Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Christ Is My Righteousness: Jeremiah 33:14-16

Jeremiah 33:14-16

When we allow it to happen, the work that God does in the life of a believer and the life of the body of Christ is deep and lasting. Near the end of Jeremiah 33, God declares that the day will come when David’s son-the Messiah-will arrive and fulfill every promise he made to his people. The difference between this coming king and the kings Jeremiah has contended with is stark.

First of all, this King is legitimate. After a string of degenerates and half-wits, this King is the rightful heir of David and the unique God-Man among us.

“In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous branch to spring up for David.” (vs. 15)

God speaks this through his prophet at a time when the monarchy seems on the brink of extinction. The rightful king, Jehoiachin, is captive in Babylon and his uncle, Zedekiah, a puppet king set up by Babylon, sits on the throne. Add to this the fact that the exiles have begun and there seems to be no national hope at all.

Secondly, God’s King is a just king. Not only is he righteous and our righteousness, but he is a moral and upright ruler, as well.

“and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” (vs. 15)

The way The Message puts it is that, “He will run this country honestly and fairly.” What more could an oppressed and battered nation of people want? It can be fairly said that much of the pain and suffering being endured by the masses came upon them because of their corrupt leadership. In stark contrast, God’s King is honest, fair, just, and righteous.

And when the King has come and completed his work, the result is a powerful change of name and character for the people:

“And this is the name by which it will be called, ‘The Lord is our righteousness’.” (vs. 16)

The successful and victorious work of the Messiah leads to a name change-at least, the kind of title that reflects a change. We have already seen that up to this point Judah’s character is clear-they are infamous for their corruption and rebellion. Judah is known for their character of sin (see 17:1). After God does his work, however, they are known for his character. Judah will be known for God’s righteousness.

Before Christ does his work in my life, I am a slave to my passions and corruption. I am by nature an enemy of God (Rom. 5:10, Col. 1:21). But after Christ does his victorious work in my life, I can be called by his name; I can be known for his character.

As a follower of Christ, I am not after my own goodness. A successful transformation occurs when the life and light of Christ is transplanted in me in place of my own brokenness. The life I live is not my own, but is Christ living in me. The Lord is our righteousness-Christ is my life.

Wednesday, August 16, 2006

Turning My Attention: Philippians 4:4-9

Philippians 4:4-9

As Paul closes this letter to the church at Philippi, he provides believers with several very practical guides to living a life formed by the Spirit of God.  When we think of spiritual formation we often, and unfortunately, think of esoteric practices engaged in by people who are gifted spiritually and who have the time to separate themselves from the “real world.”  In stark contrast to this caricature, however, the life of the ordinary believer outlined in the New Testament is one that is being constantly formed by Christ amidst the contours of our daily lives.  Each and every Christian is called to be a disciple of Christ-no matter your station in life or your personality.

To truly gain a handle on verse 4, we need to recall Paul’s and the Philippians’ condition.  Paul is in prison on his way to the executioner and the Philippians are under persecution, possibly severe persecution.  Given these realities, Paul says:

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”

Why rejoice?  Certainly it is not because of his or the church’s circumstances; Paul doesn’t even know if this imprisonment will result in his death or his release, so he isn’t basing his rejoicing on the possibility of his legal and political freedom.  Paul has learned to rest his reasons for rejoicing on more solid ground.  His purpose, his meaning in life, his reason for being content and thankful is founded upon nothing else but Jesus Christ.

And this is the first lesson of this passage: Attention determines perspective.  If Paul’s attention were wrapped up in his dire circumstances, he would have no earthly reason to rejoice.  It is the same lesson Peter so clearly learned when he got out of the boat to walk to Jesus during the storm.  As long as his attention was on Christ, he was able to do what made no earthly sense.  When his attention was diverted to the storm, what seemed only natural happened-he began to sink.

The injunction in verse 6 to not be anxious is both very difficult to follow and repeated over and over in the New Testament.  Anxiety is not becoming of a follower of Christ, but it is one of the most natural reactions to life that we all have.  Paul’s antidote to anxiety is simple-prayer.  When we pray and turn our attention to Christ in thankfulness and supplication, the result is the kind of peace that only makes sense if God exists and is truly in control.  We enter prayer full of anxiety.  We exit it with the peace of God.  Paul notes:

“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” (vs. 7)

The second lesson, then, rises to the surface: Attention determines my peace.  The promise of prayer and the exercise of my faith in God’s Lordship is the kind of peace that transcends my circumstances.

Then Paul enjoins the believers to turn their minds and lives toward things, ideas, and people who exemplify the qualities of God.  When Paul says, “think about these things,” he intends us to dwell upon, even take account of these kinds of things.  In order to live out the commands of 4:8 and 9, we need to take time to list, count out, settle our minds upon, the kinds of things and people who bring glory to God.  We need to do this because what our minds dwell upon shapes our souls.

The third lesson: Attention determines the shape of my soul.  In a set of recent polls, it has been shown that young American males find very few things offensive.  They have been so over-exposed to debauchery, filth, violence, and the sort, that their consciences are no longer pricked.  Because their minds have been so filled with rubbish, their view of what is normal, even moral, has become deeply maladjusted.

On the other hand, when I turn my mind to the kinds of things and people listed by Paul, my soul is formed in the image of Christ, I become more and more human, and I learn how to find God’s fingerprint in creation.

To what am I paying attention today?

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

A Deep Forgiveness: Jeremiah 33:1-9

Jeremiah 33:1-9

There are moments in the book of Jeremiah where, if you are reading carefully, you might experience a little bit of literary whiplash. These moments, highlighted by God describing judgment and then suddenly speaking of grace and forgiveness, are telling when it comes to the character and activity of God. We read this kind of passage in Jeremiah 33 between verses 5 and 6.

“They are coming in to fight against the Chaldeans and to fill them with the dead bodies of men whom I shall strike down in my anger and my wrath, for I have hidden my face from this city because of all their evil. Behold, I will bring to it health and healing, and I will heal them and reveal to them abundance of prosperity and security.”

One moment God describes the judgment he is allowing to fall on Judah, then he suddenly switches to health and healing. If Judah has been so full of rebellion for generations, and the judgment that falls on them is God’s righteous work, how is it God suddenly brings grace and forgiveness?

First of all, we should note that we probably do not understand the fullness of God’s forgiveness until we grasp the depth of sin. The sinfulness of sin illuminates forgiveness. The fact that God forgives his people is not remarkable until we know how deep their rebellion against him really went.

The core of the answer to our question is contained in verse 8. Here God describes his forgiveness of sin using each primary concept for “sin” found in the Old Testament thus addressing sin in every way we can imagine it. The NIV translation catches the nuances well:

“I will cleanse them from all the sin they have committed against me and will forgive all their sins of rebellion against me.”

God will cleanse them of “all the sin” they have committed. This act of God refers to the state of our hearts-the sin nature. There are sins we actually commit, and then there is the nature that inclines us to rebel against God. One Puritan theologian described the difference as, “the root and the fruit of sin.” This first promise is to cleanse us from the root of sin.

Then God will forgive all the “sins of rebellion” we commit against him. These are the actual deeds of sin we commit, and these are what we typically feel need to be forgiven. It is easier for us to feel the prick of our rebellious behavior than it is to experience conviction over our sin natures. But God promises to forgive both, and it is this kind of forgiveness that changes my life.

Is learning to live a Christ-like life just a matter of behavior modification? Can we truly say someone is living Christ’s life if they are just a “do-gooder”? The transformation of a disciple of Christ is far more than just the modification of behavior.

Instead, a Christ-like life is one in which the change goes deeper than the surface behaviors of my life. The kind of transformation and forgiveness promised in Jeremiah 33:8 changes my character and inclinations and gives rise to the fruit of the Spirit as naturally as a healthy apple tree produces apples.

Learn to live in this lifestyle of forgiveness-the kind graciously given by God and the kind that is constantly at work in the deepest recesses of my soul to change me and make me new. So be it.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Call To Me: Jer 33:3

Jeremiah 33:3

How well do you think you would communicate with a stranger from a foreign land whose language you did not speak? If you needed to communicate with this person, what kind of effort would it take? No doubt it would require time and a great deal of work on your part to learn the language, the nuance of their vocabulary, and enough about their culture to understand better how they are trying to communicate.

How well do you think you communicate with God?

While Jeremiah is still in prison in chapter 33, God enters and speaks with him again. At this point, God wants to tell his people about the hope and restoration that is in store for them. Though the prophet is locked up in jail with no foreseeable hope of release and the countryside is full of Babylonians waging war against Judah, God has a future and a hope for his people.

When God begins this message to his prophet, he notes something about communicating with him:

“Call to me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” (vs. 3)

When God says, “call,” it conveys a deep and serious request. Sometimes this word is used to describe the roars or groans of animals. This is no half-hearted request, but a petition that has its source in my deepest desires and longings. Oftentimes our prayers are a little half-hearted and full of distraction, so it is no wonder that our communication with God may feel the same way. Have I called to God in the way described to the prophet?

Often Scripture will use the vocabulary of physical hunger to describe this kind of call. We all know what it means to crave some kind of food, but do we know what it feels like to crave communion with God? Psalm 63:1 puts it this way:

“O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.”

And what results when we call for God in this way? God says, “and I will answer you.” This is an overwhelming promise and I am not sure we know exactly the extent of this kind of gift.

We might be tempted to think this means God will grant us all our requests if we try hard enough to get them, but the evidence of Scripture and life say otherwise. Instead of this being a promise to give us what we want, I believe it is a promise of communication. When we put the effort in to calling to God as described in Jeremiah 33:3, we learn to talk to someone who is not visible, hear someone who doesn’t speak to me in an audible voice, and touch someone who is spirit. In other words, I learn to communicate with God and gain the ability to see, hear, and touch him in ways I do not now understand.

I communicate well with my wife because we have been talking everyday for over twelve years. I may not hear God answering me in large part because I have failed to put the time into communicating with Him.