Into the Fiery Furnace

by Ben


I'm getting back on the dLog horse and reading Isaiah 62-66 and Daniel 1-11.


I don't know how much I will be writing in the next few posts. I need to just get back into the habit of reading Scripture daily.


Tonight, in my reading, there was a lot of prophesy. Isaiah's odd prophetic writings and Daniel's interpretation of dreams and visions lead me to wonder if we just don't trust the power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. I know that I have had feelings or nudges about decisions that I just cannot explain. Do I always follow them? No. Do I sometimes? Yes.


Often times, they are very simple things. For example, I might feel the need to talk to a friend about a particular topic that I sense could be important to something they are going through. The decision to actually take this course of action is mine. God provides the opportunities, and if we are listening, He'll give us direction.


Does that mean that every time we sense a voice in our head that it is the Holy Spirit guiding us? No. Sin can creep in even easier than God's direction. We must learn to discern to what God is actually calling us.


I am sensing a still, small voice calling me to seminary. Fear could easily prevent me from following this voice. "What will my friends and family think?" "But I just bought a house." "The school is so far away from what I've always known as home."


I was reading tonight from "Confessions of a Pastor" by Craig Groeschel. In the second to last chapter, he wrote about fear and how it can prevent us from succeeding at all. Fear of failure has prevented most of us (at some point) from being our best selves. We must learn to push past these fears.


It all sounds so crazy. Five years ago, I would have considered the above ideas to be a little strange and possibly coming from a crazy person. I can't imagine what the youth of CPC thought when I told them that I felt that God was calling me to seminary (and away from my current position).


But I am reassured as I read Daniel. Daniel was willing to step out and say what God was moving him to say. He didn't fear death or pursecution. He, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego all faced the possibility of pain and death because of what God was doing in their hearts.


I pray for that kind of faith. A faith that takes action and works for the glory of God's kingdom.

Romans 2

one of the things that stuck out to me today:

in relation to Matt's condemning series:
"But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God "will give to each person according to what he has done." To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger."

-a few things about this. first off, I'd never noticed the quotes in verse 6 before, which apparently are quoting other Scripture. The reference here is to Psalm 62:12. Which, along with the Sheep & the Goats passage the Matt blogged about awhile ago, would seem to indicate that our final resting place is more about works than faith. Which is exactly the reason why it's so important to read Scripture in its totality, in light of other Scripture. I heard it put well recently that while salvation comes by grace & faith, sanctification, the growing and maturing of a Christian, comes by doing. You don't accidentally or automatically grow in your faith.

another thing I noticed was the word "persistence." He doesn't just say "those who by doing good seek glory, honor and immortality." It takes persistence. I find this to be encouraging because I think I still expect to some day reach some sort of plateau where I can just coast on in my growth. I think that if I make all the effort to go the "amusement park of God" that I can just sit on the roller coaster and God will drag me, screaming or not, to the top of the hill. I just have to do enough first to get to that point. And so I get frustrated with myself when I feel like I'm stepping backward, like I'm failing, like I don't have the passion or energy to continue. But it's exactly in these times that we should continue to push. Because our faith takes persistence. Because God's not going to drag us kicking & screaming to the top. And because I don't really want a roller coaster Christianity anyway.

The next chapter after Psalm 62 begins "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water."

Of course it's not always going to be easy. But persistence and earnest seeking will win the day. I need to tattoo my forehead "Never Give Up!"

Romans 1

yup...it's been awhile since I've been around this neck of the woods. But I got a thank you card from Matt the other day for The Bible Experience & he mentioned the dlog and then an email a couple days after that from Matt that also mentioned the dlog. For awhile now, I've been feeling some need for some change. Some of it a desire for big change, some little, some in between. But I definitely feel that if I'm going to continue to pursue God well, some changes needed to be made. So this morning I got up and, since church had been cancelled due to the crazy March blizzard of '08, decided today was as good as any to enact some of those changes.

Starting in Romans 1:

"For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen being understood from what has been made..."

This past Tuesday it rained all day long. Freezing rain, coating everything in layers of ice. Wednesday I had to work, but Thursday I got up first thing in the morning and grabbed my friend Derke and we went hiking out at Quail Hollow. It was breathtaking. Every tree and twig encapsulated in ice. Fresh animal tracks scattered about in the snow. We saw small groups of deer twice, once no more than 20-30 feet away. I put pictures on my Facebook profile (though I think that Derke has them privatized, so if he makes them public I'll post the link here)

Many times I've been in creation and been unable to deny the existence of God. In the 100 Mile Wilderness. The sunset and stars on Isle del Sul in Bolivia. The night sky in Mozambique. The southern coast of England. No matter where you go in the world, you come face to face with the beauty of an intricately designed creation, reflective of the awesome nature of the Creator.

Friday, as I was driving around in crazy blizzard, I happened to be tuned into NPR. I pretty much only listen to sports radio & NPR...what a weird combination. Anyway, on Fresh Air, they had a two piece segment on the existence of God with probably the two foremost names for either side. Richard Dawkins is an Oxford Professor and evolutionist who wrote the top selling book "The God Delusion." Francis Collins is an evangelical Christian and headed up the National Human Genome Research Project. He's also authored a book, "The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief." Both argue that DNA proves their point of view. A fascinating story upon Romans 1, really. One, having observing God's invisible qualities. One denying them. The links to the two interviews are below. If you're able to listen to them, I highly recommend it.

Francis Collins
Richard Dawkins

The Old Testament talks about the rocks crying out, the trees clapping their hands, creation shouting praise to God. Some view this as figurative. Sometimes I think it's much more literal than we would believe.

Sheep and Goats

By Matt

In Matthew 25 we get the famous parable of the sheep and the goats and the difference between the two are that the sheep are the one who took care of the sick, clothed the naked, invited in the strangers, gave food to the hungry, and drink to the thirsty, and visited the imprisoned. Goats did the exact opposite. Sheep take their inheritance in a kingdom prepared for them. Goats are sent away into the eternal fire prepared for Satan. This is probably the most cut and dry passage I have run into so far where Jesus clearly shows who the quick and the dead are. While it is all about knowing him, it's about not necessarily knowing that it is him. The sheep are surprised, they never knew the folks they served were Jesus, same goes for the goats except they didn't serve.

More so than any other passage I have read so far, this makes it seem pretty obvious that those who do good (not just those who are "good") are saved. Maybe we have to reconcile Jesus' statement that no one goes to the Father except through him with the idea that serving others is serving him and therefore going through him.

I don't know. This topic is kind of living up to what I expected it to be but I still don't know how I feel about all this.

Sheepish

by Ben

I feel sheepish. I haven't kept to my push to do devotions regularly. In my straying, I came to discover that life was becoming difficult. It seems to me that this always happens when I haven't been keeping up my personal spiritual life. Having read books on ministry and experienced this feeling before, I should know better. Yet, time and again, I say to myself, "I'm in the word almost every day." Yet these times are for work, not for my own connection to God.

And here I sit, writing another apology dLog post to God.

It could be that God is laying this on my heart because it is Ash Wednesday. It could be that this is the guilt that comes with working in ministry - that my own spiritual life is never good enough. Or it could just be part of following God.

I think of the Israelites and Jews, and their frequent back and forth nature with God. I think of Paul, who wrote about wanting to do good, yet still doing evil. I think of my own wavering and resteadying of faith.

Sometimes it is easier to hear the master's voice. Sometimes, it is so clear to know what God wants me to do, which direction I need to go. And sometimes it is a struggle.

We know when we have stepped off of the sidewalk on a busy street. We know when we are off the beaten path through the woods. Be it cars or wild animals, there are things that let us know that we are not where we should be.

The same is true with God. In our walk toward Him, we know when we have left the path. Feelings, events, and mindsets let us know that we are not where we should be.

Inaction can just as easily be a sin as action can. If we are not actively seeking God with our whole being, we fall into the trap of becoming comfortable with the world. And it sometimes takes a scare or bump to get us back on track.

For me that bump came yesterday in the form of negativity. Everyone I ran into seemed to be complaining about things in their life. And not the kind of complaining that leads to active change, but complaining for the sake of complaining.

And then it happened. I was sitting talking to a coworker when I heard it. I was doing the very same thing. I was complaining without any positive direction. My negative mindset was affecting my perception of the world. I don't know when it began, but I knew I was in it. Up to my elbows in negativity.

I talked to my wife about it that night, and suddenly I had the feeling that we should read from our couples' devotional. And wouldn't you know, the next one (where we had left off a while back) was about finding safe harbor in your spouse. Releasing all of the tension from your day constructively with the person you do life with.

After reading the devotional, we talked and went for a walk, sharing our frustrations, joys, hopes, and worries. We both felt as though the steam valve had been opend and the pressure on our lives had been released.

So, here I sit, sheepishly writing after doing my Lenten devotionals. I can hear the Shepherd. He's calling me to Him, through discipline and quality time.

The Servants

By Matt

Oh, Matthew 24 is a fun one for sure! Let's take a look at the parable involving the servants that comes at the end. Jesus has been foretelling the end of the world and implores his disciples to be on the lookout and at the ready lest Jesus returns and catches them unawares (like that great bumper sticker: "Jesus is coming (look busy)." Anyways, in the parable Jesus talks about two servants put in charge of their master's house while he is away. The first servant makes sure that everyone in the house is fed at the right time; the second servant beats all the other servants. Obviously the first servant is good and the second servant is not so good. However, the sneaky master decides to show up unexpected and unannounced and finds the not so good servant beating the other servants. He is then cut to pieces and assigned to a place with the hypocrites (Pharisees?) and then weeps and gnashes his teeth.

I put it humorously because it's kind of an outlandish example, but it's pretty clear what Jesus is expecting. Jesus, the master, might be out of the house for a while but people who use their power to help others will be rewarded while those who use it to take advantage of others will get the beat down. For the thousandth time it all comes down to, "With great power comes great responsibility." So, like other stories where condemnation is offered, it's very clear that those who act in love are rewarded while those who don't are damned. It's interesting to me that I haven't yet found anything about belief in Christ being necessary for eternal life. However, the Gospel of Matthew makes it very clear that doing anything worthwhile and out of faith requires belief in Jesus as the son of God. Still not sure what to make of all of this!

In Jesus' Sights

By Matt

I listened to a bunch of Matthew (from the transfiguration to the railing against the Pharisees)

There really is something to listening to the Bible. I'm not sure what the difference is for me but it is definitely a very different experience. I think I test as a primarily visual learner but maybe the constant podcasting for the last year has made me into more of an auditory learner. But for whatever reason I feel that listening to the Gospels have given me a wide view of the form of Matthew and its themes and contours are much more visible than when I read chapter and verse.

Condemnation is pretty heavy in the chunk I heard today but all of it, and I mean all of it, is aimed at the Scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees and pretty much everyone who ought to know better. I am struck more and more how it's sheer faith and not your religious resume that gets you into God's graces. More specifically, it's faith in Christ that does it. Healing after healing, miracle after miracle, they all follow one simple pattern: the afflicted comes to Jesus knowing in his or her heart that he is the messiah, the son of God, and has the power to heal or restore or resurrect or free. He or she verbalizes their desire, Jesus recognizes their great faith and, because of that faith in him and what he can accomplish, something miraculous happens. And it's not the religious leaders getting these favors, it's everyone else. In fact, the one person Jesus lifts up as having the most faith is a Roman soldier. The oppressors, the occupiers. That's unthinkable. But he does it, Jesus calls it like it is.

Through a multitude of parables Jesus makes it very clear for whom he came. And it wasn't the ones who believe they have the monopoly on messiahs. In fact, he goes as far as to say that they're going to be the ones left out of the wedding party, the ones thrown out of the vineyard. Also unfortunately is that if there is one group of people I can identify with in the Bible, it's these guys. Born into a Christian family, baptized in the Presbyterian church a few weeks into life, and then raised in the church the rest of my life and only straying away for a few weeks here and there, I have a lot more in common with these religious know-it-alls then the prostitutes and tax collectors and Roman centurions and sick and possessed. They're the ones in Jesus' sights for his love and compassion and mercy. I'm right there with the Pharisees and Sadducees and Scribes and Herodians and all those guys. The ones who should know better but still, through heardened hearts and skulls, just don't get it.

Thank God it is as it always is with God: there is hope for all of us. In the midst of this condemnation of the religious higher-ups stands a man who embodied everything that they are but who was called by name to serve him as a witness to the resurrected Christ: Paul. As Paul himself puts it, "If anyone else thinks he has reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for legalistic righteousness, faultless." No one is more religious than Paul and he has the credentials to prove it. But here's what he follows up with:

But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Paul, like the whores and the traitors and the diseased and the hated, figures out what saves: not the Law, not anything we could ever hope to do, but the ridiculously simple act of turning to Christ and realizing that nothing else really matters.