Sticks and Stones may...

If you don't like blood, do not continue. Actually, the picture isn't that bad, but if you use a little imagining you could picture what the cut looked like opened up. Notice there appears to be a little gap right by the elbow, then you can see a red line running perpendicular to that - it is the rest of the cut. It makes a neat little "L" shape and at the moment the picture was taken was filled with sticks and stones. The nurses assistant told me "Dude, I could have hid a midget in your arm!" So much for the nice little relaxing mountian bike ride.

Providence is unpredictable.

The Bread of Life

Here is a sort of summary from our sermon today on the bread of Life - communion. The question being about the bread what kind of bread - leavened or unleavened. I found it pretty interesting. So here it goes:

the issue between leaven and no leaven was one issue involved in the East/West split (the Easterns called the Romans "azymites" or no leaveners roughly translated). The Greeks said they used leaven because of it fit with the joy they had. However, later at the Council of Florence, they said either form was accpetable.

So should be have a preference? Is one Biblical and one not? And further, which one should we use? Do these details even matter? Well God being the God of details cares about small things, so what he speaks about we need to listen to, what he is listen on we should be silent on. We are not to add or subtract from his word.

First off in this discussion we need to understand what is being talked about. When we are mentioning leaven, that is not the same thing as yeast. This is important. Leaven is basically sourdough, some sort of starter loaf for a previous batch that you use to get the next loaf to rise with. This is what most bread in the OT is talking about. there fore if you are talking about unleavened bread, one of the things that it symbolizes is a break from the past - you are not using part of the last loaf of bread, but are starting over brand new. Thus, when the Israelites left Eygpt, they were to use unleavened bread (Ex. 12:15) because they were to completely start over. The fact that they were using unleavened bread does not mean they were remembering their miserable state in Eygpt, but celebrating their new beginning. So unleavened bread is not about fluffy bread versus flat bread or some sort of cracker, but it is about a break from the past. What we use in communion is unleavened bread.

Now if we look at the Bible we can see how leaven was and was not used in Worship. First we looked at where unleavened bread was used and that was two main places: burnt grain offerings and the Passover. Ironically, the Lord's Supper is the new Passover, so obviously we should use unleavened right? Kind of a they did that then, so we should do it now arguement. Under the surface though we see two things that show this reasoning to be false. The Lord's Supper is not a duplication of the Passover meal (no roast lamb or bitter herbs, which would obviously be a wrong way to celebrate the Lord's supper) and the Last Supper was the Last passover meal. So after the last supper, we should celebrating something different, we are celebrating a kingdom supper.

Leavened bread is used in worship in several different places, the primary one being the Peace offering (where the worshipper communed at the table with God in peace). This would be fluffly bread and it would be fluffy for a reason. it takes time for bread to rise, thereby making it a rest food, a leisure food. Another place where leavened bread was used was at Pentecost (also known as the feast of weeks). During this feast the first fruits, the best were brought before God. Leavened bread fits in the first fruits category.

Now for some more on the symbolism of leavening. The first thing to keep in mind is that leaven does not mean sin. After all, it was used in worship as a good thing. Also, Christ used leaven in both positive and negative senses (the leaven of the pharisees Mt. 16:6, 12 & as a metaphor of the kingdom of heaven in Mt. 13:33). Secondly, leaven symbolizes a permeating influence. It symbolizes the influence of God's kingdom, maturity and growth, continuity, and prosperity.

Unleavened bread, on the other hand, is the bread of haste, the bread of breaking with the past. Thus with unleavened bread, we have the symbolism of breaking with sin and its influence (I Cor 5:6-8).

At this point, if you are like me, you are wondering so where does that leave us? Well, with the conclusion that both options have symbolism that is appropriate, albeit for different things. It is possible that at the Last supper, the leavened/unleavened designation attached to the Lord's supper went away (though we should always use fluffy bread). And so the season in the church calender should dictate the which bread is to be used. The symbolism of leavened is to be preferred at sometimes, whereas unleavened would be better at others.

Above all this however is that important fact that living out the symbolism is of an even greater level of importance. We are to be unleavened with sin, and to be leavening the world with the gospel. Isaiah, 19;19-22 speaks about God ridding the world of the yeast of satan. Now this next point is extremely important for all us who are younger: the work of yeast/leaven takes time. Be patient. Don't rush in, keep your integrity, and don't get ahead of God.

As postmil Christians this shouldn't be any problem. We have - literally - all the time in the world. All we need to do is be obedient in every area of life and to love the little things: our family, our jobs, our friends our neighbors, our church.

Thank God!

5 and a half months later...

...we are officially courting! Over the course of the last five and a half months I have been hoping, praying, and obeying the rules and stipulations that my hopefully future in-laws have been putting in place. One of those stipulations was secrecy. I asked to pursue a beautiful young girl last september and have been secretly "getting to know" her since January. Friday morning I got the official word that Margaret feels that I am probably the person she wants to marry.

Here's to the power of prayer!

Who Are You

"Who are you?" "Where are you going?" "What is your purpose?" etc., etc. I have heard these questions asked many times over the years and have been asked them myself a time or two. But I think today I finally heard an answer to these questions that felt more like steak than 2%. It all goes back to Genesis. There we are told who we are, what we are supposed to be doing, and on. God tells us to be fruitful and multiply and rule the earth. So the easy answer to these questions is that I am a man made in the image of God who is to be fruitful (i.e. get married and have kids - notice how there is a close connection between those two) and subdue the earth (i.e. work).

This might not seem like any new revelation, but I think that it does have two startling effects. 1) It drives singleness far, far away. 2) It makes us anti-gnostic. Part of who we are is tied up in having real, flesh and blood kids. And not just any kids, but kids that bring glory to God. Further we have to look at the physical earth and pay attention to how our work effects it.

The Bible lays out basic principles and we trust Christ for wisdom in applying them. These basic questions of who, what, why all find fundamental answers at the very beginning. I wonder how different things would look if we lived by answering these questions with God's answers.

A Prayer of Praise

Lord God, great are the works of your hand and great are the mercies from your throne. Your rule over all things is perfectly just and good and all that you have made reveals this. The sun, moon, and stars shout out in declaration of your glory, the rocks and trees show your creativity, the mountains and animals reveal your wisdom. Who is like you, O Lord, and who can stand before you? The grandeur of your creation amazes us, but still we pile up one sin and betrayal after another. We should meet with the just judgement of death in your presence, but instead we find life. We find life because Christ has taken on himself every sin we have committed, paid for them with his own blood, and redeemed us from death. This gives us great confidence to enter your presence and sing praises of your love, power, and perfect dominion. So in your throne room now we give all glory, laud and honor to you alone, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Ice Age?

Do you think there ever was an Ice Age? I am inclined to think there never was based on Genesis 8:22 "While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease." God gave this promise to us through his covenant with Noah and it seems like to me that a prolonged period of God would run counter to this verse. Any thoughts?

Interesting Patterns in Genesis

I have been enjoying opportunities to look at Genesis in several different arenas. One benefit of studying Genesis in this way is that some interesting patterns have come to light. At a Bible study a couple of nights ago, we were looking at Cain and Able. As the story goes, Cain ends up falling into sin, Able, the second born, is the one that God looks upon with favor. We see similar sets of brothers all throught the rest of Genesis (Ishmael and Issac, Esau and Jacob, Joseph and his brothers). So throughout Genesis, God is looking with favor on the second son. What really popped out about this is that, given Genesis is the book of beginnings, this pattern of the second son continues until we find the ultimate fulfillment in Christ. All throughout the book of Genesis, we see God points us forward to the second Adam. So the explanation of the two Adams in Romans 5 is a nice completion of the second son pattern in Genesis.

Tree of Life

A quick thought from a Bible study tonight on Genesis 3: it is interesting how, when Adam and Eve eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, they eat with rebellion in their hearts and bring curses upon themselves, the ground, etc. This curse though is amazingly undone with Christ and it is undone in the same way as it was originally done, by eating. Before Christ hung on a tree, he told us that we were to eat of his body and drink of his blood. Then he proceeded to be hung, naked, on the cross (the tree). Essentially, when we eat at the Lord's Table, we are eating of the fruit of the tree of life, or we are eating of the Body of Christ which was hung on the tree, only now instead of rebellion, we are eating in faith. Every Sunday we go to heaven, and if we have the priviledge of having communion during our stay there, we get to eat from the tree of life. Glory of Glories!

William Cowper

One of my new favorites is by William Cowper. Read these words a tell them they don't give you comfort. A little background on Mr. Cowper. He was a man acquainted with the big shoots in the church in the 18th century. Susceptible to deep fits of depression all his life, he would come out of them to write these amazing hymns. God truly does work in mysterious ways!

"God Moves in a Mysterious Way"

God moves in a mysterious way
His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never failing skill
He treasures up His bright designs
And works his sovereign will.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy and shall break
In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,
But trust Him for His grace;
Behind a frowning providence
He hides a smiling face.

His purposes will ripen fast,
Unfolding every hour;
The bud may have a bitter taste,
But sweet will be the flower.

Blind unbelief is sure to err
And scan His work in vain;
God is His own interpreter,
And He will make it plain.

Amen! and Amen!

(From Cantus Christi pg. 353)

A Couple of Quotes

Here are a couple of great quotes or principles from the day:

1) You have to do the things you don't want to do, in order to do the things you do want to do.
(Applies to the church, work, home, play, books, etc. etc.)
2) A Christian definition of Freedom: "the length of rope between your neck and any given stake"
(Picture a guy tied to a stake with a choker collar around his neck and imagine what happens to him when he tries to out run the rope.)
3) "Something you can accomplish in your lifetime is too small, something that can only be accomplished over time after you are gone is something more like a goal God would have for you."
(This fits perfectly with classical, Christian education and fits other situations well also. Thinking of the education scenario, you can also think of it as building a cathedral, the kind that take generations to build. Imagine how important the foundation is, imagine how important each brick is, imagine being the fifth generation to spend your life working on this church only to realize your great, great, great, grandfather poured the foundation slightly crooked, or imagine your family has worked for 7 generations and you are the one who finally gets to put the finishing touches on the building. Building real church buildings is like building christian culture.)
4) Keep short accounts of your sins.