Acts 5

This is the story of Ananias and Sapphira. We probably all know it and shudder because we secretly identify with their actions (and motivations). We suspect we have tried to claim ourselves to be "all in", to be 100% committed to Jesus while we know in out hearts we are holding back some. We may not actually lie like this married couple did. Yet we feel we are not being totally honest. And we wonder what God is thinking about us.

So this story scares us. A man I used to know would like to argue religion and would take the position in arguments that the Bible is not inerrant but is the creation of wily men. About this story he once stated that what really happened was that Peter killed them both, executed them if you will, and then had them buried. This seems very far fetched but it answers the question of why they died so suddenly. His version certainly does not make one feel better.

But it is very amazing "coincidence" that they just happen to have massive heart attacks after being confronted with their lie. Panic must have ensued in their hearts. In some strange way they feared God, hence their willingness to give some money and join the group but somehow they thought they could hide their deceitfulness from God. I hope we do not do that. As Peter told Sapphira, it is better to be open with God. You cannot fool him. But you can trust him.

When I am not totally committed I admit my weakness to God. Why try to fool God? One should trust God to be just and merciful. I also admit my weakness to men who need to know. I pray for God to make up for what I lack.

We sing a new song in our church called "Furious". In the song God's love is described with several adjectives and one of them is furious. Of course there are the more usual adjectives too. The Spanish translation perhaps more literally means "fierce". I like that.

What does it mean that God's love is furious? I think the point is to create dissonance in our minds, to point out that God's love is different than our love. We do not think of our love for our wife or family as furious, do we? God is a passionate God, extremely passionate. His love is holy too. We do well to remember God's love is amazing and vigorous. It is real. When we think of love we think of hearts, flowers, peace, the color red. God's love is that but it's much more too. Can we handle God's love being called furious?

Two other examples of God's furious love are seen in Aachan's sin (Joshua 7) and Uzzah's presumption to touch the ark (2 Samuel 6:6-7). Aachan, like Ananias, thought he could hide his deceitfulness from God. God is loving but he is also holy. He is God. We are made in his image but God is more. We should never take God for granted. When we do take him for granted he will surprise us.

Acts 4

About 5,000 men came to faith from Peter's speech (Acts 4:4). I would maintain that not just the healing caused them to believe. That brought the crowd to listen. No, it was the fact of Jesus' resurrection being confirmed and explained by one of his followers. That was the sign, the big sign, Jesus predicted when he said, "Destroy this temple and I will raise it up in three days." Jesus was referring to his body.

All of those in the crowd had heard of the resurrection. All of them knew someone who knew someone who saw Jesus alive. Roman executions were very public and fairly frequent. They all knew people did not survive Roman executions. The Romans were very efficient. Jesus resurrection was the sign everyone knew about. Peter explained what it meant. And he explained what they could do about it (3:19). Peter was eloquent but that is not why they responded.

Peter was equally bold in front of the temple leaders (4:8). Peter proclaims Jesus is the only name in which salvation comes (4:12). Wow. That is the gospel in a nutshell. Peter did not need a lot of theologians to explain it to him. He was truly filled with the perfect wisdom of the Holy Spirit (4:8).

The Jesus leaders felt it was not expedient to anything to Peter and John right then. Perhaps there was even division among them. Some of them may have been secret believers. But there must never have been sufficient numbers to carry the day. Later the Sanhedrin would be successful in stamping out the new movement in Jerusalem. They would kick all believers in Jesus as Messiah out of the temple.

Acts 3

Peter and John are going to the temple to pray at prayer time. It sounds like they are becoming observant religious Jews. I wonder if they are wearing traditional religious attire much like today's observant Jews do. The beggar speaks to them. They feel compassion for the beggar who asked for money.

They are living communally with other believers by faith. So they had no spending money. All the money in the community was used to buy essentials for the group. We read earlier that the group was growing. They had no spare money. But what they did have was faith in Jesus Christ their ascended Lord. They had seen him heal lame men before. So they called on Jesus, used his name, to heal the lame man. Peter, impetuous as always, grabs the man by the arm and yanks him up. He uses a maneuver he had used many times while fishing, to pull him to his feet. I imagine a strong pull, almost rough.

But as the man is pulled up his legs are strengthened and he is able to stand and walk without help. Just minutes before he had been carried by friends or family to this place. He was not able to move without help. It is possible that the very act of pulling him up did the trick. Perhaps he had not actually tried out his legs in a long long time. Perhaps he could have stood on his own but not known it. Perhaps. However Acts 3 tells us his feet and ankles we strengthened (7) and late in Peter's sermon (16). He is not wobbling around either. When he realizes he can stand on his own he gives a big leap. He is enthusiastic, eager to be free to move on his own. He walks, jumps around, and praises God.

The former beggar now follows Peter and John through the temple. Now when Peter sees they have attracted a crowd he decides to witness. Something so wonder as God's mercy on this man should not be hidden. It is appropriate to give credit to the one who is able to heal. That is certainly not Peter. God gets the glory

Peter then takes the time to glorify Jesus Christ who is risen from the dead. He blames them for his death but then excuses them because they did not know what they were doing. He explains that they can still be his followers even now. They do not scoff. The rumors about a man being raised from the dead surely have passed around. People may wonder but there are many who claim to have seen Jesus alive. As Paul said, this did not happen in a dark corner somewhere. Just as they were offered the gift of salvation so are we, even after we have rejected Jesus, we can still repent and accept him as savior and Lord.

Hebrews 6

Hebrews 6:4-6 is a tough saying. We are likely to dismiss it and go on. What if we struggle with it for a minute?

Heb 6:4-6 But what about people who turn away after they have already seen the light and have received the gift from heaven and have shared in the Holy Spirit? What about those who turn away after they have received the good message of God and the powers of the future world? There is no way to bring them back. What they are doing is the same as nailing the Son of God to a cross and insulting him in public! CEV

The Greek starts with a preposition that means "it is impossible that". At minimum one must realize how serious God is and how important it is that we do not fall away. The writer warns the readers to not decide to quit the church, go back to old beliefs without considering the consequences. The writer often contrasts Jesus' new revelation with the older Jewish revelation. This new revelation of God is much greater, much stronger, much closer to God. And it is not a good thing to give it up, as is implied the people this is written to are considering.

But what about what he writes here? Is it true that once one falls away, repents of being a Christian there is no way back? The Greek uses the word "tasted" twice. Once we have tasted God, can we give it up? Certainly there is only one salvation, only one crucifixion. Jesus will not do it again. It is once and done. But wasn't that one time sufficient, even if we fall away and attempt to come back again?

Perhaps he is speaking about us. How hard will it be for us to repent a second time after rejecting it once? It will take a lot more humility than most people have. The first time took humility but we can tell ourselves we did not know any better. But now we did. We did taste how good God was. And we rejected it for a bowl of porridge. Are we going to be able to fully and honestly repent again? It will be much harder for us a second time. Perhaps that is one way to look at it. But are we being honest with the text?

I think one thing is true. If we decide to fall away to try other things, to sin a lot with the idea of coming back later, one may never get back. That is too risky. Certainly we have been tempted to do some sin: have sex with some person casually, steal money from a business or the government, live a lie with the idea that later God will have to forgive us and we'll be good. There are lots of reasons not to do that but one reason is we may get permanently trapped or we may die while still fallen away. Would God's forgiveness still apply while we are in flagrant sin? The writer here leaves some room for doubt. And I think we should struggle with it, if we are serious about being a disciple of Jesus.

The writer goes on to say those of us who have tasted God but then go on to produce bad fruit, what will God say about that? But after warning them, the writer then encourages them that the works they have done in God's name will be remembered by God. He encourages them to be steadfast, not lazy.

He concludes the chapter by reminded them of the revelation to Abraham and then beginning to show that Jesus is a priest of the order of Melchizedek, whom Abraham acknowledged as an agent of God. That he will continue into the seventh chapter.

picking dewberries

Sunday - Barbara and I picked three cups of dewberries at our regular spot off Leeland. We disturbed a homeless guy's "home". He had accumulated lots of aluminum cans hidden in a waste area very near downtown. He wanted to walk his bicycle up a path where Barbara was picking. I asked him why. He said, "None of your business." I soon saw why he said that. I soon saw what his business was. Good luck to him.

I followed directions on the recipe and made a very good looking dewberry pie.

Saturday - A Jehovah's Witness came to the house around 11 AM. I was in the midst of chopping but nothing was pressing. So I went out on the front porch and talked to her for a while. I enjoyed preaching, teaching and exhorting her. I do sincerely hope God will speak to her heart about her error.

Recycling

Recycling has gotten to be an obsession with me. I feel good about recycling. I feel excited about it. Why do I feel so excited? Right now my major effort is recycling citrus fruit that otherwise would not be picked. It is still going on, despite the fact that citrus is already blooming and budding for this fall's crop. Some trees still have last year's crop on the trees. This fruit will eventually shrivel up and drop off if not picked. Amazingly most of that fruit on the trees is still good. Citrus stays ripe in the trees for months. I know of many grapefruit still in trees. There are oranges too but orange trees are taller. I cannot reach most of the remaining fruit.

There are also plenty of sour oranges. People largely do not pick this stuff. Kids probably pick them to throw at one another. I am working on ways to use the sour oranges. You cannot eat them. They make your mouth pucker they are so sour. But orange pies are excellent. They take some effort though. I have also developed an orange aide that is not half bad. But it's an acquired taste. One third juice, two thirds water and add 1/4 cup of saccharine for sweetener. Not too sweet and dietetic for me. There is also sour orange marmalade. It tastes pretty much like regular marmalade.

As I go to my car I see other evidences of recycling, leaves and grass from bags left for trash, soil washed out of yards and into the gutter on the side of roads. Getting that soil is pretty hard work. Soil is heavy. A man walking by saw me shoveling soil into a container last week and just shook his head. Yeah I'm crazy.

As I walk for exercise I find some fairly interesting things to reuse. I am pretty obsessed.

In the home we accumulate a lot of stuff. When I am straightening up I find a lot of things that have not been used for years. I either think of some way to use them, place them in a box to take to Goodwill, or toss them. I imagine Goodwill tosses a lot of this stuff without trying to sell it. But that is there problem. I do not give them broken things, just unusual ones. Things that would take imagination. Yet I believe there is someone out there who would pay a little for it. But I admit these things would be hard to move.

I am constantly looking at the food we have in the freezer and pantry to see how to use things long forgotten. If they are still remotely edible I will think of a recipe to use them in. Sometimes I have a great time combining seasoning where we have two containers of the same thing. I love doing that too. We also have lots of little body lotions and body washes. This morning I tried to combine some of those. I know the scents are different. The girls will howl. But these lotions are long forgotten. They were not going to use them anyway. I might use them, just to get rid of them.

In a broader sense jail ministry is about trying to recycle people. That is not as easy. The results are not as readily apparent. So one has to enjoy the process. Helping at the retirement home is similar I suppose. These people are often forgotten by others. And they need visiting in any way possible. People need "recycling" in a sense, we all do. In this context recycling means discovering or enhancing someone's talents and virtues. They are there. God knows it. They are not getting used as much as they could be. Be at peace with that.

I am going through Hebrews right now (Chapter 2 and 3). I've been missing my daily Bible readings lately. Salvation is like recycling to me as I have expanded the meaning of the word. Jesus has redeemed us. His redemption is big. The writer says we (they) will regret having walked away from so great a glory. Jesus is both high priest and victim. He suffered, he was tempted. He redeemed suffering. He overcame temptation. There is recycling in there.

Last night we read and meditated on Isaiah 43:1-2 which starts, "Fear not for I have redeemed you." God did a recycling project on the Israelites. He took them from the Chaldees and chose them. He saved and redeemed them out of Egypt. The second verse says when you are over your head in water, when you go through fire God will be with you. You will not drown or be burned. God will save you. It is a promise first for the Israelites but do we take this to be a promise for us as well? I think we do. I know I do. God is always with us. He is in the process of using and reusing us. Perhaps that is why I like recycling so much. I think it is a model of how God takes us, broken as we are and finds a use for us. I find that so exciting.

The poor you will have with you always ...

Jesus said, "The poor you will have with you always, but you will not always have me." What does this mean? This seems a hard saying to some. Does Jesus imply that we should give to him first? Or does he imply the poor are not important? Surely not that.

Are we offended by this statement? This occurs in Bethany, near Jerusalem. Mark and Matthew parallel this story with it occuring in the house of Simon the leper. John remembers it in Lazarus' house. These differences do not bother me as they used to. People's memories are faulty. I am the worst at that, as my family is quick to remind me. But that does not disqualify the major ideas of this story.

Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 15:11. The context in Deuteronomy is the Sabbatical year. Any fellow Jew that was sold into slavery must be released in the 7th year. And one must not be hard hearted, calculating when the time will be up and deciding not to help someone because debts must be forgiven soon. No, one must be generous, open-hearted when it comes to helping a fellow Jew. So Deuteronomy concludes, "The poor will be with you always." Implied in this is that you must freely open your hand to help.

It is not the same to take money from rich people and redistribute it to the poor. This is not what God tells us in Deuteronomy. God tells us to help the poor. But too many people misinterpret this to mean government entitlements. This lets us out of helping the poor. I gave at the office, so to speak. But it does not.

The government is basically buying votes. An despite the billions redistributed we still have the poor with us. There are still those who need our help, if we only look around. The personal touch is so important. God is saying we need to be compassionate. The personal touch often helps people to find a way out. Unfortunately the government approach ruins people's initiative.

Jesus is not saying not to help the poor. What is he saying? Well firstly he is rebuking those criticizing the woman, using a false disingenuous reason. They do not care about the poor. They hope to dip into the treasury themselves.

But secondly he is saying helping the poor is not our only occupation. We are also to bless Jesus, to thank God often with sacrifice. It is important to spend money on God as well. In Jesus' time many people gave to his ministry. It is good to do that. Today it is also good to give to the ministry of those who are telling others about God, both to churches and to missionaries, and to para-church organizations.

Jesus says "You will not have me with you always." Yes, he is now in heaven. We can no longer see him. Yet he is with us, through the Holy Spirit. He is present to us. And giving to his agents who are in ministry is a good thing. To me it is part of Jesus admonition to give to him, while you have him. We have him. It is good and right to give to his ministry.