Stone 4 Continued

          Having been born in the Spirit, Christians are to live in the spirit. The new birth is the starting point for a new life. In the natural course man is not born mature and fully developed. Though he may appear of a full age, the same is true of the spiritual man. Living in the spirit is a maturing process. Spiritual life and growth have little to do with appearance or style. The true focus of life in the spirit goes deeper than behavior; it goes to the heart, soul and mind. It begins with a reordering of desires and values.

          The religious leaders of Jesus day, like some today, saw godliness as a set of rites, rituals, and rules to be observed. Jesus did not oppose observances. He said that, in themselves, these things did not go to the heart of the matter. He described the religious leaders of his day as “whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.” When these same people complained that His disciples ate without washing their hands, Jesus told them that it is not what goes into, but what comes out of a man that defiles him, “…for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”

          The transformation sparked by the new birth begins in the heart and work outward. The particulars of this transformation vary and outward changes come on God’s schedule because His plan for each man is specific and highly individualized. Christianity does not have one particular course or a standardized curriculum. Nevertheless, there are some Christian absolutes. There are desires and values that must develop in the Christian heart to avoid shallowness, legalism and unfruitfulness. Each of these desires directly affects Christian vision, relationships and actions.

Stone 4 Continued

God has declared the new born man righteous and restored him to divine fellowship. The Spirit leads the new born to manifest his new nature in thought and deed by giving life to a new commandment. “And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.”

Love thy neighbor may be the most repeated, least understood, tenant of Christian faith. Love is not a free pass to behave badly, nor is it a prohibition against assessing behavior as right or wrong. Love is the motivation for ministering to need. “Repent and believe the gospel…” is not a condemnation, but an invitation to healing. It was the main topic of conversation when Jesus ate with publicans and sinners.

The key to real understanding of love thy neighbor lies in the two words “as thyself.” There are occasions when we are disgusted, ashamed or angry with ourselves. Sometimes we fell guilty; sometimes we are guilty. We hate the sin that wounded a good person like us. But, we love ourselves even when we don’t like ourselves or what we’ve done. We ever hope for our own redemption, forgiveness, and acceptance. Because we are not perfect, we want to be treated with mercy. The new birth is God’s free gift of mercy, redemption, forgiveness and acceptance for man. Loving our neighbor as ourselves is simply extending the love we’ve experienced to everyone else without regard to worthiness.

Love not only can, but must, say to the lost: “This is the way, walk ye in it…” Hate and indifference let others pass by to destruction. Love shouts a warning. Those who see the kingdom are compelled to point the way.                  

Stone 4 part 3

          Christians, through no merit of their own, are born again of a different nature. Christ is their root. Fidelity to God is their nature. The life which proceeds from them is cultivated by the Holy Spirit. But, Christians must grow in the same soil as everyone else. The curse upon the earth is not rolled back for their benefit. The rain comes upon the just and the unjust alike. Every son of Adam has a tree where his autonomy ends and God’s sovereignty begins. The new birth is not the end of temptation or of moral failures. The new birth is a widow through which the light of the Son allows Christians to see and grow in a manner that gives peace with God. “While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.” Values change when vision shifts to eternity. Those things that endure beyond earth grow in value.

          “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” A desire for the kingdom that is greater than life or self leads man to a new perspective. To those born again, the kingdom of God is not a far-away, someday-if-you’re-good, place Christians go. The kingdom is a real place Christians live right now; today; right here. Jesus preached, “The kingdom of God is at hand.” The message was not religious or theological fluff, it was fact. Everywhere Jesus set foot, the kingdom of God appeared and men were invited inside. The kingdom and the invitation continue to this day; carried by His disciples. Christians see the kingdom. The kingdom is in them, but it is also all around them. Allegiance to the kingdom is the first and great desire of those born of God. It is likewise the great desire of God.

          “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment.” It difficult to find the right words to define love. However, few people see love as a legal requirement. Obeying the speed limit is not love for the state. Love is an affair of the heart, soul, and mind. Love involves the whole man and colors all he sees. The man born of God loves God and sees God moving through the universe. God is even in this man’s trials; stretching and growing him into the righteous being God sees from the beginning. It is love that cannot be contained and spills over into the Christian’s relationship to his world.

Peace with God leads the Christian to see himself as God sees him. God does not make new men by beating them with replays of their sins and failures. The new birth creates a new man whom, by an act of faith, God has declared righteous. “For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Now to him that worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

It Could Happen

“If two such physical theories or models accurately predict the same events, one cannot be said to be more real than the other; rather, we are free to use whichever model is most convenient...”  Stephen Hawking.

It may be presumptuous of me to argue with a genius, but I’ve never been one to believe genius synonymous with correctness. Almost daily I meet normal people of average intelligence who do stupid things. Solomon, the wisest man ever, did some pretty foolish things. Dr. Hawking believes M-theory adequately explains everything he needs to construct a theory of the universe. He can’t prove it conclusively, but it works for him. Therefore, he says he is free to accept M-theory as the most convenient set of facts. I agree, he has the right most anything he likes. However, having the right to so decide an issue does not make one correct. Solomon might step in here to remind us both that there is nothing new under the sun. Theories what to believe abound. I’d like to offer a story about equal and convenient theories.

It happened that some of Solomon’s foolishness caused him to sink in the approval polls. It seems even God was unhappy with him. When Solomon’s son took office and refused to change policies, God took most of the country away from him, set up a new kingdom, and gave that kingdom to a man named Jeroboam. After a time Jeroboam became nervous because his subjects still went to Jerusalem to worship in Solomon’s temple. He just knew they would this would lead the people back to their old government. To prevent this from happening Jeroboam set up convenient worship centers. These centers had priests, sacrifices and holy days just like in Judah, except close to home—and Jeroboam. He even came up with a more convenient god; equal theories; equal plausibility; different explanations for the same events. It was perfect. Israel bought Jeroboam’s equal, convenient theory and stayed home with their new king. The trouble was, it turned out there really was a God in Judah and He was not at all happy with their choice. He was particularly upset with Jeroboam for cooking up the whole scheme.

“And he shall give Israel up because of the sins of Jeroboam, who did sin, and who made Israel to sin.”

Israel was destroyed by the Assyrians and carried into captivity. The name of Jeroboam the son of Nebat became a by-word; forever a symbol of an evil example to be avoided. As I said, theories abound—they always have and what we think are new ones come around daily. We are all free to use whichever model of the universe is practical and convenient. Denying God is the sterile thinking of genius that requires nothing of its adherents. Worshiping God requires a level of compassion that makes fools of men

Stone 4 Part 2

Stone 4.2

          If one must be born again to see the kingdom of God, it should come as no surprise that the reborn see the world differently. Spiritually, sight is a matter of desire rather than optical images. Life is driven by personal desire. All men value is ranked according to desire. Adam looked at the forbidden tree and saw chains. His desire was to be free of restrictions; to live as the master of his own soul. Adam wished to be God. Intellectually, he knew the tree carried a curse and eating was wrong, but he couldn’t see it. Desire blinded him. The consequences of his action and God’s willingness to carry out His word were lost in a fog of desire. In the same way people today know hell exists and still refuse to see it or to accept that God will consign them there.

          The desires of the natural man take many forms. In some way every one of man’s desires springs from self indulgence. The entire world cries out to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life. This is not to say that altruism, empathy, and compassion do not exist outside Christianity. Man is not bereft of goodness. Man’s nature is corrupt, but he still carries the imprint of his former state. The likeness and image of God, though twisted by selfishness, are retained in the worst of us. Flashes of goodness are not the problem with man. The problem is that self enthronement is the root of man’s family tree. When David said he was conceived in sin and shaped by inequity, he was not condemning the act of procreation. He was commenting on the natural state of man. “I was born this way,” is not a valid excuse to act in any manner we choose. From God’s perspective every man is born corrupt. There is none that does good; no not one. The root is evil; the branches are deformed; and the fruit rotten. They grow in cursed soil without light and wander in all directions. 

Stone 4 --Part 1 revisited

          Everyone has an opinion on how Christians ought to behave. Despite what you hear on the street, read on Facebook, or are taught in Sunday school, Christianity is more than a set of beliefs and a list of teachings to follow. Divine favor, eternal life and entrance to heaven are not earned by performing certain rituals, dressing a particular way, or attending a specific church. Such things are not unimportant and behavior plays a role in Christianity, but it is a relatively minor one. It is minor because it is not the measure that God uses. God looks into the soul and judges by what He sees within.

One day God sent Samuel, the prophet, to anoint a new king of Israel. God told Samuel which city to go to and whose house to visit to find this king. God knew the man by name, but He withheld the name to teach the prophet something every important. Samuel appeared, as directed, at the house of Jesse in Bethlehem with anointing oil in hand. Jesse understood what was going on and set his first born son, Eliab, before Samuel. Samuel was impressed. Eliab was tall, muscular and handsome; everything a king should be.

“And it came to pass, when they were come, that he (Samuel)looked on Eliab, and said, Surely the LORD's anointed is before him.”

Samuel was wrong. He wasn’t seeing what God saw because he wasn’t looking where God looked.

“But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.”

David was a man after God’s heart. This means more than that God liked David. David possessed a willingness to set aside everything to find the heart of God. He hoped to be guided by God’s desires rather than natural inclinations. Simply stated, David wanted to be like God. This is ironic because wanting to be like God was what led to Lucifer’s and later Adam’s downfall. But God was not playing favorites or being unfair. Very few things are evil in and of themselves. Wanting to be like God is not evil; attempting to supplant God is another story. Good goals are pursued in the wrong way is the surest path to evil. David wanted to emulate God’s loving heart; to be like God. Lucifer and Adam wanted His throne; they wished to be God.

Every son of Adam, acting from their nature, does according to the deeds of Adam. Rebellion and self-rule is in our blood. That some men are less rebellious than others is of no consequence. As far as we know Adam sinned just once. By our own admission, we’ve all matched his total. But if sin is in our nature, a part of our DNA, how can we do differently? Teaching and doctrine are no help because we know to do well—we just don’t do it. The answer is to be reborn; to acquire a new, better nature. You may be naturally grumpy, opinionated, and sarcastic, but that does not necessarily make you a LaFountain. In order to be a LaFountain, you must be born one.

Christianity is all about the spiritual rebirth of man. Without this rebirth all attempts to conform to Christ’s teachings and church doctrines are vanity. Saintly behavior may make you a good person. It does not make you a Christian. Being a Christian makes you a saint; it does not instantly produce saintly behavior. To be a Christian, you must be born one. That is, you must be born again into the family of God. This is what Jesus was telling Nicodemus.

Once reborn, Christians begin to develop the familial traits of loving God above all else and our neighbors as ourselves. These traits don’t spring full bloom at the moment of birth. Many a fall occurs while learning to walk. Given time and training the new Christian nature emerges, but birth comes first. God first said, “Let there be light.” Then, there was light. It is the same with the Christian. Christians are declared righteous by God at birth. The Spirit of God in the Christian then begins to make it so; behaviors, thoughts, and desires change. None of this happens unless there is a rebirth. Until he is born again, a man cannot see the kingdom of God or begin to live there.

Stone 4 -- Part 1

          Everyone has an opinion on how Christians ought to behave. Despite what you hear on the street, read on Facebook, or are taught in Sunday school, Christianity is more than a set of beliefs and a list of teachings to follow. Divine favor, eternal life and entrance to heaven are not earned by performing certain rituals, dressing a particular way, or attending a specific church. Such things are not unimportant and behavior plays a role in Christianity, but it is a relatively minor one. It is minor because it is not the measure that God uses. God looks into the soul and judges by what He sees within.

One day God sent Samuel, the prophet, to anoint a new king of Israel. God told Samuel which city to go to and whose house to visit to find this king. God knew the man by name, but He withheld the name to teach the prophet something every important. Samuel appeared, as directed, at the house of Jesse in Bethlehem with anointing oil in hand. Jesse understood what was going on and set his first born son, XXX, before Samuel. Samuel was impressed. XXX was tall, muscular and handsome; everything a king should be.

“Surely this is the Lord’s anointed,” Samuel thought.

He was wrong. Samuel wasn’t seeing what God saw because he wasn’t looking where God looked. The Lord explained Samuel’s mistake.

<1 samuel verse here>

David was a man after God’s heart. This means more than that God liked David. David possessed a willingness to set aside everything to find the heart of God. He hoped to be guided by God’s desires rather than natural inclinations. Simply stated, David wanted to be like God. This is ironic because wanting to be like God was what led to Lucifer’s and later Adam’s downfall. But God was not playing favorites or being unfair. Very few things are evil in and of themselves. Wanting to be like God is not evil; attempting to supplant God is another story. Good goals are pursued in the wrong way is the surest path to evil. David wanted to emulate God’s loving heart; to be like God. Lucifer and Adam wanted His throne; they wished to be God.

Every son of Adam, acting from their nature, does according to the deeds of Adam. Rebellion and self-rule is in our blood. That some men are less rebellious than others is of no consequence. As far as we know Adam sinned just once. By our own admission, we’ve all matched his total. But if sin is in our nature, a part of our DNA, how can we do differently? Teaching and doctrine are no help because we know to do well—we just don’t do it. The answer is to be reborn; to acquire a new, better nature. You may be naturally grumpy, opinionated, and sarcastic, but that does not necessarily make you a LaFountain. In order to be a LaFountain, you must be born one.

Christianity is all about the spiritual rebirth of man. Without this rebirth all attempts to conform to Christ’s teachings and church doctrines are vanity. Saintly behavior may make you a good person. It does not make you a Christian. Being a Christian makes you a saint; it does not instantly produce saintly behavior. To be a Christian, you must be born one. That is, you must be born again into the family of God. This is what Jesus was telling Nicodemus.

Once reborn, Christians begin to develop the familial traits of loving God above all else and our neighbors as ourselves. These traits don’t spring full bloom at the moment of birth. Many a fall occurs while learning to walk. Given time and training the new Christian nature emerges, but birth comes first. God first said, “Let there be light.” Then, there was light. It is the same with the Christian. Christians are declared righteous by God at birth. The Spirit of God in the Christian then begins to make it so; behaviors, thoughts, and desires change. None of this happens unless there is a rebirth. Until he is born again, a man cannot see the kingdom of God or begin to live there.