SoulPeace

As usual, the inverted date numbers (12/21) means it's my birthday. I got up late, so I am just now (4:27pm) having my quiet time. Quiet . . . I sit now in the living room by the decorated tree, looking out the window at the snow. I have apple cake and coffee. Quiet piano Christmas music is playing. I breath a sigh of relief. The kids out sleeping or outside in the snow . . . finally. I see again why moments of personal quiet are so important. Especially quiet moments with God. How my soul longs for quietness . . . peace . . . rest. As I grow older (36 now), I see how much time I spend without awareness. I am carried along by the madness . . . OK, maybe just busyness . . . of my circumstances. Amazingly and providentially, I open up my Bible to Ecclesiastes 4:6,

“Better is a handful of quietness than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.”

I believe that it is possible for us to live with internal peace, even when our circumstances are crazy or oppressive. I am learning that most of my circumstances that I would consider crazy or oppressive (only because I rarely experience anything truly oppressive) are results of my own decisions, or more often, my lack of decision. We so often feel like victims when things don’t go like we want. But most often, we are not victims of unalterable circumstances, just of our own failures. What is known as the Serenity Prayer is helpful here:

“God, grant me the serenity To accept the things I cannot change; The courage to change the things that I can; And the wisdom to know the difference.” - Reinhold Niebuhr

The first point here is to realize that when things are not right (in this case, a lack of peacefulness of life), then there are probably many things I can do to rectify it. I must choose a peaceful life. Prioritize, be disciplined, love, simplify.

But then there are things we cannot change. How can we still have inward peace? Because God is love. He is absolutely good and totally powerful. I can trust him. I can run to him and find protection. I can come to him and find rest for my soul.

Why Do I Work?

“Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of this neighbor” (Eccl 4:4).

I am beginning to see more clearly the genre of this book. It is Wisdom Literature and closely resembles the Proverbs. This is helpful for seeing that some of the challenges of understanding Proverbs apply here. There are times, like in this verse, that we see a generally true observation stated as an absolute maxim. I really don’t think that he means every single person who ever worked did so out of envy. However, it is basically true that humans strive and struggle to find success in this life on earth. They want to be the best at what they do. They want to make enough money to have the best material possessions. They want to be in charge of others. They want the honor of men. And so, the writer concludes, “This also is vanity and striving after the wind.”

I am free from this vain striving in Christ. I am able to serve someone besides myself. I serve the Lord of all creation and I serve the people he created. I work for the benefit of others. And I work for eternal things. I will lay up treasures in heaven, where it will never be destroyed.

The Vanity of Wisdom

“There is more gain in wisdom than in folly,as there is more gain in light than in darkness. The wise person has his eyes in his head, but the fool walks in darkness” (Ecc 2:13-14).

Wisdom is about seeing. Figuratively, this indicates understanding. I want to “have my eyes in my head.” The writer of Ecclesiastes goes on to explain, though, that even the wise die and are forgotten, so wisdom is also "a striving after the wind." It must be understood that our Christian definitions of wisdom as faith in Christ and biblical truth are not in view here. It is possible for someone to be wise “under the sun” but to not understand eternal things. There are many smart, wonderful, wise people who just don’t grasp eternity.

As Paul wrote:

“For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart. Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor 1:18-25)

The Vapor of Vapor!

I started reading Ecclesiastes today and am fascinated by the mystery and wisdom is holds. I enjoy poetry and riddles. The reoccurring theme is:

“Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” (1:1)

Vanity literally means vapor.  And we are not just talking about vapor, but the vapor of vapor! Vapor is fleeting and elusive. As I work through the book, I will be considering what the writer means by this. Verse 2 immediately presents at least one concept of vanity: “What does man gain by all the toil?” I just taught on 1 Cor 15, in which Paul explains the vanity of preaching and faith if Christ was not raised from the dead (v. 14). In Greek, this word translated vanity can mean without result, reason, or purpose. The suggestion that man gains nothing from his work is the vanity of no result.

The obvious answer to the Preacher’s question is “a living.” When one works he is able to provide food and shelter for his family. But the question forces the reader to go deeper than this. The Preacher is pushing us past the obvious cycles and assumptions of this world to consider the meaning and value of food and shelter, the meaning of existence at all. The writer has come to a point in life, as many of us do, when we are desperate for a deeper purpose. “Surely food and shelter is not what this is all about.” Food and shelter are no the end, but a means. They are simply necessary for survival according to God’s design. The purpose of our existence must be something more. At least that is what depths of my soul cry out for. “What is this all about anyway?” Amazingly, though, so much of our culture has become a half-dead mass of humanity that is satisfied to run the rat race for the prize of food and shelter. They have only modified it in that they hunt for greater and more glamorous food and shelter. I will live for more than this.

Participation in Worship

Paul gives some instructions about order in worship in 1 Corinthians 14:26-40. There are some interesting broader implications for worship that do not seem to fit many of our normal worship service practices.

1. When believers worship together, it is to be edifying, peaceful, and orderly (vv. 26, 33, 40).
2. When believers worship together, there are a variety of activities (v. 26)?
3. When believers worship together, a variety of believers participate (not just leaders).
4. When believers worship together, there are some unplanned contributions (vv. 29-30).

There is a level of openness in the participation of the body that may seem foreign to some of our worship traditions. I can understand why we would exclude open contributions to our meetings . When you allow open participation, things can certainly go wrong. That is exactly why Paul is teaching the Corinthians how to have edifying, peaceful, orderly worship. But to remove the openness for the sake of order is not the biblical answer to difficulties resulting from open participation. Open participation can provide a rich time of encouragement as the variety of giftedness in the body is exercised. There is a balance between openness and peaceful order that is edifying. Teaching the church about how to participate in an edifying manner and providing leadership in the service help to strike this balance.

Enjoying a Clear Conscience

“An evil man is ensnared in his transgression,but a righteous man sings and rejoices.” Prov 29:6

I love a clear conscience. One of the worse feelings is the stress and fear on the heart and mind caused by sin. He is trapped and paralyzed by the fear of being caught or suffering the consequences of his sin. And ultimately, he will be caught. On the other hand, a person with a clear conscience can sing and rejoice! There is not fear or lying or dodging. There is confidence in his position before God and God’s promise to protect and prosper him.

Confess and repent of that sin! Run from that darkness into the light! There find God’s peace and joy. Find the satisfaction of knowing him and being used by him.

A True and Rational Gospel

When Paul was communication the gospel to Agrippa and Festus, he was accused of being out of his mind. Paul responded, “I am speaking true and rational words” (Acts 26:25). As I have been studying philosophy and critical thinking in my politics and religion class, I have concluded that if the Gospel is true, then it would be the conclusion of an honest, logical consideration of the evidence. I do not mean by this that one would or could believe based only on intellectual considerations. Belief is a matter of the heart and will. Nor do I mean that all the claims of Scripture are verifiable by physical evidence. But the gospel and the Christian worldview will not contradict evidence and logic. The Bible does not teach that the God’s truth is a mysterious, irrational reality or that the physical world is an illusion or inherently evil. Instead, the words of the gospel are true and rational. It is easy for people to claim that Christianity is illogical or contradicts scientific and historical evidence. These claims must be pressed and critiqued for it may reveal to the accuser that their resistance to the gospel is not at all rational, but a resistance to the truth itself.

After making the above observations, I read an article by Chuck Colson, "When Atheists Believe: The Confounding Attraction of the Christian Worldview" (Christianity Today, Oct 2009). Here are some snippets:

"People who insist we are 'simply anthropoid apes' cannot account for things as basic as language, love, and music. . . . I have longed believed that Christianity is the most rational explanation of reality. And that fact, winsomely explained, can powerfully influence thinking people to consider Christ's claims. A strong empirical case can be made to show that Christianity is the only rational explanation of life. . . . The Bible speaks most accurately to the human condition--the very definition of a rational choice."

Feeding the Flesh

“A companion of gluttons shames his father”Prov 28:7

The struggle between flesh and Spirit is becoming more clear to me. They are diametrically opposed. Flesh leads to death; Spirit leads to life and peace (Rom 8:5-8). But unlike the Buddhist philosophy, flesh does not refer to all that is physical from which one must strive to be detached. Flesh is the sinful nature, the tendency to make oneself god and his or her pleasure the ultimate end of all. I’m afraid that I still subtly serve my flesh.

As in this proverb, it can be as natural as eating, but it becomes gluttony. This is a perfect example of the distinction that must be made between flesh and the physical. There is nothing wrong with eating (physical), but we can make it an end and enjoyment above God (flesh). There is nothing wrong with the enjoying the pleasure of eating either. And while it seems ridiculous that a person could place it above God, it is quite possible. It is not a conscious choice of worship. It is the longing and drive of the heart. Anything that we live for that is not God is idolatry.

My own concern is not that something like eating motivates my life. My concern, though, is in exercising a certain level of carelessness in eating, such as eating too much of anything and especially that which is not good for me. Not only does this carelessness have definite physical consequences, but it also feeds my flesh. When we take the good things that God gives us and use them outside of the purpose and limits for which he has given them to us, then we are serving the flesh.