Last Sunday we talked about Genesis 21.
The Lord dealt with Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah as he had promised. Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age, at the time of which God had spoken to him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to his son whom Sarah bore him. And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Now Sarah said, “God has brought laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.”
God dealt with Sarah. We talked about how the word "dealt" is sometimes translated remembered. Like when it says that God remembered Noah. It doesn't really mean that we have a forgetful God. (Can you imagine God forgetting his car keys???!) No. It means that it was time for God to turn his grace toward him. And that is the same case here.
God turned his grace toward Sarah. He gave her the child that they had both been longing for. The days of them being laughed at for being childless were over.
So Sarah laughed. She rejoiced! And she knew in her heart that others would soon be rejoicing with her.
But they waited 25 years for this incredible gift to arrive. 25 years!! How long has any of us waited that long for something of this importance. Not many of us have had to wait that long.
Did you know that God wants to give gifts to you? He has a plan. (We already talked about this a few weeks ago.) He is extraordinary and has extraordinary for us (love, mercy, futures). (We talked about that last week.) And now, we learn that he is faithful to give us those gifts! He doesn't hold them back because he wishes us ill. He has a time and a place to release those gifts to us! They are there and in the best time God releases them to us. And they are always what we need. So, how do we respond when God has these gifts and he has or has not released them to us, yet?
Begs the question. Are you thankful for what you have? Have you looked at what God has given you, and I mean everything, and thanked him for it? Now, I know that we do that every year at Thanksgiving time. But I am going to throw a wrench in that. Here goes. I believe that there is an element of contentment in being thankful. I think that to truly be thankful for what you have your have to be content with what you have. Want an example? Think about: poorest Africa, single child, one ratty, broken doll. Now, contrast with: typical home in US, single child, 15 new, shiny toys. Process through level of thankfulness in regard to contentment.
The response to God's amazing gifts is to be thankful. And to be perfectly content in each of them. Only then can we use them to their utmost and love the very giving of them to the degree they deserve.
God is a faithful gift-giver!
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Friday, March 13, 2015
Dearly Imputed . . .
On Sunday we looked at Genesis 15. This is a great story of God having amazing plans for Abram and Abram's response to those plans.
Yes, he had questions. In fact, he cried out to God and shared his heart. Hey God, you have given me all these things but I still don't have a child of my own. A child through my wife Sarai. Where is that? When is that going to happen. But here is where Abram shows off what kind of character he has. God shows him the stars in the heavens and tells him that his offspring will be more than the stars in the sky. Some of us stop right here. But that would diminish the story. Because, this is when Abram says back to God, "I believe you." I mean he really believed God! And this is amazing. And God responded to him by taking his faith in God and reckoning it as righteousness. In the immortal words of Jerry Clower, "Whoooieee!" That's good.
But what does this mean? This phrase is an interesting one and I told you on Sunday that I would share a bit more about it. Did you know that the apostle Paul comes back to this specific story in Romans 4?
22 Therefore his faith[a] “was reckoned to him as righteousness.” 23 Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.
This verse in Genesis 15 that Paul is referring to intrigues me. I just keep reading it. I guess I am trying to understand it or maybe even soak in it. I feel that it is important. That somehow, I'm missing something about it.
I think part of it is this concept of righteousness being reckoned to someone. How is that possible? How is it that because Abram believed he is somehow righteous? Can I see the math on that please? Believing=Righteousness? How is that?
We use reckoning in the South all the time. I grew up there. I know. "I reckon so." "I reckon I best be goin'." So you see, I'm used to this idea.
But this is bigger than my southern culture. It is bigger because I don't think we process it correctly. Let me explain.
The reckoning is not something that Abram did. The reckoning has everything to do with God. And I think that this concept is something called imputation.
Imputation is, in reference to God, the work of God outside of us. That means, that whatever is imputed to us has nothing to do with us. It has everything to do with God. Here is one way to look at this. Let's say that every time I do a particular action, you give me $10 dollars. That is cause and effect. I do something, you give me something. The variables are defined. This is something like a transaction and this is how we think of many, many things in our lives. (Sometimes even the spiritual!!) However, let's change the scenario. Let's change it to more like a trust fund. You promise to give me the entire, unlimited trust fund. Now, the trust fund is not ours. We didn't put anything into the trust fund. We didn't cause it to happen. We didn't cause it to not be there. It is simply there and we, frankly, have not done one thing to affect it positively or negatively.
So. How do we get access to the trust fund? Here it is. In order to have access to the trust fund, we must be related to the owner of the trust fund. Now, there are some problems with this relationship. First, you aren't really related. I mean, he loves you very much but you aren't naturally blood related. But the amazing thing is this. The owner of the trust fund has decided to adopt you! Now, this may be the freaky part, but he has gone further than adoption by law only. He has adopted you through transfusion! Through his son, you are now blood-related! You got it! The son gave his blood so that you could become a full-blooded son of the owner of the trust fund! Pretty amazing, right?
So what is our part in this? We have to believe in the owner of the trust fund and that his son gave his blood for us because both the owner and the son love us that much!
This is the part of the blog where I put in a metaphorical disclaimer. No metaphor can really illustrate the relationship and total concept of imputation. So I am very aware that this metaphor cannot duly give justice to what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross and the relationship of love that God for us and with us. I get that.
Let's come back to Abram. Abram did nothing to deserve God's righteousness. He didn't earn it. There was no way for him to earn it!! What could Abram give God?? God owns it all! No. That wasn't it. God's righteousness was freely given. Abram's belief in God united him to God so that God's righteousness was credited to him. Abram's faith did not produce the righteousness. Abram's faith in God fulfilled the other half of God's extension of relationship (love) that he had made to Abram in the first place! God began the relationship. Abram's faith sealed it. (Tangental aside: which totally explains how we can walk away from God - the relationship unsealed - and God continues to seek us out, continuing to offer his love and relationship!)
Okay, I'm going to offer one more example from an article I read from www.desiringgod.com. It is another analogy and of course the previous disclaimer still applies. I put it here in case it makes more sense to some than my analogy.
Here's a very imperfect analogy. But I will risk it in the hope of greater understanding. Suppose I say to Barnabas, my sixteen-year-old son, "Clean up your room before you go to school. You must have a clean room, or you won't be able to go watch the game tonight." Well, suppose he plans poorly and leaves for school without cleaning the room. And suppose I discover the messy room and clean it. His afternoon fills up and he gets home just before it's time to leave for the game and realizes what he has done and feels terrible. He apologizes and humbly accepts the consequences.
To which I say, "Barnabas, I am going to credit your apology and submission as a clean room. I said, 'You must have a clean room, or you won't be able to go watch the game tonight. Your room is clean. So you can go to the game." What I mean when I say, "I credit your apology as a clean room," is not that the apology is the clean room. Nor that he really cleaned his room. I cleaned it. It was pure grace. All I mean is that, in my way of reckoning - in my grace - his apology connects him with the promise given for a clean room. The clean room is his clean room. I credit it to him. Or, I credit his apology as a clean room. You can say it either way. And Paul said it both ways: "Faith is credited as righteousness," and "God credits righteousness to us through faith."
I feel by writing this I understand it a bit more. I am going to have to continue to work through this because I feel that there is still so much more here than I currently able to process. I hope this has helped understanding this amazing verse(s) in the Bible and perhaps has helped you along your journey.
Yes, he had questions. In fact, he cried out to God and shared his heart. Hey God, you have given me all these things but I still don't have a child of my own. A child through my wife Sarai. Where is that? When is that going to happen. But here is where Abram shows off what kind of character he has. God shows him the stars in the heavens and tells him that his offspring will be more than the stars in the sky. Some of us stop right here. But that would diminish the story. Because, this is when Abram says back to God, "I believe you." I mean he really believed God! And this is amazing. And God responded to him by taking his faith in God and reckoning it as righteousness. In the immortal words of Jerry Clower, "Whoooieee!" That's good.
But what does this mean? This phrase is an interesting one and I told you on Sunday that I would share a bit more about it. Did you know that the apostle Paul comes back to this specific story in Romans 4?
22 Therefore his faith[a] “was reckoned to him as righteousness.” 23 Now the words, “it was reckoned to him,” were written not for his sake alone, 24 but for ours also. It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, 25 who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our justification.
This verse in Genesis 15 that Paul is referring to intrigues me. I just keep reading it. I guess I am trying to understand it or maybe even soak in it. I feel that it is important. That somehow, I'm missing something about it.
I think part of it is this concept of righteousness being reckoned to someone. How is that possible? How is it that because Abram believed he is somehow righteous? Can I see the math on that please? Believing=Righteousness? How is that?
We use reckoning in the South all the time. I grew up there. I know. "I reckon so." "I reckon I best be goin'." So you see, I'm used to this idea.
But this is bigger than my southern culture. It is bigger because I don't think we process it correctly. Let me explain.
The reckoning is not something that Abram did. The reckoning has everything to do with God. And I think that this concept is something called imputation.
Imputation is, in reference to God, the work of God outside of us. That means, that whatever is imputed to us has nothing to do with us. It has everything to do with God. Here is one way to look at this. Let's say that every time I do a particular action, you give me $10 dollars. That is cause and effect. I do something, you give me something. The variables are defined. This is something like a transaction and this is how we think of many, many things in our lives. (Sometimes even the spiritual!!) However, let's change the scenario. Let's change it to more like a trust fund. You promise to give me the entire, unlimited trust fund. Now, the trust fund is not ours. We didn't put anything into the trust fund. We didn't cause it to happen. We didn't cause it to not be there. It is simply there and we, frankly, have not done one thing to affect it positively or negatively.
So. How do we get access to the trust fund? Here it is. In order to have access to the trust fund, we must be related to the owner of the trust fund. Now, there are some problems with this relationship. First, you aren't really related. I mean, he loves you very much but you aren't naturally blood related. But the amazing thing is this. The owner of the trust fund has decided to adopt you! Now, this may be the freaky part, but he has gone further than adoption by law only. He has adopted you through transfusion! Through his son, you are now blood-related! You got it! The son gave his blood so that you could become a full-blooded son of the owner of the trust fund! Pretty amazing, right?
So what is our part in this? We have to believe in the owner of the trust fund and that his son gave his blood for us because both the owner and the son love us that much!
This is the part of the blog where I put in a metaphorical disclaimer. No metaphor can really illustrate the relationship and total concept of imputation. So I am very aware that this metaphor cannot duly give justice to what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross and the relationship of love that God for us and with us. I get that.
Let's come back to Abram. Abram did nothing to deserve God's righteousness. He didn't earn it. There was no way for him to earn it!! What could Abram give God?? God owns it all! No. That wasn't it. God's righteousness was freely given. Abram's belief in God united him to God so that God's righteousness was credited to him. Abram's faith did not produce the righteousness. Abram's faith in God fulfilled the other half of God's extension of relationship (love) that he had made to Abram in the first place! God began the relationship. Abram's faith sealed it. (Tangental aside: which totally explains how we can walk away from God - the relationship unsealed - and God continues to seek us out, continuing to offer his love and relationship!)
Okay, I'm going to offer one more example from an article I read from www.desiringgod.com. It is another analogy and of course the previous disclaimer still applies. I put it here in case it makes more sense to some than my analogy.
Here's a very imperfect analogy. But I will risk it in the hope of greater understanding. Suppose I say to Barnabas, my sixteen-year-old son, "Clean up your room before you go to school. You must have a clean room, or you won't be able to go watch the game tonight." Well, suppose he plans poorly and leaves for school without cleaning the room. And suppose I discover the messy room and clean it. His afternoon fills up and he gets home just before it's time to leave for the game and realizes what he has done and feels terrible. He apologizes and humbly accepts the consequences.
To which I say, "Barnabas, I am going to credit your apology and submission as a clean room. I said, 'You must have a clean room, or you won't be able to go watch the game tonight. Your room is clean. So you can go to the game." What I mean when I say, "I credit your apology as a clean room," is not that the apology is the clean room. Nor that he really cleaned his room. I cleaned it. It was pure grace. All I mean is that, in my way of reckoning - in my grace - his apology connects him with the promise given for a clean room. The clean room is his clean room. I credit it to him. Or, I credit his apology as a clean room. You can say it either way. And Paul said it both ways: "Faith is credited as righteousness," and "God credits righteousness to us through faith."
I feel by writing this I understand it a bit more. I am going to have to continue to work through this because I feel that there is still so much more here than I currently able to process. I hope this has helped understanding this amazing verse(s) in the Bible and perhaps has helped you along your journey.
Wednesday, March 4, 2015
Under the Rug
The phrase I wanted people to remember this week was this:
God helps us put others first.
This is a sound biblical phrase. It was one of Jesus' greatest commandments. Put others first. How noble! How valuable! How incredibly counter to what our culture truly believes.
I was driving behind a vehicle the other day that had a bumper sticker. It stated something to effect of vote for equality for all in marriage. Basically it was saying (command form) that homosexual couples should be allow to marry in the name of equality.
How does this play into Put Others First? Isn't that the goal of this bumper sticker? Aren't homosexual couples a part of the others?
I have been meaning to go back and find the first use of a couple getting married in history. I don't mean the way we categorize marriage as such that it is. Huge ceremony. Big dresses. Large bills. I mean the first marriage where a covenant was made.
The earliest one I can think of is the Genesis example of God (as priest) presenting the bride, which he had just created, to Adam the first groom.
And I have been thinking.
Marriage is not and has never been an equality issue. God didn't make it to be one. It wasn't created to be one. Marriage has always been about the covenant of relationship between husband, wife and God. Here it is: God created marriage. He created covenant. He created husband and wife. No, this debate has never been about equality. This debate must be about the real issue. The issue of marriage as gift. By placing and belittling marriage to the role of an equality issue, we are stating and propagating the myth that marriage is a right. An inalienable right. Something everyone should have access. However. And this is a big however. Marriage is not a right. We do not own marriage.
Maybe we should make a bumper sticker that says that the IRS should get out of my marriage. Ahhh, I could see it now. Divorce the IRS out of marriage! And didn't we allow the IRS to dictate what the advantage of marriage is? It started out okay. But over time this has become the issue of our age. The definition of marriage has become tied to tax deductions and equal rights. But that is not what and how marriage was designed to be. God designed marriage as a gift of relationship between a man and a woman before God. God did not make it a right, but it was truly the first bridal shower. The covenant of relationship before a holy God. And this is just one area. There are many, many more!
And doesn't it really come down to the context? Take putting others first as an example in context. If we put everybody first, even before God, then this becomes a massive failure of initiative. It takes what was meant as a servant song and creates a chromatic nightmare. For Jesus said that we were to love God first. Put God first. And then out of that relationship we could then put others first. But that isn't what we are in danger of doing. The danger is putting others first before God and to the exclusion of God.
I was counseling a couple and I noted that they put a great many things before their relationship with each other, but as we talked longer and had more sessions, I realized that they were putting a great many things before God! They were upside down in their relationships!! They had swept/allowed/shoved their relationship with God under the rug. It had been relegated to the place of apathy and irrelevance in their lives. Powdered with dust and coated with neglect.
It is time to pull our relationships out from under the rug and set them in the proper place of worth and honor in our lives. God: first and foremost.
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