"Then He (Yahweh) said, "I will make all of My Goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.' Exodus 33:19
This chapter is very special to me. It adds to the self-revelation of God as seen in the burning bush that was not consumed and his power as revealed in the attack upon and defeat of Egypt's stubborn leader. That contest was won by God before Pharaoh entered into the arena.
The Exodus event illustrates that redemption is by power. God's people were led out by the power of God. Moses' experience with God taught him to appreciate the presence of God in his life. God's presence is precisely what we need. The Hebrew word for presence is literally 'face.' We need the face of God in our lives. In Exodus 33:15 Moses says to God, "If your 'faces' do not go with us, do not bring us up from here."
Yes, in this verse the word face is plural. You may ask why? Well, the answer is very powerful and allows us to enter into the heart of Moses himself. Moses has had God move him along a continuum in his faith journey. At one time Moses had tried to resist Yahweh's will for his life. A problem that we do not encounter today because of our spiritual sophistication (note the sarcasm).
God, however, moved Moses along the faith continuum by carefully designed and specific tests that opened his spiritual eyes to see that God was not going to be resisted by him. "Thy will be done'" are not mere religious words. They are compelling theology. God's permissive will may be resisted to our undoing, but his determined will does not allow for any deviation.
In this passage Moses wanted the assurance that he was on God's side. He wanted more of God because he had learned to walk in dependence upon God. Moses was a careful and brilliant theologian. He wanted the face of God in his life in the first person singular. He wanted to be God led. He wanted the assurance of being God led. Moses did not want a philosophy of God or a psychology of God he wanted a vital awareness of the face of God in his life.
Moses had overcome his (our) greatest obstacle to a vital spiritual life. He had learned not to be self-centered. He had learned to be God centered Moses did not want God to fit himself into a pre-cast mould. Moses had transcended the level of bending God into a psycho-religious entity. Moses knew that the living God was powerful beyond imagination. And now Moses has requested that God open a deeper experience with himself. Moses life is fully satisfied. His request of God is answered.
Moses has changed. He is new. God has become his King. Moses is in active worship in the face of God. He could make no greater request than to see God. All of the things that we substitute for God's face are gone. All of the carnal desires we chase after in this life are gone. Moses had found the fullness of joy in the face of God. Moses is built up in his faith by this experience with God.
Does God need to do an Exodus event in your life? Do you need to have an encounter with the face of God? Let me tell you that God is real. It is our unreality that wants to be convinced of the reality of God. But we labor under an illusion that we can know God while begging him to convincingly reveal himself to us in our flesh understanding. The flesh will not be convinced by evidence. The flesh is convinced only of its self-centered conclusions. It is terrible self-molestation.
Moses has been set free. He stands within the cleft of the rock and he experiences the Face of the Rock of Ages. Moses is not ashamed of his faith. He knows that without faith, it is impossible to please God. God is pleased when we seek his face.
Are you ready to seek the Face of God? Are you done with the substitutes that fight you and want to supplant the Face of God in your life? Ask God to show you his glory. The word 'glory' is kabod in Hebrew and means the weight of God. This gets deeper and deeper as we go into the Scriptures. Let God show his Face to you today. Blessings to you.
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, please follow his blog and visit his website.
Monday, March 25, 2013
Tuesday, March 19, 2013
The Divine Promise of Resurrection for Believers
"There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon,and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another in glory. So is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, and it is raised incorruptible It is sown in dishonour it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness,it is raised in power. It is sown a a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." I Cor. 15: 41-44
The primary reason that the early believers and writers of the Faith took over and adopted the term 'Gospel' from their culture was because it meant 'good news' and heralded either the birthday of the emperor or the coming (parousia) of the emperor to visit a city or province.
The event of the resurrection had to be tied to a term worthy of its greatness and importance. The titanic struggle with thanatos or death had been won. Peter said in his great sermon on the Day of Pentecost that it was not possible for death to hold him (Iesous). Indeed, the Iesous allowed thanatos to hold him for a little while and then the Iesous stood up out from death.
We are told in the Book of Revelation that the Iesous now holds the keys to death and the grave. His victory was complete. Yes, people still die. But there is a message that we can share with people about the future. Our message is one of life. Paul wrote to the church at Rome that he was not ashamed of the Gospel of the Ieosus because it was and remains the message of eternal life.
The peace of God and peace with God is given through the Gospel. The Gospel remains a radical message filled with life-giving power.
I visited an elderly man who had had a career in the United States Navy. He was an Afro-American man. At the time that I went to visit him he was in the process of having his bed changed. He saw me standing at the door to his room and with alert and piercing eyes he asked me to identify myself.
I told him who I was and that I would come back a little later to speak with him. His reply to me was "See that you do." When I returned to his room he told me that he was dying from cancer and he wanted to have peace with God. He had made references to some of the things that he had done in his life and he wanted to know how to have God's peace in his heart.
After years in the ministry one acquires an ear for what is truth and what is carefully contrived fiction. His words were angst filled and had an existential imperative. He wanted the words of eternal life from God.
I shared the Word of God with him and, thus, he received the Word of God. He received peace with God, and the peace of God through the Gospel that I shared with him that day.
No program can replace the Gospel. All men die. No one disagrees with that proposition. Death occurs daily. It is a relentless foe. Death does not mind if we ignore its presence because at some point we will face it. But one can decide how one will face death.
Iesous has defeated death. He has taken away the sting of death. The sting of death is sin. Death need not have victory over your life. You can decide now to have the Iesous in your life and appropriate the life giving message of the Gospel to rescue you from death.
When you die it will not be merely an eternal sleep as some teach today. Their refusal to acknowledge the after life does not remove the reality thereof. Some may not believe in gravity but if one steps off a roof of some height the reality of gravity makes one a reluctant believer.
I have gone on Youtube to listen to the music of the stars and the radio signals that stars produce. Stars speak in the language of musical harmonics. The moon has its own special music too. This is not by chance. This is by divine design. The body is sown in biologic corruption, but it will be raised and fitted for life in the presence of God. The body is sown in weakness and it is raised in power.
I have children here on earth and I have some who are now in the presence of God. I look forward to seeing my children. Loss of a loved one is never easy. I thank God for his constant grief ministry in the collective lives of us who know the loss of loved ones. God lost his Son to death too. God knows loss in a way that we can never know. God's Son came back from the dead and now we prosper through God's loss.
God has given us hope through the Iesous. Get your future settled with God. Remember the soul survives the death of the body. The Word of God gives hope beyond the grave. Think for yourself. Listen to the Gospel message. Read the Gospel of John prayerfully.
The primary reason that the early believers and writers of the Faith took over and adopted the term 'Gospel' from their culture was because it meant 'good news' and heralded either the birthday of the emperor or the coming (parousia) of the emperor to visit a city or province.
The event of the resurrection had to be tied to a term worthy of its greatness and importance. The titanic struggle with thanatos or death had been won. Peter said in his great sermon on the Day of Pentecost that it was not possible for death to hold him (Iesous). Indeed, the Iesous allowed thanatos to hold him for a little while and then the Iesous stood up out from death.
We are told in the Book of Revelation that the Iesous now holds the keys to death and the grave. His victory was complete. Yes, people still die. But there is a message that we can share with people about the future. Our message is one of life. Paul wrote to the church at Rome that he was not ashamed of the Gospel of the Ieosus because it was and remains the message of eternal life.
The peace of God and peace with God is given through the Gospel. The Gospel remains a radical message filled with life-giving power.
I visited an elderly man who had had a career in the United States Navy. He was an Afro-American man. At the time that I went to visit him he was in the process of having his bed changed. He saw me standing at the door to his room and with alert and piercing eyes he asked me to identify myself.
I told him who I was and that I would come back a little later to speak with him. His reply to me was "See that you do." When I returned to his room he told me that he was dying from cancer and he wanted to have peace with God. He had made references to some of the things that he had done in his life and he wanted to know how to have God's peace in his heart.
After years in the ministry one acquires an ear for what is truth and what is carefully contrived fiction. His words were angst filled and had an existential imperative. He wanted the words of eternal life from God.
I shared the Word of God with him and, thus, he received the Word of God. He received peace with God, and the peace of God through the Gospel that I shared with him that day.
No program can replace the Gospel. All men die. No one disagrees with that proposition. Death occurs daily. It is a relentless foe. Death does not mind if we ignore its presence because at some point we will face it. But one can decide how one will face death.
Iesous has defeated death. He has taken away the sting of death. The sting of death is sin. Death need not have victory over your life. You can decide now to have the Iesous in your life and appropriate the life giving message of the Gospel to rescue you from death.
When you die it will not be merely an eternal sleep as some teach today. Their refusal to acknowledge the after life does not remove the reality thereof. Some may not believe in gravity but if one steps off a roof of some height the reality of gravity makes one a reluctant believer.
I have gone on Youtube to listen to the music of the stars and the radio signals that stars produce. Stars speak in the language of musical harmonics. The moon has its own special music too. This is not by chance. This is by divine design. The body is sown in biologic corruption, but it will be raised and fitted for life in the presence of God. The body is sown in weakness and it is raised in power.
I have children here on earth and I have some who are now in the presence of God. I look forward to seeing my children. Loss of a loved one is never easy. I thank God for his constant grief ministry in the collective lives of us who know the loss of loved ones. God lost his Son to death too. God knows loss in a way that we can never know. God's Son came back from the dead and now we prosper through God's loss.
God has given us hope through the Iesous. Get your future settled with God. Remember the soul survives the death of the body. The Word of God gives hope beyond the grave. Think for yourself. Listen to the Gospel message. Read the Gospel of John prayerfully.
"For God so love the world that he gave his only begotten Son
that whosoever believes in him may not die, but have eternal life."
John 3:16
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, please follow his blog and visit his website.
Monday, March 18, 2013
We Have Resurrection Life Through Iesous
"And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins... If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most to be pitiable." I Cor. 15:17,19h
The foundational truth of the New Testament Grape (Writings) is the standing up of the Iesous out from death and the grave. Paul believed in the resurrection of the Iesous. Paul met him on the way to Damascus, and the encounter radically changed his life.
Saul of Tarsus died on the road to Damascus and the Apostle Paul arose from the empty shallow life. Yes, Paul too stood up out from death because the living God transferred him from death into life.
In First Corinthians Paul gives his great discourse on the resurrection or the anastasis nekron of the Iesous. He argues cogently and eloquently for the resurrection of the Iesous. He also offers an incredible group of eye witnesses to corroborate the reality of the resurrection of the Iesous. Paul is relentless in his efforts to unmask the self-serving hypocrisy of unbelief in the resurrection.
He is speaking to professed believers in the Iesous. Some of these professed believers denied the resurrection. Does this sound familiar to you?
A long time ago a friend of mine who worked at a bank told me that employees were trained in how to detect counterfeit currency by handling real bills. There were particular traits that the genuine bills had that could not be duplicated by the counterfeiters. And so it is with the resurrection of the Iesous.
Paul knew the resurrection was a real historical event. The witnesses who saw the Iesous during his post-resurrection ministry were persons of unimpeachable character. Their testimonies of who they saw in bodily form, and who they heard took up an unshakeable place in their hearts. Some were even allowed to physically handle the person of the Iesous with a view to encouraging their faith in Him.
God cannot lie. God cannot tell an untruth. His nature is truth. The Scriptures teach the veracity of God. Ultimately to believe or not to believe the resurrection rests on one's view of the character of God. Paul knows that if there is no resurrection preaching is vanity and faith is empty, and we collectively are false witnesses of God.
I know that some men have taught that Paul is only speaking of a spiritual resurrection of Iesous. Paul will not suffer such toying with words. Such an interpretation is not supported by this passage. Paul speaks of the resurrection as the most powerful and compelling event in history.
I am compelled to write about the resurrection because I have been in the company of persons who believe that death is a natural process and that there is no life beyond this life. Their approach to ministry is to believe that they support persons through the natural process of death, and then they are no more.
So why disguise such a belief as ministry or spiritual support? It is because these persons believe the reductionist view of western medicine. They believe that persons are merely streams of consciousness brought on by electrochemical factors inherent in the body, and that the soul is not real.
Medicine is scientific and it is good that we can have access to able medical practitioners. I am arguing that persons are more than body. Persons are consciousness that do not disappear at the time of physical death. There is that other world. The world after death that men fear because they do not want to be accountable to it in any manner. Be that as it may, there is a world after physical death.
God rules over that world too. Persons are finite beings who are accountable to the Infinite One. The acts of people do follow them to and beyond the death encounter. No one is completely autonomous. Only God is completely autonomous. Remember that at the beginning the Adam and his Ishah (Eve) wanted to know complete autonomy from the God.
Beloved the Iesous was raised out from the grave and death. He is alive today. In order to have eternal life and the assurance of life beyond this fleeting moment you must come to him and be set free from the futile lies that seek to control your life. God loves you. The Iesous was raised from the grave for our justification before God.
Beloved now is the day of salvation. Stop caring about what other will think of you and come to the Iesous for life eternal.
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, please follow his blog and visit his website.
The foundational truth of the New Testament Grape (Writings) is the standing up of the Iesous out from death and the grave. Paul believed in the resurrection of the Iesous. Paul met him on the way to Damascus, and the encounter radically changed his life.
Saul of Tarsus died on the road to Damascus and the Apostle Paul arose from the empty shallow life. Yes, Paul too stood up out from death because the living God transferred him from death into life.
In First Corinthians Paul gives his great discourse on the resurrection or the anastasis nekron of the Iesous. He argues cogently and eloquently for the resurrection of the Iesous. He also offers an incredible group of eye witnesses to corroborate the reality of the resurrection of the Iesous. Paul is relentless in his efforts to unmask the self-serving hypocrisy of unbelief in the resurrection.
He is speaking to professed believers in the Iesous. Some of these professed believers denied the resurrection. Does this sound familiar to you?
A long time ago a friend of mine who worked at a bank told me that employees were trained in how to detect counterfeit currency by handling real bills. There were particular traits that the genuine bills had that could not be duplicated by the counterfeiters. And so it is with the resurrection of the Iesous.
Paul knew the resurrection was a real historical event. The witnesses who saw the Iesous during his post-resurrection ministry were persons of unimpeachable character. Their testimonies of who they saw in bodily form, and who they heard took up an unshakeable place in their hearts. Some were even allowed to physically handle the person of the Iesous with a view to encouraging their faith in Him.
God cannot lie. God cannot tell an untruth. His nature is truth. The Scriptures teach the veracity of God. Ultimately to believe or not to believe the resurrection rests on one's view of the character of God. Paul knows that if there is no resurrection preaching is vanity and faith is empty, and we collectively are false witnesses of God.
I know that some men have taught that Paul is only speaking of a spiritual resurrection of Iesous. Paul will not suffer such toying with words. Such an interpretation is not supported by this passage. Paul speaks of the resurrection as the most powerful and compelling event in history.
I am compelled to write about the resurrection because I have been in the company of persons who believe that death is a natural process and that there is no life beyond this life. Their approach to ministry is to believe that they support persons through the natural process of death, and then they are no more.
So why disguise such a belief as ministry or spiritual support? It is because these persons believe the reductionist view of western medicine. They believe that persons are merely streams of consciousness brought on by electrochemical factors inherent in the body, and that the soul is not real.
Medicine is scientific and it is good that we can have access to able medical practitioners. I am arguing that persons are more than body. Persons are consciousness that do not disappear at the time of physical death. There is that other world. The world after death that men fear because they do not want to be accountable to it in any manner. Be that as it may, there is a world after physical death.
God rules over that world too. Persons are finite beings who are accountable to the Infinite One. The acts of people do follow them to and beyond the death encounter. No one is completely autonomous. Only God is completely autonomous. Remember that at the beginning the Adam and his Ishah (Eve) wanted to know complete autonomy from the God.
Beloved the Iesous was raised out from the grave and death. He is alive today. In order to have eternal life and the assurance of life beyond this fleeting moment you must come to him and be set free from the futile lies that seek to control your life. God loves you. The Iesous was raised from the grave for our justification before God.
Beloved now is the day of salvation. Stop caring about what other will think of you and come to the Iesous for life eternal.
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, please follow his blog and visit his website.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Blessed Assurance
"Who shall separate us from the love of Christos? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able (powerful) to separate us from the love of God which is in Christos Iesou our Lord." Romans 8:35, 37
After many, many centuries these words are a source of comfort for the constantly believing ones. These words pulsate with incredible power and hope. One can tell that these words are the product of a life lived deeply and richly in Iesou.
Paul was a spiritual pioneer in Iesous. Paul said, "for me to live is Christos." That statement was the secret to the rich power of his life. Paul also said that he "gave up all the trappings of earthly prestige and success." He said that "such things were a hindrance to following the Iesou." And so that no one would misinterpret his motive Paul emphatically stated that he counted the cosmic definition of success as dung.
Paul had found in the person of the Iesous the meaning of life. For Paul and countless others the Iesous is the Logos. That is, He is the Word of Life. The spiritual life is higher than the physical life. The spiritual life is cultivated under both pleasant and difficult conditions. Life is filled with many challenges, but the spiritual one knows that he does not face these challenges alone.
He knows that the temporal life has been swallowed up by the spiritual life. The temporal order has an inherent and relentless jealousy of the spiritual life. It seeks to hold the attention of the spiritual life by appealing to the base instincts. Flattery, sensual pleasure, inordinate business, and zombie-like attention to entertainment.
Paul has known the risks of the spiritual life, but it is an identity that he will not discard because of negative temporal experiences. He knows that he belongs to a higher order, and he will not capitulate to a lesser life. He is unashamedly bold and decisive about this matter. There is no compromise for him. Paul knows the reality of communion with God. He will never walk away from that eternal encounter for the Siren song of triviality.
Life can be disconcerting and discouraging, but Paul knows enough about being a spiritual one that he does not allow the momentary light affliction to eclipse his grasp of the reality of the Iesous. Paul knows that those things that are allowed to pass by will not stay in his life. He knows that above the dark and threatening storm there is the love of Iesou. Paul has blessed assurance. His belief structure is sound. He has not built his life on the sand. He has built his life upon the Rock of the Iesous.
Because he has founded his life upon the Iesous Paul knows a radically different view of life. He does not walk between the shadows seeking to affirm a religious position. Remember Paul was a Pharisee. He walked away from religion. He found that religion was hostile to real spiritual life. The life that God offers in Iesous is not religious. God offers eternal life in the Iesous.
Paul believes that this temporal life with its array of threats and opportunistic problems are overcome and supplanted by the love of Iesous. Things can get really bad in this life, and sometimes we can lose everything that others have told us are the marks of success. You feel ashamed that your things have disappeared from your life. Beloved the 'stuff' is gone, but the love of God remains. One can recover and buy new stuff and reclaim social acceptance. Hopefully, though, something new has taken over in your life and you have learned the folly of living for the accumulation of stuff.
Paul got rid of his stuff to make room for the living Iesous. Do you have stuff in your life that is keeping you from Iesous? Do you feel that without the stuff life would be so different? You're right. Do you feel trapped by stuff in your life? I mean people, things, and circumstance that you need to let go. God's plan is better than your plan. God can make all things new for you.
Read Paul's words in these verses. God can take the most adverse encounter and change it for the good, and there is nothing in this life that we will experience that will separate us from Him. Are you ready to live for God? Has he been speaking to you about releasing those temporal things that you have come to believe are essential? Take all the stuff before God and leave the stuff at the prayer altar. Don't be surprised if you see me there with stuff that I have to discard. Blessings to you.
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, please follow this blog and visit his website.
After many, many centuries these words are a source of comfort for the constantly believing ones. These words pulsate with incredible power and hope. One can tell that these words are the product of a life lived deeply and richly in Iesou.
Paul was a spiritual pioneer in Iesous. Paul said, "for me to live is Christos." That statement was the secret to the rich power of his life. Paul also said that he "gave up all the trappings of earthly prestige and success." He said that "such things were a hindrance to following the Iesou." And so that no one would misinterpret his motive Paul emphatically stated that he counted the cosmic definition of success as dung.
Paul had found in the person of the Iesous the meaning of life. For Paul and countless others the Iesous is the Logos. That is, He is the Word of Life. The spiritual life is higher than the physical life. The spiritual life is cultivated under both pleasant and difficult conditions. Life is filled with many challenges, but the spiritual one knows that he does not face these challenges alone.
He knows that the temporal life has been swallowed up by the spiritual life. The temporal order has an inherent and relentless jealousy of the spiritual life. It seeks to hold the attention of the spiritual life by appealing to the base instincts. Flattery, sensual pleasure, inordinate business, and zombie-like attention to entertainment.
Paul has known the risks of the spiritual life, but it is an identity that he will not discard because of negative temporal experiences. He knows that he belongs to a higher order, and he will not capitulate to a lesser life. He is unashamedly bold and decisive about this matter. There is no compromise for him. Paul knows the reality of communion with God. He will never walk away from that eternal encounter for the Siren song of triviality.
Life can be disconcerting and discouraging, but Paul knows enough about being a spiritual one that he does not allow the momentary light affliction to eclipse his grasp of the reality of the Iesous. Paul knows that those things that are allowed to pass by will not stay in his life. He knows that above the dark and threatening storm there is the love of Iesou. Paul has blessed assurance. His belief structure is sound. He has not built his life on the sand. He has built his life upon the Rock of the Iesous.
Because he has founded his life upon the Iesous Paul knows a radically different view of life. He does not walk between the shadows seeking to affirm a religious position. Remember Paul was a Pharisee. He walked away from religion. He found that religion was hostile to real spiritual life. The life that God offers in Iesous is not religious. God offers eternal life in the Iesous.
Paul believes that this temporal life with its array of threats and opportunistic problems are overcome and supplanted by the love of Iesous. Things can get really bad in this life, and sometimes we can lose everything that others have told us are the marks of success. You feel ashamed that your things have disappeared from your life. Beloved the 'stuff' is gone, but the love of God remains. One can recover and buy new stuff and reclaim social acceptance. Hopefully, though, something new has taken over in your life and you have learned the folly of living for the accumulation of stuff.
Paul got rid of his stuff to make room for the living Iesous. Do you have stuff in your life that is keeping you from Iesous? Do you feel that without the stuff life would be so different? You're right. Do you feel trapped by stuff in your life? I mean people, things, and circumstance that you need to let go. God's plan is better than your plan. God can make all things new for you.
Read Paul's words in these verses. God can take the most adverse encounter and change it for the good, and there is nothing in this life that we will experience that will separate us from Him. Are you ready to live for God? Has he been speaking to you about releasing those temporal things that you have come to believe are essential? Take all the stuff before God and leave the stuff at the prayer altar. Don't be surprised if you see me there with stuff that I have to discard. Blessings to you.
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, please follow this blog and visit his website.
Monday, March 4, 2013
The Great and Merciful Physician
"Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice.' For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance." Matt.9:12-13
The Iesous was singularly focused upon the primary needs of persons. It is extraordinary that he should have been sharply criticized for his ultimate concern by those who had no interest in his love of persons and their intrinsic afflictions. Ministry is never performed within a vacuum. The Iesous knew that the words of his critics contained an inherent blindness. That is, their words revealed their character to him, and he knew that they spoke from a position of arrogance.
Arrogance is a spiritual disease. It destroys the perception of an individual. It cuts off the ability of an individual to see a situation with accurate perception. Arrogance skews cognitive awareness and replaces it with fragmented and flawed thinking. The Iesous incurred the criticism of the Pharisees because he had met a tax collector named Matthew and had gone to his home for a meal. The Pharisees witnessed this event and confronted the disciples of the Iesous about the unorthodox and irreligious nature of their master's actions.
It is interesting that the Pharisees confronted the disciples and not the Iesou. This reveals the insidious nature of their hostility. "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Such persons represented the unacceptable classes. So why would the Teacher of the disciples risk social disapproval by being in the presence of and eating with those who represented the 'worse' members of society?
He too will be seen in a different light. Their smouldering hostility can be whipped into a bright flame because of this event. The Iesous will be blamed for their attitude toward him because he stepped outside of the accepted norm and into the realm of sinners and tax collectors.
They did not want to know why he took this decisive action. They seized upon this event as a marvelous opportunity to critisize him. They were opportunistic and wished only to see the most compassionate actions in the worse manner. The Iesous went where they would never go. Their strict religious statues were designed to regulate their behavior and actions in all circumstances. They observed the letter of the law, but knew nothing of the spirit of the law. This was the flaw in their system of beliefs.
The Iesous seized upon the fundamental flaw in their thinking and he confronted them in a direct manner. Their cognitive distortion led to words of hurt and insensitivity. He wanted them to now that he was there to minister the love of God to persons in crisis. Persons in crisis flocked to the Iesous because they felt safe with him. They knew of their inner conflicts and pain, and they also knew that those who could help them would not help them so they were suspicious of the religious leaders. Their religious leaders rejected the needy ones by culturally biased beliefs-sounds familiar.
Think of a hurting one who goes for 'help' to a culturally-sanctioned helper. Such a person would naturally be suspicions of those within the established priesthood of helpers. If one were to go to such ones for help he or she would be viewed by the priest through unclean doors of perception. The needy would be put through the lens of established beliefs and diagnosed with the most extreme labels possible.
The Ieosus did no such thing. He legitimately recognized the source of human behavior. He was relentlessly honest with people about their condition, as a physician is called to be, and yet he engaged them with palpable compassion and mercy. The Pharisees were locked into inflexible narcissism, and the Iesuos knew it.
Iesous came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. That is, he came for you and me. I remember when my soul suffered the 'sickness unto death' and the Iesous rescued me. Do you need him to rescue you today?
Blessings to you.
For more information about Dr. Rich and his teaching ministry, please follow this blog and visit his website.
The Iesous was singularly focused upon the primary needs of persons. It is extraordinary that he should have been sharply criticized for his ultimate concern by those who had no interest in his love of persons and their intrinsic afflictions. Ministry is never performed within a vacuum. The Iesous knew that the words of his critics contained an inherent blindness. That is, their words revealed their character to him, and he knew that they spoke from a position of arrogance.
Arrogance is a spiritual disease. It destroys the perception of an individual. It cuts off the ability of an individual to see a situation with accurate perception. Arrogance skews cognitive awareness and replaces it with fragmented and flawed thinking. The Iesous incurred the criticism of the Pharisees because he had met a tax collector named Matthew and had gone to his home for a meal. The Pharisees witnessed this event and confronted the disciples of the Iesous about the unorthodox and irreligious nature of their master's actions.
It is interesting that the Pharisees confronted the disciples and not the Iesou. This reveals the insidious nature of their hostility. "Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Such persons represented the unacceptable classes. So why would the Teacher of the disciples risk social disapproval by being in the presence of and eating with those who represented the 'worse' members of society?
He too will be seen in a different light. Their smouldering hostility can be whipped into a bright flame because of this event. The Iesous will be blamed for their attitude toward him because he stepped outside of the accepted norm and into the realm of sinners and tax collectors.
They did not want to know why he took this decisive action. They seized upon this event as a marvelous opportunity to critisize him. They were opportunistic and wished only to see the most compassionate actions in the worse manner. The Iesous went where they would never go. Their strict religious statues were designed to regulate their behavior and actions in all circumstances. They observed the letter of the law, but knew nothing of the spirit of the law. This was the flaw in their system of beliefs.
The Iesous seized upon the fundamental flaw in their thinking and he confronted them in a direct manner. Their cognitive distortion led to words of hurt and insensitivity. He wanted them to now that he was there to minister the love of God to persons in crisis. Persons in crisis flocked to the Iesous because they felt safe with him. They knew of their inner conflicts and pain, and they also knew that those who could help them would not help them so they were suspicious of the religious leaders. Their religious leaders rejected the needy ones by culturally biased beliefs-sounds familiar.
Think of a hurting one who goes for 'help' to a culturally-sanctioned helper. Such a person would naturally be suspicions of those within the established priesthood of helpers. If one were to go to such ones for help he or she would be viewed by the priest through unclean doors of perception. The needy would be put through the lens of established beliefs and diagnosed with the most extreme labels possible.
The Ieosus did no such thing. He legitimately recognized the source of human behavior. He was relentlessly honest with people about their condition, as a physician is called to be, and yet he engaged them with palpable compassion and mercy. The Pharisees were locked into inflexible narcissism, and the Iesuos knew it.
Iesous came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. That is, he came for you and me. I remember when my soul suffered the 'sickness unto death' and the Iesous rescued me. Do you need him to rescue you today?
Blessings to you.
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