Judging Judges

Ezekiel 19:29 ESV

“Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ O house of Israel, are my ways not just? Is it not your ways that are not just?

Arms crossed lips puckered, stern face affixed, stomping appropriately to showcase is consternation and disagreement with his punishment, my son angrily follows the directions to go to his room. No penance or repentance, simply anger and judgment that he was wronged because he was caught and punished. The one who has once again broken the rules, then lied about it, has decided that he is the judge of righteousness and he has been wronged. Even though he had been warned multiple times and had suffered before for the same offense, all of that is to be disregarded. My refusal to hear his pleas and petitions, wanting no excuses or reasons but judging solely on the facts; “was it yours? ‘No’. Are you supposed to have scissors? ‘No’. Have you been told before? ‘Yes’.” And so, in a self-righteous huff my actions are declared unjust. He has been wronged and wants all to know it.

“Nothing new under the sun” is how Solomon puts it. There is indeed nothing new in disobedience. Just as my son wishes to declare the actions of his father to be wrong, so do the Israelites. Even as God had warned them multiple times of the coming punishment, even as the first strokes of that punishment had been given, hear Ezekiel sits in captivity, taken captive to the land of Babylon, listening to the people stomp and huff about a God who would treat his children in such a way. How could a good, loving, omniscient, omnipotent, God do such a thing to those he “loves”? He must be not so good, or not in existence, or simply to weak, and no God at all. As they have watched the hardships and felt the sting of God Rod of discipline, they have seen their homes burned and families killed, forced the indignities given to the vanquished foes in these times.

In this self-righteous judgment on God a second blow is coming. Significant real-estate is given in Ezekiel to showing the reality that God’s people deserved the punishment, they received, and they still haven’t learned and they deserve another stroke from their father. So, God provides this and the nation’s capital and temple are destroyed. The remnant that had been left is further broken. Even in this the people hold to their judgment that God is unjust. We read in Jeremiah of their rejection of him, even as he desires to stop, they continue to push, fleeing to Egypt as he tells them to stay, declaring their allegiance to the “Queen of Heaven” and their only wrong being they had stopped worshiping her.

As a Godless people declares its actions right and wishes to sit in judgment of God, our society seeks to repeat the failures of countless “godly” nations. Becoming great we forsake that which made us great, joining the harlots of Israel and Judah in our debauchery. Even as Judah was more culpable than Israel because it watched as Israel fell and did not repent, so, we are more culpable in the United States, as we watch Europe fall and choose not to learn the lesson.  

Unfortunately for us, like Israel, and my son, such self-righteous attitudes are chased with the rod of discipline. It may take years to train a child in the way he should go, history has shown it takes decades to teach a nation to cling to God. May we learn quickly, that repentance is the fruit needed when discipline is administered.

“Shall a faultfinder contend with the almighty?” we with Job need to respond “I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice but I will proceed no further.” (Job 40:2, 5)

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO

Only Believe

John 2:23-24 ESV

Now when he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many believed in his name when they saw the signs that he was doing. But Jesus on his part did not entrust himself to them, because he knew all people

What if believing in Jesus is not enough? Let that thought or question settle in a little. This passage of John should bring that question to the foreground of your mind. The text is easy to understand on its face. Jesus was doing a lot of miracles and signs and people were believing in him because of those signs. Isn’t that what Christianity is about, believing in Jesus? Yet, Jesus responds by rejecting them. He “did not entrust himself to them”. In chapter six of John’s Gospel we run into another group that believed in Jesus and wanted to make him King, what a noble and worthy goal, yet Jesus fled to the mountain to avoid them, then walked on water during a storm in the dead of night to escape. So, is believing in Jesus enough? Is wanting him to be king enough? These texts tell us that these alone are not enough to be accepted by Jesus.

As I meet people and interact with them I have yet to meet someone who does not think highly of the Jewish carpenter from Palestine. I assume I am not alone in this regard. Even those Muslims that would like to exterminate Christians chose to believe that Jesus was a “good teacher” and is still alive with God in heaven. My conversation with one middle-aged man was far less sophisticated but he had no problem “trusting Jesus”, “believing in Jesus”, or even thanking God for the peaceful feeling he gets sometimes when he prays about an issue he is wrestling with. Jesus has always been there when he needed him even in the dark days of his wife’s adultery. Yet, the Muslim and this middle-aged man are both following a figment of their imaginations.

Even as the Jews of that believed in Jesus, believed him to be the Messiah, they believed he was the anointed one, the son of David. They believed yet, they believed falsely and Jesus was not their savior. They would say they needed a savior and they would want Jesus to be that, look at all the nice things he does. But they didn’t know what they needed saved from. They didn’t know what kind of King Jesus must be. They wanted freedom from the Romans and freedom from want. Freedom from sin and freedom to stop wanting, was not desirable for them.

As our theological depth often stops at “do you believe in Jesus?” we must recognize that a belief in an imaginary historical figure is not salvation. Christian belief is a belief that requires actions and change in our lives. For Jesus to be King of our lives is to let him tell us what must change, through his word, not us tell him what we want, through prayer. Jesus must be Lord of our lives not a genie in the bottle. We open, rustle the pages, and read a few words of incantation to get what we want from God. The text of scripture is given to conform us to him, not bind him to us. Will we take Jesus for ourselves or give ourselves to him? Reading the text, I think that is the fatal flaw of the crowds, they wanted to make Jesus their own, instead of giving themselves to him. Which will you do today?

CORAM DEO

Generations

2 Timothy 2:2 ESV

And what you have heard from me in the presence of many witnesses entrust to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.

Four generations. I have two pictures of my great grandfather, grandfather, father, and myself. I enjoy them for multiple reasons. One is that they are taken days apart with the same backdrop. In one the Boyd men are in their grubbies (Great granddad in his traditional farmers overalls, my dad in the tradition rednecks’ sleeveless button up.) the next picture in the Sunday suits. I still have wonderful memories of my great-grandfather playing his fiddle for us kids. Given he was mid-eighties at the time I know it is not half the fiddler he used to be, but it is still indelibly written in my memory. A few short years latter my grandfather would die of cancer, and when I was eleven my great-grandfather would also pass. I now only dream of being able to take another four generations picture of Boyd men. Given Peter’s age it will be a few years, if God allows.

The text of scripture has these moments as well. Jacob would have heard of the blessing of God from the lips of Abraham himself. He would have heard of his grandfather tying his father up to sacrifice him, and God’s provision of a lamb. He would have heard it from the mouth of two witnesses. The patriarchs would have heard the same story from one eyewitness with their father telling of Abrahams own words speaking of God’s provision and promise. Teaching the generations what was needed for them to know and be certain of how God works and what he has done. This is the biblical pattern of generational teaching. One group teaching another while the teacher is still present to provide all the clarification that is needed.

Paul picks up this pattern in 2 Timothy as he charges his disciple to teach “faithful men who will be able to teach others also.” A generational pattern of teaching doctrine. Paul teaches Timothy, who teaches men, who teach other men. Even as Clement of Rome articulates Justification by faith alone, he stands as a fourth generation, on of the men Timothy taught was faithful to teach this man that we are Justified by faith alone. (1 Clement 32:4 And we, too, being called by his will in Christ Jesus, are not justified by ourselves, nor by our own wisdom, or understanding, or godliness, or works which we have wrought in holiness of heart; but by that faith through which, from the beginning, Almighty God has justified all men; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen)

This this is the pattern teaching doctrine given in scripture, exemplified and commanded, what then happens when a generation goes missing. Much like all the stories I will never have or hear of my Great-grandfather, nor of my grandfather, they are simply lost. Such is our state in the church as generations go missing from our communities. What can we do? We must persist in training faithful generations in both doctrine and what they must do, train another generation who will in kind train another. We must not fall short and only train in what they need to know, but also training them in how to train another generation. Train a trainer and watch as God grows the kingdom for generations!

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO

The Last Straw

2 Kings 17:2 ESV

And he did what was evil in the sight of the ORD, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him.

2 Kings 23:25 ESV

Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.

My blood pressure continues to rise, I can feel the color creeps up my collar. Then finally the child, so slowly it is almost imperceptible, puts the toy down only to start to pick up another and that is when the tension is broken by an irate father crossing the room to enforce judgment. I look back and think, “wow, you overacted on that one.” Yet, a morning or days’ worth of patience (long suffering) endurance is really what has broken loose. Over the course of the day many more things had been done deserving of far more than was given, had occurred and been passed over. So, at this point much had to be accounted for and the accounting was thorough.

Too little to late” is how the saying goes. Reading through the text of scripture, watching as decades go by verse by verse, it is easy to understand and see how God would not be amused with our last-minute lip service in an attempt to appease him. The scriptures above point to the reality of a “days’ worth of disobedience” and how God’s Justice makes its ruling. Hoshea was not as bad as the other kings of Israel, so, by human standards, conservatives were winning. The fast spiral into debauchery had been slowed by some perceivable measure, yet God chose this moment to destroy the Northern Kingdom. It did not matter that it was the best king they had had in generations, he was wicked. Turning to the Southern Kingdom we find Josiah repenting and completely turning to from the wicked ways of previous generations. Is this GOOD king able to save his people? Does his missionary activity, and religious reforms move the needle so that Judah can succeed were her sister failed?

That is the question answered in 2 Kings 23:26, “Still the Lord did not turn from the burning of his great wrath…” . He as able to stall the justice of God for a short time, but it was only stalled, it was not removed. The weight of sin was simply to great, the nation would fall, the foundation had been laid, and the seeds of destruction scattered, the harvest was coming, it would just be later than expected.

As Christians look at the United States, let us understand that Christ did not die for nations, he does not bear the sins of Rome, Germany, England, or the United States, on the cross. He bears the sins of the individuals. He bears my sins on the cross, Justice has been served for me, not for my nation. Let us pray he will raise up generations of Godly leaders but know that nations rise and fall, we serve a different LORD, and our citizenship is in a different kingdom. As election cycles ramp up we must serve to be salt and light in our country but we know that our Kingdom will never fall, even the nation we serve in does.

CORAM DEO

Faith in Nothing

Hebrews 11:3 ESV

By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible.

Preaching is an addiction that feeds my soul. It comes with tantalizing highs and epic lows, with a Greek drama thrown in. One of the greatest frustrations for me is when I look back and realize I didn’t say something, or when I jump to a conclusion without giving adequate reason from the text on why this is so. One of those happened this last Sunday. In making the point that a belief in God as “creator God” was needed to grasp the love of God in fullness I did not adequately show how Ephesians 3:14 is referencing this reality when Paul refers to the Father as “from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.” This references the reality that all of creation derives its name (the essence of what it is) from God. The creation account is also were we find the reality of our existence as one of faith.

As we enter into the “Hall of Faith” passage, with such epic men like Daniel, Samson, Abraham, Gideon, and even loves stories with Sarah and Abraham. We must not overlook the first steps into this hall of fame. The first act faith given by the author is one of that all of us must walk in and with. We are led into the presence of these “Giants of the faith” by the Latin phrase ex nilo, out of nothing.

The well-used illustration of a man telling God how he could have created things better is very apt. When told to do a better job, the man starts too look for the dirt to begin with and God tells him to “get his own dirt”. God created everything with nothing but his word. He created from no pre-existent mass or energy. This text point to the reality that existence itself depends on faith. The things visible came from nothing, and there longevity, even the proverbial stone wall, is completely a wisp, whose existence is at the discretion of God.  

What an incredible irony is it not. Those who wish to tell of how sure a thing is, tell us that we are walkin on “terra-firma”. Yet, the thing with the greatest assurance of continued existence is not the ground on which we walk but the spirit that God has given to every human being. Even as we feel our bodies return slowly to the earth from which we were created we know that we are bound for eternity. The irony that the eternal beings with us are the most stable of creations. That the firmest ground we rest our shoe upon is bound for destruction, and the persons we meet on the streets are bound for eternity (heaven or hell). Let us treat the lasting person’s we talk with, as the creations with the greatest honor, for this is what they are!

Coram Deo