A Twisted Mind

Perusing Proverbs 12 this morning a verse reminded me of the current kerfuffle with Harvey Weinstein.

Honestly, I did not know who he was until the dust started kicking up.  Maybe you don't know who he is either.  If that is the case, in a nutshell, he was a Hollywood power mogul.  Apparently, he had a lot of money and wielded a lot of power.  If you were on his good side, your movies got made or you got plum roles in potential blockbusters.

This was particularly true if you are a woman.

Apparently, Mr. Weinstein applied tremendous pressure to aspiring A-list actresses to trade him their sexual favors for prominent roles or other advancement in the film industry.

Proverbs 12:8 (NET) - - -

A person is praised in accordance with his wisdom, but the one who has a twisted mind is despised. 

The collective response to Mr. Weinstein's behavior was, at first, muted.  Those "in the know" overlooked it because of his power over them, or because of his contributions to their political campaigns or, ... etc.

Then, as more and more victims came forward to speak out, it became more expedient to condemn his behavior.  And, so, more prominent "former allies" began to speak out against what he had done.

Don't miss this point:  he was not castigated for what he had done.  He became despised because he had become more of a liability than an asset.

That is sad.  And, it is a perfect illustration of what people do who have a "sliding scale" of morality, a view of morality that shifts and turns, based on circumstances.

Before you start tsk-tsking and cluck-clucking, let me ask you this: are we ever guilty of the same?

As Christians, we ought to always, without equivocation, stand against sexual perversion in all of its forms.  One of the reasons Weinstein was thrown down from his pinnacle of success is that his behavior was heterosexual, albeit predatory.  Hollywood is rife with pedophiles, as is Washington, according to some.  Yet, do we hear that behavior called out?  And, what about homosexuality?  Few dare to speak out against the current "pet" perversion of this age.

Yet, the Bible is clear that God established sexuality, and that He intended sexual behavior to be solely between one man and one woman, within the confines of marriage.  (I won't delve into a dissertation here to defend that statement because most of you know it is true, and defense of that is not the point of this post.)

The bigger question, and the point of this post, is whether we will have the faith and the courage to stand up and speak out against "twisted minds".  To do so is not unloving.  To do so is extremely loving, because speaking the truth in love is what Jesus did.  He did not speak specifically to deviant sexual behavior beyond adultery because, in his day, deviant sexual behavior in the Jewish community was in no way allowed.  He did, however, tell both the woman at the well (John 4:1-42) and the woman caught in the act of adultery (John 8:3-11) that their sin separated them from God and that they should turn their backs on their sinful pasts (repent).  He also made it abundantly clear to the men standing with stones in their hands that their own sins needed confronting as much as did the woman's.

Erick Erickson did a podcast on this topic yesterday1, and his point is the same as mine here.  If we are indeed possessing both faith and God's wisdom, we will not let evil run unchecked.  Instead, we will call it out, in all its various forms, no matter the cost.  Some will say that this is "judging", which Christ spoke against.  But, again, this is a twisting of scripture, a taking out of context to serve nefarious purposes.  When we, as believers, stand strong for the truth of God, even at the risk of disunity in the Body, we are doing what Jesus himself would do.  And, in the context of Matthew 7, Jesus is speaking to a closely-defined group of people, the Jews.  In other words, it was a "family of God" sermon.  The intent was not to avoid judging sin when sin is encountered, but rather to not falsely or sanctimoniously judge the motives of a fellow believer.

An excellent resource to help us engage our culture with both love and truth is Citizen magazine2, published by Focus on the Family.  The lead article in the most recent issue addresses treating with love those plagued by gender-dysphoria.  Celebrating 30 years of ministry next month, Citizen has long been an outstanding partner in assisting the everyday Christian in navigating through cultural minefields with integrity, perseverance, truth and love. I highly recommend a subscription!

It all boils down to the gospel, really.  How much are we willing to sacrifice to proclaim to an unbelieving world that our holiness and our love are genuine, and that they are authentic by-products of a faith-powered relationship with the One and Only?  Will we sacrifice to affirm that hope and freedom from sin's curse are only found in Jesus?


Sources:

1    https://www.spreaker.com/user/ewerickson/dragon-slayers

2    https://www.focusonthefamily.com/socialissues

Stop Right There!

Once a Jewish man going to Temple stepped through the Beautiful Gate to enter the Court of Israel, sometimes called "the first apartment" or "The Holy Place", the first object to arrest his attention would have been The Brazen (or Bronze) Altar.  It was "front and center" from the entrance - - could not miss it.  A priest would have been waiting beside it to receive animal sacrifices.

The altar itself was "foursquare" in shape and burned all day, every day (Leviticus 6:12-13).  Each side was 7.5 feet long.  The altar's height was 4.5 feet.  (You'll thank me in a moment for saving you from Googling the cubit to foot calculation!)
In Exodus 27:1-8 we can read the specific instructions God gave to Moses about the construction of the altar (all the Temple, actually) when Moses was on Mt. Sinai getting the 10 Commandments and other instructions for the people of Israel.

1“Build an altar of acacia wood, three cubits^a high; it is to be square, five cubits long and five cubits wide.^b 2Make a horn at each of the four corners, so that the horns and the altar are of one piece, and overlay the altar with bronze. 3Make all its utensils of bronze—its pots to remove the ashes, and its shovels, sprinkling bowls, meat forks and firepans. 4Make a grating for it, a bronze network, and make a bronze ring at each of the four corners of the network. 5Put it under the ledge of the altar so that it is halfway up the altar. 6Make poles of acacia wood for the altar and overlay them with bronze. 7The poles are to be inserted into the rings so they will be on two sides of the altar when it is carried. 8Make the altar hollow, out of boards. It is to be made just as you were shown on the mountain.  (NIV)

It is important to note that no matter who entered this area of the Temple, they could pass no further until confession of sin was made and the sin was pardoned.  No one was "good enough" to skip this step.  Furthermore, no sacrifice (of time, of money, of anything) accomplished this pardon from the Lord other than the shedding of an animal's blood.  This truth is stated in Leviticus 17:11 below (again, God speaking to Moses):

For the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you on the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes an atonement for the soul. (American KJV)

and by the writer of Hebrews (referring to Jesus Christ's sacrificial death):

Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins.

Hebrews 9:22 (ESV)

When the animal sacrifice was presented, it represented the sinner.  The innocent sacrifice by laying on of hands took on the sins of the sinner.  Then, the priest slit its throat in a violent manner, demonstrating that the consequences of sin are death.  The animal's blood covered the sinner's sin, until the time for the next sacrifice for the sinner's sin.  The animal's blood foreshadowed the "once for all" sacrifice of Messiah Jesus, the Sinless dying for the sinful...  His cleansing blood is forever efficacious.  It forgives all a believer's sins, forever, something the blood of the animal could never do.  The fact that the Bronze Altar burned 24/7, however, did foreshadow the eternality of the Son's ultimate sacrifice.

The horns on the four corners of the altar were not merely decorative.  They represented a place of safe haven for those seeking safety from pursuers.  In the Old Testament the horns of an animal always signified strength and power.  (See Psalm 89:17 and Lamentation 2:3.) The priests were instructed to wipe some of the animal's blood on the horns of the altar.  In this, not only was God's power represented but also His mercy seen.  A man falsely accused of murder could run to the altar and grab its horns.  If he were innocent, his life would be spared.  (See Exodus 21:12-14.) . This happened with King David's son, Adonijah, and also of King David's general, Joab.

All the utensils used in conjunction with the Altar of Bronze were .... wait for it .... made of bronze!  I won't go into each of them here.  Check out the link under Sources if you want more information about each.  I do, however, want to mention the ashes from the sacrifices.  There was a strict protocol for the disposal of them.  Why?  They were considered precious because they signified not only complete destruction but also God's acceptance of the sacrifice.  They also symbolized purification and cleansing.  You may remember that, when Jewish people were in deep mourning, they would rub ashes on their bodies.  Ashes from the altar were also applied to make the unclean clean again.

For the unclean person, put some ashes from the burned purification offering into a jar and pour fresh water over them.

Numbers 19:17 (NIV)

The Bronze Altar was closely linked to another piece of Temple "furnishings" or "appointments", the Altar of Incense.  Because of this, we'll examine it next in our "Temple Tour".

Source:

http://www.bible-history.com/tabernacle/TAB4The_Bronze_Altar.htm

Cake Fail

While browsing on a friend's site this morning I was reminded of an anecdote from my past I thought I'd use in today's post.

Once my first cousin,Clayton, was coming over for dinner. I was young and single, living in an apartment alone and not the most accomplished cook at that point. I had decided to make a bundt-type of cake for dessert. The problem was: at the last minute I discovered the only bundt pan I owned was a microwave bundt pan! At this point, I already had the batter made and ready for the pan. And, he was going to arrive in about a half hour. I figured there was nothing to do but to try to bake this thing in the microwave. So, I nuked it for several minutes. When it came out, I thought with great relief, "SUCCESS!" It looked AWESOME! When Clayton arrived, we laughed about the whole thing....until I cut the cake, which by now had begun to sort of....sink. Yep, you guessed it! What looked pretty on the outside was doughy and yucky on the inside with a crunchy, inedible crust on the outside.  What mortification!!

Now, where did this whole thing go wrong?

• First, it went wrong because I did not plan ahead.  I knew I had a bundt pan, but did not remember it was only for use in a microwave. (In fact, I had never used it before!)
• Second, it went wrong because I used wrong methodology to finish/cook the cake.
• Third, it went wrong because I judged the outcome based on the initial appearance.

Of course, there are life lessons to be learned here.  There are times in life when we find ourselves "in a pickle".  Sometimes, that pickle is of our own making (as was the case with my cake fail).  Other times, it is not.  Regardless, we have to choose how to proceed.  There are usually two choices:  the right one and at least one wrong one.

The "wrong way" seems oh, so seductive!  "It won't matter if I compromise my values just this once!"
When we choose wrong methodology, we always end up with unsatisfactory results.  Even when things "look good" or it seems we've "gotten away with it", we never do.
We can do a whole series of "rights", but if we finish with a "wrong" the whole cake can fall (and often does).

There is a way that seems right to a person, but its end is the way that leads to death.

Proverbs 14:12 (NET)

Another way to put it is like this:

The right thing, done the wrong way, leads to a bad end.
Or,
It is never right to do wrong, in order to get a chance to do right.

All true words of wisdom, no matter how you slice it!  ;)

Father, You have shown us by Your Word how to live.  The problem is we often don't want to live according to Your precepts.  We fall for the devil's "work-arounds", "short-cuts" and other deceptions because they appeal to our sinful natures.  Keep us, Lord, walking in paths of obedience, truth and wisdom, as we seek to walk...resplendent!  In Jesus' name, amen. 

Masquerading and Seducing

Last night in the college Bible study group, we were studying the attributes of God.  I was thinking about this as I read Romans 7 this morning.  One of the things we did last night was to make a list of our own attributes and then later to make a list of God's attributes and compare them.  A huge gulf there!

It is important for us to contemplate God's characteristics, as revealed to us in both God's written word and also in His Son, the living Word.  Why?  Because if we don't we are in danger of creating our own god, making the Almighty over into an image which is pleasing to us.  I want to blog in more depth about this topic at some point, but today is not that day.

In Romans 7, Paul pointed out that sin (Satan, the devil, the enemy of the believer) doesn't usually flaunt or prance before our eyes to seduce us.  Instead, Satan dresses sin up in goodness, so that we are fooled. A mouse gets caught in a mousetrap because all he sees is the cheese.  Focusing exclusively on the morsel of good, he ignores the danger surrounding it.  Reaching for the good and beautiful, he is trapped by the deadly.

Temptation is like that.  Sin hides under the cloak of virtue.  If sin were not appealing, we would not fall for it.

8-12 Don’t you remember how it was? I do, perfectly well. The law code started out as an excellent piece of work. What happened, though, was that sin found a way to pervert the command into a temptation, making a piece of “forbidden fruit” out of it. The law code, instead of being used to guide me, was used to seduce me. Without all the paraphernalia of the law code, sin looked pretty dull and lifeless, and I went along without paying much attention to it. But once sin got its hands on the law code and decked itself out in all that finery, I was fooled, and fell for it. The very command that was supposed to guide me into life was cleverly used to trip me up, throwing me headlong. So sin was plenty alive, and I was stone dead. But the law code itself is God’s good and common sense, each command sane and holy counsel.

13 I can already hear your next question: “Does that mean I can’t even trust what is good [that is, the law]? Is good just as dangerous as evil?” No again! Sin simply did what sin is so famous for doing: using the good as a cover to tempt me to do what would finally destroy me. By hiding within God’s good commandment, sin did far more mischief than it could ever have accomplished on its own.

Romans 7:8-13 (The Message)

Paul gives this teaching to explain the role of the Law of Moses to both Old Testament Jews and New Testament Christians.  The original purpose of the Law was to show mankind exactly how God defined sin.  Had the Law not been given, there would have been a question about whether something was/is sin, or not.  It is important that we are honest about what the Word of God says.  If the Bible calls something sin, so should we.

Last night, for example, the Bible study group was discussing the Ten Commandments.  How many of us would have listed "Thou shalt not make unto me any graven image" as one of the "Big 10"?  It was years before I ever understood that commandment.  If, in your human life, you've never worshipped a manufactured object, you are probably similarly mystified.  "What's the big deal?", you ask.  But, remember, when Moses tarried on the mountain with God, and Aaron and the Hebrew nation thought he was dead, what was the first thing they did?  They pooled all their gold so that it could be melted down into a likeness of a golden calf (Exodus 32).  In other words, they created an image that represented their own fake, made-up, substitute god.  The Great "I AM" knows the black hearts of man so well!

The Law puts all that to rest in that it defines sin, from God's perspective, which is the only one that matters.  (Remember the two lists?  We are not like God.)

The law code had a perfectly legitimate function. Without its clear guidelines for right and wrong, moral behavior would be mostly guesswork. Apart from the succinct, surgical command, “You shall not covet,” I could have dressed covetousness up to look like a virtue and ruined my life with it.

Romans 7:7 (The Message)

The other function of The Law was to show us, mankind, just how incapable we are of meeting God's standard for sinlessness. Paul goes on to give personal testimony of how he struggled in his flesh with sins that were his specific pitfalls.

Recently, I was talking with a friend about one of her relatives who has what is often referred to in the churchy lingo as his "besetting sin": that sin that so easily trips a person up.  (We all have at least one.  If you don't, let me help you out: your besetting sin is then "pride".  Get a clue!)  At any rate, this friend's relative does not define his sin as "sin".  The world does not define it as sin, and the young man has adopted the world's perspective on his behavior, instead of God's.  He has made a golden calf and is worshipping it.  He has made God over into his own image.

Honestly, when we sin knowingly and deliberately ... (Christian or non-Christian) when we let that besetting, masquerading, seducing sin get the best of us, we are doing the same thing.  That should cause us great angst and grief.  It did Paul.  He described himself, in his Christian walk as "wretched" (KJV).  Read Romans 7:17-24 (The Message).

17-20 But I need something more! For if I know the law but still can’t keep it, and if the power of sin within me keeps sabotaging my best intentions, I obviously need help! I realize that I don’t have what it takes. I can will it, but I can’t do it. I decide to do good, but I don’t really do it; I decide not to do bad, but then I do it anyway. My decisions, such as they are, don’t result in actions. Something has gone wrong deep within me and gets the better of me every time.

21-23 It happens so regularly that it’s predictable. The moment I decide to do good, sin is there to trip me up. I truly delight in God’s commands, but it’s pretty obvious that not all of me joins in that delight. Parts of me covertly rebel, and just when I least expect it, they take charge.

24 I’ve tried everything and nothing helps. I’m at the end of my rope. Is there no one who can do anything for me? Isn’t that the real question?

All of this can become quite overwhelming.  But, fear not!  Chapter 8 was written for just this moment, and we will resume there tomorrow.

No Longer a Law-Girl?

I'm sure that, as a modern person, I greatly underestimate the potential for spiritual warfare that was present at the Council of Jerusalem, the first scene in Galatians 2, today's text.  This meeting took place nearly 20 years after Jesus' ascension, around 50 A.D. The key players were the Gentile evangelists and the Jewish evangelists, that is, those who evangelized the Gentiles and those whose ministry was to the Jews.  Truly, this meeting could have blown the whole thing wide open.  I am sure that there were many impassioned arguments that went back and forth.  It is a testimony to the reality of the changed life, the power of the Holy Spirit, that these men realized the gospel of Jesus Christ: salvation by faith and by grace.

In a month or so, we will have at my church something called GIC (Global Impact Conference).  It is a missions conference. Missionaries our church supports, from various corners of the US and the world, will be attending. Some of them will look different from our church people.  Some of them will act different. Their methods of evangelization will not all be revealed as the same.  However, the gospel they preach is one, and only one.

I am grateful for Galatians 2.  This chapter shows how prone we are to devolve back to reliance on our own "self-righteousness".  It is our "default setting" as humans.  We love to pursue righteousness that comes from following a set of rules because this appeals to our sinful, human pride. (False) righteousness makes us feel good!  This type of righteousness is glorified in our American culture. We are surrounded by it; so, it's no wonder that, as Christians, we tend to get tainted by it.

When you read Galatians 2, you realize why God did not choose a Moses to do the job of a Paul. Moses, if you recall, was not a persuasive or even a good speaker.  Paul, on the other hand, excelled at persuasive argument; he had been "schooled" in it.  The Holy Spirit used Paul to clearly articulate the methods used to share the gospel with the Gentiles.  By the end of the Council at Jerusalem, the group of "pillars" of Christianity parted ways in brotherhood and with a renewed commitment to share Jesus with the world.

Later on, however, "the rubber met the road".  God put those who evangelized the Jews in a position to see just how dependent they still were on the Law.  When they actually met and fellowshipped with an actual group of Gentile believers, the Jerusalem guys fell back to their position of the Law's power over them.  It was their safety zone.  The Antioch experience was a sanctifying, growth opportunity for them because it opened their eyes in a new way to their justification, the centrality of God's grace and salvation by faith alone.  Sometimes, it takes a change of scenery to reveal our most closely-held prejudices.

Probably the most famous verse of Galatians 2 is verse 20.  Here it is, in context:

19“For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God. 20“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. 21“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.”

Galatians 2:19-21 (NASB)

I also love it from The Message version.  Take a read.

19-21 What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn’t work. So I quit being a “law man” so that I could be God’s man. Christ’s life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not “mine,” but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that.

Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God’s grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

No longer a "Law Man"!

The Law, here, refers to the set of rules and regulations God gave the Israelites hundreds of years earlier.  But, in our lives today, "law" can be any set of religious rules that we glorify above the truth of the gospel.  "Law" can be religious rituals that we do out of habit to make ourselves feel more holy.  Striving to impress God with our goodness "frustrates" His grace (2:21 KJV)

When I was a teenager, one of the Christian fads was to "claim" a "life verse".  It's laughable to me now.  At any rate, the one that resonated with me was Galatians 2:20. (I've always been sort of a 190 proof person ...190 proof whiskey is the highest alcohol content which can exist without the spirit evaporating.  I looked it up!)  The crazy thing that spoke to me this morning, after carefully reading this chapter is that I had made that verse all about sanctification.  Now, sanctification is great, indispensable to the resplendent walk.  But, Galatians 2:20 is first about justification!

Crucifixion typifies a one-time, irreversible act.  "I am crucified with Christ" says that my old, law-loving self has been killed by His justification of my soul.  This is the very source of Christ living in me!  Paul's statement proclaims my eternal justification.  There can be no sanctification unless there is first justification.

"Nevertheless, I live.  Yet, not I, but Christ lives in me."  I live, but I don't reign.  Here comes the sanctification part, you see?  The justification has been settled.  The Law is dead to me.  It is Christ reigning in me Who produces good works, who produces beauty, who works His love through me to the world.

All that sounds so precious.  Then, like the leaders of the Jerusalem church visiting Antioch (2:11-13), I fall down.  I don't know about you, Galatians 2:20 clashes horrifically with my frequent lost battles to sin.  What do we do with that?!  Paul says that we should come back to faith.  Look again.

"...The life I now live in the flesh, I live by FAITH in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me."

Every time I mess up, my prayer of confession should be closely followed by, "Lord Jesus, increase my faith in You."  Every time something "unplanned" or "unwanted" occurs, my prayer should be "Lord, increase my faith."  We read elsewhere (Hebrews 11:6), all throughout scripture actually, that it is our faith which pleases Him.  Our faith is our love offering to Him and the only source, the exclusive well-spring of our sanctification.

I wish I could tell you that I do this perfectly, even regularly.  Today's post was spectacularly difficult for me to write; I cannot even express to you...

Whaddya know?  After approximately 32 years, that magnificent verse bursts from the heart of God, to speak to me yet again.