Christ Embraces the Different – Sunday Share from Tim Keller

May 21, 2023May 20, 2023Todd R 2 Comments

Today’s Sunday Share comes from pastor and apologist Tim Keller, who died on May 19 after battling pancreatic cancer. When hearing that news, it seemed appropriate to quote him in the blog, so the Sunday Share for this week is the extended quote below from Keller’s book, Making Sense of God:

“If you believe in Jesus’s message, you believe in a truth, but not a truth that leads to exclusion. Many voices argue that it is exclusionary to claim that you have the truth, but as we have seen, that view itself sets up a dichotomy with you as the heroically tolerant and others as villainously or pathetically bigoted. You cannot avoid truth claims and binaries. The real issue is, then, which kind of truth- and which kind of identity that the truth produces- leads you to embrace people who are deeply different from you? Which truth claims lead you to scorn people who oppose you as fools? Which truth claims lead to community? Which truth claims both humble and affirm you so that you’re not afraid of people who are different than you are, nor can you despise them? If I build my identity on what Jesus Christ did for me and the fact I have an everlasting name in him by grace, I can’t, on the one hand, feel superior to anybody, nor do I have to fear anybody else. I don’t have to compare myself with them at all. My identity is based on somebody who was excluded for me, who was cast out for me, who loved his enemies, and that is going to turn me into someone who embraces the Different.”

Rest in peace, Tim Keller.

Amen.

A Kingdom of Gentleness and Respect

April 7, 2022July 29, 2022Todd R Leave a comment

With another history post coming up, I set out this week to write about this blog’s approach to history and politics, knowing that with these topics, the hardest part can be how to say what you want to say. Imitating David in Psalm 3, I write to testify that “salvation belongs to the LORD,”[1] to some an inherently political statement, in a way that obeys God in approach and tone. What does that mean? 1 Peter 4:15-16 says: “in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.” This means it is not as simple as just yelling the right story from the rooftops, or in my case, from an unfiltered blog. “Gentleness and respect” matter.

Last time, I wrote that “Jesus isn’t on the ballot this fall, but flawed candidates of many types will be. Some more like David, and some more like Absalom.” David, even as God’s appointed king of Israel, knew that not every problem was in his power to solve. However, David was at peace with his limits in an imperfect world, knowing that his salvation came from God alone. But Absalom hated David’s inability, or unwillingness, to solve all his problems. Absalom harbored angry resentment against David for years before violently overthrowing him. During this rebellion, David was calm and able to sleep because the kingdom of God was real to him, even when it didn’t look like it. Then he wrote Psalm 3 to let us know about it.

This conflict between David and Absalom echoes in broad narratives or stories told throughout history: 1) we can and should perfect ourselves, or 2) we are dependent on God to save us.[2]

In the 1 Peter quote above, he says that we defend our eternal hope with “gentleness and respect.,” meaning that those who trust God’s salvation should use not only their words, but also their attitudes and very lives. The story must be real to us to be convincing to others, and those who hope in God’s kingdom should show obedience to that kingdom. Easier said than done.

Fortunately, when we truly believe, experience, and stand for God’s salvation, our brokenness and failure is part of the testimony. When we know God’s salvation is the only solution, we can approach people with different worldviews with our common need for salvation, in “gentleness and respect,” instead of fighting over solutions we know are imperfect. David was able to sleep at night even when chased out of Jerusalem by his own son, because he had “a good conscience,” showing gentleness and respect toward Absalom. The kingdom of God was real in his heart, and he believed God would prevail no matter what. Circumstances could not shake his faith, and God ultimately delivered and restored him.

If, on the other hand, our brokenness and God’s solution for it is not part of our story, we may be left defending an imperfect political solution to those who demand perfection. In David’s case, he may have insisted that God was unjust in allowing Absalom to succeed. After all, he could argue, he was a humble king after God’s own heart, while Absalom was bitter and unreasonable. If David had done this, it may have ironically helped Absalom’s case for tyranny. In addition, David would not have been able to find peace and sleep at night until Absalom was overthrown. However, if the starting point is that weakness is common to all of mankind, then the imperfection of the system is both part of the “reason for the hope” and a reason for even the unbeliever to resist tyranny. In this case, imperfection is not hypocrisy, but a condition common to mankind.

Declaring “salvation belongs to the LORD” with actions, along with words, gives evidence that worldly utopia is not the answer. But when words or actions fall short, we can still point to the One who is perfect since we aren’t trying to prove worldly utopia is possible. The two lessons from Absalom’s rebellion are reconciled in a life lived with “gentleness and respect.” Because God does not rely on political systems to work His salvation, tyranny is just another “temporary and provincial authority” subject to the greater authority of God. We can have a clear conscience based on the sacrifice of Christ and not on worldly success.

A life lived in hope for the eternal kingdom of God is one lived in love for those left behind by every imperfect system of this world, but also one that testifies that all systems, including our own individual wills, are not perfectible by human effort. Peter wrote that those who hope in God will be slandered, but also that those who live humble lives based on hope in God and not themselves will ultimately be proved right. Until then, by their example as they follow Christ, they can show the futility of tyranny. By God’s grace, His people will inherit a real utopia by learning to love those who hope in a false one with gentleness and respect.

Our failure is part of our testimony as we drive toward morning, but “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” – Matthew 6:33

[1] Psalm 3:8
[2] There’s also a third common story: “If the dead are not raised, ‘Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.’” (1 Corinthians 15:32) Today, we focus on the other two.

Your Family is More Important Than Your Furniture – Psalms of Ascent #4

March 19, 2022April 2, 2022Todd R Leave a comment

A prominent feature of the culture I live in is the demand that everyone must respect the “individualism” of everyone else. Pressure to affirm whatever anyone else wants affirmed about them has ballooned all over the news, social media, corporate policy, and even in churches. There’s an assumption built into this, which is that the sincere ability to love someone can be the result of someone else threatening us to do it. Exert enough legal, social, cultural, or even physical pressure and someone’s fundamental nature can be changed by coercion. The coal turns into a diamond.

Tomorrow is Sunday, so today we return to the Psalms of Ascent, a liturgy used in ancient Israel to prepare for worship at the annual festivals in Jerusalem. What does this have to do with the last paragraph? In Psalm 120, the first Psalm of Ascent, we read (post here) that no matter where we live, or where we come from, no matter our genealogy, we live among people with “lying lips” who can’t get along with each other. In Psalm 121, we are encouraged to find the answer outside of our current place:

“A Song of Ascents.

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is your keeper;
the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all evil;
            he will keep your life.
The LORD will keep
            your going out and your coming in
            from this time forth and forevermore.”

The Psalm asks us to take our eyes off of the world around us and look upward for our hope. Not just talk about the idea of it, but to actually do it. To turn off the outside world and its circumstances and seek God’s help. It takes effort because the idea that we can solve our own problems is so powerful. The fall of Adam and Eve was driven by a curiosity that there may be a better system than the one they already had. In a literally perfect society, they wanted something else. If we aren’t intentional about avoiding this trap, it’s easy to not realize we are in it.

We’re All Messed Up
I’ve written much about Tyler Joseph, the songwriter of the band twenty øne piløts, and his campaign to create music and stories that help people deal with mental illness. In an interview years ago, the interviewer criticized Tyler for calling himself “messed up.” Was Tyler being too hard on himself? This was Tyler’s response:

“I know I’m messed up. I think to myself I should be able to control myself. I look at a lamp and I decide that I’m going to stand up and not hit that lamp. Why can’t I make decisions like that about everything in life. I’m not going to get angry at my brother. I want to be the best brother. Why can’t I do what I want to do? That’s messed up. Something is broken in the way we live. It’s proof that something is not right.”

Tyler is explaining Romans 7:13-21, especially verses 15 and 21, but in a way that’s as plain as day to anyone being honest with themselves. Romans 7:15 and 21 say: “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” And “So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand.”

What if the problem with every person individually is that they are unable, no matter how much external pressure is put on them, to treat other individuals the way they should be treated? If true, it puts the first paragraph into an entirely different light.

In this exact moment as I write this, I’m being very careful not to spill my drink on my laptop. I have no desire to do anything violent to the couch I’m sitting on but just to enjoy having a place to sit. If I stop writing to check something on my phone, I make sure I put it down gently in a spot where it won’t fall off and hit the floor. But at the same time, I know I don’t always treat people with the same respect. I know if I’m interrupted in the middle of what I think is a great thought or phrase I could get irritated and rude. Not always, but I could. I know I could be a better son, husband, father, employee, and friend. So why don’t I?

Why do we treat our furniture better than our family, even in a culture that increasingly demands with all its strength that we prioritize every individual? Because we are broken in a way that no political or economic system, no culture or tradition, can fix. One may be better or worse than another, but none of them has the power to solve the real problem that we can’t consistently love people more than we love our furniture. We have to go somewhere else to find the answer.

Therefore,
“I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.”

As pilgrims traveling to Jerusalem, the Israelites were telling a story by making the effort to move. A story that the towns they leave behind – no matter where they are coming from – don’t have the answer to their most important problems. On the long journey, they travelled in large groups and slowly, sometimes by foot. They probably had constant reminders of their own inability to treat the family they traveled with better than whatever furniture or baggage they brought along for the trip. While togetherness is sometimes uncomfortable, together we must lift up our eyes and look for the answer outside of everything we know.

We’re broken and can’t fix ourselves, but “The LORD will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life.” Take some time out of your week and each day to look up to the hills and seek Him. To set aside everything else. To focus on the LORD, because He alone loves us in the way we need to be loved and can help us love others the way they need to be loved. He won’t seek to break you to make you do it, but He Himself was broken to provide us a way.

This post continues a series on the Psalms of Ascent. To start at the beginning, click here, and for the next post click here

What If Nature Shows Purpose, Rather Than Randomness?

January 2, 2022May 31, 2026Todd R 1 Comment

Headline I just saw in the Facebook news feed: “What if Math Is a Fundamental Part of Nature, Not Something Humans Came Up With?” Reading the article I found that patterns in nature are “staggering”, but no conclusion is made. (Article linked below)

Yeah – What If?

Says CS Lewis, in the book Miracles: “Men became scientific because they expected Law in Nature, and they expected Law in Nature because they believed in a Legislator”

Science Alert Article