Monthly Archives: January 2021

Thomas, Tickles, & Truth

Life in Christ, Perils of Shepherds

Questions of truth have become a fixture of much of our societal discourse for the last few years. From cries of “Fake News!” to YouTube channels full of “experts” explaining the lastest theory or questioning what we know, we are surrounded by questions of truth. This has reached a point that even within a group of people who share culture, background, and setting, there can be profound differences of understanding what is even real. Without a basic shared reality, we begin to find ourselves having trouble maintaining basic civilization.

This present situation is not unique to our time. The Bible addresses these issues well and points us to solutions if we are willing to look to ourselves first. Scripture repeatedly warns about deception, calling us to not be deceived. It warns us that the devil is a powerful deceiver, 

And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
(Revelation 12:9)

It tells us that other people can deceive us, 

Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience.
(Ephesians 5:6)

It also reminds us that we can even deceive ourselves, 

If anyone thinks himself to be religious, and yet does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this man's religion is worthless.
(James 1:26)

We tend to want to apply these verses to others far more than ourselves. We believe that we can’t be deceived. We are smart and in the know. It is the “sheeple”, others who are deceived. Thinking you cannot be deceived is actually a strong sign that you may already have been. 

Let no man deceive himself. If any man among you thinks that he is wise in this age, he must become foolish, so that he may become wise.
(1 Corinthians 3:18)

This brings us to the disciple Thomas. Thomas has been used as a negative example, embodied in the phrase ‘doubting Thomas.’ Yet Thomas is not held up by Scripture as a bad example, but a good one. He no doubt would have loved to believe that Jesus wasn’t dead, but he wasn’t prepared to just accept such an improbable thing. In the account, he doesn’t express that it couldn’t happen, but only that he wants to be sure it did happen. In demanding more evidence, he guards himself from being deceived. Jesus appears and satisfies his search for truth.

In the book of Acts, Paul travels from city to city teaching. He is well received in many places, but Luke makes an important statement about the reception of Paul by the people in Berea. 

Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so.
(Acts 17:11)

Not taking Paul’s word for it, each day they return to the Scripture to see if what Paul is saying is true. This refusal to merely accept teaching from what was surely an authoritative source renders them “more noble-minded.”

We are at our most vulnerable to deception when we are being told what we want to hear. The technical term is confirmation-bias. We look for sources that will reinforce our ideas of what we think is right. We quickly can create a circular loop of reinforcement and confidence. This desire to hear what we already think can blind our eyes and deafen our ears. The disciples, no matter how many times Jesus told them what was going to happen, still did not believe that Jesus could and would die. When he was arrested and sentenced to death, rather than see fulfillment of Jesus’ words, they thought the game was over. It was only later that they finally were able to break through their own beliefs to truly receive what He had told them all along.

The Bible warns, 

For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
(2 Timothy 4:3-4)

Too many “conservative Christians” have long used this verse for “liberals.” In framing the verse that way, they again affirm that they themselves are too smart, too holy, too Biblical to be deceived. Yet this tendency to find “teachers in accordance to their own desires” is not limited to any one group of people.

I was raised in a home where the truth of the Bible, and the Christian faith was not universally accepted as true. I learned traditional Genesis in church and watched Carl Sagan at home with my science teacher father. I was presented with vastly different presentations of what was “true.” I was also taught to think critically, to examine evidence, and to question assumptions, especially my own. Unlike many who grew up in a “Christian home” I was not indoctrinated, but instead had to think, question, and examine.

Today I am a pastor, minister of the Good News, and teacher of the Bible. God’s truth was more than a match for hard questions, doubt, and even skepticism. To this day, in my understanding of science, politics, faith, and the Bible, I seek out voices that not only don’t say what I want to hear, but explicitly say things that I am not comfortable with and don’t want to believe. If the truth is The Truth, than it will more than prevail against such inquiry. Doing this has helped expose to me areas where my interpretation of certain things was embedded in cultural assumptions or personal biases. It has also made me far MORE convinced in the fundamental truth of the Scriptures, inspired by God. My faith has been affirmed and strengthened more through this than simply piling up teachers telling me what I want to hear.

In this day and age, we need to step away from trying to appear so wise, always looking for the “hidden wisdom” of conspiracy theories or surrounding ourselves with sources and teachers that tell us that we are the right and good ones, smarter than all the rest. Rather than closing our eyes and ears to other perspectives, information, and ideas, we need to pull them out, examine then repeatedly and cautiously, being extra guarded toward things that seem to confirm our biases. We all can be deceived in small or large ways. Humility, questioning, and an eye firmly on the simple and clearly revealed truths of Scripture, especially the central command to “love one another, as I [Christ] has loved you” will help us enter into a more shared reality and be both salt and light in this world.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth;
(1 Corinthians 13:4-6)
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Have You Met My Angry Friend?

Church on Mission, Perils of Shepherds

If you told me you had a friend who was intensely angry at me, but if I was willing to talk to him, he would become my friend, I would take great pause. Before I had even met your friend, I would be forming an opinion about their temperament, character, and probable reaction to me based on the fact that one of the first things you’ve presented me is their anger. It might turn out that your friend is the nicest person in the world, yet that initial presentation will be hard for me to overcome.

There has long been a tendency in the evangelical church to begin a presentation of the need for personal salvation by presenting strongly and dwelling powerfully on the wrath of God that results in judgment. The goal of course is to move toward the Good News of Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross, but first we have to impress upon people the danger they face from the judgment of God’s great wrath. This approach has the virtue of not only being true but also being highly motivational if the threat is great enough. It is also a very strange way to try to introduce someone to what is at its heart a love relationship. “Come meet my angry friend who is planning on killing you. You’ll love him.”

The moment we start talking about avoiding this kind of approach, many experience a clutching fear of creeping liberalism and cheap grace. Are we unwilling to look at the tough parts of the Bible and the terrible consequences of our sin? Refusing to understand sin and its consequences is indeed dangerous. However, to truly understand our situation, and fully comprehend the grace & mercy that is being offered in Christ, people need a true introduction first and foremost to who God is before we talk about what they’ve done. A focus that starts with their sin & God’s anger presents a false picture of God.

How does God describe himself? 

The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
(Exodus 34:6-7)

God repeatedly describes himself as slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He emphasizes mercy, grace, forgiveness, and steadfast love. He is clear that there is judgment, but his emphasis is not there. Even when he had to bring judgment on his people, he still reminds them of the strength of his love over the length of his anger.

In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD, your Redeemer.
(Isaiah 54:8)

His anger is momentary, his love eternal. God consistently in both the Old and New Testaments describes himself as reluctant to judge and eager to love and forgive. 

Cast away from you all the transgressions that you have committed, and make yourselves a new heart and a new spirit! Why will you die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Lord GOD; so turn, and live.”
(Ezekiel 18:31-32)
Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?
(Ezekiel 33:11)

Judgment of the wicked is a reality and one that God executes, but he makes it clear that because of his lovingkindness, his great desire is to see mankind redeemed.

The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.
(2 Peter 3:9)

This should not be surprising when we remember that while we were still sinners, God so loved the world that he sent Jesus, who, once here, declared that he was not here to condemn but to save.

When the first great rebellion took place in Genesis 3, we do not see an angry God, but a God who speaks of redemption and deliverance. He clothes Adam & Eve and promises them the Messiah. Yes, there are severe consequences to their actions, and their sin is not downplayed in the least. God however is again focused on redemption because love is central to his being. God is love.

We do God a great disservice when we introduce him as an angry and vengeful God rather than a God that is abounding in love. Rather than fear that beginning with the love of God will somehow dilute the sense of danger we want to instill, we could realize that once we establish the goodness of God, our rebellion and sin take on a far more terrible tone as they are not merely rebellions against some cold law, but a betrayal of the One who loved so fully. Sin is no longer merely a rule violation, but a personal rejection and betrayal of one who loves us so fully.

I am far more convicted of things I do that hurt my wife or kids than when I get stopped for speeding. The consequences of betraying the relationship are far more impactful. If you read through the Old Testament prophets you see that God appeals regularly to this relational breach, often using marriage imagery and speaking of adultery. He presents himself not as a police officer pulling you over and asking you if you know why, but rather as a spurned spouse who has loved deeply. God’s wrath is powerful because it flows out of the rejection of his love. This resolves the tension some have in trying to understand how a loving God could have such wrath. God’s wrath is not opposed to or incongruent with his love, but an outgrowth of it, falling only on those who refuse the love & redemption offered freely.

We should preach the entire Gospel of God, but let us be careful in starting with an angry God intent on judgment. Let’s begin by making sure they understand that God is abounding in lovingkindness, that our sin, more than merely breaking some rules, has been a massive betrayal, and then complete the Good News by explaining the great love God has driven him to provide a way for us to return to him. That is the God of the Bible, the message of reconciliation, and the complete Good News of the Gospel.

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