Deep Peace

Road trips! Old Friends! Alma Mater! It's funny, I don't know why I'm including exclaimation points, as I feel no exclaimation points in my soul.

There is something calming about exit 68 on the BlueGrass Expressway. It has become a bit of a ritual for me. Exit 68 always means rolling down the windows, turning off the radio, and listening to the sound of a Kentucky back road all the way into Wilmore. Tonight as I walked the campus with my dearly beloved I felt something very strange. I felt. . .content. I expected to feel a bit of the old longing. Longing to be anywhere but where I am. Longing to be back at seminary. Longing for greener pastures. But tonight, as the memories of this beautiful place flooded back, and as I conveyed those memories to Kristin, I was grateful for the memories, but nothing more. I have recently been thinking of finishing my seminary education, but tonight as we listened to the sounds of the night, I realized that I am truly happy with where God has me. I love my job. I love my town. I love my fiancee. I am joyful at where it seems God is taking me. BUT. But for the first time I am not in a hurry to get to the "next" place. I don't feel incomplete. I look with joy to my tomorrow, but how I enjoy today!

I look forward to this wonderful week with my parents, with my friends, and with incredible worship at Kingdom Conference. But, then I really look forward to going home, and being with my church family on Sunday. I look forward to where God is taking us as a congregation. I look forward to lifting up the name of Jesus. I look forward to "taking care of business."

Be praying for all the doors that God is graciously opening! And rejoice with me that I have found the greenest pasture there is.

Fundy Mental

Ok, this is a tad more than a rant. I have a stick in my craw. I have become weary of the fundamentalist. The one who is more concerned with being a good christian, than a follower of Jesus. Let's face it, Jesus said some pretty messed up things that we in America, and frankly all across the world, have a rough time with. Ahhh, love your enemies. How sweet. It's not sweet when they beat you. It's not sweet in Sudan where they torture, rape and kill you. It's not sweet. It's hard. Rich Mullins had it right when he wrote,

Lord, it's hard to turn the other cheek
Hard to bless when others curse you
Oh Lord, it's hard to be a man of peace
Lord, it's hard, oh it's hard,
You know it's hard to be like Jesus

And it's hard to step out on them waves
Hard to walk beyond your vision
Oh Lord, it's hard to be a man of faith
Lord, it's hard, Lord, it's hard,
Oh Lord, it's hard to be like Jesus

And it's hard when your soul had been stripped bare
Hard to lift your eyes toward Heaven
Oh Lord, it's hard to be a man of prayer
Lord, it's hard, oh it's hard,
You know it's hard to be like Jesus

Just in case you think you have all the answers out there, let me help you out. You don't. You are just like me, soiled in spots, seeking to be purified by God. Your knowledge of scripture does not raise you higher in the eyes of God. Your devotion to your church does not make Jesus love you more. I am weary of those who say, "MYYY way to God is the ONNNLY way to God." Let me be clear. Christianity is not the way to God. Christianity is not infallible. We believe it is the closest construct to the truth, but it is still a construct. Relationship with Jesus is the way to the Father. In fact the first people who were saved were devout Jews. The fact is, it was Paul who paved the way for the Christianity that we now know. I am not advocating "many roads to the Father." But I am saying that there are many rubricks. One Jesus, One Lord, but guess what, no denomination has a corner on truth! No, not even yours. Who are we, as finite as we are, to think that we can grasp an infinite God? It is only through Christ's work on the cross that we can even approach God.

It seems lately that I have been either increasingly edgy, or that more fundamentalists have been peddling their wears around me. I am sick of it. Let's take a look at what Jesus said to the religious fundamentalists of his day.

Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men's faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.

"Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayers. Therefore you will receive greater condemnation. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as you are.

"Woe to you, blind guides! You say, 'If anyone swears by the temple, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gold of the temple, he is bound by his oath.' You blind fools! Which is greater: the gold, or the temple that makes the gold sacred?

"You also say, 'If anyone swears by the altar, it means nothing; but if anyone swears by the gift on it, he is bound by his oath.' You blind men! Which is greater: the gift, or the altar that makes the gift sacred? Therefore, he who swears by the altar swears by it and by everything on it. And he who swears by the temple swears by it and by the one who dwells in it. And he who swears by heaven swears by God's throne and by the one who sits on it.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices-- mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law-- justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!

"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord." Matthew 23:13-39

But the Pharisee, noticing that Jesus did not first wash before the meal, was surprised. Then the Lord said to him, "Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But give what is inside the dish to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.

"Woe to you Pharisees, because you give God a tenth of your mint, rue and all other kinds of garden herbs, but you neglect justice and the love of God. You should have practiced the latter without leaving the former undone.

"Woe to you Pharisees, because you love the most important seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces. Woe to you, because you are like unmarked graves, which men walk over without knowing it." One of the experts in the law answered him, "Teacher, when you say these things, you insult us also." Jesus replied, "And you experts in the law, woe to you, because you load people down with burdens they can hardly carry, and you yourselves will not lift one finger to help them.

"Woe to you, because you build tombs for the prophets, and it was your forefathers who killed them. So you testify that you approve of what your forefathers did; they killed the prophets, and you build their tombs. Because of this, God in his wisdom said, 'I will send them prophets and apostles, some of whom they will kill and others they will persecute.' Therefore this generation will be held responsible for the blood of all the prophets that has been shed since the beginning of the world, from the blood of Abel to the blood of Zechariah, who was killed between the altar and the sanctuary. Yes, I tell you, this generation will be held responsible for it all.

"Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering."

When Jesus left there, the Pharisees and the teachers of the law began to oppose him fiercely and to besiege him with questions, waiting to catch him in something he might say. Luke 11:38-54

Examine yourself closely. Don't be so sure he wouldn't say these things to you. Examine yourself, and pray "Lord, see if there be any wicked way in me." All of your knowledge of God will not save you. All of your rubricks for life will not save you. Even your Bible will not save you. You can spout your scriptures all day long and still be out of fellowship with God. The real only real rubrick is knowing Christ. Not about him, but really knowing him. How is your relationship with Jesus? How much time to you spend reading his words. Not THE Word, His words. Spend a couple of months only reading the red words in your bible. Forget Paul for the time being, he's good, but he's not God. Drop John. Leave Leviticus. Contemplate Christ. This is what Roman Catholics do so much better than we. Contemplate Christ. Meditate on His words. Converse with this Mediator, instead of using him as a blunt club with which you can attack your brothers and sisters in this great salvation.