Copyright © 2005-2007 Collin Park
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.Notes for reading of April 20
We Christians often talk about walking with God, and walking by faith. But what does that mean? What might it look like?
A few weeks ago, at the MPPC men's retreat, we got a great illustration from Genesis: the life of Abraham. The following is only loosely based on what was presented there, 'cause I don't have my notes with me.
OK, here goes.
The Lord had said to Abram, "Leave your country, your people and your father's household and go to the land I will show you." (Genesis 12.1)
There's a bold move -- no map, no schedule, no destination -- but an astonishing promise of blessing.
So what happens when he gets there? "Now there was a famine in the land" (12.10). Great -- he's got a promise of blessing, but on his way there, he hits a famine and moves to Egypt.
What must Abraham have thought? He left civilization as he knew it for the promise of something great, but he meets with famine and apparently takes a detour -- a detour to Egypt. He tells his wife, "Say you are my sister, so... my life will be spared because of you." (12.13). Famine, then moral failure.
He gets rich, but family problems develop. "And quarreling arose between Abram's herdsmen and the herdsmen of (Abe's nephew) Lot" (13.7), so they split up.
Next up: war! "The four kings ... carried off Abram's nephew Lot and his possessions." (14.11-12) Kidnapping, too.
God promised him descendants like the sand on the seashore, but at age 85, there are still no children. He does what seems like the normal thing to do, given what God told him: "He slept with (his wife's maidservant) Hagar, and she conceived." (16.4). In due course she bears a son, but he finds out from God that this isn't the heir of the promise.
The scriptures list several other events, including the command to sacrifice his son Isaac, that in my life would have caused a real spiritual crisis. But I think we have enough here to make a point:
Following God's will does not mean things will go well -- even for Abraham! When God introduces himself to Moses, he calls himself "the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob" (Exodus 3.18); Abraham is called "God's friend" (James 2.23). Can you imagine that -- having a biblical author call you "God's friend", or having God identify himself as "the God of <your name here>, Isaac, and Jacob"?
And yet he meets famine, his own moral failure, family strife, war and kidnapping, and a major mistake in understanding God's will.
If these things happen to God's friend when he follows God's will, why do we think things should go well for us?
And when things don't go well, why do we think it wasn't God's will? Well, I guess we could wonder, but famine, war, kidnapping [etc] don't prove I'm not following God's will.
Which reminds me of someone's history that I read about. (I don't know this guy personally, so if I know you, this isn't about you.)
He met her at Bible school. They fell in love, and after much prayer and consultation with parents, friends, and [other] spiritual advisers (pastors, etc.), decided to get married. Ten or fifteen years later, their marriage is feeling a little rocky, and one day she tells him she's actually a lesbian. She leaves him and their children, and moves in with her lover. Within a few months, she kills herself. Now the kids are basket cases and so is this man.
Suppose this guy asks, "Was it really God's will that we get married?"
On one hand, I can see why he'd ask -- I mean, I would. And yet, even that unimaginable amount of suffering does not necessarily imply that he was out of God's will.
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. ... Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 4.7-11,16-18
In other words, "Not necessarily."
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Something odd happens to people who oppose Jesus -- they tend to look faintly ridiculous after a while. Not that they're trying to look foolish; they just turn out that way somehow. Watch what happens to these guys:
1One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. 2"Tell us by what authority you are doing these things," they said. "Who gave you this authority?"
3He replied, "I will also ask you a question. Tell me, 4John's baptism--was it from heaven, or from men?"
5They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Why didn't you believe him?' 6But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet." 7So they answered, "We don't know where it was from."
8Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things."
Luke 20:1-8
What a bunch of clowns! They come off acting like some kind of authorities. But they're blind and cowardly. These guys are supposed to be spiritual leaders, but they're not even willing to say what they believe.
The style of rhetoric and argumentation sure was different in first century Israel than it would be in 21st century America. Today, the typical thing would be to point out their beliefs as shown by their actions. Maybe you could even get the people to stone them: "You didn't believe John, so you must think his baptism came from men!" or something like this. Maybe the people really would have stoned them.
But that wouldn't have served his purpose. After all, these chumps had to be around so they could later persuade the Romans to kill him.
Jesus does, however, make things very uncomfortable for these priests, teachers of the law, and elders; he tells the people a parable describing the future of these self-styled "spiritual leaders." In other words, they dig a hole for themselves and Jesus helps them do it.
As I reflect on this passage, a couple of things stand out to me.
First, when someone points out to me that I've messed up -- whether by making me look ridiculous or by some other means -- I want to be willing to repent. Because it's better to know whether I'm right (and maybe find out I'm wrong) than to go on thinking I'm right (and actually being wrong). If I'm making myself a chump by acting cowardly and by denying the truth, in other words, let me find out so I can stop!
Second, when confronting someone who's making a chump of himself, my first reaction is sometimes to force him to 'fess up to his folly -- to lead him around to the truth, and get frustrated when he refused to follow. I get caught up in the moment, in other words; I don't always keep the mission in view.
This came up in a negotiation class. Sometimes you catch your interlocutor in a blatant lie. This kind of thing tends to drive me up the wall, but that doesn't accomplish my goal in the negotiation. Instead it may reward the liar. My personal weakness, in other words, may compromise the objective.
In either scenario, the thing I need to do is this: keep the goal in mind. To find out whether I'm right and make corrections is better than to keep going in the wrong direction because it feels better right now. And to accomplish the mission (as Jesus said, "I have glorified your name on the earth, by finishing the work you gave me to do.") is better than venting my spleen or allowing myself to get side-tracked by my passions. ("A heart at peace gives life to the body, but passion rots the bones," as the Proverbs say.)
May God help me to keep my purpose -- his purpose for my life -- in view, that I may live for him and not just for my feelings.
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