by chrisaiken | May 31, 2015 | Devotions
“The house, while it was being built, was built of stone prepared at the quarry, and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any iron tool heard in the house while it was being built.” 1 Kings 6:7, NASB.
In these chapters I am reading, there is great detail offered on the construction of Solomon’s Temple for the Lord. From the allocation of resources, to the people assigned to the build, to the decorations carved into the wood. It is (admittedly) an act of intentionality to not be lost in the details or to simply gloss over them. This verse I noted above struck me today.
All of the stone used for the structure of the of the House was prepared at the quarry and transported to the House. No modification was made to it upon arrival. It just fit. My dad taught me years ago that “framers” of houses have to do good work so a house will stand but ultimately their work is covered so if it isn’t pretty, no big deal. A trim carpenter puts final touches on stuff to make it look good, but ultimately he has a number of resources to cover mistakes. In the construction of this House…there were no mistakes. All of the stone was milled elsewhere and transported in to be laid/set and it fit perfectly. How do you do that?
It speaks of the craftsmanship and attention paid to the work before it was ever moved to the project. Every detail was considered and no imperfection was tolerated. If it wasn’t perfect, it never left the quarry. Why? Because it was God’s House and whatever went into the construction was more about the reflection of the value placed on God than on the usefulness or suitability of the construction.
Further magnifying this is the fact that all of the stone was intentionally covered by cedar. There were cedar walls within…from floor to ceiling. No stone was observed. WHAT KIND OF IMPRACTICAL PERSON PUTS SO MUCH ATTENTION INTO THE UNSEEN CONSTRUCTION OF THE TEMPLE? Answer: The WORSHIPPING kind that recognizes that God was the One watching the work and God was the recipient of the work and God was the final inspector of the work.
What if we placed as much detail into every element of our lives? What if we would only worship from pure hearts? What if we would only give our employer our very best? What if we consecrated every detail of our lives before the Lord? What if “PERFECT” was the only acceptable way to respond to God?
Now…before you give yourself an “out” and declare that we aren’t and cannot be perfect and only Christ’s “imputed” perfection matters…that was true of the stonemasons who quarried the rock…yet they worked in such a way that no hammer or tool was needed or used when the HIDDEN STONES arrived at the Temple.
Go and do likewise.
Shalom, CA.
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by chrisaiken | May 28, 2015 | Devotions
“The king said, ‘Get me a sword.’ So the brought a sword before the king. The king said, ‘Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.’ …[Following the reactions of the two women to the king’s edict] ‘Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother.’ When all Israel heard of the judgment which the king handed down, they feared the king, for they saw the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.” 1 Kings 3:24-25, 27-28, NASB.
The first act of judgment that is recorded for the wise king Solomon is what is still spoken of today as the “Solomon test.” In the story (which I encourage you to read in full), Solomon is approached by two women, both of whom claim to be the mother of a living child. Obviously one is lying but it is up to the king to decide whom. Solomon order that the child be cut in half (which is an equitable solution but certainly not a fair one) and presents the solution to the two women. One agrees and the other protests and is willing to give the living child to the other to prevent its death. Solomon discerns from this that only a mother would give her child away rather than watch his destruction. He awards the child to the woman who was willing to lose everything.
In many ways, God places us in a similar position. It is consistent with His character. He instructed Abraham to sacrifice Isaac in order to test Abraham’s allegiance to God or to the child God gave him. God relented and provided a substitute sacrifice once Abraham responded to the test. In fact, the test of faithfulness is consistent all throughout the Scriptures.
Here, Solomon threatened to take something of great value away to see how each person would respond…would they act selfishly or sacrificially for the benefit of the something greater.
When God instructs us to forgive others…it is not necessarily easy to comply. We comply because we love God more than we love nursing our grudge. When God instructs us to give a tithe (10%) of our income as an offering to Him through OUR local church family (place of worship), we do so because we love God more than we need to control our resources. When God gives, causes, or allows great loss in our lives, we remain faithful because we do not deserve his benevolence anyway…and we thank Him for our many days of blessing more than the temporary, though difficult, loss.
The next time you face difficulty, loss, or a tough opportunity to demonstrate obedience, remember that God is not mean, bad, or unfaithful. He is God…and what we face is not evidence of His lack of love…but is an opportunity to demonstrate our love in response to who He is.
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by chrisaiken | May 27, 2015 | culture, missional, Pastor's Reflections
In the wake of Memorial day Weekend in Pensacola, I have been reflecting on the approach of the church to our city’s celebration of the LGBT lifestyle. By no means am I claiming to have the definitive answer on how the church SHOULD respond to these events in our city, but as I have considered it, I think it is worthy of our conversation. It takes courage to address an issue, considering it in light of the Scriptures until we have come to a place of biblical clarity. To facilitate the discussion, let me state a few assumptions.
- Biblically speaking, homosexuality is wrong. It is sin. It is no more sin than other sins and it is no less sin than other sins. It is simply sin.
- The church cannot embrace and/or adopt sin or modify God’s Word as it relates to sin. Whether I like it or don’t like it, lying is a sin, killing is sin, homosexuality is sin, etc.
- The church is accountable to God for how we represent God’s position toward sin and those who sin.
- The church is accountable to the culture at large for how we represent God’s position on sin and those who sin. IOW…we cannot say to the culture something that is untrue about God. If God has spoken on an issue, we become a stumbling block to the culture if we do not act truthfully toward them on behalf of God.
With these assumptions in place, I am concerned about the fine line we walk between loving those who sin and celebrating sin itself. As a guy who thinks (unapologetically) like a missionary and who wants all people to accept Christ Jesus as Lord by faith, I am concerned that if we are not careful as the church, we can step over the line from demonstrating love and acceptance toward those who (like us) commit sin…and start to ignore the sin…or worse…we actually celebrate it as normal.
A couple of examples may illuminate the issue:
- If a gay person comes into the church, it seems appropriate to love him as another person created in the image of God. He should be embraced as a person who is of great value to our King. At the same time, we could not accept him into membership while he still holds an acceptance or affinity with his sin. Until he sees sin the way God sees sin, he cannot come to repentance, thus he cannot be redeemed.
- If the same gay person came in with his partner to fellowship and sing and “pal around” with church members as they sought to act as a couple…the church may blur the lines to allow unrepentant sinners to persist in the assembly unless we challenge the sin and are seeking a receptivity in the heart fo the gay couple.
- Finally, if a church sets out to open a hospitality booth at a LGBT parade (or our current Memorial Day festivities at Pensacola Beach) and distribute water bottles, sunscreen, or other items…is it crossing a line and beginning to celebrate the sin itself? If not, why not? Now I understand how this effort might be evangelistic if there is a message of God’s love conveyed (verbally, in writing, etc). My concern is not so much with that as it is with simply being a “presence” in the midst of these activities…as if to communicate love and ACCEPTANCE of the sin and inadvertently communicating that God is “ok” with the sinner’s choice to sin.
While I don’t have all of the answers, I know that there is a message communicated by the church’s actions…so I am curious where you might think the “line” is in our activity. Love to hear your thoughts.
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by chrisaiken | May 27, 2015 | Devotions
“…Thus the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.” 1 Kings 2:46, NASB.
Now one of the things that I appreciate about the Old Testament Scriptures is (as my professor taught me) that they present the “stories- warts and all.” There are a number of difficult things about the Old Testament that shock our conscience. In short, the OT has some bloody scenes in it. We struggle to reconcile these things MOSTLY because we look at them through our own cultural lens. This makes discerning meaning more difficult. Because of this, sometimes we will attempt to make a historical account into an allegory or “spiritualize” an event that is simply historical. Frankly, this is unnecessary and is destructive to the practice of studying God’s Word.
The first chapters of this book reflect a struggle for power. With David’s death on the horizon, there was a power-vacuum looming and two factions sought to fill it. Adonijah did politics and popular appeal. He fed the people, was good-looking, and touched the bases with all of the key influencers. He exalted himself to the place of king so that he would be the people’s presumptive choice. Then there was Solomon whom David chose to replace himself (but only after a little manipulation by Nathan and Bathsheba). Following David’s death, Solomon was faced with a choice…learn to tolerate the competing faction, or destroy them. He chose the latter and it was the right choice.
That is the historical account. Certainly we should not try to apply the actions of Solomon in our own lives (since killing your opposition is generally frowned upon). However, we can apply the principle. When we are seeking a new start as holy people, there can be no compromise with evil. Imagine making brownies. You mix the batter with all of the good ingredients but add a few pellets of mouse droppings. Just a few. In the mix of all that is made, it is statistically improbable that 99% of the bites of the brownies could contain the droppings…but who is going to tolerate even those odds? Not me! Not you! If we were making brownies we would expect 100% or nothing. Period.
In our lives which are far more important than dessert, we have a tendency to lower that standard. We will present our bodies a living sacrifice to the Lord…yet we tolerate sin/evil as part of that sacrifice. Like offering God a potentially tainted brownie. How could we do that? We would never eat those ourselves! How could we offer such a tainted sacrifice to God.
The recipe for holiness requires that we completely remove evil if we are to be holy. All of it. Give the enemy no quarter and allow no sin to persist. This alone is the recipe for holiness. In obeying this instruction, we find that we will be firmly established as God’s chosen people.
Shalom, CA
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by chrisaiken | May 26, 2015 | Devotions
“Now after him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered into a troop where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines. But he took his stand in the midst of the plot, defended it and struck the Philistines; and the Lord brought about a great victory.” 2 Samuel 23:11-12, NASB.
I love and am greatly challenged but this 23d chapter. In it is the recording of the names and many of the deeds of those who were closest to the king…his most trusted and valiant warriors. To read the stories is to step into a narrative of superheros. The actions of these men demonstrate incredible courage and are rewarded with supernatural victory by God.
Where does courage like that come from? In our world today, we (men) have allowed poets and philosophers to redefine courage. It takes courage they say “to sit down and have a conversation.” “It takes courage to forgive.” “It takes courage to admit you’re wrong.” These things do require character…but courage? No sir. I don’t think so…at least not in the way David speaks of courage here. Courage here involves stepping into the battle while greatly outnumbered and giving everything you have to win while trusting God to do what is pleasing to Him. The story above is of a single warrior who stood in a field of beans. All of God’s people (those with the promises of God made to them too) withdrew in the face of a large troop of the enemy leaving only Shammah to stand firm. The requirement for courage INCREASED as each man abandoned the land. In the end…Shammah stood and defended the bean field.
What strategic significance is a bean field? Limited at best…but the choice to stand firm was not about the strategy…it was about the HONOR of the NAME OF GOD! To retreat…was to trumpet a lack of confidence in God’s ability to bring victory. To retreat was to proclaim confidence in one’s own intellect over that of the Lord’s directive. To retreat was not to be the “bigger man” but to simply be a coward in the face of danger.
Shammah had nothing to count on that day…except the power and presence of God. I imagine he quietly decided (having surveyed the fields around him and the size of the enemy forces) that it was better to die standing for something than to dishonor God by fleeing. Did he believe he could win? I am not certain…but I imagine he had seen God bring victory out of the most overwhelming circumstances imaginable before…and believed that God just might do it again. Frankly though, I am not as certain in his expectations of OUTCOME as I am his understanding of RESPONSIBILITY in the present. Maybe he would die…but that was simply a consequence left up to God. What he knew in the moment was no true believer in the power of God runs when facing the enemy. He stands his ground and trusts God for the outcome that He sees fit.
So, what is the source of courage? Two things- confidence in God’s ability and obedience to the orders at hand. The rest is up to God.
Shalom, CA
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“The house, while it was being built, was built of stone prepared at the quarry, and there was neither hammer nor axe nor any iron tool heard in the house while it was being built.” 1 Kings 6:7, NASB.
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