The Iron Yoke

They answered him, We are offspring of Abraham and have never been enslaved to anyone. How is it that you say, You will become free? --  John 8:33

Jesus was telling the crowd who He was and why He was in the world.  The verse immediately preceding this is oft-quoted:  … [Y]ou will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.  Like many of us today, Jesus’ auditors were offended by His assertion. 

Back in the book of Jeremiah, the Lord instructed His prophet, Thus the LORD said to me: Make yourself straps and yoke-bars, and put them on your neck (Jeremiah 27:2).  This was to be a visual sign to Judah and the surrounding nations that the Lord had given them over to serve Babylon and Nebuchadnezzar.  Through Jeremiah, the Lord warned of the dire consequences of rebellion against His appointed authority. 

Humans sometimes have a problem being honest with themselves about their current state.  We will imagine that we are better and smarter and stronger and perhaps more righteous that we really are.  It is only when we are tested or we run into some barrier or limit that we can’t overcome that we take a more thorough and honest inventory – as the twelve-steppers might say – of our situation. 

I believe the main reason that liberty and individual freedom, republican governments and more independence have dominated history for the last few hundred years is because of the rise and spread of Christianity and the spiritual liberty it brings.  Kingdoms, empires, and governments in general prior to the Cross were more oppressive and restrictive in many ways and the institution of slavery was more widespread because this reflected humanity’s state of spiritual bondage. 

The people of the nations that God chastened through His agency of Nebuchadnezzar were conquered and enslaved by sin.  Nebuchadnezzar made the invisible visible.  If we are going to be spiritual slaves to sin, we might as well be physical slaves.  Physical freedom and what today is thought of as liberty – license – are meaningless and destructive apart from being free in Christ. 

If we are imprisoned and shackled by addictions and habits and iniquity, we are slaves, whatever the nature of our society, culture, or government.  An oppressive government or the rise of despots is more a consequence than a cause.    

Back in Jeremiah’s time, there were some true prophets, like Jeremiah, and a whole bunch of false prophets in Judah and in the other nations as well.  They were telling people that they did not need to worry about Nebuchadnezzar, that he was going to fade away and things would get back to normal.  One of those false prophets, Hananiah confronted Jeremiah with the wooden yoke he had made:  Then the prophet Hananiah took the yoke-bars from the neck of Jeremiah the prophet and broke them (Jeremiah 28:10).  Hananiah then declared that God was going to break the yoke of Nebuchadnezzar  “from the neck of all the nations within two years”. 

I am sure it was quite a dramatic episode.  If it happened today, it would be a celebrated soundbite on “The Daily Show” or a viral video on Youtube.  The click-bait sites would have a headline saying, “Watch Hananiah Destroy Doomer ‘Prophet’ Jeremiah in 30 Seconds”.

Sometimes the people who are telling us what we want to hear are not the people to whom we should listen.  Sometimes the people who are saying hard and harsh things are saying those things for our own good.  Whether you are in a twelve-step program trying to break an addiction or you are trying to lose weight, become more fit, improve your health, your life, your finances, or your spiritual condition, the first step is always the same.  We have to be honest about where we are.

A few years back I was forty-some pounds heavier than I am now, and I ain’t exactly anorexic today.  I was never going to lose any of that weight until I admitted my pants hadn’t shrunk.  I am never going to break out of the bondage of sin until I admit I am a hopeless sinner in need of Christ and the Blood of the Cross.  There are the coaches and the gurus and the TED talkers who will come along and tell us we are all right.  We just need to see ourselves as perfect.  They break the toy wooden yoke that the Lord has been using to tell us we have a problem, but they don’t solve the problem.

After his interaction with the false prophet, Jeremiah went on his way.  The Lord stopped him:   Go, tell Hananiah, Thus says the LORD: You have broken wooden bars, but you have made in their place bars of iron.  For thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: I have put upon the neck of all these nations an iron yoke to serve Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and they shall serve him, for I have given to him even the beasts of the field (Jeremiah 28:13-14).

The real oppression remains.  Nothing has been changed by the drama because people continue to refuse to recognize, accept and acknowledge their true state. 

I believe the world and our culture, in particular, are in this current state of chaos and confusion and decline because we have, as a whole, turned from God, turned from Christ and allowed ourselves to be ensnared and enslaved.  The rise of tyranny, the burgeoning of statism and collectivism, the ascendency of militant atheism and Islam and scientism are symptoms and visible manifestations of our spiritual subjugation. 

If our children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren are ever to know anything of the liberties and truths upon which the United States was founded, we are going to have to face the barrenness, the brokenness, and the vanity of our lives.  We cannot fix this with votes or politics or guns or wars.  We need the Truth to set us free.

Open to Heaven

The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.  … Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD; how much more the hearts of the children of man! -- Proverbs 15:3, 11

When I listen to people talk, I find that a lot of our complaints and concerns seem to revolve around fairness and justice.  Sometimes we worry that our efforts are ignored and our motives misunderstood.  The other thing that bothers us is when people we think are probably acting from wrong motives are not exposed and their deeds thwarted. 

It also comes as a shock to us that instant karma doesn’t always work in our favor.  We do a favor for someone, and they either forget about it or even turn against us.  We do our best to be honest and fair, yet the world takes advantage of us.  After a few rounds of getting stabbed in the back, that whole turning the other cheek thing has a lot less appeal.    

I think we ought to make a full disclosure when asking people to follow Christ.  Jesus did it.  He said the world has hated Me, and it is going to hate you if you follow Me.  We need to tell our youth in the churches and new Christians not to expect favorable treatment or even equity in their dealings with others just because they are Christians.  Don’t expect it from the world, certainly, but don’t be surprised if those calling themselves Christians turn on you when it is to their advantage.  God is the only One you can trust absolutely. 

Our fair treatment will come from God.  He is the source of all justice, of all goodness, of all retribution, recompense, and compensation.  He will reward us not just for our successes and accomplishments but for our efforts and our faithfulness and our obedience – because He knows.

It was scary to me that God knew my thoughts – it’s probably even scarier to God.  All my evil imaginings lie open before the eyes of the Lord.  The Spirit of God knows the wickedness in the depths of my heart.  He knows the real reasons – whether cowardice, lust, laziness, or vindictiveness – behind my façade of pleasant words.  Then one day I realized that if He knows the bad side, He also knows the good side.  He knows the times that I have set aside my own preferences to help someone or given more than I could spare or pushed myself past the limit, sacrificed for another.  He knows the times that I was terrified yet kept going.  And, while, despite my best efforts, the bad would outweigh the good, Jesus has His thumb on the scale.  In the end, it is His righteousness that will deliver me and not my own. 

The beauty of it all is that we can be perfectly honest with God.  There are things about me that I cannot tell to anyone, but God knows.  My sins are forgiven and forgotten, and the burden of all has been taken away.  Still there are things that have happened that weren’t as much moral failures as they were just horribly embarrassing.  God knows about those.  He knows what I was thinking when I did something stupid.  He knows the sickness and self-loathing I felt when I took the easy way out a few times, the relief I felt when a potential challenge passed me by.  All that stuff, no matter what it is or what it was, we don’t have to pretend or forget to protect our “image”.  With God there is nothing we can hide behind, but there’s also nothing we need to hide.

Pretender

Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. – Psalm 32:2

This is a psalm about the power of confession and the pain of deceit.  It does not say that a person is blessed because he or she is sinless but because the Lord pardons sin.  We are reminded of what Jesus said about the lost sheep, that there is more rejoicing over the one that is found than over the ninety-nine that never strayed.  It only seems unfair until we realize that “we all like sheep have gone astray”. 

I’ve known a few people, as you probably have, who were saintly if not official saints.  To us, such holy people seem to have passed beyond the possibility of any human weakness, yet I’m sure every true saint would tell us that they are often grieved by their own faults, flaws, and failures.  The difference between the saint and the sinner is not in the fallen human nature both cannot help but share. 

A sinner clings to and defends what he thinks, says, and does.  He seeks, often desperately, to justify himself, and, in doing so, deceives himself.  The path to redemption begins with honesty.  “Blessed in the man … in whose spirit there is no deceit.”  The saint abandons pretense before the Lord.  He gives up any thought of self-justification, of defending his position, of making excuses for why he stumbled. 

By hiding behind carefully woven walls of exculpatory fig leaves, we may think we are safe.  As people who have been shot at know, there is a difference between cover and concealment.  Generally, fig leaves are not bulletproof.  The only person I am fooling with my elaborate but vacuous vindications is me.  Certainly, I should not insult God by thinking He does not know the truth.      

Jesus advised to us to agree with our adversary quickly.  My adversary, the devil, the accuser of the brethren, doesn’t have to make up much stuff on me.  The devil is a liar and the father of lies; nevertheless, he can tell the truth about some of us and still do his job.  I do try to make it harder for him anymore, but I don’t argue with him. 

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.  For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah

I acknowledged my sin to you, and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah 

(Psalm 32:3-5)

Bold Talk For a One-eyed Fat Man

Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. – Romans 5:20-21

October 31^st is Reformation Day.  So, if you don’t feel like celebrating Halloween, dress up as Luther and scare some Catholics.  Like Luther, Paul was accused by his opponents of saying that Christians should sin in order to increase grace.  Luther famously said to sin boldly.  This was hyperbole contrasting sin with the greater salvation and grace in the Cross.  Paul does not end on the above statement but immediately goes into what we call chapter 6 of Romans saying, “What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin still live in it?” 

Grace is not license, not a permit to permissiveness.  Grace is the answer we give when we are accused.  Yes, I am everything you say and worse, yet God loved me so much that He offered His only begotten Son to die in my place.  Jesus did not go willingly to a cruel death because I am such a wonderful, perfect person, but because I am broken and sick and hopeless and utterly wretched.  He doesn’t stick with me and try to help me now because I’m good but because I need Him. 

Bad company corrupts good character.  Anybody will tell you that.  Does the Lord corrupt Himself by hanging around with us?  No, He lifts us up.  If we are afraid of God, afraid of the Holy Spirit then who will we end up hanging around?  Don’t think about it too much.  It’s scarier than Hillary Clinton in a negligee. 

We don’t have to be afraid.  We don’t have to hide what we are.  John says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all righteousness.  How can that be “just”?  Because the price was already paid in full.  

Nothing is between us and the Father.  Christ has broken down all the barriers and given us direct access to the very presence of God.  None but the high priest could enter the Holy of Holies, and that only once a year on the Day of Atonement, and only bearing the blood of the demanded sacrifice.  It was terrifying.  It is still to be recognized with respect and humility and awe, but the veil was torn in two from top to bottom.  We are the sanctuary. 

Yes, I am going to mess up.  Yes, things are going to cross my mind that I would be better off without.  Yes, when I smash my finger on the John Deere, I am probably going to say some things I should not.  Yes, I am a sinner.  No, I will not accept the condemnations and denunciations of the Accuser.  I won’t sin boldly, but I will boldly tell it to the Lord when I fail, and I will boldly cry to the Cross as my Savior cried from it, “It is all paid up.” 

What Do You Give the God Who Has Everything?

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.  -- Romans 12:1

I had a good Christian friend, now gone on to his reward, who used to get upset about the idea of giving one’s sin to Jesus.  This is despite the fact that Scripture tells us the Lord bore all of our sins on the Cross.  His thought process was one that I have heard other people espouse in one form or another.  He would say, "Don't give your sins to Jesus!  God hates sin.  He judged sin in the crucified Christ.  Why would you think you could give Him your sin?  Give it up!"  I think my friend was correct in terms of the conclusion, given the premise, but the premise is false.  When we place our sins upon Christ, we are not saying that we can sin and Jesus can suffer the consequences like Dorian Gray’s portrait. 

Under the Law of Moses (look anywhere in Leviticus, especially with regard to Yom Kippur and the scapegoat), sin and guilt were symbolically placed upon a sacrificial animal most often by the laying on of hands.  The scapegoat, bearing the sins of God’s people, was led far into the wilderness from which it would never return.  In my twisted mind, I can imagine a herd of scapegoats wandering around some forgotten valley.  It might make a good science fiction story.  It would be a version of hell because that is where the sins of humanity went when Jesus was buried with all of our iniquities.  Those who refuse to accept this walk around under the burden and control of their sins and sin nature, even though Jesus said, Tel Telesti, it is finished.

But let’s say that we have gone to the altar, confessed our faults and failures, accepted Christ’s sacrifice and the forgiveness offered to us in Him.  If after that, we sin, what are we to do?  We confess again, according to 1 John 1:9 and find that God is still faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

I get tired of that.  I don’t want to sin at all, despite being a desperately wicked person.  I have noticed this about myself that the problem is less behavior than it is attitude and thinking most of the time.  I very rarely physically attack someone, but I may boil with rage about them.  I don’t pursue pretty women, but my appreciation of their beauty does occasionally exceed allowable limits.  So I can either walk around with my head down all the time lest my eye be held by immodest cleavage – which I have done, or I can decide that I am just a weak-willed, lecherous man and not worry too much about it. 

There might, though, be a third option.  What if I took my weakness and offered it to the Lord as a sacrifice?  Most often a sacrifice was not taken away like the scapegoat but slaughtered and part or all of it burned on the bronze altar as a “sweet smelling savor” unto the Lord.  Whether it is something we would like to do and should not, or something we have to do but would rather not, we can put it on the altar and offer it up to God.  That is the correct premise.  That is the power that Christ Jesus offers us by His own obedience. 

Take fasting as an example.  Fasting is not a hunger-strike against God.  When we fast, we offer the emptiness, the craving and the somewhat mild suffering we voluntarily endure as a sacrifice.  We ask the Lord to accept what we are doing as a gift of love to Him.  What do you get for the God who has everything? 

In the same way, we can take our impulses and urges, trials and temptations, our sickness, weariness, regret, failure, anything, and give it to the Lord.  We consciously and intentionally offer whatever it is to Him as an expression of our recognition of His worthiness, i.e., as worship.  

 Maybe you have to work through lunch and your fast is involuntary.  Your stomach is growling and you are getting light-headed because all you had for breakfast was three fried eggs and six pieces of bacon – you’re trying to cut back a little, and now this.  Instead of focusing on your pain, say, Lord, I’m going to offer the suffering that I am going through here to You.  I’m doing this for You.   When we are tired and have to keep going, when we are mistreated, when things, whatever they are, fall apart, we can offer it to the Lord. 

When we are tempted, instead of giving in, we say, Lord, I’m going to do the right thing and not the wrong thing for You.  Please accept this as an offering of gratitude and love for all You have given me.  I lay this dead aspect of my life on the fire of judgment, and I’m going to let it burn. 

I think that is the correct way of giving our sins to Jesus as an act of self-sacrifice and acceptable worship.  When we miss the mark and do fail and fall, we get up and go back to the altar and put the whole thing on there to be consumed, to go up before the Lord in smoke.  There is no sense trying to hide anything from God.   

Suffer for the Lord, and rejoice in the Lord; live for the Lord, and die for the Lord.