No Man Is an Island???

You and I have heard the words, "No man is an island." It is usually said with a leering look and means that no one can make it through life alone. It is stated as if it is holy writ. It is not. Recently, the thought came to me (I cannot claim divine inspiration) that, unless a person IS an island, he/she will have grave difficulty with life. There is a marvelous passage of Scripture in Proverbs 1:33, "But he who listens to me shall live securely, and shall be at ease from the dread of evil."All of us want to live securely and be at ease from the dread of evil. I checked out the word for "securely" in the Hebrew. It means CONFIDENT. I like that.

Paul says something similar in Philippians 4 when he speaks with joy of finding the "secret of contentment." I checked that word "contentment" out in the Greek. It is the word, auto-archais. I hyphenated that to emphasize a point. The first part of the word is what we get our own prefix, "auto" from. We see it in automatic and automated. It means that something runs on its own. It also means "self." Then the end of the Greek word means "sufficient." Put them together and the word for contentment is "self-sufficient." Oh my, this looks like heresy doesn't it? How DARE a Christian consider living in a self-sufficient manner, like an ISLAND?! Paul goes on to say, "I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me." Think of that: Christ wants to STRENGTHEN YOU NOT REPLACE YOU!!!

Does that do anything for you? No? Well, let me go on. Many of us have picked up the idea that our best image is that of a channel. We even have a song, "Channels Only for the Master." That smacks of eastern mysticism, not Christianity! Hinduism is the way it is because it is monistic. The god of Hinduism cannot stand diversity. Meditate until your mind gives out! Merge and lose your personhood.....ugh! Thankfully our Christian triune God lives as the great Three in One, diversity within unity. He has no problem with your being strong, brilliant, beautiful, creative, or resourceful. He CREATED you and loves YOU! But there is a pathetic so-called theology out there that calls people to a self-destructive attitudes under the guise of sanctification. This depreciation of Christian person-hood results in terrible problems. Because we have no island, we put up levees all around us. We even wear masks to create impressions. We erect legalistic walls that diminish us further rather than finding the Imago Dei (the image of God) that was restored when we were born-again.

I have read a book, "Boundaries." The author makes great points. The only problem I have with that idea is it reminds me of putting up levees. It's all about the water! What we need is an island that is built up. The Apostle Paul says, in Romans 12:2 "Be not conformed but be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what the good and perfect will of God is." What a text!!! Conformity would mean that I live my life reacting all the time to the pressure from outside. The Greek in Romans 12:2 for "conformity" means literally that which is formed from the outside. In contrast the text calls us to being transformed. The word there is metamorphistha. I love that. It means changed from the inside.

Going back to the simple metaphor of an island, the stronger the island is, the less it has to worry about the water on its shores. Oh beloved friend; isn't it wonderful to know that our Lord came to give us LIFE and that ABUNDANTLY?!!!

Just a little add-on. Respecting your spouse is like helping build their island. If you find yourself going under for the third time, under water, take a moment out. Begin respecting that spouse. Believe it or not, part of the reason for their stupid activity is because they are beneath the water. Like that crazy town, New Orleans, and look what happened to it.

Personally, I believe Spiritual Formation is the finest way to build up one's island. You see, God our Father has no problem with our being built up. He does not have the issues of people around us. He loves to help build us up by His GRACE. Talking to Him regularly will put you and I in the atmosphere of One Who really enjoys our presence and our person-hood. Or you can live underwater with levees, masks, and legalism. Make your choice. Jesus came to make us free not to enslave us!!!

THE MOST LOVING TEXT IN THE BIBLE MATTHEW 18!

When you hear someone say, "Use Matthew 18!" what comes to mind? For most of us who have been brought up in conservative, evangelical churches, the answer is, SOMEONE HAS SINNED AND WE NEED TO CONFRONT THEM. But, it would be wise to reconsider our exegesis of the passage. When I say "exegesis" I mean exactly that. I am so tired of hearing lazy use of Scripture or worse yet, Scripture with an agenda. Two extremes seem to prevail and they both result in disregarding the text. One is, the idea that the text is stuck in history and does not apply to our lives today(without help). The other is, the text is insufficient by itself to hit people hard enough so I will help by throwing shards of other texts until it is riddled with razor sharp words. These approaches to the Word of God demean it. The horizon of Scripture is far greater than the mind of man; and the wideness of God's mercy expressed there is broader than the sky in Montana!

Matthew 18 is one of the texts taken so badly out of context that it bears very little resemblance to the words of our Lord Jesus Christ! In actuality, Matthew 18 is one of three of the most loving texts in the Word of God! The other two would be 1 Cor. 13 and Ruth 1.

Usually, the reader goes directly to Mt. 18:15. That is the "If your brother sins..." part. May I suggest a different method? Start at verse 1 !! Novel eh? If you read there you will find that the whole text is an answer to one question asked by the Apostles, "Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Do we realize how seriously wrong spirited this question is? They want to find out what the "pecking order" is!! Who's in and who's out. Who's good and who's bad, etc, etc, ad nauseum.

In response our Lord placed a child in the midst of them. Imagine what the child had been doing before this. Probably acting like kids act: playful, cute, mischievous, straying, and a little annoying. Then the Lord Jesus says, "Truly (that means He is serious about His answer) I say to you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven." Oh oh! Are You implying that these theologs who just posed a serious question may be unconverted? Apparently! Are You implying that the children have something that serious students of Scripture may not have? Well, YES!

What is it that children have that serious minded adults have lost? The Lord Jesus goes on, in verse 4, "Whoever humbles himself as this chld, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." What is the answer? HUMILITY. What is humble about kids? Pretty simple I think: they know they need direction. They expect it. Everything and everyone are bigger than they are. They still retain AWE. They know they don't comprehend everything.

Think about how quick we are to create the impression of knowing everything. I know when I get into the pulpit, I feel the need to convince the "audience" that I have exhausted all wisdom with regard to a particular text. That is, well, hogwash! I never get into the pulpit knowing everything I need to know about the text I am preaching on, and, what's more, neither does anyone else!

The next verse says something very unusual and it usually finds its way into infant dedications or baptisms: "And whoever receives one such child in My name receives Me; but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it is better for him that a heavy millstone be hung around his neck, and that he be drowned in the depth of the sea." Now, simple exegesis demands that we look f0r the antecedent for the words, "these little ones." Which little ones? The kids playing at the Master's feet? Don't think so. More than likely it refers to the ones mentioned in verse 4, those who humble themselves as the child before Him. That puts an entirely different slant on it.

The one that the Lord Jesus is speaking about is an adult who humbles himself as a child and admits that he is as subject to mischief, straying, and becoming annoying and who never assumes that he has "arrived." If you have trouble accepting this understanding of the text, you need to read on. Next time, I will pick up here and speak about sheep that stray and little ones who have angels assigned to them.

YA GOTTA START SOMEWHERE!

Recently, I promised the Lord that I would write each day. I am slightly unnerved at the idea that this is in a semi-public place. But I am going to fight off attempts to react to a potential audience however small. Really, I want to speak with God and if others hang out with us, fine.

While others may or may not agree with me, I feel that writing is one of the areas in which I am gifted. I also LOVE theology. Mix that in with the fact that I love philosophy, music, art, and being in God's great outdoors. My greatest dream has to do with integrating every discipline and joy into a wholeness that pleases God and does not diminish any of the parts.

Francis Schaeffer came as close as anyone I knew to my dream of integration. Just imagine it: atop the French Alps in a chalet, there he sat, discussing with intellectuals art, history, philosophy, theology, food, and creation. The lectures I listened to were on a series of records (I mean the black, plastic kind. That is how long ago it was). I was enchanted. Why? Because he was a solid thinker, capable of speaking to issues of philosophy, theology and the arts. And he was a CHRISTIAN! He called himself a "generalist." I like that. It is a humble statement that acknowledges a lack of complete expertise in any field. I have read many of his books and included excerpts in my doctoral work. Meeting him at Westmont College, in the late 60s made me a permanent lover of the man and his work. He spoke of personal relationship with the living God in such a way that one does not have to discard his brain or his feelings either for that matter.

Meeting and reading Schaeffer has made me feel that it is possible to take on large thoughts and make grand, sweeping comments about truth. Yep, I am a generalist. In fact, I am confident that EVERYONE is a generalist, even the most erudite scholar! Having graduated from three fine evangelical institutions (Westmont, TEDS, and TIU), I know whereof I speak. A good metaphor for this is a diving board. Think of it this way: the scholar dives off of a large stack of well researched material from many sources; the non-scholar dives off of a smaller stack. What I am saying is that everyone takes a leap and comes to conclusions that are not necessarily mandated by the facts.

I actually love research. It is difficult to get into but once I am there, the results are incredible. I have actually danced around my office because I am pleased with the latest nugget from studies in Greek or Hebrew. Even the footnotes are of interest to me. Using another metaphor (you will notice that I love doing this), studying is like artwork. With linguistics, exegesis, theology, history, I feel that I have a much larger palette from which to paint.

The wild assumption that I have is that taking all of these disciplines into consideration pleases God and He loves to share some of what He is thinking! Mind you, I am aware of the agendas that are deeply embedded into my sinful flesh. Because of my sinful flesh I will never, this side of heaven, pull it all together. But there are ways of checking the worst attempts of my flesh to get its own way. Other people. Yes, I know I am writing alone here, but I have at least three accountability groups and a mentor to whom I answer. What you are getting here is the result of a becalmed mind.

Now, having done some writing, I think I will hang this up for the day, except for one quote: "It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the glory of kings is to search out a matter." Proverbs 25:2

I get very tired of people in places like Facebook and elsewhere who say they do not want to speak about theology. Theology=the study of God. Who doesn't want to do that?!!!!! Love you Lord and love anyone who honestly reads this. Ang