Opus 2025-280: Children of Eternity

What are the patterns I see in the spiritual walk of the people of God is that you often have generational decay.  The parents have a strong encounter with the living God.  They often pass that on to their children, but it is still not the same as that first initial experience.  By the time you get a few generations down the road, it becomes ritual, habit, going through the motions and the living contact has died out.

This makes me wonder about eternity.  We already know what Jesus had to say about marriage,

(Mat 22:30 KJV)  For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven.

I would assume that if there is no marriage, there would be no children.  That seems a bit sad but I’m sure we will make up for it in other ways.

In eternity it is possible that the only chance people have a knowing what it is to have children will be to interact with those young lives that were destroyed by abortion.  They may need to wait in line after the real parents show up.

One of my questions is about whether sin will be possible in eternity.  It would seem not, but the only way that you could get a culture or a community with no-one slipping into sin is to have filtered in such a way that the desire to sin has been pushed out of the picture.  That would seem to imply no new children, because each of us who makes it to heaven has gone through the gauntlet of living on earth.  New children would not quaify.

Picture a Utopia established here on earth.  One of the characteristics of that Utopia would be that no one likes liver and onions.  It was off of the menu and out of our minds.  If we continue to have children, the odds are that somewhere in that process a defective gene would reemerge and a child would be born that thought liver and onions are the cats meow.  Thus sin would be reestablished.

In reality, it will be more like being suspended in that brief moment between our last child moving out to their apartment, and realizing their room is now available for an office and the moment when empty nest syndrome sets in.  Or that time as grandparents between when we finally waved goodbye to our grandchildren after a long day, take a deep breath and then start wondering how long until we see them again.  These intervals may not be long, but in eternity they can be extended.

And I trust that eternity will be so glorious that we won’t have to worry about little things.  Until we know more we need to concentrate on making sure that the children we have here will be with us up there.

homo unius libri

Opus 2024-419: You Think You Have a Rough Life

You think you got problems with your wardrobe.  Consider what God did to the wandering Israelites,

(Deu 8:4 KJV)  Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.

Or to put it in more modern language,

(Deu 8:4 NAS77) "Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.

Picture wearing the same clothes for forty years.  When I was pastoring I wore my one suit every Sunday for ten years.  It didn’t bother me.  It still fit.  What was the problem?  My wife would not have felt the same way, I guarantee it.

Think of this as one of the great trials that beset Israel.  They gripped about not having meat and food.  They complained because there was no water.  I don’t remember them complaining about their wardrobes.  Maybe I missed it.  Maybe it was edited out.  Maybe as ex-slaves they didn’t know any better.

What if the ambitious rabbis that came up with the 613 laws decided this was number 614?

Contrary to popular opinion, God does care about how we dress.  It usually isn’t so much about style as about attitude.  The best known is telling women not to have fancy hair.

(1Pe 3:3-4 KJV)  Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

Even more frightening is the parable of the wedding feast where one of the invited guests did not dress right.

(Mat 22:11-3 KJV)  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Does God care how you dress when you come to church?  I won’t reject you but I am not your problem.  It doesn’t tell us why the guest was not dressed appropriately.  It may have been something as simple as a green ribbon tied around the arm.  I would guess that the point has to do with attitude, just like Peter was talking about.

It is amazing how often the attitude of the heart comes up in the Bible.

homo unius libri

Opus 2023-092: Mandate of Heaven?

The New Testament has several places where our attitude toward government is discussed.  We can start with the words of Jesus,

(Mat 22:21 KJV)  They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

Paul addresses the issue and so does Peter.  Peter probably makes it the clearest.  You can also check out Romans 13:1ff and Titus 3:1.

(1Pe 2:13-14 KJV)  Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake: whether it be to the king, as supreme; Or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him for the punishment of evildoers, and for the praise of them that do well.

At first that would seem clear.  Notice though, it also give us the role of government.  It is there to punish evil and by inference, if not direct, to protect us from evil.  Proverbs also has something to say about the king being righteous.  If you know anything about history you might wonder how Paul and Peter could be telling people to obey the Roman government.  Were they not the source of persecution?  Yes, at times, but most of the time they were the source of a stable society that believed in the rule of law.  Paul was protected by the Roman legal system more often than he was harassed.  Pilot tried to let Jesus go but was not strong enough to stand against the Jewsish leaders.  Keep in mind it was during the Roman Empire that Jesus came in what is called “the fullness of time”.

How are we to respond when we find that the government is the source of evil?  I don’t mean just an occasional bit of harassment.  I mean, what do we do when the government becomes focused and motivated to destroy anything that reflects righteousness.  Call to mind the way in which people who stand for moral behavior are targeted by the IRS and FBI.  Remember the early morning SWAT team raids to arrest pro-life family men for trumped up charges.  This is the government that is endorsing the entire homosexual agenda by whatever alphabet you want to use.

Is there a place where the government loses its mandate of heaven?

Hard questions for what are becoming hard times.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-091: The War on God, part 4 of 5, Robin Hood Strikes Again

One of the basic moral positions laid out in the Bible is respect for the property of others.

(Exodus 20:15 KJV)  Thou shalt not steal.

Although all cultures that I know of condemn stealing there are different definitions.  Stealing involves taking something that is not yours without the permission of the owner.  Coercion is a form of stealing, thus when the Mafia Dons would collect money so that a store owner would not have rocks thrown through his window, it was stealing

If you are going to have government you need to be able to pay for it.  Human cultures seem to develop some kind of government.  Once it gets beyond the oldest guy in the village being the chief and settling minor disputes you get into paying for things.  Society needs roads.  We seem to need some kind of court system.  Modern society in its concentration of people needs sewer systems and clean water.  This can be paid for by each person being billed for what they use or, you can have taxes.

How so?  Didn’t Jesus Himself say,

(Matthew 22:21 KJV)  They say unto him, Caesar's. Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.

Yes, He did.  So the question then becomes, “What is Caesar’s?”

Taxes transition from legitimate collection to stealing.  Somewhere rulers discovered that you could get more money with a tax system than a billing system.  Not only do you claim the money to do the necessary jobs of government but you also need to collect to pay the salaries of the tax collector and all his assistants.  Then you have the projects that government officials in their wisdom know are vital but noone will willingly pay for.  You hide that in the taxation.

Soon you move to Robin Hood collections.  I don’t know if you ever read any of the original Robin Hood books but the real Robin Hood did not rob from the rich to give to the poor.  He robbed from anyone who had money and kept it for himself.  In that sense our taxation is a Robin Hood system.  You find that some people don’t, or won’t, pay their “fair share”.  You raise the rate on everyone else to compensate.  The responsible keep thinking it is their “fair share” and the ones benefitting are not going to tell them any different.

The government does not want anyone pointing out that much of what disguises itself as legitimate taxes is really stealing by special interest groups.  Because of that the government is not a big fan of God.  He had a flat rate called the tithe.

To be  continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-226, Discernment Watch: Dress for Impress

Does God care what kind of clothes we wear?  Does He care if we wear a lot of jewelry?  Does it matter what we wear to church?  As with so many other questions the answer is “yes” and “no” and “it depends.”  Life is never simple.

We are traveling and when we were packing I made the comment that I didn’t need to take any special clothes because no one dresses up for church any more.  At the church we visited this Sunday I commented that a certain person on the platform was probably a member of the pastoral staff.  He had shaved his head and was wearing jeans with his shirt tail hanging out.  I was right.  I noticed many styles of dress from beautiful suits to people who would not dream of looking so sloppy anywhere but at church.  Does God care what we wear to church?

Some would say, “No.  He just wants us to be there.”  There is some validity there.  It is better to be in church looking like you shopped in a thrift store than to be in the mall on Sunday morning buying the latest fashions.  Actually I think everyone could agree with that.  The problem is that the person looking down on his luck probably spent as much, or more, money getting that look as the guy wearing the fancy suit.  One of the terms for it used to be “grunge.”  It is an actual style.  People pay good money for clothes that look abused.

So what hints do we find in the Bible?

The smallest detail in the dress of the priests was laid out in the OT.  It seemed to be important.  Read in Proverbs 31 about the excellent wife.  She dressed a certain way and made sure her people were taken care of.  We find that Jesus wore a seamless robe, the best available.  Lydia was a trader in purple, a color reserved for nobility.  How we dress is a statement.

There are certain factors in how we dress.  What are the reasons we wear clothes?  A few would be modesty, protection from the elements, group identity, class identity, showing mourning or celebration, broadcasting attitude. 

Sometimes clothing makes a statement.  Hats can mean defiance and rebellion.  I remember one Sunday a young man came into church wearing his baseball cap.  It was worn at just the right angle.  Some people said he did not know any better.  They said it was not big deal.  Wrong.  I know that for years, from Kindergarten through 12th grade, this young man has been told to take off his hat.  He has had hats confiscated.  Time and time again he has been confronted on this issue.  He knows that wearing a hat is a sign of “in your face.”  When he wears it into church he is telling you and God what he thinks of you.  Deny this reality if you want.  I work with this type of young person every day.

You would think Jesus would not care how we dressed.  Take a look at the parable about the kingdom of heaven found in Matthew 22 starting in verse 1.  You are probably familiar with the story of the king who had a son getting married and was having a big wedding celebration.  When it came time for the banquet everyone began making excuses for not being there.  What I want to look at are a few verses at the end of the parable.

(Matthew 22:11-13 KJV)  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment:  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless.  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

This is obviously about more than a suit of clothes but the issue presented is coming to a wedding improperly dressed.  The result was eternal rejection.  I don’t think it was about how expensive the clothing was.  Obviously even poor people could dress correctly.  In some cultures it might be something as simple as wearing a sprig of green.  Attitude was reflected in clothing. 

Does God care what kind of clothes we wear?  As with so many other questions the answer is “yes” and “no” and “it depends.”  Life is never simple.  Neither is holiness.

Why did you dress the way you are dressed?

homo unius libri