Soul Amendment

The Lovely Joanne has been working in the soil lately, planting flowers and helping me in the vegetable garden.  The soil around our house is mostly clay, which is fine for some plants and not so fine for others.  We've decided that it needs "amending" which is a term for adding different components to the soil.  Soil amendments loosen the soil or make it hold water better, or make it more or less alkaline.  This is so the soil can be more balanced, have more nutrients available for the plants, and in general help the plants grow better -- that is, soil the way it's supposed to be.

I have a plan for soil amendment in our garden.  You may or may not have realized that God has a "soul amendment" plan going on in your life.  Why is that?  Well, all of us have grown up in a world that is far from what God intended.  In Romans 5, Paul describes the desolation that rejecting God has brought on the world:  "When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. Adam’s sin brought death, so death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned." So even if we had loving parents and a happy childhood, we've grown up in a broken world, and one way or another we ourselves are broken.  We need help--and God gives it!  It comes in the form of "soul amendment" -- not only forgiveness of our sins, but a whole new life in Christ, a life of growth and change.

Some of what my lawn and garden need can be simply spread on top, and it will soak in and do its work.  Other amendments need to be dug into the soil, so out come my shovel and spading fork to turn it all upside down. The worms aren't happy about being dug out of their home, but it has to be if I'm going to give then a new bunch of goodies to chew on. Sometimes 'soul amendment' has to be done that way too, even though it seems very painful at the time.  James writes in chapter 1: "Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow."  Ouch!  Joy??  I'd rather be comfortable, and receive joy from getting a fat tax refund.  But being comfortable doesn't usually help us grow, and it won't break up the spiritual 'hard ground' we've all inherited as children of Adam and Eve.

We usually don't know how to handle the discomfort during a trial or difficult time.  James continues in verse 5, "If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking." God doesn't leave us alone or without resources -- he remains a generous and loving Father who wants us to thrive, and will provide wisdom and encouragement.  Sometimes those come from his word, and sometimes from other people. 

Soil amendment can be hard work, and it takes time.  Same with soul amendment.  But in both cases, the eventual result is beautiful growth, showing the best of God's creation -- the way it is supposed to be -- in our gardens, and in our souls. 

Neighboritism

The last few weeks in church, we've been discussing how we can obey the "second great commandment" as it is sometimes called.  Jesus agreed with a lawyer in Luke 10:27-28 that the summary of the entire law was to love God with all we have, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  The lawyer of course, being a lawyer, wanted to define neighbor.  He should have quit while he was ahead!  The Lord gave him, instead, a reminder that "neighbor" really means "anybody around us."

Of course, the problem is that the people around us are so inconvenient!  They have bad habits, they irritate us, they're not trustworthy and they often aren't the kind of people we'd prefer to be around.  So we tend (like the lawyer) to spend our time and attention on those we're more comfortable with.  With or without expressing it in words, we may say things like "they're not like us;" "they have too many needs for us to help with;" or even "he got himself into that mess, he can get himself back out." 

In the book of James, written by the brother of Jesus, we're instructed that favoritism speaks against the love of Jesus Christ:  "If you give special attention and a good seat to the rich person, but you say to the poor one, “You can stand over there, or else sit on the floor”—well, doesn’t this discrimination show that your judgments are guided by evil motives?" (2:3-4).  James goes on to say in verses 8 and 9, "Yes indeed, it is good when you obey the royal law as found in the Scriptures: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you favor some people over others, you are committing a sin. You are guilty of breaking the law."

It may be impossible to give lots of time and attention to everyone in our lives, especially in the days of email, Facebook (some people have 2,500 'friends' on FB -- is that even possible?) and a generally over-extended lifestyle that a lot of us have.  But that's not what James is saying; he is telling us not to favor one over the other due to judgmental thinking, writing some people off because they don't fit our standards or we feel better about loving others instead.

I have neighbors that take good care of their grass, keep their stuff neat and don't make much noise.  I have others who, well let's say, aren't quite as considerate.  It's easy to start thinking of them as a nuisance, assigning them a "back seat" in friendship compared to the ones that are less trouble.  But that's just what James tells us not to do.  Our love for others is supposed to stretch to everyone, even if they are not like us or maybe more trouble than we'd like to deal with.  After all, God has loved "the world" (John 3:16) not just a select few.

If the "glorious Lord Jesus Christ" (James 2:1) had died only for good people, where would that leave me and you?

Perspective

Haley, our little stripey cat, watched in fascination as The Lovely Joanne swept the kitchen floor.  The motion of the broom against the floor seemed to hold Haley's attention, but I wouldn't bet two cents on her understanding the process.  And when the vacuum cleaner started up, she headed for the hills in fear!

Sometimes life seems that way, doesn't it?  Things go on around us that are impossible to understand, or that frighten us.  We aren't the first ones to see that, though.  The writers of the Bible expressed some of the same sense of mystery with God's working.  In a fascinating passage about God's offer of grace, Isaiah expressed the thoughts of the LORD in 55:9 by saying "For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts."  David expressed in Psalm 139 how much greater God's thoughts and power are than humanity's.  Our ability to comprehend God's eternal purposes, his absolute wisdom and the intricacy of how he works in human affairs, is narrowed by our own limited perspective.

My life has been like that.  My mother died when I was 19, and because she still had two young daughters at home, I was sure God would heal her of cancer and keep her around.  He didn't, and I miss her to this day.  But life has gone on; my stepmom is a wonderful woman who has been a great life partner for my dad, and I've learned to thank God she is around.  Twenty years ago, my denomination started a radical re-thinking of all our teachings, leading to throwing out a large number of un-biblical ideas and embracing what we once called error.  It frightened and unsettled me, and many of my friends headed for the hills when it happened -- some I have not been able to contact since.  It has taken me all this time to begin to understand the true splendor of the perspective we have now, and that I am privileged to pass on to others.  I am awed daily by the beauty of God's grace, whereas 25 years ago, I was sure 'grace' was just an excuse for those who didn't try hard enough to obey God. 

It's been a tough journey, and there were some days I didn't want to go on.  I still don't know why God allowed some of it to happen the way it did, and at the time I doubted I ever would come out of it at all, let alone have anything to be glad or thankful for. In 1 Peter 1:6-8 we're told, in part, "There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while." I'm learning, gradually, to trust that promise even when the joy isn't clear yet. 

Isaiah, in 64:7-9 writes "we are the clay, you are the potter" as a reminder of how much greater God's purpose is than we, mere clay by comparison, could understand.  Likewise, Haley has no more chance of understanding The Noisy Vacuum Monster than I do of truly knowing what God is doing. But when these difficult things happen in my life, I pray I can hold on until the pain eases and I can breathe again, and that I will get another glimpse of the love and glory and wisdom of God somewhere along the way. 

I pray the same for you.

Macular Degeneration and Clear Vision

My father-in-law suffers from macular degeneration, a condition where the center portion of the retina (the light receptor at the rear of the eyeball) deteriorates.  The result is a fuzzy spot at the center of what the person is looking at; so to see someone's face, you have to look to one side and then use peripheral vision instead. It sounds difficult, and it is.  The condition often spreads from one eye to the other, and although the progression can be slowed or even halted, the damage cannot be reversed.

In the spiritual context, loss of vision is even more serious; but the good news is it can be completely cured.  Paul refers to this as a "veil" in 2 Cor. 3, mixing the metaphor of the veil with the discussion of glory. Paul tells of Moses, who received the Old Covenant law from God, and saw God's glory, with the result that his face became radiant, shining with a reflection of God's own glory (see Exodus 34 for the whole story). Surely, we would think, this was a great experience; surely this law is honorable and great.  Yes, it was, says Paul, but that covenant's glory is totally overwhelmed by the glory of what he offers us in Christ (2 Cor. 3:9-10):  "If the old way, which brings condemnation, was glorious, how much more glorious is the new way, which makes us right with God! In fact, that first glory was not glorious at all compared with the overwhelming glory of the new way."

The Old Covenant brought death as the penalty of breaking its laws, but the New Covenant in Christ brings life (verses 6-8) so the greater glory is in the new.  The old way of the written law has been replaced (verse 11) with a much more glorious new way in Christ!  And though Moses had to cover his face, shining with the reflection of God's radiance, Paul says that we can be very bold (verse 12) in letting the reflection of God's glory shine from us, and that we should be growing in reflecting his glorious image (verse 18). 

Paul goes on to use the veil metaphor in a different way:  to refer to those who continued to read the law of Moses instead of facing Christ, in verse 15:  "Yes, even today when they read Moses’ writings, their hearts are covered with that veil, and they do not understand."  He insists that "this veil can be removed only by believing in Christ...whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away" (verses 14 and 16). This last statement is a shout of triumph, of the victory of the gospel of Christ over the Old Covenant that could not bring life, and of the glory of Christ himself who is revealed to anyone who turns to him in faith, trusting him alone for salvation.

Moses and the prophets saw God's grace only vaguely.  Our spiritual vision comes into sharp focus as we turn to Christ, and see in him everything the Father has for us, fulfilled and offered freely.  In Christ, we see all the metaphors of the Old Covenant teaching fulfilled, expanded and given deeper and more glorious meaning. We focus on Christ because in him we have life; and in him we see the perfect representative of the Father (John 14:9, Hebrews 1:1-3, etc).

There is no medical cure to reverse macular degeneration in the human eye.  But the glorious news is, perfect spiritual vision is available to us!  A revelation of God's grace, given by God's grace, cures the blindness, as Paul says in verse 18:  "all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord."  So let us continue to focus on Jesus Christ, and let the glory of God be reflected in us!

Jesus, the Good Samaritan

I'm preparing to speak this week from Luke 10.  The story there of the 'Good' Samaritan (the word 'good' is not in the text) keeps amazing me with its depth and breadth of meaning.  You'll find the exchange between Jesus and the lawyer, and the parable, in verses 25-37. 

One of many interesting points here is Jesus' description of the person who rescued the wounded traveler.  This man was a Samaritan, a member of a group hated by all Jews because of their history as foreigners imported by the Assyrians after the deportation of many of the northern Israelite tribes.  The Samaritans had more than likely intermarried with Israelites left in the land, and claimed to follow the true religion (see John 4:19-20 for a brief comment on this) which just made things worse of course.

But look at what the man, this half-breed who was rejected by the Jews, was like:

• He went out of his way to help another human being in trouble
• He risked his own safety due to the bandits in the area
• He used oil and wine to heal the man's wounds
• He paid for the man's care at the inn
• He promised to return and settle accounts

All these are just as well descriptions of Jesus himself.  He was of suspicious parentage, and was of mixed heritage, being both God and man; he greatly inconvenienced himself by becoming flesh (see Philippians 2:6-8) and was at risk throughout his ministry even before the Cross; he brought rescue and healing to humanity; he paid the price for our recovery; and promised to return for us.

So as a background to everything else going on in this parable, the true character of Jesus is brought out as the outstanding example of 'being a neighbor.'  Then he tells the lawyer, "go and do likewise."  What a challenge for all of us:  to selflessly give, going out of our way to serve others, including pointing them to the One who came to serve us rather than be served.  In what way can we "go and do likewise" today?  Who will we choose to serve as Jesus served us?

Two Pieces of Wood

This week, we remember and reflect on the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.  As horrible and cruel as Jesus' death was, he took it on himself willingly, to accept death for all of us.  But why on a cross?  Wasn't that a symbol of shame and punishment for crimes?  In our day, that would be like honoring someone who died in the gas chamber or the electric chair.  What was the meaning?

Jesus had spoken of being "lifted up" in John 3:14-15 and John 12:31-33 as the means of his death, and the result of his death--salvation for all people.  The cross was inevitable.  Athanasius observed that the Messiah's death had to occur by acts of others (not just a calm deathbed in old age or illness) in order to gather up and defeat, in his body, even the anger and hatred and cruelty of mankind. 

The execution device used by the Romans was designed to inspire fear and horror, as condemned criminals and traitors were punished by what was often an agonizing, multi-day ordeal in an area visible to passers-by, thus encouraging order in the populace who were often conquered people resentful of Roman occupation.  It was an upright stake, the base buried in the ground, and a crosspiece, carried by the condemned criminal, attached either at the top or a short distance from the top.  Both Matthew and Luke mention the inscription attached above his head, so it appears that was the style used, and it is carried forward in Christian symbolism today*.

So if we look at the symbolism inherent in all these things, what might we see?  Not all of these are explicit in scripture, but meditating on these ideas can be useful.  And there are probably more meanings we could bring out; God is infinite in his ability to plan and create meaning for us. 

• The upright stake united heaven and earth, as the Incarnation had done
• The crosspiece stretches in both directions, and Psalm 103:12 says "He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west."
• The crosspiece stretched Jesus' arms out wide, as a symbol of the Father's arms being open to us; and some say, as the measure of the breadth of his love. 
• The crosspiece, going in both directions, could also symbolize uniting Jew and Gentile: Galatians 3, especially verses 14 and 28. 
• The wood shows he absorbed for us the curse given in Deut. 21:23, "anyone who is hung on a tree is under God's curse."  See also Galatians 3:13.

Of course, these are not just "interesting meanings" -- our Savior really did die a brutal death on that torture instrument.  He suffered pain, humiliation, thirst, embarrassment, fatigue and many other hurts to pay for humanity's sin and rebellion.

And he did it just for you.

* Footnote: there are some who believe this symbol is of pagan origin and so should not be used by Christians.  That assertion lacks credible evidence.  The cross was a symbol that offended both Jew and Gentile, but paradoxically brought hope and salvation to Christians (see Galatians, especially), and so it has remained the primary symbol of our faith.

Grace and Our Reponse

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of grace.  I can join with John Newton who said, at the end of his life, "I know only two things:  I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great savior!"  If life has taught me one thing, it's that my own performance is sadly lacking, and I am in constant need of God's grace. Even when I do something good -- or avoid doing something sinful -- my motives are still not 100% pure.  So if my acceptance with God is by performance, and I want to show him my hard work and obedience, then his answer is going to be, "Sure, but what about all the other times?"  But if my standing with God is by his grace, then his grace covers all my sins (as well as my utter lack of perfection in my works).  And the perfect life of Jesus, the only perfect human, provides full righteousness for me in place of my brokenness.

That's why Paul, the apostle of grace, preached the wonders of grace, in spite of being fully trained in law-keeping in his Jewish upbringing and being obedient to all the details of the law.  He tells us in Galatians 2, "We know that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law. And we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we might be made right with God because of our faith in Christ, not because we have obeyed the law. For no one will ever be made right with God by obeying the law."  

Then in verse 20, he says "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."  How can we do that along with Paul?  First of all, by trusting completely in Christ to be our salvation, not trusting our own efforts.  Next, by paying attention to what it means to be "in Christ" -- focusing on letting Jesus Christ do in us what he tells us is important.

With "Christ living in me," I'm responding to God's grace in Jesus Christ, to who he is and who I am now as his new creation.  Here are some examples:  generosity, the complete opposite of stealing; respecting another person, rather than lusting or following that lust into sexual sin; speaking graciously and generously rather than gossiping or lying; forgiving, rather than being angry over our hurts; and being content, rather than being jealous of what others have.  These are all modeled for us in the life of Christ, and repeated in the rest of the New Testament.

So, our response to God's grace is to focus on the person, the actions and words of Jesus Christ himself.  Being filled with Christ motivates us to surrender our own human will and be filled with him instead, saying yes to the voice of the Holy Spirit and doing good instead of following evil.  It all starts with a person -- Jesus Christ, the eternal Son of God become flesh for us -- and it continues in us as we learn to be filled with him instead of with ourselves.  May we all learn to focus on him and overflow with his grace.