Grace

I was raised to be aware that God is not bothered by our behavior.

I attended Grace College in Indiana and further refined my belief that God is gracious in abundance.

For the last five years my family and I have attended a church pastored by a teacher that makes sure we know the clarity of God's teaching about his grace in the Bible.

All this life experience has made me more aware of the Holy Spirit's direct teaching to me about grace, basically in the form of : 1. an event happens 2. God is right with me to say "See?! I am with you."

Eat up.

Merry Christmas.

AK

John Lennon and Santa are both wrong

John Lennon's Happy Christmas song begins with the line,
and so this is Christmas,
and what have you done?

Mr. Lennon must not have actually studied the words of the Jesus that he claimed (perhaps correctly in a social-consciousness sense) to be bigger than. We aren't supposed to be doing anything, for Santa or for John.

AK

Onward, and I 'll see you there

There are two ways of getting anything.

1. Do it yourself
2. Wait for someone to do it

God wants us to select plan #2.

What do we do our time, you ask?
What do you WANT to do with your time, I respond?

A person of God will not truly want to do anything contradictory to God, and frankly God has promised to stay with us NO MATTER WHAT WE DO. Yes, I am yelling to clarify that I believe God when he promises to keep us next to him forever once we are his. Our life isn't going to always be sinless, but it will be sin free. We may do things that contradict ("speak against") the new life God has given us, but that doesn't mean that God is ready and eager to strip that new life away from us at the first failure. If that were true, we would be saved for only about 4 seconds at a time, since that is about how long I go between spiritual clarity about God and doubt.

So, don't be clueless. When you were born, God made your 2 trillion cells for not just one purpose, but for a nearly limitless list of purposes. Our life before the Holy Spirit living in us was controlled by each of those cells' desire to be king of the universe. Our new life with the Holy Spirit gives us a power greater than ourselves to tell each of our cells that there is another plan afoot. The mighty ascetics of the world may attempt to for a moment deny themselves. It can't be done. If you think you have examples, you don't believe God when he says that "there is none worthy, NO NOT ONE."

Our life is hid in Christ forever. That is how free we are. It is if our life is not even any longer inside us (Ephesians 2:6). So our body is stuck here for some inexplicable reason (so God can actually live inside us) that must be in some real sense a true picture of Heaven. Maybe in some ways it is even better than heaven, since this is probably the closest we will be to God while in this broken vessel of human flesh.

Cheers for Christmas!

AK

Purpose Driven Life

Note to reader: I have not read anything by Rick Warren, even though I am about to comment on his work. I have gained knowledge of his ideas via third parties that in fact have read his work. I consider this just as valid (at least for my purposes here of general critique) as watching the news about China and then speaking about it, even though I haven't actually been to China either.

Rick Warren has successfully summarized the whole of Western Christianity, and that is why his books have been so wildly successful. (His book sales rival Stephen King's in the 1980's). He places man at the center of his own destiny, which most church-goers have been taught since the Scopes Monkey Trial. For Warren, man's plight is his own subjugation, by his own will. Worship God, disciple others for Christ, and the traditional litany (here, litany = empty ritual) of human responses to God's gift of eternal life.

Warren, and the modern church by extension, work primary in direct opposition to God's explicitly defined plan for our lives. The purpose driven life for Warren is one of duty and action which brings honor to God. This is right out of the Crusades, and it can probably be assumed that President Bush was delighted with the PDL ideas as he has moved to conquer Babylon (modern day Iraq).

In Romans, Galatians, Hebrews, and Titus, Paul explains that God's work indeed took the place of our work. Christ on the cross ended his human life with "It is finished". Christ ended his and our work. He ended our reliance on formulas (like OT law and Rick Warren's writings) in order to be worthy before God. Christ sits at the right hand of the Father. We are to emulate Christ now, not necessarily Christ's action when he was here on earth. We are to sit. The Holy Spirit is the actor in our lives now.

We can elect to start running around and doing things for God, but God has told us to simply stand, abide, rest, and end our own work. A friend described it this way: we are probably doing God's work when we do that which we would otherwise simply not have thought to do on our own. There is no formula for letting God though the Holy Spirit work though us. It will look differently for everyone. The experience will largely be ethereal and difficult to describe later. Most of God's work will not submit to the 5 convenient categories Rick Warren puts forward. It will, however, be easy to say to others that God did this or God did that. We know what we are capable of, and when we go beyond that , it is God.

Warren want us get control of our lives, but God actually wants that job.

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Enjoy, but only if you want to!

AK

Q & A

Does God bring difficulties into our lives?

No, life just sucks on its own. God's love is the only thing that keeps anything good in our field of vision. And I do mean anything. And yes, I know that it is wrong to start a sentence with "and". (Improper grammar isn't from God either. )

Supreme Court Nominees, or God?

The recent developments in the nominations to the Supreme Court have many people foaming at the mouth. Their spin on the changes is that "the next thirty years are at stake".

Is our life really determined by such externalities?

If we define our life in human physical terms, then, yes, governance and the economy have an impact on that. God does know that our vision of ourselves can easily be controlled by our bank balance, physical health and how others rule each other. At that level, the nomination of Judge Alito is of some significance.

Still and all, nothing justifies sacrificing higher principles remembering that God is holding on to us no matter our circumstances or our response to them. God shows his love for us on a personal level, and to focus on the governmental is to miss the depth of the individual and personal relationship that God is eager for us to experience.

I really don't think it matters if we weigh in on Judge Alito or not. If asked, I know that both freedom (economic and personal) and strong law enforcement consistently make our life here better. Orgasmic celebration is not called for on such items, any more than the approval of the communistic Ruth Bader Ginsberg should have called for nashing of teeth. Compared to our relationship with God, the Supreme Court doesn't measure up.

Do I care if Alito is approved? Sure. How will it influence my life? Probably much less than I can imagine today.

Why do we have God's spirit?

We have God's spirit so that we will see his love through a relationship with him. We do not have God's spirit to give us power to do stuff. God's simply knows that we reaaaaaalllly want to understand life around us, and in particular, that we do have a reasonable hope since God is caring for us. God's spirit in us is for us, not for others. Remember, God is the agent at work for good, not us.

OT Law was crucified with Christ

Galatians 3:3
After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort?

There is nothing more clear than the intent of Paul's sentence above. Paul is suggesting it is missing the mark completely to attempt to attain things in the flesh, since our very new-life began not by anything that we did. Our efforts were of some minor value prior to the crucifiction: namely, they should us that we ourselves were helpless to actually do good.

The modern Christian church usually teaches that we are to combine the best of human effort with God's power. Paul teaches a complete elimination of the human effort component. So, to work on human effort so as to do God's work, in some way, is simply wrong. Christ is the only agent that is capable of any good, which can be worked through us. Our job isn't even to get out of the way so that God can work, since that would also be a job that we would have, and we don't have jobs, God does it all. He did all the saving when we came to Christ and the passage above reminds the Galatians and us today that Christ is still the agent in complete charge.

Metaphors are personal

There are possibly a few metaphors that everyone can understand because they have an experience that gives the metaphor a feeling in them. God knows our feelings much better than anyone else knows us, so He can use our feelings to show His love and caring for us through the things we experience.

Anything Can Happen

Jackson Browne has a song called Anything Can Happen. I don't know if he is a believer, but I would assume not. But lack of God in a person's life doesn't mean that they can't accidentally (and without even knowing) stumble on to a truth God has left for us to discover. The first two lines of Anything Can Happen are just such a truth:

Time will come when we know what happened here
Change will come in time and make it clear

Our whole life, and for all eternity, we have been, are and will be finding out what happened at salvation. But Jackson was only mostly right since change has already come. The making clear part is true, but we are forever God's. We were already changed in an instant. As in Jeremiah, "I will blot out their sin in a single day." Our sins were removed in a single day. We were changed in a single day. And now, slowly and with God's gracious handling, what the change means is being made clear.

Out here in the Fields

The Who have a song that talks about working hard, not on principle, but just because it is required in life. The song begins "Out here in the fields, I fight for my meals, I put my back into my living". Well, well, well. It sounds like most evangelical churches have been secretly listening to The Who for guidance.

Do, pray, deprive self, work, pay attention, study, exercise, save (deprive self again) oh, and . . . the magic word that opens all heavenly doors ... give. Give to others, give to God (the church acts sort of as a sales agent for God, so they can take your donations to God), give to your family, give at work, give while at play. Second message: since you will be doing a lot of giving, get a high paying job.

But God's message is "as you came to Me, so live." Well, I came to God with nothing to offer Him. He saved me, not the reverse. His love sustains me. His grace allowed my error before God saving me and His grace does the same thing now. God's message is stand, wait, abide. I will as if I still have nothing to offer Him, since I don't. No wonder God wants to work via the Holy Spirit through us: it is the only way anything of value could possibly get done. God loves us for who we are and not for what we do (Sorry, Batman).

While we're "out here in the fields", it is God's job to do the work. So what is your next big step in life? Don't ask me, but I do know this: Christian can't fall from being the apple of God's eye. So go ahead, work hard for God. Or not. Only you and God know what God's love looks like to you. THAT is how big God is: He is that small.

Money

So, does hard work yield rewards or are people fated to monetary status that comes their way?

Hard work is good. But it will only yield results on the physical plane. Spiritual work is just holding fast to God's grace. Most people think that since hard work in the physical world does somewhat correlate with more money in return, then working spiritually must bring God's favor. However, the rules are different.

Our bodies may, can, will and do suffer. Our bank account may empty well before the end of the month. These bad outcomes can be from lack of preparation, laziness, working in the wrong way or any number of screw ups. God may on occasion intervene in such times, but only to show His love. If nothing is changing, if nothing is going wrong, is nothing is really getting better, God is still there with a candle showing us that He cares for us even in the sameness of our lives. But we tend to not see God's love in the sameness. We see it much more easily when there is a dynamic situation: be it a hurricane or the birth of a healthy child.

God only cares about our finances because in His love He knows that we tend to care A LOT about our finances, so as any good friend, our interest becomes His interest. And He intervenes, but in love. Not to solve any problem other than our own distress pulling our eyes off of His love for us.

My Dog and Fireworks

Our small, nervous dog starts shaking in panic at the first sound of loud acoustic blasts such as fireworks. Along with shaking from tensed, stressed muscles, he hides. Nothing we do can convince him that there really is no danger, just the shadow of danger.

The same thing happened once, but in reverse. The Christian Jews in the early Jerusalem church could not believe that the laws that they lived their life by were just a shadow of the reality of God's sending of His spirit to live with believers. Instead of laws on tablets, God is now able to write the laws on our hearts. And even more distant from the early shadow, God said that now

• your sins are removed (not covered temporarily as the Jews were always taught)
• I (God) will personally explain every law to you, my child
• even more amazingly, the message God has for one believer may be different or even the opposite message for another believer! That is pretty far from my concept of a hard and fast law. But that is God's concept. So how does a person discern the truth in life around them? Let God explain it.

Our dog only has a shadow of fear from loud noises, but in contrast we have complete peace with God in the face of anything in life. Are there still tears? Sure. But unlike our canine's reality, God is there with us, explaining every tear, understanding our weakness, abiding with us without end.

Just let the idol worshippers in?

The morning service clarified the problem that the early church in Jerusalem had with Paul's message that the law had fully and completely ended meaning gentiles came to God apart from the law and ALSO were to live apart from the former law (Old testament law).

The christian jews in Isreal had been taught since birth that idol worship had been the central cause of all their people's problem for the past 1500. Every time the Isrealites turned to idols, God's shield of protection was lifted and in swept a power that overcame them and turned them into slaves. So when Paul suggests that new gentile christians, many idol worshippers amoung them, were not to be kicked out of the group for continueing in idol worship, the Christian jews were beside themselves. They simply couldn't see that God's "deal" with them had changed to one of complete grace. They held to the idea that certain behaviors had to be stopped or God wouldn't be there for them.

Paul saw beyond their argument and stated that NO sin kept someone from God, but for the sin of unbelief. God's new shedding of grace meant that even idol worshippers were fully loved and cared for and protected by God's loving hand. On this point, Paul stood alone. Perhaps John saw some truth in what he said, but Paul was alone. Though probably the few idol worshipping Christians that heard what he said were rather comforted.

Just let the idol worshippers in?
Yes. Teach and live truth - God's grace, not more law. The early church couldn't trust God to work in these idol worshipper's lives. Paul says that it is in fact only God that can change their behaviors from the inside out, not by other believers using social cohersion to convince them to stop "or be shunned".

Idol worship is sin, of course (reference=many places in the Bible). Also sin:

1. to be smoking when God tells you not too
2. having a small house when God has told you to buy a mansion
3. running two miles when you are called to run 2.1 miles
4. not eating ice cream when God has told you it is ok

Just let the idol worshippers in?

Yes.

Fear not error

Errors are not to be feared. I find it too easy to fear risks in life. I fear this mainly because I will feel guilty about making mistakes. This is not from God. Under grace our mistakes have no bearing on anything that really matters.

Sure, earthly error can bread earthly negative consequences. But God is caring for us even when we sin, go wrong, don't listen to God's voice (use your own description if you'd like). Remember, punishment is no more for those of us in Christ.

Our dog is on to something.
Perfect?
no
Does it matter?
no

Grace then Law now Grace

Though God's dealing with people have always been describable as "through grace", the period of the law is special. The giving of the ten commandments ushered in a unique time in which there were very negative consequences for not obeying God.

Before that, even during the 10 plagues RIGHT before the exodus and the giving of the ten commandments, God looked the other way when His people didn't trust Him. During the period under the law, from the 10 commandments to Christ on the cross proclaiming "It is finished" (the law is finished), God many times dealt very harshly with His people. In Abraham's and Job's time, (even Noah sleeping with his own daughter!) God forgave and more so. That is the agreement God has established with us today. The law has come and gone: Paul describes the law as "powerless" to make us holy. Christ has already made us holy.

We can never be more or less holy than right now. That is why we reminded to just "rest, stand, wait on God" and a host of other very passive statements. There are many statements of aggressiveness, but they relate to holding fast to our resting.

When we are told to not be unequally yoked, central to that idea, and the part that we share most with our daughters is that if one person sees that God has finished the work (which He has, at the cross) and your boyfriend doesn't believe that the law is finished, you will forever be frustrated and held back from the "more" that God has for you just so you can be with your future spouse emotionally and spiritually.

Live free in God's grace. It is the best and only real testimony we have. Our strongest guard is not to be at battle with ourselves to conquer whatever bad habit we may have. Our strongest guard should be against anyone who might strip away the freedom from condemnation before God we feel as we live in God's grace.

God's Grace is Free and Personal

Unlike capitalism, where nothing is truly free, God's grace is free. It is also abundant.

God's grace is also precise, personal. My needs are not those of another person, and God supplies everything that I need, not someone else.

What Gray Davis needed in 2003 was sanity. I have always had that in excess, so God didn't need to supply me with more of what I already had.

Does food deserve to be blessed before we eat it?

The protestant christian world is quite used to prayer before main meal consumption. This is not necessarily a useless ritual, but it probably is. Any moment is appropriate for a comment of our thanks to God for His intervention in our lives, but if the prayer attempts to invoke or request God's special care for our food so that we don't die from its potential toxins, then the prayer is misguided.

ALL of our prayers are thanksgiving. I suppose that the feeble human spirit will also occasionally express to God anguish for earthly events. However, requests for God's specific action deny many things that God has already said He would do, or has already done. God knows what needs His intervention, and we can rely on His word above all else. Sometimes I think we have more faith in the electric company than in God to act.

The presence of food in the kitchen already strongly suggests that God has already blessed His children.

Those who feel the need to ask for another "blessing" on the food so that it will take on magical powers and "be used" in those who eat it can remember that christians already have every blessing God ever could give us in the gift of the abiding presence of the Holy Spirit.

Was Lemony Snicket right?

Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is a book series in which the three orphaned children protagonists are constantly on the verge of destruction by nature and especially their distant relative Count Orlaf. The local government has entrusted the children to the Count's care, most of the time. The series author is open about he own difficult childhood and wanted to write stories that didn't end like a 1970's sitcom with smiles and everyone having a pillow fight in joy.

Still, there is an amazing expression of God's grace in the stories. Just at the point at which the children are doomed a small ray a change prevents serious calamity. In a way that can feel very true-to-life, the children are buffeted on all sides, yet not broken. Paul's recounting (to clarify the legitimacy of his message of grace and the end of the law that Christ spoke on the cross - IT IS FINISHED) of his own near-death encounters:

2 Corinthians 11:23-27 (Darby Translation)

Darby Translation (DARBY)

²³Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as being beside myself) *I* above measure [so]; in labours exceedingly abundant, in stripes to excess, in prisons exceedingly abundant, in deaths oft.

²⁴From the Jews five times have I received forty [stripes], save one.

²⁵Thrice have I been scourged, once I have been stoned, three times I have suffered shipwreck, a night and day I passed in the deep:

²⁶in journeyings often, in perils of rivers, in perils of robbers, in perils from [my own] race, in perils from [the] nations, in perils in [the] city, in perils in [the] desert, in perils on [the] sea, in perils among false brethren;

²⁷in labour and toil, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

Given the well-known terrible behavior of Paul prior to his being saved and God's grace invading his life, it was evident to all those at Corinth reading the above passage that Paul had done nothing to deserve the ongoing rescue from his own "series of unfortunate events". And for the "ultraists", please note a couple of things:

1. Not one of the the above calamities does Paul attribute to Satan. Life is way bad enough on its own. But God preserved him.
2. Paul does not suggest that he is especially the best person to carry God's truth (he says just the opposite is true). Paul does not speak of "doing God's work". Just a statement is exactly the opposite of what Paul says. The message is almost that in this hurricane of life in which we find ourselves, God sustains and "LOOK! God is doing good things too, even in spite of me!"
   

The children in Lemony Snicket are held from harm by seeming accidental help. So the analogy with them and God's grace must end. Paul was sustained by God. We are sustained by God. Not to fend off Satan (We are Christ's children). Not so that we will have one more healthy week so we can do such and such thing so that God's message will get through (Sorry folks, God doesn't really need us).

No. We are cared for by God because He loves us. Suffering is not right. It is not pleasant. It can lead a person to distrust and reject EVERYTHING he/she previously held true. God made us and He knows that about us. That is why He settled the nature of our relationship once forever at the cross.

Thanks to Lemony for a glimpse at God.

Life without rules?

Living with God's grace in one's life as the controlling force is much superior socially. Social rules here on earth exist to help people manage relationships when interests conflict. With grace, a person understands that God is taking care of them even when they aren't perfect, and even when they don't get their way when in conflict with others.

So, the rule is God writes the rule on your heart, and shows God's love for you in it's application in all situations.

These no longer apply

With the Holy Spirit in our lives, the following do not apply:
tithing.
Water baptism.
Going to Church.
Asking for forgiveness from God.


More later.

How churches get by financially

Most Christian churches imply financial obligation on the part of the member/attenders. Some churches/ministries directly ask for money. And not like Pepsi does. Advertising in the corporate world is a cultural menace, but at least it is honest. Their message is "Buy out product because we want to be rich and look. . . it tastes really good." Kind of a win-win.

Churches ask for money (Generally a percentage of total income that should make the almond growers' "a can a week" request look very small) with very little in return. Some Christians "sense" that there is a social obligation to support the educational aspects of the church programs. Some live with the message that God follows our lead: if a person gives, God will give; if a person buys a nice tv instead, God/life will let it break the day after the warranty runs out.

God has said that He will work out our lives. Either He is taking care of us, or He isn't. I believe that He is taking care of us, irrespective of what I do or who we are. Feel free to consider all the scripture references that come to mind about God rejecting us, or spitting us out of his mouth, or our working out of out our own salvation. If you read them as God spurning you, I believe you are mistaken. I do not think that the last few decades, perhaps back to the third great awakening of the 1880's here in America, Christians have really believed that God taking care of them unless they were "really good". Thus the message that if someone is wealthy, God must want it that way. Get a clue: God doesn't care if we are wealthy, ugly, blind, native american, or if we speak tagalog.

Churches will be fine even if they stop asking for money. By churches, I don't mean corporate-like entities. I mean Christians. They may need to re-think their lives, but God is the active agent, not we ourselves.

Where is my sense of Responsiblity?

If God is living through me, then I should never sense nervousness or guilt (or shame from the past) about what I should or need to do. My sense of responsibility was taken away at the moment of salvation when God said, "Now it is my turn."

Ephesians 2:6 "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,"

First, notice, we are sitting down. Other of Paul's writings say we should stand. To me, these are similarly passive positions.

Second, if the core of who we really are is already in heaven, then what big change should we expect when we are fully moved there? I don't think we will be surprised, except by the intensity of the joy (C.S. Lewis( Link to Amazon)). This life is a shadow of things to come, just as life in the Old Covenant (up to Pentecost) was a shadow of what was to come now that the Holy Spirit abides in us. I am quite sure of several things that will NOT be a part of the heaven experience ever:

Rememberance of our sin here on Earth (link)
Crying, any at all (link)
Condemnation for anything we have ever done (link)

Finally, if the core of who we really are is seated in Heaven, then Satan can't touch us.

Let go, Let God.

There Are No Principles in Salvation

Modern Christianity has been trying to master the "principles" of proper Christian living. Paul's writing in the New Testament suggests that such a pursuit is not only not necessary, but is in fact counter-productive. For Paul (and by extension the post-pentecost Christian church), principles for living worked well when Christ did not live through us. Principles were a nice shadow of Christ. Principles gave guidance in decisionmaking. Now Christ lives through us and doesn't see our sin when we don't let Christ live through us while we try to live by "principles".

This is a big topic for me right now. I am frankly beyond the Christian acts that I grew up with: baptism (shadow of being completely bathed in Christ 24/7), titheing (I think God is big enough to take care of the Church light bill-maybe even through me, if I see joy in such giving), etc. But what is more difficult for me is that God isn't interested in my reliance of general principles, Old Testament, Hammurabi's code, Roman Law, or the Quran. He wants to BE the principle to which I look every second of the day. Every other principle for living is secondary.

Practical applications? Life is very personal, and lacks overarching principles that easily apply to all people. In essence, ethics, morals and other principles for living are fixed and too inflexible for life. The only true principle is that God doesn't change, and our life right now is to see Him express his love for us as we go through life.

Three Examples
ok, a big one.

1. Abortion.

First, just like any other part of life, if I am not letting God live through me, THAT is the sin, not the abortion as such. Is it possible to make a bad earthly decision? Of course, but the concequences are only here on earth, and nothing we do can deter His love for us. We can fall into too much principle/legalism and not realize God's moments of caring, but the truth stands that we already have (and can't ever lose) every blessing God had for us. Is abortion always a bad decision? Well, that is a principle question and God wants to live through people to answer these questions individually, so I can't say if it is always bad or not.

2. Best Governmental system

Modernists assume republican democracy is the best governmental structure, and that all others are inferior. God, when the people of Isreal wanted a government like the other people of the world, didn't institute democracy. He gave them a despot. The monarchy lasted through exactly 3 rulers: Saul, David and Solomon. (Interesting that many Christians enjoy following certain Old Testament lifestyle guidelines, but no one is talking about asking for a Monarchy here in the States. Maybe Idi Amin was right - just kidding!!)

Where does that leave us on the governance question? God tells individuals how best to live every second in the world around them. The principle of governmental forms is not all that significant. It isn't immaterial, is just pales compared with the much bigger issue of Christ's living through us or not.

3. Slavery.

I believe that in "Principle" slavery is more bad than good. Realize that my biggest concern with slavery is the lack of recourse for an abused Slave, and not the concept of "Slavery" as such. Concepts don't harm people, individuals and circumstances do. Paul never spoke against slavery. Does that mean he was for it? No, it means that a Christian slave can still have her/his life completely worked out by Christ. A Christian slave does not need the institution of slavery to change for his/her joy to increase. Joy comes from seeing Christ work in our lives. I dare say that EVERY life has difficulties which give Christ opportunity to speak to us by His working out of our lives. Every life can be joyful in Christ.