Tag Love

Radical Forgiveness

Todd R Leave a comment

Sometimes in the Bible events are simply recorded without much commentary on their significance, but if we look hard enough, there’s often context somewhere else in the book.  An example of this is Acts 21:8, which says:

“On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.”

Here Acts is telling us about one of Paul’s last missionary journeys, and the “we” included a few people, including Luke, the author of the gospel by his name and of Acts, and Paul, who we know as the author of much of the New Testament and as founder of many of Christianity’s first churches.  Luke doesn’t seem to think of the verse above as very significant since he spends so few words on it.  There’s really no further comment on this living arrangement.  However, there’s more to it.

The apostle Paul didn’t always go by that name and if we investigate his past, we uncover more of the meaning in Acts 21:8.  The first time he appears in Acts is as Saul, who presided over the death by stoning of Stephen, a prominent Christian disciple.  After Stephen gave a public sermon to a Jewish crowd in Jerusalem, the crowd took what he said as blasphemy, and then Luke wrote this: “Then they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their garments at the feet of a young man named Saul.”[1]

While we don’t read of Saul actually casting stones, he approved of Stephen’s death and likely saw it as a great victory because at this time, Saul was a zealous Pharisee and persecutor of the young church.  Just a bit later in Acts (and right before his conversion) we read of Saul “breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord.”[2]  Saul certainly would have loved to get his hands on one of the 12 apostles, but others close to them would be fine as well.  Killing Stephen, as one of the 7 original deacons of the church, would have pleased Saul.

Who were these deacons?  We learn, also in Acts, that the widows of Greek-speaking Jews (Hellenists) “were being neglected in the daily distribution.”[3]  The apostles had stretched themselves too thin, so distribution of food and other aid was being neglected.  The solution was to name “seven men of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom”[4] as deacons to better handle the distributions, allowing the apostles to focus on their preaching ministry.  These seven men were “Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a proselyte of Antioch.”[5] [bold mine]

So, Stephen, who Saul/Paul was pleased to see martyred, and Philip served together as deacons in the Jerusalem church.  We don’t know if they knew each other before this or how long they served together, but there must have been some kinship there.  Serving together creates bonds of fellowship.  And this brings us back to Acts 21:8.

“On the next day we departed and came to Caesarea, and we entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the seven, and stayed with him.”

Luke doesn’t describe what was going on in Philip’s head, but from the rest of Acts above we know that Philip was welcoming a murderer into his house who oversaw his associate’s death.  Luke records no tension, no confrontation, no hard feelings.  Just that Paul (no longer Saul) was able to stay with Philip for some time.  What he doesn’t explain is that these two evangelists love Jesus and are able to forgive each other any sin because of the forgiveness Jesus gave to them.  Instead of bitterness, Philip may have instead felt joy that God was able to work so powerfully in Paul’s life.  The former murderer of Christians was now a Christian missionary.

This reminds me of a saying I found online (unsourced):

“The apostle Paul entered heaven to the cheers of those he martyred.
That’s how the gospel works”

In the gospel, all sins others commit against us are forgivable, just as Jesus can forgive us any of our sin because He paid the price for all of them.  In Philip’s case, even though Paul murdered his friend, God gave enough grace that Philip could forgive, and Luke can record Paul moving in without any additional comment.  Also, even Stephen is able to forgive Paul.

It’s hard to love someone if you can’t first forgive them, and we’re commanded to love everyone.  So, is our ability to forgive as radical and complete as Philip’s?  Are we willing to welcome into the church, and into heaven, our worst enemies?  Maybe we have someone specific in mind as we read this who drives us nuts.  Can we forgive them?  For most of us, these are very hard questions, therefore, pray that God can show us more of His grace and enable it to share it with others.  Whoever they are.

We know it’s possible with God’s help.

[1] Acts 7:58
[2] Acts 9:1
[3] Acts 6:1
[4] Acts 6:3
[5] Acts 6:5

How Shall Christians Be Known?

Todd R Leave a comment

The mark of a relationship with Christ has taken many forms over the ages, but with one common factor: a self-sacrificing love.

In the book of Genesis, Joseph, son of Jacob, has a fascinating story.  Joseph was favored by his father, despised by his brothers, sold into slavery in Egypt, but eventually rose to a position of prominence under Pharaoh.  In Genesis 41, Pharaoh learns that Joseph has interpreted dreams and calls for his help with Pharaoh’s own distressing series of dreams.  Joseph interprets Pharaoh’s dreams as a prophecy of seven years of famine and recommends a plan to get through it.  After this interpretation comes Genesis 41:38, where “Pharaoh said to his servants, ‘Can we find a man like this, in whom is the Spirit of God?’”  We connect Pharoah’s recognition of God’s Spirit in Joseph to the correct interpretation of dreams, but there is more to it:  Joseph also cared for the people of Egypt and oversaw the plan to survive the famine.

In the book of Acts, after Peter’s proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ to many “rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem,”[1] Acts 4:13 records that “when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus.”  These crowds knew that Peter and John had been with Jesus, that they had a similar spirit.  They had something that comes not from this world’s schools or from what it holds in distinguished, high regard.  Instead, “they were uneducated, common men,” but they carried the mark of Jesus.  They had a connection to an unknown source of boldness and were concerned for the spiritual needs of all people.

In the Psalms, a Psalmist (probably David) wrote in Psalm 119:97-98:

“Oh how I love your law!
            It is my meditation all the day.
Your commandment makes me wiser than my enemies,
            for it is ever with me.”

The Psalmist praises God’s commandment as a source of wisdom better than anything available to his enemies.  By meditating on God’s commandments, the Psalmist is “wiser than my enemies,” because he has a wisdom from an unworldly source.  He carries the mark of Christ, but what is this commandment and what is this wisdom?

Photo by Khadeeja Yasser on Unsplash

In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus says the greatest commandments are: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”  In other words, any and all commands of God are subordinated to the command to love God and neighbor, including our enemies.

In John 13:34-35, Jesus reiterates the rule, telling His disciples: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  Therefore, how can all people “find a man…in whom is the Spirit of God?”  Where will the world find astonishing boldness and good news among even “uneducated, common men”?  They will find it in those who have the fruit of the Spirit, which begins with “love,” but also includes “joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.”[2]

So, does someone have a physical need like those impacted by the famine in Joseph’s day?  Does someone have a spiritual need for hope that only the gospel can provide?  Love provides the answer to both needs, and by love will the world know Christ’s disciples.

Therefore, make Christ known today by loving someone as Christ would.

[1] Acts 4:5
[2] Galatians 5:22-23

God Breaks Out of All Boxes

Todd R Leave a comment

Written around 600 B.C., the Old Testament book of Habakkuk outlines a conversation between the prophet Habakkuk and God, in the few years prior to Judah’s exile in Babylon.  The book begins with Habakkuk’s complaint that evil was running rampant in Judah.  Habakkuk cries out to God about the prevalence of “violence” and “iniquity.”  He cries out about how people are ignoring God’s law, yet nothing is being done about it.  There was no justice.[1]  He’s tired of seeing nothing but evil in the world every day and is frustrated that God doesn’t seem to be doing anything about it.

Then comes Habakkuk 1:5, which to me is one of the most shocking verses in the Bible:

“Look among the nations, and see;
            wonder and be astounded.

For I am doing a work in your days
            that you would not believe if told.”

Why is this verse shocking?  Because next, God tells Habakkuk that He has arranged for Babylon, a “dreaded and fearsome”[2] nation that does not respect God and that lives by the creed that might makes right, to conquer Judah.  Basically, Habakkuk asks God why He was allowing evil to prosper in Judah, and God answers that He will allow an even more evil nation to prosper and conquer Judah.  Habakkuk must have been perplexed, and God knew it.  He knew Habakkuk would “wonder and be astounded” and we probably feel that way sometimes too.

Habakkuk had expectations about what God could and couldn’t do, but here God says He can, and will, do things that shock us.  Things that we cannot understand, but things that will teach us to trust instead of understand.  Sometimes God doesn’t behave in line with our theological doctrine, but He always does so for a reason.

Another example of shock at God’s out-of-the-box behavior comes from John 13, one of my favorite New Testament stories.  Mere days before going to the cross, “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”[3]

Photo by Photoholgic on Unsplash

Peter was shocked.  This was not what he expected from the Messiah, the incarnate Son of God.  So, when we get to verse 8, we read: “Peter said to [Jesus], “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.””

Peter was reluctant to accept a God that would serve him by washing his feet, but what Jesus was trying to tell the disciples was that if they wanted to follow Him as their master, they would have to serve as He served, even if it wasn’t what they expected from God.  They needed to be washed, and then to wash others.

Peter was learning that if Jesus is doing something, don’t question it!  His actions are right by the mere fact that He is doing it, whatever our reason or expectations tell us.  In the Old Testament, God decided to send His people to a Promised Land, then to cause a heathen nation to kick them out of the Promised Land.  In the New Testament, He showed us that His Messiah would be a suffering servant, to teach us to be suffering servants.

God will never do anything that contradicts His character as revealed in the Bible, but the Bible also says, “Who has measured the Spirit of the LORD, or what man shows him his counsel?” in Isaiah 40:13.  God does not fit within our boxes, our expectations and rules.  We don’t fully understand Him.  Therefore, pay close attention to Jesus the Master, and be ready to follow where He goes, even though it might be shocking!

“Look among the nations, and see;
            wonder and be astounded.

For I am doing a work in your days
            that you would not believe if told.”

[1] Habakkuk 1:2-4
[2] Habakkuk 1:7
[3] John 13:3-5

Forgiveness and Its Alternatives: A Quint of Quotes

Todd R Leave a comment
Photo by Alex Shute on Unsplash

Dear fellow travelers,

Here is another “Quint of Quotes” from my collection.  These quints are five quotes somewhat related to each other, but not exactly in agreement.  These deal with the importance of forgiveness.  Hope you find them interesting and thought-provoking.  Enjoy!

“You can have vengeance, or peace, but you can’t have both” – Herbert Hoover, after World War II

“Resentment is like taking poison and waiting for the other person to die.” -Malachy McCourt, Irish-American actor, writer and politician

“Forgiveness is the greatest miracle that Jesus ever performs. It meets the greatest need; it costs the greatest price; and it brings the greatest blessing and the most lasting results.”  – Warren Wiersbe

“In taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior.” – Francis Bacon

“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.  And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same.” – Jesus, in Luke 6:32-33

Religion That Puts People Before Issues

Todd R 2 Comments

I am on vacation this week, so I’ve collected some old posts about James 1:27 for the week.  I’m reposting them as is, but they definitely need some editing!

It’s become cliché to say social media brings out the worst of people, since they can hide from consequences behind internet anonymity and distance.  Mike Tyson, one of the greatest heavyweight boxers of all time, said “Social media made y’all way too comfortable with disrespecting people and not getting punched in the face for it.”  But disrespect and wanting to punch people in the face who disagree with us is nothing new.  Just one generation after Adam and Eve were made in the image of God and living in perfect love, their son Cain killed his brother Abel for uncertain reasons.  Genesis also doesn’t tell us exactly how Cain killed Abel, but we can be sure social media wasn’t involved.  Hate doesn’t require an internet connection or working Wi-Fi, only one person deciding that another person is a thing to be defeated, not as a person made in God’s image.  Sometimes by focusing on what we are disagreeing about, we can lose sight of the fact that the person disagreeing with us is inherently valuable.

Today, after months away, we return to a series on James 1:27, which says: “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 gave careful thought to this phrase, not as hyperbole, but as an example of what perfect religion – worship of God the Father – looks like.  Eternal life is for people who love when there’s nothing more at stake than the person being loved, but putting issues above people is one way we get stained by the world and fail to represent Christ.  Note that I didn’t say ignore the issues – it’s a question of priority.

The Singular Person
Psalm 113 is a Psalm about praising God and making Him known throughout the world, and ends with a very specific praise:

“He gives the barren woman a home,
            making her the joyous mother of children.
Praise the LORD!”

To me, what’s most striking here is that this is a singular barren woman, not barren women as a group.  It doesn’t say that God ends all barrenness (although He might).  The Psalmist chose as a climactic ending to this poem about the heart of God and how He wants to be known a praise to God for giving a home and family to one barren woman.  This means that the sovereign God of all the universe is concerned about individuals, their specific circumstances, and their specific need for salvation.  He does not respond to an “issue” of the barrenness of women but responds in a way that satisfies the needs of individual people.  People are not statistics to Him, to be counted and divided into opposing sides until one prevails over the other.  Each person’s needs and path to redemption are unique in God’s eyes, and only He can provide for all.  He is the only way to a perfect world.

Similar to the “barren woman”, James 1:27 is about visiting specific “orphans and widows,” not fighting for the end of all afflictions for all widows and orphans.  He is fighting for people, not total victory in an argument.  While this might seem obvious to some, it’s so easy to exalt issues over people that we don’t always notice when we do it.

The Issue of Family
A common issue today is “family,” which I put in quotes because as an issue it doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone.  A lot of time and energy is put into fighting for “family values,” defined many different ways, and James 1:27, “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,” is relevant in multiple ways.

First, an earlier post of this series, said “whatever its source, civil law is a provision for a fallen world, not a pathway to a perfect world.”  In both the Old and New Testaments, God tells us there will always be poor in the land and that every civil law is inherently limited in a broken world.  Christians should “defend the family,” but in what way?  James 1:27 says to stand for individuals for whom the institution of family has already failed – widows and orphans.  “Pure and undefiled religion” succeeds where law fails, filling the gap with the heart of God, who cares for the specific “barren woman” of Psalm 113:9.  There is no perfect law that solves the issue of “family values,” therefore “visit orphans and widows in their affliction.”  Affliction comes in many forms and is too complex and diverse for any government to deal with entirely.

Second, when we fight for perfection in our laws, taking absolute stands on either side of an “issue,” we risk elevating law to a level it’s not possible of achieving, and we also may justify hurting people in the process, thinking the end result will be worth it somehow.  Once we see the world in fully black/white, either/or terms, it becomes easy to think that if only the right side came out ahead, the issue would be resolved, any collateral damage can be explained, and everyone would be happy.  However, consider the extreme example of violence around both abortion clinics and crisis pregnancy centers.  In that case and many smaller ones, when we cause harm to opponents, we prove that there are cracks in our own system, creating new victims on top of the existing ones.  Those left behind haven’t been helped, but new affliction has been added by those hoping it will be somehow worth it to win the “issue” battle.

Third, ministering to widows and orphans keeps us from the pollution of the world which insists that our salvation is political and based on power.  James 1:27 encourages us to reject a world that wants to put laws, culture, even hashtags above actual people.  The world too often believes the ends justify the means because belief in worldly utopia depends on a 100% solution, but also believes it’s ok to ignore concrete problems while fighting for a solution that will never arrive.  Salvation comes from only one source: the cross.

In the start of this post, I wrote that it’s become cliché to say social media brings out the worst of people, and its cliché because massive amounts of time and energy go into fighting over abstract issues and dividing into groups of “us” and “them”.  James 1:27 says that we are not defined by which side of an issue we support, and what we’re willing to do to achieve victory for our side, but by how we love those individuals for whom this world has failed.

It is better to minister to the ones who have been punched by this world than to add another punch to the damage.

Therefore, “Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.  And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” – Hebrews 10:23-25

And what are “good works”?  “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.”