Regarding pigs and pearls

The final two summers before I graduated from Rocky Mountain College, I worked for a small window washing company. In my time there, first as part of a crew, and then as a foreman with my own crew working under me, I had constant dealings with the owner of the company.

I recall a time when one of my fellow employees came back to us laughing. He had gone to the owner to tell him that he was going to need the following week off from work in order to go visit family out of province.

In response to his words, as he himself laughingly exclaimed to us, the owner angrily responded, “Ask, don’t tell.” I recall at first not understanding what our boss meant, but gradually I realized that he resented the lack of control he was experiencing.

The fact that he had been told that his employee was taking time off, rather than having been asked if his employee could take time off had revealed his lack of control over us. Now, I’m not interested in discussing commercial human resources policy; but as we live in the Kingdom, we do not try to control the people in our lives, either for their good or for ours. We do not use condemnation or blame, and we do not force our “good advice” on them. Instead, we respect them as persons made in God’s image choosing instead to ask, not tell.

Now, when we are told that we should not try to manipulate or control people into doing the right thing, we are often at a loss as to how we can effect positive change. When we are told that we should not use shame or guilt to motivate others, we wonder how we will ever influence appropriate behaviour.

In Matthew 7:6-8,12 Jesus tells us when he says, ‘Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces. Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened... So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.’

I’m reading ‘The Divine Conspiracy’ right now by Dallas Willard (and loving every word!) wherein he comments on this passage when he points out that,

‘The problem with pearls for pigs is not that the pigs are not worthy. It is not worthiness that is in question here at all, but helpfulness. Pigs cannot digest pearls, cannot nourish themselves upon them. Likewise for a dog with a Bible or a crucifix. The dog cannot eat it... And what a picture this is of our efforts to correct and control others by pouring our good things, often truly precious things, upon them – things that they nevertheless simply cannot ingest and use to nourish themselves. Often we do not even listen to them. We ‘know’ without listening.’

He continues, ‘What we actually doing with our proper condemnations and our wonderful solutions, more often than not, is taking others out of their own responsibility and out of God’s hands and trying to bring them under our control.’

For a long time I assumed verses seven and eight in Matthew seven referred to prayer yet if Jesus is a coherent teacher, what could he have meant in verses seven and twelve when he said, ‘Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find... So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.’

He might as well have said something like, ‘Ask, don’t tell!’

Our Portfolio

‘All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players.’ -Shakespeare

Ours is a world that has embraced this. We live in a world of YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter. Ours is a world chalk-full of narcissism, and that usually includes even us older ones who actually have no idea how to use YouTube or Twitter.

Because the truth is it feels good to be complimented, it feels nice when others think well of us. As a result, our response quite often, is to invest in our reputation, in what others perceive rather than in the truth.

And even if we are invested in what Godly people think, which would mean living a life of virtue, this response is still idolatry for we are not saved through the good opinions of saints.

Jesus invites us to take a closer look at our portfolio. If we have invested in what others think, we have already received whatever little dividend there might have been.

And even those who sincerely love God still invest in this area, so often as we pray it sounds more like a speech made to whoever is within ear-shot, than like what we would actually say if Jesus walked into the room.

We are praying through the Psalms in our Wednesday prayer meetings, and I have to admit, some of the Psalms don’t sound all that appropriate to my ‘pastorally-proper’ ears. Yet despite the sometimes shocking requests, these prayers are real, sincere, and faith-filled.

God has them, in all their sometimes crude and violent glory, smack dab in the middle of our Bible in order to call us to sincere prayer, real prayer. Not well-made speeches, or smooth flowing monologue, but prayer; the very earthy act of involving God in our lives through the very human act of speaking our hearts and minds.

Prayer is many things, but one thing it is not is a performance. God is not a vending machine, as if we could get him to spit out what we want by saying what we think he (and those around us) wants to hear.

The prevalent message in almost all areas I see around us is that life is all about getting. Apparently we thrive, only to the degree that we are able to get a line of credit. Yet our investments are not paying out like we’d hoped.

Describing this society we live in someone once said, ‘Normal out here is getting dressed in clothes that you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that you are still paying for – in order to get to the job you need to pay for the clothes and the car and the house you leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in it.’

Listen, we are all trying desperately to grab at something, and we only have a small hint at what it is. Trying to gain peace through financial security, living your whole life in order to retire at the end of it, focusing on what others will think...

‘What I'm trying to do here is to get you to relax, to not be so preoccupied with getting, so you can respond to God's giving. People who don't know God and the way he works fuss over these things, but you know both God and how he works. Steep your life in God-reality, God-initiative, God-provisions. Don't worry about missing out. You'll find all your everyday human concerns will be met.’ (Matt. 6:31-33 The Message)

The only wall hanging that matters

This past winter I read a book called, The Picture of Dorian Grey. Written by Oscar Wilde in 1890 it tells the story of a rich young man, full of promise who sits down to have his portrait painted.

And as the story moves forward, we discover along with Dorian Grey that through some mystery he has remained as young as he did the day the picture was painted; though he grows older, he never looks a day younger. Though he becomes more experienced in life his face appears as innocent and naive as it ever was. Yet what should have developed in his appearance mysteriously appears on the portrait instead.

And once he realizes what has happened, his choices take him into darker and darker places. As he becomes more and more evil, the portrait, now hidden in his closet, is the image that bears the destructive evidence of his inner life.

This is of course fiction, yet I find that many try to live this out in real life. The absolute truth though, is that our ‘Actions do not emerge from nothing. They faithfully reveal what is in our heart.’

Listen, our actions (and especially the ones we try to avoid) are merely symptoms of something internal. The deeper question always concerns who you are, not what you did do or can do.

What would you do if you could?

This is a call to live in awareness of what is true, rather than in appearances or happenstance. We must forsake gospels of sin management and discard the false portraits we hold up for the world to see. Followers of Jesus repeatedly choose to acknowledge and challenge the inner source of their actions.

In sense we are all like Dorian Grey, there exists a true portrait of each one of us. Yet God also has a portrait of you in mind, one he has literally died to paint. It will be painted with love and we can only ‘pose’ or participate in its painting so far as we sincerely love one another. 

You may have heard the quote from Max Lucado about how if Jesus had a fridge your picture would be on it.

It makes me wonder, if you and I could see the true inner portrait, as opposed to the external one we’ve managed to cultivate in this life, what would we see?

And those who have truly met Jesus, and begun to follow Him begin to see that portrait as the walk in ‘the Light’ more and more. And as they participate in the portrait God is painting, they know that they will be taken care of, no matter what happens around them and to them.

Or as one pastor put it, ‘people who see these things clearly find it nearly impossible to be insulted. For when we live our lives in God’s presence we realize that when people say good things about us it doesn’t make us better and when they say bad things about us it doesn’t make us worse.’

Friends, as we apprentice ourselves to the teachings of Jesus, we can be vulnerable because we are, in the end, simply invulnerable.

‘For if God is for us, who can be against us... and who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen.’ From start to finish, it is God who justifies. So take note of his wall hangings.

Feel-good nonesense

One of the reason’s I love Charles Dickens so much is the fact that many of his long and winding novels include the seemingly insignificant. In Dickens it is often the poor and the forgotten that end up playing the biggest role in bringing about the good endings that his novels are known for.

Of course in literary circles they joke about how impossibly good the endings always are in Dickens’ novels, as if we who are more cynical are too wise and dignified for such feel-good nonsense.

Has this type of thinking seeped into how we view the gospel? The Apostle Paul wrote, ‘For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe.’

It is as Dallas Willard writes when he says, 'These ‘little’ people, without any of the character or qualifications humans insist are necessary, are the only ones who can actually make the world work. It is how things are among them that determines the character of every age and place… God gives them ‘light’ – truth, love, and power – that they might be the light for their surroundings. He makes them ‘salt’ to cleanse, preserve, and flavour the times through which they live.'

I’m starting to realize that we will have to dismiss much of what Jesus actually taught if we think a life of faith will be dignified and comfortable. When I read the Sermon on the Mount and take Jesus at is his word, I find it easier to dismiss him as naive and idealistic.

It is easy to dismiss an idealist and an eternal optimist.

Yet Jesus said, ‘Come, follow me’ and I think that means more than merely believing facts about him. Yet how will we respond when following him makes us look foolish or naive?

I believe following Jesus means that we will begin to look beyond mere circumstances to a deeper reality. A reality that goes beyond human achievement or position, beyond most of the categories we use to put people in their place.

I believe following Jesus will cause some to laugh and dismiss us, yet in 2 Corinthians five Paul wrote, ‘So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!’

Bonhoeffer contributes to this blog

This morning I finished reading ‘Life Together,’ by Dietrich Bonhoeffer. Some of you will know that he was martyred by the Gestapo near the end of WWII for plotting to assassinate Hitler. Yet beyond those dramatic details lived a man who walked with God in our modern, dangerous times.

I thought I’d share some of the quotes that struck me in reading through this small, yet powerful book.

‘The serious Christian, set down for the first time in a Christian community, is likely to bring with him a very definite idea of what Christian life together should be and try to realize it. But God’s grace speedily shatters such dreams... surely must we be overwhelmed by a great disillusionment with others, with Christians in general, and, if we are fortunate, with ourselves. By sheer grace, God will not permit us to live even for a brief period in a dream world... Only that fellowship which faces such disillusionment, with all its unhappy and ugly aspects, begins to be what it should be in God’s sight, begins to grasp in faith the promise that is given it.’ (pg. 26-27)

‘Christian community is like the Christian’s sanctification [process of growing as Christian]. It is a gift of God which we cannot claim. Only God knows the real state of our fellowship, of our sanctification. What may appear weak and trifling to us may be great and glorious to God.’ (pg. 30)

‘Nothing is easier than to stimulate the glow of fellowship in a few days of life together, but nothing is more fatal to the sound, sober brotherly fellowship of everyday life... We are bound together by faith, not by experience.’ (pg 39)

‘Moods... have nothing to do with spiritual life. It is precisely when a person, who is borne down by inner emptiness and weariness or a sense of personal unworthiness, feels that he would like to withdraw from his task, that he should learn what it means to have a duty to perform in the fellowship, and the brethren should support him in his weakness...’ (pg. 64)

‘One who wants fellowship without solitude plunges into the void of words and feelings, and one who seeks solitude without fellowship perishes in the abyss of vanity, self-infatuation, and despair. Let him who cannot be alone beware of community. Let him who is not in community beware of being alone.’ (pg. 78)

‘I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me. His face, that hitherto may have been strange and intolerable to me, is transformed in intercession into the countenance of a brother for whom Christ died, the face of a forgiven sinner.’ (pg. 86)

‘If my sinfulness appears to me to be in any way smaller or less detestable in comparison with the sins of others, I am still not recognizing my sinfulness at all.’ (pg. 96)

‘You are a sinner, a great, desperate sinner; now come, as the sinner that you are, to God who loves you... God has come to you to save the sinner. Be glad! This message is liberation through truth. You can hide nothing from God. The mask you wear before men will do you no good before Him. He wants to see you as you are, He wants to be gracious to you. You do not have to go on lying to yourself and your brothers, as if you were without sin; you can dare to be a sinner.’ (pg. 111)

We do well to expose our hearts and minds to authors who have passed the test of time. In our evangelical world we tend to focus on the newest, and the flashiest. I’m trying to supplement all my reading whether in studying or when I read for pleasure, with classics. (And not just those regarded as ‘instant classics’ either!)

Missing The Pie for the Crust

You’ve probably seen the bumper sticker, the one that says something to the effect of, “Christians aren’t perfect, just forgiven.” Just forgiven heh? Is that really all there is?

Now it is only truthful to say that we are not perfect, and that forgiveness is huge. Nor can we ever hope to achieve anything on our own, we need God's grace and mercy every step of the way, from start to finish.  Yet it is exactly that type of thinking that can lead some of us off the narrow road.

It’s like saying that pie is all about the crust and that really, nothing else actually matters. Seriously? Have you ever had just pie crust? (Somehow I doubt it.) If you ever did though, do you think you’d call that a complete, or 'good' piece of pie?

Jesus described eternal life in John 17:3 where it says, 'Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.'

Let’s be very clear, the mechanism that holds this together for us is most definitely God’s forgiving mercy and grace through the cross. Yet this isn’t about an either/or, it’s about getting a whole piece of the pie. My friends, the crust is forgiveness, but the pie is Jesus.

Dallas Willard asked, “Does Jesus only enable me to ‘make the cut’ when I die? Or to know what to protest, or how to vote or agitate and organize?  It is good to know that when I die all will be well, but is there any good news for life? If I had to choose, I would rather have a car that runs than good insurance on one that doesn’t. Can I have both?”

What it will come down to though is our willingness to trust Jesus for more than just our fire insurance policy.

Jesus tells a story found in both Matthew and Luke about wherein he contrasts the builder who built his house upon a rock and one who built upon the sand.

Nothing in that parable has anything to do about setting ourselves up for eternity. The topic is what type of foundation we are building our current lives upon. In Luke’s version of that story (Lk. 6:46) Jesus asks, ‘Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say?’

Are we willing to let Jesus speak into our daily lives and the lifestyle decisions we make today, or will we limit his influence and count on him just for our entry into eternity?

Maybe what you actually fill the pie crust with makes all the difference?

Cultivating Gratitude

‘What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?’

My grandma once told me that around her regular coffee group (she used to go for coffee at 6 am daily) a discussion once came up wherein some of her friends said that if their grandkids didn’t call to thank them for the Christmas or birthday gifts they sent, that gifts would no longer be sent.

A question like the one above tries to create gratitude by posing a scenario that will never occur. I’m not sure where you come out along the theological spectrum but I’m fairly certain God does not behave like cantankerous old women. (BTW I would not describe my grandma as cantankerous even though some of her friends are.)

Yet our daily activities don’t tend to cultivate gratitude in our hearts either, so a question like this has some merit in that it causes us to stop and consider where ‘the good’ in our lives actually originates.

See with our ability to manipulate our own environment through travel, media technology, and all the other comforts civilization provide, self-reliance is almost inevitable, and the idea that we can reach out on our own and take what is really good in this life becomes easier to believe.

Yet think about the truly beautiful moments you’ve experienced. The ones that made you catch your breath; that time tears jumped into your eyes nearly before you realized what was going on; that moment you’ve never forgotten that has inspired and encouraged you ever since.

Did you earn any of those moments, or manufacture them by yourself? Or did they catch you by surprise, like an unexpected gift from a thoughtful friend?
I’ll link to a Moving Art original video that was making the rounds on FB recently. It takes about six minutes to view but I don’t think you’ll regret taking the time. http://youtu.be/nj2ofrX7jAk