Ruth and Groot

                 Once upon a time in a land called Moab there lived a young woman named Ruth.  She fell in love with a young man named Chilion.  The problem was that her one true love was not a Moabite—he was from the land of Judah, and the Judeans were a very different people.  Ruth had been raised to worship the family gods and goddesses, but these Judeans believed in only one God.  Their ways were different from her people’s ways.  Their food was different.  Their language was different.  Their clothes were different.  Yet love won out, and the two were married. 

            Ruth’s new home was one of those modern blended families.  She wasn’t the only Moabite in the household—her husband’s brother, Mahlon, had married a Moabitess as well.  They all lived together in one home, along with Ruth’s newly widowed mother-in-law Naomi.  Being one of those modern blended families, they suffered from discrimination on the part of both the Moabites and the Judeans who lived in the area.  It seemed like they didn’t fit in anywhere.  But Ruth was glad that at least they lived in Moab, among her own people, and not in Judea where she would be a foreigner.  For ten years they lived together as one big family, until tragedy struck.  In a freak accident at work, Mahlon and Chilion were both killed, leaving the three widows to grieve together under a leaky roof.

            Soon poverty added to their sorrow as they discovered that neither the Judeans in Moab nor the Moabites wanted to assist three grieving widows in such a modern, blended, mixed household.  As social pariahs in Moab they faced starvation.  Then one day Naomi announced that she was returning to Judea, where she could rejoin her family of origin and receive their care.  Though it broke her heart, Ruth’s mother-in-law urged her and her sister-in-law Orpah to remain in Moab and remarry Moabite men.  That way they could know happiness again, and also find some financial security.  Orpah thought this was the best solution, kissed Naomi, and returned home.  But Ruth’s heart broke to think of separating from this woman whom she had loved for ten years.

Ruth said, “Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God, my God.  Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. Thus may the Lord do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts you and me (Ruth 1:16-17 NASB).”

So Ruth and Naomi said goodbye to Orpah, packed their bags, and moved to the village of Bethlehem in Judea.  They knew life would be a struggle, but they were determined to struggle together.  For Ruth, loyalty was worth more than a life of ease.  She gave up the possibility of a future among her own kind in order to take care of a widow that she knew would be a burden in her old age.  She was willing to do this because of her sense of duty, and also because of her love for Naomi.  Even though they were not of the same people, they were one family.  “Your people shall be my people,” Ruth said, “and your God, my God.”

               When I followed God’s call to ministry at Bethel, I essentially said the same thing to the church I serve.  Though I’m not from Halifax County, I will become as one of them.  Their accent will become my accent, and their quirks my quirks.  Likewise, they agreed accept this boy from the Richmond area as their own, overlooking the fact that I don’t sound like I’m from Southside Virginia and that I have more of a city attitude than they have. 

            This week at Bethel we ordain two new deacons, whose job it is to assist the pastor in ministering to the needs of the people.  Though they are not physically family, they are to become as Ruth was to Naomi, helpers and kindred in spirit.  Rather than looking at the people under their care as burdens, they will follow the advice of the apostle Paul, who said in Romans 12:10 (HCSB), “Show family affection to one another with brotherly love. Outdo one another in showing honor.”

            This task is not for pastors and deacons alone.  It is the duty and privilege of every Christian to adopt as their own the people around them who need their care.  We may not be of the same family, language, custom, or creed, but that doesn’t matter in God’s eyes.  Believers need to care for the helpless regardless of their differences, and not only serve them but love them as family. 

            I love the character Groot from the 2014 Marvel Studios movie Guardians of the Galaxy.  With his guttural baritone voice by Vin Deisel, this intelligent tree-like creature battled to defend his friends and stuck by them no matter what.  Throughout the movie, he has only one line which he repeats over and over: “I am Groot.”  Others in the movie get annoyed with him from time to time because it seems like this is all he can say.  (Spoiler alert) Near the end of the film, when the group is in danger of certain death, Groot sacrifices himself to save his friends.  When Rocket Raccoon realizes that Groot’s actions will cause his death, he asks why he would do this.  The hulking friend simply answers, “We are Groot!”

            “We are Groot!”  This is no simplistic sentence composed of monosyllabic words.  Instead, it is a mystical expression of the unity possessed by people who are so at-one that they can no longer tell where one ends and the other begins.  It is a statement of the symbiosis that the group has achieved.  When one suffers, all suffers.  When one celebrates, all know joy.  Self-sacrifice for the sake of the group is not out of the question, because after all, “We are Groot!”  This was the cry of Ruth.  This is the song that the deacons sing.  This is the mystical expression of every believer who sees the unity of the body of Christ and gives everything to secure one another’s well-being.  It doesn’t matter that we’re aliens from all parts of the galaxy, that we’re Moabites and Judeans, or that we display any other differences that might separate us.  We are Groot—we are one!

            I pray that like Ruth you’ll recognize the oneness of those who are different from you, that you’ll commit yourself to loving and protecting and serving those who need you, no matter the cost.  I pray that you’ll become a guardian of the galaxy—or at least your corner of the world.  I pray that you’ll look at your family, your church, your neighbor, and even your enemy and say, “We are one!”

Playing Dress-Up

Beth and me in at Bethel's Trunk or Treat.
Also our costumes for the Wicked 10k

Children love to play dress-up—and there’s no better time for dress-up than right now.  Halloween stores have opened where storefronts have stood vacant the rest of the year.  Other stores have stocked costume items, accessories, and other things to make your dress-up holiday more fun.  Even  those who don’t celebrate Halloween per se often dress up as Bible characters or some other non-scary persona.  According to US economy expert Kimberly Amadeo, the average American spent $77.52 on Halloween this year.[i]  And, of course, dress-up isn’t just for kids.  Adults make up a huge percentage of those who will go costumed this year, either on October 31 or some other day.  Whether it’s Trunk-or-Treat or the Wicked 10k fun run in Virginia Beach that we ran in October, I love to play dress-up as much as the next full-grown adult. 

            Of course, dress-up doesn’t end with Halloween.  This is just the beginning of the dress-up season.  We deck the halls for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  Plates and cutlery aren’t enough for our Thanksgiving tables anymore—now they must be decorated and dressed to impress.  Kids put on plays, dressed as pilgrims and Indians.  We put on living nativity scenes and costumed Christmas pageants.  And don’t forget how fun it is to get a coat and tie on your six-year-old boy, and ruffles on your three-year-old girl, for the obligatory holiday pictures in front of the fake hearth at the photographer’s studio!

            Yes, we love our dress-up—mostly because we enjoy pretending we’re somebody that we’re not.  If you’re a meek underachiever, you can put on a mask and cape and become a superhero for the day.  Or, if you’re the underling who constantly gets kicked around, you can put on a zombie outfit and become somebody’s worst nightmare.  There’s a societal reason why people love to play dress-up.  There’s a lot of emotional fun and relief when we get to act like we’re someone we’re not. 

            I knew a family that struggled financially on a long-term basis.  Most of their clothes were shabby, yet whenever they loaded up the car to visit the grandparents the kids dressed up as if they were going to church.  Why?  Because the parents wanted to impress the grandparents, and convince them that they were doing better than they really were.  They were playing dress-up for the same reason we do at Halloween—it’s often more fun to pretend you somebody you’re not than it is to just be who you are. 

            Holidays, events, and other fun reasons for dress-up are great ways to put on a show, blow off a little steam, engage in harmless fantasy, and just have a lot of fun.  But when our dress-up becomes a way of deceiving ourselves and others, perhaps we need to rediscover who we really are. 

            Sunday mornings are one particularly popular time for dress-up.  This is fine for those people who were always raised to show respect for God by wearing their best.  Yet there can be a lot of opportunity for deception in our church attire.  For example, we might convince ourselves that we’re good Christians just because we look like Christians.    We say the right words, wear the right clothes, know all the right catch phrases, and refrain from all the wrong behaviors—and by this masquerade we convince ourselves that we’re okay with God and He’s okay with us.  Yet, if we look beneath the mask of our religion, many of us would be afraid to find that there’s not a lot of reality there.  Christians who play dress-up might have everybody else convinced that they’re fine, upstanding pillars of the community, or even that they possess some sort of spiritual depth.  However, while we may deceive ourselves some of the time and fool others all of the time, we can’t trick God any of the time. 

The Bible says, “People judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart (1 Sam 16.7 NLT).”  God knows who you truly are, inside and out—no matter what you wear.  He knows that everybody’s clothes are only a costume, a put-on to convince people of what you want them to believe about you.  Whether you wear jeans or a three-piece suit to church, whether your shoes match your dress or not, what matters is that you’re genuine with God, who sees you as you truly are.  So come to church as you are, or as you aspire to be at your genuine best.  But come to church honestly.  Take off the mask.  Be who you are.

           

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[i] Amadeo, Kimberly.  “What Are the Trends for Halloween Retail Spending?” http://useconomy.about.com/od/demand/f/Halloween-Retail-Spending-Trends.htm.  October 17, 2014.

Vival

I love words—the cool way, you know, you can say things with them.  Sometimes the words we use make sense, and other times they don’t.  Take the prefix “re” for example.  Dictionary.com describes it as “a prefix, occurring originally in loanwords from Latin, used with the meaning ‘again’ or ‘again and again’ to indicate repetition, or with the meaning ‘back’ or ‘backward’ to indicate withdrawal or backward motion.”[i]  This seems to make sense when we look at words like “flex” and “reflex,” which means “to flex again.”  Or, “bound” and “rebound,” which means “to bound again.”  Then there’s “commend” and “recommend,” which means “to commend again.”  Sometimes, however, the prefix “re” doesn’t make much sense.  For example, does “retired” mean that a person is “tired again?”  If you experiencing “buyer’s remorse,” does that mean that first you had to “buyer’s morse?”  Or, before there is a “resurrection,” must there be an “insurrection?”

            It’s thinking like this that often gets me into trouble.  Still, I was wondering: as my church is headed into fall revival services (and as many other churches are doing the same) what does it mean that have already experienced “vival,” that we might now go through “revival?”  If there really were such a word as “vival,” what would it mean?

            “Revival” means “renewed life,” or  “life again.”  So a word like “vival” (if it existed) would mean simply “life.”  1 Timothy 6.19 (NIV) says that believers “will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.”  That makes me think—is there a difference between life and true life?

            Science says that a living thing must be able to breathe, ingest, excrete, grow, adapt, and reproduce.  We know we’re alive because we can do these things.  We’ve been looking for signs of life on other planets now for decades.  In Other Worlds, Carl Sagan writes:

A story making the rounds concerns a Biology I examination in which the students were asked: "Suppose you could take to Mars any of the laboratory equipment used in this course. How would you determine if there was life on Mars?" One student responded: "Ask the inhabitants. Even a negative answer would be significant." The student got an A. 

            Just like we’re looking for signs of life on other planets, I wonder if God is looking for signs of life in our churches.  Fall revivals are in full swing, implying at least at some point before we have revivals, we must have had vivals.  If we’re looking for renewed life, then we must think that on some level that we’ve had life.  Nicodemus came to Jesus one night to inquire about the life that Jesus possessed.  Our Lord told him, “’Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.’  Nicodemus said to Him, ‘How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he (John 3.3-4 NASB)?’”   That old teacher of the law was thinking of physical birth, or even physical re-birth.  He thought that being born again meant being born—again!  He was thinking of vival, not revival.  Jesus had something different in mind.

            In the beginning, life came into the world supernaturally.  God spoke and the earth teemed with living creatures.  God made the first man, breathed into him, and the man became a living creature.  Since then, life has been a very natural thing.  We’re born, we live, we reproduce, we die, and the cycle continues.  Yet this isn’t the kind of life that Nicodemus needed to hear about.  Instead, the teacher of the law needed to hear about the life that truly is life.  So Jesus told him more about being born again:   “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again (John 3.5-7 NASB).’”

            Vival is the water birth—which crudely refers to the water of amniotic fluid.  Revival comes from spiritual birth.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, and everybody experiences that.  Spirit gives birth to spirit, but not everyone will receive that second birth.  Some people are only vived but never revived.  For someone like Nicodemus, or possibly like you, to experience revival, they have to realize that the first birth isn’t enough, and will never give them eternal life.  They have to receive God’s gift of the Savior, who gives them eternal life.  “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him (John 3.16-17 NASB.”  When a person does that, they lay hold of the life that truly is life.

            For a church, there’s a difference between vival and real revival.  Churches experience vival during the first years of their ministry, when everything is new and exciting—when they first organize, when they call their first pastor, when they first discover their ministry in the community.  I’ve worked with new church plants like this—and it’s always an exciting ride.  But that kind of energy doesn’t last forever.  Life normalizes, the cares of the world choke out the church’s enthusiasm.  We get into a rut, doing things the same way we’ve always done before and not looking for anything different to happen.  That’s when a church needs revival—new life.

            Stephen Olford said, “Revival is an invasion from heaven that brings a conscious awareness of God.”  We need this kind of invasion in order to drive out the death wrought by sin in our lives.  Revival rekindles the fire in our hearts that we doused with polluted waters of disobedience, laziness, and apathy.  The question is whether we really want revival, or whether we’d rather let our faith comfortably smolder.  In the May, 1982 issue of One World we read:

A U.S. Lutheran bishop tells of visiting a parish church in California and finding a stirring red and orange banner on the wall. "Come Holy Spirit. Hallelujah!" it declared in words printed under a picture of a fire burning. The bishop was also interested in the sign directly underneath the banner which said: "Fire extinguisher." So much for that parish's commitment to spiritual renewal. 

Like that congregation needed to do, we must take seriously God’s call to revival, and not make efforts to dampen the flame.  Like Nicodemus, we must make a choice as to whether we’re content with vival or whether we really want revival.  We can settle for natural physical life which all creatures share, or we can enter the supernatural life of almighty God.  We can allow our churches to settle into disobedience, laziness, and apathy, calling ourselves alive yet lacking the power of God.  Or, we can ask God to bring true revival to His people.  The choice is up to us.  So as you drive past the church signs that advertize revivals this Fall, I hope you’ll stop in and receive the new life of Christ.  I hope you’ll be born again, that you’ll see the church born again and again, and that God will fill you not just with vival but with revival!

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[i] “Re-”  http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/re-.  October 18, 2014.

How to Be Like God

“You will be like God,” said the serpent to Eve.  “Eat this fruit and you’ll be like God, knowing good from evil.”  Some have suggested that this original heresy was that godhood could be attained through the gaining of wisdom, that the New Age idea of deified humanity traces its roots back to this moment.  Yet the serpent never said that Adam and Eve would become gods.  He said they would be like God.  His deception was not an invitation to hubris, but the false claim that understanding the difference between good and evil makes a person godlike or godly.

            The serpent’s forked tongue is adept at telling the truth and lying at the same time.  The lie is that wisdom about good and evil makes a person like God.  The truth is that we can become like God (note once more that there’s a difference between becoming godly and becoming a god).  We can be like God when we develop such a close relationship with the Lord that we reflect the Maker’s character.  Psalm 103 gives a beautiful picture of God’s nature.  If we take that nature on ourselves, then we can be like God.

            What is God like?  God forgives and heals (v. 3).  He redeems people, and crowns them with love and compassion (v. 4).  God works righteousness for the oppressed (v. 5), and makes His ways known to people (vv. 6-7). 

The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

 As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him (vv. 8-13 NIV).

If Christians want to be like God, then we have to be forgivers and healers.  We have to work redemptively with people, and give them our love and compassion.  We need to work righteousness for the oppressed, and make God’s ways known to people.  People who want to be like God should be compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in love.  Instead of always accusing and harboring anger forever, instead of treating others as their sins deserve, godly people need to be able to separate a person (their inherent worth, dignity, and value) from their sins.  They have to be willing to work with a person and help remove their transgressions from them.  They need to treat people with tender loving compassion, seeing others through the eyes of the Father, and extending God’s compassion to them.

Yet instead, those who call themselves by God’s name are often the last to behave the way that God behaves.  We follow the lie that the serpent gave us, claiming to be godly simply because we have gained knowledge about good and evil.  But knowing how to be good doesn’t mean that you’ve become like God.  It doesn’t help us at all if we lack compassion and grace, if we are quick to anger and lack love.  Knowing the difference between good and evil avails us nothing if we are always angry, accusing others all the time, treating them as we believe their sins deserve and repaying them according to our idea of justice.  Knowing how to avoid sin in our own lives won’t help us if we are unable to separate other people from their sin, and if we refuse to help them through their issues.  The serpent’s lie makes us very good at being religious, but it doesn’t lead us to godliness at all.

“You will be like God,” the serpent says to us.  “Just eat this apple and be religious.  Know the difference between good and evil.”  The devil is happy with those who are religious, but he is terrified of people who are godly.  So he tells a partial truth and partial lie.  The lie is that religion can make you godly.  The truth is that you can be like God—by finding out God’s nature and acting like Him.  But how many Christians are actually willing to do that?  I pray that you’ll be one who will—and that when others see you they might see Christ in you.

The Bread of Life

Have you heard the story about a Jewish rabbi and a Catholic priest were good friends?  “At a picnic one day, the priest was eating a ham sandwich. ‘You know,’ he said to his friend, ‘This ham sandwich is delicious. I know you’re not supposed to eat ham, but I don’t understand why such a good thing would be forbidden. When will you break down and try it?’  And the rabbi replied, ‘At your wedding.’” [i]

Today I want to talk about a different rabbi and a different picnic—a kosher picnic that had a surprise ending, even without a ham sandwich.  We’re going to take a look at the only miracle described in all four gospels—the feeding of the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish.

In his teaching and preaching mission, Jesus often found himself so occupied with other people that he neglected to take care of his own physical needs.  In John 4.31-34[ii], “the disciples were urging him, saying, ‘Rabbi, eat.’  But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.’   So the disciples said to one another, ‘Has anyone brought him something to eat?’  Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work.’”  Two chapters later, Jesus again demonstrated His spiritual ability to overcome this physical lack of food—yet on a much grander scale.

Chapter five reveals that some “were seeking all the more to kill him, because not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God (v.18).”  So, by the time we get to chapter six, we see Jesus crossing the Sea of Galilee in an effort to escape those who would kill him, and also hoping to get some alone time with his disciples.  But news of his miracles reached far and wide, and by the time they landed on the shore, a large crowd had already begun to gather.   Jesus spent two years of His ministry in the towns that surrounded this fifteen-by-eight-mile freshwater lake.  It wasn’t difficult to find him in a place that size.  So they came, hoping for more miracles.  Jesus went up on a mountain, creating a natural amphitheater, and sat down with his disciples. 

It was then that the problem came to His attention: the people had nothing to eat.  There was no place to buy food for them.  Even if there were, it would take a fortune to feed them all.  Five thousand men had gathered, and if we figure that they brought their wives and children, and even if we conservatively estimate a family of four, then that makes 20,000 mouths to feed.  Only one small child has brought anything to eat: five barley loaves and two small fish.  But Jesus has an idea.  He had the people sit down, thanked God for the food, and distributed that paltry amount among all those people.  Miraculously, not only were all the people fed, but they were full—and there were twelve baskets of food left over.  In and of itself, this was a great miracle.  “When the people saw the sign that he had done, they said, “This is indeed the Prophet who is to come into the world (v. 14)!”

But as great as the miracle was, the people didn’t understand the spiritual significance behind it.  “Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself (v. 15).”  Yet still they followed him.  When He crossed the lake again, they followed Him, hoping for more miracles.  It must have broken Jesus’ heart that they just didn’t get His point.  They were chasing a wonder worker because they wanted Him to heal their diseases and feed them and save their lives.  He wanted to show them that He was life itself—and could provide everything needed not only for physical life, but, more importantly, for spiritual life. 

“I have food to eat that you do not know about,” he had said.  Now, He reminded them of this spiritual food.  “Truly, truly, I say to you, you are seeking me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.  Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you (vv. 26-27).”  Still, they didn’t understand.  So He said, “’…The bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’  They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’  Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst (vv. 33-35).’”  No matter how He explained it, the people still didn’t understand.  By the end of chapter six, Jesus’ Galilean ministry ends in rejection, the people shaking their heads in confusion. 

Lest we pursue Jesus simply for the miracles He can perform—or, lest we abandon his cause for lack of understanding—let us learn what He truly meant.  “For my flesh is true food,” He said, “and my blood is true drink (v. 55).” This did nothing but offend people, and we will be offended too if we don’t get what He was saying about the connection between real food and spiritual food.  The key is found in verse 4, which says, “Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was at hand.”  In order to understand what Jesus said and did, we have to see it in the context of Passover.

Passover was the annual festival in which the Jewish people celebrated a ceremonial meal that memorialized their divine rescue from slavery in Egypt.  Every year, lambs were slaughtered in memory of the Passover lambs that were killed fifteen hundred years before.  Under God’s direction through Moses, the blood of those Passover lambs was used to mark every Jewish household, so that when God’s judgment of death came to every Egyptian dwelling, the homes of the faithful would be spared.  By performing His miracle of loaves and fish at the time of Passover, and by telling the people that He was the spiritual food that would give them life, Jesus equated Himself with that Passover lamb.

Just a year later, Jesus would be killed at the Passover.  He would become the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.  Because He sacrificed His own blood, we can know His eternal life.  When we apply His blood to our hearts, like the lamb’s blood that was applied to believing households, Death passes over us.  Like the Hebrew people released from Egypt, we are set free from our bondage to sin.  This is what the miracle of loaves and fish pointed to.  This is what He meant when He said that He was real food.

On the night before Jesus was arrested, He shared a final meal with His disciples—a meal of bread and wine—foreshadowed by His multiplying of loaves.  Churches around the world observe the Lord’s Supper, or Eucharist, or Communion, as a sign of covenant relationship with the Lamb who gave Himself so that we might live.  The next time your church celebrates Communion, I hope that you’ll see more than bread in your hand.  I hope you’ll see the Bread of Life—multiplied from one to many, so that a multitude might receive their spiritual food and be saved.  I hope you’ll see more than grape juice or wine.  I hope you’ll taste the sweetness of God’s life poured out for your salvation.  Then, like the boy on the hillside, I hope you’ll be willing to share that meal with others.

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[i] Source unknown

[ii] Scripture references taken from the ESV.

The Cheerful Giver

October is almost here—have you started your Christmas shopping yet?  You’d better get started now if you want to snatch up those hard-to-find gifts for the 2014 season.  You know how difficult it is to get those hot items, once the Christmas shopping season has really begun.  For creative ideas[i], you might get someone an iPad foosball game ($100), a natural wooden wrist watch ($120), or a Gummy candy maker ($40).  According to Amazon[ii], princesses Anna and Elsa from Disney’s Frozen will be big this year, as will Lego’s Minecraft the Village and Funko Pop’s Dancing Groot.  But you’d better get started now, because this is the kind of giving that really matters—isn’t it?

            The Bible talks a lot about giving, but not once does it mention the kind of consumerism that our American culture displays.  “God loves a cheerful giver,” says the apostle Paul—but what kind of giving does he mean?  What are the specific situations in which you have been called to give?

            In 2 Corinthians 8-9, Paul invites believers in Corinth to give.  There are a lot of reasons to give to support God’s work.  Sometimes we give to provide for the needs of the church’s general operating expenses like salaries, electricity, office supplies, and so on.  Other times we give to a special project like building a church building, paving a parking lot, or purchasing a piano.  We might give to support the work of missionaries serving locally or abroad.  We could give to help the poor, fund someone’s seminary education, or dig wells in developing nations.  All of these are great reasons to give. 

Paul’s purpose for asking the Corinthian Christians to give was to provide the needs of believers in Jerusalem who were living in poverty.  You might think that the Gentile Christians in Greece would feel little reason to give to relieve people all the way in Israel—but on the contrary, they gave with gusto!  Paul even created a little healthy competition between the Churches in the northern Greek region of Macedonia and the southern region of Achaia.  Each one knew that an offering was being collected in both places.  In Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians in Achaia, he reminded them not to disappoint.

Paul knew that it wasn’t enough just to ask people to give.  He knew that all our good intentions will amount to nothing unless we have a plan for giving, and time for preparation.  In 1 Corinthians 16.2, he asked the believers, “On the first day of every week each one of you is to put aside and save, as he may prosper, so that no collections be made when I come.”  So each week when they came to church, they would take up a collection.  It’s interesting to note here that their giving was on the first day of the week, and not the last day of the week.  In other words, their giving was in anticipation of how God would bless, and not in response to the way God had provided.  Their giving was done in faith, not solely in gratitude.  In 2 Corinthians 9.2 we read that they had been taking up their collection for a solid year, in preparation for Paul’s visit.  In verse 5, we find that this gift was something that the Corinthians had promised to give, and so they were fulfilling a commitment to God.  In the same way, we should give regularly, systematically, and faithfully to God’s work.

A lot of people say, “I can’t afford to give.”  We need to remember that God wants not only our treasures, but also our talents and our time.  But in regards to financial giving, God’s word spells out some principles to guide us.  Verse 6 says, “He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. ”  Jesus put it another way.  In Luke 6.38, He said, “Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure-- pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."  In God’s economy, when you invest in His kingdom, you will receive a reward back.  So, it has been rightly said by many preachers that you can’t really afford not to give. 

Strangely enough, it’s the wealthiest Americans who tend to give the least and the poorest who tend to give the most.  According to The Atlantic, “The wealthiest Americans donate 1.3 percent of their income; the poorest, 3.2 percent. What's up with that?”[iii]  I think it’s because those who struggle the most understand other people’s struggle the most, and have the most desire to help.  In 2 Corinthians 8.1-5, Paul says that God’s people who were in poverty still gave liberally to help those who were in need.  With which category do you more identify—the ones who hold back or the ones who are eager to share?

Just as important as whether you give is the manner in which you give.  Verse 6 tells us, “Each one must do just as he has purposed in his heart, not grudgingly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”  I’ve heard preachers prophesy divine disaster for people who refuse to tithe.  I’ve heard clergy cajoling people to give out of a sense of guilt.  But God would rather not have our money, if it’s given for the wrong reasons.  God wants us to give out of faith and a pure heart, cheerfully rather than begrudgingly throwing our dollars into the plate.

Verses 8-11 give God’s promise for all who faithfully give to His work: 

  And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that always having all sufficiency in everything, you may have an abundance for every good deed; as it is written,

“He scattered abroad, he gave to the poor,
His righteousness endures forever.”

Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness; you will be enriched in everything for all liberality, which through us is producing thanksgiving to God. 

            The Lord promises that those who give generously and sacrificially don’t need to worry about where their next meal is going to come from.  Instead, God will take care of them above and beyond their need, giving them even more so that they can be generous the next time.  Matthew 25.23 says that those who are faithful in small things will be trusted with greater things, and this is true of our financial stewardship.  God promises to provide for those who are faithful in giving to Him.

            This year as you begin to think about your pre-Christmas shopping list (and believe me, those Christmas ads will be coming sooner than you think), let’s remember the kind of giving that God’s word invites.  Instead of the greatest new gadget or a can’t-live-without-it toy, let’s be generous in our giving to God.  This fall, as you’re bombarded with fund raisers for the school and Girl Scouts and everything else, let’s remember where the priorities for our giving lie.  As you give, keep in mind the final verse of 2 Corinthians 9, which says, “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!”  Let Jesus be your model for sacrificial giving—the One who gave everything so that we might live!  Yes—let’s give like Jesus!

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[i] http://www.ugiftideas.com/.  September 26, 2014.

[ii] http://www.amazon.com/gp/holidaytoylist.  September 27, 2014

[iii] http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/04/why-the-rich-dont-give/309254/.  September 27, 2014.

Daddy, Do You Love Me?

            My daughter Emily told me that when she was growing up, one of her favorite books was Mama, Do You Love Me?[i]  In only 285 words, author Barbara M. Joose and illustrator Barbara Lavelle beautifully tell the story of a Native Alaskan mother’s unfailing love for her precious child.  Over and over, the child asks the extent of the mother’s love.  Again and again the mother affirms that she will always love her Dear One—and what’s more, no wrong that her child could do can ever make her stop loving her child.

Mama,what if I carried our eggs – our ptarmigan eggs! – and tried to be careful, and I tried to walk slowly, but I fell and the eggs broke?

Then I would be sorry. But still, I would love you.

What if I put salmon in your parka, ermine in your mittens, and lemmings in your mukluks?

Then I would be angry.

What if I threw water at our lamp?

Then, Dear One, I would be very angry. But still, I would love you.

            When the child asks what if she ran away and stayed away, the mother answers that she would be worried and scared.  Even if the child turned into a scary polar bear and frightened her mother and made her cry, the mother insists, “Then I would be very surprised and very scared. But still, inside the bear, you would be you, and I would love you.”

            Though I didn’t realize it twenty years ago when I first read this book to my daughter, I was giving her good theology.  In many ways, Joose and Lavelle teach the nature of God in this delightful children’s book.  Many Christians want to know the same things about God: How much does God love us?  How long will God love us?  Is there any wrong that we could do that could ever take away God’s love?  Certainly our sins are worse than putting lemmings in God’s mukluks—but in a deeply spiritual sense, many Christians are guilty of throwing water on God’s lamp.  Many believers run away and stay away, making God cry.  And a whole lot of Christians act like bears, forgetting the gentle Dear One that resides inside and exchanging good behavior for animalistic tendencies.  Even then, God insists that He loves us.

            Perhaps the greatest fear I’ve heard many Christians express is that they might do something so bad that it might cause them to love their salvation.  I’m aware that thoughtful and faithful people fall on both sides of this debate, but we need to understand that the issue at stake here is not simply the future of our individual souls but the very nature of our loving God.  In Matthew 7.9-11[ii], Jesus tells us that the loving Father provides everything that His children need.  “Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!”  Indeed, how much more will the Father give spiritual liberation to those who ask for it!  When we ask for eternal life, He doesn’t give us temporary salvation.  Eternal life means forever—that’s how long God’s love and forgiveness last.

            Jesus says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out (John 6.37).”  When Jesus died on the cross, he saved us from the penalty of our sins.  If our sins could after that begin to pile up again to a point where their offense outperformed Jesus’ forgiveness, then our sins would be stronger than God’s love—and that, my friend, is an impossibility. 

            So, because we have Jesus’ promise that He will never cast out anyone who trusts Him for salvation…

and since we have a great priest over the house of God,  let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works…(Hebrews 10.21-24).

            We understand that Jesus doesn’t save us because of our love and good works, but so that we might love and do good works.  This is grace—the unmerited favor of God.  If we deserved our salvation, it wouldn’t be grace.  By the same token, if we deserved to lose our salvation, then our salvation would be by grace, either.  In other words, we can trust that our salvation isn’t because we’re good—it’s because God is good.  So we can have full assurance in our faith.  We can hope without wavering, because Jesus is always faithful.

            Certainly some who are on the losing side (meaning that you can lose your salvation) will point out Hebrews 10.26-29, which says:

For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries.  Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses.  How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace?  

Here, we have to understand that while God cannot behave in a manner that’s contrary to the divine nature, we certainly can!  We’re saved from the penalty of sin—that took place once and for all on the cross.  Jesus is saving us from the power of sin in our lives—but it’s a gradual process.  That means that sin no longer controls us unless we let it.  However, it won’t be until we get to Glory that the possibility of sin will be removed.  Until that time, sin is a reality in the life of every saved Christian.  So, if that’s true, then how can we understand verses 26-29?  Because it would seem to say that our past sins are forgiven but from that point on, but that we need to be sinless thereafter in order to be saved.  Can this be true?

No, the saving power of Jesus sustains every true believer to the end.  Verses 26-29 don’t mean that we have to be sinless.  Instead, they remind us not to let sin govern our lives.  Just as a child who has thrown water on the lamp, run away, or changed into a bear is still loved by her mother, so a saved Christian is still loved and welcomed by a forgiving Father.  Verses 26-29 describe not a true child of God, but someone who simply wears a façade of faith without a real relationship.  Those who are truly in love with Jesus can have confidence, and full assurance in our faith.  Verses 35-38 say:

Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. For,

“Yet a little while,
and the coming one will come and will not delay;
but my righteous one shall live by faith,
and if he shrinks back,
my soul has no pleasure in him.”

            Notice here that even if the righteous one who lives by faith shrinks back, it doesn’t say that he has lost his salvation—God simply loses pleasure in him.  All children make their parents cry from time to time, but that doesn’t mean that their parents disown them.  If ordinary parents know how to give good things to their children, how much more will the heavenly Father care for those who trust Him?  If evil parents continue to keep their children who continuously disappoint them, how much more will God preserve those who put their trust in Him?

            Verse 39 says that “…we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.”  These are of an entirely different category from true believers.  They didn’t lose their salvation—they were never saved to begin with.  They may have once looked like Christians, but these are those to whom Christ says, “I never knew you (Matthew 7.23).” R.K. Kendall puts it this way:  “The faith that fizzles before the finish had a fatal flaw from the first.”  Those who look like Christians, who may have spent plenty of time in church hearing the Gospel, yet who never made Jesus their true home, do not have a resting place in His arms.  Though the church may have been the comfortable setting of their lives, their sin is not covered, because they never truly received God’s grace.

            Those who are truly the children of God will know the Lord’s blessing.  Certainly we will continue to sin after we’ve been saved…and, at times, there may be some doubts in our mind about God’s enduring love.  We may throw up our arms and ask, “Daddy, do you love me?”  But just like the child in our book, the loving Parent will say, “I will love you, forever and for always, because you are my Dear One.”

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[i] Joost and Lavelle.  Mama, Do You Love Me?  Chronicle Books: 1991.

[ii] All Scriptures taken from the ESV.