Spirituality Column #446
June 2, 2015
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

By Bob Walters

“The gospel was not good advice but good news.” – William R. Inge

An  archive article from my favorite publication “First Things”  explains that a preacher’s primary task is not to tell us the rules how we should behave, which at heart most of us already know, but the good news of who we actually are – children of God – which many folks can’t believe.

The difference to the hearer is whether one leaves church feeling berated and hopeless because of one’s sins, or feels empowered and hopeful because the God who created humanity in His image loves us and provides a way “home” – back into His glorious kingdom – through the work of and our faith in His son Jesus Christ.

It’s the difference in the imperative mood casting condemnation – “Do this or else!” – and the indicative mood casting information – the grace of divine light, eternal salvation, absolute truth and identity in Christ.

The first tears down, the other builds up.  The one sends us home “on flat tires,” the other buoys our spirits to soar on eagles’ wings.  One creates fear and attention to self – “Am I following the rules?”  The other creates freedom, liberty, courage, and love of self, others and God – “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:13)

Inge’s colleague V.A. Demant, in his book Christian Polity, writes:

“Tell people only what they must do, and you will numb them into despair, you will turn the gospel into a shabby replica of the world’s irreligious and nagging moralism, with its oceanfuls of good advice.

“But tell them what they are, of their dignity as made in the image of God, and that their sins are wicked perversions of their nature … tell them that the world with all its horrors is still God’s world, though its true order is upside down; tell them that they can do all things through Christ, because of him all the powers of their nature are directed to fruition … and you will help to revive hope in this dispirited generation.”

The article’s author John Jay Hughes, a Catholic priest from St. Louis, notes: “It is a paradox … that preaching morality will never motivate people to be good.  It will discourage them.  It will inevitably bore them.  It may even drive them into a state of despair [that] if they are not good God will not love and bless them.

“Proclamation of the Gospel – what God has done, is doing and will continue to do … will motivate people to love God and neighbor like nothing else.’

Amen.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) accepted the Lord not because Walters himself (admittedly) is so bad but because Jesus Christ is so good.

Spirituality Column #445
May 26, 2015
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

Life and Death and … Life
By Bob Walters

"I am the way and the truth and the life.  No one comes to the father except through me.” – Jesus, John 14:6

Life – human life, that is – can be large or small.  Joyful or joyless.  Purposeful or purposeless.  Faithful or faithless.

Typically it’s some combination of all that, laden with hopes, fears, aspirations, successes, failures, wonders and surprises.   God’s love is life’s greatest component, Satan’s hateful trickery its worst.  Our great challenge as humans is sorting out the things of God that lead to life, and the things of Satan that lead to death.

It’s not always an easy call.  We are taught in today’s world to nurture and revere our inward-directed passions amid a culture that increasingly equates freedom with irresponsibility and irreverence, and assigns God a station of irrationality and irrelevance.  The ironic, life-diminishing, misdirecting, incomplete, self-centered, message is everywhere: “Life is what we make it.”

In our busyness to “make it” in life, we are systematically directed to replace the source of love and life, God, with the foundation of sin and death, Satan.  It usually doesn’t feel like that’s the choice we’re making because Satan is the purveyor of earthly comforts; he’s a fan of man and an enabler of our appetites – power, money, sex, whatever.  It just so happens that his goal is to leave us with Godless, eternal death.

One of Satan’s great tricks is to encourage us to replace God the Father with “god the other.”  Worship the earth, worship power, worship money, worship your family or worship a political stance, a choice, a sports team or an academic cause celebre.  “God the other” provides no eternal promises, no salvation from sin, no participation in divine glory, no relationship with God the Father, and no rest in the Kingdom of God.  “God the other” offers a single end-game, one goal, and one outcome – death.

Not that the temporal overcoming of human discomfort with technology is a bad thing; who doesn’t like fast travel, modern healthcare, instantaneous communication and air conditioning?  How easy it is to mistakenly pursue comforts as an end in themselves – which makes comfort a god – rather than understanding that the God of all comforts is the exclusive purveyor of life everlasting.

Why is life everlasting important?  Because God’s glory is important, which makes the life God gives us important, which makes all the choices we tender regarding this life important.  Life is so much bigger than what we see; and death is so much worse than we can imagine.  Christ is the way to join God in His life.

The choice is ours, but Jesus is telling the truth.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) thinks life is overlooked as a gift from God.

Spirituality Column #444
May 19, 2015
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

By Bob Walters

It remains quite impolite in America to kill someone over their religion.

Other world regions see awful and violent religious persecution.  Here in Indiana, in the good ol’ USA, I feel fairly safe going to church.  For now.

What is a pity, however, is how few Americans these days have a handle on how religions differ, how our American republic so heavily relies on the mysteriously transcendent yet demonstrably objective and unique virtues of Christian love and service, and how historically unique but temporally fragile is our American way of life.

It hasn’t always been impolite to kill over religion in this country.  Prior to the United States’ formal founding, the New World saw great religious persecution by certain Christians against other Christians.  After the Puritan pilgrims (later the Congregational Church) left the oppression of Anglican England, think of the Salem, Massachusetts, Witch Trials in the 1600s and the persecution of Baptists in the 1700s.

As “Freedom of Religion” was written into the Bill of Rights and America expanded west, Biblical evangelicalism boomed.  Offshoot religions sprouted up.  In the 1800s, the Mormons took quite a hit for their practices, doctrines and beliefs which vary greatly from standard-issue Trinitarian Christianity.  In some states it was not a crime to murder a Mormon male.  Roman Catholicism, hardly an “offshoot religion,” was largely unwelcome.  Not until 1960 did John Kennedy take the oath of office – almost scandalously – as the first Roman Catholic U.S. President.

America fought elsewhere combatting religious insurgencies.  Thomas Jefferson sent U.S. Marines to the African coast of the Mediterranean Sea – the shores of Tripoli – in 1803 to quell the Barbary pirates who in the name of Islam were capturing and enslaving U.S. merchant sailors.  General Pershing subdued Muslim unrest in the Philippines in the early 1900s, and that wasn’t pretty.

Today we’ve arrived at a humanitarian place in America not to kill people for their religion.  Only outsiders do that to us.  Yet politically, culturally and academically, it seems that America is working awfully hard as a nation to kill religion itself, especially Christianity.  It may not be the mass murders we see elsewhere, but still potentially lethal to our American way of life.   A republic requires public, objective truth and private, faithful virtue.  Tyranny is history’s unavoidable alternative.

America truly needs these usually-well-meaning folks who worship Jesus, attend church, vote with scripture in mind, and engage in charities great and small following the simplest command of Jesus from the Gospel of John, verse 15:12:

"… Love each other as I have loved you.”

If America successfully kills Christianity, what comes next will be far less polite.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) understands persecution is part of the Christian “deal.” See John 15:18-20.

Spirituality Column #443
May 12, 2015
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

By Bob Walters

Let’s take a hard look at where the New Testament says Jesus on the Cross is:
- a “price” for our souls,
- a “payment” for our transgressions,
- a “punishment” for our sins,
- a “penalty” for our fallenness.

Go ahead, look.  I’ll wait.

OK, you found 1 Corinthians 6 and 7, with Paul telling the broken Corinthian church to come together in the truth of Jesus because they were “bought at a price.”  Fair enough.  That was Paul telling a fractured first century fellowship of Jews, Gentiles, mystics and miscreants – in terms of worldly transaction they could understand – about the divine sacrifice of Christ, a sacrifice that was made on their behalf, a sacrifice that accomplished a work impossible for humans: i.e., restoration to God’s Kingdom.  “Price” here is a metaphor, a device to aid understanding of a gift too large to comprehend.

Revelation 22:17:  “… let the one who is thirsty … take the water of life without price.”  Get that?  No price; not on the head of Jesus.  And while we’re at it, “ransom,” used three times regarding Jesus’s sacrifice, refers to a way out of bondage – our way out of bondage - not a price-driven transaction among the Holy Trinity.  C’mon.

Payment?  Not really in there, is it?  Not about Jesus.  But there is this in Revelation 21:6: “To the thirsty I will give … the water of life without payment.”  Again, “without payment.”

How about a verse claiming Jesus was punished for our sins?  Checking the English Standard Version Bible, punishment appears eight times, each pointing to some combination of eternity,  the unrighteous, and fire; in other words, Hell.  Nothing about Jesus.  Consider 1 John 4:18: “There is no fear in love … fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.”  In Jesus, there was no fear of punishment as retribution; in His perfect love He endured one infinitely tough – infinitely punishing – day on the cross.  But “punishment”?  Not in scripture.

And … penalty.  Paul uses this in Acts 28:18 about himself facing a Roman court; in Romans 1:27 regarding homosexuality; and in Galatians 5:10 regarding Jews who hinder the Christian faithful.  Nothing about the cross.

Christians, please, heed all scripture says about grace, mercy, joy and peace, the overwhelming message of salvation.  The overwhelming message of Old Testament futility is price, payment, punishment and penalty.

Yes I’m a sinner, thankful to Jesus for His love, resolution, steadfastness, and for His faithfulness to His Father’s glory.

Let’s none of us insult Him by asking what He paid for it.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) hates to see Jesus marketed via shame, guilt, fear, sin … or moral transaction.  Where’s the love?

Spirituality Column #442
May 5, 2015
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

By Bob Walters

My purpose in getting up early Sunday mornings and attending church is to worship God and share in the fellowship of the Christian faith.

It’s not because I have religious doubts and need reassurance that Jesus is still Lord, God is still good, the Spirit still dwells among the faithful, the Bible is still true and the church is still there.  All those doubts are long gone.  What I have is truth.

So … I get up and go to church.  I love church.  I love Jesus more, but I love church and my fellow fallen Christians and all that it means to gather in faith and communion in the truth of creation, salvation, and the lordship of Jesus Christ.

But these days it seems something beyond impolite to assert truth – as in, the absence of doubt – in public.  It’s arrogant.  It’s unbecoming.  It’s disrespectful.

“You must have doubts!?”  “How can you be sure?”  “That’s crazy!”

Well, in a fallen world where Satan busily works to replace the plain truth of God with the muddled veracity of human opinion, it’s easy to see the daily difficulties attendant to the witness of truth, especially when the apologetics of doubt are the intellectual coin of our modern world.

Is Christian truth really …

Arrogant?  No, just the opposite.  Christian truth is humble.  The truth of the power of God is actually the humility of Jesus Christ.  People who want power want to be God.  Nobody really wants to be the saving, servant Christ on the Cross.  Is faith the key to the eternal Kingdom of God?  Yes, but does my possession of that faith, by God’s grace, make me less of a sinner?  Not in this life it doesn’t.  It just gives me a story I desperately want to tell.

Unbecoming?  I’ve seen no greater beauty than the raw splendor of God’s creation, and believe there is no greater beauty than the image of God installed in our humanity which we see perfected in Jesus Christ.  We work awfully hard to ugly-up that beauty with our worldly desires.

Disrespectful?  The world insists we respect ungodly things; you know, “One man’s terrorist is just another man’s freedom fighter”? Right?  Uh … no.  When I respect God’s truth because God is truth, then I guess I’m disrespecting the world’s opinion.  My aim is to respect God, which means respecting Jesus Christ, because I don’t see any better option for humanity – mine or anyone else’s.

Doubts?  Long gone.  Questions?  Sure.  I don’t understand everything so I pray, study, trust God’s Word, beg His wisdom and peace, and follow a simple rule:

When in doubt, tell the truth.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) sees the sinner in the mirror.

Spirituality Column #441
April 28, 2015
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

By Bob Walters

“The good news makes no sense if you don’t know the bad news.” – Sunday school adage.

Our church is spending several weeks focusing on, discussing and teaching about Christian “Doubt.”

Granted, any church worthy of its pulpit is addressing Doubt all the time.  People frequently experience a life – in the words of secular Enlightenment philosopher Thomas Hobbes – that is “nasty, brutish and short.”  Doubting the existence of eternal good seems natural.

The Kingdom of God, with its salvation in Jesus Christ and indwelling of the Holy Spirit – in faith – is a very different and vastly superior place; startlingly and unbelievably different from a typical fallen person’s typical fallen day on this fallen earth.

Faith may be better, but doubt is easier.

Doubt requires little effort, no discipline, owes nothing to authority and maintains the boundaries of this life and nothing more.  Only when one wants to step up into the free air of eternal hope, love, joy, grace and life does doubt become a problem.

Thing is, we know the “free air” is there.  It is faith; the divine yearning God put into every human heart.  Because the “free air” of our redeemer Jesus Christ is not where Satan, the Lord of this World, wants us to be, Satan is quick with his challenge:

“It is too good to be true.”  And … we doubt.

The truth of our earthly existence is that we were created in God’s perfect image, but with freedom in our souls so that we might learn to love God: it’s what God wants for us, and what God wants for Himself.  Freedom allows the possibility of love but has a brutal downside: it also allows Satan’s temptation.

So, we have this great news of the Gospel – the redeeming truth that God had a plan all along to save fallen, broken humanity from its sinful wallowings with the grace, mercy, love and sacrifice of Jesus on the Cross.  Our sins are forgiven and we’re adopted back into the Kingdom of God. Whew!

But then there is this bad news; the awful truth – Jesus on the Cross is what we look like to God without being covered in the redeeming blood of Jesus; a picture of our sin, shame, guilt, fear, death, Hell … all the bad stuff the mind can conger or the body can experience.

It is awful to face the truth of what we are without Jesus Christ, but it explains the enormity of the good news of who we are with Jesus Christ.

Some people ignore it, others water it down.  But the truth is truth.

Better not doubt that.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com), a one-time reporter, didn’t know the good news or the bad news most of his life.

Spirituality Column #440
April 21, 2015
Current in Carmel-Westfield-Noblesville-Fishers-Zionsville

By Bob Walters

“Commandment” is a word our modern ear hears as a militaristic, non-negotiable, subservient-signifying, dread-invoking, hellfire and damnation-laden directive: 

“Do this or else.”

Scripture actually communicates a more subtle, more circumspect and more loving message than that.  The Greek and Hebrew words translated in modern English as “commandment” each contains an ethical component in the ancient meaning.  A “command” – an “entolay” in Greek or “mitzvah” in Hebrew – is more than just a directive; it is “the right thing to do” in the Greek or even a “good deed” in the Hebrew.

So what Jesus or Moses or anyone else with a Godly “commandment” was saying was “Here is the right way” – “Here is God’s way” – to do something.

The Biblical Jesus left only a few instructions and no laws.   The few commands Jesus verbalized are not commands limiting our freedom.  They are Godly, ethical and wise parameters allowing us to realize our freedom, appreciate His sacrifice and participate in the divine love.  We obey His commands because it is the right thing to do.

Jesus isn’t a “Do this or else” kind of Savior.  His bidding is an invitation, “Follow me,” and a promise, “I tell you the truth.”  He provides information – “God so loved the world” – not orders; warnings – the narrow gate, etc. – not ultimatums.

In love and in truth Jesus teaches humanity to honor Him, thereby glorifying God.  In words and example, Jesus teaches that the “two greatest commandments” are to love God and love others (Matthew 22:36-40).  Why?  It is how humanity functions best in God’s creation.

When we follow Jesus and do as He commands, our actions help us better understand Jesus’s life, sacrifice, love, and God’s Kingdom.  Our Christian relationship is enriched.  Our goal becomes God’s glory, not our own.  We obey not by fear, but by love; in wisdom, not ignorance.  We obey because we can.

Jesus tells us that our yoke and burden with Him are “easy” and “light.”  His commands help us help others: “do unto others as you would have them do unto you,”  “don’t hinder a child’s faith,” “help the least of these,” “remember the prisoners,” “help the poor,” “feed the hungry,” “be hospitable to strangers,” “love your enemies,” “carry your cross,” “feed my sheep.”

And then there is this one … “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19).

This last one, from the last supper, is Jesus sharing bread and wine – His body and blood – with the disciples.  We know this rite today as communion, and our joy should always be in remembering Christ.

Not because we have to, but because we can.  Cosmically, it’s the smart play.

Walters (rlwcom@aol.com) reminds: it is Satan who says. “…or else.”