the ookey kooky Spirit?

Well, it's Halloween. In light of goblins, ghouls and ghosts, it got me thinking about things spiritual and related to the Holy Spirit.

In the world, we seem to place quite a bit of emphasis on things of the flesh. Money, clothes, food, a house, a job, sexual relationships. If you disagree, I'd ask that you look or listen to the substance of media advertising, that essentially markets having more and more of these things. I would say that well-intentioned and good meaning followers of Christ struggle with these things as well, fairly regularly, it's not simply isolated to just non-believers. There seems to be this underlying voice or hand, if you will, that pushes or draws us to fill our lives up with these material things. But I'm doubtful that this is in line with what Scripture teaches. Paul writes:

"You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other. So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under law. The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other." (Galatians 5:13-26 NIV)

Paul advocates that our lives be led by the Holy Spirit. Now, the world would most definitely think that as crazy. "What, led by a spirit? Ok, that's weird. Ya, witches and ghosts and things are spirits...what a wacko."

Maybe so to the world. But living for Christ, being led by the Spirit is the way to go for everything, including all these things that the world enticingly attempts via the flesh.

Again, Paul writes (me summarizing/emphasizing) "You, my brothers, were called to be free...serve one another in love......So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature...the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control...Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit"

So in light of it's Halloween, it's perfectly ok to be led by and depend on a spirit...the Holy Spirit!

stumbling blocks to genuine community

In Acts, we have one of the purest pictures of the early church and early Christian fellowship:

"They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved." (Acts 2: 42-47 NIV)

I think an emphasis worth noting is "And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

Pure community. And not by coincidence, the body of believers was growing quickly. The more unified the community, the greater it was able to grow as others came to know Christ.

One of my pet peeves if I could call it that of Christian community is that there all sorts of weird aspects in relationships that prevent pure and genuine community. Obviously, sin plays a significant role in coming between brothers and sisters, brothers and brothers, sisters and sisters...a lot of these stumbling blocks I think have migrated from worldly cultural tenets and principles into Christian community. For brother and sister relationships, one of these main stumbling blocks I think involves the idea of marriage. I posted on that a bit earlier, that there is this underlying cultural expectation to get married that I don't think is necessarily completely in-line with Scriptures' premise of marriage. As a result of this, when brothers and sisters are meeting each other for the first time, or first developing friendships, I think there is an underlying weirdness, as a result of some cultural expectations. It's possible that what's going on is that brothers and sisters are reading into things or having their minds not foremost on developing Christian community for God's glory, but rather on personal desires for relationships, possibly marriage.

For brother - brother relationships, I think cultural aspects of the importance of being thought of as intelligent, "Godly" or even being this "manly" man sometimes provides a stumbling block. I think guys sometimes get together and there is an underlying desire (that comes primarily from culture) to be able to lift more in the gym than the other guy or being more witty or having a greater knowledge of the Bible. This is not a limited list, there are other things guys do with other guys to "one up" each other in a sense, even if it's in a subtle way. Some of this sounds dumb and childish, but I do think it goes on. In addition, this desire is exacerbated when in a group setting.

I'm not going to try and speak to sister-sister relationships, since I'm not a sister, but I imagine there are stumbling blocks with those relationships too. And so what are we to do?

First, I think it's important to examine and recognize tendencies in relationships that may contribute to these "stumbling blocks." I think the desire to be humble and a servant before your brother or sister is something really important to keep in mind. Being vulnerable is hard, but it can be done more easily I think the more one's eyes are on the prize, Jesus. Also, it wouldn't be bad to echo Jesus prayer for community unity and keep in mind the direction to which Jesus was pointing with His prayer (this is kind of long, but most excellent):

"I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name—the name you gave me—so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled. "I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. "Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. "Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them." (John 17: 6-26 NIV)

judgement

In many ways, I think the modern day church in America is missing the mark when it comes to using "judgement" at the appropriate time and in the appropriate context. By American church, I mean the collective individuals of Christians that make up that body. In the name of "tolerance," which has something that has developed more and more in our culture in recent decades, I think the church has done too little (staying quiet and not saying anything) or done too much (congregation fights or splits over various issues).

Please don't get me wrong, I think tolerance is a good and healthy thing, but it can be taken to far so that one, or a group of people basically becomes unprincipled and standing for nothing.

This post is meant to focus on the church and internal issues of the church. I'm trying not to link external issues and their relationship to the church, which obviously influence and play a part, but I really want this post to focus on the church itself.

One of the most highly quoted verses from Scripture, and I would think most highly quoted by non-Christians would be "Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. "Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye." (Matthew 7:1-3 NIV)

In this passage, I feel like Jesus is instructing believers regarding their relationships with those outside the church, non-believers. I think this because a) this is early in Jesus' ministry and a church doesn't really exist yet, the apostles are hardly in place, and so without a church really being formed, I don't think Jesus means this in the context of believer to believer relationships and because b) this passage follows a group of passages that Jesus highlights dealing with beliver-relating to the outside world issues. In Matthew 6, He talks about: giving to the needy, prayer (by comparing the worldly Pharisees, who I think Jesus certainly sees as outside the "church"), fasting (again, comparison to worldly Pharisees), treasures in heaven, and having not worrying for worldy sustenance (food and clothing). So I think that theme continues to the beginning of Matthew 7 where Jesus is giving instructions to belivers on external world issues, and how to deal with them.

What I'm getting to is that I think Jesus means it's not okay to judge those outside the church, but it's okay to judge those inside the church*. Notice I put an * mark, because I think Jesus would mean that you can judge those inside the church if they're clearly doing something that is out of line with Scripture and Christ's teaching.

Paul is more clear later on expelling the immoral brother: "It is actually reported that there is sexual immorality among you, and of a kind that does not occur even among pagans: A man has his father's wife. And you are proud! Shouldn't you rather have been filled with grief and have put out of your fellowship the man who did this? Even though I am not physically present, I am with you in spirit. And I have already passed judgment on the one who did this, just as if I were present. When you are assembled in the name of our Lord Jesus and I am with you in spirit, and the power of our Lord Jesus is present, hand this man over to Satan, so that the sinful nature may be destroyed and his spirit saved on the day of the Lord." (1 Corinthians 5:1-3 NIV)

Now this presents a whole host of problems. And this may result in a "duh" Hunter, this post isn't saying anything new. Different people are going to interpret Scripture in a different way. This will lead to differences in issues that are controversial. That's one of the main problems of the church today.

Why am I writing about this? I think the church needs to figure itself out. As quickly as possible. Instead of fighting among itself, or teaching something completely contrary to Christ's intention (health and wealth gospel), it needs to get back to a more pure, original intent of what the church is supposed to be, which I think, also includes stop being so fragmented. Now, I just wrote that the health and wealth gospel is contrary to Christ's teaching. Others are going to completely disagree, in light of their interpretation of Scripture.

In light of this, I think Christians that have opposing viewpoints should sit down together, ask the Holy Spirit to guide their meeting(s), and seek out the real Truth of what Scripture is saying. If a Christian refuses to do this, or is unwilling, I think that's a sign for concern.

Now, I'm not going to go walking into every health and wealth gospel church and stand up in the middle of the service and start yelling and shouting. There's a proper Spirit of love that Christ would use to go about this I think, maybe He would do that, but I don't know.

My ending point to all this is that I think Christ-seeking Christians should be convicted more in their thoughts about the Supremacy of Christ and His Truth taught in Scriptures, and to not settle for all sorts of fluff the world, or other aspects of "the church" might present. I don't think they are to do this in a mean-spirited way, but follow Christ's example in standing firm in love and in Truth. If that involves correcting a brother or sister (again, in a spirit of "firm love"), then so be it.

the double-standard

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." - Jesus

I'm going to propose that humans are finite. That may not be earth-shattering, but it's important to say, because it means a person's time is limited. They can only do so much in a 24 hour day, 7 day week, 12 month year, you get it. With that said, there's only so much one will be able to accomplish during this time of earthly existence for a) God or b) the world. (I include accomplishing things for oneself as part of accomplishing things for the world). And to be clear, "accomplishing" things for God, I mean loving Him and being devoted to Him, not in the sense that deeds are done for Him or in His name.

I think a double standard type mentality exists that I'm not sure is the best. Many people want to please God, to give Him honor and glory, which is a great thing to desire to do! Often times, especially in our culture that places a premium on "success," having money or owning a house or being pretty or having a model family or _________ (fill in the blank), there is a desire to accomplish much by the world's standards. I don't think the two are mutually exclusive, but there's something to be said for the fact that both are hard to accomplish simultaneously.

For a simple example, I can speak for myself and say that I'm bad at multi-tasking. It makes sense, right? If I'm devoting my focus and energy, to say, writing a paper, it's going to be much harder for me to have a real and genuine conversation on the phone with a good friend. Some people can do it, and more power to them.

I think this clearly applies to our walks with Jesus. If we are trying to serve Him and love Him with all our hearts, and that is a primary focus where energy is concentrated, are we still able to devote the necessary time and energy to be successful in this world? Should we? I sure think it's much harder.

I think people fool themselves more often than they want to admit (I'm inclusing myself in this generalization). It would be great to do a lot for God AND to accomplish a lot of good in this world. Whom do esteem more highly and say more loudly "wow, what a great guy" to: a rags to riches businessman who gave away his enormous fortune to charity in his twilight years or a janitor who didn't finish high school but consistently gave $25 every Sunday to the offering. If we're honest, I think most of us would say the businessman.

This is my point, none of these example guys were necessarily bad, they both did good things, but we don't really know about each one of their heart relationships with God throughout their time on earth (because yes, they are both hypothetical example men). My point is that we tend to go "oooo, aaaaa, wowww" to the wealthy guy because he accomplished a lot by the world's standards. But who knows, the wealthy guy's family life may have sucked, his friends may have thought he was always too busy for them. And maybe the janitor was smarter than Bill Gates, but chose a janitorial lifestyle so he could get up and pray and sing worship hymns to God for 4 hours before work each morning.

This is all hypothetical, but hopefully you get what I'm trying to get you to think about. Our relationship with God is a matter of the heart, but do we orient and make decisions in our life, wanting that heart relationship with God to like an intense marathon, or a heart relationship that looks more like intense sprinting, followed by fatigue, rest, and then an intense sprint again or an intense sprint at the end...

Having success in this world is not bad. I think to try for it at such a level that it takes away from our relationship with Jesus, then it is a problem. We need to be realistic with ourselves. We can only do so much with the time we have.

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:19-21 NIV)

marriage and serving God

I think a prevalent goal that exists in our society is to marry. Well DUH you might say. Yes, I agree, the human race wouldn't be able to continue if marriage wasn't a really big deal. I don't necessarily believe that God has placed a specific desire in everyone's heart for a wonderful other of the opposite sex. I do think that God has placed a desire for community in everyone's heart, and that very well could look like a woman and a man married together (the most intimate form of community). Even looking outside of the Christian community, I think this would pan out in the statistics: people divorce quite a bit, marriage rates are down, but people still live with each other and don't tie the knot (be it for saving money or having sex). Marriage doesn't quite have the premium it used to, but being together surely has not gone away.

I've read about some communities of single men and women who live together under the banner of Christ, who live in community, but choose to remain single to be devoted to the Lord first and foremost. I think this offers an interesting example to think about.

Marriage is not a bad thing at all, please don't get me wrong. My married friends tell me it's an awesome thing. And I believe them. But, I find that there are a lot of Christian brothers and sisters who pursue marriage as a primary goal to accomplish in life. Culture surely has had an influence on this. Little girls start thinking about their wedding day when they are still in diapers. I think guys start thinking about marriage later and a bit more gradually, maybe around their early 20s, but it still can grow into a passionate desire to be married. Think about various aspects of our culture, a lot of structures and institutions are set up that lead towards encouraging marriage (once again, these aren't necessarily bad in themselves). I think even that awful cotillion stuff my mom made me attend in middle school was a part of this whole call to marriage from society. The result from all this is that I observe many times that Christian brothers and sisters often have a decent amount of anxiety related to just that, marriage. Finding a mate. "I'll never find Mr. Right" or "I'll just be one of those lonely old men." I don't see as heightened anxieties about serving the Lord or orienting a vocation towards serving the Lord. Culture has cultivated a huge premium on getting married, and it's like if somebody doesn't, they're deemed a big fat loser.

But that's culture's opinion. Not God's. Paul talks about marriage in 1 Corinthians 7. I mention this insightful passage of Scripture to encourage you to read it for yourself and see what the Holy Spirit reveals to you regarding marriage. Some things I observe about it: Paul never says or explicitly commands, "don't marry". Or "marry." He does not lay out any specific absolutes. He talks about the benefits of being single so that one would be free to serve the Lord without disagreements or distractions that may arise in a marriage. Biblical scholars note that Paul was single during his apostleship period of Jesus (most likely when he wrote 1 Corinthians), but was very likely married during the time he served as a zealous Jewish persecutor of Christians. Paul knew both sides, he speaks from experience, which gives him more credibility.

In our culture, I wish that Christians would desire to seek and serve Jesus first and foremost, and not necessarily count on marriage as a given in their life. That they would pursue the Lord above all, and that if an opportunity for marriage does arise as a way to strengthen their service to the Lord, that they would get married! DUH! There are many situations that two together serving the Lord is a stronger ministry TOGETHER AS ONE than two single individuals serving the Lord, and so they should get married (that being that they love each other and seek each other's best interests before their own)! Marriage isn't for everyone, and shouldn't be pursuit #1, as our culture so often seems to claim and encourage.

I agree with the Pope

Pope Benedict the 16th openly criticized the pursuit of wealth. This has been a relevant issue, and even more so now in the wake of the global "financial" crisis. It might be a "financial" crisis, but hopefully hearts and minds are going through a faith "renewal" or God "re-commitment."

See the article here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7654878.stm

a wonderful prayer for today

Fernando Ortega is the man. These lyrics are a wonderful prayer for today. You don't necessarily have to watch the video, please just let the words and the melody soak in.

safe for the whole family?

A Christian radio station here in Nashville, which I very much enjoy listening to, has a slogan that they often repeat and play...

"safe for the whole family" is what they say.

Is the real Jesus safe?

If we look at Jesus in Scripture, and follow His history here on earth, I think there's strong evidence that Jesus is not safe, at least in an earthly sense of the word.

Let's take a look. Of the original twelve disciples, Simon Peter was crucified, Andrew was whipped and tied to a cross where he hung until he died, James (brother of John) was beheaded, Philip was crucified, Bartholomew was beaten severely, whipped, and THEN crucified, Thomas was speared to death and then incinerated in an oven, Matthew was axed to death, James (brother of Jesus) was thrown off the top of the temple, and though he survived the fall, he was then beaten to death by a gang wielding clubs. Jude and Simon the Zealot were crucified. Matthias (Judas' replacement) was stoned and THEN beheaded. Paul, who didn't interact with Jesus in person, but was clearly called by Jesus, was beheaded. The only disciple (other than Judas) to not die by murder, was John, although he was thrown in a pot of boiling oil, SURVIVED, and then was exiled to Patmos island.

The math is clear: of these 14 men who were very committed to Jesus as their Lord and Savior, ONLY ONE was not murded. 13 out of 14 were, and many times in brutal ways. I'm thinking Jesus is not so safe after all.

BUT HE IS! It all depends on the context of how you are defining the word "safe." I would argue that if you want to be safe in the world, leave Jesus alone. Families are split up, friends leave you, and it is very likely you will suffer physical and mental persecution as a result of claiming allegiance to Jesus. In America today, we do not experience this as clearly as some of our Christ brothers and sisters around the world.

"If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you. Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they will obey yours also. They will treat you this way because of my name, for they do not know the One who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not be guilty of sin. Now, however, they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my Father as well. If I had not done among them what no one else did, they would not be guilty of sin. But now they have seen these miracles, and yet they have hated both me and my Father. But this is to fulfill what is written in their Law: 'They hated me without reason.' "(John 15:18-25 NIV)

How are we to respond to the fact that the world HATES followers of Jesus? What are we to do? I think the same passage of Scripture gives us an answer:

"As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. This is my command: Love each other." (John 15:9-17 NIV)

Love each other! When it comes to the realm of the universe and who rules over all, then yes, I think Jesus is extremely safe. The SAFEST. Even safe for the whole family.