Plumb Lines

“Amos, what do you see?” And I said, “A plumb line.” – Amos 7:8

I’m always hesitant to bring up things that originate from the larger Christian world that I consider bad ideas. There used to be a never ending stream of dumb ideas floating over from Evangelicalism. Even that term I don’t exactly like because it doesn’t really describe that movement or the churches that they form. There really is no consistent theology believed, taught or confessed. It varies church to church and pastor to pastor although most of it is vaguely Baptist. I like the historian Miles Smith’s term, Folk Religion. There is a core of general doctrine, but more important are the feelings and practices. And those practices are ever changing and morphing as the folk themselves change. That is both the power and the danger. American Evangelicalism is often able to meet the moment and a folk practice can spread rapidly, but it can also spread terrible ideas just as fast.

One of those ideas goes by the name “Faith Deconstruction.” The general idea behind it I believe is a healthy one. Over the last 50 years in this folk religion evangelicalism there have been lots of practices and beliefs that have attached themselves and even moved into central identity roles. The original faith deconstructionists undertook to examine some of those practices and beliefs and be more discriminating if they deserved a central place. I’d take that general idea has something of what Paul would mean by “examine yourselves (2 Corinthians 13:5)” or “work out your salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12).” We should take note of our faith and practice. Satan is tricky and our hearts are idol factories. But folk religion is and was a terrible basis to do that from. Being concerned primarily with personal feelings and practices, it had no “plumb line”. Or the only plumb line was the individual heart. And so faith deconstruction, which has spawned an entire genre of memoirs about it, became not a healthy spiritual practice, but a method often to ditch the faith all together, or to re-craft the faith into exactly what our sinful hearts desire.

This is exactly where folk religion/evangelicalism needs its confessional spine like the Lutheran Church. In our Old Testament Reading for the day (Amos 7:7-15), God tells the prophet Amos what he is doing with the Northern Kingdom of Israel. “Behold, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel (Amos 7:8).” And what is the purpose of a plumb line? It is to see if the wall constructed is straight. Is what has been built, built square, built to last? Or is it crooked and destined to fall? In Israel’s case it is all destined to be taken down. “The high places of Isaac shall be made desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be laid waste (Amos 7:9).” What the folk religion of Israel had built was crooked and needed to be deconstructed in a radical way. But the question for us is: What is the plumb line?

The answer is first the scriptures. If someone says search your heart in spiritual matters, that is bad advice. In spiritual things, in the things of God, you start with the Word of God. “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you (Micah 6:8).” Resting under the authority of Scripture the church through the ages has found certain expressions of the faith to be wholly consistent with the scriptures. The creeds which we confess and the Small Catechism fall into that category. We believe, teach and confess them because they are a right understanding. To faith deconstruct one needs a plumb line. And we have been given one. Although we often disdain it. Just as Amaziah the priest and Jeroboam the King said to Amos when he held up the plumb line of God. “Seer, go, flee to Judah, and eat there, and prophesy there, but never again prophesy at Bethel, for it is the King’s sanctuary and it is a temple of the Kingdom (Amos 7:12).” We often prefer our sanctuary and our temple, the King’s sanctuary and temple, our folk religion over the religion of Jesus.

But we don’t get rid of God and his plumb line so easily. Amos’ reply to the High Priest and King, “I was no prophet, nor a prophet’s son, but I was a herdsman and a dresser of sycamore figs. But the LORD took me from following the flock, and the LORD said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to my people Israel.’ (Amos 7:14-15)” The word of God, that plumb line, has a way of sticking around. And God is not embarrassed to have his humble witnesses. Amos might never get a book contract for his memoir, but he has a plumb line. And what is not straight shall come down.

The Prophetic Voice

(A note that I’m writing this to be printed June 27th, and our popular definition of a prophet (being able to see into the future) is not something I claim. But I do think this is evergreen truth.)

It has always interested me how certain strains within the church have claimed to be “speaking prophetically.” I always think they must never have read the actual bible. Because when you actually read the bible you get confronted with what the prophetic voice actually means. Our modern day prophets seem to think it means “I get to change things and I win.” But when you read the bible you get confronted with calls like Isaiah who was to say “keep on hearing, but do not understand…and though a tenth remain in it, burn it again (Isa 6:9,13).” Or you get our Old Testament lesson today, “And whether they hear or refuse to hear, they will know that a prophet has been among them (Ezekiel 2:5).” In the Old Testament the prophetic voice was the simply the voice of truth. The only prophet who “won” was Jonah, and he didn’t want to. And lest you think the prophetic calling in the New Testament is dramatically better, please remember Paul’s “thorn in the flesh (2 Corinthians 12:7).” The power and truth of God speaks more powerfully through that left hand of weakness. Even Jesus in his prophetic office is thrown out of his hometown. “A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown…and he marveled because of their unbelief (Mark 6:4-6).” The prophetic call of Jesus leads directly to the cross.

The main point of Ezekiel’s call is that the people of Israel are a nation of rebels, impudent and stubborn. And this is simply the way of the World. Satan, the ruler of this age, has been in rebellion since the beginning. And this age, or this world, is his. This world groans at that. There are remnants. God created is so good, much of it continues. But when the powers that be are focused, the world is on their side. And that rebellion against the creator is as deep as our own flesh. “Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me. (Ps. 51:5 KJV).” The prophetic voice is that voice which speaks truth to this situation. If the voice claiming to be a prophet is making peace with the devil, the world or our flesh, it is a false one.

But the promise of the gospel is present both in those Old Testament calls and even more in the word’s of Christ. Isaiah’s words may have burned Israel to a stump, yet “the holy seed is its stump (Isa 6:13).” Our Old Testament lesson cuts off for some reason, but it continues that “you (Ezekiel) be not afraid of them (Eze 2:6).” The Lord shall put flesh on the field of bones and breathe life into his people. Paul boasts in his weaknesses because that is the power of Christ in this world (2 Cor 12:9). And Jesus – rejected by his hometown – sends out the apostles two-by-two. And the demons flee and sickness is healed.

That prophetic voice is the voice of the Good Shepherd for all who hear it. It is the voice that calls us to repent of our wayward ways. It is the voice that reminds us that this age is the age of the cross. We fight not against flesh and blood, but against powers and principalities. And if we are living the word, we are living behind enemy lines. But they know their time is short. This age is drawing to a close. We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life of the world to come. When you hear that, you know you have heard a prophet.

A Note on the Tithe

But as you excel in everything– in faith, in speech, in knowledge, in all earnestness, and in our love for you– see that you excel in this act of grace also. – 2 Corinthians. 8:7

The “act of grace” that Paul is extolling here in our Epistle reading for the day (2 Corinthians 8:1-9, 13-15) is the financial support for the needs of the church. Money issues tend to be the third rail of congregational life. Everyone knows that they are important. The one vote you know you will take every year will be the vote on the budget. It is a truism that the Bible talks more about money and our use of it than it does about a whole host of other topics. Yet we tend not to be clear about financial support of congregations. We vote on what we agree to spend, but then often fail to consider our support.

When Paul places financial support for the needs of the church in the category of “act of grace” he is placing it in the realm of the gospel which is a meaningful decision. If he wanted to place such support in the realm of the law he could have done so. There are numerous tithes stated and discussed in the Old Testament and the law of Moses. The purpose of the tithe was for the support of the Levites, the priestly tribe of Israel. “To the Levites I have given every tithe in Israel for an inheritance, in return for their service that they do, their service in the tent of meeting, (Num. 18:21)” Those Levites from their tithes were to also take care of the widow, the fatherless and the sojourner (Deut. 26:12). And the law of God is good and wise. When we are talking about things we’d rather not, we are quick to dismiss the law and claim our Christian freedom. Sometimes falling into the error of pitting the gospel against the law. Christ did not come to do away with the law, but to fulfill it (Matthew 5:17). We are freed from the penalties of the law, but the good will of God expressed in the law is something we seek to fulfill.

One of the oldest stories in the Bible centers upon the disposition of the heart towards God in material blessings. Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground. Abel brought the first born of his flock and its fat portion (Genesis 4:3-4). The LORD had regard for Abel’s, but not for Cain’s. And it is this distinction that leads to the first murder. This distinction is also the difference between the legalistic tithe and Paul’s “act of grace.” God had provided for both Cain and Abel. It was Abel’s trust that the providence of the LORD would continue and continue to be enough, it was his faith in the grace of God, that brought forth his offering of the firstborn and their fat portion. Fear always lurks. Fear that the LORD is not as good as his promises.

Paul continues in 2 Corinthians to make the distinction between an extraction and an “act of grace.” It would certainly be possible to extract an offering from the Corinthians, but such an extraction wouldn’t do anyone any good. It might even be like Cain leading to a hardening of the heart. Instead Paul has “arranged in advance for the gift you have promised, so that it will be ready as a willing gift, not as an extraction (2 Cor 9:5).” Paul’s encouragement is for the Corinthians to understand and act upon the economics of the Kingdom of God. First is that “He (meaning God) has distributed freely, he has given to the poor, his righteousness endures forever (2 Cor 9:9).” The grace of God has been given to us poor sinners in Jesus Christ. And the righteousness of Christ endures forever. We need never fear a lack, for God has made his grace abound. The promise of God here is much like the promise of God given in Malachi 3:10, “bring the full tithe in…put me to the test says the LORD, and I will pour down blessing.” “He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness (2 Cor 9:10).” The economics of the Kingdom of God are of abundance. It starts as a mustard seed. It starts as 5 loaves and feeds 5000. The grace of God multiplies that given in faith.

And what does it mean to give in faith? “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. (2 Cor 9:7).” Reflect on the will of God expressed in the law that he wishes to see brought to completion. Reflect upon the God’s providence of temporal goods and of his grace in Christ. The “act of grace” is that portion freely given seeking the good of the Kingdom of God that grace might be increased. The will of God will certainly be done, but here is our chance to see it done amongst us and to participate in that grace.

I’m sure there is someone out there who tithed and regrets. But I honestly have never met that man or woman. There are lots of spiritual reasons. “Where your treasure is, there will be your heart also (Matt 6:21).” “Whoever gives one of these little ones even a cup of cold water because he is a disciple, truly, I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward (Matt. 10:42).” And there are many other such verses. But not least of the reasons is probably something that Paul says here. “Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully (2 Cor 9:6).” Those who “excel in this act of grace” usually have the best eyes to see the return.

So my encouragement here is for your Spiritual good. Take the time. Decide in your heart cheerfully. And support the Kingdom of God with your gifts. As you excel in everything, see that you excel in this act of grace also.

Weapons of Righteousness

With the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left – 2 Corinthians 6:7

Flavor Flav turned 65 this year. I wonder if he ever found out what time it was? Or if it is just time to start collecting social security. Yes, that is pure corn, and you probably don’t remember Flav. He was one of the early rappers in pivotal group Public Enemy. His shtick to this day is wearing a giant clock and interjecting, “Do you know what time it is?” Which if you’ve got an apocalyptic sweet tooth is impossible not to like. Because we all should be asked if we know what time it is more often. The hour is later than you think.

But the good news of any apocalyptic is that Christ is both the Alpha and the Omega. Christ can operate with both the right hand and the left. Moses had placed “good and evil” before the gathered Israelites (Deuteronomy 30:15ff) and urged them to “choose life.” Of course Moses was talking about the law which is good and wise. Our problem is choosing it. Knowing what time it is by Moses isn’t a good thing. But Paul has a different proclamation. “We appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain…look, now is the favorable time, look, now is the day of salvation (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).” What time is it? It is the day of grace. If you are still in the flesh and reading this, now is the time that grace has come to you. Now Christ helps us.

How does Christ help us? With weapons of righteousness for the right and for the left.

What the heck does that mean? I think the base picture is the ancient warrior who held an offensive weapon, a sword, in the right, and a defensive weapon, a shield, in the left. The right is the instrument of power. The left is the tricky one. It is tricky for a few reasons, but the greatest is the fact that the greatest strength of the warrior comes not from skill with the right, but from savvy formation with the left. My shield in formation protects not just me but the man to my left. The army that lost was almost always that one that broke ranks first and no longer fought as a unit. And they would do this because they trusted their own might and not their fellow’s shield.

The apostle leading up to that summary has a couple of lists. Weapons of the left: “endurance, afflictions, hardships, calamities, beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger (2 Corinthians 6:4-5).” The Apostle Paul held formation through all of those things. He proclaimed Christ and our eternal life in Christ thought all of those things. He kept the faith. And paradoxically it is those weapons of the left that are much more meaningful. The grace of Christ which is seen most clearly in the cross is centered in our endurance of what this temporal world has for us. But that does not exclude weapons of the right: “purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, the Holy Spirit, genuine love, truthful speech, the power of God (2 Corinthians 6:6-7).” All of those are active things. You could call those the Sanctified life. The Saints also have weapons of righteousness that demand use and skill, not just endurance. The endurance weapons of the left are typically better, but there are times that demand action, that demand holiness and truthful speech.

Flavor Flav’s question, the apocalyptic question, is always meaningful. “Do you know what time it is?” Now is the favorable time. God acts with his grace both through the left and the right. But do you know which is called for in your life? As Luther would say, “sin boldly.” Choose your weapon, but have faith in the grace of Christ to make now the day of salvation regardless the choice.

An Appeal to Heaven

If you read any old books, and by old here I mean anything from roughly 600 AD to 1900 AD, one of the things you realize is that all the authors – even the ones not known for their orthodoxy – know their scriptures. And they appeal or allude to those scriptures in nuanced ways. Ways that we either miss completely, or might even say “nah, that can’t be the allusion.” I was thinking about that while reflecting on the Old Testament reading for today – Ezekiel 17:22-24 – and the recent flag absurdity.

If you are blessedly unaware of that absurdity, Mrs. Alito, wife of the Supreme Court justice, likes to fly flags. One of the flags she has flown was the Revolutionary War era “Appeal to Heaven” flag (pasted in somewhere near here.) It was commissioned by George Washington for the small six boat Continental Navy. The pine tree was a symbol of New England – Pines being quite common. The phrase, “An Appeal to Heaven,” is a reference to John Locke. Locke was the English enlightenment philosopher whose thought probably did more to inspire early America and its governance than anybody else. Maybe even more than the Bible, although that could be argued. In this case Locke argued in his Second Treatise on Civil Government, “where the Body of the People, or any single Man, is deprived of their Right, or is under the Exercise of a power without right, and have no Appeal on Earth, there they have a liberty to appeal to Heaven, whenever they judge the Cause of sufficient moment.” In that quote you can hear such later American phrases as “endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.” There is also the foundational American idea of the Social Compact, think the Mayflower Compact. The governments are established to ensure rights. If those governments deprive citizens of rights, they have broken the compact, and there is a right to “an appeal to heaven” or revolution.

That is all hardcore enlightenment. But Washington paired the sentiment with the image of the tree. Washington liked Biblical tree images. And they all liked the Old Testament better than the new. (They all thought they were the new Israel. In Lincoln’s phrase, “a semi-chosen people”.) Washington would leave the Presidency quoting Micah 4:4, “they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken.” It was his turn to sit under his; His work was complete. But long before that work was complete, before he even knew if it would be successful, he tied the enlightenment thinking of an appeal to heaven to a lone tree.

God says in Ezekiel 17, “I myself will take a sprig from the lofty top of the cedar and will set it out…I myself will plant it on a high and lofty mountain…and under it will dwell every kind of bird…and all the trees of the field shall know that I am the Lord. I bring low the high tree, and make high the low tree…I have spoken, and I will do it.” I don’t think it is a mighty leap for someone committing treason if it fails, who could easily consider himself a clipping off the top of the mighty British Empire, as making an appeal to heaven for the LORD to lift them up. For the LORD to create a place for every kind of bird under this new order being brought forth.

Washington never fails to tear me up. The greatest man history ever produced. And as an enlightenment amalgam it isn’t a bad vision. And I almost daily give thanks for being one of Washington’s “distant posterity.” But the sprig is not from any earthly empire. He is from the remains of Israel. And the high and lofty mountain is not a glorious capitol, not even the Acropolis or Mt. Zion, but Mt. Calvary. Our Appeal to Heaven – the eternal appeal to Heaven – free us from our sin wrought chains was answered. The rebellion against Satan, the World and our own flesh not only was started, but was successful. And under Christ’s branches, every kind may dwell and produce fruit and become noble.

The LORD promised he would do this. The LORD keeps his promises.

Courage and Duty

On the American Calendar June 6^th was D-Day and there were plenty of appropriate recognitions of the 80^th anniversary of that day. I read that the last of the Medal of Honor winners passed. Not many years and it will be that last of the veterans of that war. But on the Church calendar June 5^th was a celebration of another guy who must have had the same courage as those who stormed the beaches. Years later, after the eyewitness are gone, it becomes harder to believe in such acts of bravery. The cynics voice shows up and starts wondering which parts are real and which parts are hagiographic myth. And the story of Boniface of Mainz, Missionary to the Germans fits that. It also reminds us just how strange the path of the Gospel to the ends of the earth is.

Boniface was born in England, well, not really England, because England didn’t exist yet. He was born in Wessex around 675 AD. And in an often repeating story the young man, contrary to his Father’s wishes, became a monk. When he was roughly 35, about the same age that Luther nails the 95 Theses – old enough to know better, but still too young to care – Boniface sets out with another monk named Willibrord to Frisia, which is far Northern German near the border with the Netherlands. The mission to Frisia was not a success and they returned home. Boniface then goes to Rome, and while in Rome the Pope creates a new diocese, Germania, and appoints Boniface the bishop.

Now these were the days where Bishops might never even see their own diocese. But Boniface does the unthinkable, He strikes out to his diocese. Not Frisia, not yet, but to Hesse, which is Mainz and Frankfurt today. And this is the place of the great Boniface story – felling the Donar Oak or Thor’s Oak, the sacred symbol and worship space of the local pagans. Boniface took a hatchet to the ancient oak. He used its wood to build his first church. The region heard the story, was amazed that Thor did nothing to the short monk, and apparently converted in mass. Boniface had a real diocese now; one that he served faithfully for over 30 years turning oak groves into churches, monasteries and schools.

But at the age of 79 Boniface remembered Frisia and set off on one last missionary trip. He had baptized many and had left their instruction in various of his fellow’s hands as he went on about the region. Boniface scheduled a larger meeting of all those baptized to be confirmed at a central location. But when he arrived, he encountered not his converts, but a bandit mob looking for the treasures of the great Archbishop. Some of his band wanted to fight, but Boniface refused quoting St. Paul, “be not overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” The great relic of Boniface – which can still be seen today in Mainz – is a book that was his only defense marked with a sword. The mob found nothing but the word that Boniface had preached.

Pondering the story of Boniface, one repeatedly sees the bedrock of courage and the performance of duty. But that courage and duty take what might be seen as polar opposite expressions. Early, the aggressive chopping down of Thor’s Oak. The removal of the symbol of the current idols. Late, the acceptance of the only defense being the Word of God and the acceptance of martyrdom. Courage and duty are not wrote things. When the appointed time comes, the actions they take might be different. But the prayer might be that either by our actions or our submission, we might display the courage of the faith and so give witness to the hope that lives in us.

Jars of Clay

One of the most powerful images in the entire bible is Paul’s in our Epistle reading from 2 Corinthians 4:7 – “we have this treasure in Jars of Clay.” It so perfectly captures the now and not yet existence of this world. We now have this treasure, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection, life eternal. We have it. It is all ours in Christ. Yet we have it in jars of clay. Something that can be broken tomorrow, even accidentally. Something that was made for a common purpose. Something that was not made to last. The eternal in the temporal. The majestic in the common. The divine in the human.

And Paul continues to bring out the reality of this treasure being in jars of clay. “We are afflicted in every way.” The treasure that we have does not spare us from suffering. It does not spare us from having enemies or facing persecution. Neither does it spare us from everyday indignities. Everything that is fallen humanity’s is ours. Everything except the final blow. “We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed.” We have this treasure. Whatever the world might do to the clay jar, the treasure remains. And if they break the jar, the fragrance spreads out revealing the eternity of Christ in us. Even ground to dust, we shall be called back on that last day. For we are not crushed.

“Perplexed.” If you run across anyone who says they’ve got it all figured out, run, fast. The faith is always encountering things that just don’t seem right. The ways of God are not our ways. The desires of God are not always obvious. The sufferings of His people, if they didn’t perplex you, would be more troublesome. Even the Apostle Paul can be perplexed. “What about my brothers according to the flesh (Romans 9)?” And if you understand his conclusion to that with complete clarity, please tell me. The one thing I can tell you is that Paul does not despair. “Perplexed, but not driven to despair.” Somehow, all Israel will be saved. “Oh the depths and riches and wisdom and knowledge of God (Romans 11:33).” Perplexed, not driven to despair.

“Persecuted, but not forsaken. Stuck down, but not destroyed.” It is so easy to give up. Clay is fragile. What it is carrying is more than it was meant to carry. But Christ is with us. He walked the road first and has not left us. And not even Satan has a weapon that can destroy us. We can only destroy ourselves by dumping the treasure of filling ourselves with his lies.

“Carrying around the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our bodies.” God works by death and resurrection. He is the God of creation and recreation. What he once made good, which has fallen, will be restored in perfection. Now we carry our cross. Not yet, but soon, the groaning of this world shall cease and the Sons of God shall be revealed, made manifest. Made plain. The treasure no longer carried in jars of clay, but the life of Jesus manifested in our bodies. That resurrection body that nothing common to this world may trouble.

We are jars of clay, but we also have the treasure. You don’t get to forget either. So that all the glory belongs to God. A God who finds the broken and common and bid us move up to a heavenly seat.

Sound Words

Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you. – 2 Tim. 1:13-14

The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod might be the only church that still follows the Trinity Sunday practice of reciting the Athanasian Creed. I’ve never run across it anywhere else and a good number of ministers outside of the LCMS I’ve mentioned it to have never heard of the creed itself. Part of my fascination was simply the language. As a geeky kid, once a year saying something like “the Father infinite, the Son infinite and the Holy Spirit infinite” was an impossible invitation to mystery. I imagine every kid who ever liked math and ran across the Athanasian creed was invited to ponder the infinite. And how I can give you a perfectly valid proof that is completely understandable in simple language that one infinity is bigger than another infinity. (Observe that the numbers 1, 2, 3… and so on are infinite. Observe that 1.1, 1.2, 1.3…and so on are also infinite. The 2^nd infinity is bigger than the first. And you can intuitively grasp that. But what the hell does it mean that one infinity is bigger than another infinity?) “And yet there are not three infinities, but one infinite.” There are three infinite persons, but there is only one infinite God.

It is not meant to be understood. If we could understand it, it wouldn’t be God. He is meant to be adored.

And yet in our hearts we have a desire for understanding. The apostle Paul certainly understood that. “That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and may share in his sufferings…(Philippians 3:10).” It is this tension that makes Paul’s letters still sing today. Whatever he was facing he was constantly searching for a way to describe what God is and what he is doing for His people. The way of Love: “I will show you a still more excellent way. If I speak in tongues of men and of angles, buy have not love…(1 Cor 13).” The mystery of God’s election and Israel: “For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all. Oh the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God…(Romans 11:32-33).” The way of a man and a woman: “This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the Church…(Ephesians 5:32).” As Paul more or less rightly bragged, “if anyone has reason to boast, I have more (2 Cor 11, Phil 3).” Yet Paul reaching to know God, always returned to adoration. All theology ends in doxology. He is meant to be adored.

So what we have in the creeds, and I would say especially in the Athanasian Creed, is a sound pattern of words. And in a religion where one infinite person of the Trinity is sometimes called “The Word of God,” words are important. There is a reason Satan is always changing the definitions of words, attempting to confuse things that God made plain. The creeds are a sound pattern of words. When Satan, the World or our own flesh want to pull some tricky business with us, the creeds are a light in a dark place. When our brains are tired of thinking, the creeds guard the good deposit given to us. They are not The Faith. They are not the love in Christ Jesus. They are not even the Holy Spirit that dwells within. These things – faith, love, Spirit – are more important. But faith, love and even the Spirit express themselves in words. And these are a pattern of sound words.

When our own words fail us, the Scriptures promise that the Spirit intercedes. Think of the creeds as part of that intercession. A pattern of sound words leading us back to adoration. A theology in short, so that we can sing the doxology. Praise God from whom all blessing flow. Including words…like “this is the catholic faith.”

Sin, Righteousness and Judgement

And when He comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement. – John 16:8

Sometimes there are phrases that just jump off the page and grab the imagination. I think the one above is one of those phrases. Today is the Feast of Pentecost, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the church. And that phrase is what Jesus says the Holy Spirit will accomplish. In a world where standards seem to be up for grabs the idea of the Holy Spirit convicting the world about anything seems doubtful. Convicting this world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement is quite the boast. It is worth pondering those three words and two others in that phrase – convict and world. What do they mean?

We think of convict purely in a negative legal sense – convicted. The word used here does have that meaning, but it might be better to remember an older sense of a trial. The purpose of a trial is to bring to light, to force what was hidden or in the darkness out into the open. The Holy Spirit will bring to light. And what will the Holy Spirit force into the open? The world. The entire cosmos. John likes that word cosmos. God so loves the cosmos. The Holy Spirit will expose how the world works.

How specifically will the Holy Spirit do this? The first thing will be concerning sin. And what is the sin of the world brought into the light? “That they do not believe in me (John 16:9).” The Holy Spirit will expose the fact that the World does not fear, love or trust in God above all things. That the World fears the mighty. It loves money and pleasure. It trusts in its own strength. All of which are temporal. The day the mighty dies, his plans die with him (Psalm 146:4). The fool thinks I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones (Luke 12:28), yet tonight my soul is required of me. The Holy Spirit will bring to light our foolish belief, our disbelief in God.

The Holy Spirit will bring to light righteousness. Jesus’ explanation here might be a little less immediate. “Because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer. (John 16:10)” It is not immediately apparent why the ascended LORD is the Spirit revealing righteousness. I think this is something of an answer to Psalm 24. That Psalm asserts that the earth is the LORD’s and the fullness of it. And then it asks “Who shall ascend the hill of the LORD?…He who has clean hands and a pure heart. (Paslm 24:3-4).” Paul ponders this in Romans 10. “The righteousness based on faith says, ‘Do Not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend?’” According to the law we are always worried who could stand before the throne, and the answer is not a single person is righteous. But Christ the Lamb was worthy to ascend and take the seat at the right hand. The Holy Spirit bringing to light righteousness is the testimony that Christ sits at the right hand of God, and that our righteousness is dependent not upon our ability to ascend, but upon faith in the one who has ascended.

The Holy Spirit brings to light judgement? Should this place us back into the fear of not ascending? No, because what the Holy Spirit reveals is that “the ruler of this world is judged (John 16:11).” The important judgement is not ours, but Satan’s. He’s judged, the deed is done, one little word can fell him. The sin that is brought to light and confessed has no power over us. Because the one who sits on the Throne has had mercy, and brings to naught the plans of the evil one, who has been cast out of heaven and can no longer accuse us.

He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement. He will testify to the light that shines in the darkness. A light that the world cannot overcome. In this light is the life of all who receive it.

Ascension Troubles

It was last Thursday (or today if you are reading this electronically). What was Thursday? Ascension Day. It is something of the forgotten feast day of the Life of Christ. Why is that? The easy answer is that it is on a Thursday – 40 days after Easter. And while Epiphany can be forced by a Pastor as a nice late ending to the Christmas season. It doesn’t hurt that everyone loves the story of the Wise Men and the star connected to Epiphany. And Holy Week seems appropriate piety. By the time you get to 40 days after Easter, Summer is starting. It is one thing to be in church when it is cold and dark. It is another thing to sacrifice sun and good weather. Less joking, more serious, Ascension I think hits on all the modern church’s hangups.

What do I mean by that? Well, among respectable educated folk, there is a tendency to spiritualize the more miraculous events of the life of Jesus. Not that the bible allows this, it is just that we are all educated as de facto materialists (i.e. there is nothing but matter). So anything that borders on the woo-woo must be a metaphor. The first step in much of mainline Protestantism’s losing the faith was spiritualizing Easter. The resurrection is a metaphor for new beginnings. If it’s just a metaphor, to hell with it. I want to thrust my hand into the side with Thomas.

Because then I know that my six foot slumber is temporary. If it’s a metaphor, there is no new beginning from that, unless you count being mulch a new beginning. What does Ascension say? That Jesus Christ was bodily taken up into heaven (Luke 24:50-53, Acts 1:6-11, Matthew 28:16-20). And that in heaven he has been seated at the right hand of God the Father (Creed, Revelation 4-5). Ascension says that Jesus Christ is reigning right now. And that is not some metaphor. The King is on his throne. And it is not some King in Parliament scheme. “The four living creatures and the twenty-four elders and every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and in the sea and all that is in them fell down and worshipped (Revelation 5:13-14).” This King is the judge of the quick and the dead. Good luck turning that into a metaphor.

The second reason is what the Royal decree of Ascencion Day is – evangelism. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you (Matthew 28:19-20).” Luke’s version is “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and to the Ends of the Earth (Acts 1:8).” Having been clothed with power from on high, the Holy Spirit, the disciples are to make more disciples. Again, really hard to make a metaphor. That’s a concrete mission. The Gospel of John doesn’t have an explicit Ascension story, but it has an implied one that explains it a bit further. From John 16:7-8, “I tell you the truth, it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send Him to you. And when He comes, He will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgement.” Ascension Day, for it’s woo-woo happening, is very concrete. It is about sin and righteousness and judgement.

Ascension Day is this forgotten day, probably because we don’t always like the message. Jesus reigns. And He has given us a Royal quest. It is not the myth of Camelot or some far away story, but it has come very close to you. That Helper abides in you. Do we say Christ is Lord? And if so, do we mean it…by following his commandments? By being his witnesses? It is an uneasy message in these later days.