Thursday, June 28, 2018

God's Favor (6)

God favors those who are persecuted. But he does not just favor the persecuted, he favors those who give him their allegiance, who become a part of his family, and are persecuted for that.

There are places in the world, where giving allegiance to Jesus, means a life of trouble. Because God's children choose to follow him, they usually begin to move in a direction that is different from the flow of the surrounding culture. And those in that culture will either view them as weird, or as traitors.

The world has always been hard on those who seek to know God. And the enemy pushes hard to promote this attitude. He considers it to be in his best interest, if no one seeks for God, or lives for God.

And if he cannot keep people away form God, he will try to keep them quiet.

And by quiet, I do not mean he is trying to stop God's children from yelling "The world is bad! The world is bad!" The world will just pay no attention to that. He is trying to stop people from yelling "God is good! God is good!"

He is trying to stop faith. He is trying to stop love. He is trying to disrupt God's relationship with his people, and their relationship with one another. He is trying to prevent God's children from accurately demonstrating God's character.

What if, in the midst of being treated badly, God's children persist in:
  • Walking with the Father;
  • Engaging in practices that expand the Father's influence in their lives, and through them to the world;
  • Loving each other;
  • Loving those who do not have a relationship with the Father … especially those actively engaging in persecution;
  • Seeking God's best for society, and the world. 

In a world, where such practices run counter to every instinct that humanity has, but copies Jesus' lifestyle, and follows God's way of love, is it any wonder that God favors, and delights in his children.



God's Favor (5)

God favors those who make peace. The English term "peacemaker" gives a connotation of someone, who is an intermediary between people, who have some sort of dispute. The word in the original language could be stated more like "to produce peace."

In all these declarations of who God favors, Jesus is drawing a contrast between the Pharisaic understanding of keeping rules, and marking boxes on check lists, with having a relationship with the Father.

God does not favor rules keepers, or check box markers. The relationship between God and man is broken. No amount of rule keeping will fix it.

Even if rule keeping could fix it, no human being keeps the rules sufficiently well enough. The rule breaking far outdoes the rule keeping.

Let's bear in mind here, God is not against rule keeping per se. If sin had not come into the world, and people's lives, people would have lived like Jesus. They would have "kept" the rules as an expression of their nature. God inspired the Biblical writers to write down the rules, so people would realize that they do not keep the rules. Or they could see what a person, who pleases God, looks like. We would know how we were designed to live.

God sent Jesus to build the bridge, so people could return to him, create a relationship with him, and be restored in their core, so they would begin to live as they were designed.

So, God favors those who choose to cross the bridge, and begin that relationship with the Father. They have made peace with him. They are no longer rebels, or enemies. And they are living a life of peace, because they are living in agreement with how they are designed.

And God favors those who show others, where the bridge is … helping someone else begin to have a relationship with the Father, to cease living as rebels, and enemies, and to begin living as they are designed.

God's Favor (4)

God favors the merciful. Recently, I compared mercy and grace. Mercy is like:

Imagine, you are driving 80 mph in a 25 mph zone. A policemen pulls you over. You deserve a ticket of many hundreds of dollars , and suspension of your driver's license.

Instead, the policeman says: "Good morning, sir. I noticed that you were driving in excess of the posted speed limit. This is a residential area. The posted speed limit was chosen to make sure that pedestrians in this area are safe. So, the next time you drive this area, please, reduce your speed to the posted speed limit. And have a good rest of the day."

Mercy is not getting what you deserve.

This is God's intention, and plan. In Christ, we receive mercy. We do not receive the punishment we deserve. And God favors those who have his heart.

The news is full of people, who deserve punishment. And, often, we are with the rest of the world, hoping these people get what they deserve. Yet, even they are designed to live in relationship with the Father. And it is the Father's desire to redeem, and restore, even these. Murderers. Thieves. Dictators. Mass murderers. Human traffickers.

The scribes and the Pharisees worked hard to please God, according to their system. And they condemned, and rejected, those who fell short, those who did not work like they did.

God's heart was for restoration. The Pharisee's heart was for rejection, and condemnation. This was why Jesus was hard on the Pharisees. They thought they were pleasing God. They thought they were God's favorites. First, all of God's kids are his favorites. But, he is especially pleased, and favors, those who heart follows his.

God wants a relationship with all … even Pharisees.

Those who understand mercy, are the most likely to give it, and the most likely to seek. They will turn to their Father, the giver of mercy.

God's Favor (3)

The next quality that Jesus used to describe people, whom God favors, is often rendered into English using the word "meek". But "meek" gives the wrong connotation in modern usage.

The English word "meek" has a connotation of weakness, with spirit, or courage. The word in the original language is associated with humility, which is the positioning of one's self below, to push up, and honor. But there is a feeling of calm strength, receiving what God says in quiet confidence.

With the first, and second, traits, we have a person, who realizes his need for God, who yearns for completeness, and who also realizes his total inability to attain, and maintain, that completeness.

With the third trait, the person hears God's words of judgment, and accepts them as just. But he does not despair, because he also hears God's hear for, and his promises for, redemption, and restoration.

"You have been thrown into the pit. And it is totally fair, and just, for you to be trapped there. But I did not create you to end up in a pit. I created you to be with me, to receive my love, and my blessing. So, I will rescue you from the pit."

The person hears, and trusts, God's words. And he responds in faith. To walk through the battlefield, with bullets buzzing past, and bombs exploding all around, without fear, and in calm and peace, is a response of faith. The person gives more credence to God's words, than he dos to the circumstances.

I don't think this necessarily means that we ignore the circumstances. But we need to actively take into account another powerful reality at work. The words, and the spirit, of God are active, and profoundly influential in our lives, and the world. The world ignores God's words to its detriment. And God's family does not take  them into account enough.

Fear, worry, and a lack of prayer demonstrate taking the circumstances, and principles, of the world more seriously, than the entire reality that God has created. Whereas prayer, obedience, love, and the fruit of the Spirit demonstrate a healthy grasp, and practice of God being eternally present, active, in our lives, and the world.

God's Favor (2)

Jesus continues to describe those who God favors.

God favors those who grieve a loss of personal hope, or a relationship. given the context of our inability to gain right standing with God, perhaps the grief Jesus  is referring to is a person's response to his\her lack of relationship, or lack of right standing, with the Father.

A person, who recognizes that life's ultimate bases for worth, meaning, and value, is a relationship with the Father, and recognizes that, because of his choices in life, that he is God's enemy, there is not hope. Life has ceased to have worth, or meaning.

Human beings are designed to live relationship with the Father. Value, and significance, in life is directly proportional to how close, how strong the connection is. Sin breaks the connection. It is sin that causes all the brokenness in the world. It is sin that causes all the problems, and misery.

So, it is in that prevents someone from establishing the most significant, and important, relationship in existence.

Without this relationship, we cannot live out, or come close, to connecting to the Father, and fulfilling what we were designed for. If we realize, and understand this, we could mourn our separation, loss and inability to get right, and connect.

But Jesus' purpose is to re-establish this connection, and to enable people to begin a process of living as he designed.

Jesus came to extend invitation to return to god, and a life of worth, meaning, value, and significance. Such an invitation could bring incredible comfort to those who hear it, and accept it. That was Jesus' purpose. To give people a way back to God, and hope to the hopeless. To reveal how much God loves, and cares for people.

Thursday, June 07, 2018

God's Favor

Jesus began his ministry by announcing what type of people receive God's favor. People, generally, thought it was people — like the Pharisees — who were serious, and worked hard, at obeying the Law.

So, Jesus turns the world upside down. Those, like the Pharisees, thought they were earning right standing with God. But, Jesus knew that no one can earn right standing with God. Those, who God favors, recognize, and accepted, this truth.

All people stand as beggars before God. Ones, who have learned that wisdom, accept their poverty stricken status. They accept that, before God, they have nothing to give. They can only receive.

It is pretty dumb to strut around, like one has it all together, like one is self-sufficient, with need, and one is dressed in rages, without sufficient means to feed one's self. Yet, that was precisely the position of many Pharisees and priests.

"We are accepted, and blessed, by what we do. God thinks we are better than the tax collectors, sinners, and gentiles."

And that is precisely why God did not give them his favor.

There were tax collectors, sinners, and gentiles, who saw the worth of the God of Israel, and sought to know him. And God favored them above the self-righteous ones.

God values those who realize that the do not have the power to stand before on their own merit. They are closer to him, than those involved in lots of religious activity. They are more ready to turn to Jesus, and walk across the bridge he built for them. They are more ready for a relation with the Father of creation, because they have a true view of reality, and a true understanding of their standing before God.