Today’s Sunday Share comes from Greg Koukl, founder of the website Stand to Reason. In an article linked below, he explains that real tolerance “is about how we treat people, not ideas.” Modern culture often gets this wrong way around, turning tolerance into intolerance.
Read more at the link below.
(Estimated reading time 3 minutes)
https://www.str.org/w/don-t-be-taken-in-by-the-tolerance-trick
Have you ever used the phrase “Do it for Johnny”? When I was about 10, I yelled this slogan in a soccer game, after one of our best players (named Johnny) left the game with an injury, not even knowing where the line came from. Only recently I found out the line is from the movie version of The Outsiders, based on the book by S.E. Hinton. As the character Dallas, Matt Dillon’s delivery of the line (9 second clip below) is classic and everyone should give it a try at least once. I’ll wait if you want to do it now.
Now let’s return to the scene of yesterday’s post, where Joshua was about to lead Israel over the Jordan. Imagine someone in the crowd yelling “let’s do it for Moses!” In The Outsiders, Dallas was rallying his troops to action against a rival gang, who had killed Johnny, so maybe remembering that Moses didn’t make it would inspire Israel? Sadly, that would be completely missing the point.
Knowing why has to do with knowing why Moses wasn’t there. While leading Israel, he decided out of frustration to add his own input to God’s easy instructions. The story is from Numbers 20, where Israel was in the wilderness, but there was no water (that they knew of). Moses and Aaron, responding to the ongoing grumbling of the people, went to God asking for a solution. God responded not with anger or judgement, but with a provision for His people. Moses was told: “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.”[1] What Moses actually did was to say “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” Then “Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, and water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock.”[2] Therefore, God told Moses he would die before Israel made it to the promised land “because you rebelled against my word in the wilderness of Zin when the congregation quarreled, failing to uphold me as holy at the waters before their eyes.”[3]
Why exactly Moses actions deserved such a harsh rebuke is debated, but it’s clear that Moses mixed what he wanted with what God told him to do, and therefore tried to take glory that belonged to God for himself. Moses led God’s people for a time, but their success was from God. Moses learned, and we learn through him, that honoring God first, above all others, is necessary to receive God’s promises. No honor for God; no promised land.
In Joshua 3:5, Joshua tells the people before miraculously crossing the Jordan to “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.” He was not telling them to consecrate themselves to Joshua as Moses’ replacement leader. The point wasn’t to transfer loyalty from Moses to Joshua, but the point was to eliminate all loyalty other than to God. Israel wasn’t supposed to consecrate itself to Moses, then when he was gone, consecrate itself to Joshua. Israel needed to focus on glorifying God alone and eliminate any other motives from their hearts. The first time Israel tried to enter the promised land, mixed motives resulted in 40 years wandering the wilderness.
So, whatever your preferred slogan, whether it’s: “Do it for Johnny”, “Do it for [insert any leader]” or “Let’s go [fill in the blank],”[4] it will be replaced with only one in eternity, where God will welcome His people from all tribes and nations:
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!” – Revelation 4:8
Therefore, “Consecrate yourselves” because although none of us will achieve perfection this side of paradise, Jesus declared in Matthew 10:33 that “whoever denies me before men, I also will deny before my Father who is in heaven.”
Crossing the Jordan was hard, and sometimes life is hard on purpose.
Sometimes if we want to cross a river, God wants to teach us first how to trust Him and Him alone.
Soli Deo Gloria
[1] Numbers 20:8-9
[2] Numbers 20:11-12
[3] Numbers 27:14
[4] Yes, dear Americans, I’m including that sarcastic slogan in this too.
There are a lot of different perspectives on truth. Truth of the way the world is. Truth of the way it should be. Gospel Truth. But this Father’s Day, I’ll focus on one particular truth:
“Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.” – James 1:27
This verse tells us that God the Father has a special place for those who don’t have an earthly father. He will be Father to them. It tells us to be Jesus to the widows and orphans, showing them the Way to, and the love of, their Father. There is a reason the Lord’s Prayer starts with “Our Father” – because ultimately all depends on Him.
Many in the world reject God as Father because of the failure of fathers in the world. The Old Testament of the Bible is not full of great examples of parents, but rather shows people with all their flaws and warts, who by God’s grace became part of God’s plan to use sinners to reach sinners. To become the Father of His eternal people, despite the failure of His people to be good fathers. There are no Godly offspring without the sacrifice of Jesus. There is no human Jesus without a genealogy of sinners. There are none to inhabit heaven without the sacrifice of a human Jesus, God’s only Son, given for you.
This Father’s Day, take every opportunity to be grateful for fathers, for parents, for those who take on parenthood in other ways, but also think about those who have no earthly provision. Because those who see Jesus see the Father, help people see Jesus. God’s purpose for Godly offspring will be fulfilled and praise Him that you have the awesome responsibility and opportunity to be a part of that work.
Fathers matter. You matter. To God and to others. Whoever you are.
Some years ago, I was a new dad. I also had a full-time job with a 1 ½ hour each way commute and was getting an MBA. As you may guess, time was at a premium for me.
My conscience, which I call my “Moral GPS,” was getting inputs from a couple of places. First was a coworker I’ll call “Steve”. He was a senior person at the non-profit where I was working at the time, had a book at his desk called “God’s Instruction Book for Dads”, and liked to speak his mind. He once told me his teenage daughter refused to ever talk to him, which he brushed off as “typical teenager”. What made that comment more interesting was that I later mentioned making sure to leave work in time to see my daughter before she went to sleep. She was only a few months old at the time. “Steve” asked me “what do you want to waste your time with that for? She won’t remember any of it!”
The other voice, and the one I listened to, was my wife. Any opportunity where I was home, and our daughter needed a bath or a book read to her, or anything, my wife often suggested I do it. “You’ll regret it if you don’t”. Of course, her voice aligned with “the right thing to do” and so I did my school or work at other times. I didn’t get fired, and I graduated in time. But, most importantly, I just told this story about Steve and mom to my daughter when she was almost an adult, as we were talking and having pancakes together for dinner[1]. Relationships take time, and they also take a commitment to sorting out the numerous influences in your conscience and choosing what glorifies God.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a perfect dad, but actions have consequences, and we shouldn’t take anything for granted. Fathers and mothers matter, and they sometimes need encouragement and reminders to be good parents. I once had a conversation with someone right before Father’s Day who said he wasn’t needed anymore because his kid was now a teenager. This was a lie. I told him that he mattered to his son and always will.
This Father’s Day, show someone specific that they are a priority, no matter what others might say or think!
[1] Breakfast for dinner is an amazing thing.
During the Old Testament book of Daniel, God’s people were in exile in Babylon, and a group of Babylonian officials really wanted to make a point. They wanted to do this so badly, that it’s recorded several times in just a few verses of the book of Daniel, chapter 6:
Verse 8: “Now, O king, establish the injunction and sign the document, so that it cannot be changed, according to the law of the Medes and the Persians, which cannot be revoked.”
Verse 12: “Then they came near and said before the king, concerning the injunction, “O king! Did you not sign an injunction, that anyone who makes petition to any god or man within thirty days except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions?” The king answered and said, “The thing stands fast, according to the law of the Medes and Persians, which cannot be revoked.”
Verse 15: “Then these men came by agreement to the king and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is a law of the Medes and Persians that no injunction or ordinance that the king establishes can be changed.”
Verse 17: “And a stone was brought and laid on the mouth of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet and with the signet of his lords, that nothing might be changed concerning Daniel.” [bold emphasis mine]
What provoked them to insist on this law that “cannot be revoked”?
They decided Daniel (of the book’s name) needed to be persecuted for successfully contributing to the welfare of Babylon, while humbly giving God the glory for all his gifts, abilities, and success. He was making them, and their gods, look bad. It is remarkably similar to the reasons Jesus saw opposition. Daniel, a Jewish exile, was about to get a big promotion and they wanted to sabotage it. Knowing Daniel openly prayed three times a day, the officials conspired and convinced the king to sign a law “that whoever makes petition to any god or man for thirty days, except to you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions.” (Verse 7). Either Daniel gives glory to Babylon, or he dies. Forcing Daniel to change his worship would prove that an unjust law was more important to him than his God.
What did Daniel do in response? Nothing new. He continued his standard practice of worship, praying in front of his open windows, probably including prayers for the welfare of Babylon[1]. Verse 10 says Daniel acted “as he had done previously,” which indicates he wasn’t snubbing his nose at his government or its new rule. His faithfulness was more important to him than an unjust law, even when he didn’t know God would deliver him from the lions. Daniel didn’t just come to God when he thought he needed God; he knew he needed God at all times.
Therefore, when the officials were provoked, it was an outcome of Daniel’s success and prayer, not Daniel’s intent. Basic, consistent faithfulness to a higher power can sometimes irritate people, especially lower powers who think their rule “cannot be revoked,” even when it’s not very effective.
Following the law, the king had Daniel thrown into the den of lions, but “God sent his angel and shut the lions’ mouths.” Daniel said he was saved because he had faithfully served his God and the king (verse 22), not because he was a provocative protester.
Seeing Daniel delivered by God, King Darius tore up the law that “cannot be revoked,” but even if Daniel had not been rescued from the lions, the laws would still have been revoked. The kingdom of the Medes and Persians no longer exists. Likewise at the end of time every law of every Babylon will be no more. However, God’s promise of blessing for all who will worship Him and seek His will still stands. On this promise Daniel stood, or rather, kneeled, and served his God and his countrymen, even in exile.
The law of loving service to neighbor will never be revoked, wherever and whenever you live, and even in heaven! In the words of G.K. Chesterton, “Men did not love Rome because she was great. She was great because they had loved her.”[2]
[1] Jeremiah 29:7 says: “But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare,” referring to Babylon.
[2] Chesterton, G.K. Orthodoxy (1908). P. 103.
Driving Toward the Morning Sun 