Justice, Mercy, Humility and Salvation

I just finished reading the Olivet discourse: Matthew 24-25. In particular, this morning, Matthew 25. After Jesus has told them that He is coming again and it will be when no one expects it, He gives two parables and a warning. The parables are about being ready for Him to come. Both are about preparation, but the second is about stewardship. Jesus then explains that this stewardship of those who will live with Him forever and not be punished is worked out in deeds of justice and mercy.

The older I get (with some good teaching from the church, and the Holy Spirit's guidance through continual Scripture reading), the more I see that Micah 6:6-8 is a picture of the fruit of true conversion and a life with God:

 “With what shall I come before the LORD, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?” He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?"

Compare this with Matthew 25:31-46, and Jesus warning for the goats, and you can see the connection with the Holy Spirit's guidance.

Yet, as I have studied the rest of Scripture, of course, the mercy and justice does not save us, it just demonstrates that Jesus actually has saved us. Because, having been made alive by the Holy Spirit because of the application of Christ to us, we have a new heart that matches the heart of God.

And what is God's heart and character? It can be found in Exodus 34:6-7:

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

If you don't have this heart, God offers to remake yours into this through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Christ.

Sweet as honey

Have you ever tasted honey straight off of the comb right after it was just collected from the bees?

"My son, eat honey, for it is good, and the drippings of the honeycomb are sweet to your taste. Know that wisdom is such to your soul; if you find it, there will be a future, and your hope will not be cut off." - Prov. 24:13-14

I have tasted honey fresh and straight off the comb. My dad kept bees when I was a kid, and one of my favorite times was when dad would get in his white bee-suit and go out to get the honey. He would bring it in the house after he smoked all the bees away, and setup downstairs. He would then proceed to get the honey off the slides. At any rate, he would let me come down and watch. But he would also let me get a piece of the honeycomb and eat it. It was amazing! Just like the proverb says, it was incredible and sweet to the taste.

Yet, as the years of my life went by, I was always searching for something that was sweet, but life seemed to be somewhat empty and painful, even though my childhood was a great one. There was something deep within my soul that knew that something wasn't right with the world and with me.

Then be the power of God, I found something sweeter than honey that gave me a future and gave me hope. I have been eating of this sweetness for the last 18 years everyday. That sweetness is wisdom as the Proverb says.

But what is it?

Well, it isn't just facts. Facts are cool and are good at parties to show that you are smart, but facts aren't sweet. It isn't just knowledge either. Knowledge is deeper than facts, and is related to the understanding.

No. Wisdom, the wisdom that I have experienced, that is sweet, is a relational direction, or life direction. But it was not something that I got in one step. There was something that happened in me first.

A creative, renewing work happened in me that changed my soul and made me a new person. This was a supernatural, creative work of God called the new birth. I was born again by the Spirit of the Living God, the Holy Spiriit. The one who hovered over the waters at creation, and has b en actively involved engaged in His world ever since opened my heart to God. It was then that I began to have wisdom and seek after it.

Earlier in the book of Proverbs it says this:

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge; fools despise wisdom and instruction." - Prov. 1:7

"I, wisdom, dwell with prudence, and I find knowledge and discretion. The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate. I have counsel and sound wisdom; I have insight; I have strength." - Prov. 8:12-14

Essentially, wisdom is the fear of the Lord. But fear does not mean a frightened, servile dread, but rather a holy reverence and awe. This is wisdom. Wisdom is recognizing and knowing who God is and that you truly know him on a personal level. The fear of God is knowing that you are really a created being that owes his/her life to God, and not a breath of yours happens without Him granting it to you. Wisdom is knowing that you are broken and have missed God's mark of perfection, and are guilty before Him. Wisdom is knowing that God won't wink at this evil, but must punish it. Wisdom is knowing that God loves you so much that He sent Jesus to pay this penalty for your missing his mark of perfection. Wisdom is accepting and acknowledging this truth, and confessing with your mouth and believing in your heart that Jesus is Lord, that Jesus who died for you is your Master and King, and you  will submit to Him in all things.

Wisdom is hating what God hates and loving what God loves. It is seeking justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly with God. It is not living for self, but living for God.

You will know when the new birth that is given by God happens when you suddenly know, believe and accept God's message. The new birth enables you to long for wisdom and experience its joy and sweetness, because the reverence and awe you now have for God comes because you personally know Him through His Son Jesus Christ. Knowing that God is not far off but close brings a sweetness that is so far beyond the sweetest thing you can experience in life.

Why? Because He made us, loves us, and takes care of us. When we know we are valuable in His sight, we no longer have anything to fear, we have value and significance. Then have a relationship with  our Maker, the Creator, and the One who holds the universe together. This is joy and this gives hope.

Why? Because we know that one day we will see Him face to face, and instead of an angry look, we will get His smiling face as He sees us as righteous and perfect through His Son's work.

So how do you get wisdom?

"The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a graceful garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown." - Prov. 4:7-9

You get wisdom by acknowledging yourself as missing the mark of perfection that God has, and accepting the free gift of Christ's righteousness, and the offer that He gave of taking your debt. Then by submitting to Him as you read His revelation found in the Old and New Testaments. It is found coming from the mouth of God which can be read in the Bible.

This wisdom is so sweet and wonderful. If you have experienced it, then I hope it still has joy. If it doesn't, pick up the Bible and start reading again. If you haven't experienced it, then ask God to forgive you, because of Christ's work on the cross, for missing His mark of perfection, and if you have done this, you more than likely have already been remade. If so, then you can begin to get wisdom by learning and seeking after God with reverence and awe.

True freedom is not where we think

Are you really free?

Those who have been redeemed by Christ are the most free people in the world. Why are we free? Because we are free to live in holiness, loving God and others.

Being able to do, watch, and say whatever you want is not freedom, but bondage to sin and self. Being able to love and pour your life out for God and others is true freedom, for it is what we were designed to do.

Is a roller coaster more free on the track, or sitting on the ground off the track?

Christ requires us to die to self and live to him. Living this new life where sin is attacked and righteousness is pursued is the most freedom that we can experience in this life.

I know from personal experience that when I am fighting against the world, flesh and Devil who try to control me, and I am actively engaged in acts of holiness and righteousness, that I am the freest, and happiest. I have lived for sin and worldly freedom and I can tell you that it is misery compared to the freedom of living for righteousness and bounded love.

Romans 6:4-14:

"We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. For the death he died he died to sin, once for all, but the life he lives he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, to make you obey its passions. Do not present your members to sin as instruments for unrighteousness, but present yourselves to God as those who have been brought from death to life, and your members to God as instruments for righteousness. For sin will have no dominion over you, since you are not under law but under grace."

Stop digging and start drinking

Are you thirsty?

Even though I am in seminary, and have been for the last 7 years, I spend most of my time living in what some would call the "real world." Five days a week I get up and go to work, work with other people, and accomplish tasks. I make money in order to provide for my family and live, yet I do enjoy what I do.

As I have watched people work and live over the years, I see how driven they are. I see people who spend a lot of time trying to solve problems and get some recognition for themselves. I see others who genuinely thrive off of solving problems and creating things. I see others who live for the weekends and evenings and just want out. I see others who are searching for meaning in anything and everything.

There is an inexhaustible amount of people in this world who are looking for something. What it is, they just don't know. They seek it in clothes, food, cars, houses, careers, family, children, sex, drugs, power, money, fame, and the list goes on and on. These people are always searching but never finding. They are always running but never moving. They are always living but ever dead. Life for them is stale, empty and pale.

People wake up and hope that today, maybe, just maybe, they may find what they are looking for. After waiting and working, after saving and borrowing, they finally get that BMW Z3, but when they get it off the lot, sure, it is fun, but the emptiness is still gone. Others seek out that next relationship, trying to find someone who will give them meaning and affirmation, but after 2 years of the relationship, the emptiness is still there.

Here is a passage from John chapter 4 that gives us a clue as to what is going on:

John 4:7-15

A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.)The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.”Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

The woman

A woman who has been searching and searching for meaning has finally been confronted with Meaning. She meets the Truth, the Life and the Way. This meeting is going to blow her away. Jesus stands by a well and meets her, and through a series of questions shows her that all she is seeking in life will never satisfy her. He shows her that everything apart from Him will not bring her meaning. The things that she is craving and desiring will never fill her up, for what she looks for is something that will fulfill her ultimate thirst.

The answer

Jesus knows that mankind has a thirst that can only be quenched by the infinite. He knows that in man is a well that is very, very deep. He knows that for this woman sex and men have not been able to fill it. So Jesus tells her that only he can fill the infinite craving and desire that she has. It is only the Maker that can provide meaning and purpose for the made. The Maker made the creatures to find all their meaning, value, purpose and satisfaction in Him. Nothing in life can bring satisfaction and fulfillment except for one thing, and that is the Maker Himself.

Jesus tells the woman that in order to find fulfillment that she must drink the water of Jesus Christ. She must find her meaning, value, purpose and satisfaction in Him. She will not find it in anything else.

Application

For those who are searching, all I can say is that you will never find what you are looking for until you find it in Jesus Christ, the Maker. You can keep on drinking from that car, house, sex, drugs, possessions, relationship, and you will keep on searching for more water. Until your soul finds its rest in Jesus Christ, the Maker, you will always be restless.

For those who think they have already found this living water, a simple question or two will do. Do you have joy? Are you still searching and seeking the well that you have already tasted from? Even though you have found your satisfaction, have you lost sight of it?

Conclusion

It is very easy to forget that in Christ, in order to be satisfied you must continually drink from His well. You cannot fill the well of your eternal soul with a Dixie cup, only the infinite can fill you: Jesus Christ.
So drink from Him this morning and fill your soul with Him and His delights today.

The Secret Longing to Go Back to Eden

The Secret Longing to Go Back to Eden

Matthew 15:29-31

Jesus went on from there and walked beside the Sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there. And great crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others, and they put them at his feet, and he healed them, so that the crowd wondered, when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing. And they glorified the God of Israel.

John 4:10-14

Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty forever. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”  The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

The secret longing

Inside each man, woman and child in this world is a secret longing to go back to a place that is undefiled. We all long for a perfect environment to live in that is unspoiled, a perfect family relationship that is characterized by harmony, love and affection, a perfect job that is not stained by trouble, challenges and results that we would rather have to be better, and perfect bodies that don't get sick, don't hurt, perform as desired, and look great.

While this longing is inside us all, I think we seek to meet this longing in our actions and attitudes.

Externally

Externally, we try to do our best to take care of our environment, be loving and kind in our families, work hard at our job, and workout and don't eat too much junk.

Yet we are cursed. Natural disasters come and spoil the beauty of nature. We forget to recycle and others don't care and wreak havoc. Our spouses and children live like they are the only ones that matter, and so do we. Divorces happen, children rebel, parents get sick and die. Our jobs aren't as fulfilling as we would like them to be. Others mess up, we mess up. Customers are demanding, colleagues are demanding, and the nature of the work is demanding. Our bodies are born with deformities. Bodies don't work as they should. Some are born without some appendages. Some are lame. Some are born blind. Some become lame. Some become blind. Some can't speak. Some are plagued with minds that don't work right. Some are plagued by constant sickness. Hearts fail. Livers fail. Kidneys fail. Appendixes fail. Eyes fail. Legs fail. Hands fail. Cancer happens. On top of this, we don't eat right, don't exercise enough, and generally don't take care of ourselves.

So our dreams of and aspirations of living in the garden of Eden where everything is perfect and unspoiled is so far from reality that it is even depressing to think about it.

Our world is either falling apart or already is apart, our families and friendships are either falling apart or already are apart or are a struggle, our jobs are either falling apart or already are apart or are just a struggle, our bodies are falling apart or are already on the way out.

Our world, our relationships, our work, and ourselves are all in pieces. Everything external is sick. We need help!

Internally

But if it is not our world, relationships, work and ourselves that are apart externally, we are falling apart, or already are apart internally.

We are great contributors to all the problems and the defilement and spoil all around us. In some ways we could care less what happens to the world after we die, we don't work hard at our relationships, and live selfishly, as if we are the only ones that matter. We don't work hard at work, or just do a bad job, or become angry when things don't go our way, or contribute to the chaos. We ourselves don't care enough about the bodies that we have to do something about all the trouble that happens.

Our mind is polluted with thoughts that are not loving to God and mankind. Our affections are set on the things that please us and our own desires, rather than pleasing God and mankind. Our will seeks to bend all things to itself, rather than being bend towards fulfilling God's will.

So our mind, will and affections are completely spoiled and corrupt. We need help!

Redemption

So what do we do? Everything is spoiled externally and internally.

The two passages in this brief meditation answer the question.

First, in Matthew 15, this description of the miracles of Jesus came after a run in with the Pharisees because the disciples weren't doing the ritual of washing their hands. Jesus was clear that the issue at hand is that the corruption is not what comes into our mouths, but what flows out of our hearts.

This world and ourselves, external and internal is corrupt and spoiled by sin. It is sick and dying and dead because we are completely corrupted and evil in our hearts. The natural outworking of our corruption is to destroy ourselves and everything around us.

Yet, this is what Jesus came for. He did not just come for us to get a get out of hell free card. No, he came to give us a new nature. To heal us from the inside out. He came to give living water as John 4 says. This living water renews and regenerates. It changes who we are and what we do.

We can't meet this healing savior and not be changed internally only though. He renews our mind, our  will and our affections. This produces change that drives outward. This is the part of the significance of Jesus healing the bodies of men, women and children. Jesus cares about the world, our relationships, our jobs and our bodies. He wants all of these things to not be ravaged by sin and destruction and death.

So he came and healed in order to show that he came to restore what was lost. The second Adam came and lived right, and by his death brought us back into relationship with God. He came to live out Eden as it was supposed to be, and show us that even though this world is fallen and broken, that we are to live as we should be, and not just as things appear to be. We are to live and be light in the darkness, healing to sickness, peace to trouble. We are to be eyes for the blind, feet for the lame, hands and feet for the disabled. We are to come and be a source of life-giving power to all around us.

We are to care about God's creation and the environment and do are best to not only not destroy it, but actively restore it. We are to care for our families and neighbors and do are best to bring love, joy and peace wherever we go. We should help the hurt and bring peace to the troubled. We should do our part to be life-giving balm. We should work hard and our best at our jobs. We should be known as those who care, and those who work for a greater master. We should care about our health and our bodies. Just as Jesus cared about healing our bodies, we should not actively, or passively, seek to destroy them.

This redemption that we have in the cross of Christ is all about restoration. Restoration of our relationship with God, man and the world. Jesus came to seek and save what was lost. He came to bring hope and joy to a broken world.

I am not saying that our salvation is in us being restorative agents in this world. What I am saying is that our salvation naturally produces in us the desire, power and effort to be restorative agents in a lost and dying world. We seek to restore people's souls, their bodies, and the world to its proper place under the rule, dominion and peace of God.

Political agendas won't solve the problems. Activism won't solve the problems. Exercise won't solve the problems. Ten step programs won't solve the problems.

The gospel of Jesus Christ, changing hearts from the inside, and the outworking of this on the outside is what will change the world. And maybe, just maybe it can be said of us, like Paul and his companions, these men are turning the world upside-down. But not upside-down from good to bad, but upside-down from bad to good.

Let us be restorative agents for Christ, by preaching Christ in our words and actions, and sharing the healing power of a new mind, will and affections.