deeds as long as they are completed with a pureness of heart. We do it because God wants us to and we do it the way God wants us to. But here is the real kicker. We can do anything the way God wants us to but if we do not find enjoyment in it, even when it is something we do not like to do, like fold 15 loads of laundry, we deny God his portion of enjoyment. It can be really hard to do the mundane and burdensome tasks of our personal lives with enjoyment, unless…you understand that our circumstances are a gift from God. Not burdens. Have you ever watched someone try to do something that you really enjoy but they have a terrible attitude or just don’t seem that into it. It’s painful isn’t. You just want to say, stand back, let me do it. Or if it is your kid that you are watching you want to take away what you gave them because they don’t seem to appreciate it.
My sanctification is, as it should be, a process. I am in the bible every day. I crave it. I start my morning with it and to be honest, when I don’t start my day with it, the day always goes terribly wrong. Awhile back, in the not too distant past, I re-read the book of Ecclesiastes. This book is thought to be written by King Solomon to the people of Israel to reveal that he had discovered that without God at the center of a person’s life, every human effort is meaningless. There were many verses that caught my attention as to the way I should conduct myself as a Christian woman but my eyes were opened with Ecclesiastes 3:11-13.
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men: yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all his toil-this is the gift of God.”
My circumstances are all gifts. Every single one of them. Not one has been handed to me as a burden. When I receive these tasks as gifts I can’t help but be joyful. It is a gift to get up in the morning to take care of my husband by making him breakfast and his favorite iced coffee before he goes out to work. It is a gift that he has work. If he didn’t have anywhere to go, I wouldn’t have a reason to get up early. It is a gift to school my own children. I get to see all of the struggle and hard work pay off everyday right before my eyes. It is a gift to have to tackle a mountain of clothing to be folded because it means my family has clothing. It is a gift to have to pick up four hundred pairs of shoes over and over and over because it means that this house is full of little feet that the shoes belong on. It is a gift that I get to do all of these things and see some of the creative world that God made with the scenery always changing. I live in a motorhome but my backyard is the United States of America.
I then came across Ecclesiastes 9:10
“Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all of your might…” and it complemented another verse from 1 Corinthians. Chapter 10 verse 31 says “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
I sat and marinated in this one for a while. Worship is glorifying God. We call singing worship, which it is, but not all of us were given the gift of a beautiful voice. We show love to God through doing everything we do with a grateful and non-complaining attitude giving it all we have. How many times a day do we tell our kids “I don’t care how you do it, just don’t complain!” Everything I do from making elaborate wedding cakes to making sure the corners of the motorhome are crumb free to patiently dealing with my kids is an act of love to God. This was made clear with Ecclesiastes 5:18-20
“Then I realized that it is good and proper for a man to eat and drink, and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun during the few days of life God has given him-for this is his lot. Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions, and enables him to enjoy them, to accept his lot and be happy in his work-this is a gift of God. He seldom reflects on the days of his life, because God keeps him occupied with gladness of heart.”
The point that I want you to see and hear is that God enables us to enjoy our lot including our work and the gladness of heart that any of us have is also given to us as a gift from God.
God has initiated progressive change. Without Him I would be a wandering motorhomemaker distraught because I have no guidance and don’t understand the point.
The natural, fleshly me born into this world is fairly lazy. I find great enjoyment sleeping in until about 11:00 in the morning (which I will say I have only done maybe twice in the last six years by gift from my husband). I would rather eat off of paper plates and disposable utensils then wash any dishes. Laundry is to be done when you need the clothing and putting them away seems extremely futile since they are going to be promptly removed from their designated home sooner rather than later anyway, in fact if you really want to know how I am, I guess I can’t quite justify getting dressed at all. Staying in my jammies all day does not seem terribly unreasonable. I have been accused of being rigid at some points so that I can better argue my points that I am convicted on. I will accuse myself of having been an inter-personal relativist so that I could justify my sinful choices. I can be an emotional over-reactor and a lot of times I have allowed my hormones to control that roller-coaster ride and many times forcefully strapped my husband in as well. I have removed myself from certain tasks claiming to not be any good at it and in fact justified it by affirming my husband’s skills in those areas. I could go on and on and on. But I won’t. I’ll spare you the agony. The point is that I am not naturally little Suzy homemaker. When I became justified in Christ I was given a new will and new spirit.
Ecclesiastes 2:24-26 says
“A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in his work. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment? To the man who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God”
Wisdom, knowledge and happiness. Did you catch that? They are gifts from God also. Everything is his. He has asked me to take care of a small portion of his creation. If you ask me, that is an extemely humbling request. Who am I to be asked to take care of some of his estate? Who are you to have been asked to take care of some of his estate? The fact of the matter is we have been.To be more blunt, God doesn't need me to take care of anything, He asked me to because he wants to share it with me. He asked you to because he wants to share it with you. Regardless of what our “lot” is, it is a “lot” given to us by God. It is my job to do the best I can to take care of everything he has given me, physical, mental, spiritual…
Think on this for awhile, are you turning back in praise every blessing God has poured out on you or are you executing your day in a meaningless fashion?
Use these verses for a place of reference to start your search.
Proverbs 16:3
Commit to the lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.
Proverbs 16:2
All a man’s ways seem innocent to him, but motives are weighed by the Lord.
Philippians 2:3,4
Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Philippians 2:14,15
Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God, without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe.
Ecclesiastes 9:10
Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might,
1 Corinthians 10:31
So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it for the glory of God.
Colossians 3:23
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men,
Titus 3:14
Our people must learn to devote themselves to doing what is good, in order that they may provide for daily necessities and not live unproductive lives.
To you all out of love - Dawn
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Sanctification
1 Thesalonians 5:23
May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely.
Hebrews 13:20-21
May the God of peace...equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen
This journal is a recording of the change that God is manifesting in me as a modern woman living in the world of abundant American culture. Sanctification is a progressive molting of ones self when they submit themselves entirely to the hand of God. You will see many points discussed that may be controversial and bothersome but hopefully mostly motivating and edifying. Any article you read will convey my thoughts and conclusions and my hope is to encourage my readers to research topics for themselves in the scripture. I pray that you will be built up and strengthened in your own walk along with me on my journey.
Following is a quote from a book study that I have done recently. It verbalizes more completely the premise of this blog.
"Repentance and faith result in justification. Sanctification is a progressive work of both God and man that makes Christians more and more free from sin and more and more like Christ in their actual lives. God and his children cooperate in this work, both playing distinct roles. And while christians can expect to progress in their sanctification, they will never achieve perfection until Christ returns. Sanctification starts at the point of regeneration (God's gift of new spiritual life) and increases Throughout life. - John Piper
As God graciously allows sprinkles of wisdom, my thoughts will grow and change. Because of this and because I am human I am somewhat fearful of posting my thoughts. I am inviting you all into my head and the most vulnerable place ever, my heart. I am doing this confidently with the strength of the Holy Spirit and am reminded of the story of Jeremiah. I to believe I am to young to know anything and not wise enough to have a say. However, I cannot settle at rest so someone out there must need to see the process of my change.
Jeremiah 1:6-8
"Ah, sovereign Lord," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child." But the Lord said to me, "Do not say 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the Lord.
1 Timothy 4:12-16
Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift...Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Presevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
To you all out of love - Dawn
May the God of peace himself sanctify you completely.
Hebrews 13:20-21
May the God of peace...equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen
This journal is a recording of the change that God is manifesting in me as a modern woman living in the world of abundant American culture. Sanctification is a progressive molting of ones self when they submit themselves entirely to the hand of God. You will see many points discussed that may be controversial and bothersome but hopefully mostly motivating and edifying. Any article you read will convey my thoughts and conclusions and my hope is to encourage my readers to research topics for themselves in the scripture. I pray that you will be built up and strengthened in your own walk along with me on my journey.
Following is a quote from a book study that I have done recently. It verbalizes more completely the premise of this blog.
"Repentance and faith result in justification. Sanctification is a progressive work of both God and man that makes Christians more and more free from sin and more and more like Christ in their actual lives. God and his children cooperate in this work, both playing distinct roles. And while christians can expect to progress in their sanctification, they will never achieve perfection until Christ returns. Sanctification starts at the point of regeneration (God's gift of new spiritual life) and increases Throughout life. - John Piper
As God graciously allows sprinkles of wisdom, my thoughts will grow and change. Because of this and because I am human I am somewhat fearful of posting my thoughts. I am inviting you all into my head and the most vulnerable place ever, my heart. I am doing this confidently with the strength of the Holy Spirit and am reminded of the story of Jeremiah. I to believe I am to young to know anything and not wise enough to have a say. However, I cannot settle at rest so someone out there must need to see the process of my change.
Jeremiah 1:6-8
"Ah, sovereign Lord," I said, "I do not know how to speak; I am only a child." But the Lord said to me, "Do not say 'I am only a child.' You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you," declares the Lord.
1 Timothy 4:12-16
Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity. Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to preaching and to teaching. Do not neglect your gift...Be diligent in these matters; give yourself wholly to them, so that everyone may see your progress. Watch your life and doctrine closely. Presevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
To you all out of love - Dawn
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)