Check Your Roots

There is a popular idea that getting to the promised land is an Old Testament type of going to Heaven. Some of the Negro spirituals and even some older Christian hymns make the connection plainly. I think they are wrong. When Joshua took the new people of Israel into the land, it was occupied by the enemies of God. The Israelites had to fight bloody battles with and suffer repeated attacks from those enemies all through their history there. That does not sound like an analogy for Heaven, at least not the Heaven I’m looking forward to.

I think crossing Jordon and taking the land is a metaphor of the Christian life. Crossing Jordon is not going to heaven, but becoming a new person in Christ. This analogy lines up much better with the historical facts of the Israelite occupation, and it leads to several instructive parallels.

First, Joshua 21:43 reports that after God gave them the land and they possessed it, they “settled” there. The Hebrew word for settled is taba (טָבַע). Taba means to sink in, to be planted (think roots); it is even translated “to drown” once. I do not mean to imply that Christians should be “planted” in earthly things. Remember that the physical realities of the Old Testament are most often types of spiritual realities in the New Testament. Israel had physical land and a physical kingdom. Christians have Christ as their “land,” and God’s rule as the Kingdom. Believers are told to be “rooted and grounded” in the Love that signifies Christ’s Kingdom.

There is another parallel between the Israelites’ situation and believers’. We both need to be zealous to root out the enemy forces that surround us. Before he left, Jesus warned that we would be hated by the world because they hated him. Peter called our enemy a “roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.” We cannot make deals with the enemy, as Joshua was fooled into doing with the Gibeonites. Nor can we stop short of sweeping the land clean unless we want the “Philistines” constantly troubling us. We must seek to be holy as God is holy keeping in mind that holiness is separation for a cause. In the world, but not of the world.

Even the Israelite desire for an earthly king resonates with our situation as subjects in Christ’s Kingdom. Israel wanted to be like the people around them; their neighbors all had physical rulers who, by the way, were followers of God’s enemy. Israel rejected God as King and longed for a human replacement. Samuel says, “But today you have rejected your God, who saves you from all your calamities and your distresses, and you have said to him, ‘Set a king over us.’” Isn’t that exactly what we do today when we set something other than God at the center of our lives?

The last parallel I want to draw may stretch the linguistic boundaries somewhat, but you will forgive me. The Hebrew word taba carries the idea of sinking in, translated once “to drown” as I mentioned earlier. One of the pictures Christian baptism paints is that of identification with Christ. We are baptized, immersed, into Christ in the sense that we are identifying ourselves with his death and resurrection. We must not think of the resurrection as only that which comes after we die; after our immersion, we are subsequently raised that “we too might walk in newness of life,” says Paul. Israel passed between the waters of the Jordan as they entered the promised land. In our case, Jesus fulfilled the promise of land that God made to Abraham; He is our “land.” We are born anew, baptized into Him, so that we might live a new kind of life in the Land of Christ.

Ask yourself if you are settled, rooted, drowned in Christ. In whose kingdom do you belong? It is not enough to say we belong to Christ. We must live so that we “shine like stars in the sky” letting the world know to whom we belong. Anything less than that is living in the Promised Land and worshipping Baal. Look what happened to Israel for behaving like that!

Deliver Us From Evil

In a recent post I pointed to values clarification as a major factor contributing to the violence that has been plaguing schools in the last 30 years or so. In that previous post intended to say that without a standard for moral values, young people are encouraged to decide for themselves what value system they will embrace. If a young man decides that homicide is permissible under his own particular value system, who is to say nay?

Immediately this sounds wrong somehow to almost everybody (to all my readers, I hope). Most people would consider the taking of innocent life wrong under any circumstances. But wait. The idea that it is wrong to take another life (innocent or not) proceeds from the assumption that there are basic moral principles which apply to everyone. Full stop. That assumption rests on the idea that there are universal moral principles; today’s moral relativism and situation ethics question that very assumption. The murder of millions of innocent unborn children emphasizes the practical reality of this position.

If one goes looking for universal values, it will become patently obvious that they exist. In both the Eastern and Westerner traditions, we find searches for and suggestions of universal truths thousands of years back. You can even discount Hebraic tradition (as so many are wont to do) and still find a trace of universal truth permeating the best thinkers in every age. What we must ask is whether there are constants, survivors in this exploration. The answer is a resounding YES.

What are the values that resonate with every generation and every culture: beauty, goodness and truth. Granted, beauty does have cultural and generational aspects, but if I am reading Francis Schaeffer correctly, beauty itself has a universal anchor. For example, John Cage and Pablo Pascal may have been popular for a short time, but few would call their work “beautiful.” Goodness has less variability across cultures and generations, although philosophers since Socrates have debated what “the good” is. Perhaps the most debatable element in today’s society is truth. Post-modern philosophers (the majority of western thinkers) question whether there is even enough evidence to declare that truth exists.

I believe truth does exist: an absolute, knowable, propositional truth. I believe this because I know God exists, and he created what we know as “reality,” and he communicated with his creation concerning that reality. Truth then exists as the expression of how things comport with or match up to reality. I realize all this stems from my Christian world-view, and most secular thinkers will dismiss it out of hand. Yet I agree with FrancisSchaeffer that this view is the only view that makes ultimate sense of the universe and humanity’s place in the universe.

Goodness, or “the Good” that the ancients were seeking is an outgrowth of our view of truth. The word “good” can be assigned to anything that advances the will of the Creator and aligns with his character. The opposite of good is evil; evil is anything that does not line up with goodness and truth. On that basis, much of what we accept in society as freedom of speech or simply an opposing argument is in fact evil. The lesson on how to boil a frog is instructive here. Christians in America have allowed civil discourse and behavior in general to devolve to the lowest common denominator in the name of freedom. Against this the Bible tells us we are not to use our freedom as acover-up for evil.

So then, it is evil to distort the truth. Somebody coined the term “fake news” recently. In the past, purposely distorting the truth was called propaganda; its real name is lies. Washington DC abounds with this kind of speech. Our “entertainers” who become spokespersons for causes commit the same thing. The recent tirade on gun control is a perfect example. Oprah Winfrey and George Clooney blather on about reducing violence by restricting access to guns. Yet statistics prove that the highest gun violence rates are in the cities with the toughest gun control. These celebrities may be opining out of ignorance, but the old saw that says ignorance is no excuse applies. Purposeful ignorance is also evil.

Another way our society distorts truth is by belittling goodness. This is a form of evil. Look at what the media did to Tim Tebow or any other athlete who openly expresses faith in God. Joy Behar, famous for her views on The View recently made shameful comments about the Vice President, Mike Pence, regarding his strong Christian faith. Saturday Night Live regularly mocks Christians as entertainment. I will grant that this does not rise to the level of roasting Christians alive as did the worst Roman emperors, but it is evil nonetheless, and it is pervasive in our society.

The Apostle Paul had some advice for the Philippians that we would do well to follow. “Whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things… and the peace of God will be with you.” That prescription would end the violence in schools and slander in the media and a host of evils if taken to heart. Truthfully, in the final analysis, the real issue is the heart of man, that deceitful, desperately wicked heart. Only God can change that, but we can hope… and pray.

Eulogy for Robert Rosencrants

Because of the 1,587 mile time-space continuum separation, I will not be present in the flesh at the funeral of my dear friend, Bob Rosencrants. I will be there in spirit (whatever that means), but I am going to share what I would say if I could be there in person.

Bob was a good friend; I mean that two ways. He was a friend who was a good man, and he was a good man to have as a friend. I don’t know if I have ever known a more generous man. For example, he once offered to help me buy a house. I don’t mean introduce me to a realtor or give me counsel about what and where to buy (although he did that too). I mean he offered me a large sum of money toward the purchase of a house. The fact that I chose not to accept his generous offer does not diminish the huge generosity of the offer. I know of other similar incidents too, as does anyone who knew Bob well.

Bob was the kind of good friend who would just up and call me out of the blue. Sometimes he had a specific question about something he was reading. He’d say something like, “Hey Clair, I am wondering about something I read and I thought you might be able to help.” Sometimes he would just call to see how I was doing; no particular reason; just a call to connect. He’d ask, “How are you and that wife of yours doing?” or something like that.

I loved having him in the Sunday School class I was teaching. He stopped coming in spite of the fact that I begged him to come back. Even that situation showed what a good heart the man had. What happened is that Bob and I had a disagreement about the meaning of a word. It was a little heated at the time, and I did not handle it properly. We eventually came to a perfectly friendly conclusion to agree to disagree, but no matter how earnestly I begged him to come back to class, he refused. You see, he felt that his presence might engender strife instead of enlightenment, so he chose not to risk the possibility. That was selflessness in action. That was Bob.

None of us who attend Bridge Bible Church with Bob will ever forget his Sunday morning prayer requests: “Hello Church. This is Bob, standing in the need of prayer.” And he was standing when he said that, even toward the last when standing became a major effort. And he was dead serious about his need for prayer, but he was even more concerned for others. I’m pretty sure Lu must have cringed a couple times when Bob shared in his own inimitable way, but those of us in the body with Bob and Lu got to feel what he felt and pray what he prayed… at least a little.

The thing I hope I can remember and imitate is the way Bob faced his last bit of time here on earth. Oh sure, he had a few moments of anger and confusion, but what I remember most is his unwavering conviction whatever happened, he wanted God to get the glory. I think that worked out the way Bob wanted.

I can see Bob up there now having a conversation with Peter, Paul, and Dr. Luke. I can imagine someone saying, "Oh, Bob! Really?" They are the lucky ones now. But we are lucky too, those of us who knew Bob. The Apostle Paul told us to imitate him as he imitated Christ. I know Bob had his crazy moments, but we could do worse than to imitate Bob as he imitated Christ. Bob Rosencrants was a good man to have around. He will be missed.

Values Clarification

“Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” In our sermon series on the Beatitudes, this is where we are now. I marvel at how timely this message is given the occurrence of another school shooting last week. My other “home church” and I are also feeling it deeply because in one month two dear men went to be with the Lord after battling cancer. “We do not “grieve as do the rest who have no hope,” but still we “weep with those who weep.” These things are one aspect of what Jesus referred to when he cautioned believers that, “in the world, [we] will have tribulation.”

In the midst of mourning the school shootings a post floated across Facebook that really struck me. It said, “Dear God, why do you allow violence in schools? Concerned Student… Dear Concerned Student, I am not allowed in schools. God.”.” Enough said? For more than a generation our public schools have been preaching (yes, preaching the religion of) "values clarification.” What that phrase actually means is you get to create your own value system because there is no absolute truth. This is also known as moral relativism. Situation ethics is another way to explain what it means. Based on the teaching they have received, the school shooters have every right to express their feelings with violence against others if it fits their “value system.”

The “tribulation” Jesus promised is usually thought of as persecution of believers, and that is not wrong given the context of our Savior’s words. But to fully understand tribulation, one must look behind the curtain of the “world” to which Jesus referred. We should recall that God created a perfect world for His children. They are the ones who messed it up by writing a script totally independent from God rather than dependent upon Him. The Fall must be seen as a historical reality to understand the tribulation through which we now travail.

Immediately after the Fall, God promised redemption through the heel-bruised Seed. Unfortunately, He also promised blood, sweat, toil and tears in the meantime. What I am saying is that the original sin in the Garden set the stage for the tribulation to which Jesus referred. So after a long stretch of history, but a short logical chain, young people splatter the results of values clarification all over their schools. I’m not saying there would be no violence in schools if we had not kicked God out; evil continues to exist. I am saying that we should not be surprised by it after a generation of telling children that they may choose their own version of right and wrong. What was it the Serpent said to Eve? “That you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”

So we still mourn, but not like those who have no true value system. We value the righteousness that has been lost to a whole generation of our children. We mourn because of the effects of sin in the world. We understand it’s not about a troubled childhood; it’s about a troubled humanity. We experience tribulation because we have a sin-wrecked world. And our mourning should lead us to pray for the only answer, and it’s not gun control (Good grief, again?!).

Believers should be driven to their knees in tears for those who are suffering, and we should be praying for revival. The only way to stop the violence in schools, on the streets, or on the international stage is to change hearts one at a time. Only God can do that. He has in the past; He can do it again. He can replace values clarification with a clear value system. Prayerfully examine your value system; then pray for those who need “clarification” so desperately. I know this is small comfort, but it is what the Beatitude promised.