idols still

The idols of the nations are silver and gold,

the work of human hands.

They have mouths, but do not speak;

they have eyes, but do not see;

they have ears, but do not hear,

nor is there any breath in their mouths.

Those who make them become like them,

so do all who trust in them.

Psalm 135:15-18

You will most resemble what your heart worships. That is the principle plainly presented in this praise song. Idols are all of human manufacture. They are carved with mouths, eyes, and ears. But they are mute, blind, deaf, unreasoning, and unbreathing. And those who worship them end up the same way: spiritually just dead wood, gilded on the outside, but functionless and empty spiritually on the inside. Idol worship is revealed as a big “dead end”… literally.

Israel had a history of falling for this idolatry… starting with the patriarchs and lasting all the way through the monarchies of Israel and Judah. It only ended when God sent pagan nations to take away His people into exile. Only then did they repent while living in a land of idols to worship and serve God. And when God sent them back home after seventy years, the new generations never tolerated overt idolatry again.

And I might be tempted to think that overt idolatry is not a problem I need to worry about. Until I realize that idolatry actually is rooted in an internal heart condition (Ezekiel 14:4-8). And what I worship there can equally turn my loyalties and make me like it. Idols always have this conforming effect on us. They make us like them. We are deceived to think otherwise. 

If comfort is my idol, I will be uncomfortable when challenged with anything that seems harder than I want it to be. If approval is my mini-god, I will be stressed by constant performance for people. If control is what I worship, I will be angry when things don’t go the way I tried to make them happen… and so on. I can usually trace my problems and unease back to a heart idol that is making me blind, deaf, and dumb to God’s grace and love toward me.

“And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true; and we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life. Little children, keep yourselves from idols.” 1 John 5:20-21

To know Jesus is to guard my heart against idols that want to be enshrined there!

1 God, 2 prophets, 3 kings

And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia; and this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.

Ezra 6:14-15

Through the hard work of God’s people, the temple in Jerusalem was rebuilt. God orchestrated this task by using two prophets to keep the spiritual priorities of His people in line. God sovereignly decreed the temple to be rebuilt by moving the hearts of three pagan kings to resource the project. So after seventy years of brokenness and neglect, the temple of the Lord was restored. This was significant. This was the first real sign that the exile was ending. Jews would return home to worship God in His temple again.

I am reminded of how God works. It helps me understand how to pray for my times, in a generation of faith that seems now to be in a kind of antagonistic cultural exile. Christian voices are moving to the margin. But it is not the end. For the Jews to come out of Babylon by the decree of Persia in order to rebuild their live this order of events had to happen: One God spoke through two prophets and moved three kings to fulfill His sovereign plan. Obedience to God’s sovereignty + obedience to His revelation + obedience to divinely moved secular authority = achievement.

Jewish leaders like Ezra and later Nehemiah had to obey the call of God. Returning exiles had to make the first priority the rebuilding of the temple, then move on to prioritize the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls. God brought His prophets to them to encourage, motivate, and even rebuke them about this obedience to His sovereign decree. God moved even the most pagan Persian kings to resource and support this work so that His promise to Israel could still be fulfilled. Nothing will stand in the way of a sovereign God’s decree. And today that decree is to make disciples of Jesus among the nations of this world, teaching them to obey all His commands. Jesus is similarly sovereign so that His will prospers. We must similarly obey. I will trust that God does still work like this!

different

When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations.

Deuteronomy 18:9

God expected Israel to live differently from the way the Canaanites lived. Verses ten and eleven go on to list the occult activities of the Canaanites:

• child sacrifice
• divination
• fortune-telling
• sorcery
• spiritual medium activity
• necromancy
• seances to hear from the dead

All of these were evil spiritual activities that God warned His people to avoid. One reason He was driving out the Canaanites was punishment for giving themselves wholly over to these demonic practices. 

Instead, the Israelites were to be completely different. And God really always expects that sort of commitment from anybody He has delivered. This isn’t a “weird” different, but rather it is a “holy” different. It can be easy to do the first. I know I lived for a while in my youth in a Christian sub-culture that pushed the “weird” different: crew cut, suit-coat jacketed guys and long skirt, long-sleeved young ladies all looking quite different, decades behind in style, from the 1970s and 1980s culture of my teens and twenties. But all those “conformed to Christian sub-culture” kids still had our share of problems because the heart change of “holy” different got confused with the enforced legalism of the “weird” different. For instance, there were illegal drugs available in every Christian school I attended… I knew where to get them had I wanted to do so. There was plenty of other rebellion against the enforced “weird” culture.

It wasn’t until some mature Christians really helped me read scripture on my own and follow Jesus with a personal passion that 1) I grew to understand what true sanctification/growth in faith looked like. It had very little to do with suits, ties, and haircuts. 2) I made my own convictions to reject the evil around me to follow “righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Romans 14:7). And that joy, that surprising real change of heart, was greater than the evil culture and its disillusioning and unsatisfactory lifestyle. It still is.

Carried Along

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

2 Peter 1:21

You spoke to us

through people like us

to bring the truth to us

revealing Yourself among us

as Your Spirit carried them along

And we heard Your Word

You called us to believe Your Word

although we often rejected Your Word

prophets kept right on proclaiming Your Word

as Your Spirit carried them along

Your Word should be precious

we did not let the truth change us

but fought against what You gave to us

so You sent the Living Word: Jesus

and a new gospel was carried along

Jesus spoke words of life

He lived so we could know true life

He died to give eternal life

apostles testified to this great life

with words Your Spirit carried along

So I will trust in the Living Word

I will open, read, and believe Your Word

I will seek to understand all of Your Word

I will let this gospel be my most treasured word

because Your Spirit carried it along

resolving religious tensions

So when they were sent off, they went down to Antioch, and having gathered the congregation together, they delivered the letter. And when they had read it, they rejoiced because of its encouragement.

Acts 15:30-31

The apostles quickly dealt with what was for them the biggest threat to the advance of the gospel. Acts 15 details how this controversy was settled. The rest of the New Testament however shows us the issue would smolder in pockets of the First Century church for years. This issue raised by Jewish believers who had come from the synagogue to trust in Jesus as Messiah: Gentiles who come to Christ must also submit to circumcision in order to truly be redeemed and brought into the Church.

Judaism had a history of welcoming Gentile proselytes into the synagogue community. Two types were allowed: 1) A “righteous proselyte” to Judaism chose to conform to the Law in every respect and adult males were to submit to circumcision. They could become synagogue leaders but were still only allowed access to the Gentile courtyard of the temple.. 2) A “gate proselyte” could be part of a synagogue, but could not enter the temple proper. They were committed to obey aspects of food and moral laws in order to enter the fellowship of the synagogue and circumcision was not required of them.

Some in the early Christian community were demanding that Gentiles who came to Jesus and believed the gospel should also accept the Law of God as a “righteous proselyte”. This was causing divisiveness among Gentile churches. Where the apostles landed in the Jerusalem Council was to acknowledge that Gentiles were saved by faith in the gospel alone, that full commitment to the Jewish Law was not a part of salvation, and that recognition of parts of the “gate proselyte” understanding on the Law would bring unity with their Jewish fellow Christians and unite the Church.

Praise God that the Church can by grace resolve her own disputes under the authority of scripture and leading of the Holy Spirit! May these principles guide us in our own contentious times.

When God does not answer, it’s probably because I have not listened.

“As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the LORD of hosts…

Zechariah 7:13

God has great mercy, but it does have its limits when His people deliberately choose to disobey Him. That’s the message God reminds the exiles to consider. The reason they were still in exile (though at this point in their history it would change soon), was because the nation repeatedly rejected God’s call to repentance that came mercifully through a multitude of messages from a variety of His prophets.

God reminds them through the prophet Zechariah that when they willfully choose not to listen to Him, He is not willing to hear their cries to Him. A consequence of continued disobedience to God’s Word is unanswered prayer. God is not selfish towards us, and He will not allow us to only think of Him when we, in a last resort, offer a half-hearted prayer. We don’t get to pick and choose our faithfulness.

Lord,

There are too many times when this warning to the exiles applies to me. I give lip service to loving You while in my heart I plan and I do exactly what I want in defiance of You. When that ends up disastrous (and it always does), I cry out to You. Knowing what You did with Israel, it should not surprise me if You choose to be silent!

Until I take my repentance to Jesus, turn from my wrong to follow Him again, I am living out of sorts with You. Please Lord, may Your Holy Spirit keep my heart soft so that I quickly repent, trust, and obey You through Christ. Lord, may I be quick to obey what You say in Your Word through the enabling of Your Spirit as You transform every part of me into conformity to Your Son to the glory of God the Father!

Amen

funerals better than birthdays

A good name is better than precious ointment,

and the day of death than the day of birth.

It is better to go to the house of mourning

than to go to the house of feasting,

for this is the end of all mankind,

and the living will lay it to heart.

Ecclesiastes 7:1-2

The past 15 months had had us contemplating death like never before. It has been so hard to see so much of it, to have a worldwide death toll still a feature of our evening news. I have friends who have lost family to Covid-19. Joni and I experienced the loss of our last biological parent one year ago. And I have had to forego in-person funeral attendance (except for two exceptions) at the strong advice of my doctor because of my own health making me highly susceptible to the highest risks of Covid complications. I watched as many live-streamed funerals as I could, and grieved that I could not take the lessons of grieving in person to heart like I believe Ecclesiastes 7 asks us to do. I grieved as I could, and I grieved that I could not grieve as I wanted to. Now at least with vaccination, I can return to being there in this most important time of loss.

When I die, I hope to leave a “good name” — a memory that lingers to the generation left behind me like a sweet fragrance. In that sense, if mine has been a life well lived in Christ, it will be a happier day than my birthday. My birthday probably thrilled my parents and grandparents. My “death day” might impact a much bigger swath of humanity. It gives me perspective to think of what few years I may have left as lived for this purpose: that the gospel and the sweet fragrance of the life of Jesus Christ in me could be the biggest legacy that I can leave.

For now, one of the opportunities to have as this pandemic starts to fade (at least here in America) is to once again grieve and honor the loss of those we love in the comfort of a funeral service. I know it was hard for Joni and I to sit in tears in a near empty church for a private “family only” service for her mother at the height of health precautions. Cards, flowers, online sentiments, phone calls and texts all helped, but just are not quite the same. One year later from that loss, and it still is most comforting to know that her “good name” is pleasantly blowing though our memories at least, even if others did not get to know that. To all who have lost loved ones in Christ this year, take this to heart! Jesus has given us memories of a “good name” and eternal life for those we have lost.