Jesus and Paparazzi

Quick quiz! Without looking, what is the event that directly preceded Jesus feeding the five thousand? 

When we read the gospels, the uninspired section headers paired with our paragraph-by-paragraph Bible-reading habits can causes us to read the gospels as disjoint short stories instead of the unified narrative that it is (which is why manuscript study is often very nice).

I noticed something for the first time the other day, something that I've never seen before. Directly preceding the feeding of the five thousand are these verses:

"And [John the Baptist's] disciples came and took the body and buried it, and they went and told Jesus [that John had just been beheaded]. Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a desolate place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick." -Matthew 14:12-14

Here's the scene. Jesus receives word that his servant and friend, cousin, and the guy who he said was the greatest man ever had been executed. Wanting some time alone to grieve and pray, he withdraws to be by himself. BUT the mob of people follow him, presumably cutting short his grieving time. Despite the crowd's insensitivity, Jesus still has compassion on them.

I recently spent a good amount of time watching videos celebrities fighting paparazzi. Be it those bothering Justin Beiber, Jay-Z, or Kanye, I just love to hate paparazzi, people who basically make a living by making others' lives hell. Camping outside of Kanye's house at 4AM? Come on. Leave the guy alone. The nosiness, insensitivity, and generally scumminess of paparazzi even makes me root for Justin Beiber when he kind of runs one guy over with a car (link above).

Having mobs of people following you that want things from you must be truly awful. And this must have been even worse for Jesus, as he was mourning the loss of someone he loved and regarded very highly, and the crowd relentlessly didn't allow him to have his privacy in his time of loss. And yet "he had compassion on them". Jesus is amazing. If it was me (or Kanye or Beiber), I would have thrown a hissy fit, probably punching some people, cursing them out, and possibly running one over with a car. Having relentless crowds tailing you is bad enough, but in time of mourning? That must be unbearable.

How great the compassion of Christ that he had compassion on and served people who were rudely intruding on his life! How foolish of us to doubt God's care and hesitate to bring our burdens to him when we know that he is a God of utmost patience and compassion!

[In case any of you were wondering if this is in fact chronologically accurate, in all four Gospels, it seems that Jesus either hears about John's death or is speaking about John right before he feeds the five thousand. Mark 6:29-30, Luke 9:7-10, John 5:33-6:1]

God's Will and Decision-Making

Disclaimer: Today is the first day I've given any of this any thought and I'm sure there are a bunch of non-sequesters and  logical fallacies in the post, so don't take my arguments as final. If you disagree or have more points, please comment so I can benefit from your input!

"God desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth." - 1 Timothy 2:4

As I was meditating on that verse just now, here are some of the thoughts that ran through my head.

• Man, this verse is so hard to believe sometimes.
• If God desires all people to be saved, what is keeping him back from doing it?
• I know that hell is still glorifying to God, as his justice is revealed. Maybe God's desire for justice to be desired keeps Him from saving all people. 

Once that last thought ran through my head, the following question automatically hit me: 

Does God have competing desires/wills that He needs to sort through and decide between?

After thinking a little bit about it, my response (as of today, may or may not change in the future) is no, God does not have truly competing desires and wills. Here are a few reasons why. [Note that below, I use "desire" and "will" interchangeably. Also, I am speaking exclusively about God's secret, sovereign will and not of his revealed will or his will of disposition. Also, if you were looking for a response to the initial question I brought up about sending people to hell, the previous link has a good response.]

1) Competing wills implies one is superior over the other.

If God is thinking and deciding between Will A and Will B, if he chooses Will B, it means that Will A was superior to Will B, implying that God had a less-than-perfect idea. Similarly, if God chooses to make a compromise Will C between Will A and Will B, it means that God's original desires Will A and Will B were not perfect and incorrect, which I believe God is incapable of. 

Another way to envision this impossibility is to imagine the absurdity of God making a pros and cons list to make a decision. God  simply cannot will something that has any cons. 

2) Conflicting desires implies that one of the conflicting wills cannot come to pass. 

Similar to the above argument, if God has two conflicting wills and decides between them, at least one of His wills does not come to pass. This cannot be, as God's sovereignty necessitates that His ordained will always comes to pass. 

3) If God needs to "think things through", He is not perfect. 

Does an omniscient, sovereign God need to spend time weighing options or making difficult decisions? If He did, wouldn't that make Him less than perfect, and thus not God? 

Conclusion

I think that in general, we try to think about God in our human, finite terms, which ends up being impossible. When it comes to will and decisions, God is a whole other animal. Whatever God wills, is. He doesn't make a mistake, and He always gets it right the first time. Actually, God isn't even in time and doesn't make decisions "in time", so there is no "first time" for Him. There just is. God exists at a whole different level of being, which obviously makes this all this brain-crushingly difficult to think about. 

This entire post was just a really long way of saying that I don't think that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit got together and argued about whether or not to send the Great Flood or whether or not to kill off Moses right before the people entered the Promised Land (did GRRM write the OT?). This also means that God did not compromise between his desire for all men to be saved and his desire to see justice done through hell. There is no alternate ending where all people are saved and there is no hell that God is keeping from us. As difficult as it may be to come to terms with, this reality that God has set forth is the greatest and best reality.

Related Post

Is Substitutionary Atonement Unjust?

Love and Holiness

1 Thessalonians 3:12-13 - "May the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you, so that he may establish your hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all his saints."

1 Timothy 1:5 - "The aim of our charge is love that issues from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith."

I've never really consciously connected love and holiness until I read the 1 Thessalonians verse a few weeks ago in my quiet times, and this theme of love and holiness has been popping up everywhere to me. It stunned and surprised me that Paul says that love is necessary to for holiness and blamelessness before before God. Unlike the verse suggests, love and holiness were complete disjoint in my mind, and I did not see growing in love as growing in, or even directly influencing, holiness. As I've thought about it, I've realized that I've recently been blinded by a narrow view of both love and holiness. Though I intellectually knew otherwise, love to me is often reduced to an abstract emotion, a virtue that God grants that just mysteriously comes out of me. And my bastardized version of holiness was just "don't do bad things."

Perhaps this is a single-guy-epiphany, but true Christian love both requires holiness and results in inevitable sanctification. Selfless, self-giving Christ-like love isn't something that just happens but must be a result of the mortification of sins such as pride, selfishness, etc (see 1 Timothy verse above). On the other hand, love itself is sanctifying, as it is impossible to love without the selfishness, insecurities, and pride of your heart being revealed and eventually dealt with. Love both fuels and is fueled by holiness.

Paul also seems to suggest in his prayer for the Thessalonians that holiness itself is impossible without love. Unlike the moralistic, legalistic view of holiness that we all tend towards, blamelessness and holiness is more than just avoiding sins but includes the good and right things that God created us for. Love isn't merely icing on the cake or extra credit on top of our best attempts to not sin, love itself is an integral part of holiness. So just as there is no love without holiness, there is no holiness without love.

This short post has taken me forever to write, as I've just had a really difficult time articulating my thoughts. Sorry if none of this is new or insightful for any of you, especially you dating/married folk, but these Scripturally-stemmed, experientially-confirmed realizations have been huge for me these last few weeks. Someone find me a wife.

Jesus Culture and Hillsong - Mostly Love, a Little Hate

I've been going through a spiritual dry spell recently, and listening to Hillsong and Jesus Culture during really work has really helped me to remember God more during the day. It's really awesome because there are full hour and a half worship session videos on Youtube, and my two favorite are probably I Heart Revolution by Hillsong and Your Love Never Fails by Jesus Culture. I especially love One Thing Remains that's done by Jesus Culture (I actually bought this version for a dollar on Amazon Mp3). . Whenever I listen to this worship music at work, I find myself singing or humming along. Hopefully it doesn't bother the people I sit around too much...

Jesus Culture - One Thing Remains




Anyways, even though I really like Jesus Culture and Hillsong and I tolerate most of the little theological/worldview differences in the music, some of the stuff in the music is absolutely too ridiculous that I find it difficult to worship to. The following are some of the idiotic lyrics that I really object to.

Come Away - Show Me Your Glory



Interestingly, this is the song right before my favorite song of One Thing Remains. Here are the lyrics-

"I see the cloud, I step in
I want to see Your glory as Moses did
Flashes of light and rolls of thunder,

I'm not afraid
I'm not afraid

Show me Your glory, show me Your glory, my God
Show me Your glory, show me Your glory"

I find it either incredibly arrogant or incredibly naive for someone to think that they can "handle" the fullness of the glory of God. What makes you think that you are more holy or righteous than Moses or Isaiah? Even John got all confused when an angel of the Lord appeared and he bowed down and worshiped it. John, one of the fathers of the Church, who walked with God on earth for three years, couldn't even handle the glory of an angel. Do you really want God to reveal the fullness of his glory to you? I think it would really benefit whoever wrote this song to read RC Sproul's Holiness of God and rethink those lyrics.

Jesus Culture - Fill Me Up



I absolutely hate this song. It really doesn't give me anything lyrically (well I guess Jesus Culture songs don't normally anyways), but I don't really like the melody either. Also in the few lyrics there are, there's borderline heresy.

"You provide the fire
I'll provide the sacrifice
You provide the Spirit
And I will open up inside"

"I'll provide the sacrifice." Really?! Really?! Have you read the Bible? Don't you know the narrative of scripture that God and God alone provides the sacrifice?! Old Testament. Abraham and Isaac. It was God. New Testament. Jesus. He is God. This isn't some Reformed vs. Arminian difference (like in the third and fourth lines). This is Bible 101. This is the gospel. I can see how they might mean giving yourself as a sacrifice, with "fire" referring to the Spirit. But come on. I can't help but get angry every time I hear this song.

Hillsong - I Heart Revolution Video Snippet

In this little video snippet, the people from Hillsong Church are talking about how important it is to love people, including those near us. Their approach is a little moralistic, but it's okay and I don't really disagree. Then this guy, comes up.

"As long as we are preaching the gospel with our actions, I think we're fulfilling the Great Commission, which is to go out and make disciples."

This is absolutely wrong on so many levels. "Preaching the gospel with our actions" alone would give some pastors fits, but it's a common mistake, and somewhat forgivable. But then he throws in the Great Commission. Do you really think that being nice to people and feeding the poor is fulfilling the Great Commission? If I may ask, how are you going to baptize people by your actions? Is being nice to people really "making disciples"? You've got to be kidding me. You may not hold to the whole unreached people's group thing with the Great Commission, but as a full-time minister, you can't possibly really think that the Great Commission amounts to nothing more than just being a good person by "preaching the gospel with your actions." My goodness.

I know this has been a really negative post, but in reality, I really like Hillsong and Jesus Culture and God has used their music in my life, even if they are kind of wacky sometimes. I guess I just felt the need to rant a little bit about the bad songs that I really dislike.

Acts 8 - The Guidance of the Spirit

This post will be a completion of my previous post on Acts 8:28-40. It would probably be helpful to open it up and read it one time through before reading this post (reading it through won't take more than five minutes, anyways.

"And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah."

Of the many different interesting things about the Ethiopian eunuch, I find it extremely interesting that he was returning from worshiping. This eunuch wasn't a heathen, a pagan, a persecutor of the church, but he was a man who desired to worship the only true God! He wasn't a man who needed to be reminded to go to church on Sunday or to study the Word. God had already placed in his heart a desire to seek Him and to worship Him. And yet he still didn't understand what he read. Many times in our churches and fellowships, we forget that often times, those who are the most lost and are in need of guidance are those who already come to worship! We often assume that just because people come to worship, they know who Jesus is and have a personal relationship with him. This wasn't true for the eunuch, and it certainly isn't true for our churches today, so let's not forget to be reaching out to those already under the roof of the church who may not yet know Jesus.

"And the Spirit said to Philip, 'Go over and join this chariot.' So Philip ran to him..."

This is the first explicit mention of the Spirit that we find in the passage (recall that it was an angel of the Lord that had first told Philip to rise and go). So we can imagine Philip just "chillin" in the desert, walking around, trying to see what God wants him to do, and he sees a chariot and is then prompted by the Spirit to join it. What is Philip's response? Philip runs to the chariot! He doesn't complain, he doesn't ask "God, is this really your will?", he doesn't walk - he runs! We should learn to imitate Philip's eagerness to obey the prompting of the Spirit and run with joy to the tasks that he sets out for us.

[As sort of an aside, I recall from my childhood picture Bibles and Christian videos that supposedly the chariot was actually going full speed and God have Philip the supernatural foot speed (as he had given Elijah) to catch up with a chariot going full speed. I really could be wrong, but this doesn't seem like the most likely scenario to me because of the following verbal exchanges that he has with the eunuch. Philip asks the eunuch if he understands what he's reading, and the eunuch says that he doesn't. It is only after this interaction does the eunuch finally ask Philip to join him in the chariot. To me, it wouldn't really make sense for the eunuch to see a man running full speed next to the chariot without slowing down to converse. But either way, the eagerness of Philip to obey God should be imitated.]

"...and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, 'Do you understand what you are reading?'"

Not only is Philip's eagerness to be imitated, but also his method of evangelism. We see in this simple sentence that Philip did two things - he heard and he asked. In Philip's eagerness to run to the chariot, he didn't get on his metaphorical soapbox and start spewing out the Four Spiritual Laws or the bridge diagram, but he heard the Ethiopian. I am probably the most guilty of speaking before listening, but how much easier it was for Philip to minister to the eunuch because he simply listened! He was able to meet the eunuch in his place of confusion and to address the eunuch's needs instead of imposing his own evangelism strategy on him. Philip listened, and that's something that I need to learn to do. After he listened, Philip asked. Last year, I attended MAC (Ministering Across Cultures) for the second time, and one of my biggest takeaways from the training event is how effective asking questions is to opening a person up and understanding a person. By asking the eunuch a basic question, Philip was allowing the eunuch to express his own thoughts and desires, which in turn made it easier for Philip to minister to him. Many times (for me, at least), our ministry tactic is a "speak and answer questions" sort of approach instead of Philip's "hear and ask" approach. There's definitely a place for both kinds of ministry (can you imagine Pastor Chuck simply "hearing and asking" on stage on Sunday morning? That would be horrible!), but Philip's example is a good reminder for me to be more open to gauging someone else's needs.

"And he said, 'How can I, unless someone guides me?' And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him."

To me, this question that the eunuch asks is the central point of the entire passage. In my previous readings of this passage, I had always thought that the person the eunuch needed was Philip to explain the Scripture to him. While this is true, I think that God is pointing us to something much deeper than that - "the inward illumination of the Spirit of God [is] necessary for the saving understanding of such things as are revealed in the Word. [WCF]" It is the Holy Spirit, not Philip, who is ultimately the guide of the Ethiopian! The easy takeaway from this passage that we've been taught since we were children is that we need to be like Philip and explain the Bible to those who don't understand it. We fail to realize that we ourselves cannot understand the Scripture without the guidance of the Holy Spirit! It is only through God that we ourselves can understand the Word of God and have any hope of explaining it to anyone else!

This post is really sufficiently long, so I'm just going to skip a bit of the passage and get to a few last thoughts I had on the passage.

"Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus."

This "opened his mouth" phrase seems to be used only one other time in this book, and that is in Acts 10:34, when Peter is preaching to the centurion's family. To me, it is a reminder that when we speak, we are merely using our mouths as an instrument of God, and it is really the "Spirit of our Father speaking through [us]". I may be imagining things, but I also see somewhat of a parallel between this passage and Luke 24, where Jesus explains to the two clueless fellows how all of Scripture is really about him. Obviously, Luke and Acts are both written by Luke, and it's cool to see how Luke comes back to a man explaining how all of Scripture is about Jesus.

"And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing."

I'm not sure if you've realized this, but Philip was straight up teleported away. The passage says that "Philip found himself at Azotus." Imagine that. Philip was in the water baptizing the eunuch and an instant later, was in a random town. How strange that must have been! And the eunuch also just got the most awesome baptism in the entire world. Again, this might be over-speculation, but I really think that the eunuch probably got a small feeling of the Spirit of the Lord carrying him out of the water. All of us who've been dunked know that when you're brought down into the water, you need the pastor to bring you back up, because there's really no other way you can get up out of the water from a prostrate position. Now, if Philip was teleported away as they came up out of the water, who would be there to help the eunuch completely up? I very well could be wrong, but to me, the passage seems to imply that the eunuch never saw Philip once he got out of the water, and it isn't a wild possibility to me that it was the Spirit Himself who helped the eunuch onto his feet after the baptism. That would be an awesome baptism - being baptized by God himself! But of course, that's all speculation.

To conclude this post, I really feel like this understanding that the Spirit is the guide is the central theme of the passage. The Spirit is the one who guides Philip to the chariot, the Spirit is the one who gives both Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch understanding of the Scripture, and it is the Spirit who again leads both the eunuch and Philip on their separate paths after their encounter. As Christians, we should allow the Spirit to guide us in all things - be it direction of life or our Scripture readings - and to obey quickly and eagerly when He calls.

Acts 7 - We the Pharisees
Acts 8 - Rise and Go

Acts 8 - Rise and Go

This post, along with the following posts is on Acts 8:26-40, which is the familiar story of Philip and the Ethiopian. (I had wanted to fit it all into one post, but I think it would just be extremely long and unfocused, so this post is just going to be on verses 26 and 27.)

Acts 8:26-27 - "Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, 'Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.' This is a desert place. And he rose and went."

I. "Rise and go"

The first thing that caught my eye was the word "rise". Why did the angel say that? Was Philip sleeping or something? I doubt it. Was he just lying down? We have no indication of that. We know from earlier in the chapter that Philip isn't just lounging around doing nothing while all the other disciples are hard at work, so it probably isn't the angel telling him to get off his tush and go do something. I don't know any Greek, so I don't really know what the significance or "rise" is, but we it isn't a completely unfamiliar phrase. We see in Jonah that God tells him "Arise, and go" and we actually see this phrase is used quite often in the Bible.

However, I have kind of a hunch about this whole "rise" thing. I've sort of noticed it used a LOT in my reading of Acts, and while it may just be a commonly used word, I think that Luke uses it intentionally. You Bible teachers out there (Pastor Bob) can correct me on this later, but my guess is that all of this business with rising has to do with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. After all, the book of Acts is a record of the amazing things that happen in the church because of the resurrection of Christ . We can just take a look at Luke's emphasis on "rising" in the book of Acts so far.

Jesus rose up to heaven.
Acts 1:9 - "And when [Jesus]had said these things, as they were looking on, he was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight."

Peter rose up to tell of God raising Jesus from the dead.
Acts 1:15 - "In those days Peter stood up among the brothers" and then gave a sweet speech about Jesus.
Acts 2:23 - "this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. God raised him up, loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to be held by it.
Acts 2:32 - "This Jesus God raised up, and of that we are all witnesses."

A lame man rises up to walk, and the disciples speak of Jesus raised up to explain the miracle.
Acts 3:6 - "But Peter said, "I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!"
Acts 3:15 - "and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses."

The holiness and power of God is revealed.
Acts 5:5-6 - "When Ananias heard these words, he fell down and breathed his last. And great fear came upon all who heard of it. And young men rose and wrapped him up and carried him out and buried him."

If Christ did not rise from the dead, Christianity is doomed to fail.
Acts 5:17 - "But the high priest rose up, filled with jealousy."
Acts 5:36-39 - "...Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody...He was killed, and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. After him Judas the Galilean rose up..He too perished and all who followed him were scattered...if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail; but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them. You might even be found opposing God!"

Stephen sees Jesus rising from his seat at the right hand of God to receive him
Acts 7:55 - "But [Stephen], full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God."

Ananias rose to pray over Saul, who then rose and was baptized.
Acts 9:11 - "Rise and go to the street called Straight..."
Acts 9:17 - "And immediately, something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized; and taking food, he was strengthened.

Peter was commanded to rise and eat what he had thought unclean.
Acts 10:13-14 - "And there came a voice to him: 'Rise, Peter; kill and eat.' But Peter said, 'By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.'"

As I mentioned before, God's command to rise up and do stuff isn't rare in the Bible, but in the book of Acts, everything is different, because Jesus has risen from the dead! We can only "rise and go" because Jesus first did it! Jesus rose from his seat in heaven and came down into the world. He rose from the dead, then ascended back into heaven. The power of the resurrection is the power by which all the disciples did their miracles and this is the power by which we do anything that pleases God. This is the power by which we rise from the dead - the power by which we are saved. This is the power by which Jesus takes the hand of our heart and says "Child, arise", like he did for the little girl in Luke 8. This resurrection power is also the power by which we go, the power through which we can spread the gospel! As one of my favorite worship songs says, "The same power that conquered the grave lives in me!"

Christians, rise and go, for your Christ is risen!

II. This is a desert place.

It's very interesting that Luke decided to add this detail here. I think that Luke is indicating that the place where the angel told him to go wasn't an attractive place. It wasn't somewhere you would visit on vacation. There's also no guarantee that there would be people there to minister to! In essence, the angel told Philip to go to a remote location with no people, no food or water, but a lot of heat and discomfort. We know that Philip had already been doing some great ministry, but God called him somewhere that just didn't seem like it had much ministry potential! Sometimes God calls us to uncomfortable or seemingly strange places that causes us to doubt God's wisdom. "God, are you really calling me here? I think you may be misappropriating your resources, God. In case you didn't notice, I can cast out demons and all that cool stuff, and people really seem to like me, so I think it would be most wise if you put me somewhere with a lot of people and somewhere that is a little more comfortable." We lack the faith and the trust in God to go and minister in places that seem spiritually desolate. We have unspoken, subconscious barriers that we set up, marking the boundaries to our possible obedience to God. We allow our fleshly desires to limit how we serve God.

III. And he rose and went.

If only this was our attitude to the commands of God! If only we rise and go to do all that he commands us to do, even if it seems hard and even if we don't really want to! It's interesting that in chapters 8, 9, and 10, God commands three different people to rise and go, and Philip is the only one who did so immediately. Ananias initially didn't want to minister to Saul, and Peter didn't want to eat the unclean food, but Philip immediately rose and went, despite having to probably walk to the desert without a real knowledge of why God wanted him there.

As a kid, my mom always got frustrated at me for not doing what she told me the first time she told it to me. If she told me to do something like set the table or clean my room, I would always tell her "later, later, later" until she would finally just explode and yell at me after asking me nicely so many times. The moral of the story is (as is always the moral of any story of mine): Don't be like Caleb. "Obey the first time," as my mother used to say (or yell).

So let's obey God when he calls. Let's obey his call to rise out of our sin and out of our shame. Let's obey his call to rise out of self-absorption and our self-centeredness. And let's obey God's command to go - his command to go into all nations and make disciples. Let's obey God's command to go and care for the sick, the poor, and the oppressed. Let's obey when God calls us to go places, whether geographically or figuratively, that are undesirable, unappealing, and uncomfortable. Let's obey God when He calls us to go, even if not every last detail of his plan has been revealed to us.

Christians, rise and go, for your Christ is risen!

Acts 7 - We the Pharisees

Acts 7 - We the Pharisees

Recently, I've been reading Acts, and God has really shown me a lot in it, so I'm just going to try and share a little of what I get out of the passages that I read. As sort of a disclaimer, I'm a noob. I'm no theologian, and I don't read the passage in the original Greek or anything super-intellectual like that, so my insights may be a little more contrived and may not actually completely and accurately reflect the author's intent, but I still hope you enjoy it.

The Build-up

I read Acts 7 as part of my quiet time last Friday. As you can figure out just by flipping your Bible open to Acts 7 (or being lazy and clicking this link), it's Stephen's last speech to the Jews who seized him before he was martyred. Now I didn't actually get to finish the entire chapter, so I finished it on Saturday as part of my quiet time, when Saturday, when Nathan, Jonny, and Cory came to visit. I had been really frustrated with not being able to finish the chapter, as Stephen's speech just sort of builds and builds, as he goes through Israel's history of disobedience and God's grace through it all. Halfway through we're all must be thinking "Okay Stephen...get to the point." The Jews that seized him, who had falsely accused him of blaspheming against Moses, must have been thinking "Yeah, Stephen. We know our history, we've all heard this before...". Stephen spends a little bit of time talking about some of the patriarchs, but actually spends more than half of his speech talking about Moses, who he was accused of blaspheming against. I don't actually think that there was anything that Stephen said that any of the Jews would have objected to. Until BAM. HE NAILS THEM.

The Pwnage

Out of NOWHERE Stephen just demolishes them. Stephen's just completely smashes them to pieces. For some reason, his speech kind of reminded me of Denzel's famous speech at the end of training day (video here), where he just lays entire sentences of insults and expletives at the people around him. Completely different situation, I know, but it just reminded me of it. In the buildup, you can almost imagine the Jew's thinking, "I hate this guy for talking about Jesus!!!!....oh okay...he's talking about Joseph...wow this guy knows his history...yay Moses! I love Moses...At least he's not talking about Jesus....OH WTF. WHAT DID HE JUST SAY. NO HE DI'INT. LET'S KILL THIS FOO." What exactly did Stephen say that so enraged them, that they "ground their teeth at him", which I guess is some sort of expression of hatred? [As a sidenote, I grind my teeth when I sleep (as Cory found out this weekend), so if you ever hear me grinding my teeth at you, please disregard it as my sleeping and not me wanting to kill you.] Let's take a look at what Stephen said.

I want to concentrate on verse 51: "You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit."

"You stiff-necked people"

I'm no expert in stiff-necked-ness, but I assume that Stephen is talking about being stubborn and unwilling to change, as he will elaborate further on. Doing a quick Biblegateway search, we see that this isn't the only time that the phrase has been used in the Bible, as God had used it to describe Israel, which is exactly what Stephen was trying to point out in his speech.

"uncircumcised in heart and ears"

As you may have already guessed, this is the phrase that really caught my eye. THIS is probably what cut most deeply at the hearts of the Jews (pun intended). We know that of all that these uber-religious Jews were proud of, they were the most proud of their circumcision. They loved that they were Jews. They looked down on all with foreskins and really flaunted their circumcision and Jew-ness around. To call a Jew, especially a "religious" Jew, uncircumcised? That was the ultimate insult! Stephen was not only attacking their identity as Jews, but because the circumcision was a sign of the Jews' covenant with God, he was attacking their faith and their religiosity. He was correctly diagnosing the spiritual deadness of their hearts. But man. What a harsh rebuking.

"you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers do, so do you."

This is when all of a sudden the conviction fell on me like a bag of bricks (who carries bricks in bags, anyways?). I was all like "Haha! You Pharisees just got BURNED by Stephen so hard!", but then I realized that this passage...the Pharisees...that's ME. This verse is a great, memorable summarization of the doctrine of sin - that apart from the saving grace of God, we ALL cannot help but resist the Holy Spirit. We ALL are stiff-necked, stuck in our sin, with no hope for true circumcision of the heart. This is the problem of my heart - I cannot help but sin and resist the Holy Spirit. Not only is this my problem, this is the problem of all of creation and all of man. This has been the problem for generations and generations and ages and ages. There is none that can self-determine to not resist the Holy Spirit.

When we read stories of the Pharisees in the Bible, we almost always vilify them without realizing that we are actually just like them, if not worse! Tim Keller said in one of his sermons, "How often do we read the passage on the Pharisee's prayer and the tax collector's prayer and think to ourselves 'Thank God I'm not like that Pharisee?'" I am that guy. I'm the modern-day Pharisee who scoffs at the Pharisees. I'm the pot who called the kettle black (not that there's anything wrong with being black, of course. I lovingly accept and enjoy the diversity of kettles of all colors). Apart from God, I hate Him. And I hate people that love Him. I cannot help but sin. I have no ability to please God. To top it all off, I have no ability to not hate God, even if I tried, which I would never do, because I hate God so much. Reading this passage with an understanding that I am actually the Jew - who is absolutely dead in sin and pride and hate having my sins pointed - really opens up my eyes.

But obviously, this isn't the end of the story. There is good news, and that is that God can overcome our resisting of him, which he accomplished by Jesus' death on the cross, that we can share in the communion with God as Stephen experienced, and one day we will meet him in heaven and give him a hug and tell him "Thanks for Acts 7. That was a pretty sweet speech."

The death of Stephen

So what ultimately made the Jews so mad that they killed him? Stephen said he saw Jesus. He said he saw God. How blessed are we that we have that same privilege to know the true, living God. In his entire speech, Stephen actually barely mentioned Jesus. He alluded to Jesus when he said that their ancestors killed the prophets we predicted the coming of "the Righteous One." This was only the second time. The Jews couldn't believe their ears, that Stephen was claiming that he could see God, and that he could see the Messiah. While I highly doubt anyone reading this post has actually seen God, we have the unthinkable opportunity to know Jesus. Jesus says in John 14:9, "Whoever has seen me has seen the Father". It's amazing how we can claim to know the Messiah personally and the Creator God of heaven and earth, the very things that Stephen died for.

God, I am a sinner. I cannot help but resist you. Thank you for overcoming my resistance and giving me your salvation. Reveal to me the places in my life where I'm still resisting you, and help me give those things over to you.

"Do not look back"

Does it ever intrigue you that God asks his people to do some pretty weird stuff sometimes? He told Joshua and his people to take a walk around Jericho in silence for a week, told Gideon to determine his army by how they drank water, and told Hosea to marry a prostitute.

It wasn't until Friday that I realized how strange and almost unreasonable God's command to Lot and his family are. If you don't remember the story, here's a refresher:

Genesis 19

12 The men said to Lot, ...13 "For we are about to destroy this place, because the outcry against its people has become great before the LORD, and the LORD has sent us to destroy it."

5 As morning dawned, the angels urged Lot, saying, "Up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, lest you be swept away in the punishment of the city." 16 But he lingered. So the men seized him and his wife and his two daughters by the hand, the LORD being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. 17 And as they brought them out, one said, "Escape for your life. Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley. Escape to the hills, lest you be swept away."

24 Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the LORD out of heaven. 25And he overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. 26 But Lot’s wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt.

"Do not look back or stop anywhere in the valley."

Growing up in church, I've never really give much thought to the command the angels gave to Lot and his family. How hard it could have been to run away from a burning, exploding city without looking back? After all, action heroes do it all the time. Upon further reflection, I realized how difficult it really must have been on Lot, and I more deeply understood the blessing of God's salvation.

Cool guys don't look at explosions.

My Last Day at Harris

Last Friday was my last day at Harris, and after the exit interview, I left the company to walk to the bus stop. I don't think I've ever literally walked away alone from something like that, and the feeling I got was pretty interesting. Despite not really being emotionally attached to the company, I couldn't help but feel kind of sad walking away from the place and the people I spent my last three months with that I would probably not see again. Also, unlike what it would be like if I was driving away, not only did I have much more time to think about it (because walking is slow, especially when you've gained as much weight as me), I had no rear-view mirror and couldn't see the place I was leaving without turning around completely to look.

I remember having sort of an internal battle about turning around to glance at Harris one more time. The awesome manly part of me told me that looking back was such an emotional and sissy mood, but my more nostalgic side was telling me to screw my manliness and to glance back. I did. It didn't really solve anything. I really don't even know why I did it, or even why I had the desire too. Just emotions, I guess.

It's not easy leaving somewhere that you've grown accustomed to, and it's even more difficult when you don't know what's ahead. I don't have a set career path yet, and this lack of sense of security in employment felt very real as I left Harris. Saying goodbye isn't easy, and having your life change drastically isn't easy either.

It must have been hard for Lot and his family to obey.

My insignificant struggle with leaving Harris reminded me of the story of Lot and his family. Why did God command them not to look back? What was the big deal? Lot's wife was turned into a pillar of salt for looking back. A pillar of salt! This was the first time that it struck me how hard not looking back must have been for the family. Not only do we know that Lot still had family in Sodom, they probably also had made friends with people from the city. And now God wanted them to walk away from the city where they've lived for a good amount of time without looking back. Isn't that a little bit unfair?

I know that what God really wanted from Lot and his family was for them to leave behind the sinfulness and immorality of Sodom. God wanted the family to display that they hated evil and that they had no connection to the evil of Sodom. But it still doesn't seem fair. Lot and his family had to leave behind family and friends to be killed by great balls of fire, and they couldn't even glance back to look at their destruction? Did God really expect them not to look back just to get a glance of what was probably an awesome fireworks show? I'm probably taking the text too literally, as they probably did look back from time to time, and God probably turned Lot's wife into a pillar of salt because she was still connected to the sin and her heart was still in Sodom, but this command of God still isn't an easy one.

Sometimes when we read Scripture, especially the Old Testament, it's easy for us to self-righteously look down on the characters for their mistakes. We tell ourselves that we'd never make the same mistakes that they did and that we would obey God to do whatever he told us to do, whether it's refraining from eating some random fruit or commanding a rock to transform into a water faucet. If I was in Lot's situation (and I know I don't ever want to be), I don't know if I could run without looking back. I can't say with complete certainty I wouldn't desire to be with the friends and family that I left behind to perish. It's not easy leaving a place of security for a whole new life. Would I be like Lot and escape, or would I be like Lot's wife and look back and die?

I have already been rescued.

Colossians 3:1-4 - "Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

All that speculation about me in Lot's shoes is merely hypothetical. Unlike Lot and his wife, I have a real relationship with Jesus Christ, the Savior of the world. I know that ultimately, because of Jesus, my decision of whether to "look back" or not has already been made, not because of my obedience, but because of His. Christ has rescued me from the flames of hell, and my life "is now hidden with Christ in God". This unfortunately also means that I am inevitably leaving others behind, friends and family that I may care for and love. However, no longer is my heart bound to the things of the world. Though I still need to work out my salvation and strive to have my heart and my mind in heavenly things, growing in the likeness of Christ, I will never be like Lot's wife. Unlike Lot's wife, my treasure and heart are ultimately in and with Christ, not by my own power, but by the saving grace of God. Christ has given me a new life and a new path, and there's no turning back now...or ever.

I have decided to follow Jesus;

I have decided to follow Jesus;

I have decided to follow Jesus;

No turning back, no turning back.



My Summer - 2011
"I promise I'll read it!"
Summer 2011 - Lessons Learned

MCCC Retreat 2011

I wrote 90% of this post two weeks ago, but never really finished it. Well, here it is...

Overview

Last weekend (July 4th weekend), MCCC had it's church retreat at Sandy Cove in North East, Maryland (which to me is a horrible, horrible name for a city). It was an awesome time of relaxation, enjoyment, and development of friendships. I got a chance to spend time with people I don't normally spend much time with like Bryce, Alvin, and Jeff, and I got to see all of the church Shu-shu's and Ah-yi's that I don't see very often.


The Talks

The main reason I'm even posting about the retreat is that the speaker was very, very interesting and, in his own words, provacative. If you think you're conservative, wait until you meet this guy. Pastor Andy Tso is an extremely hilarious guy with laugh-out-loud jokes, impressions, and faces. He's an ABC that grew up in Chinatown, so he related well when it came to things like Chinese School, Asian mothers, and Chinese churches. Despite his likable personality and strong credentials (NYU undergrad majorring in economics, then went to become a lawyer) his talks were extremely strong, and for the most part, poorly accepted. If you were there, the controversy would be enormously obvious. But since you weren't, here's an overview.

Pastor Andy's Beliefs
The following is a brief summary of the various beliefs he shared. Some you may agree with, some you may not. The

• ESV is better than the NIV.
• You shouldn't use mobile devices as your Bible because the primary purpose of those devices isn't the Word of God.
• Being a godly Christian will make you smart. 75% of Nobel prizes go to Christians. 9% go to Jews. What you worship, you become. You worship idols, you become them.
• The root of the problem of the US economy is abortion and gay marriage. If abortion wasn't legalized in 1973, there would be around 65 million more people in the US, which means there would be more people pumping money into social security and the economy in general.If given a choice between Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, Pastor Andy would rather have Palin as president.
• "Do you believe you have the same authority to speak about politics as you do about Scripture?" "Yes."
  
• Job 40 is proof of dinosaurs. The Behemoth refers to the "Supercroc" and the leviathan refers to the blue whale. Christianity is the only religion in the world to include dinosaurs in its holy book.
• Atheism is a prerequisite to believe in evolution. Also, the earth is very young.
• Revelation 9:1 refers to missiles, Revelation 9:7 refers to military helicopter, and Revelation 9:17-19 refers to tanks.Also, the "200 million man army" in Revelation 9:15-16 could refer to the standing army in China.
• In Isaiah 49:12, Syene (or Sinim), refers to China, indicating a specific call for believers in China to bring the gospel "Back To Jerusalem." Israel will once again become a world power, experiencing revival both spiritually and socially. This Back to Jerusalem movement is needed to bring the spiritual and economic center back to Jerusalem because Jesus will come back only after the "fig tree" (aka Israel) sprouts again.
• According to Daniel 9, Jesus' exact birthday is some day in March (though I cannot remember which day). His reasoning is that we know the exact date Daniel said the prayer, and he just does the math according to the number of years provided, and voila! We have Jesus' birthday.

My Problem with Pastor Andy's Talks

He spoke them as irrefutable truth.
I understand that if you believe something, you need to really believe it as truth. In my opinion, Pastor Andy went one step further than that. About his views on science, society, and politics, he said, "You can fight with me if you want. But you won't be fighting against me. You'll be fighting against God." This makes disagreement and discussion quite difficult - what can a mere college graduate say to a pastor who claims to hold this ultimate truth? This truth isn't even the essentials of the faith, but merely non-essential, controversial issues that aren't even held as strongly by most Christians. While Pastor Andy spoke about politics, science, and homosexuality and abortion with this in-your-face absolute certainty, (sort of to his credit) he didn't go so far as to claim his interpretations of prophecies to be absolute truth.

He was speaking to uneducated kids.
Pastor Andy was talking who "didn't know any better" when it came to the end time prophecies and much of his evolution talks. As people, when we don't really have an opinion or knowledge about something, we accept when seemingly credible people tell us what to think about them. I don't like how Pastor Andy took such a strong stand on controversial issues in front of kids who have no experience or opportunity to test and examine the things he was saying. Many of the college and post-college kids reasonably had questions or objections to many of the ideas presented, but I don't think it's possible for young middle and high school Christians who don't have any alternative answers or logical arguments against what he said, forcing them to take it for truth. I felt like he was taking advantage of their youth, and that this talk would be more suited for older Christians who can meaningfully respond to his talk.

His talks would be wildly offensive to most non-Christians.
Many of the well-intentioned things that Pastor Andy said when comparing Christianity with other religions were very condescending and insulting of other religions, making me cringe when I heard them. It isn't that what he said was false, but if I had brought a Muslim friend to the retreat, he probably would have gotten up and left and refused to listen to him anymore. Political correctness can often be a problem with modern day Christians, but perhaps my annoyance with his brazen bashing of other religions comes from the more evangelistic perspective I've gained from being in college. That said, I think that it is important to respect every individual, even if you disagree with his beliefs [Pastor Andy did an impression of Steven Hawking that I thought was quite inappropriate].

What I gained from his talks.

Despite all the things I disliked about Pastor Andy's beliefs and talks, it is our responsibility as students in the congregation to attempt to learn something from a visiting pastor. The main lesson I learned is:

I need to hate evil the way God hates evil.

In general, I think we as Christians have become tolerant to sin and evil, simply because the rest of the world doesn't see it as bad. While Pastor Andy's hatred of evil could almost be taken as over-the-top, it was a good reminder for me that I really am to be set apart for Christ. This is something that I've been thinking more and more about, and maybe I'll post more about it at some time in the future.


I often underestimate the importance of Biblical holiness to a society's health.
Currently, people hate the idea of other people "forcing" their beliefs on others and are equally cautious to not push their own religious beliefs onto others. As a result, Christianity has all of a sudden become a strictly personal decision and religion, and it's involvement in other areas of your work, such as your social, work, or political life, is greatly discouraged. I think we've forgotten that God cares about and is involved in society. God isn't merely interested in my own personal salvation, but He's interested in redeeming all aspects of culture in our society. We also know that God's laws aren't arbitrary, and that we are blessed by following them - not because God is giving us treats for doing Christian tricks, but that God's laws are inherently beneficial for those who follow them. Therefore, the more we as a society follow God's law, the more we have a chance to prosper. Unlike Pastor Andy, I don't believe that abortion and same-sex marriage is the root of our country's economic problems, but his strong stance has forced me to examine the way I view God's law in relation to society.

Nice family picture at the retreat center!

On the Use of Scripture in Evangelism

AIV has had two very different evangelism trainings these last two weeks. Allen Wakabayashi presented a newer, more "cutting-edge", holistic approach to evangelism, while David Givens gave a more traditional, practical presentation on evangelism. Allen Wakabayashi talked about the role of the kingdom and the relation between Jesus' death and resurrection with broader issues such as suffering and social injustice, in addition to simply personal sin. David Givens concentrated on the more traditional Roman Road, Four Spiritual Laws, Bridge Diagram-esque kind of evangelism. Both emphasized relational evangelism. Both emphasized asking questions. Both emphasized gentleness and respect. Both were based on Scripture and Biblical, but there was a significant difference in the different gospel presentations that were offered, and this is what I want to concentrate on.

Allen Wakabayashi's gospel presentation has no explicit, required Bible verses. In many gospel presentations, there are "required" verses that the presenter needs to memorize, such as the previously mentioned Roman Road to salvation, which David Givens especially emphasized. One of the ladies that was at the Wakabayashi training actually pointed out the fact that in his entire mock presentation, Allen Wakabayashi never got actually quoted from Scripture. Wakabayashi replied:

"I find that in society today, people don't consider the Bible as authoritative as they did in the past, when most of the older gospel presentations were developed."

Wakabayashi basically said that no longer would believe something just "because the Bible told me so", that Scripture isn't considered truth, as it was to a greater extent in the past. I know that it seems weird to suggest that a gospel presentation doesn't need to quote Scripture, and I don't say these things to bash Wakabayashi's gospel presentation or suggest that he is a heretic, because he himself said that Scripture is important (who wouldn't?), but it raised a few questions in my own head.

Is Scripture necessary in a Gospel presentation?

The answer to this question may seem immediately obvious, but I think it's still important. The question isn't whether or not Scripture is necessary for Christian life, but whether or not it is necessary for an explanation of the Christian worldview. Now, everything said will (hopefully) be Biblical and based on Scripture, but the question is whether or not quoting Scripture is necessary. The next question may help us find the answer.

Does a Scripture quotation hold the same authority if you don't make it explicit that it is a Bible quotation?

So the question here is of the hearer's knowledge that a statement is a direct quotation from the Bible. We can all think of multiple situations where the weight of what you're saying could be increased if you quote a Bible verse, but most of these are when you are dealing with Christians. What about people that have no regard for the Word of God? Does quoting some truth as a Bible verse give you any advantage? In some cases, won't it be counterproductive by turning people off to the ideas presented?

What about paraphrasing Scripture? Do I really need to quote Romans 3:23? Can't I just give the explanation immediately instead of making a non-Christian do the difficult task of interpretation of Scripture (as David Givens suggested)? If I can explain the Gospel by paraphrasing Scripture, do I still need to quote it?

After thinking about it for a little bit, I think it all comes down to this:

Does the authority of Scripture come from its perceived truthiness, or is the authority intrinsic?

To me, the authority of Scripture is intrinsic. God's Word is God's Word, whether it's spoken or read. The authority of Scripture doesn't come from a perception that it is truth, but that it simply is the truth, and much of this truth has been revealed to all. Even if a person's mind doesn't accept the Bible as truth, at some level, every person's heart does (Romans 1:20).

Hebrews 4:12 - "For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."

I don't claim to know the answer for all the questions I have just raised, but I think it's better to be safe and just quote Scriptures when necessary. After all, it's God's Word, not ours.

Fun Pictures from the Weekend:

Cory and I were doing equipment up north at Willowtree. Since we normally drive onto the grass to make carrying all the heavy equipment less painful, I tried it again, not realizing how muddy it was. My car got stuck in the mud, with my right tires being totally underground. After a little bit of struggling, we managed to get the car out of our self-created ditch. Yay.

  

Carillon

I got a chance to go to up the Lurie bell tower on North Campus today! Qi, one of my classmates, invited me up there today to listen to watch him play, so I went up there to watch. (Sorry I don't have any pictures. I didn't want to look like a n00b compared to the people who were used to it. If I get another chance to go up there, I definitely will, though.).

The view from the top of the bell tower was awesome! Watching them play the carillon was amazing. It's like a ginormous piano that you use your fists to play, and with pedals like the organ. Watching them play was really interesting, especially as the instructor gave some critique afterwards. [Qi just sent me this link. Listen!]

I'm not a musically gifted or knowledgeable person, and I'm not going to pretend to be, but the carillon teacher said something today that really rang a bell in my head (see what I did there?).

Music is meant to be interpreted, not just played as is.

The carillon teacher talked about how after Beethoven, there was some sort of switch in mentality about music, and that the music composed was then viewed as the gold standard, and you weren't supposed to deviate from it. However, the music before that (the teacher mentioned Bach's music) was more obviously written to be interpreted. The instructor basically implied (I think) that when playing the music, it's important to  capture the original spirit of the song. It's really too bad I don't actually know the musical terms for it. Qi played a cool song, and one of the critiques that the instructor had for him was to play it more "playfully", as it was originally intended. This is one of those things that seems hard to read from just notes on a page, but thinking about the composer's original intent sheds more light on the music. o

Similarly, the history of the Bible (and all things historical) are meant to be interpreted.

Last week in GIG, Pastor Bob talked about how the books of history in the Bible were written with the intent of being interpreted, and that there was an original spirit and intent behind the writing of the history books of Scripture. It's foolish to assume that historical writings were written without some agenda, hidden or not, in mind. All history is interpreted. However, we now think of history as science, totally neutral. [I'm not advocating loose Biblical interpretation. You know I wouldn't.]

I just found it interesting that this shift from interpretive to "scientific" exists in music, as it does in reading history and Scripture.

I don't really know music, so I hope I wasn't just speaking gibberish. It was just cool to see a link between what I learned recently with music.


[This post sucked. Sorry. It's late.]

1 Samuel 12 - Samuel's humility

This passage describes Samuel's last speech to the people of Israel as their leader, as he steps down from his place of highest authority for Saul. Samuel's extreme humility really surprises me in this passage. When the people asked for a king, they were rejecting both God and Samuel (which is why God tells Samuel that they weren't just rejecting Samuel, but God as well). Even so, there must be some sort of hurt that Samuel experienced. Despite this hurt, Samuel displays a genuine love for God's people, pleading with them to turn back to God.

Samuel puts the will of God and the good of the people above his own will and desires, putting aside his pride and allowing another to be raised up above him, even if it wasn't what God had wanted. Samuel doesn't show any bitterness, but exhorts the people one last time to follow God and obey his commands. The following are things that Samuel does that is a reflection of his humility.

Samuel examines himself for sin and wrongdoings.

While it may seem that Samuel is being self-righteous in the beginning of the passage, Samuel is affirming that God has been working through him as the leader of the nation, it wasn't because of his sin that the people wanted a king. It's a super ballsy offer for anyone in the entire nation of Israel to accuse him of a wrongdoing, an offer that he can only make if he's spend time in the past examining himself. A posture of humility comes from a conviction of our own sinfulness, which comes from a lifestyle of reflection, confession, and repentance. While we might not be able to relate to Samuel's blamelessness, we can be convicted by Christ's blamelessness, that Christ never led us astray or oppressed us in any way, but that it is our own sin that has ruined things. Humility comes with a deep understanding of the sinfulness of our own hearts.

Samuel maintains an attitude of gratitude and praise.

Samuel remembers all of God's past deliverances of his people, as he recounts "all the righteous acts performed by the LORD for you and your fathers." God has rescued his people whenever they called out to him, and God provided secure lives for his people. Samuel, while admonishing the people, describes the holiness, power, and mercy of God. Humility comes with a deep understanding of the person of God.

Samuel continues loving.

It would have been so easy for Samuel to be bitter about having to step down from leadership when he didn't do anything wrong. It would have been so easy for him to curse at the people under his breath and to give up and walk away. Samuel was wronged in his situation, but he maintains his love for God's people, warning them and teaching them the will of God. He even called upon God to give them rain for their harvest! Most importantly, Samuel continued to pray for the people who sinned against him.

Samuel shows a lot of humility as he steps down from a place of authority because of others' sin, and we can learn a lot from his humility.

1 Samuel  1    2     3    4   5 , 6   7   8   9 , 10   11

1 Samuel 11 - God's Deliverance

In this passage, we see the deliverance of a sinful city by Saul. From this passage, we can learn about our own lives and how Jesus has delivered us.

THE DELIVERED

The city of Jabesh was under attack by the Ammonites, and they tried to cut a deal with them, offering themselves as subjects to the Ammonites in return for peace. The Israelites were fine with being under the rule of pagans, as long as they didn't have to suffer too much. They were fine with being help captive by a rival kingdom, when God had just gave the them a new king to oppose all other kingdoms. However, Nahash the Ammonite wanted more than the taxes and the servitude of the people; he wanted to humiliate the Israelites. The elders at Jabesh didn't cry out to God for deliverance. They didn't even call out to their new king (the one they asked for, remember?!) because they didn't believe in Saul's power to do anything about the situation. Instead, they sent out a general cry for help, a cry for a deliverer.

Like the Israelites throughout the Old Testament, we tolerate being help captive by sin way too much. As long as the sin doesn't seem to get in the way of our everyday lives, we allow ourselves to be enslaved by it. However, when our own sin gets us in trouble, we don't even turn to God, but turn to other things, feeling hopeless without recognizing the hope that God gives us.

“Instead of humbling themselves before God and confessing the sins that had brought them into trouble, they put God altogether aside, and basely offered to become the servants of the Ammonites . . . We see here the sad effect of sin and careless living in lowering men’s spirits, sapping courage, and discouraging noble effort. Oh, it is pitiable to see men tamely submitting to a vile master! Yet how often is the sight repeated! How often to men virtually say to the devil, ‘Make a covenant with us, and we will serve thee’!” (Balike)

THE DELIVERER

The good news is that a deliverer has come! Although in most of his reign Saul was a bad king, in this passage, Saul foreshadows how Jesus will deliver his people.

Humility and Obedience
It's unclear how much time passed between the anointing of Saul and this first mission of his, but either way, Saul went back to working his field after he was anointed! He didn't exercise his right as the king of Israel until God gave him the circumstances and the authority to do so. Saul didn't start making new laws, taxing citizens, or deporting illegal immigrants once he was in power. In fact, the people of Israel didn't even really recognize him as king yet because he needed to be reaffirmed as king after the battle! Instead, Saul waited until his calling as king became more clear (Israel never had a king before so he probably didn't know what he was supposed to do anyway).

Similarly, Jesus, though all-powerful and totally capable, did not start his ministry on earth as a child. He didn't start it as a teenager or even a young adult. Jesus waited for his time to come. Jesus lived as a regular guy, a common man, although he knew that he was the creator of all things, the king of all creation. In all things, Jesus was humble and only acted when the Father called him, doing nothing out of pride or arrogance.

Passion and Love for His People
When Saul heard about what Nahash threatened to do to his people, he went berserk, consumed by a righteous anger against those oppressing and humiliating God's people, the people the God had given him to protect. In his Super-Saiyan rage, Saul straight up butchered two oxen, gave it to his messengers, and told them to go to throughout Israel to "make 'em an offer they can't refuse." (An aside: How scary must it have been to be around Saul when he was going crazy?! Imagine a tall, handsome, usually reserved and humble individual going crazy and slaughtering two animals and tearing them up to shreds. Can you imagine if Jeffrey (for my NJers) or Bryan (for my UMers) was filled with righteous anger and took out a knife and started slicing up live oxen? Freakin scary.)

Jesus too cared about his people, and his love far surpasses that of Saul's. Instead of tearing apart the body of an ox, Jesus himself, the sacrificial lamb, had his body torn apart for us, the ultimate act of love. Jesus' anger was directed at sin and death itself, while towards people, even those who opposed and eventually crucified him, he showed compassion and forgiveness.

THE OUTCOME

Unification
Israel had previously been divided, with each tribe and city basically watching out for itself. God unites the country both militarily and in spirit through the adversity that they face. The passage says that the people "turned out as one man", which is a contrast to the description of the defeated Ammonites, who were "scattered, so that no two of them were left together." It is through unity that the church can battle the dark side, the Nahashes that attack the church.

Life, and life to the full
After the battle, Saul announced, "No one shall be put to death today, for this day the LORD rescued Israel." Saul's victory over the Ammonites and the grace he showed towards his opposition saved the lives of countless of God's people. However, Jesus not only delivers us from death and gives us life, he goes beyond it - "I have come so that they have life, and have it to the full (John 10:10)." The life that Jesus gives isn't just the lack of death, but it is an abundance of joy, love, and peace, and sugar, spice and everything nice. Saul delivered Israel from humiliation and captivity to freedom and life. Jesus did all that and more - he delivered us from death so we can enjoy everlasting life, and that life to the full.

1 Samuel  1    2     3    4   5 , 6   7   8   9 , 10

1 Samuel 9, 10 - Sovereignty and Grace

God's sovereignty and God's grace are two themes that are often pointed to in the Old Testament. In 1 Samuel 9 and 10, God's grace is revealed through his sovereignty, as he works in the lives of Samuel and Saul and coming of Jesus is foreshadowed.

1) God's sovereignty and grace in present circumstances

God's sovereignty in this passage is first most obviously seen in his leading of Saul to Samuel, leading Saul on a three-day donkey chase. God was always in complete control of the situation and Samuel knew this, trusting God so much that he didn't even travel to the land of Benjamin, knowing that God would bring the person promised to him.

God's grace is demonstrated in how he lead Saul to Samuel. While God spoke directly to Samuel and told him of Saul's coming, he chose not to reach out to Saul the same way, using a more roundabout method of leading Saul using everyday circumstances. Saul's relationship with God probably was not as great as Samuel's relationship with God, and he probably wasn't in the habit of regularly talking to and hearing from God. Despite this, could God have spoken audibly to Saul to tell him to go meet Samuel? Sure, he could. But God chooses to meet us where we are and to use our imperfections and weaknesses rather than avoid them.

So when life seems frustrating and when it seems like God is sending you on wild goose chases, be encouraged. God is and will always be in control. Even though you don't know where your life is going or where God is leading you, know that he is always there and is always working for your good (Romans 8:28). The three days you spend frustrated searching for your donkeys will be totally worth it after you end up meeting Jesus and are crowned along with him.

Also, God can use you even if you're an ass. [Sorry, I had to. =P]

2) God's sovereignty and grace in his ultimate plan for redemption

Saul seemed like the king the Israelites had been asking for, the perfect king. Socially, he came from a well-known, well-respected family. Morally, he was respectful, humble almost to a fault, and radically obedient to his father (if my dad sent me on a 3-day hide-and-go-seek game with donkeys, I would probably run away from home). Physically, he was tall and handsome. According to Jewish tradition, Saul was also the ultimate lady's man:

He was marvelously handsome; and the maidens who told him concerning Samuel (comp. I Sam. ix. 11-13) talked so long with him that they might observe his beauty the more (Ber. 48b). [src]

Despite these physical and character traits, Saul would be later be consumed with pride and jealousy and rejected by God.

Saul being a crappy king didn't catch God off guard. God knew Saul's heart, and he knew from the beginning that all human kings would be sinful and imperfect. Luckily for his people, God is always in control and has in store for us a king greater than Saul, whom he has prepared for us before the beginning of time.

Like what Pastor Heald said yesterday, when the Israelites were begging for a king, they were actually crying out, "Show me Jesus", as Jesus is the only truly perfect king. There's no indication in the Bible of Jesus being tall or handsome, and it seemed like the only women he drew to himself were prostitutes and "sinners". Unlike Saul, Jesus came from a humble family, one that had been disowned by the community because of pre-marital pregnancy. While Jesus was not the king that the Jews expected, he is the king that all people desire. Unlike Saul, Jesus remains obedient to his heavenly Father. While Jesus didn't bring military victories like Saul did, Jesus conquered the unconquerable, death. While Saul was the fallen first king of Israel, Jesus is the ultimate, eternal king that can never be dethroned.

Long live the King.

Pop the turtle!

1 Samuel  1    2     3    4   5 , 6   7   8

1 Samuel 8: Rejecting the King

Israelites:  God, all the other kids on the block have a king. We want one too. Pleasseeeee?
God:         I am your king. Do you not want me as your king anymore?
Israelites:  No. Can we please, please, please, please have a king?
God:         A human king will only bring you strife and bad things like snakes on a plane. Are you sure you want    
                a king?
Israelites:  We want a king!
God:         A king will take your action figures without asking and break them. (v. 11)
Israelites:  We still want a king!
God:         He'll ask for your crayons and he'll draw pictures with some and stick the others up his nose. (v. 12)
Israelites:  We still want a king!
God:         He will take your Barbie dolls and draw on their faces, dress them up as ugly as possible, and throw  
                them down the toilet(v. 13). He will steal your lunch every day and share them with his friends (v. 14). 
                Then, he will steal your lunch money every day. and share it with his friends (v. 15). He will steal your 
                dog and her puppies (v. 16). He will make you do whatever he wants, and he will hit you if you don't  
                listen (v.17). Still want a king?
Israelites:  Yes! We still want a king!
God:         Okay, but don't come running back to me if the king is mean to you (which he will be)!

The sin of the Israelites in this passage isn't in asking for a king alone, but in rejecting the one that God had already provided, Himself. Despite God providing the perfect king, the Israelites are discontent and demand to have things their own way (Burger King!). It's like the Israelites are insisting on taking a medicine for a disease that they don't have that have the side affects of headaches, memory loss, loss of hair, obesity, and herpes. Totally not worth it, but they have convinced themselves that it is.

Though, as usual, the Israelites sound extremely stupid and brain-damaged, but we resemble them in our lives. Like the Israelites, we beg God for a lot of things, which isn't a bad thing in itself, but our mindsets are often wrong and we begin worshiping what we are praying for rather than who we are praying to. We often believe that the only we we can be happy is if we have a relationship, lots of money, a good career, etc. You can fill in the blank yourself. We tell God that who he is and what He's given us isn't enough to satisfy our heart's desires and that we need much more than what he's given us already. We tell him that what he's given us just isn't good enough and to keep us happy, he needs to start giving us more of what we want. In a sense, in our relationship with God, we are gold diggers.

The scary thing is that sometimes, God lets us have our human, fallen desires. Like the prodigal father, he grants us our heart's desire, even though our discontent is a slap to his face, and our plans are doomed to fail. God gives us boyfriends or girlfriends that never should have been, dating relationships that never should have happened. He gives us jobs that we begged for but that he didn't call us to, which result in disappointment. And he gave the Israelites a king. He gave them many kings. Most of them were evil, and none of them were faultless.

Be encouraged if you are obeying God but your life doesn't seem to be going where you want it to be going. If you are faithfully following God, your life is probably going where God wants it to be going, and he won't let your petty desires get in the way of using you and prospering you. God has a lot in store for us, and God hears our prayers and knows our hearts, so when he withholds certain things from us, we just need to sit back, relax, and enjoy the ride he's taking us on.

On the flip side, if you've dug yourself a hole, the good news is that despite our waywardness, God can use our crappy decisions and circumstances to bring himself glory. Although God desired to be the sole king of Israel, he used human kings, like David and Solomon, to point to the ultimate king to come, Jesus Christ. Although Jonah fled when God commanded him to preach to the Ninivites, God used his disobedience to save those on-board Jonah's ship. Even if you've said "my will, not yours" and veered off track from God's original calling for you, he can still use your current situation to bring him glory, if you let him.

1 Samuel  1    2     3    4   5 , 6   7