Today

"Today you are you,
That is truer than true.
There is no one alive
Who is youer than you."

                      Dr. Seuss

The Building of a Temple

I find life as a Christian to be an awesome privilege, an amazing adventure, and an awful lot of hard work.  It is not easy to maintain spiritual growth as I contend with my brokenness, manage my responsibilities, and negotiate relationships.  And although I very much appreciate the support and active help of the indwelling Holy Spirit, the fact remains that I have work to do.

In his letter to the Philippians, the Apostle Paul has this reminder for them: “Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, ¹³ for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”  The mysterious synergy of the Holy Spirit and my own will is an incredibly powerful concept, but it still leaves me wondering what it is that the Holy Spirit does and what it is that I am supposed to do. 

It has recently occurred to me, though, that the question is not what I do, but rather how I do it.  Do I approach my Christian life as one of the builders of the Tower of Babel or as one of the builders of King Solomon’s Temple? 

If we look at the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11, the people chose to build for themselves a city with a tower that reached into heaven with the expressed purpose of making a name for themselves.  The entire operation was their plan, for their purposes, and for their glory.

The building of the Temple by King Solomon was almost certainly a project of much greater proportions.  But it differed from the very beginning.  Solomon initiated his project in response to the LORD’s giving him rest on every side of his kingdom, for the expressed purpose of building a house for the name of the LORD his God, and according to God’s plan.  While Solomon managed the project—for seven years, the entire operation was according to God’s plan, for His purposes, and for His glory.

I find that the comparison between the Tower of Babel and the building of the Temple by King Solomon is compelling as I approach my own Christian life.  It allows me to appreciate that God has made me to be intense, energetic, and focused even as it reminds me to submit those gifts to His sovereign will and to use them for His purposes and His glory. 

It is easy to think that the building of my life pales in comparison to the building of the Temple.  I do not have King Solomon’s resources!  It is impossible to imagine that my life will be any bit as glorious as the Temple.  But the Temple was not eternal.  It was destroyed, as was its successor.  My life—and yours—is eternal.  In fact, the Apostle Paul taught the believers in Corinth that each of them was a temple of the Lord, filled by the Holy Spirit, and holy to Him. 

May we not take lightly the privilege and responsibility of working out our salvation under the direction and power of the Holy Spirit, as we become eternal holy temples to the glory of the Lord our God. 

Thought For Today

There is no such thing as private sin.  All sin twists the sinner away from God and others, making it more difficult to love others and easier to cause pain.

Easter, Indeed!

Easter, Indeed!

“He is risen!”  “He is risen, indeed!”  With these words, we greet one another on

Easter morning.  It is an appropriate way to celebrate the most important truth in all the world for all time: Jesus Christ died for us and then rose from the grave to purchase our redemption: our relationship with the Trinitarian Lord of the universe is officially and eternally restored.

But believers have always struggled with doubting and divided hearts, and we live in a culture in which truth is relative and subject to alternate perspectives.  So then, our Easter morning proclamation is an invitation and an opportunity to exercise faith and encourage one another in the Truth.  The Resurrection is not merely a belief, subject to personal opinion or desire; it is the Truth that drives our lives of faith. 

The Apostle Paul reminded the Corinthian believers of these very truths in his first letter to them:

            If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people

            most to be pitied.  But in fact Christ has been raised from the

            dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.  For as by

            a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection

            of the dead.  For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all

            be made alive.

So as we celebrate Easter, let us not lose sight that our words and celebration plant a flag in eternity as well as mark a pivotal day in history.  He is risen, indeed!

The Power of Genuine Love

"They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel."

                                                                                                        Carl W. Buechner

Truth and Freedom

“The Truth will set you free.”  These words of Jesus, quoted by the Apostle John in the eighth  chapter of his Gospel, are some of the most powerful and yet most difficult to embrace in all of the New Testament.  The Jews who first heard these words argued with Jesus: as God’s chosen people, they have never been enslaved by anyone and are already free!  Their response was remarkably short-sighted—their ancestors had in fact endured centuries of slavery in Egypt, and they were at this time under the oppressive rule of the Roman Empire.  Their response is also illuminating—if we are to appreciate Jesus’s words, we must be willing to admit that we are in need of the freeing power of Christ. 

I am not certain that we appreciate our need of Christ’s freeing work in us and on our behalf any more than his original audience.  Kay Arthur, author of Precept Bible study materials, has observed that the “5 W’s” used by journalists can be very helpful in pursuing a deeper understanding of Scripture.  I would like to use the 5 W’s—Who, What, When, Where, Why—to deepen our understanding of this crucial passage and enable us to better apply it to our lives of faith.

There are two “whos” in this passage.  First, is the Truth.  Truth is not merely an inanimate fact or force.  Jesus proclaims that He is the Truth.  Jesus, as Lord and Creator of the universe, is the ultimate fact.  But He is also a personal Savior and the only source of genuine, eternal freedom.  The driving force of freedom is a Person, Jesus Christ.  And, Jesus offers us, in personal relationship with Him, access to the freedom He offers and desires us to experience.  We must interact with Christ in order for the Truth to have its effect, freedom.  Freedom flourishes, then,  when the two “whos” interact in concert.  That interaction requires what many of the original hearers lacked: faith.  By faith we—you and I—can be made free by the ultimate Truth, Jesus Christ.

The original hearers of Jesus’s offer of freedom clearly did not see any “what” attached to His words and could not envision any bonds that inhibited their freedom.  They did not connect to Jesus as the Truth and so could not grasp their enslavement and need for freedom.  Identifying the essential “what” in this passage requires us to ask this question: From what do we need to be made free?  It is traditional in the evangelical Christian community to understand that Christ has freed us from the penalty and power of our sin.  In dying on our behalf, Christ has paid the penalty of our sin, the veil was torn, and we have access to God by faith in Christ’s work on the cross.  We are no longer counted as sinners but declared righteous.  And although we are still in the world and struggling with our sin nature and all the temptations a fallen world offers, we have the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower us to overcome the power of sin in our lives as we are progressively sanctified.

While it would be impossible to overestimate the significance of these freedoms, it would be short-sighted to limit our concept of freedom-in-Christ to these doctrines.  I would like for us to consider that as bond-servants of Christ, we have enormous freedom.  We are free from the opinions and expectations of others, even (or especially) ourselves.  We are called to follow and serve our Master, and no one or nothing else.  This means that we are free from the definitions of success that surround us.  The world would have us see success through the lens of ancestry, education, career, socio-economic status, fame, wealth, power.  But lest we think that we in the church are immune to inappropriate parameters of success, we need to consider the subtle ways we absorb “Christian” definitions of success:  Good Christians attend Bible college, go on missions trips, tithe, serve on multiple committees, teach Sunday School, have a lengthy quiet time first thing every morning, abstain from alcohol, card-playing, dancing, R-rated movies, never shop or go to a movie on Sundays, and are always willing to sacrifice their resources for the sake of ministry.  Of course, our faith must be expressed in love, service, and obedience, and none of the above behaviors are necessarily inappropriate.  But if we are serving an expectation of Godliness instead of following our Master as we grow a love relationship with Him, we will become enslaved to Christian duty and self-righteousness.

The “what” of freedom has limitless boundaries as the world provides limitless opportunities to become ensnared.  We can be bound to substances, to relationships, to particular forms of entertainment and recreation (both appropriate and inappropriate); we can be bound by the past, by fear, by ignorance and prejudice, and by selfishness.  No one on this side of the kingdom is immune.  The freedom offered by Christ is not to be taken lightly.

The “when” and “where” of Christ’s words is a wonderfully refreshing concept.  Although Christ uttered His proclamation of freedom in a particular location at a particular day and time in history, the truth of His statement applies to all times and to all places.  God’s truth is universally true at all times and at all places.  This is good news for us!  Regardless of our circumstances, wherever we are, whenever we are challenged with bondage, Christ wants to make us free.  The difficult part of the “when” and “where” is that these concepts themselves have a “when” and “where” to them.  They represent a “here and now” as well as a “not until eternity in heaven.”  We can access Christ as the Truth here and now, as we seek the work of Christ in us, but we will experience full freedom only in the end, in heaven.  A reason to hope and persevere.

Finally, we look at the “why” of this passage.  Why does Christ place value on freedom and make it a point to proclaim it and offer it to us?  I think that there are many angles from which to view this question, but I believe there are two elements that are particularly significant to us in our everyday lives.  First, the Lord loves us and wants the best for us.  Bondage of any kind restricts and limits us.  It prevents us from fully enjoying His creation and the world in which He has placed us.  He desires our freedom so that we can fully embrace what He has for us.  Second, the Lord is a relational God.  The Trinity enjoys total intimacy, and we were created in His image, to share in that relationship, with Him and with one another.  Again, bondage restricts our ability to fully engage in relationship, our capacity to love.  If we are serving any master other than Christ, our heart is divided and we cannot fully partake of the nature of Christ and fully participate in His kingdom here on earth.  Christ wants to make us free so that He can enjoy an undiluted relationship with us and so that we can experience the same with others.