Friday Faithfuls 2 - 1 Thessalonians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

This week's selection is 100% based on the season.  I did not grow up in a liturgical tradition; Advent wasn't on my radar at all.  When I married a Methodist, Advent became part of my vocabulary, but I still thought it was all about preparing for the baby.  It wasn't until I read Madeleine L'Engle's book The Irrational Season that I discovered that Advent is an eschatological season, preparing for the coming of the Messiah...both the first and second comings. 

You will hear people argue that the word 'rapture' doesn't occur anywhere in Scripture, so people who are looking for such a thing are clearly misguided.

But I would say that the word 'Advent' doesn't appear in Scripture, either (at least, it is not listed in my Exhaustive NIV Concordance).  Advent is a word we have used to describe a scriptural concept:  the expectation of and preparation for the coming of Messiah.  Likewise, 'rapture' is a word used to refer to a concept Paul clearly details:

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And so we will be with the Lord forever. -- 1 Thess. 4:16-17, NIV 84

However, I would also point out that the scholars of the day completely missed the first coming of Messiah.  They had studied the scriptures and the prophecies and they really believed they had it figured out;  they knew what was going to happen.  So when it didn't happen the way they expected...they missed it.  I'm not so sure this 'catching up' is a 'missable' event, in that sense, but I do think that we tend to interpret prophecy according to what we know.   Problem is, there is a lot of stuff we don't know that affects that interpretation; things that make sense in hindsight but were totally unexpected at the moment. I believe Paul wrote the truth...we will be all caught up, in some fashion.  But it might be in a way that we don't expect now...that, in hindsight millenia from now, we will see was exactly right.

And...even the unexpectedness of it is repeated in prophecies.  Jesus said it would be unexpected; Paul says it will be unexpected.  We just think we have figured out what the unexpected aspects of it will be.  But...I bet we don't.  Not entirely.  I kinda think the second coming of Messiah will be the same sort of surprise as the first one.  Not exactly what we...expected.

So maybe the theme statement of Advent should be the phrase that was the motto for our children's ministry at church for years:

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED.

Friday Faithfuls 2 - Colossians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The weekly skim is becoming well, sorta weekly during the holiday season, lol!  But we have arrived at Colossians today, and the passage that caught me on my read through is probably because of the season we're in...

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers of authorities; all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. -- Col. 1: 15-18, NIV 84

Think about his passage when we are singing about the baby in the manger...who has the supremacy in EVERYTHING. It's pretty staggering to think about what he actually did to come and dwell among us.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Philippians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Philippians, y'all.  Paul writing to some of the people he knew well, who had become believers because of his ministry and who had supported him when no one else did.

He loved these folks.

And, because I was specifically reminded of this passage at last night's choir practice, it kind of explains why it seemed highlighted. And the fact that it was the theme passage, repeated almost weekly, of the girls' ministry program I worked in for ten years.  

So... a passage with history, that was highlighted this week.  Yeah.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy --  think about such things. Phil. 4:8, NIV84.

The power of positive thinking, eh?  Paul, writing while imprisoned y'all, writes that folks should think about things that are true, noble, right pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and/or praiseworthy.  That takes some real discipline.

There are times when it's oddly satisfying to wallow in the unfairness, in the victimhood, in the entitlement...kind of like picking at a scab.  It doesn't do any good at all, and can, in fact, make things worse, but there's that weird perverse appetite for such things.

Paul, however, offers an option. An out.  Instead of thinking about all the yuck, think about all the good.  

Picking at a scab keeps it from healing...and can even allow infection to fester.  Focusing on resentment and envy and disappointment and the like can do a similar thing to the spirit.

Actually, the whole book of Philippians talks about keeping a good attitude.  That's just kind of a practical snippet.  It's only 4 chapters...give it a read through whenever you feel like the ol' attitude is beginning to sag.

And think on those things.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Ephesians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Our little flying skim through the books of the Bible looking for a verse that particularly resonates each week has brought us to Ephesians.

I may well have studied Ephesians more than any other book, lol.  I teach a class at church on beginning Bible study skills and over the course of that 10 week class we go through Ephesians three times.

So I wondered which verse would stand out to me as I read through it this week, and the one that tripped the wire was this one:

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. -- Eph. 1:13, NIV 84.

"You also were included"...that is balm to my soul right now.  Doesn't matter what happens on any earthly situation...I am included.

And so are you.  All it takes is real belief....the kind that gets deep inside and becomes foundational.  The rock upon which the house is built. When that happens, we are sealed in him.  

In.Clu.Ded.

Friday Faithfuls 2 - Galatians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

If anyone ever needed any proof that Paul could get salty...all they need to do is read Galatians.  Arguing against requiring non-Jewish believers to follow the law of Moses, Paul gets quite...emphatic...in his language.

But the verse that caught my attention today was 2:20 (NIV 84) - 

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Y'all.  Just take a selah and ponder that verse for a moment or two.

What RIGHTS do I have, as a believer, if I am crucified in Christ?  If Jesus is living through me?  If everything I do originates in faith in him?

Not from a legalistic standpoint...that's the very thing Paul argues against in the entire letter...but from a standpoint of love and gratefulness for what he has done?

How could I possibly look at the one who loved me and gave himself for me and say, 'I just want to do (fill in the blank) because it will make me happy.'

And, you know, the (fill in the blank) could be anything from, say, reading a bunch of salacious tales on Reddit compilations to  carrying a grudge against someone who caused emotional pain to jumping into an illicit relationship.  Doesn't matter.  If it's not in obedience to him,  how can that action be reconciled with being crucified with Christ?

Definitely worth a selah.

Dem Bones....

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Today we sang Elevation Church's song Rattle!  in worship.  It stirred up all kinds of things in me.

See...there's a lot going on IN me right now. I'm in a changing season, and, like any season of change, my footing feels uncertain, my direction is not clear, and I'm looking at old dreams thinking their time has passed...which makes me grieve a bit.  I was so looking forward to seeing those dreams happen.  But...if they are, they are not going to look anything like I thought.

So we are singing about dry bones coming back to life.  To be honest, I struggled.  I just wasn't feeling it.  So I had a little conversation with Holy Spirit about what was going on.  

While I'm singing, you understand.  Does that happen to anyone else?

What I heard was ...the song is about dry bones.  To quote Ezekiel, very dry bones.  And what the Spirit told me was...your bones still have meat on them.  Old, decaying, smelly meat.  You gotta let it die and fall off.  The bones have to be dry.

That's not to say there's anything bad about what was there.  Or what it accomplished.  Or negating the focus and training that working toward the dream accomplished in its time.  But...the old and the past-its-prime has got to drop away to clear the way for the new and the strong and the vibrant.  The bones get bleached out.  Dry isn't just dry...it's also clean.  Rotting meat attracts flies and repels people;  dry bones do not.

I have been thinking a lot about John the Baptist lately; probably a bit because season 3 of The Chosen is about to start up and, according to the chronology in the synoptic gospels, we are going to lose John the Baptizer in this season. I did a little character study of John back in the Desert series;  my thinking has been along those lines, but especially thinking about those guys who were disciples of John....how they had to make the transition from the ministry of John to the ministry of Jesus, who seemed to come along and push aside their rabbi.   I'm sure it was more than a little tempting to resent Jesus and his disciples for supplanting the ministry of John. Everybody is going over to that guy you baptized, they told him.

John's ministry was good, necessary, and part of the prophesied coming of the Messiah. He was in the progression of ministry of national prophets that had gone back centuries.  But it was done.

This is the sound of dry bones rattling...

Not done.  Transforming.  Into following the one that John and all the prophets before him proclaimed.  Into the thing it was intended to be all along.

But the old has to dry up.

SO I began to sing the song as a declaration that when all the old stuff had fallen off and the dreams were truly down to dry bones...the resurrection will come.  In some way, it will come.

Just ask the stone that was rolled at the tomb of the garden what happens when God says to move...

I'm not there yet.  But I can believe it's coming.

Friday Faithfuls Two: 2 Corinthians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Second Corinthians...Paul's second letter to the church in Corinth, which had some issues.  He wrote them a pretty strong letter earlier...rebuke, instruction on discipline...and in this letter he kinda sorta says, 'Sorry, not sorry'...because he was sorry to have caused them grief, but was rejoicing at the repentance that grief brought about.

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.  -- 2 Cor 7:10

I wonder if, in our reluctance to offend/ hurt people, we forget that godly sorrow is a good thing.  How can one be brought to repentance without godly sorrow...the recognition that one has done things that need repenting?

If there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness.  Repentance is KEY.    There's a big difference between 'I truly regret that I ever did XYZ; I recognize that it was wrong and I renounce that behavior and will walk away from the lifestyle that produces such things' and 'I'm sorry you caught me/ called me out for XYZ; I'll be more careful in the future,'...which implies that repeat behavior is likely, for whatever reason.

If we confess a thing as sin, and repent...he is faithful and will forgive.  However many times it takes.  But if we just confess it as a 'problem' or a 'habit' or even 'that's just how I am'...there's no repentance.  Somehow our little pet failings don't seem to be sinful.  They don't hurt anyone.  It doesn't even affect anyone else.   But if GOD says it's sin....then, my friend, we must own our sin. Agree with him.  Then we can be forgiven.

And it is quite a sorrowful battle to come to the place to admit that... whatever...is sin.  The thing that separates me from God and his blessing.  Sin cannot come into God's presence.  And, while we might believe we can drop the sin at the last minute, the plain truth is that sin has hooks.  Only repentance and forgiveness can remove those hooks. Ultimately, we don't hold sin...sin holds us. If sin is not forgiven and washed away, the hooks will pull the individual to the place where sin will ultimately end up...outside of God's presence.  The wages of sin is death.  Because sin cannot come into the presence of God any more than darkness can come into a place that's filled with light.

So...how can we, as believers carrying his truth, inspire godly sorrow...and not just plain ol' offense?  What needs to change in me?  In the way I interact with those around me?