Value and Worth

The church has made a mistake in the days since the apostles.  Take this portion of the definition of covenant as seen at BibleStudyTools dot Com:

The covenants referred to above were between two equal parties; this means that the covenant relationship was bilateral. The bond was sealed by both parties vowing, often by oath, that each, having equal privileges and responsibilities, would carry out their assigned roles. Because a covenant confirmed between two human parties was bilateral, some scholars have concluded that the covenant Yahweh established with human beings is also bilateral. This is not the case. God initiated, determined the elements, and confirmed his covenant with humanity. It is unilateral. Persons are recipients, not contributors; they are not expected to offer elements to the bond; they are called to accept it as offered, to keep it as demanded, and to receive the results that God, by oath, assures will not be withheld.

I would never presume to believe myself equal with God.  The fact that I was created by Him resolves that question for all time.  I am the clay.  However, we are dealing with a God who is humble, full of mercy, kindness, and can only be described as Love.

He is a God of covenant.  But why even introduce the idea of a bond if love is not to be served by it?  And what love can there be without freedom of choice?  Would  you want someone to be forced to love you?  What fun would that be?

I would have to disagree with the quoted paragraph above.  A covenant only has worth if it is based on an agreement.  Agreement requires choice.  Choice implies equality between the parties.  Am I saying that I am equal with God?  No.  I'm saying God came down to my level in order to grace me with the choice to love Him.

Phi 2:5-8
5 Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.

It is one thing for me to claim I am equal with God because I am great.  It's quite another to say I have been granted equality with God because He is so incredibly full of mercy and grace.  Still don't agree?  Look at this then:

Rom 8:15-17
15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, " Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

Again, I'm not saying I'm God.  I'm not saying He and I are the same entity.  I'm saying we are sufficiently equal for Him to deal with me as a person and not as a slave.  Reread that last scripture.  I am God's child.  Holy Spirit tells me this all the time.  I am an heir to the Kingdom of The Creator.  Not only that, I'm a JOINT heir with Jesus, who is God!  Jesus and I are equal partners in the inheritance!  All that Jesus has is mine!!!!  Dude...

Gen 25:5
5 And Abraham gave all that he had to Isaac.

The pattern established in the Bible is that a father gives EVERYTHING to his son.  All that He has is ours.  It boggles the mind.

But why?  Why did He do this?  Why lower Himself?  Why, God, why?

Isa 53:10
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;...

Luk 12:32
32 " Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

This seems to suggest that it pleased God to beat Jesus until He was unrecognizable.  It pleases Him, our Father, to give us the kingdom.  What an extreme way to deal with something.  Why go through all that?  Well, He had to give His all.

When Jesus was on the earth, He gave us His all.  He went all in on establishing the covenant with us.  He left no stone unturned.  Every i was dotted and every t was crossed (no pun intended).  He gave and He gave and He gave, like that book The Giving Tree, until there was literally nothing left of Him.  He gave His wisdom to the disciples and the crowds.  He gave them His healing, His companionship, His love.  When He had given all of that, He gave still more.  He gave His body over to be beaten, His flesh to be ripped apart.  He gave His dignity and His privacy.  He gave His peace and received our torment.  Finally, He gave His life.  He was all in.  He quite literally poured Himself out.

The Bible speaks of His doing all this because of the joy set before Him.  Wow.  It would have to be something really really extraordinary to warrant Him giving, literally, His all in order to obtain it.  What could possibly be worth that?  I mean, it's like that old saying, "What do you buy for the person who has everything?"

Your heart.  Remember, it can't be bought or sold.  Your heart must be given freely or not at all.  There is something about you and I that He values so incredibly much that He'd hand Himself over as a ransom for us.  We are not His equals yet He regards us as such and therefore we are.

I wonder if the entire Bible is about winning our affection.  I wonder if maybe we are being romanced into holiness even now.  Could it possibly be that simple?

Homosexuals

Some of this will sound harsh but please stick with it until the end.  I want to try to reveal something that I believe God has shown me.  Prayerfully consider what I've written here.

There has been much talk lately about Vicky Beeching coming out as gay.  Homosexuality one of the most polarizing topics in all the western world.  Sadly, it's also one of if not THE MOST polarizing topic in the church.

Let me get this over with right off the bat:  sex outside of marriage is a sin.  God defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman for all time.  Are homosexuals living in sin?  Let me answer that question with another question.  Is it a sin to worry that you won't be able to pay your bills?  Now, if that happens every pay period, are you living in sin?

Many would answer, "Oh but brother, that's different."  Well, since we are using the written word of God as our measuring stick, let's see what it says about sin:

James 2:10 For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.

Do you understand that according to God's standard of righteousness you are as a homosexual to Him when you worry?  When you lust.  When you lie.  When you do not believe.  In His eyes, you are equal.  Let's go one verse back and see what James was writing about in the first place:

James 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself," you do well; 9 but if you show partiality, you commit sin, and are convicted by the law as transgressors.

Do you allow those who self-identify as gay into your church?  Do you approach them as "gay" people when you encounter them in public or online?  That's partiality.  Here's how I define being non-partial:

2 Cor 5:14 For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge thus:that if One died for all, then all died; 15 and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again.
16 Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. 17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 18 Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, 19 that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

When I approach someone as any identity they've given themselves or any identity the world has given them (drunk, athiest, porn addict, drug addict, lawyer), I have unwittingly regarded them according to the flesh.  To speak to a person as a homosexual is to disregard that person as God's dear child.  You are saying that their highest identity is defined by their sexual habits instead of the reason and purpose for which God created them.  Look at what Paul wrote!  We are "compelled by love" to "regard no one according to the flesh" because Christ is "reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses against them".  Jesus died once for all.  All means all.  We are defined by the value God placed on our lives:  the life of Jesus.

He gave us the ministry of reconciliation.  It's up to us.  If we turn people away because they call themselves drunks or budhists or porn stars or gay, they will remain turned away.  That's the deal.  This whole thing isn't about protecting ourselves from their icky sin, it's about being compelled by love to reconcile the lost back to their Father.

I can hear some still saying, "But brother, it's a sin and there's just no way around that."  Those who are NOT lost do not need to be reconciled.  And as long as you are on a hunt for sin, you'll never get to the harvest.  This is how Jesus put it:

Matt 23:13 " But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in."

Jesus did not ask for a group of Separated Ones whose job it is to keep the church clean of all sin.  How dare you.  The gospel is not about sin.  It's about grace.  When you see a person for their sin, you tread under foot what Jesus did for you and the other person.  When you speak against a person, you murder them.  What if this isn't about homosexuality at all?  What if this is about seeing clearly?

What if you can't see past the flesh of others because you've never seen yourself apart from your physical nature?  What if you can't give grace to some people because you never received it for yourself?  "For you neither go in yourselves..."

Consider what Paul said after talking about those who practice all kinds of imorality:

Romans 2:3 And do you think this, O man, you who judge those practicing such things, and doing the same, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you despise the riches of His goodness, forbearance, and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who "will render to each one according to his deeds": 7 eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; 8 but to those who are self- seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness — indignation and wrath, 9 tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.

Guys, we are free from fighting sin both in ourselves and in others.  Do you not know that it's the goodness of God that leads you to repentance?  If you have it on your heart to save those who revel in their sin, then magnify HIS goodness to them.  If you don't have it on your heart to do that, then magnify His goodness to yourself!

We did not earn salvation and The Kingdom is never in danger.  Remember that there is a very real enemy out there and it's not flesh and blood.  It operates in deception so that it can steal, kill, and destroy.  I refuse to empower the deception by even acknowledging it.  I'd rather speak things that are not as though they are.  I'd rather show tenderness, mercy, kindness, and patience to those who do not yet see how valuable they are.  We are better than we have been in the past and we are getting even better.  Please, love one another as He has loved us.