Leftovers

Whoever works his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows worthless pursuits will have plenty of poverty. – Proverbs 28:19

This is not just about farming; it is true in any business, any pursuit, ministry, avocation or vocation, if we work at it, fervently and diligently, we will in that area prosper.  Plenty of poverty awaits the neglectful, the slothful or the person who is constantly shirking and complaining and blaming others for their circumstances.  We need a minimum wage that allows servers of Big Macs to buy a new Escalade because there is no way that would cause people to think Big Macs were too expensive or cause McDonalds franchises to close because they weren’t making any money. 

People who do not take care of their own business will become satiated with lack, emptiness, and the pointlessness of existence.  Our business is, ultimately, to find a place in our hearts for Christ.  We must break up that fallow ground so that the Word may take root in us and grow.  In Him we find wholeness, fullness of joy, and peace with God.  To busy ourselves with anything else while neglecting the business of eternity is to set ourselves up for plenty of poverty. 

To be in poverty means that we lack something essential – in Christ we lack nothing:  The young lions suffer want and hunger; but those who seek the LORD lack no good thing (Psalms 34:10).  Those who roar and rampage trying to find satisfaction in the animal life and in the passing fancies of the world system will suffer and hunger.  They will never find sufficiency or be able to fill the emptiness inside. 

Seeking first the kingdom of God and His righteousness puts us in line with the Way.  When we are in the Way and of the Way, we are free of the anxieties, wants, and viewpoints of the world system.  Be it unto you, Jesus said, according to your faith.  The more we immerse ourselves in Him, the more the mind of Christ controls us, the less we subject ourselves to the mind of the flesh, the more Bread of Life we will have, with basketfuls to share.

Flights of Fear

There was another man who prophesied in the name of the LORD, Uriah the son of Shemaiah from Kiriath-jearim. He prophesied against this city and against this land in words like those of Jeremiah.  And when King Jehoiakim, with all his warriors and all the officials, heard his words, the king sought to put him to death. But when Uriah heard of it, he was afraid and fled and escaped to Egypt. – Jeremiah 26:20-21

I was just randomly reading earlier and came across this passage where the people of Jerusalem began to get rather hostile about all of Jeremiah’s negativity.  There was an outcry against the prophets, and Jeremiah was not the only one who was threatened.  I think there is a lesson for us here:  Don’t go back to Egypt. 

Uriah’s escape attempt ends unhappily (vv 22-23):  Then King Jehoiakim sent to Egypt certain men, Elnathan the son of Achbor and others with him, and they took Uriah from Egypt and brought him to King Jehoiakim, who struck him down with the sword and dumped his dead body into the burial place of the common people.  In biblical types, Egypt generally stands in for the world system.  Thus the threatened prophet’s flight into that nation could be interpreted as a warning to those who would resort to carnal means to defend themselves. 

As we read through the narrative of the Apostle Paul’s adventures in the Book of Acts, we see that he occasionally used his Roman citizenship and the laws of the empire to his advantage.  When he was arrested by Roman soldiers quelling a riot caused by his presence, the Apostle advised the centurion of his Roman citizenship to forestall being “examined by flogging” (Acts 22:23).  He was shipped out to Rome after his prolonged imprisonment by the governors of Palestine because he appealed his case to Caesar, as was his right as a citizen (Acts 25).  Yet this same Paul states that “ … the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh …” (2 Corinthians 10:4) and that “… we do not wrestle against flesh and blood …” (Ephesians 6:12).

We should always be careful about resorting to worldly and carnal means.  As Uriah found out, the world’s system is no protection against the world’s animosity.  We know that God uses doctors to heal, police officers to protect, lawyers to defend, and judges to decree justice – sometimes, but the kingdom is not ruled by such.  Again, we have the familiar words of Jesus to guide us, Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness … (Matthew 6:33).  Our only true protection and security is to be in Christ, clothed in the whole armor of God and protected by the shield of faith. 

The Rabshakeh was trying to instill fear in the hearts of the men of Judah and Jerusalem, but even the devil will tell the truth when it suits his case:  Behold, you are trusting in Egypt, that broken reed of a staff, which will pierce the hand of any man who leans on it. Such is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who trust in him (Isaiah 36:6). 

Far better to say with a shepherd boy … the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's … (1 Samuel 17:47).

Thirst

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.  -- Matthew 5:6

Whether we are conscious of it or not, whether we realize it or not, the one thing that the human soul seeks is righteousness.  If we pursue it consciously and intentionally, we are blessed:  But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you (Matthew 6:33). 

On the other hand, not being conscious of our essential need for righteousness leads us, often, to seek other sources of satisfaction to our detriment.  I get thirsty sometimes and don’t realize it.  Being dehydrated makes me extremely anxious and irritable to the point that I will go berserk.  I’ll start raving and cussing and throwing things over nothing.  After years of experiencing this, I have learned that if I start feeling overwhelmed and irrationally disturbed, I need water.  It’s the strangest thing to one moment be agitated and crazy, chug a quart or two of water, and instantly be calm.  You’d think water was a tranquilizing drug.  Water is an essential, basic need that my body craves.  When my distracted mind ignores the need for whatever reason, the body starts sending signals that I may easily misinterpret. 

Righteousness is like water to the soul.  As the body is seventy percent water, so righteousness is the essence of the soul.  So what is righteousness?  The Hebrew tzedak/tsaddiyq  or its Greek equivalent dikaios/dikaioo appears hundreds of times in the Bible.  At root, the word means to be just or equitable, clean and innocent of any wrongdoing.  We sometimes say that it means right-standing with God, that we do that and only that which is pleasing to Him.   The righteous one is morally correct, justifiable, and upright.  If you are righteous, you can look God in the eye. 

It’s not just us dependent on righteousness.  As we were talking about yesterday, man was created as the lord of the rest of creation.  One of the reasons some Christians reject the idea of a universe 13 or 14 billion years old and carnivores of various kinds roaming the earth for millions of years before man appears is that they say there was no sin in the world until Adam’s fall, and without sin, there would be no death.  You can address this by pointing out that members of the angelic order whose existence precedes, we assume, the creation of the material universe, had already rebelled and fallen.  A second way to understand it, though, is to see how God does not impute sin apart from understanding.  As He allowed life on Earth to develop, only when His hierarchical agent, man, entered the picture would God’s law have begun to apply, e.g.,  … Apart from the law, sin lies dead (Romans 7:8b).  Adam’s job was to bring order, equity, justice, and mercy – i.e., righteousness, to life on Earth.  That’s still our job when we are ready for it: 

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.  For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.  For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now (Romans 8:19-22).

We are to seek God’s righteousness, not only because this is the very thing our souls crave, but because it is the very thing all of creation craves, and it has to come through us.  Adam’s fall brought death to man even as it shattered, for a time, the hope of the entire natural world.  Through Christ Jesus, we are delivered from the bondage of death and the rest of creation once again may hope to be delivered from its bondage to corruption. 

It’s a beautiful thing when you think about it.

Meanwhile, man makes the mistake of pursuing his own righteousness. We are so desperate to be in right-standing that we set up our own standards of righteousness, rejecting God’s.   I’m not going to put the link in, but I’m sure you can do a search (use ixquick not google) for vegan cat food [ok, here it is].  There are people who believe that their cats want to be cruelty-free.  In a way, looking at our verses above from Romans 8, there’s some truth to that view.  But if you try to impose it from outside, there’s a good chance your cats will be plotting at night to kill and eat you.  Name your kitty Cassius for he has that lean and hungry look.  If you want to save the world, you had better get your own bad self saved first.

I think if we could dig down under all the troubles and suffering and ugliness in our world, we would find this craving for integrity, justice, and righteousness driving us to do crazy things and destroy ourselves.  The first defense mechanism was a fig leaf.  It didn’t work.  God had to clothe the naked, exposed souls of our First Parents in the skins of slain beasts, shedding blood to shield us from our pain. 

Today our defenses are more sophisticated but no more effective.  We try and try and try again to establish our own righteousness.  Self-righteousness and self-justification fail to satisfy the thirsty soul, and we can’t seem to understand why.  

I used to run every night when I lived in Texas.  In the summer, even after sunset in the Dallas suburbs, you sweat, a lot.  One Sunday afternoon, I was playing softball with my church youth group and belted a line drive deep into the outfield.  As I sprinted around second base, my right calf locked up tight.  I was still limping a couple of days later at work.  As I hobbled along, an athletic co-worker asked me what was wrong.  I told him.  He asked me if my urine was dark.  I laughed and said I hadn’t been paying attention.  He told me I needed to drink water.  He had a Dr. Pepper in his hand, “This stuff or all the coffee you drink won’t fix it.” 

We cannot fix creation until we are fixed, and we cannot be fixed without the righteousness of God.  In the end, whether we sew together vegan fig leaves or the bloody skins of beasts, whether our standards are ephemerally post-modern or staunchly traditional, they will not quench the thirst of the soul.  Only the righteousness of Christ meets the absolute standard.  Only Jesus can look the Father straight in the face.  Only when we put on Christ are we perfectly justified and our innocence restored.   

What This Country Needs

But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. --Matthew 6:33

It took me a long time to ask the obvious question:  why should I seek first God’s kingdom and righteousness?  Why can’t I just do whatever I want?  Does my obedience make God feel good such that He will subsequently look after me?  Does my obedience make God love me, or love me more?  Could it be something else?  Is it possible that God knows my true need better than I do? 

God does not tell you to seek righteousness so He can love you.  He tells you to seek righteousness because He loves you. 

Righteousness is sometimes defined as the state of moral perfection required to enter heaven.  That is somewhat of a circular definition.  To be righteous, or upright before God, is to enter heaven.  The Hebrew word at the root of it all is sedeq.  This usually gets translated in the Septuagint as dikaiosynē (so I am told).  According to the New Dictionary of Theology (Wright, Ferguson, and Packer), “It thus denotes not so much the abstract idea of justice or virtue, as right standing and consequent right behaviour, within a community.”

Jesus said, “For God so loved the world …” – why not stop there?  The Lord could have just said, “We’ll call it good, and everybody is all right.”  That’s not the way it works.  Man is destroyed for the lack of righteousness -- not by God -- by the lack.  Both the libertine and the legalist miss the point Christ is making -- in His words, in His death and the shedding of His blood.  

One of Jesus’ parables is about a wedding feast to which many were invited.  The invited guests refused the invitation, so the king sent out his servants to gather in the poor, the strangers, and the homeless that the abundance might not go to waste and that the marriage would be joyously celebrated.  Since these people were not necessarily properly clothed, the king even provided for that.  He probably gave them the opportunity to bathe, and he gave them new, clean wedding garments to wear.  So the king is walking around, enjoying the great feast, making sure everybody is having a great time.  But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment.  And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. (Matthew 22:11-12) 

By this parable to which the covenant of marriage is central, Jesus shows us the covenant side of righteousness.  To be part of the covenant community is both a gift and an obligation.  If we would accept the offer of life, we must also accept the appropriate garment, of righteousness.  To enter into the covenantal relationship we must put off our old clothes and “put on Christ”. 

The deepest need of the creature is the Creator, and, possibly, because He created us, the Creator – no, I am too fearful to say He needs us; He loves us more than we can comprehend.  That is enough.  He wants the best for us which can only be ours if we can be upright before Him.  But we are broken, weak, marred vessels, wandering beggars along the roads.  He calls us who are covered in grime and the filthy rags of our unrighteousness.  He says, Come in and we will clean you up, and robe you in righteousness that you may enter.   For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.   (2 Corinthians 5:21)

We do not need better marketing, more gadgetry, faster connections, more hybrids, more tolerance for wickedness, more celebrations of decadence – not even more money, more jobs, and better politicians.  Our deepest need is for righteousness.  Ease, comfort, convenience, pleasure – these things are sought and when they are obtained, we quickly find they are not enough. 

Yet if we would simply hunger and thirst for righteousness, we would be freely, abundantly, and everlastingly filled. 

Who Is On First?

You shall have no other gods before me.  --  Deuteronomy 5:7

Saint John of the Cross offers us some words of good counsel, “Live in the world as if only God and your soul were in it; then your heart will never be made captive by any earthly thing.”  This might be a little too strongly worded for those of us with families for we are likely to think, not of houses or cars, but of spouse, children, and grandchildren and the joy of having one’s heart held captive by a smiling baby.  Grandchildren, at least, can hardly be counted among earthly things. 

Still, we could see it is as a practical, applicable restatement of the First Commandment.  A few days ago, Justin asked if we could even make it past One.   Many of our troubles come from putting something before God, and our prayers are often requests that God might give life to our dead idols, which, when you think about it, must sound pretty stupid.   

I could care less for money, if it’s not mine.  I like having money; I like being able to get what I need without begging and to be able to share with those who are out of money.  But a person has to be careful. Money can stoke pride, and pride is fatal.  Money does not give us what we need, God does.  Sometimes He does it through our money or someone else’s. 

I haven’t spent much of the last forty years unemployed.  What time I did spend out of work I did not like at all. I have prayed for jobs, and I have gotten them.  Some were pretty good, some not so good, but none of them were my source, and I think I lost one or two because I thought about them the wrong way. 

Money, jobs – what else?  Sex, drugs and rock-n-roll?  Houses and lands?  Guns and governments?  Politics?  Television?  Computers and the internet?  Cars, boats, and motorcycles?  Jewelry? Clothes?  It doesn’t matter.  Almost all of us have things that we end up putting in front of the Lord from time to time, things that will become our gods, that we “can’t live without”.  We become like our false gods.  We make ourselves over in their image and likeness.  Our souls become as dead as the brass we might hammer into a lifeless statue.     

Christians, too, can have their teraphim and fetishes, things that “speak” to them and things in which they trust.  Some people might even make an idol out of church and church services, forgetting, perhaps, that the God whom the universe cannot contain dwells not in man-made structures.  We are His temple, both individually and corporately, and the church is wherever two or three are gathered together in His Name. 

We can gratefully enjoy all God’s blessings and all that He gives us; nevertheless, it is a great evil and a source of unhappiness to become attached to this world and that which is of it.   But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.