The Price Is Right

For what can a man give in return for his life? -- Mark 8:37

Gold is pretty, for some strange reason.  It is malleable, doesn’t corrode and conducts electricity, so it is useful.  But it is only useful, in any sense, to life.  It has no value apart from the value that man gives to it.  It is life, and human life in particular, that is able to imbue any material thing, or all material things with value.  Without us – or some being like us – all the gold or platinum, silver, uranium, or iron, diamonds or dirt in the universe is worthless. 

It really takes only one person to give value to the universe; thus, God created Adam, alone.  Except that a person can’t be a person outside of relationship, as Bob has been explaining to us.  So God said to Adam, What does all this mean to you?  Adam named all the living creatures, a process of infusing information into existence, following what the Lord had done with Adam himself.  Yet, even though Adam was in relationship to the Lord and to the lower orders of life, in effect linking these two realms in his own being, God knew that the man was missing something.  Eve was the solution. 

Despite the family relationship triad that allows us to become fully human, when man’s connection to God broke down, he lost the source of value in his own life.  He no longer saw himself or those around him as possessing God-given, intrinsic value.  Instead, fallen man became trapped in his own head.  His life and consciousness became a means of satisfying his desires, whatever they might be.  Other people became either tools to further or obstacles to thwart his drives and passions.

Such an existence must inevitably end in death.   If the source is me, I’m going to run out of juice at some point, either because I cain’t get no satisfaction, or, as is often the case these days, satisfaction don’t satisfy.  In the end, all value is lost and we are lost in the chaos of meaninglessness.  That’s kind of redundant.  Chaos and meaninglessness are two words for the same thing.

Jesus came to heal the broken communion with God.  We realize, in Him, that our lives have value to God, that He loves us.  We can then love those around us, and we can love creation.  It’s as sad thing, and perhaps ironic that science, which started out doing its part to bring meaning to certain still chaotic aspects of the Cosmos, has been turned into a rhetorical device to deny meaning. 

Through Christ, we realize that life is the only thing worth the trouble.    

The Practice

Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches,  but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord. – Jeremiah 9:23-24

This is a cross-reference from First Corinthians, but what struck me is where the Lord is said to practice His love, justice, and righteousness:   in the earth.   

It is notable that He practices, which to me means something like a doctor practicing medicine or a lawyer practicing law – jokes about those things aside.  Love and justice and righteousness are part of who God is as well as what He does.  We are here because of that.  Earth, all of material existence in the universe, is here that God might interact with us in expressing such.  All that exists in creation is exists because of God’s love and goodness.  

Heaven, in its full, everlasting conformity to all that God wills cannot be perfected; it is perfect.  Thy will be done, on earth as it is [always and everywhere and forever] done in heaven.  Earth is the borderland, the place where order and perfection are drawn out of chaos as the Spirit hovers over the roiling potentials of the deep.   

We come to understand that God did not only initiate creation out of His divine character and person, but He works in it now, first, because it is always now to the Eternal One.  He is creating, sustaining, and revealing.  Most often -- I tend to think, His practices are not so obviously and overtly miraculous.  The Lord works by His Spirit dwelling in believers; He works in and through us.  As my friend used to say, God doesn’t rain twenty dollar bills down from heaven because He is not a counterfeiter.  The coin Peter found in the mouth of a fish had been dropped or lost by someone.   Jesus could have turned stones into bread, but what He did was take a little bread offered and multiple it to meet the need.

Through prayer and faith in communion with our Father, we can experience His steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in our lives.  God is delighted when He sees us offering these blessings to others, multiplying the bread of life out here on the frontiers of the kingdom. 

Out of Order, and Order Out of

Come, my people, enter into your rooms,
And close the door behind you;
Hide for a little while,
Until indignation runs its course.

For behold, the LORD is about to come out from His place
To punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity;
And the earth shall reveal her bloodshed,
And will no longer cover the slain.

In that day the LORD will punish Leviathan the fleeing serpent,
With His fierce and great and mighty sword,
Even Leviathan the twisted serpent;
And He will kill the dragon who lives in the sea.

--Isaiah 26:20,21; 27:1

Though the first two verses caught my attention, I don't really have any comment on them. There may be difficult days ahead, but I'm certainly not predicting anything or raising any prophetic flags. If anything, I would think God may be calling His people to private prayer, intercession and soul-searching. The passage sounds remarkably like Matthew 6:6, as Jesus said, "But you, when you pray, go into your inner room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will repay you."

Leviathan is usually seen as something like chaos, something that rises in opposition to God. The sea is also viewed as chaotic and primordial.

We see horrible events, sometimes perpetrated by humans, sometimes random natural disasters. Christians are fond of saying, “God is in control.” We build all kinds of explanations for why God allows evil to exist. I don’t have any answers, just more questions.

For example, consider if God is still creating. We know the Genesis account says God completed His work and rested on the seventh day. Yet, after the Fall, God rose up and by His own hand shed blood and provided a covering for Adam and Eve. He intervened in purging evil from the earth with the flood of Noah. He spoke with Abraham and established a covenant, and He called out Israel.

Speaking of Noah, it may be significant that God used the chaos of flood waters to cleanse the earth.

I get the impression sometimes that the sixth day lasted a long time. The book of Hebrews describes Jesus as finally sitting down at the right hand of the Father, but, according to 1 Corinthians 15, He is still in the process of conquering enemies. Perhaps in our timeline, the seventh day has not yet come. It exists, and we draw toward it, but it’s like the “Rocky Road to Dublin” and may require a right good fight to clear the way.

There is still unconquered chaos that wars against us. We are of God, seeking rest and order. It is randomness, disorder, and destruction, seen in loss, decay, and deterioration. You don’t even need to assume a malevolent intelligence, though it seems obvious that it has its own agents. You could look it as just “stuff” that is still potentially a part of the creative process of building the kingdom. It kind of makes sense, for we are not generally in the business of creating ex nihilo. We take iron ore and refine it, and we make plows or swords.

They say that when it is time for the marriage supper of the Lamb, a great pavilion will be needed. So the Lord will slay Leviathan, and we will sit in the shade of that adversary’s skin and celebrate the consummation of the kingdom.