I have had some really wonderful conversations with a friend of mine about God and the one word that drives him a little bonkers is biblical. The reason is quickly obvious since just because something is stated in the Bible doesn’t mean we should follow it without using a wee bit of brain matter.
A simple example of this is when Judah hired his daughter-in-law Tamar as a prostitute. Of course, he didn’t know she was Tamar as she was in a very clever disguise. She got pregnant through this nefarious liaison and he wanted to have her killed for sullying the reputation of his dead sons, until of course he found out that he was the daddy. You can read about this quaint little biblical story about Judah’s family in Genesis 38. The remarkable thing about this biblical story is that their son, Perez became the great, great, great….grandfather of Jesus. “Judah the father of Perez and Zerah, whose mother was Tamar, Perez the father of Hezron” Matthew 1:3.
So what’s the moral of this biblical story. Make your daughter-in-law become a prostitute, hire her services, get her pregnant and in a few generations the saviour of the world will be born. Ok, that’s crazy. There’s only one saviour of the world. Just settle for getting your daughter-in-law pregnant while she works at her trade of prostitution. After all, it’s biblical.
That’s basically how much thought has gone into the issue of the practice of tithing to a local church or in the case of some big name tele-evangelists, tithing directly to them because of the great spiritual food they’ve been serving up.
So let’s examine tithing for the next few minutes or so and see if it stands up to being something some Christians have been involved in for over 1,500 years.
First of all, before going into the teaching from the law, let’s ask the question to Abraham about tithing to Melchizedek, king of Salem. It was a one time event from the spoils of war. Nobody else in Abraham’s army tithed on their portion. Man, I actually taught my son to tithe from his paper route. Surely Abraham could have been a better teacher to his men and made them tithe as well. And oh, what did he do with the rest of the spoils. Oh yeah, he gave the other 90% to the king of Sodom. Abraham, “did you leave instructions about this practice of tithing on the spoils of war.” So then… what is the moral of that story and what should we do about that magic word tithing that is within it? I agree, NOTHING!
We are now getting to the law, which should teach us the principle of tithing. Note: there is a clear distinction between the term tithing and offering. Tithes are actually taxes and are not really free will giving. Biblically, there is clearly a distinction between tithes and offerings. “But you are to seek the place the LORD your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling. To that place you must go; there bring your burnt offerings and sacrifices, your tithes and special gifts, what you have vowed to give and your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks.” Deuteronomy 12:5,6
So what is the biblical teaching on tithing in the Law? What is generally not taught or known is that there are actually 3 tithes, so without drawing this out any longer, let’s see what they are.
1) INHERITANCE TITHE
"I give to the Levites all the tithes in Israel as their inheritance in return for the work they do while serving at the Tent of Meeting. Numbers 18:21
When God was carving up Israel amongst the 12 tribes, the Levites received no land. Apparently, they were to be somewhat scattered throughout all of the land acting as the civil authorities of the day. Some of them were priests who would eventually serve at the temple.
The tithe they received came only from crops and herds and was what we would consider today to be a 10% tax. But it wasn’t really a tax because it was really an inheritance. Also, take note it could only come from crops and herds which meant the poor who had neither would not have tithed, nor would someone who made their living (like my son’s paper route) in some other way, tithed. The law was very specific about where the tithe was to come from. And the law is the law. You don’t mess with that.
2) CELEBRATION TITHE
Eat the tithe of your grain, new wine and oil, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks in the presence of the LORD your God at the place he will choose as a dwelling for his Name, so that you may learn to revere the LORD your God always. Deuteronomy 14:23
This tithe was party time and could only be used for celebrating in Jerusalem. This is a rather interesting tax. It seems God must really like a good party.
Note once again, that the labourers who harvested the crops and were paid in money would not have tithed as the tithe was only on the crops and herds.
3) SOCIAL JUSTICE/WELFARE/ CARE FOR THE POOR TITHE
At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year's produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites (who have no allotment or inheritance of their own) and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. Deuteronomy 14:28,29
This particular tithe was only required every third year (twice in 7). No tithing was done in the 7th Sabbath year. It wasn’t to be taken to Jerusalem but was actually to be put in “storehouses” throughout all of Israel. Requiring the poor to have to travel to get a meal would have been a little harsh. And requiring them to tithe on the grain that they would have received from the storehouse would have been a wee bit INSANE. Lucky them, they didn’t have to tithe. Why? Cuz they were POOR. How lucky can you get? Freedom from tithing.
So what does all this mean? Well, the inheritance tithe still kind of exists. Prove you’re a Levite and demand your rightful inheritance tithe, I think that’s how that works. Not sure if anyone from the other tribes will pay much attention to your “insane” demands.
The celebration tithe, well that was for Jews to celebrate in Jerusalem, so again if you’re a Jew and are planning on celebrating at the Temple (oops, no temple) you can be a faithful tither and have a fantastic party in Jerusalem. If you have to go a long way you can change your cows into money and then change the money back into cows when you get to Jerusalem. Probably a premium to be paid for cows in Jerusalem but hey, that’s just good business.
The social justice tithe is kind of cool. It’s the one that Malachi was talking about when the rich land owners were NOT coughing up their share every 3rd year to go into the storehouses for the poor. “Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house.” Malachi 3:10
It seems storehouse meant a place to store food, and food actually meant honest to goodness, FOOD. And remarkably, this food was for the POOR. It seems that God gets a little snitty and takes it personally when people don’t care for the poor. Malachi thought it was about the same as robbing God.
Just to back up a couple of sentences to emphasize what Malachi was all riled up about. He actually speaks for God on this (pretty serious stuff for a Jew to do) "So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty. Malachi 3:5
I know everyone knows that context is important when we’re trying to understand “biblical” stuff. But let me simply say this, CONTEXT IS IMPORTANT!!!
To invoke the idea of robbing God when it comes to tithing without understanding that NOT doing social justice was what God considered ROBBING Him is a stench that should leave us gasping for breath. It’s kind of crazy isn’t it, since there’s a few people that seem to have twisted the original meaning of good ole Malachi.
So there you have it. That’s tithing in the Old Testament. To be biblical, which tithe are you practicing?
Monday, June 14, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
A Dream: Adam and His Father
Thought I'd bring in a perspective from someone I got to know on facebook that's from Australia. This is a dream his wife, Emma, had the other night.
Adam and The Lord spent their days together, walking and talking to one another. They delighted in each other’s company.
When The Lord came by one day, Adam was so caught up with the busyness of life he told the Lord, “Not today”. Adam began to let the cares of this world take over time, he still continued to love the Lord however he just had so much else on his plate and he just wasn’t able to do both.
After some time had passed, Adam began reminiscing on the times he had spent with The Lord; he remembered how much he had enjoyed His presence. Adam wanted to enjoy the Lord’s presence again but this time it needed to fit into his lifestyle. So Adam went about building a meeting place where he could go a couple times a week to meet with the Lord.
Adam and some of his friends began the meetings, Adam and his friends sung a couple songs and then Adam would talk to the rest of the group all about the Lord. After, they would have a cuppa and then go back to their lives until the next meeting.
Because The Lord loved Adam and his friends He came to the meetings, everyone would feel Him and enjoy His presence. The Lord would say “I have come because I love you, is anyone willing to walk with me? I have a purpose for each of you, is anyone willing to walk with me now?” They would answer “Not yet Lord, I’m just not ready, I need to learn more from Adam, one day I will”.
This continued from meeting to meeting. The Lord wondered how His Beloved had come to a place where they stopped trusting Him; He wondered how they thought they would learn more by meeting and listening to Adam rather than walking along side Him where He would be able to whisper the Mysteries of the world into their ears. However because He loved them he continued to come to the meetings to see if anyone was willing.
Eventually Adam grew a little tired of The Lords interruptions. The Lord would keep asking the people to go with Him, but Adam needed them to stay and serve in the music team, the Café team, the children’s ministry. Adam placed ear muffs over his ears and all those in the meeting place, now they could enjoy the presence of the Lord but they did not have to listen to all His interruptions.
Some of Adam’s friends began questioning in their hearts; surely there is more than this? The God of the bible wants us to live in relationship with Him, but how can we have a relationship with someone we cannot communicate with? This is when they took off their ear muffs.
The Lord came to the meeting and asked “Is anyone willing to walk with me?”. Those whose ears had been opened heard the Lord and they said “Yes Lord we are willing”. In their excitement they tried to tell the others but the others were not willing “I’m sorry but we’re just too comfortable here, besides Adam needs us to serve his ministry, and this is all we know, we’ve been doing this for years”.
Those who were willing, began to walk with The Lord, they found it so liberating, they were able to not only enjoy His presence as before but now they were able to see Him expressed freely through one another, they were in relationship with Him. Each day whether they were at work, spending time with their families or whatever they were doing, The Lord would be with them delighting in them, He would be speaking to them, giving them His heart for those around them. They were not burdened by another man’s vision any longer; they were being used in the very purpose they had been created for.
Adam and The Lord spent their days together, walking and talking to one another. They delighted in each other’s company.
When The Lord came by one day, Adam was so caught up with the busyness of life he told the Lord, “Not today”. Adam began to let the cares of this world take over time, he still continued to love the Lord however he just had so much else on his plate and he just wasn’t able to do both.
After some time had passed, Adam began reminiscing on the times he had spent with The Lord; he remembered how much he had enjoyed His presence. Adam wanted to enjoy the Lord’s presence again but this time it needed to fit into his lifestyle. So Adam went about building a meeting place where he could go a couple times a week to meet with the Lord.
Adam and some of his friends began the meetings, Adam and his friends sung a couple songs and then Adam would talk to the rest of the group all about the Lord. After, they would have a cuppa and then go back to their lives until the next meeting.
Because The Lord loved Adam and his friends He came to the meetings, everyone would feel Him and enjoy His presence. The Lord would say “I have come because I love you, is anyone willing to walk with me? I have a purpose for each of you, is anyone willing to walk with me now?” They would answer “Not yet Lord, I’m just not ready, I need to learn more from Adam, one day I will”.
This continued from meeting to meeting. The Lord wondered how His Beloved had come to a place where they stopped trusting Him; He wondered how they thought they would learn more by meeting and listening to Adam rather than walking along side Him where He would be able to whisper the Mysteries of the world into their ears. However because He loved them he continued to come to the meetings to see if anyone was willing.
Eventually Adam grew a little tired of The Lords interruptions. The Lord would keep asking the people to go with Him, but Adam needed them to stay and serve in the music team, the Café team, the children’s ministry. Adam placed ear muffs over his ears and all those in the meeting place, now they could enjoy the presence of the Lord but they did not have to listen to all His interruptions.
Some of Adam’s friends began questioning in their hearts; surely there is more than this? The God of the bible wants us to live in relationship with Him, but how can we have a relationship with someone we cannot communicate with? This is when they took off their ear muffs.
The Lord came to the meeting and asked “Is anyone willing to walk with me?”. Those whose ears had been opened heard the Lord and they said “Yes Lord we are willing”. In their excitement they tried to tell the others but the others were not willing “I’m sorry but we’re just too comfortable here, besides Adam needs us to serve his ministry, and this is all we know, we’ve been doing this for years”.
Those who were willing, began to walk with The Lord, they found it so liberating, they were able to not only enjoy His presence as before but now they were able to see Him expressed freely through one another, they were in relationship with Him. Each day whether they were at work, spending time with their families or whatever they were doing, The Lord would be with them delighting in them, He would be speaking to them, giving them His heart for those around them. They were not burdened by another man’s vision any longer; they were being used in the very purpose they had been created for.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Who is Church?
This is from a friend of mine Alan Gray. These words were simply from a couple of comments that he posted in a discussion we were having on facebook. But wow, did they ever ring true deep inside of me!
My church is, at once a billion people spread across the face of the earth and the company of just two or three others. I love the church more than anything else but there is only one, She is the radiant bride of Christ. She is everywhere and I enjoy her company on all occasions in equal degree. Sitting, isolated in silence for an hour on a Sunday morning in an environment that functionally forbids my speaking except perhaps if I am fortunate and quick enough to catch her making a hasty exit after the formal procedures are duly satisfied. Maybe then we can spend some real time together, not simply sitting silently in the same auditorium considering it "gathering together" to satisfy what was originally meant to be helpful advice to a very wayward group of her misguided Jews 2000 years ago, that has now become a command and requirement to demonstrate my committedness to her.
The idea that our relationship with the rest of the church ever be reduced to measuring what we give and what we get displays a tragic loss of love. A marriage will never survive the language of equitable exchange in giving and receiving.
It is not the deep intimate nature of a relationship with other members of Christ that I prefer to avoid. On the contrary, I seek it at every chance I get through out the week and throughout the day. It is the rigid human sequences and lifeless processes of organized human logic reduced to something we thoughtlessly and ignorantly call a "service" and repeat endlessly week after week until all the intimacy is completely squeezed out of it that I am avoiding.
Once you are no longer a herd, wandering in the wilderness being lead by a single man and being fed the same food, as wonderful and life sustaining as manna was, there is no comparison to the milk and honey of a land in which we are free to feed ourselves and enjoy the freedom to follow the Spirit of God and not the visions of a man.
A freedom that even the ancient Hebrews could not sustain due to their indifference to the love of their Father in heaven and their servile dependence on human leadership. A freedom that is now, as it was then, greatly taught but only slightly lived within the duty bound institutions of humanly organized corporate religious thinking. A non-profit corporation that plagiarizes the name 'church' and calls out to those who are conditioned for labor from years of bearing the burden of their own sin so it can lift it, for a short time, only to replace it with the burden of policy and mission and the work of the gospel to be done. In the one case they were burdened with the weight of their own sin in the latter, they are given the weight of the sins of everyone they meet. The burden of hell is no longer just your own, you must carry that responsibility for everyone you know. You must be a moral beacon, you must be a servant of all, you must not lust with your heart, you must give all of yourself to the mission. You may be the only Jesus your neighbor will ever see and when they are burning in the fires of hell, they may call out and ask you why you never told them about this salvation.
If a Jew or anyone else for that matter, has found his way to no longer worship in "this place or that place" but rather "in spirit and in truth" and the only yoke he is bound to is the love of his own life now held in obedience by the hand of his loving Father in heaven, then that one has most certainly entered the promised land.
My church is, at once a billion people spread across the face of the earth and the company of just two or three others. I love the church more than anything else but there is only one, She is the radiant bride of Christ. She is everywhere and I enjoy her company on all occasions in equal degree. Sitting, isolated in silence for an hour on a Sunday morning in an environment that functionally forbids my speaking except perhaps if I am fortunate and quick enough to catch her making a hasty exit after the formal procedures are duly satisfied. Maybe then we can spend some real time together, not simply sitting silently in the same auditorium considering it "gathering together" to satisfy what was originally meant to be helpful advice to a very wayward group of her misguided Jews 2000 years ago, that has now become a command and requirement to demonstrate my committedness to her.
The idea that our relationship with the rest of the church ever be reduced to measuring what we give and what we get displays a tragic loss of love. A marriage will never survive the language of equitable exchange in giving and receiving.
It is not the deep intimate nature of a relationship with other members of Christ that I prefer to avoid. On the contrary, I seek it at every chance I get through out the week and throughout the day. It is the rigid human sequences and lifeless processes of organized human logic reduced to something we thoughtlessly and ignorantly call a "service" and repeat endlessly week after week until all the intimacy is completely squeezed out of it that I am avoiding.
Once you are no longer a herd, wandering in the wilderness being lead by a single man and being fed the same food, as wonderful and life sustaining as manna was, there is no comparison to the milk and honey of a land in which we are free to feed ourselves and enjoy the freedom to follow the Spirit of God and not the visions of a man.
A freedom that even the ancient Hebrews could not sustain due to their indifference to the love of their Father in heaven and their servile dependence on human leadership. A freedom that is now, as it was then, greatly taught but only slightly lived within the duty bound institutions of humanly organized corporate religious thinking. A non-profit corporation that plagiarizes the name 'church' and calls out to those who are conditioned for labor from years of bearing the burden of their own sin so it can lift it, for a short time, only to replace it with the burden of policy and mission and the work of the gospel to be done. In the one case they were burdened with the weight of their own sin in the latter, they are given the weight of the sins of everyone they meet. The burden of hell is no longer just your own, you must carry that responsibility for everyone you know. You must be a moral beacon, you must be a servant of all, you must not lust with your heart, you must give all of yourself to the mission. You may be the only Jesus your neighbor will ever see and when they are burning in the fires of hell, they may call out and ask you why you never told them about this salvation.
If a Jew or anyone else for that matter, has found his way to no longer worship in "this place or that place" but rather "in spirit and in truth" and the only yoke he is bound to is the love of his own life now held in obedience by the hand of his loving Father in heaven, then that one has most certainly entered the promised land.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
A Gift From Jesus
This is a present from Jesus that finds almost no equal in our society.
Hollywood doesn't require the greatest actors to wow the crowd every week and even they are helped by an entire entourage of helpers and supporting actors.
Educators are helped by getting a fresh batch of students every term. They don't have to create new material and they get to use the same stories over and over.
Students actually have the benefit of actually picking and choosing their courses or in my case I actually chose some courses based on who would be teaching it. They even get to graduate and get on with their lives.
But then Jesus comes along and creates a church model that requires lots of devotion being given to one person for an extended period of time that is not seen anywhere else in society. And even then he only makes a 3 year attempt at this kind of devotion.
He also puts a 10% admission fee on their devotion to the minister and the meeting facility. There really is nothing else to compare this kind of activity to on the face of the earth except of course in other religious models.
It certainly has created an incredibly caring and supportive group of people with ministers being able to take the lead in society, all the while living off of the charity of others.
The fact that this goes on generation after generation and great men aspire to take the lead in this model is perhaps as miraculous as the resurrection itself.
Hollywood doesn't require the greatest actors to wow the crowd every week and even they are helped by an entire entourage of helpers and supporting actors.
Educators are helped by getting a fresh batch of students every term. They don't have to create new material and they get to use the same stories over and over.
Students actually have the benefit of actually picking and choosing their courses or in my case I actually chose some courses based on who would be teaching it. They even get to graduate and get on with their lives.
But then Jesus comes along and creates a church model that requires lots of devotion being given to one person for an extended period of time that is not seen anywhere else in society. And even then he only makes a 3 year attempt at this kind of devotion.
He also puts a 10% admission fee on their devotion to the minister and the meeting facility. There really is nothing else to compare this kind of activity to on the face of the earth except of course in other religious models.
It certainly has created an incredibly caring and supportive group of people with ministers being able to take the lead in society, all the while living off of the charity of others.
The fact that this goes on generation after generation and great men aspire to take the lead in this model is perhaps as miraculous as the resurrection itself.
Friday, April 2, 2010
My God, My God, Why Hast Thou Forsaken Me
So many preachers take the view of this passage that Yeshua's father had forsaken him. That is inconsistent with a loving God.
Here is an excellent article giving an alternative view.
Matthew 27:46
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani,”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
These words that Jesus cried out as he was hanging on the Cross have been a source of much confusion and debate among Christians through the years. Some teach that Jesus became sin, God cannot look on sin, and thus God forsook His Son. Others, citing the following verses, say that God did not forsake His Son when he needed Him the most:
John 10:30
“I and my Father are one.”
John 16:32
“You [disciples] will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.”
2 Corinthians 5:19
“To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.”
By His very nature, our heavenly Father could not turn away from His only begotten Son, especially at the moment for which God has been preparing him all of his life. Jesus Christ was the crux of history, the one on whose shoulders the salvation of mankind was riding, the one who trusted his Father step by step all the way to this defining moment of His-story. And then God forsook him? That just doesn't make sense. More importantly, it is not what the Bible says.
continued at www.truthortradition.com
Here is an excellent article giving an alternative view.
My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me?
Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani
Matthew 27:46, Psalm 22
by John W. Shoenheit
Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani
Matthew 27:46, Psalm 22
by John W. Shoenheit
Matthew 27:46
About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani,”—which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
These words that Jesus cried out as he was hanging on the Cross have been a source of much confusion and debate among Christians through the years. Some teach that Jesus became sin, God cannot look on sin, and thus God forsook His Son. Others, citing the following verses, say that God did not forsake His Son when he needed Him the most:
John 10:30
“I and my Father are one.”
John 16:32
“You [disciples] will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.”
2 Corinthians 5:19
“To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.”
By His very nature, our heavenly Father could not turn away from His only begotten Son, especially at the moment for which God has been preparing him all of his life. Jesus Christ was the crux of history, the one on whose shoulders the salvation of mankind was riding, the one who trusted his Father step by step all the way to this defining moment of His-story. And then God forsook him? That just doesn't make sense. More importantly, it is not what the Bible says.
continued at www.truthortradition.com
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
How Do I?
How Do I... ?
By Wayne Jacobsen BodyLife • March 2010
How do I...?" Probably 80% of the questions I get begin with those three little words. I shudder now when I hear them, though I don't always show it. Believe me, I understand well enough. It used to be three of my favorite words, too.
How do I get the relationship with Jesus I want?
How do I find other like-hearted believers near me?
How do I get my spouse to see what I want him or her to see?
How do I get my book published, find an agent, or launch a bestseller?
How do I find my ministry?
How do I start a house church?
How do I find an audience for the things I want to share?
The list goes on and on. But I must warn you at the outset that similar questions asked of Jesus didn't get the answer most were looking for. This article probably won't either because the question itself beginswith the wrong focus. It already buys into the lie that if we don't have something we want, there must besomething we can do to get it.
We've been pressed by four thousand years of religious indoctrination into that conclusion. The life you want is a few good decisions and a lot of hard work away. Fifty years of self-help books have underlined that same self-deifying approach. Give me three steps, five rules or eight keys and I can do it. Except wecan't, and when our efforts fail we only have ourselves to blame with some form of, "I didn't do enough, I didn't do it right, or I didn't have the right steps." Thus we are left to either find better answers or workeven harder.
Now I'm not saying hard work won't be rewarded in this temporal world. It will--much more than lying on a couch hoping to win the lottery. But in the kingdom of God human effort and our confidence in it are two of the greatest obstacles to living in his joy.
Religious lie #212 is, "If we won't, he can't," and it underlies so many of the ways we motivate people and make them feel responsible. While that may lead people to work hard to do something great for God it only leads to the disillusioned hopes of self-effort, especially when we think ourselves successful.
Jesus described a very different Father, one who was working every day in the world inviting us to come alongside him. That's how Jesus lived. He watched what his Father was doing and joined him there. Pauladmonished us to do the same. "Watch what God does, and then you do it." (Ephesians 5:1, The Message)
One of the signs of his working in us to take us beyond the good intentions and failed hopes of religion is that we are no longer concerned with doing things for God, and instead learn to do things with him. And that begins with the simplest of opportunities.
Hounded by Luke 14
I've slaved under the lie of self-effort and the frustration it engenders for most of my spiritual life and when you combine that with spiritual passion, the results are disastrous. It wasn't that God didn't try to warn me, but that his nudges were not nearly as compelling as the internal drive to climb the ladders that would make me feel more significant and important than others around me. There was so much God wanted me to do for him, or so I had convinced myself. Looking back, it's hard to imagine that I didn't even notice that the things I thought God wanted of me and the things that would make me successful and important were synonymous. That should have been my first clue.
God wanted me to write and teach, and I needed an ever-expanding audience to validate that calling and the truth of what I was sharing. I was so driven to find myself an audience worthy of my imagined calling and spent endless nights in frustration and anger that God wouldn't bless my efforts the way I thought he should or that others wouldn't help me the way I thought I needed. Oh, how naive I was.
During this season of my life I had a number of people approach me saying they had a Scripture on their heart for me. After three or four times over a period of five years, I would just look at them and say, "Luke14." Their eyes would get wide and I knew I was right. "The story about the banquet," I'd add and they would nod with a bewildering look on their face. "You're not the first," I'd reassure them.
The story is found in Luke 14:7-11. Jesus attends a Sabbath feast and notices how everyone comes into the room jockeying for the most honored seats. He warns them not to. Better to take the last place and be invited up, rather than presume the honored one and have to be moved down. He finishes with one of hisfavorite lines, "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be
exalted.
Over a twenty-year period in my life I had different people bring up this story at least a dozen times. Each time grew more frustrating, as I wondered why I hadn't yet learned whatever lesson he wanted me toknow. Just how humble do you have to be to merit a wide-ranging ministry? But that really wasn't the point of the parable or what God wanted me to know. Whenever we set ourselves to be honored above others, or promote our own influence, people only become a tool to ourown ends and real life and real love cease. Why did God bring this story to be so many times? I find that he confirms in extraordinary ways the lessons we have the hardest time learning, and this one answers the how-do-I question better than any other I know.
The Fight For the Top
They came into the party with their eyes glued on the head-table. Who wouldn't? Banquets are designed to draw attention to the front of the room and celebrate the most-honored guests. And few people walk in without wishing they could have that place of honor so that others would know how important they are.
If you're talented enough, or have the right contacts, you can claw your way to the top at someone else's expense, but Jesus warned us here that the wake-up call from our contrived posturing will be painful indeed for those who think of themselves more highly than they ought to think.
Celebrity is one of the sickest realities of the human family--we stratify ourselves in terms of perceived relative value usually based on someone's talent, looks, or success, and then believe the lie. Those who sitat the head of the table bask in the perception of their own self-importance, and those who don't wish they were. Jesus let his disciples know that his kingdom works very differently. He was confronting fallen humanity's need to find our significance in comparison to others. It is a trap, and all the better if you get there and still believe the lie.
And yet, there is a dysfunctional drive in broken humanity, especially those with creative gifts, to be the next celebrity. You see it at American Idol auditions and hear it in the voices of would-be artists and authors. They think all their dreams will be fulfilled if someone will just "discover them" and offer them the platform they haven't found for themselves.
But it is often true that those who make such big jumps often get twisted by them, and end up crushing others when their influence exceeds their personal character. Perhaps that's what Paul meant when he warned us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, whether we aspire to a place of influence or already have it and think it gives us a place above others. Do you know how many people approach me, certain that my work with The Shack proves I have the key or the audience to promote their project into the stratosphere? What happened there was the result of three men God brought together along with a lifetime of experiences, pain, work, and relationships to do something that was beyond each of us.
We didn't have a formula to work then and we don't now. We learned that God opens doors as he desires.To be honest, that whole project was far more fun and far more impacting when we'd only sold a few thousand and people felt like they had stumbled upon a hidden treasure. The bigger it got the less it seemed to impact the people reading it. The book became the star instead of the God we wanted people to engage through the book.
Head Table Wannabes
They are not hard to recognize. They always draw attention to themselves, and scheme for favors to advance their ministry. Most of the ones I meet really think this is what God wants for them. I did too. But that still makes you a user. Their friendships last only as long as the benefit they derive and they easily discard people when their benefit is used up. Those who make it into the limelight become quite different people, enamored with themselves and their famous friends. They treat common people as if they are beneath them and if anyone challenges them, they counter with whispered accusations, or cutting off the relationship altogether.
Interestingly enough, the men and women I know in the world who most live loved by Father and demonstrate that love to others around them, are not household names nor are they people who seek the stage. Most have not written books, nor are they frustrated with the sphere of their sphere of influence God has given them. But they have more impact on the world around them than those with more recognizable names and larger platforms.
I wonder if that is why Jesus never wrote his own book, or started an organization? He knew the limitations of both and that they would distract from his real mission of shaping lives to live loved by the Father. He would rather have left the world with a hundred and twenty men and women on the road to living loved than anything else he could think of.
But what I don't wonder about any more is what table I'd prefer to sit at. I've sat at head tables. They are false space indeed. There's not much real conversation there, since people are facing away from each other in more ways than one. Those people are caught up in appearances and posturing and making the next connection to advance their own agendas. That's why I don't think Jesus' point was to take the last place as a way to get to what you think is first place. Maybe his point was that the last place in a room is really the best place to enjoy him and love others in a way that is meaningful and transforming. Maybe that is why he washed the disciples feet as the greatest demonstration of his affection for them, and encouraged them to do the same.
The Organic Growth of Service
I don't know of a story that better answers all of our how-to questions. How do I find relationship, fellowship, or an outlet for my creative expression? Instead of looking for what we don't have, Luke 14 invites us into the space of responding to God's working right where we are. Rather than having to make something happen by our own wisdom or ingenuity, the path to God's life comes by loving the people he has already put before us, applying our gifts to their needs. I'm convinced that will create opportunity enough for whatever God wants to give us and what he desires us to share with us.
Most of our how-to questions focus on our abilities, wisdom, or connections and trying to find what we don't have, rather than allowing us to live freely in what God has already given. It's easy to miss his gentle nudges when we're more focused on our desires or ministry. He knows how to draw us into relationship with him and, it's not by following someone else's steps.
And He knows how to connect us with others near where we live. Most think they have to find an existing group of like-minded people. While that is a wonderful gift if you come across one, it doesn't often happen. What if you just began to love the people that God has already put around your life--neighbors, co-workers, other parents at your children's activities, and even strangers who might cross our paths on a given day? Caring about them would lead to conversations and conversations to relationships and you would soon find yourself a caring part of people's lives instead of attending a group.
As for ministry, trust that the slow reality of organic growth has far more value in this kingdom than flash-in-the-pan promotion the world exalts. As you simply do what God puts before you and let him beconcerned with how far it travels and whom it touches. If your life is encouraging others on this journey,opportunities will come to share that with others. But keep your eyes focused where it counts the most, not on high-visibility opportunities, but occasions to help others. Serving them, rather than getting others to serve you, will open more real doors than the false promises of hype and promotion. It probably won't be as fast as you want, but it will be real and your focus will be more on the people you're touching than the "ministry" you want to grow.
In the Scriptures we read about a God that transforms over time--of a seed growing into a plant, of Abraham wrestling with the promise of a son for 25 years before Sarah got pregnant, of Jesus spending 30 years as a carpenter before he ever performed a miracle, or Paul, the former Pharisee, sorting out whoGod was over 17 years in a wilderness before he ever taught anyone else. Why, then, do we keep looking to build a name for ourselves or create a following others will notice?
God is less interested in helping you reach a place of honor, as he is teaching us how to honor the people he has already placed around you.
Live, Love and Listen
I often meet people who want to live the way I do, writing and traveling to encourage others on this journey. I get that. I love living where God has placed me, but most have a distorted view of what that is. They don't see the cost and pain that underlies a lot of my journey, or the constant barrage of those who want to use me for their own purposes. And most have no idea that what I live now I did not find by my own scheming, but unfolded organically over years of simply following the gentle nudges on my heart where the consequences were unseen and the impact seemingly insignificant. In the end, we are only asked to follow him, not to build an audience or to produce our own transformation.
I wrote my first book, The Naked Church, back in 1987. That book was not successful by any publishing standards, and I was incredibly frustrated at the time that that book didn't have the sales arc of a bestseller. I wrote it to change the course of Christianity in the west and it failed that hope. In spite of my distorted agenda, however, God knew how to take it to all the places he wanted to take it. I still get email from people who were deeply touched by that book way back then, some of them in very remote corners of the planet.
I look back now grateful for what God did with that book, knowing that if it had fulfilled what I wanted at the time, I might well have been destroyed in the process. I now know what those emotions preyed on and if God had satisfied them then, I am fairly certain I would not be on the road I am today. And I wouldn't trade this road for any other. And so much of what I'm a part of today spilled out of that little book and the unintended consequences of it.
Whenever you are frustrated at God for not opening better doors for you, that might be a sign that you're focused at the wrong doors. I have come to trust the organic growth of simple relationships over the substitutes of self-promotion, manipulation and begging favors from others.
So how do you find ministry, find fellowship or live transformed? Simply accept the invitation to live deeply in him, love those around you the way you are coming to understand how he loves you, and then simply listen when he nudges your heart. If you live in that space you will find his power transforming you, his Spirit connecting you to others and everything he wants to do in you will be fulfilled by him.
That's what Jesus wanted his disciples to know. If they had set out to change the world, they would have failed miserably, lost in their own ingenuity and wisdom to accomplish so large a task. This is a large work I've called you into, but don't be overwhelmed by it. It's best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest acts of giving or receiving makeyou a true apprentice. You won't lose out on a thing." (Matthew 10:41-42, The Message) Jesus knew the most amazing things could begin with a cup of cold water.
© Copyright 2010 Lifestream Ministries
Permission is hereby granted to anyone wishing to make copies for free distribution.
www.lifestream.org
By Wayne Jacobsen BodyLife • March 2010
How do I...?" Probably 80% of the questions I get begin with those three little words. I shudder now when I hear them, though I don't always show it. Believe me, I understand well enough. It used to be three of my favorite words, too.
How do I get the relationship with Jesus I want?
How do I find other like-hearted believers near me?
How do I get my spouse to see what I want him or her to see?
How do I get my book published, find an agent, or launch a bestseller?
How do I find my ministry?
How do I start a house church?
How do I find an audience for the things I want to share?
The list goes on and on. But I must warn you at the outset that similar questions asked of Jesus didn't get the answer most were looking for. This article probably won't either because the question itself beginswith the wrong focus. It already buys into the lie that if we don't have something we want, there must besomething we can do to get it.
We've been pressed by four thousand years of religious indoctrination into that conclusion. The life you want is a few good decisions and a lot of hard work away. Fifty years of self-help books have underlined that same self-deifying approach. Give me three steps, five rules or eight keys and I can do it. Except wecan't, and when our efforts fail we only have ourselves to blame with some form of, "I didn't do enough, I didn't do it right, or I didn't have the right steps." Thus we are left to either find better answers or workeven harder.
Now I'm not saying hard work won't be rewarded in this temporal world. It will--much more than lying on a couch hoping to win the lottery. But in the kingdom of God human effort and our confidence in it are two of the greatest obstacles to living in his joy.
Religious lie #212 is, "If we won't, he can't," and it underlies so many of the ways we motivate people and make them feel responsible. While that may lead people to work hard to do something great for God it only leads to the disillusioned hopes of self-effort, especially when we think ourselves successful.
Jesus described a very different Father, one who was working every day in the world inviting us to come alongside him. That's how Jesus lived. He watched what his Father was doing and joined him there. Pauladmonished us to do the same. "Watch what God does, and then you do it." (Ephesians 5:1, The Message)
One of the signs of his working in us to take us beyond the good intentions and failed hopes of religion is that we are no longer concerned with doing things for God, and instead learn to do things with him. And that begins with the simplest of opportunities.
Hounded by Luke 14
I've slaved under the lie of self-effort and the frustration it engenders for most of my spiritual life and when you combine that with spiritual passion, the results are disastrous. It wasn't that God didn't try to warn me, but that his nudges were not nearly as compelling as the internal drive to climb the ladders that would make me feel more significant and important than others around me. There was so much God wanted me to do for him, or so I had convinced myself. Looking back, it's hard to imagine that I didn't even notice that the things I thought God wanted of me and the things that would make me successful and important were synonymous. That should have been my first clue.
God wanted me to write and teach, and I needed an ever-expanding audience to validate that calling and the truth of what I was sharing. I was so driven to find myself an audience worthy of my imagined calling and spent endless nights in frustration and anger that God wouldn't bless my efforts the way I thought he should or that others wouldn't help me the way I thought I needed. Oh, how naive I was.
During this season of my life I had a number of people approach me saying they had a Scripture on their heart for me. After three or four times over a period of five years, I would just look at them and say, "Luke14." Their eyes would get wide and I knew I was right. "The story about the banquet," I'd add and they would nod with a bewildering look on their face. "You're not the first," I'd reassure them.
The story is found in Luke 14:7-11. Jesus attends a Sabbath feast and notices how everyone comes into the room jockeying for the most honored seats. He warns them not to. Better to take the last place and be invited up, rather than presume the honored one and have to be moved down. He finishes with one of hisfavorite lines, "For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be
exalted.
Over a twenty-year period in my life I had different people bring up this story at least a dozen times. Each time grew more frustrating, as I wondered why I hadn't yet learned whatever lesson he wanted me toknow. Just how humble do you have to be to merit a wide-ranging ministry? But that really wasn't the point of the parable or what God wanted me to know. Whenever we set ourselves to be honored above others, or promote our own influence, people only become a tool to ourown ends and real life and real love cease. Why did God bring this story to be so many times? I find that he confirms in extraordinary ways the lessons we have the hardest time learning, and this one answers the how-do-I question better than any other I know.
The Fight For the Top
They came into the party with their eyes glued on the head-table. Who wouldn't? Banquets are designed to draw attention to the front of the room and celebrate the most-honored guests. And few people walk in without wishing they could have that place of honor so that others would know how important they are.
If you're talented enough, or have the right contacts, you can claw your way to the top at someone else's expense, but Jesus warned us here that the wake-up call from our contrived posturing will be painful indeed for those who think of themselves more highly than they ought to think.
Celebrity is one of the sickest realities of the human family--we stratify ourselves in terms of perceived relative value usually based on someone's talent, looks, or success, and then believe the lie. Those who sitat the head of the table bask in the perception of their own self-importance, and those who don't wish they were. Jesus let his disciples know that his kingdom works very differently. He was confronting fallen humanity's need to find our significance in comparison to others. It is a trap, and all the better if you get there and still believe the lie.
And yet, there is a dysfunctional drive in broken humanity, especially those with creative gifts, to be the next celebrity. You see it at American Idol auditions and hear it in the voices of would-be artists and authors. They think all their dreams will be fulfilled if someone will just "discover them" and offer them the platform they haven't found for themselves.
But it is often true that those who make such big jumps often get twisted by them, and end up crushing others when their influence exceeds their personal character. Perhaps that's what Paul meant when he warned us not to think of ourselves more highly than we ought to think, whether we aspire to a place of influence or already have it and think it gives us a place above others. Do you know how many people approach me, certain that my work with The Shack proves I have the key or the audience to promote their project into the stratosphere? What happened there was the result of three men God brought together along with a lifetime of experiences, pain, work, and relationships to do something that was beyond each of us.
We didn't have a formula to work then and we don't now. We learned that God opens doors as he desires.To be honest, that whole project was far more fun and far more impacting when we'd only sold a few thousand and people felt like they had stumbled upon a hidden treasure. The bigger it got the less it seemed to impact the people reading it. The book became the star instead of the God we wanted people to engage through the book.
Head Table Wannabes
They are not hard to recognize. They always draw attention to themselves, and scheme for favors to advance their ministry. Most of the ones I meet really think this is what God wants for them. I did too. But that still makes you a user. Their friendships last only as long as the benefit they derive and they easily discard people when their benefit is used up. Those who make it into the limelight become quite different people, enamored with themselves and their famous friends. They treat common people as if they are beneath them and if anyone challenges them, they counter with whispered accusations, or cutting off the relationship altogether.
Interestingly enough, the men and women I know in the world who most live loved by Father and demonstrate that love to others around them, are not household names nor are they people who seek the stage. Most have not written books, nor are they frustrated with the sphere of their sphere of influence God has given them. But they have more impact on the world around them than those with more recognizable names and larger platforms.
I wonder if that is why Jesus never wrote his own book, or started an organization? He knew the limitations of both and that they would distract from his real mission of shaping lives to live loved by the Father. He would rather have left the world with a hundred and twenty men and women on the road to living loved than anything else he could think of.
But what I don't wonder about any more is what table I'd prefer to sit at. I've sat at head tables. They are false space indeed. There's not much real conversation there, since people are facing away from each other in more ways than one. Those people are caught up in appearances and posturing and making the next connection to advance their own agendas. That's why I don't think Jesus' point was to take the last place as a way to get to what you think is first place. Maybe his point was that the last place in a room is really the best place to enjoy him and love others in a way that is meaningful and transforming. Maybe that is why he washed the disciples feet as the greatest demonstration of his affection for them, and encouraged them to do the same.
The Organic Growth of Service
I don't know of a story that better answers all of our how-to questions. How do I find relationship, fellowship, or an outlet for my creative expression? Instead of looking for what we don't have, Luke 14 invites us into the space of responding to God's working right where we are. Rather than having to make something happen by our own wisdom or ingenuity, the path to God's life comes by loving the people he has already put before us, applying our gifts to their needs. I'm convinced that will create opportunity enough for whatever God wants to give us and what he desires us to share with us.
Most of our how-to questions focus on our abilities, wisdom, or connections and trying to find what we don't have, rather than allowing us to live freely in what God has already given. It's easy to miss his gentle nudges when we're more focused on our desires or ministry. He knows how to draw us into relationship with him and, it's not by following someone else's steps.
And He knows how to connect us with others near where we live. Most think they have to find an existing group of like-minded people. While that is a wonderful gift if you come across one, it doesn't often happen. What if you just began to love the people that God has already put around your life--neighbors, co-workers, other parents at your children's activities, and even strangers who might cross our paths on a given day? Caring about them would lead to conversations and conversations to relationships and you would soon find yourself a caring part of people's lives instead of attending a group.
As for ministry, trust that the slow reality of organic growth has far more value in this kingdom than flash-in-the-pan promotion the world exalts. As you simply do what God puts before you and let him beconcerned with how far it travels and whom it touches. If your life is encouraging others on this journey,opportunities will come to share that with others. But keep your eyes focused where it counts the most, not on high-visibility opportunities, but occasions to help others. Serving them, rather than getting others to serve you, will open more real doors than the false promises of hype and promotion. It probably won't be as fast as you want, but it will be real and your focus will be more on the people you're touching than the "ministry" you want to grow.
In the Scriptures we read about a God that transforms over time--of a seed growing into a plant, of Abraham wrestling with the promise of a son for 25 years before Sarah got pregnant, of Jesus spending 30 years as a carpenter before he ever performed a miracle, or Paul, the former Pharisee, sorting out whoGod was over 17 years in a wilderness before he ever taught anyone else. Why, then, do we keep looking to build a name for ourselves or create a following others will notice?
God is less interested in helping you reach a place of honor, as he is teaching us how to honor the people he has already placed around you.
Live, Love and Listen
I often meet people who want to live the way I do, writing and traveling to encourage others on this journey. I get that. I love living where God has placed me, but most have a distorted view of what that is. They don't see the cost and pain that underlies a lot of my journey, or the constant barrage of those who want to use me for their own purposes. And most have no idea that what I live now I did not find by my own scheming, but unfolded organically over years of simply following the gentle nudges on my heart where the consequences were unseen and the impact seemingly insignificant. In the end, we are only asked to follow him, not to build an audience or to produce our own transformation.
I wrote my first book, The Naked Church, back in 1987. That book was not successful by any publishing standards, and I was incredibly frustrated at the time that that book didn't have the sales arc of a bestseller. I wrote it to change the course of Christianity in the west and it failed that hope. In spite of my distorted agenda, however, God knew how to take it to all the places he wanted to take it. I still get email from people who were deeply touched by that book way back then, some of them in very remote corners of the planet.
I look back now grateful for what God did with that book, knowing that if it had fulfilled what I wanted at the time, I might well have been destroyed in the process. I now know what those emotions preyed on and if God had satisfied them then, I am fairly certain I would not be on the road I am today. And I wouldn't trade this road for any other. And so much of what I'm a part of today spilled out of that little book and the unintended consequences of it.
Whenever you are frustrated at God for not opening better doors for you, that might be a sign that you're focused at the wrong doors. I have come to trust the organic growth of simple relationships over the substitutes of self-promotion, manipulation and begging favors from others.
So how do you find ministry, find fellowship or live transformed? Simply accept the invitation to live deeply in him, love those around you the way you are coming to understand how he loves you, and then simply listen when he nudges your heart. If you live in that space you will find his power transforming you, his Spirit connecting you to others and everything he wants to do in you will be fulfilled by him.
That's what Jesus wanted his disciples to know. If they had set out to change the world, they would have failed miserably, lost in their own ingenuity and wisdom to accomplish so large a task. This is a large work I've called you into, but don't be overwhelmed by it. It's best to start small. Give a cool cup of water to someone who is thirsty, for instance. The smallest acts of giving or receiving makeyou a true apprentice. You won't lose out on a thing." (Matthew 10:41-42, The Message) Jesus knew the most amazing things could begin with a cup of cold water.
© Copyright 2010 Lifestream Ministries
Permission is hereby granted to anyone wishing to make copies for free distribution.
www.lifestream.org
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
The Spirit of Mammon (Money)
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. Matthew 6:24
ALL organized Christian churches require money to exist. In fact, they close down when the money dries up. In other words, money is their master. And Yeshua said you can't serve 2 masters.
Meanwhile, the gospel of the kingdom of God requires no money to advance within our world.
ALL organized Christian churches require money to exist. In fact, they close down when the money dries up. In other words, money is their master. And Yeshua said you can't serve 2 masters.
Meanwhile, the gospel of the kingdom of God requires no money to advance within our world.
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