A Matter of Life and Death

PATTERNS OF THOUGHT
Do you have patterns in your thoughts that just seem to build on one another? Thoughts in which every lesson you learn seems to connect back to that theme or those themes? I have several on which my life seems to build.

This morning, my pastor continued his series in Genesis, this time looking at Cain and the familiar story of the first murder. Cain's example seems the best launching place for what I'd like to analyse with you. As always, I would so love to read your comments below if you agree, disagree, or wish to add additional thoughts.

TEMPTATION TO ANGER OR JEALOUSY
Cain, in the attitude of his heart (seen or unseen by anyone but God), displeased God and his offering was rejected. Further revealing his wrong focus, Cain's anger rose. In a rare moment many of us don't experience so clearly, God spoke to him and warned him of where his anger would lead.

“Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? 7If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.”

After God's direct confrontation, Cain did not "rule over" his sin, but instead was gripped by it and in anger killed his brother.

In theory, Cain had the choice to repent after his brother's murder. In reality, he had made his choice to choose sin, and it was as if his conscience died after that.

"Sin crouching at your door" makes one picture a lion crouching in wait of a lamb (or other prey), does it not? Does the lamb survive when the lion springs? Rarely. The time to call for the Shepherd to attack would have been when the lion still crouched.

I think the picture parallels well with sin. As we were reminded today in the message, to be tempted with a sin is not defeat. Defeat is when you embrace or allow that temptation to spring into control. Even then, repentance surrenders what's left of your carcass to the Creator to revive. If we're tempted, however, victory is only possible in crying out in humility to the Shepherd.

How might the life of Cain been different if he would have responded to God's warning with a cry for help? "I'm so angry and jealous, God. Please free me from these feelings, so that I may please You."

How loving of God to desire to stop Cain from his own sinfulness. If Cain had only received God's love, he would have been freed to love.

TEMPTATION TO GRUMBLE OR QUIT

A good example of lives to compare and contrast appears many times in the books of Exodus and Numbers. Many people get hung up on the grumbling of the Israelites as they journey in the desert "towards" the Promised Land. I have a hard time blaming them though. I would be surprised if any of you would not have grumbled. I know I sure would.

The journey dragged, the heat and thirst were real threats, and from morning till night no one could tell you how long you would stay in one location. Add to that a limited variety of food and walking and walking and walking. Oh, you must be an angel to not think you'd want to quit and regain some sense of familiarity and comfort (even if your memory failed you so that you longed again for Egypt).

Yet it seems God didn't understand their "right" to complain. If you've read through both books, you know several times God destroyed groups of the people in anger. I propose that God did understand their frustrations. He just had other plans for how they should deal with their feelings.

If it's true, which I strongly feel, that we are DEPENDENT beings that truly cannot survive on our own, and God—even after we chose sin and "independence" instead of Him—reaches out to us again and again with His great compassion, then there is only ONE solution to whatever we feel. Moses shines as an example of the best way, the one solution, and the rest of the wandering Israelites, the way most of us choose.

In contrast to what we've already reviewed of the grumblers who displeased God, Moses complained TO God. And what was God's reaction? He gave a miraculous solution.

5Then the LORD said to Moses, “Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6“Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” ~Exodus 17

Over and over, Moses goes directly into the presence of the Lord with all his complaints, burdens, and confusion. God provided again and again.

• Numbers 11:2 ... When the people cried to Moses, he prayed to the LORD
• Numbers 12:13 So Moses cried out to the LORD, "Please, God, heal her!"
• Numbers 16:22 But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, "O God, the God who gives breath to all living things, will you be angry with the entire assembly
• Numbers 20:6 ...And Moses and Aaron leaving the multitude, went into the tabernacle of the covenant,and fell flat upon the ground, and cried to the Lord

No burdens or grumbling of our hearts is a taboo topic to bring to God. Instead, God invites us to "caste all our cares upon Him, because He cares about you" (1 Peter 5:7). 

The Psalms give us words that often make me cringe at their violent descriptions of desired vengeance asked of God to carry out. Interestingly, many of these were written by King David, the "man after God's own heart," who is one of our next examples.

TEMPTATION TO PRIDE AND PASSION

The first two kings of Israel form another good contrast. Saul and David both began as humble men, but both had defining moments where they were confronted with their sin. The choices they made in that moment, determined their legacy forever.

Saul went in obedience to attack the Amalekites (1 Samuel 15). However, he did not destroy everything, as the Lord commanded him. When confronted by Samuel, he admitted he sinned, but... 1) he feared the men, so he didn't obey, 2) he admitted it, but wanted Samuel to return with him to "worship the Lord." When Samuel refused, Saul's heart was fully uncovered. 

Samuel turned to go, but Saul grabbed his robe, which caused it to tear. Samuel told him this was a prophetic picture that his kingdom would be torn away from him.

30 Saul replied, “I have sinned. But please honor me before the elders of my people and before Israel; come back with me, so that I may worship the Lord your God.”

Saul's concern stemmed from pride. To be honoured before the leaders meant more to him than God's rejection of him as King of Israel. From this point on, his life completely unraveled until he ends his life on his sword pursued by his enemies.

David sinned, as well. The most memorable to us is his adultery with Bathsheba and arranging the death of her husband. This sounds worse than Saul's not killing the animals or the king of a nation God swore to destroy, does it not?

Nathan the prophet came and told him a fictional story of a rich man stealing a pet lamb from a poor man in order to feed his company. This aroused David's anger. Then Nathan told him, "You are the man" (2 Samuel 12). What was David's reaction?

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
because of Your unfailing love.
Because of Your great compassion,
blot out the stain of my sins. 

2 Wash me clean from my guilt.
Purify me from my sin. 

3 For I recognize my rebellion;
it haunts me day and night. 

4 Against You, and You alone, have I sinned;
I have done what is evil in Your sight.... 

5For I was born a sinner—
yes, from the moment my mother conceived me. 

6But You desire honesty from the womb,b
teaching me wisdom even there. 

7Purify me from my sins,c and I will be clean;wash me, and I will be whiter than snow....Psalm 51

Not the severity of the sin, but the honesty of the repentance saved David and not Saul.

Saul wanted to keep up appearances to be honoured among men. David considered only his offense against God and cried out for cleansing.

TEMPTATION TO FEAR OR GREED
The final example, though many more could be expounded on, are of Judas Iscariot and Peter. Both

men betrayed Jesus, the Messiah of God. One could possibly argue that this is an ultimate sin.

Judas, the Gospel writers tell us, lived for money, so I tend to believe his betrayal flowed from his greed and Peter's from fear. Both chose something else as greater than their Lord, whom they had followed for three years acknowledging to His face that He was the promised One.

Both Judas and Peter seemed to acknowledge their traitorous actions as sin. Judas takes his life in despair (Acts 1:18), but Peter repents with tears (Matthew 26:75). After Jesus' resurrection, he receives restoration by the Lord to become a leader of the Church (John 21:15-19).

CONCLUSION
These examples, to me, show the incredible mercy of God. Every inclination of our hearts is to "do it on our own," to be "independent" of God. Yet, God knows that independence, for us who are created dependent, means death. Over and over He steps in to persuade us to surrender, to reveal Himself to gain our trust, to express His love to remove our burdens.

Can you get a small glimpse then at what sin is?

Sin pushes God's hand away and says, "me first!" Sin spits on God's love and cries, "I don't trust you!" Sin turns its back on God's compassion and says, "I'll be worthy on my own."

If you have read this far, I congratulate you. The post is lengthy, but so is the promise.

This is a burden to my heart for me and for you—that we understand God's love and compassion enough to receive it and give it to others; that we throw our worries, grumblings, discouragements, and discontent to Him without glossing over them; that we turn to Him in our temptation and find the door from which to flee; that we acknowledge the horror of our sin to Him and humble ourselves, not to gain applause, but to please One who loved us so much that He died in our place.

He wants our honesty and our complete dependence on Him.

I don't understand it completely. I only know, we need to come to Him about everything, because He cares about you and He cares about me.

_________________
We all have the capacity to sin like Cain, but through Jesus we can be freed by grace. ~Dr. Richard Liverance

For further meditation, please read Romans 6:12-23.

In the Beginning

Many months have passed since I last wrote. As I sit to write this Christmas Eve day, a strange angle to the Christmas story comes to mind.

Blame it on my pastor, Dr. Rich Liverance. He's been preaching a series on Genesis. This has been a literary, scientific, and theological lesson. Though my brain has flashbacks to high school science class as he elaborates on Periodic Table of Elements and shows the interaction of these elements, I can appreciate the gist of the laws set up in nature.

In the Beginning...

1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was in the beginning with God. 3All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. 4In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men. 5The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Genesis 1:1a states: "In the beginning God created..."

As we've studied the literary writings of Genesis and other Scripture references to God creating the world and as we've analysed scientific theories for a young earth created in six days or an old earth slowly evolving to what we have today, it has become very clear that it takes faith to believe either theory.

You either believe that the conditions of the earth today have been constant for billions of years, therefore making it possible to test the existing minerals, etc. and know that they are so old. However, if the rocks, for example, were formed in conditions that would not be known unless you were there to observe, then the testing of them would not reveal an accurate age.

If you believe in the six days of creation, you have to have faith that the way God stated things was literal. In today's climate, you are a fool for believing this, as evolution is no longer consider theory.

None of this, however, matters as much as one huge theological point.

And God saw that it was Good...

Beginning on the third day, the Bible shares God's thoughts on His creative work.

10God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

God called the earth "good." He called all He was creating "good." The important fact is that God looked down on a perfect world, one without sin and without death; a world filled with new beauty never imagined outside His own imagination. Proudly He admitted that His masterpiece came to life as He declared it should.

Sure, He could have had it take millions or billions of years. If you believe that God loves the earth as much or more than He loves mankind, He may have wished to see its forming and postpone mankind. Or He may have wished to savour His creation, knowing what a mess we'd make of it.

There is room to believe in large amounts of time passing and the Creator setting it all in motion like a set of dominoes. There is room until you realise one major fact that makes it impossible.

To Be or Not To Be...

Death. Evolution must include death. You cannot have evolutionary progress without survival of the fittest. In order for a species to evolve from sludge in a pond all the way to humanity, death had to happen over and over and over for billions upon billions of years.

If this was true, then Adam and Eve truly are a myth. God either created mankind as sinners or there really is no sin. Death couldn't be a result of sin, since death came unimaginably many years before there was a man or a woman.

So, there either was no sin or God endorsed it through creation, and God called all that and death good as the world evolved.

If God endorses death and the way we've lived (think back on your history books or listen to the news) since time began, there is no need for a Saviour.

Definitely, don't concern yourself with Christmas! Celebrate the holidays and the jolly old Saint Nick. Focus on love and giving, because you're as good as you'll ever get. There is no hope for you outside yourself.

Unto Us is Born This Day...A Saviour, Messiah God

If, however, God endorses perfection and eternity, then how grieved He must have been for centuries as He called out to people, who He made with such care, molding us and placing us specially in a world where all our needs and wants could be met.

There, in the perfect world, we listened to one voice saying that maybe God wasn't telling us the whole truth. Maybe there was something better than God. We listened. We responded. We doubted. We acted. We sinned. We lost. We died—first to the ability to choose God and then through physical decay.

God did not sit idly by and let us destroy ourselves as we deserved to do.

• At just the right time, He pierced through time and placed Himself in the womb of a woman. 
• He learned our struggles with sin firsthand, yet never sinned.
• He wept at the grief of death.

He declared Himself to be the Way, the Truth, and the Life, saying that unless we know Him, we would not know life again.

With one man—Adam—he brought sin in the world with his choice of one tree from which he could not eat. Believing Satan's words, he had faith that he'd have the best by this choice.

With one man, Yeshua, He brought righteousness into the world and life by one choice—following Him. By faith, we are asked to believe that this path, though painful, is better than life as we used to live.

God, promised Redeemer since the beginning of sin—He came to die that our sins might die. He came to rise from the dead, that we may die to our old life and live in Him.

This holiday isn't about gifts given, used, returned, forgotten.

This is an eternal Gift. This Gift begins in opening our hearts and ends in living for eternity. It begins with me and must be shared with you. It's a Gift that gives more and more the more it is embraced. It is THE GIFT that would be worth giving our physical lives for, because the life that comes from shedding our flesh will be never destroyed.

May you know this Gift this Christmas and in the New Year. May God grant us faith to live in this new Life the next 365 days.

I wish nothing more for you this Christmas than Yeshua.

Honest to Goodness

I think Christians are some of the most dishonest people in the world. No, I don't believe we mean to be. I think we've bought into the world's myth that we're to be perfect.

For some, this dishonesty gives birth to hypocrisy. They put on a mask to protect themselves. Disguising their true self. 

They're convinced that to follow Christ means one does everything one should in every way, all the time. When that Christian sees where he/she is failing, it must be hidden. This effort to cover up, eventually is exposed and, for those watching, Christianity as a whole is thrown out with the baptismal water.

Other Christians trust humans to be kind. But God? He's perfect, right? He can't know that I harbour hatred or bitterness. He mustn't know that I feel lust or envy. We must spare Him at all costs.

Oh, I know. We don't think of it in such black-and-white terms. It's the little preacher inside our heads. The one that when emotion stirs, says: "You know that isn't right." Yes, we know. Instead of bringing it to God, however, we quickly say a half-hearted "sorry" and change the subject.

Because we have this problem concealing our own sins, we dare not excuse a fellow believer who is honest. Are you kidding?

Someone comes forward saying he's into pornography—She's had an affair. We hold out our weapon to stab first. We quote Scripture at them. We tell them what dirty-rotten-sinners they are. Do they know what bad examples they are to the youth?

We kick them while they're down.

In case you suspect this is an exaggeration, when Southern Gospel singer Kirk Talley confessed his struggle with homosexuality, he received so many condemning e-mails from angry Christians, he had to close down his website.

What should we do then—with ourselves and with other people? Do we turn a blind eye to our sin? Do we accept it as part of life in this fallen world and give up trying to fight? Do we tell everyone every struggle we ever face?

No. No. No.

We must first deal with ourselves. In the case of sin, it is important to put ourselves first. If you realize an area in which you are struggling or have given in, tell God. Confess every detail.

Have you ever noticed how cringingly honest David and the other Psalm writers were? Psalms such as 137 make us cringe with their blatant hatred and seeming cruelty. Habakkuk provides a less ugly example. But all these men pour out sincere feelings to the Lord. Instead of acting in cruelty, they bring their cruel thoughts or, like Habakkuk, their concerns about the horrors of unpunished sin. In the latter's case, we have a written answer from Yahweh explaining His plans.

Multitudes of passages interwoven throughout Scripture prove, plead, and provide reasons for humans to confess everything. Yahweh can handle it.

In Psalm 50 Yahweh declares the opposite scenario to be the problem. Those who go through the rituals of worship, but hide their sins—those are the lives He detests. Those are the lives that anger Him.

Instead, what does He prefer?

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, You will not despise. (Psalm 51:17)

Even if you don't feel contrite, confessing your sins openly before God gives Him entrance into your conscience and heart. Praying, even if it's wrestling in prayer, plugs you into the source for power, for freedom. It allows you to aim your weapons at your real opponent, within and without.

And your fellow Christian?

Interestingly, just below the passage in Matthew 18 where Jesus explains what to do with a brother who has wronged you is the parable of the unjust servant. The master forgave a great debt of the servant's. But, when a fellow servant asked that servant to forgive a lesser debt, the former had him thrown into prison. The master heard about it and in anger demanded full payment from the unjust one.

When someone admits guilt, that one is vulnerable. He or she has exposed an ugly truth. The world publishes these disclosures in Star, People, the latest talk shows and blogs.

But how should the Christian respond?

Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.

My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. (James 5:16, 19-20)

It is the job of the family of Christ to bring love and healing to each other.

Therefore encourage one another and build up one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11)

Encouragement is the preventative. Love and prayer are the healing. If your brother or sister has sinned and has confessed it, in love with encouragement and prayer, build up (champion, defend, guard, support, go to battle for, back) your neighbor against the enemy inside and outside.

As God forgives and frees us from our sins, may we actively fight for and not against our brothers and sisters.

Pursue God and advocate the spiritual success of others, and God will give you victory in your battles.

Climbs a Tree and Scrapes Her Knee...

Once, in second or third grade, I fell in the parking lot and scraped my knee. Since I kept up with the boys when I could, a scrape was not going to slow me down. That evening as I crawled into the hot bathtub, a red streak showed from the wound climbing up my leg. Mom took me over to the doctor. Blood poisoning. For at least a week I had to lay with my leg raised to keep the poison from spreading. Had my mother not seen it or taken me to the doctor, it would have been fatal.

Sadly, I think we often scrape up our spiritual knees and ignore the need for cleansing. It seems too small a sin to us. We forget that sin is sin to God, "big" or "small." Some sin immediately affects others; some, when left, festers into something more serious.

For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. (James 2:10)

Any sin left uncleansed will shoot straight to the heart with its poison. Don't take your sin lightly. Confess it to God.

If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

It's a daily bath in God's forgiveness that will keep us clean for the work He has for us.