Monthly Archives: March 2016

The Hooker’s Dance… the Death of Reason

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“…for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he kept him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him.”
Mark 6

Three Things

  • 1) Sentimentality and faddish spiritual interests are NOT Saving Religion. Saving religion produces the fruit of righteousness.
  • 2) Pick your friends and spouse carefully for their influence will point you either to heaven or hell, and worst case scenario, may have you chopping off the head of a man who loves you enough to tell you the truth about your sin. At a minimum you will castigate him to absolve your rejection of his truth and silence the fools about you.
  • 3) A troubled conscience can become a seared callousness with serial resistance to the Holy Spirit. There is often an ill-defined point of despising revelation and privilege, and subsequently giving up rights afforded in the gospel. Reference Esau and the despised birthright for a bowl of stew. Remorseful repentance was greeted with tearful rejection.  

Remember, Herod (I believe) was the great grandson of Herod the Great who murdered the innocent children of Bethlehem as he made an attempt on the life of The Baby, so please note the undeserved, yet spurned opportunities to respond to grace and truth offered in John’s preaching. Some years later Jesus afforded no hope, and not even one word as He stood before Herod.

What are you bargaining for? A provocative dance by a hooker, a roll in the hay, or just trying to placate that one whispering in your ear. Don’t miss, don’t neglect that voice of reason and truth that nudges you to Calvary today. Today is what?

 “Today is the Day of Salvation.”
“Fear God and keep His commandments, for this applies to everyone…”
The Preacher

  

When Forgiveness Stinks

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Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.”Matthew 18

Forgiveness sometime stinks. Upon forgiveness we lose our perceived position of power and right of retaliation upon the offending party. We must lay our club down. We become disarmed. Peace treaties are signed and enacted and if we violate these treaties, we exchange positions and are in need of forgiveness. Risk is inherent in these gnarly relational intrigues. Power over the offender by withholding forgiveness was illusionary anyway… what were we thinking? That we somehow were different or better?

Forgiveness of serial offenders is obligatory when the “forgivor” is faced with legitimate repentance of the “forgivee”. We commonly forgive that chap closest to us multiple times daily… we forgive ourselves and go on and forget our transgression, and life is restored until our next sin and repentance. (#CSLewis)

To not forgive is inexcusable and off the table. Am I in the place of God? This does not nullify a potential change, even a relational change. (“I’ve got my eye on you…”) Serial forgiveness of a serial repenter does not imply my assumption or obligation of a lowly victim status. It is not grace nor graceful to enable an abuser by my becoming a serially abused person. The victor or innocent one in these repetitious fracases can easily morph into the victim status; there is but an ill-defined, short distance and few steps from the doorway to doormat. Doesn’t God in Christ offer options of expectations? If you repent then you are saying “God did something in me and to me. It is no longer I, but now the new me!”

Consequential loss of privilege may be required. A pastor who betrays his congregants in a gross or public way, or by serial blunders, is not worthy of his calling even when forgiven. He needs go get a real job in a real secular world as Moses in Midian, show faithfulness, (practice humility and repentance with the sheep as another dumb sheep and not as a shepherd), then wait upon the Lord with an eye out for a burning bush. Then only with a reluctant dragging should one draw near the pulpit again. 

“Forgiveness is one of the easiest things we might do once we have finally done it. It is much like riding a bike, once accomplished we never forget how to ride and we wonder why it was ever so difficult.” Lewis paraphrase

“Forgive and you shall be forgiven.”
Jesus

“To err is human, to forgive is divine.” (Someone) 

“Yada Yada” we all said…

Free grace? Is it REALLY free?

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“But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law.”(Paul to the Galatians to combat a works heresy that is alive and well TODAY in most pulpits.) God needs a little help with His grace, right?

“If you have never been accused of being an antinomian you probably are not preaching grace. Paul spent much of his ministry defending himself and his message against this charge.”
Doug Wilson

I think pure grace salvation is hard to preach for we want to help God out with work’s qualifiers He never required, and that He actually condemns. I think too we are commonly hooked on “another Gospel” of subtle works. What are you listening to? What are you preaching pastor? Whose robe of righteousness adorns your dress? Whose glory do you seek? My obedience is not a requirement of grace. The righteousness of Christ ALONE is… for He obeyed unto required death; you nor I can ever do that and escape judgment and wrath. The fact is we incur wrath by our works and obedience which we present and pursue as a basis of grace. 

The obedience of faith is to believe. This is the watershed and this is what we contend for. On your best day your best works are as abhorrent as rags soaked in menstrual blood. And you plan on wearing that before the King of kings? Right.

Death… is it negotiable?

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John 11:11-13 (NASB)

This He said, and after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I go, so that I may awaken him out of sleep.” The disciples then said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will recover.” Now Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking of literal sleep.


Thoughts…

It is quite easy for even a novice to discover consolation, comfort and hope in this account of the death, then subsequent resurrection of Lazarus. So much truth is revealed in John 11. The curtain of God’s eternal purpose to bestow man with life is drawn back but a wee bit and glory descends to Sheol.  So much understanding is granted the one who purposes time spent with our Lord herein these pages, to “ponder anew what the Almighty might do, if with His love He befriend us.” Truth will always stand unchanged, unchangable. Life and Truth Incarnate are before us. 

“Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go to wake him.” 

Okay

Jesus apparently considers the death of his friends a relative equivalent of a power nap that transforms one by resurrection to a new vitality of purpose, energy and understanding. Our Lord manages this greatest of all physical dilemmas with ease, with grace, and might we say with disdain at the evil of Sin’s consequence. In my years as a healthcare professional I have seen perhaps hundreds die, and it is never a thing of beauty for we were crowned with life as living souls designed in His image to know Him forever in life and glory. Yet death comes, and with but a word the effectual call of the King issues forth with the inherently powerful command to grant Life to the Fallen ones. 

The allegory works in both the spiritual resurrection today and the coming final resurrection of glorification of all those in Christ. This is no small matter. It is at the heart of the King’s reparation of the Fall. It is a blow to the head that renders him powerless who had the power of death. 

Brethren, He gives us that which we need most desperately and can never obtain apart from His work and the hearing of His voice. Without exception death will defeat each of us. We might ignore it but He crept one step closer with the setting sun of yesterday. Jesus alone is Lord of life with power and authority to remedy our greatest affliction. “Except a grain of wheat fall to the ground and die it remains by itself alone, but if it dies it bears much fruit…” He died that we might rise in Him. Who else makes such a claim and then validates it by this historical event which we see today as an allegory unto life by His utterance to, “Come Forth!”?

Hebrews 2:14-15 (NASB)

Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.