The environment where community takes place often trumps the essentials that make a community a community. For biblical community the same issue is prevalent. Biblical community should be able to function and thrive in any environment. Biblical community is something that transcends face to face interaction and rather than being based on an experience - biblical community is determined first and foremost by essentials that exist regardless of environment. They exist in Scripture. They exist in an order. They exist in a meta-narrative.
Before you experience a cookie in the environment of your kitchen, eating it or purchasing it somewhere - the cookie has an essence... a "cookieness" that does not depend on environment. It is not to say that one would not enjoy a cookie in one particular environment over another - maybe more after dinner with a cup of milk than maybe for breakfast - my children would disagree. The point is that the essence of the cookie exists - it's "cookieness" continues to exist regardless of where (the environment) it is experienced. It also continues to exist regardless of whether you enjoy the cookie or not - or to get even more technical - the cookie continues to exist whether you understand it's "cookieness" or not. I like cookies, but I don't understand them; I don't understand how they are made. I am sure there are ingredients and an oven. But the essence of something is not determined based on whether it is understood or not.
Biblical community is like this (or anything for that matter) as there must be an essence of biblical community that transcends environment and exists in the very essentials (principles or truths) that make biblical community what it is.
For example, if you asked the majority of people to define "biblical community" you would receive multiple different answers, but what most of the answers would have in common is that the description of biblical community would be based on environment. "What is biblical community?" - Answer: going to church together, going hunting together, face to face interaction, pot-luck, my small group date night etc... What if in order to begin to understand biblical community, one must first understand the truth about it - the essentials, the principles that make biblical community what it is REGARDLESS OF environment?
I believe that there are essentials found in God's Word that allow one to fully understand the essentials of biblical community that then will allow one to experience this mysterious and amazing community regardless of where he is. Is it possible that the essentials of biblical community begin in the Truth of God Himself? Specifically the Trinity? What if the essence of a biblical community is hidden in the most divine relationship of all? What if the essentials or essence of biblical community began with a Truth to be known first and then an experience to be had second? More on this later. My flight is about to leave.
Friday, March 13, 2015
Monday, March 2, 2015
Toward a Definition for Biblical Community
Often I will
interact with Christians and discuss their idea of biblical community. The
topic of their local church comes up in conversation. The topic of who they do
life with presents itself for discussion – Mostly the body of the banter
includes an analysis of either why or why not the area they live in or church
building they meet at meets the individual’s need regarding “biblical
community”. “You know Matt, we just haven’t been able to find a community”. You
see Matt we just miss our church family back home”. “Matt, we really love the
environment of the mid-west; we really just love what our church offers our
children.” In other words, when the topic of biblical community comes up two
glaring elements emerge: 1. Biblical Community is ambiguous and defining it really
depends on the person and what they experience and 2. The success of biblical community
is solely dependent on the ENVIRONMENT and the EXPERIENCES that people have.
What if this was not the true meaning of biblical community? What if the primary
essentials of biblical community had little to do with Environment and
Experiences and more to do with truths based on the UNITY that Christians are
called to uphold with one-another – despite one’s environment or experiences?
The
Epistle to Diognetus (c.
A.D. 120-200) is a letter that responded to propaganda circulating in the Roman
Empire. False rumors were spread about Christians. Allegations were fostered in
the empire of dangerous lifestyles and a secret society that demonstrated
bizarre behavior.
The following excerpt from The Epistle points out that the
context and environment in which the early Christians functioned was not what
differentiated them from others—it was their ethic of “as God is, so shall
their people be.”
The difference between Christians
and the rest of mankind is not a matter of nationality, or language or customs.
Christians do not live in separate cities of their own, speak any special
dialect, nor practice any eccentric way of life. . . . Nevertheless, the
organization of their community does exhibit some features that are remarkable
and even surprising. For instance, though they are residents at home in their
own countries, their behavior there is more like transients. . . . Though
destiny has placed them here in the flesh, they do not live after the flesh.
They obey the laws, but in their private lives they transcend the laws. They
show love to all men—and all men persecute them. They are misunderstood and
condemned; yet by suffering death they are quickened in to life. They are poor,
yet making many rich; lacking all things, yet having all things in abundance.51
My wife Abby will often gently remind me that
I too quickly allow my environment and my experiences to dictate how I react to
things. I am quick to allow my situation, environment, circumstances, and
experiences to control whether I am really experiencing true biblical
community. Maybe biblical community and the essentials that make a community
biblical have more to do with God and His truths than my environment and experiences?
In fact I am sure that it is indeed my environment and experiences that hinder
me from often experiencing true biblical community with God and others.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Repent for the Kingdom of God is Now
My life is basically consisting of a job in which I try so desperately to keep my students in the present tense, I mean there bodies are here, sitting in class or lounging on the couch, but their minds are far from them. It is interesting how obsessed we are with the future and the past, yet fail to grasp what it is that we so passionately desire: tangible, physical, interacting, stimulating, painful, and emotional relationship right now, present tense.
While I observe students at one particular place "experiencing" something they are usually on their I- phones or Blackberries or ear pieces expectantly wondering and conspiring to whatever the next best thing is. While all this is happening, life is passing them by and relationship is missed to its utter demise.
Jesus had an interesting conversation with Peter, Thomas and Philip at one point toward the end of Jesus' ministry. They were so concerned with the next best thing, this of course was the anticipation of God's Kingdom. Oh how they wanted to go with Him, to find Heaven, the next best thing, the next great future. They were so concerned about the future it thwarted their understanding of what Jesus was telling them and most importantly where is Heaven? Where is the Kingdom? Where does true realtionship exist?
Jesus announces that He must be going, going where? Away to fulfill the greatest promise that has ever been made, and thank goodness for that one, YHWH's promise to fix us and pursue us and redeem us.
Peter wants to go with him, Jesus says you can't. Thomas says, "Well if we cannot join you, tell us the way and we will come later." Jesus says "I am the way, you are standing on me". "The future you are so afraid of missing out on is right now in front of you." Philip finalizes the misunderstanding and asks, "well if we cannot come and you will not show us the way, give us a taste of what we can expect." "Show us the Father"! Jesus pulls all of the past present and the future together in one of the greatest verses in all scripture, "Philip, do you not know by now that if you have seen me, you have seen the Father."
There is only one place true relationship resides, and that it right now, present tense. There are no relationships happening in the past, they have already happened or failed, maybe due to the fact that when you were in those relationships you were always somewhere else cognitively. There are no relationships in the future, they have not happened yet. And what would our motive be for starting a new relationship?
The devil does an excellent job of allowing and helping us to comfortably live in the past and the future. When we live in the past and future we are useless in the present. This view also stems from a screwed up view of heaven. (It is called Christoplatonism, but that is for another day)Heaven, the pie in the sky, that far off place we are trying to get to, that spiritual place where we will all be in these big multi- purpose buildings with not enough chairs listening to worship music and eating papa johns pizza. (I really hope not)
According to Jesus wherever God and man reside together is where Heaven is... That is what made the Garden paradise, not the fruit, but the relationship. That is why Jesus' ministry so sweet for his disciples, the relationship. So here is the kicker, can we experience Heaven right now, present tense? What does Jesus say, "I am giving you someone that is better then me to help you now" The Helper is the Holy Spirit. Yes we can.
Right now, hey its your tomorrow, right now, come on its everything, right now, what are you waiting, catch that magic moment,and do it right here and now, right now, its right now, its what's happening...
Repent for the Kingdom of God is right now, Don't you know Philip that if you have seen me you have already seen the Father.. What are you waiting for? Relationship is right now. Present tense.
While I observe students at one particular place "experiencing" something they are usually on their I- phones or Blackberries or ear pieces expectantly wondering and conspiring to whatever the next best thing is. While all this is happening, life is passing them by and relationship is missed to its utter demise.
Jesus had an interesting conversation with Peter, Thomas and Philip at one point toward the end of Jesus' ministry. They were so concerned with the next best thing, this of course was the anticipation of God's Kingdom. Oh how they wanted to go with Him, to find Heaven, the next best thing, the next great future. They were so concerned about the future it thwarted their understanding of what Jesus was telling them and most importantly where is Heaven? Where is the Kingdom? Where does true realtionship exist?
Jesus announces that He must be going, going where? Away to fulfill the greatest promise that has ever been made, and thank goodness for that one, YHWH's promise to fix us and pursue us and redeem us.
Peter wants to go with him, Jesus says you can't. Thomas says, "Well if we cannot join you, tell us the way and we will come later." Jesus says "I am the way, you are standing on me". "The future you are so afraid of missing out on is right now in front of you." Philip finalizes the misunderstanding and asks, "well if we cannot come and you will not show us the way, give us a taste of what we can expect." "Show us the Father"! Jesus pulls all of the past present and the future together in one of the greatest verses in all scripture, "Philip, do you not know by now that if you have seen me, you have seen the Father."
There is only one place true relationship resides, and that it right now, present tense. There are no relationships happening in the past, they have already happened or failed, maybe due to the fact that when you were in those relationships you were always somewhere else cognitively. There are no relationships in the future, they have not happened yet. And what would our motive be for starting a new relationship?
The devil does an excellent job of allowing and helping us to comfortably live in the past and the future. When we live in the past and future we are useless in the present. This view also stems from a screwed up view of heaven. (It is called Christoplatonism, but that is for another day)Heaven, the pie in the sky, that far off place we are trying to get to, that spiritual place where we will all be in these big multi- purpose buildings with not enough chairs listening to worship music and eating papa johns pizza. (I really hope not)
According to Jesus wherever God and man reside together is where Heaven is... That is what made the Garden paradise, not the fruit, but the relationship. That is why Jesus' ministry so sweet for his disciples, the relationship. So here is the kicker, can we experience Heaven right now, present tense? What does Jesus say, "I am giving you someone that is better then me to help you now" The Helper is the Holy Spirit. Yes we can.
Right now, hey its your tomorrow, right now, come on its everything, right now, what are you waiting, catch that magic moment,and do it right here and now, right now, its right now, its what's happening...
Repent for the Kingdom of God is right now, Don't you know Philip that if you have seen me you have already seen the Father.. What are you waiting for? Relationship is right now. Present tense.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Passover revisited
When I discuss communion with most Christians it is evident that the ordinance of Communion is often overlooked as being placed by Christ within the meal of Passover itself. Why didn't Jesus just wander up to the Garden with his friends with a little basket of bread and wine on the first day of Unleavened Bread and say, "Hey guys we usually celebrate Passover, but this year we are doing it differently, this year I am changing it to "communion". Instead Jesus institutes communion, (our remembering of what Jesus did for us and is about to do for the world all those years ago) right into Passover itself? Most people have no idea.
Another interesting fact is where in the meal is the "communion" celebration inserted and why? In the texts of Matthew, Mark and Luke we get a good idea of where communion was instituted. It is inserted directly before the singing of the last hymn. Singing of the last hymn was the final step in the meal after the lamb has been eaten. The Passover Lamb signifies the physical salvation from Egypt and particuarly the salvation of the First borns from the Death Angel.
Passover is the celebration of the sparing of the first born children from a PRE- MATURE PHYSICAL DEATH, the problem with this however is that although the children were saved then, (by the blood of the lamb) they will die physically later. Is Passover a celabration of the physical salvation of the first born of Israel? I would agree and say Yes. Jesus however wants to make Passover spiritual, He wants to take something dead and make it alive, But where does he do this? How does he do this?
The first major fact of importance is that Communion is instituted at the close of the supper before the last hymn is sung, see Matt 26- 26- 31. WHy doesn't Jesus institute our responsibility to remember Him before the eating of the lamb or even during it? I thnk He wants to make very certain that to the best of His ability we are reminded that communion is a celebration of what has already happened. The power of salvation is in the lamb, not the elements. I mean you could argue for some pretty convincing theology for transubstantiation and consubstantiation if Jesus had inserted the elements in Passover before the work of the lamb or even during the work of the lamb. In fact if he had done that you might even be able to argue that communion is a requirement for salvation. But it isn't.
If you remember the significance of the Passover lamb, the death angel did not fly around and look in tents and say, "oops sorry Jewish family, I will move on to the Egyptian house to kill them" The work of the death angel was not quenched by race or work of person but rather the work of the lamb. Did the tent have lambs blood on it or not? That was the deciding factor.
Jesus purposefully inserts communion, (our responsibility to remember His work) into Passover after the "work of the lamb" itself so as to never confuse that communion is a response to what has already been done for us by the lamb.
Christ is the Passover Lamb that after that night will go and do ultimately what we cannot do ourselves, and how blasphemous for us to take his institution of communion to a level of work that one does to hold up along side the work of the cross and the tomb. "thank you Jesus for all that you have done for me, but just to make sure I better take communion to ensure my place in the Kingdom." Erroneous Doctrine. We are given communion to remember so as that we will not forget the past, present and future work of the Lamb.
Happy Easter
Another interesting fact is where in the meal is the "communion" celebration inserted and why? In the texts of Matthew, Mark and Luke we get a good idea of where communion was instituted. It is inserted directly before the singing of the last hymn. Singing of the last hymn was the final step in the meal after the lamb has been eaten. The Passover Lamb signifies the physical salvation from Egypt and particuarly the salvation of the First borns from the Death Angel.
Passover is the celebration of the sparing of the first born children from a PRE- MATURE PHYSICAL DEATH, the problem with this however is that although the children were saved then, (by the blood of the lamb) they will die physically later. Is Passover a celabration of the physical salvation of the first born of Israel? I would agree and say Yes. Jesus however wants to make Passover spiritual, He wants to take something dead and make it alive, But where does he do this? How does he do this?
The first major fact of importance is that Communion is instituted at the close of the supper before the last hymn is sung, see Matt 26- 26- 31. WHy doesn't Jesus institute our responsibility to remember Him before the eating of the lamb or even during it? I thnk He wants to make very certain that to the best of His ability we are reminded that communion is a celebration of what has already happened. The power of salvation is in the lamb, not the elements. I mean you could argue for some pretty convincing theology for transubstantiation and consubstantiation if Jesus had inserted the elements in Passover before the work of the lamb or even during the work of the lamb. In fact if he had done that you might even be able to argue that communion is a requirement for salvation. But it isn't.
If you remember the significance of the Passover lamb, the death angel did not fly around and look in tents and say, "oops sorry Jewish family, I will move on to the Egyptian house to kill them" The work of the death angel was not quenched by race or work of person but rather the work of the lamb. Did the tent have lambs blood on it or not? That was the deciding factor.
Jesus purposefully inserts communion, (our responsibility to remember His work) into Passover after the "work of the lamb" itself so as to never confuse that communion is a response to what has already been done for us by the lamb.
Christ is the Passover Lamb that after that night will go and do ultimately what we cannot do ourselves, and how blasphemous for us to take his institution of communion to a level of work that one does to hold up along side the work of the cross and the tomb. "thank you Jesus for all that you have done for me, but just to make sure I better take communion to ensure my place in the Kingdom." Erroneous Doctrine. We are given communion to remember so as that we will not forget the past, present and future work of the Lamb.
Happy Easter
Thursday, February 12, 2009
People who sin or sinful people?
Our biggest problem is ourselves, I guess you do not need a PHD to figure that one out, but maybe you do need a whole lot more education to acknowledge it. It would seem from cultural advancements and technological savvy that we have arrived at least for the most part, but I think we may all admit to some point that we do not have it all together. The age old question of course is to what point do we have it together? I mean I do not hear anyone really saying that they are perfect, in fact in this day and age a little fake humility goes a long way, but we are also admitting to some extent that maybe we are all doing ok. Of course we could be better, right? Billions of dollars on self help and exercise, diets and smiets, all to get, well, better.
Most church services I hear about today are teaching our need for Jesus as supplemental, you know like a pill you take to sleep better. I slept ok last night, but I will need to take something if I am ever going to sleep better.... I will take Jesus. Some times this comes from a misunderstanding of the Gospel. Starting with the Gospel in Matthew for instance, allows one to hear about Jesus, but misses out altogether on why he needed to come and save us. When one begins a study of the Gospel or even builds a theology on the Gospel beginning in Matthew or the NT for that matter, we miss out on why we really need Jesus. He becomes supplemental. On the other hand when you begin to see that the Gospel starts in Genesis not Matthew, you begin to see that God and man are perfect and something happens, and that something is sin.... God begins his plan of redemption to fix what we have broken and to offer us another chance (prefix re- again or second, like restore, renew, resurrect, rebirth, etc) , If you take the sin out of the Gospel you do not need a Savior, you simply and accomadatingly only need a suplement to make one who is not all that bad, maybe even good, a little better.
But that is for another blog. What I am referring to is the essence of our humanity. I have been teaching Leviticus to my college class, it is crazy, we are on week 15. Anyway it is easy to grasp why all the sacrifices were made for sin, I mean ok, we are good right? but not perfect? So when we sin we need to sacrifice(or I should say the Israelites), a deliberate sin left one unclean and unable to participate in community or being able to worship God. That makes sense if you believe that your a person who just sins.
But then Chapter 11-15 hit you. Uncleaness for things like a girl's period, emission of Semen, yeah I typed it "semen", having sex! Are you kidding, having sex makes you unclean, menstrual cycle!!! Try teaching Lev. 12 "purification after child birth" to a bunch of college girls, NICE and Awkward. But come on God this is a little much, you held it against these people that even in the emission of semen in a dream perhaps, a man was considered unclean! It does not say he sinned, but the tag line is he is unclean due to the result of sin which makes even our core humanity unclean to God. What if Lev. only taught that deliberate sins needed sacrifice. What could we say today? Well I am ok and all and I sin a little, but as long as it is not deliberate, I am in need to just become better? NO, Moses is told that even at the core of our humanity, things that we cannot help render us unable to be in the presence of God. Our own core humanity can keep us from being in worship with YHWH. That is why all of these things are mentioned, if let go and unattended they( semen and blood) will make one unclean and then the tabernacle is made unclean and God could kill you! Interestingly enough for these people in Israel they seemed fine with it, You know every day life, "Oh, Sally has her period again, Won't see her for a week", "Mary just had a baby girl, she is unclean for 80 days", "Billy had a wet dream, He will be missing dinner tonight to go wash" Seriously, The result of our humanity according to Leviticus does not render us as people who just need a supplement , We need saving at our very core... We need the Lord, We need Christ, who touched the unclean, who touched the leper who cried UNCLEAN UNCLEAN as he covered his head and left his community. The leper pronounced his own mourning, his own death, we have Christ, we do not pronounce our death anymore we can pronounce our life through Him, our reasonable act of worship, (rom 12) What a difference we see when we consider the difference between needing a supplement to make us better because sometimes we sin or the saving we need because we are indeed sinful... Consider the difference that can have on your understanding of Christ and the Gospel.
Most church services I hear about today are teaching our need for Jesus as supplemental, you know like a pill you take to sleep better. I slept ok last night, but I will need to take something if I am ever going to sleep better.... I will take Jesus. Some times this comes from a misunderstanding of the Gospel. Starting with the Gospel in Matthew for instance, allows one to hear about Jesus, but misses out altogether on why he needed to come and save us. When one begins a study of the Gospel or even builds a theology on the Gospel beginning in Matthew or the NT for that matter, we miss out on why we really need Jesus. He becomes supplemental. On the other hand when you begin to see that the Gospel starts in Genesis not Matthew, you begin to see that God and man are perfect and something happens, and that something is sin.... God begins his plan of redemption to fix what we have broken and to offer us another chance (prefix re- again or second, like restore, renew, resurrect, rebirth, etc) , If you take the sin out of the Gospel you do not need a Savior, you simply and accomadatingly only need a suplement to make one who is not all that bad, maybe even good, a little better.
But that is for another blog. What I am referring to is the essence of our humanity. I have been teaching Leviticus to my college class, it is crazy, we are on week 15. Anyway it is easy to grasp why all the sacrifices were made for sin, I mean ok, we are good right? but not perfect? So when we sin we need to sacrifice(or I should say the Israelites), a deliberate sin left one unclean and unable to participate in community or being able to worship God. That makes sense if you believe that your a person who just sins.
But then Chapter 11-15 hit you. Uncleaness for things like a girl's period, emission of Semen, yeah I typed it "semen", having sex! Are you kidding, having sex makes you unclean, menstrual cycle!!! Try teaching Lev. 12 "purification after child birth" to a bunch of college girls, NICE and Awkward. But come on God this is a little much, you held it against these people that even in the emission of semen in a dream perhaps, a man was considered unclean! It does not say he sinned, but the tag line is he is unclean due to the result of sin which makes even our core humanity unclean to God. What if Lev. only taught that deliberate sins needed sacrifice. What could we say today? Well I am ok and all and I sin a little, but as long as it is not deliberate, I am in need to just become better? NO, Moses is told that even at the core of our humanity, things that we cannot help render us unable to be in the presence of God. Our own core humanity can keep us from being in worship with YHWH. That is why all of these things are mentioned, if let go and unattended they( semen and blood) will make one unclean and then the tabernacle is made unclean and God could kill you! Interestingly enough for these people in Israel they seemed fine with it, You know every day life, "Oh, Sally has her period again, Won't see her for a week", "Mary just had a baby girl, she is unclean for 80 days", "Billy had a wet dream, He will be missing dinner tonight to go wash" Seriously, The result of our humanity according to Leviticus does not render us as people who just need a supplement , We need saving at our very core... We need the Lord, We need Christ, who touched the unclean, who touched the leper who cried UNCLEAN UNCLEAN as he covered his head and left his community. The leper pronounced his own mourning, his own death, we have Christ, we do not pronounce our death anymore we can pronounce our life through Him, our reasonable act of worship, (rom 12) What a difference we see when we consider the difference between needing a supplement to make us better because sometimes we sin or the saving we need because we are indeed sinful... Consider the difference that can have on your understanding of Christ and the Gospel.
Friday, February 6, 2009
6 is so young and 6 is so old.....
I love you Molly, 6 is so young and 6 is so old, Little tears to big smiles, drama to dreams, laughing to crying within a matter of nano- seconds, girly girl things and treasures in your purse, making me realize how impatient I am, eyes like your mom, dance moves like your dad, a heart that breaths sacrifice, 3 stuffed animals in bed with you, a blanket named bubby, no front teeth, the love of my life, My favorite time of day: Our ride home from school, 20 questions about life, Daddy do I have to take a nap?, tangled hair, your sweet face, hide and seek upstairs, experienced all the firsts with you, little hands that hold onto mine, You always, I never, intelligent like mom, I can still pick you up, dance with me on the counter?, sing with me in the car one more time, your so big now, your so young still, Can I marry you Daddy?, Of course you can, Hurt feelings, sweet laugh, I remember when you were born, stories and lessons learned, you see me fail every day and you still love me, unconditional love, You are so special, marry someone better than your dad, promise me my love, 6 is so old and 6 is so young, dates to the mall, coloring animals at bob evans, bike rides to the pond, summers in heaven, crayfish creek, I played there too, walks to the playground, my monkey bar girl, little black golves with the fingers cut out, little girl smiles, big girl dreams, Mommy's pride and joy, a heart of gold, big sister now, our baby back then, our little stranger finally here, time flys, time stays, please stay, 6 is so young and 6 is so old, I am cool now to you, but soon you will be old, I will be older, For now I am your husband, for know I am you hero, for now you are so young, the future is coming, I can only imagine, you break my heart, I break yours, Love is what happened. happy birthday Molly, I love you, Dad
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
The Dark Half
In the early 90's I read a book that Stephen King wrote called the Dark Half. It was a book about a man who somehow, in a way that King could only make you believe, and scare the Ba-jeepers out of you at the same time, had absorbed his twin into him when he was inside the womb. Of course their are you classic moments in the book when he finds finger nails in his skin and parts of his twin, (have I lost any of my two readers yet?) and so on. Understanding that this actually happens, what sits with me still today about that book is the dual personality this guy had, like he was jekyl and hide, like he had this split personality, like he was me. He had an evil side, His twin was controlling him! or he allowed his twin to control him.
The flesh wars against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. (Gal.) Continually day in and day out, I am wrestling with this twin, and he usually wins. Sometimes it is not all that bad, but sometimes it is real bad. For the most part it is this struggle of relationship vs. works. or Lust and Love, Why am I so eager to do something? Why is doing easier than being or relating or investing?
I started thinking about the Garden, you know Eden, I started thinking about what God gave to Adam and to Eve. Although we see it demonstrated to Adam and assume that Eve has been given this dual blessing as well. The dual blessing is 1. the perfect relationship and 2. the perfect job. Now what is interesting to me is that upon the entering of sin into the world by yours truly or Adam, whatever your theological fancy, Both of these blessings changed because of our choice to sin. The relationship changed because we tried to fulfill ourselves with someone other than God, and that would be us, The created tried to fulfill itself with the created, The created can only be ultimately fulfilled by whoever created it. Our self worth comes from this, it comes from the relationship with the creator. However, we got this idea somewhere along the line that we get our ultimate fulfillment from our job or our wife or sex or whatever rather than the creator, So we are like this huge glass that if we let the creator fill it, with his huge "symbolic pitcher" he can fill it, in fact the Bible says our glass will overflow out of the abundance of the creator. Or we have this little lame pitcher we try to fill our own glass with, and we are always wanting more, fill me up. please
So this perfect job has changed and the perfect relationship has changed, the problem is the job was only ever secondary to the relationship, Adam had the relationship with YHWH before the job, right? But from then on to 2009, we are primarily interested in the job, no wonder we wrestle with the evil side, we are really looking for that relationship, that big pitcher to fill us, when we get the realtionship right again the job will follow, and here is the kicker, the job was allowing the creator to fulfill the created too, but in a little different way, a way that the created could use the specific unique gifts that the creator gave the created, so now throw on top of all this the idea that instead of being able to do whatever you put your mind to, maybe we are so unsatisfied because we are not allowing the creator to teach us and show us what he made us specifically to do, we miss the relationship, we miss the job, we miss the job we miss the fulfillment.
The creator has gifted us uniquly to know what it is that he has made us to do, 1. have relationship with him and secondarily have worth through him as we bring glory to him through whatever vocational gifts he has made us to do. The moral infrastructure of our glass is cracked and cracking. We are to focused on our job, our spirit is dualling against the flesh.... we need to be filled by our creator, Relationship first vocation second.......
The flesh wars against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. (Gal.) Continually day in and day out, I am wrestling with this twin, and he usually wins. Sometimes it is not all that bad, but sometimes it is real bad. For the most part it is this struggle of relationship vs. works. or Lust and Love, Why am I so eager to do something? Why is doing easier than being or relating or investing?
I started thinking about the Garden, you know Eden, I started thinking about what God gave to Adam and to Eve. Although we see it demonstrated to Adam and assume that Eve has been given this dual blessing as well. The dual blessing is 1. the perfect relationship and 2. the perfect job. Now what is interesting to me is that upon the entering of sin into the world by yours truly or Adam, whatever your theological fancy, Both of these blessings changed because of our choice to sin. The relationship changed because we tried to fulfill ourselves with someone other than God, and that would be us, The created tried to fulfill itself with the created, The created can only be ultimately fulfilled by whoever created it. Our self worth comes from this, it comes from the relationship with the creator. However, we got this idea somewhere along the line that we get our ultimate fulfillment from our job or our wife or sex or whatever rather than the creator, So we are like this huge glass that if we let the creator fill it, with his huge "symbolic pitcher" he can fill it, in fact the Bible says our glass will overflow out of the abundance of the creator. Or we have this little lame pitcher we try to fill our own glass with, and we are always wanting more, fill me up. please
So this perfect job has changed and the perfect relationship has changed, the problem is the job was only ever secondary to the relationship, Adam had the relationship with YHWH before the job, right? But from then on to 2009, we are primarily interested in the job, no wonder we wrestle with the evil side, we are really looking for that relationship, that big pitcher to fill us, when we get the realtionship right again the job will follow, and here is the kicker, the job was allowing the creator to fulfill the created too, but in a little different way, a way that the created could use the specific unique gifts that the creator gave the created, so now throw on top of all this the idea that instead of being able to do whatever you put your mind to, maybe we are so unsatisfied because we are not allowing the creator to teach us and show us what he made us specifically to do, we miss the relationship, we miss the job, we miss the job we miss the fulfillment.
The creator has gifted us uniquly to know what it is that he has made us to do, 1. have relationship with him and secondarily have worth through him as we bring glory to him through whatever vocational gifts he has made us to do. The moral infrastructure of our glass is cracked and cracking. We are to focused on our job, our spirit is dualling against the flesh.... we need to be filled by our creator, Relationship first vocation second.......
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