Sunday, November 12, 2023

Ephesians 4:29 Memory/Meditation

 "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, so that it gives grace to those who hear." 

Hi EACF,

This brief passage has been stewing on the stove of my mind for quite a while, and I apologize that I'm only finally getting around to sharing some thoughts. 

In this brief passage, we can see a progressively escalating standard for the kind of speech meant to characterize God's people, almost like rungs of a ladder that take you from the bottom to the top. Let me just take things phrase by phrase. 

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths..."

When I first started reciting this passage to memorize it, my eyes immediately fixated on the word "corrupting". The meaning of the original Greek word is "rotten" or "putrid". It is the same word used when Jesus compares the fruit derived from a good tree versus the "bad" (rotten) fruit from a diseased tree (Matthew 7:17). 

Most if not all of us have heard some version of the old English proverb, "One rotten apple can spoil the barrel/bunch". There's actually scientific truth behind that statement, since physically damaged apples release ethylene gas, which speeds up the ripening process of surrounding apples, which inevitably leads to premature ripening and spoilage of the rest of the bunch. We've all likely not only experienced but at some point in our lives also perpetuated the destructive power of gossip and slander. 

Another (perhaps even nerdier) analogy is that of prion diseases. If any of you have heard of "Mad Cow Disease"- it is caused by prions (here is a cartoon video for those who are interested). Prion diseases happen when a specific protein found on the cell surface becomes abnormally folded, and in turn starts a chain reaction by causing other normally folded versions of that protein to become misfolded. This leads to clumps of misfolded protein in the brain, resulting in memory loss, personality changes, difficulties with movement, and ultimately death. It's pretty incredible that just one copy of one misfolded prion protein can trigger such a devastatingly fatal disease. Similarly, our tongues indeed can be a fire, a world of unrighteousness (James 3:6) that not only express the rottenness inside ourselves, but in doing so spreads the rot just as an uncontrolled fire consumes swaths of a forest.  

"but only such as is good for building up...." While the initial rung was to command against what our speech should not be- the next rung of the ladder shows us what our speech should be for- good for building up. In this context, the meaning of "building up" is to seek the growth of our brothers and sisters - to encourage one another towards their renewal into the image of our Creator (Colossians 3:10, Romans 8:29). Indeed, the purpose of all our gatherings and activities together as a local body of Christ is for the sake of such "building up" or "edification" (1 Corinthians 14:26). 

"as fits the occasion...." If Paul had stopped at the phrase "building up"- we could potentially misinterpret the passage and walk away with a vague principle that we just need our speech to be positive in some general way. But not only are our words meant to build people up towards Christ-like maturity in general- they are to literally be "according to the need". We shouldn't flippantly spout off spiritual platitudes to one another (no matter how much biblical truth they hold). Instead, our words must be informed through paying close attention to the need of the other person in that particular moment or situation. This requires a posture of humility, and an intentional openness and desire to come close enough alongside someone to even help bear any burdens they may carry (Galatians 6:2). We can sometimes fixate so much on our own lives that our conversations merely consist of taking turns talking about ourselves. May the Lord grow us into intentional listening and speaking to one another in truth and love. 

"so that it gives grace to those who hear...." Finally, the last rung at the top of the ladder brings us to the desired fruit of our speech towards one another. Our conversations are meant to truly benefit one another- to be gifts, expressing genuine good-will and lovingkindness, reflecting no less than God's own desire for each one of us to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  

When you combine these descriptives- they give great weight to the worth of our words- perhaps so much so that it could even seem intimidating. Perhaps you're looking back on words you've said and realize that as Jesus himself said, "out of the overflow of the heart" our mouths have spoken in destructive ways aplenty. What then? Does this mean that a church made up largely of introverts (like EACF) should just choose to be silent? May it never be! Paul would have never written such an exhortation if it were impossible...but what is the foundation for our confidence to speak such words of grace to each other? 

Brothers and sisters, let us remember that on the cross, Christ Himself received the ultimate word of condemnation that the perfect and holy law of God demanded of us, so that we would in turn receive the ultimate word of grace from Christ himself- "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do". Having received such manner of love from God the Father to become His children, we have been given His Spirit and grace which trains us to renounce ungodliness, to avoid irreverent babble, and to encourage one another and build one another up. Since we have freely received grace upon grace, may we in turn freely give of that grace to each other. May we drink so heavily in the fountains of His grace towards us that our hearts and mouths will overflow with it for one another. 

Grace,

Mike



Friday, September 29, 2023

2 Corinthians 5:17 Memory/Meditation Part 2

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold, the new has come".

Hi EACF,

The last time I wrote you regarding this brief passage, I focused on the spiritual realities of what it means to be "in Christ"- to be a "new creation" and for the new life to take hold in place of the old. Of course, the spiritual realities will inevitably show forth through changed lives, whether the changes be drastic or gradual. 

This time, I'd like you to come along with me to look around 2 Corinthians 5 through a wider-angle lens to take away some implications for those who belong to Jesus. In other words, "If I've been made a new creation in Christ, what then does it look like? What does it mean for me in my day-to-day life?"

From my reading, I see 4 new "P"s for those who are new creatures Christ:

Those who are in Christ are driven by a new Passion, have been given a new Purpose, have been given a new Perception, and have a new Pursuit

Passion

"For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died;" v. 14

Every time I read this particular passage, I am in awe of the kind of life that God has given us and called us to embody. For many of us, having control of our lives is a subtle but recalcitrant idol. Our internal/fleshly voices tell us that life is truly good ONLY when everything is going as WE planned- (e.g. our jobs are secure, we make enough to not live from paycheck to paycheck, we have married someone we love....and if we have kids they are going to the best schools...and you have a set of relationships that we are comfortable with...). When any of those things (and other things I've not mentioned as well) fall out of joint or goes awry...we start questioning God's goodness, as if we were entitled to every comfort. 

Does the idea of being controlled by the love of Christ bring you joy and gladness, and a willingness to serve Him regardless of what it costs you? Or does it seem far-off, something unattainable, something for "super spiritual" Christians? Regardless of how that phrase hits you, the truth is that if you belong to Christ- this is your destined reality. You and I were called out of darkness and into his marvelous light not so that we could live as we wish, but to be conformed to the image of His Son. If our lives are meant to become like Christ, that transformation always begins on the inside and works its way out. 

Purpose

"and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised. v.15

"So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him." v.9 

If the love of Christ is the all-encompassing and centering passion of our lives, then it makes complete sense for us to make it our aim to please the one who loved us and gave himself for us (Galatians 2:20). 

Just as we went through the first question in New City Catechism: "What is our only hope in life and death?" "That we are not our own, but belong, body and soul, both in life and in death to God and to our Savior Jesus Christ"- so we have been bought with a price, and therefore are meant to honor God with our body (1 Corithians 6:20). 

Perception

"From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer." v.16

When the love of Christ begins to take hold of our lives, we will find that we are given new eyes (sometimes drastically, other times more gradually) to see everyone and everything in a different light. We start to see that there are no longer people who are irredeemable, no matter how lost they seem- no matter how wrong we consider their perspectives on life (politics, society, philosophy, faith) may be- because we know that apart from God's grace we were just as dead in our sins and unable to save ourselves. 

We also start losing the fleshly tendency to see others as a means to our ends- and instead realize that other people (whether they belong to God's family or not) are made in His image and are worthy of care and love regardless of how they treat us, or what they can potentially offer us. Ultimately the love of Christ breaks our hearts for the hurt and brokenness that sin has wrought in the lives of the people we rub shoulders with. 

In addition to this, we start to see that all the earthly/material gifts that God has blessed you with are ultimately to be stewarded for the sake of bringing Him honor and glory....and so we reassess and redirect all that we have towards the controlling passion of our lives...

Pursuit

"Therefore, knowing the fear of the Lord, we persuade others. But what we are is known to God, and I hope it is known also to your conscience." v. 11

"All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation." v. 18-19

"Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." v. 20 

And so as the love of Christ grows in us and takes ahold of us, we will inevitably seek to channel that love towards faithfully representing Christ to those around us- in every way that we are led by His Spirit to do, employing every means we have at our disposal so that God would make his appeal through us. Living in this way may not look as you imagine. It may require you to sacrifice comfort and control- actually it's quite certain that you will relinquish control to Christ as you seek to obey Him. We cannot follow Him without losing control. God has given US the ministry of reconciliation. We are the messengers who are to proclaim what God has done in Christ. 

As I mentioned in a previous post- I took a trip to Berlin for a conference, and had the opportunity to visit certain monuments- and one of these included a mile-long strip where the wall used to occupy and divide Germany. There was formerly a church that literally straddled both sides of the wall that was torn down to make way for the wall. Now a small chapel has been built in memory of that church, along with several remaining relics from that building. There was a sculpture next to that new chapel called "Reconciliation". The sculpture was such a poignant expression and reminder of how reconciliation is a messy, hard, and painful work- but because of Christ (see the Bible between the two people)- it is possible and worth it. How much more so is reconciling people to God! 

Brother and sisters, this kind of life controlled by the love of Christ is not just an ideal- the Lord gave us these words from Paul so that we could know that it was (and is) possible in real life- but NOT by our own efforts. 

If this kind of life feels like a far-off impossibility, I encourage you to go back to the beginning- start with the love of God in Christ. Ask the Lord to mesmerize you with the length, breath, height and depth of His love for you, the love the passes all understanding yet which has been poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit so that we can cry "Abba, Father" to our gracious heavenly Father. May Christ's life, death, and resurrection grow in becoming the most precious truth that undergirds your life. Hide yourself in Him. May His life be your life. 

May the Lord direct our hearts to the love of God and the steadfastness of Christ. 

Grace and Peace,

Mike

P.S. For anyone interested in the rest of the Berlin Wall Memorial, I've shared an album here


Friday, September 8, 2023

Proverbs 18:10 Memory/Meditation

 Hi EACF,

My apologies for the recent pause in these meditations- they've been in my head/heart, but I haven't made the time to actually write things out. So here we go! :-) 

"The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe."

Although this passage is short, there's actually a lot that we can think and meditate upon. I want to briefly touch on three aspects of this passage. 

  1. "The name of the LORD..."- In Scripture, the idea behind one's name was not just a identification label- but represented their nature or essence- their character, identity, and reputation. Whenever we we see "LORD" in all caps, it represents the actual name of God, that is "YHWH" (pronounced "Yah-weh", and often translated in older english Bibles as "Jehovah"). So in effect, this passage would read "The name of YHWH is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe". In just the Old Testament, there were a number of names attributed to God such as "The LORD Almighty", "The LORD of Hosts/Armies", "The LORD our healer". For a brief primer on such names, here's a link to explore: OT names of God 

  2.  "...is a strong tower". In the time of Israel, towers within fortified cities signified strength and a place of refuge where one could hide from dangers below. We repeatedly see in the Psalms that the Lord is described as a hiding place (Ps 32, 119), a shield (Ps 3, 28, 119) a refuge, a rock of salvation (Ps 62, many others). Furthermore, those who take refuge in him are assured of receiving the goodness of God, of being blessed (Ps 34). 

    So at this point, we can see at least that God's character and identity can be trusted to protect.

  3.  "..the righteous man runs into it and is safe." Notice here that the righteous man is utterly dependent on God to keep him safe. He doesn't just saunter over to the tower at his own leisure- he runs into it. There is an urgency because the man knows that unless he finds refuge, he is not safe from deadly threats about him. Our individualistic/do it yourself culture often assumes that someone who is righteous has strength within themselves to weather and ultimately outlast the trials and troubles of life. But may we heed the word of the Lord, and not our own intuitions- nor bow to the winds and currents of our culture. The righteous man is not self-sufficient. His security comes from the character and identity of the LORD.  

What does all this mean for us? How does this apply to us? I'd venture to say that we oftentimes run to anything BUT God for our sense of security and well-being. We seek the safety and salves of money (and the toys/comforts it afford us), relationships, the affirmation of achievement (be it in the workplace or even in the church context) or of human praise (in-person or virtual). Anything to tell ourselves, "Yea, I'm doing okay- everything's under control- I got this- I'm good". 

For those of us who have received Him and have received the right to become children of God...let's forsake believing the lies behind those counterfeit towers that will crumble. Our lives are hidden in Christ, and only in Him are we truly secure- through his life, death and resurrection we have been set free from slavery to sin and to the fear of death. Christ Jesus is our "wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1) and as his kingdom of priests, we are called to declare the excellencies of him who called us out of darkness and into light- to the praise of his glory. 

How well do we truly know the character of our God? How often have we thought upon his steadfast love? When we think of our Lord, would our first thoughts about God be congruent with how God first revealed himself to Moses? (Exodus 34:5-7). 

In John 17 when Jesus prayed his priestly prayer for his disciples and for those who would believe through them (that's us!!), he finished it with these words:

"O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.” John 17:25-26

If we want to grow in understanding the name/character of our God- let us keep looking and ultimately depending upon Christ- all that he has done, who he is and forever will be for us together as his body. May the Holy Spirit continually and increasingly illuminate our hearts to behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6), so that our collective boast may be in the Lord alone (Jeremiah 9:23-24, 1 Corinthians 1:31, Galatians 6:14). As we grow in knowing the Lord, may the very love that God the Father has for God the Son be in us by the power of his Spirit dwelling in us, all to the glory of his name. 

To help us continue meditating on the name of God, I recorded a brief medley- hope that it encourages you to press on to know and love the LORD. 

Jehovah Medley

Grace and Peace,

Mike


Friday, August 11, 2023

2 Corinthians 5:17 Memory/Meditation

 "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away. Behold, the new has come." 

This week's memory verse is relatively short compared with the past several entries, and is likely very familiar to most of us. 

But sometimes our familiarity with such a passage actually keeps us from growing in our understanding- we often end up making ourselves aloof to God's treasures for us by glossing over it. So let's slow down together and ask the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. 

What does it mean to be "in Christ"?  It means that we've been united with Christ for salvation through faith in his death and resurrection. By faith we have been baptized with Him through baptism into his death, and just as He has risen unto new life by the power of the Holy Spirit, so we have the same power and presence of the Spirit to walk in the newness of life (Romans 6). To slightly paraphrase what a famous preacher has said, "For those who have put their faith in Christ, what is true of Christ is now true of us." It means that we are holy and dearly loved as an adopted children in God's family, known in God's mind before the creation of the world. It means we have been redeemed from the penalty and power of sin (Ephesians 1), and that we have not only received forgiveness for those sins, but have received the righteousness that does not come from law-keeping but from Christ's perfect life credited to us through faith (Philippians 3). It means that our lives are secure and hidden with Christ in God, and that when He returns, we will share His glory (Colossians 3). Brothers and sisters, it's healthy for our hearts to "get carried away" with what Christ has achieved for us through the gospel. May we treasure the preciousness of our salvation and constantly set these truths before us each day! 

What does being a new creation mean? Back in Genesis, we see that humans were made in the image of God- we were meant to reflect His likeness in governing creation with care, in relating with other image-bearers in loving-kindness. But because of sin, the image of God in every human has been marred and deformed, resulting in disordered loves that ultimately manifest themselves in rebellion against the Creator and His purposes in myriad ways- human hearts unyielded to God become inventors of evil (Romans 1)!  But for those who are in Christ we have been created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we may walk in them (Ephesians 2). Those who are in Christ have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator (Colossians 3). God is at work to conform his children into the image of Christ, and will use every circumstance to accomplish His purpose (Romans 8). As those who have been brought from death to life, we learn make it our aim to please Him because His love is what controls us (2 Corinthians 5). We start putting to death all that is earthly in us- putting off the old self and its deceitful desires- and being renewed in the spirit of our minds, putting on the new self created in true righteousness and holiness (Ephesians 4). 

"The old has passed away." But it doesn't always feel that way does it? We still struggle to put off the old self day in and day out.  Allowing our own desires, thoughts, and behaviors to fall back into sinful patterns is never out of the realm of possibility. It happens more often than we'd like to admit. But the truth remains- what does it mean? It means that those who are in Christ are free from having to choose sin. Sin no longer has dominion over those who are under grace (Romans 6). The power of sin has been broken. This not only means we can choose a godward life characterized by ongoing repentance and growth in holiness by the power of the Holy Spirit- it means that we will actually grow to prefer/love it. If you are experiencing any kind of struggle against sin- let's praise the Lord that we are still fighting! It means the Holy Spirit is at work in us to convict us to turn and to love the truth. Even when we fall into sin and experience sorrow- may His kindness continually lead us to repentance. 

"Behold, the new has come." The abundant life Christ came to give (John 10:10) is meant to be lived out in community through His church to His glory by the power of the Holy Spirit- be it in how we eat or drink, or whatever we do- but particularly in how we love one another (1 Corinthians 13, John 13). Even though we ourselves have not seen God visibly, we have been given new affections God and for His kingdom (1 Peter 1). It's why Jesus teaches His disciples to pray "Your kingdom come, Your will be done"- the true subjects of the king will long for His return and His rule. The Spirit and the Bride (the Church) say "Maranatha!" Come Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22). 

Whenever I think of this passage in 2 Corinthians 5, I always remember this bronze sculpture. 

Born Again by Dean Kermit Allison

May we remember that God is the one who works in us to will and to work according to his good pleasure (Philippians 2)- all glory be to Him!

Ephesians 4:29 Memory/Meditation

 "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, so that it gives grac...