Covenant Relationship

The word "covenant" is used to describe the close relationship God entered into with Noah (Gen 6:18; Gen 9), then with Abraham (Gen 15:18; 17:1-22), and then renewed and confirmed with Isaac and his posterity (Gen 17:19-21).  Then God entered into covenant with the nation of Israel through Moses (Ex 24, Deut 5:2; 28:69).  Each time God entered into a covenant, He made a promise and then presented His terms of obedience.  Every.  Single.  Time.  He did this because a covenant is an agreement:  "I offer this or promise this (Party A's part), and these are my expectations should you agree to my offer or accept my promise (Party B's part)."  For humanity, God is always Party A-- the initiating party.  He is the Initiator and the Terms-setter.  We can choose to accept or not accept.  Should we accept, we choose to obey or not obey, but God always keeps His end of the bargain even when we don't keep ours.

The duties of the Israelites in their covenant with God were carved in stone and transcribed by Moses from the mouth of God when he met with him on top of Mt. Sinai.  These covenantal duties were temporary and given to act as a guardian over Israel until Christ came to enact the eternal covenant of reconciliation through His blood (Gal 3:19,23,24; Heb 8:6,13).

Now God desires to enter into covenant with all men, through the blood of Jesus Christ (Acts 17:30,31; 1 Tim 2:3-5).  We enter into that covenant not by bringing animals into an ark (Gen 6:18,19), not through the sacrifice of animals (Gen 9:5), not through circumcision (Gen 17:11), but through faith (John 6:47; 11:25,26).  Not by earning God's favor through works of our own effort, but through a salvific faith in Jesus Christ.  Salvation is the act of entering into a covenant relationship with Christ through faith (Luke 22:20; Eph 2:8,9).  It is a covenant of grace (John 1:17; Acts 20:24).

"In the same way, after supper He took the cup, saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is poured out for you.'" (Luke 22:20)

The duties of Israel were carved in stone, but the duties of those who are in covenant with Christ through faith are written upon our heart by the Holy Spirit that He puts in us when we genuinely believe in Him...a belief that imparts unto us the unction to follow Him (John 14:16,17; Rom 2:14-16; Heb 10:16; Jer 31:33).  A belief in Christ is a belief in Who He says He is--He is Lord and God-- and a belief that He accomplished what He said He did-- victory over sin and death and reconciliation with God through His shed blood (Col 1:20; 1 Cor 15:57; 2 Cor 5:18; Rev 1:18). 

I say all this because more and more I see Christians saying there are no rules in Christianity, only relationship.  Or, Jesus doesn't give us a set of rules, He only wants a relationship with us.  But we cannot cheapen the Gospel by trying to water-down God's expectations of us as those who are called by His name.  He is holy and His name is holy (Lev 22:32; Ps 33:21; Lev 20:26).  He desires for us to be holy (1 Peter 1:16) and to pursue holiness through obedience to His ways (1 John 2:3; 5:2,3;  Psalm 128:1; James 1:22-25; Psalm 119:1,2).  And the truth is, all relationships have rules.  Healthy relationships are built on good rules.  My relationship with my husband has rules and one of those rules is that we don't commit adultery.  Another rule is that I treat him with respect, and another is that he is to love me as he loves his own body (Eph 5:22,28).  These are good rules, they are for our benefit, and they preserve our marriage covenant. 

Jesus invites us into a covenantal relationship with Him by extending His hand in mercy and grace, but not in compromise of His glory, authority, majesty and holiness.  The Lamb is worthy of our reverence, our awe, our worship, and our obedience. We sing "Amazing Grace" to God on Sunday morning, but we can't rob God of the very thing that makes His grace so amazing.  God's grace is amazing because He is utterly holy, His standard is perfection, His ways are inscrutable, and there is nothing in us that can save ourselves because we are wretched creatures enslaved to a sin nature.  God's grace is amazing because He looks at us in our wretchedness, and invites us into relationship with Him even while we are still enrobed in sin and rebellion.  God's grace is amazing because even after we enter into relationship with Him, even after we enter into covenant with Him, He pours Himself out into us through His Spirit, enabling us to live according to His holy standard, enabling us to live up to His expectations of those who call themselves His people. 

To be in relationship with Christ is to follow Him.  To be in relationship with Christ is to pursue His ways, to obey His commandments, to surrender to His leading, and to allow yourself to be transformed by the power of His Spirit which works within you-- the Spirit you have been given through your faith in Him.  We are in a covenant with Christ, entered into by faith.  But the very notion of being in a covenant relationship implies obligation on both parts.  God gives us salvation and grace and we give Him faith and obedience.  When we enter into a covenant with Christ, we are making a promise to follow Him and the standard of life that reflects His teaching.  And He makes a promise to us to enable us to do so.

"Now to Him Who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us..." (Eph 3:20)

"Anyone who runs ahead without remaining in the teaching of Christ does not have God. Whoever remains in His teaching has both the Father and the Son." (2 John 1:9)

"Truly, truly, I tell you, if anyone keeps My word, he will never see death." (John 8:51)

"You are my friends if you do what I command you." (John 15:14)

"So He said to the Jews who had believed in Him, 'If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples.'" (John 8:31)

"For it is God Who works in you to will and to act on behalf of His good pleasure." (Phil 2:13)

Time Of Indignation

"I will go away and return to My place until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face.  In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me." (Hosea 5:15).

Judgment begins in the House of the Lord. (1 Pet 4:17)

Transgression is full and God's Name has been trampled and defiled in fullness.

The Cross has become a mockery and Christ made out to be a fool.

The Church has become a byword, an object of scorn and ridicule among the nations. (Psalm 44:13,14)

The Church has become antichrist, a dwelling place for demons, a sanctuary of sin. (Rev 18:2)

We follow men instead of the Spirit and even call ourselves by their name, by their doctrinal discipline, or by their denominational institution, instead of the Name of the Lord to Whom we belong. (John 5:43)

His Church is one-- there is no Jew or Greek, no male or female, no slave or free man, we are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal 3:28)

We divide His Church in ignorance and pride.

The Spirit has long-since left the temple, but religion has marched forward at a frantic tempo.

We consume but are never full; always learning but never able to come to the knowledge of truth. (2 Tim 3:7)

We are divided by our religion, we say "I am rich... I have need of nothing." (Rev 3:17)

We are blinded by our religion, God says "I advise you to buy from Me eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see." (Rev 3:18)

Reason has established the House of the Lord, rather than relationship with the Lord of the House.

You foolish men.  Your religion will not save you because He is a God Who examines hearts. (Jer 17:10; Rev 2:23)

"No, there is no room for you here God, You will only get in the way of our bureaucracy."

"Yes, there is room for you here God, as long as you follow our program."

The Sanhedrin presides at your conventions, it is a gathering of Pharisees and Sadducees, it is a gathering of white-washed tombs. (Matt 23:27,28)

You argue over mint and dill while His sheep starve because you give them no bread, only platitudes and lifeless doctrine. (Matt 23:23,24)

God says, "It is my Spirit that gives life to my Word, but you do not seek my Spirit, so my Word in you is lifeless." (John 6:63)

We read His word with our mind, but do not seek Him with our heart.

We cannot seek God with hearts full of "every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and hatred...full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, and malice", gossip, slander, insolence, arrogance and boastfulness. (Rom 1:29)

His people are trying to grow on crumbs, their hearts full of angst and frustration.

"The people have become exhausted and hungry and thirsty in the wilderness." (2 Sam 17:29)

White-washed tombs try to give them hope rooted in worldliness instead of repentance.

Their flesh is fed while their spirit starves.

"Those who are sickly you have not strengthened, the diseased you have not healed, the broken you have not bound up, the scattered you have not brought back, nor have you sought for the lost; but with force and with severity you have dominated them." (Ezek 34:5).

We will say, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matt 27:46)

God says, "I have not forsaken you, you have forsaken Me." (Rev 2:4)

Those whom He loves, He reproves and disciplines. (Rev 3:19; Heb 12:6; Prov 3:12)

Ask Him for Holy Fire to burn away your dross. (Malachi 3:3; Prov 25:4)

Fire destroys but also purifies. (Numbers 31:23)

All that does not glorify Him will be destroyed. (Malachi 3:2; 1 Cor 3:13-15)

All that belongs to Him will be purified. (Daniel 12:10; Zech 13:9)

Rend your heart and not your garments. (Joel 2:13)

Seek Him in the secret place. (Psalm 27:5; 31:20)

Dwell in His shadow. (Psalm 17:8; 91:1)

Fill your lamp with oil as the darkness closes in. (Matt 25:3,4)

Go into your prayer closet and lift up your prayers to Him during the time of indignation. (Isaiah 26:20)

Preach His Gospel and love one another to the end. (Mark 16:15; John 13:1)

"Behold, I am going to let you know what will occur at the final period of the indignation, for it pertains to the appointed time of the end...

In the latter period of their rule,

When the transgressors have run their course,

A king will arise,

Insolent and skilled in intrigue and ambiguous speech.

His power will be mighty, but not by his own power,

And he will destroy/act corruptly/ruin/spoil/waste to an extraordinary degree

And prosper and perform his will;

He will destroy/corrupt/ruin mighty men and the holy people/the people of the saints.

And through his shrewdness

He will cause deceit to succeed by his influence/his hand;

And he will magnify himself in his heart,

And he will destroy/corrupt many while they are at ease/secure.

He will even oppose/stand against the Prince of princes,

But he will be broken without human agency." (Daniel 8:19,23-26)

"Those who have insight will shine brightly like the brightness of the expanse of heaven, and those who lead the many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever." (Dan 12:3)

In The Meantime

The morning after Christmas I was sitting in my living room drinking my coffee, watching the sun rise as my husband and children slept.  I thought about the miracle that we celebrated the day before, the miracle of Christ's birth.  As I watched the sun rise, I imagined Mary the day after Christ's birth.  I imagined her tired and her body sore, lying on a mat on a dirt floor in a stable for animals.  I imagined the baby Jesus crying from hunger and Mary trying to breastfeed Him.  I imagined the searing pain of a baby latching onto a sore nipple.  I imagined the frustration of trying to learn how to breastfeed, to get into the right position, all while a baby is screaming with hunger.  I imagined Joseph, frustrated and full of angst because he desired for his beloved to be in more comfortable conditions.  I imagined what it must have been like for him to look upon the baby that came from his wife, knowing with certainty that it didn't come from him, and choosing to believe in faith that it came from God.

What happens after a miracle?  The next day.

The next day happens.

And then the day after that.

Scripture gives us highlights of glory, but between those glories, between those paragraphs and pages, between Abraham's commission and Isaac's birth, life went on.  Between Jacob's ladder and Judah's reign, the daily grind continued.  We tend to get caught up in the highlights of the narrative and forget about the next day.  God works miracles and gives mankind staggering commissions, but in the meantime, those things are worked out in the mundane.  When God calls us to service, the call might be profound in the long-run, but that call is worked out day by day in the menial and obscure.  Mary gave birth to the Savior of Creation itself, the most glorious task ever given to a human being outside of Christ, but most of her time on this earth was spent doing daily human tasks.  For her-- "noble service" was worked out among "necessary task".  She breastfed her baby and changed His diapers.  She cooked meals for her family and she laundered clothing.  She was a wife to her husband and a mother to her children.  Scripture records the "Magnificat" at Luke Chapter 1:46-55, but is silent on the "meantime".

All ministry to the Lord is this way.  God places a call on our life and that call is worked out little by little, day by day.  We may have the occasional meeting with Him on the mountaintop, but most of our time is spent navigating the rocks on the way up and down.  Tedious, strenuous, methodical.  Times which we will become frustrated and tired.  Times which we may stumble and skin our knee.  Times which we may become discouraged and overwhelmed with the size of the mountain.  And even times which we may become disillusioned with the mountain and try to find a way off.

All too often I have become frustrated when I don't "feel" like I'm doing much for God.  When my service to Him looks like vacuuming the church sanctuary, updating the church registry, working someone's shift in the nursery or picking up the church mail.  We so easily get addicted to emotional highs or powerful moments, that is why ministries which focus on such are so dangerous.  Yes, God can and will reveal Himself to us on the mountaintop in powerful, spectacular ways, but more often than not, there is the mountainside of "in the meantime".  "In the meantime" is where God really does His greatest work in us.  It is where He teaches us patience, perseverance, compassion, understanding, persistence.  "In the meantime" is where God refines our character and burns away the dross. 

Do not get discouraged when you find yourself "in the meantime".  Surrender to God's work in you to create a steadfast spirit.  For it is the steadfast spirit which has the strongest foundation.  The steadfast spirit is well-equipped to weather the storm.  The steadfast spirit digs in deep and is in for the long-haul, regardless of the circumstances.  The steadfast spirit cannot be tempted away by the wiles of the enemy, nor driven away by his fiery darts.  The steadfast spirit follows hard after the Lord, full of the confidence of His presence no matter how much darkness surrounds.  The steadfast spirit has not built its house on the sand of emotional highs or the fleshly appeal of power, but on the steady rock of "in the meantime".

"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.  Do not cast me from Your presence or take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and sustain within me a willing spirit." (Ps 51:10-12)

"I gave my back to those who strike me and my cheek to those who pluck out the beard; I did not cover my face from humiliation and spitting. For the Lord God helps me, therefore I am not disgraced; Therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I will not be ashamed." (Isaiah 50:6,7)

"On my bed I remember You; I think of You through the watches of the night. For You have been my help, and in the shadow of Your wings I will sing for joy. My soul follows hard after You; Your right hand upholds me." (Psalm 63:6-8)

"Not only that, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance produces character; and character produces hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, Whom He has given us." (Rom 5:3-5) 

Feet That Are Wont To Wander

I often get caught up in wrong thinking.  I stray into the mindset that I must do this or that, or pray for so many hours to be worthy enough for God to use me or speak to me.  Like, He will only work through me when I have fulfilled my part.  It is the poisonous mindset that I have to meet God halfway, as if somehow I could work my way into His favor and make myself usable through my own strength and by my own effort.

I stray into this mindset because I know that scripture says that if I will turn away from wickedness and cleanse myself from what is unfit, then He will use me for a special purpose (2 Tim 2:19-21).

I stray into this mindset because I know that scripture says that it is the pure in heart who will see God (Matt 5:8).

I stray into this mindset because I know that scripture says to make every effort to be holy, because without holiness, no one will see the Lord (Heb 12:14).

I stray into this mindset because I know that scripture says God upholds those who follow hard after Him (Ps 63:8) and to seek Him with our whole heart, and only then will He be found (Jer 29:13).

I stray into this mindset because Christ tells us to make every effort to enter through the narrow door because many will try and not be able (Luke 13:24).

I stray into this mindset because God's word to us implies a level of obligation and obedience on our part.  

We are told over and over again in scripture to turn from wickedness, to pursue holiness and that our love for Christ would be evidenced by our obedience (John 14:15-26).

But when it becomes more about my own effort, than about His sustaining grace, I lose my way and veer off the narrow path.  At Luke Chapter 12, Jesus said to seek God's kingdom and He will provide all our needs (12:31).  The parallel account at Matthew 6:33 expounds upon Jesus' meaning of seeking God's kingdom by adding, "..and His righteousness."  As Christians, we should long for righteousness in our heart.  That is an indicator of the genuine presence of the Holy Spirit in a true believer.  As a believer matures, that longing for righteousness will intensify.  And as that longing intensifies, so does that believer's ability to turn away from wickedness and sin.

When Jesus says that God will provide all our needs when we seek His kingdom and His righteousness, we tend to limit those Godly provisions to material needs, but He also meant that God would supply all our spiritual needs as well.  Our longing for righteousness is placed within our heart purely by the grace of God through our faith in Christ.  And we know that it is put there purely by His grace and through no effort of our own because immediately after Jesus instructs His disciples to seek God's kingdom, He tells them, "Do not be afraid little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom" (Luke 12:32).  As if He already anticipates our frustration at trying to obey His command through our own strength.

My problem is, sometimes I forget this.  Sometimes I forget to actively place my faith in the fact that God is on my side-- that He is rooting for me, not against me.  That He is not placing obstacles in my path, but removing them.  Sometimes I get caught up in seeking His kingdom like I am trying to obtain it through some sort of spiritual obstacle course, and forget that He has already freely given it.  Jesus isn't telling us to work for it like we are trying to earn it or obtain it, but like Matthew's parallel account points out, Jesus is telling us to make it our primary devotion-- to let our lives revolve around the pursuit of righteousness, for God and His holiness to be first in our lives and in the desire of our hearts.  God is after our heart, because it is our heart which will ultimately drive our efforts.  God is after our heart, because it is our heart that leads to the opening of the narrow door (Luke 13:24).

It is a very narrow path between the mindset of trying to earn God's kingdom on the one hand, versus the mindset of "I am covered by His grace, therefore no effort on my part is necessary" on the other.  Both are equally wrong and both are equally spiritually damaging when the pendulum swings too far toward one side or the other.  The only way we can walk such a narrow path is to be in intimate fellowship with our Savior.  Without such intimate fellowship, a believer-- and even the church itself-- falls out of balance, off the narrow path and onto the broad road leading to spiritual deception, and ultimately, spiritual destruction.  Many in the church today are on such a path-- a path on one side of the narrow way or the other-- because of gross neglect of prayer and spiritual intimacy with their Savior.

After Jesus tells the Disciples to seek God's kingdom and that it is the Father's good pleasure to give us the kingdom, He then tells them, "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Luke 12:34).  Therefore, if your heart longs for the narrow way, it is God's great pleasure to enable you to tread it. Thus, it is not about our ability to walk such a path in our own effort, but rather, it is about the longings of our heart.  The longing within us for righteousness and obedience and our surrender to such longing, which will ultimately drive our efforts.  The longing that is placed within us by His grace and a longing that can only be fed through intimate fellowship with Him.  And when I remind myself of that, as I often have to do, my straying feet are once again pointed back in the right direction.

“I am the true vine, and My Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.  I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in Me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from Me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in Me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in Me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.  This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be My disciples." (John 15:1-8)

Looking For A Stallion...Finding A Donkey

For almost 15 years I worked in an industry where I witnessed a lot of jockeying for authority, a lot of abuses of power, and a lot of lust for recognition and importance.  A lot of self-righteous superiority and inordinate concern about who was greatest or most in charge.  And although I am describing my experience as a Petroleum Landman in the oil and gas industry, I could just as easily be describing the church.  Just as much now as I did then, do I see many people looking for stallions to ride around on when we should be looking for a donkey.

The church has lost its vision of what true leadership and authority are supposed to look like.  Authority, leadership and headship have become idols in the church because we live in a culture that idolizes power, authority, influence, and recognition.

Zechariah gives a portrait of what righteous leadership looks like according to God:
Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion!
     Shout, Daughter Jerusalem!
See, your king comes to you,
     righteous and victorious,
lowly and riding on a donkey,
     on a colt, the foal of a donkey. (Zech 9:9)

Donkeys are beasts of burden.  They are used to carry heavy loads

They are docile and humble. 
They are unassuming-- they are not pretentious and arrogant, but humble and meek. 
They are secure and un-bothered by their status as servant.

They seek out people to serve, not people to follow behind them.

They are essential to get the work done, but they are often overlooked and taken for granted. 

Yet it was a donkey that Jesus rode upon when He entered Jerusalem as king (Mark 11:1-11).

The Apostles argued among themselves as to who was greatest on more than one occasion.  Luke Chapter 9 tells us that when they began to argue, Christ-- knowing what was in their heart-- took a child next to His side and said, "..for the one who is least among all of you, this is the one who is great" (Luke 9:48).  The parallel account at Matthew 18 gives us an additional record of Christ's words, "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven" (Matt 18:4).

At Luke 22, we are told again that a dispute arose among the Apostles as to which of them would be considered the greatest and Jesus corrected them and said, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called 'Benefactors.' But it is not this way with you, but the one who is the greatest among you must become like the youngest, and the leader like the servant." (Luke 22:25,26).  The word translated as "Benefactors" is the Greek word EUERGETAI (yoo-erg-et-eye), which was a perfunctory title of honor conferred upon someone who was considered to be doing a service, which in this case that "service" was lording authority over a group of people.  It was a title for those seeking a title.  It was a label for someone who coveted importance and recognition.  In Jesus' teaching to the Apostles, He contrasts those who seek authority, recognition, and leadership, with those who are humble and whose service is often obscure and menial. 

When Jesus tells them that "the greatest among you must become like the youngest," He is telling them that they must take the lowest rank.  The culture that Jesus was dealing with ranked authority according to age.  Elders were highly respected and their age-accumulated wisdom was highly valued and honored.  Those who were the least respected or valued and those with the least influence or power, were the youngest.

Jesus goes on at Luke 22:27, "For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves."  What Jesus does here is point out worldly assumptions and juxtaposes them against heavenly realities.  He asks them, who do they generally regard as more important, the one who is served or the one who serves?  Then He answers His own question with what is typically assumed according to our worldly reason, and then points out the incorrectness of that worldly assumption by saying, "Yet here I am, the greatest of the great, in the role of a servant and without a superficial title.  What do you make of that?"

When we read of Jesus' life, we read nothing of worldly glory or honor, we read nothing of bravado, machismo, or swagger.  When we read Isaiah's prophecy of the Heavenly King that would come to earth, we read words and phrases like:  no stately form or majesty, despised, forsaken, man of sorrows, acquainted with grief, no esteem, stricken, smitten, afflicted, pierced, crushed, chastened, scourged, oppressed, slaughtered, cut off, anguish, poured out unto death, bearing the sin of many (Isaiah 53:1-12).  This is the picture we are given of authority and leadership in God's kingdom.

Likewise, when we read of Jesus' birth, we read nothing of what the world would consider a grand entrance or dignified procession.  Instead of blaring a royal trumpet, the angel simply says of the Savior of the world, "You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a feed trough." (Luke 2:12).  According to heaven, the throne of God looks like a manger.  Do you get what I'm saying here?  The throne that God placed His Son upon was  a wooden trough used to feed animals. 

The embodiment of the glory of heaven and earth, the ultimate in authority and leadership was enthroned in a barn and His reign announced upon the back of a donkey.  Yet, in the church, we far too often emulate the Apostles and their concern about who should be in charge or who should be over whom more than we emulate Christ and His willingness to get on His knees and clean some nasty feet.  Far too often we seek to be greater than our Master (John 13:16).  Far too often we seek a stallion to ride around upon, when we should be looking for a donkey.

If you had asked any of those men that I once worked with in the oil and gas industry if they were humble, every single one of them would have told you, "Yes."  That type of self-deception and self-righteousness is the reality of our wretched condition.  The church is eat up with it.  In the church, we've coined the term "servant leader", but that term isn't given to us in scripture.  I think that term makes us more comfortable because, like the Apostles, we don't wanna let go of our idolatry of leadership, headship, and authority.  So we attach "leadership" to "servant" to make us feel better, but Jesus just left it at servant.  And when we just leave it at servant, it more accurately describes what Jesus was trying to communicate.

"If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them." (John 13:14-17)

"Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at the table'? Won't he rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.'" (Luke 17:7-10)

"Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also the interests of others. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to cling to, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross. Therefore God exalted Him to the highest place, and gave Him the Name above all names, that at the Name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil 2:3-11)

"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." (Matt 11:29)

Seated In Love

My six-year old has been sick this week.  The days she has been home sick, she has spent most of her time in my bed watching Christmas shows while I piddle around the house.  Throughout the day she wanders out of the bedroom to look for me.  She follows me around for a little while and then I usher her back into my bedroom where she stays for a little while, then inevitably wanders back out again to find me, follow me around for a little while, then I usher her back into the bedroom, and round and round we continue.  This morning I put on a movie for her so I could go into my closet and have some much needed quiet time with God.  I spent some time praising Him and had just begun to pray when she peeked her head through the door and crept in to see what I was doing.  A little irritated, I asked her what she needed and she replied, "I didn't know where you were so I looked for you."  I told her that I was right here, literally within feet of her the whole time.  And she responded, "But I can't see you, and when I can't see you it feels like you're not there." 

So often I have felt this way with God.  I often feel like my daughter-- content for a little while with the thought that He is near, yet inevitably succumbing to the desire to begin wandering around trying to find Him because when I can't see Him, it feels like He's not there.  But just like I am literally within a few steps from my daughter, God is always within arm's length from us.  My daughter may not know where I am, but she is safe because I know where she is.  She is safe even though she can't see me and may feel like I'm not there.

I think of the affection I feel for my daughter when I see her sweet, seeking face come around a corner or into a room and the look of relief and comfort that washes over her when she sees me standing there.  I am not angry with her because she gets anxious and doubtful.  I don't say, "Why don't you trust me?  Why don't you believe me?" I don't say these things to her because I understand that she needs to feel the comfort of my presence.  If I feel such affection, mercy, and understanding toward my daughter, I think of how much more understanding, mercy, and affection God must feel toward us.  I want her to feel safe and I want her to feel loved and I want her to trust me and know that I am trustworthy and I want her to know that my love for her is real.  I am prone to temptation and sin and if I, flawed and prone to such, feel such wonderful things toward my daughter, how much more does God, in His utter perfection, flawlessness, and holiness, feel those things toward us?

Jesus promised us, "...surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age" (Matt 28:20).  He also said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word and My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make Our home with him" (John 14:23).  The word translated as "home" is the Greek word MONEN, which means dwelling place or abode.  It literally means a place where a person remains or abides.  A place where someone is at home and can always be found.  Jesus promised those who love Him, "Surely, I can always be found with you because I dwell with you, I am at home in you, seated in your love for Me.  Your faith is My abode."

"My God, I cry out by day, but You do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. But You are holy, You Who inhabit the praises of Israel." (Psalm 22:2,3)

"In Him the whole building is fitted together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord. And in Him you too are being built together into a dwelling place for God in His Spirit." (Eph 2:21,22)

"Do you not know that you yourselves are God's temple, and that God's Spirit dwells in you?" (1 Cor 3:16)

"What agreement can exist between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: 'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be My people.'" (2 Cor 6:16)

"Where can I go from Your Spirit? Where can I flee from Your presence? If I go up to the heavens, You are there; if I make my bed in the depths, You are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me." (Psalm 139:7-10).

Both Faces Of God

When I look at contemporary Christianity, I see a lot of vanity, distraction and ignorance.  I see a lot of ugly, hard truths that need to be faced that we don't wanna face.  I see plastic smiles and plastic platitudes peddling a plastic Jesus.  I see a lot of Band-Aids being applied to mortal wounds.  There are many hard, ugly truths that need to be faced in the church, but one which seems to consistently prick at my soul is the ugly, bitter pill of truth that the church is not a fraternity and was never meant to be one. 

We must move past the mindset that the church is a fraternity. 

The church is a family of brothers and sisters.  It is not a club for men who want authority, a title, recognition, power, or an order of brotherhood.  If your desire to serve Christ is fueled by bravado and an appeal to your masculinity, then it is a desire rooted in vanity.  The answer to liberal feminism is not glorified masculinity.  Christ never appealed to the men He chose by telling them that they were destined for greatness because they were men.  He never encouraged them in any way by a vain appeal to their gender.  Christ spoke to their soul.  He taught them to use their minds and hearts as human instruments of God, not as warriors on a God-given conquest.  Our identity in Christ isn't prioritized by how manly or womanly we are, it is prioritized by how pure our heart is and how teachable we are (Matt 5:8; 20:25-28; 23:10-12; Psalm 24:3,4).

There is brotherhood to be found in the church, but it is encompassed in the context of the unity we are to have in Christ (Gal 3:28).  Which means that along with brotherhood, there is also sisterhood and both are supposed to work together in unity and in mutual submission toward a mutual goal (Eph 5:21).  Recognize it or not, there is latent misogyny in the evangelical church and many are not willing to address it, whether out of ignorance or of fear of being labeled as a progressive feminist Nazi.  It is a misogyny that is masked with a veneer of patriarchal self-righteousness and a smug, misguided scriptural purpose.  Many churches are filled with gifted, intelligent women, who are systematically discriminated against and ignored simply because they are not men.  Don't waste your breath saying that women are of equal value and importance in the church when your actions speak otherwise.  God doesn't fill women with the gift of leadership to just be the church secretary or run the nurseries.  God doesn't bless a woman with the circumstances and ability to acquire a Master's Degree in theology to just pick out Sunday School curriculum.

We must apply an even hermeneutic.

How this is worked out in each church will be different, which is why women's roles in the church are considered a secondary issue and many churches will have different interpretations of the proper application of scripture in our time and culture.  The reality is, we don't apply an even hermeneutic to how we interpret scripture on this issue.  Case in point, most of the evangelical church disregards almost all of 1 Corinthians 14 as no longer applicable, except for two verses.  Which means that thirty-eight verses are thrown out, except for the two that talk about women being silent in the church.  1 Timothy 2:8 is cast aside into the pen of extinct cultural application, in favor of staunch legalistic adherence to 2:11 & 12 without any regard to context.  Paul's example of Eve's deception at verse 13 is interpreted as an eternal restriction upon women, even though he uses the same analogy at 2 Cor 11:3 as an example of the susceptibility of deception within the church as a whole.  Such inconsistency is reprehensible. 

All scripture that is interpreted as restrictive upon women--which is, in actuality, a scant few verses-- is didactic in nature.  The "letter" genre of scripture--which encompasses all of Paul's writings-- is didactic, which means by nature, it is situational and occasional.  It was written to address specific situations during a specific frame of time, which means not only that the theology being discussed was written for the task or situation at hand, but also means that we have to be aware of cultural relativity.  Meaning, we must apply good exegesis to determine what applies to the original audience alone, versus what spiritual principles are being taught that transcend culture and are a word to be applied for all seasons.  Good exegesis reconstructs the original situation the author was addressing, so that correct context can be determined.  Correct context is critical for determining proper application.

This is not a moral issue.

How women function in the church is not a moral issue.  And sin is not a cultural issue.  Sin is sin and God's view of sin does not change with the culture.  Homosexuality, adultery and fornication are moral issues.  They are sins and they will always be sins no matter what the cultural context is.  Sin is never a secondary issue because sin affects salvation and the working out thereof.  Thus, to put women's roles in the church in the same category as allowing homosexuality in the church or overlooking adultery and fornication among the men is not only utterly absurd, but also grossly out of context.  It is argumentum ad hominem. 

We must look at the bigger picture and focus on the central Biblical message.
The reality is, that there are scriptural applications which must be interpreted by looking at the overall Biblical witness and message and by applying an even, consistent hermeneutic based on that witness and message.  Slavery, which scripture was used to justify, would be included in such an application (1 Cor 7:21; Col 3:22; 4:1; Eph 6:5-9; 1 Tim 6:1,2; Titus 2:9,10; 1 Peter 2:18).  Also segregation (1 Kings 11:2; Deut 7:3,4; Joshua 23:12; Ezra 9:2; Nehemiah 13:23-25; Psalm 106:35), not giving women the right to vote (Eph 5:22; 1 Pet 3:1,2; 1 Cor 14:34; Col 3:18), and, believe it or not, even restricting pain prevention during childbirth was once justified by scripture (Gen 3:16).  Many times we interpret scripture pursuant to our personal perspective, feelings or opinions, and this is not an appropriate hermeneutic.

 

The fact of the matter is that half, and in many circumstances, over half the church is composed of women.  Yet in most evangelical churches they are woefully underrepresented and many feel that they have no voice.  In many evangelical churches, women are completely unrepresented in visible leadership roles and all church decisions are made by men.  People are leaving the church in droves and we must take an honest look at ourselves and ask why?  And I don't believe there will be a single answer.  But I do believe that part of the answer "why" will include our insistence to continue following vain methodologies and empty traditions rather than the leading of the Spirit, which was the fatal flaw of the Pharisees.  I believe that the mentality of "the women serve the men as the men serve Christ" was never Christ's intention for the church in the first place.  I believe that God will bring revival to the church and it is a revival that will be composed of both men and women working together, lifting each other up, encouraging each other, serving each other, doing nothing out of selfish pride or ambition, but in humility considering others more important than themselves, not looking to their own interests but putting other's needs before their own (Phil 2:3-5).  It will be a church without compartmentalization and without division, structured around Christ and Him alone.

I do not covet the pulpit, nor do I desire to have authority over men.  Honestly, I have no desire to have authority over anybody because I have four daughters to raise and a farm to maintain and Bible college to finish and a church to serve and I ain't got that kind of time.  But I will say that I am neither complimentarian nor egalitarian because for me to categorize myself into one camp or the other would be to categorize God.  It would be for me to assume that God is with one camp and against the other, which would be to further exacerbate the ingroup/outgroup mentality that pervades the church.  It would be for me to encourage the "us versus them" attitude.  Paul says about secondary issues in the church, to be "fully convinced in your own mind" (Rom 14:5).  Which means that churches which interpret scripture one way on the issue should not be condemned or criticized by those who interpret it another way.  There are copious amounts of theological pontificating on both sides of the argument, both presenting reasonable arguments, both resolute in their "correctness" of interpretation, both of which should let the other be, until Jesus comes back to sort out the details. 

Any form of discrimination not rooted in moral preservation creates, fuels, and fosters division in the church and opens the doors to bitterness, resentment, contempt and needless despondency and discouragement.  Regardless of how either side interprets scripture, God is most fully and gloriously represented through both men and women, which is why He created both genders and not just one.  He created them both to each be equally dependent upon the other, each voice and each perspective indispensable to the other, which means that each voice and each perspective are also dependent upon each other and indispensable to the other in the church.  In every area of the church.  Which means that men and women--both faces of God-- must work together in unity, rather than in exclusion, and in mutual submission rather than singular submission, toward a mutual goal of sharing the Gospel, making disciples, and building Christ's kingdom.

"God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.'" (Gen 1:27,28)

"Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ." (Eph 5:21)

"There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal 3:28)

"For we are members of His body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is profound, but I am speaking about Christ and the church." (Eph 5:30-32)

"...But God has composed the body and has given greater honor to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its members should have mutual concern for one another. If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the body of Christ and each of you is a member of it." (1 Cor 12:24-27)