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From Capitalism to California.

I was reading an April article from The Washington Post Concerning the fear by some tech billionaires that the system they created by which they have become so wealthy may no longer be sustainable. If this happens, their fortunes will be lost. The article may be found at the following site.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/capitalism-in-crisis-us-billionaires-worry-about-the-survival-of-the-system-that-made-them-rich/2019/04/20/3e06ef90-5ed8-11e9-bfad-36a7eb36cb60_story.html

The first five verses of James Chapter 5 remind us that the problem cited hereinabove has existed ever since man began to keep written records.

Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. Look! The wages you failed to pay the workers who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord Almighty. You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened yourselves in the day of slaughter. You have condemned and murdered the innocent one, who was not opposing you. (James 5:1-6 NIV.)

In James’ day, as it was so many centuries earlier in the days of the Prophet Amos, the rich were getting richer by defrauding their poor laborers. The failure by these rich landowners to pay the daily wage was a continuing problem throughout the history of Israel. It was, in fact, one of the causes of their downfall to the Babylonians.

Further, this type of greed, no doubt, has contributed to the stereotype of the Jew as unscrupulously wealthy and callous towards his workers in his business dealings.

Like all stereotypes, this picture is exactly that, a stereotype. However, it does point out abuse in the system in the day of Amos on forward into the day of James. Obviously, this practice was not limited to Jews. To think so is to unfairly pass on a stereotype.

The modern stereotype is of the wealthy person of any (or no) religion who Is so caught up in protecting his wealth that he is completely, purposefully and unknowing ignorant of the hardship of his workers.

In a scathing op-ed piece written for the guardian, George Montbiot writes:

Capitalism’s failures arise from two of its defining elements. The first is perpetual growth. Economic growth is the aggregate effect of the quest to accumulate capital and extract profit. Capitalism collapses without growth, yet perpetual growth on a finite planet leads inexorably to environmental calamity…

The second defining element is the bizarre assumption that a person is entitled to as great a share of the world’s natural wealth as their money can buy. This seizure of common goods causes three further dislocations. First, the scramble for exclusive control of non-reproducible assets, which implies either violence or legislative truncations of other people’s rights. Second, the immiseration of other people by an economy based on looting across both space and time. Third, the translation of economic power into political power, as control over essential resources leads to control over the social relations that surround them.

Unfortunately, Mr. Montbiot admits that he does not have a solution to the problem. Perhaps, Mr. Montbiot Has not recently read his Bible, because the answer Is clear in that text. The same Bible which gives us the plaintiff cry of the Prophet Amos and of James the Just, condemning the unfair practices of the Entrepreneurs and capitalists of their days gives us a better way, the Way of Jesus.

Jesus said, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you; Love your neighbor as yourself.” While to the erudite writers of worldwide-circulation periodicals, these words might seem trite, time-worn, and a bit quaint, I would argue that these words live on to this very day and shall live on as Buzz Lightyear says, “to infinity and beyond.”

Jesus lives in the Christian’s heart. May I suggest that He also lives in the Christian’s brain, feet, and hands. An example of this life is found in the church in Petaluma County, California pastored by a friend of mine, Alan Cross, Petaluma Valley Baptist Church.

As you are no doubt aware, both northern and southern California are being consumed by wildfires at an unprecedented rate. In the northern California fires, the evacuation area has currently come to within 30 miles of Petaluma, California, the town which houses the church to which I refer.

While it would be a very good thing for the church members to pray for the evacuees, it is also a good thing to do as they have done, putting feet to their prayers. They have opened their church as a shelter for evacuees. They are currently at capacity. Every night, members of the church reside on the floors of the church’s facilities supervising evacuees. Every day, members of the church cook and bring in meals to feed the evacuees.

Pastor Alan posted on Facebook that a reporter from Sacramento came to view the church. The reporter asked Pastor Alan if they were doing these good things out of “survivor’s guilt.” Pastor Alan, himself a survivor Hurricane Katrina, and no doubt a bit taken aback, told the reporter that they were merely acting as Christians should act. They are putting into hands and feet Jesus’ words to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you; To love your neighbor as yourself.”

I’m not an economist. Neither am I a Socialist or a Communist, and neither do I have a better solution to the rape of the poor by the unscrupulous rich in a system of capitalism run amok, but I suggest that James the Just, who condemned the same thing in his time in James 5, and Amos in his time would agree with my assertion that if Christians acted like Christians and followed the words of Jesus (the Christ for Whom they are named,) the other things would take care of themselves.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Today the Spirit calls to our attention a seemingly strange exhortation to James’ Jewish-Christian brethren. In 4:7-9 he says (in summary,) submit yourself to God; come into God’s presence; wash your hands; and then grieve, mourn, and weep.

“Grieve, mourn, and weep,” really? This is a strange exhortation for people who should be the happiest on earth. We have been given the indescribable gifts of the very presence of God and eternal life, so why should we feel sad, let alone grieve, mourn, and weep?

May I submit that the answer lies not in the words, but in the REASONS for the words. The words are as follows.

James 4:7, 9 NIV. Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. Come near to God and he will come near to you… Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Now, the reasons.

James presents us with a conundrum. We must be clean of heart and hands before we can approach God. But, how can we become so cleansed? James does not give us the answer and requires us to study other portions of the Bible for that answer.

In today’s passage, James presents us with another conundrum. How are we to appreciate and utilize God’s great temporal gifts to us as balanced against pride in the possession of these gifts and against the lack of temporal gifts by so many others, i.e., our relative wealth versus others’ poverty?

James begins with a Greek word for “grieve” that literally means “to bear affliction, hard times.” One can’t know or experience hard times when one lives in the lap of luxury. On the question of how do we balance enjoying God’s temporal gifts with not being controlled by them, Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be.” Matthew 6:21.

To begin with, in this verse, James cautions us not to take pride in the gifts God has given us but rather to be sorrowful that others do not possess those gifts. James begins with a strange metaphor. He tells us rather than rejoice we should grieve. We should grieve over the fact that others do not possess the gifts that we do. Further, James tells us that we should remember our own sin. Remembering our sin should bring us to tears. Perhaps, if it does not, we are not truly sorrowful for our sins. To lose the ability to recognize and to be sorrowful for our sin is to take a step in the wrong direction toward greater sin and a step away from God and His will for our lives.

The word James uses for “mourn” comes from the Greek pentheos, the root word for penance and repentance, i.e. to be filled with remorse over and over again – to “keep on” being filled with remorse.

In his commentary on James, William Barclay writes:

In his demand for godly sorrow, James is going back to the fact that Jesus had said: ‘Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted’ (Matthew 5:4; cf. Luke 6:20–6). We must not read into this passage something James does not mean. He is not denying the joy of the Christian life. He is not demanding that people should live a life filled with gloom in a shadowed world… [rather] He is pleading for a sober life in place of frivolity, and in doing so… he is describing not the end but the beginning of the Christian life.

Perhaps Professor Barclay’s “live a life filled with gloom in a shadowed world… is a reference to Plato’s “World of Shadows,” the prevalent Greek idea of death at the time of James’ writing. The mourning that James’ Jewish readers would know was found in their funerary customs. In Jesus’ time, Jewish funerary customs were fairly rigid. They included the tearing of the front of the mourners’ clothes and a type of weeping known as “wailing,” a half cry-half moan. The Jewish mourning period of seven days for the average person traditionally was accompanied by professional mourners who would play instruments such as flutes and chant funeral dirges. Rabbinical rules allowed for even the poorest person to have at least two flute-players provided, along with one mourning woman.

An example of such in found in Mark 5:38 where Jesus came to the home of the synagogue ruler whose daughter had just died. Mark writes that Jesus found much more than the minimum number of mourners: there was “a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly” (Mark 5:38 NIV.) That would have indicated a person of some elevated stature in the community or the family member of the high-ranking person.

All this funeral “folderol” could be summarized by saying that mourning for the dead was a big deal. It is to this “big deal” that James refers. He advises that when confronted with our sin, we should, inwardly, make a “big deal” of it because sin is a “big deal.”

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, gives us a visual picture of this type of mourning.

In 1739, James Whitefield, another founding father of Methodism, who had been preaching in the Welsh village of Kingswood called on John Wesley to help. Whitefield called upon Wesley to come out of his, Wesley’s, comfortable church pulpit and to use his preaching skills with the common miners and others in the open areas of the village as they gathered. This was a giant leap for Wesley, as until this time, he had preached primarily in church pulpits and in small, controlled gatherings. He had not preached to the masses. In fact, many of his Anglican denomination, believing that “church” was for the well-to-do, condemned preaching to the masses as a waste of time. They contended that the pastor’s efforts should be concentrated on caring for his immediate flock.

Nevertheless, Wesley, no doubt led by the spirit, heeded the call of Whitefield and proceeded on to Kingswood where he was confronted by a scene that made an indelible impression on him. He saw the people of the town, miners and their families, as they were coming in from work gathered to hear what he had to say.

He preached a sermon on the topic of the Sermon on the Mount. Wesley states later that he was taken aback at the tears of sorrow for sin etched in the coal dust on the faces of the miners in recognition of and sorrow for their sin. That is what James insists that his readers should feel.

Harkening back to verse 7 where James tells us to “draw near to God,” we come to the conclusion that when we do so, inexorably we come to the conclusion that when we draw near to God, the first thing we notice is the contrast between God’s holiness and our own sin. There is a famous word picture drawn from Isaiah 6 where the Prophet has a vision of the very throne room of God. In a masterful presentation of language, the prophet describes God and the beings around him. His reaction is perhaps a universal one. He stands not agape at the glorious sight, rather, the prophet falls on his face and utters the only thing he can think to say,

Woe to me!” I cried. “I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the LORD Almighty. (Isaiah 6:5 NIV.)

Recognition of our sin is the first step to Salvation. The old, unnamed preacher once said, “Before you can get a man saved, you first have to get him lost.” Obviously, what the old preacher meant was that a man had to first come to an understanding of the depth of his sinful, lost condition and to his desperate need of a savior before he could turn to the Savior and accept the salvation freely offered to him.

James means that we, as individuals, must grieve for our own sin. If we are not able to grieve our own sin, perhaps we have become to be too comfortable with our sin. That is a dangerous state in which to find oneself. It begins a slippery slope to greater sin.

Note the progression that the Psalmist points out in Psalm 1:1.

Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers . . . (Psalm 1:1 NIV.)

The one about whom the psalmist writes first walks in step with the wicked, the sinners. Then, he stops, stands, and looks at what the wicked are doing. Finally, he sits down with the wicked and finds himself doing the same thing the wicked are doing. Sorrowful, mourning, and weeping for our own sin eventually leads us to personal salvation. When we realize that there is a log in our eye, we must first pluck it out, then we can see with spiritual eyes. See Matthew 7:5. But that’s only half of James’ story.

As Whitefield and Wesley recognized, we are not the centers in the world. We have a duty, according to James, to see the sin of other people in the world and rather than condemning, we should grieve, mourn, and weep for their sinful condition. But there is still more.

In the Gospel of John in chapter 11, the Apostle gives us the story of Jesus’ raising of Lazarus from the tomb. As you will remember the story, Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus that their brother and Jesus’ dear friend, Lazarus, was sick unto death. Jesus waits for 2 days before he leaves to attend to Lazarus. The journey to Bethany, near Jerusalem, would take two days as Jesus and his disciples were in the Galilee. By the time Jesus and the disciples arrived, Lazarus had been dead for four days.

There was a common belief among the Jews that the spirit of the dead person circled around the deceased for 3 days to see if he would revive and then flew away. Thus, after the third day, the person was absolutely and positively dead.

Jesus and the disciples arrived on the scene the day after Lazarus died. Jesus met the family members, four days into their seven-day period of mourning. He consoled them and asked them to take him to the tomb. At the site, Jesus gazed at the stone covered the cave. In verse 35, the shortest verse in the Bible, “Jesus wept.” This was not a show, not a façade. These were tears of true sorrow. Lazarus was His friend as were the sisters, Mary and Martha. Jesus mourned as did the family members.

This is exactly what James writes about. He wants us to mourn our sins. But there is more. Our mourning should lead to action.

In John 11, Jesus does something remarkable. Out of His grief, mourning, and tears, he is spurred to action. The King James Version captures Jesus’ words and actions with great poetry. “And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth.” (John 11:34 KJV.) I have heard it said, perhaps with a little hyperbole, that had Jesus not prefaced “come forth” with the name, “Lazarus,” all the tombs within the sound of Jesus’ voice would have opened and the dead would have “come forth.” I would add “like a zombie apocalypse.”

Be that as it may, Lazarus hopped out of the Grave still wrapped in the grave clothes. The Movie, “Jesus of Nazareth,” captures this drama of this even in the following clip. See the following. https://youtu.be/L0IbOJ0Acmg .

Lazarus was the living proof of the power of Jesus’ words. That is exactly the picture of where our mourning and grief should leave us. James urges us to grieve, mourn, whale, and weep for the sin of other people. But then, like Jesus, we should do something about their sin.

Obviously, we cannot save them from their sins. But we know Someone who can, that someone is Jesus. It then becomes incumbent upon us to lead them to Jesus, the One who can save them from their sins.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

James the Just, half-brother of Jesus and earliest Christian church leader in Jerusalem (after the Apostle also named James, brother of John, was beheaded by Herod Agrippa and Peter and some other early Church leaders fled Jerusalem,) wrote the New Testament Letter from the James to the Jewish diaspora scattered throughout the Mediterranean Basin.

Today the Spirit calls to our attention to but one verse found the Letter from James verse 4:8. “Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. “

Christians have the greatest privilege of all, individual access to God. In Old Testament times, the right of approach to God was solely the province of the priests. (Exodus 19:22.) In that time, the presence of God was thought to be contained in the Ark of the Covenant that was housed in the Inner Sanctum, the Sanctum Santorum, the Holy of Holies. If you have seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, you have seen a representation of the Ark.

At God’s order, the ancient Hebrews housed the Holy of Holies in a tent called the Tent of Meeting or the Tabernacle. There, the Ark was separated from the remainder of the tent and later, in the temple, by a veil, a thick curtain woven in a pattern of cherubim, flying angelic beings.

Even the priest was not permitted to enter the presence of God there in just any ordinary manner. He was to come near to God only in the prescribed manner and only for the purpose of making atonement (setting relationships with God aright) for “sin-stained people.” (Ezekiel 44:13). The “sinner” who needed atonement in that time was any member of Israel, the chosen people of God; each and all of them collectively and individually. This atonement had to be performed annually.

The Spirit guides us now to New Testament times as there are differences in the OT and NT passages cited supra.

The first difference is that in James’ letter, the Greek word for “sinner” has a darker, more personal meaning. James does not address the average man or woman – we could say, “The Average Sinner-in – the-Street” – but the “hamartēlos,” the hardened sinner, the one whose sin is obvious. This word refers to the sin that lawyers would call “open and notorious.” Likewise, the word refers to the person living a sinful lifestyle.

There is a second, and happier, difference. In James’ time, as in ours, we need no priest. Through the work of Jesus Christ, any believer can come boldly before the throne, the very presence, of God, where such a person will unfailingly find mercy and grace to help in times of need (Hebrews 4:16).  We are the priests, and Christ is our High Priest. (I Peter 2;9, Revelation 1:6.) The writer of Hebrews tells us that though there was a time, now “dead,” when only the high priest might enter the Holy of Holies to make atonement for our sin, we have a new and a living way, a better hope by which we draw near to God. (Hebrews 7:19). But there is a problem.

Then as now, only a person who is perfect and clean can stand before a Holy God. For any time and in any generation, the Psalmist proclaims, “Who may ascend the mountain of the LORD? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart.” (Psalm 24:3-4 NIV.) “Ay, there’s the rub.” William Shakespeare: Hamlet: Act 3 Scene 1 Page 3, (Hamlet’s “To be or not to be” soliloquy.) How does one become “clean?”

In OT times, the priest first had to meet a high standard of racial, lineal, and moral purity. He had to be a Jewish man who was a descendant of Aaron of the tribe of Levi. Leviticus sets out in exquisite (some would say, “excruciating”) detail these requirements. Having met all these requirements, the priest then had to undergo ritual cleansing. The specifications for ritual cleansings were set out at length in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy in much too much detail for this writing. Suffice it to say. The priest had to clean himself from head to toe, inside and out, upside and down, backward forwards, and – you get the picture.

Then, his clothes had to be the right kind and cleansed the proper way. This extreme ceremonial cleansing was undertaken each and every time that priest approached the Holy of Holies to make atonement. The practice began sometimes around the 10th Century BC and continued until the destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in AD 70 by the Romans.

Back to James’ (and our) time. William Barclay writes in his commentary on James,.

Biblical thought demands a fourfold cleansing. It demands a cleansing of the lips (Isaiah 6:5–6). It demands a cleansing of the hands (Psalm 24:4). It demands a cleansing of the heart (Psalm 73:13). It demands a cleansing of the mind (James 4:8).

Even having done with all the volumes of OT rules and regulations about cleansings, we are still left with Hamlet’s dilemma, how can we possibly be clean enough to stand before a Holy God?

There’s good news and bad news. The bad news is that we cannot. The Apostle Paul writes in Romans 3:10.

As it is written: ‘There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands; there is no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one. (Romans 3:10 NIV.)

Here’s the good news. Paul continues in vv. 23-26.

[F]or all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished— he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.

The answer to how a human being can become clean enough, pure enough, sanctified enough, holy enough to stand before a Holy God is one word: “Jesus.” The writer of Hebrews continues Paul’s answer.

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. (Hebrews 4:14-16 NIV.)

Clearly, “Jesus” is the answer to the conundrum, but, how does one appropriate this priestly blessing – the grace bestowed by God in the Person of Jesus? Acts 16:24-40 details the account of a sinner-man who asked just such a question. That passage also gives him – and us – the answer. After Paul and Silas had been thrown in jail in the City of Philippi, God sent an earthquake to rattle the chains loose and the doors open. The chief jailer, the man in charge who would be held mortally responsible for the “jail-break,” was amazed to find that all the prisoners were still in their cells. He recognized the power of Jesus and Jesus’ Holy Spirit, and the jailer burst forth the succinct and all-important question of all the ages.

And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas. Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And they said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” And they spoke the word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds, and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. Then he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God. (Acts 16:29-34 NIV.)

Now you know the answer to the question of the ages, how to cleans a sinner, even the “hamartēlos,” how to cleanse me, and how to be cleansed yourself from the vice-grip of sin. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”

One more question for you comes from the words of the old Hymn published by Elisha A. Hoffman in 1878, “Are You Washed in the Blood?”

Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing power?                                                              Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?                                                                          Are you fully trusting in His grace this hour?                                                                      Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?

Are you washed in the blood,                                                                                                    In the soul-cleansing blood of the lamb?                                                                                  Are your garments spotless? Are they white as snow?                                                      Are you washed in the blood of the lamb?

OK, it’s that’s more than one question – but you get the gist. I’ll summarize. “What’s your answer?

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Why do they refer to one who sits for a long time in a doctor’s waiting room as a patient? What if said person has had enough and makes a scene about three others being called to the back, each of whom had arrived after the said person? Is he still a patient?

Walking this morning, I listened to the entire Book of Galatians – five times.  Saturday, in listening to Barclay’s commentary on Roman, which I had undertaken to study, Barclay pointed out that one potential reasons that Paul wrote Romans was to clarify some things he had written in Galatians, his first letter chronically.

Barclay asserts that Paul may have thought that he had placed too much emphasis on faith in the process of salvation and not enough on the work of the Holy Spirit. He wanted to make it clear that a person is saved by the Holy Spirit as an act of God’s grace and not merely by such person’s faith, or as the Reformers would say, “sola fide.”

Vividly, I remember the words of Galatians 5:19-26 wherein the Apostle contrasts the works of human nature – Paul uses “works of the flesh” – with the gift of the spirit. Additionally, note the contrast in the number of the nouns “works” (plural) with “gift” (singular.) The dual contrasts imply that one may manifest one or more of the “works of human nature,” hurtful, shameful, selfish traits such as “ sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like.”(NIV.) See vv. 19-21.

In contrast, when the Holy Spirit gifts a person, He gives the gift of Himself together (or “bundled, as the internet providers offer) with love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control . . . vv. 22. (NIV.)

Returning to the house, I was wondering as to what God would have me pray today, but, as I have come to expect, God had “a better idea.” When I came in the get water, I discovered that there was a frustrating problem with an app on Susan’s phone. Usually, I can get upset with electronics that don’t work, but this time, rather than getting upset, patience kicked in. I remained patient through multiple attempts to make the app work and multiple attempts to try to talk with a human being at “customer service.” Even their “hold” music was annoying. Nevertheless, patience persevered.

As I thought about the episode on the way to get a breakfast sandwich, I realized that I was “joyful.” Not happy that the app was annoying, but joyful that patience had kicked in. I’m sure the other manifestations of the gift of the Spirit were hiding playfully there somewhere as well.

The point? Here was a perfect example of a highly cataphatic prayer, that is, a prayer that involves the intellect forming words and pictures. God pictured for me – in me – the gift of the Spirit. That, in and of itself, is a prayer, a prayer initiated by God who doesn’t have to sit by the phone waiting for me to call.

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Please see Parts 1 and 2 in which I have suggested that all people are issued three successive calls by God, the latter two being contingent upon successive acceptance of the previous call. These calls are respectively

• The call to Salvation,
• The call to Service, and
• The call to Sanctification.

In Parts 1 and 2, I have set forth my position on the first two calls. This entry completes the “hat trick.”

May I submit that Christians are sanctified by the Holy Spirit through the mechanism of their service? Please read the words carefully. The sanctification is solely a work of divine grace, not unlike salvation in that it is “. . . through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast.” Ephesians 2:8b,9. (NIV.)

Having made that clear, I can assuredly state that no one ever grew his or her likeness of Christ by doing nothing. In Part 1, I said of sanctification, “’Sanctification’ is a theologian’s ‘fifty-cent’ word for ‘keeping on growing in Christ-likeness.” We “keep on growing in Christ-likeness” obviously by doing “Christ-like” things.

That sentence must come with a caveat. Christ is God and everything Christ does is “God-like.” Contra-wise, I submit that it is not in our nature to do anything that is even remotely “God-like; Only God can do “God-like” things. Paul writes in an extended explanation (imagine that,)

I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do. . . For I know that good itself does not dwell in me, that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do…Romans 7:15,18-19. (NIV.)

It sounds as though Paul has himself in a quandary, yet, there is an answer found in John 5:19 (NIV,) “Jesus gave them this answer: ‘Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does.’

Ray Steadman observes of this passage that Jesus,

. . . is looking at God the Father with an inner vision, and, seeing what the heart of the Father wants to do in a situation, he immediately obeys that.

I do not know quite how to describe this inner vision. Within his Spirit, somehow, an impulse arose which Jesus knew was of the Father, because it was in line with the character of the Father as he has revealed himself in his Word. Ray Steadman, “The Secret of Jesus.”

There are at least two ways to “see” what the Father (God) is doing. The first is to look with one’s physical eyes, process the information, and come to a logical conclusion that God is doing or has done something. Another way is to repeat the same process except through the “eyes” of one’s “Spirit-man,” the “Godness” or Holy Spirit Who lives inside true believers.

Having so seen, one, like Jesus, emulates what one has “seen” the Father do. When one does this, one is working with Christ, the “[F]riend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 24:18b. (NIV.)

Like I have previously done, I will resort to the military metaphor. The soldier who is a slacker and does not do his duty well is not promoted in rank. One could liken sanctification to the military promotion in rank. By doing one’s duty well, one is spiritually “promoted,” except that “spiritual promotion” is not a “reward,” rather it is the natural result.

To “close the loop” with the extension of the military metaphor, my wife, Susan’s, First-Cousin-in-Law (if there is such a thing) served our country valiantly as a soldier in Viet Nam. He lost the sight in one eye there, but he gained something arguably more valuable. He gained friends – buddies. Every year for the past decades, the remaining buddies have met to reunite – to be together again.  Some of them he liked more than others, but one thing is sure, they would all have given their lives for their buddies – many in fact, did.

I have heard it said many times that soldiers may tell you that they are fighting for their country; their family; their way of life; “truth, justice, and the American way,” or any one or more of dozens of very good reasons. The truth, though, it is said, is that when it comes down to it, they are fighting for their buddies. Though the battle-hardened soldier would be hard-pressed to verbalize it, they love their buddies in the purest of all ways, the way of sacrifice.

Meaning no disrespect, familiarity, or sacrilege here, but merely metaphorically speaking, I offer that so it is with sanctification. When one chooses a life of seeing what the Father is doing and working alongside Him, one becomes “buddies” with Christ in the way that soldiers become such buddies. They love each other in a self-sacrificial way such that they would give their life for each other – Jesus did, actually. That is how one becomes “sanctified.”

So let it be written, so let it be done.

This follows on yesterday’s post about the three calls that God issues to all people. Perhaps, we should drop back a bit and discuss what we mean by a “call.” This discussion includes the degree to which God’s call is “Irresistible,” as the Reformers would put it. As with many theological questions, Christian scholars disagree on this subject.

My Reformed friends would argue that to a greater or lesser degree, God’s Divine Will cannot be circumvented. Psalm 33:11, quoting Isaiah 14:27, states, “But the plans of the Lord stand firm forever, the purposes of his heart through all generations.”(NIV.) This thought is echoed in Proverbs 19:21. “Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” (NIV.)

In Steven Lawson’s book, The Gospel Focus of Charles Spurgeon, the writer defines the term, “irresistible” in a quote from the great English preacher, Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

This irresistible call is distinct from the general call of the gospel. The former is extended only to the elect and cannot be resisted. The latter is extended to all who hear the gospel and is resisted apart from the Spirit’s effectual call. Spurgeon explained [as follows.]

The general call of the gospel is like the common ‘cluck’ of the hen which she is always giving when her chickens are around her. But if there is any danger impending, then she gives a very peculiar call, quite different from the ordinary one, and the little chicks come running as fast as they can, and hide for safety under her wings. That is the call we want, God’s peculiar and effectual call to his own.

This effectual call always secures its desired effect

One can certainly cite specific instances wherein God apparently directly intervened in the life of a specific person to do His Will. Numerous times in Exodus, God is seen as “hardening Pharaoh’s heart. See Exodus 7,8 9,10, and 14. Likewise, in 2 Chronicles 36:22, Cyrus II, King of Persia was “moved” to bring about God’s Will.

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing. (NIV.)

That Will manifested God’s purpose that the people of Judah should be allowed to return home. Of this event, Isaiah 45:13 elucidated. The prophet states:

I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness:

I will make all his ways straight.

He will rebuild my city

and set my exiles free,

but not for a price or reward,

says the Lord Almighty.” (NIV.)

Some translations even refer to Cyrus as God’s “Messiah.” This is not to be confused with Jesus’ title of Messiah, however. Here, it merely means “one who is anointed” or “chosen.”

I realize here that I am entering into the discussion a topic that has raged since the time of John Calvin (1509-1564.) Further, I realize that I may be in violation of the line, “For fools rush in where angels fear to tread,” first uttered by Alexander Pope in his 1711 poem An Essay on Criticism, and sung by Frank Sinatra in the 1940 Tommy Dorsey song of the same name. Or, perhaps, “the Devil made me do it!” Flip Wilson as his character Geraldine.

I affirm that I am neither angel, devil, nor fool, merely an amateur writer submitting some thoughts for your consideration. The argument usually turns on the definition of “choice,” thus posing the question, “Does a person really have ‘free will?” Not choosing to open that “can of Worms,” I take the discussion in a different direction – a tangent – if you will. Remember that the title of this work is “The Call.”

The word for “called” in the Greek is kletos which generally means “invited” or “summoned.” (Strong’s no. G 6822.)

I would distinguish “invited” or even “summoned” from “commanded” or “impelled.” The former implies the ability on the part of the “invitee” or “summoned” to run away, either as a mere “no-show” or feverishly as one running down the street with his hair on fire. The latter implies compulsion as in a Legion of Imperial Storm Troopers delivered the message with orders to bring the “summoned” in.

The Apostle Paul, whom I will cite “early and often,” and who is frequently cited as the progenitor of the doctrine of election, himself states that God “calls” all to salvation. See 1 Timothy 2:4-6 (NIV.)

[God]… wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus who gave himself as a ransom for all people.

In this passage, Paul uses the Greek word “panta,” which Strong’s indicates means “every manner of, all.” See Strong’s no. G 3956. In other words, Strong’s defines “all” as “all” in the normal course of English usage. Assuming, arguendo, that you will agree with my logic, I will proceed with the balance of the argument.

May I suggest that the order of these three “calls” is of utmost importance? If one does not affirmatively answer the Call to Salvation, there is nothing that follows for that person except death. To refuse to answer the call to Salvation is to choose a life apart from God. Paul says in Romans 3:23, “for the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.” N.T. Wright suggests many times in his writings and videos that this “death” about which the Apostle speaks is the choice to “no longer be human” for eternity. May I further suggest that the fate to which Wright refers is worse than any Dantean or Botticellian picture of hell.

Be that as it may, when one does accept the Call to Salvation, the next call follows, the Call to Service. Accepting the call to service is not unlike joining the Army. The Apostle Paul was fond of using military metaphors. To extend Paul’s metaphor, in the army, that there are two kinds of officers. There are “line” or field officers and there are “staff” officers. Field officers obviously, serve in the field. Staff officers support the field officers. No group is more important than the other group, despite the prevalent feeling of superiority by some field officers that I have known.

Abraham was called to service by God. In Genesis 12:1, “The Lord had said to Abram, “Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you.” (NIV.)

Exodus 3:7,10 is perhaps the most direct Call to Service under the Old Covenant. In the “burning bush” episode, God said to Moses

. . . I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out . . . [a]nd now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, [you, Moses] go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. (NIV.)

Isaiah 6:8 recounts Isaiah’s dramatic Call to Service.

Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?”

And I said, “Here am I. Send me!” (NIV.)

In the Gospels, Jesus called his Disciples to a life of service. See, for example, Matthew 9:9. “As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.” (NIV.)

Finally, Paul received the Call to Service years after his “Damascus Road” experience to which I referred yesterday, “While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Acts 13:2. (NIV.)

In Christian service, there are those called to serve in the field such as pastors and missionaries whether professional or volunteer. These field officers perform all sorts of labor for the Lord.

But just like the Army, there are staff Christians. These are the Christians who serve behind the scenes. Perhaps, they do not go out into the neighborhood to evangelize or stand in the foodservice line to give out food and water to the homeless. Nevertheless, their service is to provide prayer and logistical support to the field officers. As one progresses in life, in the Christian service as in the military, one typically migrates from field service to staff service, though this is not always the case. In Jesus’ eyes, service is Service as long as it is the service to which He has called.

May I submit that in each of the examples from the Bible and from real-life cited, supra, the person called could decline the call. He or she could say, “No, I’m not going to do that.” Have you ever declined a call to service that you knew was from God? I have. How did it feel? Not good in my case.

To the contrary argument that God had willed that each one of these people would do what they did because God had Willed it, I would suggest a re-reading of the story of the “Rich Young Ruler“ recorded in all three synoptic Gospels See Matthew 19:16–30, Mark 10:17–31, and Luke 18:18–30.   Mark’s account is particularly telling as Mark homes in on the point in vv. 21,22.

Jesus looked at him and loved him. “One thing you lack,” he said. “Go, sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”

At this the man’s face fell. He went away sad, because he had great wealth.

In the literal, untranslated Greek, Jesus is said to ἠγάπησεν the man, the aorist intransitive form of the verb transliterated as agapeo. Strong’s defines agapeo as “to love, to be full of good-will and exhibit the same. . . to have a preference for, wish well to, regard the welfare of. . . the benevolence which God bestows . . .”

Clearly, Jesus would rather that the Rich Young Ruler had chosen to sell all and follow. However, Jesus makes a teaching point of the man’s refusal. Who knows, maybe this man was being offered the life that the Apostle Paul assumed?

But alas, he would not. The young man’s will was contrary to the Will of God, and “he went away sad.”

Thus, I offer for your consideration that God issues to all 3 calls: The Call to Salvation, The Call to Service, and the Call to Sanctification. Tomorrow, should the Lord allow, we’ll close the loop with the Cal to Sanctification.

Everybody receives calls regularly. Obviously, some calls are more important than others. None, however, is more important than the one each of us receives from God – that’s what I said, all of us. In listening to Romans 1:1-7 this morning, and in contemplation on thereon, I am reminded that people are all “called” by God. Paul writes in verse 1, “Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for the gospel of God . . .” Notice the word, “called.”

Jesus told us in what is probably the most well-known passage of the New Testament, John 3:16-19.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only [or only begotten] Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

Actually, I would argue that all people are issued three successive calls by God, the latter two being contingent upon successive acceptance of the previous call.

• The call to Salvation,
• The call to Service, and
• The call to sanctification.

The life of the Apostle Paul serves as a singular illustration of the point. Acts 9:1-8 documents Paul’s first call – the Call to Salvation.

Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest 2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. 3 As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. 4 He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?”

“Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked.

“I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,” he replied. “Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

True believers in Christ have responded favorably to such a call – each of us has. Some calls to Salvation have been fairly dramatic, others more of a long progression. In my own life, as a seven-year-old boy, I was called during a church service. God started speaking to me during the sermon telling me that He wanted me. His call didn’t go into much detail – I was seven, remember. The call though was intense. I began, in my spirit, to argue with God, trying to put Him off. However, He was having none of that. He did not relent in His call. I began to bargain. I made Him an offer. I said, “OK if you will send someone else down the aisle at the altar call, I will follow.” I felt safe in this offer as this was a small church in a small town. Few people made “decisions.”

“But God . . .” But God called my hand. I had scarcely gotten the thought out of my mind when a young red-haired girl fairly ran up the aisle towards the pastor. By then, I was in too deep to swim back to shore. I summoned courage from somewhere and took a step into the aisle. After that first step, I felt as though I were floating down the aisle. It was as though my feet didn’t touch the floor. I was riding a cushion of Spirit. Thus, I said, “Yes,” to the Call to Salvation as did the Apostle Paul. My experience was not as dramatic as His, but I was just as received by God that day as was Paul.

In Romans 1:5, Christ issued to Paul the call to service and gave Paul the specific mission to serve as the apostle to the Gentiles, the non-Jews. “Through him we [I, Paul] received grace and apostleship to call all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes from faith for his [Jesus’] name’s sake.”

Answering that second Call to Service, Paul began, as Barclay calls it, “a long road to martyrdom,” as from the outset, Paul was destined for a violent death, the fact of which he was keenly aware and in fact welcomed. Paul states in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

Unlike Paul, most of us – me included – seek a long life rather than what Pastor Rick calls a “Purpose-Driven life.” Perhaps, when Pastor Rick penned that best-selling book, he was thinking of the Apostle Paul who said of his own life in Philippians 3:7-11

But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

Let us not forget now the third call, the Call to Sanctification. “Sanctification” is a theologian’s “fifty-cent” word for “keeping on growing in Christ-likeness.” The word comes from the Latin word, sanctus, which itself is based on the Greek word, ágios, or transliterated, hagios. The concept of ágios is of more ancient origin. It relates back the Hebrew concept of being “set apart” or in the Hebrew, “kodesh.” In the ancient Hebrew worship, the utensils used in the daily sacrifices were used solely and only for purposes of worship. They could not be used for any other purpose regardless of the circumstance.

The word, “sanctified” is used at least nine times in the New Testament. Paul gives a clear command regarding our sanctification in 1 Thessalonians 4:3, “It is God’s will that you should be sanctified . . .”

That is the essence of God’s third call to those who have responded to the first two calls. We are called to live a life that is moving in the direction of being “set apart” for our usefulness to Christ. Whether one ever achieves a state of perfect sanctification in this life is the subject of theological differences among Christian denominations. Scholars and theologians smarter than I have struggled with that question giving me pause in rendering my amateurish opinion.

One might ask at this point, “How does one achieve or progress toward sanctification?”  The answer to me is surprisingly simple. In John 14:15, the “Beloved Disciple records Jesus as saying, “If you love me, keep my commands.” And what are His “commands?” Again, the answer is simple. One of the other Gospel writers, Matthew, records an event in Jesus’ life in Matthew 22:34-40.

Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him with this question: “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Surprisingly easy – to say, but exquisitely difficult to actually do – especially without God’s help. But then again, He is most anxious to “lend a hand.” Romans 8:26 reassures us, “In the same way, the [God’s Holy] Spirit helps us in our weakness. . .”

I submit that we progress to answer the third call by faithfully answering the second call. In other words, we show our degree of sanctification by our response to God’s Call to Service. James 1:22 urges us, “Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.”

Before we get “high and mighty” or “holier than thou” or pick your aphorism, we must remember one critical fact. While God calls us to salvation, service, and sanctification, the “doing” of these is God’s alone. Yet, through Him, we are empowered to do them. Philippians 4:13 blesses us by reminding that “I [we] can do all this through him [Christ] who gives me [us] strength.”

So let it be written, so let it be done.

At Chapel, last night, Brother Ben McDavid, the Chaplain, in his homily made the statement that we should forgive ourselves of our previous sins. He said that we should forget them as God has forgotten them. That comment resonated with me, as I am frequently unable to forget previous sins.

I once told Pastor Alan Cross that I had a sin that I could not forgive myself for. He asked me a series of questions. He asked whether I had acknowledged the sin before God. I stated that I had. He asked whether I had asked God to forgive the sin. I again replied affirmatively.

He then asked whether I believed that God could forgive sin. I began to equivocate. Erroneously, but Honestly, sometimes I have thought that my sins were too great even for God to forgive. (Before you condemn me for my lack of faith, think about your own sins. Think about that particular one – yes, that one, the one that YOU are not sure even God can forgive.)

He asked if I believed that God had answered my prayer in forgiving my sin. Again, I equivocated. He told me firmly but gently, that the previous sin had been forgiven and was remembered no more by God.

But now . . . But now I was committing the continuing sin of refusing to accept God’s forgiveness. Alan advised me that I should repent of that new and ongoing sin. Good pastoral counsel – memorable.

Meanwhile, at that same Chapel service, a friend sitting next to me commented upon my singing the hymns with great gusto, as I am wont to do sometimes. She commented that I should be in the choir. I took that as a great compliment.

Later last night, as I lay sleeping, I had a dream. In my dream, I was sitting just off stage at an orchestral performance. Standing right next to me on stage was a lovely young lady playing the tuba. She was holding it in a funny position, though, having it sit on the floor rather than hold it. As she was playing on, her fingers rapidly moving the valves, I, knowing the song from my trumpet playing days, was fingering air valves along with her. I was very conscious yet proud of myself for remembering the song. (This is a dream, remember. In my dreams, I can play the trumpet like a combination of Al Hirt, Myles Davis, and Doc Severinsen.)

During the young lady’s performance, she received a cell phone call apparently through an earpiece. I could hear a male voice on the other end of the call saying to her that she was holding the tuba wrong. He stated that if she were playing a baritone horn, she could play it with her clothes off. She then finished the song and put down her tuba. As she walked off the stage, she took off her clothes. I take it that she wanted people to see her just as she was. I’m not that free of self-consciousness.

Fast forward to this morning. I was walking and praying rather than listening to music. I believe God just wanted to have a conversation about my self-consciousness, and so we did.

During the walk, God pointed out someone else working in his or her yard. I don’t remember if this was male or female, and it doesn’t matter. God asked me what I thought about this person. My first thought about the person was to criticize something about the way he looked.

God inquired as to why I felt the need to criticize this person. God asked me whether I could accept this person as he was without judgment. I was not sure. Then God asked me whether the reason I could not accept other people just as she was had to do with the fact that I cannot accept myself just as I am. “Perhaps,” He suggested, “I could not even accept Him as He is for the same reason.

Harkening back to the homily at Chapel, I was being reminded of the hymn, “Just As I Am Without One Plea.” The hymn points out that God accepts us just as we are. I’m afraid that I have indulged the fiction that God accepted me the way I wanted him to see me, not the way I am.

I suspect that I am not alone in this fictional indulgence. If I am to be able to truly accept other people as they are and to truly accept God the way He is, I must first accept myself just as I am.

That is a big struggle for me. I do not want people, or God for that matter, to know the real me because I think that if they do know the real me, they will not be able to accept the real me. The fallacy with that thinking is that it sells short both the other person who thinks about me if in fact he or she does even think about me and more importantly, it sells God short. It denies His omniscience, more importantly, it denies His great love.

In Luke 12:7, Jesus said that God knows so much about us that He even numbers the hairs on our head. In other words, he knows everything about us on the sub-atomic level. And yet, knowing that much about us – about me – He made the Supreme sacrifice of giving up His deity so that I might enter into relationship with Him.

Such a love as that will surely overshadow my fear of being “found out” and will allow me to accept myself as I am. Yes, that is the key. I cannot be self-conscious as long as I am “God-conscious.”

The Apostle Paul writes in Philippians 2:5-8:

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Now that love so overwhelms my need to be accepted or liked, or to be impressive (in my own eyes,) as to cause it to disappear. When I can accept myself as I am, I can accept God for who he is. And, if I can accept God for who He is. I can accept people for who they are without any judgment. (Besides, being everybody’s judge is exhausting.)

Charlotte Elliott wrote the beautiful hymn, “Just as I Am” in 1835. Writing about the composition, the 19^th-Century writer John Brownlee noted Charlotte’s utter sense of despair at being viewed by her peers as “useless.” I have taken the liberty of quoting Brownlee’s description in its entirety.

The night before the bazaar she was kept wakeful by distressing thoughts of her apparent uselessness; and these thoughts passed by a transition easy to imagine into a spiritual conflict, till she questioned the reality of her whole spiritual life, and wondered whether it were anything better after all than an illusion of the emotions, an illusion ready to be sorrowfully dispelled.

The next day, the busy day of the bazaar, she lay upon her sofa . . . set apart for her in Westfield Lodge, ever a dear resort to her friends. The troubles of the night came back upon her with such force that she felt they must be met and conquered in the grace of God.

She gathered up in her soul the great certainties, not of her emotions, but of her salvation: her Lord, His power, His promise. And taking pen and paper from the table she deliberately set down in writing, for her own comfort, “the formulae of her faith.” Hers was a heart which always tended to express its depths in verse. So, in verse she restated to herself the Gospel of pardon, peace, and heaven.

Probably without difficulty or long pause, she wrote the hymn, getting comfort by thus definitely “recollecting” the eternity of the Rock beneath her feet. There, then, always, not only for some past moment, but “even now” she was accepted in the Beloved “Just as I am.”

So let it be written, so let it be done.

Walking today, I listened to the first few chapters of Genesis. This reminded me that I’ve been concerned at my lack of knowledge about the United Methodist position on the subject of Hell. Since I am now, along with my wife, members in good standing of that august body, I ought to know what they purport to believe about Biblical truths.

Perhaps, the Lord wants me to post on the subject of death and the afterlife. At any rate, that’s what I’m going to start doing. I’ll keep it up until He stops me. I plan to write it in several installments. I’ll look at the history of beliefs on death and the afterlife with an emphasis on the development of the orthodox Christian belief based in the Bible.

I begin with statements about the final place of the righteous dead or those whom evangelicals would deem to be “saved.”

Referring to the immediately dead, the official online presence of the United Methodist Church writes as follows.

Do they go directly to heaven or hell or do they go to a holding place until Christ returns to earth for the final judgment?

Throughout history, people have wondered what happens immediately after death. While we may want a clear-cut answer, United Methodists do not provide one in our doctrinal standards. This is because the scriptures themselves offer no one clear teaching on what happens to the dead between their death and the resurrection and judgment at the Last Day.

Instead, we are called simply to trust God that we are in Christ’s care and keeping.  It is that faith that calls us to trust that God holds answers that humanity cannot yet understand. We find in Hebrews 11:1: “Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” While the Protestant tradition teaches us certain aspects of the afterlife, there is still much that remains held in the mystery of God that requires simple faith.

Many Christians through the centuries have believed that when persons die, they remain dead (asleep) until the final judgment, at which time they are resurrected to life or punishment at Christ’s final judgment.

UM [United Methodist] Reporter interviewed Thomas G. Long, professor at Candler School of Theology, about his new book on funerals. To the question of how we should think about what’s happened to the dead, he said:

There are two images in the New Testament about what happens. First, the Resurrection Day, when the trumpet will sound and the dead will be raised up incorruptible. If you only had that image, what we would imagine is that when people die, they lie in some intermediate state awaiting the great Resurrection Day.

The other image, however, is that death contains no victory over us at all. As soon as we die, we are with God. We get this in the Book of Revelation where John looks up and already the saints who have died are praising God around the throne. In terms of linear time, we can’t work this out. We’ve got these two competing images: You either wait until the general resurrection or you go immediately to be with God.

But the imposition of linear time on what is an eternal idea is what creates the contradiction. I don’t try to make a theologian out of Einstein, but he did show us that events that happen in sequence can also be events that happen simultaneously. If Einstein can imagine that in terms of physics, theologians can imagine it also in terms of the intrusion of eternity into linear time—that we are both immediately raised and raised together.

John Wesley believed in an intermediate state between death and the final judgment. So, as United Methodist theologian and historian Ted Campbell notes, “we reject the idea of purgatory but beyond that maintain silence on what lies between death and the last judgment.” (Methodist Doctrine: The Essentials, by Ted A. Campbell.)

I was thinking of Jesus’ statement from the cross to the penitent thief generally translated as, “Jesus answered him, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.” (NIV) The ASV translates quite similarly. “And He said to him, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” Note that both translations place a comma, not found in Greek manuscripts, after, “you,” making the word, “today” adverbially modify the verb, “be.” This renders, in paraphrase, “you will be with Me in Paradise today.”

Thomas Aquinas, quoting Luke 23:43, states:

The words of The Lord (This day … in paradise) must, therefore, be understood not of an earthly or corporeal paradise, but of that spiritual paradise in which all may be, said to be, who are in the enjoyment of the divine glory. Hence to place, the thief went up with Christ to heaven, that he might be with Christ, as it was said to him: “Thou shalt be with Me in Paradise”; but as to reward, he was in Paradise, for he there tasted and enjoyed the divinity of Christ, together with the other saints.

Prior to reading the grammatical point of this statement, I would have held that the statement clearly stated that the penitent thief would go immediately on the same day with Jesus to “Paradise.” Note that He uses “Paradise” and not “Heaven.” However, upon breathing their last, Jesus and the penitent thief, and the other thief for that matter, leave the space-time continuum and enter timeless eternity, the realm of God. Thus, “today” may or may not apply to a 24-hour time period as we know it.

In 2 Corinthians 5:1-8, the Apostle Paul utters a passage that is traditionally to be summarized as, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.” The text states:

For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. Meanwhile, we groan, longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling, because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.

Therefore, we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.

Based, I believe, upon firm Biblical grounds, I can state confidently that the faithful dead are “immediately” and “bodily” in the presence of the Lord, whether this is in some temporary body in an intermediate state, as proposed by N.T. Wright in the “Intermediate State,” from “Rethinking the Tradition,” or in a place known as “Paradise” or perhaps, “Heaven” (but clearly not the “New Heaven” as that comes after the judgment.)

This statement does not rule out the concept of so-called “soul-sleep,” which might be otherwise thought of as stating that the time between their death and the final Resurrection is a spiritual irrelevancy, or as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 15:52, “in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed.”

So let it be written, so let it be done.

I’d appreciate hearing any comments.