A Humane Rule

It doesn't take much effort to find a current government to accuse of violence, corruption and failure to care for the weakest and most vulnerable. We could think of past governments like Hitler's Nazi Germany or Stalin's Soviet Union as especially egregious, and could go further to name Pol Pot's Cambodia, Rios Montt's Guatemala, but beastly governments exist today that consume their people's livelihoods, potential and even their bodies. Look at a summary of Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe in 2013, for example:

After 33 years, Mugabe’s legacy is this: rampant abuses of human rights, the elimination of all political opposition, the organized slaughter in Matabeleland, the exile of the white minority, the persecution, murder and dispossession of an estimated 400,000 black Zimbabwean farm workers, a massive and continuing exodus of refugees, and the destruction of Zimbabwe’s economy, which has left countless Zimbabweans starving, unemployed, impoverished or buried.

We may not have such beastly government in the United States, but the way the NSA has been scooping up communications of people around the world suggests a government that has lost appropriate boundaries, and even more disconcerting that President Obama was unaware of the scope of the program. It is a sign of a system that is losing its humanity.

Daniel chapter 7 should strike a chord with us today--in its description of beastly governments and its longing for humane rule. Daniel has a dream of four beasts coming up out of the sea. The first was the most "human", and the later beasts more vicious and terrifying. The second consumes human bodies. The third destroys everything it touches. The last terrifies and speaks arrogantly:

Then, as I watched, its wings were plucked off, and it was lifted up from the ground and made to stand on two feet like a human being; and a human mind was given to it. Another beast appeared, a second one, that looked like a bear. It was raised up on one side, had three tusks in its mouth among its teeth and was told, ‘Arise, devour many bodies!’ After this, as I watched, another appeared, like a leopard. The beast had four wings of a bird on its back and four heads; and dominion was given to it. After this I saw in the visions by night a fourth beast, terrifying and dreadful and exceedingly strong. It had great iron teeth and was devouring, breaking in pieces, and stamping what was left with its feet. It was different from all the beasts that preceded it, and it had ten horns. I was considering the horns, when another horn appeared, a little one coming up among them; to make room for it, three of the earlier horns were plucked up by the roots. There were eyes like human eyes in this horn, and a mouth speaking arrogantly. 

An attendant at the divine court explains to Daniel that these four beasts are four empires--corresponding to the Babylonian (viewed most positively by Daniel), which was followed by the Medean, then Persian and lastly Greek empires. They would be progressively more beastly--the last the most terrible.

But after theses four empires, Daniel sees "One like a Son of Man" come:

I saw one like a human being
   coming with the clouds of heaven.
And he came to the Ancient One
   and was presented before him.
To him was given dominion
   and glory and kingship,
that all peoples, nations, and languages
   should serve him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion
   that shall not pass away,
and his kingship is one
   that shall never be destroyed. 

Finally--there will be an empire that is Human, humane in its treatment of people. No longer will people's bodies and livelihoods be torn apart by savaging governments. No longer will governments boast beyond their limitations. This is an Empire of God's saints, the holy ones:

The kingship and dominion
   and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven
   shall be given to the people of the holy ones of the Most High;

For Daniel, hope for a humane government is found when God's holy people--all the saints--are ruling in harmony with the One True God.

Christians took Daniel 7 in a different direction: Jesus is the Son of Man. Jesus is the one who brings the "Kingdom of God" (or better: "Empire of God") which saves people rather than uses them as grist for the empire's mills. Our hope is not in our ability to rule (even as the saints), but in Christ's rule. He is the Prince of Peace, Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God. He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the one who brings life and hope, and the Humane Rule:

‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
   because he has anointed me
     to bring good news to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives
   and recovery of sight to the blind,
     to let the oppressed go free,
to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.’ (Luke 4:18; Isaiah 61:1)

God's Word is both Law and Gospel

This Sunday we celebrate the Reformation, begun when Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses (discussion points) on the door of Wittenburg Castle on Oct 31, 1517. He began a revival then and, I pray, the Lutheran Christian movement can still be an instrument for God's revival today!

One area of Christian life that seems to need constant renewal is how we read the Bible. Luther stressed that God speaks through the words of the Bible in two ways: Law and Gospel (note the capital letters).

Law is God's Word that (1) orders peaceful and healthy society and (2) condemns sin. When we read a passage that gives good advice for society, for example, "You shall not kill," this is what Lutheran Christians call "the First Use of the Law."

When we read a passage that makes us feel uncomfortable, guilty or ashamed about our own actions, attitudes or values, we are experiencing "the Second Use of the Law." It can be the same words that give order to society that convict our hearts; for example, Luther interprets in the Small Catechism that "You shall not kill" means "We are to fear and love God so that we do not hurt our neighbor in any way but help him in all his physical needs." After we passed by someone who asked for food, we may feel this word condemns us for failing to help our neighbor in her physical need. This is God's Word that makes us aware of our sin--and our need for forgiveness.

The Gospel, on the other hand, is God's word of life, forgiveness and hope. The Law cannot save or forgive--it's work is temporary. The Gospel is the good news that we are saved by grace through faith alone through Jesus. It is Gospel with a capital G that we hear when Paul proclaims, "For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God" (Eph 2:8). We hear Gospel when Jesus says to the woman who was bleeding for 12 years, "Go, your faith has made you well" (Mark 5:34).

Another way to say it: the Law tells us what to do (and what we've failed to do) and the Gospel tells us what God has done. The Law stokes the fires of guilt and shame; the Gospel soothes and heals the burnt soul. Both are God's Word. Both have importance in our lives, in shaping us to follow and trust Jesus as Lord and Savior.

Here's a little practice: Read John 8:30-36, the lesson for this week, and ask:
(1) What is the Law here? (hint: "My family are all believers. That's enough!")
(2) What is the Gospel? ("If the Son makes you free, you are free indeed!")

All Scripture is inspired by God

All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:16-17)

In the controversies over the Bible in the late 19th century and early 20th century, this verse was a rallying cry for those who wanted to resist criticism of the Bible. Scholarly "criticism" (simply meaning "close analysis") was demonstrating in the 19th century how the Bible was a multi-layered composition from different times and places. For example, compare Genesis 1 and 2 for two different portrayals of the creation of life. Genesis 1 shows the priestly vision of an orderly universe that God created by Word in six days in rested, the basis for a seven-day week. Genesis 2, on the other hand, portrays the personal God YHWH (God's name disclosed to Moses in Exodus 3:1) who walks in the garden with Adam and creates animals as potential companions to the earth-man ('Adam').

This scholarly criticism became social criticism: some non-believers took this as evidence that the Bible was a human-made book and concluded it was unreliable for knowledge about the world or humanity or God. Some believers heard this criticism, and their faith was shaken. Others picked up 2 Tim 3:16-17 as a battle cry: the Bible is inspired and because of its inspiration it is reliable, and anyone who said differently is a heretic!

Here's the first problem: In 2 Timothy,  Paul was not talking about what we call the Bible or the creation of the world in seven 24-hr days. At his time "scripture" referred to what we call the "Old Testament!" He is concerned that some are tossing aside the Jewish scriptures because Christ set them free, but here he argues the "scripture" (Old Testament) is useful for shaping righteous people who do good works. Ironically, Paul is arguing for the reliability of Genesis 1, but not for a seven 24-hr day, but to shape righteous people who, in the image of God, will work in service to others six days a week and take a day of rest to worship God and be renewed.

The bigger problem is that some people try to deny that the Bible is a human book at all. Paul assumes the human element. The word translated "inspired" is literally "God-breathed". He never claims that God dictated every word and letter of the Bible, but argues that the Holy Spirit breathed through the human authors and human situations. The Bible, in this way, is what human beings wrote after and during encounters with the One True God. It is both the Word of God and the Word of Man simultaneously.

Paul's point is that God works through scripture and through interpreters who use it to teach, reprove, correct, and train people to do good works that glorify God. Without the Holy Spirit working through us to listen to the words of scripture as the Word of God, it would only be the Word of Man. Without the Holy Spirit working through teachers and interpreters and readers, the Bible would only be words on a page, bits of ink copied, interesting historical documents but nothing that demands attention, changes lives, or directs finite human beings to the infinite God.

Trusting not perfect

We've been slowly remodeling our bathroom over the last three months. VERY SLOWLY! We are paying a contractor to install the new shower walls. One wall is tricky: it has three windows that require many pieces and precise cuts of material.

I pointed out to the contractor that one piece didn't line up properly with the window, and he instantly responded, "Nobody's perfect! I'm not a machine that can make perfect cuts!"

I tried to calmly respond (was I successful?) that perfection wasn't the goal but consistency, minimizing attention to flaws. I asked him if he would still be able to keep the caulk lines roughly uniform.

We can become defensive when people point out our flaws and shortcomings and throw out "nobody's perfect" as a shield against criticism. But it is ultimately a hollow argument when we try to say this to God. God is God and we are not!


Too much has been made of Jesus' words in Matthew, "Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect" (Matt 5:48). It usually just causes defensiveness, "Nobody's perfect," rather than a desire to change. Jesus is not talking about moral perfection in this part of the Sermon of the Mount; he is talking specifically about loving your enemies (Matt 5:44), which is difficult, but possible through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Greek word teleios is better translated as "ready to serve" rather than "perfect": "Be ready to serve (your enemies) as your heavenly Father is ready to serve (you and them)."

God's call is not to be morally perfect, to never make any foolish or selfish choices. Our call is first to trust that God is faithful: Jesus is raised from the dead! Paul writes in his second letter to Timothy, "if we are faithless, he remains faithful--for he cannot deny himself" (2 Tim 2:13). Even if we are faithless, God is faithful!

Trusting God's faithfulness sets us free from worrying about perfection and instead on how we can serve God and neighbor. We can dial down our defensiveness when criticized because we know we need help changing to be ready to serve. We can let go of our unrealistic standards for ourselves and focus our energies on consistently loving our neighbors as ourselves. As Paul says, "Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved by him, a worker who has no need to be ashamed..." (2 Tim 2:15).

With the help of God, doing my best,
Pastor Peter

The Word and new ways for words

Gutenberg Printing Press

Almost five hundred years ago, Martin Luther and some Christians who wanted reform in the church seized on the latest technology to spread the word: the printing press. You would think that adopting the new media of blogs and facebook would be obvious to this Christian in Luther's line, but I have been slow to embrace this new media.

As John 1:1 says, the Word became flesh. The eternal infinite God entered the temporary, finite creation in Jesus. And after the Word dwelt among us, the Word became words: stories told in synagogues, house churches, marketplaces. These stories moved people to put their trust in God, that in Jesus God was truly making the world new. They wanted to follow this Word, for it to be their Light and Life. They wrote letters to one another, encouraged one another, corrected one another--all with words: spoken, written, lived, embodied. The words became flesh and the flesh became words.

The Word for Christians is always Christ. Each week, I will reflect in words which direction God may be leading me as I meditate on the scripture readings for the coming Sunday.

For the last four weeks, we've been looking at four small letters of Paul to leaders: Philemon, Titus, 1 and 2 Timothy. This week we will be listening to Paul's second letter to Timothy, especially the first chapter.

I'm musing on the fact that Paul is concerned that Timothy may be shrinking back and ashamed of his faith. Paul encourages him to be courageous and self-disciplined for the sake of the "treasure entrusted to him" (2 Tim 1:14).

How do we need courage today? In what ways do we hide our faith under a bushel basket? I'm not thinking we all need to walk around with a pious look on our faces and say "God Bless you" but is our relationship with God a treasure? How do we demonstrate its value in our lives? I think of a hymn, "Jesus, Priceless Treasure". Check it out:

Jesus, Priceless Treasure