I’m a Gentile. How Ya Doin?

Last night I taught a few willing listeners about some of the things the Apostle Paul is talking about in his letter to the Saints in Ephesus, specifically the second chapter, verses 11 through the end.

There is a lot going on in this passage and I’m not starting it all up. One point, however, stuck out to me, it glared and glistened as it dribbled out of my mouth last night: I’m doubly undeserving of God’s grace.

The Jews, as Paul talks about in Romans 3, were some privileged dudes. They had all the oracles and promises of God; they had the Temple; they had–for good and bad–the whole history; they had Abraham and Isaac and Jacob; they had their promised land and their circumcision (yikes!). The Gentiles (this includes myself and probably most of you), by contrast, had nature... boom! Yea. That is about it. Paul talks in Romans 1 that the Greeks had nature to reveal to them the God of the Universe and even that truth we all suppressed....umm....I think with their divine inspiration the Israelites had a leg-up in this case.

So thinking about the fact that no human being had the right to be called God’s children (first part of Ephesians 2), we can throw some more impossible into this cake and say that Gentiles (non-Jews) were not even a consideration for this dance.... we weren’t even a name that had been crossed-out, we were not even written down in the first place!.... or so it seems.

In Romans 9 and onward Paul discusses how Gentiles were the most unlikliest of unliklies to receive the blessing and mercy and grace of God’s salvation. No one deserves God’s mercy. But if anyone did it was the Jews. And here I am, as Gentile as a pork sandwich on Passover Day, receiving daily the full benefits of Jesus’ sacrifice on the Cross and the glory of his resurrection. This is amazing! Now go ponder how great you are in light of that (pour me some sarcasm, please!)

mutable minds

Every time I hear the positive thinking idea–think of good things and you’ll feel better about life and yourself–I want to lash out, shake the person and say, ‘Life is really hard! Wake up!’ I don’t and probably won’t ever actually do that. But I am a realist (back off on calling me a pessimist, you always-hopefulls), and I work in possibilities, not probabilities: so if it is not outside the realm of happening–though perhaps unlikely–it is a legitimate concern, idea, potential, etc.

Now as a result of having this mind of mine which entertains every option, I see the world as a flaming mess with little hope for saving. This is sad. There is a great deal of truth in my conclusion but there is equal folly, for God is able to literally do anything within his power–which is limitless–and that includes remaking and redeeming all things... which he actually is planning on doing.

This is where something the Apostle Paul said is interesting, namely, we can change the way our minds think. In his long letter to the Christians in Rome, Paul said that our minds could be ‘renewed.’ Obviously this does not mean that we get our old brain taken out and a new one put inside. But it DOES mean that we can change the paths our thoughts usually tread, the ways and perspectives we think through life.

Oh my, you’ll be ‘fixed’ in a jiffy. Not even close! This does not mean you must hit your spirituality in to hyper-mode, be a monk and sing in solitude while you eat Haggis around honey bees and brew beer. It does mean that as we further realize who God is, what he has always been doing and understanding what we and this whole world were made for, the more that stuff ‘clicks’ and sinks in, the more we think in a way that says, ‘God is my reality and his words are the supreme truth.’

The mind is renewable for everyone. You do not have to remain in the old and poor patterns you always used; you don’t have to use the same bad logical of your past; you don’t need to be who you were–which is not how God made you to eternally be.

Jesus not only died for our sins, but he died for our minds as well.

Nothing means nothing

I was visiting a church one morning with a friend. We decided to go to Sunday School (we were in college so I think it was only because we both miraculously woke up earlier enough to go). I have no recollection of what the lesson was about. But one ending comment has remained ingrained in my thoughts: ‘Now the end of Romans 8 says a lot of things, but it does not say WE can’t squirm out of God’s hand.’

As I picked my jaw off the ground I was wondering if what I heard was actually said. So I asked my friend and his reaction was similar to mine. This ‘teacher’ was trying to ruin people’s lives!!

Paul, at the end of Romans 8, spouts off a list of things which do not have the power or authority to undo what Jesus said was done. The list is not meant to be exhaustive but to encompass everything and anything, things which we do not even perceive or understand to believe. Particularly to this situation I’d highlight Paul’s words ‘anything else in all of creation.’ This Sunday School teacher got it dead wrong. Nothing, no power, no entity, no other will is able to mark out Jesus’ words and statement of fact and reality ‘It is finished!’ No, lowly and down-on-yourself individual, not even you can slide out of God’s promise.

When God does it we can, in this instance, with relief say, ‘What’s done is done and nothing can change it.’ When we think we can unravel God’s plans and promises we must not know the God in the Bible and we must not know the power of Jesus, both then and now.

We sin a lot. Sin is despicable and deplorable and wicked and counter-good. God has completely forgiven his children though our eldest brother’s payment for us: Jesus really pay it all, it is not just a song.

God owes us . . . nothing

I'm recently discovering (or rediscovering) the fact that God owes us, needs to give us, is obligated to provide . . . well nothing.

What do I mean when I say nothing?

God does not owe us:

1. Life: Here is the reality: we are not promised one more breath, one more heartbeat, one more blink of the eye. We are not promised that our cancer will miraculously (or by science) go away, that we will be saved from car wrecks, that we won't be the one who has that 'freak' accident in the safety of our own home. Just because you believe in God and follow Jesus--or not--does not make you invincible nor exempt from the reality of life, which is that people die a lot.

2. Laughter: No one is promised a 'good life.' It is hard for me, as an American, to get my head around this because I've assumed I am somehow due a good life, but find that in the Bible for me then I'll change my mind. What does this mean for day-to-day life? It means no one is promised good feelings . . . ever. No one is promised that we will laugh when something funny happens, that we will cry for joy, that we will get that job (let alone any job), that we can sing songs, that we will have a spouse and kids, that we will enjoy fine meals, that we can be wowed and refreshed by being outdoors, that anything will go 'right' or the way we wanted and planned, that praying will accomplish anything, that following the rules will get you anywhere, that breaking rules will summon excitement, that following your heart will work out, that following whatever 10-steps will accomplish their aim, that doing what people say will have its hoped for affect, that doing anything will illicit any kind of reaction in your soul. No one is promised anything of the sort.

So now that you're all glum and sporting a frowny-face, what does this mean? It means that when God--yes it is HIM--provides us the capacity and gift of pleasant things and the ability to feel rightly about these gifts.... enjoy the heck out of them. Cry when your baby is born. Laugh when your friend does something stupid. Eat that delicious dessert with happiness. Go celebrate when you get your job. It is SO good to have gifts and we should take them and embrace them . . . as gifts.

And whether we get this or that is not based on our good or bad behavior.

We are promised God. For those who follow him, we are told that we will always have God. We should not say, 'in his presence is fullness of joy so that means we should be happy all the time.' No, joy is not happiness. Joy is not feelings. Joy is a faith-based sense and belief and understanding that though we may never smile one more time, and we may spend the rest of our days in tears of sorrow God is still real, we are still his children, and Heaven will be full of the most explosive happiness and joy and good times we literally cannot fathom it.

Life is hard. Life is unbearable sometimes. Life can be too much. But often it is when we have everything but don't have the feeling we hoped for, it is then that we finally see we need God. Thankfully, for most, God is very kind in his provision and gift giving and occurrences in our life and we should thank him so much! But our belief in God and HIS GOODNESS should not be dependent upon what he provides day in and day out but on what he said and the now-unseen-reality he says is true.

The book of Job points this out and Job got it right when he said that God is truly good when he provides all kinds of great things or provides all of life to cease and die and be ripped away. Naomi was right she told her friends to stop calling her 'pleasant' but to call her 'bitter' because God killed her husband and two sons; she was a broken mess who still had a glimmer of hope in God.

It is crazy to understand that goodness is known in the darkest hour of your soul. That pain can walk beside God's favor. Joy accompanies stomach wrenching agony and confusion and frustration. The reality is that though he seems to not care one bit about you, God is not far off ever and he is always loving his children when it seems like he is ruining them. Love is peculiar and when we figure out what Paul proclaims in Romans 9-11--God does whatever he wants and he is always good in whatever he does because he IS wise and IS loving more than we can understand--we believe a scary and hard truth. Love is different than we think.

Being Bound

At first I was bound.
Like a hound to the sound
of his breakfast hitting the bowl.
Invisible chains restrained,
a harness to foil my refrain.
I made the locks,
clamped the stocks,
threw the rocks,
for from me and through me and to me I made up God.
God who was not there,
who was nowhere anywhere.
I formed him from my own,
clay from experience and what I’d been shown.
I made him strong and full of might,
so I dare not transgress what he called right.
I made him know all there was inside,
so he could find the inklings of my shallowest pride.
I made him deep and very wide,
so I could stretch and grow my mind.
I made him crasy and made him wild,
so I’d not be too close and trust his smile.
I made him fire, too good for me,
so in my failure I could feel his heat.
I made him to figure my fixes,
to riddle my tricks and
make me better.
I made him for me;
to achieve;
to believe
in something.
I finally felt the chains,
the scars from whips which I had made,
the hopeless burrow I had caved.
This God, this other than I
was a dying hole which
I dug deeper to try.
The sting of my pain
realized my gain:
I was nothing.
I had failed.
I was bound and knew it now,
for what we call good is what I sought.
The goodness of lessons and sayings,
of contorting so others will clap.
It deepened the distance between truth and fact.

At last I was bound.
Bound to God.
The one of existence, not of mind or mud.
The God who lives,
and willingly loves.
Under no obligation,
promise or fee;
through tribulation
tears and . . .
Me.

I am bound to forgiveness and bound to his grace.
I am bound for eternity, face to face

Others: the difference between religion and love

Have you ever noticed the glaring difference in the life and message of the Bible? Sure there are MANY similarities and ideas in other writings. I, and no Christian, should have any reserves about this–truth is truth no matter whose lips in falls out of. But the most important things, the ‘game changers,’ the ‘deal breakers,’ (please insert your little catch-phrase to convey the ‘big ideas’), the things that are going to cause people to fight, these things are wildly different in the Bible than any other religious views. Paramount among these views is others.

Others, the idea that I am supposed to exist and live for God AND OTHER PEOPLE, people other than myself is silly crazy! Islam, you say, has as one of their ‘Five Pillars’ the giving of alms, and that helps people. It does. But the giving of alms or any of the acts of kindness or charity are not about the other person, it is about the person GIVING not the one RECEIVING. If you do not give alms eternity will be an unpleasant place for you (in a Muslim view).

This is religion–not love–at its finest: I do for others as a means for myself. (Lsiten to yourself say that!) But Islam is not by any means alone in this; almost all serious religions–those that really are concerned for the soul–are set-up this way and there are even false sects of people calling themselves ‘christians’ who believe such things. I do this or that and there is some sort of obligation by some greater power to let me into the greater existence. Be good; try real hard; write a lot of books; set yourself on fire; go on a pilgrimage; never say no (because you may be right); never say yes to desires (because you’re bad); don’t look at women; don’t eat certain items; be single your whole life; have a thousand kids if you can; memorize certain texts; empty your mind; be ascetic; go a hedonist; get all you can; sell all you have; pray all the time; pray 5 times a day; pray when you feel like it; be an optimist; be skeptical; retain your naivete; be chipper; be mournful; make light of life; or you better take it seriously; wisdom is found in nothingness; nothing is unwise; live for the now; think for the future. Whew! I feel like throwing up!

There is a song that says, ‘What’s the point of trading a law you could never keep [which will give you everything if you did keep it]/ for one you can that cannot get you anything?’

We try so hard to do something and our reward will be nothing, as the guy from Men’s Warehouse says, ‘I guarantee it.’

If you try your hardest or follow all the rules you’ll get nothing, because you cannot do right and good at all times. Everyone is in this state, we are all screwed for eternity unless God himself intervenes. God owes nothing. Humans–us–have created the idea that somehow God does owe us if we try to make him happy every now and then. Yet every religion in the world tries to blackmail God in their own clever ways. And sadly billions enter eternity having no clue as to what it is God requires of them to go to Heaven and be with him. Our ‘good enough’ is not only miserably (and laughably in comparison) short, but it is offensive to God that we would try and lower his standard.

What is a massive thing that humans cannot do on their own without something of God residing in them? Love others genuinely without the hope or expectation of anything in return. That IS love: doing for the sake of someone else, not you.

You see, the Apostle Paul, in the book of Galatians says that the whole law is fulfilled in one word, love your neighbor [others] as yourself. The point of the ‘others’ mentality is not to win a reward so God will be pleased with us, the point is . . . others. (WHAT?!?!) I know. Crazy. A cat meows; eyes see; water is wet; Christians love (if you haven’t taken the SAT, you’re welcome for that little practice test).

God gets a kick out of this for sure because he has designed it that he gets the props, the accolades when Christians love people BECAUSE the Christian’s love for someone else is a reverberation of God himself; we can’t genuinely love other unless we are loved in that way by God himself (we do only because he has done).

If you’re still skeptical just listen to Jesus as he spoke with his posse: ‘No greater love has anyone than this, that he would lay his life down for his friends.’ Well that’s easy for you to say, Jesus. No, it really wasn’t. He did it. He became a screaming, needy little baby, lived in our hurtful and deadly world as a human. Then he died for not only his friends but his enemies–and not his school-yard enemies; the enemies who physically killed him. He died for others: he loved. He did something benefitting others in the greatest magnitude: he loved.

God is love and TO love is to love God (and others).

Monday is for Morons: 12-12-2001

I woke up to the insistent dribbles of rain forcing their way to ground. Not only was it raining, but it is almost cold enough to make snow. What a lousy combo. I don't know about you but on a day like this I'd rather sit around a fire and drink something hot as I engulf myself into a great read... NOT go outside and do something.

Remember John in the New Testament? Not Jesus' brother who probably wrote 5 books of the Bible; the other one, the one who dressed like Tarzan mixed with an Eskimo and baptized people. Well he was put into prison and knew things would probably not end terribly well for him. I imagine him in some feces infested cell, darkened by some Mid-Eastern night, wondering about that guy everyone was calling Jesus: 'I wonder if he really is it; I wonder if he really is the one we have all been waiting for.'

Maybe you are wondering the same thing. Maybe you you're just feeling . . . bleh. On a cold, raining day it is easy to feel blasé. Well John, instead of wondering until his head fell off, sent some of his dudes to go ask Jesus if he was 'it,' the Messiah Israel was waiting for. Jesus answered them by telling the messengers, 'Report back to John what you yourself are seeing. I heal the corrupted and I preach good news to the poor.'

Jesus is the Messiah not only Israel, but the whole world, YOU, have been waiting for. It is okay to have blasé Mondays because Jesus is come. And for those who would come to HIM with their broken-down lives full of disgusting and many sins he will forgive. He has footed the bill already. And he will continue to do so for all time.

Don't let the day moderate your heart, go to Jesus who is full of mercy.