God As the Jealous Husband

by Clarke Dixon

. . .for you shall worship no other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Exodus 34:14

God is jealous. So much so, in fact, that according to the verse above He even has the name “Jealous.” Isn’t that a problem? Isn’t jealousy a bad thing, a sinful thing? While preparing for a sermon on Ezekiel chapter 16 it struck me how this passage helps us understand the jealous love of God. It compresses the history of the people of Jerusalem into a story, an allegory. Let me compress that even further and give you the “Coles notes” version of the story which we can divide into the following chapters:

Chapter One: Rescued (verses 3-6)

In ancient times there was a form of birth control called “exposure.” Basically an unwanted baby, all too often a girl, was left out in an open field to die. This story begins with such a baby being rescued having been found covered in blood and still attached to the placenta given the details. Remembering that this is an allegory, God’s people in Ezekiel’s day were to understand that they were in a relationship with God, not because there was anything special about them, but because of God’s love. The same can be said of the Christian today. To sum up chapter one: Rescued instead of dead.

Chapter Two: Married (verses 7-9)

Once the child in the story grows, the rescuer marries the child. At first glance we might think this is gross, but when we remember the context of ancient times and how marriage was different then than now, we learn that this was a very loving move on the part of the rescuer. This child, once old enough, could have been forced into slavery instead, or worse. Marriage was a promise of continuing nurture and care. Remembering that this is allegory, God’s people in Ezekiel’s day were to remember that being in a covenant relationship with God was a sign of God’s amazing love and grace. The Christian today enjoys the covenant love of God. To sum up chapter two: Married instead of enslaved, sold, or worse.

Chapter Three: Blessed (verses 10-14)

Here we learn about how blessed this woman really is. She is not married and then provided with the mere essentials. She is, in fact, the queen, and treated as such. God’s people in Ezekiel’s day were to realize just how blessed they were to be in relationship with God. As Christians do we realize just how blessed we are? To sum up chapter three: A queen, instead of a mere dependant.

Chapter Four: Betrayed (verses 15-34)

Here there is a shift in the story:

But you trusted in your beauty, and played the whore because of your fame, and lavished your whorings on any passer-by. Ezekiel 16:15 (emphasis mine)

There is a lengthy and quite graphic description of the betrayal. Though rescued instead of dead, though married instead of enslaved or sold, though a queen instead of a mere dependant, though all of this was because of the love and grace of the rescuer, the groom, the king, she betrays him with her unfaithfulness. She is described as acting like a prostitute, only worse, for a prostitute has enough sense to get paid. Remembering that this is allegory, God’s people in Ezekiel’s day were to get the point that they have been unfaithful to the Lord. As Christians are we faithful? To sum up chapter four: Promiscuous and stupid, instead of grateful and faithful.

Chapter Five: Consequences (verses 35-59)

Following the betrayal come the consequences of a living a promiscuous and unfaithful life.

You must bear the penalty of your lewdness and your abominations, says the Lord. Yes, thus says the Lord God: I will deal with you as you have done, you who have despised the oath, breaking the covenant; Ezekiel 16:58-59

There is a lot to read and digest here, but let’s just say it does not go well. Remembering this is allegory, God’s people in Ezekiel’s day were to understand that the exile and the coming fall of Jerusalem to Babylon is a consequence of their unfaithfulness. As Christians today we are not automatically saved from the consequences of our decisions. “You reap what you sow” is a Biblical affirmation, taught in both the Old and New Testaments.To sum up chapter five: Suffering the consequences instead of getting away with murder.

Chapter Six: Forgiven (verses 60-63)

Next in this story comes a pleasant surprise.

. . . yet I will remember my covenant with you in the days of your youth, and I will establish with you an everlasting covenant. . . I will establish my covenant with you, and you shall know that I am the Lord, in order that you may remember and be confounded, and never open your mouth again because of your shame, when I forgive you all that you have done, says the Lord God. Ezekiel 16:60,62,63

God remains faithful to His people! He will forgive! He still does. To sum up chapter six: Forgiven instead of cast away.

Do you get a sense of the jealous love of God from this story? The jealousy we tend to think of arises out of insecurity. It doesn’t just arise from a man thinking his wife is looking at another man, it arises from a man thinking there is a better man. God knows better and knows there is no better. The Lord is not insecure. God is jealous, meaning God is passionate. If God were not jealous for us He would be apathetic. God is jealous, meaning God is caring. If God were not jealous, He would be uncaring. God is jealous, meaning God is faithful. His love does not cease at the first sign of betrayal. He is faithful in His love, in His keeping of covenant promises. He knows what is best for the people He loves, and He is the best for the people He loves!

Spiritually speaking, we may be more like the woman in the story than we care to admit. We do not deserve the rescue, the marriage, the blessing. We betray. We experience the consequences of our decisions. But God remains faithful. Got sin in your life? You can depend upon God to forgive it. He is jealous for you. Storm clouds are brewing? You can depend on God to walk you through the storm. He is jealous for you. Got a sense that you do not deserve heaven? Me too. Though in this age we will still often experience the consequence of our sin, in the age to come we experience the consequence of His goodness and grace in Jesus Christ. Rescued, married, and blessed; not because we are good people, but because God is a jealous God.

All scripture references are taken from the NRSV

Source for this article at Sunday’s Shrunk Sermon

Source for Today’s Graphic Image at Brian Hunt Blog

Regrets? I Have a Few

^{ESV Phil. 3:13} Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, ¹⁴ I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.

Once again we pay a visit to veteran Christian musician and author John Fischer, and his blog, The Catch. Click the title below to read this at source.

The dark and lonely closet of regret

 No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God. Luke 9:32

When you begin to step out into your dynamic future (see previous day’s article), regret becomes something tied to your static past that no longer serves a purpose. Regret, like guilt, is useful only as a passageway to something better. Regret is good in that it gets us to agree with God over what we have done wrong, but it needs to quickly be eclipsed by God’s forgiveness and hope, counting on the new creation that we are in Christ. You regret something only long enough to change. Any longer and it becomes a bondage to one’s past.

Regret is like a hot potato. Hold onto it for any period of time and it will burn you.

Regret can lock you up in the “would have,” “could have” and “should have’s” of life that lead only to a futile rehearsal of our past mistakes with no hope of change. “If only I had or hadn’t done such and such…” Holding onto regret is like turning a key on the closet of isolation, from the inside, that keeps us locked up in darkness and separation. In a twisted sort of way, we like it in that closet, because then we do not have to engage in the life around us. We can selfishly stay, focused on ourselves, drawing all the attention and licking our wounds — wounds that God wants to heal, if we would just stop tearing at them.

Regret nullifies our possibility for change. It says we would rather feel bad about what we did than to learn from it and move on. Regret says that we want to pay for our own sins rather than accept God’s forgiveness. Regret crucifies Christ over and over again when He only died once and for all. Remember? “It is finished.” Regret says, “No it’s not. I have to pay for this first.” And then it’s never over.

Regret basically leaves God out of the picture. It denies the miracle of forgiveness and the hope of change. It says we have only our poor, sinful, dysfunctional selves to deal with.

Stepping out is scary, and there are lots of options to choose from, but that is where the Spirit is. Leave your regrets to the past because they are tethered there and will not accompany you out into the Spirit. Anyway, the Spirit of God doesn’t like closets, especially dark ones.

“Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

What is there to regret about that?

We have a bonus item for you today, if you’re interested. At Thinking Out Loud a look at… Making Your Prayers More Specific.

Do Not Sin; But if You Sin…

A year ago we introduced you to Don Costello at the blog Theophobic. Don takes an expository approach — phrase by phrase — and blogs in a style not unlike what you might find in a detailed Bible commentary. He’s been blogging since 2006 and has about 1,500 posts.  Click here to read this at source, and then click the header at the top of his page to look around at other recent articles. (We’ve left all references here in KJV, which Don uses. Feel free to look up each reference in the Bible you are most comfortable with.)

1 John 2:1

My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

a. This study is going to upset some apple carts so fasten your seatbelts because for some of you it is going to be a bumpy ride.

1. “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not…”

a. Translations
1). [NLT] My dear children, I am writing this to you so that you will not sin.2). [NIV] My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin.

3). [NASB] My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin.

4). [RSV] My little children, I am writing this to you so that you may not sin;

b. What are the things he wrote in order that we should not sin?

1). 1 John 1:5-10 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth:

But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.

b. It is extremely clear what John is saying. He said, I am writing this to you so that you do not sin, but he also made abundantly clear that everyone has sinned and no one is without sin, but he wrote all that to say that we should not sin. The grace of God provided in the New Covenant provides us with forgiveness and mercy for our sins, but it also provides us with empowerment not to sin, that is what John was saying. The body of Christ in American culture has a perverted view of grace and salvation in Christ. Too many believers have the opinion, “I am just a sinner saved by grace.” On the authority of the word of God I tell you that is not true and you should not have that opinion of yourself. You are saints! Yes saints,  for that is what the Scriptures call us. If you are a born again Christian you are not “just a sinner saved by grace”, you are a saint!

1). Philippians 1:1 Paul and Timotheus, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi, with the bishops and deacons:

2). Ephesians 1:1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:

c. The warnings in the Scriptures concerning having an exalted opinion of oneself are clear and here are a few of them.

1). Philippians 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

2). 1 Peter 5:5 Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.

d. In this study I will not be referring to having an exalted opinion of ourselves, but rather what the word of God says about us and what it says about the opinion we should have of ourselves in Christ.

e. The opinion I am to have is the mind of Christ, a part of the inheritance we have in Christ Jesus.

1). 1 Corinthians 2:16 For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

2). The mind of Christ.

a). 1 Peter 4:1, 2 Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.

b). Jesus had the attitude that he was not going to sin against his Father God and that is the opinion and mental attitude that we also should have. We are not going to sin against God

3). Notice what Paul writes concerning what our opinion should be concerning sin

a). Romans 6:1-14 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.
For he that is dead is freed from sin.Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under graceb). In the above passage Paul writes under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost: God forbid that we would sin; we should not serve sin; we are freed from sin; we are not to let sin reign in our bodies; We are to reckon (consider) ourselves dead to sin; sin shall not have dominion over us because we are under grace. What? Sin shall not have dominion over us because we are under grace? But what we hear mostly is the part of grace that Christ has borne my sins and I am forgiven of them and when I sin, I can ask forgiveness and he forgives me in grace given to me because of what he did on Calvary. All of that is true.4). Sin will not have dominion over me because I and under grace. Everything I need to live a victorious in Christ is given to me through the knowledge of God.

a). 2 Peter 1:2-4 Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord,

According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.

5). The grace of God teaches us and empowers us to live free from ungodly lusts free from all iniquity.

a). Titus 2:11-15  For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men,Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.These things speak, and exhort, and rebuke with all authority. Let no man despise thee.

2. “…And if any man sin…”

a. Too many in the body of Christ have a sin consciousness, they believe that even though they are Christians they will continue to sin, it is a fact of life you can’t get away from it, you are just a sinner saved by grace and when we sin we repent, ask God to forgive us and we go on, but that is not what the New Covenant says.

1). 1 Corinthians 15:34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not: for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.

2). 1 Corinthians 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.

3. “…we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:”

a. advocate [3875 * parakletos][an intercessor, consoler:–advocate, comforter.]

b. In the New covenant we have been given grace that empowers us not to sin against God, but if we sin we then have an advocate where we can ask forgiveness.

1). Hebrews 4:14-16 Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession. For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

2). 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us form all unrighteousness.

Learning How to Unlearn Things

Recently I heard someone say of a televised music performance, “Now that I’ve seen it, I can’t un-see it.” While the memory starts to go as people age, for most of us, our memories are able to recall all manner of details from the past, often particularly as they relate to other people. Trying to forgive and forget is just about impossible. The synapses — or whatever it is — in our brain work too well. How does God do it?

In Micah 7, we read:

¹⁹ He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.  (KJV)

From this we derive the phrase, “the sea of God’s forgetfulness,” which also occurs in an old gospel song. Being able to forget is considered a human failing but a divine attribute.

There is also this idea in Hebrews 8:

¹² For I will forgive their wickedness
    and will remember their sins no more.”  (NIV)

Mark O. Wilson looked at this topic recently.  Click the title below to link directly to his blog:

Just Forget It

A few years ago, I had the privilege of spending the evening with a saintly author, Wesley Duewel who was in his 90’s. In the course of our conversation, I happened to mention a recent scandal involving a well known religious figure, which made national news.

Dr. Duewel seemed confused for a moment.

“I’m sure you remember. . .” I said and added a few juicy details. Then, the kind minister smiled and said, “Oh yes. ..it was completely out of my mind  until you brought it up.  I chose to forget about that.”

I was appropriately rebuked.

Rehashing another person’s failures doesn’t do anybody any good. Sometimes, the best alternative is just to forget the whole thing.

Forgetting things can be rather frustrating. All of us know the stress of attempting to pull a lost memory from the dark, cobwebbed corners of the mind.

Some people are more forgetful than others. I hate to admit it, but I’m a member of the “forgetful club.” We’ve organized “Forgetters Anonymous” – but nobody remembers to go to the meetings!

Fortunately, I haven’t forgotten too many earth shattering things along the way. Probably the worst ones were: when I forgot about a funeral I was supposed to perform or when my brain blanked out and I forgot to write my column for the newspaper- or perhaps the time I forgot to take the offering at church! I was finishing the service with a benediction, when the ushers finally caught my attention by waving the offering plates like crazy.

So far, I’ve done pretty well remembering important stuff like my wife’s birthday, our anniversary, funerals, Christmas and Packer games. Actually, forgetting isn’t as bad as it’s cracked up to be.

Sometimes, it’s better to forget than to remember.

It’s better to forget the hurt someone has caused you.
It’s better to forget to “rub it in” when you were right.
It’s better to forget what others “owe” you.
It’s better to forget the minor annoyances – the bugs on life’s windshield.
It’s better to forget your failures, your past sins, and your losses.
It’s better to forget to toot your own horn.
It’s better to forget your resentment and disappointment.
It’s better to forget to complain.

In this regard, choosing to forget is good medicine for the soul.

“Forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize..” Phil. 3:13

If We Claim to be Without Sin

The phrase that forms the title of today’s thoughts is part of the first chapter of John’s first epistle.  Here’s are some thoughts from other online writers…

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Because a biblically-managed life depends on maintaining an eternal perspective while living in a temporal world, we must consistently examine our lives…

Dealing With My Sin

As a believer, the penalty of sin is gone but the propensity to sin remains. We will sin in word, thought, and deed. But the great truth is this: When we confess our sins, He forgives us. We need to confess our sins daily to the Lord.

Read the following passages and then list those sins that seem to continually raise their ugly heads in your life. Confess them to God and experience His forgiveness based on the promises of His Word.

For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Then I acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD.” And you forgave the guilt of my sin.
–Psalm 32:4-5

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.
–1 John 1:8-9

~Ron Moore at The Journey

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Part of the sickness we can observe in our culture is the need to be good, or to seem innocent where guilt should be admitted.  As long as no one catches us, we tell ourselves we really haven’t done anything bad.  As long as we can find some problem in our background to explain our pain, we act as though we’re not responsible for our lives of addiction and irresponsibility.  As long as some lawyer can find a reasonable judge or a technicality that can get us off, we think we don’t have to worry about the cheating, stealing and assaulting that we’ve committed.  If we deny we do bad things, we suffer on the inside even if our reputation seems to hold together for a while on the outside.  God clearly tells us that one of the great gifts of true goodness is the cleansing we feel after we’ve admitted our faults and our sins.

 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9 NIV)

Keeping the rules and checking the “balance sheet” is another favorite method of tricking ourselves into thinking we are good people.  We follow the rules but push and shove anyone who gets in our way while we do it.  We use all the times we’ve done the right thing to excuse ourselves from taking responsibility for the rules we break.  We do good things for others and tell ourselves we are “pretty good people” even though we know we have bad attitudes and hidden resentments.

The Bible makes a clear distinction between doing good things and goodness as a character quality.  Jesus taught His follower,

“Why do you call me good? No one is good—except God alone.”  (Luke 18:19 NIV)

In spite of the challenges and ethical confusion, as followers of Jesus, we are taught to do good.  Also we are told that one of the signs that God lives in us is that our lives demonstrate “goodness.”   God has created us for good work, flowing from a good heart.  The challenging question for us is:  Are we just “looking good” or are we really good?

~from the blog Partners In Hope Today

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“I’m wrong.”

It is hard for these words to roll off the tongue.

Pride doesn’t want to admit it. Fear won’t allow us to admit it.

Our pride tells us we are basically good people. Admitting that we are wrong might sully that good reputation.

Our fear doesn’t want to deal with the “potential” consequences.

Neither is of the Lord.

God calls us to walk in truth. Often times that means admitting we are wrong. The Bible calls this confession. It is simply agreeing with God.

Knowing that Jesus loves us puts our fleshly pride and fear in their place. Trust Him. Walk in truth. Go ahead and say those dreaded words, “I’m wrong.”

It will work together for good, just as He promised.

~Bob Christopher at Basic Gospel

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“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross.”

(Colossians 2:13-14)

Reflection:

Paul has a way with words! There was a time when we were both dead and dying because of sin and our sins. Like the uncircumcised person we were spiritually unclean and seen to be outside the provisions and scope of the covenant. There was nothing we could do to alter this state – it was as if we carried within us a written conviction and sentence of death. Then God did something – Jesus Christ came and took into Himself our sin, our sins and our conviction and sentence, and went to death on our behalf. The sentence has been paid and, when accepted, our sins can no longer be held against us in God’s judgement court – “He forgave all our sins.”

As believers we no longer live under the law, we live in the grace of God – we live in forgiveness as those who have been forgiven, even in advance. Instead of facing death we have entered into life. That is not a mandate for us to live carelessly or to indulge ourselves in sin – that can never be acceptable when we look at the terrible cost to God of our forgiveness. It does, however, mean that when we do sin we can go to the Father and ask for forgiveness, a forgiveness that has already been achieved for us. But let us never forget that it is ‘the blood of Jesus’ that ‘purifies us from all sin,’

“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin. If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:7-9)

Although this amazing grace is extended and available to all people it is not a blanket provision acquired by all. It is a gift to be recognized, accepted, treasured and received. Those who reject the gift, reject God. Those who reject God reject the gift. Those who believe and put their faith and trust in the Saviour enter into the grace and love of God, as His sons and daughters, for eternity.

As believing Christians, no matter how difficult we find it to live pure and holy and faithful lives, the grace of God and the blood of Jesus have purified and continue to purify us. When we live in the grace of God we live in forgiveness, and in the new life and relationship that He has given to us. How wonderful is that! Learn to live in it every day – you are made right with God!

Response:

Take time to acknowledge and accept the truth.

Prayer:

Thank You so much Father for Your wonderful love and grace. Please help me to believe, accept and live in it every day – for Jesus sake, Amen.

~Soaring Eagle at the blog Softly Spoke the River

 

The Vulnerability of God

The Parable of the Lost Son – Luke 15 (NIV)

¹¹ Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

¹³ “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living….

^…17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ ,,,

…“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

²¹ “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²² “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. ²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate…

Today’s reading is an excerpt from a sermon by a radical Lutheran pastor, Nadia Bolz-Weber. Radical is a bit of an understatement; you can read more about her and watch a video of her speaking to a youth rally at this Thinking Out Loud article from last July.   Nadia blogs at The Sarcastic Lutheran, where you can not only read today’s full text, but also listen to this brief sermon (about ten minutes) on audio. To do both, click here.  Nadia begins with a story of a time she thought her child was missing; and continues…

…[I]t’s vulnerable to have a child.  To create or adopt a child is to leave yourself vulnerable to a broken heart in the way nothing else can.  Which is why I started wondering this week about the vulnerability of God.

There is much talk out there about the strength of God and the mightiness of God and the awesomeness of God.  But what of the vulnerability of God?

That God would breath into dust and create us in God’s own image….that God would bring humanity into being as God’s own beloved children was to leave God’s self vulnerable to a broken heart in a way nothing else could have. What a risk God took creating us. Giving us enough freedom to be creators and destroyers.  Giving us enough freedom for us to make a mess of everything and act as our own Gods and to also trust in God and love each other…

…I’ve always heard this parable, one of the most famous stories in the Gospel, titled the Parable of the Prodigal son.  But out of everything we could say this story is about – why do we say it’s about the wasteful extravagance of the younger son? Why is that the focus when it’s not even that interesting?

I mean, It’s actually common for young people to leave home, waste their lives and their money for awhile until they have no other option but to come home to the parents they didn’t treat very well when they were leaving in the first place. Maybe we make this a story about the wasteful stupidity of the younger son because it’s a story we are more familiar with than the alternative, which is this: if the word prodigal means wasteful extravagance, then isn’t it really the story of the prodigal father?

Isn’t it wastefully extravagant for the Father to give his children so much freedom?  Isn’t it wastefully extravagant for the Father to discard his dignity and run into the street toward a foolish and immature son who squandered their fortune? Isn’t it wastefully extravagant for the father to throw such a raging party for this kind of wayward son?

But, see, I love that kind of grace.

I personally love that Jesus tells this story of the prodigal father in response the to Pharisee’s indignation that Jesus would eat with tax collectors and prostitutes because, when it comes down to it, give me a church filled with awful sinners over a church filled with pious Pharisees any time.

Some of us might find the grace the father shows to the younger son to boarder on offensive, but the thing that really gets me in this story is how wastefully extravagant the Father is toward the older son.  The kid who never left him.  The one who has always done everything right.  The kid who is clean cut and went to college right out of high school and came back to work in his father’s business.  The kid who always signs up to do jobs at synagogue but resentfully notices all the slackers who show up and never help at all.  The kid who feels entitled. The kid who can’t stomach going into a party to celebrate the return of his screw-up of a brother.  I can’t stand that older brother even as I cringe at the ways I may be a little bit like him.  You know what’s wastefully extravagant in my book?: the fact that the Father says to that kid “all that is mine is yours”.

What risk God takes on us. Children who waste everything in dissolute living.  Children who begrudge grace being extended to people who so clearly don’t deserve it. But this is a risk born of love. God risks so much by loving us which is why, tonight anyway,  I prefer calling this the Parable of the Prodigal Father.

Because it is here we see that your relationship to God is simply not defined by your really bad decisions or your squandering of resources.  But also your relationship to God is not determined by your virtue.  It is not determined by being nice, or being good or even, and I struggle with this, but it’s not even determined by how much you do at church.  Your relationship to God is simply determined by the wastefully extravagant love of God.  A God who takes no account of risk but runs toward you no matter what saying all that is mine is yours. Amen.

Related posts at C201:

• It’s Grace (quotations) (September 2011)
• Grace Quotations (November 2012)
• Seeing Yourself in the Story (October 2010)
• Prodigal God by Timothy Keller (November, 2008 very brief summary at Thinking Out Loud)

Grace is Getting More Than We Deserve

^{John 8 : 2 (NLT)} …but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. ³ As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

⁴ “Teacher,” they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. ⁵ The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

Today’s reading is from the new book by Max Lucado, Grace: More Than We Deserve, Greater Than We Imagine (Thomas Nelson). I love the way he is able to paint a descriptive picture of this familiar text, and offer a fresh take on Jesus writing in the dirt.

Stunned students stood on one side of her.  Pious plaintiffs on the other.  They had their questions and convictions; she had her dangling negligee and smeared lipstick.  “This woman was caught in the very act of adultery,” her accusers crowed.  Caught in the very act.  In the moment.  In the arms.  In the passion.  Caught in the very act by the Jerusalem Council on Decency and Conduct.  “The law of Moses says to stone her.  What do you say?”

The woman had no exit.  Deny the accusation?  She had been caught. Plead for mercy?  From whom?  From God?  His spokesmen were squeezing stones and snarling their lips.  No one would speak for her.

But someone would stoop for her.

Jesus “stooped down and wrote in the dust” (v.6 NLT).  We would expect him to stand up, step forward, or even ascend a stair and speak.  But instead he leaned over.  He descended lower than anyone else – beneath the priests, the people, even beneath the woman.  The accusers looked down on her.  To see Jesus, they had to look down even farther.

He’s prone to stoop.  He stooped to wash feet, to embrace children. Stooped to pull Peter out of the sea, to pray in the Garden.  He stooped before the Roman whipping post.  Stooped to carry the cross.  Grace is a God who stoops.  Here he stooped to write in the dust.

Remember the first occasion his fingers touched dirt?  He scooped soil and formed Adam.  As he touched the sun-baked soil beside the woman, Jesus may have been reliving the creation moment, reminding himself from whence we came.  Earthly humans are prone to do earthly things.  Maybe Jesus wrote in the soil for his own benefit.

Or for hers?  To divert gaping eyes from the scantily clad, just caught woman who stood in the center of the circle?

The posse grew impatient with the silent, stooping Jesus.  “They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up” (v. 7 NLT).

He lifted himself erect until his shoulders were straight and his head was high.  He stood, not to preach, for his words would be few.  Not for long, for he would soon stoop again.  Not to instruct his followers; he didn’t address them.  He stood on behalf of the woman.  He placed himself between her and the lynch mob and said, “‘All right, stone her.  But let those who have never sinned throw the first stones!’  Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust”  (vv.7-8 NLT).

Jesus wasn’t finished.  He stood one final time and asked the woman, “Where are your accusers?” (v. 10 NLT).

My, my, my.  What a question – not just for her but for us.

~Max Lucado

After reading this again, I thought to add this scripture, suggested in Lucado’s text above:

^{(NLT)Psalm 103 : 13} The Lord is like a father to his children,
    tender and compassionate to those who fear him.
¹⁴ For he knows how weak we are;
    he remembers we are only dust.

Ministry Life Reminders

Usually it takes us six months to come back to a particular writer, but even though we just shared some of Paul Clark’s writing a month ago,  I enjoyed this short five-point outline to people in ministry — that’s all of us — that he wrote a few days ago under the title A Few Reminders.  For C201 readers, I’ve filled out the scripture portions he alluded to.

First, let’s remind ourselves that God holds us safely in the palm of his hand.

^{NLT Psalm 91: 1} Those who live in the shelter of the Most High
will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty.
² This I declare about the Lord:
He alone is my refuge, my place of safety;
he is my God, and I trust him.

Life has a way of throwing us curveballs, doesn’t it? We find ourselves thrown into circumstances that shake our foundations. But in the midst of those circumstances, we must remind ourselves that we are safe in the hands of our heavenly Father.

Second, let’s remind ourselves of the goodness of God.

^{(MSG)Romans 8: 28}…we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

All God’s intentions toward us are good.  All of God’s activities toward us flow from his goodness. A.W. Tozer wrote, “The whole outlook of mankind might be changed if we could all believe that we dwell under a friendly sky and that the God of heaven, though exalted in power and majesty, is eager to be friends with us.

Third, let’s remind ourselves that we are no longer slaves to sin.

^{(NASB) Romans 6: 6} knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin;

Anyone who has been born of God knows the battle between sin and righteousness that’s being waged in us and around us. The battle between going along or being honest; between pure thoughts and worthless self-talk; between giving in to the flesh or living by the Spirit. We can make the right choices through Jesus Christ!

Fourth, let’s remind ourselves that God’s mercy and forgiveness are inexhaustible.

^{(CEB) Ephensians 2: 4-5} However, God is rich in mercy. He brought us to life with Christ while we were dead as a result of those things that we did wrong. He did this because of the great love that he has for us. You are saved by God’s grace!

The word “rich” means overabounding, limitless, without measure.  God demonstrated that limitless mercy when he sent his Son to die on a cross for our sins. Nothing about me is inexhaustible, yet God is merciful without measure.

Finally, let’s remind ourselves that God’s Word has the power to transform our lives.

^{(TNIV) I Peter 2: 2} Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation…

Our culture makes us spiritually dull.  It wears us down.  We need daily renewal if we will be sharp and prepared for whatever God brings into our day. God’s Word transforming our hearts is the key to living the abundant life.

~Paul Clark

Read more at Paul’s blog, Vision Meets Reality:

• Four Reasons to Read God’s Word Today

The Way of Jesus is not The Way of Perfectionism

Psalm 51
The Message
 ^1-3Generous in love—God, give grace! Huge in mercy—wipe out my bad record.
   Scrub away my guilt,
      soak out my sins in your laundry.
   I know how bad I’ve been;
      my sins are staring me down.

 ^4-6 You’re the One I’ve violated, and you’ve seen
      it all, seen the full extent of my evil.
   You have all the facts before you;
      whatever you decide about me is fair.
   I’ve been out of step with you for a long time,
      in the wrong since before I was born.
   What you’re after is truth from the inside out.
      Enter me, then; conceive a new, true life.

 ^7-15 Soak me in your laundry and I’ll come out clean,
      scrub me and I’ll have a snow-white life.
   Tune me in to foot-tapping songs,
      set these once-broken bones to dancing.
   Don’t look too close for blemishes,
      give me a clean bill of health.
   God, make a fresh start in me,
      shape a Genesis week from the chaos of my life.
   Don’t throw me out with the trash,
      or fail to breathe holiness in me.
   Bring me back from gray exile,
      put a fresh wind in my sails!
   Give me a job teaching rebels your ways
      so the lost can find their way home.
   Commute my death sentence, God, my salvation God,
      and I’ll sing anthems to your life-giving ways.
   Unbutton my lips, dear God;
      I’ll let loose with your praise.

 ^16-17 Going through the motions doesn’t please you,
      a flawless performance is nothing to you.
   I learned God-worship
      when my pride was shattered.
   Heart-shattered lives ready for love
      don’t for a moment escape God’s notice.

Eugene Peterson:

The attempt to impose perfection on either oneself or another, whether parent on child, pastor on congregation, CEO on a company, teacher on student, husband on wife, wife on husband, is decidedly not the way of Jesus.

And how do we know?  In large part because of David, the ancestor of Jesus, who was unembarrassed to be called Son of David.  David provides a large chunk of the evidence that disabuses us of the idea that perfection is part of the job description of the men and women who follow Jesus.  More narrative space is given in our Scriptures to the story of David than to any other single person, and there are no perfectionist elements in it.  The way of David is, from start to finish, a way of imperfection.

… David was a person of prayer.  As it turns out we wend up knowing far more about David’s dealings with God than we do about his dealings with Goliath and Saul, Jonathan and Abigail, Bathsheba and Tamar. And we kneed to know this, for God is the large, totally encompassing reality in which “we live and move and have our being.”  John Calvin described the Psalms as “an anatomy of all the parts of the sou.l”  We will never understand the first thing about who we are and what we are doing if we know ourselves only from the outside. Not that the inside can be understood apart from the outside (nor the outside apart from the inside.)  We need access to both: the story and the prayers. And we have both. There are some ancient manuscripts in which copyists left a gap after each incident in David’s life into which the reader could insert an appropriate Psalm, praying his or her human action into God’s presence and action.

There is not the slightest effort given in the biblical story to make David admirable in any moral or spiritual sense. And yet there is the assumption in all of this that flawed and faithless and failed as is he is, he is representative — not a warning against bad behavior but a witness, inadvertent as it was, to the normalcy, yes, the inevitability of imperfection

The Jesus Way, pp. 79-82

Behind God’s Back

This is from Jerry Bridges Holiness devotional (p. 94) and is also a selection from his book, The Discipline of Grace.

I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake.  Is. 43:25

God uses several metaphors and colorful expressions to assure us that our sins have been literally carried away by our Lord Jesus Christ.  One of them is in Psalm 103:12: “As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us”  (NIV).  Here was an infinite distance as great as human vocabulary could express.

Jesus not only bore our sins on the cross, He carried them away an infinite distance.  He removed them from the presence of God and from us forever.  They can no longer bar our access to God’s holy presence.  Now “we have confidence” – or “boldness” as the King James Version more strikingly puts it – to enter God’s presence.  (Hebrews 10:19)

Reinforcing this message is Isaiah 38:17, where King Hezekiah said to God, “You have cast all my sins behind your back.”  When something’s behind your back, you can’t see it anymore.  It’s out of sight.  This is how He has completely dealt with our sin and put it away.

There’s an emphatic ring to Hezekiah’s words.  They suggest a deliberate, decisive action on God’s part.  God Himself has cast our sins behind His back and He is not hesitant or reluctant in doing this.  He has taken the initiative and He did so joyfully and gladly.  God takes pleasure in putting our sins behind his back because He takes pleasure in the work of His Son.

Do we believe this?  Do we believe the testimony of Scripture, or do we believe our guilty feelings?  Only to the extent we believe God has indeed put our sins behind His back will we be motivated and enabled to effectively deal with those sins in our daily lives.