None of Your Beeswax (or, Waning Eloquent)
Take heed, ye blog readers, to sacred Scripture, and let us hear the words of the Lord.
"Take a sharp sword and use it as a barber's razor to shave your head and your beard. Then take a set of scales and divide up the hair. When the days of your siege come to an end, burn a third of the hair with fire inside the city. Take a third and strike it with the sword all around the city. And scatter a third to the wind. For I will pursue them with drawn sword. But take a few strands of hair and tuck them away in the folds of your garment. Again, take a few of these and throw them into the fire and burn them up. A fire will spread from there to the house of Israel."Thus saith the Lord.
Let it not be said that I, Coreman, preach only vain philosophies and intangible precepts. Let it neither be said that I brush away the commands of Almighty God for the sake of poetic figuration or "cultural relevance". As I once observed so crudely adhered (and crudely phrased) upon the fender of an automobile, "God said it; I believe it; that settles it." Indeed, I adhere to a literal reading of scripture, much like that store-bought automotive paraphernalia.
Therefore, in the interest of obedience to our Sovereign Lord, I will lead by example. I will find a sword at some local goth emporium, then shave my face and head with it. I will then burn some, scatter some, and tuck the rest away, God be praised. And I expect that you, my loyal blog readers, if you be loyal indeed, will do the same.
OK, that's enough of that. Hopefully you've gathered that I'm not making fun of those who read the Bible literally, but I am challenging you to realize that not every Bible command is directed at every Bible reader.
One pet topic of mine that serves as an example of this is Tithing. It seems to me that the only time you'll hear the word "Malachi" mentioned from the pulpit is in a sermon about giving to the church (typically delivered during budget shortfalls.) The passage is Malachi 3:6-12, and you don't have to read it very carefully to see that God is having a conversation with the "sons of Jacob", otherwise known as the Israelites. They had been in the practice of ignoring God's command to bring tithes and offerings into the storehouse, and God was angry (though even in his anger, he promises amazing blessings if they will turn and obey.)
Is there still something very important for us in 2007 to learn as we read this passage? By all means, yes. Can we glean spiritual truth from Ezekiel 5:1-4, quoted above? Definitely. God's Word is eternal, and no matter how much or how little is written to us, it is all written for us. On the matter of giving, it is easy to see from the entirety of Scripture that God wants us to be generous, both sacrificially and joyfully. Isn't that enough? Why should we have to perilously re-contextualize an otherwise obscure passage to make people understand why they should give?
I've got another favorite example of latching onto a scriptural command that doesn't apply to you. When I think of it, I am reminded of the old beer commercials where the guys in a bar are divided into two factions, bellowing back and forth "Great taste!" and "Less filling!" Except in this scenario the men and women are split down the middle of the sanctuary, orthodox synagogue style, shouting "Wives submit to your husbands!" and "Husbands love your wives!"
When I read the third chapter of Malachi, and see in verse 6 where it says, "So you, O descendants of Jacob..." I immediately think, "OK, the stuff coming up is addressed to the nation of Israel, and is probably not intended to be a universal precept. So when I read it, I should not automatically presume that God's precise intention for my life is contained here, but I should ask him what he wants to teach me through this."
This is what should happen when you read Ephesians 5:22-28. If you are a man, and you read verse 22, which begins with the word "Wives," you should realize that this command is essentially none of your business. And women should do the same with verse 25 and following.
Just imagine if those of us who are married took that energy we normally spend wishing and complaining about how our spouse isn't being obedient to God, and re-focused it on actually being obedient ourselves?
What if we husbands could manage to just plumb forget how our wives are supposed to treat us? In fact, let's do it right now. (I would make a similar admonition to you ladies, but I plumb forgot what I was supposed to tell you.)
Normally at this point, I would close out the post with some pithy one-liner, but all I can think about is how I'm supposed to love my wife as Christ loves the Church.
Um, so yeah... love your wife. If you have a wife. If you are a wife... you're on your own, I guess. Also if you're single. Sorry.
Labels: bible, religion, spirituality
Posted at 11:41 PM
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2 Comments:
Preach it, brother!
It's rather ironic, really, that not ten minutes ago, as I read several chapters in Joshua, I was pondering the scriptural truth that "all scripture is God-breathed and useful..." I read several chapters in a row, recounting the allocation of the specific plots of promised land that were being distributed among the numerous clans of the 12 tribes of Israel, and thought to myself, "Good grief, is this really useful to me?" I concluded that it was not very useful as devotional material or as some sort of spiritual or moral prescription (except meditating on the faithfulness of God to His promises to His people, which I suppose is no small thing!). But it's very useful to historical Bible scholars who then compile and compact the information into forms that are useful to apologists and pastors. And while you and I may not be as actively engaged in these sorts of tedious matters--and much less the vast majority of laity--we all as the Church benefit from the work of those 'pie in the sky' scholars, in a round about sort of way.
It's too bad most pastors fail to educate their flocks on what it means to use the Scripture to their maximum benefit and respect it in its various types of uses. I'm sure you can relate to my experience that pastors tend to guilt their listeners for not 'loving God's law' by giving the impression that our hearts ought to titillate with joy at every moment as we read it. As a result, I think many people are turned off to it altogether, especially the Old Testament. Another very American contribution to our disdain of diligent discipline in God's Word is that we are so 'now-centered' in our approach to it. We want our quick devotional fix, and don't see the bigger picture of the immense value a lifetime (or even a decade) of faithful devotion to mulling through the pages of Scripture, book by book, chapter by chapter, verse by verse. Someone mentioned on one of the previous threads how they 'even read through the Bible once' and how it wasn't transformative for them. And they were surprised?
I'm saddened by our shortsightedness and impatience (I am the Chief of the impatient!). Perhaps this is one of the premier examples of the practicality of faith in the life of the Christian. Our faith is exercised not only in our trusting God for what's in store today, next week, or in the coming months; but it also must extend to the farthest reaches of our lifespan, unto our death.
My challenge to the readers here, myself first and foremost, is to devote ourselves to the labor of consistently reading and studying God's Word, even when we're not experiencing spiritual breakthroughs (and especially when we're in spiritual troughs!), sustained by faith that 'God's Word will not [ultimately] return void' if it is sown into our lives day-by-day, year-by-year, decade-by-decade. The apostle Paul admonishes us again and again that the Christian life is not sprint after sprint, spiritual high after spiritual high, but rather a steady jog, even a walk, that carries us steadily toward the goal of finishing the race--not worried about who's finishing ahead of us or behind us, just fixing our eyes on Jesus, and finishing strong. God's desire is that we be good finishers. And to be good finishers, we have to keep the finish line always in sight, and keep the patience that is faith, which expresses itself in the joyful perseverance in the 'mundane' disciplines of Christian spirituality.
[SIDE NOTE: I highly recommend Bruce Demarest's Satisfy Your Soul: Restoring the Heart of Christian Spirituality for exploring the surprising truth that Discipline leads to Desire which leads to Delight. There is also a brand new book by Sam Storms entitled Signs of the Spirit, which is a condensed, contemporary repackaging of Jonathan Edwards' Religious Affections, the most important and accurate analysis of religious experience ever written, according to a strong majority of the last two centuries of Christian leaders. I have yet to read it (or even Edwards), but heard an interview with Dr. Storms that thoroughly seduced my appetite to do so.]
Thanks for a great post, and for tolerating my lengthy comment. ;-) Much love.
Oh, in case it wasn't obvious, just wanted to make sure you don't read my previous comment as a rebuttal to anything you said in the post. You just spurred some thoughts that I thought were worth sharing. Thanks again! :)
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