May 3 – Thoughts on 1 Kings 14-15 & Luke 22:31-46

After the kingdom divided, king after king ruled in Israel and Judah, and there was one common denominator among them: their success was directly dependent on their obedience to God.

It is a tricky thing, reading this one-to-one correlation between obedience and success.  We often try to read into this text a rule for our own lives: if I’m obedient to God, He’ll make me successful.  Thankfully, today’s reading in the Old Testament is tempered by our reading in the New.  When we see Jesus’ last day through the eyes of Peter, we are reminded that obedience is not always rewarded with success and disobedience is not always punished with failure.  This rankles our spirit of justice, yet is more familiar to our own experience.

Peter proclaims his worship of Jesus, claiming his willingness to die in obedience to Jesus.  Yet Jesus assures him that not only will he refuse to die, he will refuse to even know Jesus within the day.  And not only will he not pray fervently for Jesus in his suffering, he will fall asleep, one of the greatest ways to shun a loved one.  Yet Peter is not punished by Jesus, but is rather forgiven and restored to leadership not long after.  Isn’t it interesting how our flinching away from injustice is only present when we are not rewarded for obedience, not when we are not punished for disobedience.

So the age-old question applies: How then shall we live?  Will we seek to mete out justice in the name of God, assuring our own hypocrisy, or will be live out the grace of Jesus Christ, assuring our own ridicule?  Will we love those who are obedient or at least repentant, or will we love everyone regardless of their standing before God?

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“In the Spirit” May Newsletter

Our May newsletter is now available.  To download it, click here.

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May 2 – Thoughts on 1 Kings 12-13 & Luke 22:1-30

Rehoboam and Jeroboam; two kings of a split kingdom.  Two men leading poorly and doomed to lead a doomed people.  For the Lord stood against them both.

When there is a split among God’s people, seldom is one side right and the other wrong.  Both sides try to follow God but do so differently.  And both sides fail to do so.  And so the sin compounds – they follow poorly, and then divide the kingdom which is a sin itself.  And while both claim to have God on their side, neither does.

As we continue in the Covenant to debate the spectrum of views on human sexuality, we like every denomination to do so before us, face the threat of splitting the denomination, this small band of Christ-followers.  Some proclaim that God said homosexual acts are sinful and so we must proclaim this.  Others claim that today’s homosexual relationships would be foreign to bible times and so are not mentioned in the scriptures.  Some claim that we should welcome the LGBTQ community and teach them to repent.  Others claim that we should not just welcome them but celebrate their choices.  And so “some” and “others” go to war over these claims and both lose.

I’m reminded again and again of Joshua preparing to attack Jericho.  He meets a man in shining armor, a representation of God Himself, and asks Him whose side He is on.  The answer is one none of us expect:  “Neither.”  God doesn’t take sides in our petty human arguments any more than a loving parent takes sides when two children squabble.  A good parent’s desire is not for the kids to agree – whether math or football or choir is more important or valuable isn’t the point to them – but for the kids to keep loving each other when they disagree.  I’m not convinced God is on either side of this war over human sexuality.  I think maybe His will is that we remind united in spite of our differences of opinion and interpretation.

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May 1 – Thoughts on 1 Kings 10-11 & Luke 21:20-38

Reputation is a difficult thing for us in the church.

First, the culture around us not only values it but worships it.  Reputation is what drives success and all the more so since the advent of social media.  From Yelp to Facebook, a soiled reputation means failure in business, relationships, and self esteem.  And a good reputation can earn you lower interest rates, more customers, the admiration of your friends, and even a promotion.

Second, our theology tells us that if we follow Jesus, we will get a bad reputation.  We will be persecuted, slandered, and be the source of plenty of gossip.  And that shouldn’t matter because while “humankind looks at the appearance, God looks at the heart.”  It’s who we are inside that matters, not what others think of us.

But third, a biblical study of the people of God will show us the power of reputation for evangelism.  From Solomon, whose reputation drew royalty from around the known world, to Paul, who urges Christians to have a good reputation so that our message may be believed once shard, reputation is important to our witness.  When the church is known for its infighting and infidelity, the gospel cannot be believed, and so our God-given, Spirit-driven mission to some extent depends on our reputation.

So what are we to do?  How much effort do we spend on gaining a good reputation?  How much do we focus on God’s opinion of us rather than the worlds?  and how much do we ignore the modes and methods of reputation building that this society obsesses over?

1 Peter 2:12 says, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”  Let your reputation grow not as a success in your field, or as a person well versed in the trivia of the world, but as someone who is Good, who bears the fruit of the Spirit, and who reflects the character of God.  After that, it’s up to God.

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May 1 – Thoughts on 1 Kings 10-11 & Luke 21:20-38

Reputation is a difficult thing for us in the church.

First, the culture around us not only values it but worships it.  Reputation is what drives success and all the more so since the advent of social media.  From Yelp to Facebook, a soiled reputation means failure in business, relationships, and self esteem.  And a good reputation can earn you lower interest rates, more customers, the admiration of your friends, and even a promotion.

Second, our theology tells us that if we follow Jesus, we will get a bad reputation.  We will be persecuted, slandered, and be the source of plenty of gossip.  And that shouldn’t matter because while “humankind looks at the appearance, God looks at the heart.”  It’s who we are inside that matters, not what others think of us.

But third, a biblical study of the people of God will show us the power of reputation for evangelism.  From Solomon, whose reputation drew royalty from around the known world, to Paul, who urges Christians to have a good reputation so that our message may be believed once shard, reputation is important to our witness.  When the church is known for its infighting and infidelity, the gospel cannot be believed, and so our God-given, Spirit-driven mission to some extent depends on our reputation.

So what are we to do?  How much effort do we spend on gaining a good reputation?  How much do we focus on God’s opinion of us rather than the worlds?  and how much do we ignore the modes and methods of reputation building that this society obsesses over?

1 Peter 2:12 says, “Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation.”  Let your reputation grow not as a success in your field, or as a person well versed in the trivia of the world, but as someone who is Good, who bears the fruit of the Spirit, and who reflects the character of God.  After that, it’s up to God.

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