What (or do I Mean Why?) a Scribe Really Does (Disparate Things #1)

I enjoy drawing parallels between seemingly disparate things. So how is a scribe, say, like a jar of raspberry jam?

I apologize if today's post is more like a LiveJournal diary entry than one with actual audience appeal, but, regardless, forward I plunge.

Ask anyone what a scribe does, and they'll say a scribe writes. And are they wrong? No. But they are a little beside the point.

The biblical scribes hand-recorded the word of God. Some served as secretaries for specific people, as Baruch did for Jeremiah. They wrote, yes, but to define their function as writing skates on the surface of things; it describes not their purpose but their method. Why did they write? Because, just as the jam maker's purpose was to preserve the luscious berries for future eating, the scribe's purpose was to preserve the word of God for future reading. Scribes accomplished their task of preservation through quills and parchment because that was the recording technology available to them. Yes, this is me saying scribes can and should make full use of the technology available to us--audiobooks, podcasts, websites, apps, social media, and on and on--and that even when we don't put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard, when we use these new methods we are still scribing. Because we are recording, archiving, documenting. We are preserving, and while it would be a little weird to call the person canning jam in her kitchen a scribe, it's not as out there as we think. Why do we write? My university once offered an intro course within its writing major called "Why Write?" And though I didn't major in writing, I can now answer the question, 50+ years late: We write to preserve. Whether it's as temporary as the grocery list we toss as we leave the store, or as eternal as the precious Holy-Spirit-inspired word of God, we write something down in order to save it. 

Biblical scribes held two other main functions: they taught the law (the same Greek word is translated "teachers of the law" and "scribes," depending on version), and they governed, usually as members of the Sanhedrin. While scribes are commonly thought of as writers, and a better understanding describes them as writers with gifts of teaching and administration--as it says in my own bio--the real, deep-down, three-fold function of the scribe is preservation, instruction, and governance. 

More people today aren't coming to Christ because they don't know what sin is and they don't love the truth. 

Works without Faith are Dead, Too

 

We know faith without works is dead. James makes this point clearly in the second chapter of his letter, and it's often the point we associate most closely with his book. (I would argue, though, that it's not his main point; I believe that's the exhortation to be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, from 1:19). If we say we have faith but have no good works, our faith is suspect because genuine faith produces good works--it can't help it. Another way of saying this is that faith produces obedience. When we, out of faith, meet the physical needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ, or take any action God requires of us, our faith is brought to completion by the work (2:22), because we are stepping out in trust toward the God in whom we say we have faith. Works carry faith a step further, in other words. Without any works, our faith cannot be demonstrated--it's only our word that we have any at all--and we are doing nothing in our daily reality to stretch it. If it isn't stretching, it's shrinking, and will die.

But the statement works the other way around, too. The lives of the Pharisees, and Jesus' rebuke of them, show this. To be fair, He exposed them for not practicing as they preached (Matthew 23:3), but mostly He did so because they performed actions for show while being inwardly bankrupt. Speaking to them in phrases like "twice as much of a son of hell as you are" and "spiritually blind guides," He phrased His criticism most clearly in Matthew 23:25-28:

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean. Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of the bones of the dead and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness."

Perhaps it's because I grew up in a liberal denomination where being born again wasn't preached, but over my lifetime I have more often seen works without faith than faith without works, as my role models put on their best behavior and performed a lot of religious activity and even very good service but were not new creatures in Christ. We know, of course, that salvation is not by works (though many church congregations catch the idea that it is), and without salvation our destiny is death in every way. Works do not save; faith does. 

Faith is first. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. From faith, works spring forth, because we believe God and not only obey Him because we're "supposed" to, but because we have the faith to step out and do what He asks. We show our faith through our obedience. Jesus said, "First clean the inside of the cup and dish." When people try to jump ahead into works first, in order to look good before others, or because they honestly think it's the works that qualify them for heaven, they are putting the cart before the horse. Faith without works is dead, but works without faith are really most sincerely dead. 

Faith causes works; works prove faith. We must have both. In that order. 

Does God Have Favorites?

I'm sure our first answer is "No, of course not." (Even if we are secretly or subconsciously thinking God must like Joe Schmo better than me because Joe gets all the breaks.)

But it all depends on how we define "favorites." 

God loves all people the same, saved or not. There is nothing we can do to make God love us more, and there is nothing we can do to make God love us less. He has proved His love for the whole world by sending His sinless Son Jesus to die on the cross in our place--while we were yet sinners. And whosoever will may come to Him to have life. Furthermore, whatever God has done for me, He will do for you. This isn't to say that He treats everyone identically, because no two people are called to identical lives, including identical twins. If God didn't relate to you as the unique human He made you to be, then you wouldn't feel very seen, or as if the relationship were personal, would you? So I don't get a horse just because Joe Schmo got a horse, for example, but the promises of God in Scripture, and the supply of all my needs according to His riches in glory, are mine just as much as anybody's, if I belong to Him. To further make our point, we often quote Romans 2:11--"God is no respecter of persons." The Amplified 2015 version says it like this: "For God shows no partiality [no arbitrary favoritism; with Him one person is not more important than another]." It's good to note, though, that this is in the context of a discussion about salvation and judgment, whether under the Law or apart from the Law. As recorded in Acts 10:34, Peter speaks about his new understanding that God doesn't show partiality to people--but again, in the context of Gentiles no longer being unclean in the eyes of Jews. God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9). Also, because favoritism is shown in the Bible to be sin, we can know God doesn't practice it. James 2:1-9, for example, warns Christians against showing favoritism (partiality, prejudice) on the basis of poverty or riches. Leviticus 19:15 reads similarly.

But wait. 

Is there a difference between favoritism and favor(ite)? Yes, there is. Favoritism is defined as unfair or prejudicial preference. A favorite, on the other hand, is simply a preferred thing, with no connotation of disadvantage or harm to anyone or anything else. And let's carry this a step further: What if, instead of    defining favorite as "someone who is loved/liked better than others," we define it as "a recipient of favor"? Someone who has favor is literally a favor"ite". Do people have, or can they gain, favor with God? Yes. 

Psalm 5:12 says, "For You, O Lord, bless the righteous man [the one who is in right standing with you]; You surround him with favor as with a shield" (AMP 2015). Who is given (surrounded by; isn't that wonderful?) favor, according to this verse? The righteous person, and we Christians know we are righteous in Christ. Therefore, believers have God's favor. In Psalm 30:5, David urges "godly ones" to remember that "His anger is but for a moment, His favor is for a lifetime." Psalm 84:11 tells us, "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows grace and favor and honor; no good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly." Again, as we walk uprightly, set apart (holy) for Him, we gain God's favor. Psalm 90:17 records that Moses prayed, "And let the [gracious] favor of the Lord our God be on us; confirm for us the works of our hands--yes, confirm the works of our hands." Here, concluding a prayer about the eternity of God and the fleeting life of man, Moses asks for favor that our short lives may have meaning on the earth. Proverbs 3:4, discussing the rewards of wisdom, exhorts, "So find favor and high esteem in the sight of God and man." The passage implies that we do so by trusting in the Lord with all our heart and keeping his precepts. Proverbs 18:22 is quite specific. It states that a man who finds a wife obtains favor from the Lord. There are other passages that imply God's favor upon people without necessarily using that word. One is 2 Chronicles 16:9--"For the eyes of the Lord move to and fro throughout the earth so that He may support those whose heart is completely His" (AMP 2015). Most translations say He's looking to strengthen those who are His. Scripture is clear that when we belong to God, and when we furthermore walk uprightly and devote ourselves completely to Him, we obtain favor with Him. And in that sense we are favor"ites"--people who have received favor. 

It's true that splitting hairs on definitions the way I've done here may not always be practical in normal conversation. We tend to equate favoritism with having a favorite, or take favorite to mean "someone who is loved/liked better than others." We do need to be careful of the impression we are giving when we use words. However, to the question "Does God have favorites?" in a very real sense it is right to answer, "Yes. Yes, He does. And if you belong to Him through Jesus Christ, you, too, can be His favor"ite". 

Can I (Not) Get an Amen? (Controversies #9)

Now, at first this doesn't seem like a big deal. Possibly not even worth mentioning. Except that at a casual gathering a few weeks ago someone did mention it, prompting me to realize I wasn't the only person thinking a certain way. One of the many advantages of no longer being a teenager is realizing that if you're thinking a certain way, no doubt other people are, too (as opposed to the younger mindset that believes "Only I am this weird and nobody else's mind would go or has ever gone here"). 

I'm talking about the "amen corner," or the tendency of some pastors to speak as if they need an active amen chorus operating in the congregation in order to know whether their sermon is coming across. You may have heard it: the pastor makes a statement, says, "Amen?" and the congregation or certain portions thereof answers, "Amen," and this exchange is peppered throughout the sermon. But why do we think this is necessary, and why don't we realize it can be harmful? 

The person who raised the subject in the conversation I was in said something like this: "When Pastor makes a really good point, I'm thinking about it and turning it over in my mind. Or realizing something I never saw before, or remembering a related Scripture. I'm not in a place to say 'Amen' at that moment." To which, ironically, I say Amen. What we want people to be doing, it would seem, is thinking, "Oh, that's what that means!" Or applying the Scripture to their own life. Or feeling conviction from the Holy Spirit. Or reaching a new, life-changing understanding. Which usually takes place in the realm of listening, often deep listening, rather than speaking. 

At the risk of a horrible mixing of metaphors, parroting "Amen"--and it does become parroting after a while because "Amen?"/"Amen!" eventually becomes classical conditioning or a Pavlovian response to a stimulus; you're not even fully aware you're doing it--is batting the shuttlecock back over the net instead of receiving what was preached and letting it settle inside to be pondered, chastened by, or examined by good Bereans. In other words, the amen chorus has the serious potential to block the inner processes that should really be going on. It's like if we say "Amen" in all the right places, we've made the pastor happy and we've done our duty. But did we let the truth get down into our inward parts, or with the mindless "Amen" response, did we swat it away?

Peer pressure raises its head in funny ways. But when a sermon point strikes that match inside me that illuminates a truth, connection, or meaning I never saw before, I'm not worried about whether I've been prompted to amen it, or who else does or doesn't comply. I'm going to wait quietly, let it glow, and receive the next words.  

 

Ask less often, "Is it Christian?"; ask more often, "Is it Kingdom?"

Pansy Cheer

 

Praise You, Lord, that it pleased Your heart to give faces to pansies. Praise You Lord, that they unfurl in the sun, thrive in the shade, blooming where planted as long as we are needful of their care. Praise You, Lord, for the soft, sweet perfume that rewards the one who will stoop close. 

Praise You, Lord, for dominion over fish of the sea, birds of the air, plants yielding seed, that we might with gentle respect pinch off the spent bloom, keeping the flowers, the flowers, the beautiful flowers, coming, coming, and coming still, in their colors, their hope, the unique flesh of their petals. Till autumn hints of chill, whispers of frost, and we the earth's caregivers bow to flowers' destiny--to form and scatter seed--that we may again dream of pansies in the spring.    

Christ in You, the Hope of Glory (His Mysteries #5)

 

One thing about God's mysteries--they don't necessarily lend themselves that well to photographic depiction. Which I find rather delightful. How surprised should we really be that the mysteries of God might not be easily imaged? Yet believers in Jesus, pursuing Him in prayer, the word, and fellowship, though we see only their outward posture, have Christ in them.  

In Colossians 1:13-29, Paul writes to the church at Colossae about the supremacy of Jesus Christ over anything and everything. The error this church was making was to consider other philosophies and religions equally as valid as Christianity--an error we certainly see in our world today. Jesus is the exact living image of the unseen God, we are told. All things were created and exist through Him and for Him. Verse 17, one of my favorite verses in the Bible, adds, "And He Himself existed and is before all things, and in Him all things hold together." The Amplified expands on the original language by saying He is the controlling cohesive force of the universe. All the fullness of deity dwells in Jesus, Paul continues, because it pleased the Father for this to be so. Moreover, through the shed blood of Jesus on the cross, God has made peace with believers and reconciled all things to Himself. And, Paul writes, Jesus will present the Colossians, too, holy and blameless before the Father if they continue in the faith they have received (and presumably not be drawn aside by those other religions or belief systems). 

These truths, Paul says, are a mystery that was hidden from angels and mankind "for ages and generations," but has now been revealed to God's people. Everything Jesus is, and everything He has done, though prophesied in much detail in the Old Testament, was simply not grasped or realized, let alone accomplished, until Jesus came as a Man, died on the cross to pay for our sins, and rose again. That is mystery enough for humans' easily overwhelmed understanding, but as God always does, He goes even further. Though the mystery of how Jesus reconciled sinful humans to God has now been unveiled at this point in history, the even more astounding mystery is that Gentiles share in the glory of the mystery, as verse 27 says, which is Christ in them, the hope and guarantee of glory. 

This is why Paul traveled, suffered, labored, did without. To bring to people news this momentous. Nothing was every more important, and nothing ever will be. Christ in us, the hope of glory, is worth any price. And it's one of His mysteries. 

Happy Independence Day

 

Separation of church and state does not mean separation of God and nation.