September 30, 2007
So...how 'bout those Romans?
Last time around, I said
First, and this is straight from Sunday school class, think about who the Romans were at the time Jesus walked the earth: They were the empire. They were rich, powerful, educated, and every thing that comes with that kind of wealth and power. Our pastor likened the Romans of that day to the current day America that we all know and love. I would agree that it is, at least for the sake of this illustration, a fair parallel. That being said, one can easily apply what Paul has written to the Romans as what he might have written to the Ameicans, had the timing been appropriate.
Now, rememer the Mosaic law? I said last time that it started with the Ten Commandments, but by no means stopped there. There were even laws written concerning what to do with mildew. Yep, it was that complete and all-encompassing. And the Pharisees had a lot of time between the passing of Moses and the coming of Jesus to "quantify" these laws so that there was (or so I'm told) an excruciatingly precise measure of what, how much, or when something could or could not be done. The example given that sticks with me is the actual amount, quantified down to the last loaf of bread, of work which could be done on the sabbath. Prior to Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, people would literally be stoned to death for breaking the law. I expect many were stoned after the fact as well, but from a Godly view, once a person is under the saving grace of Jesus, the law takes on a different role. Check out Romans 3:21:
Verse 23 above is the one I used to hide behind. My thinking at the time was that if "all have sinned and fall short" than it is inevitable that I will mess things up and it is seemingly expected of me. Not true. If a person believes that Jesus is indeed the son of God and that we can be saved through faith in Him, then we must also believe on the same authority that we CAN live our lives just as He did. Check out this bit from Hebrews, chapter 2. (yeah, I know we're talking about Romans, but this bit is important):
We may have taken the long way around the bend, but can you see what I was getting at earlier? I certainly hope so, but if you don't then you should ask your pastor because the absolute last thing I want to do is lead anyone astray or confuse you more--that's bad mojo. If you don't have (or want) a church then I suppose you could find The Exchange at a local Mardel or even through the publisher, LifeWay.
Now, the final bit: all of this is purely academic if you don't believe. I find the whole book of Romans incredibly comforting in that I don't have to continue trying to live a Christian life on my own and suffer the inevitable failure. For me, this helps bolster my faith and belief. So much so, that this morning I was baptized. Yes, folks, at the tender age of 37, I finally came to the conclusion that baptism is an important spiritual "step" which I needed to take. And so did Aimee! So I'd like to thank all of our family and friends for the kind and gracious words of encouragement.
Next time, I promise we'll talk about something simple. Like thermodynamics.
A lot of people think of the law as the "you can't do this, you can't do that" part of the Bible. And for a time, that was true. It's a bit outside the scope of this particular post, but if you're curious about why I say "for a time" read Romans.Now then, before we get too deep into this, you must know that most of what I'll be talking about in this post is also the material we've been covering in Sunday school and that is a large part of why I feel comfortable enough with the material (being the "newbie" I am) to share. As a result, some of this will be what I've taken away from our class discussions, with ideas and illustrations borrowed from our pastor and even a bit more referenced from "The Exchange" by Joel Engle. The verses are all taken from the The Holy Bible, New International Version because it's a very easy to read translation. If you don't have one, and you feel so compelled, you can go over to Crosswalk.com and use their on-line version.
First, and this is straight from Sunday school class, think about who the Romans were at the time Jesus walked the earth: They were the empire. They were rich, powerful, educated, and every thing that comes with that kind of wealth and power. Our pastor likened the Romans of that day to the current day America that we all know and love. I would agree that it is, at least for the sake of this illustration, a fair parallel. That being said, one can easily apply what Paul has written to the Romans as what he might have written to the Ameicans, had the timing been appropriate.
Now, rememer the Mosaic law? I said last time that it started with the Ten Commandments, but by no means stopped there. There were even laws written concerning what to do with mildew. Yep, it was that complete and all-encompassing. And the Pharisees had a lot of time between the passing of Moses and the coming of Jesus to "quantify" these laws so that there was (or so I'm told) an excruciatingly precise measure of what, how much, or when something could or could not be done. The example given that sticks with me is the actual amount, quantified down to the last loaf of bread, of work which could be done on the sabbath. Prior to Jesus' crucifixion and resurrection, people would literally be stoned to death for breaking the law. I expect many were stoned after the fact as well, but from a Godly view, once a person is under the saving grace of Jesus, the law takes on a different role. Check out Romans 3:21:
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.The emphasis is mine and is meant to show that there is now something else, apart from [the] law, which brings righteousness. Verses 22-24 continue like this:
22 This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.So at this point, the purpose of the law becomes a bit different. Yes, the things in the law still identify sinful behavior, but that, if I've got it right, becomes pretty much the primary purpose so that we are able to see and understand when we are getting it wrong. But, we are no longer condemned by it--see verse 24 above.
Verse 23 above is the one I used to hide behind. My thinking at the time was that if "all have sinned and fall short" than it is inevitable that I will mess things up and it is seemingly expected of me. Not true. If a person believes that Jesus is indeed the son of God and that we can be saved through faith in Him, then we must also believe on the same authority that we CAN live our lives just as He did. Check out this bit from Hebrews, chapter 2. (yeah, I know we're talking about Romans, but this bit is important):
14Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death--that is, the devil-- 15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.Again emphasis mine, but the catch is that we will never be able to do it alone. We, being human and flawed (Paul calls himself "Wretched" in chapter 7, verse 24) just can't do it alone. It's not in our nature. Look at the first two verses of Romans 8:
1 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, 2 because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.Look also at verses 5 and 6 from the same chapter:
5 For when we were controlled by the sinful nature, the sinful passions aroused by the law were at work in our bodies, so that we bore fruit for death. 6 But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.The emphasis in verse 6 is again mine, and I did that just so I could ask this question: what do you think Paul means when he's talking about "the new way of the Spirit"? I get from those verses that through the Spirit of Jesus, we are free from the "old way of the written code". Also note in verse 5 that Paul says that when were were controlled by sinful nature (which is in my opinion our natural state) we bore fruit for death.
We may have taken the long way around the bend, but can you see what I was getting at earlier? I certainly hope so, but if you don't then you should ask your pastor because the absolute last thing I want to do is lead anyone astray or confuse you more--that's bad mojo. If you don't have (or want) a church then I suppose you could find The Exchange at a local Mardel or even through the publisher, LifeWay.
Now, the final bit: all of this is purely academic if you don't believe. I find the whole book of Romans incredibly comforting in that I don't have to continue trying to live a Christian life on my own and suffer the inevitable failure. For me, this helps bolster my faith and belief. So much so, that this morning I was baptized. Yes, folks, at the tender age of 37, I finally came to the conclusion that baptism is an important spiritual "step" which I needed to take. And so did Aimee! So I'd like to thank all of our family and friends for the kind and gracious words of encouragement.
Next time, I promise we'll talk about something simple. Like thermodynamics.
// posted by wayne @ 9/30/2007 11:45:00 PM 
September 20, 2007
Alright already...
I guess if several folks in two different states suggest it's time for a new post then it must be true, right? Even if it's not, for the sake of our discussion, we'll accept that to be the case.
First off, I want to thank everyone who sent an email with musical suggestions. I appreciate you taking the time and you all came up with some really good stuff. Since then, I've managed to find a sweet internet radio station which keeps new material coming as well. In fact, if you haven't checked out The Blast.FM then you need to be all over that. Colin and the rest of the staff are dedicated to keeping us in "aggressive, progressive" music and they're doing a fine job of it. If you are using iTunes, go over to the Radio icon under the LIBRARY heading. Then, hit the Religious streams and sort by bit rate so the 128K stations are on top. They should be right there at the top of the list. If you're not down with Steve J. then you can go directly to their website and pick either a Winamp or Windows Media stream but remember: they eat up extra bandwidth which costs The Blast extra dollars. I can honestly say that I've not changed the "station" since finding that stream. It's that good.
Second, and I can already hear the moans and groans from the peanut gallery, this isn't going to be the post I've been wanting to do. In my absence from the cliché, I've been doing a lot of thinking and the topic which repeatedly comes to the front of my wee noggin is the difference between belief and worship. I've always believed in God, but only recently started to worship. I can only imagine how trite and contrived that must sound to some folks, but if you look at the wordweb definition of worship, it goes like this: Verb, Love unquestioningly and uncritically or to excess; venerate as an idol. In use as a noun, worship becomes "The activity of worshipping". So it's not like were talking about chucking virgins down the volcano here. Try this: get a pencil and paper (or hit START, RUN, type NOTEPAD and hit OK) and write down (or type) all the things you can recall saying "Man, I love xxxxx" where xxxxx is the object of your "love". I just bet you'll come up with stuff like "this show" or "my car" or maybe even "the pizza from that place on the corner". I catch myself doing it all the time and I don't think there's much of an issue here until we add that "to excess" part (which is actually a different post altogether) but what's important to remember is that none of those things will love you back. My point is that it is entirely possible to believe in something and accept its existence without ever going beyond that. So for along time, I've believed, and tried to be a good person in accordance with the old school Mosaic laws. Or at least what I understood of them. Even if you think you aren't familiar with the Mosaic law, I'm sure you are. Those are the laws which put a lot of people off Christianity right from the start. I am not just talking about the ten commandments here. There are many, many more listed in the first 5 books of the Old Testament, including those which make shrimp, lobster and rabbit (which are all, as we know, most delicious) non-kosher meals and a big no-no to Jews. A lot of people think of the law as the "you can't do this, you can't do that" part of the Bible. And for a time, that was true. It's a bit outside the scope of this particular post, but if you're curious about why I say "for a time" read Romans. Then read it again. (We've spent quite a bit of time covering Romans in Sunday school for just this reason). Conversely, a lot of Christians think of the law as a measuring stick for goodness and purity. This is also no longer the case--again, referring to Romans. Anyway, I spent a lot of time thinking that everything is cool as long as I believe in God and make sure that I keep my nose clean. BUT...there is nothing in that equation about worship or even love. And love is the key. What would you say about a guy who is always good to his family and friends, pays his taxes, gets to work on time, lives by our current laws, but then curses everyone he sees on the road for driving too slow, too fast, or just for the unspeakably heinous crime of getting in his lane? I bet if you take a stroll through my archives, you'll see that guy. And that, ladies and gents, is how I knew my system just wasn't working and, consequently, that is exactly what I told our pastor the very first time Aimee and I met with him. I said I didn't want to be "that guy" any more.
And that's what brings us back around to the difference between believe and worship. I believed for years without ever getting any of the benefits of worship. Which, to me, become evident in us when we strive to live that Christ-like life we talked about before. Granted, this is not something I expect to achieve overnight. After all, it took 37 years to get this far so I'll not be too upset if it takes some time to straighten out the mess I've made, as long as I keep making progress.
On second reading, maybe this is the post I wanted to do after all.
First off, I want to thank everyone who sent an email with musical suggestions. I appreciate you taking the time and you all came up with some really good stuff. Since then, I've managed to find a sweet internet radio station which keeps new material coming as well. In fact, if you haven't checked out The Blast.FM then you need to be all over that. Colin and the rest of the staff are dedicated to keeping us in "aggressive, progressive" music and they're doing a fine job of it. If you are using iTunes, go over to the Radio icon under the LIBRARY heading. Then, hit the Religious streams and sort by bit rate so the 128K stations are on top. They should be right there at the top of the list. If you're not down with Steve J. then you can go directly to their website and pick either a Winamp or Windows Media stream but remember: they eat up extra bandwidth which costs The Blast extra dollars. I can honestly say that I've not changed the "station" since finding that stream. It's that good.
Second, and I can already hear the moans and groans from the peanut gallery, this isn't going to be the post I've been wanting to do. In my absence from the cliché, I've been doing a lot of thinking and the topic which repeatedly comes to the front of my wee noggin is the difference between belief and worship. I've always believed in God, but only recently started to worship. I can only imagine how trite and contrived that must sound to some folks, but if you look at the wordweb definition of worship, it goes like this: Verb, Love unquestioningly and uncritically or to excess; venerate as an idol. In use as a noun, worship becomes "The activity of worshipping". So it's not like were talking about chucking virgins down the volcano here. Try this: get a pencil and paper (or hit START, RUN, type NOTEPAD and hit OK) and write down (or type) all the things you can recall saying "Man, I love xxxxx" where xxxxx is the object of your "love". I just bet you'll come up with stuff like "this show" or "my car" or maybe even "the pizza from that place on the corner". I catch myself doing it all the time and I don't think there's much of an issue here until we add that "to excess" part (which is actually a different post altogether) but what's important to remember is that none of those things will love you back. My point is that it is entirely possible to believe in something and accept its existence without ever going beyond that. So for along time, I've believed, and tried to be a good person in accordance with the old school Mosaic laws. Or at least what I understood of them. Even if you think you aren't familiar with the Mosaic law, I'm sure you are. Those are the laws which put a lot of people off Christianity right from the start. I am not just talking about the ten commandments here. There are many, many more listed in the first 5 books of the Old Testament, including those which make shrimp, lobster and rabbit (which are all, as we know, most delicious) non-kosher meals and a big no-no to Jews. A lot of people think of the law as the "you can't do this, you can't do that" part of the Bible. And for a time, that was true. It's a bit outside the scope of this particular post, but if you're curious about why I say "for a time" read Romans. Then read it again. (We've spent quite a bit of time covering Romans in Sunday school for just this reason). Conversely, a lot of Christians think of the law as a measuring stick for goodness and purity. This is also no longer the case--again, referring to Romans. Anyway, I spent a lot of time thinking that everything is cool as long as I believe in God and make sure that I keep my nose clean. BUT...there is nothing in that equation about worship or even love. And love is the key. What would you say about a guy who is always good to his family and friends, pays his taxes, gets to work on time, lives by our current laws, but then curses everyone he sees on the road for driving too slow, too fast, or just for the unspeakably heinous crime of getting in his lane? I bet if you take a stroll through my archives, you'll see that guy. And that, ladies and gents, is how I knew my system just wasn't working and, consequently, that is exactly what I told our pastor the very first time Aimee and I met with him. I said I didn't want to be "that guy" any more.
And that's what brings us back around to the difference between believe and worship. I believed for years without ever getting any of the benefits of worship. Which, to me, become evident in us when we strive to live that Christ-like life we talked about before. Granted, this is not something I expect to achieve overnight. After all, it took 37 years to get this far so I'll not be too upset if it takes some time to straighten out the mess I've made, as long as I keep making progress.
On second reading, maybe this is the post I wanted to do after all.
// posted by wayne @ 9/20/2007 12:54:00 AM
September 13, 2007
Really...It's a HYBRID!
Now this is how people should use those high-dollar engineering degrees! Make sure to scroll all the way way down to the bottom, even if you don't read the entire article. I'm going to have to award bonus points for that one.
Labels: blah
// posted by wayne @ 9/13/2007 05:47:00 AM
