Hardness of Heart

"The quality of being hard rather than soft, stiff instead of pliable, is hardly mentioned at all int he Bible as a physical property. Instead it is a psychological, moral and spiritual quality that covers a range of attitudes, including refusal to listen, inability to understand, irrationality and rebellious disobedience. The part of the body that most often gets metaphorically hardened is the heart ; the image of being "stiff-necked" is a variant." 

Conclusion: "Softness or pliability toward God means to be enlightened by God's truth, obedient to God's commands and compliant with God's will."

Dictionary of Biblical Imagery. pg. 364. 

Scriptural references:

- Pharaoh and the Egyptians (Exodus), classic example
- Joshuah 11:20, achieving His purpose by the action of evil people (also Romans 9:7)
- Rebellion. Psalm 95:8, Exodus 17:1-7, Number 14:22, Hebrews 3:8, 15
- Refusing to listen, not hearing the voice of God. Hebrews 4:7
- Not listening to prophets. Ezekiel 3:7
- Lack of fear of God and straying from His ways. Isaiah 63:17. Not following his commandments. Mark 10:5 (God let them even though it was not God's idea)
- Spiritual Blindness. Mark 3:5, not understanding Jesus redemptive work. Mark 6:52, not understanding or discerning. John 12:40. Hardened mind, 2 Cor 3:14. and being in darkness in Eph 4:8.

Discipleship, church as family.

Ross Parsley. Messy Church. pg. 20-21..

In a family we learn how to work hard, sort out injustice with siblings, and wrestle through disappointment with our parents. We learn expressions of love, humor, manners, and humility, all within the family context.

The family analogy is the best picture of what a healthy and vibrant church community is supposed to look like. If you think about it, families are perfectly designed for discipleship: constant access, consistent modeling, demonstration, teaching and training, conflict management and resolution, failure, follow-up and feedback. And this should all happen in an attitude and atmosphere of love. Children are raised, parents are matured, and grandparents are valued all at the same time. 

This is God’s design.

But our churches don’t tend to have the characteristics of families anymore. Instead, we are more often full of consumers looking for our next God product, bingeing and purging Sunday to Sunday with a steady diet of fast-food TV preachers. We don’t often learn how to fight fair with loving correction and guidance but instead appear to be recruiting culture warriors to fight against an unholy society—or worse, against a perceived political opponent. We all hate religion but love our spiritual individualism with such passion that we may be creating a generation of dechurched orphans who have no authentic spiritual family or heritage.

.. The big C Church is on the verge of a massive shift philosophically and generationally. We are addicted to instant gratification. Microwave Christianity has replaced cooking the family meal. Instead of filming a movie classic, we’re capturing YouTube videos. Instead of taking long, leisurely walks, we’re making mad dashes to the mall. Instead of saving for our children’s inheritance, we’re buying lottery tickets. Our picture of who we are as the church is woefully inadequate and tragically shortsighted.

The Sinners Prayer reconstructed Campus Crusade like prayer for a friend. 

Dear God in heaven, I appeal to Your throne in the name of Jesus. I acknowledge that I am a sinner, and I am remorseful for my sins.  I repent of the life that I have lived; I need your forgiveness and grace to enter into my life. 

I believe that Jesus, conceived of by the Holy Spirit, willingly gave his life on the cross for my sins, and the sin of the world.  You said in Your Holy Word, Romans 10:9 that if we confess the Lord our God and believe in our hearts that God raised Jesus from the dead, we shall be saved. 

With my heart, I believe that the Spirit of God raised Jesus from the dead. I confess Jesus as Lord, the incarnate Son of God, after dying on a cross and being raise, He has ascended to a place of authority over heaven and earth; His kingdom I desire to enter, and His reign I want to live under. In saying that I commit my life to following Jesus, and to living in communion with other followers of Christ Jesus. This very moment I proclaim Jesus Christ as my Lord, and Lord of all, thus according to His Word all who call on His name shall be saved, so in faith and hope I know that in accordance to Your will I can be saved.

Thank you Jesus for your unlimited grace which has saved me from my sins. I thank you Jesus that your grace never leads to license to sin, but rather it always leads to repentance. Therefore Lord Jesus transform my life so that I may bring glory and honor to you alone and not to myself. 

Thank you Jesus for dying for me and giving me eternal life.
Amen.

Glory of God - size?

I don't think it can be expressed in size as if God can easily be conformed to our imagination. To even begin to consider the bigness of God in terms of greatness is to first look at the vastness of the universe. Some have tried this method, and while I think it is fascinating and helpful, this only begins to express God's glory.

Imagine a standard grid used to plot numbers.

               --- Us
<---------------------------> God


We are limited by depth of field to the visible portion of the line, yet the line representing God is beyond finite, so we cannot plot God as anything limited to the grid.

God's glory is also expressed by His goodness and holiness. A fuller understanding of the term 'holiness' removes God from the grid and then makes Him author of the grid and your line. The paradox to God not being on the grid is that God is still active on the grid, multi-directional, yet separate from the grid. If we were to speak of God as the grid, then everything becomes divine, polytheistic, and worthy of worship. God's glory sets Him apart as the only thing worthy of worship.

"The God of the Bible is not an ontological black hole, so to speak, but rather a "white hole" of infinitely dense and concentrated reality that can spew forth a universe at the moment of the big bang creation.  Neutron stars, stars that have collapsed catastrophically but that have not yet reached the black hole state, are said to have such a dense concentration of neutrons at the core that all the molecules in Mount Everest could be concentrated in a space the size of a teaspoon.  The image of an intensely and densely concentrated star suggests the analogy of God as an "neutron star" of being - more intensely and densely real than anything in our ordinary human imagination and experience."

John Jefferson Davis.  Worship and the Reality of God.  pp. 50

'Legalism' as a term.

Do we stretch the term legalism beyond it's boundaries?

I should do something, therefor I do it, but an excess of should do's attracts the anti-religious to issue a warrant of legalism. When the term is broadened beyond the original ills in which it confronts, these ideas [or term in itself] is then made to cut off any kind of faith response. Legalism as a term has been rightfully defined to deter the idea of earning salvation [salvation by merit], but in a more modern sense the term can be abused to discourages any kind of commitment to ones' faith.

 I worship because I'm responding, I pray because I know God is good; God has sent His Son die for 'our' sins, called 'us' into and restored 'our' relationship, so various things I do as a Christian come in response to God's love.  I'm not trying earn anything.

Should I pray? Yes. Why should I pray? Because God is good! Why do I pray? Because I believe God is good, I believe Jesus is Lord, and I believe God provides, but in doing so my riches are in God. This doesn't make me legalistic in infer the necessity of a prayer life. Now if I press forward a formulaic system of salvation, such that one must have an active prayer life to be save, then I'm being legalistic.  I urge others [unlegalistically], those person who is trying to follow Christ, to move forward in responding to God's love as an appropriate means to grow a prayer life. My concern about the lack of a prayer life is a concern for an individual's spiritual health.

Sermon on the Mount - Can't be legalized.

The sermon on the mount can't be legalized, its almost completely internalized. What does externalizing a religious ethic lead you toward? Hypocrisy, an outward show of religion that is deficient of internal spirituality. Now I think freedom in Christ is a little bit different than we would expect. I can do anything, but for internal and not purely external reasons I choose not to do certain things. It comes down to where my love is at, and what I let into my heart.

God sees in secret. God sees deep into our heart and knows all our secrets. God knows what we do in private. This is not a covenant of works, but a covenant of love. This is not a covenant of self-denial, this is a covenant of love asking, 'where is your heart at when you do these things.' I'm not trying to earn God's love, but in the understanding of God's love I so desire to love like God. How is this not a religion of denying self, a stoic ethic? Because I know when I let the wrong things into my heart, they compete for my love of God. Therefor I don't desire the same things I once desired. A stoic ethic is much like a purification ethic, but because God sees deep into our hearts and convicts, I'm not doing this alone, I'm doing this through God's love. I don't have to be dependent on myself, I just have to seeking, keep following after Jesus because that's where my heart is leading me. I want to be a disciple, and I don't have to explain all the mysteries.

Oddly, many who reject Christianity know deep down in their hearts that only God can judge. They are aware of a higher accountability, but it doesn't lead them anywhere.

God sees in secret.

I was once extremely skeptical of the high number of  pew sitters in church, but perhaps they knew something I didn't. Living a servant life is not summed up as a Sunday morning exercise of volunteering. This was indeed my entry point, and I would not persuade a person away from activity in church. God sees in secret what you do when you leave church. God is right there. My service in church doesn't earn me any favor, nor is it an indicator of what God is seeing in secret. But my service in church has encouraged growth on many levels, and often in times of lament it has reminded me of how close God is. I've come to realize that being a servant happens in many ways throughout the week.

The pew sitters are there because they've responded to something, and we need to keep that in mind. Our local church many not be complete enough to utilize the servant gifts of the pew sitter. 

What else may the pew sitters know? 

There is something more to the Christian life than a public display of religious activity. So I have to check myself to make sure that I'm not being a hypocrite. Am I on stage for the right reasons? Have I received my reward? I don't know what rewards has the pew sitter has stored up in heaven if it's things in secret that play a role in defining who we are with God. Perhaps this is one of the reasons Jesus warns us not to judge, and why Paul warns against comparative spirituality. Don't be so high on yourself for what you've done in public, and what you see in public, for God sees in secret.

The danger occurs when you're been playing the game for so long that you no longer realize you're playing it, and this gives way to the worst kind of hypocrisy.  It's even dangerous when you've inherited the game, thinking this is normative Christianity and then try to break from game. 

Psalm 111 - reflection

Psalm 111 - reflection

Do we ever stop to consider the massive impact of the historical revelation of what God did in Egypt?  There are subtle echoes of this in the surrounding nations in Joshua, Samuel, and even into Kings.  This must have rocked the Ancient Near East, so much so that people were still talking about it hundreds of years later.  What a huge revelation it must have been in this world for God to set plagues on Egypt, bring His people out, and then deliver the land of Israel into the hands of his covenant people.  Over and over again you find God reminding the people that He brought them out of Egypt, and then a strange irony in that the surrounding nations, often in times of conflict, haven't forgotten this is the God who humiliated the Egyptian gods and conquered the land of Canaan for his people.

            Praise the Lord.
            I will extol the Lord with all my heart
            in the council of the upright and in the assembly.
         
            Great are the works of the Lord;
                they are pondered by all who delight in them.
            Glorious and majestic are his deeds,
                and his righteousness endures forever.
            He has caused his wonders to be remembered;
                the Lord is gracious and compassionate.
            He provides food for those who fear him;
                He remembers his covenant forever.
            He has shown his people the power of his works,
                giving them the lands of other nations.
            The works of his hands are faithful and just;
                all his precepts are trustworthy.
            They are steadfast forever and ever,
                done in faithfulness and uprightness.
            He provided redemption for his people;
                He ordained his covenant forever—
            holy and awesome is his name.
         
            The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom;
                all who follow his precepts have good understanding.
            To him belongs eternal praise.

Consider the Ancient Near East, what God's covenant with Israel was revealing to outsiders.  Now consider how in the new covenant we are conquering the world as God's people through peace, and how appropriate it is for this time in history.  God acts in the fullness of time, but He also acts within an appropriate revelation for that time.

God brought his people out of Egypt and says, "you shall have no other gods before me," speaking into a brutal pantheistic age.  The world begins a slow movement towards monotheism.  The other of the 10 Commandments start humanity towards less war and less violence, more humane living, more tolerance, less justice killings, and overall, better relationships.  Polygamy disappeared over time in the lands under Judeo Christian influence, as did slavery, and countless other things.  Ancient history is unsettling to study, it's horrific at times, and it bring you to a point of having almost culture sock when you glance into these ancient cultures.  You can't help but be in awe of what God has done from then to now.

Imagine the surrounding cultures staring into Israel.  What does God want them to see?  A lamp on a lampstand?  Yahweh is no tribal God, no, He is the one true God.  He is the creator God.  He is in control of history, or in a Christocentric sense, moving history to a point where the world is ready for His Son.  To do this, He must keep reminding His people to be faithful.  What does God gain by working miracles when His people have fallen away into idolatry?  The surrounding nations see them worshiping Ashera or one of the figures of Baal, and God loses ground if His work is not recognized as distinctly His own.  A victory in battle was a victory for God, for Israel, and for all future generations of the earth who comes to see the glory of God in clearer vision.  A lose for Israel also served as a revelation when they were not faithful, and yet God was still faithful to the covenant.  It took time.

We should be aware of how God is speaking to the world through the new covenant.  Jesus communicates this to us, through Kingdom language, through his prayers and teachings.  Torah law was often limiting ancient uncivil behavior and practice, attribute this to God's patience and commitment to redeeming creation; at times to be very grieved by human behavior, but as the timetable for transformation is sometimes slow, we should not view these laws as condoning or enabling things God was seeking to remove.. in His good time.  The world in the first century was ready for a savior, ready for radical new teachings and a covenant extended to all nations.  As we live as God's people, we should remember the lessons learned in the stories of the past by viewing God's work in the world, through a chosen people, but we should also be looking forward and speaking of the final promises yet to be fulfilled.  He remembers his covenant forever.