Sackcloth on Kings Jonah 3

When the word reached the king of Nineveh, he arose from his throne, laid aside his robe from him, covered himself with sackcloth and sat on the ashes. Jonah 3:6

Continuing thoughts from yesterday's blog. Here is Jonah running around Nineveh and preaching the destruction that was to come. People believed him and repented, putting on sackcloth. So today I was going to focus on the king. Well, then I typed the verse. Did something odd strike you? It hit me. The repentance of Nineveh did not start with the king; it started with the man on the street. It started when people heard the word of God, believed it, applied it to their own hearts and lives, and began fasting and praying for forgiveness, and THEN the movement caught on at the castle! Well, that changed a few things in my mind. Yes, the king gave orders, but those orders only applied to those who hadn't already taken action or believed the message, and for the animals. Everything and everybody was affected by the command, but it was the result of the grass-roots effort of the common man.

We are waiters. Not servant-type waiters, but we wait for someone else, preferably someone with power and authority, to start making things right. We wait for a movement to sweep the country and then join in. It happened with abortion/pro-life movements. It is happening with supporting police right now in the midst of the contrived race relations controversies. We wait for someone else to show us what to do or how we should respond. This is why there are sociology classes. This is why there are slogans and sayings out there that are repeated over and over and over and over...if you hear it enough, you start to believe it. What is wrong with this sin or that? Marriage for gays? Why not? Divorce on demand? Better than being miserable! We see it, hear it, and let our hearts be turned by it, often totally against what God has set forth as TRUTH in His Word. But when we then hear God's Word, it pierces through the foggy lies than lay deep in our subconscious and we begin to repent. And when we repent, and others repent, there is the slow snowball effect, and it gains ground. We begin to question the lies we have been told, we see the damage that the lies have caused (like post-abortion syndrome and thousands of kids living in poverty because their parents don't live together), and soon there is a shift, a repentance (turning around), and God relents to send destruction. The problem is then that the next generation sees God's mercy and believes it to be God's weakness, and they turn back to their sin. Then God does send the judgment that He mercifully held back. Nineveh did not continue to walk in repentance. The love of God did not take root there after the repentance, and destruction did come many years later. But that generation who listened to Jonah was saved.

How long do we wait for someone to do something to change the direction of the moral slide of our country? There is the Tea Party working in politics, there are a few lone voices crying in the wilderness of the religious right, and there are tv preachers, True Women movements, etc. People are going back to the Bible, back to the Constitution, back to the origins to see what we are made of, what the goals were, what the standards were to be...and finding God. What does God think? When we know the answer to that question, we repent, and when enough people hear and repent, eventually the word gets out to the leadership, the power-brokers of the world. They may or may not respond to the grass-roots, but when they do, things happen, usually to the extreme, like here. Did having the animals not eat or drink change God's mind? No. But it did show that they were taking God seriously. They as people had already denounced their culture of violence, brutality, and hatred. The government stepped in and joined them. God took notice that from the greatest to the least, everyone took Him seriously. And He had mercy...great, undeserved mercy.

So when we are tempted to wait for someone else to repent, someone else to start something to move the country, the family, the church even, toward God's Word, we only need to act ourselves. If God's Word does not come back void, He will bring others to the same place of self-change, and that is when revival breaks out. It takes longer for those at the top to get the Word that God means business, but that is ok. If it took that long back then, why should the people in power today be any different. We are called to repent ourselves, to believe God, whether the rest of the world does or not.

Stand, my brothers and sisters, for the Word. Let it change you, and let God let you join in the movement to repentance and revival throughout the land. Happy 2015.

Sackcloth in Ninevah Jonah 3

Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them. Jonah 3:5

Jonah. What a guy. He who runs from God. He who doesn't want to see people saved. He who would rather die than bring salvation to his arch enemies. We have spent the last 2 weekends in Sunday School talking of this little book. There are many miracles in this book. Storms rise and cease at God's command. Jonah was saved by a fish. Plants spring up overnight big enough to shade the sorry prophet.

But the biggest miracle is in the verse here. The most wicked of people in the known world at the time BELIEVED IN GOD. They repented. This was a culture that most people couldn't imagine. Wicked to the core, they murdered, tortured, flayed and displayed their enemies. They surrounded the city with skulls stacked high against the walls. They were a fearsome people, and there was no doubt that Jonah was as terrified of going there as he was unable to see why God would want to warn them of their impending doom.

But God sent a guy from the belly of a fish to them, and they believed the warning he gave. They heard him talk of a righteous God who would repay them for their evil. I am sure they heard his fishy story, of the storms and the act of being kept alive himself for three days though he deserved to die for not following God's instructions and willfully doing the polar opposite.

They believed Jonah. They believed that they were wicked and that a righteous God had the power to destroy them. THAT is a miracle. From the greatest to the least, they put on sackcloth and ate and drank nothing. They knew they deserved what was coming. Why else would they repent? Why else would they hear the voice of the angry prophet? Any one of them could have run him through with a spear and given him the treatment of any enemy. But they did not...another miracle. They let him run around town for a single day and heard his voice and his story and repented. It says the needed to turn from their wickedness and violence. Jonah preached peace with God through repentance.

I have been reading God's Underground by Richard Wurmbrand, and the theme that comes up over and over is that God offers salvation to all men, regardless of the wickedness that he has committed. And the sad thing that happens over and over is that men would die in their sin rather than accept that forgiveness. Over and over Richard would hear them confess their wickedness, hear them say they had gone too far and that God could not forgive them. He reassured them over and over that this is why Jesus came...to forgive sinners. Their souls would torture them more than the guards of the prisons. And many would refuse to be comforted and forgiven. That is the saddest part of the whole book. The torture inflicted on the body makes one cringe, even cry, for what these men suffered physically, but knowing that they chose not to accept God's offer of forgiveness makes one sadder yet, unless you are like Jonah. If you hate someone enough to wish for their eternal suffering, you hate indeed. To watch someone go into a godless eternity is a torture to the soul. Many cannot accept God because of hell. They can't bear to think of someone they loved not being in heaven. But God offers heaven to all, but all do not accept it. That is not His fault. There are choices to be made. God chooses to offer, man chooses to accept or decline that offer for reason of believing he is not bad enough to deserve hell, or believing he is too bad to deserve heaven. Both thoughts miss the point. We all deserve hell, and no one deserves heaven, but God knew that, sent his Son, like Jonah, to preach repentance, and some choose to heed the warning. It is Christ that makes us worthy of heaven, not ourselves. It was Him taking our sin when we give it to Him that purifies us.

The fact is, the Ninevites changed their ways. They repented. They saw their sorry state and exchanged their clothes for sackcloth, their food and drink for the symbolic body and blood of Christ, and turned their cursing and violence into appeals for mercy and worship of the One True God. That is what salvation looks like. Men see themselves for what they are, and see God for Who He Is. And beautiful things happen.

Day and Night Clothes 1 Thes. 5

But since we are of the day, let us be sober (self-controlled), having put on the breastplate of faith and love, and as a helmet, the hope of salvation. 1 Thessalonians 5:8

Christmas was yesterday and most of the western world celebrated it, as well as other Christians world-wide. That was the day that we rejoiced in the first coming of the Lord, coming to be our Savior. When I opened to the passage, I thought I was in Ephesians 6 until I saw that only 2 pieces of the armor were listed here. And then looking at the context, I was amazed to find Paul was speaking of the second coming. Here he used references to the armor of God, but not the full armor. And he spoke of the three things that remain in the last verse of 1 Corinthians 13. They are faith, love, and hope. So what is going on here?

Jesus came, lived, died, and rose and ascended to heaven to await the day when God would send him back. And He Himself said He would return like a thief in the night, referring to it in the gospels of Matthew, and stating it outright a few times in Revelation. Even Peter references it in his second letter. This is the context in which Paul was writing. People will think that life is peaceful and normal, and then they would be violated like someone whose house was broken into while they are sleeping. It is hard enough to have someone break into your home when you are gone, but knowing they are there when you are home and unaware of what is going on is totally unnerving. The danger is real. But Paul says that the people of the day and of the light will not be surprised by His coming! And the only armor we will need at this time is faith and love for God covering our hearts, and the hope of salvation clearly covering our minds. We need not fear, we need not question our position with God and Christ. We know if He is coming it is for our good and not our destruction if we are children of the day. Those who fear His coming are those who will stand condemned before Him. They know they are not right with Him and will lose everything in the process because they understand that they prefer to be children of the darkness. This is an internal war that the Christian will fight, not the war against Satan, as is described in Ephesians. The time for the sword and shoes and belt are gone. We just need to guard our hearts and minds as Philippians 4:7 says. There Paul is telling us not to worry and let God's peace wash over us during these trying times! We need to stay calm, rest in the peace of God's righteousness, and live in the next verse to the Thessalonians, knowing we who are saved are not destined for His wrath. We are to encourage one another in this.

Now there are those who will say that if we are Christians that we will never suffer. Nothing could be further from the truth! I am reading now a book called God's Underground and reading of sufferings unimaginable to those of us in the most civilized of countries. The tortures, the humiliations, the absolute depravity of one man against another for the most inane of reasons, like being a Christian, proves the point that Jesus made...if we name Him, we will suffer. Every disciple died a martyrs death, yet we have TV preachers telling us that God wants us happy and healthy and wealthy. These men are fools, if nothing else. They haven't suffered a day in their lives for the things of God, so they tell you you won't. Please turn the channel when you hear this stuff, or at least pray that God will show them the error of their philosophies. We will not suffer GOD'S wrath, but it doesn't say we will not suffer the wrath of man anywhere in the scriptures. Quite to the contrary, Jesus warned people well ahead of time that they would lose this world to gain the next, and most quit following Him.

I shudder to think of what Reverend Wurmbrand suffered in those Romanian prisons they sent him through and wonder how I would fare under such horrible pain, isolation, and humiliation. I think of those who died or wished they would. And I think of eternal sufferings that many of them faced. One thing he said made me think. No one in prison died and atheist! They either cried out in confession of sin and begged God for forgiveness, or hated Him. None denied His existence in the end. Ultimately, when faced with death, we choose which side we are on. We see our sin and confess it, or we justify it. And this is where the breastplate and helmet come in, keeping us safe from the attacks of Satan to see God as unjust, removing our peace and confidence in what Christ came to do for us.

Faith brings us to forgiveness in Christ, love results from our relationship with Him, and hope protects us from forgetting the faith and the love. That hope of someday avoiding the wrath of God is what keeps us sane when the world around us is falling apart. Knowing in this passage that whether we live or die, when Christ comes we will live “together with Him.” There simply cannot be more comforting words than those. For Christians who have suffered at the hands of Taliban, ISIS, or whomever else would seek to destroy them, death means life, and we are to comfort them with this great truth.

And Christ will return and set things straight, not as a helpless babe, but as a powerful warrior, mighty to save and ready to take us home for keeps. Ponder that this Christmas season. We all will be home for Christmas someday! Really home.

Garments of Justice Amos 2

Sorry! Somehow this was in the drafts file and didn't get published earlier.!

On garments taken as pledges they stretch out beside every altar. Amos:2:6

Once again we look at the misuse of justice written in scripture concerning cloth. Whether this was the cloak or the regular clothing of the people who owed them something, we do not know, but God is not happy with them...to the point that He refuses to NOT take action against them. To take one's clothes in that day and age was to take their life. For many this was all they owned. Nakedness is spoken of and apparently was truly a condition of the desperate. To remove their clothing and leave them in a loin cloth or less would be a grievous act, not only of lack of mercy for their plight, but also lack of mercy for their reputation. The total humiliation of it for the person defrocked, for their families, for God's reputation as a giving and forgiving God.

Not only did they lack mercy, they then went to church, perverted the whole worship into an orgy, and used the clothes that they had stolen as theirs, or as picnic blankets. They drank wine confiscated also from the poor, and had no unclear conscience about the whole matter. They felt justified, satisfied, and proud of their position as boss. They had no humility before their own boss, God, and showed no mercy. God was going to do them the same favor and show them no mercy, as well. With the same measure we use, God will measure out to us...in mercy, favor, wrath, and love. Those who give, to more will be given, and to those who take, all will be taken from them.

God owes us nothing, but He love us anyway. He acted on our behalf to draw us to Him. He blessed us when we didn't deserve it, and pours out mercy when He could pour out wrath. But this doesn't last forever...He will some day repay those who scorn His goodness and do not reproduce it in their lives toward others.

And then to play church when we are filled with hatred toward our fellow workmen, well, He sees that as unforgivable. The verses before these speak of them first rejecting the law of the Lord, not keeping it, and lying about it to themselves and others. They exchanged truth for error first, and then started treating their fellow man with the same scorn. It all starts with one's attitude toward God. When we see who we are in His eyes, His holiness and our sinfulness, we have compassion on our fellow sinners. We see that no matter how hard we may try to love, to be patient or kind, we fail miserably. We hurt others intentionally or unintentionally, and we have to humble ourselves and apologize for not being what others need us to be. But when we take God's Word and see Him as less than He is, and us as more than we are, then we get an attitude. We are owed something, so we take. We want justice, so we mete it out however we see fit, even if it destroys our neighbor.

In this world of people hurting one another, we look for answers. World peace...when we can't live in peace with our spouse, community unity...when we can't even be consistent in keeping our homes together. We wish people could just get along, but there is always selfishness. We want others to be unselfish while we get what we want. And the answers we look for always require the others to change what THEY are doing, thinking, and being.

When the only answer is to bow before the throne of God and be humble before Him, and taking that humility to those around us. Demanding what we want solves nothing, even when it is something good. Imitating the God of mercy and giving is the answer to a world in pain. If we all give, we all receive. When we give mercy, God grants us His mercy, whether people do or not. When we forgive the debts of others and don't make them “pay up,” God forgives us our debts. When we let go of anger and offense toward people who hurt us, God fills us with a peace that will make us wonder why we decided to fill ourselves with rage. The payback that we get is far more satisfying than anything we can take from another, be it in clothes or be it in emotional turmoil or anything else we subject people to to get even. God doesn't get even...He forgives...and pays the debt owed...and pulls the offending party to Himself if only they will come humbly.

And that, my friends, is too wonderful for us to fathom.

Spirit-filled Cloths Acts 19

God was performing extraordinary miracles by the hands of Paul, so that handkerchiefs or aprons were even carried from his body to the sick, and the diseases left them and the evil spirits went out. Acts 19:11-12

There are religions all over the world that claim to do all sorts of miracles. The Christian faith generally is not one of them. God does work miracles in His own time and in His own way. Stories are told of miracles happening, but they are never the result of man's power or investment. So how do we explain the working of Paul at this time? And why cloth to perform it?

Paul was the apostle to the Gentiles. The Jews hated him...the non-Christian ones, that is. He had been the super-Jew. In Philippians 3 he tells us that he was the best of the best. Born right, studied right, belonged to the right religious and politican parties, kept all of the law of Moses, and zealously persecuted the church of Christ before God intercepted him during a killing spree, Paul became the enemy of the synagogues around the known world. Because of this, he journeyed to the parts of the Mediterrainian preaching the gospel. God used the miracles as a sign to these people that a God more powerful than theirs was talking to them. Like Jesus, healing power of the Holy Spirit flowed from him. Unlike Jesus, he did not pronounce healing from afar as Jesus did. It took contact. Cloth was the easiest thing for people to transport that could be touched by Paul, or more likely the peoples touched him with them, and took them off to the sick and possessed that couldn't come to him. Like the people around Jesus, they wanted the benefits of contact with holy things, but many did not partake of the inner spiritual transformation.

And then there were those who wanted to profit by it. The next few verses of this passage are hilarious, if not pitiful. Jewish exorcists...those who would travel from town to town claiming to cast out evil spirits...saw that Paul could actually accomplish what they claimed to be able to do. I can assure you that they followed him around to see exactly what he was doing, and determined to imitate him and his power. But they found out the hard way that the Spirit of God is not given for mass distribution!

They were semi-wise. They told the demons to leave in the name of “Jesus whom Paul preaches.” They knew that that name, that of Jesus...not just any Jesus...Paul's Jesus, was the power that made demons sit up and take notice. And take notice they did. The answer from the demon should be a warning to any who trifle with the name of Jesus Christ. “Jesus, I know, and Paul I know; but who are (you)?” And he attacked them, beating them, stripping them naked, sending them into the streets fearing for their lives! The demon was not afraid of them, not submissive to them, because they were nothing for it to fear. The demons only fear God. They know what is coming to them at the end of all things, and know that their power on earth is temporary at best. They must submit to God, to Jesus, and to the Holy Spirit, which includes any who are truly saved and have the Spirit dwelling in them. These were not Christians, not true followers of Christ, and the name of Jesus had no effect in their lives or the lives of others. Toying with the name of Jesus caused themselves harm and not good. And well it should have. They wanted the power, the prestige, the money, and the reputation that they could gain from their association with the power of the name. They did not want the humility, the scurge and rejection of the world, the poverty or hardship, or the reputation that would often send Paul running from towns to keep his life. They only wanted the benefits and not the sacrifices that the Name of Jesus can and will bring to His followers. They did not want to follow the spirit...verse 21 says Paul purposed in the Spirit to go to his next mission field...they wanted to go where they could make the most of themselves. The name of Jesus meant salvation to Paul, and profit and power to them.

And how we mistake the name of Jesus in this day and age as well. We try to bring people to Jesus in much the same way...bringing them the clothes to heal them or solve their problems, forgetting that they need to come to Jesus for forgiveness and true inner, spiritual healing and salvation. We look for grand buildings and great programs in churches instead of the God Himself, and the Son, and the Spirit given to those who come in repentance, humility, and faith. True faith, not hocus-pocus faith. Not a believing like the demons, who believe and tremble. We need to know and love this God, want the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace in our hearts, resulting in patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. None of this is for our exhaltation, but for God's glory and to honestly bring others into that self-same relationship with Him. And we will carry that with our lips and lives, not with handkerchiefs and aprons.

Christmas Wrap Part 2

This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger. Luke 2:12

So last time we contemplated the lowliness of the birth of Christ and the struggles of Mary and ourselves during the holiday season. Today we consider far happier things. Like the finding of the Savior. And the sign was a baby wrapped in cloth! Now there is a sign for you. There were babies all over Bethlehem, one would assume. The Savior, however, would be wrapped like a peasant child and sleeping in a feed trough. Here is one shiny angel, a whole angel choir, lots of glory and fear announcing the Christ Lord, and they were to look for something unusual, yes, but far from glorious in its appearance. And this is how God works. Things hit us as glorious, like when we realize who God is and that He wants to save us and we accept that, and then life looks rather unusual, but far from glorious. But that obedience of the shepherds took them to places they wouldn't have gone, and when they saw it for themselves, they went back to their old life of shepherding with glory and praise for God pouring from their lips. And likely, that is what happens to us. We don't become glorious, but we are filled with inexpressible joy and talk about God, about seeing God, in a way we didn't expect. He came down to our level, sure, as baby Jesus, but He did also let us know that He wasn't just like us. He WAS different. He was worth the worship of angels. He was worth the worship and glorification that 2 special people at the temple would give him a week later. And the more we see the difference, the more we can't believe that He would stoop down to be with us. And we can't stop thinking about it and telling others that we are forever changed.

Joy. The shepherds were filled with pure, unadulterated joy. God chose Mary to mother Jesus, Joseph to father Him, and shepherds to spread the word of the birth of the Savior. They, the outcasts of the culture, were chosen over all others in the world to see the Christ, to identify Him to the world as such. He sent angels to all of them to confirm their stories. They weren't imagining this. They weren't mistaken about what they thought about this baby. They weren't worthless nobodies in the eyes of God. They were angels themselves, messengers to anyone on earth who would listen to them, for that is what angel means – messenger.

And they were a comfort to Mary. How many months had it been since the angel appeared to her? To Joseph? So I am sure that hearing from the shepherds that angels had appeared to them as well must have reassured her that she was on the right track, that all the pain she had experienced as a pregnant single woman and through childbirth was worth every minute. They told her that the angels told them that this baby was the Christ, the Savior of the world, and that this good news would be for all people, for all that God wanted to save. This was the fulfillment of generations of prophecy happening to them. Who wouldn't be excited, relieved, and encouraged that God was in all of this process.

This baby in cloth born in a barn was a sign. He was a sign. We think of the star as the sign. We think of the angels as a sign. We look at nativity scenes and sparkling lights and Christmas trees as signs of the Christ-birth. But the baby was the sign. He is it. He is the sign of what? He is the sign that the Savior had come. And that means something...we NEEDED a savior of some sort. And nothing and nobody else could save us. We are sinners. We need saved from sin. And the one who would be able to do that had finally come...it would take 33 years for it to be accomplished, but they didn't know that. They just knew that God wanted to save them. They were important to God, and He wanted them saved. But He couldn't do it around His own law. He had to fulfill it in the Christ as He had told them through Moses and the prophets. They had waited forever for this...from Adam and Eve to the shepherds...they had waited. Who knew when and where and to whom? And now they were partakers in it. And if nothing else, they all knew that night that God was going to do this in an unimaginable way. He was the sign that God was ready to make peace with sinful man. It wasn't going to be easy or normal or painless, but He was going to do it through sacrifices, His, and Mary's, and also the sacrifices of the praise of the shepherds. And it was met not with scoldings and I-told-you-sos. It was met with joy and praise and happiness and love and cuddles and smelly hay. And with scraps of cloth.  

Christmas Wrap

And she gave birth to her firstborn son, and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Luke 2:7

As you probably notice, I blog inconsistently. And it hasn't happened for the last week or so because of Christmas. No, I lie. It is because of ME at Christmas. Distracted, busy preparing for the coming of the kids who will be staying here for a week and need a place to sleep, busy with parties and food, and ordering presents, buying them, wrapping them. You know the drill. I haven't ignored the scriptures, but God knows they haven't come first. I have listened to sermons on the internet, read posts and blogs online, and gone to church. As I opened to this passage, there were my sermon notes. On the back is the to-do list...my faulty attempt to write down all the things I needed to do this week so that I could be comfortable knowing I wouldn't forget anything in hopes that I would then be able to focus on the sermon. As I look at the sermon notes on the other side, it's obvious I didn't focus very well. Sigh.

At prayer meeting last night a few of us were talking about the stress of the holiday season. So much to prepare for...the gifts, the attitudes toward family and gatherings. I prayed that Satan not take over even our hearts this season, weighing our hearts down instead of letting us rejoice in what we are really celebrating. The work we go through at Christmas probably more addresses Mary's labor in giving birth than the joy of holding God in her arms. Maybe we do act more like Mary during the weeks heading up to Christmas. She is heavy with child, socially awkward due to the unmarried state of her pregnancy, has to make an unplanned trip from Nazareth to Bethlehem because the government stepped in, and then was relegated to a barn to sleep. In the chaos that was Mary's life, the Christchild was born. An angel had appeared to her, telling her she was favored with God, she would bear a son who would be the Son of the Most High and be a king. She had questions, and she got answers. My Bible said she was perplexed (I looked it up...Completely Baffled, Very Puzzled). How did any of this make sense? Why her? Puzzled...looking at that table full of pieces and wondering how in the world they would fit together to make a complete picture. What piece was she? What piece was Elizabeth? What pieces would make up the next years of her life to make the coming and living of the Messiah in Israel happen as they were foretold. I imagine in month 7 or 8 she pondered the whole Bethlehem thing and wondered how that would work out...and then the decree! Or did the decree happen months before and the date was scheduled for the trip and she wondered if she would be carrying the baby inside or in her arms. Or perhaps she pondered God's Word and faithfulness, realizing ahead of time that this would fulfill the scriptures, and worshiped for months the plans of God. We don't know. What we do know is her response,” Behold the bondslave of the Lord; may it be done to me according to your word.” That is faith, and trust, and hope, and submission to the will of God to be used however He desires for His plans and purposes.

I, having a prophet's nature (it's got to be right, folks, or I will probably correct you, or warn you, or ask God how to get through the truth to you) get justifiably agitated over the secularization of Christmas. There are days I want to scream, “Give it back to the Catholics, let them celebrate it. Let the world not profit from it since they want to gut it of its religious moorings.” Someone posted a blog where someone said we shouldn't force our friends and rest of the world on Facebook and elsewhere to put the Christ back in Christmas. I about had a heart attack. When I peeled myself off the ceiling, I wrote as gently as possible for me that it isn't forcing them to remind them what this is all about. It is an opportunity to talk about what God did for us. Twice a year the world acknowledges God. Christmas, the birth of Jesus, whether they secularize it or not, brings around the story of God come to earth, the idea of peace on earth and a God who steps low to honor the humble with His Son, with angel choirs, and with Stars showing the way to get to Him in the house where Joseph and Mary stayed later. This is a God who calls for us to come by coming Himself. He hides only from the haughty, the powerful, the self-righteous. He avoided the Pharasees and went to the common man and shepherd. He skirted around Herod the governor while calling foreigner wise men who were willing to bow instead of being bowed to.

If the Word of God is only opened to the world twice a year, who am I to tell God not to leave it on the calendar? He WILL judge this country for turning Him away like the innkeeper in Bethlehem. But dealing with my own frustrations is a small price to pay for the gospel to be advanced. What child seeing a nativity scene perhaps for the first time won't ask what it is about? Will they not be more curious over the years to wonder where this holiday of giving came from once the Santa thing wears off? If I truly bear the weigh of the expectations of Christmas and all its busyness for the sake of the gospel, will it not rejoice my heart? And it's the time of year where we can sing hymns of joy in our hearts while wrapping those gifts like Mary wrapped Jesus. He was the gift, wrapped in humble poor-mans cloths. And that should be my distraction from all the rest of the busyness of Christmas. Christ was given to us.

Throwing aside his garment Mark 10

Throwing aside his cloak, he jumped up and came to Jesus. Mark 10:50 NASB

This is the story of Blind Bartimaeus (BB). Needless to say, he was blind. He was sitting by the road...which more than likely means he was begging. What else could a blind man do in those days? He lived in Jericho (yes, they rebuilt that famous city) and heard that Jesus was coming out of town. He may have been a beggar, but he was not shy. He screamed at the top of his lungs for Jesus to help him. So much so, and so loudly that people were embarrassed and told him to be quiet! He called Jesus the Son of David...so he had a very strong idea that the stories he had heard of this Jesus of Nazareth were proof that he was the Messiah! And a chance to be healed as others had been seemed like the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

There are many things to see here. Here is the crowd, all anxious to see Jesus. Good for them. There was BB, asking for help. Good for him. The crowd heard BB, and did not help him get to Jesus. Shame on them! They told him, essentially, that Jesus was not interested in him, or that he was not worthy of being helped by Jesus. We see people every day that need Jesus, who hope beyond hope that He would care about them, and yet we, in our own self-interest, do not take the time or find them worthy of bringing them to the Savior. Sigh. Caught up in our own efforts to see Him, we forget those who have no way of getting to him without a little help. They could have walked him to the front of the crowd, or stopped Jesus and brought Him to BB. But they didn't and we often don't.

But thank God BB was not deterred. He persisted in calling out for help, whether the people around him cared or not. And Jesus heard him. And He made the crowd do for BB what they had not chosen to do on their own...He made them go to BB and bring him to Him. Jesus is wise in His dealings with us. He will force our hands if we don't act willingly! Hallelujah! He does not turn the needy away. But he also required something of BB. He had to come. He didn't go to BB and look on him with pity. He called him. And BB had to respond in faith. Remember Naaman of a few lessons ago? He got really torqued with Elijah for not coming out to him, and then telling him to go wash in an Israeli river! He wanted Elijah to come out to him, to make a big deal of his healing. It took his troops to talk him in to obedience. Not BB! If Jesus wanted to see him, he would do whatever it took! Another point is that they had to tell BB to stand up! He was sitting the whole time he was calling for help. Was he crippled as well as blind? Since he wasn't stumbling to the front of the crowd, maybe. Or maybe it thought he would be trampled! Or maybe sitting would make him look more pitiful and helpless and give Jesus more reason to help him. Maybe he was weakened by lack of food and exercise. Maybe every joint hurt when he walked. We don't know, but when he knew that Jesus was calling him to come, he got up. He didn't care if Jesus made a scene or not, or required him to come or not. And he left behind his most precious earthly good: his cloak. Without it he would be hot during the day, sit on the bare ground, and be cold at night. It may likely have been the only thing he owned, but he didn't care. He threw it off like so much trash! What he was going to get, his sight, was worth so much more than covering and protection. He was going to “see” Jesus, and nothing was going to hold him down! Nothing was going to trip him up. The excitement and anticipation was more than he could bear! When called, he responded, not just with obedience, but with great enthusiasm. Weakness and pain would not hold him back from the One Who could do great things for him. Leaving every earthly possession behind would not hinder him. He didn't hand it to the nearest person for safekeeping. He threw it off, not knowing if he would ever get it back. And he didn't care. Getting to Jesus was all that mattered. This may sound redundant, but getting the call from Jesus is a BIG DEAL. And responding is also a BIG DEAL.

And Jesus, not being blind, asked what many would consider a stupid question...”What do you want me to do for you?” What would a blind man want? It was obvious he was blind! He wanted to see! Duh! But there is so much more he wanted. He wanted to regain his sight. This is spelled out in the NASB. Regain. That means he once could see, and therefore he knew what he was missing. Those born blind knew no other life, but those who lost their sight could only long for what they once had. He didn't ask for his job back, his family, the respect of the community, or to be a roll-model to the rest of Jericho of the wonders of Jesus, but he would get all this and more from his healing. He wanted eyes of faith, and that is what Jesus gave him. “Your faith has saved you (and made you well)”...both are implied in Jesus' response. And yet his new-found freedom did not send him seeking worldly things...he followed Jesus down the road, and was probably one of the loudest voices again, this time participating in the “triumphal entry” of Jesus into Jerusalem! He could see the man who just healed him hailed as the Messiah right before his very eyes! He could testify to the whole crowd that they were right in hailing Him in this way. Grateful praise replaced loud appeals for mercy. The mercy of the Lord changes our pleas into praise! Has it happened yet in your heart today? Every day we need mercy, kindness, and the attention of Jesus in our hearts, lives, and circumstances...and often when He acts on our behalf, we forget to thank Him privately, let alone sing His praises publicly. Let's be Bbs today, crying out our praises and thanks to God for all He has done to open our eyes to His glory.

Garments of Greed 2 Kings 5

Gehazi said,...“Please give them a talent of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes.” Naaman said,” Be pleased to take two talents.” And he urged him, and bound two talents of silver in two bags with two changes of clothes and gave them to two of his servants and they carried them before him.” 2 Kings 5:22-23

Greed. It is a horrible thing. We all like reward. We expect a paycheck when we work, and there is nothing wrong with that. It is expecting more than what we earn that puts us into a tailspin. And it is worse when the greed overtakes us when we did nothing to deserve reward. We are a bystander and still want what someone else has earned.

And here we have Gehazi...servant of Elijah. Elijah had given Naaman instructions for healing his leperousy. An angry and reluctant Naaman eventually did as he was told, and was grateful. He came to Elijah and offered a present to Elijah after realizing that his God was God. This gift Elijah turned down. He did not want a gift or reward. He firmly stated that he would take nothing for his Word from God.

But Gehazi was indignant! Shouldn't Naaman have paid something for this wonderful healing? After all, he was a foreigner and was spared a life of shame misery! So he decided to go take something. And he did it by lying. He lied that Elijah had sent him to get the gifts. He lied about who these things were for. He told Naaman that 2 sons of the prophets had just showed up and Elijah wanted the money and clothing for them. Wow. Here Gehazi was, a servant of the man of God. He had seen God work through Elijah. He saw the power of God, the power invested in Elijah, and was a small part of this work. And somehow he disregarded all of this and used his association with Elijah to enrich himself.

Greed is an ugly thing. We see people who want to be associated with the rich or famous because they want a piece of the action. It is part of who we are. We like to say we know someone with stature. We like to feel like being a child of the King...and we are if we are saved by the blood of Jesus. But it is the desire to exalt ourselves, to enrich ourselves through those associations that can cause us to do unthinkably stupid and selfish things.

Here stood Gehazi, looking upon a man who had power, but suffered much through this disease. Instead of being happy for him, he saw him as a meal ticket. And instead of just being honest and saying he wanted his share of the gift whether Elijah wanted his or not, he lied, using the prophet's name to get what he wanted. Instead of being satisfied with watching the power of God transforming lives, he wanted some payment for it. Instead of rejoicing that someone was saved from idol worship, Gehazi valued stuff more than people or God.

I see this tendency in my life. I do rejoice for people, but that hint of greed shows up...and I scold myself for even having such thoughts. I give and expect a response beyond the one I get back. I somehow feel owed something, and I shudder when I realize that my giving is not pure. It is sobering. It is humbling to see the lack of unadulterated generosity that is truly in my heart. The “shouldn't they pay?” mentality crops up, even in cases of salvation and forgiveness. We all do it. They are or were so bad, shouldn't they have consequences? Do they deserve God's mercy after what they have done? I've stayed “good” and don't see the reward (yet). We become the big brother in the prodigal son story. What about me? No one is throwing me a party, but that guy gets one! So what can I get? I spent years feeling sorry for that “good” son, because I was the “good” kid. But my motives were not pure. They were resentful, as were Gehazi's. And those thoughts and feelings can still overtake me when I feel unappreciated. It is an ugly thing, and that ugliness can lead to great sin, often in the name of godliness. We must watch ourselves! It creeps in, sometimes when we least expect it.

The mercy of God was shown in that, though cursed with Naaman's leprosy, he continued to serve Elijah and even went before the king to tell of the great deeds of God worked through his master Elijah. How merciful. He paid for his selfishness and lies with disease, but God did not cast him out. There were consequences. But he learned...his heart must have repented, and he was spared his job as Elijah's servant and spared becoming an outcast.

The cure for this selfishness is thanksgiving. Had he thanked God for curing Naaman, he would have not been overwhelmed with greed and selfishness. Had he rejoiced with his fellow man, he would have praised God instead of thought of himself. This thanksgiving weekend, let us rejoice with those who rejoice...be grateful for what we have, and never assume that we deserve any reward in watching God work. That is the glorious path that will save us from ourselves.

Hot Garments Job 37

You whose garments are hot when the land is still because of the south wind? Can you, with Him, spread out the skies, strong as a molten mirror? Job 37:17-18 NASB

This has been one of the coldest Novembers on record, so let's talk about something warm! Actually, things are heating up in this country (USA) with Ferguson, Missouri, on fire after the announcements last night. And there is one thing about both of these situations: I have no control over either event. I cannot control the weather. I had nothing to do with a kid and a cop and a grand jury and Al Sharpton. I have no control over the world around me. And sometimes that reality drives me crazy.

I read Facebook posts about various things and I sometimes write responses, especially about things that I have some insight on over my 56 years of being on this earth. But those responses are less likely to be understood by people on the other side of the issue. I know that. But I want to have some input into the world around me. You do it, too. We would like to change the world for the better, help someone understand the other side to the story. Give a little insight to the young thing whose best argument is someone is dead and we have to change. Hmmm....Someone else did something, so I have to change? She has to change? There is no insight, no logic, no history of racial relations...I understand the passion. And I understand that she wants to influence the world for good, but blaming the rest of the world isn't going to get us to a better place. “We” that need to change are the people burning the town down, not me. They are the ones who need to change, but I cannot influence a single soul in Ferguson as much as I would love it.

So back to our verse. God is talking to Job about his lack of control of the world around him. And He uses the analogy of the hot, arid days when the south wind has brought intense heat to the area, and then ceases to blow anymore. The air is stifling. Even the clothes are hot, making the wearer even hotter. The sun shines down with an intensity that is unbearable to stand under. It seems the intensity of the heat is multiplied like bouncing back from a mirror – brighter, hotter, boiling like lava. I picture the heat ripples in the air. Life is unbearable under the intensity and people flee to their tents for shade. And there is not a thing that Job or any other man can do but wait it out. God Himself made a sun so hot, the winds to blow, park, and cease. And He will cause the sun to go down, the winds to blow gently, change directions, or be riled up into a raging storm. And, again, we have nothing to say about the matter. Jesus told His disciples that they could look at the skies and predict the weather that was coming and make their plans accordingly (you don't go fishing in a monsoon), but he never told them that they could cause the winds to blow. He demonstrated through stilling the storm that He was the only one who could control such forces and powers.

And often in our lives we feel the heat is on. The intensity makes us hot and flushed in the cheeks, sweaty, weakens our resolve, and makes our lives miserable. We seek shelter from the rays that seem to be laser-focused through a magnifying glass held by a youngster on a bug on the sidewalk. Life heats up, and even our protective garments can seem to make the situation worse, like wearing black in the desert.

And yet there is a God in heaven who is more powerful than the sun's rays that beat on us. God says the sun will rule the day, but the moon and stars will rule the night. (Psalm 136:8-9) Though the sun beats down, it does not rule us 24/7. But God does. And He can overpower the sun's affect on us if He chooses. The sun will not harm you by day or the moon by night. (Psalm 121:6) He can protect us from the heat of the day, from the situations around us, or He can let us bake in the heat. He can melt us or He can harden us. The intense heat will do one or the other. He can dehydrate us, or send us running to the streams of living water. Though we have nothing at all to say about the conditions, we have a lot to say about how we respond to them. We can choose to accept the heat and make the best of things, roll over and whine, or run to the shade. We can use the heat to soften our hearts or harden them. And we can use our garments to shelter us or shed them in hopes of being cooler. The choice of the response is ours. God is heating things up, whether we like it or not. He has made this November cold whether we like it or not. He is in control and we are not. So we need to get on with thanking Him in all situations, doing what we can in the place He has us, and understanding that nothing lasts forever. When we think race relations are solved, they will rear their ugly heads. When we think work problems and relationships are resolved and flowing smoothly, something will come up. The heat will return, for this is a sinful world. And we need to let God be God, pray for one another, and be part of the comfort of others here on earth. We are all under the sun, all under some heat in our lives. The relief may be permanent or temporary, but we are not the power factor in the world, no matter how much we would love to be in control. Peace in the heart brings peace to our relationships with one another. So get it right with God, so that you can get it right with others. Then and only then will we have peace on earth.

Garments of holiness, glory, and beauty Exodus 28

You shall make holy garments for Aaron your brother, for glory and for beauty. You shall speak to all the skillful persons whom I have endowed with the spirit of wisdom, that they make Aaron's garments to consecrate him, that he may minister as priest to me. Exodus 28:2-3

Setting up the place of worship for God after the Exodus was a huge job that He assigned Moses. We have chapters of instruction about the tabernacle...how to make it, what to make it out of, and how it is to be handled. The word “skilled” comes up over and over again. God skilled certain people to work in cloth, in metals, and in spices, along with other things. The place was to look good, smell good, and work well as a portable place of worship and sacrifice. There was to be no flaw in the making of the items there. And that included the priestly garments.

Aaron was Moses' brother, and God tells Moses to find the weavers and sewers who could make these clothes, persons with wisdom...skill yes, but also wisdom. One translations says,”wisdom in such matters.” The word wisdom is there...not just skill, but wisdom. They needed both to be acceptable to make these garments. There were a lot of skilled people out there to choose from, I am sure. But having God's spirit resting on them was as important. These items were to be made by spiritual people for spiritual reasons. There were a few reasons listed here...

First, these garments were to be holy. They were to be used for one purpose, that that was ministering before the Lord Himself. They were to be separated out. We mistake holiness for shining and glowing and think of saints and halos. But holiness is being separated out for God. There was no other purpose for these particular clothes. This was worship material, nothing more, and definitely nothing less. Why would you want a common, ungodly person making them? No, says God, only the holy-minded man can make them.

They were to be made for God's glory. This is the public praise, renown, and honor and fame. These were to be a spectacular showing of the worthiness of God shown through the dressing of Aaron when He is before the congregation. This God he was ministering before was worth getting all dressed up for. No blue jeans for these priests!! To come before God and do His bidding, the priests were to reflect God's glory and beauty.

They were for beauty. These were not soldier uniforms, nor waiter suits, nor any other type of service clothes. These were supposed to be gorgeous. The colors, the designs, the textures, and the ornamentation were all supposed to be beyond pretty. The beauty of holiness that David describes years later is reflected in these special robes.

And they were to consecrate Aaron. They were to set him apart for dedicated service to the Lord. When wearing these garments, he only had one purpose. When he was not fulfilling this role, he was to change back into common garments. But in these, he was the priest, the servant of God.

So why did God ask for spiritual people to make this stuff? Isn't skill enough? Isn't beauty enough? Shouldn't they have just chosen the “best men for the job?” Ezekiel 28 answers that question in a sideways sort of way. God had given one entity the job of reflecting His beauty and holiness. He was a gorgeous creation. This passage from vs. 12 on speaks of Lucifer...the brilliant light, the gorgeous one. It says he was in Eden and was blameless until unrighteousness was found in him...and he was changed into what Adam and Eve saw, which was a serpent! In verse 17 it says his heart was corrupted because of his beauty, and his reason corrupted by his splendor! And isn't that what we see in mankind today? The more physically beautiful someone is, the harder it is for them not to think too highly of themselves. And the more skilled someone is, the more they want to toot their own horns. What they do, they do for themselves, and that is not what God wants. He wants people who desired to exhault God, to point to the things that God had them make and praise Him with them instead of glorying in their part in making them. They are those who know their own sinful tendencies and lay them aside so God can be glorified and worshiped in a worthy manner.

More and more unspiritual men and women are leading our churches, leading our worship or music, building our buildings, and not pointing the people to the God who is supposedly being worshiped there. How sad for us! How dangerous for the church! There is little that is declared holy, sacred, consecrated, or beautiful for God's glory, and His alone. We need to pray for the leaders in our churches to point us back to holiness, assigning spiritual leaders to work in all roles of church function, from the pastors to the nursery workers. Things done in the spirit with skill and wisdom given of God from the top down will revolutionize the church. It will change it because where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty (2 Corinthians 3), freedom from sin and freedom to worship well. Let this be our prayer.

Turbans in turmoil Ezekiel 24

Groan silently;make no mourning for the dead. Bind on your turban and put your shoes on your feet, and do not cover your mustache and do not eat the bread of men. Ezekiel 24:17

There are a lot of hard passages in scripture, and this would be one of them. Ezekiel is a prophet of God to Israel. And at this point they really need one. God is fed up. He has had it. Their sins have become so pronounced that they cannot be cleaned. Sin is so rampant that there is no turning back. And to show them how little He will be sympathetic to their doom when it comes, He sends Ezekiel as a sign. He tells him that his wife will die, and he is to ignore it. He is to not go into the mourning ritual of the day...no taking off of the turban, no bare feet, and no mourning coverings over his mouth. When people bring him food (who knew that this is where we get the impulse to shower people with casseroles when people died?), he is not to eat it. He is to act like nothing important has happened.
Wow. Poor Ezekiel! It isn't like she was the type of wife a guy would love to have out of his life...the passage says she was the desire of his eyes. She was a looker. She was the delight of his soul. She was special and honored in his sight, and he loved her dearly.
And she represented the sanctuary of God. The people of Israel would pass it by and talk of its beauty. They would brag about how they had God and the nations around them didn't. There is an account where even Peter pointed out to Jesus how wonderful the temple was, and Jesus brought him back to the same reality that He brought Ezekiel. The temple would not stand if the people defiled it. And defile it they did. God called them a bloody, murderous people. They were adulterous, in body and in spirit. They caused their children to "pass through the fire," to be sacrificed to other Gods. They adopted the spiritual practices of foreigners, even inviting them in to teach them their ways as if God's ways were not good enough for them. So, knowing this, how could God mourn their destruction?
But to the people, Ezekiel running around in his turban was the thing that would make them question him. The turban was odd enough, with them knowing that he loved his wife, to get them to wonder if God was talking...so they asked. He told them that their sanctuary would be taken from them. That their way of life would be changed by the sword, and that it would be so awful that all they would be able to muster up would be groaning, realizing that God was right in pronouncing judgment on them.
So the question is, we who know God, do we act in ways that make people question what God is up to? Not necessarily to pronounce judgment on them, but to not participate in things the way the world expects us to? I talked to a new widow yesterday, and she was not weepy as I expected. She spoke of faith. She spoke of hope. She spoke of God giving her signs and numbers and other communications that comforted her heart. She was not weeping as the world weeps. You could tell that she adored her husband, and I am certain that she misses him dearly. But as she showed me the pictures she had of him over the past 6 months, you could tell that she wouldn't wish him back. Now how I took this display of her affection and how a non-believer would take it would be quite different. They might think she was crazy, in denial, or heartless. But I see her heart. She wasn't pulling an Ezekiel and denying the death of her husband, but she was not mourning the way the world mourns. She does not fear the future as a widow because the Lord is now her husband and caretaker. She worships. And I worship along side her.
What is your turban? Where are your shoes? How can God talk to the world around you by your response being unworldly? Is God asking you to do something that other people would call into question? Has there been a hurt so deep that God has given that He can turn into a message? It all works to fulfill what God's purpose is stated in verse 27...
On that day your mouth will be opened to him who escaped, and you will speak and be mute no longer. Thus you will be a sign to them, and they will know that I am the LORD.

Sackcloth and woe Matthew 11

Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Matthew 11:21

Burlap, it's just not for sacks any more! Burlap is still out there, but about the only time I see it, it is to wrap the root balls of trees in a nursery. And it is used for some fall and holiday decorations on wreaths and ornaments. But you wouldn't want to wear it. Itchy, scratchy, rough, coarse...just a few words to describe it. But it would have been the cloth of choice for the mourner in the day of this writing. To clothe oneself in this way, and to take ashes (to be honest, I don't know what they burned to get them) and throw them up in the air so that they landed on you and made you dirty, that sticky, sooty kind of dirty, was man's way of showing extreme sorrow, usually for one's sins or someone's death or impending doom. Whole cities would do this to show God that they were wrong, that they were repenting or turning away from their sins. It was agreeing with God that they were dirty, sinful, and pleading with Him for mercy instead of the judgment that they deserved.

Here are 4 cities listed, 2 of whom agreed with God about their spiritual state and 2 that took God's grace for granted. The real problem here, as Jesus called them out, was that the first 2 were Jewish cities, and the second 2 were foreign. The first 2 should have known better, and the second two would have been hearing God's Word maybe for the first time. This is, in essence, Jesus saying that He had wasted His time on the people in these Jewish cities and would have gotten a better response going overseas! Or at least out of the state of Israel. He tells foreigners more than once that He came to the lost sheep of Israel, but often pointed out that the non-Jews were quicker to believe, had a deeper faith when they came to Him, and were also blessed and welcomed into God's fold through their faith and not by Jewish ritual.

In other words, the first 2 cities should have recognized Him. He performed acts of miracles and mercy, taught God's Word and backed it up with signs and wonders. They should have known Him. They should have known better what God required. They were stuck on religion while not seeing God. The foreigners saw God, and didn't need religion to get there. The first 2 cities should have known better. And therefore, they were going to undergo the judgement of God. Woe to them!

And woe to us! Over the last week or so I have had several conversations with people in the church whose kids have wandered from the faith, or who do not see the hand of the Lord in their lives. They act like Jesus is not important or worth following. And then there is the church...leaving the design that God gave it...accepting not sinners into the church, but sin itself, redefining sins that are clearly spelled out in scripture in order to be acceptable to the world around them. They should know better. But they do not read the scriptures. They do not let the Word tell them what right and wrong looks like. They do not fall in love with the worker of miracles. They don't recognize the hand of God, and therefore condemn it as works of man. They do not see God's ways being higher than man's ways, and therefore condemn themselves to a greater judgment that that of Sodom and Gomorrah! And we who do see are terrified for them! Not only was Israel struck by God for not accepting Jesus when He came to earth, they were wiped off the face of the planet for about 2000 years! They were scattered over the face of the earth, those that were left after the destruction that made the holocaust look like a flesh wound.

And yet we test God at every turn. The people of those days did not have the Word of God in their hands...they heard it in church once a week and went to Sabbath school. They were trained in it, but it was not there except in their minds...and the foreigners had nothing but the Jews around them to see what God was like and what He considered good...like washing before eating, disposing of sewage in a certain way, and other purification rituals that actually make the “western world” a healthier place than the rest of the non-Judeo-Christian-based world. We have seen the miracles of God in wars, in people's lives, and in whole cultures where people have turned to the True God from their sinful lives. There is peace where there was war. There is order where corruption had a foothold. The true hot-spots of the world are where the Word of God is unknown, or worse, totally ignored or rejected. Woe to them, yes, but a bigger woe to those in the church who adopt corrupted thinking and sin and welcome it into the church and their hearts, for those are the ones that Jesus shakes His head at, not in judgment, but in tears and weeping. He wept over Jerusalem. He wept over those who didn't know their God when He did nothing but Good in their midst.

So if you know you are sinful, you don't need the sackcloth. Sin is uncomfortable to wear in the first place. Take the garments of sin off and let Him clothe you in His righteousness. Come to Jesus and ask Him to wash off the ashes of the burnt places of your life. Then He can rejoice over you and not have to weep for you any more.  

Garments transmitting holiness Ezekiel 44

When they to out into the outer court, into the outer court to the people, they shall put off the garments in which they have been ministering and lay them in the holy chambers; then they shall put on other garments so that they will not transmit holiness to the people with their garments. Ezekiel 44: 19

Well, this is an interesting passage. The priests were to minister to God in linen garments, as we studied a few blogs ago. No sweat, it said. But these garments were only to be worn in the presence of God. Even in the tabernacle or temple, in the outer courts where the common man was allowed to enter, they were not to wear these clothes. They were not to take God's holiness out to the people. Wow. If you are familiar with scripture, Moses was glowing after he came down from the mountain...he was emanating God's holiness. The priests were not glowing, but they were covered with God's holiness. Whatever they touched was made holy. They were to sacrifice to make the people holy. So why the command NOT to transmit holiness to the people through even the wearing of clothes? What is the mystery?

A few thoughts...and these are just my thoughts...

The next few verses tell the priests to impress on the people the difference between the holy and the profane. If nothing is set apart as holy, different, or sacred, then we treat them as common things when they are not. The trend, even in churches, is to get rid of the sanctuary and make multi-purpose rooms. We can be worshiping one minute and having a basketball game in the same space the next. Not to say that that is wrong, but it does send a message that the space is not just for worship. When we enter a sanctuary we do not think about running around. We know what it is there for – for worship. For meeting with God. For learning about God. It is not a gym or a place for common activity. We in our humanness can tell the difference. When we have to get the “worship” out of the way so we can do other things, there can be a disconnect. We may start to prefer the common and despise the worship. It is a danger in our hearts.

Then there is the idea of man transmitting the holiness of God to us instead of God Himself. Like the story of Gideon who made a holy vest for worship. When he passed on, guess what those foolish Israelites did? They worshiped the darn thing. I should used the word “damned thing” because it caused the fall of many in Israel. God had neither asked for this thing, and always warned of worshiping anything but Him, but they did it anyway. So we did not a repeat performance...the worship of the garment instead of the God it represented.

And then there is the idea that the common man did not have to do anything but touch the garment or be in the presence of the garment to be saved. The whole of the sacrificial system rested on the sins of the people being transmitted to the animal they were sacrificing. They sent their sins to the altar. It would have been easy for them to think that then the priest would bring them back the holiness. That is not how it works. The cleansing happened by the shedding of the blood (representing the future sacrifice of Christ) and not by the presence of the priest. The priest never made people holy. NEVER. God forgave their sins, not the priest. How the church has messed this up over the years. We rely on someone other than Christ to forgive our sins, to make us right with God. Some act, some sacrifice other than Jesus, something more than the saving blood. And that is also to be avoided.

God's holiness was there, tainting the garments to the point where there could be “accidental” holiness transmitted, and God wanted that to NOT happen. The sacrifices were set up so that someday the Jews could look back and see the sacrifice of the Lamb of God as the only road to holiness. No other way.

Having said that, should we or could we not transmit the holiness of God to others? Good question. And the answer was given to me yesterday.

We had Pastor Appreciation Sunday yesterday. At our church, we LOVE our pastor. We RESPECT our pastor. We HONOR our pastor. But we do not RELY ON our pastor to make us holy. Four men of the church got up and preached little sermonettes. Every one of them touched on their love and honor of the man who leads us, shepherds us, and holds us as dear. But every one of them pointed to the fact that Pastor had worked in their lives and the lives of the people in the church because he was not the authority, but God's Word was. This man sent people to the Word, preached the Word, the whole Word and nothing but the Word, because it is, in fact, the Truth, the WHOLE TRUTH, and NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH (my words). That is where holiness comes from. It comes from being saved by grace through faith in the Son of God, who takes away the sins of the world. And then we walk in the truth, confessing sin and communing with God on a daily basis. They pointed out that Pastor would be distressed if any transformation in their lives was credited to him, instead of to the God who spoke to them through the Word. He doesn't want John Sauser's holiness transmitted to any man, for that would be blasphemy, and a temporary fix at best. He knows we need God's Holiness, not man's, to transform and allow us to draw near.

We can reflect God's love and holiness, and plead with others to come to it, but we can not transmit it. The Word and the Spirit do the work. And that holiness is a wonderful, amazing, and mysterious thing.

Because of envy Mark 15

Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy. Mark 15: 9-10

Ok, so I digress. This wasn't the passage of the day...further down the page in Mark is the scene of Jesus being beaten in purple robes...we will get to that. But the whole reason for what is to come is that four-letter word: ENVY.

Yesterday was the big election. The phone calls will now stop, the commercials go back to cars and banks and will now fill with Christmas ads. But the thing that drives us all crazy about all the politicking is the envy. We are brought face to face with the green-eyed monster. If we can't have it, no one can. If they have something, we want it, too. I deserve my phone, t.v., college loan, education, sports success...whatever the neighbor or neighboring town has, I want one, too, or take theirs away so I don't feel left out or lacking. They push a new gym in our town right now...and not just one that will enable the crowd to sit through a volleyball game without getting hit by the ball in the stands...they want to compete with the complexes built in the towns around here...to be able to host events like everyone else. Whether this is good or bad is not the issue. The issue is envy to one extent or another. The question isn't do we have all we NEED, it's do we have what we WANT when compared to someone else.

I struggle with envy...we all do. Why does SHE get to own a textile store and I don't? Why does she have time and money to buy whatever she wants? She doesn't deserve that awesome machine that can do the things I want to do...you get the idea.

Note that the word is envy, not jealousy. Envy is what I have described...I want what you have, and possibly feel that you don't deserve it. Jealousy is when you fear someone is taking what you have. The Jewish leaders certainly felt that, as well, when it came to the ministry of Jesus. The whole world is going after HIM was their insider's insight. We have to stop this guy from taking all our followers! But the reason they turned him over is that they envied Him. They wanted that appeal that He had with the crowds. They didn't think He deserved to be a religious leader when He obviously hadn't been to seminary like they had! He could heal and raise the dead and they couldn't, and they couldn't accept that. God appeared to be on His side, not theirs. And they couldn't handle it.

So they killed Him...they had many chanced to stone Him, to make religious charges against Him, but they pushed it off on the Romans. Jerks. But it had to happen this way to fulfill scriptures. Jesus told His disciples time and time again that this is how it had to be. But they didn't listen. I didn't, either. Not until a study in Luke a few years ago did I read over and over that Jesus told them He had to suffer at the hands of the Jews, die, and rise again! Now He told them that for 3 years. He told me for 50. Neither of us got it for the longest time!

And the end times are like this for me today. I read of what is coming and feel like Peter pulling Jesus aside and saying, “Hey, this plan of Yours. It shouldn't happen this way.” And He tells me to get with the program or get out of the way. So I reluctantly get on board and have to trust. I look at the world and I tend toward envy. The evildoers are getting their way more and more by tantrums and accusing words. We see morality spinning down the drain instead of the dirt of sin. We conservatives want that they not get their way in this world and country, and if we can't have it the right way, we won't have it at all. I can pout with the best of them. But I do not want to be envious. I want to be zealous for the things of the Lord, but know that He is in charge even of the evil that goes on. Pharoah had his way for 400 years before God acted with mighty power, and I may live a lifetime of feeling enslaved to a system that turns against me more every day. Or I can know that deliverance is coming in a great and mighty way that will prove my God is GOD. Pharoah finally had to admit it, and someday every politician, every false preacher, every con-man out there will have to admit it, too.

And I don't envy them when that day comes.

No sweat! Ezekiel 44

It shall be that when they enter at the gates of the inner court, they shall be clothed with linen garments; and wool shall not be on them while they are ministering in the gates of the inner court and in the house. Linen turbans shall be on their heads and linen undergarments shall be on their loins; they shall not gird themselves with anything which makes them sweat. Ezekiel 44: 17-18

There is a long history of the temple worship by Israel. The Pentatuch (the first five books of the Bible) outlines all of the practices of temple worship, and at this point Israel had violated them all. They had allowed foreigners into the temple before they were circumcised, they worshiped other gods, and the Levites had forsaken their duties as caretakers of the house of the Lord and made the slaves do the dirty work. That was, all but a couple. There were the sons of Zadok who “kept charge of My sanctuary when the sons of Israel went astray from Me.” These guys stood strong, did their service when those around them were violating every law on the books, and won the approval of the Lord Himself. Standing alone together, so to speak. Note that they were not named, nor a number of them, but the name of the father, of the family line. Zadok was faithful, and his line was faithful after him. He was a good father, a teacher of the law, and minister of the Lord. He had to have been quite a guy, blessed by God in the eyes of his children for them to follow after him. Oh, that we, too, would be faithful servants of God, that our children would walk in His presence and be blessed to honor Him with their service, as well!

So in the preceding chapter, the sacrifices were prescribed, and then God's glory showed up. Then He gives them further instructions. All of this goes back to what they should have known...that they were to wear linen when they entered the inner sanctum. Thus far the sacrifices were performed in the outer gates, but now they would be entering the curtains, coming closer to God. The only part of a sheep that would enter would be the blood. No wool. Nothing itchy, scratchy, or sweaty. The fabric was to be white and soft and breathable. No sweat to smell, just the incense. No sweat to stain, just the stain of blood. They were to be covered from head to foot, so they needed garments that would not make them any more uncomfortable than they would already be coming before a Holy God. Linen is whiter, cooler, lighter, and not made of anything that had been on a living creature. These clothes were pure and were to remain as pure as the human body would allow. That is how they were to come before a Holy God.

We look at clothes a whole lot differently these days. Some clothes are considered “holy” like a priest's collar or a nun's habit. Wedding dresses were symbols, but now they can be anything, or the bride will have a “trash the dress” where they purposefully jump in a lake or mud to ruin it after the ceremony. I don't get it. Why take the thing that was supposed to symbolize your pure estate and worthiness as a bride and trash it (other than it really didn't symbolize that at all, but you just adhered to social norms)? This cavalier attitude had gotten Israel in trouble up to this point, so God again lovingly reminded the sons of Zadok that to come before Him worthy, they needed to dress the part outwardly to show their worthiness inwardly. They were worthy to come before God, and He gave them specific instructions to keep them in His will. He is good like that. He didn't want another Usiah incident where things were not done as instructed and the poor guy died trying to save the ark of the covenant. It is a fine balancing act between holiness and mercy that we humans do not take seriously.

And how does one come comfortable before the God who could strike you dead if the sacrifices were not done correctly? I guess the answer is dress in comfortable clothes (that are given to us, which is the righteousness of Christ), know what is expected (read God's word), and do as we are instructed (live the Word, believing God means what He says). And love that God, for perfect love casts out all fear.

Humbly approaching God once we are in His family is different than when we are not part of the family. He is Abba, Daddy, and we can come jump in His lap, give Him a big hug, and talk like a child would to his or her papa. Regardless of state of rich or poor, ruler or pauper, the sons and daughters gain entrance and intimacy that those outside the family will never achieve. You want to talk to daddy? No sweat! You need money to pay the bills? No sweat. You need to confess a sin? No sweat! If we are willing to come, He is willing to hear us out! That's what dads do. Zadok had that relationship with God and with his sons, and therefore, the sons of Zadok were brought in to that relationship as well. Won't you join the family of worshipers? Through the blood of Jesus, who sweat greatly for us, I say, NO SWEAT! Come. Please come.

Mark 9 Who does your laundry?

And He was transfigured before them; and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. Mark 9:2-3

It amazes me how I can read the scriptures over and over and not catch things like washerwomen getting mentioned in the Bible! We have all read the story of the transfiguration, and I have talked about it before in this blog from a different gospel. But Mark, well, my guess is he was a servant that did laundry. Who else would use the description given above? Was he the guy who tried to get every last bit of dirt out of the hem of a garment? Did he use lemon juice to whiten soiled linen? I have seldom seen a truly white sheep...there is a tinge of ecru going on there...just saying. To get a truly white garment was something special in those days, and of course, every little stain or spot shows up. Those things were a lot of maintenance...you can't let them get really dirty or the soils will never come out.

Or he hauled them off to the wet-cleaners. Someone else had the dirty job of cleaning, and he knew just how hard of a job it was to get things really white. It took an expert.

And then he hears the story of the transfiguration from Peter, James, or John. How shining and white His clothes were. Not an earthly white, but a heavenly white, so white, so pure, that no human could dare to achieve it. This Jesus was from another place, or at the least, was touched at that moment by another realm not of this world.

These clothes were just a help in revealing to the 3 apostles that Jesus was not of this world. He had existed before in the other realm, and was talking there in front of them with 2 men who were now living in that realm, Moses and Elijah. This was what He was really supposed to look like. But He gave that all up to come down here and become like us, plain and ordinary, so that He could die the substitutionary death for us. But the 3 apostles got a brief glimpse of who he really was an were speakless (until one of them spoke a little nonsense). That ended it. When Peter brought Jesus back down to earth, so to speak, the revelation ended. But the memory lingered. Who was this Guy? This one in unearthly white shining clothes? We have seen images on tv of glowing figures so often that we fail to understand how truly stunning it would be to see it in real life.

But His white clothes aren't the only heavenly thing we can't clean up on earth.

There is this ugly thing we try to call sin, but in this day and age is it just called a lifestyle choice. There is violation of the very rules of God. There is sin. Dark. Ugly. Staining. Ground-in. It has penetrated the fabric of our being to the point where no stain remover, no bleach, to lemon juice or soda or chemical treatment can remove it. It is a permanent part of the fabric of our lives and we are forced to live with it. And no earthly man can remove it. No man can forgive it. No scrubbing and penance and groveling can make it go away.

And then Jesus came. And He showed us that this world is not our home and that these stained garments can only become heavenly white when washed in the blood. How does blood take out stains, you ask? I don't know. I just know that that is how things work in God's laundromat. We are scrubbed spotless by the blood of the lamb. And they aren't just white, they are shiny white. Glorified white. Heavenly bright white. Those who appeared in them on earth did not stay on earth. They used their white clothes to communicate where they were from and to where they were returning. But they didn't stay. This world is not the place for shiny white clothes. But heaven is. And we are offered them when we get there. In the meantime we are like Jesus...undercover holy! We have those garments waiting for us, but while here, we look like others so we can relate to others. Remember when Moses glowed for a few days? It freaked people out. They couldn't relate to him, ask him to dinner, or even look at him without fearing. Jesus would have had the same effect if he would have come in his shining splendor. No one would have dared draw near. I think even Peter would have drawn the line there. But Jesus came to relate, to draw close, and at times, for our benefit, show us a glimpse of His glory. And hopefully we can do the same.

So, who does your laundry?

Luke 19 - It's a Wrap - Just do it!

Another came, saying, “Master, here is your mina, which I kept put away in a handkerchief; for I was afraid of you, because you are and exacting man...” Luke 19:20-21

Ah, can I relate to this passage.

I am a coward.

Anyone who knows me well knows that insecurity runs through my veins, capillaries, and arteries!

We know in our hearts that God has gifted us with certain abilities that are to be used for His glory, and yet we wallow in fear of the God who gave us the gifts. We fear the judgment of screwing up rather than the praise and correction of trying. We think that God can't possibly be happy with anything we do. We will fall short. We see every uneven stitch, every mismatched seam in the quilt of life and know that He will see it all even if the people who will glance at it never do. So we refuse to sew the seams in the first place. We put down the scissors or rotary cutter, turn off the sewing machine, and do nothing.

I have volunteered for NICU Helping Hands, a group that makes Angel Gowns and wraps from wedding dresses for the littlest of babies who pass away. It is a comfort to the families, and recognition of the life that was precious. Or should I say, I have the gowns, all washed and ready to go, and hope to volunteer. I am terrified. The dresses I received are GORGEOUS! But the demands of the group are many. These are not to be done lightly. They have to be even, to be symmetrical, to be a certain size and shape. These are “best practices” and I agree with them wholeheartedly, but this is also the part that keeps me from starting. What if they aren't? Aren't symmetrical, aren't acceptable? Oh, the humanity! To waste that gorgeous gown seems a sin, but the greater sin is to not use it at all. So maybe some will not work out the way I hope. Maybe parts will be trashed. But I have to “make the investment.”

This passage talks of the man who was given the mina to invest. Had he invested well but lost the money, would he not have been able to at least say, “I tried! I really did!” Would the master have not looked at him in pity? I do think so. We all fail at times. Other passages say that that Master forgives the debts that can't be repaid. The ones that He condemns are those that do nothing. They make no investment and then blame the Master instead of themselves. They judge God as being harsh and cruel instead of, out of love, doing the best they can to serve Him.

Therein lies the problem. The lack of love. When we love, we do. We try our hardest for those we love. We put not only our time and money there, we put our heart and soul. When you receive a gift from someone, you can sense the heart of the giver. Perhaps this is where homemade gifts make the biggest impact...there is time and money, heart and soul put into them. The Quilts of Valor mission tells of countless stories that the tears are that SOMEONE CARED ENOUGH to make a quilt for them. The gift itself is important...the beauty, the recognition for a job well done. But it is the effort...whether the seams all match or not, that someone put into making someone else feel special about what they have done, that makes the impact.

And when we lack love for the giver, God, we will hesitate to worship through trying, through striving, through investing in His kingdom due to fear. Perfect love casts out all fear, the scriptures say, so when we fail to try, we fail to love.

I know through everything I have read about NICU Helping Hands that they will help me become the best seamstress I can be and not get angry if my gowns do not comply. They will make suggestions until I can get it right, and then I can contribute until such time as I lose the heart to do it or I can't sew another seam. But I cannot let fear stop me from starting. That is not love. It is not love to know that I can contribute and then refuse to due to my selfish pride.

The same goes with quilts. If I choose not to donate them because they couldn't be good enough, that someone will judge them and deem them unworthy, then I deprive someone of warmth, beauty (which truly is in the eye of the beholder!), and comfort. And who am I to do such a thing?

God doesn't stop with rebuking the man, He takes the mina away and gives it to someone who will use it. Do I want to lose my sewing skills? Do I want to have my machines sit idle when they could be working? Do I want my stash to be parceled out to others because I refused to use it myself? Never.

And what was that mina wrapped up in? The handkerchief, the piece of cloth that was not meant for that reason. It is defined differently in various versions...but let's contemplate each. A handkerchief or bandanna was used to wipe the sweat off one's brow during work. This man did not work with the mina. The fact that he wasn't working allowed him to wrap the thing up. The King James says napkin. It is used for cleaning oneself after dinner or for holding food to keep it off the table and prevent dirt and germs from contaminating it. He wasn't savoring the opportunity to accomplish great things for the kingdom. He was feasting on his own self-pity. Sad. The New International just says piece of cloth. Maybe just a random rag laying around, he did not respect the gift or the giver and just hid it in something deemed worthless that no one would steal it away. In any of these cases there was more than just neglect of the gift. There was a great disrespect for the giver. There was laziness and fear and self-righteousness. And it was a waste of everyone's time and resources.

So get out the scissors and do something. It won't be perfect, but it can still be useful. And then we will have more to give back than we started with, which is the point. Bringing more people to the Lord is what this life is all about.

Marked with Iniquities Psalm 130:3-4

f You, Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who would stand? But there is forgiveness with You, That You may be feared. Psalm 130: 3-4

I work part-time in a fabric store; a quilt shop, to be precise. And sometimes the beautiful bolts have issues. Sometimes they are minor. The fabric is wound on the bolt crooked. Often we will have to unroll way more than we need, realign it, and then cut. It takes time and is aggravating, but there is no real harm done unless you aren't paying attention, cut it, and the cuts then reveal that you have giant v's in the sides. Or the selvages are not even, so when we go to cut fat quarters, we have to move them so that one person doesn't end up with less than their expected 20”. Sometimes you get those stupid bolts that have more than one piece wound on the bolt. You ordered a bolt with 15 yards, and you may get 8 ½ yards and 6 ½ yards, or anywhere in between to make your 15 yards. You may end up with remnants, or some sweet soul will just say they will buy the offending 3” leftover...

And then there are the stickers and the plastic tag gun markers. Those mean we have a problem. A real problem, not just a perceived one like mentioned above. Those markers mean we have one of several types of flaws. There may be a discoloring – a bleach mark, a slub that was printed on an came loose and leaves a white spot, or there is a hole! Something went wrong with either the fabric, the printing, or the machine. In any case, the place they are marking is unusable. WHY they mark the darned things and then go ahead and send it to us I will never know. Do they add inches to the bolt to make up for it? Not that I am aware of. When you roll it out in private, like cutting fat quarters, we have to deal with it. We have waste. And when you come to those places in front of a customer, they wonder how many other flaws are going to be in their expensive fabric, and what kind of quality of goods they are being sold! It is against every grain of our human nature to pay for something that is flawed. Do we get a discount for loss of use of that part? The boss will call and ask for up to a yard of credit depending on the size and placement of the problem. We will start inspecting the piece ourselves for more flaws. The most beautiful fabric can turn into a problem child when it has been marked. You are suspicious of it from the get-go. It is flawed and you never know just how flawed at that point.

Now mind you that those that are marked are like this verse. God looks at us and sees EVERY flaw in our lifes. If we were a bolt of fabric unrolled for Him to see, we would be totally unusable. The flaws would be marked everywhere. There would be dots with arrows pointing to my haughty attitude toward a friend, the selfish choice of use of time and resources, the white-lie to get my way, and the down-right refusal to follow His commands to the letter. The unintentional speeding, the overdue library book, and the ungiven meal or hug. It would all become obvious. The blots and dots, the holes and mis-weavings would be tagged, marked for all to see. Are you not glad most days that people cannot see what God sees...behind that smile is a sneer, behind that act of kindness the desire to get something? No one would have anything to do with us! But God...

This is where the lovely verse comes in...If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9 What does it mean to confess? It means to agree with God not only that we have sinned, but that we are sinners! How many times do we come to God and say we messed up, but really it wasn't so bad? We don't in our hearts agree with Him that our sin is awful and horrible and unholy? We deny that our flaws, marked by Him but ignored by us, are really going to ruin the project for which the fabric was going to be used. But when push comes to shove, we know if we use the flawed fabric someone will notice, the value of the piece goes down immediately, and we will not be satisfied with the final results. We know the flaw was big enough to be noticed before use, and that flaw will not go away. It can be cut around and the rest of the piece salvaged if it doesn't fall in a place that is necessary to be used, like a long border or the middle of an apron.

So who would pay for a bolt of flaws? Well, His name is Jesus. He bought us, redeemed us, and it was certainly NOT because we were perfect. Scripture says that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for the ungodly! He paid for us, flaws and all, and called us His own. No discount bin or remnant pile for Him! He paid the full price for that Flaw named Candra, and He paid full price for you, too. We were not sent back to the factory in exchange for a perfect bolt. The perfect Quilter was willing to accept us, and cut around the flaws, combine us with others bolts that He redeemed, and sew us into a masterpiece for His glory.

And He marked us with the Holy Spirit so we couldn't belong to anyone else. That is one marking I rejoice in. Sealed with a life that we could never have on our own for His glory and praise!