The Guardian /More Than Meets the Eye

Last Christmas my mother gave my siblings and me a gift of money.  I decided to buy a piece of art that I had admired for many years.   As you can see, this painting depicts what we can not see in our physical existence but what is none the less very real and very powerful.

The Guardian by Thomas Blackshear is only out in a limited number of prints and is hard to find.  The prints are not cheap. The frame cost even more.  It drove a couple of my children nuts when I hung the finished work in my youngest son's bedroom.  The most expensive piece of art in my house, they said, should be in a prominent place in the living room.

But the piece rightfully belongs in my son's room.  For you see, the illustration of the angel is also a representation of who my son is inside his flesh.  To most people my son is slow in processing thoughts and has a hard time learning new things.  In our world, he is of lesser value because he can only do menial work and will always need to be supervised.  People don't spend much time with him because he is not as witty, not as smart, not as "good" as most.  He is snubbed by most.

My son, Justice, is the youngest of five children. I learned much from teaching my other four children and I am glad God gave Justice to me last. I had lots of ideas for teaching him. For me one of the best things about teaching is seeing the "light" turn on in the eyes of the learner when they understand a concept being taught.  I rarely saw that light when I taught Justice.  To him everything sounded like astrophysics no matter how many approaches I took to unlock even the most elementary things.

I needed to re-evaluate my goals for Justice's education.  For the rest of my children, getting a quality academic education was very important.  Justice was not going to be able to meet the academic goals I had for the rest.

I asked God what my goal should be for him. His answer was to consider what He will require of us when we come before the judgement seat.  I realized then that none of us will be asked about our math scores or our reading ability.  We will not be quizzed on literature or science.  God will ask each of us if we loved people and served them.  Were we honest?  Did we love the truth?   Did we pursue holiness?  Every person is able to pursue God and learn to love justice and righteousness.

These are things my son does pursue.  He is cheerful and loves to be with people.. He is helpful and kind.  He quickly forgives and never holds a grudge.  He is honest and humbly asks forgiveness when he is in the wrong.  Since he does not use the internet and only watches old family videos, he is not tainted by the promiscuous world around us like we are.   Although he lives a lonely life in the eyes of most, I believe he is set apart for God's use.

I am reminded of the story of Gideon when he took his 300 men to surround the enemies of Israel. See Judges 7. They surrounded the enemy camp at night with a torch in an earthen vessel in one hand and a trumpet in the other.  They blew their trumpets and smashed their clay jars. Then their torches shone brightly. The enemy warriors awoke and fled in terror.

This story speaks of a time soon to come when those who have been waiting for the LORD and who have kept their lamps burning brightly with the oil of the Holy Spirit will hear the trumpet.  Then those who have lived to serve their own flesh will see beyond the flesh of these glorified saints and will see the flame of the Holy Spirit.

This picture of The Guardian reminds me of my son's identity.  I see him as the sleeping child, innocent in the flesh, but also as the mighty warrior in the spirit.  My son Justice is more than meets the eye.

1 Samuel 16:7 "...Man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."

The Image

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. (Gen.1:26).  That makes us all god images.  Webster's first definition of idol begins,"an image of a god."  We are our greatest stumbling block because we are idols if we choose to be devoted to our own desires and ambitions instead of laying them down at God's feet.

 I well know how many desires pull at me.  The easiest way to appease my heart is to convince myself that my selfish ambitions are actually God's commission for my life.  Anyone can get so caught up in these selfish desires (that bring us great recognition by the way) that we will justify turning our backs to our spouse, children and those who are thirsty at the well.

We must beware of our presumptive missions that we do not let them carry ourselves away like the priest and Levite who did not see their neighbor in need by the side of the road.  How often do we walk past our neighbors in need of an encouraging word or a helpful hand because we are on to bigger and better works "for God".

The prophet tells us that idols can not see or hear.  When we devote ourselves to our own dreams and ambitions, we can become dull of hearing like dumb idols.  We will not listen to anyone who may come in the spirit of God and suggest that perhaps there is something amiss in our labor.  Perhaps we are neglecting basics like disciplining our children or, because we are so busy with "God's work" we push the children and spouse altogether on others to take care of them.  In our zeal, we often stray from the narrow path and become so caught up with ourselves that we do not hear the word of wisdom that may come from a source we do not want to accept.

Made in the image of God, we have a wonderful potential to become great.  However, if greatness is what we aspire to, we can expect to be cut off from God like Satan so long ago.  Jesus said whoever would be great must be a servant to all.  Love for others, not for self, is the essence of God.  To be fully in His likeness, we must put away our own ambition and look upon others to see how best we can help them come into the fullness of our Creator.

Face to Face

In the book of Exodus we find a very beautiful yet tragic story of God's love for His people.  Beautiful because it shows how God came to talk with His people face to face and share His heart with them.  Tragic because the people rejected Him .   In the third month after the people of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, they were encamped in the wilderness of Sinai.  God spoke to Moses and said, "Behold, I am coming to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak and may also believe forever." (Exodus 19:9)  He directed Moses to tell the people to consecrate themselves and be ready for the third day.

"On the morning of the third day there were thunders and lightnings and a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.  Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain.  Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the LORD had descended on it in fire.  The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled greatly"  (Ex. 19:16-18).

Then God shares His heart by speaking to the people His ten commandments. Exodus chapter 20 continues the story, "Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled and they stood far off and said to Moses, 'You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us lest we die'" (Ex. 20:18-19).  In Deuteronomy 5:4 Moses says, "The LORD spoke with you face to face at the mountain, out of the midst of the fire...."

Here lies the whole intent of God.  He purposes to have a face to face relationship with His People. He had this relationship with Adam.  We know this because it is clear in Genesis that they customarily  walked together in the garden but Adam's disobedience sent us all on a different path. Here at the mountain the people  tremble before God because they fear the death and destruction of their sorry flesh.  Moses must become mediator between God and man.

So now comes a long history of having to come to the Tabernacle and after that, to the temple to meet God.  The people brought their sacrifices and offerings to priests who mediated for them.  But God laments in Isaiah 1, "What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices? ... I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of well-fed beasts; I do not delight in the blood of bulls, or of lambs, or of goats.  When you come to appear before me, who has required of you this trampling of my courts?  Bring no more vain offerings; incense is an abomination to me.  New moon and Sabbath and the calling of convocations-- I cannot endure iniquity and solemn assembly.  Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hates; they have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.  When you spread out your hands, I will hide my eyes from you; even though you make many prayers, I will not listen; your hands are full of blood."

"Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow's cause" (Is. 1:11-17).

God never found pleasure in these rituals.   The law was but a shadow of the good things to come.  He wanted men's hearts inclined to His, not a bunch of bloody sacrifices.  He put all these laws, rituals, sacrifices, temples in place as illustrations to show us how to live with Him.

As for a mediator, "There is [only] one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus (1Tim 2:5).  Still, we look for other men to know God's word and then tell us what He says.  We drift from church  to church and teacher to teacher to find the mediator who makes us most comfortable with ourselves. We are acting like the people of Israel who would not allow God to speak to them directly.  We want to keep our sorry flesh.  We don't want to change.  Yet, death of the flesh is the only way to have relationship with God.  Jesus said "He who would save his life will lose it and he who would lose his life will save it."

1 John 3:27 says "...you have no need that anyone should teach you.  But as his anointing teaches you about everything ...abide in him."  So come to Jesus, and live as He did as a man.  Learn from His laws and testamonies and obey.    Start abiding in Him and let Him abide in you and step into the relationship that God intended from the beginning, face to face.

Meeting Jesus for the First Time

As I read Matthew a few weeks ago, I paused to think about this line, "And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted." (Mt 28:17).  I could not imagine how anyone of these 11 disciples could possibly have been through all they had been through that year and doubt that Jesus was the Son of God.  I realized the  people who lived during the time Jesus lived in the flesh were unique in history.  They were the only eye witnesses of a man whose life impacted all of mankind.

No one has ever read the personal eye-witness accounts of Jesus' life without already knowing that Jesus was the Son of God.  The writers of the gospels make it clear from the beginning of their testamonies that this is so.  People only read these books because they have heard that Jesus is God.  We already know the punch line.  Only the people that lived in the day He lived in the flesh were clueless about who this man really was.  I  had never considered him in this context.  I always read these accounts knowing who he was.  In my mind's eye, I see one of the many pictures of men with long hair and beard, long white robe and sandaled feet.  I already know where he came from and where he would go.

I wanted to see how some could doubt so I had to change my perspective of him.   Somewhere in the Bible it says that the Son of God would not be anything special.  He was one who would normally blend into the crowd.  He wasn't known for being the life of the party.  He probably did not tell a lot of jokes and he never tried to impress anyone. You would know who he was but you wouldn't really take much notice of him.  Everyone acknowledged that he was a good guy but he wasn't anything special.  I  wanted to visualize a really plain Joe instead of the Jesus persona from the 1976 movie, JESUS OF NAZARETH so I decided to choose someone who  I don't know personally but I see around.  Someone who blends in the crowd like a Walmart checker or the guy who installs dishwashers or delivers  packages.Someone who I recognize but don't have a relationship with other than to talk about the weather.   Then I read the gospel of John with my new image in my head and I got the change in perspective I was looking for.

Jesus lived most of his life, it is presumed, in a small town called Nazareth.  He was probably a carpenter since his father was.    If you broke anything or needed a new something, you would go to his shop.  I imagine he had a pleasant attitude and he always focused on his costumers.  He could tell how you were feeling and he would say things to encourage you.  His words might stick with you for a while.  You would think he was very nice but maybe just a little too nice. Maybe people were a little uncomfortable around him because he would always want to talk about the right thing to do or think.  He didn't get into gossip or course jesting.

When he was 30, he went to see the preacher everyone was talking about.  John was actually his cousin.  After Jesus was baptised by his cousin, he went into the desert for forty days.  Suddenly he was missing from the carpentry shop.  That would be a curious thing.  I would imagine in a small town that would be something people would talk about.  They would all come up with their own ideas about why he was away.

Suddenly, he comes back home after being gone for over a month.  He goes to the neighborhood synagogue on the Sabbath and stands up to read, "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor  He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor."  That was fine enough.  Everyone reads Isaiah from time to time.  But then he says, "Today, the Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing."    Just imagine the Walmart checker saying that!  It is understandable that the people who heard it intended to stone him.  What presumption and arrogance! astonishing!  I could well imagine the town folk wanted to stone him.. You just don't say things like that.

Then he started hanging around the wrong crowd.  He ate with thieves and whores.  Imagine a guy whose supposed to be a  " good Christian" going to the bars with people who dress seductively with tattoos and piercings and drinking with them.  These days some in the church think they are doing just what He did but they are mistaken if they think they can dress sensually, watch violent, sensual movies and otherwise be of the world.  Jesus ate with sinners but He never sinned.  He always upheld the law.

This guy tore away the facade of hypocrites that wanted to appear to follow the word of God.  They talked the talk but their minds were full of lust, pride and self-centeredness.    He went to the temple during a festival where everyone in Israel was present in Jerusalem and went in to smash up their money making adventures.  Imagine the UPS guy showing up at your church bookstore and breaking the Christ mugs and  the Jesus jewelry.  Jesus, many times confronted the Pharisees in public and called them out on their sin and hypocrisy.  What if the janitor would come in during a church service and stand up while everyone is in their love fest they call worship, with loud violent music and gyrating in provocative ways in very sexually suggestive clothing, and remind everyone that God is a holy god and He will not tolerate this Baal worship.  This Jesus was nuts.  He did not care whom He offended or where He did it.

He was a plain Joe.  He did not go around preaching about himself.  He did not consider that it was a thing to be attained to be like God.  His message was to repent of your sin and follow God.  He has no concern about who is running the government (render to Ceasar that which is Ceasar's)  Nor is he concerned about how we make money (You can not serve God and mammon).  The greatest commandment, He told us, is "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind."  And the second is like it, "Love your neighbor as yourself"  These can be practiced whether you have a college degree or have not graduated high school.  You can be poor or rich.  You can live in a democracy or communism.

Many of us need to change our paradigm.  If we continue to fashion Jesus in our own image, we will miss Him at His second coming just as the pharasees did when He first came.  Jesus will come as a plain Joe from all outward appearances.  He will be the receptionist at the dentists, or the guy who shelves books at the library, with fire in his belly and power in his words.

Line Upon Line

 "To whom will (the LORD) teach knowledge, and to whom will he explain the message?  Those who are weaned from the milk, those taken from the breast?  For it is precept upon precept... line upon line... here a little, there a little.  Is. 28:9-10

The spiritual man can not become mature by studying a passage of scripture once and forming an opinion on it.  It does not matter how many scholarly books he reads or how many sermons he has heard. He can not form a lasting doctrine to use every time the passage comes up in a Bible study or theological discussion.  It becomes dangerous when every time we read the Bible, we depend on dusty old interpretations we learned from confirmation class or Sunday school etc.  Study of the Word of God is a life long pursuit where your perspective must change as you grow in Christ.

My understanding of  scripture has developed over many years of constant study.  I have gone through seasons where I used one translation, then switched to another.  When I read the Bible through in one year (which I have done several times) I don't always read it in the same sequence of books.  Sometimes I read while also studying the context of the Hebrew customs or political climate of the time the book was written.  This past year I started looking up some words in the original Greek and Hebrew.  Presently, I am learning to read Hebrew so that I can get into the etymology of key words.  The one thing I always try to do when studying the Word is to read, think about it, apply it to my life, evaluate, read, think, apply, evaluate: over and over.

Many of my ideas have changed over these 40 years.  Like Paul, I know in part.  When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child.  Now that I am older I am not so judgmental of the Hebrew slaves when they complained in the desert.  I am a little more thoughtful about acting like Elijah on the mountain with the Baal worshipers or like Jesus over-turning tables in the temple (sure, what they did looks cool but it takes guts to do what they did in the presence of so many who are enjoying their idol worship).

Many Biblical passages are very hard to understand.  Hebrews 5:1-10 is an example, especially verses 7 and 8:
     For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.  He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward since he himself is beset with weakness.  Because of this he is obligated to offer sacrifice for his own sins just as he does for those of the people.  And no one takes this honor for himself, but only when called by God, just as Aaron was.
     So also Christ did not exalt himself to be made a high priest but was appointed by him who said to him, "You are my Son, today I have begotten you"' as he says also in another place, "You are a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek."  In the days of his flesh, "Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.  Although he was a son, he learned obedience through what he suffered.  And being made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek.

  The writer of Hebrews goes on in verses 11ff to say you need far greater understanding of the nature of God in order to catch what he is talking about.  The words and commandments that God has given us must be on our hearts.  We must teach them diligently to our children, and talk of them when we sit in our house and when we walk by the way, when we lie down and when we rise.   We must bind them as a sign on our hands and they shall be in our minds (Deut. 6:6-8).

If we are not careful to study diligently the Word of God, we will find that He surprises us at "the Second Coming" because He will not come as we expect.

Son of Adam, Son of God

     For centuries Adam has been the butt of jokes how he disobeyed God and then blamed his wife.  Many make him out to be a noodle-spined nitwit who definitely needs to be constantly supervised by his wife.  I think we are not careful to realize who this man is and what his relationship is to God.

      This verse, “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.” (Gen 2:24), is very curious if you think about. Why does it start with “Therefore”?  It is drawing a conclusion.  The common usage of this verse is to apply it to men getting married but really, it is an introduction and conclusion to the following incident.  In fact, I would say it is the crux.

     In Gen.3, we read about the exile of man from the garden of Eden.  We do not know what Adam was doing during this fateful interview between Eve and the serpent, but we know that he was with her at the time (Gen. 3:6).  Did he necessarily hear this dialogue or was he clueless until he saw Eve take the fruit and eat.  How exactly did the conversation occur?  Do serpents talk?  Could they communicate telepathically?   I think it likely that Eve took a bite before Adam even knew what was happening.

     Here we find Adam with a terrible decision before him.  His wife has just chosen for herself exile from God.  Adam now needs to choose God or his wife.  “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife.”  Adam chose death to remain with his wife.

     Afterward is this heart-rending dialogue between Adam and God.  Of course, God knew what happened but asks questions of Adam to get him to sort out his thoughts.  Here are two who love each other with the deepest love and know that they have parted ways.  The agony leaves Adam numb and nearly speechless.  With broken heart, knowing he no longer will walk with God, barely utters his confession, “It was the women.  She gave me the fruit and I ate.”

     This is why Paul says, “Adam was not deceived but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor.” 1 Ti 2:14.   “Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife.”  I begin to see parallels with Jesus in this.  Jesus, Paul says is the last Adam, “The first man Adam became a living being: the last Adam became a life-giving spirit.” 1 Cor. 15:45.  Adam gave up his inheritance and chose death to cleave with his wife.  Jesus took on humanity and chose death to cleave to his bride (Eph. 5:31, 32)

... To be continued...
   


 

The Older Son

Luke 15:11-32
You all know the story how the younger son asked for his inheritance early and left his father.  We see from this story God's undying love for one who falls away into sin.  We wrap up the story by contrasting the younger with the older.

The older, we say, is unforgiving, bitter, perhaps we can throw in legalistic.  We use the older as an example of the hypocritical self-righteous christian.  But a closer look at the story gives us a different conclusion.

First, the father comes out to his older son just like he went out to look for his younger son.  He loves this son dearly. He listened to his son's complaint and explained why it was right to celebrate his brother's return.

Look carefully at the next part:  "Son, you are always with me."  This son is not dismissed in any way by his father.  This is the son who has always been loyal and never complaining.  He worked hard and I think he increased his fathers wealth.

"And all that is mine is yours."  Think on that.  God's law allows a double portion of inheritance to the eldest son.  That means that at the time that this father would have given his younger son his share, he got 1/3 of all his father's worth at that moment.  The older son  continued to serve his father faithfully and helped to increase his father's wealth.  His inheritance will be far greater than double the amount his brother got.

Can a son who has been so faithful and obedient be so far from his father's desires that he would hold unforgiveness in his heart?  This son never disobeyed his father's command (vs 29).  Is he going to start now?

Jesus spoke this parable to teach his disciples about his first work:  that which would bring life to the dead.  He ended the parable by just telling us about the younger son's redemption.  The unspoken part of this parable speaks of Jesus' second work:  the manifestation of the sons of God who will participate in bringing the lost sons back to their Father.

More than meets the eye

Line upon line.
Precept upon precept.

What you take away from the scripture today is not all there is to understand.
There is always more than meets the eye.