Attempts at Honesty

Reflections on the interplay of the Bible and Culture

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The People Began to Scatter

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Fork in the Road SignI see in humans (principally in myself), an amazing ability to find good reasons to do the wrong thing. We (perhaps I am alone in this, but I think not) can muster arguments to do what we want even if it is not what we know is right.

An illustration of this can be found in 1 Samuel 13. Saul, a newly minted King of Israel, finds himself in a situation where the people are beginning to scatter because they are facing an enormous Philistine army. They cannot fight until proper sacrifice has been made and Samuel, who is to perform the sacrifice, is nowhere to be found. From Saul’s perspective, things are starting to unravel. As a result, Saul takes things into his own hands and usurps the function of the priestly office and performs the sacrifice.

It would be easy to look down on Saul at this point. Yet, when I am honest, I see the same tendency in myself to get impatient with God and to take things into my own hands. I can be just as manipulative and conniving as Saul. Saul had arguments that would stand up in court of public opinion, but not in the court of Almighty God.

It appears that by performing the sacrifice, Saul put more confidence in the ritual than he did in the God the ritual was to worship. God is not obligated to bless, and He certainly is not obligated to bless us because we perform rituals. Later on in his life, Saul had to be reminded by Samuel that “to obey is better than sacrifice.” It is all about relationship and not about ritual.

The lesson I take away from this is that God is in charge of timing; my job is to be responsive to when, where and how he leads.

A Lesson From Eli – Do not let comfort keep you from doing right

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Resisting ChangeI recently heard or read “it is a sin to take good things and make them ultimate things.” Anything that we place in value above God becomes an idol and idols are to be destroyed, not worshipped. If you have been in the Church for any length of time, these statements are no surprise; you’ve probably heard them before.

Here is what we know of Eli. His two sons were corrupt and did not follow the instructions of Moses with regard to the management of the offerings brought to the Tabernacle. They took what they wanted, when they wanted it, from the food offerings brought by the people (1 Samuel 2:12-16). They also committed sexual immorality with the women serving at the Tabernacle (2:22).

In 2:22, Eli confronts his sons about their sin but does nothing to prevent these abuses. The question is why did he not prevent them? What held him back?

We can’t know for sure, but my opinion is that Eli was too comfortable with the way things were and did not want to disrupt his comfort. We know from 1 Samuel 4:18 that Eli was “old and heavy.” Eli was fat; he lived well off the corruption of his sons.

Comfort is a good thing. We are to enjoy good things as blessings from God and be thankful for them. But when comfort takes precedence over obedience, the good thing becomes an ultimate thing, which is idolatry.

The question is how do we obtain and manage the resources we have? In the case of Eli and his sons, there were issues as to how resources were obtained. They lacked the faith or self-control to live within the means that God provided for them. They wanted more and went outside the law to get it. This is clearly wrong.

The fact that the resources we have are legally and ethically obtained does not let us off the hook. How do we manage those resources? Specifically, I am thinking of time and money. Am I willing to do what God wants me to do with these two resources? Can my use of these resources be identified as worship of God? Is my use of time and money focused on my comfort or on fulfilling the commission to make disciples?

The only way to avoid legalism when dealing with these questions is to be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit. The particulars will be different for each of us and may even change over time. If we are open to it, God will show us how to use our resources and He will bring conviction when our priority is inappropriately skewed toward comfort.

Comfort is not wrong, it is a good thing. But it should never become an ultimate thing.

The Low Whisper

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No Shouting1 Kings 19:11–12 (ESV)

11 And he said, “Go out and stand on the mount before the Lord.” And behold, the Lord passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. 12 And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

I have been in thought and discussion about the Church and its relationship with social media such as Twitter and Facebook. This is a branch of the discussion of how the Church should use communication technology in general.

A couple of observations. We have the Gospel, the Good News (the root meaning of the word gospel). News is meant to be communicated. In addition, Jesus has specifically commissioned the Church to make disciples, which has at its core communication.

From this, I conclude that there is no question as to whether we are to communicate. Secondly, there is no question as what we should communicate; we are to communicated the Good News of Jesus Christ.

The only remaining question is to how this should be done. What tools should be used to communicate and make disciples. I suspect that the correct answer is – all of them.

My concern has been, how will the Gospel fare in the midst of the torrent of stuff that comes at the average consumer of media, be it Facebook, Twitter, talk radio or cable news? Marketers, celebrities, sports teams, social media experts and friends all clamor for time and attention. How do we get the Good News heard in the midst of the din? Admittedly, some of the “din” is entertaining and/or compelling.

In praying about this, I was reminded of the phrase “still, small voice” from the story of Elijah following his encounter with the prophets of Baal. I like the ESV translation even better (quoted above) where it renders it “low whisper.”

God is not a bully who badgers people into submission to his will. He is a gentleman who patiently woos the object of his love. He speaks in a gentle and quiet whisper, drawing people to himself.

How do I apply this to 21st Century communication? I conclude that while we should not be boring or insipid in our presentation of the Gospel, we should not be overly concerned about making it trendy or flashy. In other words, the focus should be on the message and conveying that message as authentically and clearly as we can. If we do, I believe that God will use that quiet whisper in a Tweet or status update for His glory, in his time.

We don’t need to shout.

Genesis 3 – Sin and Separation

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SeparationThere is a sense of longing in the culture around us. Implicit in this longing is an acknowledgment that things are not as they should be. Artists, politicians and marketers all play to this longing.

Where does this sense of longing come from? If we are “dancing to our DNA” or if we are random groupings of chemicals which are mysteriously self-aware, there is no adequate explanation for this longing.

On the other hand, if we were designed for something different, if what we see is a perversion of what was to be, then that longing makes sense.

The opening chapters in Genesis provide an answer to this. We were designed to be in fellowship with God and in harmony with each other and our environment. Adam, as our representative, chose to rebel and humanity has continued in Adam’s rebellion.

When I read the story of the original sin in Genesis 3, I see 4 aspects to the loss and separation that we feel.

  1. We are separated from God – “Adam where are you?”
  2. We are separated from humanity – “because I was naked, I hid myself”
  3. We are separated from our true selves – Eve blamed the serpent, Adam blamed Eve and God
  4. We are separated from our environment – “cursed is the ground because of you”

That’s the bad news. The good news is found in Romans 8:18 and following. There will come a day when all of God’s creation will be released from the bondage of sin and separation. At that time the entire creation (including us) will be transformed back into what it was intended to be. The longing will at that time (and not before) be fulfilled.

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