The Fruit Inspector is the Gardener

God looked at the field, filled with thorns, weeds, and every disgusting vegetation, and among them he found me, a pathetic tree with disgusting pits for fruit.  It was his delight to cultivate me.  He cleared away the thorns and clinging vines.  He turned over my soil.  He watered me with his word.  Now finally, I have displayed his greatly-desired fruit.  How does it taste to the gardener?  How do the buds smell in his holy nostrils?  In his delight, he has made me to sink my roots into the ground, to drink deep from his law and his gospel.  When I was shallow, I was blown over by every wind that approached me.  I hated and despised the gardener that I judged to be poor and absent.  What treason.

On the last day, I shall see perfectly how he has delighted in me, that his hands have ever been tending to me, day and night.  He has loved me, the good gardener.  He has made my roots to be thickened and my branches to REACH TO THE SKY!!!  My branches shall be bent with the weight of fruit and resting fowl.  The fragrance of my flower will be pleasant because God himself is the gardener and inspects the work of his own hands.  He will and presently does look on his work with holy delight.  He exalts over his grand works and sits in the shade of my branches.  How my heart longs to be cultivated by the gardener, and my roots long for the wetness of his word.  Speak to me, precious husbandman.  Uproot me and set me by a steady flowing stream.  The siren call of the clinging vines weigh me down as they sink their tendrils into my phloem and threaten to stunt me.  But you see my deadness and delight in the fruit of faith that I bear.  You will clear the vines and fight for me.  You will uproot the idols of my heart.  "Return to me," you say, "for I have redeemed you."  Oh Father, the gardener, redeemer.  Woo me to you.  I turn my back on my evil ways.  Yet I still depend on you.  Tomorrow I am lost, except that you preserve me.  You will preserve me, for I am your cultivated tree.  Yours.  The work of your hands in which you delight.

Study of Colossians Part 4

28 August 2012

Colossians Ch 3:18 - 4:18

Harmony is a sign of gospel transformation.  Slaves are free to love their masters because they serve the Lord, both slave and master have the same Lord in Heaven whether the master bows to knee to Christ now or not.  Indeed, this is the true glory of the gospel's message, that having been reconciled to the Father and empowered by his Spirit, even a slave, the lowest of humanity, can set the universe in right order by exercising faith in the Lord by setting aside natural desires for eye service and bitterness, and serving God in his service to his master, and in so doing many people will give glory to God.  There is no higher calling and to the lowest among God gives the honor of achieving it through the outworking of the Gospel in our lives.

Divine Justice: Paul assumes in verses 24 and 25 that the final justice exercised by God is motivation for the slave to be sincere in his service.  An enormous amount of faith must be exercised by the slave to believe this.  The slave is at the mercy of the conscience, good or bad, of his master while on earth.  But, if he believes in the justice and power of God, and if he has felt God's mercy, then he is free to love those who oppress him, even if there is otherwise no hope of seeing justice here on earth.  Without this faith in God, the slave, indeed we, have no reason to believe we shouldn't fight for justice for ourselves.  Yes, we should promote systems of justice that treat God's image-bearers with appropriate dignity, but without belief in a final judgement, bitterness and revenge will poison our every motive.

Miroslav Volf makes the point well in his book Exclusion and Embrace:

There is a profound "injustice" about the God of the biblical traditions.  It is called grace.  As I argued... in the story of the prodigal son, it was "unjust" of the father to receive back the prodigal as son and, on top of that, to throw a party for him after the son had just squandered half of his inheritance.  But the father was not interested in "justice." He acted in accordance with a "must" that was higher than the "must" of "justice".

My thesis that the practice of nonviolence requires a belief in divine vengeance will be unpopular with many Christians, especially theologians in the West.  To the person who is inclined to dismiss it, I suggest imagining that you are delivering a lecture in a war zone.  Among your listeners are people whos cities and villages have been first plundered, then burned and leveled to the ground, whose daughters and sisters have been raped, whose fathers and brothers have had their throats slit.  The topic of the lecture: a Christian attitude toward violence.  The thesis: we should not retaliate since God is perfect noncoercive love.  Soon you would discover that it takes the quiet of a suburban home for the birth of the thesis that human nonviolence corresponds to God's refusal to judge.  In a scorched land, soaked in the blood of the innocent, it will invariably die.  And as one watches it die, one will do well to reflect about many other pleasant captivities of the liberal mind.

"Let your speech always be gracious... so that you may know how to answer each person."  My conversations with my atheist friends have become more hostile as they become more intolerant   My speech has become snide and has no gracious motivation.  I have only reasons to love them as they have no way to wrong me.  Isn't this the outworking of good philosophy in my life?  I am the evil man in chapter one running headlong into Christ's holiness and glory.  Yet he has reconciled me to the Father and my life is hid with Christ in heaven.  They are in the former condition, and yet I fear them?  I am cowardly, I must be bold; I must fear God.  Boldness and Grace.

Study of Colossians Part 3

22 August 2012
Chapter 3

It's no wonder I don't feel God, and I'm getting angry.  Just look at the swagger that has characterized me today.  I've got a lot of things that will take up my time now.  How am I going to put God first?  How am I going to feel God at all?  How am I going to keep from just checking out?  After all, surely my foolish and distracted brain won't simply cooperate with a busy schedule.  What fighter verses will I wield when I really REALLY don't want to study, or read, or work, or run, or prepare for a presentation?
"For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he POWERFULLY works within me."
"For you have died, and your life is hid with Christ in God.  When Christ, who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory."

This indeed is the motivation for the whole of Colossians 3.  Knowing that we have died to the world is powerful for throwing off the trappings of wealth, affection, and beauty, indeed all the glory the world offers. Knowing that our life is hid with Christ, seated on high, having finished the work that guarantees our security in the house of the Lord, powerfully gives us the foundation and security to take crazy risks with our lives.  You have no other motivator than seeking to glorify this savior from a sincere heart.  People pleasing will gain us nothing since we have died to the world.  Look to Christ who is your life.  Rest in him.  Sincerely seek him, to be served by him by working heartily.  Heaven is your reward, you whose life is hid with Christ.  So, then why would you work for recognition?  What would that recognition gain you?  And what about affection that you so badly crave?  You have already been given your last rights, friend!  This is not your home, and your king has affections and blisses that no relationship could hope to give!  That's what you crave and no relationship can deliver without crushing the object of your lust.  If you truly love her, seek God's glory, and set your eyes on things above.  Open your hands to the things on earth, and close them on the throne of Christ, where Christ holds on to you, and in his love, he will not let you go.  Be risky, let the relationship happen without gripping it.

Oh Father, let your word sink deep into my heart, and may roots sprout from the solid foundation of the knowledge of my sweet savior, who holds me firmly in heaven.  May my hope never wander from him.

Study of Colossians Part 2

The following will be the notes I took while studying Colossians with my Missional Community (Coram Deo small groups).

Chapter 2

Paul's struggle is that the Colossian church reach the full assurance that comes from understanding the Gospel.  He describes this knowledge as riches and treasure.  Do I treasure knowing Christ and his work?  Do I encourage others and am I myself encouraged by gathering the riches of the gospel?

Interestingly, Paul mentions "plausible arguments" as a threat to this assurance.  This is strange since I welcome plausible arguments against my faith.  But this is why Paul encourages the believers to rest themselves in Christ, because the answer to plausible arguments is not avoiding the question, but from rootedness in the knowledge of God's word, the gospel.  This sounds a lot like 1 Peter 3:15 "but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,"  The readiness starts with honoring Christ as holy from the heart.  We honor him in truth from the heart, we receive hope, and growing in knowledge we are prepared to answer arguments.  A firm faith helps to identify counterfeit saviors, and "good advice" can be seen as a phony when we understand what Christ has done for his church.

Good and Bad Philosophy Defined:  verse 8.  Philosophy which is "according to", or based on, or rooted in Christ (i.e. the Gospel) is good philosophy.  If not, perhaps if it is rooted in human tradition or natural order, then it is bad philosophy, even if it is "christian".

Good philosophy: verses 9-15, the basis of all good philosophy is: the deity of Christ, the indwelling of the Spirit in the believer, the reign of Christ as sovereign Lord, the present reality of the mortified flesh, the present reality of the resurrected body, faith in the completed work of God on the cross as the means of resurrection, dead in our sins, made alive to Christ, and cancellation of our debt on the cross.

Bad philosophy: verses 16-19 More specifically, this is bad "christian" philosophy because it it is spoken of using Christian categories.  They are, nevertheless not based on the gospel and have gone astray, being based on the "fleshly" or sensuous mind.  The righteousness attained in this philosophy is attained with observances of days and rules and earning favors from creaturely spirits.  Interestingly, these people become puffed up in their own eyes because they "disqualify" others who haven't achieved their spiritual rank.

But Paul disqualifies them with the hard, cold facts: bad philosophy isn't even good at being bad because the flesh simply will NOT submit to rules.  Though the rules are followed the indulgence endures and the celibate flesh caries on in adultery.  Nevertheless, not doing this or that is always wisdom to the legalist and appears achievable despite the severity to the body, and sickly faith is hid under an impressive pile of adherence to rules.  NOTE:  Don't forget, this is bad CHRISTIAN philosophy, and as such you will encounter it often among the brethren   It is nevertheless a different gospel, and must be rejected as such in such a manner as the faith and grace which God has given to you would make appropriate.  

But you have died to the natural order, pursuing the desires of the natural man, so LIVE LIKE IT!  Believe the gospel and repent of your self-made religion.  Don't sacrifice to feel-good gods that don't demand complete perfection.  You have died with Christ, now put to death the natural desires.  Put it to death with daily beatings of prayer and Christ-ward glances found in God's word.  Arm yourself with the gospel so you can stand as the body fights back.  Are you ready?

Study of Colossians Part 1

8 August 2012
The following will be the notes I took while studying Colossians with my Missional Community (Coram Deo small groups).

Chapter 1

The love they have for the saints is rooted in the hope they have in heaven, and all the promises that are stored up there.  This is the pattern throughout scripture, hope leads to love.  Faith -> hope -> love, Romans  chapters 1-11 leads to Romans 12 - 15.  Our actions flow out of our heart condition.  Were it not so, it wouldn't be love.
But where does their faith come from?  See verse 5, it comes from the Gospel, the word of truth.  And the gospel bears fruit wherever it is heard and believed.
Verse 9: Paul prays that they will be filled with the knowledge of God's will.  The knowledge of God's will leads to walking in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit and further increase in the knowledge of God.  This sounds a lot like Romans 12:1 and 2 - Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good, and acceptable, and perfect.
After the fantastic Christology of 15 - 20, a great sneak peak into the mind of God, Christ the Alpha and Omega, reconciling all things to himself, making peace by his cross, a glimpse at his holiness.  After this, "and you" >gulp< hostile, alienated, doing evil.  What a contrast between his holiness and my depravity, as though my condition is one of raging headfirst with shut eyes and clenched fists into the unstoppable force of his mission to make war and peace, and bring glory to the Father.  What can rescue us from this condition into which we have voluntarily place ourselves?  Praise God we get the gospel again at this point.  Yes, you, too are being reconciled by his cross, in his body.  And he will make you holy and blameless for his own sake, the reconciliation of all things to himself.