Tag Archives: Rules

Chapter-a-Day

“How Not to Be a Dick”

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“How Not to Be a Dick” (CaD Matthew 6) – Wayfarer

“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them.If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.”
Matthew 6:1 (NIV)

My buddy Nathan is a senior in high school this year. When Wendy and I got married, she was the last of her “Golden Girls” friends group to get married, but none of the five of them had babies at that point. At our wedding rehearsal dinner, Nathan’s mom told the girls she was pregnant. Nine months later, Nathan was born. Wendy and I have enjoyed being a part of his life. His mother blames Wendy and me for instilling in him a love for baseball. I had the honor of mentoring him in his profession of faith. It’s hard to believe that in a few months we’ll watch him graduate from high school.

When Nathan was entering adolescence, I read a review in the Wall Street Journal of a clever little book by Meghan Doherty called How Not to Be a Dick. It’s a brilliant parody of the old Dick and Jane books that schools used to use to teach kids reading. Doherty uses the parody to teach young men some of the basics of how to be respectful and capable young men as it relates to being around others, girls, and adults. We gifted it to our young friend.

As I read the middle chapter of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” this morning, my heart and mind continued to notice the contrast between His instructions and the instructions God gave His people through Moses in Leviticus. Once again, I couldn’t help but notice that there are plenty of “dos” and “do nots” but they are different.

Take for example some of the “dos” and “do nots” from Leviticus 18 contrasted with Jesus’ “dos” and “don nots” from today’s chapter:

God in Leviticus: “Obey My laws and follow My decrees.”
Jesus: “Seek first [God’s] Kingdom.”

God in Leviticus: “Don’t have sex with family member, including in-laws.”
Jesus: “Don’t brag about how much you give to the poor.”

God in Leviticus: “Don’t take your wife’s sister as a rival wife.”
Jesus: “Don’t give showy public prayers to be seen by others.”

God in Leviticus: “Don’t sacrifice your children on the altar of Molek.”
Jesus: “Don’t worry about your life, clothes, needs, or future.”

Can you see the contrast?

Leviticus was like a Dick and Jane primer helping little children figure out some of the spiritual basics of life like my five-year-old self trying to figure out how to phonetically sound out words and read a simple sentence. Jesus in His sermon on the Mount isn’t calling for strict obedience to the parent’s household rules or dealing with prohibitions of incest and child sacrifice. Jesus is talking about choosing in to a hearts desire for the things of God and more addressing spiritual issues of the heart like sincere faith, doing things with right motives, and developing faith as an antidote to fear. It’s as if Jesus is addressing a humanity moving into adolescence how “not to be a Dick.”

In the quiet this morning, I’m thinking about entire churches I know who perpetually treat their members as children as if they are spiritually learning how to read. They approach life with black-and-white rules of morality, lord over people like strict parents hovering over toddlers they expect to be naughty, and punish disobedience with tactics of fear, shame, and the threat of being ostracized. God, however, calls on me to be “mature” and Jesus moved beyond such spiritual basics to address deeper matters of the Spirit and my heart’s motives and intentions.

As a child, I learned to obey behavioral rules because my parents demanded it. As an adult, I learned to avoid certain behaviors to avoid the painful consequences while maintaining other behaviors simply because I know they are the right and healthy things to do for myself and others.

As Paul put it in his letter to the followers of Jesus in Corinth: “When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.”

In other words, somewhere along the line I graduated from learning how to read about Dick and Jane, to choosing not to be a Dick.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Different

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Different (CaD Lev 11) – Wayfarer

“‘You must distinguish between the unclean and the clean, between living creatures that may be eaten and those that may not be eaten.’”
Leviticus 11:47 (NIV)

I like to wear hats. I have a lot of them. Not the ubiquitous baseball cap, but actual hats like a pork pie and fedora. It’s funny how often people will comment to me about it. I suppose that it’s, in part, because I’m an Enneagram Type Four, the “Individualist,” and we actually like to be a little different. It’s a thing.

Beginning with today’s chapter, we’re entering a new section of the priestly instruction manual God gave his newly appointed high priest, Aaron, and his sons. It was also an instruction manual for the Hebrew people and how God wanted them to live. This section of the manual deals with being ritually clean and ritually unclean along with prescribed rituals for dealing with any uncleanness.

Today’s chapter begins with food. God tells the Hebrews that there are certain creatures they can eat and others that they cannot. In some cases, scholars have argued that the restrictions given had certain health benefits. For example, cud chewing animals tend to secrete the toxins of the food they chew so by the time it gets to their stomach, only the most nutritious part of the food is left and the meat of the animal is healthier. While this is true of cud chewing animals, this healthy versus unhealthy distinction is not clear through all of the various types of creatures God labels clean and unclean.

What is clear is that God has chosen the Hebrews to be His people. He’s already breaking all religious convention of that day by being the one and only God and by choosing a people to perpetually dwell with, lead, instruct, and provide for. With these instructions, God is ensuring that His people will be different from all of the other peoples around them. They eat differently, they have a completely different belief system, they behave differently, and live differently.

Hundreds of years later, when God’s Son, Jesus, shows up, He will instruct His followers that they are to be different, as well. He spoke of food, as well, but this time it was metaphorically. He said that everyone knows a plant or tree by the fruit it bears. Some bear good fruit you can eat. Some bear bad fruit you need to avoid. So, He expected His disciples to bear “good fruit” through our thoughts, words, actions, and relationships that are marked with love in all its positive varietal attributes. Jesus graduates the “difference” from dietary to spiritual, from food to behavior, from meat to love.

In both cases, the underlying mission is for the world to know God through His people, that they might see, believe, and follow. With his fledgling Hebrew tribes in the toddler stages of humanity, it begins with simple instructions for how to eat. It’s much like teaching a little child how to dress, eat, and wash their hands. God is taking baby steps in His relationship with humanity the way every parent does with a child.

So in the quiet this morning, I think back to my hats. It is a little different, which I confess that I like. Nevertheless, it’s not the different that Jesus asks of me, and of all His followers. The difference He wants people to notice in me is in the way I love them and others, the way He has loved me: generously, graciously, mercifully, humbly, and sacrificially. That’s a pretty “clean” and easy instruction. Lord, help me not dirty it up today.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Calvinball

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Calvinball (CaD Lev 6) – Wayfarer

They must make restitution in full, add a fifth of the value to it and give it all to the owner on the day they present their guilt offering.
Leviticus 6:5 (NIV)

I miss Calvin and Hobbes. The comic strip about a young boy and his stuffed (yet very real) tiger has always been one of my favorites. One of the recurring themes in the world of Calvin and Hobbes was Calvinball, a game of ever-changing rules based on Calvin’s whims and whatever gives him an edge in winning the game. It’s sort of like our grandson Milo, who loves to have Papa get him past the difficult part of the video game level and then abruptly steals the controller out of my hands. It’s abundantly clear who is making the rules regarding how this works.

I thought of that as I meditated on the chapter this morning. God, having established the five major offerings He wants His people to bring to the altar, now provides some specifics for each one and how they are to be handled by the priests.

It’s hard for me fathom, but the Hebrew people had no formal code of law or order at the time Leviticus was given. Life together was one big game of Calvinball. People could make up their own rules at their own whim based on whatever benefitted them the most. I take for granted that I have never known a world without a formal structure of social law and order. I can’t imagine living without it.

This is one of the things I find most helpful in reading through the book of Leviticus. On a macro level, God is eliminating life as one big game of Calvinball and establishing an ordered system of living life together in community: God, me, and others. What does God establish first and foremost? Voluntary offerings of gratitude, blessing, and devotion (burnt, grain, and fellowship). After that comes the mandatory offerings for sin and guilt based on the sinner realizing his or her responsibility and acting on it. Nowhere in what I’ve read so far in Leviticus do I find a condemning God breathing hell-fire and damnation nor an absent God living in another spiritual reality with little concern for humanity. Rather, I find God initiating and establishing a system by which He and humanity can live together in harmony.

The underlying theme of the five main offerings is my human responsibility to be considerate of God and others, and to take the responsibility for my own actions and make things right. In today’s chapter, God even ups the ante in situations in which I am responsible for stealing, breaking, or losing someone else’s stuff. God through Moses establishes that before the Hebrew perpetrator brings his or her guilt offering to God, first he or she must make restitution in replacing the stolen, broken, or lost item and add twenty-percent of its value in interest. I couldn’t help but hear the echo of Jesus’ own teaching in my soul:

“This is how I want you to conduct yourself in these matters. If you enter your place of worship and, about to make an offering, you suddenly remember a grudge a friend has against you, abandon your offering, leave immediately, go to this friend and make things right. Then and only then, come back and work things out with God.” Matthew 5:23-24 (MSG)

In the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking about human’s ability to play Calvinball even with our established system of laws and regulations. How can I twist the letter of the law or bend the meaning of that regulation for my own selfish purposes? By the time Jesus arrived on the scene, that’s what His people had done with the laws of Moses that we’re reading about in Leviticus. Jesus was not changing the rules, He was teaching me to get back to the heart of it:

“Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures—either God’s Law or the Prophets. I’m not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama. God’s Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God’s Law will be alive and working.” Matthew 5:17-18 (NIV)

The heart of what I’ve read so far is about acknowledging both God and others in my life, and doing right by them in relationship. Loving God as He has loved, saved, and provided for me. Being responsible, treating others as I’d want to be treated, and making things right (with others and with God) when I make mistakes.

Seems like a pretty good system to me.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Best of ’24: #3 God’s Righteousness vs. Self-Righteousness

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For two weeks, while Wendy and I are away enjoying some warm weather, I’ll be counting down the top ten chapter-a-day posts of 2024 (based on total views and plays). It’ s always interesting which posts resonated with readers and listeners. The chapter for tomorrow’s post will be listed at the bottom.

God's Righteousness vs. Self-Righteousness (CaD Rom 10) – Wayfarer

For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Romans 10:2-4 (NIV)

I had lunch with a friend this week who is a pastor. As we were catching up they mentioned that they had received a “poisoned pen letter.” I have received my own share of these letters along my spiritual journey. They come from the religious rule-keepers I’ve described in recent posts. “Poisoned pen letters” typically point out one or more rules that the religious rule-keeper considers to be conditional for salvation that you’re not keeping in their eyes. There’s always scripture included, often quoted in the Authorized King James version. A poisoned pen letter always includes the threat that unless you start keeping their prescribed rules you are going to hell, you will be forever damned, you will be thrown into the Lake of Fire, you will burn in hell, or similar. They are almost always sent anonymously.

The poisoned pen letters I know of have dealt with things like not preaching the right things, not using their prescribed version of the Bible (usually the King James Version), not wearing the right clothes, not having the right hairstyle, wearing a hat in church, not having your head covered in church, not keeping the sabbath, being friends with sinful people, drinking alcohol, listening to the wrong kind of music, not using the right kind of music in the church service (e.g. traditional hymns), not being political enough from the pulpit (of their political persuasion, of course), being too political from the pulpit (the side they disagree with), and etc.

In today’s chapter, Paul describes his fellow Jews as zealous for God. Their zeal, he goes on to explain, is misguided. The religious rule-keeping Jews didn’t know the righteousness of God. They only knew self-righteous rule-keeping. The former is sourced only from God through faith. The latter is sourced by keeping prescribed behavioral rules through human effort. The former is a gracious and generous gift from God. The latter is a threatening condemning human demand.

Wendy recently read the story of a person who was raised as a fundamentalist rule-keeper but has since renounced her religious roots. She explains that a religious rule-keeper thinks that they are showing love by pointing out another person’s sins. The condemnation and threat of hell are seen as a loving act that will potentially save the object of their public rebuke or poisoned pen.

How misguided. They ignore the scripture that says it is God’s kindness that leads people to repentance. So also do they ignore the scripture that lists the fruit of the Spirit that a believer produces. Nowhere on the list will you find anger, threats, condemnation, yelling, protesting, or sending anonymous letters. The list is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. A poisoned pen letter exemplifies the exact opposite of patience, kindness, and self-control.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself being mindful of Paul’s attitude toward his zealous, self-righteous Jewish brothers and sisters. His heart goes out to them. He prays for them to see the Truth and to know the righteousness from God that can only be received, never earned. Paul’s attitude towards these people reminds me of Jesus on the cross saying, “Father, forgive them. They don’t get it.” I think that’s the attitude and posture that God wants me to have when dealing with rule-keepers when they confront me or write me anonymous letters. It’s easy for me to get angry with them, but how will they repent if I use their own angry, condemning tactics against them? They won’t. But perhaps if I respond to their condemnation and anger with kindness, patience, and loving faithfulness they will see in me that there’s a better way.

Tomorrow’s Chapter: Romans 12

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

“Pucker Up, Professor!”

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“Pucker Up, Professor!” (CaD 1 Cor 11) – Wayfarer

Judge for yourselves: Is it proper for a woman to pray to God with her head uncovered?
1 Corinthians 11:13 (NIV)

I spent one semester at a fundamentalist Bible college. The legalistic culture and its effects were a surreal experience in so many ways. I have so many stories from those few months. The saving grace was that I had a friend who shared the experience and we didn’t live on campus, so we got to escape the crazy after class each day and return to the normality of our own homes.

One of the things I learned in my fundamentalist sojourn was that legalistic systems pick their hills to die on when it comes to rule following. At the school we were attending, one of those hills was the length of hair that men were required to maintain. It had to be short. This was defined as a man’s hair couldn’t touch the collar of your dress shirt. A coat and tie were required attire in class for men. Women had to wear skirts or dresses with a hem that was below the knee. These rules had to be perpetually justified and reinforced, so it was always interesting when a lecture would randomly stray into a defense of one of the schools rules.

We were in a class called Biblical Hermeneutics (e.g. How to interpret the Biblical text) one day when the professor launched into a defense of the short hair rule. One of the defenses for the rule comes from today’s chapter: “Does not the very nature of things teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a disgrace to him, but that if a woman has long hair it is to her glory?”

Today’s chapter is filled with instructions that Paul gave to the church regarding head coverings and hair. The passage fuels life practices in different believer groups to this day. When you see a group of Amish or Mennonite women with their hair pulled up under a bonnet, the practice comes directly from following Paul’s instructions in today’s chapter.

Of course, one of the other lessons I learned from my months in a fundamentalist and legalistic system is that they also pick and choose which rules to be legalistic about and which to ignore. Our school was rabid about men having short hair, but they completely ignored Paul’s instructions in today’s chapter about women wearing head coverings. Likewise, I find it fascinating that Paul ends this same letter to the Corinthians by telling them directly to “greet one another with a holy kiss.” In fact, Paul gives this same instruction in four different letters! Not once did my professor kiss me!!

As I was meditating on this passage this morning and all of the layers of cultural and religious context, I could help but notice that Paul clearly tells the Corinthian believers, “Judge for yourselves.”

Thanks, Paul. I think I will.

There was recently an article in the Wall Street Journal about the resurgence of young women in the Catholic church choosing to wear traditional veils when they attend mass. It was interesting to hear their reasoning and I think it’s awesome that they are finding spiritual lessons in the practice as they judge for themselves. At the same time, I once knew a follower of Jesus who had hair that was so long it went all the way down to his butt. He had a friend who went to prison and he promised his friend he would pray for him every day and would not cut his hair until his friend was released. Now that’s a cool expression of love for a friend and I’m glad he judged for himself to do it.

In both of these instances, sincere followers of Jesus have made different choices for different reasons. Each of them are making their choice from a place of spiritual growth and increasing maturity. Neither of them is doing it because a legalistic religious system is demanding it from them and threatening them with negative consequences if they disobey.

In the quiet this morning, I’m actually thankful for my experiences at that Bible College. It taught me so many valuable lessons about what being a follower of Jesus is and isn’t. It exposed me to fundamentalist legalism and allowed me to see it and personally examine it from the inside. And it continues to remind me of St. Augustine’s wisdom:

In the essentials, unity.
In the non-essentials, liberty.
In all things, charity.

I sometimes fantasize about being able to go back into those classes with all the knowledge and life experience I now have. When my professor was waxing eloquent about how Paul directly says that long hair is a disgrace on a man. I’d ask him to flip to the end and read 1 Corinthians 16:20 where it says just as directly to greet one another with a holy kiss.

“Pucker-up, Professor!”

Or perhaps we should all, with spiritual maturity, learn to judge for ourselves about these things.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

These chapter-a-day blog posts are also available via podcast on all major podcast platforms including Apple, Google, and Spotify! Simply go to your podcast platform and search for “Wayfarer Tom Vander Well.” If it’s not on your platform, please let me know!
Chapter-a-Day

Time to Drive

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Time to Drive (CaD Ezk 44) – Wayfarer

This is what the Sovereign Lord says: No foreigner uncircumcised in heart and flesh is to enter my sanctuary, not even the foreigners who live among the Israelites.
Ezekiel 44:9 (NIV)

I was driving with our daughter Taylor in the car. It was a gorgeous, quiet day late in the afternoon. She was around eleven or twelve years old at the time. About a block from our house was this giant parking lot that sat completely empty. I pulled into the parking lot and Taylor was wondering what was going on. I told her we were switching seats and that I was going to give her an opportunity to drive the car.

Taylor was completely freaked out by this, and that first driving lesson didn’t last very long, but she did it. She learned the basics of an accelerator and brake pedal, about shifting the car into gear, and she performed some basic turns with the steering wheel.

I not only had the joy of taking her completely by surprise, but I was also wanting to plant a seed in her soul. She was on the cusp of a new phase in life when she will find herself capable and responsible for things that were once forbidden to her. And while she was still a few years from having legal permission to drive a car, the truth is that she was already far more capable than she even knew – she’d never even thought about it.

In today’s chapter, Ezekiel’s vision continues and he is reminded of all the rules of the priests in the Temple that were established back in the book of Leviticus. In a previous post, I talked about God being a God who makes distinctions. And in today’s chapter, we are reminded that in that day there were distinctions between priests and non-priests, even between Jews and non-Jews. By the time Jesus appeared on the scene, the distinction had morphed into outright prejudice and religiously sanctioned racism.

But humanity grows and matures the way my daughter does. There was a time when the distinction was made “You are not to drive. Only daddy or mommy drives. That’s your seat. This one is mine.” But there comes a time when the distinction is removed. Jesus came to remove the distinctions and do something completely new.

Paul, who was himself a Jewish religious and legal scholar who became a disciple and apostle of Jesus, explained the removal of the distinction Ezekiel shares in today’s chapter between Jewish Levitical priests and “uncircumcised foreigners” to the believers in Ephesus:

(I know this is a long passage, but imagine yourself being one of the “uncircumcised foreigners” who was never allowed into the Temple and had been treated like a second-class citizen your whole life reading this for the first time.)

 The Messiah has made things up between us so that we’re now together on this, both non-Jewish outsiders and Jewish insiders. He tore down the wall we used to keep each other at a distance. He repealed the law code that had become so clogged with fine print and footnotes that it hindered more than it helped. Then he started over. Instead of continuing with two groups of people separated by centuries of animosity and suspicion, he created a new kind of human being, a fresh start for everybody.

Christ brought us together through his death on the cross. The Cross got us to embrace, and that was the end of the hostility. Christ came and preached peace to you outsiders and peace to us insiders. He treated us as equals, and so made us equals. Through him we both share the same Spirit and have equal access to the Father.

That’s plain enough, isn’t it? You’re no longer wandering exiles. This kingdom of faith is now your home country. You’re no longer strangers or outsiders. You belong here, with as much right to the name Christian as anyone. God is building a home. He’s using us all—irrespective of how we got here—in what he is building. He used the apostles and prophets for the foundation. Now he’s using you, fitting you in brick by brick, stone by stone, with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone that holds all the parts together. We see it taking shape day after day—a holy temple built by God, all of us built into it, a temple in which God is quite at home.
Ephesians 2:14-22 (MSG) emphases added

Jesus came to usher in a new age of humanity in which the Temple is no longer a bricks-and-mortar building but a flesh-and-blood organism. Everyone who is in Christ is a brick of the living, breathing Temple, and everyone who is in Christ is a priest of that Temple. We’re all included, we’re all a part of it.

In the quiet this morning, I am grieving the fact that for two thousand years the Institutional church has largely succeeded in putting the old distinctions back in place in which professional clergy are the only holy priests and the people in the pews are the unholy commoners. But that’s not what Jesus taught or intended. You and I, my friend, are a brick in the Temple and we’re Priests in this world to show others by our lives, our words, and our example the love and way of Jesus.

Jesus came to tell all of us “Get over here in the drivers seat, my child. It’s time to learn to drive.”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

The Law of Love

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The Law of Love (CaD Rom 13) – Wayfarer

The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”
Romans 13:9 (NIV)

Those who have never read The Lord of the Rings and have only watched the movies miss out on the book’s masterful conclusion. The fallen wizard, Saruman, does not die as the movies depict. Rather, Gandalf makes multiple attempts to give his colleague a chance to repent of his folly and come back to reason. Gandalf offers Saruman grace and mercy.

Saruman’s hard heart flatly refuses the offer. Unbeknownst to Frodo and company, the wizard uses his skills as a deceiver to raise a following of ruffians and travels to the Shire. He and his men take control and wreak havoc on the Hobbits’ homeland. When Frodo and his three companions finally arrive back in the Shire they find it barely recognizable because of the rules that had been implemented:

“Then the four companions went into the hobbit guard-house and made themselves as comfortable as they could. It was a bare and ugly place, with a mean little grate that would not allow a good fire. In the upper rooms were little rows of hard beds, and on every wall there was a notice and a list of Rules. Pippin tore them down. There was no beer and very little food, but with what the travellers brought and shared out they all made a fair meal; and Pippin broke Rule 4 by putting most of next day’s allowance of wood on the fire.”

This scene came to mind this morning as I pondered today’s chapter, in which Paul reiterates Jesus’ teaching regarding the Law of Love. Paul has waxed eloquent for several chapters regarding the Law of Moses and the rule-keeping that his Jewish brothers and sisters took so seriously. Now, he brings the conversation back to Jesus’ own teaching on the subject:

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:36-40

In the quiet this morning, I find myself thinking about the “bare and ugly place” that the Shire becomes when it was enslaved by systemic rule-keeping. It is such a great metaphor for lives that become enslaved by religious rule-keeping. I love that Jesus came to free us from that burden and placed on us one simple law of love that is summed up in two commands: Love God. Love others. If I truly live by these two commands, all the other rules will take care of themselves.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

God’s Righteousness vs. Self-Righteousness

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God's Righteousness vs. Self-Righteousness (CaD Rom 10) – Wayfarer

For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the culmination of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.
Romans 10:2-4 (NIV)

I had lunch with a friend this week who is a pastor. As we were catching up they mentioned that they had received a “poisoned pen letter.” I have received my own share of these letters along my spiritual journey. They come from the religious rule-keepers I’ve described in recent posts. “Poisoned pen letters” typically point out one or more rules that the religious rule-keeper considers to be conditional for salvation that you’re not keeping in their eyes. There’s always scripture included, often quoted in the Authorized King James version. A poisoned pen letter always includes the threat that unless you start keeping their prescribed rules you are going to hell, you will be forever damned, you will be thrown into the Lake of Fire, you will burn in hell, or similar. They are almost always sent anonymously.

The poisoned pen letters I know of have dealt with things like not preaching the right things, not using their prescribed version of the Bible (usually the King James Version), not wearing the right clothes, not having the right hairstyle, wearing a hat in church, not having your head covered in church, not keeping the sabbath, being friends with sinful people, drinking alcohol, listening to the wrong kind of music, not using the right kind of music in the church service (e.g. traditional hymns), not being political enough from the pulpit (of their political persuasion, of course), being too political from the pulpit (the side they disagree with), and etc.

In today’s chapter, Paul describes his fellow Jews as zealous for God. Their zeal, he goes on to explain, is misguided. The religious rule-keeping Jews didn’t know the righteousness of God. They only knew self-righteous rule-keeping. The former is sourced only from God through faith. The latter is sourced by keeping prescribed behavioral rules through human effort. The former is a gracious and generous gift from God. The latter is a threatening condemning human demand.

Wendy recently read the story of a person who was raised as a fundamentalist rule-keeper but has since renounced her religious roots. She explains that a religious rule-keeper thinks that they are showing love by pointing out another person’s sins. The condemnation and threat of hell are seen as a loving act that will potentially save the object of their public rebuke or poisoned pen.

How misguided. They ignore the scripture that says it is God’s kindness that leads people to repentance. So also do they ignore the scripture that lists the fruit of the Spirit that a believer produces. Nowhere on the list will you find anger, threats, condemnation, yelling, protesting, or sending anonymous letters. The list is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, and self-control. A poisoned pen letter exemplifies the exact opposite of patience, kindness, and self-control.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself being mindful of Paul’s attitude toward his zealous, self-righteous Jewish brothers and sisters. His heart goes out to them. He prays for them to see the Truth and to know the righteousness from God that can only be received, never earned. Paul’s attitude towards these people reminds me of Jesus on the cross saying, “Father, forgive them. They don’t get it.” I think that’s the attitude and posture that God wants me to have when dealing with rule-keepers when they confront me or write me anonymous letters. It’s easy for me to get angry with them, but how will they repent if I use their own angry, condemning tactics against them? They won’t. But perhaps if I respond to their condemnation and anger with kindness, patience, and loving faithfulness they will see in me that there’s a better way.

I will be taking a week’s vacation next week. I’ll return to our chapter-a-day journey on Monday, July 29!

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

From Rules to Raspberries

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From Rules to Raspberries (CaD Rom 7) – Wayfarer

So, my brothers and sisters, you also died to the law through the body of Christ, that you might belong to another, to him who was raised from the dead, in order that we might bear fruit for God.
Romans 7:4 (NIV)

As a modern reader, I don’t believe I can fully understand just how rabid the Jews of the first century were about keeping the Law of Moses. In a general sense, however, I think we all have at least rubbed shoulders with fundamentalist-type rule-keepers. They aren’t hard to recognize. The emphasis is always on the obsessive-compulsive avoidance of things that are deemed sinful, the condemnation and avoidance of anyone who does them, and the strict upkeep of self-righteous appearances. I have observed that critics of Christianity love to use fundamentalist rule-keepers as being representative of all Jesus’ followers. It’s an easy target.

Over the 18 years I’ve been writing these chapter-a-day posts, I have often referenced the semester of college that I spent among fundamentalist rule-keepers. I have so many stories that are both silly and tragic. When I read Paul’s description of his Jewish brothers and sisters who were essentially fundamentalist rule-keepers (I believe they exist among every religion), I always think of that semester on a fundamentalist rule-keeping campus. It’s a handy point of reference.

I also realized as I was reading today’s chapter that in my mind I often swap out the word “Law” (referencing all of the 613 commands of the Law of Moses) with “Rules.” I have many life experiences with rule-keeping and rule-keepers.

In today’s chapter, Paul argues with his rule-keeping friends that laws don’t matter when you die. He uses the example of marriage. If a woman sleeps with a man while she’s married to another, she is committing adultery. If her husband dies, she is free to marry another man. He then goes back to the previous chapter in which those who are baptized are spiritually and metaphorically buried into Jesus’ death and raised into Jesus’ resurrection. Part of the “death” into which I was buried is becoming dead to rule-keeping. Part of the “new life” into which I was raised is the spiritual fruit production.

Just as the death of a husband frees the wife to pursue a new relationship, Paul says that rule-keeping died on the cross with Jesus. With His resurrection, we now have a new life with a totally new paradigm. We are freed from rule-keeping in order to increasingly bear the fruit of God’s Spirit:

Love that is increasingly evident in my life by my…
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfulness
Self-control

If my life is focused on being a disciple of Jesus, walking in His footsteps, following His example, and obeying His teaching, then I will increasingly produce these “fruits” in my life and relationships with every one, every day. I no longer need rules. The fruit of the Spirit in my life is evidence that I and my heart are ruled by Christ.

As I meditate on this contrast in the quiet this morning, I find myself so grateful for the freedom I’ve experienced from rule-keeping. I pray for those who are still bound in rule-keeping to find the live-giving grace of Jesus. I’m motivated to spiritually fertilize, prune, and water my life so that I can produce more love and all its flavors.

By the way, I used “raspberries” in the title of today’s post because when it comes to fruit, I love the flavor of berries. Also, it made for catchy alliteration! 🙂

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

Chapter-a-Day

The Difference

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The Difference (CaD Rom 4) – Wayfarer

What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”
Romans 4:3 (NIV)

In the entirety of the Great Story, Abraham stands out as one of the most important and influential individuals. In fact, Abraham figures into current events to this very day. Three of the major world religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) trace their roots back to Abraham. The animosity between Muslims and Jews today is, in a sense, a family squabble from over four thousand years ago. Amazing.

In John 8, Jesus has a lengthy argument with his fellow Jews about Abraham. It’s a fascinating read along with today’s chapter because both Paul and Jesus are addressing the same problem in different ways. Their fellow Jews were proud of being “Abraham’s children” and letting everyone know it. Once again, Jesus points out the pesky sin problem that His people refused to see.

“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things.“

Fast forward to Paul and his fellow Jews who were now followers of Jesus and making two basic demands. 1) That their non-Jewish counterparts become circumcised and 2) They follow the law of Moses. The problem with these demands is that they perpetuate what Jesus came to confront once and for all, and Paul continues the Message: Salvation is not dependent on keeping rules and/or removing the foreskin of your penis. Salvation is a gracious gift given through faith in Jesus alone. Period.

By demanding that their Gentile counterparts be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses, the Jewish believers were going back to the very problem Jesus came to address.

So how does Paul address this? He goes back to Father Abraham, and he points out to his fellow Jews what their own scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” He then goes on to point out that this act of faith and accrediting of righteousness happened before the covenant of circumcision was given, and before the Law of Moses existed. They have the salvation equation backward. From the beginning, from Father Abraham, salvation has always been about God’s kind and gracious gift that is activated by simple faith.

In the quiet this morning as I meditated on Paul’s words, I realized that I have long observed the same problem Paul and Jesus were dealing with 2000 years ago. It’s so easy to slip into the mode of rule-keeping and virtue-signaling. The history of humanity proves to me that this always ends up in hypocrisy, secret sins, condemnation of others, and self-righteous pride. How cool to think that all the way back to Father Abraham God was showing us the way.

Listen to God.
Believe what He says.
Have faith that God will do what He says.
Receive the gracious gift of God’s forgiveness.
Have righteousness credited to your spiritual account.

When I experienced this, it resulted in so much gratitude. My natural response was “What can I do for you God? How can I ever thank you for this gift I don’t deserve?”

“Live in the ways I ask you. Love others as I love them. Share with others what you’re experienced in Me,” God responds.

And so, I’ve been endeavoring to do that every day of this earthly journey.

Not because I have to in order to earn salvation. Salvation is already mine. I want to do the things God asks of me out of gratitude for that gift I’ve been given.

And that makes all the difference.

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.