Of Noble Birth

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Golden Calves

Exodus 32 “So all the people took off the ring of gold that are in their ears and brought them to Aaron. And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “these are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the lands of Egypt!” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it. And Aaron made proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to YHWH.” And they rose up early the next day and offered burnt offerings and brought peace offerings. And the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.”

This is how our lives work. We think God takes too long, “When the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain.” They weren’t waiting on Moses, they were waiting on what Moses was bringing, God’s law. His Word. They were waiting on God to speak to them. But He was taking too long.

So we make our own gods, and in full participation, as “all the people took off their rings of gold.” The truth in these times is that we create gods of our liking, gods who will please us, gods who will represent what we want them to represent, gods who do what we do, gods who say what we say, gods who permit what we permit.

And we know what we are doing, because we say, whether with our words or actions, “these are our gods.” This is wrong, though, and we know that these things aren’t the true God, so then someone like Aaron decides that it will be ok if we just call the idol Yahweh. That’s exactly what happens when he says “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the LORD.”

Perhaps Aaron’s intentions in all of this are to turn a situation that he knows is very bad into something that can be good and godly. And for the moment we convince ourselves that our intentions are good, and that good intentions make everything ok. But they don’t. Good intentions on the wrong path don’t last long and the direction you are headed will bear its true nature.

We may be able to start by calling these idols the True God. We may even be able to offer “burnt offerings” and “peace offerings” in a godly manner, but because this is about us, and not about God (even though we pretend it is, trying to fool ourselves, others, and even God) before you know it we are “rising up to play.”

And this isn’t baseball. or football. or poker. Well, maybe strip poker. We try to mix immorality with spirituality and righteousness. That’s what this play is. It’s fun. Sin can be fun. But it’s mockery too. We are having fun at the cost of making a mockery of God and his holiness. God calls this corrupt, and tells it like it really is: “They are not worshipping me, they have ‘worshipped it’ and ‘sacrificed to it’ (verse 8).

Whatever it is. It could be anything. It starts with impatience with God. Perhaps impatience with what he is doing, or frustration with who He is. Misunderstanding God is part of the natural life. God is big and awesome and beyond our fullest comprehension. That doesn’t mean we can’t know God. It means that sometimes we have to sit and wait for that Word. Understanding. As a friend of mine said recently, “waiting on God isn’t doing nothing.”

So next time you find yourself waiting on God, keep your earrings on and avoid making a golden calf. You might just avoid having to drink a gold milkshake (verse 20). Gross.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Personal Statement of Faith: The Refinement of What I believe

I was recently given the advice to begin exploring my spiritual beliefs in such a way as to refine them on paper and really take them to heart. The reason for this is that I will soon be graduating and will need to choose a seminary...I will then one day be hired by a Church (Lord willing) which will no doubt be very concerned with the detail of what I believe. Thus was prompted by the question,
"Do you know what you believe?"
To which I said,
"yes, on most matters."
I was then asked,
"Do you know why you believe what you do?"
I could say,
"yes, for the most part."
Yet further I was challenged,
"could you communicate these things in an instant?"
In other words, can I "give an answer to every man that asks you for the reason of the hope that is within you” (1 Peter 3:15). I am going to take this as a personal challenge over the next months (or however long it takes) to work through my beliefs, some theological and some social, and try to report exactly what I believe and why. The topics will include: God (Father, Son & Holy Spirit), Jesus, the Bible, Salvation & Life after death, and certain social standards or "hot topics" possibly including alcohol and sexuality. Don't consider all of those listings to be one post. I may also decide to explore more areas, but those are some basics. The "why" will first be biblical, because as I am sure I will discuss I believe the Bible. For now that is a presupposition, but in a future post I will try to answer the "why" even to that. Other reasons “why” could be scientific, observational, historical, philosophical, etc... but not after first wrestling with Scripture. Apologetics, that is a study of reasonable defense, is very important, but I consider it secondary after I conclude that the Bible, in its proper context, is both reliable and authoritative for my spiritual beliefs.
As you may well know, when I blog it is typically about books I have read, or wisdom I have learned as a college student, Barista, and through ministry and the study of the Word. To separate all of these things, Personal Faith will be the heading for all of my posts in line with this subject.
Let me first challenge you (and really myself): is your faith personal? We talk about 'personal faith' or 'personal beliefs'...as in "It's mine!" Well, Christian, is it? What about you, believer in something? Do you know what you believe? Do you know why you believe it? Do you know what that even means? This is my personal answer to 1 Peter 3:15.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

I can't help but believe!

So I know I am terrible at blogging. But let's be honest, I don't have a lot of time and computer addictions are real. But that is besides the point. I have a simple personal story of God's provision... even in 'trivial' matters. I lost my very expensive polarized sunglasses about a week ago. After a few days of looking in the common and obvious places and not finding them I gave up and quickly forgot about them. Someone didn't: My girlfriend's mom. She is a faithful friend of God and her prayer life shows it. I have seen so many times how the things she prays for get answered. Vigilant Prayer Warrior! Well, to continue on this story, I was at work last night, and having a pretty rotten night to say the least but amidst that I randomly found my sunglasses in a very obscure place. I texted Molly, my girlfriend right then. She was excited because she and her mom had JUST prayed that I would find them.

It's simple. But it's real. Prayer: I can't help but believe.

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

ASoRoRPR: Crazy Love

Crazy Love by Francis Chan.

What is your Christian life?

Too many Christians try to water down Christianity. Post-Modernism greatly threatens our faith as many "emergent" Pastors from post-modern, "emerging" churches question and forsake the authority of God and the inspiration of the Bible for a viewpoint that holds Truth (capital 't') as only relative "truth" (lower case 't'). Do all roads lead to God? "There is no other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved." And yet, Christian pastors forsake Jesus for an "open conversation" about God where "personal interpretation" is everything. This sounds good, but it is dangerous. (let me just say, I am not against open conversation about religion, and I certainly believe that narrow-or closed-mindedness never got anyone anywhere, BUT I also believe in capital 't' Truth)... Anyway I digress because I say all of that to say that Francis Chan is NOT one of those Pastors/Writers/Speakers.

Chan presents a strong message in a Gospel that changes lives, assuredly through Jesus, and a Love that only could come from God. Some preachers use the Love of God in such a wrong way, as they use it as an excuse for sin, an abandonment of strong doctrine, or support for a prosperity gospel, which promises you "Your best life NOW" (something Jesus did not teach... he taught something different. "take up your cross and follow me,""Go, sell all that you have and follow me," "all who live a godly will be persecuted." (Matt. 16:24, Luke 18:22, 2 timothy 3:12)) Chan, however, teaches that God's love has the power to change us, allowing us to be Godly, abandoning our sin, our lukewarm tendencies, and becoming a real deed-proven Christ-follower. This isn't too different from MacArthur's Lordship Salvation (which says your obedient submissive works prove your salvation), but Chan presents it in a way that is more real to the current generation which is faced with uncertainty and the threat of relativity.

The book is interactive with direction to video's and presentations online that are used to get the reader's attention and strongly emphasize a point, often WOWing you about God and about the truth of the message.

The most convicitng aspect to me was Chan's outlook on being a Lukewarm Christian. Can one be Lukewarm (that is neither Hot nor Cold) and still be a child of God? I work in a local starbucks. We sell hot fresh brewed coffee cup after cup after cup. We also sell delicious and refreshing iced brewed coffee; during the summer its the treat that cools you off and keeps you going. Now imagine coming to my Starbucks and you buy a hot fresh cup of brewed coffee. That's what you expect to get, but instead I give you a room temperature cup of coffee that has been standing by itself for over an hour. And what the heck, let's add coffee grinds at the bottom. HOW SICK! I have seen customers spit a drink right out of there mouths when this happens (not on purpose). What other response is there? Just thinking about it makes me want to vomit! I wanted HOT fresh brewed coffee. Iced coffee would have suited me fine. But THIS DISGUSTING room temperature, NOT HOT, NOT COLD coffee is sick. "So, because YOU are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew you out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:16).

Chan's profile of the Lukewarm is so convicting as he lays out the solid truth that we cannot be undecided about serving God or the world. Thankfully, he also provides positive upward encouragement to drag us from lukewarmness to HOT.

Check out this book. It will surely challenge your faith and build you up during the trials of your life and our Age.