Culture and Scripture

What the Apostle Paul wrote about same sex sexual relationships generates a lot of strong feeling which often ends up being expressed in strong divisive language.  There is little room for reasoning among those who differ with one another.  When he wrote, "...women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men..."  (Romans 1:26-27)  he likely made something not talked about openly a public  conversation.  

It is different in our culture.  There is no hesitation in making it a matter of public conversation.  Generally speaking, culture has created an environment which not only gives permission to the same sex lifestyle, but also offers a strong stamp of approval.  The church struggles trying to appease those who see the Scripture as an out-of-date and out-of-touch with reality word and those who insist on the Scripture being an integral part of the conversation.  It is becoming an increasingly painful fence upon which to sit.  

The sad truth is that the church cannot tolerate both positions.  It has become one of those choose up sides and fight issues.  Maybe it can be no other way.  As one who has weathered many a battle within the church and has come to understand that fighting within the community of the church creates no winners, it is more than sad to see the brokenness among the community of the faithful, the loss of relationships once valued, and a future that only seems to offer even greater fragmentation.  

An Ongoing Struggle

The church has endured many divisions since the Day of Pentecost.  When I began my ministry back in the early '70's a storm was brewing over the issue the Apostle Paul addresses in that Roman section which begins with the words, "For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions..."  (Romans 1:26), but back then it was impossible to imagine that it had the inherent power to bring so much division that denominations would split and people would forever separate themselves from one another because of differing perspectives.     

Over the decades of struggle it has seemed that the issue has ceased to be a theological issue and has instead become more of a cultural issue.  There have been many times in the history of the church when it was so influenced by culture that the Scripture was either ignored or simply interpreted to fit into a desired mold.  The most recent and most obvious example of this action take us to the church dividing itself over the issue of slavery.  The church has not always been attentive and obedient to the Word when the voice of culture becomes increasingly loud and persistent.    

Today's church is afflicted with many problems, but surely chief among them is its desire to blend into the world.  The church bends over backwards and inside out to prevent anyone from being offended by its message as it maintains a politically proper posture in the world.  There are times when the voice of culture and the voice of Scripture are simply at odds with one another.  In those moments our dilemma centers around knowing which voice to hear and to heed.  It is not always easy.

A Frightening Word

 Like the Father of the prodigal son who allowed his son to go and leave home to do as he pleased, (Luke 15:11)  the Apostle Paul wrote of God giving up those who lived with the three God dishonoring exchanges (Romans 1:24-25).  It was a horrible word Paul wrote when he penned the words, "For this reason God gave them up to degrading passions..." (Romans 1:26).  What a frightening word it would be for any of us to hear and know that our choices have resulted in God giving up on us and letting us go after whatever it is that pleases us even if it is contrary to the desires and intentions of His heart.    

As Paul continues in this letter to the Romans, he addresses what is perceived by him to be an expression of a heart bent on dishonoring God and choosing to live a life empty of gratitude for what God has given as gifts at creation.  ..women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural....and in the same way also the men...were consumed with passion for one another."  (Romans 1:26-27)  While the language of Paul sounds harsh to ears accustomed to being placated and tickled, it is obviously apparent here and in other writings that the Apostle speaks clearly about what he understands to be the will and intention of God.    

This section of Scripture is hard for most of us to read.  It seems like a word that is out of step with what is visible and accepted all around us.  It is not just the secular culture which declares this word an anachronism, but the mainstream church as well.  It is a word which, unfortunately, has created division among people.  There are only two choices.  We embrace the word spoken by culture, or we embrace the Word spoken by the Scripture.

The Third Exchange (III)

The question of the Garden hangs over this Pauline passage about the three exchanges like a heavy morning dew which hugs the earth.  When the Lord God comes looking for the Garden of Eden couple and finds them hiding and hears the first words of their confession, He speaks from a broken heart saying, "What is this that you have done?"  (Genesis 3:13).  As Paul writes of the three exchanges made by those who choose to live in darkness rather than the light, he points to exchanging the original self for the distorted self, exchanging the truth for a lie, and then finally he writes, "they worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator..."  (Romans 1:25)     

While the sacred Word is clear about the primary importance of worshiping the Creator, anyone who listens to the bombardments of contemporary culture understands that a different message is being preached.  Culture tells us that nothing should be of a greater concern than caring for the hungry and demanding ego which lives within us.  Culture tells us we can be self sufficient, we can provide our own security systems, and we can overcome whatever it is that is out there seeking to do us harm.    

Of course, it is all a lie.  It is a huge lie.  And even though it is a lie, we have fallen in love with the idea that self is sufficient.  Whatever it is upon which we ultimately depend is what we worship.  We may say with our words that we depend on God, but a close and honest look at the way we live shows in so many cases that the Creator is not the first choice, but a default choice if all else fails.  In making such a choice we have chosen to worship the creature rather than the Creator and it is a choice which takes away gratitude to God for His goodness and causes us to live in a way that brings dishonor to His name.  

A Persuasive Word

When I was growing up and toward faith in Christ, the church where I worshiped always had a Sunday evening service which was usually much more informal than Sunday morning.  The singing came from a different hymnal and somehow always seemed more spirited.  And back then the service often ended with a time for folks to come kneel around the altar for prayer.  Invitational hymns such as "I Surrender All" and "Take my Life and Let it Be"  were often the words which invited us to go forward into moments of responding to Jesus.    

As the days of ministry were coming to an end, the church had forgotten about Sunday evening worship and mostly lost its invitational ministry.  Preaching with an invitation in view was not a normal thing.  It is almost as if the preachers became hesitant to offer an invitation to accept and follow Christ lest someone be offended by the assumption that some may not have made such a decision.  Or, it may be that the church became too sophisticated for people to bend knees publicly at an altar and confess that there were things about their lives for which repentance and mercy were the only solutions.  

As one who sang many invitational songs and went to more altars than I can count, it always seemed important to me as a preacher to preach persuasively.  If the pulpit is not a place where a word is said to persuade people to look to Jesus for deliverance from the parts of life which rob it of its meaning, where will that word be heard?  It sometimes seems that I responded to a thousand invitations to follow Jesus before it finally took and I got on the road of faith as a permanent walker.  We must never grow weary in presenting Jesus as the One who has changed our life.  If we are passionate about Him and what He has done and is doing in our life, a little persuasion is more than in order.      

The Third Exchange (II)

They say, whoever they is, that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.  More likely it is the road filled with choices that speak of compromise, actions that are based on the end justifying any means, and the desire to be in charge of our life.  This description of the road too often traveled is surely the one which beings with it a decision to "worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator."  (Romans 1:25)  It may not be a decision made with a lot of fanfare, but is often one made somewhere in the recesses of the subconscious where consequences are not always counted.     

There is no god so small as the one created by our own ego; yet, it is a deity we so easily put on the throne.  The Word tells us in countless ways that our human nature is most fully realized when the Creator God is at its center.  Human nature is not something which expresses the sin present in us, but that part of us which most clearly reflects the essence of God within us.  It flourishes not in an ego centered life, but in one that is Creator centered.    

When life is ego centered, it is natural to justify choices which are inconsistent with what is understood to be both the will and Word of God.  If what God desires for us does not placate the ego part of us, then the ego gives us permission to put it in the box marked irrelevant and not true.  Many a wrong choice has been made because we seek to worship and serve our ego instead of allowing God to be the ultimate and absolute One in our life.  To be fully human is not having the freedom to live under the dictates of our self seeking ego, but in choosing to live under the authority of the Creator who brought us into being.  

The Third Exchange

Early in his letter to the Roman Christians, the Apostle Paul characterizes the wicked and ungodly as those who have made three bad trades.  They have exchanged what is full of the glory of the immortal God for what only is filled with mortality.  They have exchanged the truth about God for a lie.  And the third exchange is set forth with the words, "they worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator..."  (Romans 1:25)  When God thundered forth from Mt. Sinai, "you shall have not other gods before me"  (Exodus 20:3)  no one likely imagined that the god put before Yahweh would be anything except some hand made idol.     

What we have come to realize through the years of our life is the reality of the second god being ourselves.  The temptation of the Hebrews was to worship at two altars.  One altar was dedicated to Yahweh and the other to some idol such as Baal.   Today we worship at the altar of the God of the Scripture and the altar of our own ego.  Or, to put it in Pauline language, we worship the creature.  What the creature wants or seems to need is more important that the expressed will of God.    

Ego worship does not usually become expressed on bent knee at some homemade altar, but in the living we do day to day.  It expresses itself as we settle into a life which is built more on what we want, or think we need than what God might want for us.  We talk about depending on God, but for all practical purposes, we depend first upon ourselves and God is the default mechanism of our life.  Or, it may be that we talk the talk of depending on God, but we have an elaborate security system that will deliver us in case God is not able to handle the things of our life.  Creature worship is a subtle road that we walk without always being aware of where we are walking and where it is taking us.  

The Second Exchange (III)

The story of the Garden is told within the earliest of Hebrews traditions and has been told a million or more times in the centuries which have followed.  In the beginning the Lord God gave the Garden of Eden couple freedom to eat from every tree except one.  "...but of the tree of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."  (Genesis 2:17)  Adam and Eve heard and they understood.  Later when the talking snake shows up telling them to eat what is forbidden, he says, "You will not die..."  (Genesis 3:4)   They chose to believe the lie instead of what they knew to be the Word of the Lord God.   

The Apostle Paul wrote about this happening in his letter to the Roman Christians as he spoke of those who lived to dishonor God and who lived lives empty of gratitude to the Creator.  (Romans 1:21)  Those who lived in such a way "exchanged the truth about God for a lie."  (Romans 1:25)  Here is something which had its roots in humanity since the days of beginning, on through the time of the Apostle Paul, and into the day in which we live.     

All around us and within us do we see evidence that the lie is embraced rather than the truth of God.  The truth God proclaims to us in His Word, through the creation around us, and by the power of the Holy Spirit does not always make us comfortable.  It does not fit into what we want to do.  So, we become like those walking by a buffet.  We pick and choose what we want to believe God is saying.  We accept what we want to accept.  If it does not give us permission to do what we want to do then we take a black marker and cover it on the pages of the Word.  Whenever we do this, we end up building our lives on a lie instead of the truth about God.  It may tickle our ears, but it surely must break the heart of God even as it did in the Garden when He spoke those heart breaking words, "What is this that you have done?"  (Genesis 3:13) 

The Second Exchange (II)

Each one of us is wonderfully made.  The writer of Psalms wrote, "For it was You who formed my inward parts; You knit me together in my mother's womb.  I praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made, Wonderful are Your works..."  (Psalm 139:13-14)   And then, there is that Genesis Word which tells us that each of us, like all of the created human creatures, have been made in the likeness of the Creator.  We bear not only the image of earthly parents, but in a different way the image of the Creator.  There is within us something which speaks of the essence of the One who has made us.      

As we consider all of this it is hard to accept that sin comes to us in the womb or in the instant of our birth.  It makes far more sense to speak of sin coming to us as a result of the choices we make which bring dishonor to the Creator who created us.  The Apostle Paul also addresses the origin of our sin in that first chapter of Romans where he lifts up the three exchanges we make that result in losing our awareness of our original nature. (Romans 1:23-25)      

As we pause in the midst of that section we hear him saying, "they exchanged the truth about God for a lie."  (Romans 1:25)  It brings to mind something Jesus said at the end of the section of Scripture known as the Sermon on the Mount.  To use anything but the truth about God as the foundation for our living means seeing everything finally falling down around us.  Building life on a lie which is a definition for anything embraced which is not consistent with what can be known about God is something which takes us away from our Creator and far away from the original nature implanted within us from the very beginning.  

The Second Exchange

It is a harsh word spoken when Paul wrote, "God gave them up..."  (Romans 1:24)  It is not that God no longer would offer mercy and grace, but that He would let the ones who would dishonor Him go their own way.  As much as He loved those who lived with darkened minds, He would not force Himself upon them.  Their choice spoke of not wanting anything to do with Him and if such was their choice, it was theirs to make.    

And as the Apostle Paul speaks of what is happening to these who are empty of gratitude to God, he goes on to speak of a second exchange.  Not only did they choose a distorted self over their original self, but they "they exchanged the truth about God for a lie."  (Romans 1:25)  As far back as the Garden we see an example of humanity choosing a lie over the truth that God had spoken.  The lie gave them permission to do what they wanted to do instead of doing what God wanted them to do.  The lie assured them they would not die even though God had said such would happen if they chose what He did want them to choose.  (Genesis 2:17)    

As the original self becomes more and more distorted, choosing the lie instead the truth about God becomes easier.  God's truth never compromises itself.  We want Him to accept our choices even though they are choices which make it more difficult for us to know the essence of His Being within us, but He is steadfast in His integrity.  The lie is anything which gives us reason to go a way inconsistent with the plan of God for our life.  God's plan is to once again make us at one with Him.  Since before the beginning He has been at work to restore us, to bring us to Himself, and to give us the life we were created to live.

The First Exchange (III)

Many a preacher has come to the end of the sermon only to realize that the sermon did not work.  What was supposed to be said was still unspoken so the preacher does the only thing left to do.  The conclusion leaves one more opportunity to get it done and so on and on the sermon goes as the preacher tries to make the conclusion do what the whole sermon could not do.  Such preaching makes for a long winded preacher and a worn out congregation.    

With this knowledge learned from personal experience firmly in place, I find myself once again venturing out to try once more.  There is a verse still out there on the open page which seems to have something to say which has not yet been made clear.  The Word still hanging out there is, "they exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being..."  What has been lost in the exchange is the awareness that we are created with the image of the Creator upon us.  After the creation of the human  creature the Word does not speak of the creature being flawed, but good.  (Genesis 1:31)  Actually the Word says "very good."     

Human nature has taken a bum rap in the church.  It is not the part of us which causes us to sin.  Our will, or lack of it, should be getting the credit, or the blame.  After all, Jesus was as the theologians tell us, fully human and fully divine.  The fully human part of us has become clouded and all but overcome by the darkness of our choosing to sin, but it is never eradicated.  The old timers who reminded us that there is some good in the worst of us must have glimpsed something hard for too many of us to see.  

The First Exchange (II)

 It was during the time of Augustine that the doctrine of human depravity began to take root within the Christian Church.  Based on verses like Psalm 51:5 which says, "...I was born guilty, a sinner when my mother conceived me"  and Ephesians 2:3 which reads, "we were by nature children of wrath"  the concept of our original nature being holy has become too obscured to see.  What is obvious enough in the creation account of Genesis has been lost by the church's teaching about fallen humanity and sinful human nature. 

The truth is our original nature is not sinful, but holy.  To read those early verses of Genesis is to read of being shaped by the hand of God in such a way that we bear the likeness of the essence of the Creator Himself.  When the Apostle Paul wrote that those who "do not honor God and who do not give thanks to Him"  (Romans 1:21) "exchanged the glory of the immortality of God for images resembling a mortal human being..." (Romans 1:23), he is speaking of the loss of that original human nature which is holy and not flawed by sin.    

It is our sin that distorts and obscures the essence of who we are, not some failure of the Creator.  As we allow ourselves to come under the influence of sin, it becomes increasingly difficult to see goodness within us.  It is not because it has been eradicated, but because it has become so heavily covered with something the Creator God did not intend.  Sin does not have the power to destroy the light which is within us from the very beginning.  John wrote, "The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it."  (John 1:5)   Sin may distort our original human nature, but it does not destroy it.  We are created in the image of the Creator and bear His goodness within us.

The First Exchange

 It could be said that Genesis tells us that sin invaded the Garden and entered the world through a snake.  As we read the Apostle Paul's letter to the Roman Christians, a different picture unfolds.  Instead of sin entering the world by way of a snake, Paul points to three fatal exchanges chosen by humanity.  The first exchange is set forth in verse 23 of the first chapter.  "...they exchanged the glory  of the immortal God for images resembling a mortal human being or birds or four footed animals and reptiles."  It is a choice made by those who have no intent of honoring God and whose lives are empty of gratitude.      

It is a terrible trade.  There is no other way to speak of it; yet, it is an exchange chosen with such ease that we often do not realize the way life is changed once it is made.  While culture and the church often speak of human nature as being a flawed and tainted thing, the Word of God takes us in a different direction.  We find it easy to say we sin because we are human as if human nature allows no other choice.  The truth is we are each created not as flawed creatures, but as creatures who bear the imprint of a holy Creator.  The original Word says, "Then God said, 'Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness...' "  (Genesis 1:26).    

At creation our human nature is not distorted by sin.  Being in the likeness of God makes it difficult to declare we bear sin at conception and birth.  The original human nature bears His image, not the image of sin.  As we choose this fatal exchange of which Paul speaks, the human nature within us becomes more and more distorted until it often seems that there is no good in us.  Of course, such is never true.  We are created in the image of the Creator and the essence of the Creator is within us.  

Three Exchanges

The Apostle Paul was not one to pull punches when he wrote his letters to the churches.  One thing he never mastered was the art of compromise.  It might even be said that he did not understand the meaning of the word.  People have on occasion left the church and said to the preacher, "Not sure what you were saying today."  Such was something the man from the Damascus Road never heard from those who heard him or read his letters.     

This becomes more than clear as we move into the second half of the first chapter of Romans.  Beginning in verse 23 he characterizes the wicked and ungodly in three ways.  First, they exchanged the glory of immortality for what has only mortality within it (vs. 23); secondly, they exchanged the truth about God for a lie (vs. 25); and, thirdly, they exchanged the worship of the Creator for the worship of the creature (vs. 25).  These exchanges led the people of his day, as they would lead any of us, into a lifestyle that does not honor God or give thanks to Him. (vs. 21)    

There is much to ponder in these words of Paul that were surely inspired by the Spirit.  They are bold words.  They are words that cut to the core of the human predicament created by our sin.  They leave us little wiggle room, if any at all.  And, if we read the words and find that the shoe fits, then the only way to address the uncomfortable unsettling feeling which rises from within us is to be accountable, responsible, and confessional.  We must never forget something else another Apostle wrote, "If we confess our sins, He who is faithful and just will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness."  (I John 1:9)

A Second Source

As far back as I have memory of reading Scripture, I have memories of pausing when I came to that verse in the first chapter of Romans which is there to take away any excuse we might offer for not knowing about God.  Verse 20 reads, "Ever since the creation of the world His eternal power and divine nature, invisible though they are, have been understood and seen through the things He has made.  So they are without excuse..."  The old chorus learned as a child called "Everybody Ought to Know"  is according to this verse more than true.     

There have been those theologians who speak of the creation as being like a second source of divine inspiration.  They even go so far as to call it a second book, a bigger book, that points us to the Creator and enables us to hear His Word in everything which is around us.  For some this might be a stretch since it seems to deny the written Word as the only way to hear the voice of God, but as we learn to listen and see what cannot be heard and seen, it not only becomes possible, but a reality to be embraced.    

God is not everything, but He is surely in everything.  Everything created bears the imprint of His hand, has holy breath upon it, and has within it a knowing that exceeds our knowing about the way it has been placed in its ordered place in the Creation.  As Paul says in this word to the Romans, holy presence is all around us and it reveals to us the truth about the Creator and how we should live with one another within the created order..  

Tell Them

As I remember seminary, I remember spending a good bit of classroom time in preaching classes.  Some who remember my preaching might suggest that I should have stayed after school for extra classes.  Regardless of how it turned out, I am grateful for the opportunity to sit in the classroom of a preaching professor who was skilled both in the mechanics of preaching as well as in communicating the supreme urgency of good preaching.   

As I was reading the early verses of Romans, I was reminded of an oversimplified definition of preaching which my preaching professor never would have offered, but still carries a certain amount of merit.  While I have forgotten the source the definition went like this:  "Tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, tell them you told them."   In some ways this fits the letter Paul wrote to the Roman Christians.  In the first half of first chapter he tells them what he is going to tell them.  In many ways it is a summary of what is going to follow.  Many of the theological themes mentioned in the early verses receive elaboration and a more precise handling deeper in the letter.  The only part which might be omitted is the part about telling them they have been told.  Most likely they figured that part out by themselves.    

Certainly the letter to the Romans can be read through the lens labeled and defined in verses 16-17 of the first chapter.  Powerful words such as the power of God, salvation, faith, and the righteousness of God are cast out in those early verses.  There is also a word which declares that all that God has done through Christ is not just for a few, but for everyone.  It is not a gospel that bears the imprint of exclusiveness, but inclusiveness.  There is much to ponder long before we find ourselves walking in the chest deep theological waters created by the pen and the spirit of the Apostle Paul.  

Unleashed Power

When the power of God is unleashed in the world, power by a definition that is beyond defining has been turned loose.  While the creation itself speaks of the power of God, even it pales in comparison to the way the power of God brings life to death.  It is one thing to bring the mountains, the sea, the heavens, and all living things into being, but it is something even beyond this miracle to give life to the dead.     

In the first chapter of Romans, the Apostle introduces us to this theme of "the power of God,"  but in the eighth chapter he provides the illustrating evidence as he writes, "If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through His Spirit that dwells in you."  (Romans 8:11)  And when we go from this Word to the gospel accounts of the resurrection of Jesus, we get a complete picture of the most powerful mystery which has ever touched the earth.    

Not only does this power enable us to stand at the grave and look beyond it with confidence that death does not have the last word, but it also gives us a glimpse of an eternity which has a door opened for us in that moment of our own death.  It is because of this power of God that the Apostle Paul would write such triumphant words as "Death has been swallowed up in victory.  Where, O death, is your victory?  Where, O death, is your sting?  (Romans 15:55)  Paul knew the answer to his questions because he knew about the power of God.  So do we!

Amazing Power

The power of God has brought creation into being.  It has been a mighty tool when the Hebrews were threatened in battle against its enemies.  It has brought rain and rainbow, fire and wind, provision and deliverance.  From one page to the next we see it at work in the pages of the Scripture.  The power of God was at work in Bethlehem, on a hill called Golgatha, and in an upper room of Jerusalem.   There is no power on earth to which we can compare the power of God.  It is the essence of the life of all that is and is the very thing which will sustain it until eternity takes hold and carries it forward.     

When the Apostle Paul wrote that the gospel is "...the power of God for salvation, to everyone  who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek"  (Romans 1:16), he lifted up still another dimension of this unending and eternal power which flows from the hand of God.  What humanity cannot accomplish in its own strength and through its own ingenuity, God has brought about through the gift of His Son who willingly made a sacrifice of Himself on the cross for the sake of all of us.     

No one is ineligible.  No one is too unworthy.  No one is outside the provision of God.  The salvation of God is universally available to all of us, each and every one of us.  It is as the Apostle declared a gift for all who have faith.  While it is a gift given to all, it is not a gift given with a requirement to receive.  Faith is the human act of reaching toward what God desires to give.  The power which held back the waters of the Red Sea and thundered on the mountain is the same power which takes away the sin we cannot master and handle.  It is the power which brings forgiveness and pardon.  It is the power which restores what is dead and heals what is broken.  This is the amazing and incomparable power of God at work to save us all from all that is within that has the power to destroy.  

The Power of the Gospel

Before the Damascus Road encounter with Christ, Paul was known as Saul of Tarsus.  His purpose in life at that time kept him busy trying to eradicate the Jesus movement from the face of the earth.  His purpose on the Road to Damascus is best set forth by those words from the book of Acts which read, "Meanwhile Saul still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord..."  (Acts 9:1)  As quick as lightning from the heavens, everything changed.  A powerful man became powerless and a man bent on destruction became a builder of what he sought to destroy.      

In the first chapter of Romans "the gospel"  becomes his new focus.  Verse 1 speaks of him being "set apart for the gospel of God" and verse 3 goes on to speak of "the gospel concerning His Son."  And then, finally there is that powerful word which is often memorized which says, "For I am not ashamed of the gospel: it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, the Jew and also to the Greek."  (Romans 1:16)  Paul the Apostle would become so captured by the gospel of God and Christ that he would walk from place to place until his journey from Jerusalem finally carried him to Rome.     

Whenever we embrace and accept this gospel of Christ, our life unfolds before us in a way we would never have imagined.  Our purpose changes.  We begin to move into a life which centers around understanding the will of God and going after it as our purpose instead of seeking after something which speaks more of the will of our own ego.  Our physical journey may not be as large as it was for the Apostle, but it is certain that a life centered on allowing the gospel to take root and expression in us will bring us into a larger purpose than one as small as our ego might create.  

A Surprising God

Even though the Apostle Paul introduced himself in the beginning of his letters to the churches, it was just a formality.  He was no stranger to any of those churches.  The people of those churches not only knew what he said about himself, but they also knew what others said about him.  There were certainly detractors and antagonist.  There were surely those who did not trust Paul, but thought of him as a wolf in sheep clothing.  For a long time some felt he was using the gospel, pretending to be a disciple, in order to bring Christians out of hiding.     

It was a past he did not deny, but one he acknowledged.  In his letter to the Galatian Christians he wrote, "You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism.  I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it."  (Galatians 1:13)  As we consider those who we remember as the spiritual giants in the pages of Scripture, it would seem that God is truly unpredictable, surprising, and takes great delight in doing the unexpected.  Who would use a murderer to lead the Hebrews out of slavery?  Who would take a shepherd boy and make him a giant killer?  Who would take uneducated fishermen and entrust to them the mission of Christ?  And, who would choose the chief antagonist of the Jesus movement and make him its foremost advocate?    

Of course, this unpredictable and surprising God is still up to His old tricks today.  I remember a guy with a speech impediment called to be a preacher.  I can never forget the unemployed father and husband with three teenage children who came into the church office with a sizable check for his year's tithe.  Also, in my memory are more than a few women busy with family concerns who heard the call to give leadership to other women in Bible studies and small groups.  And, then last of all, I live every day with amazement and gratitude that God took a young teenage introvert who could hardly carry on aa conversation with another and gave him a pulpit from which to preach the gospel for over forty years.  

And So Suffers the World

John the Baptist is often spoken of as a New Testament character who wears the model of an Old Testament prophet.  Actually, there were folks of his day who thought of him as a prophet.  Another who fits the same mold is the Apostle Paul   There are things about him which bring Jeremiah to mind.  Perhaps, the most outstanding thing is the word about calling.  In Romans 1:1 the Word says, "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God."  In Galatians the same language is used as it says, "But when God, who set me apart before I was born..."  (Galatians 1:15)    

To turn to the Jeremiah material in the Old Testament is to read, "Now the word of the Lord came to me saying, 'Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, and before you were born, I consecrated you...."(Jeremiah 1:4-5)  Not only were both given similar understandings of who they were in the plan of God, but both also became the voice of the Lord which thundered forth with authority.  Paul is spoken of as an Apostle, but he was a voice to the nations as surely as was Jeremiah.  

The world of our day suffers for the lack of such a voice.  There are many spiritual leaders who tend to a more localized sphere of influence, but none stand on the stage of the history of nations to speak with the boldness and with the spiritual authority as did these men from the past.  And if there was someone, it is doubtful that people would listen for the times have not really changed so much with the passing of all these centuries.

An Apostle

Paul's word about himself in the beginning of his letter to the Romans is a bold word as he spoke of himself as one "called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God."  (Romans 1:1)  By his own definition an apostle is one who had seen Jesus.  (I Corinthians 9:1)  What seems obvious to even the casual reader is the reality that Saul of Tarsus was not an eyewitness to the life and ministry of Jesus as were those known as the Twelve.  Of course, what is also a possibility is that Saul did at some point see Jesus, not as a Savior, but as a rebellious troublemaker.    

However, the place where Paul claims to have seen the Lord was on the Damascus Road.  The ninth chapter of Acts tells of this amazing encounter with Jesus.  One moment Saul of Tarsus was full of intent to wipe out the Jesus movement and the next moment he became its most staunch advocate and witness.  About that moment Paul later wrote to the Galatian Christians, "But when God, who had set me apart before I was born, and called me through His grace, was pleased to reveal His Son to me..." (Galatians 1:15)      

While there were those who denied that Paul was an Apostle, there was no doubt in Paul's mind that the Lord Jesus had been revealed to him on the Damascus Road and called him to a totally different life.  He saw himself as one sent forth in the same way that the Twelve had been sent forth.  He, too, was commissioned to the task of giving spiritual leadership to the church which was being shaped by the ministry entrusted to him and the others who were called Apostles.  And while none of us are hearing the all to give leadership as an Apostle in the way Paul was called, if we listen we are still hearing God's call to be about the ministry which gives life to Jesus in the world.  

The Bottom of the Barrel

Long years ago just before leaving home for college, there came a moment which gave direction to the rest of my life.  The Apostle Paul spoke of such a moment when he wrote to the Roman Christians that he was "called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God."  (Romans 1:1)  While there is little about my life which can be compared to this spiritual giant, we do share a common experience of having a life changing moment with Christ.  Hopefully, such is true of every person who dares to stand in the pulpit and preach the gospel.     

I remember the night well.  It is not the kind of thing that can be forgotten.  Kneeling beside my bed I did what a million sinners in need of grace have done.  I confessed my sins, asked for forgiveness, and asked Jesus to take control of my life.  It was a moment filled with tears of sorrow and then tears of joy.  However, before the tears were dry, there came an additional, unwanted, frightening word.  As I knelt there it came clearly to me that following Christ meant accepting the reality that His will was to set me apart for preaching the Word.    

I wanted no part of it.  I grew up in a Methodist parsonage and had seen the ministry from a side not seen by most.  Preachers had to put up with a lot of stuff and I wanted nothing to do with it.  So, I said "Yes" to Jesus and "No" to His call to preach.  I actually told no one what had happened there beside my bed because I did not want to deal with the preaching thing.  It was the last thing I wanted to do with my life.  Unlike the Apostle Paul who got it all handled in short time there in Damascus, it would take me another six months to come around to saying "Yes" to the second part of what was going on that night in the parsonage.  Since the final "Yes" there has never been any doubt that the call was real and spoke of God's purpose for my life.  The only puzzling thing is why He called me in the first place.  He was surely scraping the bottom of the barrel.  

Not a Servant

When John Wycliffe did his translation of the Bible from Latin into English back in the 1300's, the Roman Catholic Church deemed it to be a heretical act.  Wycliffe believed anyone should be able read the Word, but the church regarded it to be a dangerous thing.   Of course, in  our world everyone has access to a copy of the Bible and the Bibles available are almost as many as there are readers.  In recent decades there has been a rush to provide reader friendly Bibles which are often more concerned with using the current language with all its idioms rather than making sure the words on the page actually reflect the original language of the Scripture.   

One of the ways to distinguish the difference is to see if the Bible is a version of an English translation, or a translation of the original Greek or Hebrew manuscripts.  There is a difference.  The versions may be more readable, but they can also reflect a bias of the one putting the Bible together instead of what is actually intended when the original language is given proper consideration.  Not all Bibles are the same.  The difference is not just in the use of words, but in the way some things get compromised and cluttered with unintended meanings.    

An example is found in the first few words of Romans.  Most of the time Paul is spoken of as "a servant of Jesus Christ,"  (Romans 1:10 which is not a bad thing, but the original intent would have it translated "a slave of Jesus Christ."  It is easy to see the difference.  A servant may have a choice, but a slave has no rights except those given by the master.  The life of a slave is centered on doing the bidding of the master.  Nothing else matters.  Such is how the Apostle Paul spoke of his life and such is how he would have us  understand what it means to live under the authority of Christ and in submission to the Holy Spirit. 

Personal Identification

When we read the Scripture, we are often reading words read on a previous reading.  Unlike other books, the Scripture is read not once, but many times.  As we begin such a reading, it is easy to race deeper into the text that is unfolding so that we can get to the important part, or the part we anticipate reading.  This lends to not paying attention to what is on the page in front of us.  Of course, this phenomena of not paying attention is practiced in many other parts of our life so it is a deeply ingrained pattern.   

If we carry this deeply ingrained pattern with us in our reading of the letter Paul wrote to the Romans we miss an important word.  The letter begins with a word of personal identification on the part of the Apostle as he began his letter with the words, "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ..."  (Romans 1:1)  To read the other letters of the New Testament is to see that such a beginning formula is not uncommon or unusual.  When we learned to write letters, we learned to put our name at the end instead of the beginning, but normal was different in Paul's first century world.   

So upfront he tells those who read that he is Paul.  This means he is the one once known as Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor of those who followed Christ.  And secondly, he is a servant of Christ.  Actually, the more correct rendering of the Greek word translated servant is "slave."  The word "servant" is more palatable than "slave."   A slave lives to do the bidding and the pleasure of the master.  The slave lives under the authority of the master.  The slave has nothing except the fact of belonging to the master.  Paul had chosen to live in such submission to Christ and if we walk deep enough into Romans, we hear such as call as well.

The Power of God

Any serious reader of the Scripture finally comes to a time when they willingly wade into the deep swirling theological waters known as the letter to the Christians at Rome.  Early in our journey when we are green in the faith, we might rush into the reading with a kind of eager enthusiasm so we can be one of those who can say, "I read Romans," but such a reading is not likely to really do much damage to our preconceived notions about the essence of the Christian faith.     

It is actually a writing which has had life changing impact on some of the church's great spiritual leaders.  Augustine, Martin Luther, and John Wesley are three whose faith was shaped by the words of Romans.  And, in their case, it not only altered the direction of their lives, but gave impetus to what God was doing in the world through the church.  One ought not undertake a reading of Romans lightly.  It is, after all, by its own admission, "the power of God."  (Romans 1:16).    

Preachers are prone to get into Romans with preaching and find themselves unable to find the exit door.  Long years ago while in Vidalia I set out to preach through the book of Romans and six months and some forty sermons later I found the last chapter.  It probably did the preacher more good than those in the pews who must have gotten weary with the listening.  And while I must confess to some degree of relief when it was done, there was also at the end a renewed spirit and a new understanding of things known which is usually the result of choosing to wade into theological waters over our head.

A Lamp and a Light

The first Bible I claimed belonged to my Father.  When he died in the middle of my seventh year, I found his Gideon New Testament and Psalm Bible in his stuff.  It was pocket size, brown, and had  patriotic songs on the back pages.  He carried it with him in WW II while flying as a crew member of a B-29 bomber.  It became a treasure to a boy who lost his Father.  The next one was a small black zipper Bible which had the Old and New Testament plus some art work illustrating some of the great stories I read in its pages.     

Since those beginning years I have had many other Bibles.  I even wore out a few back in my preaching days.  Whenever a trip is planned, there is always one which goes in with a change of clothes.  For as long as I have memory, a Bible has been in my life.  As I type these words one sits here on the desk beside me.  It has been a companion over the span of a life time and has always given me guidance, understanding, and hope.   

Back in the '80s when our girls were the age of our grandchildren Amy Grant was singing "Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path."  (Psalm 118:105)  I was glad the song was included in the United Methodist Hymnal.  Many times in planning worship I made sure this song was sung prior to the reading of the Word.  It has been a lamp and a light and so much more.  I cannot imagine life without the written Word of God present to keep me on the path that is leading toward home.  It is indeed the book above all books as it provides for us a means of hearing the Word of God being spoken in our every circumstance.  

Present Day Worship

In some ways retirement has made the Sabbath more of a day of rest.  It really never was such while I was actively serving as the pastor of church.  It was usually a day which started extremely early and ended long after dark had settled around me.  Preachers, or pastors do not usually experience much rest on Sunday.  It is the main work day of the week.  It is like several Mondays rolled into one twelve or fifteen hour day.    

Nowadays with no congregation demanding a sermon or worship service, Sundays are experienced at a much different pace.  And throw in the the fact that the last year has seen more Sundays with church doors being locked than unlocked and that different pace is more like standing still.  And while some pastor friends have created a new routine which now includes being in the pew on Sunday morning, some still find themselves in a place which would have been impossible to predict a few years ago.   

As one who has not yet found the way back to the confines of Sunday worship in a sanctuary, I have been pushed to a place where worship is experienced in new and different ways.  Structured moments of worship have been replaced by embracing the ones which present themselves in a more spontaneous manner.  Songs once sung loudly with the congregation are now sung softly in my spirit.  Hearing the Word of God comes not in the sanctuary through the ritual, but through the moments of divine revelation which abound in every day.  One day I know I shall return to the sanctuary.  My heart longs for it.  For the moment I have been put in a different place, but it is not one empty of opportunities for worship or for hearing the voice of God.   

Fish Need Rest

I have been a Sabbatarian as far back as I can remember.  My father who was an avid fisherman told me many times that there was no fishing on Sunday.  "The fish need a day of rest," he said.  Later I would learn the fourth commandment which told me, "Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy."  (Exodus 20:8)  Keeping the Sabbath was ingrained in my lifestyle as I was growing up.  There were certain things not done on Sunday even as there were things such as attending worship which were done as surely as the sun came up.    

Sabbatarianism can also spread into other areas of life.  Not only did I come to believe that Sunday was holy (which implied the unholy nature of the other six days), but it was also true that some places were holy while others did not bear such distinction.  This separation got a major re-enforcement in a seminary class which focused on the idea that some places were holy and some place were profane, or not sacred.  Profane places were made sacred by the spiritual experiences of people who encountered the holy in moments of divine revelation.    

All of this underwent a earthquake shift after retirement took me away from the shadow of the church and into the light of the creation.  What began to take root was an awareness that every day is holy because every day comes as a gift from God.  And, while walking day after day on the dirt of creation, there came a conviction that every piece of dirt bears the imprint of the Creator and, therefore is holy.  So, maybe it is not one or the other, but both.  Could it not be that the places designated holy in our midst invite us to see more of the holy around us, and that the day set apart by the Word is to be kept as holy even as we affirm that no time given to us is anything but a sacred gift?

The First Prayer

 "Now I lay me down..."

     I prayed on bent knee,

       Mother beside me, 

         teaching and praying,

lessons for the journey.

",,,if I should die..."

    I said, not knowing

      it could happen, 

       had I known,

no eyes would close.

"...my soul to take..."

    I whispered, not knowing,

      not grasping the words,

        nor the request

to wake up in eternity.

 

"God bless Moma..."

   and then came others,

    Daddy, sister, dog, 

     aunts and uncles, 

beginnings of intercession.

"Amen...Amen..."

   spoken quickly 

    and into bed, 

     Mother's kiss,

the Father's care.  

The Journey Alone

 Alone we lived

    before we came

      to breathe air, 

       to see the light

crying for what was.

Alone we walk

    paths trodden

      worn by others

        who went alone

wondering what comes.

Alone we strive

   along with saints

     who also struggle

       to stay together

longing for what might be.

Alone we go

  the final steps

    knowing then

      the One with us

has always been.