I'm still amazed at how many times I hear people complain about tithing. In one breath, they will say they despise religion (that is... the legalistic ideals that are tired and powerless) and in the next they will say that tithing is a requirement of the Law (done away with, I suppose). As one scholar put it... the tithe was to be brought to the temple storehouse. As we have no temple today, this rule is null and void.
This fuels the fire for all those who hate the "rules", unless of course one of them apparently works in favor of their wallet. The real problem with this is that the precept is based in ignorance. It also reveals a stronghold within.
Tithing was initiated before the "Law" was ever given. We're never told that God instructed Abraham to tithe... but he did it. Abraham honored God. All who live by faith are children of Abraham, therefore our honor is due as well. Yes, but we're not under the Law! No, we're under grace, and grace requires MUCH more than the Law ever required. You aren't making a payment on lay-away salvation any more. You're honoring Salvation delivered! Salvation has been delivered to you! Man up! Quit complaining about how preachers only want your money and start putting your money somewhere that Congress isn't going to waste it!
Mal 3:10-11 MKJV
(10) Bring all the tithe into the storehouse, so that there may be food in My house. And test Me now with this, says Jehovah of Hosts, to see if I will not open the windows of Heaven for you, and pour out a blessing for you, until there is not enough room.
(11) And I will rebuke your devourer, and he shall not decay the fruit of your ground against you; nor shall your vine miscarry against you in the field, says Jehovah of Hosts.
No... we don't have a literal temple. No... we don't have a literal storehouse. But there is STILL a literal devourer. What exactly is your plan to thwart him?
Showing posts with label law. Show all posts
Showing posts with label law. Show all posts
Monday, March 28, 2011
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Groveling For Gravel
Exo 34:1-2 MKJV
(1) And Jehovah said to Moses, Cut out two tablets of stone like the first. And I will write upon the tablets the words that were in the first tablets which you broke.
(2) And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me in the top of the mountain.
The first time Moses had ascended the mountain, God carved and inscribed two pieces of stone with His instruction to His people. Moses trekked down the mountain with this 'embodiment of the Law', and shattered it out of righteous anger over the sins of the people.
If the significance of this is not starting to become apparent - Jesus is always the stone and He fully fulfilled the Law. He was sent 'down' and broken over the sins of man. But that isn't what I want to dwell on.
Ever since the broken body of Jesus, people have gathered at the foot of the mountain and groveled for gravel - the broken pieces of Truth. Religious groups cling to their one little piece (which DOES have truth on it) while unwilling to climb the mountain - alone - and receive again the WHOLE truth of Jesus from God Himself. If we want the entire picture - or at least all we can handle of Him - we have to embrace a personal journey with God. We cannot lean upon the teachings of others and expect to walk in any kind of power or revelation. See, when Moses returned the second time - he glowed. Yes, he had to cut the stones himself - the second time. We are required to 'work out our own salvation with fear and trembling'. We cannot adopt for ourselves the relationship that others have with God. It's easy to identify who glows, and who is carrying around a chunk of gravel.
(1) And Jehovah said to Moses, Cut out two tablets of stone like the first. And I will write upon the tablets the words that were in the first tablets which you broke.
(2) And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me in the top of the mountain.
The first time Moses had ascended the mountain, God carved and inscribed two pieces of stone with His instruction to His people. Moses trekked down the mountain with this 'embodiment of the Law', and shattered it out of righteous anger over the sins of the people.
If the significance of this is not starting to become apparent - Jesus is always the stone and He fully fulfilled the Law. He was sent 'down' and broken over the sins of man. But that isn't what I want to dwell on.
Ever since the broken body of Jesus, people have gathered at the foot of the mountain and groveled for gravel - the broken pieces of Truth. Religious groups cling to their one little piece (which DOES have truth on it) while unwilling to climb the mountain - alone - and receive again the WHOLE truth of Jesus from God Himself. If we want the entire picture - or at least all we can handle of Him - we have to embrace a personal journey with God. We cannot lean upon the teachings of others and expect to walk in any kind of power or revelation. See, when Moses returned the second time - he glowed. Yes, he had to cut the stones himself - the second time. We are required to 'work out our own salvation with fear and trembling'. We cannot adopt for ourselves the relationship that others have with God. It's easy to identify who glows, and who is carrying around a chunk of gravel.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Blessed - The Man
It has been a long couple of weeks for me. South Dakota has been a very white place over Christmas, and people didn't move around much. I was shacked up with my family in a farmhouse with no cable TV, Internet, or cellular service, so God graciously afforded me some study time.
I spent quite a bit of time on this passage:
Psa 1:1-2 HNV
(1) Blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;
(2) but his delight is in the LORD's law. On his law he meditates day and night.
When trying to commit passages to memory, I try to take out the italicized words, meaning... the ones that were not in the original text. It's intellectually stimulating to sit on a passage that comes across as awkward in English. This one isn't so bad... in fact instead of awkward, I think it becomes more potent.
BLESSED the man - it's emphatic. Notice all the negative actions. Blessed is he who does not... and does not... and does not.
But then there is the one big positive action. The pathway to being blessed is to meditate on the law of the LORD. Do we do this? Much? Some might say... the Law has passed away - that's 'Old Testament'. Was this the stance Jesus took?
Or did Jesus say that not one jot or tittle would pass away from the Law? Yes, Jesus fulfilled the Law, but He also said that it all hung off of two commands:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and also... love your neighbor as yourself. Easy, right?
Tremendously simple! Horribly difficult. That Jesus fulfilled the Law means that to follow Him requires us to chase after these two commands.
It would be quite a feat to love God with everything you are... and your neighbor as yourself... and also to sit in the seat of scoffers, or walk in the counsel of wicked men, or stand as a stumbling block to sinners. Here is a question that we can consider rhetorical: do the biggest scoffers you know consider themselves Christ-followers?
I spent quite a bit of time on this passage:
Psa 1:1-2 HNV
(1) Blessed is the man who doesn't walk in the counsel of the wicked, nor stand in the way of sinners, nor sit in the seat of scoffers;
(2) but his delight is in the LORD's law. On his law he meditates day and night.
When trying to commit passages to memory, I try to take out the italicized words, meaning... the ones that were not in the original text. It's intellectually stimulating to sit on a passage that comes across as awkward in English. This one isn't so bad... in fact instead of awkward, I think it becomes more potent.
BLESSED the man - it's emphatic. Notice all the negative actions. Blessed is he who does not... and does not... and does not.
But then there is the one big positive action. The pathway to being blessed is to meditate on the law of the LORD. Do we do this? Much? Some might say... the Law has passed away - that's 'Old Testament'. Was this the stance Jesus took?
Or did Jesus say that not one jot or tittle would pass away from the Law? Yes, Jesus fulfilled the Law, but He also said that it all hung off of two commands:
Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind, and also... love your neighbor as yourself. Easy, right?
Tremendously simple! Horribly difficult. That Jesus fulfilled the Law means that to follow Him requires us to chase after these two commands.
It would be quite a feat to love God with everything you are... and your neighbor as yourself... and also to sit in the seat of scoffers, or walk in the counsel of wicked men, or stand as a stumbling block to sinners. Here is a question that we can consider rhetorical: do the biggest scoffers you know consider themselves Christ-followers?
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