Author: Craig

No Room for Idols

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9For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.  1 Thessalonians 1:9-10

 

Statues are easy. I remember the day my dad threw out an idol. He rocked the boat! It created waves. Was it art or was it an idol?

 

What lodge deep in my heart was the idea that our affection for Jesus did not leave room for idols. But you know statues are easy.

 

What’s not as obvious is how my heart turns many, many, many of God’s good gifts into idols. They take the place of Jesus in my heart. I take hold of their false promise of peace, of joy, of security. Whether its achievement, money, health, children, friends, pleasure, these become idols in my heart when they become ultimate. They cannot bear the weight of my soul. Nor can my soul bear their weight. I will be crushed by them. Like the tragic hoarder in Connecticut I might not ever see the consequence of my misplaced affection until its too late.

 

But here is the grace of God to us in Christ: His grace awakens us to the Living God and we now keep turning from idols to serve the living and true God. Statues are easy for us to see and say “ah, a false view of God.” But please, don’t become smaug, you may be sitting on your idol.

 

So look with Jesus Christ our Lord at your heart. With Him there is no room for idols. Its not time to move furniture around, its time to clean house. Some things must go and some things must be put back in their proper place under Jesus. Then the report will go out about us, “They turned from their idols to serve Jesus, the living God.”

Consuming Community

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14For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15But if you bite and devour one another, watch out that you are not consumed by one another. 16But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh…

22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

 

How is your family (organizational) culture today?

Fussy? Filled with fights?

Does jealousy lurk just below the surface?

Do your structures promote pride and leverage selfish ambition?

Community that consumes is common.

 

Such dysfunction abounds when fear, shame, and guilt have their way among us.

 

In Christ Jesus we have been given another way.

 

The Apostle Paul, writing to the Galatian churches, is concerned. He knows what happens when we our old nature runs into the old nature of another person. Unchecked by the Spirit of God, the old natures rises up and shows its conceit, its ungodly joy at provocation, and its festering envy over another’s good fortune. This kind of community is the kind that devours people and spits them out. Its always looking for the top of the pile. Its a consuming community.

The community that consumes has nothing to do with the Spirit of God and the fruit that is borne of a community surrendered to Jesus. Spiritual leadership in Jesus’ name will yearn for and create the environments that seek maturity that displays Jesus’ love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Then we will catch glorious glimpses of The Communing Community of God, Father, Son & Holy Spirit.

Faith and Friendship

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22You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; 23and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God.  James 2:22-23

 

Abraham believed God. This was enough.

 

Faith is the quality of relationship with God that is active, trusting, and reliant.

 

Its a quality God loves to see.

 

He counts us as friends.

 

To get the rest of the story on Abraham read Genesis 11 – 25.

Jesus came to save sinners

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12I thank him who has given me strength, Christ Jesus our Lord, because he judged me faithful, appointing me to his service, 13though formerly I was a blasphemer, persecutor, and insolent opponent. But I received mercy because I had acted ignorantly in unbelief, 14and the grace of our Lord overflowed for me with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. 15The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.  1 Timothy 1:12-15

 

Here is a trustworthy saying: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.

 

Paul talks plainly about his life before receiving God’s grace through Jesus. He describes the hardness of his life: in speech, in relationship to the Church, and in general towards people he did not agree with.

 

He says he was the “chief of sinners.”

 

I think Paul is encouraging Timothy to not count anyone out as beyond the reach of Jesus.

 

Jesus came to save sinners, no matter how dramatic and spectacular their speech, violence, and intransigence.

 

Orientation, Lines, and Shouting in the Office

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25And now that the way of faith has come, we no longer need the law as our guardian.26For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27And all who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ, like putting on new clothes. 28There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male and female. For you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham. You are his heirs, and God’s promise to Abraham belongs to you. Galatians 3:25-29

 

 

One of my kids was bullied, shamed, yelled at, and banished by a teacher for not colouring in the lines. It was awful. If I could have, I would have erased the lines on the paper and used them to draw a new vision of education all the way from the office to the classroom.

 

Now, I know we like our lines. They bring us some measure of comfort and normalcy. We feel threatened when someone colours outside the lines.

 

And here’s a truth, the Gospel has erased some lines we like.

 

Do you claim Jesus as Lord? If yes, get your social eraser out.

 

Paul is inviting the Galatians to a Gospel Orientation. The lines have been redrawn. Who’s in and who’s out? Who’s up and who’s down? In Christ Jesus we are in the family as equal partners no matter our race, status, or gender. The implications are dramatic. A new social code has been written through His blood. When we resist the pull of the Gospel against our social and cultural conventions that oppress and limit people based on race, status, or gender, we are fighting Jesus. We are neglecting the common ground at the foot of the Cross bought through His blood.

 

So what to do? Raise the bar of the conversation. The Apostle Paul keeps pointing to the dramatic realities of the Gospel and acting accordingly. Let’s do the same!