Silence and Solitude (Pt. 1)

Silence and solitude are not necessarily prized in our culture.  In our fast-paced world of constant connectivity, we tend to forget that we hear best when we are in the midst of silence. Additionally, we see ourselves more clearly in the mirror of solitude. The practice of silence and solitude was once a crucial discipline in the spiritual health and growth of Christians. I'd like to introduce you to the discipline as a practice that is now a regular part of my daily life. Before I begin my lesson, I want to share a short story with you written in 1889 by Anton Chekhov titled "The Bet." The story illustrates the dramatic and transformational power of silence and solitude. Faced with ourselves, what will we learn? Will we allow silence and solitude to change us? Will it change our perspective?

“The Bet” by Anton Chekhov, a Russian writer of the last half of the nineteenth century, involves a wager between two educated men regarding solitary confinement. A wealthy, middle-aged banker believed that the death penalty was a more humane penalty than solitary confinement because, "An executioner kills at once, solitary confinement kills gradually." One of his guests at a party, a young lawyer of twenty-five disagreed, saying, "To live under any conditions is better than not to live at all."

Angered, the banker impulsively responded with a bet of two million rubles that the younger man could not last five years in solitary confinement. The lawyer was so convinced of his endurance that he announced he would stay fifteen years alone instead of only five.

The arrangements were made and the young man moved into a separate building on the grounds of the banker's large estate. He was allowed no visitors or newspapers. He could write letters but receive none. There were guards watching to make sure he never violated the agreement, but they were placed so that he could never see another human being from his windows. He received his food in silence through a small opening where he could not see those who served him. Everything else he wanted—books, certain foods, musical instruments, etc.—was granted by special written request.

The story develops with a description of the things the lawyer asked for through the years and the observations of the guards who occasionally stole a glance through a window. During the first year the piano could be heard at almost any hour and he asked for many books, mostly novels and other light reading. The next year the music ceased and the works of various classical authors were requested. In the sixth year of his isolation he began to study languages and soon had mastered six. After the tenth year of his confinement, the prisoner sat motionless at the table and read the New Testament. After more than a year's saturation of the Bible he began to study the history of religion and works on theology. During the last two years his reading broadened to cover many subjects in addition to theology.

The second half of the story focuses on the night before the noon deadline when the lawyer will win the bet. The banker is now at the end of his career. His risky speculations and impetuosity had gradually undermined his business. The once self-confident millionaire was now a second-rate banker and to pay off the wager would destroy him. Angry at his foolishness and jealous of the soon-to-be-wealthy man who was now only forty, the old banker determines to kill his opponent and frame the guard with the murder. Slipping into the man's room he finds him asleep at the table and notices a letter the lawyer has written to him. He picked it up and read the following:

“Tomorrow at twelve o'clock I shall be free, but before leaving this room, I find it necessary to say a few words to you. With a clear conscience, and before God, who sees me, I declare to you that I despise freedom and life and health and all that your books call the joys of this world. For fifteen years I have studied attentively the life of this world. It is true that I neither saw the earth nor its peoples, but in your books I lived. I sang songs, I hunted the deer and the wild boar in the forests. In your books I climbed to the summit of Elburz and Mont Blanc, and I saw from those heights the sun rise in the morning, and at night it shed its purple glow over the sky and the ocean and the mountain-tops. I saw beneath me the flashing lightning cut through the clouds. I saw green fields, forests, rivers, lakes and towns. I heard the song of the sirens and the music of the shepherd's reed-pipes. I felt the touch of the wings of beautiful angels who had flown to me to talk about God. Your books gave me wisdom. All that had been achieved by the untiring brain of man during long centuries is stored in my brain in a small compressed mass. I know I am wiser than you all. And I despise all your books, I despise all earthly blessings and wisdom. All is worthless and false, hollow and deceiving like the mirage. You may be proud, wise and beautiful, but death will wipe you away from the face of the earth, as it does the mice that live beneath your floor; and your heirs, your history, your immortal geniuses will freeze or burn with the destruction of the earth. You have gone mad and are not following the right path. You take falsehood for truth, and deformity for beauty. To prove to you how I despise all that you value I renounce the two millions on which I looked, at one time, as the opening of paradise for me, and which I now scorn. To deprive myself of the right to receive them, I will leave my prison five hours before the appointed time, and by so doing break the terms of our compact.”

The banker read these lines, replaced the paper on the table, kissed the strange, sleeping man and with tears in his eyes quietly left the house. Never before, not even after sustaining serious losses on change, had he despised himself as he did at that moment. His tears kept him awake the rest of the night. And at seven the next morning he was informed by the watchman that they had seen the man crawl through a window, go to the gate, and then disappear.

Silence and Solitude Defined

The Discipline of silence is the temporary and voluntary abstention from speaking. Sometimes it is practiced in order to read, write, pray, etc. Although there is no audible speaking, there is internal dialogue with God and with self. Sometimes silence is maintained not only outwardly but also inwardly in a more meditative state to allow God’s voice to be heard more clearly.

Solitude is the discipline of withdrawing or separating oneself to a place of privacy. The duration depends on the intended purpose and can last for only a few moments or for very long periods of time. It should, however, be a temporary and completely voluntary practice. Essentially, solitude is sought in order to participate without interruption in other Spiritual Disciplines or to be alone with God.

Naturally, silence and solitude are often practiced together. It is often recorded in the Gospels how Jesus went off by himself to pray. In his book, A Center of Quiet-Hearing God When Life is Noisy, David Runcorn writes, “Punctuation is a helpful way of thinking about Jesus’ relationship with silence and solitude. Jesus punctuated his life with silence and solitude. His times alone were the commas, pauses and full stops in the story of his life. They gave the rest of his life its structure, direction and balance. His words and his works were born out of those hours of silent waiting upon God.”[1]

Biblical Support

            There are, of course, countless reasons for making the discipline of silence and solitude a normative practice. Below are two such important reasons:

Reason #1: To follow Jesus’ example.

Matthew 4:1, "Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil." The Holy Spirit led Jesus into this lengthy period of fasting and solitude.

Matthew 14:23, "After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone.” He sent both the multitudes and His disciples away so He could be alone with the Father.

Mark 1:35, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” The previous verses tell us that after dark "the whole city" gathered at the door of the house where Jesus was staying. There He healed many people and cast out demons. But before it was daylight again, He went to spend time alone.

Luke 4:42, "At daybreak Jesus went out to a solitary place. The people were looking for him and when they came to where he was, they tried to keep him from leaving them.” We love to feel needed--the sense of importance/power/indispensability, that comes from doing something no one else can do. Jesus, however, did not succumb to those temptations. He knew the importance of disciplining Himself to be alone.

Reason #2: To hear the voice of God better.

Wayne Oates in his book, Nurturing Silence in a Noisy Heart, writes, “Some very important silences are indications that serious trouble is approaching, very near, or right upon you. You cannot afford to ignore these silences. You can ignore them; many people do so; no one does so safely. These silences are prophetic silences—they are filled with messages from God about critical conditions in your present, unlearned lessons from your past, and the shape of things to come for your future.”[2] Sometimes it is necessary to get away from earthly noise in order to hear from God more clearly. For example, Elijah fled to Mt. Horeb where he heard the “gentle whisper” of God's voice (1 Kings 19:11-13). Habakkuk stood guard at his post and kept watch to see what God would say to him (Habakkuk 2:1). When we are alone and silent, we can do exactly what Habakkuk was doing—listen! Richard Foster in his book, Celebration of Discipline-The Path to Spiritual Growth, writes, “Without silence there is no solitude. Though silence sometimes involves the absence of speech, it always involves the act of listening.”[3]

There are so many other reasons to practice the discipline of silence and solitude including, physical, mental and emotional restoration, worship, intercession, confession and simply to enjoy God’s companionship. It isn't absolutely necessary to get far away from noises and people in order to hear God speak to us—otherwise we'd never perceive His promptings in the course of our daily lives. There are, however, times to eliminate the voices of the world around us in order to hear the voice of God more clearly.

A Brief History of the Uses and Abuses of Silence and Solitude

           

Historically, the disciplines of silence and solitude have been variously used as an appropriate means of spiritual formation or less appropriately as a means to escape the difficulty associated with living in a sinful world. Philip Koch in his book, Solitude-A Philosophical Encounter, writes, “Criticisms have been launched on the grounds of prudence, sanity, and morality: solitude is empty, pointless, vain, foolish, lonely, and dangerous; it is unnatural, morbid, and pathological; it is self-indulgent, selfish, escapist, and evasive of social responsibility.”[4] Certainly there is some truth to these criticisms but they can hardly be considered true in all cases. No doubt there are some who have used the monastic life, for example, as a means to escape the responsibilities of their lives. However, it is going too far to say it is pointless and foolish in all cases. Tension results from the competing claims known as the “Active Life” versus the “Contemplative Life.” Koch writes, “The conflict between these two ‘lives’ is already discernable in the two sources of Occidentalism, Greco-Roman culture and Judeo-Christian religion. Succeeding centuries articulated and elaborated the conflict, reframing it to address their own particular concerns.”[5]

Greco-Roman Culture

From approximately 600-400 BC (the classical period) there was an emphasis on the total involvement of the citizenry in the affairs of the culture and derision for those who did not as witnessed by the saying, “A man who takes no concern for the good of the polis we hold to be good for nothing.”[6] Philosophers during that same time, however, identified solitary contemplation as the highest human good.

            Centuries later in Rome, the debate turned to a life of public service as one option and retirement to the country seat as the other option. “Virgil, Pliny, and Seneca also celebrated the leisure, safety, rest, and freedom for study that solitary withdrawl provided—although the country estates they considered retreats were certainly not places of utter solitude, dependent as they were upon serfs and slaves.”[7] Other philosophers of this era believed that humanity is not specifically independent of each other or the state and therefore have a distinct responsibility to live in service and community to both.

Judeo-Christian Religion

            The Hebrew people were essentially a model of communal relations. As such, there is great emphasis on the dynamic of living together. However, the practice of solitude is hardly a foreign concept in this context. Furthermore, solitude seems to be a natural part of living in relation to the God who adopted and set apart the nation of Israel for himself. For example, Moses lived in relation to all the people of Israel as their leader yet spent forty days on Mt. Sinai in solitude with God to receive the ten commandments. In fact, the Old Testament is replete with examples of prophets and leaders of Israel leading and living within the community of Israel yet separating themselves for times to be in communion with God. Some believe that many of the Psalms were written by King David while he was in the solitude of a cave. The prophet Elijah and Hosea as described above and many others spent time alone seeking God’s direction and comfort.

            The pattern continued during the New Testament era as we see John the Baptist led into the desert for forty days to inaugurate his ministry and similarly how Jesus was led into the desert for forty days after his baptism to prepare him for his earthly ministry. The pattern continued as Paul spent time in the desert of Arabia after his conversion. This continued as “The Desert Fathers would seek to replicate this pattern of trial and enlightenment in solitude.”[8]

            During the period between the first four centuries after Christ and the fourteenth century, there was a substantial breakdown in law, and consequently in security, in Europe and it became increasingly dangerous to be alone. A lone person often fell prey to “robbers and Vikings.”[9] During this same time, monasticism established itself firmly in the culture as a safe means of seclusion. Interestingly, the debate between competing monastic orders began to parallel the debate from the early Greco-Roman culture. “St. Basil forbade his monks to retreat into solitude, insisting that “the life of solitude violated the divine law of love and was injurious to the soul of the solitary in nursing a sense of self-sufficiency and spiritual pride. St. Benedict, on the other hand, still accorded the highest virtue to the anchorite.”[10]

            During the period of the Enlightenment (18^th century), philosophers tended to frown on monastic practices. However, toward the end of the eighteenth century and into the early Romantics period (late 18^th to early 19^th century), the practice of solitude began to re-establish itself. However, the practice focused primarily on self and essentially became a form of narcissism. During this time the new frontier was the wilderness of America and the debate continued as Puritans claimed that, “Frontiersmen who went alone into the great woods were…beyond ‘the power of example and check of shame’ having ‘degenerated altogether into the hunting state’ having become ‘no better than carnivorous animals,’ they show that man ‘cannot live in solitude, he must belong to some community bound by some ties.’”[11]

The debate in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries continues yet in a very different context. In the modern or postmodern capitalistic context, solitude would seem to be a natural virtue associated with individualism. However, the pursuit of the trappings associated with capitalistic cultures often conflict with the principles of silence and solitude. Communist, socialist and dictatorial cultures pose an interesting dichotomy to capitalistic cultures in that they insist that society is so interrelated either directly or indirectly that solitude is simply an illusion. It is interesting to note that often the people in these cultural contexts are so oppressed that solitude is there only means of relief. Consequently, those who have the natural opportunity to practice silence and solitude often neglect that opportunity while those who live in a context that discourages solitude clamor for its power of freedom.

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[1] David Runcorn, A Center of Quiet-Hearing God When Life is Noisy, (Downers Grove, IL, InterVarsity Press, 1990), pp. 5-6.

[2] Wayne E. Oates, Nurturing Silence in a Noisy Heart, (Garden City, NY, Doubleday & Company, 1979), p. 83.

[3] Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline-The Path to Spiritual Growth, (HarperCollins Publishers, New York, NY, 1998),  p. 98.

[4] Philip Koch, Solitude-A Philosophical Encounter, (Peru, IL, Open Court Publishing, 1994), p. 201.

[5] Ibid., p. 202.

[6] Ibid., p. 203.

[7] Ibid., p. 204.

[8] Ibid., p. 205.

[9] Ibid.

[10] Ibid.

[11] Ibid., p. 214.

Boot Straps and Rabbit's Foot

            Let me begin by giving you a bit of my religious background. I grew up in a Roman Catholic home and attended the Catholic church as a youth and considered myself a Catholic until my early twenties even though I hardly ever attended church in my late teens and early twenties. I met my wife in my early twenties and she introduced me to Protestantism and the United Church of Christ. We attended occasionally but eventually moved on to the Lutheran church where we attended regularly while my children were both very small. When my children were still young, neighbors invited us to their evangelical church. We stayed there until the kids were in middle school when we relocated to a different evangelical church with a better youth program. My time in Seminary spanned my tenure at these last two evangelical churches. During my ten years in Seminary, I was exposed to the Anglican and Pentecostal traditions as well. So what’s my point in telling you all this? Well, I’d like to make it clear that my teaching on the following subject takes into consideration various traditions and practices. Also, I haven’t been “wounded” by any of them so I have no ax to grind. Obviously, all of these traditions believe they are being faithful to Jesus’ teachings as revealed in Scripture. So which one do I think is being faithful in their teachings and practices? Keep reading and I’ll see if I can answer that question at the end.

            One of the purposes of this blog is to perhaps inspire people to think critically about what they believe and what others say about their own faith. I have seen extremes in the various traditions I have experienced. Traditions that emphasize religious practices such as church attendance, communion, private and public confessions and baptism as instruments of God’s grace and traditions that emphasize God’s grace to the virtual exclusion of everything else. Many in the first group are “Boot strap” Christians. They pick themselves up by their proverbial boot straps and hide behind rituals in the hope that God will love and accept them. Many in the second group are “Rabbit’s foot” Christians. They generally reject formal religious practices and hide behind the “I love Jesus” banner using it like a lucky rabbit’s foot on a key chain thinking that they can carry it around for insurance and then waive that banner in your face when you question the way they live their lives. “Boot strap” Christians pass judgment on “Rabbit’s foot” Christians claiming that they trample God’s sacrifice for their salvation because their lives don’t reflect what they say they believe. “Rabbit’s foot” Christians pass judgment on “Boot strap” Christians saying that they reject God’s sacrifice because they continue to try and earn God’s favor by their own efforts. They are both right and they are both wrong. The answer is not as simple as one might think. A video poem by Spoken Word titled “Why I Hate Religion, But Love Jesus” went viral on my Facebook recently and demonstrates the tension between the two groups. I believe this particular poem is written by someone representing the “Rabbit’s foot” group as he attempts to throw those in the “Boot strap” group under the bus. It is very creative and nicely done but terribly misleading and woefully inaccurate. The purpose of this writing is not to provide a theological critique of the poem but to point out that we are in severe danger of bringing judgment upon ourselves when we begin to cast stones at those who consider themselves to be our brothers and sisters in Christ. And to make matters worse, we bring additional judgment upon ourselves when we use the Scriptures to mislead others either willfully or because of our ignorance. Therefore, I’d like to lead you through the teaching of Jesus in Matthew 7:21-24 specifically and Matthew 7 more generally.

Matthew 7

¹“Do not judge, or you too will be judged. ²For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. ³Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? ⁴How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? ⁵You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.

⁶ Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.

⁷Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. ⁹Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ¹²So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

¹³Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.

¹⁵Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. ¹⁶By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? ¹⁷Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. ¹⁸A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. ¹⁹Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. ²⁰Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

²¹Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. ²²Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ ²³Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

²⁴Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. ²⁵The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. ²⁶But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. ²⁷The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

²⁸When Jesus had finished saying these things, the crowds were amazed at his teaching, ²⁹because he taught as one who had authority, and not as their teachers of the law.

            At first glance, it appears there are a number of teachings contained in this particular text. While that would be an accurate observation, I believe we can find a logical progression in Jesus’ teaching in this particular text. Here’s what I’d like to do: I’m going to traverse this text in reverse and see how the beginning of the chapter provides the answer to the question we asked at the beginning of this lesson.

Vv. 28-29 – These verses are the umbrella for all of Jesus’ teachings. He has supreme authority over our lives and it doesn’t really matter if we like it or think it’s fair.

Vv. 24-27 – Jesus often told stories to drive his point deep into the lives and hearts of those who would listen to him. His point in this particular story is that if we build our lives on the truths of his teachings, both in our words and in our deeds, then we will be able to withstand the storms that will inevitably smash into our lives. Pain, disappointment, suffering, oppression , sickness and even death won’t be able to separate us from Jesus’ promises for our lives.

Vv. 21-23 – I believe this is the most difficult part of the chapter. Craig Keener writes, “Churchgoers today are no more automatically saved than those who ate with Jesus in the past (as is often noted, attending a church no more makes one a Christian than entering a garage makes on a car). Not those who claim to “know” Jesus but only those who do the Father’s will have any claim on Jesus (cf. Matt. 12:50).”[1] Professor Craig Blomberg writes that these verses, “Enumerate the ways in which individuals masquerade as Christians. They may verbally affirm that Jesus is their Master, perhaps with great joy and enthusiasm, but such claims must issue in lives of obedience (an important qualification of Rom. 10:10-13). Others perform exorcisms and some work various kinds of miracles…But these external demonstrations prove nothing. The question is whether one’s heart has been cleansed inwardly or whether apparent acts of ministry still serve only self, rapaciously using others for one’s own ends (cf. Acts 20:29-30).”[2] Donald Hagner sums it up nicely when he writes, “Mere lip service to the lordship of Jesus is of no consequence. What is important is “doing” the Father’s will.”[3]

Vv. 15-20 – These verses warn us of the dangers of “false prophets” that we will inevitable encounter in our lives. “Prophets” are often mistakenly thought to be those who tell us what is going to happen at some point in the future. While that is certainly one of the ways that God uses prophets, a prophet is really anyone who communicates God’s revelation or message to people. Prophets can be ordained ministers, everyday laypersons or a musical artist like Spoken Word conveying a message through a poem. Jesus tells us that we can know the authenticity of prophets by the “fruit” in their lives. In fact, this “fruit” is the sign, not only of prophets, but of all true believers. Consequently it is important that we be able to recognize that “fruit” and whether it is good “fruit” or bad “fruit.” Of course, the “fruit” that Jesus is referencing is character qualities. So what are these qualities and how do we acquire them? Well they are, in fact, the fruits of the Holy Spirit which grow and develop in believers as they are indwelt by the Holy Spirit when they accept Jesus Christ as their savior (These “fruits” can be nurtured but it is not the intention of this particular writing to enumerate those disciplines). In his letter to the church in Galatia, Paul tells us the difference between bad fruit (sinful nature) and the fruit of the Spirit (good fruit):

Galatians 5:19-23

            ¹⁹The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; ²⁰idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions ²¹and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, ²³gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.

            Keep in mind that Paul is writing this letter to Christians. They have spoken the words of salvation but Paul is reminding them that the proof of the authenticity of those words are revealed in the actions and character of their lives.

            Vv. 13-14 – If these words don’t frighten you then you had best go back and read them again very carefully. Think about the “Boot strap” Christians and the “Rabbit’s foot” Christians. One has a list that they can follow and show others to follow and the other has the “I love Jesus” banner that everyone can rally behind. Both extremes seem very simple—perhaps because they attempt to enter through the “wide gate”—the gate that leads to destruction. What if doing the will of the Father leads to the narrow gate? What if the Father’s will is for us, “To believe in the one he [God] has sent.” (John 6:29) and to “Be holy in all you do; for it is written: Be holy, because I [God] am holy.” (1 Pet. 1:16) I don’t know about you, but suddenly that gate is quite narrow indeed! How can we possibly enter through such a narrow gate? How will we find our way?

            Vv. 7-12 – Ask! Seek! Knock! That’s how we will find our way through the narrow gate. Ask Jesus to show us the way to live a holy life. Search your life and be honest with yourself. “Boot strap” Christians need to burn their lists and ask Jesus to drive the free gift of salvation deep into their hearts so they can truly believe in the one he has sent. “Rabbit’s foot” Christians need to burn their “I love Jesus” banner and ask Jesus to transform them from the inside so that their lives can reflect the truth of the love they profess by leading lives marked by holiness. Then you will find the narrow gate and when you knock, Jesus will open the gate and welcome you in.

            V. 6 – This verse seems disconnected from the immediate context but Matthew may have had in mind that this matter is intended for those who are serious about their faith and that not everyone will appreciate its gravity and may, in fact, attack you for it.

            Vv. 1-5 – Although these verses are at the beginning, I think they serve to tie a nice bow on this lesson. Here’s the point: Hopefully I have demonstrated that “Boot strap” Christians and “Rabbit’s foot” Christians may not be on the path leading to the narrow gate. In fact, the narrow gate is so difficult that only a “few” will enter through it. Therefore, it would be prudent for all of us to focus all our attention on whether or not we are on the path that leads to the narrow gate instead of expending our energy judging others who profess to be Christians as to whether they are on the wrong path? Here’s what I think: Believe in the one God sent and be holy just as God is holy and I have no doubt that others will gladly follow you to and through the narrow gate. You will attract far more people to hear your message with the beauty of your life than you ever will by lobbing verbal bombs at them. Furthermore, never, ever, presume that you are able to judge people in the same way Jesus was and is able to judge people (unless, of course, you can walk on water and raise the dead)!

Conclusion

            My intention is not to leave you with instruction that is dire and seems hopeless. On the contrary—through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross, there is nothing but hope that we will spend eternity with Jesus. However, remember what Jesus had to endure and make sure you accept it with gratitude while at the same time understanding that with such a tremendous sacrifice comes tremendous responsibility on our part. Trust in what Jesus has done for you on the cross and do the hard work through the power of the Holy Spirit to live a life of holiness that leads to the narrow gate where Jesus will be waiting for you. So, what is the answer to the question we asked at the beginning? Be obedient to ALL of Scripture and let Jesus be the final judge since that’s his job not ours.

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[1] Craig S. Keener, Matthew—The IVP New Testament Commentary Series, (Downers Grove, IL, InterVarsity Press, 1997), p. 166.

[2] Craig L. Bomberg, Matthew—The New American Commentary, (Nashville, TN, Broadman Press, 1992), pp. 132-133.

[3] Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 1-13—Word Biblical Commentary, (Dallas, TX, Word Books, 1993), p. 187.

By Faith, God Makes the Impossible--Possible

            Before you start reading, take a couple of minutes to watch this film clip from the movie “Field of Dreams.”

I love that move! I can still remember the first time I saw it. I was amazed at how they were able to weave together reality and fantasy into such a compelling story. I wonder—does that sort of thing actually happen in real life? I don’t mean a voice telling you to plow down your cornfield and build a baseball diamond. See, Ray (played by Kevin Costner) reached a crossroads that required a decision—a decision that required a tremendous act of faith. Would God ever ask us to do something that requires tremendous faith—something that on the surface seems totally unreasonable, illogical or maybe even impossible? Below is the biblical story of a man named Abram who also came to a crossroads that required a tremendous act of faith.

Genesis 12:1-4:

¹ TheLORD had said to Abram, “Leave your country, your people and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you.

² I will make you into a great nation

and I will bless you;

I will make your name great,

and you will be a blessing.

³ I will bless those who bless you,

and whoever curses you I will curse;

and all peoples on earth

will be blessed through you.”

⁴ So Abram left, as the LORD had told him; and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he set out from Haran.

I’ve read that story countless times but I admit not very critically. So let’s take a look at the text carefully. After you read verse four, what do you think to yourself? “That’s way too neat and clean to be true for real life.” In other words, “You’re kidding right?” It bothers me. Not because of what’s in the text but because of what’s missing from the text. Try and put yourself into this story and see if it makes sense to you. God says leave your home and family and go to some strange place that I’ll tell you about later. I’m going to make you into a great nation and I’ll bless you and the world through you. What would you do? What about if you’re married? What was the conversation like for Abram when he got home and broke the news to his wife? Maybe something like this:

Sarai: “Hi Abe. How was your day?”

Abe: “Hi Sarai. It was very interesting. God spoke to me today.”

Sarai: “Really! What did he say?”

Abe: “Well, maybe you should sit down. God said that I should leave Haran. He said that he would make me into a great nation and bless me and the world through me.”

(Right here is where you have that long deadly silence. I’m sure if you’ve been married for any length of time, you’re familiar with this.)

Sarai: “Leave? Why?”

Abe: “I don’t know.”

Sarai: “Where are we supposed to go?”

Abe: “I don’t know.”

Sarai: “How will he make you into a great nation when you don’t even have an heir and your 75 years old?”

Abe: “I don’t know.”

Sarai: “How will you be blessed and the world be blessed through you?”

(Ok so right here, you realize that it never dawned on you that you should have gotten some additional information and clarification—maybe asked a few obvious questions.)

Abe: “I don’t know.”

Sarai: “Abe, it’s bad enough that you won’t ask for directions when we jump on the camel and get lost going across town but now we’re supposed to turn our lives upside down and you don’t bother to ask a few simple questions! What are we supposed to do now?

Abe: “Start packing?”

I obviously don’t know how that conversation really went but let’s take a brief look at the answers to the questions Abram doesn’t ask but that we probably would. Why did Abram have to leave his home and family? Well, Haran was on a major trade route in northern Mesopotamia. It was an affluent and vital business community. Abram and his family came in contact with people from even the farthest reaches of the region. As a consequence, Abram and his family were exposed to a variety of religious influences. Unfortunately, Abram’s family adopted some of those foreign religious practices. If we read Joshua 24:2, we see that Joshua recounts Israel’s earliest history that Abram was called to leave Haran where his family worshipped “foreign gods.” Sometimes, before God can fully use us, he may not only be calling us “to” something, he may first be calling us “away” from something.

Where was Abram going? In chapter eleven of Genesis, we see that Abram’s father, Terah, was on his way to Canaan when the clan stopped off in Haran and eventually settled there. But Genesis 13 shows us that Canaan is where God would eventually lead Abram. In case you miss the significance of the trip from Haran to the place in Canaan where Abram would eventually settle, Haran is in modern-day southeast Turkey and Abram finally settled in Hebron, which is in south/central Israel. That’s about 450 straight-line miles of rugged terrain in a harsh climate! Today we can travel around the entire world in only a few days but it probably took Abram more than a month to get to where he was going. If we look back over the entire story of Abram, we can see how God was at work in his life in various ways as he eventually led Abram to the land he had intended to give as a promise all along. When my kids were younger, every summer I would take them once a week to a nursing home to visit residents who didn’t get many visitors. One of the things I found interesting when I talked to residents about their lives in Christ is the common refrain of how when they looked back over their lives, they could see God weaving his plan in and through the events of their lives to accomplish his will. As I grow older, I see this at work in my own life. God is always at work around us to accomplish his plan for us even though we may not see it or understand it.

How will Abram become a great nation? I mean don’t you first need an heir—what was it going to be a nation of one? And what about the fact that Abram was 75 years old? Well don’t worry, God didn’t provide Abram with an heir when he was 75 years old because that would be crazy. Instead, in Genesis 17 we read that God waited until Abram was 99 years old! God visited Abram while he was living in Canaan and promised him a son. Abram and his wife Sarai, who was 90 at the time, did have a child who they named Isaac and the birth of Isaac was in fact the beginning of countless generations that would fulfill God’s promise that Abram would become a great nation. Just when we think God has forgotten us, he comes through with his promises for our lives. We always think he’s late but in fact, God’s timing is always perfect because he knows the beginning before the end. We often miss out on God’s blessings because we don’t trust God’s timing. We just don’t think it’s possible.

But if God’s plans are a blessing, how would the nations be blessed by and/or through Abram? If we were to go back and take a look at Israel’s history after Abram, we’d find that at various times, Israel was tremendously affluent and prosperous. No doubt, the nations who allied themselves with her shared in her success. Others may have even been encouraged to follow the God of Israel as a result of Israel’s prominence and influence in the region. However, there are two very important landmarks in Israel’s history that I want to bring to your attention. They can be found in the genealogical record at the beginning of Matthew’s gospel. Abram’s genealogical record is divided into two major blocks of fourteen generational periods. The first block culminates with David--arguably Israel’s greatest earthly king. There is little doubt that his rule benefited both Israel and Israel’s allies. However, it is the culmination of the second block of fourteen generational periods that is the most significant. You see it culminates with the generation of Jesus Christ himself. And we know that it is through Jesus, his earthly ministry, his death and his resurrection, that the blessing of salvation is now available to the entire world. So we see that God did, in fact, bless Abram and the world through Abram.

So now we have all the answers to our questions and now it’s OK for Abram to go! And here’s what I believe is the critical point that the author is trying to make with this text. See, we have this terrible tendency to read the text in the context of our knowledge of subsequent events. We just went through the answers to the questions that we may have asked had we been in Abram’s position. However, the problem with doing that is that it takes away from the tremendous impact of verse four of the text. You see, while we know what’s going to happen and how God is going to fulfill his promises to Abram, Abram didn’t know and had no way of knowing for certain and yet he went anyway! This is the key text that even the writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 11:8 picks up on when he says, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going.” By faith, God makes the impossible—possible! Can’t we say the same thing for our lives today? So many things seem impossible because we don’t have all the answers. But this story demonstrates to us that God works in and through our lives and that by faith, God make the impossible—possible in our lives as well.

But what does that look like in real life? First of all, let me say that God’s call in our lives may be as dramatic as Abram’s call to leave the familiar and travel to the unknown or as simple as a walk down the street to serve a neighbor in need. However, we often neglect these small acts of service because we don’t think they could possibly make a difference-but they do! Also, every one of you has been called by God in some unique way to fulfill a purpose that you have been designed to fulfill. Paul reminds us in his letter to the Ephesians that we have been created in Christ to do good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do. Here, however, is where many of us get stuck. When we look at these verses in Genesis and other similar verses, we find ourselves waiting for God to call us to something bigger and better but when it doesn’t happen or perhaps the opposite happens, we begin to think that God can’t possibly use us-but he does! What we need to remember is that sometimes, God’s not calling us to a life of earthly prosperity and glory but to a life of suffering, hardship and maybe even death. So here’s where the rubber meets the road; Can you identify anything in your life that God might be calling you to do that you’ve been putting off. Maybe that’s calling a parent, a child or a sibling you haven’t talked to in a while. Or saying sorry to a friend for something you said or did. Or resigning from that job that always presents you with an opportunity to be unfaithful to your spouse. Or maybe it’s getting help for some kind of addiction you may be struggling with. Or maybe it’s agreeing to leave the familiarity and comfort of your home and family and travel to the unknown where the message of God’s love has yet to be proclaimed. In any event, when it seems clear that God has called you to move in some way, then in the famous words from Nike; Just Do It!!! I have no doubt that God will demonstrate that he will be faithful when you are obedient and demonstrate your faith and trust in him. Because, by faith, God makes the impossible—possible!

            At the start, you watch the movie clip from “Field of Dreams” when Ray hears the voice imploring him to build what would eventually be a baseball field in the middle of his cornfield. The movie takes countless twists and turns from there that weaves the past into the present. Ultimately, however, the movie is about redemption. Ray, in an adolescent act of defiance against his father, says something hurtful about his father’s favorite baseball player, Shoeless Joe Jackson, and the two become estranged thereafter. Ray’s father dies before they have a chance to reconcile their relationship. Take some time to enjoy the final scene of the movie. It is a moving scene where the reconciliation with Ray’s father that seemed impossible because of his father’s death becomes possible because Ray made the decision to plow under a section of his farmland to build a baseball field in obedience to the voice that said: “If you build it, he will come.” In some small way, Ray demonstrated a principle for our lives—By faith, God makes the impossible—possible .

A Life Humbly Submitted To God

I came across a recent article titled "Air Jordan Sales Draw Police" that piqued my curiosity. The article read in part, "Fights, vandalism and arrests marked the release of Nike's new Air Jordan basketball shoes as a shopping rush on stores across the United States led to unrest that nearly turned into rioting...A man was stabbed when a brawl broke out between several people waiting in line at a Jersey City, New Jersey mall to buy the new shoes...In Richmond, California, police say crowds waiting to buy the Air Jordan 11 Retro Concords at the Hilltop Mall were turned away after a gunshot rang out." It was an eerie reminder of a sermon I gave years ago. Solomon's words are again true when he said, "There is nothing new under the sun." (Ecc. 1:9) As a result, I want to share the following teaching with you from James 4:1-12.

Do you remember when Nike first came out with Air Jordan basketball shoes? Although designer basketball shoes are now the norm, back then having a pair of Air Jordan basketball shoes meant you were somebody. Even though they cost a ridiculous amount of money, retailers couldn’t keep them on the shelves. Unfortunately, the shoes were extremely popular among communities of adolescents who could ill afford to spend that kind of money on a pair of basketball shoes. Nevertheless, for some, the desire to have a pair of those shoes pushed them over the edge. On May 2, 1989, the body of 15-year-old Michael Thomas, a ninth grader at Meade Senior High School in Maryland, was found strangled behind the school-yard. Charged with first-degree murder was 17-year-old James Martin. Martin was a basketball buddy who killed Thomas then stripped him of his two-week-old Air Jordan basketball shoes and left Thomas’ barefoot body in the woods near the school.

Two lives ruined over a silly pair of basketball shoes! Crazy? Maybe. But I’ll bet you know some people who act like this. I’ll bet there are people who act like this in your very own church.  People who “have it” and people who “want it”. Maybe it hasn’t led to murder as in the case of young Mr. Thomas but you’ve seen how ugly it can get when the “have it’s” flaunt it and the “want it’s” hate them for having it. The pursuit of the things of this world is a vicious cycle and the Church isn’t immune to its effects. In Christian parlance, this feverish pursuit is better known as “worldliness”. Here’s how it’s defined: It is a passion for sensual satisfaction, an inordinate desire for the finer things of life and the self-satisfaction of who we are, what we have, and what we have done. Worldliness is a preoccupation with ease and affluence. It elevates creature comfort to the point of idolatry—large salaries and a comfortable life style become necessities of life. So how does the Christian overcome this ugly spirit of worldliness? At first glance, it would seem that you would either fall into the “have it” camp or the “want it” camp.  But is there another option?  This is exactly what James had to deal with.  Let’s look at what’s going on in James 4:1-12:

¹What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ²You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask God. ³When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

⁴You adulterous people, don’t you know that friendship with the world is hatred toward God? Anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God. ⁵Or do you think Scripture says without reason that the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely? ⁶But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says:

“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”

⁷Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Come near to God and he will come near to you. Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

¹¹Brothers, do not slander one another. Anyone who speaks against his brother or judges him speaks against the law and judges it. When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting in judgment on it. ¹²There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?

Let me put these verses into a little context.  Throughout the Roman Empire, wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few large agrarian landowners.  Middle-class merchants aspiring to be counted among the rich and powerful worked closely with such landowners to further control all segments of the agrarian marketplace.  The result, therefore, was a growing dependence on landowners for survival.  This resulted in practically inhumane conditions for the poor working-class.  Of which James’ audience was no doubt a part.  In large part, the Palestinian population was forced to live in working-class ghettos with no hope of an improved life.

James’ audience is desperately poor. They have nothing! So they deserve to be in the “want it” camp. Right! No! That’s not what James thinks. Even though they have nothing, what should be their attitude? Humbly submit to God who will ensure that they get whatever they need. So there’s another group to which we can belong—the “submit to God” group. According to James, the answer to overcome worldliness belongs not to those in the “have it” camp, nor to those in the “want it” camp, instead the answer is held by those in the “submit to God” camp. When James talks about their desires, he isn’t talking about the desire to satisfy their daily necessities. In v. 1, the word there for “desires” is best translated as “evil desires” and the word for “spend” in v. 3 is best translated as “squander”. The picture James is painting is precisely like the one painted by Jesus in the parable of the Prodigal Son. If you recall, the son goes away with his inheritance and “squanders” (same word) it all on prostitutes and wild living. This is the kind of desire James is talking about in v. 1. They have not humbly submitted to God but to their own evil desires. In fact, some in his audience are so intent on satisfying their evil desires James says in v. 2 and v. 11 that they’ve resorted to at least verbally abusing one another if not actually physically abusing one another. James is incensed with their behavior. These aren’t lives humbly submitted to God. Instead, to what have they submitted their lives? James tells us in v.4—they’ve submitted their lives to the things of the world. James calls it friendship with the world. A better translation would be that they love the world. As a result, they render themselves enemies of God. You see for the Christian, it’s one or the other. Do you remember what Jesus said about money? In Matthew 6:24 he says you can’t serve both God and money. He doesn’t say you can’t have both but that you can’t serve both. We either serve and submit to the things of the world or we serve and humbly submit to God—not both. Clearly, there are many who try to rationalize their worldly behavior by saying that although they enjoy the luxuries of the world, they are not obsessed with pursuing the things of the world. Yet virtually all areas of their lives tell a different story. James has a name for these people in v. 8—he condemns them as being double-minded.

In a survey in Discipleship Journal, readers ranked their areas of greatest spiritual challenge. The top three, in order, are; 1) materialism, 2) pride, and 3) self-centeredness. You see, it’s easy to talk about a life submitted to God but why is it so difficult to live such a life? James gives us a clue in v. 5 when he says, “the spirit he caused to live in us envies intensely”. The spirit God placed within each of us to desire Him, after the fall, began to desire the things of the world instead. However, those who have accepted Christ as Lord and Master have agreed to live a life humbly submitted to Him. Yet that spirit that envies intensely is still there! So how are we even able to live a life humbly submitted to God? James tells us in v. 6 when he says; “But he [God] gives us more grace.” By God’s grace! It is by God’s grace that we can live a life humbly submitted to God. Does James say anywhere that, “God opposes the humble but gives grace to the wealthy, popular and powerful?” No! It’s to the humble that he gives grace! Those humbly submitted to Him and to no one and to nothing else.

How then do we live a life humbly submitted to God? First of all, James says in v. 7 that we are to resist the devil. I heard a story once about a sheep rancher who consistently lost a large percentage of newborn lambs every year to coyotes. She tried everything. Electric fences, dogs, you name it. Then one day while she was in town, an old rancher told her to put a llama in with her sheep. As strange as that sounds, when sheep is your livelihood, it doesn’t take losing too many before you try just about anything. So she went out, bought a llama and put it out to pasture with the sheep. To her amazement, the llama solved her problem. Oddly, when the coyotes came prowling, the llama would raise its head and run straight at the coyotes. This sign of aggression by its potential food wasn’t worth the effort for coyotes who are opportunity hunters. As a consequence, they moved on to hunting grounds where they would be unopposed by their prey. In this same way, we humbly submit to God when we aggressively resist the devil’s temptations. When the devil has moved on to hunting grounds where he will be unopposed, James says in v. 8 that we are free to turn unopposed to God. In doing so, however, James goes on to say we must wash our hands and purify our hearts. James’ audience, being primarily Jewish, would have understood this metaphor in the context of the ceremonial cleansing that took place before the Jewish priests entered the temple. Although we now have direct access to God through the work of Christ, we are nevertheless called to prepare ourselves before we presume to enter into the presence of God. What then does James mean when he says we are to wash our hands and purify our hearts? The key is found in James’ condemnation of his audience as “double-minded.” Double-minded, according to James, is professing to be humbly submitted to God yet aggressively pursuing the things of the world. Washing our hands and purifying our hearts, therefore, means that we are single-minded, focused on only one thing—living a life humbly submitted to God. In general, how does that single-minded focus manifest itself in our lives? James tells us in v. 9 that it shows by our attitude toward our sin. We are to “grieve, mourn and wail.” It is only when we live a life humbly submitted to God that we can truly grasp the tremendous cost of our sin. Understanding what our sin cost God should have a profound impact on our lives. Our lives can no longer be defined by carefree laughter, frivolous living and the obsessive pursuit of worldly pleasures. This does not demonstrate a life humbly submitted to God. Finally, what happens when we humbly submit to God? James tells us in v. 10 that; “He will lift us up.” God’s objective is not that we live a life of perpetual grief and sorrow, but simply that we live in submission to Him and not to the world. When we have done that, He then gives us His grace to continue to live our lives in submission to Him.

Hopefully by now you got the point that Christians overcome worldliness by humbly submitting to God. But since we still have to live in the world, what does that look like? Some early Christians believed that the only way to truly submit to God was to be isolated from the world. As a result, ascetics perched atop high rock outcroppings became a spectacle during the early centuries of Christianity. Now that might be your approach to combat worldliness, but this is clearly not the preferred lifestyle for the vast majority of Christians. Most Christians have to deal with one or all of the following:  jobs, money, homes, cars, etc. Since these things exist within the culture of the world, does their possession define worldliness? Biblically, people have always had jobs (something dealing with livestock), compensation (sometimes in livestock), homes (amongst the livestock), and transportation (usually livestock). Yet none of these people were condemned on the principle of their possessions. The myth that these things define worldliness is generally easy to dispel based on Biblical cultural patterns. Some believe that the key is found within these things themselves. What kind of job is biblical? How much money is reasonable? What size home is practical? What kind of car is necessary? If only we had the answers to these questions then we could check them off our piety list and be in good standing with God. The problem is that the most pious people in the Bible were the ones Jesus had the most trouble with—the Pharisees. Why doesn’t God just give us a list so we can know where the boundaries are and avoid this problem altogether? He did and we wound up with Pharisees. Therefore, instead of asking what kind of job is biblical, a better question might be; do I do my job as though I were doing it for God? Instead of asking how much money is reasonable, a better question might be; do I spend my money for the charitable benefit of others and God’s kingdom or do I spend it to satisfy my own desires? Instead of asking what size home is practical, a better question might be; is my home open to those who have nowhere else to go? Instead of asking what kind of car is necessary, a better question might be; is my car a tool used to serve others or is it only a luxurious convenience for myself? The point is not whether or not God allows us to have these things; the point is our attitude toward them. When you look at all areas of your life, ask yourself these two questions: 1) What’s in it for God? and then, 2) What’s in it for me? Then take a close look at all the areas of your life were there’s more in it for you than for God. Because how you answer these questions will give you an idea of whether you are living a life submitted to the world or whether you are living a life humbly submitted to God.