Letter to a Friend

Taylor,

My family and I are doing very well, blessed beyond measure in fact, and judging from the pictures, so are you and yours – Lane is as cute as he can be and looks like a handful! Thanks for sending me these verses, although I already had an idea about the content, if not the exact location. I did not plan to send an extensive answer, but since God kept me up pouring over this, I thought, perhaps, I had better. This topic is a struggle for many and there really are some questions that I believe we won’t find answers to or won’t be able to comprehend until we receive our glorified bodies and are able to look back over history and see things in a manner much closer to the way God sees them. I do believe, however, that we are called to “study to shew [ourselves] approved unto God, …[workmen] that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth (2 Tim 2:15)” and that we should “be ready to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you. However, do this with gentleness and respect, keeping your conscience clear, so that when you are accused, those who denounce your Christian life will be put to shame (1 Peter 3:15-16).” My answer to this topic is going to be a bit long winded, so if you are still interested in hearing it, you may want to wait for those brief moments when both Lane and Lexi are napping. So, here goes:

First, I want you to understand, just as I did at a teen camp so many years ago, that we are in a world at war. Since creation fell, we have been moving toward a time where Christ will return and make thing right again. This means that, the closer that we get to those times, the more we will have to stand ready to fight for our faith. In 2 Peter 3:3 the apostle tell us “that in the last days mockers shall come with mockery, walking after their own lusts.” As we draw closer and closer to the last days, we will face more and more ridicule and hate. People will make fun of us for our faith, and scientists who are determined to do so will attempt to develop more and more theories proving that we are wrong to believe in God and his Son. Because of this, I stand by my first piece of advice. Study. Keep studying, keep leaning on Christ, and don’t be afraid to ask God the hard questions. Tell Him you don’t understand and ask him to lead you into the truth. Read. There have been a lot of godly men and women who have asked the same questions that we are asking and have come up with some scripturally-sound answers, but be careful; “do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to determine if they are from God (1 John 4:1).” And above all, pray. “Pray without ceasing (1 Thess. 5:17).” When we study and pray, we are making deposits into a spiritual bank account from which we can pull when we are hit with tests and trials that seem too big for us.

Second, the question that you are dealing with is how to reconcile the seemingly harsh God of the Old Testament with the loving and caring God that was shown to us in the person of Christ and whom we have met and love because he first loved us. The first thing that you must remember (and it is not going to sound, at first, like an answer to the question at hand) is that God never changes. Malachi 3:6 tells us, “For I am the LORD, I change not.” The God whose love we can feel is the same God that we see waging war in the Old Testament. This seems to be a contradiction until we understand that time and time again, God told the peoples mentioned in the Old Testament, “Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked?" This is the declaration of the Lord GOD. "Instead, don't I take pleasure when he turns from his ways and lives? (Ezekiel 18:23)” Repentance and reconciliation have always been and will always be at the heart of God, but we cannot overlook the fact that God is 100% holy. This, often times, makes judgment a necessity. Keep in mind that, even though we now have a Mediator with God in Christ, judgment is still coming, and there will come a time of separation and God will, with a broken heart, pronounce that judgment on all those who don’t have a personal, passionate relationship with him through his Son, Jesus Christ. The fact that judgment was often more immediate in the Old Testament does not change the fact that it was necessary, and due to the infallible person of God, we can be certain that the judgment that was delivered was the proper course of action.

We must also keep in mind the history and cultural practices of those people upon whom God passed judgment in the Old Testament. This area of study is difficult in that it requires tracing the names of certain people back through the Bible, and many times studying cultural practices of those people that are mentioned only briefly in the text. For instance, the Ammonites worshipped a god they called Molech. In worship of this god, they would heat a statue of brass until it was blazing and, when it was hot enough, lay their sons or daughters in the arms or in the hollow belly of the statue and watch as they burned. Also, some scholars’ believe(and have been supported in part by archaeological finds) that at least part of the reason for the destruction of Jericho is due to similar sacrifice but, in addition, the people of that city used the remains of their sacrifices in the foundations of the walls, which is why the walls had to come down. Whether it was because of abominable practices or due to the fact that a people had set themselves against God and Israel, God’s judgment has always and will always stem from the fact that he is a holy God with a holy people operating in an unholy world; however, this ungodliness does not always lead to judgment and punishment.

Many times, unbelievers want to focus on the harshness of God’s justice without also looking at the mercy that was (and is) so often extended to those who repent from their hearts and turn toward him. In the city of Jericho, God spared Rahab due to her actions because those actions showed mercy, belief, and a repentant heart (Joshua 2). As Jonah travelled to Ninevah, God’s purpose was to destroy the city and its inhabitants, but the city listened to Jonah, repented, and God spared them (Jonah 3). Time and time again throughout both the Old and New Testaments, we see instances of God’s justice, but there, side-by-side with those things that are difficult to reconcile with the God we know, are instances of mercy and grace often given, even to those who did not deserve it. “Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face” (Deut. 7:9-10).

While I can’t begin to explain the severity of the justice often meted out by God to those who set themselves firmly against him, I can, through faith and a personal knowledge of a God who loves me, trust that God, in his infinite wisdom, can see the end of all possible paths and the He, and He alone, knows the best course in any given situation. Too often we attempt to place God in a person-sized box and expect that everything that he does or has done to fit into our concept of “good” and “right” and “just.” But we serve an infinite God who knows the end from the beginning, and whose ways are higher than our ways and whose thought are higher than our thoughts (Isa. 55:9). Ultimately, many of the questions that can and will be posed must be answered by an unshakeable faith... but “be sober, be vigilant.” It is this faith that will be mocked, misunderstood, and misrepresented by those who seek to advance an agenda that does not line up with the Word of God. It is this faith we must be able to defend, to fight for, in a lost and dying world. But in the end, it is this faith which will, when the last trumpet sounds, see us standing triumphant at the side of God and His son Jesus Christ as he begins the creation of a new heaven and a new earth.

                Last, be aware of the attacks of the enemy. It is just these sort of things that he uses to shake us in an attempt to make us doubt who God is and who we are in Him. Although I firmly believe there is a time to answer those questions that are put to us, there is also a time to avoid divisive people and their disputes. Paul put it to Timothy in this manner “Guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding irreverent, empty speech and contradictions from the “knowledge” that falsely bears that name” (1 Tim. 6:20). Remember, “God is not the author of confusion, but of peace…” (1 Cor. 14:33) So, if something in your life brings confusion and doubt concerning His word or His promises to you, you can be certain that it did not come from Him. I love you and each and every person with whom I came in contact at youth camps, ministry trips, and visits all those years ago, and I hope that one day soon, I will find time to visit some of those people who made a true and lasting impression on my life and my walk with Christ. (I hear Michelle Hallmark has a bakery serving food that is to die for!) Praying for you and yours.

In Christ,

Matt

Peter, James, and John: A Lesson in Boldness?

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I was listening to a sermon recently where my pastor preached from a scripture that I have read countless times before. He spoke on the raising of Jairus's daughter and renewing our astonishment, our sense of amazement, at the miracles that are performed in our lives daily.  As he spoke, returning often to the scripture, I found my attention drawn repeatedly to 37th verse of the 5th chapter of St. Mark's gospel.  The verse reads simply, “And he suffered no man to follow him, save Peter, and James, and John the brother of James."  This verse not only sparked my memory but kindled a sense of wonder and curiosity that I could not seem to press down.  The memory was simply this: at least three times in scripture Peter, James, and John are singled out by Christ, twice during moments of His miraculous glory, and once during His moment of greatest weakness.  The wonder that soon followed after can be summed up by a single, poignant question:  "Why them?" Why, during the moment of his transfiguration, did he choose to take these three?  Why, at the raising of Jairus's daughter, did he allow none but Peter, James, John to accompany him?  And why, as sweated blood in the garden of Gethsemane, did he choose these from among the twelve to stand watch as he prayed?   

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/in-the-garden-of-gethsemane--mark-14-.htm

The answer, I thought, must be there, hidden among the pages of the gospels, between the lines of scripture that provide the details of Christ's three year ministry.  So, I began to look, to search, to recall those stories of these three (often hapless, thoughtless) disciples.  As I walked among the pages of scripture, the shining examples of discipleship that I had hoped to find were simply not present, at least not in the way that I believed they would be.  Let’s take what we know of these three, beginning with James and John, as their stories are a bit shorter than Peter’s.  In each of the lists of the twelve, though Peter is always listed first, James and John follow immediately after[i].  They are first on the lists, and, apparently, are often first in the mind of Christ during those miraculously momentous times during his ministry, however, when they are mentioned in scripture, it is often during a rebuke.  Immediately following their witness of Christ’s transfiguration, James and John were ready to call down fire from heaven to consume an entire city; Christ has to step in and remind them that He came to save men’s lives, not destroy them[ii].  These are the same two disciples who must be called down for asking to sit at the right and left-hand of Christ in the kingdom of heaven[iii].  Peter’s laundry list of rebukes is even greater.  This is disciple who is admonished for his doubt after taking his eyes from Christ and sinking in the waves.  He is quietly reprimanded for falling asleep as Christ prayed in the garden.  He is named “Satan” for attempting to steer Christ away from his destiny, and must be told to put away his sword after cutting off a man’s ear when Christ is taken away[iv].  The list seems to go on.  What then, is scripture trying to tell us by repeatedly calling out these three specifically?  Perhaps these three, plagued as they were by deficiencies of character, simply needed the most help and were thus allowed a bit more time alone with Christ.  Perhaps.  Or perhaps Papa is trying to show us something else.


As I sit and look to story after story where these three are mentioned specifically, I am struck by sheer desire for closeness, the hunger for a greater measure of faith, and the boldness with which they exercise that faith.  It seems that, while the other disciples were often content with following, with listening, and with moving on, these three had a desire to walk in the fullness of the glory that had been promised to them.  While eleven were content to remain on the boat and watch as Christ walked across the raging waters of a stormy sea, only Peter had the courage, the boldness, to step forward and say, “Lord, if it is you, bid me to come.”[v]  While the other disciples seemed tolerant of the treatment that Christ received at the hands of the Samaritans, only James and John had the nerve to step forward in righteous anger.  And when Christ began to speak of the end of all things, only Peter, James, and John, this time accompanied by Andrew, had the nerve to ask the most important of all questions, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled? (Mar 13:4).  Perhaps, then, it is not a greater need for education of character, but a testament to hunger and boldness that causes these disciples to be so often called out from among the twelve to a closeness with Christ that is above and beyond that which can be seen of the remainder of the twelve.  Perhaps it is boldness that causes Christ to give Simon a new name – to call him Peter, which means “little stone” and in the same breath declare “upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Mat 16:18).  Perhaps it is boldness that causes Christ to give James and John the surname “Boanerges, which is, the sons of thunder” (Mar 3:17). This, then, is my desire and my prayer for 2014:

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Papa, I come to you now in the name of your son, Jesus Christ, desiring nothing more than the relationship with you that allows me to be called out.  I want to experience a greater closeness with you than I have ever before experienced.  Give me the boldness to speak your Word, not only in the House of God, but in the world, daily.  Give me the courage, when others may stand back, to step out of the boat and to walk, truly walk, hand in hand with you.  Guide my steps, guard my heart, and allow the living water inside of me to spill forth in uncertain times with a boldness that pleases the heart of God.  I stand upon the promise of your Word that declares that we are to come boldly before the throne of grace and that boldness allows us entrance into the holiest through the blood of Jesus Christ where we may find mercy, grace, and help in our times of greatest need.  Live through me, Papa, and let that life, which can only be lived IN you, bring glory and honor to your name. 

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[i] Mt. 10:1-4; Mk. 3:16-18; Lk. 6:12-16 [ii] Lk. 9:54 [iii] Mk. 10:35-40 [iv] Mt. 14:31, Mk. 14:37, Mt. 16:23, Jn. 18:10, respectively [v] Mt. 14:28