The Three Rules of Respect

A friend recently ask about me about 1 Thessalonians 4:11, 12 and I immediately thought of the Three Rules of Respect. Admittedly, there are few people who would think of that . . . maybe three others total (my wife and two children). When my children were young I made them recite the three rules of respect each time they left the house to spend time under authority other than parental. The first rule was (I should say is) "obey those in authority over you." This comes from another passage. One and two come from this passage:

   to aspire to live quietly, to mind your own affairs, and to work with your hands, as we charged you; so that you may command the respect of outsiders, and be dependent on nobody (1 Thessalonians 4:11-12).

Rule #2, from "aspire to live quietly", is Have a Quiet Disposition.

Rule#3, from "work with your hands", is Work Hard.

The lesson for my children was this: If you want people, even adults, to respect you, and most children do desire this, you need to consistently (1) respect authority, (2) have a quiet disposition, and (3) work hard.

The context of this passage is the impending return of the Lord and the general resurrection. In 2 Thessalonians 3:6-15 we see that some disciples had become inappropriaty idle. The thought was something like, "since the Lord is coming back soon, I might as well just chill until he gets here." So Paul was concerned that disciples project an appropriate picture of godly living to the world around them. We were created to work in his creation and to seek the world's welfare.

That reminds me of another passage:

But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare (Jeremiah 29:7).

Just like the Jewish exiles in Babylon were to work and seek the welfare of the cities they were exiles to, disciples of Jesus Christ work to seek the welfare of a yet unredeemed world, in which they too are exiles.

That reminds of another passage:

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain (1 Corinthians 15:58).

This is the last verse of a rather long section on the resurrection. Jesus is coming back, his disciples will be resurrected and given new bodies, death will suffer a final defeat, all causes of sin and lawbreakers will be removed, creation will be redeemed . . . thus we should get to work . . . what we do toward making the world look like this will apparently not be in vain.

And, by the way, my children are now 18 and 16 years old and I am very proud of the way they have grown into adults who respect authority, work hard and have a quiet disposition. (I digressed a bit).

Finances for a Disciple, Part 1

Some things we discussed on Sunday:

1. All of it (i.e., 100%, not just 10%) is renounced to the Lordship of Jesus Christ (Luke 14:33).
2. We have only one purpose with our life and resources [i.e, pursuit of the kingdom of God (Matt 6:33)]. The purpose of a disciple, including the use of money, is undivided in this. The theme of the Sermon on the Mount (Matt chapters 6-7), which is about discipleship, is to be τελειος  (Matt 5:48). Most translations translate it "perfect." It means perfect in the sense of "whole" or "undivided."
3. We are not to store up treasures on earth "for ourselves" (Matt 6:22). However, we may be called to store up that which will continue to be at God's disposal. In fact, God assigns gifts to some disciples to store up for kingdom purposes (Romans 12:8). 
4. Intentionally invest heavily where you want your heart to go because your heart will go where your treasure goes (Matt 6:21).
5. Don't set your eye on making money or accumulating material possessions. A disciple must have an undivided eye set on Jesus (Matt 6:22, 23) and he will provide everything you need to fulfill every purpose that he chooses for you (Matt 6:33). 

Sojourners, Widows & Orphans

A summary of Sunday evening's teaching:

We looked at several Scriptures on Sunday. I wanted to demonstrate that Scripture is replete with concern for the Sojourner, Widow and Orphan. By looking at each of these Scriptures we can see that God's concern for these people is demonstrated in the Law, the Prophets, the Writings and the New Testament.

God himself is their champion:

• Ex :22:21-24
• Duet 10:18,19
• Ps 146:8-10
• Prov 23:10-12

God champions their cause through his people:

• The Law commands; what is designated is sacred -- Duet 26:12-14.
• The Prophets reiterate the commands -- Is 1:16; Jer 22:3; Mal 3:5-7.
• The Law appeals to the memory of God's people; they too were sojourners -- Ex 23:6-9.
• The Law commands God's people to love the sojourner -- Lev 19:33-34.
• This is how we love people . . . right? -- 1 John 3:16-18.
• The New Testament demonstrates the enduring importance of taking care of this group of people -- James 1:27.

Upon creating the nation that would be God's people, God instituted the following methods to care for these people and other categories of down-and-out people:

• The every-third-year tithe -- Duet 14:28, 29.
• Gleaning privileges -- Duet 24:19-22.
• The land Sabbath -- Ex 23:10-12.
• Don't charge interest -- Lev 25:35-38.
• Release from servitude -- Duet 15:1-18.
• Jubilee -- Lev 25:8-17
• Kinsman Redemption -- Duet 25:5, 6.

Here's the question: Seeing God's unchanging heart for the Sojourner, Widow and Orphan, how do we, as God's people, respond today?

10 Commandments for Possibility Thinkers for everyone

I saw the below "10 Commandments for Possibility Thinkers" framed in our central county school office today and then found them on the internet. These commandments encouraged me. I thought, "hey, there might be other risk takers out there that scare and even offend people." Maybe I'm not as alone as I sometimes feel. I hope these resonate with some of you as well.

1. You will never vote NO to any idea because "It's impossible."
2. You will never block a helpful thought because it entails problems, or wait to begin until you find a solution to every problem.
3. You will never oppose a possibility because you've never done it and can't imagine how it could be done.
4. You will never obstruct a plan because it runs a risk of failure.
5. You will never cooperate in defeating a potentially good suggestion because you can see something wrong with it.
6. You will never quench a creative idea because no one else has succeeded in perfecting it.
7. You will never declare any constructive concept to be impossible because you lack the time, money, brains, energy, talent or skill to exploit it.
8. You will never discard a plan or a project just because it's imperfect.
9. You will never resist a proposal because you didn't think of it, you won't get the credit, you won't personally benefit from it, or you may not live to see and enjoy it.
10. You will never quit because you've reached the end of the rope.  Tie a knot and hang on.
Start dreaming!  Be sure to make your dreams big enough for God to fit in!

Tithing

A summary of our teaching from Sunday night was essentially this:

The Jews were obligated by the Law to tithe by giving of a tenth of their produce and livestock annually to the Levites, to consume a tenth of their own produce and livestock annually before the Lord at festivals in Jerusalem, and to give a tenth of their produce and livestock every third year to be put in the storehouse for the sojourners, orphans, and widows. On an annual basis, the Law prescribed tithe calculates out to 23.33% of produce and livestock. Here are the passages that prescribes these tithes:

I think that from this we learn the kinds of things God loves for us to give to:

• The Levitical system--drawing attention to his Glory and teaching people about himself.
• The festival tithe--reminding us that he loves to provide for us and wants us to enjoy and be thankful for what he provides.
• The landless--sojourner, orphan, and widow. 

As Christians, we do not have a system like the one prescribed in the Law, but we do give generously to the things that God loves.

No inn in the story, no stable in the nativity scene.

It is sometimes difficult to distinguish tradition from Scripture, maybe never more so than in the case of the Christmas story. Here's one tidbit that I find interesting:

As tradition goes, at least in the movies, and often times in our Christmas Pageants, Joseph and Mary came into Bethlehem on Christmas night, hurriedly dragging a donkey with Mary riding while enduring contractions. Upon arrival, Joseph frantically goes from inn to inn in the great metropolis of Bethlehem knocking on doors only to get turned away again and again. And, at the last possible moment, a little old lady directs them to a stable because there's no room in any of the inns. Fun story, but merely a fun tradition.

It's more likely that Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem with plenty of time to get there before the baby was born, probably weeks or even months ahead of time. Remember that this is where Joseph's family was from, otherwise he would not have gone there in response to the decree of Caesar. I'm going back to Indiana tomorrow, where I'm from, and will stay with my family, not in an inn. At least the scallywags had better not send me to an inn.

Because there were lots of out-of-town family members showing up for the census, there was no room in the κατάλυμα by the time Joseph and Mary arrived. A κατάλυμα, for Luke, was most likely the guest room in the relative's house, not an inn. As a matter of fact, without hesitation we translate κατάλυμα as it is used in Luke 22:11 as a guest room meaning a part of the house.

So, Joseph and Mary likely stayed in the common room of a house (in lieu of the occupied guest room) with several people, where animals were sometimes brought in out of the cold, where there happened to be a manger, where Jesus was born.

I really enjoy getting to the details of biblical stories. There was probably no inn in the little town of Bethlehem. Joseph and Mary probably didn't even go to the stables. And Jesus was probably born in the common room of a relative's house and placed in a manger.

Here's the nativity scene in my house as I write. Yes . . . I know . . . the exegetes among you will want to critique additional details in this scene.

Merry Christmas!

Missional & Faith Communities

Check out this new video explaining the relationship between Missional and Faith Communities with Mountain Community.