Musings

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Don Merritt

I was a little concerned about the last post (The Image of God and Temptation) wondering if I had simplified the issue to the point where it wouldn’t be taken seriously, for yes, the last post is simplistic.

As I write this, the early returns tell me that I haven’t missed the mark, but what I am writing will not actually post for another 2 ½ hours, so it is entirely possible that by that time there will be comments saying that the post was stupid, that it cannot be that simple, that life is really so very difficult that we can’t possibly make the right choices…

I get that a lot.

It is as though people think I lead a charmed life, that I’ve never struggled, like everything was handed to me on a silver platter; “what do you know? It’s too hard…”

I have lived long enough to know struggle, and I have struggles and challenges and weaknesses and failure just like everyone else. I am neither perfect nor close to it; ask my wife, she’ll tell you that! I am a sinner just like you, I stumble and falter just like you.

And yes it really is that simple.

When I was a boy in school, I was pretty good at arithmetic, but there was one thing I really had trouble with: Word problems; I just couldn’t work them, for the longest time. Then one day, I had an epiphany; most of the information they gave you in word problems was irrelevant, throw it out and you see the problem clearly and then it isn’t as hard as you thought.

Most of the great theological questions are just like word problems were in math class; throw out the irrelevant and the actual issue isn’t as complicated as we thought it was. Most of our struggles as Christians are neither as complicated as we think, nor as difficult as we make them.

When I was a teen, I would often hang out with my friends and sooner or later someone would say, “I’m bored, there’s nothing to do.” This would normally be followed by ideas for something to do, and nearly every time, we ended up doing the stupidest thing that was suggested, something that each and every one us knew to be wrong, and really didn’t want to do.

So why did we do it?

It wasn’t because of this evil world, nor was it because we were totally depraved and incapable of doing the right thing. It also wasn’t because we were stupid or bad kids; the group I used to hang out with grew up to be doctors, lawyers, professors, engineers, and professional athletes… no criminals or scoundrels. We did stupid things for one simple reason: Nobody wanted to be the one who wasn’t cool, the one who would be called a… (slang term for less than a man).

Peer pressure, the need to fit in with the gang.

At some point, teenagers are supposed to grow up and become adults and stop doing stupid things just to fit in, and most do. When this happens we go from doing stupid things to fit in, and graduate to only doing silly things to fit in.

Christians are also supposed to grow up too, but this is more than just being adults; we are supposed to grow spiritually into the likeness of Christ. Having said that, I am fairly confident in saying that none of us have arrived at that goal yet; I know that I have a very long way to go, that I am certain of. I can also say with certainty that we won’t arrive at the goal more quickly by giving in to being silly to fit in with the group.

We get there by relationship both with others and with our Lord.

When temptation comes along, of whatever sort, it is very helpful for me and many others as well, to sort out the stuff that isn’t helpful, things like personal bias, self-centeredness, baggage from the past, cultural trends and tradition to find the real equation that needs solving, and most of the time, the equation isn’t as hard as it first appeared to be.

Well, enough of my ramblings; sorry to have kept you from more urgent things; next time, let’s consider tradition, that should be exciting, see you then!

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The Image of God and Temptation

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Don Merritt

Temptation is a funny thing; it’s all around us, and takes a myriad of forms. Some things may tempt one person to stumble; while another may take no notice of it at all… yes it’s a funny thing. OK, I’ll confess right now, potato chips are my downfall! At my house an open bag is an empty bag; they own me… I just cannot possibly say no when they call my name; woe is me, for Satan has my number!

Obviously, the only thing I said about potato chips that is actually true is that I really like them and eat more than I should; the rest is nonsense, purely a justification to deflect my own irresponsible choice to eat too many of them. Could I walk right by and not have any? Yes, but I usually don’t. Could I eat one or two and then stop? Yes, but I usually don’t. Is there anyone else to blame for this? No, not on your life; it’s all me.

Well, there is temptation in a nutshell.

To be clear and fair, I understand that there are medical conditions that affect some people in one way or another; I am not including that possibility in my remarks here; that is different topic entirely, so let’s understand that I am not talking to people with medical, addiction or mental health problems in this post. Got it?

For most of us, when we fall into temptation, it was all our own doing; it was not necessary, and when we are honest with ourselves, we know that to be true.

With that said, then what is temptation really?

It is being presented with a choice to do or not do something that can harm us and/or our relationship with God. Yes, there are some lengthy systematic theologies on temptation, but when you sift out all of the unnecessary words, it comes down to making a choice, and no one is forcing us to choose the wrong one. We can blame this whole dilemma on the devil or this fallen world or anything you want, but temptation was present in the Garden of Eden when Man lived in perfect fellowship with God in a pre-fallen state, and Man made the wrong choice in spite of everything. Yes, the serpent was involved, but if he pointed a gun at Adam and Eve, that detail was omitted from the text.

No sir! Temptation is a consequence of free will.

God made us in His image, and one of the attributes that we have in common with God is free will. How do we use our free will to glorify God? Let’s go back to Genesis 3…

There are two trees that stood together in the center of the Garden; look, there’s Eve and the serpent having their little chat: The serpent asks the first question, Eve responds correctly. The serpent responds with a bald-faced lie. Eve hesitates, tempted, looks at the forbidden fruit; it looks really good, then she remembers who and what she is, and then she… grabs the yummy fruit from the Tree of Life takes a big bite, smacks her lips and says,”Hit the road Jack!” And God is glorified.

OK, here’s one last question: Who told you that you can’t do that?

Boy, would I love to hear your thoughts!

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Photo of the Week: February 17, 2016

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Don Merritt

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Some Thoughts on Morality and Immorality

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Don Merritt

We ended up last time with the information from Scripture on what sexual morality is and why, and as we have seen sexual morality has everything to do with bearing the image of God in our bodies as well as in soul and spirit. We have also seen that sexual morality is the very image and likeness of the union between Christ and His church, for the two become One.

Yes, dear reader, this whole subject is an apocalyptic element.

The question we ended with is “What are we going to do with this information?”

I would suggest that the first thing we do with it is to recognize that once we know what is moral, we also know what is not and thus we know what is immoral. There is no reason for me to fill your screen with a list of immoral practices, for this would really be nothing more than redundant. Let he who has ears hear, let he who has eyes see…

Not everyone has ears that hear and eyes that see, for it takes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit for us to truly see the depths of Scripture and the truth it contains. Thus, I am not at all surprised when people who have neither belief or faith in, nor relationship with Jesus Christ live in immorality; that is what people do in such a state. I will not condemn them, nor will I accuse or disrespect them, for they do not see the truth. However, I will form a relationship with such people, in the hope of building enough respect and trust so that I might have the opportunity to bring them to faith in Jesus Christ so that their eyes may be opened. In my experience, name calling and threats of Hell usually aren’t helpful in this quest.

Some might think my approach is missing the mark, that I have gone soft on sin; I’ve been called some interesting names by such people in the past, and probably will be again, but if you are so inclined, fear not, for neither will I condemn you. I might ask such a person if they really think that open hostility is a trait that Jesus exemplified in His ministry, and sometimes I get proof texts from passages like Matthew 23 in which Jesus was pronouncing God’s judgment upon the Pharisees, and in those cases, I politely suggest that my brother might want to study the Pharisees, and have a mirror close by to see what they looked like close up.

Yes very, nay extremely politely.

Jesus found a delicate balance between speaking the truth and having compassion for those who did not comprehend it, He never denied the truth, yet His response was loving and compassionate, and He reached out to those who suffered in whatever way from their sin, not to correct them or to be “right”, but to make them whole again. If there is one thing we should understand about Jesus, it is that He reached out to broken and confused humanity before they got their act together. No one must have their act together before having a relationship with Jesus, for if that were true, you and I would not have a relationship with Him; are we not all works in progress?

So, the first thing that I propose we do with the information we have so far, is respond to it in a way that is worthy of the divine image we bear, as Jesus showed us how to do.

Next time, let’s continue our reflection and talk a bit about being tempted…

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God’s Image, Sexual Immorality and the Times We Live In

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Don Merritt

A 150 years ago, there wasn’t much confusion about the meaning of sexual immorality, the same was true 100 years ago, even 50, but today; that’s a whole different story. We have names for sexual practices and proclivities that none of us had even heard of when I was in my 20’s, and things that were frowned upon in society then are now matters of human rights and Constitutional protection, even though the authors of the Constitution would be mortified to hear of it.

Maybe these are the ramblings of someone who is just past his prime… you can judge that for yourself.

Not too long ago, a preacher friend of mine was telling me that he has people, mostly on the young side as he is, who ask him questions about sexuality, questions for which they seek answers, but which he has a hard time answering because they are asking about things that aren’t in the Bible, and even when they are in the Bible, he feels like the answers he gives are sounding very hollow in light of the changes in society, changes that have come upon us very quickly.

So what exactly is sexual immorality?

It strikes me that this might be the wrong question; maybe we should ask what sexual morality is, rather what sexual immorality is. In our investigation of the image of God and its significance, we have already found that answer, and it is such a significant answer that it is actually a central part of God’s eternal purpose from the very beginning. We have seen that God made us in His image, our bodies, souls and spirits comprise His image in both male and female. We have seen that because of this, a man leaves his parents and unites as “one flesh” with his wife in the ultimate expression of their love for one another, and that their physical union is symbolic of Christ and the church.

God’s love is expressed in His giving life to us; our love is expressed in giving life to new image bearers, so that in each case life is the result of love.

It is altogether fitting and proper for a man and woman to become one flesh in marriage, and their sexual union is a gift from God: It is also sexual morality, and we have already cited the Scripture to support this.

Sex outside of this relationship, whatever you might see fit to call it, is not the exercise of the gift as God intended it to serve His purpose and makes a mockery of His image, which is why the Bible makes such a big deal about it.

There is the information, simple and clear as it is; the real question before us is, “What will we do with the information?”

Next time, let’s think about that, and talk about it a bit…

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And Then it Happened!

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Don Merritt

Genesis 3

We all know the story of Genesis 3 when Eve and then Adam ate from the tree that God had placed in the Garden next to the Tree of life; God forbade them to eat of that tree. Yet, after consultation with that famous serpent, they went for it anyway. As we have already seen, their having eaten from the forbidden tree did not change the fact that they were bearers of God’s image, but it certainly changed how they viewed it, and of course there were consequences to their actions.

They now knew both good and evil; that will certainly change one’s thinking about a lot of things, in fact, it might just make a person’s thinking evil.

In this chapter, we find out why 2:25 is there; it turns out that it wasn’t as random as it seemed at first. They had been unashamed, and then they disobeyed God and were ashamed. Exactly what they were ashamed of is something that is open for debate, and many have indulged in that debate over the centuries. Personally, as I view this chapter I see several apocalyptic elements, and if this were a study of Genesis per se, I would get into them in detail, but since this isn’t a study of Genesis, I will only say here that naked or not naked is one of those elements, and that nakedness is a powerful metaphoric component in Scripture, particularly in the Old Testament, representing our having been created in God’s image on the one hand, and our separation from Him on the other.

God goes searching for Adam, who has made for himself a covering of leaves, and hidden from God in the trees, along with Eve. Of course you can’t hide from God, who finds them, and has a little chat with them. As a result of this chat, God pronounces curses on the serpent, the woman and the man, and has them removed from the Garden forever. Interestingly, another one of the apocalyptic elements is found in 3:15 which is the first messianic prophecy.

We have completed our exploring of the Garden, but we still have leads to be followed as we consider the implications of our having been created in God’s image, and we will head off in that direction next time. Before I wrap up this post, there is also a “side trip” that we could add to our exploration; it is a “related” adventure which is to explore nakedness as a Scriptural metaphor. Experience has taught me two things about this line of inquiry: First, that some are uncomfortable with the entire subject and second is that others like to draw conclusions from it that are not warranted. I can only tell you that this topic isn’t anything close to salacious, in fact it is about as far from salacious as you can get. Anyway, since it is uncomfortable for many, and I am sensitive to that, I will only do the “Bonus Trip” if a goodly number of you ask for it, and then it will be a second string of posts at a different time of day, one or two a week, and clearly marked, and it would only begin after we complete our exploration of the image of God, so there will be no confusion.

So, if you would like such a series, please let me know by comment or email, and with that, I’ll see you next time!

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Two Curious Comments and One Little Observation

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Don Merritt

In the last two posts we talked a bit about Western thought and Hebrew thought, and in doing so we also had a little discussion about Paul’s writing and the dichotomies he used to illustrate the differences in lifestyles between our old condition, and as citizens of the Kingdom of heaven. What I didn’t mention yesterday, and will come as no news to anyone, is that Paul in these discussions usually gives little lists of things that we used to do and things we should be doing now. In the course of writing this blog, I have already commented at length on each list he wrote so rather than comment on them again, I’ll just make an observation:

The list of “old” behaviors vary, for they are written more or less in the sense of a list of things that includes, but is not limited to, the following, thus they are not identical. Yet, and this is the observation, there is one thing that is always present, and that is “sexual immorality”; have you noticed that too? Have you ever wondered why Paul, as well as the other New Testament authors, make such a big deal about it? (Hold that thought)

Genesis 2 tells us a more detailed account of Adam and Eve, the story goes along smoothly as we have already seen, until the end, where there are two comments that seem to come from left field. Here’s the first one:

The man said,

“This is now bone of my bones
and flesh of my flesh;
she shall be called ‘woman,’
for she was taken out of man.”

That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Genesis 2:23-24

Verse 23 is Adam’s comment in quotes; what a nice little ending to that part of the story: Next section…

And then verse 24 drops out of nowhere, the narrator is speaking suddenly in a way that doesn’t actually fit the rest of the chapter; if Moses was the author of Genesis, then why did Moses add that verse?

I took the liberty of a little research, and I discovered that this word string “one flesh” appears 5 times in Scripture, one is our text, four of which are in the New Testament, and in two of those, Jesus was quoting Genesis 2:24. Hmm… interesting.

The first one of these is found in Matthew 19:

“Haven’t you read,” he replied, “that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female,’  and said, ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh’? So they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.” (Matt. 19:4-6)

We covered this passage not long ago, and no doubt you recall that some Pharisees were trying to cause Jesus to say the wrong thing so they could accuse Him of something, anything, and they approached Him on the subject of divorce. Notice that in His answer, Jesus goes all the way back to Genesis 2:24 and highlights God’s intention that the male and the female shall come together and become “one flesh” in telling them that God is not so keen on divorce. For our purposes in exploring the image of God and its implications, knowing that male and female are bearers of the image of God, and that they are intended to become one flesh, it is hard to miss the presence of great significance in this statement. Mark also quotes Jesus using this verse in Mark 10:8 in answer to this same question.

Paul, in 1 Corinthians 6:12 ff. was discussing sexual immorality in a larger discussion of freedom in Christ. He makes the point that the human is intended for the Lord, and that each is one of the members of Christ and then asks, “Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never!” (6:15b). He goes on to say, “Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.”  But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit.”  (6:16-17). There is a clear connection being made between bearing God’s image, becoming one flesh with a spouse and being united with God in His purpose. One more text:

Paul gives instruction for marriage in Ephesians 5:21-33; everything he wrote in these verses is about marriage, husbands and wives… until the surprise ending:

After all, no one ever hated their own body, but they feed and care for their body, just as Christ does the church—for we are members of his body. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”  This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.

Ephesians 5:29-33

Once again, the text moves along very smoothly and with no surprises, and Paul drops a bombshell: He isn’t really talking about marriage at all; he’s talking about our relationship with God, as pictured by the relationship of Christ and the Church. Even more amazing than that, the aspect of marriage that is the clincher in all of this is the husband and wife being “one flesh”. Put another way, when husband and wife unite sexually, we have a picture of Mankind uniting with Christ. Can you think of any other word that would mean the same thing as “picture”?

Two come to mind right away: One is “image” and the other is “likeness”.

I think this is a really good place for us to stop and reflect, so I’ll end for now.

Oh wait! I almost forgot the other odd statement, Genesis 2:25:

Adam and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

You know what? After reading these verses all together, this isn’t such an odd addition to Genesis 2 after all; why would they feel any shame; they were an expression of God’s glory!

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The Image of God and the Apostle Paul

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Don Merritt

The Apostle Paul was a Jew, in fact he was a Pharisee; everything about him was Jewish, including his mindset. He was the Pharisee who persecuted Christians, who met Jesus on the road to Damascus and who gave his life to Christ and became the apostle to the Gentiles, and in the process of all this, he wrote the largest part of the New Testament sending his writings to Gentiles. Ironic isn’t it?

A common theme that runs through his writings is that of the old way of life versus the new life in Christ, and in discussing this, he used several ways of explaining it. Perhaps the most common of these was his dichotomy between “the flesh” and “the spirit”, but he also described the same thing in other terms; the first man v. the second man, the old man v. the new man, the Law v. life, in all of this, Paul makes essentially the same point; we have choices to make.

On the one hand, we can continue to live according to the ways of this world, just like we did before we had a relationship with Jesus Christ, or we can live a new life in Him. We can worry about the transactional legalism of the Law, or we can be free in Christ; yes, that is our decision to make. None of that, however, tells us that our physical forms are anything other than the image of God, nothing Paul has written tells us that our bodies are bad, wicked, evil or terrible; actually the opposite is true.

If God made us with physical bodies that are evil, wicked, shameful and oozing sin, then why would using our bodies for sinful purposes be “immoral”? In such a case, we could rightly say that God made us sinful and wicked, and we just can’t help being what God made us, but Paul (not to mention Jesus) taught the exact opposite. Paul not only gave us the problems, he also gave us the solution: “be transformed by the renewing of your mind”, and “set your mind on things that are above”. Humanity’s great challenge comes not from evil in our physical bodies, but from the wrong kinds of thinking, for we start our journey with Christ thinking like everyone else around us, rather than seeing things from a more heavenly perspective. Consequently, our focus is on the things of this physical life; money, food, shelter, pleasure, entertainment, sex, luxuries, sensuality, emotions, feelings, passions and social positions… just like the pagans.

Does this kind of thinking describe Jesus?

We recently studied the kind of living that a citizen of the Kingdom of heaven should be living (Matthew 5-7), so how do the old ways stack up against the Sermon on the Mount? Paul did not contradict the notion that we were created, in every way in the image of God, for it is precisely because we were created in God’s image that this is important.

And we don’t have to do this on our own… that’s why we have the indwelling Holy Spirit.

If you have “your game on” today, then you have already seen the next step in our exploration, it’s in Genesis 2, and we’ll dive into it next time!

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The Image of God and the Western Mind

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Don Merritt

So far our journey of exploration has found that God’s image, and our having been created in His image, runs headlong into the inescapable conclusion that it covers the whole package of human existence, body, soul and spirit. As several of you have commented, the idea of God having a form is a tough one to grasp, leading to difficulty in understanding that His image is also reflected in our human form. Certainly there are many who would argue against this notion, and yet looking at Scripture, it’s also hard to miss.

As commenters Matt and Steve have pointed out, the difficulty that many of us have in seeing this is that most of us are Western in our orientation, and this makes quite a lot of Scripture hard to understand, for the Scriptures were not written by Western minds or in a Western mindset; they were written from a Hebrew perspective, which is quite different.

In the early years of the church, the dominant mindset was Hebrew; even the Gentile believers learned to view things in the Hebrew manner, but as time moved forward, and Christianity became more and more populated by Gentiles, and Christianity became dominant in Europe, there came an impetus to move in a direction more akin to the traditions of the ancient Greek s and Romans, and away from that of the Jews. With time, even pagan ceremonies and observances were incorporated into the church because the church had become part of the State, beginning with Constantine making Christianity the State Religion of the Roman Empire.

By the time of the Reformation, Christianity was dominated by Western (Greek) thought, and many of our doctrinal traditions of today came out of this period when some of the greatest theologians of all time wrote from an entirely Western point of view, including such names as Luther and Calvin. To the Western mind, God is most notable for His free exercise of power, while to the Hebrew, God is most notable for His restraint. The Western mind see the physical realm as fallen, corrupt and depraved, while to the Hebrew it is God’s perfect creation. To the Western mind, the human body is inherently evil, to the Hebrew the human body is inherently good; God’s own image. To the Western perspective, a spirit having a form is hard to conceive of, but for the Hebrew mind, it is a given.

The Scriptures are more difficult for those of us who were raised and trained in the West; we miss things like the proper role of covenants, the nature of our own beings and how to understand apocalyptic texts; we even understand writers like the Apostle Paul as Western, when in fact, Paul was a Pharisee among Pharisees, trained by Gamiliel; the intellectual antithesis of Greek philosophy. I think we need to follow this trail for a bit, so when we come back later, I think we need to take a look at a few things Paul wrote about that will shed some more light on this line of thinking; see you then.

 

NOTE: If you are interested in reading more about the Hebrew influence in Christian thought, you might enjoy Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith by Mervin R. Wilson.

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Praying in God’s Will

Posted on February 14, 2016 by Don Merritt

1114 030-LR

I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him.

1 John 5:13-15

These three simple verses are encouraging ones, for they assure us of two wonderful things.  First, we have eternal life.  Second, anything we ask for in prayer will be done, if we ask in God’s will. This is our focus here: God’s will.

The whole idea of tacking “in Jesus’ name, Amen” has always struck me as trying to work the system just a little bit.  Of course, we do that because Jesus is recorded three times in John’s gospel telling His disciples that anything they ask for in His name will be given them.  Never mind that all three times were firmly within the context of doing God’s will, all we need to do is tack on the magic words… Only it doesn’t work like that!

Yeah, I hate to be the one who has to tell you that God thought of that one already.

Our prayers that are outside of God’s will aren’t guaranteed to be answered, because God is all about His purposes, and we are His servants, not the other way around.  So, the question really is, what is within God’s will? It isn’t always in God’s will that nice things happen, that the sick are always healed and that the bad guy looses the game.  In fact, it can be quite difficult to discern His will in some situations, especially when we are emotionally invested.  There are some things that are always within the scope of God’s eternal purpose, can you guess what they are?

Yep, that’s right, you got it!  Things that pertain to saving the lost and making disciples are always within His will.  Not things that just make it easier for us, or that make us look like heroes, but things that get those “Kingdom things” done. In this area, prayer is so powerful it can be scary… in a good way.

We must pray big prayers, with boldness, and with the sure expectancy that God will do great things with them, but we need to ensure that our prayers are to advance God’s priorities, according to God’s ways of doing things.

OK, here we go… big bold “God’s will” prayers, and no more little “me” ones. Just watch and see what amazing things He can do!

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