Are you dogged by nagging thoughts? The New Testament introduces us to several different kinds of conscience. Which one of these best describes you? How can we enjoy abundant life marked by a clear and healthy conscience?
If you walk into my office and turn hard to the right, you’ll see some pictures on my bookshelves. One of those pictures shows me with someone you likely wouldn’t have recognized until recently.
Oh, there it is: a picture of me arm and arm with the then relatively under-known President of the 30-million-member National Association of Evangelicals, and Senior Pastor of a 15,000-member church in Colorado. We were both smiling, brimmingly.
Now if you follow the news, you know who I was arm and arm with: None other than the now-famous/infamous Ted Haggard.
I’m not gay.
But I do love Ted Haggard. When news broke of his sexual misconduct exposed through a politically-motivated male prostitute, I was crushed, and yet I must admit, one of my first personal Pharisaical questions was: Should I take the picture off my bookshelf? Was Ted still worthy to consume valuable real estate on my bookshelf? Sure, it was never a question before. But now?
Then I thought about my arm — you know the wholesome one — around Ted there in the picture. Is even my arm any more “wholesome” than Ted’s, or Ted’s accusers’, or George Bush’s or Bill Clinton’s or Billy Graham’s? Does anyone, anywhere, have truly wholesome arms? Or hands? Or brain? Or heart?
Here’s what I see here: (1) You likely will get more “famous” for the bad you do than for the good you do; and, (2) way down deep, you really aren’t any better than Ted.
So, for now, my picture with Ted stays. Unless you can offer any really compelling reason it shouldn’t. I think it deserves real estate on my precious bookshelf—as a monument to grace, mercy, and compassion for people with arms different than mine, but not unlike mine.
For all my attempts at imitating Jesus, I am still a sinner in need of the God of James, who declares: “Mercy triumphs over judgment.” Is this your attitude? Or are your arms, hands, brain, heart, any better than Ted’s?
What comes to mind when you think of the word hospitality? You may be surprised to find out what the Scriptures say about it. We tend to think Martha Stewart. But there’s another Martha who gives us a peek into her home, and more powerfully, into her heart. Learn how the lost art of hospitality can make you a much much better person.
Eight Characteristics of Wisdom
The Scriptures teach us that knowledge has the potential to puff us up. But wisdom has the opposite affect—it makes us humble. Knowledge puffs; wisdom un-puffs. Which means it’s often wiser to admit you’re wrong. Ever been in an argument and eventually realized you were wrong, but instead of admitting it, you tried to explain how your wrongness was right? There’s a better way. James 3:17 gives us eight ways to know whether or not we’re being wise.
1. The wisdom that comes from heaven is… pure. Do I need to spin, tweak, force, or fudge in order to make a decision work? Then maybe it’s not pure; maybe it’s not really wise.
2. The wisdom that comes from heaven is… peace-loving. God’s wisdom leads to unity and peace. Does the decision I’m considering promote peace? Then it’s wise.
3. The wisdom that comes from heaven is… considerate. To think God-wise is to think others-wise. It’s the wisdom of God to put others before you, and to esteem others as more important than yourself.
4. The wisdom that comes from heaven is… submissive. God’s wisdom makes us easy to live with and work with. The submissive person is willing to hear all sides of a question. He can disagree without being disagreeable. She is “swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19). Many people think that stubbornness is conviction and strength. But when God’s wisdom is at work there is a willingness to listen, think, pray, and obey whatever God reveals. “Yielding to persuasion” is another way to define wise submission.
5. The wisdom that comes from heaven is… full of mercy. To be “full” of something means to be “controlled by it.” The person who follows God’s wisdom is controlled by mercy. Does judgment control your thinking, or mercy?
6. The wisdom that comes from heaven… bears good fruit. It’s easy to argue and debate. But God’s wisdom is practical; it produces good works. When God’s wisdom is real in us, we won’t just debate; we’ll do good.
7. The wisdom that comes from heaven is… impartial. There will be no prejudice in the pews when God’s wisdom is in operation. Rich, poor, male, female, black, white, Republican, Democrat, Palestinian, Jew, are all one when in Christ.
8. The wisdom that comes from heaven is… sincere. When God’s wisdom is at work, there is openness and honesty. Pretending is unwise. While transparency often means vulnerability, it’s the wiser option.
So, are you wise? Put your daily decisions to these 8 tests and you’ll be much wiser for it.
Mark
For Part One, click the blog link on the right.
There are three words that can accurately be translated “hell” in the Bible. A really good translation, like the New American Standard Bible shows hell mentioned 13 times. The 1611 King James Version has 54 mentions of hell, but inaccurately renders the word Sheol as hell a full 31 times. This is inaccurate because Sheol is word that simply means “the place of the dead” or “the grave”—it is not hell in the sense that Jesus described it.
The three New Testament words accurately translated hell are, Hades, Tartaroo, and Gehenna. Hades is word associated with anguish; thought of as “infernal regions”—a dismal place for the wicked dead. Tartaroo was thought of by the ancient Greeks as the deepest abyss of Hades. It carries the idea of a subterranean region, doleful and dark; again, a place for the wicked dead. Tartaroo is used just once in 2 Peter 2:4.
Then there’s Gehenna. It comes from a Hebrew phrase “the valley of Hinnon.” Gehenna is a literal place that still sits outside of Jerusalem today. But people aren’t being tormented there. So we deduce that Gehenna was an illustration. Back then, Gehenna was a dump where the city’s waste and rotting corpses were burned by fire and eaten by worms; hence, the frightfully picturesque words of Jesus, “Where their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched.” Gehenna was a necessary place to visit, kind of like your local county dump today, but no one really wants to live there long. Jesus, the master teacher, used a picture to tell us that we really don’t want to go to hell.
So we discover that non-literal language is used to describe hell. But non-literal doesn’t mean non-real. Whether hell is a literal “place” or some state of existence, who can be a 100% sure? But I think we should consider this: If it’s real, then it’s really bad, and you’ll not want to end up there.
We’ll talk about this more in the next hellish post. Stay tuned. Muwa ha ha ha
Mark
Mark 9:43-48: If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out where ‘Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.’ And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than to have two feet and be thrown into hell where ‘Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.’ And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where ‘their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.’”
We once were having a little family time around the breakfast table. I read this bit about cutting off your hand and said, “Kids, my hand caused me to sin this morning; honey, get the cleaver.” Lisa promptly went to the cutlery and got a huge knife. I took it and wielded it above my wrist as the kids eyes grew larger. I quickly put the knife down and asked, “Is Jesus saying that we should literally cut off our hands?” They all furiously shook their heads and unanimously and simultaneously said no. “Then what was Jesus teaching us here?” Rachel replied, “To just stop it.” I like that. Simple, childlike, and true. “Did any of you think I was really going to chop off my hand?” Not really, they said.
Hell is always interesting. So I’d like to challenge our thinking on popular opinions outside the church and pop-theology within.
I’m always amused at how people who are so literal about things like hell refuse to be literal about cutting off their hands. This is the problem with thoughtless pop-theology—we can’t have it both ways. We need to think more deeply about this stuff. In Mark 9, Jesus compared hell to an “unquenchable fire.” Yet he also used the metaphor of “outer darkness” in Matthew 8:12. These mixed metaphors remind us to be careful about being dogmatic about what hell “literally” is. People sometimes say, “Do you believe in a literal hell?” My question is, “What do you mean by a literal hell? And what do you think it literally is?” See, if hell is literal fire, then it can’t be literal darkness, because fire, hello, creates light.
So if the word fire isn’t literal, then could it be a metaphor that means “never ending, unfulfilled burning, as in unfulfilled yearning or passion”? And if the word darkness isn’t literal, then could it be a metaphor that means “never seeing or relating, but utter isolation from God and people—an ultimate hell for us who seem created to be relational”? This would make “wailing, and gnashing of teeth” appropriate.
We’ll gather more clues in this doleful dark discussion in Part 2, coming soon. Insert evil laugh here… Muwa ha ha ha.
Mark
Dear Pastor,
Is it true that you will be held accountable for your sins on judgment day? This is confusing to me because the bible tells us are sins are forgiven (in the Greek - past, present, future), they are no more. But, the bible also tells us we will give an account of our sins. Matthew 12:36-37 says: “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
–Mary Ann
Mary Ann,
About our words: Jesus teaches us that the words we speak expose the true condition of our hearts (Matt. 12:34-37). So I ask myself: Are my words filled with love, grace, compassion and encouragement, or gossip, suspicion, aspersion, negativity, or cynicism? How do I feel when the condition of my heart is revealed? What actions should I consider? Are there some words that are gone yet retrievable, through asking my neighbor for forgiveness? Could it be that while harmful words will judged, healing words will also be judged, but credited to my account, so to speak?
About our attitudes (James 2:13): “Because judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment!” James contrasted two attitudes: showing mercy, and judging without mercy. If we are merciful toward others, God can be merciful toward us. It’s that simple. It’s like when Jesus said, “Forgive and you’ll be forgiven; refuse to forgive and you won’t be forgiven.” We read passages like these and the first thing many of us do is look for ways that this can’t be true. It sounds like works. What happened to the idea that believing the right things will get us into heaven? But this is what Jesus said.
So in like fashion, James says, “If we are merciful toward others, God can be merciful toward us.” It seems to me that the best way to understand this is that if we’re critical and condemning, it’s apparent that we don’t understand mercy. People who really understand and receive mercy tend to extend mercy. Those who only understand critical judgment are self-condemned already. They should turn toward mercy because mercy triumphs over judgment!
Mercy and justice both come from God, so they are not competitors. Perhaps we could think of it this way: Where God finds the true worshipper who loves God and man, and seeks blessing and ministry for the poor, needy and oppressed, (as in the case of the Good Samaritan) there, God is able to show mercy. Where God finds the person who refuses grace and winks at injustice and turns the other way in times of need—there God issues true justice to the unjust.
Learning Mercy,
Mark
If you listened to Wisdom Part One, then the wise thing to do is be thorough by listening to Wisdom Part Two, too. There are two kinds of wisdom… which will you choose? That answer could mean everything.
There are many ways to look at this thing called wisdom. The ancient scriptures speak of two kinds of wisdom: The earthly wisdom of man and the transcendnet wisdom of God. How can we tell between the two? Which will we choose in our day-to-day dealings?
