Never Ending New Year

Any plans for the New Year? I planned to put a new post up each Monday so I could get into a rhythm and allow more of my collected thoughts to find their way into written words. However, this is Tuesday, so I am late already. Now I face the choice of being disappointed in the ability to follow through on something so simple and contemplate the downward spiral of failure or just start over where I am and move on. Often the most disappointed person in our lives is our-self. We have our personal goals and unspoken expectations that may be unrealized or put on hold. Disappointments no one else can see. The New Year is often a time of reflection and the intention to move forward with some aspect of our lives. Coming up short can lead to a feeling discouragement and, for some, the threat of depression. We have mental conversations asking why we didn't get up earlier, exercise, write the letter, pray, read God's Word, sort that pile of stuff on the kitchen counter and a plethora of other simple things we set our minds to do but our bodies didn't follow through. It can, indeed, be discouraging. I would like to share a thought or two on avoiding the molasses swamp of personal despondency. I suggest you just look to the new year and try again.

Just how can this help? The reality is that you and I live in a never ending new year. The one we celebrate on January first is the traditional western celebration yet it is actually artificial. It is a random day chosen a few thousand years ago and the power and influence of western culture brought about pretty much global compliance. However, the Chinese and the Hebrew folk celebrate their accepted New Years on a different day. Yes, they agree to go along with the January first date so we all can interact on the same calendar but that does not negate the difference of cultural opinions. Looking to the Word of God it seems God allows every day to be a new year. We do not have to wait for some magical day to come to start fresh. Every day is a new opportunity to move forward.

I am of the belief that God is intimately involved with creation. He is not removed from the daily realities of humanity and this world. This does cause me some significant theological distress for it brings things I have been indoctrinated with into contrast with what I see in Scripture. That being said, I will save that discussion for another post. Today I want to postulate that God was not finished with creation after those six amazing days. Yes, the basics were done, however, creation continues all the time. You and I were, "Fearfully and wonderfully made" Psalm 139:14, So God created something new when He created you. Everyday is a new act of creation. Thus, every day is a new beginning, a new year, as it were.

If you have received Messiah Jesus as Savior and Lord you are a, "new creation" according to 2 Corinthians 5:17. You are not recycled material, God is making you new. If you feel like a failure, no worries, "It is of the LORD'S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness" Lamentations 3:22-23. New mercies every mornings. Not remnant or leftover mercies, God's mercy toward us is new every day. Therefore we, "walk in newness of life" Romans 6:4. Each morning is a new day, a new creation of God for you and I to enjoy.  A new day to join the Apostle Paul's encouragement from Philippians 3 in forgetting our past failures and to press on to that upward call in Christ Jesus. 

If you take a moment you may well think of other "new" things that are offered to us as each day unfolds. God is at work around us. He is at work in us. He offers new possibilities with the dawn of every morning. Do not allow the spirit of darkness cloud the brightness of His work in you. The Lord did not bring you this far to leave you now. So it is time to begin again, and again, and again, for He is not finished and you are His chosen one. We are invited to celebrate a new year with Messiah as our Savior and friend. So Happy New Years, we only have 160 of them left before next January first.

 

You are Special, this I Know, for the Bible Tells Me so

Do you ever wonder how important you are? When we view the universe, and the billions of people that have preceded us, how important are you really? You may find yourself with David asking the question, "What is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? (Psalm 8:3-4). We can balance this out with David's other claim that, "we are fearfully and wonderfully made" in Psalm 139:14. We can look to God's love and provision. Reflect upon the sacrifice of Messiah and His resurrection. There are a number of places we can go to bask in the wonder of God's care and interest in humanity. Yet, in all the places we go to we may pass over the one that really began it all, way back in Genesis chapter two.

My last post spent a little time reminding us to consider the Creator there in Genesis one rather than a focus on the creation. Chapter two in Genesis has invited some interesting commentary and a bit of criticism as well. For some, it seems to be in conflict with the creation account. For others it is a curious expansion on what was already given. For most we just read it and move on to chapter three. However, if you take the time to go back and consider the context of the time and culture it is an amazing bit of prose that the Lord gives us to let us know just how special we are.

The summery of Genesis one gives us the record of day six in God's creative process. Here we read that God made all the critters, according to their kind, and then decided to make man in His image. Man is given stewardship over it all and told that man and beast will be vegetarians. God saw all he made, and it was very good. Chapter two starts off with the record that "God rested", which has given theologians pause as to why God would need to rest. How can an omnipotent being need a nap?  I doubt that the creation of woman exhausted Him to the point that He needed to recover, as some comedians have suggested. That is a post for another day. From verse 4 on God gives us a little history as to how exactly man can to be and the responsibilities he was to carry. It gives us the account of Adam naming all the animals and being found alone. For the first time God sees something that was "not good". Man needed a special companion. God borrows a rib from Adam and forms Eve, his ideal helper and companion.

It is  nice story, but why is it here? One again it helps if we do a little mental time travel and join the Israelites at the base of Mount Sinai, out there in the wilderness. The are standing in the fearful shadow of the Almighty. After about 400 years of slavery and oppression they have been set free. As we saw in Genesis chapter one, they know that their God is the Lord of all creation, maker of heaven and earth. He is greater and more powerful than any of the Egyptian gods or goddesses. However, He is also the intimate and personal God who made them, not just as a random thought of creative power but as a special creation in God's image holding the very breath of God to animate their beings. As believers we likely take this for granted. However, this was not the usual story at the time of the Israelites standing in the wilderness. Genesis chapter two sets Jewish theology apart from every other middle-eastern culture and tradition. No other people group has the creation of humanity as a special act of the divine. The Egyptians, Hittites, Philistines, the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans and every other culture had mythologies and doctrines about their gods and goddesses. None of them hold an account of humanity as a special creative act of their gods or goddesses. Humans were simply pawns or toys for the gods and goddesses to torment or play with. These deities could do what they wanted and humanity had to guess what might please them. Their subjects often lived in fear, offering whatever they could to appease the current mood of their gods. The god's could take a liking to them and cohabit with them and produce demigods if they so desired. Human beings were of little value and easily replaced.

As they leave Egypt, the nations surrounding Israel, the Hittites, Philistines, Jebusites and all the rest of the kingdoms of Canaan, hold nothing special for mankind. For them there is no story of creation, no awesome act to form them in their mother's wombs. No breath of God to give them life and make them living beings in God's very image. They are just objects with no recorded beginning. They may well have a fearful end in the hands of fickle divinities who will eventually grow tiered of them and end their lives. This holds true for the nations yet to come. The Babylonians, Persians, Greeks and Romans have no special origin of humanity. God's message to Israel, and to us, is that you are special. You have a beginning. You were carefully and intentionally designed and given life by the God who loves you and cares deeply about you.

As we approach Resurrection Sunday his truth is multiplied beyond measure. No other god or goddess came for you. None of them suffered, died, and rose again for you. None of them sacrificed themselves so you could be forgiven and restored to the God Who made you. Genesis chapter two is the amazing account of the divine creation of man. It is the unveiling of the heart of a God Who saw that, for all the wonder of creation, it was not good for man to be alone. It is the love story between God and man and the provision of a woman specifically designed for him that they would complete each other and be more than they could be alone. It is the record of this Creative God placing them in a garden and giving them all they needed to be fulfilled. No other culture, nation, or people knew of this remarkable reality of the devotion and provision of the Lord God, Maker of heaven and earth.

You are special, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. 

Are You a Gnostic Christian?

Do you have a personal relationship with God? Is God honestly beyond you? Are you, as a mere mortal, not able to truly understand the divine?  Are you looking forward to shedding this sinful, corrupt body and going to heaven? If so, have you ever wondered if any of these ideas are really Biblical? It might be that these thoughts are not as clear cut as we might think. There are elements of an old philosophy that may well have infected what we assume is Christian thought. Back in the days when Jesus, Messiah, was walking the earth there was a growing movement among the Greek intellectuals. It was about a special higher knowledge. A spiritual knowing that is beyond this material world. The Greek word for knowing is ginōskō where we get the term Gnosticism. It was an issue in New Testament times as gentiles came into the Messianic community. Today's question is, "Did we ever escape it?"

Very briefly, Gnosticism taught that there was a higher knowledge that we should strive for. It held that the material, especially the fleshly bodies we have, are intrinsically evil. They were also not really related to the reality yet to come. Thus, the body was to be either beaten into submission or you could do anything you wanted with this body as it did not relate to the "real world" of higher knowledge. Morality was irrelevant for this branch of Gnosticism. The higher knowledge was both unknowable and completely personal. Your higher knowledge may not be the same as anyone else and it would be hard to share, as this knowledge was on a spiritual plane above this unwanted physical world. The goal was to shed this mortal body and join in the "one" consciousness in the heavenlies. There you would be free from the pain, sorrow, limitations, and corruption of this world and this mortal body. There you would be with the unknowable, completely other, "god", who gave you this higher knowledge.

Aspects of this may seem familiar to you. God being so far above us He is not truly knowable. After all "For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD" (Isaiah 55:8). And we all can relate to the awful nature of the flesh, Romans 7:5, "For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death." We have all been told that we need a personal relationship with the Lord, one that is uniquely our own. No one has the right to question your decisions if you feel you were directed by God to do it. We sing that "this world is not our home" and that "heaven is a wonderful place". Heaven, that place up there with streets of gold and no more fleshly problems or limitations where we can be with the One true God forever. Then we will understand and know the unknowable. We are currently stuck where, "For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know just as I also am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12). Oh to put off this sinful flesh, go to heaven, know God, and be free from this physical body and to experience spiritual glory.

So, how are we different than the Gnostics? It seems we do what mankind often does by getting things out of balance or hanging onto tradition without considering Scripture. It is true that we sin and that sin takes a toll on our physical bodies. However, God says that, "I am fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:14). And, 1 Corinthians, "do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?" The Apostle Paul's illustration of the "Body" representing the church seems to indicate that the body is a pretty amazing thing. How can we say life is precious and then talk about how corrupt our bodies are? These physical entities that God has designed and given to us are truly fearfully and wonderfully made. They are the vessels of God's Spirit to do God's work here and now. Paul's use of the "flesh" is more about the evil we do with these bodies rather than the bodies themselves.

Speaking of the "body" illustration, where did this profoundly personal relationship with God thing come from? It is true that God loves us as individuals, However, most of what we see in Scripture is how we relate to others. We never sin in a vacuum. Our behavior is either beneficial or detrimental to those around us. Just look at the chaos of David's family after his sin with Bathsheba. Or check out the result of Achan's sin in Joshua chapter 7. Defeat of an army, dead Israelites, discouraged people and the death of Achan's family. His relationship was not so isolated and personal with the Lord that it did not touch the lives of others. Our God is knowable. He reveals Himself to us. We may not always understand everything; however, we know of His mercy, creative power, His justice, His love and the giving of His Son. He does communicate with us and has given us a series of books to explain Himself to us. He has given us directions and instructions as to how to best live and to commune with Him and be a community with other people. He is not completely other or unknowable.

By the way, you will not always have this physical body but you will have a physical body that lasts forever. You are not some spiritual entity trapped in this fleshy container longing to get free. The new body you have will still work and do things for God. You will not dwell in heaven but on a new earth in the new Jerusalem. That is where the streets of gold are. Sorry, no streets of gold in heaven. We may be built for glory, however, that glory is here and now as well. What you do now matters.

Have we, as followers of Messiah, that Christian community you may belong to, allowed Gnostic flavors to be incorporated into our faith? It is true that Paul looked forward to being with the Lord, yet, he would chose to stay here to minister to the Philippians.  The vast majority of Scripture is about living here and now. We know little of heaven or eternity or even that of the new heaven and new earth John speaks of in Revelation 21. Life is not all about limitations, sin, and pain. It is about glorious service to God and others. It is seeing the revelation of the knowable God all about us every day. It is being grateful for the amazing bodies He has blessed us with. Life is very little about longing for "heaven" and a whole lot about living for Him now. Don't let Gnostic influences deny the life of glory God has for you today. It seems we need to put heaven on hold and go do something to advance His kingdom and encourage His people. That should be way more enjoyable than whining about our corrupt bodies while we wait in despair to go to some  place we conjured up to be heaven.

Are You a Misfit Reindeer?

Spring has come to New York. The forsythia are in bloom and I began the season of lawn mowing just a few nights ago. With all the blossoms, bursting greenery and tree pollen My thoughts turned to ......... Rudolf. You remember, that Red Nosed Reindeer from a few months ago. In my years of interaction with people, especially evangelical believers, I have found that a great many feel like Rudolf. This little song tied to the Santa tradition is an awful song. The TV animation only serves to amplify how bad the message of the song really is. What we learn is that those who are different, outside the accepted norm, are unacceptable. Be they reindeer, dentist elves or misfit toys, if you do not fit in with what society demands you are not welcome. You cannot be a part of the games, you are fair game to be insulted, bullied and ostracized. Your only hope to be accepted is to prove you have worth. You must demonstrate the  you can perform in some way to be seen as having value. If you do not you do not belong, you will never be accepted, loved, or valued. It is a devastatingly lonely place to be.

What is true of reindeer, dentist elves, and misfit toys is true for the rest of us as well.We who hold that the Scriptures are the revealed truth and will of God often have some of the greatest issues of acceptance. We hold a remarkable ability to compartmentalize truth, thus putting God's Word out of balance. When I was a new believer I took a few evangelism classes. We learned to let people know that, "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). And that, “There is none righteous, no, not one" (Romans 3:10). Isaiah says, "But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags" ( Isaiah 64:6). And, "The wages of sin is death" (Romans 6:23). We are helpless, hopeless, depraved, and incapable of doing anything positive or good. That, of course, changes when we receive Christ. Though, even then, we are often reminded of how unworthy we really are.  Even the hymn Amazing Grace reminds us that we are just unacceptable worms. Many believers still see themselves as misfit reindeer longing for acceptance.

In our effort to challenge one another to live holy lives that are pleasing to God, we may leave things out of balance. Confronted regularly by our own failures we may find ourselves feeling like we are still on the outside. We are still those marked more by failure rather than one of the beloved of God. We are acutely aware that we still "fall short" and that our tainted righteousness still harbors the stench of those "filthy rags" . No one needs to remind us of our unworthiness, it haunts us with every sin that so easily besets us. We long for just twenty-four hours of purity in thought, rescued from irritation or anger. It would be such a joy to get through one day and not be reminded of how incredibly frail and fallen we are. "Victory in Jesus" is a nice hymn title but it is far from the reality we crave as we stumble along in the mire of our own creation.

In the midst of this, sometimes painful, journey, we need to be reminded of who else we are. David understood the depths of sin and the conviction that Yahweh can bring upon His wandering children, He also understood the amazing truth of who we are as those created by God. Psalm 139:14, "I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are Your works, and that my soul knows very well." The Hebrew word, יָרֵא yare',translated "fearfully", carries the idea of being in awe. We have reverential fear for Yahweh, meaning we are in awe of His presence and person. David relates that the creative activity of God in forming a child in the womb is an awesome thing. Being knit together as a divine act from conception is amazing. Beyond that David also says we are "wonderfully" made. The Hebrew word here is, פָּלָה palah. It means to be to be distinct, be separated, be distinguished, to be unique. There has never been and never will be another you. From your fingerprints to your DNA you are a hand crafted creation of God. Even identical twins, who share the same DNA, have different fingerprints. In addition to our physical characteristics we have psychological, emotional, and mental uniqueness. And do not forget your personality, natural abilities, and gifts. Then, when receiving Christ as Lord and Savior, you are supernaturally empowered with a gift from the Holy Spirit. You are an essential part of the Body of Christ designed to do something in a way no one else can accomplish. You are an amazing creation of God Almighty. How marvelous is His work in you!

I do not mean to belittle sin or the ongoing struggle to be more like our Savior, however, you are amazing. It is the enemy of our soul who diminishes the awesome work of God in creating you in the womb. It is Satan who promotes the lie of "fetal tissue" that can be removed and discarded. You are not some happenstance mistake that evolved from some protein ooze over millions of years. NO! You were awesomely hand crafted as a unique and essential creation of God. So follow David's lead and rejoice, give God praise. Sit quietly in the loving arms of your heavenly Abba, Father and find rest and value for your soul. I am the father of five. I love my children dearly. They are not perfect and they occasionally fail. But, I have never stopped loving, never stopped forgiving, never ceased to be amazed at the wonder of who they are and who they are becoming. How could my Heavenly Father ever treat me with any less gentleness, acceptance, and yes, even look on me with a little wonder at what He has created?

You are fearfully, awesomely, wonderfully, uniquely, hand crafted by the God and Creator of the universe. Don't let anyone tell you differently. Not even yourself.