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Thursday Jun 09, 2022
Thursday Jun 09, 2022
GIVING AND RECEIVING GIFTS
One of the most difficult parts of any non-profit organization is the matter of fundraising. Paul has spent most of two chapters in this letter talking about giving, pledging and fulfilling, as well as generosity, needs and accountability. He talks from both a theological and practical perspective, and several of the verses here are quite familiar to those who have been in the church for a while. Let’s talk about some of those in chapter 9.
“Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.”
Some years ago, I heard these three principles of sowing and reaping, and it was very helpful to learn. You always reap WHAT you sow, HOW MUCH you sow, and AFTER you sow. It’s true in farming, and it’s true in life. You can’t sow beans and expect to reap grain. What you want to reap in the future is what you must sow today. Likewise, if you want a big harvest, you can’t get there by only sowing a small amount. And then, know that the harvest always comes after the planting is long past. Here Paul is reminding us of the second of those three principles. I trust that he is not trying to induce guilt in order to glean a large gift, but he is saying truth. And I know that someday I will need to be on the receiving end of someone’s generosity, so I am paying it forward, you might say.
A year ago, our home was broken into, by the same people, three days in a row. They took over $11,000 worth of electronics, games and tools. And because it was three police reports, our insurance company would consider each incident to be a separate claim, so we had a $3000 deductible for each of the break-ins, and the company would then drop us for having three claims in such a short period of time. As discouraging as that was, when some friends heard about our situation, they got together a fundraiser and raised over $12,000 in just a couple of weeks! We heard encouragements from many people, saying that we had invested in them in the past, and so they were glad to help us in our time of need. It was a happy reminder to us to keep focusing on giving to others, and don’t be afraid of being abandoned in your own time of need. It doesn’t always work out that way, but we sure saw the joy of reaping what had been sown in the past.
Paul goes on to say,
“Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”
More principles of giving here. Don’t give what someone is dragging out of you, while you inwardly are reluctant or feel compelled to give. Give what you decided in your heart to give. In your heart, not to their face. This is a really hard thing for me to discern sometimes, because I have a hard time saying no to someone when they are right in front of me. But that’s a bad reason to give. An important mark of spiritual maturity is knowing when it is the Spirit calling you to do something, over against wanting to be a people pleaser. Paul calls it “deciding in your heart.”
Then comes the well-known adage, “God loves a cheerful giver!” As compared to a reluctant giver, or one who gives under compulsion. Jesus said that it is more blessed to give than to receive. Do you know where He said that? Acts 20:35. Wait, you say. Jesus ascended into heaven back in chapter 1. How did he say that in chapter 20? Paul quoted Jesus, saying that Jesus had taught this truth. But in the gospels themselves, we do not find those words. Paul had heard some of Jesus’ teachings, even when Paul was still the Pharisee named Saul who was not a follower. And it sounds like something Jesus would say, based on Matthew 5.
But Paul’s point is not who said this expression or the other one. His point is that God loves us when we are doing something generous from our heart.
A few verses later, Paul wraps up this chapter by saying,
“Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
Indeed, let us give thanks to God. But in order to give thanks, we need to know what we’re being thankful for. In this case, Paul says it is “his indescribable gift.”
We can’t describe his gift, apparently. But we can note what we know of it. Have you heard about the three blind men who each approached an elephant. Each came to a conclusion about what the entire animal was like, based on the small part that he had examined. “This is a snake!” “It’s a tree trunk!” “It is leather!” In the same way, we begin to explore the indescribable gift He has given, and all we can do is piece together the little glimpses we see.
What IS His gift? A baby boy. Born to a virgin named Mary. Who grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. Who lived a sinless life. Who taught us all the ways of the Lord. Who showed grace to the world. Who was unfairly graded as worthy of death. Whose crucifixion was, in fact, an atoning sacrifice on behalf of our own sins. Who brought us into right relationship with God. Who went before us to heaven, where he sits at God’s mighty right hand. Who is coming to judge the living and the dead. Who showed us how high and deep, and wide and broad is the love of God. God’s gift was spiritual. Eternal. It equips us. It fills us with joy. It guides us in our time of need and comforts us in our time of loss. What’s more, God distributed his gifts to all around the world, both past and present, that we might find pleasure and power and peace with God. And we are the primary recipients of this indescribable gift. All we have to do is receive it, just as we followed His lead in our own giving.
Let us thank him for all this, and far, far more. It is, truly, indescribable. Amen.
Friday Jun 10, 2022
Friday Jun 10, 2022
UNWISE COMPARISONS (CONFESSIONS OF A RESPECTAHOLIC)
Throughout this second letter to the Corinthians, Paul has found himself needing to alternately scold and warn, explain and instruct, defend himself and apologize for 1 Corinthians being such a harsh letter. It’s a dizzying spin through all those emotions and topics. But there is a nugget in the middle of all this that has had a strong impact on me, and that’s what I want to share with you today.
As we have seen, there had been those in Corinth who were critical of Paul and his work, preferring the personality and storytelling of Apollos, or the “super apostles” like Peter and John, who had been followers of Jesus from the beginning. Paul then felt the need to commend himself and demonstrate his own defense. But he did not want to stoop to making comparisons and getting off the subject of Jesus because he is comparing himself with others.
He points out that some of these critics boasted of their own credentials by classifying themselves and then comparing themselves to those in another classification. Or they compare themselves to others by saying something like, “I have been in Christ longer than he has” or “My miracle-to-message ratio is 4.3 which is higher than all but one of the original inner circle.” Paul could choose to enter into such comparisons, and he would be likely to win. But he feels it better to take the higher ground. In the midst of it he says,
“When they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are not wise.”
Here is the nugget of wisdom I want to learn: It is unwise to compare yourself to other people. More personally, I am unwise to compare myself with others. It might not be a sin. But it is unwise, just the same.
Hi, I’m Ken. And I’m a RESPECTAHOLIC. I am hopelessly addicted to myself and to what others think of me. Did I tell you that I am deeply competitive? The very word “compete” invites comparisons. And I join in on comparisons with a strong desire to make the comparison favor myself. Something deep inside me feels that I am unworthy or inferior, and if I can “win” at some comparison, then I can respect myself as being worthy to breathe air that could be in the lungs of someone more worthy, while I go crawl under a rock somewhere.
Why can’t I just be a child of God, you ask? Is it not enough to know that I am loved and have been raised well, and to trust that whatever God calls me to do, He equips me to do it. (Remember Moses at the burning bush?) There is no need for fear. No need for shame. Not for pride or a superiority complex, either. Right. But you’re talking to a true respectaholic here, and giving it up is not so easy.
So, what if I make comparisons only in those areas where I win? That means the only parts of my life that I can accept are those that are better than others. What does that do to my spiritual life? What if I am smarter than 95% of people. Is that enough? What about the 4% who are above me? How about if I am a better runner than 99% of others? Is that enough for me to feel good about who I am? What if I am a major league all star? Is that enough? My point is that NO, it is NEVER enough to compare yourself to others.
So I recommend you to not learn your I.Q. It is one of the purest comparison tools available. If your self esteem is dependent on “winning” the award as “smartest in the room,” what happens when you meet someone who is smarter than you are? And what happens when they turn you into a number that is less than 100, below average?
Whatever you do in life, avoid measuring yourself by comparing with others. Do not let your self esteem be determined by whether or not you “win.” Compare yourself to your potential, not to that of others. Compare yourself to Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, and the one in whose footsteps we learn to walk. How are you doing, compared to how you COULD be doing, how you SHOULD be doing? That is the only question to ask yourself.
Besides finding my esteem, why else would I want to use comparisons with others? Comparisons provide me with ammunition to PROMOTE myself, to raise support for myself, to spread the essential news that I deserve your love and respect.
So, you ask, how am I supposed to think of myself? Where does my self-worth come from? My answer to that question is, Your question contains the problem, when you said, “think of myself?” Your very problem is that you think of yourself. All day long you think of yourself. Stop thinking of yourself! You are not the main person in this movie! You are a bit player, and I mean not just a small part. You are “Storm Trooper #7” whose appearance was simply to jump around a corner only to be shot and fall down, while the hero runs over the top of my impressively-realistic dead body. But the good news is that because of the armor, I can also be “Storm Trooper #12” and “Storm Trooper #73.” Am I an important part of the King’s movie? No. Not important. But essential. Essential for demonstrating the amazing reflexes and aim of the hero of the movie.
As Paul says, “But, “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.””
If I have anything to say about myself, it is to marvel at the grace of Jesus. Amen.
Sunday Jun 12, 2022
Sunday Jun 12, 2022
THE PRETENDER
Once upon a time, there was a person who held the office of a man of God. He dedicated himself to the betterment of mankind and the spread of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And he was wonderful with people—men, women, children, everyone loved him. And he loved them.
He especially loved some of the women. And you know how the story turned out.
Or maybe he found himself to be so popular, his messages so well received, that over time he just sort of strayed away from Jesus as the only way to salvation. The messenger found common ground with the common man, and he didn’t want to offend. So he placed truth on the bottom shelf to make it easy to reach. The only problem was that Jesus was on the second shelf. And he led thousands of people astray, and most of them didn’t even know it.
Or maybe it was his lifestyle. At first, he was living with a small rent and his small family. But he found a formula for success, and with it came money. Lots of money. All he had to do now was to just hint at how God wanted to bless people, and all they need to do is to first be generous with the Lord. And his variation on a get-rich-quick scheme paid off. He drove a nicer car. Bought a second house. Started investing. And kept offering miracles for a dollar. He was last seen riding in the back of a limo into the fenced-off palace he now called home.
Actually, it could have been the miracles that God did through him. Healings. Tongues. Signs and wonders. And all seemed to prove that God was in the house and Jesus still did miracles. The testimonies confirmed that the healings were true—until a reporter did some digging and found out that virtually none of the miracles had actually happened. One guy in a wheelchair had been healed in each of the last six cities in which a revival had taken place, and it turns out that he had never needed a wheelchair in the first place. The man’s credibility, and the reputation of Jesus, were damaged for a generation in that part of the world.
You know the stories, because they seem to make headlines every few weeks. And maybe you wonder, “How can this happen over and over again like that? And how can we know for certain whether someone can be trusted?” Perhaps you have even been so betrayed by one of the imposters that you have given up on faith or in organized religion altogether.
If so, that’s exactly what Satan has been working toward. The enemy doesn’t have to do a direct attack on your faith. There’s too much evidence, too many witnesses, too much truth, for him to destroy the message of Jesus head on. All he needs to do is to distract a few of the Lord’s followers in order to undermine their ministry. And just as Jesus said, it will be worse for those false messengers for having caused the faith of one of these little children to crumble.
This strategy of the adversary is not new, either, is it? Back at the beginning, in the garden, he had masqueraded as a tame snake and brought doubt onto the word of God, saying, “You will not die . . . God knows . . . When you eat of it, you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
That’s it. That’s the strategy of the enemy of our souls. He seeks to kill and destroy you and me, but he won’t be easy to find as long as he poses inside the pulpit itself.
“And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants also masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.”
Their end. It will be what they deserved. As Jesus said, if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away, let’s just say it will be very bad for him.
No wonder Paul says so strongly to be on guard and watchful. For, as he said, we are not unaware of his schemes.
Monday Jun 13, 2022
Monday Jun 13, 2022
WHEN THE HEALING NEVER COMES
You have heard the easy answers, I’m sure. Name it and claim it. Get ready for your miracle today. God’s will is to heal you, so just tell that old Satan to go back to hell because you are receiving your healing from Jesus today.
But what if that healing doesn’t happen for you? Is it your fault, because you just don’t have enough faith? Is it because God doesn’t exist and it’s all a sham?
Or even without the wild claims from faith healers, there’s enough disappointment from prayers that go unanswered and healings that never come, either for myself or for someone else whom I love. Why does the healing not come? Why, when the stakes are highest, do my pleadings seem to fall on deaf ears?
Sooner or later, all of us are tempted to ask the question, why me? We join with David who said, My God my God why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest.” In fact, our Lord Jesus himself quoted those same words while he hung on the cross.
The apostle Paul reveals one of those very disappointing moments in his own life. He says,
“I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.”
Three times, Paul? You pleaded? Sounds like this was no small matter for you. A thorn in your flesh? It was from Satan, to torment you? Some wonder if it was an eye disease, or if it had to do with all those shipwrecks or flogging or stoning. In any case, it was a cause of suffering, not just of inconvenience. And yet God did not answer your pleas? Aren’t you the one who said if God is for us, who can stand against us? Why would he not respond lovingly in answer to your desperate request?
Well, unlike most of us, Paul actually heard an answer from the Lord in the silence of unanswered prayers.
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
This might be a bit hard to decipher, but I think it will be worth it to explore what Paul is saying that he heard. He heard God tell him that his daily sustenance and his salvation in Christ (“my grace”) is enough. You don’t need a healing. You don’t need to live in comfort. You need to rely on me alone, and this “limp” of yours will help you both know and show your dependence on me. No one will be able to say, “I’d love and serve God, too, if he had blessed me the way he blessed Paul.” So his grace truly was sufficient, because that’s all he had.
And here is Paul’s conclusion and lesson learned:
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
I have heard these words juxtaposed before: when I am weak then I am strong. But I’m not sure I spent much time reflecting on it. I think Paul is saying that his tendency would be that if the sun was always shining, if God was always providing depth of insight and revelations, then Paul would inwardly be proud. He would judge others, as if their lack of faith keeps them back from becoming as powerful and blessed as Paul was. So this messenger from Satan was actually (allowed to be) sent to humble Paul, into not having easy, glib answers for others. No, Paul could not say if you follow Jesus you will be as blessed in every way as I am. He had to stand before others with an obvious flaw, but that human weakness helped Paul’s credibility when talking about the downhill side of the mountain.
And so Paul “delights” in weakness just as surely as he would have boasted in his strength. And with all understanding, Paul can say “when I am weak, then I am strong.”
May you be weak enough to be invincible in Christ Jesus today. Amen.
Monday Jun 13, 2022
Monday Jun 13, 2022
I HAVE LOVED A THING FORBIDDEN
(David and Karen Mains have written a series of books called Tales of the Kingdom with which I have had the privilege of doing some music. I so have been moved by the stories that I wrote a song for each one. This one is from chapter 10, Amanda and the Dragon, written in 2010. Please forgive the production and voice once again. Just placeholders of my own voice over and over.)
My brothers and sisters I must tell you a story
It's a story of battle, it's a story of sin
Of sin and of childhood and a dragon in battle
A battle I lost and a battle I must win
I have loved a thing forbidden
I have lost what I loved the most
This has been a hard fought lesson
Truth has been gained but only by loss
[Trust can be gained but only by loss]
Tuesday Jun 14, 2022
Tuesday Jun 14, 2022
FINAL WATCH WORDS
You are familiar with watchwords from about two weeks ago, when Paul was wrapping up 1 Corinthians. Here, once again, he drops a series of short phrases, each designed to equip and motivate the true followers of Jesus to live as Christ would have them. Ready? Here we go:
“Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice!
Wrapping up everything, let me say it before something else comes in to crowd it out. What I have to say is one word. . The word is REJOICE! Especially after Paul’s words about a thorn in the flesh, being a messenger from Satan, we want to know that something in our lives overrides the challenges and sorrows of our lives. That something just might be to consciously choose joy as our first attribute.
Strive for full restoration,
Whether it is a member who had been outcast and was now back, or you are sharing the gospel with someone who has never heard it, the word is RESTORATION. I like that word because the company I named and now work for uses the word in its name: Third Generation Restoration. Something used to be great, then I was broken or worn down and it needs to be restored again. That’s us. Work toward making people, helping to resolve arguments, and in other ways bring about restored families, friendships and lives.
encourage one another,
We don’t need to be scolded when we come to church (most weeks!). We do need to be encouraged. We need to know that we are loved. We need to catch each other doing good things and point it out when we see it. We need our insights to be affirmed (most of the time!) and our gifts recognized and our service needs to be thanked. I once heard that we need a 7:1 ratio of encouragement to correction, in order for that correction to be heard well. Otherwise, it becomes oppressive.
be of one mind,
In the things that truly matter, let there be no divisions among us. Remember how Paul had started 1 Corinthians with the admonition, “I hear there are divisions among you.” Unity is still a big theme for the church today. Not uniformity, but unity.
live in peace.
Again, remember that a lawsuit among members was addressed in his first letter. So this little reminder is like a mom reminding her child to “wear your gloves!” Or “don’t forget to …!” In this case, it is that we are to let certain non-essential things go. For the sake of peace. Why not rather be wronged, than to make something a big deal?
And the God of love and peace will be with you.
Yes, he will. He is the creator of love and peace. He is the lord of love and peace. He is the owner of love and peace. So Paul does the best job that our language will allow and he provides a third person imperative, telling the God of love and peace to be with us. Consider it done. Do we see him?
Greet one another with a holy kiss.
This seems out of the American culture enough that it’s hard to apply it. Perhaps we can replace the words “holy kiss” with “hearty hug or handshake.” Or in this social-distancing era, we find “kind words” or “eye contact” to be as connected as possible.
All God’s people here send their greetings.
God’s people. Do you like that title? I think it’s neat to know that people who belong to the church all together also belong to God. They are God’s people. And they are greeting one another over the miles through Paul. Do you ever send someone your greetings through a person? Do you ever receive such greetings? “Oh, so and so says hi, and they say they wish they could be here . . . ..”
May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
This is one of the times in Scripture where each member of the Trinity is mentioned. That makes this sentence important for that reason alone. God is three. Yet one. Jesus Christ, God, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Wednesday Jun 15, 2022
Wednesday Jun 15, 2022
CHANGING YOUR BELIEFS
What does it take for someone to change their belief?
What if you and I had God all figured out, with the same theological understanding of the Scriptures that our parents and their parents for uncounted generations had believed? And then someone came along and overturned our entire worldview, saying it had been revealed to him directly from God? Would we even be open hearing from him? But what if he came, doing miracles and confirming his words with signs and wonders? What would it take for you and I to believe him?
And then, what if someone else came along after him and told us that our original understanding had been right all along, so forget this new stuff? How quick would we be to return to the faith that we had originally inherited? Or maybe some combination of the old and the new? What would it take to convince you and me to change? Would an angel from heaven do it?
Paul had gone through the region of Galatia in all three of his missionary journeys. There he had been well received, and many Gentiles as well as Jews had come to faith in Jesus Christ.
However, apparently some Jewish agitators had come in to discredit Paul as being less than the true apostles, like Peter (Cephas). Those men really knew the truth about Jesus, so don’t trust Paul when he talks about salvation without circumcision and other aspects of keeping the law. So Paul feels the need to defend both his credentials as a true apostle and his doctrine as the true gospel. So he’s going to have to defend where his gospel came from (direct revelation from Jesus, as well as poring over the Scriptures that he had known so well.
He has scarcely opened his letter to the Galatians when he jumps right into the pressing matter before them: They had fallen for these Judaizers and were returning to a very “Jewish” version of the Gospel. Paul needs to set the record straight on several levels, He says,
“I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you to live in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel— which is really no gospel at all. Evidently some people are throwing you into confusion and are trying to pervert the gospel of Christ.
Notice the choice of words here: “astonished” “deserting” “different gospel” “no gospel at all” “throwing you into confusion” “trying to pervert”. Paul is not compromising or trying to be conciliatory here. He is sweeping in to rescue his converts from destruction, and it is not time to mince words.
But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let them be under God’s curse! As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let them be under God’s curse!”
“We or an angel from heaven.” That’s an interesting challenge, isn’t it? Paul is the apostle who was confronted directly by revelation of the Lord Jesus himself. His whole worldview was turned on its head in a moment. And here in chapter one, Paul refers to his direct miraculous conversion as part of his defense as an apostle. So he is so confident about that truth that he has learned that he says even if an angel from heaven appears and says the gospel Paul preaches is wrong, don’t fall for it.
Paul introduced the Galatians to grace, and it was such an unthinkable and radical concept to a Jew that they just couldn’t imagine that a person didn’t need to somehow earn salvation by working for it. “I know God and his ways. I know what God would say. I know the Scriptures. He would never open the door to Gentiles. He would never make it easy for them to enter into his realm without going through the law first. Paul claims that Jesus talked to him directly. God would never contradict what I know about him. So Paul must be an imposter!”
It would be hard for you and me to argue against that kind of reasoning today, wouldn’t it? We think we know the Bible. We think we have figured out how God works, because we have developed a systematic theology that explains every passage in the Bible. If someone—even an angel from heaven—would try to tell me otherwise, I would not change my mind, and I would doubt that I had really heard from an angel. So I get why those skeptics would be inflexible and oppositional toward Paul and his teachings.
When do we “lock in” our worldview? When should we be open to a change? Especially if it is a radical major change?
I suppose the determining factor is, or should be, whether what we believe is truly TRUE! If it is, then how it got to us, as well as the season we’re in, should help us to stand firm.
Paul’s answer is very clear: The book of Galatians has what we can lock in as truth. Don’t let yourself be dissuaded by anything else. Amen.
Wednesday Jun 15, 2022
Friday Jun 17, 2022
Friday Jun 17, 2022
THE BUS DRIVER
In this chapter and the next, Paul makes use of the metaphor of a child who is an heir and yet is underage. And he says that is how we were under the law until the time when Christ would set us free.
When a firstborn son comes into a family, he is in a sense already the heir of all that his family owns. House, land, animals, business, furnishings, transportation, servants, and all—it all belongs to him. Except, not yet. None of it, really, really belongs to him. For he is not yet of age. His parents are still alive. Things happen sometimes, to relationships, to fortunes, to fitness, and it simply is not yet time to pass along any of it.
So, what’s the practical difference between a son and a servant? Nothing, really. They both eat and sleep for free within the household. They both have to do what they are told. They cannot just go and sell something from the house and turn it into cash to run off to the movies with a friend. They are not free to travel or to move or to change households without permission.
Paul says it this way in 4:1: “as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate.”
What is the point of this illustration? We were also underage when we were under the law. “In slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world.” We were slaves to our addictions, imprisoned by legal claims against us, held captive by our own passions.
The law was there. As a Pharisee, Paul knew the law well. He knew what good the law had done him and his fellow Jews. Which was nothing but to induce guilt. The law served to daily remind us that we were unclean, with no way to dig ourselves out.
So what good did the law do for us (Jews, before Christ)? It kept us. It watched over us. It was like our own personal bodyguard. You might say the law was our guardian until Christ came. Paul says, “So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith.”
Our guardian? There to be sure we make it to adulthood. But not to take us directly there. More like a school bus driver, and we are the student passengers. Are we driving? No. Giving directions? No. Finding milk money in her purse? No. The school bus driver is simply there to deliver children from one point to another.
Likewise, the law’s purpose is not to make us worthy of salvation. The law’s purpose is not to make us halfway holy, just requiring a little boost to get perfect before God. No. It was just there to keep us safe until the time was right. We were “subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.”
Paul says, “Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.” That means we are now the actual heirs of our Abba Father, inheriting all that he owns, living in freedom. In the next chapter, Paul is going to say, “So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.”
The bus has arrived. Everybody off!
Friday Jun 17, 2022
Friday Jun 17, 2022
THE FULNESS OF TIME
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.
The Greek language has two words that are translated “time.” One is chronos and the other is kairos. Chronos, from which we get the word chronological, which means a set time. Kairos, on the other hand, has to do with opportunity or circumstance.
I am blessed to think about the implications of God having set a moment in time for Jesus to be born. The date was supposedly the year 0 A.D., of course (A.D. is for Anno Domine, the year of the Lord). But the scholar who set the calendar was wrong in his calculations, and Jesus was actually born somewhere in the year of somewhere between 6 and 2 B.C.
In any case, the moment that Jesus entered the world was a particular moment, both in chronology and in circumstances. God had orchestrated the history of the world to prepare for salvation to arrive at just the right time. In the fullness of time, Mary had a baby.
Just as God had told Jeremiah that he had been called as a prophet “before I formed you in the womb. . . Before you were born.” In the same way, Jesus was “from the beginning.” There at creation, the name of God (Elohim) is plural, and God says, “Let US make man in OUR image.” You might say Jesus was there with the Father and the Spirit, even at that moment. Adam, the first man, brought death, and Jesus, the second Adam, brought deliverance from death. Enoch walked with God, and then he was taken up, rather than dying. If you look at the chronology, you see that Enoch lived until just before the flood in Noah’s day. Because Enoch was by that point in history the only person who walked with God, so God spared him from the devastation of the great flood.
Noah came and saved mankind from being totally wiped out in the flood. And God started over with populating the earth. People once again rebelled, and at the Tower of Babel God scattered the people by confusing their languages. So the people scattered and filled the earth, as God had commanded. Then we find that Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all needed to establish the nation of Israel, set apart among the nations as the people of God.
Then God allowed Joseph to be sold into slavery by his brothers. And Joseph in Egypt suffered, and then he flourished because God told him about the future famine. And Joseph reconciled with his brothers just in time for them all to relocate to Egypt to live in relative peace and prosperity. Too much prosperity, in the eyes of Pharaoh. And so another leader of Egypt, who knew nothing of Joseph, began to oppress and enslave the Israelites, and they were held captive against their will for some 430 years.
Then came Moses and deliverance from Egypt and the Red Sea and the disobedience of the people, and the 40 years in the wilderness, and the giving of the law on the stone tablets, and the tabernacle and all that, leading them into the Promised Land. At last! The law and the land were both in alignment. But it was not yet the fullness of time. Israel needed to go through quite the stream of prophets and judges and kings, with a divided kingdom and captivity in Babylon and invasions by Assyria and more. It all provided opportunity for God to speak through various prophets and tell details of what God was to do through Jesus. And Jesus came and fulfilled/will fulfill all of them.
In the meantime, the ambitious Alexander the Great came and conquered the known world. That resulted in everyone having a common language (Greek) for the first time since Babel. And then Rome arose and expanded the empire even more, including the land they knew as Palestine. And there was Caesar (so they could say, “We have no king but Caesar!”) and there was Herod (so he could say, “kill all the baby boys in Bethlehem.”). And there was the destruction of the temple, and its being rebuilt by Herod the Great, completed just a few years before Jesus began his public ministry.
And there was John the baptizer, who was born six months before Jesus was. He was to prepare the way of the Lord. And there was the appearing of a star in the east, somehow hovering over the place where Jesus was born, leading the wise men (Magi) to find him in Bethlehem. And they went home a different way, which made Herod angry, so he slaughtered all the baby boys in the town that year. Except that the Lord had appeared to Joseph the Carpenter and told him to flee to Egypt with Mary and Jesus. Then the Lord told Joseph that he was free to return, and Joseph and his family did, “that it might be fulfilled, ‘Out of Egypt have I called my son.” And so the cycles of history all play together to bring about the right moment in time.
And God allows a woman named Elizabeth to remain barren for decades, and for her husband Zechariah to be serving in the Holy Place on a particular day, when He sends his messenger Gabriel to announce that the old couple will at last have a son. And it all happens just six months before a young virgin in Nazareth named Mary is found to be with child. And Caesar Augustus decides to issue a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world, so Joseph the carpenter takes his virgin wife Mary to his hometown of Bethlehem at a time when the days are accomplished that Mary should bring forth her child. And the kairos of pregnancies aligns with the chronos of rulers and stars in the east, and Jesus appears at exactly the right night of the right year in the right town with the right governor, and the rest of it unfolds according to the very specific will of God. For God is the master of details.
May you rest in the righteous will and timing of God this chronos. Amen.