I Have Seen the Enemy and He is Us - Part 2

Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: ADULTERY, FORNICATION, UNCLEANNESS, LEWDNESS... and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21, NKJV).
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I Have Seen the Enemy and He is Us - Part 2

The first four works of the flesh all relate on at least the physical level to sexual sin, but these can also be seen as metaphors for spiritual activity, as well. Both realms are devastating and stem from the same fleshly impulse: self-worship.

Before detailing what each of these four evils entail, a word is needed about sexual behavior. The orthodox Christian view of sex is this: it is an invention of God Himself, primarily for the purposes of procreation in the same way that eating is primarily for the purposes of nourishment. Both sex and eating are (or should be) pleasurable. Think about it, the Creator COULD have been as perverse as His fallen creatures in the following regard: He could have made what was essential, painful. He didn't. In fact, in His grace and mercy, and in delighting to provide His creatures with joy, he made these necessary survival activities particular sources of profound pleasure. Sexual relations in accordance with the boundaries established by God, namely, within marriage, are His gift. The marriage bed is undefiled. There is nothing shameful or unclean about it. Period. End of sentence, modern stereotypes of the Christian world-view notwithstanding. If you want the Lord's view of sex, read the Song of Solomon. You might learn something.

That said, any and all human activity done apart from God is quickly debased and perverted. Divinely ordained sexual activity without God is hideously transformed into promiscuousness and perversion. What He intended for good becomes evil, because apart from Him, our Fallenness defiles it. This is not rocket science. God is the maker of joy, not the killer of it. He puts restrictions on things for the same reason loving parents set guidelines and restrictions on beloved children. Obsess about it if you want. Proclaim loudly that Biblical living is the source of toxic guilt and life-destroying syndromes if you want, but for those who know the actual truth, you will sound ridiculous.

So then, ADULTERY is sex outside of marriage. Only a married person can be technically guilty of this sin. And note well, that it is a FUNDAMENTAL BETRAYAL of trust. It is not just having the rug pulled out from the marriage relationship, it is a gaping hole ripped into the surface of the earth. Please note as well Jesus' commentary on adultery, the thinking of it is as devastating as the doing of it. The best preventative is follow Job's advice. Make a covenant with your eyes. It's like steering a car, where you look, you go. So look in the right direction and you'll stay on the right road.

FORNICATION is sex before marriage. And the same principles apply, with one subtle addition. Whether or not it is a one-night stand, or the taking advantage of a supposedly serious relationship, it CHEAPENS everything that follows. And in so doing, it defiles the future consummation of a godly marriage. It's very much like breaking a raw egg. Once done, it cannot be put back together, nor disguised.

UNCLEANNESS is best looked at as the filthy mental precursor that is the first step down the pit to physical sexual sin. It is part and parcel of the "looking and lusting" that Jesus warns against. To think often enough is to do, or at least to try, in regard to sin. To the pure, the Bible says, all things are pure. Uncleanness then, is the throwing of the filled bedpan over a work of art, or an exquisite flower. It is the smearing and denigration of that which is essentially beautiful. Fallen humans are masters at this, and in the calling of good evil, and evil good.

LEWDNESS is the immoral foundation upon which the rest of these defilements are built. It is the surrender to unbridled lust and lasciviousness. Some refer to it in animalistic terms, but animals cannot be lewd. That takes higher thought and moral degradation, two things of which animals are not capable.

So there you have it, the four pillars of sexual defilement. The Bible details these things to preserve our God-intended pleasure, not to take it away. And for those of us who have done these deeds there is hope and redemption in Jesus. The Lord will restore the years the locusts have eaten. That is the kind of God and Father he is.

I Have Seen the Enemy and He is Us - Part 1

NOW THE WORKS OF THE FLESH ARE EVIDENT, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21, NKJV)

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I Have Seen the Enemy and He is Us - Part 1

Pauline lists in the Bible are immensely instructive, and there are many. None of them should be taken lightly. Even catalogs like the first half of Romans 16 where Paul greets by name some 30 beloved brothers and sisters in the Lord can be spiritually nourishing if the time is taken to dig deeper. (Hint: research the meaning of those names and in what order they are presented and you will be blessed with the cleverness of our God in arranging even seemingly random circumstances, events and people.)

The list above is very important in terms of objectifying God's view of natural man, and works done in human strength, cited in the first verse as "works of the flesh". It's a long list, not easy to memorize (at least for me). I think that's because, in contrast to many other such inventories, this one contains words that are dissonant and ugly, rather than lyrical. They do not flow melodically, but are choppy, harsh, guttural and base; so unlike the opposite list later on in the passage about the fruit of the Spirit. And I think that discord is intentional and an integral part of the message. Each sharply summarized evil hits the brain like two adjacent piano keys banged loudly together, cringing the ears and mind simultaneously.

I score higher on this list than I even want to think about, and the contrast between these characteristics and the 17 attributes of agape love in 1 Corinthians 13 could not be more stark. Hence, they are "evident", as Paul writes.

In the New Testament, the word flesh used in this context is from the Greek, sarx, meaning the "animal nature of man" or "the natural man". Biblically, it is man without God. Before the transformation that occurs at the moment of salvation, that is all we are, sarx, fleshly, carnal, spiritually dead, ruled by the lusts of the flesh regardless of how cleverly we might disguise it. After salvation, a war is enjoined within us, flesh against the regenerated spirit, old man against new, self against God. And the odd thing is that until that war commences we are already defeated, and once it begins we are guaranteed to win… eventually. Complete victory will not be until either we depart and be with Christ or He comes for His church.

Conflicted

I say then: Walk in the SPIRIT, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the FLESH. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the LAW. (Galatians 5:16-18, NKJV).

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Conflicted

Years ago during a Pastors training class, we students were told to memorize Galatians 5:16-22, as an important signpost along the way of Christian life and leadership. I liked the idea of signposts planted by God to enable His children to keep their bearings; sort of a divine GPS. It made sense too, because life in this world presents all kinds of forks, u-turns, off ramps and dead ends. And if people just paid attention they could remain on the King's Highway.

Two pairs of competing forces are explicitly or implicitly brought to light in the three verses above: spirit versus flesh and grace versus law.

Christians are at war. On the outside with a fallen world and on the inside with themselves. On good days we stand. On very good days we may even reclaim some enemy territory. Regardless of the outcome though, every day is a struggle, or should be, if we are actively engaged in the battle.

The internal conflict is the focus in 16-18, and I am grateful for God's graciousness in giving us not only the fact of this conflict but its essential nature. It answers the cry posed by Paul, and all true Christians, in Romans 7:

For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. (Romans 7:15, NKJV).

The word used to describe this internal struggle is "epithumeo", translated as "lusts". It's a classic Greek combo-word consisting of "epi", a preposition which means above or over, connoting intensity, and "thumeo", whose root means "fierce indignation, wrath, or boiling anger". In other words, there is a roiling battle going on in your head and heart as a Christian. It is NOT mere indecisiveness, or a mildly inconvenient choice. It is a fierce, intimate battle in the deepest part of your being that rages in a life or death struggle. On one side is the divine imperative to be conformed into the image of God's Son. On the other is the ruthless attempt by your old nature to regain dominance at ANY cost.

These opposing factions are not necessarily of equal strength or strategic competence. In fact, the battle is often lopsided. Interestingly enough, when the engagement is weighted in favor of the Spirit, the victory is often a quiet affair, solemn and subdued. However, victory on the fleshly side is usually accompanied with raucous fanfare and childish boasting in an attempt to drown out the oncoming storm of shame and reproach.

And as both the battlefield AND the opposing generals, our hearts and minds can and do fortify one side against the other in a roller coaster arms race. Know this: when we feed and strengthen the spirit with God's word, prayer and fellowship with believers, we starve the flesh and weaken it for the day of battle. When we feed the flesh through immersion in the things and priorities of this world at the expense of our spirit, we weaken the new nature and leave it that much more vulnerable to attack.

Paul breaks it down brilliantly. "Walk in the Spirit" and the new nature will become increasingly ascendant. Feed the flesh and the opposite will come to pass. And by "walk" he means the natural everyday conduct of our life. It's not like we jump into the phone booth in time of danger and change into our superhero garb. That would be way too little, way too late. The cape won't save us from being sucked in by the wiles of the enemy. Indeed, reliance on that cape or the can of spinach will be to no avail when the battle is pitched and prolonged.

Know this too: there is no accommodation possible between the spirit and the flesh. They are "contrary to one another", like opposite poles of a magnet. Compromise IS defeat.

One final point: when you are led by the spirit, enveloped in God's grace, the law has no power over you to convict and sentence. You are FREE of debilitating condemnation and slavery to sin. Your conscience has been cleansed. The propitiatory sacrifice has been made once for all on the Cross in your behalf. And by being free, you are empowered to wage the war supported by the perfect will of the Almighty God who saved you, and loves you beyond human comprehension.

For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you should abstain from sexual immorality; (1 Thessalonians 4:3, NKJV).

Abstain from every form of evil. (1 Thessalonians 5:22, NKJV).

Epic Success

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. LOVE NEVER FAILS… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).

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Epic Success

Here's the thing: God loves me more even than I love myself, and that's saying something. He thinks of me more than I think about myself, and that's equally phenomenal because basically the only time I'm not thinking about me is when I'm asleep (He never slumbers or sleeps), or when I'm thinking that you might be thinking about me. His thoughts toward me are uncountable and unfathomable and are incomprehensibly good.

He is obsessed with me, inscribing my name on the palm of His hand. He watches every move I make and knows everything I say before the words enter my head or leave my mouth. He knit me together in my mother's womb and knows the number of my days. He is with me rising up and lying down and when I go in and come out. His love is everlasting. He will never leave me nor forsake me. He sacrificed His own magnificent Son that I might live with Him forever, and He loves me not because of me, which would be shaky ground indeed, but because of Him. God IS love.

The other thing is this: I know this about God because He has taken great pains to write these truths down and have them painstakingly preserved over millennia, gifting me with the means (teachability and faith) to read and believe them in a massive love letter that describes Him and can transform me. It is because of who He is that I am persuaded that neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing can separate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus my Lord.

This leads to the most important question in the Universe: Is God?

And He has ensured, through the evidence of His Creation and the revelation of His word, that the askers of this question are provided the answer. For he who comes to God must believe that He IS, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

God's agape love is what powers existence. He did not need us but created us anyway, and did so in His image so that we could know Him and understand, in part at least, how great is His love for us. We do not deserve His love, but agape love can never be deserved, it can only be bestowed as a gift.

The point the Apostle Paul is making here in this last of 16 descriptive characteristics of agape is beyond mere human words or experience to convey. Of those three last words, LOVE NEVER FAILS, we have nothing really to compare to any of them except the last word, FAILS. We know failure and ending and the transitory nature of all things. We know that despite the most deep-seated desires of our heart for good things to last unchanging in this life, they just don't. They change. They end. Time destroys all things, eventually.

That's why our God, who is outside of time and the maker of time, has gone to such lengths to prove Himself to us. To let us know that existence in this realm of what we can see, hear, touch, and measure is not all there is. At one point, before the Fall, our ancestors knew this with the same certainty that we know death and taxes, but that knowledge was lost in the initial rebellion and remains lost in humanity's long war against God.

But God has not given us up for lost and Has not surrendered in His war to rescue us, because His love, the same love that propelled us into existence, NEVER FAILS. His unfailing love has provided us the only means of escape; His Son's death in our place.

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16, NKJV).

Loving Endurance

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, ENDURES ALL THINGS. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).

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Loving Endurance

Who likes to be told to endure? Not me. The very thought has all kinds of negative connotations. I don't recall ever being asked to endure something pleasurable or good, but only painful, stressful, effortful or heartbreaking.

Yet, if we look carefully in Scripture there are plenty of good things about God (there can be no other kind) that endure. His love. His mercy. His faithfulness. His kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. So endurance in and of itself is clearly not always negative. And most of the time, the RESULT of endurance IS good.

By describing agape love as that which ENDURES ALL THINGS, I believe the Apostle Paul has both aspects of endurance in mind. Not just the wholly good flavor, but also the not-good kind that ultimately leads to good.

The absolute best example, of course, is the inventor of love Himself, Jesus. Look at what Hebrews 12 tells us:

Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with ENDURANCE the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him ENDURED the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1, 2, NKJV).

These two verses encompass both the purely enjoyable kind of endurance ("…Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the JOY that was set before Him…"), and the other kind that RESULTS in something wonderful ("…run with ENDURANCE the race that is set before us…" and "…ENDURED the cross, despising the shame…").

We are to run the often painful, stressful, effortful and heartbreaking race of this life with ENDURANCE, looking unto Jesus who, out of agape love for us and the Father, and for the everlasting JOY of our eternal life with Him, ENDURED the cross in our place.

That's what true love does. it looks sacrificially toward the ultimate good of the beloved, and endures WHATEVER IT TAKES to bestow or provide that goodness.

When does that kind of love say "enough!"? It simply doesn't. That's why Jesus instructed His disciples: "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends." (John 15:13, NKJV).

Agape love endures whatever it must, in order to obtain whatever it can, for the sake of the beloved. That's what Jesus did. That's what we, His followers and (amazingly) friends are to do as well.

Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having LOVED His own who were in the world, He LOVED THEM TO THE END. (John 13:1, NKJV).

If Wishes Were Fishes We'd All Cast Nets

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, HOPES ALL THINGS, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).

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If Wishes Were Fishes We'd All Cast Nets

Monk, the genius TV detective emotionally devastated after the bombing death of his wife, is known for several iconic sayings. One of them is, "I hate hope."

The reason, of course, is because hope often disappoints. As a friend of mine recently posted, "the best way to avoid disappointment is to not expect anything from anyone." It makes sense from a human perspective. The more you hope, the more profound the disappointment potential. And sometimes unfulfilled hope is worse than hopelessness.

So then, why does Paul in this passage describe agape love as something that "hopes all things"? Is it because he wants us to become immune to disappointment? Or maybe he just thinks that anticipatory disappointment is good for the soul? If hope is painful, then why hope?

To understand this fully, a distinction has to be made between Biblical hope and the everyday kind of hope that is pretty much synonymous with wishing. I can hope that it doesn't rain today, but because that hope is not based on any sort of meaningful guarantee, I'm really just wishing it doesn't rain. In that sense then, that brand of hope is fraught with danger. Best to just stick your head out the door and see how wet it gets rather than waste any energy on the wish.

Biblical hope is not about wishing at all. Instead, it is a sure and certain expectation of something that has not yet occurred, and for which there is no equivalent empirical test. I can't pop my head into eternity and see what the weather is like. I can nonetheless have that hope without the slightest danger of disappointment because the source of that hope is the unequivocal promise of an omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Being who has taken incomprehensibly extreme measures to demonstrate His love for me. It is hope not based on whimsy or pie-in-the-sky-by-and-by wishful thinking. It is hope based on the solemn oath sworn by He who is the author and maintainer of all realms of existence. It is hope based on an everlasting covenant signed in blood on a hill in Judea two millennia ago. That is the hope agape love is focused upon. That is the hope that is intended to sustain us in this life no matter what other disappointments have or will occur.

To embrace that hope requires trust in its guarantor. To obtain that trust requires time spent in fellowship. To begin that fellowship requires surrender of self-reliance and self-will. Monk hates hope, because the only source of hope he knows is in this life, and being a genius, he understands how frail and fickle such hope is. Agape love encourages hope because its source is the faithfulness of God. There is no comparison between the two.

Hope is important. So important that it is mentioned in the New Testament no less that 61 times. Each instance is instructive, but I will leave you with just this one:

Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5, NKJV).

We're not in Kansas Anymore

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, BELIEVES ALL THINGS, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails... (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).

We're not in Kansas Anymore

Before I became a Christian, I did not believe all things, but in retrospect, I believed almost anything, however insane or stupid or evil, as long as it fit in with my world view, which was basically, me. Don't get me wrong. I THOUGHT I was rational and sensible, even scientific, in my approach to truth, but what was really happening was my constitutional inability to know the truth was showing, like toilet paper on my face after I cut myself shaving.

The truth of God is spiritually discerned. It is very much like a door opening into a room you guessed was near, but couldn't somehow enter. Or like blinders falling off your eyes, or finally getting a lens prescription that enabled you to see what was really, really going on in the Universe. Before Christ, I was convinced I knew what was behind all the important stuff, and I had more than a little contempt for those rubes of believed something useless like the Bible. Crackpots. Imbeciles. Wishful-thinking idiots.

I have a lot of empathy for people who think like that about me now, and have done for the last 15 years. Empathy, but not sympathy. I UNDERSTAND their attitude and know it be as despicable as mine was back then. I know what motivates it, too, and it isn't pretty. My hope and prayer for those misguided intellects is that God would transform their thinking by doing whatever it takes. For me it took a pronounced, chronic, quiet hopelessness that I attempted to drown or drug or short-circuit in any number of increasingly ineffective ways. Only when I came to the end of my own stubborn, prideful, ridiculous delusions of self-importance could I throw up my trembling hands in surrender to the One who is the source of all truth, goodness, love and justice. That defeat was a cause for eternal celebration, for in losing all that I counted as profit, I lost darkness and despair and gained Christ, "and the power of His resurrection…".

Agape love is NOT gullible. It doesn't just believe ANYTHING, that's what Fallen human beings do so poorly and conveniently, picking and choosing what to believe based on the needs of the moment. Instead, agape love believes wholly, irrevocably, unreservedly all TRUTH. And because agape love comes only through God, the author of truth, immersion in agape love opens the human heart and mind to what is really, really true.

Before Christ, I held all kinds of idiotic or evil things to be true: babies in the womb weren't people; sin is a myth; Hell is for idiots (well, I kind of still believe that but in a completely different way); life is by chance; Heaven doesn't exist; humans rule; I am in control. I KNOW better now. My eyes have been opened to the truth by the Spirit of God and I have been made free by that truth.

I know people who are going through painful trials, unimaginable heart-ache, massively uncertain futures, at least in this life. But because these same people believe the TRUTH, they have hope and peace that goes beyond merely human understanding. And they are able to face these things BELIEVING the truth, and that provides a strength and endurance that is well, supernatural.

One other thing, the believing in focus here is not the kind of grit-your-teeth or click-your-ruby-red-slippers kind of belief. It is NOT belief in the face of evidence to the contrary. In short, it is NOT the wishful-thinking belief that those who do not know, or who reject Christ, ironically live under. It is belief that first and foremost is a gift a God, and secondly, is founded upon the evidence of changed lives, the empty tomb, and the inarguable testimony of a regenerated heart. It is belief that comes when the eyes of faith see the God of love.

Give me that over the world any day.

Bearing All

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; BEARS ALL THINGS, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).

Bearing All

It has been accurately noted by people way smarter than me that true Christianity is rife with paradoxes, at least from the worldly perspective.

“He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life." (John 12:25, NKJV).

...“If anyone desires to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” (Mark 9:35, NKJV).

“Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:4, NKJV).

“...he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves." (Luke 22:26, NKJV).

“For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:11, NKJV).

"Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10, NKJV)

"My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials…" (James 1:2, NKJV).

I don't know how many times in my life I've said something like, "I can't take it anymore!" or "I can't bear it!" or "I'm fed up!" or "I've had enough!" It's funny though, I don't believe I've ever said that about something pleasant or good, but only about pain or inconvenience or grief or tedium. And in those declarations of intolerance I am also confessing that what is motivating me at that moment is NOT agape love, but self-love, which is the opposite.

Although it is impossible in and of ourselves to comprehend the width and length and depth and height of Christ's love, we can nevertheless know the unknowable (yet another paradox) by His Spirit within us (Eph 3:18,19). It makes sense when you think about it, because there are plenty of other impossible things He empowers us to accomplish as His children. It is His gifting alone that enables us to know and come to God, have faith, be saved forever, endure, persevere, discern truth, comprehend doctrine, speak boldly, supply comfort, sin less, desire righteousness, seek His counsel, have fellowship with Him, live and move and have our being. If our moment-by-moment waking existence was fully surrendered to that empowerment our lives would be very different, our impact on others profound, and our witness indomitably powerful.

By telling us that agape love BEARS ALL THINGS, Paul is not only encapsulating all those apparent paradoxes in one succinct statement, but he is also giving us insight into three additional implications of this kind of love.

The first is that love DESIRES to bear all things, not out of a sense of martyrdom or masochism, but on BEHALF of the beloved and for the GOOD of the beloved. Whatever offense, or betrayal, or doubt, or apathy, or rebellion, or disrespect, or anything else that the beloved causes or does is borne by the lover because that is what true love does. It is its essential nature. That is why God Himself IS love.

Secondly, this bearing also comes into play in "bearing one another's burdens", in coming alongside in support and nurture. True agape love is the very ground beneath the feet of the beloved. It is the hedge of protection and the arm of redemption no matter what the cost. It is the unfailing loyalty and unrelenting trustworthiness that forms the foundation of the love relationship. Without it, nothing can last.

And finally, agape love BEARS ALL THINGS because to do otherwise is to abandon, to break that which should never be broken, and to make conditional that which should be  unconditional. The ultimate source of this kind of love, after all, is the very heart of God. As it is said, we love because He first loved us.

Perhaps this desire to bear all is the single distinctive of agape love in this passage that points us most directly to the Cross of Christ, "who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness..." (1 Peter 2:24, NKJV). "…who for the joy that was set before Him (our redemption and everlasting life) endured the cross, despising the shame…" (Heb 12:2).



 

Chameleon Christians

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but REJOICES IN THE TRUTH; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails... (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).

Chameleon Christians

Back in ancient history, before certain exotic reptilian pets became illegal or so regulated that you needed a background check to buy one, my one older cousin used to bring me those little turtles that supposedly give you Salmonella and/or little Chameleons lizards. Both came in those plastic terrariums with built-in ramps, no cover, and a small artificial palm tree in the center, which I guess served to remind the lackluster inhabitants of the tropical paradise of their origin. I think she worked for Kresges or Woolworths or one of those other 5¢ and 10¢ stores and got the critters for free. Or maybe stole them.

The Chameleons were interesting in that they were designed to blend into their surrounding environment. I would pick up the languishing reptile and place it alternately on a green leaf or brown stick and watch it's pigmentation change. Within a week, "Chamy", or whatever other clever name I came up with would be dead, and I'd await the next installment.

I know some professing Christians like that; they languish and blend in, and eventually, I think, become stiff, lifeless, and unloving, having a form of godliness but denying its power (2Ti 3:5). And whatever else they miss out on, they cannot obtain the full benefit of knowing and believing and REJOICING in the truth. They're too busy blending in with their surroundings and feeling prideful because of it. If among believers, they're all "Jesus this" and "Jesus that", and "praising God" and "praying in the Spirit" (all good things if done with a sincere heart and without regard to eye-service and men-pleasing, but just creepy when not), and when among the world, their jargon, and more importantly, their mindset, changes radically. Their Chameleon-like behavior is typically accompanied by a swollen spiritual hubris, perhaps because they blend in so well, or because they feel they're complying with the Apostle Paul's example of becoming all things to all people (1Co 9:22). But what do I know? I'm just a vile sinner saved by faith through grace, obtaining eternal life by the skin of my teeth, not because of anything I've done or could ever do, but because of what the Son of God did for me.

And that, by the way, is one component of the truth that I rejoice in the most: that I, a worm and no man, was raised up out the miry clay, under the sentence of death to be seated in the Heavenly places with Christ forever. I did nothing to earn that, and that's good news, because I COULD do nothing to earn such an unimaginable destiny. It had to be a gift of God, and not of any work that I could perform. I am so incapable of saving myself, that unless God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life, it would be better if I were never conceived or born. I rejoice in the truth of God's love for me, proven throughout all eternity by Him sending His Son to pay for me the price of my sin. When I forget that love, I look at the Cross, and it serves as a radiant beacon of truth that I can hold onto with all that I'm worth (which is nothing without Christ, but everything with Him).

Agape love rejoices in the truth because the truth is magnificent, inconceivable, liberating, heroic, and mind-bogglingly important. It is what saves, and heals, and gives hope and meaning. It is God's agape love poured out on a rebellious creation, poured out lavishly, unashamedly, overflowingly, as rivers of living water.

Agape love rejoices in the truth because it obliterates the lies of this world and present system, and the delusions of the fallen human mind.

Agape love rejoices in the truth because it knows the truth of who God is and what He has done and will do for those who love Him and are called according to his purposes.

Agape love rejoices in the truth because the truth of God is THE only hope, and that that truth and hope are everlasting.

Chameleon Christians live a life of stress, depression, uncertainty, discontent and bitterness. They cannot rejoice in the truth, because, like the lizard's skin pigmentation, their truth changes with their surroundings. It is a house built on sand.

Those children of God who are immersed in agape love know that God does not change. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. That His mercies are new every morning, and endure forever. They know that He loves in a way that surpasses our finite understanding, and that nothing can separate us from that love.

Agape love rejoices in the truth in an eternal celebration of God's kindness and goodness toward us in Christ Jesus.

Agape love rejoices in the truth because that truth is extended to all as a free gift. All we need do is receive it in repentance and faith.

Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31, 32, NKJV).

Bad Joy

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; DOES NOT REJOICE IN INIQUITY, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).

Bad Joy

This one may be tougher than you might think.

Those of us who remember the events of 9/11 probably also remember scenes broadcast on the networks and cable television of various groups in the Middle East and elsewhere celebrating the fact that the Great Satan (the U.S.) had been successfully attacked. There literally was JOY in the streets, despite the tragedy and loss of life, and for some, precisely because of the death and destruction. This is a pretty straightforward and obvious example of "rejoicing in inequity". Whatever your fundamental view of that day, clearly, a murderous surprise attack against noncombatants solely for the purpose of instilling terror cannot be seen as something good or honorable.

In fact, 9/11 is the epitome of what the word iniquity means, namely a "deed violating law and justice." No victim of those events, except the perpetrators, were directly involved in anything that warranted their lives being taken. There was no moral or legal or spiritual justification, and yet, some around the world were ecstatic.

Those who claim to love and know God cannot rejoice in the evil of 9/11, but that's not the hard part. The difficulty lies in things far more subtle and easier to hide, like when something happens to someone who has offended you, or criticized you or not treated you with the regard and worship to which you feel entitled. Agape love views inequity always with grief and sorrow, never ever even a hint of even super-secret delight. And, if that were not hard enough, the other side of not rejoicing in inequity is more subtle still, because it involves not even entertaining the desire for something unrighteous.

It can be boiled down to this simple axiom: agape love insists that God is first, the object of my love is second, and my wants, desires, sensibilities, and rights are a distant third.

Like all the other 16 aspects of perfect love in this passage, this selfless, self-sacrificing is humanly impossible for more than a nanosecond or two. The truth is that we would not have envisioned such a standard if God did not reveal it in His Word, and Jesus did not perfectly example it in His life and death. And although it is impossible in our natural state, it is still a command. We are to agape one another it says in John 13, as Jesus loved us. It is the hallmark of being His disciple. And we are to do this as He did. When reviled He did not revile in return. When hated without a cause, He loved. When savagely tortured and crucified, He forgave.

Fortunately, what is beyond our ability to accomplish naturally, He promises to empower us to achieve. Not by might nor by power but by His Spirit within us. If we surrender our self-will and submit to His perfect sovereign will, we can love in this way. I think that moving mountains is a piece of cake in comparison to the true divine softening of a human heart.

To love like He loves, is to become more like He is. It is why we continue to live in this world.

Evil Thoughts

Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, THINKS NO EVIL; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails… (1 Corinthians 13:4-8, NKJV).

Evil Thoughts

One of the things remarkable about the Apostle Paul's divinely inspired letters is their succinctness. Lots of meaning can be packed into a few words, and a profoundly complicated issue, at least from the human perspective, can be comprehensively conveyed and summarized in as little as the three words currently in focus: THINKS NO EVIL.

Evil is kakos (kak-os') in Greek. It connotes the following: of a bad nature, not such as it ought to be, of a mode of thinking, feeling, and acting that is base, wrong, wicked, troublesome, injurious, pernicious, destructive, and baneful. It's a rich and smelly word, even sounding like English slang for excrement.

In contrast, agape love is so transforming that those immersed in it THINK only good stuff. Paul writes it this way in Philippians, "…whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate on these things. (Philippians 4:8, NKJV)".

Attempt this thought experiment right now; right this instant, DO NOT THINK OF A PINK ELEPHANT! Did you succeed? Liar!

Our fallen minds are so quick to be influenced by whatever stimuli is around us that we often go off in some profane mental direction reflexively, without volitional control. What we hear or see in this evil world often invokes the same evil within us, at least in our thinking. That is why the New Testament exhorts us to meditate on those things which are of above, as opposed to earthly things, and to take our thoughts captive. Incidentally, the first mention of thoughts in Scripture is Genesis 6:5, and it lays the foundation for most of what the Bible goes on to say about human thinking: Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the THOUGHTS of his heart was only evil continually. (Genesis 6:5, NKJV).

Here are some more thoughtful indictments of human thought, in case you might THINK differently about THINKING:

Ps 10:4* The wicked in his proud countenance does not seek God; God is in none of his thoughts.
Ps 94:11* The LORD knows the thoughts of man, That they are futile.
Isa 59:7* Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths.
Isa 65:2* I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, Who walk in a way that is not good, According to their own thoughts;
Jer 6:19 Hear, O earth! Behold, I will certainly bring calamity on this people-- The fruit of their thoughts, Because they have not heeded My words, Nor My law, but rejected it.
Mt 15:19* “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies.
Ro 1:21* because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
Heb 4:12* For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Jas 2:4* have you not shown partiality among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts?

Sin is conceived in the mind and brought forth in the will. That is why God has so much to say about controlling our thoughts, not because he wants to rob us of joy or freedom, but to prevent us from pain and heartache. You are what you think. Not the useful kind of informational, purely objective, rational thinking that advances scientific knowledge and allows for things like logic and practicality, and enables cures and moon landings and such. But the kind of thinking that we do most, about ourselves and how we feel and what we don't have or what has been done to us.

Agape love knows nothing about that latter kind of dreary and deadening thinking. Agape love does not think evil. It invents no evil, attributes no evil, and condones no evil. There is no room in a heart and mind immersed in that kind of love for such evil. Agape love is like brilliant unfettered sunlight that instantly and comprehensively banishes all darkness. Evil and that kind of love cannot coexist.

Think about it.