Making Light of Race

"Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, "Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?"...When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. (Numbers 12:1-2,10)

One thing that is abundantly clear in the Scriptures is that God has created every race and deems every one important in his eyes. All of the nations, races, and ethnicities on earth are created to worship and manifest the full-orbed nature of the glory of God. They were made to deny every claim of prideful superiority, even superiority due to race, and find joy in a supremely valuable God. Subsequently, every joke or subltle claim to superiority that demeans this reality is sin and racist, and is equally as bad as the more blankly racist hatred that seems obvious today. Indeed, it is a sin which is just as damnable as adultery, murder, and idolatry.

To a large extent, racism is idolatry. After all, racism is as the dictionary says, "a belief or doctrine that inherent differences among the various human races determine cultural or individual achievement, usually involving the idea that one's own race is superior and has the right to rule others." If one believes that they are superior to another, they are setting themselves up for worship and to be served, and not to worship and serve the only One who is worthy. Racist jokes are subtle, but they are nevertheless an affront to the Creator's handiwork and the reason why other races were made. They were made to worship God, not to be belittled.

In the text before us, Miriam and Aaron frowned upon Moses' selection of the Cushite woman because she was of a darker complexion. In addition they displayed their pride by wanting God to work and speak through them for self-serving reasons. What did the Lord do as a result? He smote her with leprosy. It is as if God was saying, "You like people to be white? I'll show you white!" And there it was, Miriam became as white as snow. This is serious business to God because it puffs man up, and does not produce the type of humility that sees God as supremely valuable.

As I have worked in the Southern United States I have become more sensitive to these matters. When working at UPS during a break I happened to follow along in a group conversation that was occuring around the smokeshack. It just so happened that an individual who was African-American walked in on the conversation and one of the people said, "What are you doing? This is a Caucasian meeting." And laughter ensued.

This kind of joking is not just limited to the South, either. Where I am from one is more likely to hear a joke about Somalis or Mexicans. So my point is not to say, "The South is to blame." My point is that even though these jokes are prevalent anywhere you go, we cannot escape the reason why these jokes are said. Why is the joke above, for example, funny to begin with? It is funny because of the irony: "We are all white, and here is this guy who is black who just came in. And because of my prideful nature I am going to point out to the whole group that you are black and we are all white. Therefore, you as an individual should not be given any credance because of your skin color." And yet, we laugh.

What is the reason that the nations were created, at the end of the day? In part, it was for the culmination of redemptive history. Every nation and race was created to worship Christ alone and thereby show that there is no basis in man worthy of worship, including skin color. All are sinners and worthy of only death, BUT Christ has come to make us free. He has come "once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring us to God" (1 Peter 3:18). All ethnicities were created to love and serve and deem Jesus to be superior and all-glorious. They were created to find joy not in others finding them praiseworthy because of their background, but instead to find joy in making much of Christ. "And they sang a new song, saying, 'Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth'" (Revelation 5:9-10).

So humble yourself, whether you are from the South, North, East, or West. We are not better because we are white, black, Asian, or Mexican. We are all sinners who desperately need Christ. And we need to see every opportunity with other races as an opportunity to display the glorious nature of the One who will call out for himself a people from every tribe and tongue and people and nation to glorify him. Making light of race makes light of God and the reason why the races were made in the first place.

The World's Lesser Love and the Glory of God

"O, pity fore evermore that there should be such an one as Christ Jesus, so boundless, so bottomless, and so incomparable in infinite excellency, and sweetness, and so few to take him! O, ye poor dry and dead souls, why will ye come hither with your toom vessels and your empty souls to this huge, and fair, and deep, and sweet well of life, and fill all your toom vessels? O, that Christ should be so large in sweetness and worth, and we so narrow, pinched, so ebb, and so void of all happiness, and yet men will not take him! They lose their love miserably, who will not bestow it upon this lovely One." (The Lovliness of Christ by Samuel Rutherford)

There is a fine line between respecting who God made you and loving yourself to the point of idolatry. Thankfully, men like Rutherford are there to make the cloudy things clear and show us that to find oneself wrapped up in the majesty of God is find oneself supremely happy and fulfilled. This is certainly quite contrary to what modern theologians would put before the populace, and yet it is marvelously true.

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness,"made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:6)

This is how one gets saved. This is how one finds their true measure of happiness. This is how one is completely fulfilled, and how one is able to find what they were trusting in before to be all but rubbish in comparison.

How Barack Obama Will Make Christ a Minister of Condemnation

I had to bring this to you and not just link the article. This is from the John Piper's blog on http://www.desiringgod.org/

At Barack Obama’s request, tomorrow in the Lincoln Memorial, Gene Robinson, the first openly non-celibate homosexual bishop in the Episcopal Church, will deliver the invocation for the inauguration kick-off.

This is tragic not mainly because Obama is willing to hold up the legitimacy of homosexual intercourse, but because he is willing to get behind the church endorsement of sexual intercourse between men.

It is one thing to say: Two men may legally have sex. It is another to say: The Christian church acted acceptably in blessing Robinson’s sex with men.

The implications of this are serious.

It means that Barack Obama is willing, not just to tolerate, but to feature a person and a viewpoint that makes the church a minister of damnation. Again, the tragedy here is not that many people in public life hold views (like atheism) that lead to damnation, but that Obama is making the church the minister of damnation.

The apostle Paul says,

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves , nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9-11)

What is Paul saying about things like adultery, greed, stealing, and homosexual practice? As J. I. Packer puts it, “They are ways of sin that, if not repented of and forsaken, will keep people out of God’s kingdom of salvation.” (Christianity Today, January 2003, p. 48).

In other words, to bless people in these sins, instead of offering them forgiveness and deliverance from them, is to minister damnation to them, not salvation.

The gospel, with its forgiveness and deliverance from homosexual practice, offers salvation. Gene Robinson, with his blessing and approval of homosexual practice, offers damnation. And he does it in the name of Christ.

It is as though Obama sought out a church which blessed stealing and adultery, and then chose its most well-known thief and adulterer, and asked him to pray.

One more time: The issue here is not that presidents may need to tolerate things they don’t approve of. The issue is this: In linking the Christian ministry to the approval of homosexual activity, Christ is made a minister of condemnation.

Spurgeon Devotion

"Serve the Lord with gladness" Psalm 100:2

Delight in divine service is a token of acceptance. Those who serve God with a sad countenance, because they do what is unpleasant to them, are not serving Him at all; they bring the form of homage, but the life is absent. Our God requires no slaves to grace His throne; He is the Lord of the empire of love, and would have His servants dressed in the livery of joy. The angels of God serve Him with songs, not with groans; a murmur or a sigh would be a mutiny in their ranks. That obedience which is not voluntary is disobedience, for the Lord looketh at the heart, and if He seeth that we serve Him from force, and not because we love Him, He will reject our offering. Service coupled with cheerfulness is heart-service, and therefore true. Take away joyful willingess from the Christian, and you have removed the test of his sincerity. If a manbe driven to battle, he is no patriot; but he who marches into the fray with flashing eye and beaming face, singing, 'It is sweet for one's country to die', proves himself to be sincere in his patriotism. Cheerfulness is the support of our strength; in the joy of the Lord are we strong. It acts as the remover of difficulties. It is to our service what oil is to the wheels of a railway carriage. Without oil the axle soon grows hot, and accidents occur; and if there be not a holy cheerfulness to our wheels, our spirits will be clogged with weariness. The man who is cheerful in his service of God, proves that obedience is his element; he can sing, 'Make me to walk in Thy commands, 'Tis a delightful road.' Reader, let us put this question--do you serve the Lord with gladness? Let us show to the people of the world, who think our religion to be slavery, that it is to us a delight and a joy! Let our gladness proclaim that we serve a good Master.

(Morning and Evening by C. H. Spurgeon-January 9th)

Love Yourself In Order to Love Others?

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40)

Jesus loves to surprise people. It is of course his nature to do so, especially to those people who want to trap him in his own words and indict him based on his response to questions. This was certainly the case with the lawyer who was a Pharisee, for he would see much pleasure in making the One who says he is the Christ trip over his own argumentation. For Jesus, who in many cases criticised the Jewish leaders for stacking more laws than ever on top of the revealed law, it was his turn to be asked, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?"

His response is staggering and logical and true. The greatest commandment is to love God with every fiber of your being: your heart, your soul, and your mind. This is a horizontal relationship that revives the Spirit, strengthens good works, and glorifies him. Naturally then, it is the most important, and to fail in this one area is to fail in all virtuous areas, for there is no true virtue that has its branch severed from this root.

But then Jesus continues by saying that the second is like it: "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." What did he mean? What was his point in saying this? Many have concluded that Jesus believes that it is only when one loves himself properly and esteems who God made him or her to be that one can love others in a correct manner. As if he is saying, "Loving yourself is important because loving others is important. When you learn to love yourself properly you can love others properly as well."

This is far from his point. Jesus aims to teach us that just as there is a natural inclination in every heart to sustain oneself--to feed oneself, put clothes on oneself, and indeed love oneself, there should be the same inclination to love others. In other words, rather than saying, "Love yourself; and love others too," the emphasis is rather, "Everyone naturally loves there own self--use that same energy and devotion that you naturally have for yourself, for others' good."

Do you see the difference? One turns the command almost on its head to a plea for more self-love and affirmation, almost as though it were a means to accomplishing more love for others, whereas the other keeps the love for God as supreme. One commands both love of self and love for others, the other assumes love of self and commands love for others. Only one interpretation sustains a God-centered approach and nourishes acts of love.

So, love Christ supremely...and demonstrate to the world that your care for them is just as intense as your natural desire to love yourself.

Love Him More...

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" And he said to him, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment." (Matthew 22:36-38)

Yesterday was my second wedding anniversary. Rachelle and I had the opportunity to go out on a date without Daniel and spend some alone time together at an elegant restaurant in downtown Louisville. We had a fantastic time. We talked and exchanged gifts and just marveled at how God had brought us to the point that we were at: two years into marriage and more in love now than the day that we exchanged vows.

When I come to a special occasion like this (or with any occasion, for that matter), I am extremely unsatisfied to have little emotional response. I want to love Rachelle more and more with each passing day. I genuinely desire to be more satisfied by her and such a realization honors her. It shows that she is the most important woman in my life and to know her and love her more deeply as the years go on greatly lifts her up. It does not make her more valuable than she already is, but expressing and having greater affection for her certainly does magnify who she is to me and to those around her.

This reality is extremely important in my life, but it is only the penultimate reality; Christ is the ultimate reality. I do not think I should have a "steady-as-she-goes" mindset when it comes to loving Jesus. It is not a wise thing in the temporal sense or reflective of eternity to have the same knowledge, the same affection, and the same glory in the presence of Christ day in and day out. It certainly honors Christ no more than it would honor my wife to lack a growth in affection. And how much greater is Christ than any marriage or relationship!

There are dangers in coming to the great and first command of Jesus in Matthew 22, and one of them is to completely glaze over the "all's." Love the Lord, Jesus says, "with all of your heart with all of your soul and with all of your mind. Make him more than just someone you love--make him THE person you love supremely and with the utmost amount of affection. You may ask, "Is it not enough that I just love him?" It's good that you love him for that is what separates sinners from saints, but the short answer is no. Make your soul and mind means to accomplish the end of treasuring him more. And make that horizontal realtionship be the bedrock that holds firm all others so that you can indeed do what he says next, that is, "Love your neighbor as yourself."

That is what honors Christ and what glorifies him. Just as with my wife, God does not have more value by you valuing him more, but his being and worth is magnified like a telescope would magnify gargantuan celestial bodies. How can this be done? Put your eyes to the lense of the Scriptures. Look at the faithfulness of God, the mercy of God, the justice of God, the love of God, and all of those attributes shown in the Person of Christ (Hebrews 1:2). When our knowledge of him thus increases, so does our joy. And when our joy in God increases, he is glorified and fully pleased and we are satisfied.

Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart (Psalm 37:4).

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God. May you be strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy (Colossians 1:9-11).

Imagine: Troubles Will Cease!

"Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes." Revelation 7:15-17

With the new year arriving, some of us are in turmoil; all of us have our troubles. Some of us have family members overseas in the War on Terror in Iraq, Afghanistan or other places. Some of us are watching from afar the heightened violence that is being played out in Israel and are concerned that it could escalate into much more. Some of us have cancer or might find out sometime this year that they have it. This world's sin, pain, and hardship is great, but God is trustworthy.

What we have before us in Revelation is the final state of the believer. The one who trusts in Christ alone for the forgiveness of his sins (Eph. 2:8-9) is assured that they will be before the throne in God's presence forever, worshiping and serving at his feet, and away from sin and suffering. What a promise! What a hope! What a joy! Now that is something to revel in even if we are as a nation and as individuals going through turmoil or trouble.

There will come a day for Christians when we will have every tear wiped away from our eyes and we will behold him! Now there is a sight to see: the Lamb of God who was despised and rejected of man and who was pierced for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:5) and who died for us and in our place if we will but trust him (2 Cor. 5:21), this same Lamb has given us all things (Rom. 8:32), and best of all himself! This is a leader, a shepherd who will never fail, never misguide us, and never leave us (Matt. 28:18-20)!

Many have gone through their share of sufferings in 2008 and many will go through more in 2009, but there is hope, "I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world" (John 16:33).