Un-Banished

But God will not take away life, and He devises means so that the banished one will not remain an outcast. (II Samuel 14:14 ESV)

Un-banished

Absalom was a bad son.  He rebelled against his father, David’s, authority and tried to take the king’s authority, power, and crown.  Common sense, historical analysis, and self-protection would all require that King David get rid of Absalom.

But David was a man after God’s own heart.

And even though Absalom should have been punished, should have been banished, should have been removed from David forever, David showed grace and mercy.

All the world told David, reject Absalom.  But David’s heart said, ‘forgive.’  Human wisdom told David, reject Absalom as he rejected you.  But David’s heart said, “grace.”  The power of the kingship said, hate Absalom, as he has hated you.  But David’s heart said, “mercy.”

Because David was a man after God’s own heart.

We Christians are just like Absalom.  We have claimed, along with all humankind, to have the authority of God in our grip.  We have attempted to kick God out of our lives, our communities, our decision-making, our purposes, and His throne.

And He ‘should’ have banished us.  In fact, He did.

But because of God’s heart, we do not remain outcasts.

Through the costly work of the Christ, He forgives, He is merciful, and He has restored us to being His children.

We are peculiar, we are un-banished.

Fixed

And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths… And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them. (Genesis 3: 7, 21 ESV)

Fixed

I learned how to tune a guitar the hard way.  No electronic devices, no built-in tuners, no tricks.  Listen and turn the knob till the tone was correct.  But my guitar teacher was a skilled tuner.  Even when I brought my guitar to the lesson all tuned up, he would tweak it.  My efforts, due to inexperience and lack of awareness were never quite enough.

Adam and Eve knew they had sinned and tried to fix it on their own.  The covered the symbol of their sinfulness, their nakedness, with garments made of leaves.  But just like my tuning-efforts, it was not enough.  Whether the leaves were physically insufficient, or the leaves would decay too quickly, or some other lack (I do not know, because I have never worn a fig leaf bathing suit) God saw, and God knew He had to fix it.

God made clothes for Adam and Eve, better than what they had attempted to make, because He knew more.  He had skills they lacked.  He had awareness they lacked.  And far more than mere tweaking, He fixed their efforts to fix their sinfulness.

More than that, God’s fixing through those clothes was symbolic.  He was giving a hint of things to come.  The only way to really fix their sin, and their sin’s effects required sacrifice.  Something, or someOne had to die for their rebellion.

Those skin clothes were a hint of the sacrificial system of the Old Testament.

Which was, in turn, a hint of THE sacrifice of Christ Himself to fix their sin… and ours.

Christians have been given better than animal skins to wear in God’s sight.  We have been given the robes of Christ.

We are peculiar, we are fixed.

Freedom

and deliver all those who through fear of death were subject to lifelong slavery. (Hebrews 2:15 ESV)

Freedom

We like to claim freedoms all across the board, but only Christians are free from all slavery. Fear of death is overwhelming.  People fear death and therefore worry about health.  People fear death and therefore worry about our future.  People fear death and therefore worry about our family.  People fear death and worry about nearly everything.

And those fears enslave us.

They can control our every thought, word, and deed.  They own our past, our present, and our future.  If we make almost every decision in fear of death, we would be slaves to death.

But Jesus not only defeated death, He turned it into a blessing.  Because of what Jesus did to death, death is now the gateway into the fantastic presence of God.  Death is the first and final step into heaven.  Death is a blink of our eyes before they open and see Jesus, forever.

And that frees us from everything.

We are peculiar, we are truly not slaves.

Labor

The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it. (Genesis 2:15 ESV)

Labor

Mankind was created to work.  We might not like to hear that, these days.  We relish rest, we tire of tasks, we lament our lists. 

But we still work.

When God cursed Adam by declaring that from then on, Adam would work by the sweat of his brow, God did not remove work from Adam’s responsibility. 

In fact, remembering that while work is yet another thing Adam ruined when he first sinned, work, like all of creation, was given to us as a blessing.  Work gives us purpose here, work allows us to use our abilities and gifts, work can change the world.  Work can undo some of the effects of Adam’s sin, and ours.

We not only must work, we get to work.

In fact, rather than bemoan work and attempt to escape it, we can celebrate that God trusts us enough to give us work.

And of course, Jesus works on our behalf!  He empowers our work.  He fixes our errors in work.  He sanctifies our work. 

And He loves it when we work.

We are peculiar, we get to work.

Church and State

Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord. (Zechariah 8:22, 23 ESV)

Church and State

These days, we hear a lot about the conflict between Church and State.  God speaks a surprising truth, though, through Zechariah.  God says that the nations of the world come to the Church for blessing.

The Church, you see, is the new Jerusalem.  And God intends the whole world to come to the Church seeking Him, seeking His favor, seeking His blessing.

Both the world and we, the Church do not seem to understand this, lately.

We have built up a competition instead of a cooperation.  We have built up hostility instead of help-a-bility. We have built up mistrust, jealousy, and anger instead of seeking the Lord, or aiding others to seek Him.

It does not matter if the nation is worthy, right-minded, or good.  They need the Lord, and it is our job to help them to Him.  It does not matter if they do not yet understand.  They need the Lord, and it is our duty to help them to Him.  It does not matter if they are antagonistic, conspiratorial, or sneaky.  They need the Lord, and it is our joy to help them to Him.

We do not need to win a cultural war, a political war, or an educational war.  But we do need to bring them to Jesus, to find the Lord’s favor.

We are peculiar, we know our job.

Again

And the Syrians AGAIN fled before Israel,  (II Samuel 10:18 ESV)

Again

I heard on the radio this week an announcer declaring how boring it has become to watch Alabama play college football.  “They just win again, and again, and again!” He complained.

While I might disagree with his analysis, and while you might not care about college football, it did remind me of David’s wars.  He won again, and again, and again.

Syrians, Philistines, Moabites, Ammonites, even Egyptians and rebels.

David won again.

Because David knew that David never won.

God won.  Using David’s arm.  Using David’s brain.  Using David’s tactics.  Using David’s mighty men.  But it was always God.

Really, God wins again, and again, and again.

And we are on His side!

We are peculiar, we win again.

Fine Linens

herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. (Revelation 19:7,8 ESV)

Fine Linens

We are attending a fun celebratory media event in a few days.  A formal, nearly red-carpet event. We do not do this often.  And we ended up finding some fancy dress-up clothes.

We practiced the other day, and took pictures.  And we do not look like ourselves.  As I surveyed the attire in the mirror, I recalled the old phrase, “the clothes make the man.”

I usually do not agree with that proverb.  And even in that mirror, my clothes, as nice as they were, were not the real me.

But when it comes to the church, or bride of Christ, wearing our apparel before the groom, Christ Himself, things might be a bit different.

Those linens John wrote about, are actually clothes we get from our savior, Christ Jesus.

And somehow, wearing the clothes He gives us, we become different.  We become righteous in God’s eyes.  We  become fine, as we reflect Him.  We become bright in Spirit.  We become pure through His purity.

As Christians we wear Christ’s robes, and that is fine.

We are peculiar, we have fancy clothes.

Mysteries

There are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies, but the glory of the heavenly is of one kind, and the glory of the earthly is of another. (I Corinthians 15:40 ESV)

Mysteries

The church of Corinth was arguing.  Not in a pleasant, resolution-seeking way; but in an angry, arrogant, competitive way.  Most of the letter of I Corinthians is Paul’s effort to bring them back into a state of unity.

One of the things they argued about was apparently heaven.

For good reason.  Scripture presents many hints and metaphors about heaven, but does not give as clear and dogmatic a description as we might like.  Paul presents this verse as a way to persuade the Corinthians to be gracious and tolerant of each other, within certain boundaries.

“Heavenly bodies” here are not describing angels and mansions.  Rather, Paul is comparing those objects on earth that we can see, touch, sense, and understand (the earthly bodies) with those objects that we can see, accept as reality, but not understand.  Things, for them, like stars, the sun, the moon, clouds, wind, and maybe even birds.

Paul is showing that just like there are things in our experience that our beyond our ability to grasp, there are things about heaven that we cannot grasp.  So, he is saying, stop pretending you can.

There are mysteries in Scripture.  Mysteries that we are not able to grasp.  And those things cause more fights amongst Christians than anything else.

Because we want to feel like WE have the better understanding.

I am not saying we should not form opinions or attempt to understand the mysteries.

But they are not a reason to fight.

If for no other reason, we do not need to understand those things fully, yet.  We will!  And meanwhile God does! 

Secrets

The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29 ESV)

Secrets

Secrets normally cause division and conflict.  It hurts to be the foundation of a secret.  Secrets often come from arrogance and pride.  Keeping secrets is the cause of many broken relationships, and not keep secrets break different relationships.

Yet God has secrets.

He knows every motivation, every unspoken selfishness, every truth and every lie.

Beyond individual relationships, God also knows the reason behind every political upheaval, the true reason for the rise and fall of every nation, and the purpose of every cultural development.

Beyond human interaction, God knows every geological formation, every weather pattern, and the movement of each star and planet.

Not only do we NOT have that level of knowledge, but we could not process it if we did somehow know.

But God has revealed enough to us.  God has revealed more than enough to us.  God has revealed to us His plan of salvation, about which even the angels are unsure.  God has revealed to us the most important “Why” of the universe…  God has revealed to us Jesus.  God has revealed to us what He knows we can handle.

We are peculiar, we know God’s secrets. (At least some of them…)

Sorrow

You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. (John 16:20 ESV)

Sorrow

We find so many offers of comfort in sorrow.  The entertainment industry beckons us to rest in her delightful arms, and avoid our sorrows.  The medical world prescribes nutrition, balance, and longer life to outlast our sorrows.  Our government offers bread and circuses to distract us from our sorrows.  Our education systems offer us relief from thinking about our sorrows, direction on redefining our sorrows, or a chance to stand back and evaluate sorrows till we do not see them anymore.

How are those things working out  for us?

We still have sorrows.

Jesus is pointing out that His presence in our lives is the only solution to sorrow.  Our sorrows will turn into actual joy in the context of Jesus’ actions, Jesus words, and Jesus’ love.

The reasons for sorrow do not easily go away.  The solution to those sorrows is as easy as saying, “yes,” to Jesus.

We are peculiar, our sorrows can turn to joy.

Silence

If God is silent, what’s that to you? If he turns his face away, what can you do about it? But whether silent or hidden, he’s there, ruling, (Job 34:29 The Message)

Silent Cal

Calvin Coolidge was one of the United States’ Presidents.  I did not claim he was a good President.  I did not claim he was a bad President.  Most folk do not really have an opinion of him.

Because he was very quiet.  The nickname given to Coolidge by the press was, “Silent Cal.”  He made few speeches, he gave few press releases, he did not call many meetings, he did not sing or shout or tweet or declare or announce.

He felt he did not need to.

It was enough that he was President.

God is quiet, too.  We sometimes wish that He would tell us what He is up to, without us having to exegete Scripture.  We sometimes wish that He would make a few announcements about current events, current concerns, and current tragedies.

But Elihu reminds is in the book of Job that He does not have to do that.

God is God, and that is enough.

For the world, that should be scary.  But for us, it is comforting.  Whatever He is doing, whether He has explained it to us or not, is His choice, His wisdom, His right because He is God.  And remember, that He also loves His people.

Believe Him.

We are peculiar, we know God rules.

Encyclopedias

If anyone imagines that he knows something, he does not yet know as he ought to know. But if anyone loves God, he is known by God. (I Corinthians 8:2,3 ESV)

Encyclopedias

Just outside my office we used to have four encyclopedia sets.  Perhaps we’d think that just about everything we needed to know could be found in those volumes.  We got rid of three of them, though.  Because we realized that even four complete sets are not enough.

Even the internet is not enough.

Even the internet when it becomes a part of Quantum Mechanics will not be enough.

So many articles in our encyclopedias had been proven wrong.  So many articles had been proven right again.  So many topics were obsolete.  So many topics were incomplete.  So many topics were absent.

There is one thing, though, that we Christians can particularly know.  Even though He is more mysterious even than quarks and black holes, we know Him.  That is not arrogance, it is amazing.

In fact, Paul hints that knowing God (loving God) is the thing that gives all the rest of the encyclopedic knowledge context, focus, and purpose.

Maybe we should not have gotten rid of them.

We are peculiar, we love God, and are known by Him.

Truth About Sin

Your prophets courted you with sweet talk.   They didn’t face you with your sin so that you could repent.  Their sermons were all wishful thinking, deceptive illusions. (Lamentations 2:14 The Message)

Truth About Sin

What would you think if I chose my automobile mechanic based on how often he told me good news, whether it was true or not?  What would you think if I chose a doctor based on whether he only told me how healthy I am, whether it was true or not?  What would you think if I only read books that agreed with me, entered discussions with those who only said nice things, or hired employees who only told me what I wanted to hear?

I expect, rightly so, that you would frown at me.

Our God, in love, does not speak like that to us.  He tells us the truth, particularly about our sin.

He calls our sin, sin.

The people of Judah rejected that kind of message.  They only wanted to hear from prophets who told them how good they were, how faithful they were, how valuable they were, how cool they were.

But God, in love, does not speak like that to us. 

The words of the prophets that Jeremiah mentions here, those words that tickled ears, those words that were easy and pleasant… those words were not from God.  And those words were left behind in the rubble of Jerusalem.

But the words of the prophets that spoke God’s truth, they were Scripture and we still have them today.

We do not have to listen to the false prophets.  We have the true prophets sifted out from the others.

Written in the Bible.

We are peculiar, we can hear God’s Words about the nature of our sin.

-=-=-=-

Safety When Jumping to Conclusions

Now when the king lived in his house and the Lord had given him rest from all his surrounding enemies, the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of God dwells in a tent.” And Nathan said to the king, “Go, do all that is in your heart, for the Lord is with you.” But that same night the word of the Lord came to Nathan, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: Would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling… Your throne shall be established forever.’ ” 17 In accordance with all these words, and in accordance with all this vision, Nathan spoke to David. (II Samuel 7:1-6; 16,17 ESV)

Landing Safely When Jumping to Conclusions

King David approached the prophet Nathan to suggest David’s brilliant idea.  God has been so good to King David.  Let’s build God a temple!  The idea was so obviously good to Nathan that he immediately agreed.  Logically, righteously, perhaps even exegetically, Nathan concludes that King David should start building that temple.

But that night, God approaches Nathan with a different answer.  God tells Nathan that King David should not be building a temple for God, but instead God would be building a royal house, a dynasty, a family forever.  A family, in fact, that culminates in King Jesus, the Messiah.

We might find reason to shake our heads and wag our fingers at Nathan.  He jumped to conclusions.  He probably did not approach God in prayer before answering King David.  He was far too much Nathan and not enough God’s prophet.

But God was gracious.  He did not even mention Nathan’s error.  God simply used Nathan’s conclusion-jumping to springboard to one of the greatest promises in the Bible.  The promise that a King was coming. 

We cannot sidestep God’s path by jumping to conclusions.  We can be wrong in our assumptions, conclusions, and declarations.  But God is patient with His people.  He keeps on going despite us, in spite of us, and then even through us.

He is faithful to His people even when in haste, we are unfaithful to Him, like Nathan.

We are peculiar, we always land safely.

Possession

 “If you go into your neighbor’s vineyard, you may eat your fill of grapes, as many as you wish, but you shall not put any in your bag.  If you go into your neighbor’s standing grain, you may pluck the ears with your hand, but you shall not put a sickle to your neighbor’s standing grain. (Deuteronomy 23:24-25 ESV)

Possession

We might think this commandment is intended to give us permission to wander around taking fruit from our neighbor’s tree.  But it is not.  It is aimed instead at how we think of the fruit of OUR trees. 

It is considered good sense to hold tightly onto the fruit of our labor.  In this Land of the Individual, we cling tightly to what is ours, believing that our money, our food, our land, our cars, our clothes, our everything are best utilized in ways that benefit us.

But in Deuteronomy God is making the point that the fruit of the Israelites’ trees was meant for the community.  Yes, owned privately; yes, managed personally; yes, under our immediate control, but for the purpose of the needs of all.

Our hearts pull back at this concept, don’t they?  It sounds like socialism, communism, fascism, or anarchy.  But it is not.

It is growing crops for the purpose of love.  It is earning money for the purpose of love.  It is managing our resources for the purpose of love.  It is realizing that God has placed our land, our income, our possessions in our hands for the chance to love someone.

I yearn for a society that enables us to do just that.  Where we are free to use our resources as the Lord leads us to love.  Where we are free to manage our possessions as the Lord leads us in love.  Where we are free to have, so we can give.

Without Christ in society, it would not work.  Without the Spirit in society, it would not work.  Without the love of the Father in society, it would not work.

But with Son, and Spirit, and Father?  Wow…

We are peculiar, we have the potential to understand the purpose of our possessions.

We's Dumb

And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’   (Job 28:28 ESV)

We’s-dumb

Another word Christians should re-claim from the world is ‘wisdom.’  Today wisdom is taught to be ‘applied knowledge,’ or the result of experience, or being clever politically, economically, or relationally. 

But that is not wisdom.  Wisdom, in fact, is nearly the opposite of those things.  We find wisdom only in acknowledging how much more God is than us.  He knows all, understands all, and declares what all truth is. 

Wisdom is found in humbly clinging to Him for knowledge, Him for understanding, and Him for truth.

The world calls this naïve.

But we know it is dumb to do anything else.

Wisdom says cling to the cross, not your win-loss record for salvation.  Wisdom says love like Jesus loves us, not only when it benefits us.  Wisdom says be amazed at God’s power, glory, and goodness, instead of being impressed with our attempts to be like Him.

We are peculiar, we know wisdom.

Listen

When God sent the prophet Haggai to them, they paid attention to him. In listening to Haggai, they honored God. (Haggai 1:12 The Message)

Listen

God had been troubling His people in response to their ignoring Him.  In the time of Haggai (around 520 BC) the Jews had returned from the Babylonian captivity, but had neglected to start work on rebuilding the temple.  The task was too hard.  They were broke.  They had so many more urgent tasks.

So what did God do?  God sent His word, in the voice of the prophet Haggai.  And they listened.  And they did what God had directed them to do.  Because they were God’s people, they were able to listen, hear, be challenged, and do.

We can listen, too.  The entire Bible is God’s word to His people.  We, too, might find the task of love too hard.  We, too, might find our resources are not enough to fund kingdom work.  We, too, might be overwhelmed with today’s urgent tasks.

But we can listen.

And when we do, we can rebuild His temple, His kingdom, His people.

We are peculiar, we can listen.

Trophies

They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,  “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power. ‘ (Revelation 4:10, 11 ESV)

Trophies

Ronald Reagan played Notre Dame footballer George Gipp in a film about Notre Dame’s greatest coach, Knute Rockne.  While Rockne was Notre Dame’s first football star, later invented the forward pass, and is credited with starting Notre Dame’s football Dynasty, in American culture he is best known for the inspiring speech to “win this one for the Gipper.”  The  team, facing their toughest opponent yet, but without the great George Gipp, who had been suddenly taken out of the football picture, heard Rockne’s words and of course, won the unwinnable game.

Rockne knew that having something outside of ourselves to fight for can make all the difference.

John saw Christians not only placing our burdens at the foot of the cross, but also our crowns!  Like Rockne’s Fighting Irish, it can inspire us to know that we are not striving for ourselves, but to give God glory and honor, and display HIS power.

We are peculiar, when we win, we win for Jesus.

Enmity

…the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. (2 Samuel 2:1 ESV)

‘

Enmity

David is astonishing in his praise of Saul, the man who had kept David from his crown, attempted murder, blamed David for everything, and hated David.

When Saul died, David avenged his death, grieved, and wrote a song praising the person we whose death we would expect David to gloat over.

David seems to have every righteous right to rejoice over his enemy’s defeat, to gloat over his victory, to dance on his grave. But…

Perhaps David understood that hating is draining.  Revenge is costly.  Death is always a loss for humanity.

Perhaps David, whose heart was in tune with the Lord, knew that life with the Lord changes everything. 

Perhaps David had even been able to surrender his enmity, his hatred, his revenge to His God.

Our hatred is draining.  Our revenge is costly.  Death stings.  But we can unload our enmity, vengeance, gloating, bitterness, and hatred unto the Lord, too. 

Like David, we can let God handle it.  Like David, we can trust God will declare His victory, which is so much better than ours.  Like David, we can have a heart towards the Lord.

We are peculiar, we do not need to have enemies.

Compassion

You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk. (Exodus 23:19b ESV)

Compassion

I admit this is a peculiar verse.  I have wondered if God’s prohibition of boiling a young goat in this way had some medical value.  But it does not appear to be the case.  I have wondered if God was giving this command as a way to set His people apart, like Sabbath-keeping, as in, ‘ONLY my people do not boil their baby goats like that.’  But this does not really appear to be a distinctive of God’s people, ancient or modern.  I have wondered if God spoke those words as an indication that every bit of our lives are subject to God’s laws.  While we are subject to His laws, this command does not seem to be a part of that.

In fact, I have come to believe that God gave this command as a display of His compassion, and to inspire us to compassion, too.

This verse does not speak against eating the meat of young goats.  As cute as they are, they are also nutritious food.  But to cook that young goat in the very milk provided by her mother for her sustenance could be seen as cold-hearted. 

And so, God was compassionate.  Not simply to the goat.  But to us, watching.  To the children who love that goat.  To all of us who need a reminder to be both practical and kind.  To be both pragmatic and understanding.  To be both realistic and compassionate.

And also because God is so very compassionate to us, in Christ Jesus..