Regaining Your First Love: Ephesus Part Two (Revelation 2:1-7) [1]

I know your deeds, your tireless labor, and your patient endurance. I know you do not tolerate those who do evil. Furthermore, you have diligently tested those who claim to be apostles, and you have found that they are not true witnesses. You have correctly found them to be false. I know you are patiently enduring and holding firm on behalf of My name. You have not become faint.

Last week, we used that paragraph and the later reference to the Nicolaitans to talk about how the beastliness of Rome and the allure of Babylon offered and will offer challenges to the church throughout history. John’s vision illustrates the clash of the Kingdom of God and the empires of the dragon quite vividly. Today, the clash of that war kind of fades into the background not because it has stopped, but because there is a different kind of battle taking place: the war within.

T.S. Eliot wrote in The Hollow Men, “ This is the way the world ends; not with a bang but a whimper.” John has a warning here: it’s possible for faith to end not with the bang of epic spiritual warfare, but with a whimper of fading love. 

However, I have this against you: you have left/ abandoned your first love. Do you remember what it was like before you fell? It’s time to rethink and change your ways; go back to the deeds you did at first.[2] However, if you do not return, I will come quickly and personally remove your lampstand from its place.

 The part about abandoning your first love is a bit of a cryptic phrase, but everyone seems to agree John is making a point that is made over and over in the Bible: love for God is always expressed in loving acts toward others. The Bible never draws a dividing line between our hearts and our hands, our motivation and action, our intents and our accomplishments.[3] People can work hard in the Kingdom, have a an appropriately righteous hatred of sin, love and protect the truth, and endure trials and hardship for the name of the Lord… but without love, these acts are like a “sounding brass or a crashing cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13).[4]  

We were not created to be segmented or compartmentalized people. The “deeds you did at first” are supposed to be actions that complete an inner desire.[5]  The allegiance of the heart translates into the actions of the hands. Lovers do the things the lovers do.

John is calling them to do something they once did but don’t anymore motivated by a love they once had but don’t anymore. 

Here are the three most prominent understandings of what is happening here. I feel the same way about these options as I do with the 5 options I gave in Week 1 for reading Revelation: They all have something to offer. #don’tdieonthishill

1.THEY STOPPED THEIR COMMUNAL GENEROSITY

In the book of Acts, we read about what the early church did with great excitement. Among other things, they met together regularly and shared love feasts and communion; they lived in radically generous community, they lived with great servanthood. Their early reputation in Rome was remarkable because they lived loving lives of humility and purity marked by pretty radical generosity. In this first reading, their generosity had dried up because they had forgotten the generosity of God.

2. THEY HATED THE SIN AND THE SINNER

2:6But you have this in your favor: You hate (despise; denounce) the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

 William Ramsay notes this of the letter to the church in Ephesus:  

“It shows admiration and full appreciation of a great career and a noble history. Yet it does not leave a pleasant impression of the Ephesian Church; and there is a lack of cordial and sympathetic spirit in it…when, in order to finish with a word of praise… the one thing which he finds to say is that they hated [the deeds of the Nicolaitans].”

This is a hint at the heart of the problem: the heart. In their zealousness to reject things that ought to be rejected, the message of what they were for got overwhelmed by the message of what they were against. It’s not a good look when the best you can say of someone is that they  denounce or despise the right things. It’s the person who offers light in the darkness that makes a difference, not the one who simply keeps pointing our how dark it is. 

Unfortunately, there’s more. Some commentators point out that God hated the deeds of the Nicolaitans; the text doesn’t say he hated the Nicolaitans. Perhaps in their zealousness for protecting the truth, the church in Ephesus began to hate the people along with the problem rather than having hearts broken for those living in sinful darkness.[6] In the midst of their protection of doctrine[7] they forgot that they were supposed to love the people holding the false doctrine. This was Jonah’s problem, right? He didn’t want the Ninevites to escape judgment. There's something in this letter that desires to church in Ephesus to ground orthodoxy and orthopraxy with orthopathy, having the right heart (see 1 Corinthians 13). 

3. THEY LOST THEIR MISSIONAL FOCUS  

In this third reading, “they lost their first love” = “they lost their passion for spreading the message of the gospel.” Passionate love of and allegiance to Jesus leads us to love others so much we witness to them.[8]

You know how when you first start something that is life-changing, you can’t stop talking about it? It’s the running joke about crossfitters. I have a couple friends who have found a person to work with them on their physical health (losing weight, etc), and I am pretty sure they post at least 3 times a day about how amazing their coach is and how good they feel. If you learn how to ride a bike, or find an essential oil that feels like a miracle cure, or start fishing, or find an app that organizes your life, or discover you can draw….anything that has (in some sense) brought you life, there is often a rush at the beginning of excitement that bubbles over into evangelism – the spreading of the good news.[9]Besides enjoying life in a new way, people around you notice something different about you, or it just comes up in conversation, or you purposefully start recruiting.  

This, it seems, was lacking in the church in Ephesus. So what does God advise? Remember (how you loved the reality of salvation), repent (of distraction and disinterest), and do the deeds you did at first  (from a newly focused heart).

REMEMBER 

Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is full of language of how life in Christ and in the community of the church changes everything. Some excerpts:

“2:1 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, 2 in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air… 3 All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. 

 4 But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5 made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions… [and] raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, 7 in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus.

10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

5:8 For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light 9 (for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness and truth)10 and find out what pleases the Lord…

When Paul wrote to the church in Ephesus, they were on the front end of this life-changing reality that Jesus brought them. They were once children of darkness; now they are children of light. It’s incredible. They are rooted in a love that will fill them with the fullness of God, so that they can do the good works God created them to do: bearing the fruit of goodness, righteousness, and truth. AMAZING!

That passion for the Savior spilled over onto one another and out to those in the culture they inhabited.[10] But…they had forgotten how glorious it was to be pulled into the light.  

• Maybe they had forgotten how deep in the darkness they really were, or how ugly that darkness truly was. Did you know that the act of remembering slowly and subtly changes our memories? The emotions and biases we bring reform our memories, such that over time we can gain a really distorted view of the past.[11] Our memory is like the telephone gameJ And the less honest or precise we are when we remember, the more distorted our memory becomes over time. We can convince ourselves that the darkness in which we were drowning wasn’t that bad. That makes it hard to appreciate the Savior who pulled us from it.

• Maybe they had stopped genuinely appreciating the gospel light into which they were drawn.That can happen when bad orthodoxy leads to disillusionment (“Why isn’t life like what you told me it would be?”) or when bad orthopraxy leads to pain (“How is it possible that transformed people are so mean and hypocritical?”). If they were known for what they hate rather than what they loved, I’ll bet life together in that church was hard. And if the kingdom of God stops feeling like home, Babylon –as trashy as it is – can start to look good. 

• Maybe they had become so busy cursing the darkness that they forgot to light the candle.Witch hunts are easy when you see witches everywhere and there’s lots of wood handy for a bonfire. But somebody needs to pray for, and love, and invite to a meal, and befriend those others want to burn. As Paul wrote in Romans 2:4, “Do you despise the riches of his kindness, restraint, and patience, not recognizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”

 Revelation doesn’t tell us the precise dynamic at work in Ephesus. I suspect all three example are reasonable possibilities – and can all probably see ourselves in one of these. So what do we do?

REPENT

“Remember from where you have fallen, and repent.” This is an act of the mind that will lead to a renewal of the heart. I have found that the things I need to revisit are the many times God has been merciful to me, the many times he has pulled me up from the mire of sin and set my feet on the rock of my salvation. It turns out I don’t have to go back decades to see God’s mercy at work. There’s already good examples from this September. 

How did the joy of my salvation stop motivating me to respond to God in a lifestyle of worship and to others with a lifestyle of gospel-oriented service? When did I start hating the sinner rather than praying for them and moving toward them so that they, too, might experience the joy of salvation? When did I stop appreciating the miraculous work of God in my life? Here’s part of David’s prayer after his sin with Bathsheba: 

Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. 11 Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. 12 Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me….17 My sacrifice, O God, is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart you, God, will not despise. (Psalm 51:10-17)

DO THE FIRST DEEDS

This is living missionally with a goal to broaden the boundaries of Kingdom. I left out a couple verses from the previous psalm. 

13 Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. 14 Deliver me from the guilt of bloodshed, O God, you who are God my Savior, and my tongue will sing of your righteousness. 15 Open my lips, Lord, and my mouth will declare your praise.

That is God’s intended response to our appreciation of the glorious grace of salvation. How do we do this? There are a lot of ways. There is really only one rule: re-present Jesus wherever you go.

• Talk about Jesus (pray for people; share the gospel; give your testimony; mention life-giving things in your church – let your life in and with Jesus overflow naturally into your conversation).

• Live like Jesus – “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good work and glorify your father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)

• Introduce people to the Kingdom of Jesus (invite them to church or small group or game times with the people of Jesus; talk about outreach ministries that embody the love of Jesus; share articles on social media about righteous kingdom work happening in the church around our community and the world.) 

* * * * * * * * * *

For our #practicerighteousness this week, I want to offer a condensed version of this message to focus our hearts and minds for the week. 

·      First love = our primary, worshipful allegiance in response to God’s love for us

·      First deeds = “Redeeming the time”[12] to make more and better disciples of Christ.

What will this look like practically for you this week with your family? Friends? Coworkers? Neighbors? Fellow church members?

 _______________________________________________

[1] Key resources that have heavily informed this series:

·      Apocalypse and Allegiance: Worship, Politics, and Devotion in the Book of Revelation,  by J. Nelson Kraybill

·      A teaching series by professor Shane J. Woods on Revelation (shanejwood.com)

·      The Bible Project’s videos, notes and podcast

·      Michael Heiser’s teaching on Revelation (Podcast: The Naked Bible)

·      Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship And Witness: Following The Lamb Into The New Creation, by Michael Gorman

·      Dragons, John, And Every Grain Of Sand, edited by Shane J. Wood.

·      Matt Chandler’s Revelation Series (Village Church)

·      Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture: Revelation, from IVP

·      Seven Deadly Spirits: The Message of Revelation’s Letters for Today's Church, written by T. Scott Daniels

·      The Letters To The Seven Churches: A History Of The Early Church, W.M. Ramsay

·      Commentary from Adam Clarke, Greg Beale’s, Bible Gateway, biblehub.com, and preceptaustin.com

[2] Old Testament connection: “Then the Lord said, “Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote…” (Isaiah 29:13)

[3] Thanks, IVP New Testament Commentary.

[4] People can serve very effectively in a ministry in the church and ignore God or even love their ministry more than God, and inevitably the sound of clashing cymbals will be heard. 

[5]  HELPS Word Studies

[6] “People are not our enemies; our enemies are the powers of evil themselves. We are called in Christ to love all—to hope that God can save even those embracing evil—and we are called to believe that the gospel is good news for all.”  Jamin Goggin, The Way of the Dragon or the Way of the Lamb: Searching for Jesus’ Path of Power in a Church that Has Abandoned It

[7] For what it’s worth, they kept their doctrinal tradition strong. “A decade or two later, Ignatius of Antioch would write to them that their bishop, Onesimus, had praised them because "you all live according to truth, and no heresy dwells among you; in fact you will not even listen to anyone who does not speak about Jesus Christ in truth." "I have learned," Ignatius added, "that some from elsewhere who have evil teaching stayed with you, but you did not allow them to sow it among you, and stopped your ears, so that you might not receive what they sow."  (IVP New Testament Commentary)

[8] Beale talks about this at length in his commentary

[9] Questions Greg Beale asks: “Why is there such a close relationship between lack of love and lack of evangelism? What counts as evangelism? Do we put structures or expectations around evangelism in a way that discourages us from doing it? If we see love for God as the heart of evangelism, how might that change how we view evangelism?”

[10] https://www.gotquestions.org/left-first-love.html

[11] “Your Memory Is Like The Telephone Game.” https://news.northwestern.edu/stories/2012/09/your-memory-is-like-the-telephone-game

[12] Ephesians 5:16

EPHESUS, Part One: On Beasts And Babylon (Revelation 2:1-7)

[1] We are told to obey the prophecy of Revelation (1:3) – and how do you obey a prophecy? Well, prophecy in the Bible is usually (like, 85% of the time) a revelation of who God is, what God desires, and what God demands of us rather than a discussion of the future. So think of Revelation primarily (though not exclusively) as a handbook for Christian living in challenging times, with an ending to human history in which the supremacy of Christ is made clear.[2] Revelation is meant to strengthen our faith that God is with us now in our trials, and that He will one day end the groaning of a sin-soaked world and usher in a New Heaven and a New Earth. 

I think we typically focus on the apocalyptic stuff in Revelation when we think of the book, but that’s not how it starts. It starts with personal letters to churches acknowledging their hardship, commending or correcting them as needed, and pointing them toward the goodness of what God offers them in His Kingdom. Then John gives an artist’s illustration of all the dynamics referenced in the letter. 

If you have seen or read A Monster Calls or I Kill Giants,[3] you know how this works. They are stories about grief. Part of the movie is ‘real world’ conflict, but the story quickly bumps into an imaginative fantasy world with giants and monsters in which the same story unfolds in a way that captures our imaginations along with our hearts. 

So we are going to move through the letters, but I will try to bring in the artist’s illustrations as we go along.

THE 7 LETTERS

1:19 “Write, therefore, what you have seen, what is now and what will take place later. 20 The mystery[4] of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand and of the seven golden lampstands is this: The seven stars are the angels[5] of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.”

 The letters address 7 congregations in Asia Minor in the order a messenger taking a circuitous route would have traveled. There were surely more churches: weigh the number 7, the number of completion. It’s a message for all churches. There is a pattern in the letters: 

• the 1st and 7th – the bookends – are struggling with a lukewarmness that comes from a lack of passion for Christ and His Kingdom. For the 7th, God has nothing good to say.

•  The 2nd and 6th – the poor, the suffering, the powerless - are doing well spiritually. 

• The middle three are once again in trouble. 

 If these 7 churches represent the ‘church’ at the time (#weighthenumbers) and stand in for churches that are and will be, then we are more likely to be in a church that is struggling with spiritual compromise rather than flourishing in an unadulterated splendor. 

I don’t say this to discourage us. It’s just to point out that we have to be willing to do self-assessment and repent as needed. Odds are good that this needs to be the rhythm or our personal and corporate life, especially if we live in circumstances where we are comfortable.[6] Poverty and persecution do not guarantee holiness, but if this overview of churches is meant to reveal something important to us, it would suggest that cultural hardship has ability to refine the church in ways that cultural comfort does not. 

EPHESUS

Inscriptions record that Ephesus was one of the greatest cities of Asia with libraries, gymnasiums, and ornate administrative buildings. The city was a favorite with tourists of the time.[7] Ephesus was a major center for the worship of Roma, the spiritual embodiment of the Empire. It’s famous temple for Artemis was one of the Seven Wonders of the World.[8] This temple worship meant a lot of prostitutes since Artemis was the goddess of fertility. The economy was dependent on trade associated with trade guilds centered around temple worship.[9] So, Ephesus: beautiful, wealthy, exciting, full of alluring pleasures, the height of what Roman culture had to offer. 

2 The One: Write down My words, and send them to the messenger (angel) [10] of the church in Ephesus. [11]“These are the words of the One who holds the seven stars in His right hand[12], the One who walks and moves among the golden lampstands [13]:

This is to the church in Ephesus. Any interpretation of the book of Revelation needs to have made sense to the readers in those seven churches. We can and do benefit from what these churches were told because this is a Revelation of what was and what is to come, but the revelation was to them first, and it didn’t do them any good if they didn’t understand it :)

“I know your deeds, your tireless labor, and your patient endurance. I know you do not tolerate those who do evil. Furthermore, you have diligently tested those who claim to be apostles, and you have found that they are not true witnesses. You have correctly found them to be false.[14]  I know you are patiently enduring and holding firm on behalf of My name. You have not become faint.

 Okay, kudos to the Christians in Ephesus! They are enduring in the face of the hardships that come with being a Christian in Ephesus. That could be anything from resisting temptation, to paying the social and economic price of not worshipping in the cults of the empire, to physical persecution. They are also guarding the truths of the faith, and they are nailing it. These are big deals. Who wouldn’t want this on their resume?  

“However, I have this against you: you have abandoned your first love[15] [for Christ and others[16]]. Do you remember what it was like before you fell? It’s time to rethink and change your ways; go back to the deeds you did at first. However, if you do not return, I will come quickly and personally remove your lampstand from its place[17].

In Matthew, Jesus had predicted that "many false prophets will appear and deceive many people" and that "the love of most will grow cold" (Mt 24:11-12). Ephesus passed the first test but not the second. (More on abandoning and returning to our first love next week.)

But you do have this to your credit: you despise[18] the deeds of the Nicolaitans and how they concede to evil. I also hate what they do. 

Here’s what we know about the Nicolaitans. They taught that spiritual liberty gave them…well, liberty to pretty much do what they wanted: have multiple wives, do what they wanted sexually, eat meat offered to idols (probably as part of being in a trade guild). They even mixed pagan temple rituals with the Christian ceremonies. In the letter to Pergamum, this type of compromise will be called the teaching of Balaam (vv. 14–15); at Thyatira, it’s followers of Jezebel (v. 20).[19] 

* * * * *

In this first letter, we already see hints of two things that will be themes in Revelation.   

 First, Christians will be tempted to fall away because of hardship. Being true to the faith invited exclusion, expulsion, and even persecution by the Romans.[20] Following Jesus was costing them social standing, access to society, the ability to make a good living, and even personal safety. This letter will end with a reminder that some will be faithful “even unto death.” 

Second, Christians will be tempted to give in to the allure of sinful pleasures offered by the Empire. 

They are going to be intimidated by power and tempted by pleasure. This has been how empires have challenged the people of God for 2,000 years. That’s the text. Here comes the illustration. 

• Revelation 13 will introduce Satan as a dragon (a huge serpent, a snake; imagery beginning in Genesis). Satan is behind the forces of evil in the world. Satan motivates attacks on the church.

• A scarlet beast[21] comes out of ocean in Revelation 14; people will worship the dragon and then the beast: “Who is like the beast? Who can wage war against it?” Pretty sure that’s Rome for the early church, the indomitable power at the time. More broadly, think of earthly empires in general. They were, are, and will be beastly.

•  A second beast (“false prophet” in Chapter 16) then emerges that will get people to worship the first beast. By worship, think allegiance. The empire becomes a source of hope; the empire dictates priorities; the empire establishes what the good life is and how it ought to be lived. This second beast “gives breath” to the Empire: it’s the propaganda machine (media, entertainment, education, politicians, industry heads, civic organizations… anything that promotes the agenda of the Empire.) It has horns like a lamb (leaders who look good to followers of Jesus) but speaks like a dragon. There are parts of the beast that remind people of a lamb. That’s the imagery used to describe Jesus just a couple verses earlier in Revelation 13. There’s at least a part of the false prophet/second beast that will look like home to Christians. It will be easy to compromise: “Yeah, but…look at those lamb-like horns!! I know, I know, it says dragony things, but…look at those little horns!” 

• To make things worse, Babylon rides into the story. The children of Israel were not invited or tempted to become Egyptians when they were enslaved. It was an easy empire to resist. But Babylon offered acceptance, wealth and even power when they were exiled. That was compelling, and thus dangerous. The most effective empire is one that seduces you. The spiritual survival of the early Christians depended on their ability to see Rome as a doomed Babylon (Revelation 19). So the Babylon side of Rome is portrayed as an alluring prostitute, sitting on the beast. She’s drunk with the blood of God’s people – in other words, she has consumed a lot of them. And though the language of prostitution makes us think about sex (and temple worship surely included that), Old Testament imagery of spiritual adultery was always spiritual adultery – that is, idolatry. And John makes clear that Babylon is all about the idol of wealth and power.[22]

How does a beast conquer? Through power and coercion. Even if it looks good at first, it always makes the turn.  How does a prostitute conquer? Through seduction. What two dangers face the Christians in Ephesus and everywhere? Compromising their faith from fear of the empire’s power or love of the empire’s pleasure.  

So let’s talk about Rome (the First Beast) and Domitian (the Second Beast/False Prophet who serves the empire and furthers its agenda). It’s 1st century specific, but Revelation is about what was andwhat is and what is to come. I think the “what was” included previous emperors, with Nero as the violent supervillain. “What is” is Domitian. Fill in as needed with all empires and leaders as history unfolds.  

• Domitian put in place economic, military, and cultural programs to restore the Empire’s splendor. And it was splendid in many ways.[23]

• He bumped the value of Roman currency to new levels.

• He spent lavishly on the reconstruction of Rome. 

• He spent a TON of money on congiaria (vessels filled with wine, grain or money) #bribes

• He revived the practice of public banquets. 

That’s how Babylon (with its love/idolatry of money, luxury and comfort) rides in on the back of the Beast. Now, the horns like a lamb. 

• After nominating himself to the office that supervised Roman morals, Domitian made adultery punishable by exile. When the Vestal Virgins were found to have broken their sacred vows of chastity, they were buried alive.

• Domitian punished people who made eunuchs. 

• Libel and slander became punishable by exile or death.

• He prosecuted corruption among public officials and removed jurors if they accepted bribes.

• He didn’t favor family members for public office. 

• Other religions were tolerated if they didn’t interfere with public order or could assimilate with Roman religions. Jews were heavily taxed, but history records no executions of Jewish worshipers based on religious offenses.

• A lot of the time, Christians were able to avoid physical persecution.[24] Provincial authorities did so occasionally under Domitian, but it was nothing like what Nero did. Most believers suffered more from the stigma of society rather than government harassment. Revelation actually names only one person from seven churches who had been killed. If they could just be ‘good enough citizens’ they might avoid being hurt, and they might even become comfortable.

 When the first century believers looked at Rome under Domitian’s reign, it was easier than it had been in a while to see an alluring goddess - Roma, Babylon -  who offered the potential for privilege, health and wealth to its citizens.[25] Did it not have some horns that looked a bit lamb-like? It can’t be that bad, right? 

John did not write Revelation to manufacture a crisis for people complacent about empire. Rather, at that moment, complacency about Rome was the crisis. Why push them into the arenas their parents experienced when a temple feast will do?[26] 

See, by this time, Christians in Asia Minor were involved in the trade system of Rome. This is clear from historical records. That’s not a bad thing in and of itself, but participating in meals that included worship of the gods or the emperor was typically required to enter a Trade Guild or to build political connections. In order to have a comfortable life economically and socially, followers of Christ had to participate in the guilds and/or pagan ceremonies.[27]

Christians may have figured out how to gain just a part of the world, but it was costing them their soul.[28] This, I believe, is at the heart of what John will later describe as a mark that says “property of the Beast”[29]  – a sign of loyalty to the Empire and to Domitian.[30]  

* * * * * 

This was something that made sense to those churches, but it’s for us also. #whatisandwhatwillbe  So how are we like and unlike them? What can we learn from their experience? (I’m going to talk about losing and regaining our first love next week, so that’s not included here). 

• We will be known by our deeds. What deeds are we known for? Think big picture, patterns of behavior. “I know you, that you are ________. But I have this against you: _________”

• Do people think of us when they think of patient endurance in the midst of trials, or do they think of us as fainting/falling apart? When the going gets tough, who demonstrates patient endurance? When a pandemic storm hits, who models stability? When an election get volatile, who is unruffled? In a world where it’s easy to be blown about by the winds of false, slanderous, and disturbing information, who shows a dedication to accuracy and truth? In a time that feels like we are being forced into “us vs. them” camps more than ever, who builds righteous and godly bridges? Is this the reputation of the church right now?

• Do we protect the foundational teaching and practice of the faith? Do we unthinkingly buy the latest best-selling devotional or hop on the current Christian celebrity bandwagon, or are we purposeful Bereans, searching the Scriptures so that we recognize wheat and chaff when we see it?

• Do we justify mindsets and decisions because we are afraid of our Rome, seduced by our Babylon, or deceived by lamblike horns that front for the voice of the dragon? The United States is not exempt from John’s imagery in Revelation. It’s an empire. It is a Beastly Babylon. So is Canada, Mexico, Costa Rica, Switzerland, Afghanistan, Haiti, Norway… Are we alert, self-assessing, surrendering our lives to the scrutiny of the Holy Spirit and the Bible to see how we are identifying and rejecting the coercive power and alluring pleasure of the False Prophets that do the bidding of the Beast? It is inevitable that we will struggle. Are we caving in spiritually or morally because it’s just too hard to be a consistent follower of Jesus in this Rome? Because it’s just too costly? Are we crumbling spiritually or morally because the idol of pleasure, comfort, money, sex, power just look so good in this Babylon? What voices are shaping how we think about and live in the world? Practical example: should the US be taking refugees from Afghanistan? How much have you been listening to your favorite news host or politician to get direction? How much have you been diving into your Bible and listening to pastors and theologians and Christian organizations that work with refugees?

• Are our hearts and minds shaped by a focus on a joyful future or on current afflictions? Have you heard the proverb, “It is better to light a candle than curse the darkness?” There is a place to curse the darkness – especially if people don’t realize they are in it - but we can become so enamored with cursing the darkness that we forget to light a candle. We can hide the light of Christ under a bushel of anger, and fear, and resentment, and hostility. Surely those of us who have the hope of everlasting joy set before us can let the hope and joy found in Jesus illuminate the darkness around us. We can call the darkness what it is and show the light for what it is at the same time. But the best way to pull people from a spiritual darkness (that they might even love) is to flood it with the compelling glory of the light of Jesus.

• Could people ever look at our life and reasonably say the evidence points toward us having been ‘marked’ by a nation or a cultural leader instead of by Christ and the Kingdom of God?Whose image do we obviously bear when people look at us? We are marked by the image we most prominently display. Here, for example, are things that characterized Jesus. The more they characterize us, the more we are marked as belonging to God. #practicerighteousness

1.    Loving – loving people well   

2.    Peacemaker – bringing order to chaos

3.    Merciful – giving grace wherever possible

4.    Kind – treating others with goodness

5.    Faithful – someone others can count on

6.    Humble – having a modest/honest estimate of ourselves 

7.    Generous – giving appropriately to those in need

8.    Self-controlled – not ruled by our appetites

9.    Godly – constantly mindful of God’s perspective 

10.Prayerful – regularly communicating with God

11.Righteous – doing what God would approve

12.Servant – looking to serve rather than be served

13.Nurturing – caring for those who are hurting or broken 

Is this us? Is this you? Are we marked as followers of Jesus? 

7 “Let the person who is able to hear, listen to and follow [31] what the Spirit proclaims to all the churches. I will allow the one who conquers through faithfulness even unto death to eat from the tree of life found in God’s lush paradise.”[32]

Recommended Soundtrack:

“Zion and Babylon” by Josh Garrels

“Bye Bye Babylon” by White Heart.

_________________________________________________________________________

[1] Key resources that have heavily informed this series:

·      Apocalypse and Allegiance: Worship, Politics, and Devotion in the Book of Revelation,  by J. Nelson Kraybill

·      A teaching series by professor Shane J. Woods on Revelation (shanejwood.com)

·      The Bible Project’s videos, notes and podcast

·      Michael Heiser’s teaching on Revelation (Podcast: The Naked Bible)

·      Reading Revelation Responsibly: Uncivil Worship And Witness: Following The Lamb Into The New Creation, by Michael Gorman

·      Dragons, John, And Every Grain Of Sand, edited by Shane J. Wood.

·      Matt Chandler’s Revelation Series (Village Church)

·      Ancient Christian Commentary On Scripture: Revelation, from IVP

·      Seven Deadly Spirits: The Message of Revelation’s Letters for Today's Church, written by T. Scott Daniels

·      Adam Clarke’s commentary

·      Parts of Greg Beale’s commentary on Revelation

·      The commentaries available at Bible Gateway

·      The commentaries available at biblehub.com

·      The commentaries available at preceptaustin.com

[2] Apocalypse and Allegiance: worship, politics, and devotion in the Book of Revelation, J. Nelson Kraybill

[3] I recommend you watch or read A Monster Calls. Be ready to cry. It’s terribly beautiful.

[4] Beale suggests the “mystery” being revealed is that the reign of Christ and the suffering of the church can co-exist. Triumph is often intertwined with death. (Romans 11:25; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 3:3-6)

[5] In Daniel 10 and 12, angels are show to help believers on earth.

[6] Hat tip to Beale for pointing this out.

[7]  Thanks to Seven Deadly Spirits: The Message of Revelation’s Letters for Today's Church, written by T. Scott Daniels, for intro material.

[8] Ephesus was known throughout the ancient world as the temple keeper (neōkoros; cf. Acts 19:35) of the goddess Artemis. 

[9] Acts 19:23-41

[10] “Jewish tradition recognized guardian angels of nations (based partly on Da 10:13,20 – 21) and of individuals; here the idea seems to be guardian angels of churches.” (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)  Beale argues this is to remind readers that their foundation is in heaven; their primary existence is spiritual. That makes sense to me.  However, Adam Clarke has a different perspective worth considering. “Unto the angel of the Church of Ephesus — By αγγελος, angel, we are to understand the messenger or person sent by God to preside over this Church; and to him the epistle is directed, not as pointing out his state, but the state of the Church under his care. Angel of the Church here answers exactly to that officer of the synagogue among the Jews called ציבור שליח sheliach tsibbur, the messenger of the Church, whose business it was to read, pray, and teach in the synagogue. The Church is first addressed, as being the place where John chiefly resided; and the city itself was the metropolis of that part of Asia. The angel or bishop at this time was most probably Timothy, who presided over that Church before St. John took up his residence there, and who is supposed to have continued in that office till A.D. 97, and to have been martyred a short time before St. John's return from Patmos.”  I like what Beale says; Clarke’s view makes a practical sense to me. It’s not a hill I’m going to die on J I’ll probably barely even put up a fight if we disagree.

[11] “The church had been founded by Paul about AD 53–56, and according to tradition, both John the Apostle and Mary (whom Christ committed to John's care at His crucifixion) lived in Ephesus.” (Orthodox Study Bible)

[12] Still making sure everyone knew Domitian’s son was not god….

[13] Churches. 7 of them. Weigh the numbers: it’s the weight of all the churches represented in these 7.

[14] “At Miletus Paul prophesied that even some of the Ephesian elders would tragically betray the cause of Christ by distorting the truth and leading away disciples (Acts 20:29–30). Timothy’s primary duty at Ephesus was to command certain persons to cease teaching false doctrine (1 Tim. 1:3). Hymenaeus, Alexander, and Philetus are even named as Ephesians who wandered from the truth (1:19–20; 2 Tim. 2:17–18).” (Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary Of The New Testament)

[15] “agápē – properly, love which centers in moral preference. So too in secular ancient Greek focuses on preference; likewise… antiquity meant "to prefer."  (HELPS Word Studies) “Jeremiah 2:2  “This is what the Lord says:‘I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown.”

[16]  Love for Jesus (Eph 6:24) and/or one another (Eph 5:2).  

[17] “There is here an allusion to the candlestick in the tabernacle and temple, which could not be removed without suspending the whole Levitical service, so the threatening here intimates that, if they did not repent, c., he would unchurch them they should no longer have a pastor, no longer have the word and sacraments, and no longer have the presence of the Lord Jesus.” (Adam Clarke)

[18] Centers in moral choice, elevating one value over another. (HELPS Word Studies)

[19] (NIV Study Bible Notes)

[20] See Revelation 6:9-11

[21] Described as scarlet in Revelation 17

[22] “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins…Your merchants were the world’s important people; by your magic spell all the nations were led astray.” (Revelation 18:4; 23)  Chapter 18 shows an international economic power with clients around the world, all engaging in the unbounded and often immoral pursuit of pleasure.

[23] Got a lot of the info in this list from the Wikipedia entry for Domitian. 

[24] Eusebius maintain that Jews and Christians were heavily persecuted toward the end of Domitian's reign when he Book of Revelation and First Epistle of Clement were written.

[25] Seven Deadly spirits: The message of Revelations letters for today's Church, written by T. Scott Daniels. John says that this goddess is instead the Great Horror who corrupted the Earth with her fornication in Revelation 19 2. She does not hold the cup of life, but rather a golden cup full of Abominations and the impurities of her fornication. Revelation 17:4.

[26] It’s the crisis the Russian church is facing right now. Putin pushes the traditional family model pretty hard, and he’s been pretty easy on the church. This is appealing to Russian Christians. In talking with my pastor friends in the Ukraine, the Russian church has become fond of Putin, a man who does the work of the Russian beast. This is the timeless relevance of Revelation.

[27] Paul does not reject all Christian participation in society. For example, he advocated a “don't ask” policy when believers have food set before them.[27] But this was very, very different from outright Christian participation in pagan rituals and ceremonies.

[28] Matthew 16:26

[29] As noted by Craig Koester, Revelation challenges three intertwined components of life in the Empire: political domination (“beastly side of empire); religion where the church and state distinctions blur (“deification of human power”); economic networks that demanded compromise (“the seamy side of commerce”)

[30] See Revelation 13

[31] Jesus uses this phrase (Matthew 13), borrowing this from Isaiah (6:9-10), Jeremiah (5:21), and Ezekiel (3:27)

[32] Genesis reference. Adam and Eve fellowshipped with God when they ate from the Tree of Life. That promise of fellowship is extended to the faithful who endure.

Imitate What Is Good (3 John)

The elder, to my dear friend Gaius, whom I love in the truth.[1] Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well. It gave me great joy when some believers came and testified about your faithfulness to the truth, telling how you continue to walk in it. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth.

Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers and sisters, even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love. Please send them on their way in a manner that honors God. It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from those outside the church. We ought therefore to show hospitality to such people so that we may work together for the truth.

The Middle East viewed hospitality as a key virtue. Because inns were usually of poor quality and often doubled as brothels, Christians who opened their homes to other Christians weren’t just saving people money; they were helping to guard their hearts.  

9 I wrote to the church, but Diotrephes, who loves to be first,[2] will not welcome us. 10 So when I come, I will call attention to what he is doing, spreading malicious nonsense about us.[3] Not satisfied with that, he even refuses to welcome other [missionaries/evangelists]. He also stops those who want to do so and puts them out of the church.

11 Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good. Anyone who does what is good is from God. Anyone who does what is evil has not seen God. 12 Demetrius is well spoken of by everyone—and even by the truth itself. We also speak well of him, and you know that our testimony is true. 

Demetrius probably took the letter to Gaius. He stands in contrast to Diotrephes as good does to evil. He has three witnesses to his character (which is what was needed in Jewish law to establish truth): his brethren all give him a good report, the Spirit of truth (the Holy Spirit), and John. 

13 I have much to write you, but I do not want to do so with pen and ink. 14 I hope to see you soon, and we will talk face to face. Peace to you. The friends here send their greetings. Greet the friends there by name.

Diotrephes and Demetrius

I grew up reading Goofus and Gallant, I think maybe in Highlights? They were a kid-level version of a contrast between what it looks like to be a decent human being vs. being a selfish jerk. Goofus loved to be first and often did malicious nonsense.  John offers here an an early version of that in which the stakes are much higher. 

Loves to serve vs. loves to be first. 

You know how the love of money is the root of all evil?[4] It’s not the money. It’s the love of it, craving it and getting it all cost, letting it control you, sacrificing others for it. This is the idea here. “Loves to be first” isn’t a slam on being first. Someone has to be first in a lot of situations. It’s not that. It’s craving it, getting it at all cost, letting it control you, sacrificing others for it.

•  It’s the difference between wanting your voice to be heard vs. demanding that your voice drown out all others.

• It’s the different between wanting to be seen vs. constantly bullying your way to the front.

•  It’s the difference between wanting to express a subjective opinion vs. shouting it until everyone else shuts up. 

• It’s the difference between leading as a servant vs. leading as a dictator. 

I think the antidote to this kind of narcissism[5] (I think that’s probably an assessment that’s at least in the ballpark of what I just described) is humility and empathy[6], which looks something like this:  

1.    Understanding Others (seeking to know and not just be known)

2.    Developing Others (helping others to flourish as God intends)

3.    Having a Service Orientation (having a heart to serve as Jesus served us)

4.    Reading The Room (working on sensing and responding to emotional and relational undercurrents so we can tailor our approach to the person(s) or situation. Confrontation or consolation? Just listen or solve the problem? What way does the scales tip in this moment as we balance truth and grace? Is it time to drop the topic or press in?).[7]

I don’t think it’s a bad idea to analyze ourselves and see if we are practicing to become the kind of person we are called to be –  one who is characterized by humility and righteous empathy

Inhospitable vs. hospitable 

The word is taken from two Greek words: philo (love) and xenia (strangers). Hospitality is specifically a friendship love for those whom we don’t know well.[8] (In this case, it is specifically referring to a church hospitality to traveling missionaries or evangelists which would include a kind of stated approval of their mission).  Other places in the Bible, beginning in the Old Testament, followers of God are commanded to be hospitable in a general, corporate sense. It is just part of being a decent human being.  

[Hospitality] is not something above and beyond the call of duty. It is a command; not to be hospitable is a sin. This is taught in the beautiful and telling parable of the Good Samaritan.. Christ taught that hospitality is a mark of the genuineness of our Christian confession. On the judgment day, Christ will say, “Come you who are blessed of my Father … For I was a stranger, and you invited me in,” or “Depart from me… for I was a stranger, and you did not invite me in” (Matthew 25).[9]

Inhospitality is, I think, a natural rotten fruit of narcissism or pride. If all you think about is yourself, you won’t even think of others. If you do, you consider them beneath you – which is probably their fault, right? Why would you serve the underserving? The inhospitable refuse to serve others with their actions, their words, their resources, and their power. They will not give; even worse, they are likely to take away.

 Yes, there are times helping/serving can become enabling. Let’s save that discussion for Message+. This message is focusing on the orientation of our heart in general.

The hospitable, on the other hand, love to find ways to serve others and make them feel welcome to whatever degree it is wise and appropriate to do so. This is not less than sharing resources and space, but it’s certainly more. It has to do with giving our lives so that others might flourish not just physically but spiritually.

“After looking at the examples we see in Scripture, the epistles from the Apostle John, and the implications from these examples we can formally define biblical hospitality as: The welcoming and fellowshipping with believers and non-believers out of truth and love for Jesus Christ so that they may see Christ more clearly and/or so they will join us as believers.”[10]

It’s probably no surprise that the arrogant person who is inhospitable talks malicious nonsense/evil slander/wicked words vs. speaks life-giving truth.

How do you keep all the attention if you are a narcissist? How can you keep all your stuff if you are inhospitable? Simple. Make sure you convince others that anyone who steals your spotlight or wants your stuff is a fool at best or evil at worst. 

I mean, if people are evil fools, you dare not give them the spotlight or “enable” them. The ‘righteous’ thing to do is neither help them nor hear them. You might even be thought of as discerning if you dedicate yourself to showing how everyone else – and I mean everyone - is wrong at best and dangerous at worst.  

That’s how cults start, by the way:[11] when only the self-appointed leader is right about everything, when only the gatekeeper has any idea how to set up the gates well, when everyone else is an idiot. If you look up characteristics of cults, this will show up in reference to how leaders operate with their authority.

• Questions, doubt, and dissent about the group or its leaders are discouraged or even punished. If you need clarification, you lack commitment.

• The group has a polarizing us-versus-them mentality in which everyone else is the enemy. There is a constant circling of the wagons amidst a growing number of enemies. (And as John shows, it’s not just a dynamic with those outside the church; it’s a dynamic that can happen inside the church).

• The leader is not accountable to any authority, and refuses to learn from others.

• Subservience to the leader or group requires members to cut ties with family and friends – anything that might compete for loyalty or puts them in a situation where they might find out the leader’s opinion might be wrong or that his reputation might not be above reproach. 

To have that kind of power, a leader (David Koresh and Jim Jones are probably the two most famous in the United States) must paint a never ending and overwhelming view of a monstrous world with monstrous people (both inside and outside the church) in which only a leader like Koresh or Jones is good enough and true enough to lead us to some type of Promised Land.

The first part of that claim is just false; all of us are fallen; all of us are flawed. The fault line between good and evil runs through every heart.  The second part is nonsense. There was and is and will be only one perfect human who can lead us to the true Promised Land, and that’s Jesus.

What is the antidote?  Speak life-giving truth with humble honesty. 

·      Build others up with our words 

·      Learn and teach the Scripture

·      Commit ourselves a true view of the world.

·      Take ourselves off of every pedestal

·      Learn from our church family no matter our position

·      Applaud those who speak life-giving truth with humble honesty.

·      Don’t be afraid of the monsters. God is bigger than the boogeyman! #veggietales

Hates competition vs. loves cooperation

This shouldn’t be a shock based on what we’ve covered so far. It’s one thing to exercise care over what voices are given access to a church. That’s a biblical responsibility. It’s another thing to refuse to play well with any other follower of Jesus.  

Surely – surely – there are a lot of God-fearing people outside our church. Dare I say millions? Tens of millions? Surely there are pastors, teachers, singers, theologians, philosophers, bloggers, writers, podcasters that have really good things to say about our faith. You are going to separate wheat from chaff in all of them, but that’s true here too. It’s just life on this side of heaven. 

I am not in competition with or set against those who plant wheat well albeit imperfectly. We are on the same team, with the same goal. Once again, Message+ is the place for us to talk more about those whose chaff drowns out their wheat, or who are actively planting tares (fake wheat).[12]

Now, I admit, I find myself cautious in terms of people and organizations with which I want to publicly align, and I find myself cautious about connecting our church with people and organizations with which we lack some kind of first hand knowledge. I don’t want to be stingy, but I also want to be wise. In today’s online world, we can end up aligning ourselves with a good thing that’s part of bigger not-so-good thing. It can be tricky and frustrating. 

I don’t want to send a message that everyone who cries “Lord, Lord,” is going to give us Kingdom gold.[13] That’s not biblical. There are charlatans and fools who use our faith as a mean of… charlatanry?… and foolishness; there are simply misguided people who have fallen into serious error not because their hearts were bad, but their formation was compromised.  

But I also don't want to send a message that everyone in the family of God who is not exactly like us is suspect. That’s just not biblical either. We are part of a church universal, a church with Holy-Spirit filled and biblically formed followers of Jesus who close their hands around the same cornerstones of theology and appropriately hold a lot of things in open hands. (See our Statement of Faith for reference to our church’s biblical foundations.)[i]

Revelation is a good example, btw. I posted some comments about Revelation and promptly started getting recommendations on what to read. It’s different from what I read. That’s okay. We all close our hand around the core message: “Life is hard. God is with us. Evil will not have the last word, as God will wrap up history on His triumphal terms.” Any discussion we have about numbers and symbols and dragons is informative and (hopefully) helpful in leading us toward better understanding of how Revelation points us toward the hope that we have in Christ, but God forbid it divide us. It’s not a competition to be right.

One day, we will be able to look back at how we all thought of end times stuff and say, “You nailed it!” or “That was a sketchy reading!” and we will all laugh and hug and move on because it won’t matter at that point. It’s not a competition on secondary things. It’s an opportunity for practice in cooperation as we walk together deeper into the truth of God’s word.  

Dear friend, do not imitate what is evil but what is good.

#practicerighteousness

Pray that God will :

·      strengthen our humility

·      enlarge our hospitality

·      guide our ability to speak life-giving truth vs. malicious talk

·      practice wise cooperation

Then, look for opportunities to put this into practice.

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[1] Either “whom I truly love” or a statement meaning “whom I love as one who, like me, remains faithful to the gospel.”

[2] Highest honor is not supposed to attach to power but to humility and servanthood (Matthew 18:3; 23:11). 

[3] The word used here occurs nowhere else in N.T. It means ‘to talk non-sense.’ It’s conversation that is both wicked and senseless.

[4] 1 Timothy 6:10

[5] https://www.compellingtruth.org/Bible-narcissism.html

[6] https://www.compellingtruth.org/Bible-empathy.html

[7] I am paraphrasing a list from David Goleman.

[8] Great article here: https://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/hospitality/

[9] Read the entire (really good) article from which the excerpt was taken here: https://www.christianstudylibrary.org/article/biblical-basis-hospitality

[10] http://www.doctrineanddevotion.com/blog/what-exactly-is-biblical-hospitality

[11] The following is from http://cultresearch.org/help/characteristics-associated-with-cults/

[12] Matthew 13:24-30

[13] Matthew 7

[i] STATEMENT OF FAITH

The Bible: We believe the Holy Bible to be the inspired Word of God, inerrant in its original manuscripts. It is our standard for faith and practice and the measure by which all of life and personal revelation is to be evaluated. (2 Timothy 3:15-17; 1 Thessalonians 2:13; 2 Peter 1:21)

The Triune God: We believe that there is one God (Deuteronomy 6:4), eternally existent in three persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit (John 8:54-59). God is perfect in holiness, infinite in wisdom, and measureless in power.

God (The Father): He is Creator, Redeemer and the Sovereign Ruler of the universe. We believe that God is omnipotent (He can do anything that can be done), omniscient (He knows anything that can be known), omnipresent (there is no place or circumstance of which God is unaware or in which he is not active), and unchanging. He upholds all things by the Word of His power and grace, exercising sovereignty over all creation. He made all things for the praise of His glory and intends for people to live in fellowship with Himself. (Deuteronomy 33:27; Psalm 90:2, 102:27; John 3:16, 4:24; Colossians 1:17; Hebrews 1:3; I Timothy 1:17; Titus 1:3).

God (The Son, Jesus Christ): We believe in the historical reality of Jesus Christ as the only incarnation of God. We believe in His deity, His virgin birth (Matthew 1:18-23), His sinless life (Hebrews 7:26; 1 Peter 2:22), His miracles (Acts 2:22; Acts 10:38), His substitutionary death (1 Corinthians 15:3; 2 Corinthians 5:21), His bodily resurrection from the dead (Matthew 28:6; Luke 24:39; 1 Corinthians 15:4), His ascension to the right hand of the Father (Acts 1:9; Acts 1:11; Acts 2:33; Philippians 2:9-11; Hebrews 1:3), His intercession for the sins of His people (1 Timothy 2:5-6), and His future personal return in power and glory (Acts 1:10-11).

God (the Holy Spirit): We believe that the Holy Spirit indwells believers (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), confirming their salvation (Romans 8:14-16) and enabling them to bear godly fruit (Galatians 5:22). We believe that the Holy Spirit convicts the world concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment (John 16:8). The Holy Spirit also empowers believers to have a bold and effective witness (i.e Luke 12:12), so He manifests His gifts in their daily lives for the edification of the church and as a testimony to the world. 

The fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) is the result of a Spirit-filled life, and evidence of spiritual maturity. True followers of God will be known by their fruit (Matthew 7:16).

The gifts of the Spirit are different manifestations of the Spirit to build up the body (Isaiah 11:5; I Corinthians 12:1-11). They ought always directly point people toward God (John 15:26; John 16:13-14). We are instructed to diligently seek the gifts (I Corinthians 12:31, 14:1), but they must be exercised in an orderly and understandable way (I Corinthians 14:26-33) and used in the context of love (I Corinthians 13:1-13), lest our expression cause others to stumble (1 Corinthians 8). We have different gifts given as the Holy Spirit wills, and the gifts must be expressed in love, sincerity, and in a way which honors others above ourselves (Romans 12:1-10).

Sin: We believe that we sin (i.e, “hamartia,” in Romans 3:23, and “chata” in Judges 20:16 and Exodus 20:20) when we disobey the commands of God’s inspired Word and reject His authority All of us have sinned and are therefore, in our natural state, lost and separated from God. We believe men and women were created in the image of God (Genesis 2:26). However, by a voluntary act of the will, Adam and Eve disobeyed God (Genesis 3:6). As a result, mankind began to die spiritually (Romans 5:12-19). Sin separated humankind from God (Ephesians 2:11-18) and left us in a fallen or sinful condition (Romans 3:23; Genesis 1:26,27; Genesis 2:17; Genesis 3:6; Romans 5:12-19).

Salvation: We believe that God the Father showed His love for all people by sending His Son to die as a substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. (Luke 18:27; John 3:16,17; Romans 11:33; 1 Peter 1:16; 1 John 4:7-10; Revelation 4:8) 

We believe Jesus’ death paid the penalty our sins warranted, and His resurrection grants us the life we could not attain – both of these being necessary to reconcile us to right-standing before God. (Matthew 16:16,17 and 25:31-46; Mark 14:61,62; Luke 1:34,35 and 2:7; John 1:1 and 1:14 and 5:22-30 and 10:30 and 14:6; Acts 4:12; 1 Corinthians 15:3-8; Hebrews 4:15; 1 Peter 2:22-24.) It is not through our efforts (Acts 4:12; John 3:3; Romans 10:13-15; Ephesians 2:8; 
Titus 2:11; Titus 3:5-7). When we admit our sin, confess that Jesus is Lord, and repent, we become a new creation and are gradually transformed into the image of Christ (Galatians 5:22, 23; 2 Corinthians 5:17; 2 Corinthians 3:18)

Eternal Destiny: We believe in the resurrection of the saved and the lost, and that both will stand before the judgment seat of Christ; the saved will enter into everlasting life in God’s presence, and the lost will be sent into everlasting death, devoid of the presence of God. (Matthew 25:31-46; Mark 9:43-48; 1 Corinthians 4:5; Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:11-15; Revelation 21:8).

The Church: We believe that the Church is Christ’s symbolic body in the earth (Colossians 1:24; 1 Corinthians 12:27), and that it should reveal His character, His message, and His love to the world. We believe that the Church is to go into all the world, preach the gospel, and make disciples. This will lead people to have fellowship with God (Acts 1:8; Matthew 28:19,20; Mark 16:15,16) and community with others (1 Corinthians 12:13).

Human Life: We believe that all human life is sacred and created by God in His image (Genesis 1:27). Human life is of inestimable worth in all its dimensions, including pre-born babies, the aged, the physically or mentally challenged, and every other stage or condition from conception through natural death. We are therefore called to defend, protect, and value all human life. (Psalm 139)

Marriage and Sexuality: We believe that God wonderfully and immutably creates each person as male or female. Together they reflect the image and nature of God (Genesis 1:26-27). Marriage is the uniting of one man and one woman as delineated in Scripture (Genesis 2:18-25; Matthew 19:5-6). It is intended to be a covenant by which they unite themselves for life in a single, exclusive union, ordered toward the well-being of the spouses and designed to be the environment for the procreation and upbringing of children.

Baptism: In New Testament times, baptism followed repentance and faith. (Acts 2:38; Acts 18:8) This public witness marked the believer as a follower of Christ. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer's faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Savior, the believer's death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. Simply stated, it is an outward sign of an inward change. Baptism also symbolizes the believer’s union with Christ (Romans 6:3-4; Galatians 3:27).

YOUR FULL REWARD (2 John)

1 From the ·Elder to the ·chosen lady[1]: I love all of you in the truth [about the Gospel of Jesus Christ], and all those who know the truth love you. 2 We love you because of the truth that ·lives in us and will be with us forever. 3 Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, will be with us in truth and love.

4 I was very happy  to learn that some of your children are living as the Gospel requires, as the Father commanded us. 5 And now, dear lady, this is not a new command I am writing, but is the same command we have had from the beginning. I ask you that we all love each other. 6 And love means living the way God commanded us to live. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is this: Live a life of love.[2]

7 For many ·false teachers have gone out into the world now who do not confess that Jesus Christ came to earth ·as a human. Anyone who does not confess this is ·a false teacher and ·an enemy of Christ [the antichrist].[3] Be careful that you do not lose everything you have worked for, but that you receive your full reward.

9 Anyone who ·goes beyond [runs ahead of] Christ’s teaching and does not ·continue to follow only his teaching does not have God. But whoever ·continues to follow ·the teaching of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 10 If someone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not ·welcome that person or ·accept them into your house (into your house church and acknowledge them like a brother in Christ). 11 If you welcome such a person (this way), you participate in the evil work.[4]

12 I have many things to write to you, but I do not want to use paper and ink. Instead, I hope to visit you and talk face to face so our joy can be complete. 13 The children of your ·chosen sister greet you.

____________________________________________________

I’m going to start toward the end then get back to the beginning. 

 Anyone who ·goes beyond [runs ahead of] Christ’s teaching and does not ·continue to follow only his teaching does not have God. But whoever ·continues to follow ·the teaching of Christ has both the Father and the Son.

Two ways to do false teaching: stop short of the full revelation of  Jesus and the Bible, or go beyond the revelation of Jesus and the Bible. We don’t need another prophet or any additional revelation to see and know Jesus the way that God intended. This is one reason we as Christians offer crucial correction to religious orientations that do the following (and I’m just going to focus on the Abrahamic religions rather than do a survey of all of them): 

• stop short of Jesus (Othodox Judaism)

• demand more than Jesus (Islam) 

•  add to (Islam, Mormonism[5]) or distort (Jehovah’s Witnesses[6]) the revelation of Scripture to accommodate a warped view of Jesus

And speaking of the revelation of Jesus – the Incarnation – that’s the linchpin holding this letter together. So, back to the top. 

And now, dear lady, this… is the same command we have had from the beginning. I ask you that we all love each other.  And love means living the way God commanded us to live. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is this: Live a life of love.[7]  For many false teachers have gone out into the world now who do not confess that Jesus Christ came to earth as a human. Anyone who does not confess this is ·a false teacher and ·an enemy of Christ [the antichrist].[8] Be careful that you do not lose everything you have worked for, but that you receive your full reward.

There is an interesting connect-the-dots going on here: 

• Many false teachers were denying the Incarnation of Jesus. 

• Because of this, church members were being deceived about the nature of Jesus. 

• One result of this deception: they were struggling to love each other well.[9]

• In failing to love each other well, they were losing a reward for which they had worked.

But here John specifies that they don’t want to lose everything they have worked for. This can’t be salvation[10], which is a free gift of unmerited grace. This must be something into which they invest sweat equity as part of God’s plan. If our reward is a combination of 

what awaits us in terms of the richness of this life by staying on the path of life (fullness of life in the Kingdom: maturity, virtue, honor, integrity, peace, joy, hope, etc.)  

what awaits us in the world to come (a glorious eternity in the New Heaven and New Earth in full communion with God and the saings)

then a reward we work for is something less than salvation but something very important in experiencing the fullness of life that Christ offers. 

I think John is referring to  some kind of reward that correlates with  sowing and reaping in the Kingdom of God.[11] To use a flawed analogy: my wife and I live in a marriage ‘kingdom.’ We have a covenant life together. But the quality of that life is going to reflect our investment into and love of each other. We have been given a land in which to flourish (covenental marriage), but we will plant, water, cultivate  and harvest in our marriage. And here we are 31 years in, and we don’t want to lose what we worked for. 

The Bible uses an analogy of Jesus and the church  as married (church=bride). There is a covenant reality in our salvation that gives us a sure foundation, but we will plant, water, cultivate and harvest within that that reality. 

And all of this – salvation, life in eternity, a full life now, the ability to love each other as Jesus loved us -  hinges on the reality of the Incarnation of Jesus. If we understand that, good things follow. If we don’t, bad things follow. So let’s take some time to look at the Incarnation and the implications that ground us and guide us.

Through The Incarnation, We Are Reconciled With God.

“When the eternal Word and Son of God ‘became flesh and dwelt among us’ (John 1:14), God decided in his omnipotent freedom to become who we are, without ever ceasing to be fully who He has always been, and always will be. He did this in order to grant us a life-giving, life-transforming share in His communion with the Father through the Holy Spirit, the glorious first-fruits of his reconciling all things in heaven and earth in Himself (Eph. 1:10; Col. 1:20).

Assuming our humanity… the man Christ Jesus personally lives and acts in our name, in our place, and on our behalf. Born of Mary to live out his divine life… in our human nature, all Christ is and does as our incarnate Savior he is and does for us—that is, in solidarity with us as one of us. Stating the matter clearly and concisely, Christ works out our salvation within the constitution of his own vicarious humanity. 

To speak of the vicarious humanity of Christ is thus to say that he assumed our humanity and made it his own in order to be for us who we could not and would not be, and to do for us what we could not and would not do.. God gives himself and all his saving benefits to us in and as man in our incarnate Savior. God draws near to us, and we no less draw near to God, in and through the God-man. 

The saving acts of Christ secure ‘at-one-ment’ between God and the redeemed because those acts occur within the being and life of our Mediator, within the very incarnate constitution of the One who unites God with man as the God-man. God the Son healed and saved the corrupted, estranged humanity he assumed from us so the incarnate Christ might himself be the ground and source of every aspect of our salvation—so the one Mediator of salvation might mediate the salvation that is his alone to give in and through the very humanity he healed and saved.[12]  

 Through The Incarnation, We Are Humbled 

“The  incarnation accomplishes the severe mercy of rendering absurd any notion that [a harmonious relationship] between God and humanity is accomplished from the side of humanity. We do not seek and find a reclusive God[13]; he pursues and overtakes a rebellious people. We do not perforate his unapproachable light; he penetrates our unsearchable darkness… that infinite and eternal God storms space and time to confront us face to face in the face of Christ.  

The incarnation scandalizes our desire for heroism without humility, for glory without grace, for human ascent without divine descent. That is because the incarnation sets before us the unsettling yet liberating reality that [a harmonious relationship] between God and humanity is accomplished only and ever from the side of God.”[14]

 Through The Incarnation, We Are Shown What Mercy Looks Like.

“He [Jesus Christ] condescends to assume my flesh and blood, my body and soul. He does not become an angel or another magnificent creature; He becomes man. This is a token of God’s mercy to wretched human beings; the human heart cannot grasp or understand, let alone express it.” (Martin Luther)

 Through The Incarnation, We Know Our Mission 

“As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.” (John 20:21)

“Paul writes in 2 Cor. 5:20, ‘we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.’ God intends to save the world by sending people. Who are you actually calling to drop nets and follow you as you follow Christ? Who are you ‘becoming flesh and dwelling amongst’? The incarnation is a critical doctrine when it comes to orthodoxy, but beware lest you fail to give it sufficient voice in orthopraxy.”[15]

 Through The Incarnation, We Learn Love

“The incarnation, therefore, serves as a model of sacrificial love, and it should exemplify for us not just who we are as people, but also who we are as workers. When we see problems at work or in our communities, we shouldn’t dismiss them as the problems of other people. Christ took on our problems, our sin and death, and provided a solution. As Christians who are now united to Christ, we reflect the love of God and the work of Christ when we sympathize with others and serve and love them.”[16]

The birth of Jesus was God’s being “with” us at the most fundamental and committed level…. And it’s our commitment to be with others which is one of our most distinctive responses to the incarnation. Our response to God’s gracious commitment to us has surely to be our commitment to be with our struggling neighbors with whom we paddle through the mud of life… we have a responsibility to go and be with them in whatever way we reasonably can.[17]

 Through The Incarnation, The Church Becomes The Body

Christ became one flesh with His Church (Eph. 5: 31-32). Without the Incarnation, the Church could not have become what it is: the body of Christ. 

“Jesus Christ is the present and living foundation of the church because by faith we have been incorporated in him – that is, united into his body.  We are the recipients of his saving blessings and his communion with the Father through the Spirit, continually drawing our life and nourishment from his resurrected and glorified humanity, and thus participating in his mission of recreating and reconciling the world to God… 

We are indeed the body of Christ… It was the confession of this profound and mysterious reality that drove Paul to one of the most breath-taking utterances in Holy Writ: “And God put all things under Christ’s feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all” (Eph. 1:23)…the Greek in this verse is emphatic: hestis estin to soma auto – the church “which is indeed, or in truth, his body.” [18]

* * * * *

We “form one body, and each member belongs to all the others” (Romans 12:5).

Let’s do communion as one body, in which God intends the legacy of the reality of Incarnation to live on: reconciliation, humility, mercy, mission, love.

In Communion, we acknowledge this: “I know this is commanded of me: to be ‘broken and spilled out’ for you in humility, mercy and love in honor of Jesus being broken and spilled out for us on the cross. May our redeemed lives, united in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection, display God’s glory in the fullness of the earth as God makes His appeal through us: His body, His church.

May God give us the strength and holiness to ‘incarnate’ his ministry of reconciliation, his model of humility, his gift of mercy, his focus on mission, and his capacity to love.

___________________________________________________________________________

[1] “The elect lady —As κυρια, kuria, may be the feminine of κυριος, kurios, lord, therefore it may signify lady; and so several, both ancients and moderns, have understood it. But others have considered it the proper name of a woman, Kyria; and that this is a very ancient opinion is evident from the Peshito Syriac, the oldest version we have, which uses it as a proper name [Syriac] koureea, as does also the Arabic [Arabic] kooreea. Some have thought that Eclecta was the name of this matron, from the word εκλεκτη, which we translate elect, and which here signifies the same as excellent, eminent, honourable, or the like. Others think that a particular Church is intended, which some suppose to be the Church at Jerusalem, and that the elect sister, 2 John 1:13, means the Church at Ephesus…I am satisfied that no metaphor is here intended; that the epistle was sent to some eminent Christian matron, not far from Ephesus, who was probably deaconess of the Church, who, it is likely, had a Church at her house, or at whose house the apostles and travelling evangelists frequently preached, and were entertained.” (Adam Clarke)

[2] To love God is to obey. (See John 14:15, 21, 23, 24; 15:10, 14.) “And why call me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).

[3] Just a quick note: this is likely the same John who wrote Revelation. We may want to consider that the Antichrist figure in Revelation comes from within the church, considering how John has used that term in both of his letters for false teachers.

[4] One of the early Christian documents, the Didache, gives similar instruction: “Let every apostle who comes to you be received as the Lord. . . . But not everyone who speaks in the spirit is a prophet; he is only a prophet if he has the ways of the Lord. The false and the genuine prophet will be known therefore by their ways” (Bettenson, 51). (Asbury Bible Commentary)

“The words mean, according to the eastern use of them, ‘Have no religious connection with him, nor act towards him so as to induce others to believe you acknowledge him as a brother.’" (Adam Clarke)

[5] The Quran and the Book of Mormon, respectively

[6] The New World Version of the Bible

[7] To love God is to obey. (See John 14:15, 21, 23, 24; 15:10, 14.) “And why call me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 6:46).

[8] Just a quick note: this is likely the same John who wrote Revelation. We may want to consider that the Antichrist figure in Revelation comes from within the church, considering how John has used that term in both of his letters for false teachers.

[9] The other danger, of course, is that they begin to follow a false Jesus #idolatry.

[10] Ephesians 2:8-9 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast.

[11] The Bible has passages that refer to people being rewarded for what they have done both in this life and the life to come. Since John is focusing on how we love each other, my sense is that John is talking about implications for life together now. 

[12] Johnson and Clark, The Incarnation of God: The Mystery of the Gospel as the Foundation of Evangelical Theology

[13] Romans 3:10-12; John 6:44; Luke 19:10. Jeremiah 29 – ““You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you” – is God’s people experiencing revival, not finding God for the first time.

[14] Johnson and Clark, The Incarnation of God: The Mystery of the Gospel as the Foundation of Evangelical Theology

[15] Nick Moore, https://baptist21.com/blog-posts/2014/incarnation-implications/

[16] https://www.thenivbible.com/blog/what-incarnation-should-mean-in-our-daily-lives/

[17] “What the incarnation means for the here-and-now,”  JOHN PRITCHARD

[18] Johnson and Clark’s book, The Incarnation of God: The Mystery of the Gospel as the Foundation of Evangelical Theology

Make Incarnation Your Model

 A little girl, frightened by a storm, had trouble with her parents’ reminder that God was with her.  “I know that God is here, but I need someone in the room who has some skin!” This is, of course, the claim of Christianity. God showed up in skin.

“The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) 

“Without question, this is the great mystery of our faith: Christ was revealed in a human body and vindicated by the Spirit. He was seen by angels and announced to the nations. He was believed in throughout the world and taken to heaven in glory.” (1 Timothy 3:16)

 So let’s talk today about incarnation; that is, “giving skin” to the presence of God in a way that carries on the legacy of Christ’s perfect embodiment.  This is why we are here, right? We are icons, image bearers, representatives, temples, the “body” of Christ.[1]  THIS IS WHO WE ARE. And because we are all that, we honor the Incarnate One who came to our world by living as an “incarnate church,”[2] a community humbly following the way of Jesus in everyday life so that we are “someone in the room who has skin” in the midst of life’s storms.  

We won’t do it perfectly; we can’t do it without the Holy Spirit empowering us. But…it’s our calling. It’s what we are made for. What follows can apply, I think to pretty much any situation: your family, friends, coworkers, fellow church members, those to whom we are trying to witness. 

GO

“In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!” (Philippians 2: 5-8)

God didn't wait for us to come to Him. He came to us.  We have a Great Commission: we have to go to where others are instead of wait for them to come to us. We often think of ‘going’ in a cross-cultural context. When we go to places not Traverse City, we eat new food, learn new languages, and celebrate with the different neighborhood customs (sometimes we do that right here in TC).  We live in that community in that context. Barring some sense in which we are asked to participate in something sinful, we are there to enter into their world, and that’s good and proper. 

We show people we care by engaging with and caring about them in their world as much as we can without compromise. This happens everywhere: from oversees to our homes, our church, our community.  It’s a universal principle.   

• Want to talk to little kids effectively? Kneel when you speak.

• Want to show your spouse you care? Plan a date he or she wants.  

• Want to connect with your kids? Play music they like too while you are driving; play Hi Ho Cherrio for hours; build a fort out of a box.

• Want to connect with someone who loves to fish, hike, or build stuff? Be ready to fish, hike or build stuff.

• Want to have a good relationship with someone with a different religious or political worldview? Take the time to get to know their ‘mental community.’ 

 Enter their world.  It’s a relationship-building principle that not only honors others, but paves the way for a) genuine friendship and b) the message of the gospel. Once you go, the next step is to know, and this starts by listening.

LISTEN THOROUGHLY

One of the best ways to get to know people is to listen to them – their story, hopes, dreams, fears, even opinions.  Listening is a way of saying, “It’s not all about me. I want to know about you. I want to see who you are. You matter.”  This does not always come easily. Try this checklist:

1)   I make a great effort to understand other people’s experiences.

2)   When people are angry, I can listen without reflecting their anger. 

3)   People freely share with me because they know I listen well.

4)   I learn from nonverbal cues, body language, and tone of voice. 

5)   I am able to show sympathy and empathy.

6)   I ask for clarification about how words are used and what emotion I am sensing rather than filling in the blanks. 

7)   I don’t wait impatiently to make my point or have my turn.

8)   I can file stuff away to think or learn more about rather than feeling like I have to address it right now.

9)   I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt rather than read the worst possibilities into what I don’t understand. 

10) I don’t speak when I should be listening. [3]

Listening well is a key starting point in incarnation. We listen to understand and value the image of God in other people. They have worth simply as people.  

“Being heard is so close to being loved that for the average person, they are almost indistinguishable.” – David Augsburger

 Now… it might be that what you hear is appalling. It might be obnoxious. It might lead you to mutter, “Get thee behind me, Satan!” It might just break your heart. Keep in mind that the LISTENING is not the same as:

• Approving

• Enabling

• Applauding

• Excusing 

Listening is an act of knowing.  And from that knowing, we respond. 

SPEAK CAREFULLY 

Once you have listened, there are some ways to respond that, once again, a) honor the image bearer, b) hopefully build relationship, and c) build a relationship on the foundations of gospel.[4] 

Reflect: “I think I hear you saying…” This is a call to accuracy and clarity.  It stops us from assuming, from reading between the lines, from filtering what someone ways so we hear what we wanted to hear.  We can hear even the hardest things without getting upset if our first goal is to reflect: “I think I hear you saying that…”

1.       “… my faith is foolish, and Christianity is hogwash.”

2.       “…I am aloof and stand-offish when I interact with people.”

3.       “…Christians hate the sin and the sinner.”

4.       “…bacon is not tasty.”[5]

 Validate:  I mean this like validating a parking lot ticket: you give a stamp that proves you were present with that person. This can happen in a number of ways. ‘I hear you… I think I understand… Based on what you have said, I can understand why you feel that way... It sounds like you have been through a lot.”  Validating for someone that they have been heard is not the same as approving or agreeing with everything they have told you. It’s simply an acknowledgment that they have been heard, you have attempted to understand, and maybe even that their response makes sense in that circumstance/ time/place – which is still different from applauding it.  “Considering your experiences…”

1.       “…I can see why it would be easy to think that about Christianity.”

2.       “… I can see why I appear that way at times.”

3.       “… No wonder you feel like it’s not possible to separate sin from the sinner.”

4.       “… your taste buds appear to have been terribly compromised.”

 Explore: “I have some follow up questions.”

1.     “What do you think about Jesus himself? What is it you find compelling about the life you have chosen?  Are you telling me this because you just want me to know, or you want me to engage with you?

2.     “What specifically can I do to make sure I don’t come across that way?”

3.     “When you read about Jesus, does he seem to balance these things, or does he seem hateful too? Do you think I hate sinners?  

4.     “Did a pig bite you at one time? Were you frightened by Porky Pig?”

 Engage:

No matter what approach is needed, our desire for those around ought to be that every conversation is characterized by speaking and learning God’s truth, and displaying God’s grace through our words and actions.   

1.  “I think there is another way of looking at faith that is more accurate and healthy than the picture you were given.”

2.  “I appreciate you giving me your honest assessment. I will see if I can get some feedback from others as well.” 

3. “I have found that people love me even when they don’t love everything about me. That’s what Jesus did for me. I try to pass that on.”

4. “Have you tried bacon with bacon? Because they go together well.”

 The journey might look different in each relationship, but the goal is the same.  We are praying for the wisdom to be as humble as we should be,[6] bold as we need to be, as kind as we can be for the sake of moving together further and higher into the Kingdom of God. 

What we are praying for is the ability to MATCH OUR MISSION TO THE MOMENT. When I was coaching, I learned that different people respond to different kinds of motivation (shocking insight, I know). Some players flourished when I encouraged them out of failure (big hug during a time out); others flourished when I got in their face (big hug after the game). 

With God’s help, knowing  others will help us to know when to do and say what. Parents, you know how it is with kids. They are different. One kid didn’t respond until you were all up in their business; the other one melted down when you looked a little but unhappy. The longer we know our spouse, the better (hopefully) we get at when to do and say what. There is an art to matching our engagement to the person. 

This is one reason we are focusing right now as a church on creating ways to just spend time together, from small groups to affinity groups to potlucks.  If we are present and invested in people in the moment, we build a track record of knowledge and experience that God uses to prepare us for the deep moments of relationship. 

The Holy Spirit inspires, of course; many of you have shared stories of this in Message+ over the years. God gives inspiration.  Here’s a both/and: the Holy Spirit also leads us into wisdom through practical experience and relationship.

All relationships are built in a context of experiences and people.  If we have taken the time to know the person, the place, the background, the culture, then as Christ moves us and the Holy Spirit gives us wisdom, we can most effectively match our messages (through word and deed) to moments. 

This helps us more fully model the incarnational love of Christ to our family, our church, our city. Because Christ entered our world, we enter into the world of others without compromise to represent Christ with care and confidence so the glory of His redemption is clear. 

I want to close with the broader context of the verses I quoted earlier from Philippians 2. You will see that the example of Jesus’ incarnation is situated right in the middle of a discussion on what modeling incarnation looks like in the church.  Since modeling incarnation was our focus this morning, it seems like a fitting close.

Philippians 2 If you find any comfort from being in the Anointed, if His love brings you some encouragement, if you experience true companionship with the Spirit, if His tenderness and mercy fill your heart; then, brothers and sisters, 2 here is one thing that would complete my joy:

Come together as one in mind and spirit and purpose, sharing in the same love. 3 Don’t let selfishness and prideful agendas take over. Embrace true humility, and lift your heads to extend love to others. 4 Get beyond yourselves and protecting your own interests; be sincere, and secure your neighbors’ interests first.5 In other words, adopt the mind-set of Jesus the Anointed. Live with His attitude in your hearts. Remember:

6 Though He was in the form of God, He chose not to cling to equality with God; 7 But He poured Himself out to fill a vessel brand new; a servant in form and a man indeed.
The very likeness of humanity, 8 He humbled Himself, obedient to death — a merciless death on the cross! 9 So God raised Him up to the highest place and gave Him the name above all. 10 So when His name is called, every knee will bow, in heaven, on earth, and below. 11 And every tongue will confess  “Jesus, the Anointed One, is Lord,”  to the glory of God our Father!

 12 So now, my beloved, obey as you have always done, not only when I am with you, but even more so when I can’t be. Continue to work out your salvation, with great fear and trembling.

•  labor; work it down to the end point, bring it to its right conclusion[7]’

• Carry to completion what is begun,”[8] or “carry into effect.”[9]

• “Watchful, loving, reverent consistency, for his Lord’s sake.”[10]

•  "Salvation" is "worked in" (Php 2:13; Eph 1:11) believers by the Spirit, who enables them through faith to be justified once for all; but it needs, as a progressive work, to be "worked out" by obedience, through the help of the same Spirit, unto perfection (2Pe 1:5-8).[11]

13 God is energizing you so that you will desire and do what always pleases Him.

14 Do all things without complaining or bickering with each other, 15 so you will be found innocent and blameless; you are God’s children called to live without a single stain on your reputations among this perverted and crooked generation. Shine like stars across the land. 16 Cling to the word of life so that on the day of judgment when the Anointed One returns I may have reason to rejoice, because it will be plain that I didn’t turn from His mission nor did I work in vain.

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[1] 1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 3-4; Colossians 1

[2] “We are the body,” Paul says. We are a new and ongoing kind of incarnation – clearly different from Jesus (anyone here divine?) but nonetheless participatory in the representation of God on God’s behalf.

1)    [3] Why would we talk too much? Maybe…. 

·       Love? Because we love them, there is soooo much truth they need to hear. There are times, however, when great intentions can have misplaced application.

·       Nervousness?  We control the conversation or change to a more comfortable topic because we don’t want tension inside us or between us to escalate. (This can feel like peacemaking, when it’s peacekeeping). 

·       Narcissism?  We genuinely think anything we have to say is of utmost importance; “My speaking is a much better use of our time! Have you not heard my thoughts!!!”

·       Lack of Faith? Maybe there are times the Holy Spirit wants us to be quiet even though something is begging to be said. Do we trust that God can do work even if we don’t get all the words out in the timing we think we should?

[4]  I am assuming a conversation in which it is not overwhelmingly clear there is something terrible going on, btw. There is a time and place for OT prophet-style unleashing; Jesus himself had some blunt things to say in public to those who were ‘making disciples of hell.’[4]  That involves people Proverbs would call “Fools”. Those are not my focus today. We can talk about that more in Message+ if you wish.

[5] These are all reflections I have offered at some point. Even the bacon one.

[6] An honest look inside shows us that we are more broken than we feared, but God is more powerful than we imagined.  As we understand brokenness and then grace, we know who we are and it illuminates the goodness of God.  Grace, compassion, truth and humility flow from us as we desire for others to see Christ as we have seen him. 

[7] HELPS Word Studies

[8] Ellicott’s Commentary For English Readers

[9] Expositor’s Greek Testament

[10] Cambridge Bible For Schools And Colleges

[11] Jameison-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Raised Up (Ephesians 2:1-10)

Why do we treat a canvas that is painted differently than we treat a  blank canvas? It’s just pigments and resins and some kind of surface they will stick to. The cash value of the actual parts is not that much. And yet the cash value people pay for it is remarkable.  Why do we put our kids’ pictures or stories up on the refrigerator? Once again, the crayon on notebook paper is worth about a penny on the market, but we think of them as priceless.

Something added value. Something made these things more than just the sum of their parts. There was canvas or paper and something to make marks. Yet a painting can sell for millions of dollars, and we keep the letters and drawing for years.  

Something added value -  in this case, the personal touch of the someone who took ordinary things and created something of great value.

This is as old as Genesis 1. God takes dust and adds value. The material value of the human body: about $160 dollars for just raw materials. God makes common clay into imago dei representationally (we are icons of God), intrinsically (our representational status gives us inherent value and dignity), and functionally (we act on God’s behalf in the world).

In Ephesians 2, Paul goes beyond the fact of imago dei and shows what Christ does in us and for us. First, he explains what kind of material God has to work with. Brace yourselves: it’s even worse than you thought.

As for you, don’t you remember how you used to just exist? Corpses, dead in life, buried by transgressions, wandering the course of this perverse world. You were the offspring of the prince of the power of air—oh, how he owned you, just as he still controls those living in disobedience. I’m not talking about the outsiders alone; we were all guilty of falling headlong for the persuasive passions of this world.

We all have had our fill of indulging the flesh and mind, obeying impulses to follow perverse thoughts motivated by dark powers. As a result, our natural inclinations led us to be children of wrath, just like the rest of humankind. (Ephesians 2:1-3)

I don’t know about you, but that’s not how I like to think of myself. However, that’s the raw materials. That’s us before Christ. We’re not just plain canvas; we are stained and soiled canvas. We’re not just paper – we are torn and soggy. 

Paul doesn’t pull any punches. We were corpses, dead in life. We were the zombies in a much more serious sense of the word than most horror movies show. Those are just biological problems. Ours is deeply spiritual. 

I find it interesting how how an increasing number of modern stories use a thing like a zombie – the Walking Dead -  to make a point that we find in the Bible 2,000 years ago.  It’s as if no matter how far from Christ people wander, there is this lingering dread that we will somehow be dead even while we live, just wandering through a world that robs us of life and offers us nothing in return. 

A recent book series called The Zombie Bible takes incidents from the Bible or early church history and inserts zombies – which sounds silly, but the author (who takes the Bible very seriously) uses them to stand in for the deepest expression of being dead in our sin. 

This world was one of hunger, filled with those who would devour you—both among the dead and among the living.… Like a violent fever, the hunger eats away mind and spirit. In the end, everything that we truly are is gone. Only the hunger remains. Even other men and women are no longer anything but… meat for our desires and obsessions. Then we are lost— unless some other brings a Gift. We cannot recover ourselves alone.” – From What Our Eyes Have Witnessed

 If that’s what we are stuck with, that's lousy for us and everyone around us. But Paul says this is not our fate.

But God, with the unfathomable richness of His love and mercy focused on us, united us with the Anointed One and infused our lifeless souls with life—even though we were buried under mountains of sin—and saved us by His grace. He raised us up with Him and seated us in the heavenly realms with our beloved Jesus the Anointed, the Liberating King. 

He did this for a reason: so that for all eternity we will stand as a living testimony to the incredible riches of His grace and kindness that He freely gives to us by uniting us with Jesus the Anointed. For it’s by God’s grace that you have been saved. You receive it through faith. It was not our plan or our effort. It is God’s gift, pure and simple.You didn’t earn it, not one of us did, so don’t go around bragging that you must have done something amazing. 

For we are the product of His hand, heaven’s poetry etched on lives, created in the Anointed, Jesus, to accomplish the good works God arranged long ago. (Ephesians 2:4-10)

Lots of worldviews offer a solution for the problem of walking in our own life of death and feeling like we are worth nothing. Another thoughtful zombie story called Warm Bodies offers a solution: 

“We will exhume ourselves. We will fight the curse and break it. We will cry and bleed and lust and love, and we will cure death. We will be the cure. Because we want it.”

The problem is, that never happens. It’s a humanist salvation story, but nothing in the history of the world suggests that solution will work.  Humanity’s never been the cure of the deepest, darkest aches in our souls. We’ve always been the problem. Even when we fix a particular issue, it’s only a matter of time before we ruin it again. 

• We said, “Hey, let’s get more energy by harnessing the power of the atom!” and then figured out how to use it to kill a lot of people.  

• We said, “Let’s cure disease with stem cells!” and eventually began to plunder the bodies of unborn babies for our benefit.

• We said, “Hey, wouldn’t we be healthier if we could learn about sex earlier and more explicitly? The problem with our culture is that we are prudish and repressed. ” And eventually we found ourselves in a culture where STD’s are epidemic, and  pornography and the hook up culture first desensitizes us then damages us.

• We say, “Let’s protect the freedom to speak!” and use it to slander and blaspheme and gossip and produce copious amounts of pornography.

• Remember John Winthorp who wanted build a “city on a hill” characterized by Christian love and generosity in the Massachusetts Bay Colony?[1] It lasted 17 years. “As the people increased,” he wrote, “so sin abounded.”

 Nothing in human history suggests we are able to save ourselves. [2] On the other hand, the Zombie Bible got the solution right (and it better, with ‘Bible’ in the title):

“What do we know to be true? Nothing is broken that cannot be remade. Nothing is ill that cannot be healed, nothing captive that cannot be freed. That is what [Jesus] taught us.” – from What Our Eyes Have Witnessed, The Zombie Bible series.

That’s actually the gospel. That’s part of the good news.  Tom Holland’s book Dominion traces the history of Christianity, and one of his points is that, even when Christianity got off the rails as a movement, it contained within itself – within the revelation of Scripture from God and the incarnational reality of Jesus – the seeds for its own revival. It’s the only thing in the world that does that.  

Paul says we can do nothing on our own – our default is to be one the spiritually Walking Dead – and we don’t raise ourselves up. Now, we are raised by Jesus and made fully alive.  Heaven’s poetry is etched on our lives by his saving hand; other translations say we are His handiwork. God plans for us to be the ones through whom His good work is seen, and by whom His good work is done in the world. 

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If Christ is “raising us up”, if God is restoring all these things in us and putting us on His mission, there are at least three important things that follow.

This should bring to us a staggering amount of humility. Paul says none of us can boast about how we contributed to the project of moving from spiritual death to life. “Don't’ go around bragging as if you did something amazing.” Any time we think, “I just wish people had the self-control and work ethic and mastery of emotions that I have crafted for myself,” we have missed the point. We should be thinking, “All that I am is a gift of grace. I will pray that God works in the life of others so they too can experience God’s grace.” 

Paul never says, “Look at me!” He always says, “Look at Christ in me.”  I would guess that’s because the minute he says, “Look at me!” someone else could say, “Do you mean all of you? Do you realize what you were doing 10 years ago? You killed people!”   

Why would I say, “Look at me”?  Just ask my wife if I have given a perfect picture of what it means to be a godly husband. Ask my boys if I have been a perfect father. Ask anyone in this church if I am a perfect pastor. Ask my friends if I have been a perfect friend. 

For every time I want to say, “I’m awesome!” someone around me is thinking, “Except when you’re not.”  What I have to say (if I look at myself honestly) is only this: “Please don’t look at me. Look at Christ in me. He is the only hope of glory in my life.” The fact that Christ steps in and raises us up should bring about an incredible amount of humility

This should change how we view our worth and dignity. If you are the product of God’s hand - if God is raising you up so you can bring good into the world in a way that will be empowered by Christ working in you - then you should never say, “I guess I deserve to be mistreated. I guess I deserve to be belittled. I don’t matter. My life is nothing. Everybody else is cool and doing great things and I’m just stuck with my personality or looks or circumstances.” If that’s the voice in your head, I promise you it’s not the voice of Christ. 

The voice of Christ says, “Just bring what you’ve got. It’s my job to take you are and craft you into something that will be for your good and my glory.” 

Now, God will ask us to “run the race” that He sets before us, and that might look sketchy at times, because now we are involved, and we bring sketchiness to the project.  In fact, it is often through the process of walking (and stumbling, falling, and getting back up) that Christ does this work in us.  But we “run the race” only because Christ has shown us the track, and strengthened our legs, and given us the right kind of shoes, and given us a prize on which to fix our eyes. 

So we are called to run the race, but the glory for the ground we cover belongs to Christ alone.

This should change how we treat others. This is why we should never treat others in a way that shames, belittles or mocks them. We don’t brag about our spiritual exploits to other people.  We don’t judge how far we think we are down the track vs. how far back we think they are.

We don’t take advantage of people, or purposefully hurt them with our words, our attitudes, or our hands.  Read Romans 14. Paul has a pretty blunt chapter on this. 

We are, after all, created for “good works” – that is,  we are to do good to others as representatives of Christ’s presence on the earth. Certainly that will include walking in the path of life that God has shown us, but it goes beyond just that. We look for opportunities to do good. We look for opportunities to affirm in those around us that they matter, and love them as Christ would love them.  

I loved watching the gymnastics community support Simone Biles this past week. They got it. They understood. While lots of people were complaining that she was weak or a ”national embarrassment” for withdrawing in the Olympics, the ones who know what she was going through (“the twisties”) cared for her rather than discarded her.[3]  

Isn’t this what life with God’s people is supposed to look like? When we lose our way in the middle of our spiritual routine, what are the rest of us on the team supposed to do? Show the empathy Jesus showed us[4]; surround them[5]; lift up those who have become disoriented and lost their way[6]; train together again under the only Coach who can teach us finish well. [7]

If heaven is writing poetry on the lives of my wife and children, who am I to step in and scrawl nonsense on the work of Christ? Whenever my words or my attitude send them a message that they are failures, or that they have to earn my love or pride, or that they are an annoyance, I deface the work of Christ. Every time I give my wife a look that tells her without words that she is “less than”, I step in and write shame and anger into the poetry of heaven. 

We need to model grace and speak words of life to our family and friends and church community. We need to honor and not shame, to speak truth but always with grace, to affirm gifts and talents, and to display the compelling nature of Christ through our words and actions. 

* * * * *

We often wonder if God has a plan for our lives. Yes. His plan is to raise us up as His children.His plan is that we become a testimony to the incredible riches of His grace as He makes us into something beautiful. 

#practicerighteousness

• Share with someone how God’s grace has “raised you up” when you were dead in your sins. 

• Read through this passage every day to remind yourself of the immense “added value” God has given to you through Jesus.

• Purposefully practice the three implications (practicing humility, remembering value and worth, and consciously treating others well). Pray for the Holy Spirit to guide your heart, mind, and strength.

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[1] https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/colliding-cultures/john-winthrop-dreams-of-a-city-on-a-hill-1630/

[2] G.K. Chesterton, a famous author, was once asked by a newspaper, “What’s wrong with the world today?” He famously responded, “I am.”  

[3] https://www.cnn.com/2021/07/28/us/simone-biles-olympics-gymnastics-physical-mental-health/index.html

[4] Hebrews 4:15

[5] Romans 12; 1 Peter 3:8

[6] 1 Thessalonians 5:11

[7] 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Corinthians 9:24-27; Matthew 5:19

Keep Away From Idols (1 John 5:13-21)

The final thought from last week was this:

13 I am writing all of this to you who have entrusted your lives to the Son of God—so you will realize eternal life already is yours.

With the reminder that followers of Jesus have already started our experience of eternal life, we move into what John sees as a logical connection: 

14 We live in the bold confidence that God hears our voices when we ask for things that fit His plan. 15 And if we have no doubt that He hears our voices, we can be assured that He moves in response to our call.

John talked about this earlier in this letter. The more we know God in the way we talked about last week, the more our hearts, minds, and desires align with God’s will. When our prayers flow from that kind of place, we can be confident that we are praying for God’s plan to unfold.  He moves from that observation about prayer to something which is not as clear to us as it was to his original audience.  

16 In this regard, if you notice a brother or sister in faith making moral missteps and blunders, disregarding and disobeying God even to the point of God removing this one from the body by death, then pray for that person; and God will grant him life on this journey.[1] But to be clear, there is a sin that is ultimately fatal and leads to death. I am not talking about praying for that fatal sin, 17 but I am talking about all those wrongs and sins that plague God’s family that don’t lead to death.[i] 

That start of that paragraph - “in this regard” - is a reference to the kind of prayers in which God moves responsively, so the focus is prayer, not the kinds of sin. What precisely John means about the distinctions between sins remains elusive. See my endnotes on why that is. This, however, we can take away: We need to pray for those who are falling into accidental or purposeful sin. Our intercession matters on behalf of others.[2]

18 We all know that everyone fathered by God will not make sin a way of life because God protects His children from the evil one, and the evil one can’t touch them. 19 Have confidence in the fact that we belong to God, but also know that the world around us is in the grips of the evil one.[3]  

This is a reminder that we are in a spiritual battle. We shouldn’t be afraid, but we should be aware. Notice the positive focus: we belong to God, and God protects His children. It’s one thing to be aware of the Evil One; it’s another to have all the evil in the world be the thing that fills our vision. It’s a good reminder to check ourselves on what fills our thoughts. There’s a lot of doom and gloom out there – this or that thing or person or idea is going to destroy us – and a lot of anxiety and fear that follows. John would be mystified. “Have confidence in the fact that we belong to God.” 

Satan can’t touch us. While the Bible gives us other examples of what this means, in this context, Satan can’t make us sin. Whatever happens around us, that won’t change. Satan has a grip on the world, but his grip is only as strong as the handholds we give him.  

·      If you want to be poisoned by greed, hold your money as if it’s yours rather than God’s. Give Satan a handhold. He can’t make you sin, but now you’ve given him permission to pull you in that direction.

·      If you want to be crippled with lust, fill your mind with things that create lustful thoughts. It gives Satan a better grip. He can’t make you sin, but now you’ve given him permission to pull you in that direction.

·      If you want to be filled with anger or hatred or bitterness, stew in those thoughts and let them build momentum rather than praying for those toward whom you feel these things. It gives Satan a firm grasp. 

·      If you want to be controlled by judgment, fill your mind with all the harsh voices out there that villainize and demean and insult ‘the other side.” That’s momentum Satan loves. 

When we reject the beginning of a journey into eternal death (practicing sin)  and instead, journey into eternal life (practicing righteous and embrace obedience to God’s command), Satan can’t get a firm grip. He prowls around like a menacing lion[4], but when we stick with the Lion Tamer we are going to be alright. Speaking of the confidence John mentioned earlier, 

20 We also can be sure of the fact that the Son of God has come and given us a mind so that we may know Him as the embodiment of all that is true. We live in this truth, in His Son Jesus, the Anointed One. He is the True God and eternal life.

Great reminder that we can know God through Jesus, God in the flesh, the embodiment of all that is true. When we embrace Jesus and live in this truth, eternal life has begun.

And now, the final words.  

21 My little children, keep away from idols.

A comedian named James Acaster likes to talk about  “refreezing the ice” in conversation. He doesn’t think it’s fair that, at a party, he does the hard work of ‘breaking the ice” with someone and then the next person benefits from it. So he refreezes it when he leaves. His example is saying, “Death comes to us all” as a final shot.

This feels kind of like that. Things were going so well: love each other, praying for each other has power; the Devil can’t grab you if you stay close to Jesus, Jesus is The Truth, you have eternal life, woo hoo! And that last comment just feels like it refreezes the room.  

Or….it’s an easy way to remember the whole point of the letter. “Keep away from idols.” The psalmist wrote of idols, 

“Those who make them will be like them,
and so will all who trust in them.” (Psalm 135:15-18)

 This is the dilemma. Practically the whole letter has been about being like Jesus by worshipping Jesus. This is reminder that we become like what we worship.

And to be clear, the audience of the Bible would have associated worship primarily with sacrifice, and God makes it clear that acts of obedience and service are the sacrifice that matters the most 

Isaiah 1:11-17 “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” Says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams and the fat of fed cattle; and I take no pleasure in the blood of bulls, lambs or goats. When you come to appear before Me, who requires of you this trampling of My courts? Bring your worthless offerings no longer, incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies — I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.  I hate your new moon festivals and your appointed feasts, They have become a burden to Me; I am weary of bearing them. So when you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; Yes, even though you multiply prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood. Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” 

Amos 5:21-24 “I hate, I reject your festivals, Nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. “Even though you offer up to Me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept them; And I will not even look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. Take away from Me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. But let justice roll down like waters And righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” 

Micah 6:6-8 “With what shall I come to the LORD And bow myself before the God on high? Shall I come to Him with burnt offerings, with yearling calves? Does the LORD take delight in thousands of rams, in ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I present my firstborn for my rebellious acts, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

While the New Covenant does away with the Old Covenant sacrificial system thanks to Jesus’ “once for all” sacrifice[5], the imagery continues. 

“I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1) 

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. 16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.”(Hebrews 13:15-16) 

“ I have received full payment and have more than enough. I am amply supplied, now that I have received from Epaphroditus the gifts you sent. They are a fragrant offering, an acceptable sacrifice, pleasing to God.” (Philippians 4:18).

“To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” (Mark 12:33).

In worship, there is always a sacrifice of some sort: time, money, energy, emotions, priorities, reputation, schedules, pride, things – and then ultimately either ourself or other people. It’s not if we will worship; we do worship. The question is how our worship is forming us, and to what ends.

“Idolatry is both personal and communal. What we surround ourselves with influences what, or who, we worship. John knew this. That’s why he shows us how gospel doctrine (the good news of Jesus) creates a gospel culture (the shared reality of that good news in the church). We all fashion our own personal idols, but the company we keep either reinforces them or poisons them.”[6]

An idol – this could be a person, an object, an ideology, wealth, fame, financial security – demands three things: total allegiance, unwavering sacrifice, and sacrificial victims.[7] In idolatrous worship, we will always end up sacrificing something or someone for the sake of ourselves. In idolatrous worship, the point is for me to be benefit,[8] to get what I want, no matter the inconvenience or cost to others. 

1.    Let’s start with a really minor example: If I leave my shopping cart in a parking spot because my time is too important, the person who tries to park will have to give up their important time to do it. 

2.    If I want my every need met, someone has to pay the cost of meeting them. 

3.    If I want my will to be done, someone else has to give up their will. 

4.    If I want to make money so badly I become a workaholic, somebody else is going to have to fill in the void left with my kids. 

5.    If my voice must always be the one that carries the most weight in a conversation, someone else’s voice is going to carry less weight. 

6.    If I have to vent about store COVID policies to a cashier, they will pay the cost of my lack of self-control and have to absorb my anger (and regret their job). 

7.    If I micromanage everyone around me so things are just like I like them, somebody else gets stuck with things the way they don’t like them. 

8.    If I don’t make the effort to choose my words carefully, somebody else pays the price of my verbal blows. 

9.    If I don’t make an effort to “see” and “listen” and empathize, someone else has to be around someone who doesn’t love enough to see and hear and empathize.

10. If I must win, everyone else must lose.

The goal of idolatry is always control: my life on my terms.

The cost of idolatry is always the same: others.

In true worship, we follow the example of the One who sacrificed himself so that we might live, and we pay it forward: we offer ourselves first to the one who sacrificed himself for us, and then give our lives in the service of God and others. 

“My children, keep away from things that will lead you to sacrifice others, and consider how your love for God reaches its intended expression in your deep, deep love of those around you.”

Let’s #practicerighteousness this week. 

(By the way..... we’re going to start using a Slack channel called “Our Weekly Practice” as a way to help each other do the “work” of discipleship. This channel is especially intended for use on these end-of-sermon practice/discipleship exercises. It’s a place to post updates on how #practicingrighteousness is going for you. It could be confession, encouragement, triumph….)

This week, look carefully and prayerfully at the list of 10 ways we can sacrifice others as we pursue our idols. Which of these are you least likely to actually struggle with? In other words, it’s not a struggle because this sin comes so naturally to you that you just “stew” in it, completely unfazed at the impact on yourself and those around you? Ask the Great Physician to show you the scalpel (discipline or practice) he intends to use on you; submit to the surgery; pursue a purposeful recovery plan – in community, not alone!

Have a blessed week. 

Death comes to us all :)

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[1] “If love requires the willingness to lay down one's life for a member of the community (3:16), then certainly it follows that if one sees a brother commit sin, such a person must intercede for him in prayer. Not to pray for him would be as much a betrayal of God's love as to withhold material aid from him (3:17). Moreover, when we pray for a brother or a sister who commits sin, we can know that such a prayer is "according to his [God's] will" because Christ is the atoning sacrifice for sins (2:2); and if we confess our sins, he is committed to forgive us (1:9). But why should a brother need such intercession? Why does he not pray for himself and make his own confession? We can only speculate as to John's answer. Perhaps again it is a matter of assurance. The brother may need to be forgiven through intercessory prayer as an expression of the community's forgiveness. Because the sin was presumably committed after entrance into the Christian community, the need to confess the sin to another and to have received assurance of forgiveness may have had special significance. Also, there might be an allusion here to Jesus' words in Jn 20:23.” (Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): New Testament)

[2] The best reading I found on this point – or at least the one that makes the most sense to me in the context of what John has been writing about loving each other well – is that in the early church this was done more publicly as an act of community. Keep in mind these were house churches; this probably had more of a large small group feel than congregating in a large building like we do. “If you notice a brother or sister” means they had to be doing something that people noticed; since it was read to a church family, I assume it means, “You all know this is going on; you should all be praying.”  

[3] 5:19  “Does the “evil one” control the “whole world”?  It’s unclear if John meant that the evil one actually controls the whole world or if John was simply warning his audience of the pervasive presence of evil and the antichrist. Earlier in the letter, John encouraged believers by saying that Christ “is greater than the one who is in the world” (4:4). (NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible)

[4] 1 Peter 5:8

[5] Hebrews 10

[6] David McLemore, https://www.thingsofthesort.com/sermons-2/2017/11/20/1-john-521-little-children-keep-yourselves-from-idols

[7] http://theinnetwork.org/idols-that-demand-blood-6/

[8] “Sacrifice itself was part of the universal language of ancient religion. What differed was what/whom was being sacrificed and to Whom/What the sacrifice was being made. This was worship. The ancients often made sacrifices to obtain favors or to avert disasters. Idolatry sought to control the outcome of history through the management of the gods.” S. Freeman, https://blogs.ancientfaith.com/glory2godforallthings/2017/05/30/the-sacrifice-of-worship/

[i] [i] NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible  “5:16 a sin that leads to death. Probably committed by the false teachers; it is presumably one that violates the fundamental commands of believing in Jesus and loving fellow believers (cf. 3:23). In Scripture, atonement was available for unintentional but not defiant sins (Nu 15:27 – 31). Perhaps more relevant, some Jewish circles described offenses for which Scripture prescribed death as “a matter of death,” which was normally enforced in their own time by expulsion from the community rather than by literal execution… John’s audience may well have understood the precise meaning, though today it remains in question.”

“The redemptive attitude represented here presents us with no difficulty of understanding. The distinction between a sin unto death and one that is not does. As Bruce puts it, “It is difficult to see how they could recognize the distinction except by the result” (p. 124). Various theories have been offered. Perhaps the safest course is to assume that any fallen (or falling) brother is redeemable and to seek to be the divine instrument in his restoration.” (Asbury Bible Commentary)

“Verse 16. A sin which is not unto death 1. It is supposed that there is here an allusion to a distinction in the Jewish law, where there was למיתה חטאה chattaahlemithah, "a sin unto death;" and למיתה לא חטאה chattaah lo lemithah, "a sin not unto death;" that is, 1. A sin, or transgression, to which the law had assigned the punishment of death; such as idolatry, incest, blasphemy, breach of the Sabbath, and the like. And 2. A sin not unto death, i.e. transgressions of ignorance, inadvertence, c., and such is, in their own nature, appear to be comparatively light and trivial. 2. By the sin not unto death, for which intercession might be made, and unto death, for which prayer might not be made, we are to understand transgressions of the civil law of a particular place, some of which must be punished with death, according to the statutes, the crime admitting of no pardon: others might be punished with death, but the magistrate had the power of commuting the punishments, i.e. of changing death into banishment, c., for reasons that might appear to him satisfactory, or at the intercession of powerful friends. To intercede in the former case would be useless, because the law would not relax, therefore they need not pray for it but intercession in the latter case might be prevalent, therefore they might pray and if they did not, the person might suffer the punishment of death. This opinion, which has been advanced by Rosenmuller, intimates that men should feel for each other's distresses, and use their influence in behalf of the wretched, nor ever abandon the unfortunate but where the case is utterly hopeless.

3. The sin unto death means a case of transgression, particularly of grievous backsliding from the life and power of godliness, which God determines to punish with temporal death, while at the same time he extends mercy to the penitent soul. The disobedient prophet, 1 Kings 13:1-32, is, on this interpretation, a case in point: many others occur in the history of the Church, and of every religious community. The sin not unto death is any sin which God does not choose thus to punish.” (Adam Clarke)

Eternal Life Begins Now (1 John 5:2-13)

A number of you were wondering about a follow-up to last week’s message: what do we do? I think John gives us the foundational, big-picture response in the very next section of his letter. The kind of faith that overcomes the world (and all the sin in it) is a faith founded on loving God and keeping His commands, and those commands demand that we love others as Christ loves them. So as you wrestle with how you should spread gospel hope into a groaning world, don’t forget that God’s plan is for you to be a particular kind of person as you go there. This is our focus today. What do we do? We love and serve God, so that we can love and serve others as God would have us do. 

This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands.  In fact, this is love for God: to guard, preserve and keep his commands[1]. And his commands are not burdensome,  for everything born of God (*born from above)[2] overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God [and will therefore love him, which is expressed by keeping His commands]. (2-5)

You may have a translation that says “everyone born of God.” A better translation is “everything.” Both the commands and the reborn people who follow them are from God.  When John notes how “this is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith,” I think he means for us to understand faith in light of what he just said: it’s loving God and carrying out his commands.  

He is the Anointed is the One who came by water and blood—not by the water only, but by the water and the blood.  So there are three testifying witnesses:  the Spirit, the water, and the blood.[3] All three are in total agreement.  If we accept the testimonies of people, then we must realize the testimony of God is greater than that of any person.[4] God certified the truth about His own Son.  Anyone who trusts the Son of God has this truthful testimony at the core of his being. Anyone who does not trust God calls God a liar because he ignores God’s truthful testimony regarding His own Son. (6-10)

Don’t get too hung up on the water, blood and Spirit trifecta. The Law said something was established by the testimony of three witnesses. John gives three witnesses to Jesus’ claim that he was the Son of God: His baptism, his death, and the witness of the Holy Spirit. 

And this is the truth: God has given us the gift of eternal life, and this life is in His Son. If you have the Son, you have eternal life. If you do not have the Son of God, you are not acquainted with that kind of life.  I am writing all of this to you who have entrusted your lives to the Son of God—so you will realize eternal life already is yours. (11-13)

This is where I want to land today. John looooves the phrase ”eternal life”. It’s used 41 times in the New Testament, and he uses half of them.[5]   

·      John 3:36  “ Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on them.”

·      John 4:14   “But whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

·      John 5:24  “ Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over from death to life.”

·      John 6:47  “Very truly I tell you, the one who believes has eternal life.”

·      John 6:54   “Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

·      John 10:28  “I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand.”

·      John 17:3  “Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.”

Paul told Timothy, “Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called.” (1 Timothy 6:12) I don’t think Paul was encouraging a fellow believer to kill himself.  Every commentary I read said something like this: Believers have begun "eternal (aiṓnios) life" right now, experiencing this quality of God's life now as a present possession.[6]  All the discussion that follows on eternal life as understood in the time of Jesus is from Lois Tverberg,[7] writing in “Eternal Life, Here and Now.” [8]

Around the time Jesus lived, the rabbis were discussing the difference between hayei olam (Hi-YAY Oh-LAHM), meaning eternal life, which is contrasted with hayei sha’ah (Hi-YAY Sha-AH), which means fleeting or earthly life. This wasn’t about before death and after death.  Hayei olamwas “lasting life,” and it referred to living in a way that focused on matters of eternal importance. Hayei sha’ah was about only being concerned with short-term material needs of today: working, making money, eating, etc.[9] 

This is what John is talking about.[10] We as followers of Jesus have hayei olam, and it begins now.  Let’s go with John 4:14’s image: “the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” If you go to where the Boardman pops out of the ground, and put your kayak in, you are on the Boardman river. But the spring is just the beginning. That river will take you somewhere. You are on the river “now” but you are “not yet” where it plans to take you.[11]

So, how do we start eternal life now? John is clear in his gospel: Knowing God is eternal life. Knowing has to do with being transformed into the image of Christ, having the Holy Spirit at work in us, absorbing the truth of God’s word, ordering our life around the things of God, seeking to see God at work in every situation… It’s an active, all-encompassing, total life surrender and make over. 

Eternal life starts with living in God's righteous path centered in God's will, making it our highest priority to further God’s interests and kingdom in every way by having eyes that see what Jesus sees, hearts that respond like the heart of Jesus, and hands that do what Jesus would do. Then, what starts now finds its perfection in life eternal in the world to come.[12]  

My best explanation of what this looks like practically is the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-11).  “Blessed are the…” There are two Greek words that Matthew could have used for blessed: one signifies “human happiness” while the other carries the idea of living the kind of life the gods live. Matthew chose the latter, makarios, to talk about participating in life with God. He chose to use a word about lasting life (hayei olam) over fleeting life (hayei sha’ah). 

There are numerous ways people have unpacked the Beatitudes, and that’s probably fair, because the Bible is multi-faceted and rich. This is a way of understanding them that rises to the top for me.

We begin with “blessed are the poor in spirit.” These are the ones who understand the situation: they are broken, part of the groaning creation that longs for redemption. They are spiritually in trouble.  But in spite of this, they are makarios, because recognizing the problem is the first step in inheriting the Kingdom of Heaven. The first beatitude gives the correct diagnosis: our spiritual illness makes us sick. To partially quote the first step in a lot of recovery groups, “We admit that we are powerless, and our lives have become unmanageable.”[13]

Next comes “blessed are the mourners.” They are not only aware of the problem, they bemoan the fact. They grieve their spiritual loss and the damage in the world. They are emotionally engaged now. They are thinking about the situation the way God thinks about it (“man of sorrows, acquainted with grief”[14]), and they have attached the proper emotion. But they, too are blessed, because they will be comforted. Salvation and redemption are at work in the world. God specializes at moving into these places.[15]

“Blessed are the gentle/meek/humble.”  The same word is used in the Greek for bulls who pull a plow or horses that pull a chariot. Or think of the image in Job of the war horse pawing as he waits for his rider before entering the battle. They are the ones who are willing to be harnessed into the service of the Kingdom.  They know that by themselves they are wild and untamed; they know that they need to be controlled, because on their own they will just tear things up. They know that if their life is harnessed in the right cause, they can be strong in the service of something greater than themselves.  They begin to gain a sense of what their life might mean to others.[16] 

The meek, the harnessed, are the ones who are blessed, because the owner of the earth is passing on an inheritance to those who know what it’s like to be stewarded, because they will know how to steward well in turn.   

The first three beatitudes lay a foundation: brokenness, humility, servanthood.  Three requirements for entering into life with God.  There are no shortcuts.  You can’t get around these.  If you are in the Kingdom, but don’t feel as if you are experiencing life in the Kingdom, re-examine this part of your life.

* * * * *

“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.”  This is a worldview shift.  While in sin, people hunger for riches, money, honors, and physical pleasures. They never consider spiritual riches, or may even think they are a waste of time. But the fruit of brokenness, humility, and repentance is the longing for spiritual satisfaction. "Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled."

These hungry folk have understood the problem; they have mourned their condition, and realized the answer was to live a life in submission to God. Their strength has been harnessed in God’s service, but the harder they work, the hungrier they get.  They are not content to just remain as they are.  They want lasting life (hayei olam) over fleeting life (hayei sha’ah).

Now, for the first time, we see people actively seeking for God.  They are glad God pursued them, but they are now pursuing Him as well. They are not content simply to be.  These people are blessed, because God will “reward those who diligently seek him.” When we do as the Psalmist said and “taste and see that the Lord is good,” we do want more.  And what we get is a glimpse of what we will one day ultimately experience.[17]

Jesus’s next category is the first category that specifies righteous action: In one ’s relations with other people — when one reaches beyond oneself toward another — “Blessed are the merciful.”

Being merciful involves understanding the proper use of authority and power.  All that mercy requires is a position of the barest advantage over another, even for the most fleeting of moments.  Whenever the merciful are in a situation where their actions can have an impact, they show mercy.  With power comes responsibility, and the merciful are always thinking about how to pass on the mercy they were shown. They want to be a mirror of God to the world.[18] The merciful are blessed because the mercy that they show to others will be returned to them – perhaps by others, but by God for sure.[19]  

“Blessed are the “pure in heart.”. The pure in heart are blessed, because they not only mirror God’s life, they participate in it. They will catch clearer and clearer glimpses of God’s nature as they participate in His character, and it will increasingly define the primary instincts of their heart and mind. The pure in heart will see God, because the more we get out of the way, the more God gains clarity in our hearts and minds.[20]

“Blessed are the peacemakers,” those whose actions reflect a God who sacrificed himself to make peace with us.  This is a difficult move, because we are not just “peacekeepers.” Peace Makers seek out hostile environments, and they make peace, often at cost to themselves.  We think of it often as what happens in war zones, or in genocidal countries….but it can happen in your house...in this church…. at school, at work, among your friends… It cost Jesus a crucifixion; it will cost us too: 

·      we have to sometimes bite our tongue and sometimes loose it

·      we have to swallow our pride

·      we have to check our emotions

·      we have to give unmerited favor (grace)

·      we have to both do justice and love mercy

·      we have to be broken and spilled out… 

all for the sake of the high calling of bringing God’s peace into places that lack it. The blessed of God’s kingdom mourn the lack of peace and take righteous action to make peace.[21]

 “Blessed are those who have been persecuted for the sake of righteousness….when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me.” In this group, we find those whose desire for righteousness has been translated into action. They are bold; they have to be. This will not be easy. Hardship, discomfort, and persecution may follow. They are dedicated to bringing Truth and Mercy and Peace and Life to everyone.  They are willing to pay the ultimate price for the sake of the Gospel.[22] Their reward in the life to come will be great. 

So that is what it means to participate in hayei olam (eternal life),  makarios (the life of the gods – or specifically, the life of God). Know Jesus – which must result in increasingly becoming like him.

Eternal life starts with living in God's righteous path centered in God's will, making it our highest priority to further God’s interests and kingdom in every way by having eyes that see what Jesus sees, hearts that respond like the heart of Jesus, and hands that do what Jesus would do.

* * * * *

Let’s #practicerighteousness this week. 

1.Look at the Beatitudes carefully and prayerfully, and identify one in which you know you need divine help.

2. Confess this to God – and to at least one other person 

3. Pray for God’s power to be made perfect in your weakness

4. Exercise God’s power (“practice righteousness”) purposefully in this area.

5. Stay in accountability for a season with the person in #2.

 __________________________________________________________________________
[1] HELPS Word Studies

[2] “Everything” is a better translation than “everyone.” So it’s people, but it’s also God-breathed words of revelation: the Law, the Prophets, etc. Note that in John 3:3 translations will use both “born from above” and “born again.” 

[3] John is riffing on himself J (John 3:3-5; 19:34; 20:20, 25–27).

[4] In both the OT and NT important issues were decided with the testimony of two or three witnesses (Deut 17:6; 19:15; John 8:17; 2 Cor 13:1; 1 Tim 5:19; Heb 10:28).The water is probably a reference to his baptism John the Baptist; the Spirit the descending of the Holy Spirit as a dove; “by . . . blood” a reference to his death. 

[5] Matt 19:16, 29; 25:46; Mark 10:17, 30; Luke 10:25; 18:18, 30; John 3:15 -16, 36; 4:14; 5:24, 39; 6:27, 40, 47,  54, 68; 10:28; 12:50; 17:2-3; Acts 13:46, 48; Rom 2:7; 5:21; 6:22f; Gal 6:8; 1 Tim 1:16; 6:12; Titus 1:2; 3:7; 1John 1:2; 2:25; 3:15; 5:11, 13, 20; Jude 1:21.  I don’t know where I got this list. Probably Precept Austin.

[6] Robert W. Yarbrough  says this relates especially to the quality of life in this age, and to both the quality and duration of life in the age to come. (Quoted at preceptaustin.com) Also, “"Eternal (166 /aiṓnios) life operates simultaneously outside of time, inside of time, and beyond time – i.e. what gives time its everlasting meaning for the believer through faith, yet is also time-independent.” (HELPS Word Studies)

[7] Read her excellent book, Walking In The Footsteps Of Rabbi Jesus

[8] https://engediresourcecenter.com/2019/09/24/eternal-life-here-and-now/

[9] The rabbis believed that the study of Scripture one of the most important ways you could partake in hayei olam. Jesus is likely critiquing this when he says, “You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life.” (John 5:39-40)

[10] Paul also spoke about hayei olam in Romans. “We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life… For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to him as instruments of righteousness.” (Romans 6:4, 6-13)

[11] It reminds me of what God’s messenger told Daniel:  “As for you, go your way till the end. You will rest, and then at the end of the days you will rise to receive your allotted inheritance.” (Daniel 12:13)  You got inheritance from your father in those days. Daniel was already a child of God, experiencing the fullness of life as a child of God. There was an inheritance in store, but meanwhile there was life in God’s family.

[12] https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/bed/e/eternal-life-eternality-everlasting-life.html

[13] The opposite is pride. Cursed, or Miserable, are the proud, those who think they are okay, the ones who think they are all put together.   The hardest kids to coach are not the ones who know they are terrible; it is the ones who think they’ve got it all together.  The hardest person to counsel…the hardest novice to train… The Cursed would say, “I admit that I am powerful, and my life will be what I make it.” 

[14] Isaiah 53:3

[15] In contrast, “Miserable are the hardened.”  They know there are problems in them and around them, but they convince themselves that they will be okay, or that’s it’s nothing to be worried about, and they detach the proper emotion from this reality. They distract themselves or drown their emotions or convince themselves simply not to mourn the state of the world. They know the diagnosis, but they hate the cure. 

[16] In contrast are those who are miserable/cursed because they want to remain wild.  They don’t want a constructive or a structured life.  They don’t want authority; they want to do their own thing, follow their own heart, put their strength toward themselves, not bring their lives into submission to others.  They are all about the self. It’s the difference between Sinatra’s “I Did It My Way” and the Lord’s Prayer of “Thy will be done.”

[17] But those who hunger after unrighteousness always want more too.  The difference is that what they are consuming is making them emptier.  They “Taste and see that X is fun, or entertaining, or gets me friends, or distracts me, or numbs me,” and don’t realize it is not good, and that it will never fill them, no matter how much they consume.  They are satisfied with the temporary illusion of fullness. Only one of these options is the life of the blessed. 

[18] In contrast, the miserable/cursed are the merciless, those who take every ounce of power they have and try to turn it into a pound.  Literally, they pound people with power. They are users of others to benefit themselves.  If the merciful think of their responsibility toward others, the miserable think of other people’s responsibility toward them. 

[19] Remember “forgive us our sins, even as we forgive those who sin against us”?

[20] The miserable, then, are devious, the corrupt in heart.  They do not think like God, they do not feel like God, and they wallow in it.  Even if they do good things, it is not because they want to.  It is because they have to, or because they have found a way to blend self-serving acts with what appear to be good deeds. The devious in heart will not see God, because they are so busy seeing themselves.

[21] In contrast are the miserable/cursed, those who disrupt the peace. They have not experienced or don’t understand the mercy or peace God has offered them, so they don’t pass it on. They leave a trail of discord behind them wherever they go.  It’s gossip, unforgiveness, the love of drama, the creation of tension and anger when there was none. Instead of seeking out situations in which to make peace, they move into peace-filled situations and make strife. 

[22] In contrast are the miserable/cursed, those who persecute the righteous. They, too are bold.  They hate the message of Mercy and Peace, because it undermines their lives.  They are glad to make the righteous and even the unrighteous pay, because they hate the message and the messenger.