Order in Disorder

The book of Judges records some of the most distasteful tales in all of scripture, and does so unflinchingly and without a great deal of unnecessary editorializing. There is much we can learn about human nature from the first few hundred years of Israel’s possession of the land God had promised to Abraham, almost all of it predictably bad. Few would dispute that the book ends on the lowest of low notes, with the oft-repeated declaration that “In those days there was no king in Israel” and the rare editorial conclusion, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”

As we might expect, everyone’s “right” turned out to be spectacularly wrong.

The Point of the Exercise

It is God who confers authority, but he doesn’t do it for its own sake.

Sure, a position of authority often comes with side helpings: popularity, riches, dignity, power, a (usually temporary) legacy ... and (in Old Testament times at least) a bunch of wives. But these are baubles. They are not the point of the exercise. Other things come with authority too: abuse, rebellion, heckling and a horrible, frequently harrowing level of responsibility — but let’s not get into those.

My point is that it is always and only the WORK that matters to God, not the status or other benefits that authority confers.

Anonymous Asks (66)

“Did Jesus have brothers and sisters?”

I’m going to answer this as if it reads “earthly brothers and sisters”. In other words, literal siblings, children from the womb of the same mother. We all know of situations in which the words “brothers” and “sisters” are used figuratively in everyday language, particularly in a religious context. In this case we will not bother talking at length about New Testament figurative uses of “brother” or “sister”, as the answer is obvious enough to make this a very short post indeed.

So let’s get the metaphorical usage out of the way quickly.

Semi-Random Musings (17)

How many significant lessons have you absorbed from the history of neighboring provinces or states back in the 1640s, and how often do you reference them when making important decisions today? My guess would be not too many, and not very often.

At the Red Sea, shortly after the final vanquishing of the Egyptian army, Moses and the people of Israel sang these words to the Lord: “The peoples have heard; they tremble; pangs have seized the inhabitants of Philistia.” Perhaps at the time that was more anticipatory than precisely accurate: Philistia was all the way across the Sinai Peninsula. It seems unlikely the news of Pharaoh’s stunning defeat could have traveled so far so fast.

Time and Chance (9)

The first eight verses of Ecclesiastes 3 are among the most famous in all of scripture. Go ahead, name another #1 U.S. single with 3,000 year old lyrics. Even today, I find myself singing them in my head rather than merely reciting them. They so obviously reflect reality that one wonders they even need to be stated, but such is the nature of poetry. If we did not use these words, we would need others instead.

Still, there are probably one or two dusty old hippies around who might be shocked to learn Pete Seeger was not their author.

Too Hot to Handle: Diluting the Faith

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A Disturbance in the Force

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His Own Place

“Judas turned aside to go to his own place.”

I have often wondered what the apostles meant by saying that Judas went to “his own place”.

I’m not the only one. For example, I’ve heard at least one Bible teacher say from the platform that the apostles (or perhaps Luke, the writer of Acts, in summing up their prayer in his own words) were sort of hedging their bets; discreetly avoiding passing judgment on Judas’ fate since they could not be 100% sure what had really happened to him. In this — or at least so it is alleged — they are modeling for us Christian virtue.

I find that explanation weak tea.

They Did Not Know

“Now the sons of Eli were worthless men. They did not know the Lord.”

“Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him.”

The first of these two editorial comments from the writer of 1 Samuel sheds a little light on an otherwise inexplicable feature of Christendom: that a non-trivial number of people who make their living from full-time religious service are vile human beings. They care only for themselves, and in catering to their own desires do great evil to their fellow men and women, even casting doubt on the reality of Christ and the salvation he offers.

Anonymous Asks (65)

“How can I satisfy my sexual needs and desires outside of marriage?”

This is certainly a loaded question. We need to be quite clear that there is one — and only one — legitimate Christian outlet for sexual energy: a Christian marriage. The apostle Paul is quite explicit about this. Marriage to a fellow believer is God’s remedy for the temptation toward sexual immorality of all sorts.

As stated, our question of the day can only be answered one way: You can’t. If that sounds a tad draconian, perhaps a little perspective is in order.

Inbox: Demon Possession and the Church Age

A friend emailed me some thoughts on demon possession worth passing along:

“A couple weeks ago someone asked me for my thoughts on demon possession and the role it plays today [he had been reading something written by Derek Prince]. This led to the following thoughts, and I’d appreciate yours.”

Time and Chance (8)

Christians work not just because we are commanded to, or because we enjoy it, or because we think toil is intrinsically meritorious. We work because work serves a higher purpose.

One example: the apostle Paul reminded the Thessalonians, “[W]e worked night and day, that we might not be a burden to any of you, while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God.” Paul, Silvanus and Timothy were deeply concerned about the example they set for the people to whom they preached, and so they labored ceaselessly to make sure their actions were consistent with their words, and thus validated the principles and precepts they taught.

They did this, Paul says, out of affectionate desire. Their hearts were full of love, and so their toil was joyful and purposeful rather than vain and frustrating.

In this, Christians are more than a little unusual.

Too Hot to Handle: The New Social Engineers

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Minding Our Own Business

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The Purpose of the Sacrifices [Part 6]

Continuing an examination of the sacrifices of the Old Testament. We started with what the sacrifices WERE NOT and are now examining what they WERE.

In my last post we looked at the sacrifices as a reminder of sins and asked why a constant reminder was necessary for God’s people.

But what other purposes did the sacrifices serve?

The Purpose of the Sacrifices [Part 5]

Continuing an examination of the sacrifices of the Old Testament. We started with what the sacrifices WERE NOT and are now examining what they WERE.

In my last post we examined the way in which the sacrifices served the very practical purpose of providing food for God’s servants and their families.

What other purposes did the sacrifices serve?

Anonymous Asks (64)

“Does everything happen for a reason?”

That ominous yellow ticket under your windshield wiper: did God do that?

Just curious.

Some Christians are determinists. They think everything that happens, no matter how minuscule or insignificant, is a product of God’s deliberate calculations; in effect, that God micromanages the universe. In believing this, they feel they are glorifying God, because they are acknowledging his sovereign rule.

In their view, yes, God gave you that ticket. You will thank him later.

Confession and Edification

“Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another.”

“Let all things be done for building up.”

Let’s get the obvious out of the way first: whenever one presumes to associate verses about different subjects, it is pretty much obligatory to acknowledge what they mean in their original contexts. Long time readers of the New Testament will already know my first quotation comes from James, and has to do with sick Christians who feel they are under judgment telling mature believers the previously-concealed truth, whatever that might be, in hope of being healed. They will also surely be familiar with the second quote, which has the apostle Paul observing the governing metric by which Christians may assess the value of verbal contributions during their gatherings.

Both verses are bigger than their immediate contexts. They embody principles we may quite reasonably apply in circumstances other than those specifically addressed by the NT writers.

Time and Chance (7)

Last week I pointed out that Ecclesiastes 2 divides neatly into three sections, observing that the phrase “so I turned” marks the transition from one subject to the next. In the first section, the Preacher considers the emptiness of hedonism as a philosophy. This is not a position with which most of our readers are likely to disagree.

This second section, however, deals with the shortcomings of wisdom as a be-all and end-all. That may not be quite so obvious. However, as we will shortly see, even living wisely has its downside.

Too Hot to Handle: American Laodicea

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