New Lessons from an Ancient Law

I have been reading in Deuteronomy recently and it is not at all how I remember it. In my memory I can never distinguish between Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Even though I just read it not too long ago I cannot remember what the theme of Leviticus was. Numbers, I remember, was when God told Moses to take a census of the Israelites and the he was given some laws that I don’t remember. Deuteronomy apparently means “Second Numbers.” In that way it is a continuation of the Book of Numbers which was a large part of the law. Deuteronomy is also the recorded final speech of Moses before the Israelites finally entered the promised land and Moses when up on a Mountain to die.

The thing that I think about to put all this into perspective while I am reading is that God is in the process of setting Israel apart to be his people and a demonstration to the world of who He is. It has stood out to me during Moses’s speech that Israel was not a better or more righteous people than the people that they were going to destroy and replace in the land. Instead it was because God had chosen them and loved them that they were going to inherit the land and be his people. Moses says, “It is not for your righteousness or for the uprightness of your heart that you are going to possess their land, but it is because of the wickedness of theses nations that the Lord your God is driving out before you in order to confirm the oath which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham Isaac and Jacob.”[1] God had chosen his people five hundred years earlier by calling out Abraham and promising that the Lord would make Abraham a great nation. Now He was making good on His promise.

It strikes me that while at some points God is so frustrated with the Israelites that he considers wiping them out, I do not think he ever stopped loving them. Looking ahead to the cycle of rebellion, punishment, repentance, and redemption that Israel falls into when they inhabit the land, God did not stop loving them then either. Then finally when God decided that He’d had enough, I do not believe He stopped loving them even when He exiled them from the land. Their exile even came with a promise, that after 70 years they would be redeemed. God was again fulfilling His promise that he would punish Israel for their disobedience to bring them back to Him.

What an encouragement it is that while God may use different means to correct us or get our attention. We can have faith that since he has chosen us and loves us, he will not stop loving us because we do wrong. This is not an enabling fact so that we can live in sin, but a humbling truth that we owe everything to God’s willingness to love us, redeem us, and not give up on us.

“Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God”

John 1:12

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[1] Deuteronomy 9:5 NASB

On Addictions: What is Clouding Your Message?

Do you know how Christians started to be called "Christians"? Early in the movement some Greeks in a Roman city called Antioch started making fun of them because they did not worship Caesar. They called them Little Christs, or Christians, because they tried to act like the Christ. It was an insult, but the Christians realized this was exactly what their goal was. They wanted to point people to Jesus Christ by imitating how he taught and lived. they knew that how they lived their life was their best witness to the goodness of God. This is why as Christians, we do things that are odd to the rest of the world. It is also why we avoid things like drugs, alcohol abuse and pornography. These things are dangerous and do not point people towards the freedom that Jesus gives us. It is simple to say that we avoid these thing because God says so and if that were the only reason it would be enough. But the New Testament (God's instruction manual for how life works) also includes the reasons why we avoid them.

When Jesus was on earth he famously said that the entire law and the prophets - everything that anyone ever knew about God - could be summed up in two laws. First, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind" and second , "Love your neighbor as yourself."[i] This is what we are demonstrating to the world; in the words of my Dad and I'm sure many others, "Love God, and Love People."

When we lose our self control and abuse things like drugs or alcohol we are not loving God or loving people. We are only being selfish by making decisions that we think will benefit ourselves. Paul says in a letter to the Galatians, "Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh." And just in case we want to split hairs and ask what those kinds of things are, he give us a laundry list: "The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like." all of these things are selfishly motivated decisions that often harm others. It becomes hard to point people to Jesus when we are acting with selfish motivation.  And not only does it get in the way of our witness, the entire point of our salvation, but it also is rebellion against of God's instruction to take care of our body. [ii]

When we mistreat our bodies by allowing them to become addicted to drugs or alcohol, which by the way is both a drug AND a poison, or pornography we are destroying the beautiful housing that God has made for us. Paul also wrote a letter to the Corinthians where he said that while we have been set free to make our own choices that does not give us liberty to do things that are unwise. “'I have the right to do anything,' you say—but not everything is beneficial. 'I have the right to do anything—but I will not be mastered by anything.'" Paul argued that pushing the boundary and putting yourself and your body in danger of becoming dependant on something was bad stewardship of the body God has given you. He finishes his thought by saying, "Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies." Our bodies belong to God just as we do. We need to use them to point to Jesus, and to nothing less than Him. [iii]

Please do not hear in this that the act of taking drugs, or of drinking alcohol is in itself sin. Please DO hear me loud and clear however that there is no value of getting anywhere near that line. The sin occurs when you chose to put your own values and desires ahead of what God values and desires for you. This is called rebellion, and I would argue that the indulgence in pornography is itself sin because by the time you are engaging with it you have already made the decision to act against what God has instructed. When we choose to overindulge ourselves or become addicted to something we are setting up that thing as an Idol and worshiping it instead of God.

The heart attitude that chooses something God has made over God himself is present with any addiction.  A while back I gave up coffee for Lent. One of the reasons that I did it is because I love coffee and drink a lot of it. Coffee is itself not bad and it is not a sin to drink coffee, but the temptation for all coffee drinkers is that when we are cranky or tired we want to say, "well I just need coffee." That is a lie. We have put that thing up as an idol and convinced ourselves that we need Coffee instead of God. I know they are just words but it is the heart that matters and it is out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks.[iv] It's the same for drugs, alcohol, pornography and addictions in general. As soon as we think we need to have that thing to live or feel good in general, we worship it as an Idol before Jesus.

Why does God call us to avoid addictions and the misuse of drugs and alcohol and pornography all together? Because they keep us from demonstrating who Jesus is; because it causes us to destroy the bodies that he built for us; because when we do we set up idols in our lives and worship things that are not Him and will destroy us. But God did not set us free through salvation to be ensnared by an addiction. So in a letter to the Ephesians, Paul warned that, "It is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret. But everything exposed by the light becomes visible—and everything that is illuminated becomes a light."[v] As leaders, people intentionally or unintentionally influencing people in a direction, be especially aware that how you live in secret will affect your people whether you like it or not.

So, as Christians who are looking to point people to Jesus, to honor God with our Bodies, and to worship Him only, how are we to live? Fortunately, the new testament, that manual for how to do life, makes it very clear. We are to point people to Jesus by looking to him ourselves. Paul goes on to say to the Ephesians, "Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil...Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit."[vi] Instead of turning to addictions, turn to Jesus and praise Him!

As Children of God made in his image how are we to honor God with our bodies? By focusing our minds on things that are wholesome. Paul says to the Philippians, "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."[vii] Pastor Andy Stanley says that Every wrong decision you make morally is produced by a series of small unwise choices. Focus on wholesome things, and it will keep you far away from major morally wrong decisions.

Finally, as People of God how do we keep him first in our lives? By living by the Spirit. Nowhere in the New Testament does it say that we have to keep Gods commands through our own ability. In fact, we are not strong enough. But God has given us the Holy Spirit who empowers us to follow God's will. This is what living out God's will through the Holy Spirit looks like, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."[viii] When we follow God through the Power of the Holy Spirit, It looks like Maturity, and that maturity will develop habits in you to keep you safe from addictions. As my Dad also likes to say, "Take the baby steps."[ix]

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[i] Matthew 22, NIV.

[ii] Galatians 5, NIV.

[iii] 1 Corinthians 6, NIV.

[iv] Matthew 12:34, NIV.

[v] Ephesians 5, NIV

[vi] ibid.

[vii] Philippians 4, NIV.

[viii] Galatians 5, NIV.

[ix] Dad.

I gave up coffee for 40 days and this is what happened

   This year for Lent I decided to give up Coffee. This is a big deal for me because I love coffee; it is one of the things that makes life beautiful to me. I am also, by nature of the 2-3 cups I drink per day, addicted to the caffeine within the coffee like all other coffee drinkers out there. I anticipated that the forty day fast from coffee was going to be challenging, and also a little sad.  Lent about half way through now and here is what I have to report: the most challenging part of this whole thing has been not complaining about how I want coffee and cannot have it.

   Just so that we are on the same page, let me briefly explain what Lent is and why I do it. Lent is the forty day period leading up to Easter that starts on Ash Wednesday. In old church tradition there was a baptism held on Easter and Lent was a time for those who would be baptized to prepare themselves. The forty days is based on the forty days that Jesus fasted in the wilderness.[1] The point of Lent is to change something in your regular life that allows you to focus more on God. Common examples of Lent practices are fasting from Netflix, or from social media, or from coffee. Lent is often associated with the Catholic Church but it is something that any church might be found observing.

   I usually observe lent for one big, broad reason and one more specific reason. From a big picture perspective, I observe lent because the point is to focus more on God; and I want to focus more on God. From a more specific perspective lent provides me with a chance to remember that I am not dependent on anything but God; and I am whole dependent on Him. Every time I wish I could have coffee I am reminded that I am not having coffee because I am choosing to declare specifically that I am not dependent on coffee but on God.

   To complain about how I miss coffee during this season of Lent would really be the entire opposite of the point. To complain about it would be to declare that A) I do actually depend on coffee and not God, and B) my attitude is also entirely dependent on my having coffee and I am not strong enough to maintain a good attitude without it.  Now here is the hard part: these things are still true apart from Lent. Man, the truth hits hard sometimes.

   I am not necessarily saying that it is a sin to complain, but it is something with which we have to be very careful. The things that we say and the way that we act are demonstrations what is going on in our heart, which we call our attitude. And this is the thing that God cares the most about. Jesus says that “A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.”[2] When we complain, it shows that we are not trusting that God will care for us. So it’s not that complaining is always wrong, but the amount that we complain shows how much we actually believe God.

   I didn’t expect that managing my complaints to be the most challenging part of give up coffee. I’ve learned how much I complain about small things and, to be honest, it shows how little I tend to trust that God will take care of the small things. So you ask “can giving up coffee for 40 days really bring you closer to God?” Yes, it absolutely can.

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[1] Matthew 4:2

[2] Luke 6:45 NIV