Learning Lessons from a Lamb

Imagine, if you dare, a lamb being brought to the altar for sacrifice at the portable tent/tabernacle of ancient Israel.  Cruel as it may seem to some, the sacrificial act soon renders the lamb lifeless.  Before the sacrifice the lamb had possessed a mind, a will, and a demeanor that reflected both.  Now, the lamb has neither mind, will, nor demeanor.  With that picture in mind, listen now to what the Apostle Paul wrote to the Church:

"I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship.           Romans 12:1

Imagine the lifeless lamb as you answer the following questions:  What does the lamb now desire?  What does the lamb now feel about his surroundings/circumstances?  If a lamb could possess an "agenda," what would this lamb's agenda be?  How much would this lamb want to be pleased?  If you made it through my questions without giving me up for ridiculous for even asking such things about a dead lamb, then grant me one more question.  What is the difference between a dead sacrifice (as the lamb above) and a living one (as in the quote above)? 

I'm thinking that the difference between a dead and living sacrifice is the ongoing act of surrender.  Obviously, a dead sacrifice surrenders nothing.  His desires, feelings, and agenda now offer no competition.  But the living sacrifice still has desires, feelings, and agendas.  And they must be consciously surrendered.  To clarify the picture of that living sacrifice, let me give you the direct "interlinear" translation, from the Greek, of the central phrase of the verse above:

"to stand with the body of you sacrifice living, holy one, well pleasing" which is your logical service." 

Imagine again, this time it's you standing there, holding your fleshy body, with it's dreams, desires, hopes, aspirations, it's frustrations, worries, fears, and pains, it's goals, demands, and agendas.  And there you stand, handing you over to God.  Surrendering all that you are to Him, so that you can be all that He created you to be. 

For that reason, this interlinear phrasing painted a beautiful (but difficult) picture for me.

Father, I have so much of me that competes with your will for me.  I have so much of me that isn't ready, willing, and able to follow your Son.  Help me daily to remember your great mercy, your amazing grace toward me.  And help me every morning to stand with the body of me sacrifice and offer me to you.  Help me surrender all the things that the lamb could not choose to surrender. Help me live the life You created me to live.  Help me do the good You created me to do.

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You Want Me? To Share What?

In writing about evangelism, authors often take their readers to John 4 (Jesus chats with a Samaritan woman at Jacob's well).  Here, they attempt to mine tips, hints, and clues to answer the centuries old question:  How can one be a good witness for Christ?   After all, what better model could we have than Christ himself?  In His conversation with this woman, the authors show how Christ used riddles (as He often did), brought up her problem of sin (as He often did), told her that her religion was wrong (as He often did), invited her to trust Him (as He often did), and offered eternal life (as He often did).  And in so doing, we learn that Christ was an effective, consistent, bold, and gentle evangelist for Himself.

Now, if you're tempted to think that I'm not digging very deeply into the model summarized above, you should know that I'm simply giving those authors a nod before I look at something else in the passage.  They've done the work, they've written the books, commentary, and blogs, so you can find that model expanded all over the place.  What I'd like to do is look more carefully, not at how Jesus was the evangelist, but at how the woman he talked with was the evangelist.   Why?  Just look at the results of her work:

From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me all the things that I have done." So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. Many more believed because of His word; and they were saying to the woman, "It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world."               John 4:39-42

This woman, by sharing  what she took from the conversation with Jesus, somehow convinced "many of the Samaritans" to believe in Jesus (believe at least enough for them to beg Him to stay, and to give Him a good listen).  And what exactly did she take away from the conversation with Jesus?  We don't know all that she took away, but for some reason, John, the story teller, described her message as "He told me all the things that I have done."  She didn't wow them with creation evangelism, or with cool effects and technology.  She didn't wait to share till she "knew enough."  She simply shared that some guy knew about her messed up life, her errant religion, and her very real thirst/expectation for a savior.  And the results are in the passage above.  Many believed in Him because of her.

What if you or I want to be serious about sharing our faith?  What can we take away from this passage about a woman who, in a matter of an afternoon, became an on-fire evangelist for Jesus, and a successful one at that?  How can we translate her experience into our experience?  I'd like to suggest 2 principles for sharing our faith with watching world:

1.  She shared to point people to Jesus.  She wasn't out to be liked or respected.  She was a pointer.  It was about Him, not her.

2.  She shared Him in the context of her sinfulness.  Rather than hide her sin from others, she made it an intrinsic part of her message about the One who would save her from that sin.

It seems today many of us believe that if we're nice enough, and friendly enough, then people will love us.  Thus they'll come to love our Jesus.  But that's not the model here. 

It also seems today many of us believe that if we confess the sins of other Christians, we can gain agreement with those unhappy with the church.  When they realize that we're "on their side" they'll come to our Jesus.  But that's not the model here.

The model here is that the Samaritan woman became humble enough to admit that she had a messy life, that she needed a savior, and that she found One who saw her nastiness just as it was, yet still loved her and offered to save her.

Father, we want to bring others to You.  We know that You're the only Savior who can truly save.  Protect us from that nasty "holier than thou" mindset that comes from us judging others and from comparing ourselves with others.  Help us compare ourselves with You, and help us see our broken-ness and our desperate need, even today, for a Savior like Your Son, Jesus.  Help us show the same grace we've been given to those around us.  Help us point to You and Your Son with the story of our lives.  Help us show your saving power by letting them see how badly we need You, and how wonderfully You meet that need.

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Kindness and Severity? What? God's Not Just Kind?

Do I trust the God who is?  Or do I trust the God who I think is?  Him, or my vain imagination of Him?

God has taken great pains to reveal Himself the way He really is.  Do we see Him that way?  Do we allow His revelation to infringe upon our beliefs?  Can God change our minds when our minds have a false picture of Him?

God's "god-ness" leaks through the cracks in heaven and spills into our everyday lives.  Do we see it?  Do we get it?  Do we see Him in it?   The creation in all it's beauty, awe, immensity, and diversity boldly declares the power and nature of its Creator.  Do we see it?  Do we get it?  Do we see Him in it?  The scriptures in all their depth, complexity and profundity clearly declare His justice, mercy, holiness, and compassion.  Do we see it?  Do we get it?  Do we see Him in them?  Jesus faithfully lived Him.  Do we see it?  Do we get it?  Do we see Him in Him?

If there is one problem that rises above the others, it is this ingrained ability I, we, have to keep the true God at bay while we serve the God of our imaginations.  We imagine Him fighting our fights.  We imagine Him punishing those who sin against us.  We imagine Him defending our cause, whatever it may be.  But we don't listen to what His fight is.  We don't listen to what/who He will punish.  We don't imitate His gracious forgiveness to those who sin against us.

God is a hen gathering her chicks.  God is a consuming fire.  He is both.  At once.  He is Love, Holiness, Justice, Freedom, and Mercy.  All.  At once.

Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.                              Romans 11:22    

Father, you are awesome beyond our imaginations.  We cannot fathom your wonders.  Our highest thoughts of you are a shallow puddle compared to you.  Give us glimpses of you the way you really are.  Help us see you in the creation, in the scriptures, and in Jesus.  Shatter our imaginations with yourself.  And help us live as though we really know you, as though we know the real you.

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Seek, find. Don't, don't.

In my last TG entry (http://hallockd.posterous.com/open-wide-to-us), I asked whether the folks in Corinth had drifted away after other (false?) teachers precisely because they had not embraced (or had withdrawn from?) the Apostle Paul.  Had they come to dislike Paul because of his dogmatism, his personality, his theological depth, or his expectation that they grow far more that they were interested in growing?  We cannot know.  But the question above raises a choice that God places before every man:  Seek, find.  Don't, don't.

From Moses (Deut 4:29), to Solomon (1 Chron 28:9; Prov 8:17)), to Jeremiah (29:11-15), to Jesus (Matt 7:7ff), to the author of Hebrews (11:6), God has made us a simple, concise, and profit-laden promise.  If we seek Him, we will find Him.  Which leaves those who don't find Him caught in a bind:  Since they don't find, have they not sought?

Paul put it most starkly in his letter to the Thessalonian believers who had been confused by others about how the "end times" would play out.  In the quote below, he is explaining how "the lawless one" will come and lead many astray.

Then that lawless one will be revealed whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end by the appearance of His coming; that is, the one whose coming is in accord with the activity of Satan, with all power and signs and false wonders, and with all the deception of wickedness for those who perish, because they did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved. For this reason God will send upon them a deluding influence so that they will believe what is false, in order that they all may be judged who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness.    2 Thessalonians 2:7-12

Paul states very clearly that folks are deceived because they (1) "did not receive the love of the truth," and (2) "did not believe the truth."  He also seems to imply that their "pleasure in wickedness" kept them from submitting themselves to the truth.

And that's the rub of the issue.  Awhile back I suggested in TG (http://hallockd.posterous.com/fudged-truth-again) that we cannot really know who is lying to us or not, whether we're talking politicians, theologians, or scientists.  We are constantly fed information at home, at work, at school, and at church, that my be corrupted by underhanded means, but we don't ever know for sure. 

Thus, it is important, essential, absolutely necessary, and (hmm, what other words can I put here to stress the need for diligence in study?) . . .  Well let's just say that I, you, everyone needs to seek God and seek truth in His Word.

Father, you claim that wisdom cries out from the top of the street.  But you also claim that folly does the same.  We need you to help us sort out what we've come to believe.  Help us ferret out the folly, the lies, the half-truths that we've bought into, thinking our sources were trustworthy.  Help us "renew our minds" by letting your word challenge anything we already believe. Draw us to you and to your truth.

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I've moved . . .

If you've come here looking for Doug Hallock's (hallockd's) Terrifying Grace blog, these are old posts. I've moved the updated blog to: http://www.hallockd.posterous.com

An Odd Challenge

Here's an odd challenge, if you dare: Carefully check out the two verses below, and see if they aren't backwards when compared to the way many of us operate today:

1. "Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers over all wrongs" (Prov 10:12 ).
So when someone wrongs you, and you cover his wrongs, that shows what?
But when someone wrongs you, and you stir others up against him, that shows what?


2. "If your brother sins against you, go and show him his fault . . . (Jesus, in Mat 18:15 ).
So when someone wrongs you, and you talk to him about it, you're obeying who?
But when someone wrongs you, and you don't talk to him about it, you're disobeying who?

What I mean is this:
Do you talk directly to the person who sins against, disappoints, or otherwise fails you?
Do you talk about that persons sin, disappointing, failing to others?

If you're like me, there is a great temptation to do precisely the opposite of what those verses say. I suspect that we don't talk directly to the one who sins, disappoints, or otherwise fails, is because we are afraid. Afraid of getting into an argument. Afraid of being confronted ourselves. Afraid of having to "remove the log from our own eye." Afraid of . . .?

Humility - What Is It?

We've all heard, read, and maybe even said, that humility is good and pride is bad. I'm not going to debate here the rightness or wrongness of that statement. Rather, I'd like here to ask some questions about the meaning of the statement, particularly in regarding the characteristic of humility. What exactly are we saying is good?

Do many view humility as a "person-to-person" trait? That is, if some one is humble, then he will treat other people in certain ways, and will refrain from treating others in other certain ways? Conversely, if someone treats another person in certain ways, can we then accurately call him "humble," and if someone treats another in other certain ways, can we then call him "proud"or "arrogant?" While I agree with this understanding of humility, I see a great problem with defining it only in "person-to-person" terms.

Wouldn't it be better to define humility first in its "person-to-God" framework. I believe that only then can its person-to-person expression be properly and accurately defined and measured. Without this critical first step, humility can be redefined into a pale, shallow shadow of its bold, robust, and clearly biblical original trait.

More later?