Instructions

When they went into the tent of meeting, and when they approached the altar, they washed, as the Lord commanded Moses. And he erected the court around the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the screen of the gate of the court. So Moses finished the work. (Exodus 40:32,33 ESV)

Instructions

One year in high school, a new teacher was hired.  He had a doctorate, and displayed a powerful, intense personality.  Every student was intimidated.

Mostly because now, unlike with the teacher he replaced, we no longer knew what was expected of us.  How important were daily assignments?  How necessary was good spelling?  What form of documentation was required for large papers?  Could we joke in class?  Could we sleep in class?  Should we take notes?  Should we ask questions to appear engaged?

We just did not know. 

But we know that knowing those things was very important, and guessing was dangerous.

When God introduced Himself to the Israelites, He answered all of their similar questions.  He told them what He expected from them, often in fine detail.  And not only regarding issues like murder and thievery, but also specific instructions about how God wanted to be worshipped.

And Moses kept those instructions.

While we live in an era of individual freedom and personal choice, God actually does care how we worship Him.  And He gave us principles in His Word for us to follow. 

Because guessing is dangerous.

But we know, for instance, that the only way to approach God is through His Son, Christ Jesus. 

We do not have to guess about that.  He has given us instructions.

We are peculiar, God has given us instructions.

Grass

My people will abide in a peaceful habitation, in secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places. (Isaiah 32:18 ESV)

Grass

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence, we say.  Other houses seem more statuesque.  Other trees seem more bountiful.  Other yards seem to need less mowing to look manicured.  Other cars, clothes, hairstyles, mustaches, and education seem to be better than ours.

But not if we see things as they really are.  Because God’s people have God on our side.  He might not be giving us what we want, but He absolutely gives us what is absolutely best for us.  When we live trusting Jesus’ kingship, we have peaceful habitations, even if missiles are flying.  If we live trusting Jesus’ kingship, our dwellings are secure, even if a mudslide is on the way.  Ef we live trusting Jesus’ kingship, we can rest quietly in His arms, even if chaos makes a lot of noise.

It is not a matter of what we have, or where we live, or what we can see.

It is a matter of living in His protection, provision, and progression.

We are peculiar, we are among the green grass.

Light

This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. (I John 1:5 ESV)

Light

It was a dark and stormy night, and the power had gone out.  It was dark, and I am sometimes scared of the dark.  Down in the basement, checking the circuit breaker box, my flashlight also went dead.  It was doubly dark, and I was doubly scared.  Flipping circuits did not help, so I shuffled and stumbled upstairs and huddled in a dark corner of the dark house and pretended to be brave, for my children’s sake.

And then gloriously, the power returned!  I could have danced if I knew how to dance… but instead I mostly grinned.

But I am so scared of the dark, that I sometimes do not trust the light.  What if the power had only returned temporarily?  What if the dark was about to return?  What if the light did not last?

I wonder if this unreliability of our light is what John had in mind here.  Good news is often followed by bad news.  Fixed things breakdown again.  Victories easily slide back into defeat.  Troubles vanquished are imitate the Phoenix and rise to trouble us again.

But God is true light.

And darkness can not hold a candle to Him.

The rest of the world has good reason to worry about darkness… but we have the light.

We are peculiar, God’s light is permanent in our lives.

Unlame

And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. (Acts 3:7 ESV)

Unlame

I used to suffer with an ingrown toenail.  It is surprising how a little thing like a sore toe can have such devastating effects.  Walking was painful, not walking was painful, sitting was painful, reclining was painful, even sleeping was painful.

Self-remedies were ineffective, careful trimming was temporary, relief was brief.  Finally, I underwent a procedure by a podiatrist.  And I’ve been walking pain free for nearly twenty years.

While I was not exactly lame, I have sympathy for the lame in the Bible.

And I believe God frequently (from Jacob’s limping, through Mephibosheth, through the healing of the lame in the gospels and Acts) makes use of the lame as a metaphor for our broken lives for good reason.

Being lame effects everything.  Being lame is hopeless.  Being lame brings ridicule, insecurity, and sorrow.

Just like sin.

But God fixes the lame in the Bible, and He fixes our sin and sin’s effects, too.

In fact, really, the whole world is lame, because the whole world is enmeshed in sin’s troubles.

But God has unlamed His people, through Christ alone.

We are peculiar, we are unlamed.

Eager

Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. (Isaiah 30:18 ESV)

Eager

Mr. Grumm lived next door when I was a child.  He was a dour-faced, gray-haired, heavily-muscled old man.  And he did not seem to like anyone.  He scowled at most people in the neighborhood, threw potatoes at dogs, yelled at the postman, and never answered the door at Christmas for carolers.

But Mr. Grumm gave me candy.

I do not really know why.  I was as annoying a kid as any.  I, too, trespassed, ignored his warnings, made fun of his gait, and threw snowballs near his precious old automobile. 

But he was eager to be kind to me.

He smiled at me.

He greeted me.

And in that way, Mr. Grumm reminds me of our loving God.

God has many good reasons to be wrathful.  Isaiah 30 lists not only the faults of enemy lands, but also those of troublesome Israel and even Judah, His own people.

But God is eager to be kind to them.  God not only does all things for His own glory, but He acts to be merciful to His beloved people.

God is eager to be kind to us.

God favors us.

God welcomes us.

That is why God saved His people through His Son, Jesus.  He wants to be merciful to us, gracious to us, and love us.

We are peculiar, God is eager to love us.

Talk

One who heard us was a woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple goods, who was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to pay attention to what was said by Paul. (Acts16:14 ESV)

Talk

Evangelism can seem like a scary thing.  People’s eternal souls are at stake!  The Bible is a huge book, with complicated concepts! We just are not that good at talking!  We are not good examples of Christ, how can we convince anyone else?!

But we can relax.

Paul might just be the most famous gospel-teller in history.  We read the letters he wrote, and we easily imagine that he was knowledgeable, articulate, passionate, and personal.  He was a great evangelist.

But Paul persuaded no one into Christianity, the Lord did.  Paul argued no one into faith, the Lord did.  Paul debated no unbeliever into belief.  The Lord did.

The Lord opened Lydia’s heart.  Paul did not.

And that is how everyone comes to faith, today, too.  We have one job.  We simply have to speak about what Jesus means to us.  We do not have to use big words, or fancy theology, or emotional tricks.  Jesus matters to us.  All we have to do is talk about that.  Using our own knowledge, personalities, situations, histories, passions, and experience.  No matter how new, or boring-seeming, or confusing, or embarrassing our relationship with Jesus might seem to us… talk about it.

The Lord will open the hearts of our listeners.

We are peculiar, God carries the heavy burden of evangelism.

Goodness

You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night.  And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” (Jonah 4:10-11 ESV)

Goodness

Our God, maybe particularly the God of the Old Testament is often seen by the ignorant or uneducated as an angry being.  His wrath seems to be His primary characteristic.  He seems to desire punishment, suffering, and human tears.

But God’s people know better.

And God’s choices and actions in the book of Jonah make it clear that while God does have wrath, He prefers mercy.  In fact, Jonah is far more angry, mean, and grumpy than God!

I wonder, sometimes, if the reason that God has the reputation of cruelty because we, His people, display that characteristic.  We are more often merciless against sinners than merciful.  We are more often angry at sinners than hopeful.  We are more often revengers, rather than redeemers.

But we know better.

We are peculiar, we know God’s goodness.

Something To Do

And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God. (Nehemiah 9:3,4 ESV)

Something To Do

Today, we are busy.  We are often overcommitted, overscheduled, and overworked.  Our calendars are so full we now use computers to arrange our days.  Our hours are so filled we measure time in seconds.  Free time has become the most expensive time.

And yet the world is often bored.

Perhaps it is overstimulated.  Perhaps it is incorrectly focused.  Perhaps it is lack of vision.

But even though we are busy, I often hear complaints about having “nothing to do.”  Parents hear it.  City planners hear it.  Entertainers hear it.  Investors hear it.

Nehemiah’s people had been wildly busy.  They had built walls, restored buildings, organized society, fought enemies, relearned God’s Word, and began a complex agricultural economy from scratch.

And when they were done… they knew they had something to do.

They read God’s Word, and worshipped Him.

The rest of the world might not know what to do.

But Christians do.  And it is not an unpleasant task, or difficult chore, or tiresome duty.  We get to listen to God, and talk to Him.

THAT is something to do!

We are peculiar, we have something to do.

News

And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. (I Peter 5:10 ESV)

News

Bad news sells subscriptions.  Passing on bad news makes us feel superior.  Receiving bad news makes us feel prepared.  Bad news feeds the pessimistic part of our hearts.

We think, it seems, that bad news is better than any other form of news.

But bad news is inaccurate.  Bad news is blind.  Bad news is wrong.

For Christians, the all-powerful Son of God ensures that all news, actually, is good news.  When it seems it is bad news, it is really just news that is not observably good, yet.

He promises to restore us, confirm us, strengthen us, and establish us.  That is good news!

We are unique, our news is good.

Rocks

I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel (Galatians 1:6 ESV)

Rocks

I once caught a friend cheating in a contest.  Our school was having a competition building card houses.  The winning team was to receive some nifty, teen-age-popular prize.  I do not remember what it was.  My friend, though, and his team really wanted to win!

So, they used some clear glue (technologically advanced in those days) to solidify the first layer of card architecture.  My friends knew that a strong steady foundation is a comfortable and valuable thing.

Our society pretends to relish only change, but we also cling to those things that do not change.  We build houses on the rock, not the sand.  We quote constitutions, even when we do not understand them.  We promise to be home for Christmas. 

And the gospel does not change.  Christ Jesus is the only solution.

In our world of changing principles, ideas, philosophies, plans, agendas, and promises, we can know that one thing is as solid as a rock.  God’s gospel.

We are unique, the gospel is a rock.

Osmosis

 It was Caiaphas who had advised the Jews that it would be expedient that one man should die for the people. (John 18:14 ESV)

Osmosis

I admit that I am not absolutely sure if ‘osmosis’ is the technical term for the process that is found in this passage.  But it is close!

Being a nerd, I used to keep ball point pens in my pocket.  One particular day, one of those pens started to leak.  It soaked through my pocket, the shirt, a t-shirt, and my skin.  I imagined that after that day of leakage, the soak continued through my inner skin, muscle layers, skeleton, and organs. 

The wonderful powerful ink of that pen went beyond its usual intended location.

God’s truth soaks in like that, too.

God’s truth, salvific as well as mundane, is intended for His people. 

But the rest of the world sometimes receives some of that truth, too.  Caiaphas, a part of the world that rejected God’s Gospel Truth, still had an inkling of truth.

If we are observant, we can see God’s truth in all sorts of places.  Those extra soakings can give us pleasure, peace, and persuasive power.

We are unique, we can see osmosis.

Purpose

I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth. (Acts 13:47 ESV)

Purpose

There was a piece of molded plastic in our glovebox.  I could not figure out what it was.  I could not figure out what it was for.  I could not figure out if it had value.  I could not figure out whether to keep it.

Then one afternoon, the right front tire went flat.  I grabbed my ancient tire iron, and tried to remove the lug nuts to change the errant tire.  But my trusty tire iron could not help.  The lug nuts had covers, and I could not figure out how to remove them.

Then I remembered that piece of plastic.

And suddenly, I understood the purpose of that mysterious piece of plastic.

Many people feel like that oddly shaped piece.  Our life’s purpose might be difficult to ascertain.  Too many variables in our personalities make analysis more like guesswork than knowledge.  Too many confusing motivations make analysis convoluted.  Too many broken plans, unaccomplished goals, and unsure pathways make analysis painfully difficult.

But Christians have a purpose.

We get to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.

We were made, like Paul and Barnabas, to show Jesus to people.  Whether we are doctors, lawyers, farmers, students, parents, children, uncles, aunts, grandparents, preachers, teachers, roadworkers, engineers, craftsmen, administrators, or astronauts… those things are not our purpose.  Our purpose is known.  Our purpose is to bring salvation.

We are unique, we know our purpose.

Joy

These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. (John 15:11 ESV)

Joy

In the tenements of overcrowded New York City, walking the streets could be dangerous in the 19th century.  Walmart did not yet sell convenient trash cans, and people used the streets as trash dumps.  It was so convenient to toss undesired or leftover items out an open window, so many people did.  A journalist walking through one such rainstorm of trash was hit on the head by a shoe.  He found himself huddling immediately afterwards, eyeing the dangerous sky, and waiting for the logically expected other shoe.

He was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

We might not be walking the streets of New York, but that phrase describes how we feel when we analyze the events of our lives.  Folk often wait for the other shoe to drop.  Whether the first shoe was a pleasant soft slipper, or a steel-toed boot, pessimism guides our eyesight and expectation. 

We expect something bad to happen.

But Christians do not need to share such expectations.  Quite the opposite, in fact.

The other shoe that Jesus drops is joy.

We might not notice the joyful things.  That is why Jesus emphasizes here, that our joy MAY be full.  But it is a question of perspective, not of Jesus’ gifts.  We can have joy, if we allow ourselves to trust Jesus enough about what He is doing in our lives.

Full joy.

That is shockingly different from the way the rest of the world eyes the skies.

We are peculiar, we get joy.

Prayer

So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest prayer for him was made to God by the church. (Acts 12:5 ESV)

Prayer

A few months ago, due to a tragic garage door incident, I lost the use of the four fingers of my right hand.  I learned how important fingers are.  Without them, many of my daily activities became extremely difficult.  I could not button buttons.  I could not tie shoelaces.  I could not type on a keyboard.  I could not grip a steering wheel.  I could not adjust a rearview mirror.  I could not reshelve books.  I could not the right nostril of my nose.

Of course, I really COULD do those things.  But the tasks were much more difficult, painful, and slow.

Maybe I think of prayer as I thought of my fingers.

I can do a lot of things without it.  But those things are more difficult, painful, and slow.

I had been taking my fingers for granted before the garage door incident.  Perhaps Peter took prayer for granted before the prison incident.

Prayer is not merely the most powerful weapon in a Christian’s arsenal.  It is also necessary.  It is also a blessing.  It is also, rather than a chore, something that we GET to do.

And God hears us when we pray.  Because of Christ’s work in our lives, God hears us as His children. 

We are peculiar, we get to pray.

Contentment

For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (II Corinthians 12:10 ESV)

Contentment

Aristocracy has a bad reputation.  The aristocracy of a civilization is seen as lazy, parasitic, arrogant, and old-fashioned.   But aristocracy done right is none of those things.  Aristocracy done right is active, contributive, humble, and useful. 

Contentment is similarly misrepresented.

Contentment has the reputation of being passive, unambitious, unattractive, and unAmerican.

But Paul demonstrated a better, perhaps even a necessary, contentment.

Paul’s satisfaction with the difficult situations he experienced did not come from an Eeyore-like whining about how bad his life was.  Eeyore’s problem is like ours, actually.  Our troubles ARE hard, rough, painful, dark, and cloudy.  But Paul saw that Paul’s life was actually Christ Jesus’ life.

Paul was content because he understood that every situation, good or bad, led him more and more to Jesus.  Paul was content because he trusted that God, moving the precious pieces of Paul’s life, was doing amazing things for Jesus’ glory.  Even when Paul couldn’t grasp how.  Paul was content because he loved Jesus enough to put up with things on Jesus’ behalf.

Contentment is not weakness, it is strength of faith.  Contentment is not passive, it is actively living for Jesus.  Contentment is not being a doormat, it is standing for Jesus.

We are peculiar, Christians can be excitedly content.

Panic

For this purpose he was hired, that I should be afraid and act in this way and sin, and so they could give me a bad name in order to taunt me. Remember Tobiah and Sanballat, O my God, according to these things that they did, and also the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who wanted to make me afraid. (Nehemiah 6: 13,14 ESV)

Panic

Urgent fear leads to panic.  And panic often leads to unrighteous choices, even though we know better.

Nehemiah was getting close to completing his task of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.  And God’s enemies were urgently working hard to stop the work.  In Nehemiah 6, they send a messenger to warn him of a supposed assassin.  Of course, if there actually were an assassin, THEY would have been sending him! But they urge Nehemiah to enter the temple, earlier rebuilt by Ezra, and hide there. 

The temple would be a safe place!  The temple gates, already strong enough, would stop any sneaky assassin! The very presence of God in that holiest of places would deter any action by any mere human!

But entering the temple in that way, at that time, by unpriestly Nehemiah would have blatantly gone against God’s Law.  Only priests, and only at particular times, and never in a rushed reaction to events, were welcome in God’s Holy place.  Period.  Ever. 

Because while God is present, He remains holy.  While God does love His people, our sin is devastatingly dangerous, and abhorrent to God.  Because the ONLY way for God’s people to approach Him is through a mediator… first the temple, and now wonderfully though Jesus.

Nehemiah did not panic, though.  Because Nehemiah knew that God was God.  Nehemiah knew that God would not ‘need’ Nehemiah to break God’s Laws for Nehemiah to be rescued.

Panic leads us to make foolish choices.  For instance:

- The urgency of our dire needs seems to make us too busy to spend quality time in God’s Word.

- The urgency of the pain of our loved ones seems to make us panic and jump in to ‘help’ without praying first, second, and third.

- The urgency of our worries seems to give us permission to worry despite Jesus’ command to NOT worry. (Luke 12:29)

- The urgency of our strong enemies seems to push us to act unrighteously in the battle, through hating our enemies.

But we do not need to panic.  Because Jesus.

We are peculiar, Jesus is stronger than everything.

Hands

Above the Horse Gate the priests repaired, each one opposite his own house.  After them Zadok the son of Immer repaired opposite his own house. After him Shemaiah the son of Shecaniah, the keeper of the East Gate, repaired. (Nehemiah 3:28,29 ESV)

Hands

I usually attempt to ‘learn’ one language every year.  Recently, I am working on Icelandic.  But I admit to a dramatic disconnect between my language study and reality.

I never advance to the point of speaking, let alone fluency.  I rarely advance to the point of easy reading.  I even forget, after a little time, the new alphabets.  Other than a broad better understanding of my own native tongue, my studies do not seem to be practical, useful, or planted in reality.

For the world, knowledge is often disconnected from practical reality.  Thus, folk complain about the years spent knee-deep in ‘useless’ algebra.  Thus, folk complain about the time invested in impractical English grammar.  Thus, folk complain about being forced to learn obsolete skills like typing, long division, and tying shoelaces.

But Christians know something about knowledge.  Done right, it is always practical.  Knowledge, true knowledge, both comes from God, and can lead to God. 

Some Christians are accused at times of being so heavenly-minded that we are no earthly-good.  If that is a fair criticism, it is only because we do not comprehend the great blessing we have of true knowledge.

The third chapter of Nehemiah describes the physical labor of rebuilding Jerusalem’s wall.  We might expect that God would have set up a comfortable division of labor… priests doing ecclesiastical things, scribes doing intellectual things, muscled-folk doing physical things… but that is not how God sets up the society of returning exiles.

Instead, while there are priestly, administrative, and intellectual asks, everyone got their hands dirty.  Everyone had regular connections between their minds and their hands.  Everyone had regular connections between their hearts and their hands.  Everyone had regular connections between their souls and their hands.

Jesus, did not graciously arrive merely to save souls, as eternally grand as that is.  He also came to redeem and repair every aspect of creation, including the physical.  He came to save our minds, hearts, souls AND hands.

We are peculiar, God keeps us planted in practical reality.

Justice

Woe to you who turn justice to vinegar, and stomp righteousness into the mud. Do you realize where you are? You’re in a cosmos star-flung with constellations by God! (Amos 5:7,8 The Message)

Justice

Read the news, or talk to a broken family, or consider recent trends in courtrooms, and we might wonder what has happened to Justice.  Superman might be scratching his head, considering what has happened to truth and justice.  That blind lady holding a set of scales seems to be peaking. We hear more tails of injustice than of justice.

But like all fears that plague us, we do not need to worry.

I am not saying that our justice problems can be ignored, or belittled, or encouraged.  But Amos reminds us Who is in charge of justice, and it is not the United States Supreme Court.  Nor is it me.

God, particularly Jesus, (Acts 17:31) is the true judge. 

The rest of America, or the world, might fear a corrupt or partial judicial system.  But Christians do not need to fear such systems.  Because above those faulty judicial activities is the One True Judge.  Even when it does not seem like it, HE is at work for the good of His people. (Romans 8:28)

We can trust His justice more than we need to fear any injustice.

But do not misunderstand our foundation for confidence.  The gospel enters into this picture.  God will not only judge the world justly… He will judge us, too!  The gospel, though, means that God imparts our guilt, our fault, our sin, our rebellion… all those things that just like the world, SHOULD mean severe judgment… to Christ Jesus instead of us.

We are peculiar, God gives us justice.

Mary

And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38 ESV)

Mary

Mary was amazing. She had just found out that God had chosen her to take part in the incarnation. She did not know how it was going to work, but if she had listened to Gabriel Mary DID know that her baby was “the great I am!”

I felt pretty smug when recently I was asked to play Jacob Marley in, ‘A Christmas Carol.” Also, I was chosen first ONE time to be on a kickball team, and my head was bigger than the ball. Also, I was impressed with myself when I once was asked to help another minister write a sermon. Also, I feel proud when I observe the accomplishments of my children.

But Mary knew how big this God-Man really was. Mary knew that as honored as she was, more importantly, she needed to be humble. Mary knew that Jesus did not make her great. Mary knew that Jesus brings everyone to our knees, gladly.

We’ve been honored by God as He chooses us as His children, too. But when we understand that, we do not brag. We do not puff up. We do not become amazed with ourselves.

That is what everyone else might do.

But we are peculiar. Like Mary, we are gladly servants of Him.

Angels

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased! (Luke 2:13,14 ESV)

Angels

It was apparently just a regular night in Bethlehem Ephrathah.  Maybe it was cold.  Maybe it was a little damp.  Maybe it was dark.  Like usual, the cattle were lowing, the dogs were snoring, the mice were nibbling, and there was a baby being born.

The baby part might seem irregular… but actually it happens a lot.  Babies are born.  Swaddling clothes swaddle.  Inns are overfull.  New mothers and fathers have excitement… and then relax.

Before the angels arrive on the scene, everything looks mundane.

But the angels know something different.  They know it is the incarnation.  They know it is God’s plans being fulfilled.  They know the world is being changed, and fixed.  They know… what really matters.

And we do, too.

Because we know Jesus.  We know that baby, too.  We know Who He really was.  We know what He was doing, is still doing, and will do.

We are peculiar.  We know what God is doing behind the mundane scenes.  He’s saving His people.