Rest

It only took 15 minutes of commercial drive-time talk radio to remind me that the world needs rest. Ads for “My Pillow,” “Sleep-number beds,” sleep apnea treatments, and the list goes on. I get it. I had some aches and pains getting seriously in the way of my rest last night. While it is amazing how we can muddle through with poor rest, not enough rest, and even some extended periods of little or no rest, the truth remains that we all need rest to thrive. Ultimately, without rest you die.

And God, in his wisdom, made us in this way so that we would understand our need for REAL rest. Eternal rest, spiritual rest. How important is it, that the all-powerful God, who doesn’t need rest (cf. Ps 121), established a day of rest, the Sabbath, at the end of his creative week? The writer of Hebrews points us to the ultimate rest we all need, a rest that only comes from the living God (3:12), and is only found in Christ (v.14), and only by those who trust in his obedience to the Father by following him (4:1-10).

Our problem is that we cannot perfectly obey like Christ, and so we are given the ironic challenge to “strive to enter that rest” (v.11). How can that work? Our striving is different because of Christ, and Hebrews eventually boils it down to faith. We no longer strive to acquire rest for ourselves, because we can’t – Israel’s failures to keep the Law showed us that. We humble ourselves and come to God’s throne seeking mercy and grace, and find it through Jesus, our perfect, eternal High Priest. He more than perfectly understands our human frailty, but unlike the earthly priests who could never fix that problem, Christ himself “became the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him” (5:9).

By the way, since the clues indicate Hebrews was written to (Jewish) Christians, we are reminded that rest is not a need exclusively for the lost, one that is suddenly fully met upon conversion. Believers have an ongoing, daily need for rest.

Do you need rest today? Walk in faith, turning away from deliberate sin (10:26), and a heart hardened by rebellion (3:7,15, cf.4:7), drawing near with a true heart (10:22), humbly but confidently looking to Jesus, our Mediator (9:15), the founder and perfecter of our faith (12:2).

(Deep breath) Ahh!

Paying the Bill

It's been busy - a downsizing move, multiple garage sales, prepping our 20-year-old home for sale, and a trip to WA - but it's time to post again.

I heard this morning that a petition is circulating in protest of what some believe are unreasonably high rates from our local power company, KCPL (Kansas City Power and Light). I don't know whether the complaints are well-founded, but my ears perked up at the story because we have parodied the company brand (perfectly legal for non-profits to do) for our new children's midweek ministry, JCPL (Jesus Christ Power and Light). The claim in the petition reminds me of the foundational doctrine at the core of what we will be teaching our kids.

God created mankind for his own glory, and his good plan was for us to be in close fellowship with him, resembling him and representing him (the imago dei - the "image of God") as we rule this good planet he created and filled with life (Gn 1-2). But God's perfect holiness requires the same of those made in his image. Because of mankind's rebellion in Gn 3, we had a price on our heads. Like any restoration project has a cost, our reconciliation to God, a return to a righteous standing, also has a cost. And here was our problem: the amount due is way beyond what any of us could ever pay. It would be like getting a bill from KCPL for 20 trillion dollars - the current national debt - as an individual. In reality, it is worse, for the debt of our sin is beyond our calculation.

Who could possibly have the resources to take care of this debt? For an electric bill, only the full authority of KCPL - those who possessed all its identity and resources - could cover this debt. For sin, only God's full identity and resources could cover that debt. That is what Christ offers, since he is fully God, and possesses all resources as our Creator and the Founder of our salvation. And as such, he has canceled our debt at the cross, stamping "paid in full" on the heart of everyone who believes and follows him (Col 2:8-15).

So, before Jesus Christ is our Source for Power and Light, he is our divine bill-payer. And once the bill is paid - wow! If the debt for our sin was mind-blowing, the spiritual "juice" that hits our life circuits when Jesus turns on the lights is even greater (Rm 5:20)! Now that he paid the bill, Christ floods every one of his homes (every believer, cf. 2 Cor 6:16) with his infinite power and light (Acts 1:8, Mt 5:14-16).

I don't know enough to conclude whether this petition is well founded, whether KCPL's rates are too high. But I do understand that many people are bumbling around in the dark, frustrated and bruised. Unless someone comes around with a little light (namely, the Holy Spirit and us Christians), they can't even read their mail (namely, the Scriptures). Even when they do, many will prefer to blow off the bill, and Christ's payment, and just try to make the best of it. In effect, they sign the petition that says the cost of belief - submitting to the authority of Christ - is too high. How sad!

But these accounts are personal, and so are the choices. And we who are Christians are called to carry Christ's power and light to as many individuals as we can. We never know when we may get to watch the lights come on for a new follower of Christ!

John's View of Fellowship

In his opening to his first letter to the churches, the Apostle John writes:

What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have observed and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life—² that life was revealed, and we have seen it and we testify and declare to you the eternal life that was with the Father and was revealed to us—³ what we have seen and heard we also declare to you, so that you may also have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. ⁴ We are writing these things so that our joy may be complete.

We church people have always talked a lot about fellowship. We like to hang out, bring (too much) food for a potluck, arrange activities or entertainment to enjoy together. Maybe we fellowship at our church facilities (we have a special room for it), or gather in a home, or even a restaurant or hip coffee shop. And this is appropriate, especially when our hang-outs are centered around gospel conversations and ministry.

But I think that understanding of fellowship is much smaller than John’s – and that of Jesus. John here (and the other apostles) declared the Eternal Son as the source for life. Why? So that OTHERS would by faith in the Son come into fellowship with God and his church. John states that bringing others into this fellowship is what brings joy to the church. And of course, the Son came to bring people into that fellowship. He not only made it possible, but he left those first believers with the mandate to CONTINUE to bring others into it (Mt 28:18-20).

Does your fellowship extend only to your favorite Christian friends? Is it mostly limited to Sundays, and maybe some potlucks? When do we ever move outside our walls – literal and figurative ones – and take joy in drawing new people into fellowship with God and his church? This is the mission with which Christ left us, to continually compel newcomers to the party (Mt 22:1-14, esp. v.9).

Until Christ returns, fellowship is as much about those not yet included as it is about us. Whom can you invite in today?

Promises and God's Goodness

Listening to Christian radio this morning, I heard back-to-back songs with God’s promises as the theme. The lyrics encouraged the listener to hold on to God’s promises, even - or especially - when they seem slow in coming. One line says, “Jesus is alive, so hold on tight; hold on to the promises.”

It occurred to me that one of the most common defeaters to faith, usually referred to as “the problem of evil in the world,” is actually one of the greatest invitations to Christian faith. The supposed problem is the existence of evil (meaning not only malicious personal activity but also just general calamity) in the world, in spite of the claim that God is both absolutely sovereign (powerful) and absolutely good. The Christian apologist knows that many people conclude that a perfectly good and sovereign God must not actually be at least one of those things since a lot of bad stuff happens in the world.

But let us turn that around. Since there is no doubt that evil exists and bad things happen, where can one turn for hope? Oneself? No. We all learn soon enough that we don’t have real power to hold off the chaos of life. Other people? No. We too learn that they are no more powerful nor trustworthy than ourselves. Even collective forces, like social movements or governments all will fail us. No surprise, since they are composed of humans. Many turn to impersonal spiritual forces of mysticism or the multiplicity of deities in other religions. But where is the hope in an impersonal everything or force? Evil still happens. Where is the logic in counting multiple beings as gods, when “god” by definition is the greatest conceivable being (and more, cf. Is 55:9; Job 38-41; Rm 11:33; Col 1:15-17)?

There is only one answer to the desperate need of every human - Jesus Christ. Paul, in Col 1 above establishes that Christ is God, the ultimate creative power who holds everything together. Evil and calamity exist only because God has decreed to allow free will and its consequences - for a time, and somehow for good purposes. There is no other hope but to trust in the all-powerful God, to trust in his goodness and his timing when our suffering seems undeserved. When he seems too passive, or too slow to act - this is when our trust has meaning. He has always proven trustworthy, and we do not have the information he does, no perspective to justify questioning his goodness (see Job’s story, and his response to God in ch.42).

And here’s the kicker. Jesus is not only the all-powerful, perfectly good and trustworthy God. He is also the Son of Man, who himself had to trust God in light of the worst evil of all. No one can teach Jesus a thing or two about abuse or injustice - he took the worst of both. No one has a one-upper story of betrayal on Jesus - he was betrayed by one of his closest, hand-picked friends. He was rejected by his people, his supposed friends, even his own family. No one has ever carried more suffering, or more shame - he carried the shame of ALL mankind’s sin’s, as well as the weight of the wrath of God himself. In all this, he made the simple choice for which he was born into humanity - he trusted God his Father, even to the point of the cross.

And now because of his perfect obedience he is exalted and victorious over all kinds of evil. And this is our hope. If we trust in him, identify with him in death and resurrected life (Rm 6:1-14; 8:1-30), we take on his indestructible life (Heb 7:16; 1 Pt 1:23-25). This is the true hope in the promise of a real future in the hands of the Almighty God.

Jesus is alive, so hold on tight. Hold on to the promises of God for those who love him and are called according to his purposes (Rm 5:8).

Wisdom Personified

Frank Sinatra used to sing an old song, asking for Luck to "be a lady tonight." But way before songwriter Frank Loesser personified luck as a lady, the OT book of Proverbs had introduced us to Lady Wisdom. In this wisdom collection from King Solomon, Lady Wisdom calls out to all: "listen to me" (1:33),  and "respond to my warning" (v.23). A loving father encourages his son that if he listens to wisdom, searches for it like a hidden treasure, he will "understand the fear of the Lord and discover the knowledge of God" (2:1-5).

I am amazed this morning how evident here in the Proverbs are Christ and the gospel. Biblical theology allows us to make the step from wisdom personified as a lady to wisdom personified in Jesus, the Incarnate Son.

For those who "fear the Lord" (1:7) the response is repentance (1:23, "turn at my reproof" in the ESV). As a result, Wisdom pours out her spirit on the repentant, and teaches them. We in the church age understand this and a related prophecy by Joel were fulfilled by the Holy Spirit at Pentecost (Acts 2:4). The Spirit of Christ is the Spirit of Wisdom that now fills and teaches the believer.

In OT Hebrew listening includes taking action, so the one who listens to wisdom is the one who responds rightly to it. This person "will live securely and be undisturbed by the dread of danger" (1:33). The Christian lives securely in Christ - what would we fear, we who are sheltered from the wrath of God (Rm 8:31-39)?

The Fall is present here, and its reiteration in every rebellious heart ever since: "Because they hated knowledge, didn't choose to fear the Lord, were not interested in my counsel, and rejected all my correction, they will eat the fruit of their way, and be glutted with their own schemes" (1:29-31). Lady Wisdom offers no "hopeful universalism" - there IS at some point an end to Wisdom's appeals: "Then they will call me, but I won't answer; they will search for me, but won't find me" (v.28).

But if the Fall is here, so is the rescue. The Lord who gives wisdom is himself a "shield for those who walk in integrity," who "guard[s] the path of justice and protect[s] the way of his faithful followers" (2:6-8). For those who "trust in the Lord with all [their] heart" and "in all [their] ways know him" he will "make [their] paths straight," bring "healing...and strengthening" (3:5-8). These are all ways we understand that Christ rescues and ultimately restores us through his own righteousness and eternal life.

Wisdom is a "tree of life" (v.18) that points to the Source of life in Christ for the believer. The Apostle John sums up the benefit of the wisdom that is personified in Christ: "And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life."

The Gospel in Job

I’ve always been intrigued with Job’s story in the Bible, and it is so pertinent for today. Job’s struggle epitomizes man’s struggle with the calamities of a fallen world. It’s one thing to make sense out of bad things happening to bad people, but many people stumble over the reality that bad stuff happens to innocent people.

Job’s friends don’t help much, for they – like Job – are trying to cram God into a closed system where everything goes the way we expect. Those who work hard and follow a godly ethic succeed, showered by nothing but blessings, right? And those who hate and cheat and serve only themselves are frustrated and cursed. But it often does not work that way.

In our most troubled times, we – like Job – tend to come face to face with the ultimate question of trust. Is God really good? Can I really trust him when nothing is going as it seems it should?

Job exposes the reality of our angst. And shows us that God honors our honesty before him. He did not rebuke Job for expressing his frustration or for questioning, but rather for his failure to acknowledge his ignorance (38:1-3). It is for this Job repents (42:1-6). Sooner or later we all recognize our powerlessness. But do we realize our ignorance? God doesn’t answer Job’s “why” questions. He only reminds him of his own absolute power and goodness. That is either enough, or it isn’t. Same for us. In spite of our questions, God is either worthy of our trust, or he isn’t. Only he has all the information. Will we trust him with the parts we cannot know?

And this is where the gospel comes in. When a person comes to realize the need to trust in God, there is still an insurmountable gap. Job lays it out perfectly in ch.9. “[God] destroys both the blameless and the wicked” (v.22). (This takes a human perspective on “blameless”). Of course, we understand none of us is truly blameless (Is 53:6; Rm 3:23). We cannot ignore our condemned state; God will not acquit us, and our attempts to clean ourselves up are futile (Job 9:27-31). Job hits the crux of the matter in vv.32-35: we need an Advocate, an Arbiter, a Mediator, someone who can reconcile us to God. This mediator must be qualified to stand between God and man, to “lay his hand on [both parties].” The NT reveals this Mediator to be Jesus.

Jesus Christ alone is perfectly qualified to stand between God and man, for he himself is fully perfect God and fully perfect man. He is the Person who turns blind, desperate hope into the personal trust placed in someone we can know. Even now, in the Church Age, we know Jesus intimately through his Spirit (Rm 8:9; 1 Cor 2:11-15).

Job squares his answer about trust in 13:15, “Even if he kills me, I will hope in him.” While Job’s ancient theology does not yet fully understand the Christ, he does realize that his mediation must come from God himself, for he says in 16:19, “Even now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and he who testifies for me is on high.” And in 19:25-6, he says, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.”

The people around us inevitably come to these issues of powerlessness and trust. When we come across someone going through a rough patch like Job, when they sense their need, to what or whom will they reach? Church, we have the only answer for them. They need Jesus. Are we listening for the opportunity? As Peter challenges us in 1 Pt 3:15, will we be prepared to give them the answer of hope?

Doing Good

It's funny how such a famous and practical verse as Micah 6:8 gets completely ignored in our culture, and far too often in our own lives:

Micah 6:8 (ESV)

⁸   He has told you, O man, what is good; 

and what does the Lord require of you 

but to do justice, and to love kindness, 

and to walk humbly with your God?

Pretty simple. You want to do good? (Doing well is another matter.) God has shown us what good looks like. Carry out justice, love kindness (or "mercy" or "loyal love"), and walk humbly with God.

Injustice and abuse are not new. And they are rampant. What is our call? We can't control the systemic abuses of humanity, can we?

It is notable that "you" and "man" are collective singulars in this verse. The call is to mankind ("adam") as a whole. You and I do not act for all mankind - only as individual parts of it - but we do share some responsibility for the actions of our human community. We should be grieved when injustice, meanness, and pride permeate our society, and we should exercise any power God grants us to work against these evil activities.

But isn't it far easier to curse the system, and the frustrating inability to "move the needle" toward good, than it is to carry out justice, kindness, and humility on a PERSONAL level? Do we scream about the evils of our government, our courts, and our society and then personally mistreat our fellow man? Where is our justice, kindness, and humility when we stand opposite a poorly trained barista, a forgetful waiter, or a pre-occupied driver? Or our fellow church member? Or our spouse? Our child? Are we frustrated with an inability to move our own personal needle toward good?

If we acknowledge our shortcomings and remember the gospel, surely we will be better disposed to doing good. For we can only do justice because it was already carried out in Christ, we can only love kindness because it was first poured out on us through Christ, and we can only walk humbly with God through our union with Christ, our Lord. When we fail to do good, let's confess our sin and do good with our next opportunity.

By the way, Micah's call here is the prescribed offering we are to bring in order to worship God. Of all the possible offerings to qualify us for worship, the only acceptable one is v.8. And again, we only have this to offer through Christ. This agrees with Paul's call in Rm 12:1-2. We are to discern "what is good, acceptable and perfect," and then to sacrificially offer ourselves to act on it. That doesn't just prepare us for worship, Paul says it IS worship!

We must respond to this call to do good in gospel order. An old hymn may help us here. It is NOT, "It is well with my soul because I do good." It is rather, "Since it is well with my soul, I will do good." Christ only does good. We are in Christ, and so we should (and can) do good.

Will you?