The Bible Experience

By Matt

Today's dLog post is brought to you by Joel Harris! (Fellow dLoggers are apparently awesome wedding gift givers.) Joel was kind enough to buy us The Bible Experience, the entire Bible recorded on CD with an awesome cast. After not being quite comfortable with skimming the Gospels to find events where Jesus talked about condemnation, I decided to break out the CD's and listen on the way to work. So, that was a good half hour of listening, probably could find something.

Wow.

It's an amazing thing to hear Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. The words, though familiar, took on a different twist hearing them spoken aloud with a little bit of production. The power and radicalness of what Jesus says is just amazing. I'm sold on TBE and I think it's going to become a powerful part of my morning commute. I think I found something I can concentrate on and use as a devotional-on-the-go.

Anyways, let's take a look at Matthew 7:21-23, the next time Jesus says yay or nay: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?' THen I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"

Well, J, don't pull any punches, k?

This is pretty complex, but here's what I've unpacked so far. It sounds like prophesying and exorcising are good things, why wouldn't Jesus be pleased? But it's one's motivations that determines the morality of one's actions, as Mr. Deckard would say. So, let's look at 1 Corinthians 13: "If I have the gift of prophecy . . . but have not love, I am nothing." Love is the will of the father. If we do anything apart from love, we are missing the boat, hitting the cymbals in a Presbyterian rhythm. Love is the first and last in God's book.

I have to think that this is aimed at the hypocrites. The one who speak about God but have no idea who he really is. "Out of luck," might Jesus say, "are the hypocrites; for their pretense will be exposed."

And who are the hypocrites? The religious leaders, the faithful know-it-alls. Yikes.