The More Things Change…

The more things change, the more they remain the same.

                            

That saying came to mind this afternoon as I was reading the author's introduction to a book which, after a number of years of sitting on the shelf, I am beginning to read. He wrote these words:

"Without "absolutes" revealed from without by God Himself, we are left rudderless in a sea of conflicting ideas about manners, justice and right and wrong, issuing from a multitude of self-opinionated thinkers."

Say what? We either receive and live by God's revelation, or drift along on whatever whim is competing for our attention and driving the culture. Everything expressed in that quote would apply to our time, and yet they are the words of John Owen, an English pastor and theologian of the 17th century.

Here I was thinking that much of what is happening culturally, morally and ethically in our day was largely a product of ever faster forms of communication and methods to widely share one's opinion. Things like Twitter, Facebook and the internet, the last two of which I am using in sharing this blog post.

But Owen proves me wrong. Before "modern communication," be it the internet, television, radio, telephones, the telegraph, Pony Express, or what have you, and before any " influential thinker" you can name from the past 300+ years, the same malady was present then as today. Individual people and cultures could ground themselves in what God has revealed through the Bible, or in something else. Anything else. Everything else.

Owen declares, rightly I believe, that the Bible's position on all matters of right-and-wrong was fixed, while in comparison whatever else was used would be perpetually subject to change. Owen writes in the 17th century, but the problem he speaks to has been present throughout human history.

Three pages later in his introduction Owen says:

"The fallen nature of the human mind, to its very great detriment, is so disposed that it will trust other fallen men rather than turn in helplessness to Him whose aid and succor they ought to seek for all things."

Boom! The problem, then and now, was a natural seeking of anything but God.  And the answer, then and now, is to turn to what God freely reveals, of himself and how we should live, in the Bible.

Our need is great, and in his mercy God freely meets that need. In Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus says:

"Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

Our world may be changing, but God's grace remains the same. "Come to me…"  is the beginning. Yield to Jesus and he will work out the details. Amen.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Are You Offended?

Have you ever seen, known, or maybe even been, someone who seems to be offended by everything? From their perceptive there seems to be a problem with virtually everything that comes along. Every action someone else does. Every word someone else says. There are never any exceptions. Unless they said it, or did it, or thought it, it was wrong.

I've been there. Perhaps not to the extreme I describe, but close enough. Whatever it was, I was right and everyone else was wrong. On my better days I kept those thoughts to myself, but there were plenty of times when the words came out my mouth, and I never cared who would happen to hear them. Praise God that that way of seeing and living in the world is not my default any more.

In a curious paradox there is one person who, at the same time, is both the most offensive, and the least offensive, person who ever walked the earth.

Who could that be? The Lord Jesus Christ.

Speaking to the disciples of John the Baptist in Matthew 11:6 Jesus tells them,

"And blessed is the one who is not offended by me."

Jesus assumes, rightly, that what he has to say to people will be found by many to be offensive. One place where we see this is in John's gospel, in what are known as the "I am" statements. They are:

1.      “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” (John 6:35)

2.      “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness but will have the light of life” (John 8:12)

3.      “I am the door of the sheep.” (John 10:7)

4.      “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11)

5.      “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live” (John 11:25)

6.       “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6)

7.      “I am the true vine and my Father is the vine dresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit” (John 15:1-2)

Seven statement in which Jesus says something that is radically exclusive. Seven statements in which Jesus says that the only way is his way.

Our natural inclination is to see our way as the best way, in all things. We are offended by the idea that someone else's way, for anything, is the only way. And perhaps more than anything else, we are offended that Jesus' way is the only way to peace with God.

Praise God that one day I came to see that his truth in Jesus really was best. I still read things in the Bible that I'm not fond of, but for the most part they are the words that show me where things still need to change in my life. Perhaps not the words I want to read, but certainly the words I need to read, as I live day by day with faith in Jesus. 

The words of Jesus are no longer offensive, but words of God's love for sinners, like me and you.

            

Earned or Given?

Out here on the reservation of the Jicarilla Apache Nation they have a lot of respect for veterans of the US military.  There are signs as one crosses the boundary onto the reservation saying that the Jicarilla Apache Nation thanks all veterans for their service.  During the community summer festival they have a program and lunch for veterans and their families.  I went last year and the lunch was incredible!  On Veteran's Day they have a breakfast and parade, and the newspaper that day includes the names of all tribal members who have served in the military of the United States.  And if all that wasn't enough, veterans get free coffee at the gas station, year-round. 

The Nation appreciates veterans, and most of the ways they thank them are available to any veteran, and not just tribal members.  Peace time service, wartime service, overseas service, or service no farther away than the next state, none of those differences matter.  All that matters is that a person signed up for the military and served honorably. 

That last distinction is where things get just a bit more complicated.  I spent four years in the US Navy and in the Navy, as in any of the other branches of service, in order to serve honorably one, at a minimum, has to complete basic training.  A person isn’t truly an airman, soldier, sailor or marine until they have completed basic training and earned that title.  The Marines even used that in their advertising at one time, noting that the title of Marine was "Earned, never given." 

It occurred to me that the title of "Christian" works in a way that is exactly opposite.  In Romans 10:9, Paul writes:

"If  you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."

In Matthew 11:28 Jesus says:

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

And in John 4:13 Jesus tells the woman at the well:

"Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again.  The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

To receive the gift of salvation in Jesus there is absolutely nothing that we can do except to come to Him and have faith in what He has done on our behalf.  All we can do is to believe that He gave His very life so that our sin against God could be forgiven.  That is it.  It is something that is impossible to earn but which He very freely gives away.

Since coming to live on the reservation I have become proud of my service in the US Navy in ways that I had not really considered before.  But something of infinitely greater value is the name of "Christian," a name that is impossible to earn, but is very freely given to all who have come to have faith in Jesus as Savior and Lord. 

May this name, His name, be the name that you are known by.  Amen.
 

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.