Milk & Meat

My wife and I were visiting the camp she used to cook at, along with our son who was only a few months old at the time. An old friend offered to take Joshua for a little bit so that we could visit more freely. This friend was an older gentleman who was not up to date on what kind of food little Josh should be consuming. We went to look for him to relieve our friend of his baby-sitting duty and he said, “Joshua sure loves chocolate pudding!” Suzanne laughed thinking it was a joke. The man looked perplexed and asked, “What’s so funny?” He had fed Joshua an entire desert dish of chocolate pudding with whipped cream. He threw it up on the way home.

Joshua was still only nursing. He was not ready for pudding! Most of us are not really “ready” for pudding, but that is another story. What Josh needed then was his mother’s milk. His little digestive system could not handle more. All the same, it was just what he needed for that early stage of growth. He wanted the pudding, but needed the milk. The writer to the Hebrews differentiates between milk and meat as symbols of what nourishes new creations in Christ. Baby Christians need the milk of the word but are meant to go on to the meat of the word as well. This may raise the question, what portions are the milk and what portions are meat in Scripture? It’s not as easy as that. It comes down to what many understand as the milk and the meat available in every portion of Scripture.

When Jesus spoke, he offered truth simultaneously on many levels. Parables are the classic illustration of this. But even when saying something very straightforward, there is more to it than meets the ear, initially. Take for example His words from the cross, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” It was during the three hours of darkness that Jesus said this, saying to us that God the Father left him. He was being treated like a sinner on behalf of all the sinners of the world. He faced separation from God the Father for us, so that we would not have to. This is the milk of his words. A child can understand this. At the same time, we know that he was also quoting the first line of Psalm 22, which is a graphic depiction of crucifixion. Prophecy was fulfilled in Christ’s death.

If that isn’t enough, there is more still. It was said at about the ninth hour. The ninth hour was the time for prayer for all Jews. (See Acts chapters 3 & 10) Jesus prays to the Father on the cross at the hour of prayer. As well, it was dark from the sixth to the ninth hour, or from noon to three o’clock. It was dark at the ninth hour. The ninth plague on Pharaoh was the plague of darkness – just before the death of the firstborn. There is symbolism here that is rich and deep. Much to mull over and mediate on. Finally, in asking “My God my God, why have you forsaken me?” we see that it was not Christ that left the Father, but the Father who left his Son for a time. Even in a state of abandonment, bearing the wrath of God, we see our Saviour crying out to the Father. He was forsaken, but would not let go. He held on for us. He then committed himself into his Father’s hands and died.

Josh eats meat now – and pudding. He is growing and maturing. We who are born again need to grow and mature just the same. Feed on God’s word. It nourishes and strengthens your new-creation-life. Then, help feed others. “Feed my lambs” Jesus says to us who can handle meat. Just go easy on the pudding.

BJ

A Coin Has Two Sides

A coin has two sides. It has a head and a tail. There is a front and a back. You have to flip it over to see the other side. Yes, it is there even when you don’t see it. There are always two sides. A man named Mobius took a long thin piece of paper in his hands, gave it a half twist with one hand and joined the ends together. If you run a pencil down the middle of the strip longways you will eventually cover both sides of the paper. It almost seems like one side. Where does the one start and the other stop? But still, the two are there. The two seem to become one, there.

A man named Jesus of Nazareth died on a Roman cross. But he was not just a man. He was, and is God. He rose from the dead to prove it. The God-Man came to represent God to us and us to God. He came to be both our substitute and our representative. He came that we might live and he came that we might die. He gave us two symbols to remember him with – bread and wine. Why two? They speak of his body and his blood. Broken body. Shed blood. One is to stop something, and the other is to cover something. Stopping and covering are the two sides of the sacrifice of Christ.

What is covered by his shed blood? This is maybe the more easily recognized of the two aspects of Jesus’ death. We sin. We accumulate sins. In each of us there is a desperation for forgiveness. We are forgiven because the shed blood of Jesus has us covered. There is blood on our hands because we are to blame for Jesus’ death-sentence. But it is His blood on our hands. The crowd that day shouted out “Let his blood be on us and on our children!” Little did they know that that was what they truly needed. Jesus’ perfect life offered on the cross makes up for our paltry lives. Something had to be paid for our disobedience. It just makes sense that it was paid for with obedience.

What is stopped by his broken body? The more difficult thing to see is our need not only for forgiveness, but our need for deliverance. Sin is a verb for us, but also a noun. The principle of sin as an operative agent in us needed to be stopped. The breaking of Jesus’ body on the cross accomplished this. How? Death was the only way. We are married to sin and since God does not grant divorces, death is the sole escape. We needed to die. Christ included us when he was crucified, so we can truly say, “It is no longer I that lives, but Christ who lives in me…” With him we died, with him we rose again. Spiritually, our resurrection has already taken place. We wait for our bodies to catch up. This being so, we can count on the cross of Jesus to be our freedom from sin. We no longer ask for victory, we simply thank him for it.

There are always two sides. Leave no stone unturned. Leave no page in God’s word unstudied. There is more. Jesus told a story about a woman who had lost her coin. She swept the house to find it. Coughing from the dust in the corners she finally found it and rejoiced! It was made of silver. He then said that there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. Over one lost coin that turns over. A coin has two sides.

BJ

He Had No Rights

This is a poem written by Mabel Williamson and included in her book "Have We No Rights?" I think it fits in here at "Three-Thirty" perfectly.

He Had No Rights

“He had no rights:
No right to a soft bed, and a well-laid table;
No right to a home of His own, a place where His own pleasure might be sought;
No right to choose pleasant, congenial companions, those who could understand Him and sympathise with Him;
No right to shrink away from filth and sin, to pull His garments closer around Him and turn aside to walk in cleaner paths;
No right to be understood and appreciated; no, not by those upon whom He had poured out a double portion of His love;
No right even never to be forsaken by His Father, the One who meant more than all to Him,
His only right was silently to endure shame, spitting, blows; to take His place as a sinner at the dock; to bear my sins in anguish on the cross.

He had no rights. And I?

A right to the “comforts” of life? No, but a right to the love of God for my pillow.
A right to physical safety? No, but a right to the security of being in His will.
A right to love and sympathy from those around me? No, but a right to the friendship of the One who understands me better than I do myself.
A right to be a leader among men? No, but the right to be led by the One to whom I have given my all, led as is a little child, with its hand in the hand of its father.
A right to a home, and dear ones? No, not necessarily; but a right to dwell in the heart of God.
A right to myself? No, but, oh, I have a right to Christ.
All that He takes I will give; All that He gives will I take;
He, my only right! He, the one right before which all other rights fade into nothingness.
I have full right to Him; Oh, may He have full right to me!”

Mabel Williamson, 1957

Circling the Gospel

Define a circle. Ok, you say. It’s a… uh… you know, a round line. Is it? Circles are an interesting phenomenon. Circles are by nature perfect. No matter where you start, when you pass through the centre, the diameter is the same. If at any time, the diameter at one point increases or decreases, you cease to have a circle and you then have an oval or an ellipse. Ovals often look just like circles until you measure them. If a circular shape is at all elongated anywhere, it cannot bear the name: Circle. Remember trying to draw one of those with a compass? As soon as you switch hands you’re toast. In the hands of a master, a compass can produce a perfect circle, which is a redundant thing to say because circles are perfect.

I read a “discussion” which was really a debate over the Gospel. It was entitled, “What Is The Gospel?” and a couple of experts were present to define it. There was hair-splitting, subtle name-calling, and straw-man arguments, but the two gentlemen were actually pretty graceful about the whole thing. The thing that struck me, was that at the end, the one guy said that the other guy was preaching a false gospel. He said that by nature, the gospel is something that if deviated from even slightly, ceases to be the gospel. It’s like a circle, really. If it is stretched in any direction, it ceases to be the good news.

I’m thankful for what the apostle Paul called “the simplicity which is in Christ.” While theologians are debating whether or not justification is declaring or making one righteous, four year olds are getting saved because they know that they know that Jesus died for them. Jesus died for you. That is a circle. It is a perfectly continuous shape without beginning or end. In 1st Peter it says, “the just died for the unjust.” The only circle died for the ovals of the world.

Part of the problem we have with defining the Gospel is that we don’t see Jesus as a circle. We elongate him. We stretch him at various points to be the Jesus we want him to be. When we distort Christ, we get a distorted gospel. He begins to take on this elliptical shape and it’s like we see him in a funhouse mirror. But who sees Jesus perfectly? Is he not either exaggerated or underrated at one point or another by us all? How are we then to preach the good news? Thank the Lord for his Word! It is a true circle, just like the Lord Jesus. It is balanced and sound and whole and perfect. It says, “God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son…” and it does NOT go on to say – that whosoever has their soteriology perfect will be saved. I was saved and thought I could “fall away.” I’m glad the Lord saved me in spite of me.

I think we have a hard time letting God be as gracious as he really is. We are afraid of “easy-believism” and so we add things to Jesus’ simple declaration of “whosoever believes…” At the same time, we don’t let God be as just as he really is. We don’t ponder long enough on the truth that Jesus was made “to BE sin for us.” We all suffer from “oval-vision” but by God’s grace we can fix our eyes on Jesus, the perfect circle and allow him to correct those places we distort him. We can then proclaim the good news with simplicity and clarity. The Perfect One died for the imperfect. Let’s not get bent out of shape trying to make the Gospel out to be something that it is not. Stay on a tight orbit around the Lord Jesus.

BJ

Losers Are Winners

“And the first prize goes to…” Every first place winner owes their win to the second place contestant. If he or she had not done worse than the winner, the winner would not have won. Winners need losers. Losers are important people. Without losers, we would have no winners. Losers are the shoulders winners ride on. Everybody who wins should thank their lucky stars that somebody did so badly.

Have you ever been called a “loser”? It hurts. “Looozzer!” Everybody wants to win. Someone once asked my brother what he liked to do in his spare time. He said, “I like to win.” So often our personal best is not enough. It doesn’t matter if we did all we could, it just seems to matter who did worse. There is something in us constantly comparing ourselves to others. That’s why the Guiness’ Book of World Records exists. You have some people that are no good at the regular contests, so they have to make up a weird one to be the best at. There is actually an award for the largest naval fluff collection.

He must increase, I must decrease. He must become greater, I must become less. This is the thought John the Baptist had when confronted with the popularity of Jesus. Not only the popularity, but the success of Jesus. He was baptizing more people than John and John’s disciples appeared to be threatened by this. But John was not threatened. In essence, he replied, “I am still too much. Jesus needs to be more.” At the heart, John is saying, “I have to shrink from view, I have to be less successful, I have to lose more.” John wanted to be a better loser.

We talk about glorifying God but I wonder how often we watch out for competing glories. Our glory gets in the way of the Lord’s. Or maybe we think our glory is necessary for making God look good. Jesus said, “Let your good works so shine before men that they glorify your Father in Heaven.” Well, that isn’t referring to the degree of illumination your works emit. Jesus is talking about the nature of the illumination itself, with that word “so”. You have to back up to one of his illustrations to get the full picture. He talks about a lamp-stand propping up the light, instead of a bowl on top of it. He links the lamp-stand with the works. The light is Christ. We are to hold him up for the world to see. We are to be holders (and beholders) of the light. Do you prop up Christ? Do I prop up Christ? Or are we busy climbing the shoulders of losers?

This can be a hard thing to see in your life, because we are so prone to seeking praise. But start today. We all actively promote ourselves. Sometimes our résumé is a little too handy. Put it away. Let Christ win. Take second place – take last place. May his interests and his endeavours be ours: His Church, his Word, his Name, his Glory… Christ’s is the only opinion that matters anyway. And he doesn’t miss a thing. Even when your right hand is unaware of what your left is doing, Jesus knows. When he says to you, “Well done, good and faithful servant” may there be many secrets between you. Be anonymous in your giving and generous with your prayers.

And stop collecting naval fluff.

BJ