Reflections on Galatians 2:20 (4)

“I I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and give Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.

“For through the Law I died to the Law, that I might to God. I have been crucified with Christ…” (Galatians 2:19 - 20a).

“But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter.” Romans 7:6.

Most professing Christians know only one-half of the Gospel...at most…; just as an automobile stuck in mud and spinning its tires digs itself into deeper and deeper holes, so much of the professing church repetitiously spins its preaching and understanding into the mud of half a Gospel and never moves on to the fulness of the Cross of Christ and the Christ of the Cross.

Ask the typical professing Christian about the Cross and he will say, “Christ died for my sins, so they can be forgiven.” Then ask, “Are there other dimensions to the Cross alongside the forgiveness of sins?” Instead of an answer there may just be a blank look.

It is as if the professing church, much of which professes a high regard for Scripture, has excised Romans 5:12 - 8:39 from the Bible. (Yes, we will quote Romans 8:28 and 8:37 - 39 but we will do it without regard to their context). For in Romans 5:12 - 8:39 we see that Christ on the Cross not only cleanses us of our sins and forgives them, but that He has taken us into Himself in His death and resurrection so that we are:

1. Having died and risen with Christ we are transferred out of Adam and into Christ - a change of identity.
2. Having died and risen with Christ we are dead to sin and alive to God.
3. Having died and risen with Christ our relationship with the Law is severed.
4. Having died and risen with Christ we no longer owe the flesh anything - we have no obligation to satisfy its desires.
5. Having died and risen with Christ we are no longer slaves living in fear but sons and daughters of the living God and heirs of God and coheirs with Christ.

One of Paul’s points to Peter in Galatians Chapter Two (see also previous post on Galatians 2:20) is, “Look Peter, we have died to the Law, why are you trying to reestablish a relationship with something we have died to? Why are you seeking to leave our husband Jesus Christ and return to a husband who can only bring heartache (Romans 7:1-6)? Peter, if we do this we will be found sinners (Galatians 2:17 - 18).”

The Law makes us sinners, the Gospel makes us saints.

The follower of Jesus Christ is called to live in the knowledge that he has died with Christ to the Law, to sin, to the world; and having died he now lives to God and belongs to God.

Paul writes in Galatians 6:14, “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world have been crucified to me, and I to the world.”

In Colossians 3:1 - 3 Paul writes, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.”

There are many mysteries associated with the Cross and the Atonement, many dimensions. One of the foundational elements is that we are crucified with Christ, that we participate with Christ in His death and resurrection. In the letter to the Romans Paul does not stop writing about the Atonement at 5:11, but rather having unfolded the glory of justification by faith through grace he continues into our life in Christ and in His Kingdom - for Christ does not forgive our sins and leave us in our old condition, rather He takes us within Himself on the Cross into death and resurrection - a resurrection that is ever unfolding.

If we would grapple with the reality in Christ presented in Romans 5:12 - 8:39, and elsewhere in the Bible, we would see far fewer “Christian” self-help books, far fewer 12-step programs, far fewer “how to” messages - for we would be a people rooted and grounded in the Christ of the Cross and the Cross of Christ, we would be a people who know who Christ is and who we are in Jesus Christ. One half a Gospel leaves the church without an identity in Christ, it leaves the church anemic at best, and Galatian at worst (fallen from grace). Without knowing the fullness of the Atonement, by relegating the Gospel to one-half a Gospel, a message of forgiveness of sins, we force ourselves to seek growth through the flesh and the Law or its equivalent (Galatians 3:1 - 3) - for where else can we turn?

In the Gospels Jesus invites us into intimacy with the Trinity (see John chapters 13 - 17); in the epistles the apostles unfold the Way and the Reality...and yet we repeat step one again and again and again and again - the treadmill of one-half of the Gospel, for all it can ever be is a treadmill if we don’t burst beyond Romans 5:11 - we have rebuilt the vary barriers God has destroyed...this was Paul’s argument when he engaged Peter in Galatians Chapter Two.

“I am crucified with Christ.”

“Who am I?” I am dead, and yet in Christ I am alive.

Christ has brought a new humanity into existence, a Second Man (1 Corinthians 15:47). Which humanity shall we live in? What will be our biosphere? Our source of life (see John 15)?

If you are a follower of Jesus Christ do you know, do you confess, that “I am crucified with Christ”?

We need not feel compelled to think as the current age, to adopt its values, to derive our self-worth from things or positions or popularity, to measure up to the Law, to strive to be better than others, to take counsel of ungodly thoughts, to engage in ungodly actions. Why? Because we are crucified with Christ and are dead to these things and elements - we learn to reckon ourselves dead to these things but alive unto God (Romans 6:1-11).

Jesus Christ has not only paid a debt that we could not pay, He has given us the riches of Himself, of the Trinity...He has enfolded us into the Incarnation - the grain of wheat has fallen into the ground and died and has burst forth from the earth bearing much fruit (John 12:20 - 26).

What a tragedy for people to have their sins forgiven and never know the other half of the Gospel. Yes, a tragedy for the people of God to live as if they were not the people of God but still slaves to self, to sin, to the Law, to the world. Oh how we could touch others if we knew the fulness of the Gospel, if we were free from self-preoccupation and enthralled with Jesus Christ and His incredible work on the Cross.

Perhaps we would have fewer instances of ugliness within congregations if we confessed that we are crucified with Christ, for how can a dead person take offense? And how can a man or woman who is a slave to God seek to hurt his or her sibling in Christ?

When we look at the Cross let us see Jesus, and let us see ourselves in Jesus, and let us see our brothers and sisters in Jesus…

“I am crucified with Christ.”

And so are you.

Letter to a Brother - Marriage (Page 2)

Praying Together

You husbands in the same way, live with your wives…as heirs together of the grace of life so that your prayers will not be hindered. 1 Peter 3:7b

It was early in the morning when I arrived at the pastor’s apartment in New York City, I wanted to stop by and catch up with the pastor and his wife; they were not expecting me. After their greetings and providing me with a cup of coffee Pastor Alvarez said, “Brother Bob, please excuse us for a while, my wife and I haven’t prayed together yet, so we are going back into our bedroom to pray and we’ll be back when we’re finished.”

The above happened almost fifty years ago, but I still remember it. Ralph and Carmen Alvarez were putting first things first in their marriage; after making their guest comfortable they were going to do what they did every day – they were going to pray together as husband and wife.   

One of the questions I often ask married Christians is “Do you pray with your spouse?” Less than one out of ten say “Yes.” People might respond, “We say ‘grace’ before meals,” but they know that’s not what I’m asking, they know I’m asking if they pray together regularly about their marriage, about their lives, and for the needs of others. Are they giving thanks to God for His blessings? Are they praying for the salvation of others? Are they praying together for those who need healing? Are they praying for God’s direction in their lives?

There are two areas that Christians tend to get irritated about when I explore them in a conversation, two areas that Christians often get plan angry about – one is sharing the Good News of Jesus with others and the other is praying with a spouse. Christians have excuse after excuse about why they don’t share Jesus with others, and they have excuse after excuse about why they cannot pray with their Christian wife or Christian husband. I have had discussions with husbands who will get angry with me for not accepting their excuses – some will go away angry and come back days later to say that they’ve tried it and it’s working, others will avoid the subject in the future and hope that I don’t bring it up again.

If, as Peter writes, husbands and wives are heirs together of the grace of life, doesn’t it make sense that husbands and wives ought to pray together? After all, isn’t prayer one of our most intimate connections with God? And if husbands and wives are one flesh, one person, then shouldn’t that one person be praying and experiencing intimacy with God – not just as individuals but as husband and wife?

There is a vulnerability in prayer in that when we pray with our spouses there is no room for façade, no room for posturing or religious pretending, no place for denial of sin if the spouses have mistreated each other. Confession of sin is necessary when a husband has wronged his wife or a wife has wronged her husband. Confession of sin is also necessary when the husband and wife have wronged others. A husband and wife in prayer can also be a place of tenderness as they give thanks to God for His love and mercy in their lives and as they thank Him for each other and their marriage. Praying for children and grandchildren, friends and neighbors and coworkers, others in need, missions, community…the list goes on in terms of what a husband and wife can pray for.

Praying together is an act of worship, it is a marriage of a man and woman joined as one in Jesus Christ, communing with the God who created them – their two hearts becoming one altar on which they offer up love for God, receiving together the grace of life.

Why is it so difficult for husbands and wives to pray together? Two reasons often are “expectations” and “forgiveness and acceptance”. Many people are uncomfortable praying aloud in church or in small groups because they think that verbal prayer has to be a certain way, sound a certain way, and use certain words in a certain order – how often do people who pray around others change their tone of voice and type of language when they pray! It’s as if one moment they are speaking American English and the next they are speaking British English – what happened? It’s as if we change from everyday language to holy language – we go from being ourselves to being someone else. I think our kind heavenly Father would rather us be ourselves when we commune with Him than try to be someone or something else. A prayer façade might work in church or a small group, but hopefully it won’t work with a spouse – after all, the spouse knows who we are, the spouse knows how we typically talk…as does our heavenly Father.

But I think the issue of forgiveness, coupled with acceptance, is often the biggest issue in a husband and wife praying together – because we’ve all hurt our spouse at one time or another, and we’re never quite so vulnerable as when we pray. Also, spouses see imperfection and sin in one another, after all, we’ve all come short of the glory of God, there is none righteous, no not one (Romans 3:23). A fear is that one spouse will think his or her spouse a hypocrite, or that one spouse has not really forgiven the other, or that even if one has forgiven the other that acceptance and love is being withheld – because while one spouse may forgive the other can he or she really forget the harsh word, the unkind action, the sin introduced into the marriage, the repeated destructive behavior?

No one said that praying together is easy, any more than individual prayer is always easy – asking forgiveness is not easy, repentance is not easy, submitting to God and to one another is not easy. Yet, healing and forgiveness and changes in attitudes and behavior can be experienced when husbands and wives weave prayer into the fabric of their marriage. When a husband and wife pray together it is not only the husband’s heart that is exposed to God, nor only the wife’s heart that is exposed, but it is particularly the heart of the marriage, of the husband and wife, that is exposed to our Lord Jesus and it is that heart, found in the unity of person, that Jesus can speak to and mold and draw to Himself.

Questions to Ponder:

If you and your spouse do not pray together, please take the opportunity to do so now. Simply join hands and begin praying. Here are some things that can be part of your prayer:

Thank God for each other and thank Him for your marriage. Pray for needs within your marriage, pray for guidance, pray that God will use your marriage as a blessing to others and to draw others to Jesus Christ. Pray for needs within your family, your circle of friends, your coworkers. Pray for the salvation of others by name. Pray that God will teach you as husband and wife to love Him with all of your heart, soul, mind, and strength and to love your neighbor as yourselves. Commit all that you have and all that you are to Him. Pray for those in distress across the world as a result of natural disasters, war, and famine. Pray for national, state, and local leaders. Don’t be afraid to have moments of silence in your prayer as your hearts listen to the Holy Spirit.

If you and your spouse do pray together, and you do not do so daily, please make a commitment to begin daily prayer together right now – right now in prayer ask God to help you make time for daily prayer.

Reflections on Galatians 2:20 (3)

“I I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and give Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.

Consider the movements leading up to our passage. In the salutation/introduction Paul (and all the brethren with him) writes that our Lord Jesus Christ “gave Himself for our sins so that He might rescue us from this present evil age, according to the will of God our Father.” Is Christ able to do this? Is our Father able to accomplish His will? If so, as Paul will demonstrate, God will do it apart from the Law. Yes, the Law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ (Galatians 3:21 - 4:7), but we have now “died to the Law” (2:19) that we “might live to God”.

After the introduction Paul introduces a severe warning; “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel...some who are disrupting you want to distort the gospel of Christ. But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed!”

Paul foregoes his practice of a salutation of blessing and thanksgiving in order to get right to the point; Christ gave Himself to redeem us from the present evil age and the Galatians are being deceived with another gospel. This is not a doctrinal deviation that is of minor importance, this is not a case of immature thinking, this is not a situation that can be made right with gradual persuasion, this is not something that is “better caught than taught” - the situation is so dire that Paul twice writes that let anyone who preaches another gospel “be accursed!”.

Then from 1:11 - 2:10 Paul reminds the Galatians of his own testimony and history with the church, especially with the apostles in Jerusalem. God gave Paul the Gospel and the apostles in Jerusalem affirmed Paul’s ministry and its content. Then we come to the hinge of Galatians, the door that Paul will swing open to deal with the false teaching that is leading the Galatians back into bondage:

“But when Cephas [Peter] came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he stood condemned. For prior to the coming of certain men from James, he used to eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he began to withdraw and hold himself aloof, fearing the party of the circumcision. The rest of the Jews joined him in hypocrisy, with the result that even Barnabas was carried away by their hypocrisy. But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Cephas in the presence of all, If you, being a Jew, live like the Gentiles and not like the Jews, how is it that you compel the Gentiles to live like Jews? We are Jews by nature and not sinner from among the Gentiles; nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

“But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be! For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself a transgressor. For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God…”

Peter comes to Antioch to encourage the church and things go well, he enjoys fellowship with non-Jews, he eats with them, shares life with them. Then a group from Jerusalem arrives, a group that apparently thinks that Christians, or at least ethnically Jewish Christians, still need to observe the Law in order to be righteous before God. Peter fears these people so much that he stops eating with the Gentiles, and the fear is so great that not only do the rest of Jews in Antioch follow Peter’s example, but even Barnabas, who God had used to bring the Gospel to the Gentiles, “was carried away by their hypocrisy.” Fear invaded the organic life of the Church of Jesus Christ; fear attacked the Gospel of Grace and Liberty in Christ. Fear can make us seek righteousness and acceptance under the Law, fear can drive us from organic life with one another in Christ, fear can enslave us...particularly the fear of what others think. Perhaps this is why Paul makes a point of writing, “For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ” (1:10). If we fear what others think we will conform to the religious laws and traditions that others insist on using as benchmarks of righteousness and acceptance.

It is a rare person who cannot feel the pressure from others to seek righteousness under the Law, or under other laws and traditions. We do not know whether Paul faced this temptation or not, we do not know whether he struggled with whether or not to go along with Peter. I think it is fair to suggest that Paul wrestled with what to do, that he considered the risk of doing nothing and the risk of speaking out - and perhaps especially the risk of speaking out “in the presence of all”. The Gospel was at stake here, not only the Gospel in Antioch, but the Gospel for the world - for Peter’s actions were making a statement that would be spread elsewhere; Paul must speak out; for the church in Antioch, for the church in other regions, for the church in future times, for the sake of Peter, for Paul’s own sake, and for the sake of Jesus Christ.

We are probably deceiving ourselves if we minimize the pressure to conform to peer pressure regarding the Law and trappings of the Law.. Who wants to be associated with the idea that we no longer live under the Law? Paul was accused of suggesting that since we no longer live under the Law that anything goes (Romans 6:1-2; 15 - 17) - but he withstood these accusations and maintained the Gospel of Grace in Christ. We often seek compromise, with one foot in grace and one foot in the Law, we often seek to accommodate the Law to avoid accusations - to be pragmatic. If we do these things then let us take ownership of them, but let us not attribute these attitudes and actions to Paul, for Paul is clear that we have died to the Law and that we are now married to Jesus Christ.

“For if I rebuild what I have once destroyed, I prove myself to be a transgressor” (Galatians 2:18). Returning to the Law makes us transgressors, for no one can obey the Law - the Law can only bring condemnation and manifest sin - the very opposite of the Gospel of Grace. Do we fear to believe this because we fear what others will think and say?

While Peter’s response to Paul’s rebuke and correction is not recorded, I think it is safe to conclude that Peter acknowledged the truth of Paul’s words and repented; I also think Peter realized what was at stake. We know from Peter’s history that he had the God-given capacity to acknowledge his sin and his wrong thinking and to repent, to grow, and to move on. Paul had the courage to speak, Peter had the courage to hear and to repent - for both Peter and Paul realized there was something transcendent at stake, they both knew they had to put Christ and others before themselves.

Do we have the courage to speak? Do we have the courage to listen? Do we have the courage to act? Are we eating at the Table of the Gospel of Grace?

Marketplace Ponderings (9)

Telling the Truth (4)

One of the great disservices we do to those who work for us is when we don’t tell them the truth and when we fail to insist that they tell us the truth. Since much of the world functions on spin and flattery and lies it can be difficult to teach people to tell the truth; and since much of the world lives in insecurity it can be a challenge to help people listen to the truth.

Because many people just want to make it through the moment they tend to say things that are superficial and placating - this can be from the bottom up or from the top down in an organization. Also, since people often equate disagreement with relationship - threatening and job-threatening conflict they often avoid anything that might lead to disagreement. Telling the truth often demands that we invest time and energy in people, it often requires that we actually get to know others and build relationships; that we listen as well as talk, and that we try to understand other perspectives. In our nanosecond society this is a challenge...others must be important enough to me for me to slow down and engage them, investing myself in them. Sometimes we may get this right, sometimes not, but unless we try we won’t learn.

One way to facilitate truth-telling, whether it is what we say or what others say, it is to kill ambiguity as soon as we see it. If we ask a question and don’t get a direct answer we take the time to ask it again. If the second response is still ambiguous we ask it again, and again, until we receive an clear, concise, and unvarnished answer. What we are doing is coaching and training others to tell the truth. It often isn’t that people are deliberately lying, it is that spin is our society’s way of life. Consider that by insisting that our people tell the truth that we are asking them to maintain a higher standard than many political and corporate and institutional leaders - we are asking them to rise above what they see on television - this is no small task.

We owe our subordinates the truth so that they will know where they stand in their careers; but we also owe them the truth communicated in a way that hopefully builds up and does not tear down...even an employment termination can have redemptive qualities to it. While it is nice to be liked, it is more important for our people to know the truth about their performance than for them to like us, and hopefully along with that truth there is a plan of action for improvement and growth - as I mentioned in a previous post, the way we communicate can be just as important as what we communicate. When we tell the truth about difficult issues we have teaching moments, we have relationship-building moments, we have the possibility for growth and encouragement.

Successful truth-telling relationships are just that, relationships, ongoing conversations that build trust and work through difficulties. But again it requires commitment, time, and energy.

How many organizations fail to realize their potential because employees are afraid to tell the truth about operations and corporate culture? The lowest person on an organizational chart may have insights that can lead to a healthier DNA or greater productivity. The middle manager that sees things from looking both downward and upward may have perspectives that can have a dramatic effect on a firm.

The Christ-follower in the marketplace must tell the truth, it is not an option, it is who we are in Christ because it is who Christ is in us. A follower of Jesus cannot live a life of lying, we cannot drink from the cup of the Lord one moment and from the cup of the father of lies the next.

We can strive to teach others to tell the truth; yes, we will be going against the grain of society and of the marketplace - but we really have no other option; we really can make a difference, we really can help others.

Faithful to Christ, faithful to others - always telling the truth...this is our calling.

Marketplace Ponderings (8)

Telling the Truth (3)

There is a story of a new employee working in the executive office of a major department store in the UK. The phone rings, he answers it, and the caller wants to speak to the employee’s boss, the owner of the firm. When the employee informs the boss of the call the boss tells him to say that he is out of the office. When the employee returns to the phone he tells the caller that the owner is in and that he’ll transfer the call. The owner, seething with anger, takes the call and then comes out of his office to the employee’s desk and begins berating the new employee for not following instructions. The new employee looks at the owner and says, “Sir, if I will lie for you, I will lie to you.” This truthful employee will spend his entire career with the firm, becoming a top executive.

Unless our lives are grounded in the Truth it is unlikely that we will be able to resist the pressure to lie to clients, customers, supervisors, and fellow employees. Lying can become the pressure-release valve in difficult situations; we may lie so that we do not have to deal with unpleasant realities, and we rationalize our lying by thinking we can fix the problem so no one will know, or that we must lie to protect ourselves, or our company, or our client, or to get the customer off the phone or out of the store - our justifications can be endless. Sadly, the idea that “perception is reality” is often used to justify lying - this idea itself is a lie. Yes, perceptions are realities in the sense that they are ways of thinking and understanding and seeing things - but they are not Real Realities if those ways of seeing things and understanding and thinking do not correspond to verifiable facts. Perceptions can be delusional and in our world of virtual reality they often are mirages.

The problem is compounded because so much of life in the West is lived in relational isolation and so many “relationships” are electronic and so we “see” things in our minds that aren’t really there and the mantra that perception is reality feeds our lives of virtual reality. We often don’t stop to consider whether a statement is true, or whether our understanding of a situation is true - because the perception is what matters; if we can change the perception we think we can change the reality.

Against the above, the Christ-follower must love Jesus above all else and learn to meditate in the Word of God day and night. The Christian is called to live in visible community (not electronic community) and to live in deep relationships with other believers. While Christianity may have its philosophical elements, loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength remains the Great Commandment. Our Biblical philosophy may be correct, but it will be of no avail if our hearts are cold toward God. A husband who has a deficient understanding of marriage but who loves his wife with all of his heart is a husband for the long haul. If we love Jesus and are tempted to lie, pressured to lie, we need to consider Jesus who loves us with all He is - to the Cross - shall we push away the cup of our Beloved and drink the cup of His enemy? When we are tempted we are tempted on the stage of the cosmos, we are on display - shall we deny Jesus or hold fast to Him? Shall we recall the three Hebrews before Nebuchadnezzar's fiery furnace and declare that whether we come out alive or not, that we will only worship the True and Living God? For make no mistake about it - to lie is to take up the words of the enemy, of the one who has brought death and destruction and sorrow to humanity and creation - to lie is to bow the knee to the serpent. There is no need for a visible “666” if our hearts and minds are already stamped with the image of rebellious man worshipping the beast.

When we are honest with clients and customers the possibility of building a long-term trust-relationship is greater than if we lie to them. A relationship built on trust is more likely to work through difficulties, it is one in which there is a context for difficult conversations and decisions. If we tell the truth to a client we never have to remember just exactly what we said and how we said it because if what we said corresponded to the truth then we will know. (Yes, it is prudent to memorialize conversations and decisions in writing). The clients we want to do business with are those who either already value the truth, or who will come to value the truth based on our influence. There are clients who may never come to value the truth as Truth, but who will nevertheless trust those people who tell them the truth - whether they enjoy what they hear or not.

When God is our source of security, when we seek lives of contentment in Him, then we can say, “The LORD is my helper; I will not fear, what can man to do me?” (Hebrews 13:6 - note the context). When the Bible tells us over and over again that the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, it means among other things that when we fear God that we can learn to have no other fears and are able to learn wisdom from Him and live lives of truth and truth-telling. We need not fear men or women, no matter what their position, no matter what their temporal power may be - respect them yes, fear them no.

Telling the truth without fear, but with respect, and telling it unashamedly can transmit a particular grace and foster relationships in difficult situations. Daniel and Joseph both had key relationships with powerful rulers who were not, as far as we know, worshippers of the True and Living God; yet these rulers respected the wisdom and truth-telling of Joseph and Daniel (and consider that Daniel served under not only with his first firm, but also with the firm that did a hostile takeover!).

Of course there will be clients and customers who do not want to hear the truth; of course we can lose clients and customers; of course there can be negative consequences in telling the truth. On the other hand, we may have longer-term clients and customers if we treat them truthfully and equitably. Better to have a small shop with integrity than a huge shop built on lies and deception. Better to have holistically healthy organizations than organizations fraught with toxicity. And to be sure, if we model truth-telling to our own employees, and insist that they learn to think and speak truthfully and responsibly, we will have much healthier organizations, more innovative organizations...and we will have to wonder much less, if at all, whether our own people are telling us the truth.

Marketplace Ponderings (7)

Telling the Truth - 2

We live in a culture of lying. We don’t like to call it lying, we call it “spin” or not hurting people’s feelings or “everyone does it”. Most of the time I don’t think we call it anything because we are so acclimated to it - when we don’t call it anything we ought to fear because it indicates that we have moved from an immoral society to an amoral society. The sense in which I’m using these words is that when we are immoral we can hopefully contrast immorality with morality, but when we are amoral (without a sense of morals) then we have no contrasts by which we might find our bearings, which we might use as a beacon to navigate life. An immoral society can hope to improve for it has a benchmark, an amoral society has no benchmark for everything is the same. Perhaps Paul had something like this in mind when he wrote of consciences being seared as with a hot iron, cauterized beyond feeling or sensitivity (1 Timothy 4:2).

In Proverbs Chapter Six “a lying tongue” is a thing that God hates and it is an abomination to Him. In Proverbs 12:22 we read, “Lying lips are an abomination to Yahweh, but those who deal truthfully are His delight.” Consider that the father of lies lied to Adam and Eve in the Garden - is lying something we really want to propagate?

How do we tell the truth in a society of lying, in which a straight answer is ever more rare, in which twisting the truth and cloaking the truth are an art form and a way of doing business, engaging in relationships, and all too often a part of church?

As I pointed out in the previous post, we ought to maintain an awareness that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all; that the devil is the father of lies; and that we are either drinking from the cup of the Lord or from the cup of the enemy. This is not about pragmatism and just getting through a bad moment with a lie, this is about who God is, who the devil is, and who we are - it is only pragmatic in the sense that it is about life and death, spiritual health and spiritual death. What shall it profit a man (or woman) to gain the world and lose his own soul (Mark 8:34 ff)? If we must be pragmatic then let it be pragmatic with a capital “P”.

Telling the truth must be a way of life within Christ, our Way of Life. If we are married we must be truthful with our spouse, the foundation of truth-telling is found in the home - if we lie to our spouses we will lie to others. Sadly I have met many professing Christians who are not honest with their spouses, whether in or large or small things - it is as if they inhabit alternate worlds - manipulation is the norm. Marriages must be truthful to grow in Christ, to be formed into His image, to experience ever-deepening foundations, and to build trust.

Paul writes to the Ephesians (4:15, 25) that they are to speak the truth to one another in love and that they are to “put away lying” and speak the truth with their fellow Christians. Our fellowships need to learn (if they have not already done so) to be communities of truth. Yes, telling the truth can be hard, can require much prayer in order to discern how to best communicate truth, and truth-telling can lead to difficult situations that must be worked through in obedience to the Word and leading of the Holy Spirit - but if our churches are not churches that live in a culture of truth how can we hope to witness to the world? Can we trust the Head of the Body to care for His Body when the members of the Body speak the truth to one another in love and care and humility?

It is true that telling the truth can lead to conflict, but we are not called to avoid conflict, we are rather called to work through it as we allow the truth to engage us and as we submit ourselves to one another under the Word of God and the working of the Holy Spirit. Telling the truth can uncloak that which has been deliberately hidden, bringing things from darkness to light thereby allowing us to repent, confess, help one another, and experience relief. Bringing to the surface that which everyone may know but which no one will acknowledge can lead to health in the church, healing of wounds, and witness to the world.

Whether at home or in the church we must tell the truth, speaking and living the truth must be our Way of Life.

Since the Word of God is True, our souls must be anchored in it. Just as a deep-sea diver may use a bell helmet with an air hose attached to a pump on a ship, so must we continually breathe the Word of God in daily life. We may not always be conscious of the Word, just as a deep-sea diver may not always be conscious of the air he breathes; but you can be sure that the diver has a quick sense when there is a problem with his oxygen supply; and so the Christian living in the Word, with the Word living in him (or her) develops a sense when a situation comes into conflict with the Living Word. Just as the deep-sea diver does not want to jeopardize his air supply, so we should not do anything to bring us out of submission to the Word of God - Christ in His Word is our source of life. Christ in us means that the Nature of God dwells within our frail temples of flesh, and since the Nature of God is Light and Life and Truth, embracing His Nature and submitting to Him is part of the dance of partaking of the Divine Nature (2 Peter 1:4). If Jesus Christ did not and would not lie, and if we are indeed indwelt by Him (see John Chapters 14 - 17); then we must not lie for His incarnation continues within His Body, the fulness of Him who fills all in all (Ephesians 1:23).

In every situation we find ourselves we are Christ to the world. Will we have Christ lie (I speak as a man)? Will I? Will you?

Marketplace Ponderings (6)

Telling the Truth

“This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in him there is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” 1 John 1:5-7.

Many years ago as I was contemplating the importance and challenge of telling the truth as a way of life, I sensed my Father speaking to me and saying, “Bob, if you are going to live in a transparent City in eternity, wouldn’t it be a good thing to learn to live transparently today?” As I pondered the New Jerusalem and the transparency associated with it (Revelation 21:18, 21) and the Light of God permeating the City (Revelation 21:23; 22:5) my heart and mind were captured by a vision of light, transparency, and truth in Jesus Christ. I saw clearly that to lie, to hide the truth, to deceive, to “spin”; that all of these things were antithetical to the City of God, the Light of God,  and the Nature of God.

I also saw that to lie, to deceive, to twist the truth was to repudiate the Nature of Christ within me, to deny Him, and to drink the cup of the enemy and of darkness. Lying not only introduces toxicity into our souls, it poisons our relationships and gives the enemy a foothold within our hearts and minds.

Jesus names the devil as “the father of lies” (John 8:44) - when a Christ-follower lies he denies the Nature of God and drinks from the nature of the enemy. When a Christian lies he pushes aside the cup of Christ and drinks the cup of Satan. Lying is a cancer in the soul.

If we are to be the people of the True and Living God then we are to be a people who tell and live the Truth as a Way of Life. The truth we tell as a way of life is a constant and consistent testimony to Jesus Christ, that our lives belong to Him, that we are not our own but that we are bought with a price.

There are at least four elements of telling the truth that I want to explore; (1) telling the truth to our own detriment; (2) telling the truth in a culture of lying; (3) telling the truth to clients; (4) telling the truth to our subordinates and teaching them to tell the truth to their subordinates. As we explore these facets of truth-telling let’s keep in mind that the way we tell the truth can be as important as the truth we tell - if we are self-righteous, hateful, arrogant, prideful, and use the truth to bludgeon others then it matters little how right we may be, our attitudes and actions will speak louder than our words. We are to be considerate and gentle and peaceable when communicating (2 Timothy 2:24 - 26 and James 3:13 - 18 provide some models for this). Yes, there are times we need to drive the moneychangers from the Temple in a fashion that makes a statement, but even then, or especially then, we had better fear God and fear our own propensity to be judge and jury...for we are not God, nor are we judge and jury.

Psalm 15 is a center-of-gravity in my understanding of truth-telling in daily life. It begins by asking, “O Yahweh, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill?” In other words, “O God, who may have intimate fellowship with You?”

The the psalm goes on to illustrate the way of life of the person who will live in an intimate relationship with God. He (or she) will live in integrity, work righteousness, not slander others nor do evil to others, nor reproach his friend, will recognize those who are opposed to God’s righteousness as well as those who follow God and are seeking to know Him, will tell the truth to his own detriment, will not loan money at interest (you can work through that one yourself), and will not take bribes.

Our focus in the psalm is twofold; “speaks the truth in his heart” and “swears to his own hurt and does not change.” Jesus teaches that “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Our words reflect our meditations, the things we ponder and think about, the waters our souls drink from. There is no better truth for our hearts to ponder than God’s Word (see Psalm 1). One of the elements of meditation is “speaking to oneself” - ruminating on the Word of God and listening for the Voice of the Holy Spirit speaking to us through the Word. A heart with the engrafted Word (James 1:21) is a heart being formed into the image of Jesus Christ. If God’s Word is not speaking to us, other “words” are - we are filling our hearts and minds with something, our souls are hungry for food - what are we feeding ourselves and others?

The Word of Truth produces truth in the inner person, and when Truth lives in a temple Truth will speak from the temple. We can be religious and be liars; we cannot live in the Truth and submit to the Truth living within us and live lives of lying and deceit.

If we struggle to tell the truth let us not focus on our mouths, let us focus on our hearts. When the Word reigns within us our words will be subject to the Word. Let us not say that we cannot help ourselves - every word is a decision, every decision a matter of the will, every act of the will either an act of obedience to Christ or disobedience. As Paul writes in Romans Chapter 6, let us consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God. The world is watching, the cosmos is watching, what is our witness?

Telling the truth to our own detriment, “he who swears to his own hurt and does not change,” is when we discover who we are in Christ, it is when we decide whether we will manipulate others and take the easy way out, or whether we will speak the truth by the grace of God and trust Christ through the consequences. This form of truth-telling molds the Christ-follower into the image of God and submits to the working of the Holy Spirit deep within the inner person. When Jesus bids us take up our cross daily and follow Him, He bids us to deny ourselves (Luke 9:23ff) and not be ashamed of His words...His words are truth, they are the Way of Truth - shall we hold fast to Jesus and tell the truth, or shall our words and actions declare “I don’t know Him!”?

There is freedom in Christ when we live lives of truth-speaking; we can trust Him and we need not pretend, we need not play the hypocrite with others, we need not play games. When we tell the truth to our own detriment we affirm that we are not our own but that we have been purchased with the blood of the Lamb.

If we desire intimacy with the God of Truth we must learn the Way of Truth, we must live in that Way...as the deer pants after fresh springs of water, our souls are called to thirst after Truth as we live lives of Truth, as the Truth lives in us and through us.

Reflections on Galatians 2:20 (2)

“I I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and give Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.

What is the context of this verse? Consider the two immediately surrounding verses:

19: “For through the Law I died to the Law, so that I might live to God.”

21: “I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly (in vain, to no purpose).”

We have died to the Law; we are crucified with Christ. If we are dead how can we be alive? We are alive because Christ lives within us.

The Law cannot produce the life of Christ within us, in fact the Law is incapable of producing life, to the contrary it produces condemnation and death. If the Law can only produce guilt and condemnation and death, then why do we seek to practice the Law, why do we teach it, why do we not instead seek to show the church that we have died to the Law, that we are free from the Law (Romans 7:1-6) and married to Jesus Christ? (See also 2 Corinthians Chapter Two and Romans 3:19 - 31).

Can it be that we do not trust the grace of God to accomplish the work of God? The people of Israel are delivered from Egypt but do not make it to the Promised Land. Lazarus comes forth from the grave but his grave clothes remain on him. The church is confused as to her husband, she does not realize she has died to the Law, she thinks one minute that she is married to the Law and the other minute that she is married to Christ. Whose wife is she? How shall she act? Whose house does she live in?  Who does her heart belong to? Whose clothes is she wearing? Where is her attention directed? Who does her heart beat for?

Whose ring is on her finger? Does she wear two rings? Does she put one ring on and the other ring off throughout the day? Throughout the week? Throughout the worship service? Throughout the small group?

Do the Law and Christ have joint custody of us? Do we live with one husband one day and the other husband the next day? Who exactly are we? Whose are we? Are we dead to the Law or not?

A resolution of the above questions is critical to our life in Christ - without a resolution we are living as adulteresses (see Romans 7:3). The very reason we can be free from sin as our master is that we are not under the Law.

“For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace. What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be!” (Romans 6:14 - 15).

Ah, but what is the reality in the church? More often than not it seems we allow the fear that unless we are kept under the Law that we will live lawless and sinful lives to drive us to  our dead husband - the Law, a husband which can only bring us transgression and condemnation. Consider the absurdness of it all, because we are afraid that we will sin we go to our old husband who can only produce condemnation and sin. What sense does this make? Do we think that we deserve to be beaten? If so, then why did Christ die?

Can we not trust our true Husband, Jesus Christ? Can we not embrace Him? Can we not allow His life to live in us and through us? He put His wedding ring on us, can we not stop removing it and putting it back on, removing it and putting it back on, removing it and putting it back on? How tragic that we remove the ring that Christ put on our finger and replace with that from our old husband, the Law.

In Romans Chapter Six Paul anticipated the very questions that bombard us today, voices insisting that without the Law there will be sin - he is incredulous - “May it never be!” (Romans 6:15). Are we unconvinced?

Do we have battered spouse syndrome? We don’t believe we deserve better.

Oh but how our Lord Jesus loves us. He died for us so that we might live with Him, in Him, and through Him; and that He might live in us. He so greatly desires that we would trust Him and His grace and His love for us; that we might learn what love is, the mystery and might of the Holy Spirit, what it is to be the sons and daughters of the Living God.

Christ calls you to Himself, to live in His grace, to know life as He lives it in you and through you. Trust Him, receive Him, know that He is your Husband - oh Church - know that Jesus Christ is your Husband and you no longer live in the house of the Law.