Friends: Holidays are seasonal fun, but thanks, truth, and Jesus are never-ending.  Happy Thanksgiving. Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #941

November 26, 2024

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Thankful All the Time

By Bob Walters

“Therefore let no one judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration, or a Sabbath day. These are shadows of the things to come; the reality however, is found in Christ.” – Apostle Paul, Colossians 2:16-17

“The Holidays” are upon us – Happy Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year – and I love this line about “let no one judge you by what you eat or drink.”        

Whether we go “over the river and through the woods” to grandmother’s house,  revel in the “hap-happiest season of all,” or renew an “auld acquaintance [we] forgot,” we’re lined up for five weeks of frivolity, kicking off with Thanksgiving this week.

You may have noticed that this year is a short yuletide season. Thanksgiving falls on its latest possible day, November 28, leaving a compressed, four-week sprint to Christmas on Wednesday, December 25. Clear the dishes and hang those stockings.

(Given the short season and momentary mild weather, I’m hanging Christmas lights on the house before Thanksgiving this year. We’ll light them, properly, on Friday.)

It was 1941 when Congress declared the American “Thanksgiving Day” – which dates back variously to the Pilgrims, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln – to be the fourth Thursday of November. By 1941, commercial Christmas had coalesced around the Yule celebration and, driven by the pecuniary interests of major retailers, the maximum “shopping days ‘til Christmas” were preserved.

Now, what’s all this about the Apostle Paul and religious festivals, celebrations, and Sabbaths?  His letter to the Colossians gives great, succinct direction for living a Christian life, freed from the written codes of the Old Covenant (see Col 2:14).  It is a key bit of Christianity – of being and living like a Christian – to think like a Christian.

In both the old laws of Israel or the perennial superstitions of pagans, temporal remembrances and “religious” rites were demanded. But that’s not how Christians roll. That’s not what Jesus calls for in the New Testament, where there are no demands for festivals, feasts, holy places, or observant times. I mean, we all celebrate, but the Bible never calls on Christians to do such things. Jesus, you see, is true light, not a shadow.

What Jesus calls us to is full and abundant life with Him (John 10:10), and teaches that He himself, Jesus Christ, is “Lord of the Sabbath” (Matthew 12:1-8, Mark 2:23-28, Luke 6:1-5).  Christian Sabbath – our rest and our peace – is Jesus, always and everywhere, starting with the love in our hearts and the faith and hope of our minds.

Jesus is with us 24/7 as our souls are animated by the Holy Spirit. Christians have different words of expressing these realities, but what is always the same is the totality of God’s love and Jesus’s grace, for everyone (John 3:16).  Jesus didn’t come to save only the Jews; Jesus came to save and to be with His people all the time. 

His presence with us is a benefit, not a burden, and we are under no law to celebrate anything because a written regulation says so. That the U.S. government designates a dozen federal “holidays” provides calendar structure, not demand for obeisance.  That’s what government does: it organizes worldly things. Faith is our own.

Jesus, you see, gives us a continuing and eternal template for faith, hope, love … and thanks. We are thankful because, in reality, Jesus is with us always. Let’s eat.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that truth and reality have no time frame.

Friends: So many people ask, “What is the meaning of Christmas?” The Apostle Paul was maybe the first to figure out, “What is the meaning of Christ?” See the column below. May the heart of Christmas continue always.  Blessings, Bob

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Spirituality Column #893

December 26, 2023

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

New Every Day

By Bob Walters

“He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant – not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” 2 Corinthians 3:6

Family scheduling has pushed our Christmas back a few days this year, but we’ll do the same old things in the same old way with a renewed spirit of surprise and love.

We’ll just do them this coming Saturday: Merry Christmas Day, plus five.

Funny how Christmas is largely the same every year yet new every year.  With minor adjustments I’ve put up the same basic outdoor Christmas display for 10 years.  Ditto wife Pam on the inside.  We will end 2023, stow the Christmas gear, go into the new year with hope and promise, and see what new mercies and surprises God has for us in 2024.  Some things get old; some never do. Jesus is like that for many of us.

I am currently about 300 pages into N.T. “Tom” Wright’s 2018 biography of the Apostle Paul.  And I guess you could say – thanks to Wright’s scriptural depth and Pauline expertise – I have a newfound appreciation for the “newness” of Christ. Among the earliest disciples and saints, Paul more than anyone truly “got” the fact that Jesus was something entirely new, yet, also, as old as the Garden and as eternal as God.

We celebrate Christmas as the arrival of God into humanity in the human form of Jesus, born in Bethlehem to the virgin Mary from the seed of the Holy Spirit into the tribe of Judah.  That was something really new.  So new, in fact, few – including Mary, Joseph, the shepherds, the Wise Men, and later the prophet John the Baptist, all of whom had been informed by angels proclaiming Jesus as Son of God, the Messiah promised to the Jews, and the savior of the whole world – could disconnect Jesus’s newness from their errant assumptions the Law of Israel, i.e., the Old Covenant …

… And then accurately reconnect Jesus to what Hebrew prophets had been saying for hundreds of years. Jesus wasn’t here just to save the Jews; Jesus was here to save everybody.  In fact, the New Covenant in Jesus would restore all of creation to God’s original purpose: the expression of His love, and revelation of His glory.

What was new about Jesus, as Paul’s quoted scripture above reminds, is that for various reasons “the letter kills,” i.e., the Law brings death.  How? The Law points out Israel’s failures and invites unloving comparisons and competitions.  The Law was meant only for the Jews: to identify them as God’s chosen people.  But they were chosen to reveal God – the One, Almighty, Creator God – in a pagan world full of man-made idols and cultural gods.  Jesus embodied the whole new mission and gift: eternal life through restored relationship with God through faith in Jesus, brought by the Spirit.

See? “The Spirit gives life.” God was always good.  God was always the giver of life.  God was always love.  God was always the Creator.  Those realities are as old as humanity.  After the fall in the Garden, humanity stumbled around in sin for thousands of years until God initiated His eternal plan of salvation by introducing Christ.

That’s what Jesus was saying throughout the Gospels; that’s what Paul was first to truly identify and expound.  And it is our ministry today.  The world will be new again when Jesus returns.  But Christmas is when we know God came to gather us all back. 

It’s not just an old story; it is truth that remains new every day.  Merry Christmas.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) and wife Pam spent Christmas in northern Michigan.

Reflexively including God in our planning and goals is a great relationship builder – with Jesus.  See the column below.  

On a personal note, today I’m remembering minister and friend Russ Blowers, whose funeral was 15 years ago, Nov. 15, 2007.  The unexpected bright side that day was that I met my wife Pam there – she playing tympani in the brass ensemble, and I was a pall bearer.  I wrote about it back in 2021, columns 763, 764, and 765, which are easily searched in the white box in the upper left hand corner, just above). - Bob

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Spirituality Column #835

November 15, 2022

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Lord Willing

By Bob Walters

“… you ought to say, ‘if it is the Lord’s will we will live and do this or that.’” – James 5:15

I’ve always over-simplified this seemingly straight-forward passage, “Lord willing!” and confined it to sort of begging God’s approval for what I plan to do.

“See you tomorrow!” Or, “Let’s meet for lunch Tuesday.”  I reflexively, piously, and maybe quasi-reverently say, “Lord willing,” the same way I reflexively pray, “In Jesus’s name,” without thinking through all the depth involved.

The key thing I tend to miss in saying “Lord willing” is that I’m really thinking about my plans, not God’s will.  Yes, “Lord willing” is a perfunctory nod to God’s will, and in most simple, routine planning, it’s not a terrible habit.

However, the large point here is not just identifying and nodding to God’s will as we plan, but truly including God’s will in all things that we intend.  This general epistle credited to James, the brother of Jesus and first head of the Jerusalem church, is for Christ-believing Jews in the mid-first century, here focusing on business and money. 

Jews were long noted for their trading and financial acumen, and James is telling these new Christian believers to include God and the lessons of Christ in their business planning, beyond what they had known and practiced from the Law.

And what, now, was new?  God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, grace, personal sacrifice, humility, and the totality of His presence through the example of Jesus.  How they acted in business and elsewhere was now their witness for Christ. 

James was driving that point home.  Christian faith encrypted a whole new way of looking at life: they were now, through Christ, not a sinful and rebellious nation but forgiven heirs of God.  They – we – must act like it.

The Law, remember, laid out specific times and places for doing things.  There was none of that in Christianity.  Jesus had declared He was the Sabbath – i.e., He was to be honored at all times and in all places, not just on a given day and or a given place.  The New Testament says nothing about festivals or temples (except our bodies).

Jesus is with us always, and He sent the Holy Spirit to assure us of His abiding presence.  When we are with Jesus, the Lord of the Sabbath, we are in the Sabbath – the peace, love, and presence of God. 

Early Christians celebrated the first day of the week as The Lord’s Day, commemorating Jesus’s resurrection.  And for 2,000 years the church – on Sunday not Saturday – has more or less co-opted the idea of continuing the “seventh day of rest” described in Genesis and called for in Mosaic Law.  But Sunday isn’t the Sabbath.

Where the fourth commandment, “keep holy the Sabbath,” means a specific day to the Jews; that’s how the Law works.  In Christ “keep holy the Sabbath” means keeping Jesus in our hearts, minds, souls, spirits, and planning … all the time. 

That means living in and witnessing to the grace and integrity of our Lord moment to moment, season to season, and year to year.  The sacrifice He wants from us isn’t dependent on a law or code, it is the perpetual entirety of our lives and love.

Jesus is with us all the time … if we want Him there. 

Lord willing, we do.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) generally still seems to recognize God’s will after something has happened rather than with the prophetic discerning of God’s will in advance.  It keeps life interesting, that’s for sure.

Spirituality Column #807

May 3, 2022

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Game Changer

By Bob Walters

“James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations. Greetings …” – James 1:1

James, 20^th book of the New Testament’s 27, for my money is on par with Proverbs of the Old Testament comprising two of the easiest books in the Bible to read.

By “easy,” I mean just about anybody can pick up advice from them, have a familiar, relatable modicum of understanding what they are saying.  Their meanings and language are pretty straight forward.  You don’t have to be particularly “religious” or a theologian to get the gist of wisdom and guidance they provide.  Leave Leviticus and Revelation to the pros; read Proverbs and James.  Don’t worry if Romans eludes you on the first go.

Having tried at various times in my life to read the Bible before I was truly a believer was frustrating.  I cannot track whether my faith or my belief came first, but when, suddenly, reading any part of the Bible made sense, that was my clue the Holy Spirit was actually flying the plane.  Baptized in November 2001, I then read Genesis-to-Revelation before the end of 2002.

Even when I didn’t understand, I knew what I was reading was true. Since then (age 47) it’s been my life’s journey to read and re-read – to pray, think, and absorb; contemplate, discern, and discover; study, investigate, and listen – the Bible’s many-hued depths of divine discovery.

Here’s what I know: Jesus doesn’t lie, the Bible’s always true, and God can do anything He wants.  One’s mind reels and soul bursts at the enormity of God’s being, creativity, and love.

But … James.  I was assigned to read a scripture passage – James 1:16-18 – in our E91 traditional service last month and it sparked an idea to present a post-Easter through June study on James in our weekly E91 Mustard Seed Bible Study.  It took me the first two full class sessions to get through the book’s first sentence quoted above, James 1:1.  Here’s why.

Despite the plainness of the intro, nobody knows who actually wrote James.  Yes, you’ll hear famous preachers insist it was James the Just, brother of Jesus, first bishop of Jerusalem: not James the Disciple, nor James the son of Alphaeus, nor James the father of Judas (not Iscariot).  The clue is in Acts 15:13-29 where James the Just writes to the Jewish dispersion (or diaspora, “scattered among the nations”).  But … who is James and when did he write “James”?

One school of thought insists James the Just wrote it in 44-49 A.D., making it the earliest New Testament book, that was “lost” for 50 years.  The other school – modern scholarship – insists someone else wrote “James” around 100 A.D. using not just James’ name, a common practice at the time, but also James’ thoughts, advice, wisdom, perspective, and will, penning it after James died to make it perhaps the latest New Testament book.  Doesn’t matter.

Fact is, James the book barely made it into the New Testament at all.  The earliest Church Fathers resisted it because it says little about Jesus … but volumes to the Jews.  The Book of James made the canon’s final cut in 367 A.D.  Centuries later Martin Luther, a “faith alone” guy, said it was a “letter of straw” for embracing the importance of faithful works. 

Again, no matter.  What took me two weeks to teach the first verse was explaining (1) who James was (I mean, “brother of Jesus”?), and (2) “The twelve tribes.”  There is a lot there.

It hit me as I prepared that we modern Christians think James was written to us about our modern sin. No, it was specifically addressed to Israel’s scattered tribes and Jesus believers who now had to deal with both their long tradition of the Law and their new saving faith in Christ.

Israel wasn’t dealing with a new God; it was dealing with a new Savior.  The game had changed.  James, who knew Jesus and saw Him resurrected, had much to say to Israel about their old faith that, shockingly, was now newly complete in Jesus Christ.  It was a lot to take in.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) promised Mustard Seed he’d get to verse 2 this week… Walters adds that any and all are welcome to attend the Mustard Seed Bible Study, Thursdays at 10:30 a.m., in the upstairs “Sun Room” at East 91^st Street Christian Church, Indianapolis.

 Spirituality Column #761

June 15, 2021

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

The Rest of the Day

By Bob Walters

“Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said, ‘So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’ (Psalm 95:11) And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world.” – Hebrews 4:1-11, verse 3

Have you ever noticed that the basic message of God in the Old Testament seems to be “Fear the Lord,” and the overarching message of Jesus in the New Testament is “Fear Not”?

That’s the difference between commandments and love.  God’s commandments are a tribal bond of daily works (OT Law) while Jesus’ love is a global bond of faith in eternal fellowship (NT grace).  The commands represent God’s correction of the first Adam who sinned in a garden, while love represents the perfect rest of the sinless Second Adam who died on a cross and was raised in resurrection glory in a garden.

When Israel – chosen by God to bring salvation to the world – failed in obedience to a commandment of the Law, it was Israel’s proper reflex to fear Godly punishment.  When God delivered our salvation in the perfect person and divine work of the “Last Adam,” Jesus, it was God’s love, not His wrath, that was on offer to whomever believed Jesus was the Christ, the son of the living God.  This was Israel, saving all mankind.

And we come to this wonderful passage in Hebrews 4:1-11, where the writer invites Israel into the new rest Jesus brings; the perfect Sabbath God enjoyed in his perfect Creation on the seventh day.  It is not the temporary rest – the shadow of a rest – as when Joshua led Israel into Canaan ending their time in the desert (Joshua 1).  This is the new, perfect, eternal rest of God, by faith in Jesus.  God’s perfect Creation is renewed by the New Creation of all things in Christ.  This is the point of the entire Bible.

In Christ, the work of the Law was fulfilled and the temporary “rest” in Canaan faded to metaphor.  The Sabbath day commanded in the Law was a reminder to Israel of the perfection, completeness, and good of God’s Creation.  The Sabbath rest offered in Jesus Christ is God’s enduring invitation to all humanity for forgiveness, love, and eternal life.  We celebrate it on The Lord’s Day, Sunday, but its joy is commemorated in the ever-abiding presence of the living Jesus illuminated by the Holy Spirit … always.

God displayed His anger toward the rebellious Israelites by not allowing the generation led by Moses from Egypt to enter Canaan, “the promised land,” and that included Moses.  The Christian believer writing this Letter to the Hebrews asserts the truth of God’s oath of anger, but notes God’s works have been finished since the world’s Creation.  When Creation was “finished,” God entered a day of divine rest.

Think of the last words of Jesus on the cross, “It is finished.”  Just as God rested in perfection on the seventh day after creating man on the sixth day, Jesus was crucified and finished his work redeeming man on the sixth day, resting on the seventh.

By renewing creation through Jesus, God’s perfect rest flows into humanity through the redeeming work of Christ: sins forgiven, iniquities covered, relationship restored, and the trust and comfort of perpetual Sabbath secured in Christ.  Fear not; God’s eternal love for His Creation, not his wrath at sin, wins out in the end. 

That’s not just a rest on Sunday thing; it’s a rest of your life thing.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes: “Enter my rest” is God’s open invitation to all.

Spirituality Column #757

May 18, 2021

Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

Give It a Rest

By Bob Walters

“There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his.” – Hebrews 4:9-10

We all understand, right, that the Bible says nothing about resting on Sundays.

Not that it’s a bad idea to set aside one day a week resting for ourselves and focused on the glory of God.  But the Old Testament commandment to “keep the Sabbath holy” was one of several ways God demanded the Hebrews to lay aside their own labors for an enforced observance of the God of their Nation.

When God called the Israelites to be His own chosen people, the glory of that designation came - for the Israelites - with the heavy burden of works of the Law and vigorous observance of and obedience to God's covenants, commands, and Law.  Even the "rest" of the Sabbath day - the seventh day, what we know as Saturday - demanded exhausting preparation and meticulous execution.

As we all know from Sunday school, the Lord’s Sabbath commemorates God’s rest on the seventh day after His six days of creation (Genesis 2:2).  Humanity’s early labors were especially hard and physical so a day of rest made great practical sense.  God requiring that the day be dedicated to Him was a constant, clear reminder that He was Israel’s God.  And it was an unusual practice at that time; foreigners and slaves marveled at the Hebrew nation’s day of rest, largely unknown elsewhere in the world.

After Jesus arrives in the New Testament, there are no new sabbath days, holy days, remembrance days, festivals, or resting days with the intent of connecting man to God, and vice versa.  Why?  Because Jesus, in His New Covenant of Faith, perpetually occupies our hearts, not our calendars.  Jesus is our Sabbath.

Jesus is with us all the time, with every breath and heartbeat.  He, now, is our rest, and the fulfillment of all the Old Testament law, prophecy, and commandments saying the world’s salvation would come up out of Israel.  And it did, in Jesus.

My NIV Study Bible has this good note on Hebrews 4:10 (cited above): “Whereas God rested from the work of creation, the believer [in Christ] ceases his efforts to gain salvation by his own works and rests in the finished work of Christ on the cross. … the believer’s final rest is in view here.”  We are at rest from the Law; we rest in Jesus.

Early Christians quickly traded in their Saturday Hebrew Sabbath for Sunday’s “Lord’s Day” observance of worship and praise.  And granted, Christendom’s history is replete with traditional observances, the “ecclesial calendar” that includes everything from Christmas to Easter to saints’ days, seasons, and festivals.  None of it is biblical.

Still, it seems so spiritually healthy and a fine cultural gift to have one day a week dedicated to our Maker, Lord, and Savior; to cultivate our relationship with God and our families, to focus on our church, and to rest in the arms of our loving, saving Jesus.  No strings attached, no laws or commands of observance; just “Love God and love others.”

This is the freedom we have in Christ, and it is a freedom upon which American culture and commerce evermore crassly encroach without apology. Even though the Sabbath is the only one of the 10 Commandments not listed for enforcement in the New Testament, our faith in Jesus makes this rest a constant gift, not a one-day holiday. 

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) loves church and a slow Sunday afternoon.

By Bob Walters

Column No. 498
May 31, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

By Bob Walters

Through the early chapters of the Bible, God’s covenant with Israel is constantly being defiled by the Israelites and constantly being renewed by God.

God never quits.

As we move on to the book of Psalms and  beyond, the great glory of the prophets is that they look forward – through God’s eyes – to the coming Covenant of Jesus Christ, which itself actually is renewal.  Even God was excited about it.

“… those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:31)

Then comes Jesus, this Son of Man and Son of God, who would renew all things, set right all things, and change all things.  In Jesus was delivered a New Covenant of faith and grace, not laws.  God’s eternal love, truth, mercy and judgment were assured.  This Covenant of resurrection and glory led Jesus to the Cross, the Holy Spirit into the world and humanity into salvation.

Jesus is many things – the Word of God, authority of all creation, author of all wisdom, the savior of mankind freeing us from sin and divine condemnation.  Blessedly and forever, He is God’s gracious gift to a fallen world; the steadfast renewal of hope.

Yes, the Cross of Christ transformed everything about humanity’s opportunity for restored relationship with God, hope for life and love eternal.  But notice two things the Cross actually didn’t change: 1) God and 2) mankind.

God’s love is permanent, eternal and unchanging.  So too, sadly, are man’s unchanging sins of pride, greed and self-centeredness.  God made man free from the very beginning in the Garden, but from Adam and Eve onward we enslaved ourselves by misreading God’s ultimate goal and purpose: His own glory.  We used our freedom to try to be like God, rather than simply using it to love God.

So much of today’s Christianity – and by that I mean churches, traditions, preaching, doctrines, discipleship and the rest – forces a depressing, personal imprisonment dragging along our shame, mistakes, fears, weaknesses and sins for the sake of guilty obedience to a Savior whose stated mission is the joyous, uplifting opposite: to set us free in faith and trust.

Also beware the morally bereft Christianity telling us “whatever we do is OK” and that Jesus lives to provide us with health, wealth, comfort and earthly delights.

Both are awful lies.

“Joy in the Lord” is a real and wonderful thing; the ultimate renewable resource and an attainable blessing in this world right now and forever.

Trust the renewal of Christ and rest easy in His peace.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) sees mercy and judgment as complements, not opposites.

Spirituality Column #487
March 15, 2016
Common Christianity / Uncommon Commentary

By Bob Walters

“I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord …” – Deuteronomy 9:19

Moses fasted and laid prostrate before the Lord for 40 days and nights – twice – just trying to get God’s Ten Commandments down the mountain once and into the hearts and minds of the nation of Israel.

Both times this divine delivery was met by a stiff-necked, sinning, idol-forging nation.  The first time, Moses himself hurled and broke the tablets of God’s covenant in disgust with Israel’s sin.  The second time, Moses begged God’s mercy not to destroy His chosen yet rebellious people.

Deuteronomy 9 is a concise, instructive snapshot of God’s righteousness, generosity, faithfulness, anger, wrath and mercy, not to mention Israel’s utter rebellion, Moses’s unfailing faithfulness to God and Israel, and Old Testament intercessory prayer at its finest.

Moses talked God into a mulligan.  Deuteronomy 10 opens with another set of tablets, another chance for Israel, and continues in copious repetition (from Exodus and Numbers) of God’s laws and stern reminders to fear God’s wrath and anger.  Telling Israel once was not enough; “Deuteronomy,” after all, means “repetition of the law.”  Even the Ten Commandments took two tries to be delivered.

Deuteronomy is great instruction about a great God, great faith and a greatly sinful humanity.  But as Christians we must always be vigilant of what’s missing in these Mosaic stories, and that’s the New Covenant of Jesus Christ.  It’s a spirit-rending mistake of the first order when Christians seek out the wrathful God of the Old Testament without taking along our relational, sin-covering Jesus to understand the unsolvable, condemnational problems humanity had prior to the coming of Christ.

The Old Testament tells us about an unchanging yet somehow relational God, His Creation, our humanity, and the problems that arise from God’s love having righteously provided man with virtually unlimited freedom.  God’s plan is for humanity to use its freedom to discover God’s love and glory so that it may freely love Him back. Satan urges us to use that freedom to shame and humiliate God by venerating, loving, and promoting our self-interests.  Satan smiles when human anger is directed at God.

The lesson God has shown to mankind through Jesus is divine love that sacrifices for others, finds peace in humility, pride in God’s glory, strength in God’s truth and courage in everlasting salvation.

Anger and fear, ever-present in our fallen, worldly existence, are central themes of the Old Testament.  Love and peace – the love of God and others, and the peace of Christ – are eternal truths of the New Testament.

Learn from the Old, yes, but please, live in the New.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) notes that people don’t change without Christ, and God doesn’t change, period.

Spirituality Column #403
August 5, 2014
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

By Bob Walters

Among the Bible’s more familiar parables of Jesus is the Parable of the Sower, shared in the Gospels of Matthew (13:1-23), Mark (4:1-20), and Luke (8:1-15).

You probably know it.  Jesus tells of the farmer (or sower) planting seeds on paths, among rocks, among thorns and in good soil.

‘Couple things.  One, the parable is not instruction about farming.  And two, it is the rare parable that Jesus actually explains.  To wit, the truth of Jesus – the word of God – is spread into the world like seed, but in some hearts this “seed” is destroyed upon arrival (strewn on paths), in others it may bloom briefly but quickly dies (rocks), and in some it grows but cannot bear fruit due to the chaos of its environment (thorns).  In the “good soil,” in the rare receptive human heart, the seed of the Gospel truth blossoms to serve mankind, glorify God, and is passed on to others.

Jesus routinely spoke in parables.  We are told He explained them to his disciples, but not to the public, and certainly not to the Pharisees.  Only those with “ears to hear,” i.e., receptive hearts, could discern Jesus’ true meaning.  Typically, it was a message people didn’t want to hear: that Jesus was the Messiah Christ, Son of God, come to fulfil the covenant of God to restore fallen mankind into His own Kingdom.

The humble Jesus was entirely not who anyone was expecting.  His message of love, faith, and servanthood flew in the face not only of worldly culture but, specifically and virulently, of Jewish law.  The parables are not cultural advice; they explain how the New Covenant of God in Jesus Christ fulfils God’s plan, changes human hearts, promotes faith and love in Christ over Hebraic laws and obedience, and glorifies God.

For man, it was a really, really radical concept: tough to hear and hard to believe.

But then, Jesus isn’t a concept.  He is God, the Truth, and a Person.  He is the entirety of divine creation and action in the Cosmos.  Christ presents a reality too big to leave room for anything else, crowding out self-interest.  No wonder so few Law-oriented ears wanted to hear His message.

And it’s in the “anything else” where Satan operates to subvert the bigness of God’s majesty and love with the smallness of self-centered humanity’s worldly desires.  Satan started by spoiling the soil of the human heart in the Garden, was there at the arrival of Jesus, and persists in his Jesus-subverting mischief yet today.

God never stops sowing seeds, and Satan – for now – never stops tampering with the soil.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) has a wife with a green thumb and (thank God) a kind heart.

Spirituality Column #398
July 1, 2014
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

By Bob Walters

The Bible tells us – plainly – that the New Covenant of Jesus Christ is founded in love, grace and faith.

That’s the New Testament.  That’s Christianity.  We are to focus on God and others in servant-hearted love.  We are forgiven and freed from sin thanks to divine grace.  Christianity has only one requirement: faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, Risen Christ, and Savior of Mankind.  Believe that, and your life changes.

It couldn’t be simpler.

So why do churches routinely complicate Christianity with the Old Covenant, whose Law forces one to focus on the self by constantly asking, “Am I following the rules?”  In the Law sin wasn’t forgiven; it was atoned for by sacrifices and works.  A person’s faith was naked before God.  God favored some, cursed others, confused many, chose a nation, provided commandments, laws, judges and kings, and, depending on which part of the Law a person happened to believe, implied salvation based on an unspecified formula of obedient righteousness.

The Old Testament is joyous to read once one understands that the whole point of the whole story is not the rules, but the coming Lordship and supremacy of Jesus Christ.  The mistake made in modern Christian sermons is in cross-breeding the transactional, fearsome nature of the Old Testament with the grace-focused, sin-covering promise of the New Testament.

People try to explain the New Testament with the Old Law, and that’s exactly backwards: the New Testament reveals what God was up to in the Old Testament.

We learn that the Cross of Jesus Christ changed everything, except God.  We discover what God intended for mankind the whole time, and what man needed to understand about himself before he could enter eternal relationship with God.  Proper biblical teaching affirms that Christianity is about Christ, not about me.

The Law in the Old Testament was about what I do, who I am, and how I act in this life: i.e., entirely about “me.”  Anyone carefully reading the Old Testament has to notice that if there is one, overriding lesson of the Old Covenant, it is that man is truly, truly terrible at following directions.  Hence - God knows – the need for grace.

I love the Old Testament because it tells me about the character, faithfulness and person of God, the fallen nature of human beings, the glory of Creation, and the evil of Satan.  It teaches that God is always faithful to his Word, not to man’s worldly desires.

Want wisdom, courage, strength, freedom and peace?  Jesus Christ is our wisdom, courage, strength, freedom and peace.  Always. The Holy Spirit tells us so.

Learn from the Old, but believe in the New.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) thinks, and believes.