Random thoughts on the extended lockdown

1.  Spiritual/social toll.
So I’m starting to notice a bit of frayed edges on people.  We have a bit less grace with each other in some interactions, especially written.  I've done this, too.  This is probably part of isolation-toll.  Tempers and patience can be shorter.  Let’s work at it, people.  Kindness is a fruit of the Holy Spirit, and we need to extend it to each other, as we are stretched in our own capacity to adapt to all the adjustments.

2.  Lessons to learn
Our society puts so much faith in medicine, science, government, and the economy.  We are seeing the limits of each, to a staggering effect.  God is knocking each of them down a peg.  Not that they aren't normally ways God provides for us, but we idolize them - look only to them for solutions, or for perfection they can't give.  Instead of turning to God, we are leaning IN to our idols.  Yikes.  Almost like when Dagon fell in his temple when the ark was put in it, and the priests just set him back up again (1 Samuel 5).


3. Nanny state, or needed restriction?
It's frustrating me that some state governors, including mine, are acting like our school marms, with detailed direction, and long diatribes, like we can't think for ourselves.  But then again, maybe we really are this dumbed down as a society.  Recent meme online: "how will Walmart get customers to wear masks when they can't get them to wear pants?"

Red Rising

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A very different kind of book than I usually read.

Ben Shapiro recommended it right about the time I started listening to him a month or so ago, and now I can see why.

Set centuries in the future, Darrow is a miner on Mars. Life is hard, and short. He doesn’t realize it, but he is a slave in a strict caste system. He loses his family to the punishment of the state. He is shown the Big Lie of Society, and genetically changed to join and compete with the highest caste as a sleeper agent. I won’t spoil the rest.

With PG-13 language and R violence throughout, this is not a book for the faint of heart. It is a mix of Game of Thrones (gritty, feudal politics), Matrix (plot), Ayn Rand (freedom anthem), Lord of the Flies (civilization lost to barbarism), and Harry Potter (house competition).

Is it worth reading? I think so. Literarily, the plot structure seemed original to me, though I’m no expert in that. The suspense was good, though it lagged at points in the middle.

Red Rising is an insightful study into totalitarian societies – how they work, the tricks used to keep people subservient, to produce the next generation of a ruling class, and the choices individuals can take to fight for freedom. It’s also a case study in Darwinism run amok. What if a society’s ruling class has no brakes in their “kill or be killed” belief? Cheat or be cheated. Get them before they get you. It’s a bloody cautionary tale: we need ethical restraint or it’s just a jungle out there.

Unfortunately, not much is given in the way of what that ethical restraint needs to be. Two themes emerge. First, freedom is expensive in blood and personal sacrifice, but it’s worth fighting for. Second, loyalty is a higher value than survival. But both freedom and loyalty may need to be given up in the short run to achieve them in the long run.

The end also leaves ambiguous whether loyalty can really win over the law of the jungle. And whether individual resolve to take on and change society will win out over society making the individual conform.

There are biblical themes, though I don't know they were intended.
It's told in the first person, and on the last page there are a series of "I will" statements that remind me of Isaiah 14:13-14, which is often attributed to Satan. This goes against the grain of the book's thesis, that Darrow is a sort of Messiah who has to just bend the rules. Is he a Savior or a demon?
There is also a nice "slave to son" development.

I liked the critique of totalitarian societies, but not the view that to change the world you'll have to compromise your ethics.



View all my reviews

How Should Churches Meet // China // Ford Makes Ventilators

1. The state of Texas put out this excellent guideline for churches during the pandemic.


2. On US-China Relations:
"one challenge with the U.S.-China relationship is it’s pretty much unprecedented in world history for two countries to be so economically interdependent as the United States and China are and also be strategic rivals. One of those had to give."
https://worldandeverything.org/2020/04/washington-wednesday-beijing-unmasked/


3.  Wall Street has a nice article on a Ford assembly plant converted to producing ventilators, less than an hour from my house.

Going Back to Church

What will going back to church look like after lock-downs?

When churches begin meeting again, will the hugs be stifled?  The conversations from 6 feet away?  It seems to me in many places they will.  Church fellowship is going to look and feel VERY different for a while.  The church I serve worships in a fairly small space, where keeping 6 feet apart is nearly impossible.  We celebrate communion every week – how do we do THAT?!  Lots to ponder in these days.  One state proposes dismissing families one at a time after the service (page 3).

Some ideologically reject the restraint.  We are the body of Christ.  We must show love to one another physically with hugs, handshakes, and so on.  

We are going to need more charity with each other, now more than ever.  If half of your church is willing to risk more germ spread to show love, and the other half wants to strictly socially distance for a good while, how does that work??

Should church leaders set a policy, or let families do as they believe best?

May the Lord give us wisdom in these times.

China Continues to Lie // Learning Times // The Gospel

I'm so disgusted with China's continued brazen deceptions.  They deprive the rest of the world of much needed reliable medical data to save lives.


This is the kind of thing I find it important for Christians to be thinking about in these times.
NOT statist over-reach, but this...


Paul Tripp has a good poem that gives the Gospel in pandemic terms.

Live streaming // Locusts in Africa

Tim Challies has a thoughtful piece on how his church has thought through live streaming.
They've begun thinking of it as a chapel service, not a true worship service of the gathered under elder oversight.
I'm not there, myself.  Oversight of teaching by elders can be given as well online as in person.
But there are good points here about the ways in which a live stream is NOT full-on church.
Music really suffers, and I think that's the big pinch for most churches that are very praise band-dependent.
For bigger churches with staff to video edit, it might make sense to patch together the worship elements from different people.  But in a small church setting like mine, I value the simplicity of one elder simply walking through the usual worship service.  That way, I can stay as focused on content, and not be as distracted by the new medium.



Swarms of locusts, unprecedented in size, in Africa.  Devastating on top of the pandemic.

Encouraging Preachers // Google Bans Standard Christianity // Time to Disregard Gov't?

Challies has a short article on encouraging preachers.
It really rang true for me as one who preaches every Sunday.

-----------

Rod Dreher has been a strong critic of Doug Wilson, so it was fun to see him compliment Wilson for recent sermons relating the pandemic to God's providence.  Here's Dreher summarizing:

"Here’s where I think Wilson’s sermon was radical, in a powerful and prophetic way. Toward the end, after talking about hardness of heart, he mentions that the Japanese did not surrender after seeing one of their cities (Hiroshima) vaporized. It took a second city being obliterated (Nagasaki) before they gave up. Wilson says that we Christians ought not to be praying for relief from the plague, but rather, “We should be asking God to do what it takes” to bring us to repentance."

Wilson's church sermon app has been blocked by Google, thus Dreher's defense.

"Few Christian churches are led by a pastor who is as combative as Doug Wilson, but if Doug Wilson has lost his platform over this, no traditional Christian church is safe..... I read it as a clear warning to traditional Christians about how Big Tech is going to treat us in the future"

Yup.

-------------

At the same time, I found this guy talks more sense than Wilson on civil disobedience, just now...

Anecdotally, I think a LOT of people are disregarding stay at home orders, wherever they can, to keep making a living...

On Prayer

1. How do you pray?

My point today is that our prayers should have consistency and variety, both.  Like any relationship, there are routines and running jokes that are familiar and comfortable.  There also need to be new insights and activities to rejuvenate things.  Prayer is the same way.  Routine consistency is good.  Like many who grew up in a religious home, I heard a similar prayer routinely given by a parent before dinner every night.  But if that’s ALL there is to your prayer life, it’s likely to grow dull soon.  Prayer grows out of an inner life alive to God.  Prayer books or routines are good road signs and guard rails, but they don’t push the engine forward.  Prayer is the canary in the coal mine, as they say, the acid test, of how your relationship with God is doing.  Imagine a marriage relationship where you only ever said the same 4 sentences to each other once or twice a day?  Or where you only read other people’s words to each other?  No, as the Westminster confession says, prayer is offering up our desires to God.  So, we need to talk with God as we would with a loving father, who cares for us, and has the power to give us what we need, and help us sort out our desires along the way.

2. Book review

Today is the Valley of Vision, one help in your prayer life.  It’s a collection of Puritan prayers, so they have a distinctive character.  The prayers are intensely introspective.  Some people criticize that as being too morbid.  That can be true, though the people who jump to that often could stand a little introspection themselves.  But skimming the topics covered, there is little focus on the world out there, in need, so I would not recommend this book as covering everything you need to pray about.  But the prayers that are here are excellent, instructive, convicting and comforting.

On this day // Family Focus Now // Colossians 3

1. This day in history

2. Focus on the family

3. Scripture

1. This day in history

On this day in 1452, the painter, architect, philosopher, poet, composer, sculptor, athlete, mathematician, inventor, and anatomist, Leonardo Da Vinci was born.  His life is worth reading about.  In 1865 on this day, Abraham Lincoln died, having been shot late the night before.  4 years earlier, on the exact same day, Lincoln had declared a state of insurrection and called for an army to put down the southern rebellion.  And last, on this day in 1912 the luxury liner Titanic sank off Newfoundland.  1500 people died.  Thanks to the chivalry of the time, unlike you saw in the movie, 74% of the women survived, and only 20% of the men.  Millionnaire John Astor who helped build the Waldorf-Astoria hotel, and the designer of the Titanic, were both among the dead.

2. Focus on the family

We’ve been in lock down now for about a month.  How are we doing?  I’ve heard of friends getting back to home projects that are decades old.  My wife is finishing a knitting project from years ago.  I organized the books in my study the first week.  One thing quarantine is showing us, is that many of us are not at home being home, while some of us are. 

However that’s working for you, my main point in this segment is to encourage you to focus on your family – those you are living with.  The 2^nd greatest commandment according to Jesus is to love your neighbor, and these are your closest neighbors.  Our twisted humanity has all kinds of ways to turn away from what is most important, and maybe you can see yourself more clearly doing that now.  I know I’m more inclined to scroll the news and FB now than ever, to get informed, to connect with friends.  And we can neglect our families who probably need extra love in this time. 

One thing my extended family has taught me over our years of birthday and holiday parties together, is that there is tremendous value in sitting in the same room together, with no TV or devices on, looking each other in the eye, and conversing.  This is a great time to reclaim the art of conversation, to reconcile old disagreements or wounds, to explore one another’s hopes and dreams, to open the Word of God together and read a passage, and talk about it, and pray together.

3. Scripture - Col 3:12-16

“Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; ¹³ bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. ¹⁴ But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. ¹⁵ And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. ¹⁶ Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”

Resurrection Day

As soon as the Sabbath is over, there is an earthquake, and an angel rolls the stone away.  The guards go from life to death, as Jesus goes from death to life.  The closest women disciples to Jesus go to the tomb to finish treating Jesus’ body.  They realize they’ll have to move the stone, which they aren’t sure they can do.  They are assuming Jesus is still dead.  But the angel announces that He is risen.  They run back to the disciples and tell them.  They hardly believe them, but Peter and John run to the tomb.  They find it empty and wonder what happened, and leave.  Mary hangs around, and Jesus appears to her, but she thinks He is the gardener at first.

The guards report back – they’re in trouble.  They let a Roman seal on the tomb be broken, but the chief priests bribe and cover for them with Rome to tell a cover story that the body was stolen.  It seems the guards were temple ruler guards, not Roman, or they wouldn’t report to the chief priests.

Late that afternoon, two disciples leave Jerusalem for home in Emmaus, and Jesus meets them, but they don’t recognize him.  They talk like He’s dead and it’s all over, their hopes are dashed, when He’s right there, alive!  Jesus explains from Scripture how He had to die and rise again.  Their hearts burn within them.  He goes home with them, prays before the meal, they realize it’s Him, and He disappears.  They run back to Jerusalem 7 miles in the dark, and the disciples tell them Jesus has appeared to Peter – that appearance isn’t recorded anywhere.  Jesus then appears to all of them, lets them touch Him, He eats fish in front of them.

Doubting Thomas wasn’t there, though, and he doesn’t believe them when they tell him later.  It seems Jesus didn’t appear to them between the first and 2^nd Sunday.  He wasn’t constantly with them those 40 days before His ascension.

But the next Sunday he is with them and Jesus appears again, and calls out Thomas gently to touch and see and believe.  This is arguably THE climax of the Gospel of John, when Thomas falls down before Jesus and says, “My Lord and My God.”  John the gospel writer then basically turns to face the camera and says to us, blessed are those who haven’t seen Him and believe.  You can be like Thomas.  Maybe you’ve doubted b/c you’ve never seen Jesus yourself, but we should believe these witnesses, fall down before Jesus, and declare our loyalty and love for such a great Savior.

Holy Week - Saturday - Descent into Hell?

I was recounting the events of Holy Week for you, up to Friday, and then I had to pause to finish preparing worship services.  I’d like to go back to do a few more of these, even though Easter Day is past.  Extended consideration of these events is never out of season.

We ended with the burial of Jesus last Friday, and to stick with a strict timeline, we should next ask, what happened to Jesus between His death and His resurrection?  Put another way, in what sense did Jesus descend into Hell, as the Nicene Creed says?

There are 2 basic views on this.

The traditional Protestant view held by John Calvin and others says that Jesus suffered Hell on the cross as the Father punished Him for our sins.  That was the descent, and from His death to His resurrection, and whatever happened to the human spirit or soul of Jesus, it wasn’t in Hell.  Some say He was simply resting, which is appropriate as it was the last Sabbath of the old order.  Others might say He went to His Father, since He tells the thief on the cross that “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

Another view held by many respected readers of the Bible is called the Harrowing of Hell.  Based on 1 Peter 3:18-20, it says that Jesus did descend to hell, not to suffer more punishment from God for our sin – that was finished on the cross.  No, Jesus went to Hell to do 2 things in this view.  One, Peter says He preached to the rebellious spirits there, so we presume He was announcing His victory to them, maybe describing in detail just what His crucifixion and resurrection means for them in terms of defeat.  Two, He leads captivity captive, Eph 4:8-10.  The idea here is that OT saints until now, went to Sheol or Hades.  Plenty OT verses mention that believers and unbelievers alike go down to Sheol when they die.  Heb 11:39 says they did not receive the promise, but had to wait for Christ’s coming for that. 

If you remember your Greek worldview, Hades has two parts, a place called paradise for the good, and Tartarus, a place of torment for the wicked.  So Jesus is with the thief on the cross in paradise, as He frees all believers from there to ascend to glory in heaven, and await there in God’s immediate presence, the resurrection of the body at the last day.

I don’t take a strong position one way or another on this.  Scripture leans me toward the harrowing of hell idea, but I can’t easily accept that all believers in God for at least 4000 years until Christ were in a kind of limbo, not in God’s immediate presence, until Christ came.

So much for Holy Saturday, as it’s called. Tomorrow we’ll look at Easter events.

Covering Corona // Franklin Graham' Biblical Witness

Marvin Olasky has a sane piece on World Magazine's coverage of Coronavirus.
I say sane because there's a lot of insanity starting up out there.
Just because the civil government makes some mistakes erring on the side of caution, and they have, doesn't give us an excuse to go berserk, people.


Renewing Your Mind podcast has also had some Coronavirus-related episodes which were very good.
Pastoral care in times of crisis
The Church and the Governing Authorities - Derek Thomas


Ben Shapiro interviewed Franklin Graham a day or 2 ago - great stuff!
Interesting to hear a Christian give a full-fledged personal testimony and Christian witness to an orthodox Jew...

Good Friday

When Jesus is arrested they take Him to Caiaphas.  We usually envision Roman soldiers in Gethsemane, but the Gospels say the crowd arresting Him was from the chief priests and elders of the Jews.  Caiaphas has to make a legal case against Jesus and bring it to Pilate to get permission to kill Jesus.  The false witnesses don’t seem to do very well, and Caiaphas goes with a basic assertion that Jesus is the Messiah.  Without any testing of the assertion, he acts outraged, calls it blasphemy and gets a solid vote to convict Jesus to death and send Him to Pilate.  Now it’s politically safe to turn against Him, so they hit and mock Him.  The servants notice, and turn on Peter in the courtyard, and Peter denies knowing Jesus.

Judas kills himself when he sees Jesus is condemned, which tells me he was more than greedy.  He was hoping to force Jesus to fight.  He had put his hopes in the sword more than in Jesus, so he died by the sword.

Pilate wants to know if Jesus is a king.  He doesn’t see any political ambition in Jesus, sees the Jews are envious of Him, so finds Him innocent and doesn’t want to kill Him.  He tries to get Jesus off the hook by offering the Jews Barabbas, who was probably a zealot who attacked and assainated Romans.  The Jews go to another level of rejecting Jesus by choosing basically a terrorist over Jesus.  Pilate gives in, so not it’s the Roman soldiers’ turn.  These guys are trained to hurt and kill, so this is no walk in the park.  They scourge Him, probably with a whip with metal tied to the ends, so it rips into the flesh.  They pretend he is the king of the Jews, so they can take out their hostility on this hot, dry, tense place where they drew the short straw to get stationed.  Crown of thorns, a fake scepter they hit him with.  They walk him out of the city to Golgotha to crucify Him.  He is too physically weak to carry His own cross. 

At about 9am they crucify Him.  Passersby and ruling Jews mock Him.  One convict insults Him, but the other says Jesus isn’t guilty like they are.  The soldiers divvy up His clothes and gamble for the best one.  Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.  Jesus asks John to take Mary His mother into John’s family.

Pilate’s sign on Jesus’ cross, that usually states the crime, just says, “The King of the Jews.”  The rulers get mad, “hey put on there that HE SAID he’s the king, not that he actually IS.  But Pilate’s had enough of accommodating them, and the truth stays.

From noon to 3pm, the sun goes dark, and at 3pm Jesus cries out, My God, My God, why have you forsaken me.  Jesus is misunderstood even in that moment, He says, “It is finished,” and He dies paying the price of God-forsakenness, for all the sins of all His people.

The temple curtain tears, there is earthquake and some resurrections.  The centurion says this must have been the Son of God, while the women watch from farther away.

Joseph of Arimathea asks for Jesus’ body to bury in his own new tomb. The soldiers don’t break Jesus’ legs, since they see he is already dead after piercing his side to make sure. Nicodemus, Sanhedrin member who came to Jesus at night, joins Joseph with spices to bury Jesus. 

 It was Friday night, and the Sabbath was coming. The new Sabbath of life and rest in resurrection glory.

Maundy Thursday

On this Maundy Thursday we consider the Upper Room and Gethsemane events.

Gathered in the Upper Room for the Passover liturgy, Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper in the middle of it, probably as they get in the ritual to the cup of redemption.  The blood of the lamb that protected Israel from the angel of death in Egypt, was a pointer to the blood of the true lamb of God that protects His people from the justice of God for their sins.

Jesus then washes their feet and calls them to love and serve each other likewise, but they argue about who should be considered the greatest.

"One of you will betray Me" – Judas leaves.

I’m going away – Peter will deny me 3 times.

Comfort: I will come again.  The Comforting Holy Spirit will come to you – you’ll have trouble

I’m the vine – abide in Me and bear fruit.  At the time of Jesus the temple gate and pillars had a golden vine entwined around them to remember Psalm 80, that God brought the vine of Israel out of Egypt.  Jesus is calling Himself the true Israel bearing fruit for God.  When you put the Gospels together, it’s at this point in the chronology that Jesus and the disciples have left the upper room and are going to Gethsemane.  I think it’s likely they went to the temple first, and Jesus says I am the vine while standing in front of the vine.  If so, He would also pray the high priestly prayer of John 17 in the temple, which makes a lot of sense.  He prays for the 12 standing with Him, and for all believers to follow, that they would be kept and unified.

They then go to Gethsemane.  John 18 mentions Crossing the Kidron, which Josephus says ran red with the blood draining from the sacrifices at Passover time.  Jesus is also like David here, who flees Absalom’s coup in 2 Samuel 15.  Instead of turning to fight a rebel son, Jesus will go back into the city and die willingly as a faithful son.  There’s a lot in the David story that relates to Jesus making the same trip.

Gethsemane in Hebrew means "olive press."  We call it a garden, on the Mt of Olives, but this was probably a small business with a grove of olive trees and the press to make and sell oil.  Jesus calls the disciples to watch and pray.  Passover was called a night of watching in Exodus 12:42, probably because God did so much in one night, and the disciples would have plenty to watch this night, too.  But they fall asleep.  Jesus prays for the cup to be taken away, but surrenders His will to the Father.  He is in intense physical and spiritual agony.  Like olives in a press are crushed to produce the valuable oil, so Jesus is pressed down by the weight of our sins, but life is the result.

Judas knows this place – Jesus was probably sleeping here nightly during Passover – and he leads the soldiers to come and arrest Jesus.  But not before Jesus makes it clear that He is going willingly.  He says, I AM, and the soldiers fall back.  This also protects the disciples from rough treatment.  Peter thinks it’s time to fight, which isn’t as dumb as you might think – these are Absaloms committing treason against the true King Jesus, son of David, and what did David do?  But Jesus says no.  He stops to heal the ear of the high priest’s servant, that Peter cut off.  Jesus points out that they are treating Him like a robber – the word could also mean rebel, zealot, or terrorist – they are acting at night, under the power of darkness.

When it's clear to the disciples that Jesus isn't going to fight, they all run away.

That takes us up to about midnight at the end of Thursday.  Tomorrow we’ll look at the trials, suffering and crucifixion.

Teaching Tuesday (and Wednesday?) of Holy Week

On this day in Holy Week, or maybe yesterday, or both, Jesus did a lot of teaching.  

There’s so much I’ll just summarize without much comment.

The setting is really important though.  It’s very hostile and politically charged.  Jesus just drove the sacrifice sellers out of the temple, the ones the rulers said could be there.  So their question is obvious: who gave you authority to do this?  Jesus' rejoinder: I'll answer if you tell me if God gave John his authority.  This is brilliant, because the people loved John, but the rulers didn’t.  It seems Jesus wasn’t above playing popular politics against those who were against and about to crucify Him.  But Jesus is also indirectly asserting that God Himself gave Jesus His authority to cleanse the temple, just as God gave John authority earlier.

Jesus then tells a series of parables around the same theme: the kingdom of God is coming, you’d better be ready.  The stewards are resisting the king’s son – they’re in for it.  The king will reward those who are faithful to Him with the resources He's given them.

The rulers get the message loud and clear, and they are out to take Jesus down.  They ask Him if they should pay taxes to Caesar, and who in the resurrection gets to marry the woman who has had multiple husbands.  Jesus parries these, says they are mistaken and deceived to scoff at a real resurrection, tells them the 2 greatest commandments, and then asks His own final question of them.  In Psalm 110 David writes that God speaks to the Messiah, and David calls Him "my Lord."  How could the Messiah be greater than David, and also His son?  And the Bible says, on that note, nobody could answer Him, and they didn’t dare ask Him questions anymore.

But Jesus isn’t done.  In Matthew 23, He rebukes the Pharisees’ for their self-righteousness and hypocrisy, and for focusing on externals and details, instead of the heart of the law.

In Matthew 24 He predicts the downfall of the temple, and the tribulation of those days.  I think Jesus is talking about the Roman conquest in 70 AD, up to verse 26 or 35, and probably His second coming after that.  He describes the sheep and goats separated and judged.

At the beginning of Matthew 26, the teaching stops and we get events related again.  Jesus predicts His crucifixion while the rulers plot to kill Him.  Judas agrees to help.  And Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with really expensive oil.  Jesus says it was for His burial, hinting at the infinitely precious value of His coming death for us.

Tomorrow we consider the Gethsemane events.

Holy Week - Cleansing and Cursing

Jesus does a lot of teaching between Palm Sunday and Good Friday.

But right after the Triumphal Entry, He takes two provocative actions:

cleansing the temple, and cursing the fig tree.  See Matthew 21:12-19

It's a little known fact about Jesus in this week: He comes to Jerusalem with lots of judgment and rebuke.  Temple leaders had let those selling animals for sacrifice set up shop in the Gentile court, the only place where Gentiles could worship in the temple.  Jesus comes and says, NO.  Wrong policy, and I don’t allow it.  Get out.  

He quotes two Scriptures, the first from Isaiah 56.  He makes all kinds of assertions here.  First, it’s My house.  Second, this is a place of prayer, not for buying and selling.  And third, if you look at the context in Isa 56, this place is for all the nations, for the Gentiles.  But you’re making them have to worship in the same place where people are buying and selling.  

In the second Scripture Jesus quotes, He comes down even harder – you’ve made this a den of robbers.  First, he calls the temple leaders robbers.  Second, the context of Jeremiah 7 is God condemning Israel’s leaders for trusting in the temple building while they lie, steal, murder, worship pagan gods, and so on.  This is an act of judgment on wicked rulers who are rejecting His authority as the rightful ruler of the temple they are running.  It’s like Aragorn coming to Gondor, and the king’s steward Denethor scoffing at him.

That's the Cleansing.  Now the Cursing.

The second act is similar to the first.  Jesus curses the fig tree.  Generally, figs were fruit and the point is that Israel wasn’t bearing fruit for God, so Jesus is going to curse and wither the tree.  More specifically, I think the fig represented the leaders and rulers of Israel, so the point is much the same as cleansing the temple.

Now, Mark tells us that Jesus didn’t find figs on it because it wasn’t the season for figs.  That trips some people up: why would Jesus be so unreasonable as to curse a tree for not having fruit when it wasn’t SUPPOSED to have fruit?  I think this is part of the genius of the Bible, that we have responses to reading it like this that expose our hostility to or skepticism of God.  Like Satan tempts Adam and Eve to doubt God’s fairness, we have the same question here.  Is Jesus being fair?  

Of course He is.  For one thing it’s God’s tree.  He can do what He wants with it.  Second, Jesus withers the tree deliberately to make a point; He isn’t having an impatient temper tantrum.  That we would think that of God says more about our folly than anything else.

With each of these acts of judgment, Jesus also gives healing words. He heals the blind and lame in the temple after he judges it. He speaks of faith and prayer moving mountains after withering the tree.

What God MAY Be Teaching Us in Quarantine

I hope you know the qualifiers, here.

I’m not dogmatically asserting anything specific, or that God has spoken to me, etc.  

But when God moves to alter your life substantially, it’s always good to ask what He’s trying to teach us.  Here are some tentative proposals, in no particular order:

Emotionally driven worship:

The modern American Evangelical church has for a while now pursued large, hyped-up gatherings and loud CCM-radio songs on their church stage, seeking an emotional high, which they equate with rich worship.  Turns out you can do that on a youtube video, if you do it right.  

Isn’t worship something more than watching?

Too-High-Churchiness:

My denomination does weekly Communion, and we love it.  But some of us might think we NEED it, or need the worship service to be exactly how we want it, for God to spiritually bless His people.  This points pastors to extraordinary times when God may meet our needs without some ordinary means of grace (sacraments, especially).

Abdicating parents:

Most Christian parents suffer some level of abdication: asking too much of church or school that they should be doing themselves in discipling their children.  This time is EXTREMELY POIGNANT for this.  It’s almost as if God is saying to us as parents, “YOU deal with them! They are yours to steward, not the church or the school.”  Focus on family devotions in this time.  

It’s time to learn to truly enjoy being together, which takes basic Christian virtues like kindness, repentance, and forgiveness.

Personal relationship with Jesus:

Something else my circles might need to hear: we love to emphasize the corporate aspect of worship and church life.  Sometimes to the detriment of personal devotions.  Hey, what better time to work on your own prayer life with God?  Your own enjoyment (or lack thereof) of the Scriptures?

Science:

Science can’t give us a world where all our problems are solved or minimized right away.  Natural phenomena hit us that we don’t know how to handle.  Humanity is vulnerable, and sometimes overcome by “acts of God.”

Markets and money:

We have taken pride and found security in our “strongest economy in the world.”  What does God do to the proud (Luke 1:51-53)?  What goes before a fall?  Yes, a stable economy and money are earthly ways God provides for us, but He has the right to remove them for a time, to pull the rug out from under our presumption on His mercy.

Athletes, musicians, actors and other celebrities:

We follow them too zealously for how important they actually are.  We can survive without them, and it would be a good idea to invest less time and money watching them.

Abortion:

We are so afraid of death coming to thousands of us.

But we are willing to let millions pro-actively initiate the death of unborn babies.

Holy Week Thoughts - Palm Sunday's Lamb

Last Sunday was Palm Sunday.


Part of the Passover tradition we find in Exodus 12, was that on the 10th day of the month each family picks a lamb. And on the 14th day it is sacrificed and eaten. This means that Jesus rode triumphantly into Jerusalem a day or two before all Israel was picking their Passover Lamb. John the Baptist had called Jesus the Lamb of God, and now it was time to choose Him. The crowd, at least some of them, got it, because they shout “Hosanna,” which means in Hebrew not general praise, but "save us," to the son of David. So they are looking to the Passover Lamb as the way they believe God will save them.


Now, it is true, the palm branch was like the national flag. We have Israeli coins of the day and they have palm branches on them. And under Roman rule at the time, many of the Jews wanted the Messiah to make them a strong, independent nation again. So there’s a bit of confusion among church-goers that they are seeking a sacrifice that will save them from God’s wrath for their sin, and at the same time, most of them want a strong ruler who will make Israel great again. I hope that sounds familiar.


Who are you crying Hosanna to, right now? What Passover lamb are you choosing? "If only I do this, that’ll fix it." "If only society does this, that’ll fix it." And what are the core problems that need fixing, anyway? These aren’t either/or questions. We face many problems.


But I do know that we need to take refuge in the blood of the Lamb over our door, to protect us from the angel of death stalking outside. Our virus problem is wide spread and lethal, but our deeper problem is our guilt before a holy God. We need to trust God and the Lamb, more than we should fear a virus, or trust to personal hygiene or the CDC to save us.

Different Quarantine Approaches // Livestream and eyes // Is Jesus Weeping Now?

Interesting article on Singapore's different quarantine approach.
This is not the "flatten the curve" attempt by quarantining as many people as we can, but quarantining the most vulnerable.  Doing this wreaks less economic carnage, admits more people will get it but they can handle it better and won't need to go to the hospital, and increases "herd immunity" faster I think.  I'm not totally convinced, but it could also mean preventing a second wave of the virus hitting once we come out of our quarantine (the "w" they are starting to talk about in the charts).

[Update: as of yesterday, it looks like Singapore has joined most other nations in a tighter lock-down.  I think this shows that nations/groups will only take tighter measures when more of their own start dying.  Not an expert, but I think it refutes the Singapore (Sweden?) model.  Not sure yet what to think of rural areas.  South Dakota still isn't locked down.  Should they be?  Is the virus just slower to arrive there, or won't it hit at all, because of lower population density?]



One of the disturbing things about watching amateur pastors live stream videos is where their eyes point/go.  Listening to Jordan Peterson talk about how important that is, helps understand why this is disturbing.  He says where people look with their eyes tells you what is important to them.  In the pulpit, the pew-sitter understands when the pastor looks down at his notes.  In person we have more context to know where they are looking, but when you facetime with a friend and they look off screen we wonder, what is he looking at?  Why can't he look at me?  For me, it's been a very tricky adjustment to get used to looking at a pin-point camera dot, instead of at people!



I preached last Sunday on Jesus weeping with those who weep, like at the tomb of Lazarus.
Kevin DeYoung has a great counterpoint here, that is important.
Is Jesus weeping now, on the throne?

Should a Church Apply for a Small Business CARES Act Loan?

This pandemic is calling us to make emergency exceptions to many strongly held beliefs.
Pastors aren't holding worship services.
Conservative small business owners are applying for loans/grants from the government.

And now, to intensify it all, I learn recently that the small business grant part of the CARES act applies to all non-profit organizations, including churches!

Well.

Without knowing if there are any fine print strings attached, I think the same logic applies to churches that I've thought apply to small businesses:  the government has (rightly) caused this economic stoppage, so they need to reimburse the companies they've hurt.

Just as the government has asked all assemblies to cease, including churches, so it should reimburse drastically reduced revenue, charitable donations, and offerings for businesses and non-profits resulting from their action.  This isn't welfare, or taking a handout as a lazy indigent.  It is the gov't buying your property from you to put in that highway, instead of simply seizing it with no payment.  It is the gov't driving a truck through your garage door, and paying for the repairs.

But doesn't this violate the separation of church and state, or sphere sovereignty?
Doesn't seem so to me, as long as the regulations aren't unreasonable.  Churches would have to keep people on their payroll, and use the money to pay them and pay rent/mortgages, just like other businesses - that's the whole point.  In my understanding, they then don't have to pay the loan back.  We should also be reasonably certain that the government didn't do this deliberately, to get their hands in more pies.  I'm not a conspiracy theorist to think that, in this case.

I totally understand not applying for funding.  But I don't think it violates Scripture to accept the state's help in this instance, either.

Think through Livestreaming // Faith and Dry Powder // Day of Prayer

Here's a contrarian view on NOT live streaming worship services.
I'm not convinced, but there are still useful truths in here.


God is in control, now go wash your hands.  Listening to life-disruptive counsel from health professionals is not panic or overkill, it is good sense.  Here's a unique medical family story to illustrate.


The Gospel Coalition is holding a day of fasting and prayer tomorrow, with an online event at 7pm EST.  This looks good and appropriate for this time.

Wright is Wrong

Okay, catchy title, but I should really say “half wrong,” as he usually is.  Bishop N.T. Wright often sees the big picture of the kingdom of God in refreshing ways that the normal person today can latch onto.  It’s made him quite popular.  But as a mainline liberal bishop, he gets much wrong in the Bible.  Read him with care.  His recent Time article is no exception.

https://time.com/5808495/coronavirus-christianity/

His first point in this short article is that Christians want to explain why bad things happen, because of the Enlightenment rationalist movement.  That’s really silly.  There is a natural impulse in the heart of man to explain the world around him.  And the Bible tells us at many points that God brings about big events to do specific things: call us to repent, correct us for past sins, etc.  All things work together for the good of those who love Him, Romans 8:28 says.  We want to explain bad things, not because we can, or because we’re too rationalistic, but because we have an innate sense of God’s providence in our lives.

Now, Wright is right, that we don’t have adequate knowledge to give a full explanation, for this or any tragedy.  But he infers from this that we should have NO part in offering ANY explanation.  Just because we can’t explain everything, doesn’t mean we don’t find patterns and clues in Scripture to why tragedies happen.  It’s true, we need to be careful.  I did a word search on pestilence in the Old Testament and wound up in Jeremiah an awful lot.  God was doing a unique thing there with His people.  And we shouldn’t flippantly assume He’s doing exactly the same thing today.  But neither should we recoil in horror to think God would be so morally repugnant.  He DID correct and teach His people (and judge nations) with plague.  And He is shown righteous in the Bible for doing so.  We should explore the possibility seriously that He is doing something similar today in our own life and in society.

Wright is right to go to the Psalms to lament in horrid times.  The Church badly needs to learn to lament.  But Wright insists that there will be no answer or explanation when we cry to God.  I would rather say, when you lament, God answers in His time, which may take a while.  This is a call to trust God, and to voice that trust as the Psalmist does.  True, as Wright says, the Psalms don’t fully explain David’s or our troubles, but they do often give clues.  When David wonders why the wicked prosper, he gets a direct answer and gives it to us (Psalm 73:16ff).  Wright is right, though, that the Psalms aren’t there mainly to explain our troubles, but to give us language to talk faithfully to God amid hardship.

Another point besides all this is that of timing.  It's a bad idea when someone breaks a leg and is loaded into the ambulance, for you to jump in with them and explain why God did this to them, unasked.  We're at that moment in our pandemic, with the death toll rising.  It is a time to wait for the question to arise, on a personal level.  (Though I think it's wise to point generally to resources any time.)  My beef with Wright here is that he goes further than this, and opposes the point of 1 Peter 3:15: "always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear..."

It’s commonly accepted in the world and in most of the church now: to even hint that God may have allowed or brought on some tragedy, to make a point or to punish people, makes Him a moral monster.  It does not.  Pat Robertson used to call out Hollywood or homosexuality after a hurricane as the direct cause.  And that got us used to rejecting thinking about God’s providence at all in tragedy, because he did it so clumsily.  N.T. Wright is willing to stay inside the world’s wrongly drawn boundaries for God.  “A loving God would not...”  His last paragraph demands that we NOT try to suggest possible reasons God might be doing this, and to simply lament instead.  Why the either/or?  It is true that a compassionate heart will move to lament first, perhaps.  And our explanations should be without a hint of self-righteous "I told you so."  But we must be ready to give an answer.

Wright’s view is at least half wrong.  It is far out of step with Jesus, who called everyone personally to repent in the face of tragic news headlines (Luke 13:1-5).  It silences a large part of the Scriptures, which Wright himself is called by God to proclaim to the world.  A much better take is John Piper's "Don't Waste Your Cancer" article, or Erik Raymond's recent piece.

God does grieve with us, as the death toll rises. 

But we also look to Him to transcend our troubles. 

And He has.  Easter is coming.

On Suffering // Physical not Social Distancing

A free talk by R.C. Sproul: "Surprised by Suffering" is available here.


Great, practical advice here on how to be social, while distancing.

Federal Vision - Best Post Game Analysis

I finally got around to reading some of Steven Wedgeworth's take on the Federal Vision controversy.
It is detailed, informed, and mostly the right evaluation, in my mind.

Check it out, here.