The Resurrection Hinge

1 Corinthians 15:14 "And if Christ has not been raised, then all our preaching is useless, and your faith is useless." At one time I would have accepted that with absolute assent and not a thought. There is something in me now that wants to argue with Paul about it. Does our whole faith, our whole life with Jesus hinge on his resurrection? My life spent with him is much more dependent on his teachings-on the truth about how staying on the love path makes life work., and on my personal and shared fellowship with him. But then I have to remember that when Paul wrote this the absolute awesome miracle of the resurrection was so fresh. Everything they were thinking, the very reason they were bending their lives to the teaching and leadership of Jesus was because of the resurrection. Many other self proclaimed "messiahs" had come and gone. Jesus was the only one who had come and gone and come back again. It's strange to my experience of Jesus following that the miracle of his resurrection was the fuel that birthed the church. I have been after him so long that I take for granted his resurrection. I know he lives because I've met him; "you ask me why I know he lives; he lives within my heart." I know and accept that the fact of the resurrection is the warrant for belief in him. But is that why or how most people come to follow him today? My experience with people who come out of the world and begin to follow him is that they do it because of a deep yearning for God in their own hearts and minds and souls, and most often, a connection with someone who is already following him. What seals the deal for them seems to be his character matching their need, and his way being the good news they have always been looking for. I cannot recall a single person who seemed to be buying in on the basis of believing that Jesus really was raised from the dead. I'm guessing that is because believing that is inherent in believing in him. My guess is that we are a community of faith so immersed in the resurrection that we don't much even think about the huge importance of that historical fact for the formation and foundation and ongoing life of his tribe. Or maybe it's just me.

Love again? Always, he says.

1 Corinthians 8:1-3 The test of whether or not something can or needs to be done for Christ's sake is not a merely a matter of knowledge (informed reason). It's true we need to always be as good as we can about reasoning something out. The Lord wants us to love him with all our minds. But before moving to action what we think is best, even when having the agreement of the best minds in the world, has to meet the test of love. Yes, it's great common sense. Yes it's reasonably the best course of action. But is it also loving. If not, we need to think deeper, research more, take another tack at the problem or issue or someone. Love is the final test in all things Jesus, for all actions carried out by a Jesus follower. Paul's advice was in answer to a church difference of opinion, but the same principle works on the mission field as well. It's love that builds up the church, Paul says-not knowledge. It's also love that builds up the lives of those on our mission fields; it's also love that builds up the world. It's love that builds the Kingdom-as much of it as we can ever build. The knowledge part of building the Kingdom is beyond us. That will have to be God's doing. That's why our best efforts at it are witnesses to what is coming by God in all it's fullness. Love is the farthest we can go for Christ's sake. Let's love the best we can and rely absolutely on the knowledge of the one who has all knowledge.

Oh my Achan-nevermind!

What a difference there is between the stories of what happened to Achan (and his poor family) in Joshua 7 and the directions Paul gives about the man who is living in sin with his step-mother in 1 Corinthians 5. Achan and his family are stoned to death to get the community back into faithfulness with God. Paul tells the Corinthians to put the offender out of the church (don't know why there is no word about what to do with the step-mother-maybe she wasn't in the church) and let Satan take him. Even though he is to be put out the hope seems to be that once out he will repent and come back into the fold. The difference between those two approaches to maintaining the faithfulness of the community of faith is vast. The difference, of course, is Jesus. What the Israelites did was not what the fully formed community of faith would do. Jesus came to show us the way of love-at all costs, in all situations with every single one. Paul's directions are in that vein (no pun intended). What it causes my mind to go to after making that gospel connection is the current state of the church ( ours or any). Are there efforts made to keep the faithfulness of the flock by confronting behavior that is not Jesus centered? If we would have that courage0if we would love each other that much- I believe both out witness and our growth would be profound. I invite conversation about that. Should we? If so, how? Is the faithfulness of the flock as a whole something that even crosses (pun intended) our minds? Should it?

The Business

Galatians 3:22-23 It's interesting how the world looks at Jesus following and how God does. The world tends to look at Jesus following as something ancillary if not tangential to someone's life. It's like a super important hobby or something. But if Paul is channeling the Holy Spirit, and I believe that here he is, God looks at Jesus following as the most important thing in the world. "Everything belongs to you." I'm not taking that to be about ownership, but about the tools and responsibility and authority to pursue or lives together for Christ's sake-our efforts at the rescue mission Jesus left us to continue. And then it's you (church), then Christ, then God (meaning the Father). What all this points to is that if we as Jesus followers have everything we need at our disposal to carry out the mission, then doesn't it follow that according to God the mission we are on is crucial-not only not marginal-not only more than a hobby-but crucial to the epic God continues to roll out on earth? This truth about the importance of true followers being crucial to the plan of God speaks to that old (and irritating) saying, "the church is not a business." If I hear God right the church is not a business; it's the business. When you think about it, is there really any pursuit human beings can make together more important than helping people find their way home safely to God?

Is this the key?

"Is there then a conflict between God's laws and God's promises?" Galatians 3:21 That's another way of saying is there a conflict between God's laws and the gospel of Jesus? The answer is the same: absolutely not. The problem is that we think of both as contemporary and competing. The truth is that the law (as is so brilliantly explained in the rest of this chapter) was right for a particular point in the development of the people of God. Since Jesus came the law has been overwhelmed (gathered in) by the gospel. Our standing now is not based on law but on our personal relationship with God through Jesus (who is God in flesh and blood). I have a friend, let's call him J (not that one). J is wrestling with what he believes about Jesus. He was raised Jewish and accepting Jesus as the Messiah is a struggle for him. I'm wondering if this insight into the law and gospel would help him make the leap of faith into trusting that Jesus is the Messiah. What I mean is that in his heart J really operates on a gospel basis. He realizes that his heart yearns not for a list of rules and regulations about God (laws), but for a relationship with God. He is already operating spiritually on a gospel basis instead of a law basis. Now here is the key (I hope). The one who brought to the world the gospel is Jesus. There was no system of God thinking that included a personal relationship with God as the fulfillment of the heart's desire. Jesus released that into the world and it connected with the deepest needs of our human hearts. Now here's the deal. The only one who has the right to change the rules (change from a law based system to the relationship based life) would be God. Isn't the fact that what our hearts yearn for, Jesus brought to the world (and us) evidence enough that he is God? The one who brought to us this great good news about God loving us and wanting to be intimate with us (our Daddy) was God-in flesh and blood. That still requires a leap of faith to decide to claim Jesus as our Messiah. But it sure is a great nudge (if not push) toward the edge of making that leap. Are you out there, J?

My choice

Deuteronomy 11:26, "Look, today I am giving you the choice between a blessing and a curse!" Some choice, huh? "I'll take the blessing. What? Oh, there are some conditions? What are they?" I love this! Many people seem to think that the blessings of God (and the curses) are something God hands out randomly or on the basis of some kind of divine logic only the Lord is privy to. The truth is that blessings or curses in life really are our choice. Here's how it works. God had provided only one way to live. It's lined out in the ten commandments (if you cling to the Jesus about them) and definitely crystal clear in the two (the one's about loving God and all others that Jesus gave us). That is the way Jesus taught; that is why before our faith was called "Christianity" it was called "The Way" (I still much prefer that name). One path to the good life. To follow it brings a life of blessing. Don't think of that materially ( I know you aren't); think of it in the way Jesus taught about life (abundantly). If we get off that path-curses. Not because God zaps us but because there is only one way for a human being to live that is godly. Any other way is not going to work. Therefore trying to life that way will feel like a curse (and actually it is, but one we bring on ourselves by trying to live in some other way than the way God designed us to). To say about life, "I have no choice" is to be ignorant of the truth about life. And it is to miss the wonderful choice we all, by God, do have-this day and every day.

Way Too Far!

Deuteronomy 2:34 "We conquered all his towns and completely destroyed everyone-men, women, and children." So sad. They seem to be bragging. And how in the world did they think they had the permission-even the blessing of God-to do such a thing. This sounds way more like Pol Pot than the children of God. I'm not saying it was not God's will to defeat the King and take the land. Maybe it was. But to not only defeat the army, but also kill those who did not fight and women and children? Horrible. And blasphemous for them to say God led them to do that. What a cautionary tale for us, Jesus followers. Every cult begins with the gospel. But every cult leader at some point strikes out on his or her own and takes the faith taught there into strange and hateful territory. It is a dangerous thing to get a "go" from God and not be careful along the way to hear "stop now" or "slow down" or "enough". It is dangerous for our Jesus centered life-our true following-and if history repeats itself (and it does) it's dangerous for those in our lives as well. That is why communion with the Lord has to be constant. We don't get a direction and stop listening; we stay in constant communication or we will find ourselves in a place that is dark and dangerous and unfaithful in the extreme.

Balaam! Dang it!

It's almost a passing remark, the killing of Balaam of Beor (Numbers 31:8b). I liked Balaam. What he did in prophesying over Israel was bold and funny. Just a bit earlier in the story he had shone as one who did what the Lord counseled him to do instead of what the king had paid him to do. He listened to the counsel of the Lord and followed it. So was his the death of an innocent? Apparrently not. Seems like Balaam was also somehow responsible for leading some of the Israelites into idol worship (verse 16). Balaam then was someone who listened to the Lord when it was expedient and went his own way when it suited his fancy. He was not a true follower, merely a believer. The difference is in just the way Balaam lived-following when it was convenient or served him, and going his own way when he wanted to. A cautionary tale if ever there was one. I cannot dictate the terms of my Jesus following. He already has; he already does; he already will. Mine is to follow-or not. I do not have the luxury of molding whatever I desire into Jesus following.