The Right to Bear Weakness: Romans 15

Romans is drawing to a close. I would suggest to you that the end is not mere wrap-up fluff, but rather Paul’s shorter points. These are not of lesser importance, only lesser print. This is especially true as you hit the first verses of Romans 15. Paul comes to his last chapter of instruction, and we start with this:

Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not please ourselves. Each of us is to please his neighbor for good, to his edification. Romans 15:1-2 (NASB, with one modification by author)

Many of the commentaries on this passage are quick to tie Paul’s meaning here back into the specific area discussed in Romans 14, namely that of eating meat. Specifically meat sacrificed to idols, as some people were concerned that buying and eating such meat was participating in the sacrifice. (Kind of like today thinking that buying from a company is participating in whatever dark rituals they practice.)

I think we would do better to see that one issue as the example case. Paul is using the question of meat sacrificed to idols to illustrate a wider point, rather than thinking that he only meant this for those who shop near idol temples.

What is the principle Paul is addressing?

The right to bare weakness. We who are believers in Christ have the right to bare our weaknesses among the body. Not to be narcissistic or to demand all the attention come our way, but simply to admit that we are not perfect and need prayer.

Even to admit that we need a little help dealing with a problem, and we need that help from the church. That is the right of every member of the body. Why would it be a right? Because it’s an inalienable need of every member of the body as well. We all have weaknesses, and we have the right to bare those.

The right to bear weakness. The other thing that we tend to do to one another is refuse to accept aid for our weaknesses. I am, personally, weak in a few areas. I am abysmal in others, and we’ll talk about that later. However, there are areas where I am strong, as well.

And those strengths line up with someone’s weak points. Just like it is your right to bare your weakness, it is my right to help bear that weakness. Self-sufficiency is not a Christian virtue. In truth, the pride of refusing help does at least as much damage among the body as the pride of denying help does. Your fellow believers have the right to help bear your weakness, and you have the right to bear theirs. This is not Star Trek V, where holding on to our pain keeps us alive. This is the real world.

Side note: the only thing more difficult to admit exists than Star Trek V is Indiana Jones 4. Neither film deserves to occupy a space on your shelf or hard drive.

The right to bear weakness. Again?

Yes, again.

Because this brackets with baring our own weakness, and that is the right to have weakness. Too often we want to instant-fix our brothers and sisters. The extent of that which is motivated by love and the desire to limit pain is good. When we get beyond that, though, into thinking that we should get to be surrounded by people with no weaknesses, or expecting that one church service will fix all of their problems, we are very, very wrong.

While we do not have the right to willfully wallow in our sin, we must acknowledge that some weaknesses go deeper than Bob Newhart’s Counseling Service:

We want to help, we want to overcome, but we must admit that it will take some problems a lifetime to lift. We have the right to bear weakness in the church.

We should learn to bare, bear, and bear within the church.

Today’s Nerd Note: A note on letter writing. Romans 15 feels like the end of the letter. Paul has told the church what he has to say, he shares his travel plans, and he says “Amen.” What is the deal, then, with having one more chapter?

Letters, especially from important teachers (Paul was one of many in the Roman world,) were often dictated through a scribal process. The proper term is, I believe, amanuensis for the individual who wrote letters. This person would be told what to write, write it, come back and have it approved or corrected. Then the actual sender would write a closing in their own handwriting. This allowed good handwriting to reign across the bulk of correspondence. I think, and this is partly based in some research, that we likely have the end of the “dictated” (not really the right term, since it implies word-for-word writing, but I’ve left that book elsewhere) portion in Romans 15. There are the closing farewells that are likely recorded by the amanuensis in 16, and then Paul’s farewell.

An additional thought: Paul writes in vv. 24-28 of his desire to go to Spain. Some traditions put him there in later years, but others do not. Do you think he got to Spain? Why or why not?

Book: The Gospel Call and True Conversion

A quick note: This book, The Gospel Call and True Conversion, is currently available on Kindle for $4.99. This is the second in a series of 3, and the first, The Gospel’s Power and Message, is available for $2.99.

The Gospel Call and True Conversion. The title of this book alone sounds intimidating, and adding that it’s written by one of the heavyweights of American Reformed Christianity, Paul Washer, does not lessen the intimidation factor. Washer is known to be a straightforward preacher—for good or for ill.

What did I find in The Gospel call and True Conversion? I found some things to like:

1. Paul Washer is passionate for the truth. He wants to know the truth. He wants to proclaim the truth. He wants the truth heard. He wants you to know the truth.

This is good. It is good to see someone not try to base theology on popularity or as a response to modern events, but to base it clearly on truth.

2. There is a strong emphasis on the reality that true conversion (from the title) will result in fruit in the life of believers. Washer is presenting the view that the truly saved will act out a pattern of behavior reflective of God’s holiness, though salvation is by grace, the evidence of salvation is demonstrable in works.

3. Washer is absolutely after theological precision. One cannot read this book and not see where he stands on the issues of salvation, grace, and conversion.

That being said, I think it should be clear what his position is. Washer is a strong advocate of a Calvinistic view of Scripture and salvation. That is, he sees Scripture clearly supporting the idea that Jesus died for a certain group of people, the elect. These are known by God and the only ones capable of responding to the “Gospel Call.” This view highlights the sovereignty of God above other attributes or issues in salvation.

The Gospel Call and True Conversion approaches theology as if this way, and only this way, of seeing salvation is right. If you are of a more Arminian or Wesleyan view, you will likely take offense at his certainty.

The other issue I would take with The Gospel Call and True Conversion is Washer’s assertion that the “Gospel” has been lost. While I can see the issues that exist, I would personally suggest that losing the Gospel would be synonymous to the gates of Hell prevailing against the church, which is explicitly rejected in Scripture. The issue I see here is a bit of harshness expressed in the communication of truth.

While I agree there are times to be direct, I am not certain that the direct approach throughout is effective. Sometimes, hammering is critical. Other times, a hammer only hurts.

In all, while I would not circulate The Gospel Call and True Conversion for a Sunday School class, I do think it adds depth to theological study. Not the most critical text on theology available, but certainly of value.

I received this book free through Cross Focused Reviews. Free book, and I write a review. That’s about it.

The Complaint Department: Numbers 11

I can’t remember the Western movie this line is from, but I once heard an actor say “Some people wouldn’t be happy if you hung them with a new rope.” Now, I can’t say that I’d be happy if you hung me with any sort of rope, but the point was more about how people just complain and complain…

This is where the Israelites are in Numbers 11. They’re not happy. Why? Because all they have to eat is the miraculous bread from heaven that God has been feeding them with, and they have nothing to do but follow the obvious presence of God to the Promised Land. What God? Oh, just the one that they have recently seen bring them out of Egypt, through the Red Sea, and so forth…

And the complaining does not stop with them. We read Moses like hagiography, and miss the second half of this chapter: Moses has his whiny moments, too. YHWH, the Covenant God of Israel, has to listen to Moses fuss about the call of God in his life. Moses fusses that he never wanted this job, and really would prefer to be left alone.

In fact, he hits Numbers 11:15: “Please kill me at once.” Or, in modern Daff-nese:

Daffy, mimicking Moses

It’s just an unhappy passage. The chapter does not get much better. God points out to Moses that he has elders to assist him, so Moses shouldn’t be whining. God then brings quail like the snow geese on a wheat field, and so the people ate meat until they were sick. Literally, actually, as they were stricken with a plague as they ate it.

I do find it of note that the plague at stake is one of the few that does not specify a death toll. It is hard to be certain if this is because the results were simply bad illness, or if there were unrecorded deaths here.

Of greater application, though, is the question of complaining. We like to do that even now, don’t we? We complain about this, that, and the other…often without truly considering how we are blessed beyond measure. How so?

In the same manner the Moses and Israel were blessed:

• We are provided for. Now, you are right to say that you work for your living, true. How much does your work provide? What makes that farm bring forth a crop? And what allows you to eat more than the hay you raise? Why are you able to take your financial wizardry and get milk? Do we honestly ascribe all of these things to our own ingenuity and forget our Creator?
• We are protected. First and most obviously, by men and women at arms but there is more than that. Great armies have often faltered. Moreover, just this year a rock of substantial size came closer to earth than the satellites that make international communication work orbit…people, we are protected more than we know.
• We are provided with. With what? Companions. Notice that there are very few lone heroes, even in our mythologies. Beowulf had companions, Frodo had companions, even the Lone Ranger flopped with Tonto. Look around. You may be alone for a time, and you may think that time is eternal, but there are connectivity points everywhere. Reach out and connect.
• We are preceded. By God, who has already been there and back, and still occupies both the now and the then. That should be a comfort.

So, what do we do?

First, we trust. We trust God with our complaints and our struggles—but we learn to share them rightly. Rather than whine at others, we pour our hearts out to God.

Second, we travel. Not always literally, but always in obedience. God gets the people moving on at the end of the chapter. So should we be: stagnant behavior leads to sour begrudgings. Get moving, get following.

Finally, we train. We put our efforts into being ready. We dedicate ourselves for what we know is coming, and that is the trial that living in a sin-soaked world is.

As we practice this, we will see our complaining shrink. We may never lose it all…but we can stow some of it.

Today’s Nerd Note: Numbers 11:21 hits us with a mixed conundrum on the numbers of Numbers. Back in the early part of the book, we faced the seemingly over-large numbers of Israelites. Some estimates put the warriors at 600,000 and up, and the totals at 2.5 million. Others think that number is way too high, and look for reasons why the text allows lower. (See nerd note here)

Either estimation method has to wrestle with Numbers 11:21, where Moses appears to count the total of Israel at 600,000. Allowing for rounding, that’s still too many for the allegorical view, or even for the “thousands as military divisions” view. It’s not enough for the actual count as one-to-one.

Either way, though, it shows part of what is necessary in dealing with one section of Scripture: you must look to find other mentions of the same concept. This is also true of such issues as Creation understandings and Flood accounts. Where else is the “question” passage referred to? Who says what about it there?

This has to stop. Now.

This past weekend brought more news of so-called accidental shootings with firearms. Without researching exactly how many, I know this puts just the state of Arkansas at more than one fatality and more than 10 injuries in the past six months from unintended firearms use.

People, this has to stop. Now.

As a preface, though, this is not an anti-gun rant. In truth, this is an in-house rant directed at my fellow gun owners, with that fear of being hoist on my own petard later.

Hoist on my own petard? You know, that’s about gunpowder, too, come to think of it.

Coming back to the point at hand: those of us who own firearms, we are responsible for the usage of those firearms. You own it, you own the responsibility for it.

Leave it loaded? You are responsible to keep it out of a child’s hands.

Taking it to the store? Or gun show? You are responsible for making sure you don’t shoot someone there.

Carrying it in the car? On your person? You are responsible for what happens with that weapon.

Now, a firearm that was reasonably stored and was still stolen, that’s on the thief…but if you left it laying on your car seat in midtown at mid-day, and it got filched? You did that.

You are responsible.

The decision to own a firearm is the decision to behave responsibly with it. This is not rocket science. Keep in mind what you own: a firearm. What is it?

Simply put, as we have taught our children, a firearm is a tool for making living things dead.

That’s it. A tool for making living things dead. Like a hammer is a tool for hitting stuff really hard, a firearm is a tool with a purpose inherent in its design. Drop a hammer on your toe, and it’s painful. Because it’s a tool for hitting stuff really hard, it’s not really the hammer’s fault, either, is it?

Likewise with a firearm. It’s a tool for making living things dead. That’s the inherent design of guns.

For example: I have a rifle that has been used to make living deer dead. They then process onward into my freezer. It’s a happy exchange. I have friends who use shotguns to do the same with ducks.

However, those firearms are just as capable of making living people dead as they are game animals. Who is responsible for that?

The person who pulls the trigger. When I shoot a deer, I am responsible if another hunter is standing behind the deer and I shoot him, too. I may not be guilty, but I am responsible.

I also own a handgun. I have a permit that legally clears me to have it with me in multiple states. When I do have it with me, it weighs more heavily than the One Ring on Bilbo at his eleventy-first birthday. Why? Because I am responsible for walking or driving about with a tool that is designed to make living things dead.

What if I choose wrongly? What if I am just careless?

My fellow gun owners, we need to wake up. We need to take responsibility for the tools that we own. We cannot prevent every firearm crime—there are too many illegal guns on the streets. Neither can we carelessly and unilaterally disarm ourselves—there are too many illegal guns on the streets.

Yet we need to evaluate our own behaviors. Are we storing safely? Are we teaching our children safely? For the record, assuming your kids won’t be curious what’s in Daddy’s sock drawer is foolish. Take the mystery away, don’t build it.

Teach. Proactively, smartly.

Then consider visitors. We had dear, dear friends with us last weekend. They have my four favorite children in the world after my own. These kids are well-behaved, polite, and because of their family situation, pretty unfamiliar with firearms.

So I shifted storage locations to make sure that everything was secure, rather than risking a child walking in with a gun and asking “What’s this?” with her finger on the trigger.

We have to think.

Think. Consider the worst possible thing that could happen, and strive to prevent it.

We are responsible for what happens with our firearms. If you plan on using one for self-defense, whether carried or home-based, you need to practice and prepare. You need to consider your shooting lines, your reasons for doing so, and how you are going to avoid confrontations rather than shoot your way out.

We have to train.

Train. Train your temper under control. Train your macho down.

Train.

The life you save by having a firearm may be your own. The life you save by teaching, thinking, and training may be someone else’s.

A quick observation: I firmly believe that responsible, personal firearm ownership is right on the verge of being a civic duty as much as a basic right. Look at Syria, Egypt, the Thirteen Colonies and recognize that being outgunned by the government does not work well. It has been necessary before, and it will be necessary again.

If you look at the history of empires, there is often this loop. First, independent people with arms carve out a new nation. Sometimes by conquest, sometimes by finding mostly vacant land. Their arms protect and provide.

Then, it is necessary for this fledgling nation to take up arms against a greater nation. Perhaps the Mother Country of a colony, perhaps the neighbor who wants to rule. Either way, arms are necessary, and are matched with organization.

Down the line, the nation establishes enough prosperity and security that the possession of arms becomes the profession of arms, and internal and external security is maintained by a select group. Either by rule or practice, the average citizen gives up being proficient in arms.

Then the whole thing falls apart. Either a corrupt group takes power—sometimes through legal manipulation, sometimes by force, or an outside power conquers. Either way, the existing security forces no longer protect the people.

After some time, either the tyranny fails of its own, or the invaders leave with the loot, or the people tire of living that way. And what do the people need? Arms. Either to form their own security due to the vacuum of power or to drive out those who tyrannize them.

The stop in this cycle, which ebbs and flows across history, is when the people retain their arms. An armed populace slows down the slide and discourages the invader. An armed populace can function to hold on to societal structures.

However, the arms are not the only thing necessary. Hearts and brains are crucial.

Sermon Wrap-Up July 28 2013

Good Evening. Here are the sermons from today:

Morning Audio link is here

Morning Video:

Morning Outline:

Farmers: Patient, Waiting, Powerless

Aware of God's nearness: immanence of God

Remember the prophets: suffering to prove faithfulness

Merciful and compassionate: remember the character of God when you do not have a clear picture of the actions of God

Application Action:

Be proactively encouraging to others this week. Write down the name of one person you will encourage this week and what you will do.

Evening Audio Link is here

Evening Video:

 

Thanks!

Sermon Wrap-up for July 21

Good Evening!

Here are the the sermon recaps from today. The outlines are not long, so we’ll have morning audio, video, outline and then evening audio, video, outline. Please let me know if you try to access any item and it’s not accessible.

Morning Audio Link is here

Morning Video:

James 5:1-6 1. Filling the calendar 2. Finding a purpose 3. Fire from on high

Evening Audio is here

Evening Video:

Ephesians 5:17-21

Walk wisely! Evil days ahead!

Filled with what?

Foolishness?

Spirit?

Speaking through what?

Thankful submission to one another

Tools and Technology: Nozbe, Evernote, and More

Today, I want to give you a few quick suggestions for workflow tools. I do not have affiliate status with any of these companies, so there’s no benefit to me if you use these, but there may be a benefit to you.

• First: NOZBE. Somewhere, buried in the website, is the explanation of where the name came from. I don’t remember it at this point. This is an organizational helper app that is multi-platform (Web, PC, Android, and iStuff). I tried it out a few years ago, couldn’t quite get it to work for me, and so I canceled my paid account—right after my trial period, I believe. (Stupid tax paid.) Since then, I have come back to a free account and realize how useful this service is. If you are a user of the Getting Things Done organizational system, this is perfectly setup for it.

If, like me, you aren’t into Getting Things Done, but you are into getting things done, this still works. I have customized out the available projects and contexts so that they work for me, and this is the best recurring-task structure I can find. App for the phone/tablet (although an Amazon App for K-Fire would be nice) makes this handy all the way around. Nozbe allows you to set up a project, assign tasks to it, and assign where those tasks go. Paid accounts have unlimited projects and tasks—cheapskates like me have a project limit, but that has actually been helpful. I have a “School” project, then I assign each class as a context, then I can track school overall.

It’s a powerful system. I think if I knew how to blend both Ann’s and my accounts into a single paid family account (allows up to five users, which would be perfect) I would go to paying for this service.

• Second: EVERNOTE. I just cannot describe how many ways I use Evernote. This is a note-keeping app that works with mobile devices, tablets, the web, and has a PC app. (And it works on iStuff for you Cult o’Mac folks.) Take a picture, link a file, it all goes across the web to everywhere. Imagine having a giant shelf of 3-ring binders to store all of your material. Then make that searchable. And make it easy to add material to. And make stacks that are like organizing those notebooks on shelves. Then add color-coded tabs that show what additional ideas link notebooks and shelves to other notebooks.

Now you have a general idea of Evernote. Included in the paid version (which we use) is the ability to not only attach a file to a note in Evernote, but searching will search those notes. Including PDFs, pictures, and scanned handwriting. I use Evernote for sermon composition and delivery—I write the sermon in a Sermon Preparation Notebook, then move it to a Sermon Storage Notebook afterwards.

I use Evernote for some financial issues. I’m going to stop getting printed receipts at gas stations, and just snap a photo through Evernote. Then, there’s no missing receipt! Works well for other items like that.

I also use Evernote for my bookshelf inventory. It’s not as awesome as a librarian, but I take high quality pictures of every bookshelf (all my shelves are labeled). Each shelf is a note, and I attach the pictures of shelf A-1 to the A-1 note. I can then type in updates or lend-outs, but the pictures are searchable if I know a title and need to find the book. Plus, I have a cloud-based library in case of emergency.

Evernote generally has good security, though I do not store Credit Card numbers in it.

Evernote, like Nozbe, has more powerful features that I have not explored—but I feel like I get my money’s worth as it stands. These two pieces of software also talk well to each other: notes link to tasks and such.

• Third: MySMS for Android.  One of my pet peeves about people who text from email capable phones is that text messages disappear when you clear your phone inbox. There ends up being no real record. MySMS? It allows me to text from my phone, PC, Wi-fi only tablet, and automatically stores text messages, by conversation, in Evernote.
• Fourth: Mobile Banking Apps that let me deposit checks from home. USAA does it. I can do this for my Capital One account that I have because INGDirect got bought out by Capital One, and it’s one of the reasons I haven’t closed that account, given my animosity toward Capital One. I love the convenience of this technology.
• Fifth: Google Reader is gone. Google lost a bit of like from me for that, but it’s done. now I use Feedly.com for RSS reader purposes. I like it, though I miss the easier sharing to Blogger that reader had.

Those are my tech suggestions for the week!