Tag Archives: Salvation

Chapter-a-Day

Spiritual Toddlers in an Adult World

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In this way you are to set the Levites apart from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.
Numbers 8:14 (NIV)

In the tradition I was raised, the Reverend of our church was treated as a special class of spiritual person. He dressed different. He wore robes on Sunday. He was the only one allowed to serve Communion. His pulpit was the highest point in the Sanctuary so that he was elevated above us. Everything in the pomp and pageantry of the “high church” tradition wordlessly affirmed that he was spiritually upper-class compared to us every day working class sinners in the pews.

The entire paradigm of the “Priestly class system” is rooted in the Great Story. It’s what today’s chapter is all about. God establishes that if the holy Creator of the universe is going to be present in their midst in His traveling tent temple then they are going to have to understand that God ’s holiness is so overwhelmingly pure and powerful that it’s fatal to a normal, sinful human being. Therefore, everything God has arranged in this system of sacrifices, offerings, cleansing, and purification is established to both protect God’s people and to teach them. Aaron’s sons were the priests, and the only ones allowed inside God’s tent Temple. Even then, inside the tent was a thick curtain. Behind that curtain was the “Most Holy Place.” That’s where the Ark of God’s presence was. Only the high priest could enter the Most Holy Place behind the curtain, and even then it was a special ceremony held once a year for a special systemic purpose. The tribe of Levites were helpers to the priests and caretakers of the tent temple, but they couldn’t offer sacrifices or enter the tent. They were like a hedge of protection between the fatally pure power of God’s holy presence and the people.

The priests and the Levites were a spiritually special class in that system.

I have been constantly repeating that these events and God’s newly established relationship with humanity through the Hebrew people is the toddler stages of human development. In natural circumstances, humans don’t remain toddlers forever. We grow. We mature. Our relationship with our parents also matures and changes.

Fast forward thousands of years. God sends Jesus, His one and only Son, to become the once-and-for-all sacrifice. At the moment of Jesus’ sacrificial death, the curtain in the Temple was split from top-to-bottom. The same curtain that divided God’s presence from the people.

As Bob Dylan put it, “The times they are a changin’.”

Before, God’s presence was behind the curtain and there were priests to go into God’s presence on humanity’s behalf. Now, God tore down the curtain, poured out His Spirit to be present in the heart of every believer. Priests no longer necessary. Every believer, one with God and God’s Spirit dwelling within them, is now made holy.

“And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.” Hebrews 10:10 (NIV)

Peter goes on to explain that together, all believers make up a “royal priesthood.” Writing to all believers scattered abroad by early persecution, he writes:

“But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 Peter 2:9 (NIV)

Every believer is a Most Holy Place, God’s Spirit dwelling within. The Kingdom of God going out wherever I go. I take it with me. My job, no matter how menial, is now a ministry as “whatever I do, I do all to the glory of God.”

At least, that’s what it says in the Great Story after Jesus’ death and resurrection, and after Pentecost. But, I’ve observed that we human beings don’t much like change. Plus, there’s still an enemy, the Prince of this World, who is motivated to keep believers from realizing the power of God’s presence in their lives and their Kingdom responsibilities. Thus, I’ve observed that we like the old toddler traditions like the tradition in which I was raised. Even both Peter and Paul recognized that believers were slow to grow into this understanding. Both of them used the metaphor of believers being like toddlers sucking on their bottles when they should be adults eating solid food at the table.

Please don’t read what I’m not writing. I appreciate and embrace all of the spiritual metaphors that exist in high church traditions. I don’t think they’re wrong. But metaphors are layered with meaning. The metaphors of the high church tradition in which I was raised communicated spiritual lessons that were part of the old spiritual paradigm of the Levites, not the new spiritual paradigm of the priesthood of all believers. I had to spiritually mature to discern the difference.

Granted, it’s simple and easy to believer there’s a special person, a special class of spiritual persons, who provide a protective hedge between God and us every day working sinners. They take care of being holy for us. They handle the holy God stuff while I just sit in the pew with no expectations other than showing up and asking forgiveness for my sinful self. It may not be intended that way, but in practice I’ve consistently observed that it’s the way things play out in the mind of most church members. And, perhaps that’s the crux of the issue. If I’m simply a church member and I’m not a believer, then there is still, spiritually, a big thick curtain between me and God.

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

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Chapter-a-Day

Ordered Procession

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So the Israelites did everything the Lord commanded Moses; that is the way they encamped under their standards, and that is the way they set out, each of them with their clan and family.
Numbers 2:34 (NIV)

There is always a subtle tension in our household. There is a ying and yang to the way Wendy and I operate, the way we were created, and the way our brains are wired. It can be at once exasperating and beautiful. For the most part, you’ll find our home well-ordered. There is a place for everything and everything in its place. It doesn’t take long to know the patterns, where to find things, and the places they belong. That’s Wendy. I, on the other hand, tend to bring chaos to that order. This isn’t out of antagonism or ill-will but rather from simply not being wired the same way. Our brains work differently. Wendy is Rembrandt and I’m Pollack. She’s Bach and I’m Bird. The truth is that I love order. In fact, I tend to find it in places others can’t see it while being blind to it in plain sight.

Chaos. Order.

That’s how the Great Story begins.

Formless, empty, dark, and deep chaos.

Then God brings order in seven days. Six days of work. One day of rest.

Then there is a serpent, a lie, temptation, desire, disobedience, shame, and blame.

Order gives way to chaos.

For the rest of the Story, there is an ebb and flow between order and chaos. It has been observed that when God delivers the Hebrews from slavery in Egypt, the 10 plagues mirror creation in reverse order. Egypt, the greatest, most ordered and glorious human empire on the earth descends from order to chaos before Pharaoh finally relents and lets the Hebrews depart.

Out of the chaos, God leads the Hebrews into something new. He gives them a detailed and orderly blueprint for doing life together in Leviticus. Now, as they make preparations to set out on their wilderness journey, God provides order to both their camping and their procession. In both walking and resting there is a pattern to be followed. Every member is part of a tribe and every tribe has its place in the camp and in the parade.

God loves order.

In fact, what most casual readers fail to notice is that even today’s chapter is written to reflect the order of the Hebrews camp described in the text. God in His tabernacle are at the center of the camp. This is mentioned smack-dab in the middle of the chapter. It’s called a chiasm. The most important bit is in the center, and everything else is symmetrically structured around it.

God loves order.

In the quiet this morning, I find myself meditating on the fact that there are patterns even in the seemingly randomness of nature. I find it meaningful that the first thing we find God doing at the beginning of the Story is turning chaos to order. Because, along my life journey, I’ve observed that no matter how ordered I try to structure my personal, earthly human empire, the chaos of my own failings, blind spots, and foolishness eventually plagues me. Who will set me free from the chaos of my own making?

Thank God, He’s been doing it from the beginning. He’ll be doing it to the end. He’ll be doing it when He begins everything anew. He is my hope and salvation from the chaos of my own making, and the chaos of this broken world.

Time for my procession through another day of this life journey. I may not see it clearly, but I know God has a plan, just like He gave to the Hebrews in today’s chapter. It’s who He is. As I proceed, I take comfort in that.

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

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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!
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Chapter-a-Day

The Influencer and The Choice

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For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians 6:12 (NIV)

The evil one took Jesus to a high mountain. It’s popular for artists to depict the evil one in all sorts of cartoonish or heinous ways, but the further I’ve gotten in my spiritual journey the more I’ve come to picture him as the Great Story describes him, the most beautiful of God’s angels appearing as an angel of light. The evil one is the greatest “influencer” that ever existed. In fact, “The Influencer” is an apt moniker for him. Beautiful, gorgeous, absolutely stunning in appearance. His is the face that immediately stops your death scrolling. His appearance, his dress, his demeanor, his crib, his ride, virtually everything about him creates instant envy. Man, if only I could be that, have that, experience what that life is like. And, it’s all curated to appeal to each of us individually just as each of us desire.

Almost all the major events of the Great Story happen on mountains…

The Story begins in the Garden which is described as a mountain.
The Law was given to Moses on Mount Sinai.
David established the capital on Mount Zion, and on Mount Zion Solomon built God’s Temple.
Jesus constantly went up a mountain to pray.
Jesus gave His most influential message on a mountain side.
Jesus was transfigured on a mountain.
The Great Story ends with the City of God on a mountain.

So, it’s fitting that The Influencer takes Jesus to a mountain. In an instant he shows Jesus all the kingdoms of the world. The wealth, the power, the opulence, the mansions, the artwork, the beautiful people, the fashion, the Oval Office, the throne, the C-Suite, the corner office, but I think there was probably also the wife, the viral Pinterest home, the perfect children, the gathering, the feast, the romantic sunsets, the peaceful retreats, the perfect family vacations, the travel, the adventures, the adrenaline pumping thrills, and of course the mind-blowing sex. It was all there, curated just as Jesus would desire it.

What I never truly noticed for the longest time is what The Influencer said next.

“I will give you all of it; it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to.”

Jesus always called The Influencer “The Prince of This World.” As the Great Story tells it, this world did become his dominion after the Eden debacle. And while he stands condemned, like all of us, he remains out on parole waiting final judgement. But in the meantime, the kingdoms of this world are his to do with as he pleases. And while he loves all that the kingdoms of this world have to offer, his own beauty, and The Influencer role that stops you scrolling, what he really delights in is the chaos, the addiction, the misogyny, the violence, the wars, the sickness, the pain, the cancer, the tragedy, hatred, depression, loneliness, and despair to which he wants to lead me in hopes that I will abandon the thing that he hates the most: Life, which is God’s gift.

In today’s chapter, Paul reminds Jesus’ followers that it is The Influencer, and the kingdoms of the world over which he currently has dominion along with the rulers, authorities, and powers of those kingdoms with which I struggle daily. And what is my armor in that struggle?

Truth
Righteousness
Jesus’ Message of Peace
Faith
Salvation
Spirit
Word
Prayer

Jesus declined The Influencer’s offer on that high mountain. He chose a humble life of love, service, contentment, prayer, and sacrifice. He chose to obediently give up this earthly life and suffer an earthly death He didn’t deserve so that I might have the same choice that He did on that mountain: to eschew The Influencer, the Prince of this world, refuse the kingdoms he controls, and choose the King and His eternal kingdom. All I have to do is choose to follow in Jesus footsteps, to live and obediently walk in the way of love, service, contentment, prayer, and sacrifice.

And so, I set out on this another day of my earthly journey, step-by-step, placing my feet in His footprints.

Tomorrow we begin our trek through the final of Paul’s “Prison Letters” with Philippians 1!

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

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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!
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Chapter-a-Day

Lay Your Hands

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Lay Your Hands (CaD Lev 4) – Wayfarer

The elders of the community are to lay their hands on the bull’s head before the Lord, and the bull shall be slaughtered before the Lord.
Leviticus 4:15 (NIV)

I did not grow up on a farm, but Wendy did. It’s been fun for me over the years to hear the stories of her and her six siblings and the adventures they had. There’s the story of Wendy’s dad having to sell a bull in order to have the money to buy their wedding rings. There are also the stories of her and her siblings raising livestock and showing them at the county fair, a tradition some readers may not realize is still very much alive in rural America. And of course, there are the requisite stories of the siblings first realizing as children that the hamburger they were eating was actually the cow they raised, cared for, and knew by name. That is a reality most of us never experience.

One of the things that modern readers struggle with most is the blood and guts of ancient sacrifices in Leviticus. It is so foreign to both our modern realities as well as sensibilities. In today’s chapter, the fourth of the five main offerings God is introducing to the ancient Hebrews is presented, and it’s a big one. It’s the “sin” offering. As I meditated on today’s chapter, I realized that there’s so much here that I could write a book to delve into all of it. So, I want to stick with two simple concepts.

First of all, the Great Story establishes in the very beginning that when Adam and Eve used their free will to do the one thing that was forbidden to them, it introduced a spiritual problem within humanity called sin. The spiritual problem resulted in a subsequent problem: physical death. The sacrificial system being established for the ancient Hebrews is establishing another spiritual reality: for the sin/death problem to be addressed, a substitutionary sacrifice must be offered. This is why Jesus’ death and subsequent resurrection is essential to our faith. The seeds of understanding what Jesus would ultimately do are here in today’s chapter. Without Leviticus and today’s chapter, one’s understanding of Jesus and what He did are incomplete and at risk of being grossly misunderstood.

Second of all, I find it fascinating that with each sacrificial offering, it was required for those making the sacrifice to “lay hands” on the sacrificial animal. I can’t help but think about Wendy and her siblings and the intimacy they experienced in the process of raising, caring for, and knowing the animal who would ultimately be sacrificed to put food on the family table. This was the common human experience throughout human history until the last 150 years. God insisted that there be a human connection, the laying of hands and an intimate touch, between the sinner needing forgiveness and the animal that was about to be sacrificed on his or her behalf.

For modern readers who get squeamish about the notion of animal sacrifice, I’d like to point out that every year here in America there are approximately 35 million cows systemically slaughtered so we can grab a quarter pounder at the McDonalds drive-through on a whim or pick up a wonderfully convenient, prepackaged pound of ground beef at the grocery store. Most of us never see the cows. We never raise them. We don’t care for them from birth, give them a name, feed them as calves, or transport them to their death. And yet 100,000 cows will be sacrificed today on the altar of our modern convenience and blissful human ignorance and arrogance.

If you ask me, there is something that seems innately more real and nobly human when there was an intimate connection between a human and the animal that was sacrificed, whether that be for sin or for the daily sustenance required for survival. Keep in mind that the food from most of the sacrifices in Leviticus ended up putting daily food and nourishment on the table of the entire Hebrew tribe of Levi and their families. For them, the sacrificial system was part of daily survival in the brutal reality they lived in each day.

Which leads me to where my heart and mind ended up in the quiet this morning. I was raised in the church. I learned all the stories of the Bible. I went through the classes and got my membership certificate, but it still wasn’t real for me. Then came an evening when it all became real, and I understood the reality of my own pride and willful, sinful choices. I made the mind, heart, and spirit connection between what Jesus willingly suffered on the cross and the forgiveness of my pride and willful, sinful choices. In a spiritual sense, it wasn’t until I “laid my hands” on Jesus and made that intimate connection between my sin and His sacrifice that I understood His amazing grace and my undeserved salvation.

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: #1 Filet-o’-Fish or Flesh & Blood?

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For the last two weeks, while Wendy and I have been away enjoying some warm weather, we’ve been counting down the top ten chapter-a-day posts/podcasts of 2024 (based on total views and plays). It’ s always interesting which posts/podcasts resonated with readers and listeners. Today is the #1 post/podcast from 2024. The chapter for Monday’s new series is at the bottom of today’s post.

Filet-o'-Fish or Flesh & Blood? (CaD Jhn 6) – Wayfarer

“Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.”
John 6:26 (NIV)

The further I’ve progressed in my spiritual journey the more I have come to believe that today’s chapter contains among the most critical messages that Jesus uttered in His earthly ministry.

John begins the chapter with two of the seven signs he chose to write about as he thematically presents Jesus to his readers. First, Jesus miraculously turns a couple of loaves and a few fish into an all-you-can-eat filet-o-fish feast for a crowd of thousands. That night, as The Twelve are making their way across the Sea of Galilee in stormy seas, Jesus walks on water to join them. They end up back in Capernaum, Jesus’ base of operations on the north shore of Galilee.

Meanwhile, the crowd of thousands who enjoyed the filet-o-fish woke up the next day to find that Jesus was nowhere to be found. It was common knowledge that Jesus always returned to Capernaum, so the thousands decided to hoof it in that direction. Sure enough, they find Jesus teaching in the synagogue there.

The conversation that follows is what I find to be most critical. John had already made a point that Jesus did not allow Himself to be swayed by the fame and popularity His signs created amongst the crowds. Back in chapter two John wrote, “Jesus would not entrust Himself to [the crowds], for He knew all people.” That’s a key piece in understanding Jesus’ conversation with the crowd in today’s chapter.

The crowd begins by questioning the fact that Jesus had left them for Capernaum without telling them where He was going. Jesus responds by questioning their motive for following Him, and this is the critical piece. Jesus told Nicodemus back in the third chapter that “flesh gives birth to flesh and Spirit gives birth to spirit.” Jesus now unpacks how spiritually important that distinction really is. The crowds are focused, not on God’s eternal kingdom, but on their earthly appetites. Their focus is on making Jesus king and getting free fish sandwiches for life. Jesus is focused on helping people understand that He came, not to feed the stomach, but to feed the soul. “The Spirit gives life,” He says. “The flesh counts for nothing.” He tells the crowd that from that point on, the only feast He will be providing is his flesh to eat and his blood to drink as he foreshadows His last supper and the sacrament of Communion which He will eventually leave for His followers.

I find the progression of the crowd’s attitude to be telling. It is so like a crowd. They move from eagerly seeking out the trending Jesus to trying to manipulate Him into more free food (vss 10-11) to grumbling about Him (vs. 41) to turning on one another and sharply arguing (vs 52). Eventually, the crowd walks away and stops following Jesus (vs. 66).

As a disciple of Jesus, this entire episode calls my own motives into question. Why am I following Jesus? Why do I go to church? Why would I wear the label “Christian?” Show? Spectacle? Tradition? Family Pressure? Duty? Obligation? Keeping up social appearances? Living up to someone else’s expectations? Being a good example to the kiddos? Community?

As I meditated on the crowd begging for more free lunches, I couldn’t help but remember the hated Samaritans who only needed to hear Jesus’ words and they believed. I think there is something about the Samaritans being the suffering and persecuted outcast that identifies with Jesus’ true mission which was not to be an earthly king feeding His posse’s earthly appetites, but to be a suffering servant sacrificing flesh and blood to bring eternal spiritual provision to starving, emaciated, and dying human souls. “The crowd,” on the other hand, were Jesus’ own people, and they failed to get it. John already foreshadowed this in his epic prologue: “He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.”

In the quiet this morning, I find myself pondering Jesus’ continuous message to His most intimate followers:

“They hate me. They will hate you, too.”

“Get ready for persecution.”

“In this world, you will have trouble.”

“Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. “

“They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.”

This begs the question: Am I a filet-o-fish follower, or am I a flesh-and-blood follower?

It’s a question worth pondering. Jesus made it abundantly clear that the answer makes a difference.

Monday’s Chapter: Leviticus 1

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: #8 Transformation

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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.

Transformed (CaD Ezk 11) – Wayfarer

I will give them an undivided heart and put a new spirit in them; I will remove from them their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 11:19 (NIV)

I got to bless a friend yesterday. A few weeks ago a mutual acquaintance told me how blown away he was by a conversation the two of them had. “Tom, the person I spoke with is not the same person I knew ten years ago. He’s changed!” It was a compliment of the highest order. One friend saw in the other friend the life transformation that happens when God’s Spirit indwells a willing heart. What a cool thing.

The life of John the Apostle is another wonderful story of transformation. When Jesus first meets the fisherman and his brother, they are brash men. When a village refused to let Jesus and His disciples into the town, John and his brother suggested to Jesus that He call down fire from heaven and burn the village and all the people in it. Jesus called the pair “The Sons of Thunder” for their quick, unbridled tempers.

A few years later, John is a different person. No longer “Son of Thunder,” John has become “the disciple Jesus’ loved.” That love had a transforming effect in John’s life. It is John that Jesus chooses to give the responsibility of caring for and loving His mother after His death. John’s letters repeat the importance of love over and over and over again. Late in life, the aged John reportedly said nothing but, “Little children, love one another” repeatedly.

In today’s chapter, Ezekiel’s vision, which began back in chapter nine, comes to a conclusion. Zeke, having seen God’s judgment and anger cries out and asks God if He is any of His people will survive. God responds with a promise that a remnant will survive. Exiles like Zeke will return to Jerusalem and Israel. God then gives Zeke a fascinating metaphor, telling the prophet that He will put a “new spirit” into them, “remove their heart of stone,” and “give them a heart of flesh.”

One of the powers of metaphor is that they are layered with meaning. The Hebrew people had spent 400 years in slavery in Egypt, and Egypt was a popular place to flee in times of trouble (e.g. Mary and Joseph took flight to Egypt with baby Jesus to avoid Herod’s wrath). So the beliefs and customs of Egypt were known.

The Egyptians believed that the heart was used to judge a dead person’s worthiness for the afterlife. During the mummification process, the heart would be literally weighed. A heavy heart, weighed down with guilt and shame, would not make the cut. Those who heard Zeke’s prophetic word, would have recognized that “a heart of stone” was not a good thing. To this day, we understand that a hard heart is a bad thing.

When God says He’ll remove the heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh, there is hope of a new life. It is a beautiful picture of the transformation that occurs in the life of Jesus’ disciples. Paul wrote that anyone who is in Christ is a “new creation.” Old things pass away and new things come. The rock-hard heart is replaced with a heart of flesh, pumping new Life into the person.

In the quiet this morning, I reflected on the transformation I’ve felt in my own life over the course of forty-plus years as a disciple. Like John, like my friend, I can look back at things I felt, things I did, and things I said and feel ashamed for all of it. I’m so grateful to God that my heart has increasingly softened and I don’t feel, act, or say the things like that any more. I pray that God continues my spiritual heart-replacement therapy as long as I am on this earthly journey. I never want God’s transforming work to end in me. Ten years from now I’d like to have someone say, “Tom’s not the person he was ten years ago! He’s changed.”

Tomorrow’s Chapter: Romans 8

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

Essentials and Non-Essentials

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Now if there is no resurrection, what will those do who are baptized for the dead? If the dead are not raised at all, why are people baptized for them?
1 Corinthians 15:29 (NIV)

Along my spiritual journey, I have worshipped and served in a number of different denominations and traditions. While they all shared that salvation was by grace through faith in Jesus, they varied in other thoughts, in their rituals, and in their worship. In some cases, I didn’t agree with some of what I considered to be non-essential beliefs, but I chose to respect them and to learn as much as I could. My experiences helped hone my own beliefs, taught me things I would have never otherwise learned, and gave me a far broader love for and understanding of what the Apostle’s Creed refers to as the “holy catholic church” which does not refer to the Roman Catholic denomination but rather to all believers everywhere, no matter their particular tradition or denominational bent.

For Paul and the other Apostles, one of the biggest challenges they faced was a combination of lack of human control, poor communication lines, and all sorts of competing religious thoughts and philosophies that crept into the local gatherings.

In today’s chapter, there are two fascinating things mentioned by Paul in one verse (the one at the top of today’s post). It refers to one major issue that became a major issue in the church in the first few centuries. The other is a curious and largely forgotten ritual. Let’s start with the major issue.

Gnosticism was an emerging religious philosophy in Paul’s day and took on many different thought traditions of its own. Basically, it taught that humans and the material world were the lesser meaningless creation of a minor god, and that the spiritual realm was the only thing that mattered. It also taught that salvation came from “secret knowledge” of one’s true and spiritual identity. So, gnostics denied Jesus was God (no spiritual being would choose to become human), Jesus died for sin (there is no sin, only ignorance), or rose from the dead (there is no bodily resurrection, only leaving the material behind to attain the spiritual). In today’s chapter, Paul is addressing some within the local Corinthian gathering of believers who are embracing the notion that there is no resurrection and undermining the essential core beliefs of Christianity.

In making his argument for resurrection, Paul mentions that some of the Corinthian believers were being “baptized for the dead.” He doesn’t explain it. He doesn’t condemn it. He just mentions it in passing as part of his argument and it doesn’t appear anywhere else in the Great Story. Apparently, Corinthian believers were being baptized on behalf of people who were physically dead in hope and anticipation of effecting that person’s after-life status in some way. We don’t know and the ritual obviously was not perpetuated, though the practice was curiously “resurrected” (pun absolutely intended) as part of the theology of Latter Day Saints in the 1800s.

A few days ago I quoted St. Augustine who taught that there should be unity in the “essentials” and liberty in the “non-essentials.” In the quiet this morning, I couldn’t help but think about the fact that we have in one verse a rather interesting combination of the two. For Corinthians to deny that Jesus rose from the dead undermines the foundational and essential belief of the faith itself and what Jesus Himself claimed and taught. At the same time, Paul references this curious practice of baptizing people for the dead, a non-essential ritual that was not widely practiced, never referenced anywhere else, and died away with time.

Along my spiritual journey, I’ve learned and benefitted from understanding the difference between essentials of my faith and belief in Jesus and His teaching, and the non-essentials of ritual and tradition that vary widely all over the world. I have learned from and even spiritually benefitted from learning and practicing non-essentials from traditions that are different than mine. I confess that some of them didn’t resonate with me or I found them silly. In all those different experiences, I met brothers and sisters who shared the same essential beliefs with me and whom I will enjoy seeing in heaven.

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

“The Why”

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For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.
Ephesians 2:8-10 (NIV)

On a shelf in my office you’ll find some notebooks. The notebooks contain character studies of different parts I’ve played as an actor. When I trained as an actor in college, I was taught that being an actor is not so much pretending to be a character (like putting on a costume, from outside in) but understanding a character so thoroughly that you transform into that person from the inside out. A great performance on stage begins, not on stage, but in my study with a notebook, the script, and all the resources I can muster. Understanding why my character makes certain choices, says the words he says, and does the things he does requires a cocktail of psychology, imagination, investigation, and meditation. The “why” is critical to the “what.”

Along my journey, I have found this to also be a spiritual truth.

Today’s chapter contains two verses that are foundational to an understanding what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. Ephesians 2:8-9 are well known verses:

For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.

I have found, however, that this is one of the most difficult truths for people to truly believe. Not just cognitively understand, but experientially understand. Throughout my life journey I have continually observed believers who pressure themselves (and their children) to do the right things, say the right things, and keep up appearances of goodness in order to conform to religious social pressure, avoid being ashamed, and to hopefully live a good enough life to be welcomed into eternity with a “well done, my good and faithful servant.”

The problem with this scenario is not in the what but in the why.

As I meditated on the chapter in the quiet this morning, it struck me that I’ve heard Ephesians 2:8-9 quoted regularly my entire life. Not once, however, have I heard someone quote verse 10 with it:

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Yet this is a critical and essential context! The “good works” flow immediately out of being “saved by grace through faith.” If I were an actor doing a character study of a sincere disciple of Jesus, I would dig into the “why” of their good works and find that the motivation is gratitude for Jesus’ kindness, grace, and mercy. I have observed in others that their good works are motivated by ingratiation — both the hope of maintaining acceptance and social status among the religious set and also punching one’s ticket of admission into heaven.

This distinction of “the why” is critical for any true understanding of Jesus and His teaching. I make certain choices, say the words I say, and do the things I do “because of his great love for me, God, who is rich in mercy, made me alive with Christ even when I was dead in my transgressions.” The good works don’t flow into salvation but out of it.

If I, in my heart and soul, don’t get the “why” right, then all of my good works are simply a shitty performance on the stage of life.

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

Chapter-a-Day

If Only…

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If Only… (CaD Ezk 45) – Wayfarer

“‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: You have gone far enough, princes of Israel! Give up your violence and oppression and do what is just and right. Stop dispossessing my people, declares the Sovereign Lord.’”
Ezekiel 45:9 (NIV)

When you live in Iowa your entire life and feel a civic responsibility, there’s a certain mindshare that politics and national issues take up. Certainly the Iowa Caucuses are a major part of that. A year ago you could meet and hear any number of the Presidential candidates right here in our little town. Usually the venue is packed.

Hearing the issues the candidates talk about and how they plan to address large scale, complex problems stirs thoughts about how one might re-order the world. Approach an issue one way and you create one negative consequence. Approach the same issue a different way and you create a different negative consequence. Pretty soon I begin to have “If only” thoughts and conversations in my head.

“If only we could eliminate the Tax Code and start from scratch.”
“If only the Founding Fathers had included term limits.”
“If only we could rid the entire system of corruption.”

In the past few chapters, Ezekiel envisioned an ideal new Temple that has , to this point in history, never been built. I discussed the various interpretations regarding why it has never been built in the post/podcast on Ezekiel 43 entitled The Mystery. In today’s chapter, Ezekiel’s vision now shifts to an idealized vision of the restoration of Israel. I have to remember that as Ezekiel is having this vision the nation had been conquered, Jerusalem and Solomon’s Temple had been destroyed. It’s as if there’s now an opportunity to envision how things could be “if only” they can return and start from scratch.

This idealized vision of their nation’s restoration begins with “when you allot the land” because security and prosperity begin with having land to build homes and grow crops and raise livestock necessary to survive and thrive. And the first allotment of the land described is God’s. It’s a giant, square sacred space at the center of everything and the center of that square is God’s sanctuary. Adjacent to it is a new square holy city within the giant square and Zeke says, “it will belong to all Israel.”

So we have a nation with this giant sacred space and God at the center. There’s also holy city. All of this land doesn’t belong to the king, land barons, property developers, oligarchs, or powerful blue blood families. It belongs to everyone.

Throughout the Great Story, beginning in Exodus, God has been trying to provide humanity with a vision for how things can and should be. But there’s a pesky issue that has to be addressed. Zeke addresses it right up front in verses 9-12. The princes of the past have been power hungry, greedy, and corrupt. And, this is always the problem when you begin to play “If only…” games in your head and dream up ideal situations.

People are not always ideal. We have pride and out of control appetites that make us hurt one-another with our selfishness, anger, jealousy, envy, and hard-hearted resentments. This the thing that I always find missing when candidates talk about systemic changes to fix complex problems. Solutions start with a change in the hearts and lives of people.

That’s what Jesus would come to tell us. Large, systemic changes begin with God changing me.

If only I will surrender and allow Him to do so.

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

Chapter-a-Day

Stupid Decisions

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Stupid Decisions (CaD Ezk 18) – Wayfarer

Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!
Ezekiel 18:31-32 (NIV)

Wendy and I have several good friends who are currently residing in that stretch of life’s journey when one has the responsibility to parent teenagers. No one seems to be having any fun.

The thing about the teen years is that kids begin to get a taste of freedom and of free will, but they’re still about ten years from having fully developed brains. They make really stupid decisions. And, because they are old enough to get into serious trouble, those stupid decisions run the risk of quickly becoming tragic.

As I listen to some of the stories, it brings back memories of both Taylor and Madison. The girls were good kids and I’m happy to say they made far more good decisions that stupid decisions. But make no mistake, they both made stupid decisions. We caught a few of them. Certain stupid decisions are stupid because they’re so stupid that getting found out is a certainty. I’m certain there were stupid decisions that they got away with. Parents are stupid too, to believe that somehow our children won’t make the same stupid decisions we made when we were their age.

Stupid teenager decisions are a great example of what we call sin. We know it’s wrong, but we do it anyway. We do it for any number of reasons.

In the Great Story, sin is the major spiritual problem. It enters the Story in the third chapter of Genesis. Adam knew that he wasn’t supposed to eat the fruit of one tree. But, dang it, it looked so beautiful and juicy and he was really craving a taste of sweet succulent fruit at that moment.

Stupid decision.

Stupid decisions have consequences.

The consequence of Adam and Eve’s stupid decision, God says, is death. Not right away, but eventually. The human body will break down, wear out, and return to the dust of the earth from which it was formed. Ashes to ashes. Dust to dust.

As Paul wrote to Jesus’ followers in Rome:

sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned –

The message God continues to relay to humans throughout the rest of the Great Story is that He is for life. He wants me to be for life. He wants me to experience life.

At the same time, God does not like death any more than the. parent of a teenager likes to get a call from the Police because they have a teenager in custody.

In today’s chapter, Ezekiel relays what, at the heart of it, this very simple message. In fact, it’s as simple as they come. If you make stupid decisions and live a life of selfishness, pride, stealing, cheating others, living in immorality, and never looking out for anyone but numero uno then death is the just consequence for squandering the opportunity life affords.

But that’s not what God wants. He takes no pleasure in it. It’s a tragic consequence of endless stupid decisions.

God wants life, and He even makes a way for it. Ezekiel proclaims it beautifully in today’s chapter:

Rid yourselves of all the offenses you have committed, and get a new heart and a new spirit. Why will you die, people of Israel? For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone, declares the Sovereign Lord. Repent and live!

In other words, turn around. Make different choices. Follow God. He’s offering a new heart and a new spirit. A fresh start.

Paul put it this way to the believers in Rome:

For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!

Just as death to all came through one sin, so God would arrange for life for all to come through one death. Life…death…new life.

I will tell you, that the new life began for me when I made one good decision to take the first step:

I admitted I was powerless over my stupid decisions — that my life had become unmanageable.

This day I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him.
Deuteronomy 30:19-20 (NIV)

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