MARRIAGE!

Marriage is the union of a man and a woman---where a man and wife are regarded a a single organism. This idea of oneness is seen in Genesis 2:24, "Therefore a man will leave his father and his mother, and will join with his wife, and they will be one flesh."

 There are so many dimensions to this oneness, certainly there is the aspect of sexuality, but so much more! Think in terms of the Creator combining two parts---like a lock and key,or a violin and bow, in marriage, the relationship will not work unless the two parts are working in harmony. The two parts work to complement each other.



One way that Christianity frames the idea of marriage is that it is for life. Take note that   there is a difference between how Churches view divorce: some don't admit it at all; others allow it in the case of adultery, while others will grant divorce for less serious issues, but we can agree that all Christian Churches allow divorce rather reluctantly.

Christianity views divorce  more like a surgical operation, a separating or dissecting of the body, Jesus has this to say about the dissolution of a marriage: "what therefore God has joined together, let not man separate (Mark 10:9).

Love for each other is certainly one of the reasons that two people get married, but it is not to be the only reason for remaining married. People "fall out of love," but if love was the only reason for staying married it would leave no room for "the contract" or promises made before others and God.

Do these words sound familiar?

In the presence of God, our family and friends, I offer you my solemn vow to be your faithful partner in sickness and in health, in good times and in bad, and in joy as well as in sorrow. I promise to love you unconditionally, to support you in your goals, to honor and respect you, to laugh with you and cry with you, and to cherish you for as long as we both shall live.

To those who have taken the marriage vow, recommit your energy to those vows; both before your spouse and before your God.

Happiness

Can We Really Be Happy?

I think the concept of happiness is such a weighty thought. I mean, even trying to define happiness has eluded philosophers throughout the ages.

There is deep hunger in all humans to be happy, as Dostoevsky in the Brothers Karamazov so succinctly tells us, "And yet---happiness, happiness---where is it? Who can say of himself that he is happy?"

Our culture offers us happiness; happiness through material things, happiness through through self-gratification, but we all conclude in the end, we are still not satisfied.

Listen to the words of the ancient Roman philosopher Seneca (5 B.C. - A.D. 65).

There is not any thing in this world, perhaps, that is more talked of, and less understood, than the business of a happy life. It is every person's wish and design; and yet not one of a thousand...knows wherein that happiness consists. We live, however, in a blind and eager pursuit of it; and the more haste we make in a wrong way, the further we are from our journey's end.

However, the Holy Scriptures affirm for us the reality of how God's people can be happy now and in the future (eternity):

In your presence is fullness of joy; in your right hand there are pleasures forever (Psalms 16: 11).

Delight yourself in the Lord; and He will give you the desires of your heart (Psalms 37:4).

I defer to Augustine in the confessions as to the real meaning of happiness: "I serve You and worship You that I may be happy in You, to whom I owe that I am being capable of happiness."










Let me share some Biblical insight on the subject of happiness, but in order to do that we must go back to God's original design for man. From Genesis 1: 26-28 we learn three very important truths:
1. God created man to be in a loving relationship with Himself (spiritual).
2. God gave man the institution of marriage and family life (social).
3. God gave man the mandate to rule and subdue the earth and its creatures (cultural).

If your not running toward the God of the Bible, turn around and start running toward Him, and run the fastest you've ever ran in your life.

Exegesis and Spirituality

This is somewhat of a different post, in this post I'd like to share a book that I've been reading that is refreshing (jogging my memory) how we need to exegete the Scriptures.  Gordon Fee's "LISTENING TO THE SPIRIT IN THE TEXT," informs us that exegesis and spirituality must not be separated in our approach to Bible study.

This idea or thought is not something new to me, I've always realized that it is the Spirit that gives us understanding of the Bible---as Jesus said, "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life" (John 6:63), but Fee's book awakened within me the deep need to blend our exegesis with spirituality.

There are 12 chapters in the book with a total of 163 pages. Fee's book is clear, enjoyable and filled with a scholarly passion for God's living Word. The chapters cover a wide range of pertinent issues that any Christan can relate to.

I'd like to share some of my thoughts on chapter one---exegesis and spirituality completing the circle. Fee describes for us what chapter one is all about when he writes:

What I propose to examine is the interface between exegesis and spirituality, between the historical exercise of digging out the original intent of the text and the experience of hearing the text in the present in terms of both its presupposed and intentional spirituality (p.4).

Fee makes the argument that exegesis and spirituality are often perceived as being unrelated. Fee talks about seminary training where exegesis and spirituality are two distinct tracks of study,while he notes that indeed they are two different academic tracks of study, he contends that they must be brought together or we will lose the ultimate aim of exegesis.

 Under the heading spirituality, Fee sums up the whole idea of Chapter one, where he says so succinctly, "...the proper aim of all true theology is doxology. Theology that does not begin and end in worship is not biblical at all, but is rather the product of western philosophy" (p.5).

I could go on, but let me sum up my thoughts on the idea of joining exegesis and spirituality together---we must strive to  exegete the bible with the higher goal of God's glory---it's always about God's glory. If we lose sight of this idea we are in danger of becoming arrogant and prideful---for we know that knowledge can puff up, let us do all things for God's glory and honor.



 

Spiritual Growth

I would like to look at one verse that will show us the means of spiritual growth, and I want to note that this verse does not says anything about  practicing the "spiritual disciplines" that we hear so  much about today in our evangelical Churches.

The verse is 2 Peter 1:3, which tells us, "God's divine power has given us everything we need for life and for godliness. This power was given to us through knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and integrity."

Let's do some exegesis on this one verse. It is important to understand that Peter wrote this letter to expose and counter false teachers. In the midst of Peter's polemic against false teachers Peter tried to show Christians how to develop Christian character (how to grow spiritually) (1: 5-11).

God's divine power has given us - God's divine power speaks to the source or well in which all spiritual character traits come from. All the power that the believer needs is found in the Gospel, as Paul stated in Romans 1:16 "I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God."

This power that is in the Gospel is called a divine power, and this power is God the Father's power that is exerted on the believer through the means of the Gospel. It is this power that gives the believer everything that is needed for life and godliness.

In his notes on the Bible Barn's makes an interesting observation about the meaning of life in our verse - "The reference here in the word "life" is undoubtedly to the life of religion; the life of the soul imparted by the gospel." So, all that the believer needs to nurture the spiritual life of the soul (inner landscape) has been given to him by divine power through the Gospel.

According to Clark in his commentary, he tells us that "God Hath endowed us with the gifts; or, hath gifted us," So all believers have been given everything they need  in this life to have their souls nurtured to become more like Christ and to live a practical life of Godliness.

Through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: According to Gill's exposition of the entire Bible he says this about 2 Peter 1:3b "The call here spoken of is not a bare outward call, by the ministry of the word, but an internal, special, and powerful one, which springs from the grace, and is according to the purpose of God, and is inseparably connected with justification and glorification...."

Let me bring this all together for us, God has give the believer by His divine power all things necessary for spiritual growth. God has given the believer a new birth, in which the Holy Spirit changes the believer from the inside out.

God has certainly given the Church different ways to grow - His Word, christian fellowship, prayer, the observing of the Lords Table and Baptism. However, God has not given us any formula or system for a means of spiritual growth. And God has not just now given the Church these "spiritual disciplines" that have been hidden in some ancient monastery as a means for spiritual growth.

How do we know we are really growing in Christ?

How do we assess spiritual growth? This is one question that I've wrestled with for quite some time. Three influences are responsible for bringing this question to the forefront of my mind.


First, my personal experience with with the Church. I've noticed   Churches were measuring the wrong things. In my spiritual journey I've been in many Churches, and the one common denominator that I've observed being used to judge spiritual growth was attendance, giving, and how involved congregants were in the programs of the local Church.



Think for a second! What do these three indicators all have in common? Spiritual growth is being measured by how involved you are in the Church. The danger with this assessment is that spiritual growth is completely wedded to one's Church involvement, while the more fundamental things like anger, a complaining attitude, honesty, father's being spiritual leaders in their homes, and congregant's prayer lives all become secondary issues.



Second,  my thesis paper that I did for my master's degree. My research led me to many books that dealt with Family Based Ministry--- Family Based Ministry focuses on the home as being the primary setting where spiritual formation and growth takes place.

Reggie Joiner is considered the father of the Family Based Ministry movement. Joiner's book "think orange" emphasizes the necessity of the Church and the family to combine their influences for the spiritual health of the home. The force of the Family Based Ministry movement is for the Church and the family to partner together, to work towards building strong spiritual healthy homes.

The emphasis of this movement was contradictory to the assessment that was so prevalent in most Churches that used Church attendance as the means to measure spiritual growth.



Third, the rise of the missional movement. One of the faces of the missional movement is Reggie McNeal, McNeal's missional philosophy is that the Church needs to be intentional about looking "outward," he would say the the Church has become to "inward focused."

The missional movement would stress that we need a new "score card" for measuring spiritual growth. The Church has become too focused on programs and less focused on the spiritual health of the congregants---spiritual growth should not be inextricably linked to Church attendance.


In the Scriptures Jesus tells us to come to Him (Matt. 11:28), and then He invites us to abide in Him (John. 15:4), this is the essence of the Christian life. The Church and the individual Christian may be doing all the "religious things," but when it comes to the only assessment that  really matters be failing---in revelation 2:4 the Church of Ephesus was charged with losing her first love.


Without a life that is burning with love for the Savior not much matters. We can be involved in all kinds of Church ministries, be at the Church every time the doors are open, and without love for Christ, it will all crumble and fall at the Bema Seat of Christ.

My Spiritual Quandary

I must admit, I'm in a little bit of a quandary. Over the years, I've sensed that something was missing in the way I was "doing Church." I struggled with the question, "is this sense that something is askew, me, or is it the Church?"



Now, I've been "out of the Church" for over three years, and have wrestled with this question like Jacob wrestled with God, and like Jacob, I think I'm beginning to overcome (understand more clearly). Since I'm a slow learner, it takes me a while to "get things," you know, before they really sink in and make sense.

This little bit of background information about my journey will be helpful to know so you can understand my story. I had come to be a follower of Christ as a teenager. Started my spiritual journey in the Charismatic Church and from the Charismatic Churches, I found my way into a Fundamentalist Independent Baptist Church where I stayed for ten years.

From the Baptist Church, I journeyed into meeting with believers in house Churches, from house Churches I found myself in an Evangelical Free Church, where I stayed for over twenty years.

I thought that this background needed to be shared, lest you think that I have a bone to grind with organized Church. For the record, I LOVE the Church of God, now when I say "the Church of God," it needs to be noted, I don't mean organized religion; but the people of God, the body of Christ that Jesus died for and redeemed.




So, its time to get back to the "quandary," what was askew? what was missing? was it me or the Church that had the problem? Well, let me defer to one of the most influential evangelicals in North America, J. I. Packer, when he noted, "Christianity in North America is 3,000 miles wide and a half inch deep." Oh, there it was! and it was the deep part that really got me.

Let me digress one more time, I can remember driving home from Church one Sunday afternoon and looking over at my wife and saying "I can't do Church anymore," that  is what it felt like for so many years,  just "doing Church," there was no "deep" anymore.

The feeling reminded me of my younger days when I was brought to the Roman Catholic Church by my father, it was all duty, it was what good Catholics did, you simply went to Church every Sunday. Going to Church was what God expected from you, it was what God wanted, and certainly what the local Parish expected.

So to answer my question, was it me or the Church? I've come to the conclusion that it was not me, but  the Church. The Church can become so program centered, so organizational that it stops being the living, breathing, organism that God called Her to be. Unless the Church becomes intentional about not becoming an organization, it will drift towards that end.



I see in many Churches where there has been a "wake up call," God, through new leadership has been calling local Churches to become more intentional about "community" and promoting real spiritual growth. There is a paradigm shift that is using a new score card to judge spiritual growth--- a score card that is moving away from judging spiritual growth by how involved you are in the Church---to judging spiritual growth by how many believers are disciplining others, or looking for an increase of fathers in the Church leading their own families in worship of God.



A new, more balanced score card, that asks, "are there more healthy marriages in the Church?" a score card that goes "deeper" than just how involved you are in the Church's' programs, or how much time and money you give to the organization, oops I mean the Church. The score card that is currently being used has become so unbalance, and even dangerous.



The goal of the Christian life is as the great Apostle Paul noted, that we may know Christ. To know Christ and fellowship with other believers in worship of our King. To break bread together, to see others come to the waters of baptism as new followers of Christ proclaim Him as Lord and savior.
.

To God be all praise, glory, and honor

Focus more on being than doing

I've been thinking of the importance of self examination in the life of the believer, the lack of attention we give to our inner landscape manifests itself in cold barren lives. The Church of God can become dry and religious, God's people can have a FORM of Godliness, but not experience the life and power of the Holy Spirit.


I would like to share what some believer's have observed about the essence of true Christianity.

Frederick Whitfield observed--- Christianity is not merely a "theological system"--but a person. It is not only a redemption--but a Redeemer. What a difference between casting ourselves upon a system, however beautiful--and upon a tender, loving, compassionate Savior!

The Apostle Paul---"I want to know Christ!"

The Greeks in the New Testament---“Sir, we wish to see Jesus.”

Theological systems, ceremonies, rituals, church, can never make us alive on the inside, it is only when we allow God to speak to our hearts through His indwelling word. The Christian life is KNOWING CHRIST, it is a relationship with Jesus and nobody can be dead on the inside when they are living in communion with the God of the universe.

One of my complaints about the way that we "do church" is that the leadership in the churches emphasize work, ministry, getting involved, doing, doing, doing. Our churches keep us so busy with doing that by the end of the day most Christians are just worn out.

Now notice, I said that our churches place to much emphasis on doing---I didn't say that any of those things are wrong, or that believers should not be engaged in the work of ministry. The key word is "emphasis," it is the message from the leadership of the church---"if you're busy doing ministry in the church, then you must be growing spiritually, and that may or may not be the truth.
 
The Church needs to change the scorecard on how it measures spiritual growth. The church needs to redirect its emphasis away from work (doing) and more towards Christians "being." Christ can't be formed in us by doing, Christ can only be formed in the believer as the believer takes the time and listens to the Holy Spirit's promptings and nudges.

The believer allows the Word of Christ to dwell in him richly in all wisdom, and as the word of God takes residence inside of the believers life, God begins the process of conforming us into the image of Christ.

This is a process, and for this process to happen the believer must practice the spiritual discipline of spending time with God. Some of us stay busy for a reason, we don't want to hear what God is saying to us. It is a humbling experience when we are listening to God and He begins to put His finger on certain areas of our life.

Since the fall, we have always wanted to do it our way, Like the song says "I did it my way." Doing it (life, ministry, church, whatever it is), our way is the essence of the fall of man.

Pay attention to your inner landscape, think of the christian life more in terms of "being" than "doing." Let the focus of your life be; "that you may KNOW Christ."