Social Gospel

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(Exodus 28:41) And you shall put them [clothes for glory and beauty] on Aaron your brother, and on his sons with him, and shall anoint them and ordain them and consecrate them, that they may serve me as priests.

O

Serving God is not a self-appointment. It's a process of community interactions, observations, and recognitions. The symbols in this verse are profound. The clothes that made them look great represented lives that had become expert in "love and good works" (Revelation 5:10; 19:8; Colossians 3:12). Anointing was like a super-healing skin lotion: it represented the Holy Spirit's work that makes old, tired, inflexible lives youthful, energetic, and fun. Ordaining depicts laying on hands to transfer power and authority, both God's and people's. Consecration describes the purity of will, motive, and desire that focuses on only "doing love" to both God and people.

A

I believe this picture represents reality very well. We cannot have spiritual or social vitality without people, both serving and being served. Just as this was a mutually beneficial community activity, people who only serve or who seek only to be served are broken people. People who have been so hurt that they abandon serving or being served--people dedicated to isolation--are engaging in a long, slow, misery.

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Lord, You're right--You created us to love You and to love people. Yet, we don't do either one very well. That's why I'm so thankful that You are teaching me how to love. I am so thankful that I'm starting to make some progress.

The Savior's Representatives

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(Psalm 12:5) "Because the poor are plundered, because the needy groan, I will arise," says the Lord; "I will place him in the safety for which he longs."

O

This happened before. Exodus 3 describes God seeing and hearing a nation's suffering and His coming to deliver them. He delivered them by sending Moses as His agent. God intervenes directly, and He uses people in His process. This also happened after Jesus' resurrection and the Pentecostal windfall: through the power of the Holy Spirit the church became God's agents for delivering and equipping their fellow brothers and sisters. Then they, too, became valid representatives of the Savior (Acts 4).

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God saves, and He does this through people. That scares and thrills me. No sane person would volunteer to join the ranks of the poor and the oppressed--yet Jesus still does. He enters my darkness so we can walk together into the light, so I can be encouraged in the process of becoming whole. Am willing to obey this call to be with others in their darkness? That's a large part of the blessedness that comes out of being all too familiar with our poverty of spirit (Matthew 5:3).

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Savior, only Your love provides me with a rational basis for such sacrificial care for others. Such raw, pure love would be unthinkable if I weren't secure in the eternal faithfulness of You, the only wise God. The goodness of Your kingdom is the reality of what my idealized version of perfect kings, governments, and societies can only hint at being (1 Timothy 1:7). You exceed my loftiest imaginations.

Let God Break Out (or In)

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(Acts 4:16, 17 NKJV) "...What shall we do to these men? For, indeed, that a notable miracle has been done through them is evident to all who dwell in Jerusalem, and we cannot deny it. But so it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name."

O

In this chapter, Peter and John heal a man who'd been lame from his birth. The religious leaders discussed that and decided that even though it was a miracle and even though everyone in Jerusalem knew about it, they didn't want this news to "spread" to more than everyone. To further strengthen their plan, they supposed that threatening Peter and John would somehow keep everyone else from talking about it.

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It is so ludicrous to think that people can put God in a little box with a lid, and say, "We don't want God to be big or beyond what we can handle." So we try to confine Him. With all that's happening in our world now, it's easy to hear only doom and gloom. By trying to keep God contained and controlled in a small box, on a shelf and out of the picture, there is only doom and gloom.

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Lord, but what if I allowed You to work mighty miracles through me? What if we viewed these situations as opportunities for us to trust God and let You do mighty things through us? I'm glad You're bigger than the boxes we've made for You. Nothing is too wonderful for You to do (Genesis 18:14). I believe that my hard situation could be used to change the lives and perspectives of the people around me.

Sober Love

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(Luke 21:34) But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day will come upon you suddenly like a trap.

O

Here in Jesus' warning about world events when He returns, He provides "insider information" about how to stay safe. His two positive calls are to stay watchful (keeping one's brain alert, attentive, and high functioning) and to stay prayerful (verse 36--constant, open communication with God). His negative call is for us to not over-burden our lives or thoughts. He named two sources of that poison: dissipation (i.e., hangovers) and drunkenness ("methe" in the Greek) .

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I think people get drunk, usually, for two reasons. First, to cover up and hide from the same pains found in Eden: fear and shame. Drunkenness promises relief from that. Second, to improve the fun-factor in life--believing it's flawed in God's order. It's disbelieving the goodness and sufficiency of God's Word, and that leads to seeking the false fun of trusting myself more than God. Sure, there are both literal drunks and dry drunks. I want to watch that I'm not an alcholol-free drunk who trips over the fears, disbeliefs, and behaviors that poorly mimic walking in the Holy Spirit.

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Jesus, when I learned that the Greek's word for dissipation was "agitated skull," I remembered Your Father's agitation and Your agony at a place called the Skull (Golgotha). Because of Your cross, I have freedom to reject over-burdening my life and agitating my brain with the cares of this life. I reject those lies so I can flee to the rest (and better fun) that's found by soberly worshiping You.

Morning Pleasures

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(Psalm 5:3) O Lord, in the morning You hear my voice; in the morning I prepare a sacrifice for You and watch.

O

The Old Testament ritual of sacrificing animals' blood must have become a horribly mechanical, mindless, heartless routine--too easily skipping over the shock that another creature's blood was innocently taken instead of the guilty person's. David deliberately remembered this extravagant gift of grace.

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That ancient sacrifice system completed its purpose by helping me appreciate the great expense of the cross, where God shed His own innocent blood for me. One sacrifice, however, remains. It was essential at creation and will always be appropriate: By the mercies of God, I [with all God's people] present myself as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God (see Romans 12:1).

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Lord, by faith again this morning, I greet You--not mechanically or mindlessly, but eagerly. I trust that Your blood has indeed cleansed me from my sins. In response, I give You my body for Your unrestricted use in Your Kingdom's purposes. Your will is my delight and privilege. The first fruits of my waking breath and my choice of words are my gifts for Your pleasure.

Digging Deeper

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(Luke 6:47,48) Everyone who comes to Me and hears My Words and does them ... is like a man building a house, who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock ... and the flood could not shake it, because it had been well built.

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Such is the nature of Jesus' words and presence. To truly receive His fullness, one clears away superficial obstacles, false foundations, previously settled and relied-on beliefs, and lets Jesus' words and presence redefine the core of who we are, what we do, what we believe, what we seek, and how we live.

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This kind of life takes courage: the courage to be honest, to be tested, to be strengthened and stretched, to be thoroughly audited. We must dig into our motives and dreams and fears as deeply as possible, and however deep we go, we'll discover always that "the eternal God is our [safe] dwelling place and underneath are His everlasting arms" (Deuteronomy 33:27).

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Lord, I want a palace on a shallow, sandy beach, but I want even more to have security during storms and floods. Thank You for Your gift of faith in Your grace. Together, we can plunge to explore the depths of my motives and we can ascend to dream, together, of all I wish for, knowing that You alone are safe. You are a trustworthy Guide--I gladly submit everything to You.

Sober and Covered

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(Luke 5:38,39) But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved. And no one, having drunk old wine, immediately desires new, for he says, "The old is good."

O

Jesus' perspective is all-inclusive. He knew of the necessary move from Old to New Covenants. he also knew that He created youthful energy that needs to stretch and experiment as a necessary component of learning responsibility. Old people, who learned responsibility by challenging a different culture, naturally grow competent and efficient--good. Saul's armor gradually became a great fit for Saul. The young David's of life need their own freedom, faith, and good fights so they too can define themselves in the Kingdom's Hall of Heroes.

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Juice, improperly structured and confined, becomes vinegar, which added to Jesus' pain on the cross. That describes lives without the structure of the Word and Spirit. Wine, without the shame of drunkenness or foggy-mindedness, illustrates walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. Unlike alcoholic walking, the Holy Spirit brings true freedom, boldness, and righteous.

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Lord, I pray for the competence and goodness that comes from patient, faithful, years of trusting and obeying You. There's no substitute for that. No shortcuts. I also pray for the wisdom to see beyond my own generational, cultural wineskin, and to appreciate what You're doing through generations before and after mine. I pray that I'm truly filled with Your Spirit.

Drunk and Uncovered

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(Genesis 9:21) [Noah] drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent.

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In this the first record of alcohol and first description of drunkenness, more shame was exposed than Noah's family first realized. Though Noah was exposed and unable to guard himself from shame, the Holy Spirit evidently judged him as innocent (unlike Ham and Canaan). Once Noah sobered up, the Holy Spirit gave him prophetic insight into the deeper motives of his sons: the corrupt hearts of some would lead to generational bondage while the good hearts of others would lead to generational blessing.

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I am grateful that God considers the integrity of our hearts and covers our innocent blunders. Drunkenness, like any other sin, still has painful, fearful, abhorrent consequences, which is why we should guard our steps against even accidental sins. Perhaps Solomon remembered Noah's integrity when he wrote Proverb 11:3, "The integrity of the upright guides them, but the crookedness of the treacherous destroys them." Similarly, David may well have thought of Noah as he composed and sang Psalms 25 and 25 about God's patience and faithfulness.

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Lord, like Noah, David, and Solomon, I sometimes stumble as I try walk with integrity before You. Although You've given me freedom to become creative and responsible, my fullest safety and greatest joy is from exposing my heart fully to the filling of Your Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). That authenticity gives me a bold joy that's not spoiled by a fear of humiliation. I can walk and jump without stumbling.

On Forgiveness

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Luke 23:39-43
One of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, “Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us!” But the other answered, and rebuking him said, “Do you not even fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? “And we indeed [are suffering] justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” And he was saying, “Jesus, remember me when You come in Your kingdom!” And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.”

O:
There are three things that jump out of this passage for me. First, forgiveness requires humility. The criminal who asked to be remembered is humble because he sees himself, and his circumstances, in light of who God is. He is impressed by the nature of the One with whom he hangs. Secondly, forgiveness requires a request. The man ASKS Jesus to remember him. He seeks Jesus gracious favor, despite his complete lack of meriting the slightest consideration from the Lord. And thirdly, forgiveness produces restoration. Jesus says, "Today you shall be with Me..." And he goes further, not "you will be with me here on these crosses", but "with me in paradise."

A:
So often, I see forgiveness as a check-in-the-box. "I'm sorry (fill in the blank with the offended party)."

"Sure, no worries. It's okay."

This seems such a pedestrian take on a spiritually monumental happening. And yet it characterizes the way I engage forgiveness with God and others.

I'm impoverished by my small view of forgiveness. Jesus wants to take me to paradise when I ask forgiveness. He wants to restore communion, and fellowship. To re-open the floodgates of ministry. If the Lord can assure a criminal on a cross of communion in paradise, then there is great power and mystery in this small word: forgiven. I should be in awe of God's grace to me, and through me as I am privileged to be forgiven and to forgive.

P:
Dear Lord, please capture my heart with the depths of your love expressed in your desire to forgive. You went to the Cross to make it possible forgiveness possible, and I want to always be gripped by that act of completely selfless love.

Antonyms, Antinomies, and Antitheses

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(Revelation 19:1,2) ... "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for His judgments are true and just ...."

O

This loud exclamation erupted as a single response from Heaven's inhabitants. They had witnessed people's seemingly interminable passion for immoral sexuality, for callous commercialization of human souls, and for tunnel-visioned pursuit of luxury (chapter 18). After witnessing God's final judgment on love-resistant tormentors, these witnesses' spontaneous praise of God surpassed a joy that anyone else could have imagined.

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We don't fully appreciate this yet (1 Corinthians 13:12) because sin's seductive slurs still trick us. But recognizing the antinomy (conflicting regulations) within us helps us to clarify our vision. Gagnon wrote that our universal, internal conflict is between "God-orientation and self-orientation ... between the call to do the will of God and the desire to do one's own, or between the confession of God and Christ as Lord and the daily setting up of oneself as lord."

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Lord, I acknowledge that my true identity and purpose is based on Your image and Your call on my life as You've revealed through Your Word and by Your Spirit. I choose to organize my will, my passions, and my pursuits around Your identity and Your purposes ... I die to myself so I can live for You (Galatians 2:19, 20).