Tag: Jesus

Towards a Better Theology of Divorce

On By AaronIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

The other day my wife and I were driving to her parent’s house when she asked me why didn’t Jesus address physical abuse when he addressed divorce?  It is a great question.  I was a police officer for only five years, and I saw a lot of broken marriages in which both men and women lived in a relationship centered around abuse.  Why would Jesus only allow for a spouse’s unfaithfulness as the only justifiable argument for divorce?  We drove for probably another twenty minutes before I was pulled out of my thoughts on the question by another question, “did you hear what I said?  Are you even listening to me?”  I smiled because I had gone inside my own thoughts and had lost track of what was going on around me, but it was a question where the answer was not readily available.

But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.

Matthew 5:31-32

Jesus says in Matthew, “It was also said, ’Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’  But I say to you that everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery (Mat 5:31-32).”  This is often interpreted as meaning that the only way out of the covenant of marriage is in the case of infidelity.

This quote is pulled right out of the center of what is known as the Sermon on the Mount.  If we were to outline that sermon it could look something like this…

  1. The Beatitudes
  2. Salt and Light
  3. Christ came to fulfill The Law
  4. The Law Refined (Real Transgression)
    1. Anger
    2. Lust
    3. Divorce
    4. Oaths
    5. Retaliation
  5. How to do The Law Right
    1. Love Your Enemies
    2. Give to the Needy
    3. The Lord’s Prayer
    4. Fasting
    5. Lay up Treasures in Heaven
    6. Do Not be Anxious
  6. Judging Others
    1. Ask and It will be Given
    2. The Golden Rule
    3. A Tree and It’s Fruit
    4. I Never Knew You
  7. Build Your House On the Rock

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Matthew 5:20

You will notice right away that it is a complex sermon.  It is a long sermon to say the least and books have been written on what is found in its context.  For today it is enough to know that this sermon was never meant to be the giving of a new law rather it was meant as discussion on how The Law of Moses was to be understood and the Messiah’s relationship to The Law.  The first section including the Beatitudes and Salt and Light were intended to communicate that the doctrines’ of God would be given to the humble and that the humble would become the salt and light in which those doctrines would be shared.  In the third section Jesus teaches that He, as the Messiah, has not come to abolish The Law but rather to fulfill The Law.  I love Adam Clarke’s description on this concept.  “Christ completed the law: 1st. In itself, it was only the shadow, the typical representation, of good things to come; and [Jesus] added to it that which was necessary to make it perfect, his own sacrifice, without which it could neither satisfy God, nor sanctify men (Clarke 1810-1826, Mat 5:17).”  The Law teaches that apart from righteousness a sacrifice is required.

Jesus then transitions into a discussion on the nature of righteousness, “For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. (Mat 5:20).”  Here is where Jesus begins to speak specifically to and about the Pharisees.  It is this teaching that Jesus comments on divorce are intended to address.

The Pharisees thought that they were righteous.  They believed that the sins that Israel was being punished for were the sins of their father’s and grandfather’s; not their own.  The proverb of Ezekiel’s time that, ‘The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children’s teeth are set on edge (Eze 18:2)’ was an allegation against God made by the Israelites of Ezekiel’s time and the Israelites of Jesus’ time.  Think of eating sour grapes like eating a sour patch kid.  That first initial overpowering sour causes you to react by breathing in through clenched teeth.  The idea is that someone else has eaten the sour patch kid and you are breathing in through the clenched teeth.  You are reaping the reward for someone else’s actions.  Jesus’ teaching here, using anger, lust, divorce, oaths, and retaliation, all sins for which the Pharisees were guilty, are illustrating that these Pharisees are not righteous enough to inherit the Kingdom of God.

The idea of a certificate of divorce, that the Pharisees were clinging to for their righteousness, comes from Deuteronomy.  “When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a certificate of divorce… then her former husband, who sent her away, may not take her again to be his wife, after she has been defiled, for that is an abomination before the LORD (Deu 24:1-4).”  The Pharisees interpreted from this passage that Moses allowed divorce when the wife lost favor with her husband or was somehow indecent.  According to David Stern Hillel and Shammai, contemporaries of Jesus, represent the poles of the contemporary argument.  “The School of Shammai say a man may not divorce his wife unless he has found unchastity in her, as it is said, ‘…because he has found in her indecency in a matter.’ But the School of Hillel say he may divorce her even if she burns his food, as it is said, ‘… because he has found in her indecency in a matter (Mishna: Gittin 9:10).’”

This Hillel loophole was a broad loophole indeed but that was their interpretation of The Law and if they obeyed it their righteousness could be retained.  It was primarily a loophole to keep a wife in line or to trade in on a newer model.

“Without God’s sacrifice The Law could not satisfy God nor sanctify men.”

Jesus response to this loophole is that, “everyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of sexual immorality, makes her commit adultery, and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery (Mat 5:32).”  This is a statement about the righteousness of the Pharisees.  They were divorcing their wives and were responsible for the adultery that they caused.  That responsibility made them unrighteous.  The only reason the wife’s adultery changes anything about the nature of divorce is that the adultery was not caused by the Pharisees.  Don’t worry Jesus addresses the Pharisees who were not guilty in this case in the cases of Anger, lust, oaths, and retaliation.

Adam Clarke concluded his understanding of the fulfillment of The Law in that The Law pointed to the necessity of an atoning sacrifice.  Without God’s sacrifice The Law could not satisfy God nor sanctify men.  The Pharisees too needed that sacrifice and Jesus’ comments on divorce were to highlight that issue.  Jesus was not establishing a new law regarding what was an acceptable divorce and an unacceptable divorce.  Jesus was teaching that the Pharisees too were unrighteous.

So where does that leave us on divorce?  “Is it lawful to divorce one’s wife for any cause (Mat 19:3)?”  Jesus points out that they should already know the answer to this question.

“Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female, and said, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?  So, they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate (Mat 19:4-6).”  Righteous husbands do not divorce their wives.  Righteous wives do not divorce their husbands.  Divorce is in fact a sin that defiles just as any other sin. 

“What we know today that the Pharisees didn’t know is that Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice for the consequences of our sins.”

The prophet Malachi puts it very crisply, “…the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union?… So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth.  “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So, guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless (Mal 2:14-16).” At the center of divorce is a violation of a promise.  A righteous person endeavors to honor the commitments that he or she has made.  A violation of that commitment is the equivalence of an act of violence.  That is still true today.

“Do you believe that your sins are forgiven?”

What we know today that the Pharisees didn’t know is that Jesus died as the perfect sacrifice for the consequences of our sins.  And we all need that sacrifice, even the Pharisees.  When you accepted Him, you are accepting that His punishment was for your sins.  Do you believe that?  Do you believe that your sins are forgiven?  Do you believe that your spouse’s sins have been forgiven?  Often, I think this is the harder part.  Jonah’s refusal to offer repentance to the Ninevites came from his own desire to see them punished.  He knew if he offered repentance to the Ninevites, they would accept, and Jonah’s god would offer His mercy.  Have you offered that forgiveness to your spouse?  What about the children of divorce?  They are injured just as much as the spouses of divorce.  Are you a child of divorce?  Have you offered forgiveness to your parents?

If you are in an abusive marriage, get out as soon as you can!  You are not responsible for those sins.  Is your spouse unfaithful?  You are not responsible for those sins.  But remember, Jesus died for those sins too, you can protect yourself and extend that forgiveness at the same time.  Are you being unfaithful to your spouse?  Accept Jesus’ forgiveness and repent!  Are you abusing your spouse? Accept Jesus’ forgiveness and repent!  Is your life a product of divorce?  Extend the forgiveness of Jesus!  Whether or not it is accepted and whether or not they repent is between them and God.

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

Photo by Zoriana Stakhniv on Unsplash.

Clarke, Adam. The Holy Bible with a Commentary and Critical Notes. New Edition. Vol. I–VI. Bellingham, WA: Faithlife Corporation, 2014. Find this resource in the Faith, Hope, Love (Life) Store

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The Anticipation of a Wedding

On By AaronIn Uncategorized1 Comment

     On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there.  Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples.  When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.”  And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”  His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.”

Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons.  Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim.  And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it.  When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “ Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now (Joh 2:1-10).”

This passage is so much fun!  There is so much symbolism here.  Jesus’ miraculous ministry begins in the context of the Jewish wedding.

“This context screams messianic prophesy associating the Messiah’s first coming with the purchase of His bride and His second coming with the celebration of the consummation of that which He has purchased.” 

In the days of Jesus, a wedding was a protracted affair.  First, the groom would travel from his father’s house to the house of the bride’s father.  He would pay the purchase price, in order to establish the marriage promise or covenant, and then he would return to his father’s house.  During the next year he would stay at his father’s house making the living arrangements for his bride.  His bride, although she knew he would return, did not know exactly when he would return.  When the groom returned the marriage would be consummated amid a celebratory seven day wedding feast.  This context screams messianic prophesy associating the Messiah’s first coming with the purchase of His bride and His second coming with the celebration of the consummation of that which He has purchased.  Jesus chose this context to point his audience to their own messianic expectations.  They were anticipating a messianic wedding.

“The feast that Jesus is pointing to will be a celebration larger than any other because the cause of the celebration is the eternal end of death and tears, the eternal end of sin.”

In Isaiah (25:6-9) we read,

On this mountain the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples
a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine,
of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.

What Jesus’ contemporary readers didn’t know was that feast mentioned here was to be a wedding feast.  They knew that they lived in anticipation of this feast, but they didn’t know it was a wedding feast.  Note the rich food and wine.  Jesus will, over the course of His ministry, associate himself as both the food and wine of this feast.

And he will swallow up on this mountain
the covering that is cast over all peoples,
the veil that is spread over all nations

That veil, that covering, is the shame that is the result of our own sins; our own failings.

He will swallow up death forever;
and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces,
and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth,
for the Lord has spoken.

The feast that Jesus is pointing to will be a celebration larger than any other because the cause of the celebration is the eternal end of death and tears, the eternal end of sin.  This will come at a price, the purchase price of a bride.

It will be said on that day,
“Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
This is the Lord; we have waited for him;
let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

Jesus chose the context of a wedding feast to be the context of His very first miracle.  But this wedding, the wedding that Jesus and His disciples had been invited, was about to fall apart.  The wine had run out!  I cannot imagine that even a small version of a Jewish wedding in these times would have been inexpensive.  The very presence of the stone washing jars, associated with the purification rituals of devout Jews, testifies that this was a wedding hosted by a family of devout observing Jews.  They would have had a social interest in maintaining their status before the community and they could not afford the wine at their own wedding.  Oh, the scandal!  And all that scandal would have been captured in Jesus’ mother’s statement, “they have no wine.”

Jesus’ response immediately commands his mother’s attention.  “Woman, what does that have to do with me?”  Now, I do not believe that Jesus was using the condescension that this phrase would have generated in our own generation.  But he has changed the formality of his address for an intentional purpose.

As a leader of soldiers, I have subordinates that I would often address simply by their last name.  In doing so I am denoting a level of familiarity within the context of military protocol.  Conversely, when I address them by their rank such as private, sergeant, or lieutenant I am changing the level of familiarity and thus the tone of the conversation.  This is especially true if I use their rank in the absence of their last name.  Jesus was not referring to his mother as mother nor did he use her proper name.  He addressed her as woman to bring her and those in His audience to a higher level of attention in order to highlight his next statement, “My hour has not yet come.”

“Now that Jesus has their attention, He is declaring that the hour of their Messiah is close.”

John, the author of the Gospel, has already declared Jesus to be “the Word,” “the Light,” and “the Life.”  He narrated how John the Baptist was confronted by the priests and Levites who wanted to know if he was the messiah and recorded that John the Baptist not only denied being the messiah but identified Jesus as “the Lamb of God.”  The earliest disciples recognized that reference as a reference to their expected Messiah and as a result decided to follow Jesus.  Andrew even went and found his brother Simon, later renamed Peter by Jesus, and told him, “we have found the messiah (Joh 1:41).”  Now that Jesus has their attention, He is declaring that the hour of their Messiah is close.

I picture Mary, Jesus’ mother, struck dumb in that moment.  Locked, eye to eye with her son.  She meant to communicate her sympathy for the family that was about to lose standing socially and Jesus responded with, “Woman, the hour of the Messiah has not yet come.”  In that moment she may have recalled the night the angel appeared to her saying, “you will conceive in your womb and bear a son… He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High (Luk 1:31-32).”  Perhaps her mind jumped from there to her visit with her cousin Elizabeth who when pregnant and carrying John the Baptist declared as the baby John leapt in her womb, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb (Luk 1:42)!”  She must have considered the shepherds, the star, and the wise men.  How Simeon had declared her son to be the Christ saying, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed (Luk 2:34-35).”  And, when Jesus was twelve, how they had lost Him only to find Him in the temple.  How everyone was amazed by His understanding.  “Do whatever He tells you,” she responds.

What is the hour of the messiah?  In the days of Jesus, the opinions of both the learned and the unlearned were diverse (Scott, 322-323).  “The Messiah was expected to be at the center of the great eschatological drama of the final age… He was to be the inaugurator of that age, the one to bring it into existence (Scott, 322-323).”  The diversity of opinion on the subject comes from the implications each of the titles used of the Messiah in the Old Testament had on contemporary thought in Jesus’ days.  The Suffering Servant, Son of Man, The Prophet like Moses, The Lamb of God; each of these carried with it a messianic task (Scott 322-323).  But rest easy Jesus is about to provide some clarity.

He commands the servants to fill some ceremonial jars with water and then to take that water to the master of the feast.  I mentioned earlier that I could not imagine even a small wedding to be an inexpensive affair.  One of the ways they would reduce the expense was to serve the best wine first so that discerning pallets would discern the high quality of wine.  As those discerning pallets became less discerning or as the evening wore on and the more prominent guests had gone the master of the feast would bring out the lower quality wine.  Usually the best wine precedes the poorer wine but in the case of this wedding the poorer wine preceded the higher quality wine.

“What this miracle is announcing is that the Messiah is going to inaugurate a new covenant that will be better than the old.”

In the context of the wedding covenant celebration Jesus was bringing attention to the wine of that covenant.  What this miracle is announcing is that the Messiah is going to inaugurate a new covenant that will be better than the old.  Jesus was pointing to the prophet Jeremiah’s words.

“Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord. For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people. And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and each his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more (Jer 31:31-34).”

Jesus was pointing to the day in which a better covenant was coming.  His hour would inaugurate that covenant.  And although it was not yet His hour, He took advantage of the context of this Jewish wedding to tell them, with authority, that the hour was almost on them and to provide a little clarity about what that meant.

Today, if you are reading this know that the hour described by Jesus has already come.  It is the hour for which all creation was created and has eternal significance for you and your loved ones.  If you don’t know what Jesus has done, I would encourage you to find a local church and sign up for a Bible study or Sunday school.  Learn about Him.  In earlier blogs I wrote about the morality and sovereignty of time.  They present the reality that time is not eternal and that you are accountable for what you do with it.  Don’t wait.

If you are not yet ready to find or commit to a local church and you have more questions.  Feel free to contact me.  Good questions are the source material for good blogs 😉

If you are already counted among His own and want to grow a deeper more resilient faith then continue to learn and get to know Him.  I would specifically encourage a study through Hebrews.  There you will find Paul’s explanation of the superiority of the New Covenant over the Old Covenant.  But there is also so much more to discuss in regards to this passage in John; that the servants knew where the wine came from when the master did not and the significance of the stone jars and the rites of purification.  Why the third day?  Discovering what they mean starts with a question.  He, through the Spirit, will reveal Himself to you.

Thanks for reading and do not forget to subscribe to my e-mail below.  I am working on some great things and I would hate for you to miss out.

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Scott, J. Julius, Jr. Jewish Backgrounds of the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2000. Find this resource in the Faith, Hope, Love (Life) Store

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Why You should be Part of a Life Group

On By AaronIn Uncategorized1 Comment

I’m not sure where I heard it. Probably from a Drill Sergeant in basic training encouraging me to keep going and not to give up. But I have heard that most people can give 50% more than they think they can give. Those who are athletic or have spent some time living and working in the outdoors or in harder physical conditions can give 30% more than they think they can give. But the real anomaly is that professional athletes and special forces, the elite of the elite, know that they can give 10% more than they think they can and that the 90% they have already given is more than most people will ever know they are capable of.

I used to think it was because those professional athletes and special forces were accustomed to giving more; giving and pushing is essential to the nature of what they do.  But I suspect there is more.  I suspect that those who know that they are capable of doing and giving more are those who surround themselves with people who share that knowledge.  Your faith, your Christianity is the same.

How many of us would like to get healthier?  How many of us would like to run faster and to lift more?  I know I would and yet I fail; again and again.  But there are those who do succeed.  What is their secret?  Are they just wired different?  No, they commit and then surround themselves by people who share the same commitment.  I have the privilege of praying with our local police officers before some of their shifts.  There are some, and I could name them because they are consistent, who as soon as they are off work are preparing for their work out at the gym.  They work out together.  Their banter as they leave the station is what both unites them and what encourages them not to simply go home and sleep but to push on in their commitment.  That is what a Life Group is for your Christianity.

Now, Life Group is the term used by my local church.  But call it a life group, small group, bible study, connection group or even Sunday school ultimately they do three things for both the individual Christian and the church as a whole; they facilitate the discernment of the truth, they encourage the pursuit of righteousness, and they facilitate church discipline.

I have the greatest life group ever.  It meets virtually every Thursday night.  We have law enforcement professionals, a college educator, an IT professional, three people who are pursuing seminary degrees but what unites us is our commitment to Christ; to the truth that who He says He is and what He says He has done is real.  We have committed to one hour because we are all busy husbands, fathers, and professionals who are pursuing success in all those areas and yet the center of gravity of who we are is found in our commitment to the truth of Christ.  This is the first function of the Christian Life Group.

The plain meaning is that we need one another to test our understanding of scripture.

In Proverbs we read, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another (Pro 27:17, ESV).”  The plain meaning is that we need one another to test our understanding of scripture.  I like to think that I am well read and intelligent regarding God’s word but occasionally I come up with some wild ideas.  Ask me about my theory on aliens sometime.  Being honest, I am usually wrong before I am right.  What moves me from one to the other though is the opportunity to bounce ideas off of other people; other people that I trust.

On my second tour in Iraq God called me to lead the men’s study at the base chapel.  Initially I refused.  I wasn’t doing the things I needed to be doing as a leader of a men’s bible study and I didn’t feel worthy of the call.  I wasn’t regularly reading the Bible and I was not spending the necessary time in prayer.  But God eventually turned me to obedience and what astonishes me as I look back is that I don’t think God used that call to bring me back to study and prayer.  Don’t get me wrong, that happened.  But, I think his intent was to introduce me to men who took scripture seriously.  They didn’t tell me what they thought the scripture said they either told me what the scripture said or we spent the evening confirming that it did say what we thought it said.  My understanding of God’s truth and, as a result, my faith in that truth grew.  Our interaction with God’s truth was intended to be a social interaction.  We are to fellowship with God and with one another.  We start by hearing, we move to reading, but it is the social interaction with the truth that solidifies our convictions.

Our interaction with God’s truth was intended to be a social interaction.

Second, is the call to righteousness.  A successful life group results in conviction that moves us towards righteous works.  The Word tells us that we are, “to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near (Heb 10:24-25, ESV).”  This year I have found a blessing in the COVID-19 pandemic.  Everyone is trying to figure out how to get together without getting together.  That is not new for me.  I am writing these thoughts on an early flight to Seattle.  I can look east out over the wing to the sunrise.  My wife and family are at home still in their beds.  I have sought a non-traveling job and for what ever reason it is not yet in God’s plan.  I have been trying to figure out how to be together without being together since the beginning of this phase of my life.  I miss Saturday morning breakfast with the men’s group in Ellensburg.  You can’t beet meeting together in person.  However, this year I have met consistently with eight fellow Christians regardless of our locations; often for me from a distant hotel room and even once twelve miles from my in-law’s cabin at the first spot with a strong enough cell connection.  What a miracle that is!!!

We are free to be better because we have been made free from the requirement of perfection by the blood of Jesus and yet in that freedom we don’t long to pursue the desires of our flesh.

And I love each of them.  Their commitment to understanding the truth is a commitment to being better men, better husbands, better brothers, and better fathers.  Better is a moral statement.  It is the idea that one man can be better morally than another.  We are free to be better because we have been made free from the requirement of perfection by the blood of Jesus and yet in that freedom we don’t long to pursue the desires of our flesh.  Rather, we desire to pursue obedience and righteousness.  And that is hard!!!  Harder than getting up every morning and going for a run.  Harder than committing to eat healthy.  To deny your sinful self is harder than denying that Venti Iced Pumpkin Spice Latte!!!  And because it is hard we need encouragement and motivation.

I’ve been a leader in the Army National Guard for a long time.  What amazes me is that as a leader my number one responsibility is to motivate people to do that which they have already volunteered to do.  Every soldier has already volunteered to serve under extreme conditions.  Every soldier has already volunteered to do a very specific job.  And I am no exception!  I can’t count how many times I have had to check myself for not wanting to do that for which I have already volunteered and agreed to do.  We need each other for encouragement and motivation to do even those things that we have already individually committed to do.

Lastly a Life Group is to implement church discipline.  Church discipline is unique to that which most of us have experienced.  It is geared towards repentance and restoration rather than punishment.  Jesus tells us how we are to do it…

“If your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault, between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have gained your brother. 16 But if he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, that every charge may be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 17 If he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church. And if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector. 18 Truly, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them (Mat 18:15-20, ESV).”

We need a way to fail and be restored.

It starts with the individual and it is geared towards repentance and restoration.  That repentance and restoration hinges on the love of Christ shared between those individuals.  Because I love the men in my Life Group I am more likely to hear them when one of them comes to me and says, “Aaron, you are sinning.”  And what if I don’t listen?  What if the next “one or two others” is from my life group?  Am I still not more likely to listen to them because of the love and truth we share?  And heaven forbid, my sin goes before the church and I am asked to leave, is there not still hope?  Gentiles and tax collectors have repented in the past.  Should I finally repent those men who surrounded me each become a point of contact for restoration.  In my repentance each of my brothers is a place where I can go and request forgiveness and restoration.  We are not yet perfected.  We need a way to fail and be restored.  God’s discipline is always aimed towards repentance and restoration.  We need a way to fail and be restored.  That can only take place in the context of fellowship grounded on truth in an environment love and respect.

The life group is the life of the church in that it encourages discernment of the truth, motivates the individual towards works of righteousness, and is the context of love and respect in which church discipline can be executed towards repentance and restoration. If you are not a member of a life group, then I would encourage you to change that today. If your church does not have a life group program or your church does not offer a life group program that interests you I would encourage you to step forward and host one. What it looks like will be a combination of your vision and the vision of those He puts into it. Without one another… without one another in real relationship with one another, we perish.

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The Perfected Conscience

On By AaronIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

What does it mean to have a perfected conscience?  The writer of Hebrews rights that the Old Covenant is inferior in that the gifts and sacrifices offered under it failed to, “perfect the conscience of the worshiper (Heb 9:9, ESV).”  What does that mean?

The central difference between the Old and New Testaments is that under the New Covenant the blood of Jesus is offered as a sacrifice on behalf of His people.  The Old Covenant, too, required a sacrifice of blood but that sacrifice was insufficient except that it pointed to the the necessity of the sacrifice of Christ.  The writer of Hebrews spends significant amount of time up to this point explaining how the New Covenant is better than the Old and one of his final arguments is that the Old Testament could not perfect the conscience.

Under the Old Covenant, The Law pointed to the guilt of sin.  When an Israelite failed, when he transgressed that law, a sacrifice was required; a sacrifice of blood.  Each time he failed or transgresses another sacrifice was required.  Over and over again the Israelite’s guilt was illustrated as illuminated by the law and specifically as he transgressed against it.  Our consciences are the mechanism or organ that recognizes that guilt; for the Israelite it was recognized specifically within the context of The Law.  When our conscience is functioning properly it is reminding us of our guilt for our own evil deeds and even our own evil desires.

But all the Old Covenant could do is remind of us that guilt.  It could not make the believer innocent and guilt by definition requires a punishment.

What is injustice without justice?  Dare We answer that it is another injustice.  I once watched a video of a sentencing hearing in which a man convicted of raping another man’s daughter was sentenced to a sentence so slight that the father in anguish leapt across a barrier in an attempt to get at the man who had offended against his daughter.  This man’s plea for justice on behalf of his daughter had gone unanswered and I had two thoughts.  First, that the justice which had been refused was in that refusal another injustice.  There was a “rightness” in wanting to see that father reach his intended target and deliver the justice owed.  Second, that the injustice of a failure of justice was directly tied to the love that the father had for his daughter.  Do we realize that in refusing to deal justice for sin God would be committing sin?  He can’t simply wave away our injustice.  And how often do we declare that a good God could not punish that which He loves?  Do we not recognize that not only is His perfect justice at stake but His perfect love if He were to pardon an offense against that which he loves?  When we appeal to God to right an injustice committed against us we are in part appealing to His perfect justice but we are also in part appealing to His love for us.  Why would He answer such an appeal if he was either unjust or didn’t care?

The Old Covenant is limited in that it can only point to our injustices.  Our consciences continually remind us of that guilt until we sear our conscience or deal with the guilt.  The Old Covenant was incapable of dealing with that guilt and so are we.  The power of the New Covenant is that it perfects our consciousness in that it deals with the guilt.  Jesus became the punishment.  When He says that you are forgiven he is not waving away the guilt by simply ignoring it.  He is taking on the punishment that guilt requires.  Justice was delivered on Him for your injustice.  You no longer need to feel the guilt.  Your conscience is perfect before God.

Later in verse 14 of that same chapter in Hebrews we find that the New Covenant not only perfects our conscience it liberates it from dead works.  When we commit an injustice our conscience tells us that we are guilty.  What are we to do?  When we offer any good work, any sacrifice, as payment for that injustice it fails.  It fails because perfection, The Law, requires that we are good all the time.  The good work of today can only pay for itself it can not pay for yesterday’s deed of injustice.  The penalty is still owed.  Every good work that you do is dead and meaningless because none of them remedy the guilt of the offense.  And all are guilty of more than that first offense (Rom 3:23).

However, the offering made to mediate the New Covenant (Heb 9:15) changes that.  It is first sufficient in that Christ’s sacrifice is not needed to atone for Himself.  But He offered it, none the less, as an act of love on your behalf.  He didn’t need to but He did and when you recognize the love that this act demonstrates and signifies you are not simply liberated from pursuing works that can not save but you are liberated to live your life as a response to His love for you.  Your good works do not need to liberate you and they are now free to testify of His love.  You are free to live a life that emulates that love for others.

“Today is the day”

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