Don’t place yourself under a curse

(addendum12/8/11 – the thoughts below are directed more towards those who preach that the Christian or his or her finances are cursed if they do not give their church a tithe (Robert Morris, Perry Noble, sundry IFBers, etc). While I personally do not believe that tithing is required in the new covenant, I certainly do not disparage those who disagree and tithe out of love of God)

Let me offer as a prologue to this essay a bit of text from the Epistle to the Galatians.

Galatians 3:10-14

For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”—so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Last Sunday, I made my third visit to a local church, one where I had previously enjoyed grace-centric preaching. However, what I heard on November 13 was not far removed from what I have heard so many times at the local mega-church. What I heard was proof-texting of Biblical text. What I am struck by in both sermons is the massive lack of distinction between the Mosaic Law (The Law of Moses found in Leviticus and Deuteronomy) and the Gospel offered freely to those not under the jurisdiction of the Mosaic Law. When I hear tithing positively preached, I hear an attempt, ultimately doomed to failure, to mix oil and water; I see Moses dressed in a Jesus suit.

Among the oft-repeated rebuttals to grace givers, one heard in the aforementioned sermon, is that you should look to a ten percent of the gross income as a starting point in ones giving. Now, when I hear silly distinctions being made between giving off the net or gross, of using the Law as a starting point of obedience, my mind immediately connects such to the well-intentioned but damning attitude of the first century religious elite of 2nd temple Judaism putting up extra-Biblical barriers around the Law so as to protect people from breaking the Law. Jesus was harsh in His rhetoric to those people.

As said in previous articles, the topic of tithing is not so much about financial stewardship or generosity, but absolutely about Romans 8:1, ‘There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus.” If you are in Christ, neither you nor your finances are cursed by lack of adherence to the Law of Moses. To assert such is to preach, as Paul affirms in the book of Galatians, another gospel.

If not by the tithe, then how should the redeemed give? By grace, as the Spirit leads the regenerate. To whom should we give? First, to those in the church who are in need. Second, to the true teachers and preachers for they are worthy of double honor. Third, charitably to those in the world. How much should we give? We should give sacrificially. We should also be content with what we have, not coveting the newest, latest, biggest, and best, being on guard because our hearts are idol factories. Too, sacrificial giving for one may be two percent, while another may be able to give 90 percent without sacrifice. Jesus cares more about the attitude of your heart rather than the percent of income given.

You know what? Each and every one of us in the church will fail to live up to the aforementioned standards to some degree. Left to my own devices, I will covet the next digital hand-held device though I do not need it. You will covet a newer, better automobile even though what you own is serviceable. There is grace through Christ for us as we struggle, sometimes failing, against the competing gods in our hearts, for there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. It is by grace that those idols will be torn down.

I will conclude with a short and far from exhaustive rebuttal to some common arguments regarding the tithe:

1. The tithe predates the Law. So does circumcision and animal sacrifice. Do you suggest a return to these types and shadows, also? Those who assert that the tithe is relevant for the church also mention Abraham’s tithe to Melchizedek in Genesis 14:18-20. Understand this is a tithe off the spoils of war, other peoples property. It was a unique event.

2. Jesus seems to affirm tithing in Matthew 23:23. Jesus is speaking prior to His crucifixion and resurrection to those still under the Law. Too, is this text more about the lack of mercy and justice on the part of the Pharisees?

3. The first ten percent is holy to the Lord. All that you think, do, give, earn, all that you are, should be holy and Christ-honoring. You were purchased at great price; you do not belong to yourself, but you are a bond-servant to Christ. You don’t get a pass for the remaining 90 percent. Also, there were three tithes in the Old Testament, not just one, totaling 23.3 percent. (One tithe was performed every third year). Too, in a culture that had and used money, tithing was rarely money. Some might find Deuteronomy 14:22-26 interesting as to how the tithe was sometimes used, especially those who think all should abstain from alcohol.

Deuteronomy 14:22-26

English Standard Version (ESV)

“You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. And before the LORD your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the LORD your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the LORD your God chooses, to set his name there, then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the LORD your God chooses and spend the money for whatever you desire—oxen or sheep or wine or strong drink, whatever your appetite craves. And you shall eat there before the LORD your God and rejoice, you and your household.

Recall, too, the Jerusalem council in the Book of Acts, chapter 15 in which it was determined what parts of the Old Testament law converted Gentiles would be required to obey. Tithing is not mentioned.

“I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. ” – Gal 2:21

If you give ten percent out of love for God, God bless you. If you give 10 percent because you think the Law requires it of you, think carefully about the Gospel and your understanding of it. You may be placing yourself under a curse by adding to the Gospel.

On Psalm 88

Follows in an excerpt from a exposition on Psalm 88 titled “Lament” by Kevin Kim.

God put this intemperate, angry, over-the-top, blasphemous rant in the Holy Scripture…in His Scripture.He put it in there to let us know that He knows how we speak when we are hurting and He understands.

He understands when our feelings so overwhelm us that we say desperate things, incorrect things, even heretical things. He understands so much that He put an example in Scripture saying, “It’s safe to pray like this with Me. It’s safe to pour out your feelings like this with Me because I am still the God of this man, despite the way he talks. I am still his Father.”

God is saying, “I am not your God because you can put on a happy face every Sunday morning.” God is saying to you, “I am not your God because you say all the right things to Me. I am not your God because you do all the right things. I am not your God because you can hold it together. I am just your God. I am just your God, and I am big enough and I am strong enough to hold you when you’re falling apart and to love you at your very best and at your very worst.” He understands your weeping, He understands you anguish, He understands you tears, and He is big enough and strong enough to take it. It is safe to pour out your heart to Him. Psalm 88 is a sign of His grace and understanding.

I remember thumbing through the Psalter of a church I once attended for a brief while. I found it interesting that Psalm 88 was excluded. Having struggled with varying degrees of depression most of my life, I quite frankly am glad Psalm 88 is included in the Bible. Those with such struggles need to know they are not alone. Maybe, too, we find a hint, a shadow, of Christ’s lament on the cross within this Psalm, as One Who felt, at His darkest hour, forsaken, even by the Father as He faced a wrath deserved by us. Maybe we are sometimes allowed to share, even in our wretched unworthiness,  a taste of His suffering. We find, too, He comes into our darkness, quietly, and whispers to us that we are, by His grace, accepted and loved, and that one day, all the darkness will pass.

Psalm 88

A Cry of Desperation

A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah. For the choir director: according to Mahalath Leannoth. A Maskil of Heman the Ezrahite. (A)

1 LORD, God of my salvation,

I cry out before You day and night. (B)

2 May my prayer reach Your presence;

listen to my cry. (C)

3 For I have had enough troubles,

and my life is near Sheol. (D)

4 I am counted among those going down to the Pit. (E)

I am like a man without strength, (F)

5 abandoned [a] among the dead.

I am like the slain lying in the grave, (G)

whom You no longer remember,

and who are cut off from Your care. (H) [b]

6 You have put me in the lowest part of the Pit,

in the darkest places, in the depths. (I)

7 Your wrath weighs heavily on me; (J)

You have overwhelmed me with all Your waves. (K)

Selah

8 You have distanced my friends from me;

You have made me repulsive to them. (L)

I am shut in and cannot go out.

9 My eyes are worn out from crying. (M)

LORD, I cry out to You all day long; (N)

I spread out my hands to You. (O)

10 Do You work wonders for the dead?

Do departed spirits rise up to praise You? (P)

Selah

11 Will Your faithful love be declared in the grave,

Your faithfulness in Abaddon? (Q)

12 Will Your wonders be known in the darkness,

or Your righteousness in the land of oblivion? (R)

13 But I call to You for help, LORD;

in the morning my prayer meets You. (S)

14 LORD, why do You reject me? (T)

Why do You hide Your face from me? (U)

15 From my youth,

I have been afflicted and near death.

I suffer Your horrors; I am desperate. (V)

16 Your wrath sweeps over me;

Your terrors destroy me. (W)

17 They surround me like water all day long;

they close in on me from every side. (X)

18 You have distanced loved one and neighbor from me;

darkness is my [only] friend. (Y) [c]

You have loved us first…

Father in Heaven!

You have loved us first, help us never to forget that You are love so that this sure conviction might triumph in our hearts

over the seduction of the world,

over the inquietude of the soul,

over the anxiety for the future,

over the fright of the past,

over the distress of the moment.

But grant also that this conviction might discipline our soul so that our heart might remain faithful and sincere in the love which we bear to all those whom You have commanded us to love as we love ourselves.

You have loved us first, O God, alas!

We speak of it in terms of history as if You have only loved us first but a single time, rather than that without ceasing You have loved us first many things and every day and our whole life through.

When we wake up in the morning and turn our soul toward You – You are the first – You have loved us first; if I rise at dawn and at the same second turn my soul toward You in prayer, You are there ahead of me, You have loved me first.

When I withdraw from the distractions of the day and turn my soul toward You, You are the first and thus forever.

And yet we always speak ungratefully as if You have loved us first only once.

Soren Kierkegaard

HT: The Phoenix Preacher

He grew up before him like a tender shoot,

and like a root out of dry ground.

He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him,

nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

3 He was despised and rejected by mankind,

a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.

Like one from whom people hide their faces

he was despised, and we held him in low esteem.

4 Surely he took up our pain

and bore our suffering,

yet we considered him punished by God,

stricken by him, and afflicted.

5 But he was pierced for our transgressions,

he was crushed for our iniquities;

the punishment that brought us peace was on him,

and by his wounds we are healed.

6 We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to our own way;

and the LORD has laid on him

the iniquity of us all.

7 He was oppressed and afflicted,

yet he did not open his mouth;

he was led like a lamb to the slaughter,

and as a sheep before its shearers is silent,

so he did not open his mouth.

8 By oppression[a] and judgment he was taken away.

Yet who of his generation protested?

For he was cut off from the land of the living;

for the transgression of my people he was punished.[b]

9 He was assigned a grave with the wicked,

and with the rich in his death,

though he had done no violence,

nor was any deceit in his mouth.

10 Yet it was the LORD’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,

and though the LORD makes[c] his life an offering for sin,

Isaiah 53:2-10c

The Lens of Grace and John 3:16

On Free Will, by the same speaker, thinking my thoughts, but with more lucidity:

(a bit long for a YouTube, but worth the time spent in viewing it)

What should happen when one embraces the truth of Sovereign Grace is eventually an attitude of overarching humility and a destruction of prideful moralism. Without regard to the correctness of our Christian soteriology, we all still struggle with the bent of our old nature, though. I have collected all the swag, those metaphorical tee-shirts and bumper stickers, to know that such is true. I still have those struggles.

As an aside and in context to discussions that revolve around issues of free will, I really, intensely, dislike that “God does not want robots to love Him” thing. I have heard it too many times and from good people, but I know that conceit is sometimes driven by a prideful emotionalism that leads to errant, unbiblical conclusions. It ultimately leads to place where we find a needy God Who tries to make Himself attractive to us so as to woo us. We often find, too, a faux therapeutic gospel.

There is nothing attractive about the cross, that Roman torture and death machine. The foot of the cross is for rebels who hate the true God and have no place for Him, ultimately for you and me. It is only His sovereign grace  and His ability to replace a heart of stone with a heart of flesh that draws us to the beauty of the Messiah. Too, that door you hear about in altar calls upon which sad, patient Jesus is always plaintively knocking, hoping that somebody might open it for Him….it is not the door to the heart of the unregenerate, an evangelical call, but was the door to the church in first century Laodicea, a damaged, complacent, body of believers.

I think about the following, and quite popular, video, one I have watched and commented on before. I know that it has ministered to many people on some level, and I do not question the authenticity of their faith.

However, and without regard to how strongly this video tugs on ones emotional strings, I think it unbibically portrays fallen humanity more as victim than rebel, than sinner. I also find egregious error in its depiction of a god who waits helplessly on the sidelines for the victim to decide, or find within themselves the ability to reach out for help to Himself.

Also, that worried, hand-wringing portrayal of god is not the sovereign, settled, in-control of everything in the created order Triune God revealed in the  Biblical texts. He does not struggle to draw His people too Himself. This portrayal of God in the following skit, comforting and approachable as he may seem, stands in sharp contrast to the completely sovereign God, the one who captured my own darkened heart and sin-bound will.

I do not need a God who simply throws me a rope and then struggles to clear a path for me so as to, when I finally make my way to him, simply dust me off and dance with me. None of that is the Gospel.  I need a God who breaths life into me. Again, I am not merely a victim, but a perpetrator, and I need a sovereign Savior. I love Him, albeit so weakly, so falteringly in my humanity in contrast to which He is worthy, because He sovereignty drew me to himself when I was in death-bound rebellion against Him. If you think that makes me a robot, than so be it.

One more thought: How bold must someone be to portray God in a skit? I think of Peter who deemed himself unworthy to even be crucified in the same manner as our Messiah, asking instead to be crucified upside down.

In conclusion, here is some text from the same Gospel that gave us John 3:16:

John 6:44 No man can come to me, except the Father which has sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.

John 6:65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

John 15:19 If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

…like the smoking flax

A post/quote from Redeemed titled Tender Mercies:

“Babes in Christ.” – 1 Corinthians 1:31

Are you mourning, believer, because you are so weak in the divine life: because your faith is so little, your love so feeble? Cheer up, for you have cause for gratitude. Remember that in some things you are equal to the greatest and most full-grown Christian. You are as much bought with blood as he is. You are as much an adopted child of God as any other believer. An infant is as truly a child of its parents as is the full-grown man. You are as completely justified, for your justification is not a thing of degrees: your little faith has made you clean every whit. You have as much right to the precious things of the covenant as the most advanced believers, for your right to covenant mercies lies not in your growth, but in the covenant itself; and your faith in Jesus is not the measure, but the token of your inheritance in him. You are as rich as the richest, if not in enjoyment, yet in real possession. The smallest star that gleams is set in heaven; the faintest ray of light has affinity with the great orb of clay. In the family register of glory the small and the great are written with the same pen. You are as dear to your Father’s heart as the greatest in the family. Jesus is very tender over you. You are like the smoking flax; a rougher spirit would say, “put out that smoking flax, it fills the room with an offensive odour!” but the smoking flax he will not quench. You are like a bruised reed; and any less tender hand than that of the Chief Musician would tread upon you or throw you away, but he will never break the bruised reed. Instead of being downcast by reason of what you are, you should triumph in Christ. Am I but little in Israel? Yet in Christ I am made to sit in heavenly places. Am I poor in faith? Still in Jesus I am heir of all things. Though “less than nothing I can boast, and vanity confess” yet, if the root of the matter be in me I will rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the God of my salvation.

C.H. Spurgeon Morning & Evening, Morning, October 19

1 Corinthians 1:26-31

Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)

Boasting Only in the Lord

²⁶ Brothers, consider your calling: not many are wise from a human perspective, ^[a] not many powerful, ^(A) not many of noble birth. ²⁷ Instead, God has chosen ^(B) the world’s foolish things to shame the wise, and God has chosen the world’s weak things to shame the strong. ²⁸ God has chosen the world’s insignificant and despised things ^(C) —the things viewed as nothing—so He might bring to nothing the things that are viewed as something, ²⁹ so that no one ^[b] can boast in His presence. ^(D)30 But from Him you are in Christ Jesus, who for us became wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, ^(E) sanctification, ^(F) and redemption, ^(G)31 in order that, as it is written: ^(H) The one who boasts must boast in the Lord. ^(I)(J)

 

Isaiah 42:3

a bruised reed he will not break, and a faintly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth justice.

February 28, Part Two

I know I am probably beating this subject to death and will be a bit repetitive with this post, but I am absolutely infuriated by the often errant implications and the scripture twisting that are fellow travelers with this doctrine. It is not an issue of money for me. It is not an issue of obedience for me. It is not an issue of stewardship. It is, ultimately, an issue of Law and Gospel, or more specifically, a confusion of the two. I am, again, talking about tithing.

Here is, verbatim, part of a sermon on money, on tithing, I recently watched. The sermon by Perry Noble is found here and the quoted section starts at approximately one hour and two minutes into the sermon.

In exodus 13, God says the firstborn is mine, and then the passover took place, and the people that did not put the blood over the door frame and said I’m not going to consecrate my son to you, what happened to the son in that house? He got killed. Your either gonna give your 10 percent to God or He’s gonna take it. The Bible says God will not be mocked. For some of you, there’s a reason your car keeps breaking down. There’s a reason you cant keep your kid out of the doctors office. There’s a reason you cant keep a job. You’re trying to mock god.

Such is, unfortunately, not a unique approach to the subject. I have heard similar sentiments from other pastors, and I spoke on it just recently here. My first and overarching thought on the above quote is thus: The pastor portrays a grievous and confused understanding of Law and Gospel.

Let me say it one more time just so that I am not misunderstood: He Does Not Really Understand Grace. And it’s not just him. Again, I have heard the same sentiment from other stages and pulpits, and I would say the same thing about others who infer that God acts like a mobster running a protecting racket on His own children. What we find in this sermon is essentially a quid pro quo Gospel. Christ did this, so you gotta do that.

What I see from the aforementioned sermon are verses ripped out of context and used as proof-text to prop up an errant pretext. But, as this pastor graciously and humbly mentions at one hour into the video, you must be stupid and Biblically illiterate if you disagree with him on this subject. Be that as it may…

Going off a bit tangentially, I think the overarching issues is one of methodology. Some preachers are topical teachers, speaking often to the felt needs of the audience. Others are expositional teachers. Topical preachers tend to hover over the Scripture and pick verses, often out of context, to communicate some point, often a favorite subject of the pastor.  They, by their methodology, become lord over the text. Expositional preaching, where the pastor goes through a book of the Bible verse by verse, is bound to the Word and it forces the preacher to open the word, in context, to the congregation. The text is lord over the pastor.

I want to be clear that I am not so much anti-tithe, but more anti-how the tithe is often taught. I know of Christians who give their ten percent as a holy act of worship. Personally, I do not think the percentage is as important as the condition of one’s hearts.

Speaking of how the tithe is taught, here is a video that might be of  interest:

Christian, you do not have to tithe to ‘earn’ God’s favor. There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. You are not blessed because of your obedience to the Law, you are justified by grace alone, by faith alone, by Christ alone.

This is not healthy truth:

Radical Grace is Life!

Addendum:

Just uploaded the section of the sermon to which I refer to YouTube. So much error and mishandling of scripture. I honestly fear for Perry. Here is the video:

I Timothy 1:7 – “They want to be teachers of the law, but they do not know what they are talking about or what they so confidently affirm.

 

For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them.” Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for “The righteous shall live by faith.” But the law is not of faith, rather “The one who does them shall live by them.” Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:10-14 ESV)

The Nearness of the Trancendant God

All things hold together through Christ, ( Colossians 1:17 ) and in Him we move and live and have our being. ( Acts 17:28 )

All that is and will ever be has been created ex nihilo by the Triune God. Think on the manifold power, the limitless knowledge of the God of Abraham and Moses, of Joseph and Mary, of the Son Who became incarnate, took on flesh, in circumstances most humble.  The Creator became clothed in the created.

I have, with no little difficulty and for some time, been striving to think coherently on the aforementioned, and follows are some thoughts.

The Greek word sunistemi means  “to stand-together,” “to be compacted together,” “to cohere,” “to be constituted with.”  In Colossians, in that holding together, we  find, I believe, what the researchers of the Large Hadron Collider seek.

My fingers with which I type these words on my netbook, the netbook itself, the chair the holds me off the floor, the luminescent arc of stars spread overhead, all – everything  and everyone – would, but for the power and grace and knowledge of God, fly apart, cease to exist.  Each and every moment, every breath of life, every created thing from the quantum scale to the spiral galaxies in their unfathomable numbers are contingent on the Triune God in His complete and meticulous sovereignty.

I am held together by God.  Those who worship other gods or worship no god but themselves, are held together by God.  Those who, in their sad arrogance and willful ignorance, mute the voice of natural revelation and assert that the Universe created itself, are themselves created and held together at the most fundamental and physical level by the Creator God.  They, too, whether acknowledged or not, find their being in the Creator.

And how horrible it will be to find oneself the object of such a mighty Creator’s just and holy wrath, and but for Christ, I would be such an object fearful wrath.  Intimately knit and held together by His power, even with my faults, sins, failures, and weakness – a result of my rebellious heart of which I alone am responsible, I know that I am fearfully and wonderfully made, the clay in the Potters sovereign hands who works out everything according to the goodness of His will.

Introducing a covenantal requirement

On The New Tetzels

First and foremost, in no way do I intend to encourage faithful givers to discontinue tithing to their church.  Secondly, I in no way disparage those who, out of graceful conviction, feel the tithe is worshipful and holy giving to God.  I have reached my conclusions on tithing based on careful study.  Others have, also after careful study, reached different conclusions.  That is quite fine in this mostly tertiary issue, one to be disagreed upon graciously.

Some pastors, however, cynically use their exhortations to tithe as a graceless, wicked, sledgehammer to either callously manipulate people to giving out of guilt or, even worse, to manipulate people into a quid pro quo mode of giving, a type of pseudo-karmic ‘prosperity lite’ theology where God only meets your financial desires and meets your felt needs based on the percentage of your financial input.

I honestly do not want to sound my own horn; I do not care for anyone to know how much I give to a church or to charitable causes.  I do not want the left hand to know what the right hand is doing.  That being said, not so long ago, I had been attending a church for a while, though not a member, when I was introduced to the church secretary.  She recognized my name from the checks I wrote to the church and complemented me on my giving with an aside that she wished others did the same.  Her comment, though innocuous and complementary in intent, bothered me a bit.  I later learned this church that had rather recently went through a painful split and was now, due to a decrease in attendance, overstaffed and experiencing a budget deficit.  This is by no means a church that constantly harped on money as so many contemporary churches, mega or otherwise, often do.  I only heard one sermon on giving/tithing while I was there.  It is a wonderful reformed church that values expository preaching and seeks to give glory to Christ.

During that one sermon on tithing, it was mentioned, as a sermon illustration, that there was a church that put up visuals, charts essentially, that exalted those who were the big givers in the church in order to encourage other to give more.   That illustration concerned me.

Later, I listened to a sermon by Ed Young, Jr, one of the bigger stars in the constellation of megachurch pastors.  In the course of the sermon, he mentioned that if one did not tithe to his church, you could not be a member of his church.

In my previous post, I noted that Perry Noble, another megachurch CEO/pastor from the same mold as Ed Young, Jr, stated that his staff was going to go through ‘the records’ to see who had or had not been tithing, an act problematic in and of itself, and remove those who had not been tithing and volunteering from the church roles.  He said God told him to do so.

What has happened with this distorted  focus on and understanding of tithing is that something  seems to have been added to the Gospel of grace and faith in Christ.  Beyond being regenerated and baptized, now you have to submit to what I believe to be an erroneous understanding of the Old Testament tithe to be a member of the New Testament church.   Essentially, an errant and distorted requirement of the tithe augments baptism and belief as a standard of membership in the church.  It becomes the equivalent of the Mosaic circumcision required to be part of covenant community.  Sadly, grace and faith in Christ are not enough to be in the family of those redeemed by the atoning work of the Messiah.

When you hear one of these hirelings trot out, without context or reflection, that well-abused verse from Malachi on being a God robber, you counter with Romans 8:1.

As an addendum, I sat on this post for weeks before posting it. After viewing the following video, I felt compelled to publish.

HT: FBC Jax Watchdog

One might recall the recent controversy surrounding Ed Young, Jr’s church in its leasing of a private jet used to shuttle Mr. Young to the various conferences that he attends, an expenditure that was not revealed to his church until the story reached the media.  One might also remind Ed that the Levitical priests who received the tithe, in part the Old Testament tax for Israel,  were not allowed to own property.

Matthew 17:24-26

24When they came to Capernaum, those who collected the two-drachma tax came to Peter and said, “Does your teacher not pay the two-drachma tax?” 25 He said, “Yes.” And when he came into the house, Jesus spoke to him first, saying, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll-tax, from their sons or from strangers?”

26 When Peter said, “From strangers,” Jesus said to him, “Then the sons are exempt

2 Corinthians 9:7

Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Signs…some rudimentary thoughts…

We have all seen the yard signs portraying the list of commandments given to Moses on Mount Sinai by Yahweh.   They are ubiquitous in my neck of the woods.

I recall seeing a bumper sticker that declared  the driver of the car keeps those 10 commandments.  If true, it could only  have been Jesus driving the car.

The Law, distilled down to its essence, is one must love God with all your heart, mind, and soul…and your neighbor as yourself.  Good luck with that.

The problem I have with all those signs in front yards, on tee shirts, and on bumper stickers is that, when honestly evaluated in light of the whole council of  Scripture, they are a prescription for death.  They only tell the really, really bad news if one does an honest appraisal of oneself in light of the Law.  Sadly, self-delusion is perhaps more common that honest self-appraisal, though.  Pelagianism is the natural bent of humanity

What is missing from these exhortations to keep the Ten Commandments is the news that, while we cannot obey perfectly and are condemned by our inability to keep the Law, there is One who did keep the Law perfectly and took upon Himself our sin, our grave punishment falling short of the Law.  If you display the cause of death, the Law, please  let it point to the cause of life, the Gospel of Christ.  Tell the whole story.  The Law is good, but use it correctly.

Here, in summation, is John Piper on the Law:

Galatians 2:21

“I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing!”

…dead, but made alive…

Tiger Woods has been disgraced in the media because of his infidelities.  Olympian Michael Phelps was disgraced by the public disclosure of his use of marijuana.  David Hasselhoff was publicly disgraced by the unveiling of video of his inebriation and ‘compromised’ parenting.  Then you have the sad narrative of my governor Mark Sanford and his sordid tale of infidelity. The response, both in the media and in conversations around the proverbial water cooler is one of universal condemnation and disdain for the moral failures of these public figures.  In times past, I have joined in on the lambasting of, and laughing over, public figures caught in their moral failures, their sin.

More recently however, I have had a change of attitude, of perspective.  I have to check myself that I do not place myself in the position of being innately morally superior to those aforementioned characters.  You see, what I have come to recognize more and more clearly is that I am just as deserving of condemnation as those celebrities.  My sins, my moral failures, may not be of the same specific and public nature as theirs,  but I am not without my own guilt.  Have I loved my wife as Christ loves His bride, the church?  No, I have at times failed at that.  Have I faithfully loved God with all my heart, soul, and mind and my neighbor as myself?  No, I fail every day.  So has everyone who reads this post, so has everyone.  We have all murdered with our words, and committed adultery in our hearts. Perhaps the most pernicious trap in which to fall is the ‘thank God I am not like the Pharisees’ mindset.  None, apart from the work of Christ, are without guilt before God.

I think about 1 Corinthians 5:12-13 in context the the failings of others.  I think, too, of Luke 18:9-14.  Do I sometimes, as already mentioned, self-righteously place myself in the role of the Pharisee who gloats over the moral failures of the unregenerate?  I think of Ephesians. 2:1-5.  Ultimately, the only thing that separates me from those other miscreants is the grace and mercy of Christ.

1 Corinthians 5:12-13 (New American Standard Bible)

For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within the church?

But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.

Luke 18:9-14 (New American Standard Bible)

And He also told this parable to some people who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt:

“Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.

“The Pharisee stood and was praying this to himself: ‘God, I thank You that I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.

‘I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.’

“But the tax collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, the sinner!’

“I tell you, this man went to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

Ephesians 2:1-5 (New American Standard Bible)

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ by grace you have been saved,