January 2024 – Snapshots

All Such Rejoicing

James, the Lord’s brother (Ga 1:19), identifies a certain kind of rejoicing as evil (Ja 1:16): boasting in our own plans as though they’re God’s is missing the mark. Yet God isn’t making up a new standard here: He’s not embellishing or extending His moral Law; it’s always been this way.

Since all sin is a violation of Torah, and any violation of Torah is sin (1Jn 3:4), this evil rejoicing must be rooted in some deviation from Torah. What law of Torah is violated by evil rejoicing?

Such rejoicing might be rooted in pride, in thinking of ourselves more highly than we ought (Ro 12:3), but then we must find some law forbidding pride, which is yet another challenge.

Perhaps loving our neighbors as ourselves (Le 19:18b) precludes pride, but even if we’re able to do so, could we not still rejoice in our boastings?

The evil in this boasting noted by James isn’t necessarily related to confidence in one’s abilities (1Co 7:7), but in failing to acknowledge our ultimate dependence on God. (Ja 4:15) How can we presume the power to succeed in our schemes if we can’t even keep our hearts beating or our brains from shutting down? (Lk 12:16-20) It’s like making a promise or a vow we can’t necessarily keep; there are limits to our personal capability and power, and we should always make promises with these limitations in mind.

It is a violation of Torah to make a vow to Jehovah and then not keep it. (De 23:21-23). When making promises or vows to God (or others) we should conform our speech to reality, acknowledging both our internal inclinations, weaknesses and disposition as well as our external limitations and dependencies.

This being true, it naturally follows we ought to employ the same humility and caution both in the context of planning and also in evaluating the likelihood of our success. (Pr 27:1)

Further, this implies God will not generally reveal how our plans are going to turn out (1Ti 3:14-15); He does do this at times (1Sa 30:8), but it is the exception rather than the rule. (Pr 16:9)

Torah doesn’t forbid appropriate confidence in our abilities, given us by God (2Co 11:6); it does encourage us to glory only in Him (Ps 62:7) and what He’s done for us. (Ga 6:14)

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Even As He Is Pure

There’s an instinct within believers to purify ourselves, even as Christ Himself is pure (1Jn 3:3), to rid ourselves of all lies and misconceptions (Ps 119:29), to heal our wounds and insecurities, to root out all our evil tendencies (Ps 139:23-24), and live worthy of our calling and salvation. (Ep 4:1) This is our sanctification, and though we have the instinct to pursue it, we may not understand the process, how God sanctifies us; this can delay our progress and frustrate us.

The key principle at work in our sanctification is this: all sin springs from believing a lie, and we’re set free (sanctified) by knowing the truth. (Jn 8:32)

It sounds simple enough, but our lies are generally interconnected, layered into us over many years and strategically woven together within our souls through wounds and a myriad of social modeling, training and coercion. These lies build upon and reinforce one another, blinding us to the truth we so desperately need. It is so complex and multi-faceted that getting free really does take an act of God. (2Ti 2:24-26)

Thankfully, God is indeed in the business of sanctifying us (Jn 17:17); He doesn’t leave us alone in this process, yet He doesn’t do it all by Himself either – He expects us to understand how He sanctifies us, submit ourselves to His process and cooperate with Him in working out our own salvation/sanctification. (Php 2:12)

Since we get free by believing the truth (2Th 2:13), the next step in any sanctification journey is always to uncover another lie and renew our minds to believe the truth in the context of that lie. But how do we most efficiently go about this?

We must first find the next lie, identify and isolate it. This isn’t as easy as it might seem. Like diagnosing any ailment or disease, the process can be highly individual and nuanced: many similar symptoms have very different root causes and cures, and every individual is unique.

Further, like solving a Rubik’s Cube, there is often a required sequence in which we must approach a wholistic cure; when certain basic things aren’t working properly it doesn’t help to merely address the symptoms: when we do we just go round in circles, ending up back where we started. We must find the correct root causes, those within in our vast web and network of lies which are relatively unprotected and exposed, less grounded in the underlying substructure of our minds, and address them in a viable sequence. This takes the leading of the Spirit (Ps 23:3), searching all our inward parts (Pr 20:27), knowing how to set us free. (1Co 1:30)

To do this efficiently, in constant communion with the Spirit, we prayerfully take heed (or pay attention) to what’s going on inside of us in light of God’s perfect standard of holiness. (Ps 119:9) We’re to be constantly aware of how our thoughts, feelings, emotions and actions are aligned with God’s Law: Torah, His definition of righteousness. (72)

In parallel, we’re also to be constantly thinking about and meditating on God’s Law (97), so we’re continually exposing ourselves to and contemplating His righteousness in all its glory and wonder (18), constantly evaluating how we ourselves align with it. (59)

Whenever we sense a recurring disconnect between our behavior and God’s Way, we ask God to expose the underlying root-cause lie (105), help us understand and believe the truth (27), and then enable us to walk in it. (35)

To overcome, we should meditate upon and pray through scriptures which specifically address this lie (2Ti 3:16-17), asking God for grace to help us believe the truth with our whole heart, way down in our subconscious mind. We may need to enlist the prayers of spiritual community (Ja 5:16), and invite them to point out more relevant Scripture to cut to the chase and expose our issues. (He 4:12)

We know we are free when our behavior changes and stabilizes in holiness, as we consistently follow the way of truth in this particular area under a variety of trials and circumstances.

Our sanctification is a never-ending journey (Php 3:13-14) guided and attended by the Holy Spirit (Jn 16:13) in the context of spiritual community. We cannot do this all on our own, and we are not alone. (He 13:5)

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Let the Dead

One of the more surprising, and perhaps more easily misunderstood sayings of Jesus comes as He calls one to follow Him, who then asks for permission to first go and bury his father. Yeshua responds, “Let the dead bury their dead: but go thou and preach the kingdom of God.” (Lk 9:59-60) Unlike other encounters in the immediate context, this does at first appear to be a direct command to abandon what is generally considered a legitimate family duty.

The command presumes of some capable members of the man’s family a spiritual deadness: they are unregenerate, dead to spiritual things, the way we all start out. (Ep 2:1) Yeshua is evidently saying worldly concerns are best relegated to the worldlings who care about them.

The key word is evidently Let, from the Greek Ἄφες (Aphes), to allow, permit, leave alone or forgive. The idea isn’t that we’re neglecting personal responsibility, such as a true parental obligation (De 27:16), but rather that we prefer to defer temporal affairs into the care of those who are capable and have a vested interest when this is appropriate. In worldly matters, we manage our affairs so as to let others spend their time and energy managing the detail as they like, giving ourselves more resources to focus on heavenly things.

It seems very likely, in the case of this particular disciple, that he wants to manage the arrangements of his father’s funeral because he cares too much about them; his priorities are misaligned so he is unwilling to defer to others. He has a calling on his life that is suffering because of this inordinate concern, and Christ is evidently telling him to let go; all his fussing isn’t actually going to benefit his father, his family prefers to handle it themselves and can do so adequately enough.

Another key to this context is the idea of first: setting proper priorities and boundaries in our lives. This gifted disciple wants to temporarily delay a kingdom duty to manage a temporal concern. (Lk 9:59) Yet how easy it is for days to turn into weeks, weeks into months, and months into years. It ought not to be so in kingdom matters.

It is a mistake to suppose a delay is necessary, and therefore excusable, when it is a true duty. This is often simply an excuse to neglect our spiritual responsibility because we aren’t fully committed to it, and in that case one delay invariably leads to another. If we know we ought to be doing something and we have a kingdom-first mindset (Mt 6:33), there’s a way to get it done, if we’re simply willing to do it. If there isn’t, we ought not be doing it.

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Fit for the Kingdom

Yeshua says many things which may seem harsh, often in an arbitrary way. It’s difficult to understand Him in these contexts, so He is often misunderstood.

For example, when an enthusiastic young man decides to follow Christ, yet first wants to go home and say goodbye to his family (Lk 9:61), Christ replies, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.” (62) Is Jesus telling him he can’t even tell his family about his life-changing decision, and bid them farewell as he starts off on his journey?

Looking carefully at His reply, Yeshua isn’t actually forbidding the disciple this last kindness to his family: He’s warning him about indecisiveness; his relatives will likely protest and discourage him, challenging the conventional wisdom of his decision and reminding him of his responsibilities to themselves and the larger community. “What?!! You’re going to abandon your family, leaving your little brother to handle everything all by himself? to follow who? Some rogue preacher you just met? And to do what? Where? You’re being impulsive, romanticizing about a revolution, but you’re going to get yourself killed! And maybe the rest of us too!” Family doesn’t generally take kindly to these sorts of decisions. (Mt 10:35-37)

Yeshua is indirectly prompting this dear man to look carefully into his own heart and count the cost; is this really what he wants? Is he willing to pay the price? to do what it takes to follow Messiah? Has he committed and focused his own spirit to take on the rigors demanded of the spiritual life? This isn’t a cake-walk; we’re called to take up our execution stake every single day. (Lk 9:23) Second-guessing will defeat us.

Those who start off in shallow passion and excitement after Messiah without doing this honest self-examination, this sobering kind of soul-searching evaluation, reflection and preparation (Lk 14:28), who have some ulterior motive, looking to advantage themselves — when the going gets tough, like the seed sprouting on stony ground, they’ll cool off, wither and fall away. (Mk 4:16-17) These are not fit for the kingdom of God.

This seems consistent with the rest of the immediate context; Christ responds to another enthusiast, willing to follow Him to the ends of the earth, that He Himself is homeless, having no place of His own to lie down at night. (Lk 9:57-58) Following Him means sleeping outside on the ground at times, in the rain and cold, going without food for days. (Mk 8:2-3) He’s suffering and calls us to endure hardness with Him (2Ti 2:3); are we in for that? (1Pe 4:1-2)

Those who aren’t willing to give up all to follow Christ (Lk 5:27-28), to forsake themselves for Him (Lk 14:25), to put Him first in every area of their lives, aren’t yet believing on Him, don’t yet know Him, and aren’t yet suited for the kingdom of God. (Lk 14:33)

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My Father’s Business

When Yeshua is 12 years old, He leaves home to begin His life’s work. (Lk 12:42-43) He doesn’t feel the need to even notify Joseph and His mother, having no sense He needs their blessing or that they should be looking after Him any longer. He even challenges their concern and admonishes them: they should know better. (49)

This raises some intriguing questions. Is Yeshua amiss in departing His childhood home so early? Is this premature and unwise? (52) Is He acting impulsively without proper counsel and preparation? (Pr 12:15) If so, is it foolish? even sin? If not, and if this is God’s will, then why does He so willingly return and submit Himself to His earthly parents (51), and forfeit 18 years of ministry? (Lk 3:23a)

We may infer from Yeshua’s life pattern that He’s obeying His Father; it’s what He sees His Father doing (Jn 5:19): starting His earthly ministry at age 12 pleases His Father. (Jn 8:29)

The key is evidently Joseph and His mother; if they’re OK with Yeshua leaving His childhood home and being about His Father’s business, which they should be, this is evidently the ideal path — and it’s anyone’s guess what this looks like.

However, if they aren’t on board and their parental instincts take over, then there are insurmountable difficulties in the ideal path: technically, per cultural norms of His day, Yeshua’s still a minor, not yet considered an adult (Nu 32:11), so persisting in His ministry against His parents’ wishes appears to violate Torah. (De 21:18-21) So, this incredible potential must be scrapped altogether.

Even so, in the context of this fallen world, God’s foreordained perfect plan for Yeshua is still alive and well (Ep 2:10), and this is what plays out over time. (Ro 8:28) He remains subject to His mother, patiently waiting to begin His ministry until, after nearly two long decades, desperate to save a friend in need, she lets go. (Jn 2:3-5) God’s perfect will is still accomplished perfectly, but in the context of human brokenness the ideal isn’t always God’s actual plan, and that’s a beautiful mystery for the ages.

What do we learn from this? Perhaps we may grasp a little bit more the nuance between God working everything according to His own will (Ep 1:11) and the way Free Will shapes the narrative as He does. God could easily have restrained His parents’ carnal mind, working His will in them (Php 2:13) so they rejoiced in Yeshua’s independence. (Pr 16:1) But God lets them make their choice and they blow it; His mother evidently stubbornly resists Yeshua in this for quite a long while. (Mt 12:47-50) Yet God isn’t frustrated when we choose a sub-optimal path; God’s glory is never tarnished by the failures of Man; it cannot be. But we certainly miss out. Should it be otherwise? Could it be?

Perhaps there’s a sense in which Yeshua’s mother, as a pivotal figure in the vast human organism (Mk 3:21), is a type for us all here; we have all tried to control God and have things our own way. (Is 53:1) Consequently, perhaps we’ve all missed out on amazing revelations of God’s glory that were very real possibilities, eliminated by our own and/or others’ poor choices; perhaps every sin impacts everyone negatively in some irrecoverable way. (1Cor 5:6) Evidently, God’s OK with allowing this, so we should be as well, not finding an excuse to sin (Ja 4:17) but recognizing God’s will is still in play and He’ll richly reward our dedication to Him. (Ro 2:6-7)

Known unto God are all His works from the foundation of the world (Ac 15:18), so His will is never threatened (Da 4:35); He knows everything that’s going to happen and how He’s going to manage it all. (He 4:3) Yet our choices still matter; they have very real consequences (Ga 6:7-9), and God knows the potential, what would happen if we made better choices. (Mt 11:23) He’s constantly inviting us to follow Him into the ideal, and we should be right on His heels. (1Pe 2:21)

As it all plays out, God is supremely glorified in everything He allows (Ro 3:5-7), reconciling everything unto Himself (Co 1:20), and working out everything for the good of those who love Him. (Ro 8:28)

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