Led by the Spirit

 I heard a quote of this today and it sparked a realization.

So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law.

 Galatians 5:16-18

Paul has been writing about the laws Jews were required to follow.  Some Jews who had converted to Christianity thought the laws should be carried over and enforced upon the Gentiles (non-Jews) Christians as well.  After conferring with the apostles in Jerusalem, a consensus is reached that the old rules and regulations of Jewish tradition were not to be enforced upon the Gentiles, nor required by former Jews.

Paul delivers this message to the churches he travels to and explains it in part of this letter.  The sentence I made bold is what caught my ear.  It is the reason we are not subjected to religious law; mainly that we have the Spirit.  The law was given to be a guide to righteousness.  Part of the Spirit's work in us is to do the same only on a more intimate level.  If we are led by the Spirit, we will have no need for the law because the Spirit will lead us to live in accordance with God's Will.

We can be sure of this because the Spirit wants what is contrary to the sinful nature; that is, what is contrary to God's Will.  The Spirit of God will never lead us to do anything other than that which is in agreement with God's Will.  It can even go beyond the law to guide us in ways the law does not.  The law does not offer suggestions whether to let my friend who has lost a loved one simply cry on my shoulder without speaking or if I should offer empathy and encouragement.  Both are good but one may be better for my friend at that moment.  The law gives no guidance but the Spirit can.

In that case, I am able to better serve and comfort my friend because the Spirit is able to move and offer advice in narrower circumstances than the law which is broad and general.

tl;dr : When we are led by the Spirit, we are not lead into sin but into Godlier living.  The Spirit is able to do this with greater clarity than the law.  Following the Spirit will not only end up obeying the law but surpassing it in the end.

A Lesson in Product Testing

We did some software testing at work last week and had about 25 people testing a couple of our products. The first was one that only a handful of people had worked on ever and it was obvious who they were. Many people were having difficulty setting everything up and it was those few who would come in, figure out what they were doing wrong, and show them the right thing to do. The creators of the software had a much better understanding of how it worked and knew what it needed to work well. The other people made their est attempt at it but often got it wrong.

This reminds me of us, God, and life. God made us and knows how we work. Much like the software, he designed us to work in a certain way. We, like the naive users, try all sorts of things that make sense to us but are not correct. We live life not as it was intended and we get results that are less than expected. God comes in and says "This is how to do it." Sometimes we dn't listen to Him or don't believe Him. It's like one of those users who was having a problem telling the expert they didn't want to fix it that way and so went on with malfunctioning software. Oddly enough, that didn't happen even once in our testing.

God designed us to work best under certain conditions and in certain ways. Matthew 5-7 lays out a pretty good manual for life. He's not trying to enforce some arbitrary rules, he's telling us how to get the most out of life. Rules aren't meant to restrict but to protect us from losing out on better things. We don't have law against using cocaine because we don't want people to feel good, we have those laws to keep people from killing themselves, being hospitalized, losing touch with reality, or destroying brain cells. You need those things to live and laugh and love, heck, even to drive a car. God's ways don't limit us, they unlock our full potential to experience all the things we were designed for. Jesus even says he will give us life to the full if we come to him.

Sometimes people make me sad

not disappointed but sad and empathetic.

A guy I used to work with set his facebook status to "I'm in love. Waiting to get a new phone because I've got to have this one." I read the first sentence and though "that's neat;" then I read the second, not so neat anymore. This guy is in his late 20s and single. He's very active in his hobbies and pretty "happy." Any observer would think he's got all he wants. My first thought to the plot twist in his status was "He could gain a lot by being married." It seems to me like that's a huge chunk of life experience that's lacking from his life. I also thought "He's really missing out" meaning he's missing out on some of the best things in life by not being married.

Obviously(?) marriage provides a faithful companion. Someone there no matter what, in any weather, at any time. A consistency in life that is only trumped by God's. It provides a way of giving up ourself for someone else. We learn how to watch out for #2 instead of #1. We learn that love (not being "in love") has to work on the honeymoon and a lot more in the years to come. We learn consistency, faithfulness, service, perseverance, responsibility, communication, how to turn feelings into action. In short, we mature. All these things make we are made more like Christ.

All these seem obvious to me (maybe because I want them?) but he is probably completely unaware that marriage would benefit him. In fact, he probably views it the exact opposite, that it would be a burden, not a pleasure.

I then started thinking about what society means by being "in love" and how it can even be associated with inanimate objects like a phone. I can't help but wonder, is this "love" that people have for things (phones, buffalo wings, the cowboys) the same love they associate with people and, more specifically, marriage. What a sad thing to be able to say "I love you" to a phone and a person and actually mean the same thing. Some people treat their marriages like electronics though. "I love my iPhone 3G while it's the coolest thing out; oh but wait, the 3GS is newer and faster and better, I'm ditching my 3G and upgrading!"

I realized that my thought "He's really missing out" might be way off. If society looks at love and marriage like phone shopping, he, and his potential spouse, are better off not married. Marriage that way is no more than a business contract. An agreement that I'll stick with you while it benefits me (tax credits, cheaper living, status) but if I find something that suits me better down the line the deals off. I would argue that that isn't good business practice but it's a even worse basis for marriage.

It makes me sad the way people view and treat some things. Love and marriage, both essential to a stable society and longingly sought after by our society (we have a million love movies and they don't end with people single) are two of the things we get the most wrong. These two things, beautiful in themselves and made more beautiful by what they teach us about God and how they make us more like Jesus, are missed by so many people who long for them. God says if we seek we will find and if we ask we will receive. Society is asking all the wrong people and looking in all the wrong places. God knows both to their full potential, and designed us to experience them, society just doesn't want to ask Him about them. It's like walking around a ranch with a cookie, asking everyone but the cow for a glass of milk.

A Guide for Men

Things to think about when looking for a wife

He who finds a wife finds what is good and receives favor from the LORD.

Proverbs 18:22

Start with yourself:

Are you a Godly man worthy of a Godly woman? (1 Timothy 3:1-10, Titus 1:6-9)

Are you capable of loving her like Christ loves the church? (Mark 10:45, 12:31, John 15:13, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, 1 Peter 3:7, Ephesians 5:25-33)

Am I growing more like Christ? (Romans 12:1-8,9-13, Galatians 5:16-26)

In her:

Is she a believer? (2 Corinthians 6:14)

Is she biblically qualifed to be your wife? (Mark 10:11-12, 1 Timothy 3:11, Titus 2:3-5, 1 Peter 3:1-6, Ephesians 5:22-24)

Does she exhibit Godly wisdom and characteristics for a wife?

Wise with money - Proverbs 31:16, 18

Hard worker - Proverbs 13:4, 31:17

Lives an upright life - Psalm 1, Proverbs 13:6,20

Encouraging - Proverbs 12:18, 18:21

Is she growing in the characteristics of biblical womanhood and what the Bible calls “true beauty”? (Proverbs 31)

Questions to ask yourself (and trusted advisors) to see clearly through the veil of infatuation:

Are you attracted to her for all the right reasons?

Can you foresee her being your wife for a lifetime?

Can you foresee her as the mother of your children?

Does she have a worldview compatible with yours?

Do you believe she will care for you well?

Does she show clear regard and care for others?

Does she show evident love for God in how she spends time and money, how she interacts with others?

Do you envision her being supportive of you in whatever ministry God may call you to?

The people who love you the most, your closest friends, think she’s good for you?

The people who love her believe that you are good for her?

Both:

Will we be able to serve God better together or apart?

Does the relationship drive you toward God and His people?

Live out the gospel on a daily basis, forgiving, serving, and putting others first in the most ordinary issues of life in such a way that you see yourself in training for godliness.

For some great articles, including an ebook which most of this was taken from check out http://www.boundless.org/guys/

Christianity is a Religion?

Pagan Christianity? was quite a thought provoking book. It brought a lot of accepted practices in the church into question and made me wonder back to the core of what Jesus came to do. One of the things the authors of the book mention is the lack of formalization or structure Jesus gave to the church and how different what Jesus came to restart (for it had been lost long, long ago) looked so unlike the systems of his day. Religion was a cornerstone of ancient civilization.

Everything back then revolved heavily around religion, whether in Athens, Rome, or Jerusalem, religion, with its priests, rituals, sacrifices, condemnation and exaltation, was king. It was highly structured and organized. There were people who intermediated between the gods and the people. There were specific rituals that were practiced at specific times, in very specific ways. There were strict rules governing what people could wear, who they could associate with, what they could eat. There were detailed instructions of how to make up for any infractions against these rules.

This is the system of religion the world knew when Jesus came. Even God's people had such a system (probably one of the strictest even!). What the authors point out in the book, and what had until then never crossed my mind, is that Jesus does not create for his followers anything resembling the religious pattern of his day.

The priest class is abolished. Everyone is now a priest, everyone has direct access to God, no more going through a "holy" man, everyone can be made holy by God.

Jesus mentions only one thing his followers should do regularly, remember him when they eat. Obviously eating is a regular part of one's day, unlike the many rituals required by Judaism, and so is hardly a burden. It is important to note that Jesus followed the rituals of Judaism in his day but he doesn't seemed to have had any intention of carrying them over to his followers.

Jesus didn't set up a set of rules to guide the lives of his followers. We have no book like Leviticus or Deuteronomy in the New Testament. The closest thing we have is the Sermon on the Mount recorded by Matthew and yet even there Jesus is decribing a better way to live, not laying out a set of rules.

Instead of a set of rules to follow, Christians are given THE SPIRIT OF GOD to guide them, to mold their hearts, minds, and body and to make them more like God's. The Jews needed the law as a guide. They couldn't be asking the priests what God wanted them to do every day so in order to give them some guidelines of what He wanted, God gave them the law. We CAN ask God what He wants, He can tell us directly, we no longer need the law. Instead we are guided by the Spirit.

The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows the thoughts of a man except the man's spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

1 Corinthians 2:10b-11

Jesus didn't come to create a new religion. He didn't come to create a new set of priests or give us an updated list of rules God wants us to live by or a miriad of rituals to perform to be right with God. He came to close the gap between God and people, to reconnect Father with child, and to give us his Spirit to guide us from then on.

Christianity isn't meant to be a religion, it's a purpose and spirit for living. The purpose is to honor the One who gave us this life and to experience it in the fullness He designed us to (which also involves helping others do the same). The spirit is the way we go about life, not ungrateful but grateful, loving of others, wanting the best for all people, forgiving wrongs, being joyful.

For so long I've thought of Christianity as another set of rules to follow, not a spirit of living. It may sound like an insignificant difference but to me it changes everything! With selflessness it's the difference between punishment and joy. It's easy for me to think of the rule that we are to be selfless as closer to punishment or torture than as a gift and joy. Like another chore that I have to do and then check off the long list. But living by the Spirit I'm doing my best to be like Jesus (who, coincidentally, was selfless...) because the Spirit within me is causing me to desire it. Not only that but that same Spirit is causing that desire to be fulfilled. When my joy is to be more like Jesus, and I am eager to pursue that, and I know the Spirit in me (the only one that can actually make that joy possible) is working to make it happen, that is such a different life than one following rules. Perhaps it may look similar from the outside and may yield similar results but the journey is vastly different!

I'm not sure of all the implication of this yet (haha). It puts a completely new spin on everything (at least for me).

Apostles

I was recently asked what the word Apostle meant. Turns out it means “one who is sent forth.” That makes sense with what the apostles did but how is that unique among the different “professions” of God?

Ephesians 4:11-12 - It was he [Jesus] who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, ¹²to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up

How is an apostle different from a prophet or an evangelist or pastor or teacher? Hmm... well what did the apostles do?

They went around telling people about Jesus, especially those who didn’t believe. That sounds a lot like an evangelist though.

Paul teaches a lot through his letters but then why distinguish that from a teacher?

Paul goes and starts churches, looking over them and guiding the people of that city-church toward God. But that’s the general role of a pastor, to shepherd the flock, give them guidance.

The apostles gave messages from God but he wasn’t so much a messenger from God. A prophet is a mediator between God and the people. They spoke for God, were His messengers.

So while the apostles did many of those things, they are still given a separate title and Paul lists apostleship as a unique from the others. What’s left?

1 Corinthians 1:17a - For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel

1 Corinthians 3:6 - I planted the seed, Apollos watered it, but God made it grow.

Paul wasn’t sent forth (an apostle) to baptize but to preach! Paul planted seeds in people! Paul only stayed a little while (a few years at best?) in each place. He constantly has people travelling with Him. Sometimes he will leave one of those people behind to watch over the church (Timothy).

Paul wasn’t as interested in mirco things, he didn’t spend his time making one particular thing perfect. He started something off in the right direction, gave it a good foundation and then found someone to take that over while he moved on to the next deal. Like Jesus, Paul didn’t stay in one place, devoting all his energies to those particular people. Instead, like Jesus, he leaves a place once he’s just begun to make a mark, when the seed is just starting to reach maturity.

Paul prepared a group to follow God. He also trained up individuals to lead those groups in his place. Paul replaced himself in each city so he could move on. Paul trains Timothy to be a pastor over the church in Ephesus.

Perhaps the role of an apostle is to get things moving, to build something up, give it a good foundation, and set it in capable hands to take it over.

I think the need for apostles is still alive today. It’s easy to think of places like China, the inner city, etc as needing apostles to come in and build a Godly community, but I think there’s even a need around us. What about apartment complexes and neighborhoods? Why not get crazy: schools, support groups, traditionally anti-Christian groups, atheist groups! The house church movement seems to live through apostolic initiative.

I see the apostle exhibiting a part of each of the other “professions,” a bit of prophecy, some evangelism, teaching, and pasturing. The apostle has to be fairly adept at each of them because he or she must train other people to be better at those things than the apostle.

The idea of apostleship is intriguing to me. A life of training others to be God’s man or woman in the area they are called to be. It’s always new, and can get pretty intense. How crazy would it be to go to an atheist church (yes they exist) and start a house church there?!? To invade “enemy” territory (Note: “enemy” is used from effect, atheists are not our enemy, more on that in a future blog entry) and train Godly people from within! That’s a twofold return, not only are they not against God anymore (1) but they are for Him (2)!

I was rereading Samuel the other day because it's my favorite story in the Bible. David just rocks, but he isn't what this is about.

1 Samuel 3:1a - The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli.

Samuel had become a priest under Eli. He ministered before the Lord. He had been dedicated for service to God:

1 Samuel 1:27-28 - I prayed for this child and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him. So now I give him to the Lord. For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.

His mother had prayed to have a son, promising God to give him to the Lord if He did (1 Samuel 1:11).

Quite a strong beginning. As I kept reading chapter 3 got me to thinking. In it God calls to Samuel. Samuel however thinks it's Eli calling him so he goes to Eli and asks what he needs. Three times this happens, Eli finally realizes God is calling Samuel (1 Samuel 3:1b - In those days the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.) and tells him to answer the Lord next time he speaks.

Somehow Samuel is "ministering before the Lord" and yet does not know or recognize the voice of God! Was Samuel ministering before the Lord, whatever that means, without knowing God? Is it necessary to know exactly what God wants to please Him?

So often I wonder what God wants me to do, I expect Him to have a clean plan laid out for me so that I know I'll be on the path He set out for me. It doesn't seem like Samuel (or most people in the OT) had this expectation. So much in the Old Testament the idea of relating to God on a personal level is reserved for the dozen incredible people we read about like David, Moses, Abraham, yet millions of Hebrews never heard the voice of God, never saw his glory. All they had to go on was what scripture had already been written and what they were taught by the priests. Yet most of the great people for God we read about sprang up from the general population so in some way the people must have been doing pretty well without God's direct voice.

People pleased God without being superstars. David found favor in God while David was still a shepherd. He wasn't doing amazing things but his heart was rooted in God and was for God's glory. He takes on a giant in full confidence because the man had insulted his God and he wasn't going to stand for it. God gets Samuel to anoint David the next king BEFORE all of that happened, David hadn't even proved himself yet.

Do I make a bigger deal out of needing to hear God's voice to please Him than I should? Does God care about me getting it exactly right or is He more interested in my desire to get it right?