Pastoral Musings

MT 1:18-21 The Annunciation occurred after Mary had conceived Jesus.
LK 1:26-31 It occurred before conception.

MT 1:20 The angel spoke to Joseph.
LK 1:28 The angel spoke to Mary.

Wow!  How simplistic can one be?

It only takes a cursory reading of the text to see that there are two different events recorded.  In Luke the angel speaks to Mary.  In Matthew the angel speaks to Joseph.  The time, the place, and the persons are different.

I must observe that one finds what one wishes to find.  If he seeks errors, he shall find what he deems to be an error.

On the other hand, with the Bible, he will always find truth.  That is why they seek errors in the Bible.  They simply do not wish to face the truth of the Bible.

There!  I’ve confessed it.

I’m naive.

na·ive /nɑˈiv/ [nah-eev]

–adjective

1.

having or showing unaffected simplicity of nature or absence of artificiality; unsophisticated; ingenuous.

2.

having or showing a lack of experience, judgment, or information; credulous: She’s so naive she believes everything she reads. He has a very naive attitude toward politics.

I linked to a post the other day about babies and morality.
Now the New York Times carries a much longer story.

All of this research, taken together, supports a general picture of baby morality. It’s even possible, as a thought experiment, to ask what it would be like to see the world in the moral terms that a baby does. Babies probably have no conscious access to moral notions, no idea why certain acts are good or bad. They respond on a gut level. Indeed, if you watch the older babies during the experiments, they don’t act like impassive judges — they tend to smile and clap during good events and frown, shake their heads and look sad during the naughty events (remember the toddler who smacked the bad puppet). The babies’ experiences might be cognitively empty but emotionally intense, replete with strong feelings and strong desires. But this shouldn’t strike you as an altogether alien experience: while we adults possess the additional critical capacity of being able to consciously reason about morality, we’re not otherwise that different from babies — our moral feelings are often instinctive. In fact, one discovery of contemporary research in social psychology and social neuroscience is the powerful emotional underpinning of what we once thought of as cool, untroubled, mature moral deliberation.

A while back there was Ray Bolz.
Now Jennifer Knapp.
What’s up with all of that?

In interviews this week with Reuters, Christianity Today, and a prominent homosexual publication, Dove Award-winning and Grammy-nominated musician Jennifer Knapp made public that she is a lesbian who has been in a relationship with a woman for eight years.

Read more here.

There you are, a grown person who has paid his dues. You are now middle -aged, you’ve lived a morally pure life, you have worked hard to gain respect by being a respectable and holy person; but there is a handful of people who simply won’t accept that you will ever amount to anything. The are armchair quarterbacks who second-guess every decision, every move, every belief….well, not absolutely every one of those, but so many of them are questioned that you feel that you cannot sneeze without someone wondering if it is genuine.
What can you do? What shall you do?

Considering that I have written in the last two posts (here and here) that we should continue to prove ourselves, my answer may be surprising.

My answer is that we should simply be what God has called us to be. We are to prove ourselves according to His demands and expectations. If people desire to expect more, or if people doubt that we live up to God’s standards; let them present their proof of our failure to live up to His standards. Let them beware, however, lest their standards appear to be held above the standards of God. It may be that one is dealing with a Pharisee who has substituted his commandments in place of Biblical doctrine (See Matthew 15:6-9). If that is the case, the sin is with the one questioning, and a person has no need to prove anything to them.

Honestly, I am tired of bending over backwards to please those who refuse to be pleased. I am tired of kissing rear ends to appease people who will never be at peace with me. I refuse to be intimidated by people with an unbiblical standard. I refuse to bow down to those who desire to be king of my life. My ruler is Jesus, the King of kings, ’nuff said.

When we look at this, it is imperative that we understand that Jesus consistently rebuked folk such as those. Paul, too, refused to bow down to them. When he took Titus to Jerusalam with him, there were those who demanded that Titus be circumcised. Paul refused for them to intrude upon his Christian liberty in any manner (See Galatians 2:1-5). He would by no means bow down to those who wanted him to go beyond what was necessary to prove himself. He knew who he was. He knew whom he served. He knew he was in obedience to truth. That was all that mattered to Paul.

That should also be what matters to us. We shall never please everyone. There are some who refuse to be pleased. So long as we know that we are pleasing our Heavenly Father, we should be content to continue on our way. We should no allow them to cause us to be bitter, but we should love them in spite of their hypocrisy and unChristian attitudes. We should never bow down, though.

We cannot prove ourselves to those who refuse to accept the proof. The proof is in our faithfulness to Christ.

“Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.”

(1Timothy 4:13-16)

1 Then came to Jesus scribes and Pharisees, which were of Jerusalem, saying, 2 Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat bread. 3 But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? 4 For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. 5 But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; 6 And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition. 7 Ye hypocrites, well did Esaias prophesy of you, saying, 8 This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart is far from me. 9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.

(Mt 15:1-9)

It’s amazing isn’t it? ” What?” You say.

The fact that we can have “church” and sin by doing it.

“WHAT?!?!” You say.

Yes, we can sin by having church?

“How?” You ask.

By elevating our traditions above the Word of God.

“Oh, we don’t have traditions.”  You reply.

Oh, yes you do.  We all do.

The issue is to determine the nature of those traditions.

Many times our traditions are harmless things that are simply our way of adapting our faith to our particular cultural setting.

At other times our traditions do not change when our times require some sort of change.  It is usually at this juncture that traditions become doctrines that divide.  They then become objects of contention, strife, and issues which divide God’s people.  In fact, they are often “supported” by Scripture, albeit Scripture taken out of context.

It is then that we find ourselves elevating our tradition above God’s Word.  You see, the goal of God’s Word is God’s glory.  In fact, that is God’s goal in all that He does (See Isa 42:8; Rom 11;33-36), and is His  desire for us in all that we do (See 1Cor 10:31;Col 3:17).  Yet, when we divide over things that are not even mentioned in the Scriptures, treat one another with disdain, and break fellowship over these things; we have indeed elevated our tradition above Scripture.  How?  Scripture calls for us to love one another, and thereby honor God (See Jn 13:34,35;1Tim 1:5-7).  To use an unwritten doctrine as an occasion to divide and mistreat another while ignoring the commandment to glorify God by loving one another is to elevate our doctrine above Scripture.  Any time that we ignore Scripture to uphold our pet doctrines we have elevated our doctrine above Scripture.

Thus it is that we transgress by tradition.

It is easy to do.

It is difficult to examine our dearly held beliefs, yet it is necessary.  We are commanded to put everything to the test and only keep the good (See 1Thess 5:21).

It is absolutely essential that we strive to honor God by exalting His Word as the Supreme Authority in our lives and worship.

To do otherwise is to set ourselves and our traditions up as the authority, and to do so is sinful Pharisaism.

Let us never forget that God and His Word will forever be our only authority.  Let us bring all traditions to the Scriptures.

Grace be to you and peace from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,  Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: To whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.  (Gal 1:3-5) KJV

Notice the goal of the work of Christ- The glory of God.

Again we read it:

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved. 7 In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace…  (Eph 1:3-7) KJV

Why does God do all of this?

I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake. (1Jn 2:12) KJV

Justification is not simply a fire escape out of hell.  Justification exalts God in His glorious worth and goodness.

Just look at all that is involved in justification.  The verses above tell us that it involved the incarnation, life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.  It involves God’s eternal plan.  It involves God’s gracious receiving of us through Jesus.

None of this can cause us to honor ourselves.

All the glory belongs to Jesus!

Altogether too often we find ourselves “strutting our stuff.”  We boast of our gains, accomplishments, and yes, our spirituality.

Pride does not confine itself to the unbelievers.  Pride sits on the front row of the church, is an usher, a deacon, worship leader, and often the pastor.

Remembering God’s work of justification should cause us to bow our heads in shame, and humble our hearts before God.

After all, we do not save ourselves.  Jesus went to the cross to do that for us.  Jesus rose from the dead for our justification (Rom 4:25).

“..base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are: 29 That no flesh should glory in his presence. 30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: 31 That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.”  (1Cor 1:28-31) KJV

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.  (Mt 5:17,18) KJV

What is meant by Jesus’ words that neither a jot not a tittle should pass away from the law and the prophets?

Does this mean that God will preserve  His Word verbally and not allow any translation or scribal errors to enter in?

I think not.

As a matter of fact, there is something important that is missed when we give that interpretation to the passage.  What we miss is the fact that God’s Word will actually accomplish what He said would be done.

Fulfillment speaks of something being filled up, or a prophecy coming to pass.  That is the thing of which Jesus spake in this passage.

Jesus was speaking in the same terms as Isaiah, when he said, For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but watereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.  (Isa 55:10,11) KJV

GE 17:15-16, 20:11-12, 22:17 Abraham and his half sister, Sarai, are married and receive God’s blessings.
LE 20:17, DT 27:20-23 Incest is wrong.

What is the true issue here?  Is it that there is an inconsistency in the Scriptures, or is it that there is a misunderstanding of the nature of revelation on the part of the one who “found” the “inconsistency?”

Honestly, there is a mistake on the part of the one who thinks there is an inconsistency.

Morality takes different forms.  For example, homosexuality is immoral because it confuses the diversity that God intended to exist within the marriage relationship.  Fornication (pre-marital, or extra-marital sex) is wrong because it neglects that covenant commitment that God has designed to go along with marriage.  Incest differs from both.

Why does incest differ?  Incest differs because it does not violate any of God’s natural design for marriage.  Incest is prohibited later in Scripture.  Why?  It is prohibited by more recent revelation than creative revelation because of the fact of the fall and genetic issues.  Abraham lived close to the beginning of time.  Genetic problems as a result of the fall had not multiplied so much as they did later.  Thus it was that God waited to reveal His prohibition of incest at a later time, and could do so without being inconsistent.

One thing is definite: the prohibition of incest is like all other moral prohibitions; it is for our good.

GE 17:8 God promises Abraham the land of Canaan as an “everlasting possession.”
GE 25:8, AC 7:2-5, HE 11:13 Abraham died with the promise unfulfilled.

This is only a problem if one refuses to accept the fact of the resurrection and the millennial kingdom of Christ.

Of course, even amillennialists have a response that can address this: they see it as fulfilled in Christ.

All of that being said, it is certain that God has a city prepared for them just as He promised.  Heb 11:16

The promise is certainly enlarged upon so that God’s people have a totally new world in which to live.  Rev 21:1,2 Certainly the skeptic will not fault God for giving more than He initially promised.