You steward your own faith…

 “Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.” Rom 13.8

    I would rather explain to God why I sinned in my effort to be righteous than to not have sinned because I was obeying someone else. I think God would prefer that as well. I keep bumping into conversations about Moral Absolutism versus Moral Relativism. Absolutism is the idea that there are moral absolutes, thou shalt not kill would be one of the more popular ones. Relativism is that morals are contingent on circumstances.

    Much of Christianity is devoted to Moral Absolutism. In fact many would have us believe that it has been God who has created absolute morals. If we were left to our own devices we not have absolute right and wrong. I do believe that, for the most part, there are some absolute morals. There are not as many as we think. Take, for instance, “Thou shalt not kill.” Is it always immoral to kill someone else? In the Goat Herder’s Guide, the God who told us, “Thou shalt not kill,” is the same God who apparently calls for his people to kill others. I think most of us can recall situations where taking a life to stop an act of evil was the morally correct decision. World War II comes to mind.

    I wonder if Paul had pondered this as he refined or reduced our faith to some pretty simple concepts. “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Rom 10.9) There are those who might read this and be tempted to say, “Then I can do anything.” That is simply not true.

    In conversation with a friend of mine, this idea came up. He talked about how we still need hard and fast rules. I disagree. The issue of adultery came up, and the question was, did I think it was okay to have sex outside of marriage. My answer, better refined in hindsight, was that if I need a rule to tell me not to cheat on the Feisty One, then I am missing something. I believe that.

    Our faith does not push us toward obedience. It pushes us toward stewardship. In my marriage, I am not called to just not have sex outside of my marriage; I am called to live within my marriage as God would want me to do. The same in my career, the same in how I drive, the same in how I manage conflict. Jesus taught, “In everything you do, do to others as you would have them do to you; this is the sum of the Law and Prophets.” (Matt 7.12)

    Our faith calls us to have the same sense of stewardship in our relationship with God. In the letter of 1 John, we are told that when we love, we are in God, and God is in us, AND that we fulfill God’s love (1 John 4.12). Often, it is through how I treat others that I develop my relationship with God. 

    I have been in many churches that foster a consumeristic approach to faith. They are well-orchestrated events. While I have no objection to this approach to community worship, this approach can lead to a passivity in our faith. We go to church to receive. Thus, there is an over-emphasis on the authority of the Pastor. I have had more than a few conversations in which I am told, “My Pastor says.” I am more interested in how you see living your faith out. I am more interested in how you are being a steward of the gift of grace you have been given.

 

Anyway, that is my opinion.

 Sin

 

        The best theological conversations take place over food! It was over one such lunch that my friend almost off-handedly said, “There is no such thing as sin!”

        The comment surprised me;  not only did it seem to come from leftfield, but I find it hard to dismiss the idea of sinfulness. After a moment’s reflection, I asked him, “So you have no regrets? Nothing you would like to take back? You have caused no harm?”

        He replied, “Well, of course I have those moments.”

        “That is what sin is.” I replied.

        God, or rather sin, has a poor reputation. We collectively seem to have this image of God running around with a clipboard, a checklist, and a penchant for ensuring that we are miserable. It is reminiscent of an adolescent thinking his parents are so mean because they have a curfew.

        The fact that we have ten commandments, then another six hundred and three, does not help with the concept of the clipboard and checklist. There are those who subscribe to the idea that there are even more in the New Testament. There is a difficulty in reducing our faith to the checklist approach to sin. And Jesus taught against this approach.

    The problem with checklists is that they attempt to provide straight lines in a curvy world. Thus, I can tithe down to the spices in my kitchen, but I can still be a stingy bastard. Straight lines rarely allow for variants based on the circumstances; the parable of the Good Samaritan exemplifies this problem. The two guys who had passed by the injured traveller thought they were being ‘righteous.’ Straight lines never cover every situation; there are always gray areas. My biggest concern regarding straight lines is that they lend too easily to deciding who is ‘in’ and who is ‘out.’ This concern is self-serving; I am more than likely to be in the excluded group.

        Jesus told us that he did not come to abolish the law; he was quite clear about it. He then proceeds to talk about meeting the expectations of God. In teaching on the aspects of lust, oaths, anger, and divorce, he moves us towards a much broader idea that is actually much harder to fulfill than the series of commandments. “So whatever you wish that men would do to you, do so to them; for this is the law and the prophets.” (Matt 7.12) Later, in a letter to the Galatians, Paul writes, “For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Gal 5.14)

        Allow me to shift the focus from sin to doing what is required. Micah, an Old Testament prophet, provided this view. “He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” (Micah 6.8) I adore that he calls us, “Oh Mortal.” Notice that we are called to act justly. There is also, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.” (Deut. 6.5)

        This shift might seem that we are freed from the checklist, and we are, but that is no favour. The checklist approach distances us from God. This ‘freer’ style of living calls us into relationship with him. When we strive to “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you,” we are forced to think our way through our days. Our life is transformed into a living prayer. At least, that is the objective we are called to live out. To “walk humbly with our God.”

        A further consideration for you. I am shopping at my favourite cheap department store and I see a pair of pants that I really quite like. The checklist style approach would have that I cannot steal these pants. Our freer form of obedience would also have that stealing them is wrong. But when I consider that I am to act justly, the concern then becomes, who made these pants? If these pants are made by someone whose labour is exploited, then I am exploiting them.

        In living righteously, which the Goat Herder’s Guide tries to get us to do, I am challenged to consider the impact of my behaviour. The example of the pants may seem trivial. It isn’t. The impact of cheaply made goods designed for temporary possession is ruining our environment and economy and is ensuring that there will always be exploited labour. Exploited labour is more accurately called slavery.

        So. Yes, my lunch-time companion, there is sin, and it is much more of an issue than we want to acknowledge.

 

Anyway, that is my opinion

               

 

 

 

Of other faith

He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the Lord require of you?

To act justly and

to love mercy and

to walk humbly with your God.

Micah 6.8

 

I love the above verse in the Goat Herder’s Guide. It is more than just that we are referred to as “Mortals!” Its simplicity is striking. Three qualities are required of us mortals: to act justly, to love mercy, to walk humbly with our God. To add a bit of clarity, the God of this passage is the God of the bible. But, bear with me.

        The Feisty One and I recently travelled back to Thailand. We did so somewhat quietly, as we did not want to contend with the family drama that awaited us. While we were there, we met up with the guy that introduced us. He had come into a significant amount of money. An amount of money even significant by our standards. His response was noteworthy.

       He had bought a large house, and had moved his family into the compound. He had also brought two orphans from Myanmar into his home. When we met him for lunch, he had the youngest orphan with him. I am not sure if there was a widow in the picture. While I was sitting in the compound, I thought of this verse in Micah. I also thought of this verse in Isaiah:

Learn to do right; seek justice.

Defend the oppressed.

Take up the cause of the fatherless;

plead the case of the widow.

Isaiah 1.17

       Nikkorn, the gentleman’s name, is a Buddhist. It was the religion that he grew up practicing. I am not sure how devout he is in his Buddhism. We get so caught up in the cerebral aspects of our faith. We forget that while we are called into a new way of looking at the world, this is meant to call us into a new way of being.

       In a discussion of the Beatitude, “Those who are persecuted for righteousness are blessed,” I have suggested that this included those who are not of my faith. That idea usually gets dismissed. I am not so sure.

       There has been something that spoke to my friend’s heart, conscience, or soul. When presented with more money than he had ever wanted, his answer was to become generous. How many people would have done the same? It would not be many of us. I am interested in what spoke to his soul. Could that have been the voice of God? In the book of Jeremiah, he was a prophet not a bullfrog, we are told there would come a time that God would write his law upon our hearts. (Jeremiah 31.33)

       We get so caught up in the form. I do believe that clarity as to Jesus's identity and the gospel is essential. Yet, it is more important to have that clarity as to the central message of our faith. A number of times we are told to foster the traits of love, charity, and kindness. Thus, I ask, can one be a Christian without knowing it? Could my friend arrive at the Pearly Gates, or whatever awaits us, only to be told, “We really like what you’ve done, but you got the name wrong.”

        Jesus, when healing the servant of the Roman Centurion, told him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt 8.10 & 11) Yes, the Centurion may have been a Gentile convert to Judaism, but it is unlikely.

          I write this not to dissuade us from sharing the Gospel. Rather, I share this so that we may be more humble in how we approach those who do not share our faith. We need to know that there are those of other cultures, raised in different religions, that join us in a “hunger and thirst” for righteousness.

 

Anyway, that is my opinion

Terra Cotta Jars

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, 

to show that the transcendent power belongs to God and not to us. 2 Cor 4.7

Paul, the apostle, in his second letter to the Corinthians, refers to himself and the other apostles as “earthen vessels.” I adore this reference. In the creation story, we are told that we are made from dust. The name Adam is a play on the word for dirt, Adamah. We come from humble origins. (It is noteworthy that in the first account of creation, Genesis 1.27, Man and Woman were created at the same time.) Paul reminds us that we are earthen vessels. I like to think we are Terra Cotta Jars.

          We are Terra Cotta Jars made to contain the spirit of God. It was through God breathing into us, filling us with his spirit, that we were brought to life. While this might be an allegory, there is a truth that awaits behind. That it is his spirit, his breath, that animates all life. Personally, I prefer the analogy of being Terra Cotta Jars to that of being a “Temple of the Holy Spirit.” Terra Cotta Jars is a more humble way of putting it.

          It is what fills us that is important. Jesus taught, “But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them.” (Matt 15.18) These are strong words to drive home the point that it is what we have within us that defines us. More to the point, what I do, how I treat you, also affects me at the core.

          Today’s post, albeit short, is to encourage you to think about what “spirit” you carry. Salvation, being restored to a clean heart and right spirit, is an inside job. While what we do obviously affects our heart and spirit. I think we are better served when we concentrate on how we view the world; those around us, and who we are called to be. 

 Anyway, that is my opinion.