Raising the Bar

"Whenever I hear anyone arguing for slavery, I feel a strong impulse to see it tried on him personally."

-- Abraham Lincoln

I read this quote this morning and smiled. It complimented my scripture reading this morning very well. In Matthew 5, Jesus, having shared the famous beatitudes with the crowd on the mountainside, begins speaking about the Law. He states that not a stroke of the Law will pass away until, "all is accomplished." Then, He says that unless their righteousness is beyond that of those teachers of the Law, they could not inherit the Kingdom of God. This was quite a statement considering following the Law was very difficult and most people probably felt, if anyone can follow the Law the Pharisees could!

However, beginning in verse 21 through 48, He starts using a phrase repeatedly, "You have heard it said..." and follows that with, "but I say to you..." With each of these contrasts, he highlights a handful of familiar Laws and raises the bar. It was already extremely difficult, and then He makes it harder! What's that all about?

Well, I see two things in this passage. One, He goes to the heart of the issue, it's a matter of the heart. He was saying that if even if the Pharisees and teachers of the Law might on rare occasion get part of it it right, they aren't dealing with the heart. Secondly, God's standard was not following PART of the Law, SOME of it or even MOST of it, but rather, ALL of it. And, anyone failing to follow ALL of it would not see the Kingdom of Heaven. I have said it before, and I will repeat myself again, always obeying God is not difficult, it is impossible.

So why the high bar? Christ addressed this earlier in the passage, "until all is accomplished." You see, He is the only One who has accomplished all of the Law, and He is the One who can justly deal with the heart. Through Him alone can our righteousness surpass all the "i-dotters" and "t-crossers" Abe Lincoln's above words are appropriate here. The Pharisees expected everyone else to follow their version of the Law, and yet they themselves could never fulfill all of it.

This lie continues today. Oh we may not be concerned about how many steps we are taking on the Sabbath, but we often have our own version of the law that we ourselves cannot live up to, and yet, we expect others to live by it. Christ raised the bar, and unless our heart is changed, we will never be good enough. We must have a heart transplant. Christ has done that for us, and we must rest in His completed work on the cross. For in Christ, we are new creations. In Christ, we are set free from the Law of sin and death. So stop trying to jump over anyone's bar, Christ has done it for you. Abide in Him, and He will transform you.

Yokes on Us

It has been too long since I have posted. The busyness of life has pretty much dominated mine, hence the 6 weeks lag in postings.

A member of our church owns a local bed and breakfast. The other day I was taking an informal tour with Polly (our exchange student). As we moved from room to room, we were talking about the antiques therein and American history. Each room has it's own unique theme: garden, safari, angels, and Texas. While in the Texas room, she noticed a single yoke on the floor of the bathroom thinking perhaps it was a pair of six shooters (don't you have a pair of revolvers in your bath-- this is Texas after all). I then began to explain that it was, in fact, a yoke. A yoke of course is a farm implement that fits over the shoulders of a beast of burden used to pull a plow or cart.

It immediately reminded me of Matthew 11:28-30. Jesus is talking to the crowd and saying, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

In this passage, Christ is talking to a crowd of folks including teachers of the law. He had just rebuked those present that had rejected Him. They rejected Him because He had come in a manner of kingship different than they had expected. At this point, Christ turns to those who were willing to repent and follow Him, and He utters these words. It is kind of a strange phrase, and for a long time, I used to think that He was talking about sinful people that are burdened down with life in general.

However, history and context says otherwise. When ancient teachers would gather pupils to themselves, their system of teaching the pupils would undergo was called a “yoke.” In context, Christ is contrasting that following His teaching was not going to be burdensome like the teaching of the Talmud. Of course, keep in mind He is not saying that it would be easy, because He later said in the upper room that in this life His followers would have trouble (cf. John 16:33).

Nevertheless, today, I find myself asking have we created our own Talmuds? Have we once again placed yokes of burdens on those under our spiritual care? I think, so often, we spend so much time trying to get people to “DO” that we fail to teach them to “BE.” In truth, when we learn to “be,” the “doing” takes care of itself. Perhaps, this is a big reason why so many are skeptical of the church today. Christ’s warning to the Pharisee’s in Matthew 23 is very sobering.

Are you burdened today? Has anyone placed a yoke upon you? Have you placed one on yourself? On others? Be free!

Come to the Table

Kids, I think by design, have vivid imaginations. They love pretending to be something or someone else. As a matter of fact, my current blog profile picture shows both of my daughters doing just that. At least once a week, when I arrive home from work, I am received with not squeals of glee and shouts that daddy is home but rather with barks and meows. The thing is, I don't have any pets. My girls will crawl to me on their hands and knees pretending they are in fact puppies and kitties. They however, are still learning when to stop pretending and become little girls again when it is time to come to the table for dinner. We have to tell them that puppies and kitties don't belong at the table. The people of Israel had the same problem.

It is interesting that right after what the prophet Isaiah recorded right after chapter 57's extension of mercy to God's people. The LORD begins to address an issue with His people that we would do well to heed. Having been in Babylonian exile for 70 years pretty much cured the people of idolatry; however, they would embark on another sin that would intensify over the next 400 years that many of them missed the arrival of the promised Messiah. They began to pretend, and they did not when to stop.

You see the people had begun to go through the motions of ritual fast and legalism. But they were missing the point. The purpose of fasting, as God describes it, is to draw near to Him, not just to do it and check it off the "to-do" list. Their fasting wasn't affecting their lives. Notice what He says:

6"Is this not the fast which I choose,
To loosen the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the bands of the yoke,
And to let the oppressed go free
And break every yoke?
7"Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry
And bring the homeless poor into the house;
When you see the naked, to cover him;
And not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8"Then your light will break out like the dawn,
And your recovery will speedily spring forth;
And your righteousness will go before you;
The glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.
9"Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; (Isaiah 58:6-9)

They were pretending to be what they were not, they were acting like they were being holy, and yet they were not drawing near to the One who could make them holy and consequently, they were not ministering to those around them. We can easily do the same thing. Only now, our rituals are different. We can do inherently good things, but do them for the wrong reasons and totally miss the point. We can lift our hands in worship but only be enamored with the music and the emotion of the moment, but then after the service, we do not live like it means something.

So what is the point? He wants us first to draw near to Him, and as He takes over every corner of our lives, He will begin to penetrate everything that we do and we will do things not to make ourselves feel better or out of empty ritual, but rather we will do the things for the glory of God as He manifests Himself in us.

It's time for supper, let's come to the table!

"Do" vs. "Done"

It has been a good week in the Word this week, and in typical sovereign fashion, the Lord has been preparing me ahead of time for things that I get to teach on. This weekend, our church will be continuing a new study of faith essentials (TEAM training for those of you at Crossroads). I get to teach on something that when I learned it through TEAM, it was something that set me free in many regards of my spiritual life. It is the topic of "Law and Grace."

In short, and believe me if I get started I will be here for a long time, the issue of Law and Grace is about how we come to God for acceptance. Law teaches that in order to find your acceptance, you must "do." Grace, on the contrary, teaches that in order to be acceptable before God, you must trust in what has been "done." The cool thing the Lord reminded me this morning, is that even in the midst of the book of Leviticus (a book that is mostly about following a long litany of specific requirements to worship God), God was revealing Grace. And, he says it over and over again!!!!

Look with me at the 21st and 22nd chapter of Leviticus, as you read through this passage, you will notice 3 prominent truths and over again, "I am the Lord," "I am holy," and "You are to be holy." Now, if you haven't skimmed over the specific regulations for these people you could easily become overwhelmed by them (and maybe even a little grossed out). Simply put, these truths are that He is God, He is Perfect, and since they are His, they are to be perfect also.

Then, I noticed another truth I believe that is critical that is repeated in these chapters. If you are not careful, you will miss it. It first shows up in 21:8. "You shall consecrate him, therefore, for he offers the food of your God; he shall be holy to you; for I the LORD, who sanctifies you, am holy." You see it again in 21:15, 21:3, 22:9, 22:16, & 22:32. The God who is Holy and expected them to come to Him holy in order to be acceptable, says that HE is the one who will make them Holy.

Now for us, we look back at the completed work of Christ and are able to be identified with the righteousness of Christ through placing our faith is what He has done on the cross. For the folks first reading these words, their task was to place their faith in what was to be done. All while they were hearing how they must "do," (or rather could never do) God was telling them that it had to be "done" for them!

Way too often, even in the Christian church, we heap on others what they must "do" in order to be acceptable before God. Folks, that is a lie from the pits of hell. Our acceptance is not found in found we do, but in placing our trust only in what Christ has done.

What about all the things in the New Testament that we are told we to do? I think author Bob George nails this one best in his book Classic Christianity. He says, "...we are not obeying New Testament commands in order to be accepted by God. Under law, a man works in order to be accepted by God. Under grace, a man serves because he is already accepted by God."

If you are trusting in what Christ has done for you, you are accepted by God. Let that sink in. As a matter of fact, chew on that today. Because once you really grasp that you are completely accepted by God, it will change your life. It has mine. I used to struggle with depression because I felt I wasn't measuring up to God's standard, even to the point of having take medication for depression. However, once I embraced this truth, God began to transform me by the renewing of my mind. It has now been 6 years since I took any pills for that because I haven't needed it. You too can be free! Just rest in what has been done.

White Rocks

Pharisees are alive and well on planet earth. This week is VBS week at our church. Our program is a Ranch-Themed evening program, and so by the time I have been at the office all day and running around with kids all night, I am pretty grimy. Last night, I was at home preparing to avail myself of the daily sludge in the shower when I received a call from my pastor. He needed help.

A family in our church recently lost a mother, their original plan was to hold services at the church-home of the deceased. Apparently, there had been a last minute change. The host church's young pastor (a 25 year old independent fundamentalist) had told the family and their guests that they would have to adhere to his rules for music and attire or they could not use their facility.

Needless to say, my phone call at 9:30PM tells you what their choice was. In a flurry of an hour with many hands we transformed a Ranch-themed VBS auditorium to funeral ready. This turn of events wounded the family deeply. But fortunately in addition to legalism, they also were able to taste the sweetness of grace. The Lord was grieved and glorified in the same night. It angers me and breaks my heart at some people's zeal for the wrong things. Christ speaks directly to these types of situations in two places in Matthew's Gospel.

"For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of
heaven."
- Matthew 5:20

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."
- Matthew 23:27-28

Incidentally, the whole of chapter 23 is worthy reading on this matter.