Sin

“For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” Romans 7:15

It has been a rough week.  The events surrounding Ferguson, Mo brought back plenty of memories of being caught in and having to evacuate a work site in Los Angeles during the Rodney King riots back in 1992.

There’s been a lot of prayer going on on my part, and an undeniable feeling that an injustice has been done.  Maybe it’s just a feeling of an ongoing injustice that is really bothering me.  Being that I tend to take a more conservative view of things these days, this feeling has caught me off guard.

The Holy Spirit is really nagging on me. 

I read an article by F. Willis Johnson, a pastor in Ferguson.  Much of what he wrote resonated with me.  One short paragraph has rested in my heart. He wrote, “We must recognize that all lives matter. Our faith assures that peace while it is beyond our understanding is not beyond our grasp. As disciples of Christ we are called to express our hope by means of grace.”

What seems to me to have gotten lost in the problems of this week is that a young man whose adult life was just beginning, was killed.  Rightly or wrongly.  Criminally or legally. This is not a political tug of war. It is a life. I don’t care what your political or sociological view of the events are, Johnson’s words ring true in that, “all lives matter.”  There’s enough blame to go around, but understand that that blame is being soaked in tears.   I’m struggling to find the grace in all this.  I have heard and read too many stunningly insensitive remarks regarding this from people on all sides of the issue.  Graceless, if you ask me.

Then I run into an article by New Orleans Saints tight end Benjamin Watson.  Yeah, a football player.  And he exposes the problem I am dealing with.  He writes in the midst of his anger,

 “I’M ENCOURAGED, because ultimately the problem is not a SKIN problem, it is a SIN problem. SIN is the reason we rebel against authority. SIN is the reason we abuse our authority. SIN is the reason we are racist, prejudiced and lie to cover for our own. SIN is the reason we riot, loot and burn. BUT I’M ENCOURAGED because God has provided a solution for sin through the his son Jesus and with it, a transformed heart and mind. One that’s capable of looking past the outward and seeing what’s truly important in every human being. The cure for the Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice and Eric Garner tragedies is not education or exposure. It’s the Gospel. So, finally, I’M ENCOURAGED because the Gospel gives mankind hope."

Whoever Benjamin Watson is, he nails it.

His words have made me realize that a large part of what I have been struggling with is my own sinfulness.  My complacency.  My easy willingness to “do not do what I want, but do the very thing I hate.”  Maybe it’s my acts of injustice that has been bothering me in all this. 

And so in the midst of my wallowing, I find hope.  The only hope.  Hope “as a means of grace.”  Hope because that is what the gospel gives mankind.

It is Jesus. And Jesus only. Be encouraged.  Injustice will not have the last word.  Not even in my life.

 Here is a link to the article by F. Willis Johnson

Here is a link to the article by Benjamin Watson 

Delight

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:1,2

This passage to some extent bothers me.  It makes it sound like we are to be completely isolated and insulated from those whom we might (and God might) consider ‘wicked’ or ‘sinners’ or ‘scoffers,’ when the reality is that there by the grace of God, go I.

Jesus in his ministry spent an abundant amount of time with the wicked and sinners and scoffers.  And some of them, maybe a lot of them, turned their lives around and followed the Savior. But again, the passage actually isn’t telling what we are to do to achieve righteousness, it is telling us what we will do. After righteousness calls.

A lot of us have before and after stories.  What life was like before Christ, and what it has been like after.  Before Christ, many of us can relate to being in ‘counsel’ (literally getting advice from) with wicked or being in the ‘way’ (a path or road with the goals and purposes) of sinners or sitting in the seat (a place of honor) of a scoffer.  But after Christ, we delight – not in those former things, as Paul says, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” (visit 2 Corinthians 5:17)

The new delights in what God wants (as outlined generously in his law), yet still not being afraid to be around ‘wicked’ or ‘sinners’ or ‘scoffers’, but allowing God’s word to give us the advice, purposes and place of honor that any of us needs.

Be out there.  We have to be.  But always come back to Christ.  And delight in him.

Timing

He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.” Acts 1:7

Luke records these as some of Jesus’ last words before he ascended into heaven.  Of course, he said this after being asked, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”

Bad question at the wrong time, I guess.  The point Jesus makes is that everything, and he means everything, is under God’s control.

Even the seasons.

We’ve now entered my favorite season of the year.  Fall.  Days have cooled off and dried out, night are delightful.  I know a lot of you don’t like this time of year simply because of what comes next.  Winter.  Is it going to be a bad winter? While some are saying yes, let me quote our Lord, “It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.”

It will be what it will be.  It is God’s under control. I guess I can go with that.

Which reminds me.  What season are you in now?  Are there better…or worse seasons coming?  The answer is yes. To both.

But.  The more you know about our God the more you can trust him.  Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding.”

That sort of trust makes questions like, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” or “is it going to be a bad winter?” or “what is my next season going to be like?” rather mute.  Important, yes.  But the answers lie in God’s sovereignty and love.  He is in control, he is love, now can we trust him in what is to come?

I want to answer yes, and most of the time I do.  I know I should without fail, but I am as human as anyone else. I’ll keep working on it.  How about you?  Whatever season you find yourselves in, look to the Lord and know what is to come is fixed by his own authority.

And let’s work on the trust together.  It is fall. And what is to come is fixed by his own authority.   

Thank God.

Imitation

“Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.” Ephesians 5:1

I received this short snippet of Scripture in an email the other morning, and my first thought was –where’s the rest of the passage?

My second thought was –Chris, you should know the rest of the thought. “And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Ok.  What really threw me was the, “be imitators of God.”  This I know.   God is a lot of things that I am not nor will I even pretend to be.  Frankly it would be frightening if I were God or even thought I was.

Which gets to a point.  Paul says, “be imitators….”  The transitive verb “imitate” means, according to Webster, “to follow as a pattern, model, or example.” I know I’ll always be a shallow and flawed imitator of the One I’m supposed “to follow as a pattern, model, or example.”  But that does not mean I should stop trying.  The context of Paul’s words are about being “as beloved children” walking, “in love, as Christ loved us.”   

It’s about love.  God, through Christ, so loved us… (if you can’t finish this sentence visit John 3:16) that we are to imitate his love back into the world around us.  As trusters and believers in Jesus we have been so loved…that we are to love back out. Sacrificially, if needed, as modeled by Jesus.

That is the imitation we are to be about.  We are to “follow as a pattern, model, or example” the incredible undeserved love that Jesus has heaped on us.  And be that love out into a world that is suffering without and even sometimes with Jesus.  Yes I know I will strive to do so, and will do so imperfectly. And I’ll trust God’s grace to cover my imperfections.  But it is a call to all those he calls his own. “Be imitators of God, as beloved children.” 

Got it.

Sound

Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. - 2 Timothy 1:13-14

This passage really got me to thinking.

A couple of things jump out at me about it.  The first is we are to “Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me.”  Which means there is no need to be making things up as we go forward in the faith.  Everything we need for faith and practice can be found in Scripture – which was simply what Paul’s “sounds words” often were referring back to.  Sounds words that themselves we now accept as Scripture.  This does not mean that every answer to life’s individual problems can be found in Scripture – but what we need to know is all found there.  All things “in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus” are there.

Which leads to the second thing. We can study Scripture all we want, but if we are not relying on “the Holy Spirit who dwells within us” it will be a dead exercise.  I think another way of saying this is found in Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians when he wrote, “For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” (Visit 2 Cor. 3:6)

Even the soundest of words, spoken or listened to without the Spirit will mean little; in fact it can be used to crush people.

Be sound.  Be about life! Be about the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.  Trust His Spirit to work in and through you. 

And see what happens.