Converging Streams

God does amazing things when we are attentive to the variety of ways in which He teaches us. I have discovered that, whether in preparing a sermon or lesson, or in just trying to get a handle on a certain issue in my life, that God takes seemingly random pieces of wisdom and knits them together to provide me an understandable image of His purpose or plan.

The other day I was thinking about how cool it was that this Sunday’s message began to come together so easily. I was amazed because:

• I often struggle to create an adequately comprehensible message
  
• The text I chose is not at all a familiar one
  
• The elements that created a cohesive unit were quite random at first glance

It is that last bullet that amazes me. I read through the texts surrounding my focus text (Isaiah 2:1-5). I had spent time studying the background of Isaiah’s life, call and ministry. I read through some commentaries on the text.

Then I took some time for a lunch-study. At times I like to go and do lunch alone in the corner of a restaurant and read, study, ponder and write. I almost always find it very productive, though my sons think I’m a loser for sitting alone in a restaurant. They’ll probably become just like me and I’ll have the last laugh.

The message came together fairly rapidly, but it wasn’t just because of the focused study. I found thoughts flooding my mind from previous studies, times of personal reading, past experiences, and a recent discussion in a Sunday School class. In the span of thirty minutes I had a fairly comprehensive plan for my message.

It was as though I was able to look back over my life and remember times in which I played in this little stream, waded in that one, threw rocks into another, and dabbled in a handful of others. At the time, they appeared as completely isolated streams, each existing exclusively within the horizon of my vision. But later I discovered a river, flowing strong and clean, and it was only then that it became apparent that those previously isolated and insignificant streams were tributaries to this mighty channel before me.

And so it happens with so much that God teaches. What seems to be a collection of random moments beside streams in different places and times are ultimately converging brooks of wisdom and refreshment for my soul. This means that I must not only pay attention to the grand rivers I discover during my trek. I must consider vital the myriad streams I encounter throughout my day trips.

Living in the moment, therefore, is more than just sucking the marrow from the bone of life. It is being a student of every encounter. It is being truly present when someone speaks, when someone cries, when someone laughs, when someone rages and when someone encourages. It is truly seeing the autumn leaves, hearing the north wind, feeling the sun’s rays, smelling the lilac blossoms, and tasting the chocolate. It means not burying the pain, not ignoring the rebuke, not avoiding the work, and not running from the confusion. We face life in all its beauty and ugliness, because beside those many creeks God is waiting to teach us something that will, downstream, finger its way into other streams and provide a mighty flow of strength and wisdom in days when we least expect it.

God never wastes a moment.

Great-full

It was a treat to awaken this Thanksgiving morning to a dusting of snow on the ground. This may be my favorite holiday and my favorite season of the year. Many of the reasons are purely personal, even selfish. They revolve around what makes me feel good. A warm home, great food, time off, loving family, good friends, and lots of football in HD.

This holiday/sabbath, however, is not about me only. It is about the God to whom all thanks and praise is due. I paused for a moment this morning to read the last five psalms (146-150) thoughtfully. The psalmist is not named. What is important is that God is named, and described, and honored. He is the focus of the celebration.

More than anything, during this season of the year, I ask for God to grow in me a grateful heart. I am to be grateful because He is full of greatness. His majesty and splendor reverberate throughout creation, and it permeates my life.

The last couple of years have been rather difficult in life and ministry. Even now there are some heavy thoughts weighing on my mind. But I can still be thankful because underneath everything a mighty Hand holds it all together.

Psalm 46 (English Standard Version)

To the choirmaster. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A Song.

God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear though the earth gives way,
though the mountains be moved into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam,
though the mountains tremble at its swelling.

Selah

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy habitation of the Most High.
God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved;
God will help her when morning dawns.
The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;
he utters his voice, the earth melts.
The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah

Come, behold the works of the LORD,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
“Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Selah

A Theological Leatherman

There are certain doctrinal issues that we tend to treat as Leatherman tools. They become, in our hands, what we want them to become. If we desire pliers, then pliers they are. If it is a corkscrew we want, so be it. If we are seeking a can opener, a few movements and we have what we want.

For some reason, this metaphor came to mind as I considered the issue of baptism for the remission of sins. This issue generates such a diversity of opinions, so many of them based, not on what the Bible says, but on that with which we are comfortable.

• Some see sprinkling as OK because it is more convenient or because their church has always done it that way.
  
• Some validate infant baptism because of their views on original sin or their commitment to church tradition.
  
• Others validate infant baptism as a sign of the parents’ commitment to raise the child to love and honor God, not as any kind of saving action.
  
• Some say that believers are baptized as a sign of what has already happened in their heart when they professed faith in Jesus Christ.
  
• Some reject the need for baptism in any form, considering it an option. The argument is that, because we are saved by grace alone, baptism (considered a work) cannot be a part of the justification process.
  
• Some refuse to discuss water baptism much because what matters more is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Water baptism is simply an outward sign of the Spirit’s work in us.

I suppose we could add more, but this gives us a few sides to view. Of course, I am now prepared to whip out my baptismal Leatherman, and defend it. In short, I would say it this way. From my understanding of Scripture, those who believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, and the One through whom forgiveness of sins comes, will submit to water baptism (immersion), understanding that it is a part of the process through which God justifies us and pronounces us clean.

• I do not consider our submission to baptism to be a mere matter of opinion, because the New Testament has too much to say about baptism to relegate it to the category of opinion. See Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:15-16; Acts 2:38-39; Acts 22:16; Romans 6:3-4; 1 Corinthians 12:13; Galatians 3:26-27; Ephesians 4:3-6; Colossians 2:11-13; 1 Peter 3:21. To declare baptism a matter of opinion, basically gives us the option to embrace it or ignore its importance altogether. The latter does not seem at all consistent with the contexts of the passages in which this matter is raised.
  
• The nature of the discussions surrounding baptism are never centered around baptism as a mere symbol. Instead, baptism (even in the pre-Pentecost references in the Gospels) is always implied to be a transforming event. It is depicted as a happening in which a line is crossed – from death to life, from unclean to clean, from impure to pure, from slavery to freedom, from sinful to holy, from old to new.
  
• Baptism is not the only factor involved, however. Grace, the Holy Spirit, faith, confession, and repentance (and perhaps other factors) are included in this transforming process.
  
• Baptism is not a work, in the sense that our efforts achieve God’s acceptance. It is a work, in the sense that it is something we agree to do, or better yet, agree to have done to us.
  
• Baptism is very compatible with grace, for its submissive nature depicts a dying to sin and a raising to life that is far beyond our control. Interestingly enough, the far less disputed commands of repentance and confession are much more works-like than baptism. Nevertheless, they are “works” which grow out of genuine faith. They do not earn grace. They merely act as out-reached arms and opened hands, ready to accept the grace that God offers.
  
• Again, baptism is grace-compatible, in that it is so often associated with the “gift” (“grace”) of life. It brings the new creation to us by washing us and bringing us the indwelling presence of God’s Spirit – two acts that we can never accomplish for ourselves.

I refuse to display an argumentative spirit about baptism. This is my understanding of baptism from Scripture. I have come to the point where I will not entertain the inevitable questions that are posed: “Do you believe baptism is essential for salvation?” and “If a believer were on their way to be baptized and were hit by a bread truck and killed, would they be saved?”

I have my opinions on the matter, but I leave those hypothetical queries to God who judges justly. It is more important that I know what the Bible says and that I develop the mind of Christ and conform my behavior to it personally and in my sharing with others.

I’ll fold up my Leatherman now and put it back in my pocket. I’ll always carry it with me, but only pull it out when I need it. How do you see it?