God's Calls

There are two kinds of calls from God. One is like that of the father to the son in Luke 15. When we sin and stray from God, He is always desirous of our return to Him, always calling for us to repent and accept His mercy. "He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy." (Proverbs 28:13)

The other calling is that which is unique to every Christian. What does God want of me in this life? Some are called as pastors, some evangelists, some prophets (see Romans 12, I Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4). My calling is written on the staff of this blog. Not only is this calling unique, but it can also change from time to time. That is entirely up to God and our sensitivity to His Spirit's voice.

At this point in life, my calling remains the same and was recently reinforced as I read the book of Jeremiah. In particular, this verse stood out:

"Therefore thus saith the LORD, If thou return, then will I bring thee again, and thou shalt stand before me: and if thou take forth the precious from the vile, thou shalt be as my mouth: let them return unto thee; but return not thou unto them." (Jeremiah 15:19)

It is a calling and a warning. I find the latter elsewhere in God's Word, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." (I John 2:15-17)

Awake unto righteousness and sin not. Will Jesus find us this way at the moment of His return?

Worship Where???

The discovery period of worship continues. Scripture answers the question of how to worship (either on your knees bowed down or prostrate in spirit and in truth and in the beauty of holiness). Scripture does not answer the question of when or where to worship. God answers that personally I believe.

He calls out to us in our "One" relationship, "Worship me." When? Where? Whenever and Where-ever He pleases. The last time I was sitting in a sauna. Before that I was in a gym. Did I look weird on my knees there? I don't know and I didn't care. I confess the thought crossed my mind. But it did not matter. God wanted worship. I poured it out right there instantly in obedience.

When God commands you, do you instantly obey despite what circumstances, education, culture, peers, or anything else dictates?

Here's what Oswald Chambers has to say about it in his November 11 entry for My Utmost for His Highest, "THE SUPREME CLIMB


"Take now thy son ." Genesis 22:2

God's command is - Take now, not presently. It is extraordinary how we debate! We know a thing is right, but we try to find excuses for not doing it at once. To climb to the height God shows can never be done presently, it must be done now. The sacrifice is gone through in will before it is performed actually.

"And Abraham rose up early in the morning and went unto the place of which God had told him" (v. 3). The wonderful simplicity of Abraham! When God spoke, he did not confer with flesh and blood. Beware when you want to confer with flesh and blood, i.e., your own sympathies, your own insight, anything that is not based on your personal relationship to God. These are the things that compete with and hinder obedience to God.

Abraham did not choose the sacrifice. Always guard against self-chosen service for God; self-sacrifice may be a disease. If God has made your cup sweet, drink it with grace; if He has made it bitter, drink it in communion with Him. If the providential order of God for you is a hard time of difficulty, go through with it, but never choose the scene of your martyrdom. God chose the crucible for Abraham, and Abraham made no demur; he went steadily through. If you are not living in touch with Him, it is easy to pass a crude verdict on God. You must go through the crucible before you have any right to pronounce a verdict, because in the crucible you learn to know God better. God is working for His highest ends until His purpose and man's purpose become one."

Don't Take This Lying Down

A good friend asked me a question about this series on prostrate worship. He wanted to know what all that pride looks like today. How do we exhibit that pride? Here's my answer. (I have actually written about this before in this blog but rather than hunt for it, I'll write it anew in this latter context.)

God says in I John 2:16, "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world." The short answer to the question is in this verse "the pride of life." What is that?

Thayer's Lexicon defines pride here as "...an insolent and empty assurance, which trusts in its own power and resources and shamefully despises and violates divine laws and human rights; or, an impious and empty presumption which trusts in the stability of earthly things."

The Greek word for life here is "bios" (remember biology = the study of life). This life is further amplified by Thayer as "the period or course of life; or that by which life is sustained, resources, wealth.

There is nothing new under the sun here and this is the sin we all deal with as it was from the beginning. Look at Genesis 3:6 for the parallel, "And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat."

She saw that the tree was good for food (lust of the flesh), pleasant to the eyes (lust of the eyes), and desired to make one wise (pride of life). If Eve had a mirror, she would have seen her golden calf in front of her. She would have seen her parallel Amon-Re and Yahweh/Jehovah God.

Looking in our own mirrors, that is what we see when we see ourselves. God says in Genesis 3:22, "And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:" Having eaten the fruit in Adam, we have now become like God ("the man is become as one of us"). We are now the visible godlike manifestation of our God. We are, if you will, the Amon-Re. Before the curse, this was not the case, even though God said in Genesis 1:26, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness...." Because Adam and Eve did not have their eyes opened and their spirits put to death, they did not know they were naked; they did not know all the power that was stored in the knowledge of good and evil; they did not know about life and death, life-giving, the power of desire.

Wtih our sexual prowess, man believes he has the power of life. This is celebrated around the world in every culture in various ways from the perversions of pornography to the foolishness of fertility rites in many religions. The symbology is everywhere.

This is why I have written before that every sin goes back to this one in Eden. Pride. Pride in oneself as god who needs no other God/god in order to live. And that is why I think God gave His commandments in the order that He did:

(Exodus 20:2-6) "I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments."

First commandment - I AM the LORD thy God
Second commandment - Thou shalt have no other gods before me...

The idolaters on the hillsides, beneath the trees, and in the temples were simply performing sexual acts in worship of themselves, celebrating their pride of life. God said destroy all the idols to take away the visible pictures of this wickedness.

Yet one idol still stands - ourselves. What are we to do therefore?

Colossians 3:5 - Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

Romans 8:13 - For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

I have written many times recently on what we must do from here henceforth. Only Jesus saves us from our sins.

It's Not What You Know...

For many years I have wondered why the Hebrews chose a calf as the idol to worship during the Exodus. Where did they get such an idea? The root of this question lands in our laps, "How do we choose our idols?"

I found an excellent article on-line that I believe answers the question:

John N. Oswalt, “The Golden Calves and the Egyptian Concept of Deity,” Evangelical Quarterly 45.1, (January-March 1973): 13-20

As you can see the article is rather lengthy so if you wish you may go here to read it in its entirety. Otherwise, I paraphrase.

http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/golden-calves_oswalt.pdf

Around the time of the Exodus, Egypt was leading towards monotheism. Their one god was Amon-Re. Like Yahweh/Jehovah, Amon-Re was all powerful, creator, good, and merciful. But unlike our God, the Egyptian god had a likeness, that of a bull. This signified his all-powerful/creator status, that is, his sexual prowess.

This is the culture in which the Hebrews were born, raised, worked, lived, and died. By the time they left Egypt, most had forgotten the God of Abraham. In fact, until Moses, none had any encounters with Him at all. Therefore, Amon-Re was foremost in their minds.

When Aaron constructed the golden calf however, he did not construct an image of Amon-Re. No, the knowledge of what Yahweh/Jehovah God had just done was too fresh and too powerful. The Hebrews could not deny what their eyes beheld during the Egyptian plagues, the Passover, the Red Sea, and now the firey, smoking mountain where Moses was. The Hebrews had certainly come to know again the God of Abraham as their God.

But in the hardness of their hearts they fell back on what they knew, not who they knew, as their god to worship. They saw the great power, the miracles, the deliverance. So they reverted to what was so powerfully portrayed in their minds as the image of who was responsible for all this. They drew a parallel and concluded that this calf was not really Amon-Re, it was Yahweh/Jehovah God Himself!

And this is why Moses was so upset when he came down and saw them worshiping the idol. It was not just because of the fact that it was an idol of Amon-Re, not because of the lewd sexual acts performed in prostrate worship of the idol. No, what upset Moses the most was that the Hebrews called this idol God. The calf represented both the visible and invisible (g)Gods that they knew.

Fast forward a few more centuries to another meeting with Jesus and the Samaratin woman at the well in John 4:20-24.

(The woman said), "Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

Notice again the tendency towards the seen and familiar versus the unseen yet familiar.

We idolize what is known and seen and familiar. We derive these idols from our culture, our upbringing, our education.

God is not known because He is seen or familiar or culturally popular or part of our Christian homes or education. He is only known of those whom He knows and chooses and saves by the quickening of the spirit. Hence we can worship Him alone in spirit and in truth.

This is why God warned Moses and Joshua to rid the land of all the idols and the places of worship. Remove the pictures. Destroy the remnants of culture. Give no opportunity to the flesh. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Parallel Prostration

I asked the Lord, “How are the sins of man today like those of former times?” As I continue to read in Isaiah and Jeremiah, pictures of idol worship on top of hills, under trees, and in the temple prevail. What’s going on here and what is the parallel?

As I examined earlier in the Scriptures, to worship simply means to bow down or to prostrate oneself. There are no exceptions to this position. Also, worship is most often a singular act though at times associated with service. It is the highest commandment of God that Jesus testified to in Matthew 4:10 and Luke 4:8, referenced back to Exodus 20:1-6.

When worshiping idols, how does one prostrate oneself upon the hilltops, under the trees, or in the temple? The answer is in the service. These idolaters committed adultery and fornication there with prostitutes. This act is committed in the prostrate position. It is ultimately an act of self-service, that is, worship of oneself. For that is the root of all idolatry. This is today as it was in the beginning according to Genesis 3:4-6.

Think of any sin and you will find at its core a service, an activity, a motion, that ends up or suggests a bowed down or prostrate position of one or more people. Some are obvious. Some are not. For instance, Jesus points out many subtle sins of prostration in Matthew 5, the Sermon on the Mount. How is anger (v. 22) such a sin? Jesus likened anger to murder. You murder someone and what position do they end up in before you? Right! Prostrate. Before you. Do you see the picture of this person at your feet? What is in your heart besides anger and murder? Pride! You are over that other person. They are bowed down to you.

“But I am no murderer,” you say, “and I’m not angry with anyone. And no one has ever bowed down to me.” Seems silly doesn’t it? We don’t see this happening on the street let alone a hilltop, under a tree, or in a temple, do we? Look again. What does God say about pride?

Pride puts the poor under your feet – Psalm 10:2
Pride puts God beneath you – Psalm 10:4
Pride in its arrogance and forwardness puts others beneath your tongue – Proverbs 8:13
Pride brings contention (the prefix ‘con’ making one against or beneath) – Proverbs 13:10
Pride conquers and destroys everything flat before you – Proverbs 16:18
Pride takes the spoils so that nothing is left to hold another up – Isaiah 25:11
Pride makes one drunk and fallen down (passed out) – Isaiah 28:3
Pride makes one believe he can bring God down – Obadiah 1:3
Pride of life (the little ‘I am’ vs. the Great I AM) – I John 2:16 (See how this verse ties back to Genesis 2!)

80/20

I had a nice chat with my wife today. We talked about a subject that comes up often - church. Seems a lot of folks who I know are talking about this one subject in particular: how many people who go to church are truly saved? I and some of the followers of this blog say somewhere around 10-20% while others say 80%. Interesting.

For the past few days I have read about the last six chapters of Isaiah and the first three chapters of Jeremiah. This is powerful stuff. I encourage you to read it no matter what category you think you fit in, the 80% or the 20%. To me, it looks like God lumps all of Israel and all of Judah (read 100%) into these chapters of judgment and mercy.

Then I read Romans 6 and 7. Thank God those words are all-inclusive.

So think about it. Salvation is yes or no. 80/20 is irrelevant. It's 0/100 because it is unique to every individual.

Yet when it comes to sin, mercy, righteousness, and judgment, the numbers apply differently. But one thing I have learned lately, God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. He brings the rain on the just and the unjust. But these are very hard to quantify. How great is the mystery of God sometimes.

Just when I was in the depths of sin and was convinced that God would not talk to me, He showed me mercy. Indeed His hand was heavy. But that's mercy. That's the goodness of God leading me to repentance.

Sometimes I wonder why God always uses a heavy hand to do this work. Why doesn't He send a tender brother or sister along to talk to me? I ask Him that a lot and never get an answer. Instead He leads me into these chapters of Isaiah and Jeremiah. It is good for me to be afflicted that I might learn to obey and fear the Lord.

There is much for us to learn about this warfare between the law of God and the law of sin in our members.

Call me Jonah

Proverbs 13:21 – Evil pursueth sinners; but to the righteous good shall be repaid.

Oh, evil has pursued me for weeks. I knew what state I was in. And in the end, I had no excuse. So I won’t list them here. They are all wicked sin. It was the heavy hand of God upon me like Jonah (but unlike him I could not physically sleep for the evil upon me and the darkness of my heart). I am the cause of all this evil for I would not obey the Lord and stay awake. Instead I wanted to sleep in sin and convince myself that I was avoiding the pain.

Psalm 32:4, “For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.”

In all my study of the Word lately I had concluded that God does not hear the prayer of the wicked, nor does He talk to the wicked. (Proverbs 15:29) I thought that as a Christian, living in the flesh and its sin, was wicked. Hence my conclusion. Either I am wrong or else God is so merciful beyond even His Word. I cannot yet believe the latter for I do not believe that God would contradict Himself. Or else maybe the Words I read are not so absolute, not so universal as I thought, but organic only to the situation at hand. This brings into question all other sorts of organic situations to make me wonder about this question of universality versus singularity of application of God’s Word. It is worthy of more study.

But I cannot escape knowing with certainty that God’s Spirit continued to provoke me lovingly throughout this period. “Repent. Don’t give up. I am merciful.” He would say these things. Also, I did not forsake the daily reading of the Word. Often, though I would not want to see it, a verse would pierce me as the quick and powerful Word of God is intended to do. God not letting me go.

In turn I was more merciful to my own son this past week. He can be a handful with his Asperger’s syndrome combined with just being a little boy. The little had to be weighed more heavily that mercy might abound. No matter how badly he behaved at the pool, no matter what the report from mom at the end of the day, I just could not bring myself to be angry with him. His day by far was better than mine. And he was just having fun at the pool. In his own little world, he was just having fun, no matter how miserable he made everyone else around him feel.

I realized that as I looked out my hotel balcony towards the pool the day after he went home. I missed him so much. I wanted to look down and see him playing. Just having the innocent fun of a little boy who lives in his own world and seemingly cannot recognize any other.

Sinners are like that. We’re helpless. That’s why God had to first love us. That’s why His Spirit had to draw us to Himself. That’s why salvation is entirely of Him. That’s why repentance is also entirely from Him, a gift of God. That’s why I kept hearing Him tell me to repent. He wanted me back. He desires me to worship Him in Spirit and truth. He seeks such.

I had a hard time with that. “You repent,” He said, “and I make these problems go away.” He had done that before, many times in my life. I didn’t want to universalize this one. I did not deserve it. Why should He? Why would He?

But He did. I woke up the next morning after going to sleep in repentant prayer. The problems were fixed. By one o’clock in the afternoon they were cemented forever in the vault of no problems, no worries. The admiral had ordered it such. The problems were non-issues. Proceed with the mission.

God indeed can repay the righteous with good. I love Him.

This morning I woke up in prayer. What shall I do Lord in response to your goodness? I read in Isaiah 62:6-7, “I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth.”

I could not keep silent about the good thing the Lord had done to me. He gave me a name. As soon as I left my room, there he was. Would I “be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand?” (Ephesians 6:13) Only in fearless obedience to “Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints; And for me, that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel,…” I prayed for him. And then I opened my mouth and proclaimed the goodness and praise of God.

Then after we departed I asked God, “What next? I want to do something more for you.”

Pray for him, that the good word you have spoken be not snatched from his ground (Matthew 13). I desire worship and you desire others to fellowship with you in truth and holiness. Continue the work of Ephesians 5:25-27 and I Corinthians 15:27. Be bold and persistent.

One of the shortcomings I have as a leader is my trust in people. I really want to believe that people want to do good, want to do the right thing, and expect the same from others. However, I have been continually disappointed over the years in this. I see this latest season of rebellion as a lesson both for myself and for my shortfallen trust.

Psalm 14:1-3, “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good. The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.”

I know why I have a hard time with this. I’m one of them when in rebellion. There can be no other outcome but complete disappointment when working with sinners. To them and rebellious Christians, goodness is right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6, 21:25, Proverbs 12:15, 16:2, 21:2). It’s a moving target no man can hit and it is the source of all contention and it comes from pride.

So I have to walk in the Spirit and not fulfill the lust of the flesh that desires its own goodness and righteousness. I must not trust the goodness of another man. I must boldly trust in the Lord and His Word and His Spirit to lead me in the way which is right. I know better. “The lips of the wise disperse knowledge…” (Proverbs 15:7a) …”For the LORD giveth wisdom: out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding.” (Proberbs 2:6). Therefore I can only trust His Word and confidently and boldly disperse it. “So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)