The lord of the dance

It has been a while since I last posted and I can only say that I have been going through a bit of a dry spell in regard to writing but something today caught my attention.

Have you ever considered how subtly our values come under attack?

This morning as I read in the book of Judges, a verse, 2:10, jumped off the page for me, and I paraphrase, “After the generation to whom God had given the Promised Land died, the next generation took over but they weren’t fully educated in the ways of God and they didn’t even know the history of all the wonderful things that God had done for his people, so they succumbed to the values of those who lived far from God.”

For those who know the book of Judges, it is an ongoing story of how one generation after another fails to adequately teach and train the next generation how to live by God’s values. As a result the People of God repeatedly succumbed to apostasy and lived by the values of the pagan culture instead of God’s values. Only when they cried out to God amid their oppression and suffering and turned to God, were they rescued from their distress.

Amid some ambient conversation I overheard some people talking about an evening school dance for elementary school children. The conversation was innocent enough but this morning the thought struck me after reading in Judges, “What are we teaching our children when we as adults encourage them to hook up with members of the opposite sex, even before they reach the age of puberty? Are we in fact setting them up for personal, moral and spiritual failure?”

I admit that the thought of a dance and the picture of the initial shy and awkward advances of the children seem cute, and at that age may seem innocent enough. However with the plethora of sexual pressure our children are under these days through various media forms, including some newly proposed school curricula, and given that they are perhaps at their most impressionable age, how soon before their cute social shyness, in the safety of a school gym, becomes off-site sexual curiosity? Have we, as the teachers and trainers of the next generation, lost our ability to play this picture forward and see the subtle and potentially disastrous conclusion to this real-life movie? Do we think that our prepubescent children have the innate ability to differentiate between what is appropriate and inappropriate in regard to socio-sexual behaviour?

It seems to me that we have let our guard down when it comes to training the next generation. My caution in writing this, is not designed to slam anyone, because all of us have been caught unaware and are subject to the subtle and gradual assault on our values, but to hopefully roust us out of the assumption that all the people, who influence the lives of our children, are doing so from the same value perspective that we have.

It seems to me if we want the next generation to prosper and prevail as happy, healthy and holy people, then we have to ask ourselves who in fact is the lord of the dance?

How do I Love Thee

Tomorrow is Valentines Day, a day to celebrate the love we have for those nearest and dearest to us. Flower shops are enjoying their busiest season of the year and chocolate makers have stocked the shelves of stores with heart shaped treats. Card makers have printed millions of sentimental salutations of undying love. It’s a time of year that brings out the romantic in most of us. But how much of it is authentic?

I once heard a story of a man and a woman who were having a conversation about their love for one another and the woman asked her sweetheart if he loved her enough to die for her. The guy thought for a few moments and then looked deep into her eyes and said, “Darling, I think of my love for you as more of an undying love.”

How many of us have that kind of love?

How many men, if they were suddenly struck with a truth virus, would take their spouses into their arms tomorrow and say, “Honey, I truly love you…some of the time but there are some times when I really have a problem with you.”

That kind of authentic admission would really ignite the fire of romance don’t you think?

Maybe not so much!

So if that wouldn’t go over so well with a spouse, why do most people think it will go over any better with God?

Millions of professing Christians say they love God but it isn’t always that evident. Jesus told His disciples that if they loved Him, then they would obey His commandments. Their obedience would be a genuine indication of their love and devotion. I wonder how many professing followers of Jesus, who are quick to profess their love for God, would be as quick in admitting their passionate obedience?

Just one of many indications of love for God, or lack of it, is being handed out in churches this month. A charitable giving receipt is just one small indication of the authenticity of a person’s love for God. It seems pretty clear throughout scripture that a tithe, or 10% of one’s income, is the gift God expects His followers to contribute to their local churches. However statistics tell us that the average “tithe” of the professing Christian is between 2-4% depending on the area in Canada. That figure is only as high as it is because many people give over and above. Obviously we have a lot of churched people who are either bad at math or bad at love.

How much do the majority of professing Christians really love God. How many, if suddenly struck with the truth virus, would have to say, “God I love you…some of the time but when it comes to actually doing what you ask me to do, I have a lot of problems but since we are talking anyway and I know you love me, I have a few things I would like you to do for me.”

Train ‘em Up or Down

It never ceases to amaze me how some parents just don’t get it. Now “it” could refer to any number of things but in this case “it” is the importance of providing a positive role model for our children.

My father didn’t have the benefit of higher education and he would have admitted that he was far from a perfect teacher but he taught me many things by example that have served me well. One such lesson was to never expect someone to do something you aren’t prepared to do yourself. To me that translated into never doing anything or going anywhere that I wouldn’t want my children to be part of. Somehow I think a lot of parents must have missed that lesson from their parents because they certainly aren’t passing it on to their kids. I see parents engaged in behaviours that they don’t want their kids to do but they don’t seem to understand the power of their example.

I can remember my father telling me that if I got into trouble at school I would be in trouble when I got home. That wasn’t good for me because trouble just seemed to sneak up and find me. No matter how hard I tried to protest my innocence, my parents always backed the teacher and there was never a time when either of my them ever questioned the disciplinary actions that left me thinking they had somehow secretly conspired to gang up on innocent little me.

In today’s society the story is all but reversed. It almost seems as if the little Johnnies and Janies of today have been immaculately conceived, spawned from perfect parents and entirely above reproach. Any evidence of rebuke, chastisement or withdrawal of privileges at school results in sympathy at home and a parental expedition to the school to plead the case of the poor innocent babes, who are after all, are only repeating what they have seen at home.

The same thing happens in church. There are parents, who demonstrate little if any spiritual maturity or desire to grow, and then expect volunteer church workers to create little saints and undo in one hour, what they have been modelling all week.

The Bible is pretty clear in Proverbs 22:6 that if we “train a child in the way he should go, when he is old he will not turn from it.” However I am not so sure that people understand that the Proverb works both ways, positively and negatively. As such we as parents need to make the choice of whether or not to take our roles seriously and train ‘em up or down. The biggest determining factor in that will be what we do and not what we say.

Off the Road Religion

Joe Stowell in his book, Following Christ, says, “Starting out as a follower with a commitment to come after Him as the all-compelling centre of life is the easy step. Staying on the road with Him is the challenge.”

After many years of church work, both as a layman and an occupational worker, I would say that most people, who set out to follow Christ, find staying on the road with Him a challenge beyond what they are willing to bear. Instead most professing followers develop a personalized hand-selected theology that in the whole bears little resemblance to the full devotion God expects. As a result, to quote Stowell again, “We have masqueraded Christ in our own ways, so that when non-Christians see us, they see more of our distorted portrayal of Christianity than they do a clear reflection of the character and quality of Christ.”

It seems to me that we, the church, are guilty of the gravest form of idolatry; rather than live as those created in God’s image, we have reduced Him to a god formed in our own image; we have presumed upon His goodness, mercy and grace while abandoning any attempt to emulate His holiness. As a result the church of Christ has lessened effectiveness in realizing our mandate of global life transformation through the preaching and living of God’s good news. While we lay claim to believing what God’s word says, in truth we are not following on the road with Christ and there is little that distinguishes most professing followers of Jesus from people who remain eternally lost and distanced from God. The proof of that can be discovered in the mountain of statistics related to marital discord, family unrest and white-collar crime to name a few, but perhaps the gravest of all tragedies is the overt disobedience, deception, dissention and complacency within the community of Christ itself. We have built our church on misguided comfortable consumer doctrines while refusing to let Jesus build His church on the unchanging tenets of Biblical truth.

Even a casual reading of John 6 will help us refocus on what it means to be a Christian and follow Jesus, “Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.” (John 6:57) To feed on Jesus is to fully identify with every element of His life and teaching. At this point many who started the easy step of following Jesus, turned away because they realized that being a Christian was not a casual religious cakewalk but a life committed to full devotion to God, His will and His ways. As such when people see us there ought to be more than just a distorted image that is little more than reflection of themselves, there must be a clear image of Christ, the one who promises life in its fullness. We must be able to say as Paul said, “Follow me as I follow Christ.” (1 Corinthians 11:1)

I feel it is time for us in the church to do as Jesus did and make clear the image we are to reflect and make a clear distinction between a faith that is on the road with Him and a consumer religion that is clearly off the road.

A Test?

Have you ever wondered how many times in our efforts to ease the pain in people’s lives, we have inadvertently extended their suffering?

Have you ever found yourself interfering in an important life-learning experience and in doing so been guilty of encouraging ignorance?

We do it all the time don’t we? Has someone ever confided a personal sin or shared the consequence of a bad decision with you and instead of taking their revelation seriously and empathizing with their pain, you patronized them, perhaps even patted them on the knee and said, “that’s OK, you shouldn’t feel bad”?

How helpful do we think that is? Does it really aid the person in learning from their mistakes? Is it ever “OK” to downplay the consequence of a bad decision or ignore and even affirm a sin that keeps someone from being the person they are created and called to be?

In my quiet time I pondered the story of the Hebrew people huddled in fear at the foot of My Sinai as Moses was being given the Ten Commandments. There was thunder and lightning, smoke, angry clouds and a spectacular display of God’s power in nature during the ceremony. As the people cowered in fear “Moses said to the people, ‘Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will keep you from sinning.’” Exodus 20:20

Don’t be afraid but fear God because it will keep you from sinning!

Given the seeming rampant onslaught of sin in our world, doesn’t it appear as if we have lost our fear of God?

Do you ever wonder if many of the natural “disasters” and spectacular demonstrations in the power of nature are just signs that we are not in control and reminders that our fear of God is far more serious than our fear of nature? Are the natural phenomena simply announcements to capture our attention, so we will return our affection toward God as the one who is ultimately in control and the one to whom we will ultimately give account for our lives? Are these spectacular and sometimes devastating displays really tests designed to help us learn lessons that will cause us to fear God and keep us from sinning?

I wonder if sometimes we charge in too quickly, and even trip over ourselves in the name of humanitarian aid, to ease the pain and suffering of people, whose real need is to be refocused on God and not the world. I concede that God does expect us to supply the needs of those in distress but do the people see God as supplying their need or the world as supplying the need. I wonder if in our well-meaning efforts, we inadvertently extend their pain by interfering with God's design and while comforting the temporal body, which we must do, we ignore the eternal soul, which is of greater concern. How often do we commit unconditional care, which in some sense we must do, but then leave the recipients in the same sinful state they were in before?

Is it perhaps just a test? And if so have we passed or failed?

Mysteries

There are many things that I don’t understand, some mysteries that puzzle me. Such a phenomenon is nothing new and I am certain everyone is confronted by elements of the unexplained.

Even some of the wisest men who ever lived have been baffled by some things. The oracle Agur is quoted in Proverbs 30 saying:

18 "There are three things that are too amazing for me, four that I do not understand: 19 the way of an eagle in the sky, the way of a snake on a rock, the way of a ship on the high seas, and the way of a man with a maiden.

There are some things one can only look at and scratch your head and question.

One of the main mysteries of life for me is the way in which many people propose to determine God’s will.

In everyday living, God’s prescriptive will is fairly clearly laid out for us. Didactic passages, such as the Ten Commandments, make it pretty clear how we are to function in life in relation to God and one another. Other texts, such as the Great Commission passage in Matthew 28:18-20 and the Great Commandment of Mark 12:29-31, are reasonably clear as to the mandate of people who call themselves Christians or followers of Christ. So why is it that that which appears to be so blatantly clear is so often ignored by people who claim to be committed to serving God’s will?

But that isn’t the real mystery for me. The real mystery for me is how people who ignore God’s blatant and declared will, somehow feel they need and will receive some special revelation from God when making other less significant decisions. It seems that most of us want a Moses-like burning bush moment before pulling the trigger on a decision that God has in all likelihood empowered us to make in light of the knowledge He has already entrusted to us.

Maybe it’s just me but when I think about that, I can’t help but reason why anyone would believe that he or she would even be able to feel, recognize and discern some mysterious and special revelation from God about relatively insignificant things, when he or she can’t seem to get their heads around and their lives in line with the already clear and eternally important instructions He has given to us?

Overwhelmed

In my Bible reading today I was impacted by Mark 14. As I reflected and meditated on that text, four things overwhelmed me.

At the Last Supper Jesus announces that one of the twelve will betray him. It was an opportunity for Judas to repent but he didn’t. I don’t understand that. He was caught. Jesus was looking right at him and yet he wouldn’t admit it, he wouldn’t take responsibility for his sin. However I do understand, at least to a certain extent, how Jesus must have felt.

I have been betrayed by men who have sat at the table with me, shared in ministry with me, broke bread with me, pledged faithfulness to the same cause and called themselves colleagues and friends. I too have looked them in the eye, given them time to take responsibility, only to see them try to hide in plain sight. I know the pain of betrayed trust.

Jesus’ anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane hit me harder today than at other times and I identified with his pain. He felt the pain of betrayal and then felt the pain of seeing complacency and apathy in his closest followers. He felt the longing to be removed from a terrible and unjust situation. He felt the desire to be freed from a literal dead end ministry. He felt the pain of seeing people choose sin over salvation.

When he was arrested, tried, illegally and unjustly convicted, Jesus felt the unwarranted blows of angry men. He felt their spit run down his face. He suffered their vicious verbal tirades, all with no justifiable reason.

Why was there so much anger against someone who posed no threat to anything but the corrupt characters of the religious leaders? Why was there a sinful plot and contrived conviction for someone whose only interest was to do good and make people better? What is it within man that breaks out so violently when sin is exposed?

Peter’s thrice repeated denial while watching Jesus from a distance is a pathetic sight. But how much am I like Peter? How many times have I wilfully chosen to deny Jesus in favour of serving and gratifying myself?

I feel the pain of both Jesus and Peter, a bizarre mix of righteousness and rebellion. It causes me to question, who I am that God would even care to rescue me. But he does.