Prophetically Speaking

When you think of Old Testament prophets, whom do you generally think of first?  It would probably be a pretty good bet that your first thought is Elijah, right? I am not at all surprised that would be the case.  After all, Elijah defeated 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah!  Plus he got caught up to heaven in a whirlwind riding in a chariot of fire.  That is pretty hard to beat.   After Elijah, you might think of Isaiah or maybe Jeremiah.  Then maybe you will think of Daniel or Ezekiel or one of the Minor Prophets.  Where, though, in your thinking would the prophet Elisha fall?  Would he line up with one of the “great” prophets, or is he just that guy who came after Elijah?

There’s no question that Elijah is one of the greatest Old Testament prophets, but in my estimation, I think Elisha gets a bad wrap in both the flannel board department as well as the pulpit.  He often gets overlooked when it comes to Old Testament heroes and role models.  For me, though, I would say he may be my favorite prophet.  Now admittedly, I find that the prospect of a bald prophet (2 Kings 2:23) is somewhat compatible to my way of thinking; but it’s more than just our mutual follicle impairment that attracts me to the likes of Elisha.

To make my point, let’s start with the end – his death.  2 Kings 13:20 says Elisha died and they buried him.  No fanfare or fuss – my man Elisha is jilted again – except for the fact that the King of Israel himself, Joash, grieved deeply over his loss.  The King of Israel considered Elisha as a father.  That’s pretty special.  Ahab never grieved over Elijah or treated him like a father.  Instead he called him a troublemaker – then again Ahab was evil whereas Joash was just.  Nevertheless, not much is said about the death of Elisha.  What’s more, they didn’t even give him the decency of having his own separate grave.  Now maybe it was their habit of having multiple bodies in every grave and maybe it wasn’t.  Maybe it was they just didn’t cover up his grave, which is equally as disrespectful.  Or maybe if I did a bit of historical research I would figure out exactly what was going on, but just two verses later another random person dies and because his pallbearers get frighten by a marauding band of Moabites, they just throw his body into Elisha’s (open?) grave.  What was the result?  The man comes back to life!  The dude comes back from the dead just by touching the bones of Elisha!  Now that is pretty amazing and is a fitting conclusion for the under-appreciated life of this prophet.

I think my own admiration of Elisha rests primarily in his faith, his faithfulness, and his humility.  When God tells Elijah to appoint Elisha as his successor (1 Kings 19), Elisha doesn’t just follow him.  Elisha kills all 12 yoke of oxen that he owns – his whole livelihood – gives the meat away and then leaves all to follow Elijah.  For Elisha, there was no turning back to the old life.  There was no safety net.  That takes faith.

Then, when it was time for Elijah to be called to heaven, Elisha steadfastly (or perhaps stubbornly) remained with Elijah to the end, asking only that God give him a double portion of Elijah’s spirit (2 Kings 2).  Perhaps you missed the significance of that. I missed it for the longest time until one day I had an epiphany about Elisha’s faith.  Consider how well we love Elijah.  He was the big honcho prophet in the Old Testament.  He was so special that God took him to heaven in a whirlwind.  He was the one about which it was prophesied that he would come back.  Jesus considered John the Baptist to be the spirit of Elijah.  Elijah was “the man.”

Consider now what Elisha asked for. Elijah says to Elisha: “What can I do for you before I leave?”  Elisha’s response, in today’s vernacular: “I want to be twice the man you are!” It’s no wonder that Elijah’s response was (again in today’s vernacular): “Wow, that’s a tough one.”  Nevertheless, Elisha did receive a double portion of Elijah’s spirit.  In other words, Elisha came to be twice the prophet that Elijah was!  I know that is a silly, perhaps theologically incorrect, but most certainly human way of looking at things; but it got my attention. When I thought about how highly we esteem Elijah an then realize that Elisha was twice the prophet that Elijah was… it caused me to take a second look at this often overlooked prophet.

Elisha was a man of faith.  Elisha watched his hero and mentor separate the Jordan River by slapping his coat on the water.  A few hours later, after that coat was tossed from Elijah in the whirlwind, Elisha picked it up and slapped it down on the water – separating the waters again.  He never even thought twice about it.

From 2 Kings 2 till 2 Kings 13, we find story after story of Elisha’s faith.  There is the story of Elisha and the widow’s oil (OK, that one I remember from my flannel graph days).  There is the story of the Shunammite woman’s dead son coming back to life (I remember that one being on flannel graph as well).  So maybe we do tell some of his stories to our children, but we don’t really stop to think about his faith. By faith Elisha floated an axe head on water, removed poison from a stew, and healed Naaman of leprosy.  By faith, Elisha saw the multitudes of the armies of God surrounding the Syrian army (which had surrounded the city of Dothan) when no one else could see them.  By faith Elisha single-handedly led the entire Syrian army behind him victoriously into the capitol city – then mercifully let them all go free.  When the whole city of Samaria was starving and turning to cannibalism, Elisha’s faith in God allowed him to predict not only deliverance, but also an abundance of food within 24 hours.  Elisha’s faith was solid.

What I don’t find when I study the life of Elisha is any wavering of that faith.  Moses questioned God’s choice of his leadership.  Elijah’s faith waivered and he fled for his life.  Isaiah freaked out and fainted when he saw the vision of God (OK, I admit that I probably would faint as well). Jeremiah complained and got angry at God for putting him through so many trials.  Certainly there were other prophets who were faithful like Elisha, but I just find it pretty amazing that Elisha just quietly went about doing his prophet-thing without compromise or question.  He gets very few accolades.  He is mentioned only once in the New Testament (Luke 4:27).   But here’s the interesting part.  Elisha didn’t need accolades because his strength was not in his mighty works or his miracles or in man’s approval of him.  Elisha’s strength was in his faith – and his humility.  C.S. Lewis said that true humility is not thinking less of yourself, but thinking of yourself less.  That was Elisha.

I want that kind of faith.  I want that kind of humility.  I doubt I will have occasion to float an axe head or purge my homemade chili of poison; but like many Christians my faith is not always as strong as it should be; and my pride is often much bigger than it should be.  I hate that I am this way, but I happen to like the accolades.  This itself is a sign of my lack of faith, because it says I need man’s approval more than I need God’s approval.  I am surprised that Elisha is not called out in the Hebrews 11 Faith Hall of Fame, but I doubt Elisha is offended at all. 

So I have to ask myself the question… what made Elisha so successful?  What can I learn from his life? What I learn from Elisha’s life that is most applicable to my life (and to yours) is the manner in which Elisha went about being obedient.  He didn’t make a big deal of his prophetic ministry.  He didn’t promote himself as anyone special.  He didn’t showboat or do anything fancy like challenge all the prophets of the false God’s to a duel before the whole assembly or wander around naked for years (not that those things are bad if God has called you to do them; if God called me to walk around naked… well, let’s just not go there).  Instead, Elisha just quietly went about doing God’s work.  It didn’t matter how big or how small that work was, he just did it and moved on to the next thing.

Elisha is someone we can look to as an example of how to walk by faith.  We don’t need to be looking for the culture-shattering thing God wants us to do.  We don’t need to be trying to make a name for ourselves – although admittedly, my publisher says that is precisely what I have to do in order to sell books (thus my own internal conflict and confusion).  We don’t need to be worrying about whatever it is we are supposed to be doing.  We are just supposed to go about the day doing whatever it is that God wants us to do today.  Simple, easy, steadfast faith.

Lord, I pray that you will help me have the faith of Elisha.  

As always, your comments are solicited and welcome.

The Nature of Discipleship

     There is a question that I have had the occasion to ponder recently.  What exactly is a disciple?  Of course there are lots of patent answers to this question that are used frequently without reservation.  A disciple is a learner.  He studies the ways and methods of his mentor to learn about him.  A disciple is a follower.  She follows after the ways and methods of her mentor.  A disciple is an imitator, imitating the ways and methods of his mentor.  These patent answers are not incorrect.  However, in my own personal contemplation, I have been asking a broader question than just what is a disciple.   I have been asking, what is discipleship?  I feel quite comfortable that I know how to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, but I struggle with how to show others how to be a disciple.  I can teach them the Bible and even show them how to study scripture for themselves, but I have real difficulty showing them the absolute imperative of living a life that is fully surrendered to Jesus Christ - and what exactly that looks like on a day by day basis.

     

     In the Christian community, there are way too many books out there describing how to go about discipleship.  Almost without fail, there is some method or program that is proposed that will help in making disciples.  I in no way want to disparage any of these. They all have their own merits, but it always seems to me that something important is missing in the method.  It seems to me that at the end of the day, the success of one's efforts at discipleship ultimately comes down to the individual's own perception and attitude towards grace itself.

     If a "disciple" does not have a right attitude about grace, then it is impossible for that person to be able to comprehend what is means to to be completely surrendered to Christ.  We sing "amazing grace how sweet the sound" but in reality we are neither amazed by it nor do we savor its sweetness. Without understanding the overwhelming magnitude of the grace bestowed upon us, we are inclined to have an overtly shallow comprehension of the phrase "I surrender all."   It becomes a self-deception. The words we sing roll from our lips so easily that we believe in our hearts that we truly have surrendered our all.  And since we believe that we have surrendered our all, we have great difficulty seeing how disobedient and unChristlike our lives truly are.

     When I take a step back from my Westernized religiosity and ask myself in genuine honesty whether or not I am truly surrendered to Jesus Christ, there is only one truthful answer.  No.  Upon that simple confession can be built the solid foundation from which true discipleship can be built.  We sing "I surrender all" as an invitation for the lost to come to Jesus, but after giving our lives to Jesus, we invariably take back much of it for ourselves again.  Those of us who in song are urging the lost to give their all are often blind to the fact that they have only given that which is convenient.  Until we understand how amazing is our grace we can never honestly surrender our all.

     I do not suggest in this that any of us who have such a shallow view are not saved, although it is possible and probable that some or many are not.  I do suggest, however, that such blindness to the magnitude of grace and such blindness to our own failure to surrender our all to Jesus can only be overlooked for so long without incurring permanent spiritual consequences.  Perhaps only the Holy Spirit can open our eyes to such blindness.  However, when we come to an honest assessment of ourselves and realize that we truly are not fully surrendered to Christ, then we are faced with a life-altering decision.  At that point, we must choose between a life of surrendered obedience and a life of blatant disobedience.  At that point, we stand at a crossroad and make a decision... Turn left and continue in a life of shallow, self-centered, mediocre Christianity... Or turn right and become a true disciple.  I cannot say whether the person who turned left is lost or saved, but I can assure you that for me, the risks have such high eternal consequences that I am not willing to take them.  Which will it be for you?  Right or Left?

     Ah, but that is not the end of the question.  This recognition of the transcendent cost of grace and the resultant decision to surrender may identify you as a true disciple of Christ, but it still does not help us answer the question as to what is discipleship or how to be a disciple.

     In recent months, I have been greatly influenced by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.  Bonhoeffer has enlightened my perspective on discipleship in many ways.  Like myself, Bonhoeffer understood that discipleship only happens when the believer is truly surrendered to Jesus Christ in every respect.  Bonhoeffer, however, had a very interesting perspective on what that looked like in the believer's life.  Bonhoeffer believed that discipleship came by living according to the Sermon on the Mount and he based much of his instruction on Christian living on the teachings from the Sermon on the Mount.

     When I think about this approach to discipleship, I find considerable merit in it, but with some important exceptions.  During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said (in Matthew 5:17-18) that he did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill the law.  The rest of the Sermon on the Mount, therefore, goes on to dismantle traditional thinking about the law and establish more correct understandings of obedience to the law.  The Sermon on the Mount, therefore, is about the believer's understanding and attitude towards obedience to the law.  This is critical to discipleship and so is very practical for teaching a disciple how to live.  However, it is still about obedience to the law, which the disciple is obligated to, but it is not about faith.  A believer lives by faith and not by the law. As such, understanding the spirit of law and striving towards obedience to it is critical for the believer; but to truly be a disciple, the believer must understand the ongoing implications of faith in his life as well.  To me, therefore, discipleship goes beyond Bonhoeffer's reliance on the Sermon on the Mount to something deeper.

     This deeper thing that the believer needs to understand is the practical side of faith.  Where the Sermon on the Mount gives us a practical look at our expected obedience to the law, we need a similar practical look at faith.  We can find this practical look at faith from the book of James.  The book of James was written to new Jewish believers to help them understand what faith looks like in their lives on a day by day basis.  This is discipleship, and it is not surprising that many of the themes in James are similar to themes from the Sermon on the Mount.

     Many believers live their entire lives thinking that faith is something they have and not something they do.  Many believers are too afraid of falling into a works-based mentality that they limit their understanding of faith to an incomplete association of faith to simple  belief or mental assent.  Faith is so much more than either belief or mental assent that James says in James 2:19 that even the demons believe and shutter.  Faith is a lifestyle that permeates every aspect of the disciple's life and it is alive and living (James 2:26).  The practicality of this living faith is the building blocks for real discipleship.  Deitrich Bonhoeffer would argue that every believer should study and adopt their lives to the teachings of the Sermon on the Mount.  I would agree, but I would also say that this will set the believers mind in the right place.  For the believer to take the next step and put their lifestyle in the right place, the believer should also study and adopt the teachings of the book of James. 

For more information on the teachings of the book of James, please check out my book, Faith Beyond Belief - Understanding True Faith from the Book of James (available on amazon.com).

Blog copyright (c) 2013 Joel J. Dison

The Good Shepherd

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
I shall not want for that which I require, for he meets my every need
I shall not want material possessions, for he satisfies my every desire
I shall not want for glory or power, for I have surrendered to his name

He makes me lie down in green pastures
Pastures so tender that I cannot help but lie down
Pastures so soft that they bring me true rest

He leads me beside the still waters
Not raging waters that are dangerous
Not hot stagnant pools that can make me sick
But sweet, refreshing waters of life

He restores my soul
When I am depressed, he is my restoration
When I am sad, he is my joy

He leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake
All my righteous acts are as filthy rags
But when he leads me into righteousness, he is glorified

He knows my name, and I follow his voice

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil, for you are with me
He will not abandon me to the wild beast like the hired hand

He will not let the thief lead me astray

He has already laid down his life for me, so I have nothing to fear

Your rod and your staff, they comfort me
I am comforted by a rod that will never allow me to go astray
By a staff that will always protect me

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You anoint my head with oil;
My cup overflows
Today he is my shepherd;

But I am also the adopted son of his Father
One day, I will be with him in glory where he will prepare a banquet for me in my honor

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
And I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

Choices and Consequences

“Men are free to decide their own moral choices, but they are also under the necessity to account to God for those choices.”   A. W. Tozer.

When the Holy Trinity set forth to form all of creation, he/they determined in his/their unity to create a being like them.  “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26).  None who truly has a right understanding of who God really is would dare to suggest that we come close to being “like God.” However, the oldest and greatest of sins and, in fact, the most common of all sins is when man asserts himself above the almighty and decides to be more like God than the creator intended. 

When God created man in his own image, it was to fellowship with him and to represent God as a moral agent in his creation. In order to accomplish this task, God gave mankind something no other creature possessed – the right to choose. Much can be said about the sovereignty of God and the idea of determination in general, but it cannot be denied that mankind can make choices that are moral in nature.   When Joshua stood before the people of Israel and said “choose this day whom you will serve…” he was not delusional or speaking of an illusion. He spoke of a real ability to choose between the God of his fathers and the gods of the nations.

The gospel that the apostle Paul lays out in Romans 10 is a gospel that is filled with the responsibility of man to call on God. In fact, “everyone who calls on the name of the LORD will be saved” (Romans 10:13).  Despite Paul’s clear proclamation of the sovereignty of God and his roll in calling men to salvation in Romans 8 and 9, Paul makes just as clear a proclamation in Romans 10 that it is man’s responsibility to call on God.  Furthermore, Paul does not just leave it there.  Paul points further to man’s responsibility in the process of salvation when he goes on to say “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” Each man has a choice to follow after God or to go his own way.

The problem with having the freedom to make such a choice is that sometimes the wrong choice is made, and with wrong choices come consequences.  When Adam and Eve chose to disobey, they introduced death into the world – they themselves experienced an immediate spiritual death and left all mankind with a legacy of death thereafter. 

Death, however, is only the beginning of the consequences associated with making choices that are contrary to God’s laws and precepts. The prophet Isaiah says in Isaiah 59:2 that our iniquities separate us from God.  When we make moral choices contrary to God’s law, it breaks our fellowship with him. Since all of us have sinned, that means all of us have been separated from God, and for the rest of our lives we face the ongoing consequences of being separated from God.  Romans chapter 1 speaks of some of these consequences as God gives us over to greater and greater passions and lusts.

Ultimately, death does come and after that, as the writer of Hebrews says in Hebrews 9:27, comes the judgment. Each of us will face judgment and the judge at that time will be none other than Jesus Christ himself, and he describes that judgment in Matthew 25.  After separating the sheep (those who follow him) from the goats (those who do not follow him), he will send the goats into outer darkness where they will be forever separated from God. We who were created to represent God and be in fellowship with him will be eternally separated from him by our transgressions.  There are none who are exempt from this judgment and there are none who can escape it.

As horrific as that sounds, the greatest consequence of our choices is not to us but to God himself.  Because none of us can escape the consequences, God had to take drastic measures in order to restore the originally designed fellowship between God and man. That can only come through punishment for our transgressions, which we are unable to bear.  As such, the greatest consequence of our transgression is the death of God’s only begotten son, Jesus Christ, as a substitutionary atonement for the consequences of the sins we have committed.  Through his death, and through our faith in him, we can have peace with God and be reconciled to him, but only after God poured out the wrath of God and the full and complete punishment for the sins of the world on his only begotten son.

Every day we make moral choices.  Many are good, but many more are contrary to God’s law.  Outside of Jesus Christ, those bad choices heap judgment on our own heads.  In Christ, however, when we make bad choices we heap judgment on the head of the one who saved us.  It is a paradox beyond comprehension.  There is great comfort in knowing that God’s great love for us has resulted in salvation and restoration of our souls.  However there is great guilt, pain, and sorrow in knowing that our ongoing transgression continues to bring punishment on the object of our worship.

That paradox should create within us a desire for change.  The shame should awaken within us a hunger and thirst for righteousness.  When we truly understand the consequence of our choices, it should drive us to holiness – not for our sake, but for the sake of and glory of God.

The Christian Paradox

On December 11, 1928 Dietrich Bonheoffer gave a lecture in Barcelona, Spain entitled “Jesus Christ and the Essence of Christianity” in which he said “the Christian message is basically amoral and irreligious, paradoxical as that may sound.”  A Paradox?  One does not usually think of Christianity in terms of the word paradox, but if you think about it, Christianity really is full of paradoxes.

For example, in Christianity, one must die in order to live.  That is a paradox.  Most of us would know and understand that life in Christ is possible because of the death of Christ.  This is not the paradox.  The paradox comes in the fact that in order for me to accept the life offered by Christ’s death, I too must die.  I must die to my self.  I must die to my old way of life.  I must die to my sinful nature.  These are not things that we eagerly give up, and so many so-called Christians claim the life offered through Christ’s death, but they have not yet died themselves.

Another example of the Christian paradox is that we are freed from slavery in order to willing submit ourselves to servitude.  Jesus said in John 8:32 that the truth would set us free.  That is a wonderful truth that attracts the attention of many who feel they are in bondage.  However, the Christian concept of freedom is not what most of us would understand.  Our view of freedom is that we are unbound by anything and are sovereign to do whatever we wish.  This is not the Christian view of freedom.  In Christ, we are freed from the bondage of sin, and yes, we are freed from the bondage of death.  However, we are not freed to do whatever our own will desires.  Instead, we are freed to willingly serve God and accomplish his will.  Paul the Apostle regularly described himself as a willing slave of Christ.  When Moses came before Pharoah and said to him, “God says ‘let my people go,’” he also told Pharoah that it was so that the Israelites could go and serve their God. 

This is a paradox.  Why would we agree to leave one master to serve another?  The answer is plain.  One master promises fun, frivolity, and a life of pleasure but in reality delivers only pain, suffering, inner turmoil, and death.  He is a master that hates our very existence because we were made in the image of his enemy.  Many who are slaves to this master do not even know it.  They believe themselves to be free until the consequences of their bondage come crashing in on them.  The other master demands obedience and submission, but delivers a life of spiritual healing, peace (inner peace), and joy.   He is the master that created us and loves us.  He is a terrible master, but he is a wonderful master at the same time. The idea of freedom as we understand it is an illusion.  Humanism is a lie. We were created to serve.  We should serve the one who loves us.

Bonheoffer, however, spoke not of these paradoxes, but said instead that Christianity was amoral and irreligious.  That, indeed is a paradox.  One does not normally think of Christianity as amoral – that is, without morals – or irreligious – that is – not requiring religious rite.  Indeed, one thinks exactly the opposite.  However, Bonheoffer explains this paradox as follows.  The moral code of Christianity in the New Testament is no different than the moral code of the ancient Jews of the Old Testament or of any number of other religions.  Christianity does not bring anything new to the game in that regard.  In fact, Christianity acknowledges that humanity cannot in its own strength adhere to these moral codes.  We are incapable of the good they demand.  Moreover, Christianity is founded in the fact that fact that these moral codes can do absolutely nothing to save us because they are powerless in and of themselves (Romans 8).  However, we are still obligated to live according them.  There is the paradox.  We are bound by a moral code that cannot save us.  We are to live according to a set of principles that (a) we are otherwise unable to live by and (b) accomplish nothing within us.  Why then are we to live by them?  The answer requires first examining the second of Bonheoffer’s paradoxes – that Christianity is irreligious.

Religion is all about man’s attempt to reconcile with God.  Our religious rites are all about atoning for our shortcomings or appeasing the wrath of our deities.  In Christianity, however, none of these religious activities accomplish those purposes. Indeed, these purposes cannot be accomplished by ANY religion.  There is nothing that we can do in our religiosity to appease God or to make him happy in any way.  On the contrary, in Isaiah chapter 1, God indicates that when our “religious” activities are done thoughtlessly and without a dedicated heart, they actually disgust him.  We come before God to worship him, but we can actually drive him further from us in the process. We try to appease him only to make him angry.  There is the paradox.  Why (and how) then are we to worship God?  What is the value in our religious activities?

Both of these paradoxes – the amorality of Christianity and the irreligiosity of Christianity – are based in our fundamental misunderstanding of their purpose.  As the self-centered, prideful people that we are, we tend to make everything about ourselves, when in fact everything is first about God and second about others.  The moral code we live by is not about how we can be “good” to earn our place in eternity.  The moral code we live by is so that (a) our lives would display the nature and character of God to the nations so that (b) they, too, would be drawn to God through our actions.  We don’t live by a moral code for our benefit; we live by a moral code for the benefit of those around us so that they can see the goodness and greatness of God.  Similarly, our religious activities are not about our piety.  Like the Pharisee that stood on the street corner and loudly proclaimed his own self-righteousness, our religious activity is often about ourselves.  Instead, religion is about magnifying God before a lost and dying generation.  If the world looks at our church services and sees our self-righteousness, they will be turned away, because they will not be fooled by that lie.  They know we are not good as we claim.  On the other hand, if the world looks at our church services and sees Jesus magnified for the great things he has done, they are more likely to be drawn to him.  Our repentance before God does far more religiously to draw the world to God than our self-rightousness.

 As someone who claims the name of Christ, ask yourself why you do what you do.  Why do you strive to be a good person?  Why do you go to church on Sunday?  What is the meaning and purpose behind your moral and religious actions?  The purpose of Bonheoffer’s lecture that day was to get all of us to examine our Christian lives to see if we are accomplishing God’s purposes or living under the false premise that we are somehow benefitting ourselves.  Be sure you (and I) are truly living for the right thing.  Be sure you (and I) are living for Christ.

Blog copyright (c) 2013 by Joel J. Dison
Comments are welcome and encouraged.