A hot Christmas gift when I was a kid were G.I. Joe toys. These “Real American Heroes” were a line of action figures, vehicles and other accessories that fought against the evil Cobra organization which was trying to take over the world (of course). In 1982, they were even hotter, after Hasbro added “Swivel Arm Battle Grip” to the design to differentiate G.I. Joe from the also-popular Star Wars figures.
Zap looks much better in action than in the box.
The swivel in the middle of the figure’s bicep allowed 360-degree rotation. The swivel isn’t a shoulder, elbow, or hand, but without it, bazooka soldier (Code Name: Zap) can’t pose as modeled on the package pictured here. I had “Zap” and tried it for myself. It took some experimentation, but eventually the way the shoulder, swivel, and elbow were made worked together and Zap looked like Zap should look.
Why so much detail about action figures in a Christian blog? Because the Christian church is described in the Bible as the body of Christ, and in 1 Corinthians 12:14-16, the apostle Paul assures us that, without every single member of the church participating, the body of Christ is incomplete:
“For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ that would not make it any less a part of the body.”
Like Zap without “Swivel Arm Battle Grip,” the church will not perform as God intended unless all parts of the body participate, but sometimes it’s not clear to each of us what part of the body of Christ we are. To some of us, others may clearly look like a shoulder, elbow, or hand, but we don’t know our part. To some of us, others may look like the “hands and feet of Jesus” (to use a common phrase), but people don’t say the same about us. Remember that Paul says “that would not make it any less a part of the body.”
Today, let’s return to one of this blog’s key verses, Hebrews 10:24, “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” When we don’t clearly know the specifics of our part, maybe we are the “Swivel Arm Battle Grip” – the innovative, new part with a weird name that helps the other parts fit together and work as God intended. But also, when we do know our part, is the objective any different?
From earliest times, debate has raged over whether God’s word can be taken literally. Since the serpent asked, “Did God actually say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden’?”[1] people have debated if the world was created in 6 days. If Moses really parted the Red Sea. If Jonah really spent 3 days inside a great fish. And so on. Talk about whether the Bible means what it says often focuses on the miraculous events within.
But what about verses like Ephesians 4:29? “Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” When Paul wrote that, did he literally mean “no corrupting talk,” or just to aim for less crude language than the average person? Did Paul mean each word needs to “fit the occasion,” or to repeat whatever catchphrase seems to work in most situations? Did Paul mean everything we say should “give grace” to others, or is it ok if sometimes we want to look good or appear gracious? Do we need to always build up those who hear us? Did Paul “actually say” what he wrote in Ephesians 4:29?
Failure to meet our ideals does not mean that we should change them.
We might reply that this is an impossible standard, but Jesus in Luke 18:19 said “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone.” In that one statement, Jesus testifies that no one is good (everyone misses the mark), and also that He is God in the flesh, come to save us from failing to meet the standard.
So yes, Ephesians 4:29 should be taken literally, but we should also take literally that only Jesus can meet the standard, and that He did meet the standard. Failure to meet our ideals does not mean they are the wrong ideals and that we should change them. Holiness is holiness.
G.K. Chesterton wrote in his book Orthodoxy that “it does not matter (comparatively speaking) how often humanity fails to imitate its ideal; for then all its old failures are fruitful. But it does frightfully matter how often humanity changes its ideal; for then all its old failures are fruitless.”[2]
In film editing, “the cutting room floor” refers to pieces of physical film that (in pre-digital times) were cut out of the movie and left lying on the floor. When writing this blog, one of the hardest things to do is to cut out parts or phrases I care deeply about, but sometimes it’s necessary, because my words aren’t always Ephesians 4:29 words. Finding these failures can be fruitful if I learn from them and move closer to the ideal. In real-time, daily conversation it’s even harder, but to take Ephesians 4:29 literally, we all have to figuratively ask:
What are we willing to leave on the cutting room floor today?
[1] Genesis 3:1 [2] Chesterton, G.K. Orthodoxy (1908). P. 163.
Modern suburban life is full of annoyances. Getting up early during the week to commute to work. Getting up early on the weekend because your neighbor hired landscapers for the early shift. Staying up too late on a Wednesday because someone in your neighborhood decided it was time for fireworks even though it’s not a Hallmark-recognized holiday. Constant notifications from your phone that you have a new email. Having to spend time deleting the majority of your emails because they’re spam that made it through the filter. Recycling the majority of your regular mail because its junk. Wondering if you put recyclables into the wrong bins. Paying more for gas and groceries because of inflation.
Such annoyances are sometimes jokingly called “first world problems” or they might even get cringeworthy hashtags like #1stworldproblems. When I recently read Judges 14:6 I was reminded of such problems. It says:
“Then the Spirit of the LORD rushed upon [Samson], and although he had nothing in his hand, he tore the lion in pieces as one tears a young goat. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.” (emphasis mine)
The writer of Judges wanted everyone to know how easy it was for Samson, in God’s power, to kill a lion, so he compared it to how “one tears a young goat.” Not how “one clicks the trash can icon to delete an email,” or how “one sets an alarm clock to get up early,” or how “one pumps gas in their car so they can travel in minutes what once might have taken days.” No, Samson killed a lion “as one tears a young goat.”
My handy study Bible has no statistics on how often individuals killed young goats with their bare hands in Samson’s times, but for it to work as a metaphor to the original audience of Judges, it must have been quite easy and common. Maybe more common than fireworks on non-holidays, or easier than pumping expensive gas after a quick tap of a credit card.
First world problems indeed. At least we probably won’t need to kill a goat today, or especially not a lion. May God grant us the patience and strength to deal with whatever comes our way today.
Also, if you got an email telling you this was posted, feel free to delete it, unless it went to your spam folder, in which case you probably aren’t reading this. It just takes a click of a button.
The Apostle Paul, author of much of the New Testament, was first called Saul and was a very different person before meeting Christ. As Saul, he saw no contradiction between persecuting his religious enemies (the new Christian church) and being righteous under the law. He also may also have seen Christianity as a political threat, a new religion that would upset the balance of power between the Jews of the first century and the occupying Romans by demanding loyalty to a higher power above Rome. From this perspective, he may have thought his religion required persecution of those who disagreed.
Luke, author of Acts, describes Saul’s pre-Christian life like this:
“But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.” – Acts 9:1-2
Paul himself does not deny this past, writing to the church in Galatia:
“For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy it” – Galatians 1:13
But when confronted by Jesus on the road to Damascus as referred to in Acts 9 above, the Lord asked him to his face: “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.” (Acts 26:14). This is a strange expression for us, but to “kick against the goads” meant that by fighting against God’s will (including His grace for His people in any nation or tribe), Saul was only hurting himself. Goads were sticks that were pointed on one end and used to prod oxen to move where a farmer wanted them to go. A stubborn ox who decided to resist would “kick against the goads,” only leading to more pain. Persecuting the absolute Lord of the universe is not a good idea.
Saul learned his lesson and after that confrontation, changed his name to Paul, a man transformed in how he treated those he might consider enemies. He went from “breathing threats and murder” against Christians, to wishing for the salvation of the Jews, and anyone who would listen:
“Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for [the Jews] is that they may be saved.” – Romans 10:1
In Christ, His hate for the “other” became compassion. Saul wanted to put his enemies to death; Paul wanted to put his own sin to death. He never shied away from his brutal past, but he also began nearly all of his letters to the early churches with a greeting like this one at the beginning of Galatians:
“Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ” – Galatians 1:3
Dear fellow travelers, as I mentioned in an earlier post about why I use that particular greeting, “Let’s strive to bring grace and peace to every encounter we have as we travel through this world.” Even with those we might consider enemies.
The TV show Whose Line is it Anyway? is probably the most-widely-known form of improvisational comedy, and one of my favorites. Four performers act out short scenes based on a set of rules for each scene or game, spontaneously adding their own creativity and (if successful) humor. For example, in the “Props” game, pictured, the performers were given two “P” shaped props to make jokes about. The show wouldn’t be any good if they just showed us the props and explained the rules over and over again. The show is pointless without spontaneous creativity. But why am I writing about improv on a Christian blog? Today is the next post in the series on listening for our Master’s voice, and in God’s (and Gideon’s) victory over the Midianites, the Bible leaves a key point unsaid, leaving us to ask: Whose Plan is it Anyway?
Whose Pun is it Anyway?
In Judges 6-7, God delivers Israel from the Midianites using Gideon, who thought God couldn’t use him because “my clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my father’s house.” At times, Gideon doubts God is speaking to him and that He really means what He says, but God patiently answers Gideon’s questions and performs miracles, encouraging Gideon to move forward.
Eventually, Gideon and his 300-man army attacked the enemy army, which was “like locusts in abundance, and their camels were without number, as the sand that is on the seashore in abundance.”[1] After Gideon split his army into three groups, this was the plan of attack:
“So Gideon and the hundred men who were with him came to the outskirts of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, when they had just set the watch. And they blew the trumpets and smashed the jars that were in their hands. Then the three companies blew the trumpets and broke the jars. They held in their left hands the torches, and in their right hands the trumpets to blow. And they cried out, ‘A sword for the LORD and for Gideon!’”[2]
Whose Plan is it Anyway? This is where improv comes in: the text does not tell us who came up with this wacky attack plan. Was it God’s idea or was it Gideons? Why leave it ambiguous? I think it is because, either way, it is not a decisive factor in the victory. The attack plan works because of God’s involvement, no matter whose idea it was. If it was Gideon’s idea, he was only using the abilities his Maker had given Him for the purpose of glorifying Him. If it was God’s, Gideon was also only using the abilities God gave him and dedicating them to God’s glory.
What’s amazing is that Gideon went from testing God with fleece to carrying out this attack. God had Gideon convinced it would work, and that it would work because God would make it work. Victory didn’t come from any advantage Gideon had or created, and all along God was determined to get the glory. The plan would have failed if God had not put fear into the camp, and let Gideon know about that fear by way of a dream a Midianite soldier had.
Like improv comedy, God’s rules only go so far before the performers need to take over. God gives us patterns, which are like the rules of an improv skit, not step-by-step instructions in every aspect of our lives. Adam and Eve were shown a pattern in the Garden of Eden, Moses was given a pattern for the tabernacle on the mountain, and Jesus lived a pattern of how love the Father and our neighbor. Beyond the patterns and rules there is so much to do and explore. His will is for His people to make the world like Eden, to worship Him as He should be worshiped, and to love the world the way Jesus loved.
The Little Things To hear and obey His voice, we must spend time with Him in prayer and study, diligently learning the patterns He has laid out for us, but He does not expect us to stop there. At some point, we must take the guidance we have and move forward with the wisdom and creativity He has endowed us each with. When we do we will be like the servant who successfully invested his Master’s resources, and in return “His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’”[3]
However, if we either do not diligently seek Him, or if we say He has not given us enough, we may find ourselves cast out from the Master’s presence, hearing: “you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest.”[4]
In Gideon’s story, we see God’s compassionate understanding toward His people who struggle to hear and obey His voice but keep trying. We, like Gideon, are not always faithful over the little things such as prayer, study, and regular worship. But Only He fully knows the depth of our doubts and struggles, and He provides what we need to trust Him and move forward in faith, knowing our doubt is never fully overcome until eternity.
In the story, we also see that we must often act on trust, even when we think we have incomplete information. Like Gideon, we should be imperfectly persistent, wrestling with God who knows our faith is imperfect. He can bridge the gap to us in His unlimited grace.
So, where does God’s guiding voice stop, and our God-given creativity begin? Like a good improv comedy scene, the parts can come together perfectly, glorify God, and encourage His people to come along in faith, as the men of Naphtali, Asher, Manasseh, and Ephraim joined the battle against the Midianites once it was clear God had delivered the victory[5]. When we seek Him and find Him, and in faith move forward to spread His character and creativity in the world, glorifying Him.
God is glorified when His people attempt things that sometimes don’t make sense, then succeed because He provided the way. It’s always His plan anyway.
Soli Deo Gloria
[1] Judges 7:12 [2] Judges 7:19-20 [3] Matthew 25:21 [4] Matthew 25:27 [5] Judges 7:23-25
