I'm sitting in front of my computer with my usual pre-sermon anxiety. I do not get nervous in the usual sense. It is never "fun" to stand before a crowd of people and talk, though it is euphoria-causing at times. But that's not the anxiety. It's the anxiety of being full of information and wanting it to come out soon, in a coherent way. The anxiety a coke can feels after you shake it. I wait for an opening hopefully before the fizz dies down. So to occupy my mind I have some thoughts on what it means to be a "mystic".
A mystic is a person whose experiences with God come at a level not entirely in line with reason. It isn't an unreasonable experience (it usually is), but it isn't communicated to the reason. For example: one doesn't survey the nutritional facts of an apple pie only to satisfactorily take a fork and mathmatically count the calories until the pie is gone. That would be using the reason primarily, but it is not reasonable. No, one takes a pie and eats it to achieve an emotional response because it tastes "dang good". To eat apple pie and like it is reasonable. But the enjoyment is in our tongue and stomach, not our brain's "reason" center. A mystic's taste of God may come from some pretty reasonable things. We may reason that God's glory is in nature, but the reason itself is not the pleasure of it. The pleasure is in beholding and being warmed by the latent "glory" in creation. Reason and mysticism go hand in hand. I see beauty, I feel glory.
It is reasonable to believe God is in my storm, even as the waves lap over the edge of the boat. But it's his embrace in the storm that I feel, not the cold logic that calculates "I will never leave or forsake you" even applies here. My heart feels his love in the cold waves that may take me under any minute. As the boat capsizes and I'm in the surf, his gentleness to my soul now is apparent, though my senses and my reason rebel. His eyes pierce through the written words, and my reason carries it, but my reason does not relish it, something else entirely draws breath from those words. That is where a mystic lives. Not entirely in a text, but not far apart from it. Good grammar carries it, but my heart burns from it, not my mind. I see myself sinking in the water, and with a lungful of water I breathe life. That is mysticism's strength: God in everything; God in nothing. His promises look worlds apart from my circumstances, but they are a perfect meeting place.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
God in everything; God in nothing
Every bit of coherent revelation we receive from God, or glean from nature, dwells primarily in the Biblical revelation of God infallibly preserved in the written texts. In other words, the information may be gleaned from nature, or impressed/communicated by God to a soul, or read from a passage and applied; but it will always be "filtered" through the Bible. Meaning if God "tells" a person something, it will be biblically-based, not new revelation. If a person sees something of God in nature, it will have been "interpreted" from nature through the Bible as a kind of prism, splitting and refracting the raw information from the world into a biblical model. The Bible is the conduit for which all information either directly comes, or is interspersed through to our soul. Most of it seems to flood our soul with a kind of divine relish in the things of God as they relate to our life on this world. For example, the grace of God as it relates to our relationships, or moral behavior, or the direction of our life. I may see the beauty of a mountain range, and have renewed in my mind the majesty of God, and because of that natural beauty filtered through the biblical concepts of God's glory I will renew a commitment to moral purity or relational fidelity. I may read a text such as "the mountains melt like wax before the Lord" and it has the same effect. Whether the source is natural or scriptural, it is refracted through Scriptural ideas and carries me into the world with its applications. We find God in things here, and we live better the here and now in light of it.
I have come to the conclusion that this is most of what Christians experience in America because it is what we are most deficient at. But I believe there comes a very real point at times throughout a Christian's walk with God where God is found in the usual means expressed above, but there is no "earthly use" for the revelation. The communion one's soul enjoys with God in that moment is a trickle of what will be a torrent in eternity, and only serves to emaciate our soul with its earthly attachments. It's as if God severs our earthly interests to give us a reminder that despite the fact that the heavens "declare the glory of God" the heavens are not "the glory of God." Though we live our life for Him here, He must at times make this even seem amiss of our true aim to remind us that "if we save our lives, we will lose them". I do not think Americans will have many of these experiences because of our tendency to be no earthly good. But I do think they are a real experience where God, though found in this present age, lifts the veil and reminds us we have no lasting home here. Though we are to invest our talents, we are to use our mammon to gain eternal friends, we are to live for the glory of God in this age, we are not of this epoch. Ours is another one that must first burn this sad one away before it is consummated.
I have come to the conclusion that this is most of what Christians experience in America because it is what we are most deficient at. But I believe there comes a very real point at times throughout a Christian's walk with God where God is found in the usual means expressed above, but there is no "earthly use" for the revelation. The communion one's soul enjoys with God in that moment is a trickle of what will be a torrent in eternity, and only serves to emaciate our soul with its earthly attachments. It's as if God severs our earthly interests to give us a reminder that despite the fact that the heavens "declare the glory of God" the heavens are not "the glory of God." Though we live our life for Him here, He must at times make this even seem amiss of our true aim to remind us that "if we save our lives, we will lose them". I do not think Americans will have many of these experiences because of our tendency to be no earthly good. But I do think they are a real experience where God, though found in this present age, lifts the veil and reminds us we have no lasting home here. Though we are to invest our talents, we are to use our mammon to gain eternal friends, we are to live for the glory of God in this age, we are not of this epoch. Ours is another one that must first burn this sad one away before it is consummated.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Sin and Circumstance
Matthew 15:18-20 "But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false, witness, slander. These are what defile a person..."
In the greater context of this passage, we see that Pharisees (and all other people really) like to look alright on the outside. We like to make sure we have it all together. The Pharisees liked to do "ritual washings", our own taste might lend itself to other outward things, but the point of them is the same. Do we look like we have it all together?
There's nothing wrong with looking like things are alright. The problem is that things aren't, and we don't care how bad they get inside, as long as we are ok on the outside. It did not matter to the Pharisees if they dishonored their mother and father (v. 5) as long as they washed their hands in front of their peers. It was worth more to them for other Pharisees to say, "what a righteous man", than for God to say "what a righteous man." Better not to eat with , tradition-breaking, dirty, ceremonially unclean mits than to eat with clean hands and a morally filthy, law-breaking heart. We may not have the same traditions, but we have the same heart.
Our morality shows this, because of the excuses we make. "I wouldn't have done that if it wasn't for him or her." "I'm usually not like that". "It was just a bad week for me, and I was stressed." All these excuses are really attempts to maintain control of the "outer", while neglecting the inner. We are really saying, "let me wash the dirt off my hands, and ignore the guilt of my heart. Let me make an excuse for my actions, and ignore the engine that spun it out in my chest." Circumstances and temptations merely reveal the moral imperfections in our hearts. They do not cause them. Pornography does not cause lust in a man's heart, it merely reveals it. We might say, "I wouldn't have ever watched that unless my friend put it on TV for me. Then I was hooked." We are really washing our hands, and ignoring our heart. It is true that certain sinful actions happen in some people that do not happen in others. Not all of us act like Adolph Hitler, and we write it off saying that he was abused and that's why he was so bad. The abuse did not cause the sin, it merely allowed it an escape. Most people have a "brake" that keeps some actions from happening, abuse and sin merely break the brake, they do not cause the sin to come be in our hearts. That sin has been there from Eden on.
We must realize the absolute moral poverty within our hearts to fight sin. We must not blame it on the moral poverty of our circumstances. It is true that sometimes we must leave our circumstances because they hold temptations too great. (1 Ti 6:11, 2 Ti 2:22, 1 Co 6:18, 10:14) But to merely run from those temptations and not acknowledge the root of their power in our hearts is worthless. We must realize it is our heart that has the problem. We are the deviation from God's standard, not our atmosphere! We are the defilement. Not that person who makes me angry. Not that drive who flicked me off. Not the sex-saturated pop culture. Not these unwashed hands, but this uncircumcised heart!
It is not the fault of the God of the Universe, it is not the fault of the false god of this world even, but the guilt lies in the false god of this body.
In the greater context of this passage, we see that Pharisees (and all other people really) like to look alright on the outside. We like to make sure we have it all together. The Pharisees liked to do "ritual washings", our own taste might lend itself to other outward things, but the point of them is the same. Do we look like we have it all together?
There's nothing wrong with looking like things are alright. The problem is that things aren't, and we don't care how bad they get inside, as long as we are ok on the outside. It did not matter to the Pharisees if they dishonored their mother and father (v. 5) as long as they washed their hands in front of their peers. It was worth more to them for other Pharisees to say, "what a righteous man", than for God to say "what a righteous man." Better not to eat with , tradition-breaking, dirty, ceremonially unclean mits than to eat with clean hands and a morally filthy, law-breaking heart. We may not have the same traditions, but we have the same heart.
Our morality shows this, because of the excuses we make. "I wouldn't have done that if it wasn't for him or her." "I'm usually not like that". "It was just a bad week for me, and I was stressed." All these excuses are really attempts to maintain control of the "outer", while neglecting the inner. We are really saying, "let me wash the dirt off my hands, and ignore the guilt of my heart. Let me make an excuse for my actions, and ignore the engine that spun it out in my chest." Circumstances and temptations merely reveal the moral imperfections in our hearts. They do not cause them. Pornography does not cause lust in a man's heart, it merely reveals it. We might say, "I wouldn't have ever watched that unless my friend put it on TV for me. Then I was hooked." We are really washing our hands, and ignoring our heart. It is true that certain sinful actions happen in some people that do not happen in others. Not all of us act like Adolph Hitler, and we write it off saying that he was abused and that's why he was so bad. The abuse did not cause the sin, it merely allowed it an escape. Most people have a "brake" that keeps some actions from happening, abuse and sin merely break the brake, they do not cause the sin to come be in our hearts. That sin has been there from Eden on.
We must realize the absolute moral poverty within our hearts to fight sin. We must not blame it on the moral poverty of our circumstances. It is true that sometimes we must leave our circumstances because they hold temptations too great. (1 Ti 6:11, 2 Ti 2:22, 1 Co 6:18, 10:14) But to merely run from those temptations and not acknowledge the root of their power in our hearts is worthless. We must realize it is our heart that has the problem. We are the deviation from God's standard, not our atmosphere! We are the defilement. Not that person who makes me angry. Not that drive who flicked me off. Not the sex-saturated pop culture. Not these unwashed hands, but this uncircumcised heart!
It is not the fault of the God of the Universe, it is not the fault of the false god of this world even, but the guilt lies in the false god of this body.
Sunday, March 16, 2008
Government
It's kind of my "kick" right now to be cynical about our government. I don't like it (the government). I don't like either party. I don't like any of our candidates for president either. I am too old-fashioned for any of our present politicians to interest me.
Our Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Constitution are based on something called Natural Law. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are endowed with certain inalienable rights from their Creator..." The government of our country did not see themselves as granting any man freedom. Re-read that....they did not think they were GIVING anybody rights. They believed they were merely allowing them to have the rights they had naturally by virtue of being created "human" by God Almighty. The government was a caretaker over the rights of society, not the granter of rights.
Our government today believes and behaves by the premises of Positive Law. This view says that whatever the government "posits", or declares, becomes law by virtue of the power and authority of our government. So the government grants rights to its citizens. Infants do not have the right to live until they are granted that status as "alive" (which is why our morally bankrupt government allows abortion). The child has no "natural" right to live until the government says it is alive. That is why many state lawmakers in California think they can tell homeschooling parents how to raise their children. They believe they can force parents to send their children to a public school where they will become indoctrinated with the ideas they want them to believe, not the ideas the parents believe.
As long as our government continues to operate under the basis of positive law, they will continue to tread more immoral ground regarding the issues of infant right to life, genetic engineering, etc. As long as they see themselves as the granter of liberty and not the caretaker of inalienable right, they will bear my reproach. I will obey them, because unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. But I will pray for short terms...whoever wins.
Our Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights, and Constitution are based on something called Natural Law. "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are endowed with certain inalienable rights from their Creator..." The government of our country did not see themselves as granting any man freedom. Re-read that....they did not think they were GIVING anybody rights. They believed they were merely allowing them to have the rights they had naturally by virtue of being created "human" by God Almighty. The government was a caretaker over the rights of society, not the granter of rights.
Our government today believes and behaves by the premises of Positive Law. This view says that whatever the government "posits", or declares, becomes law by virtue of the power and authority of our government. So the government grants rights to its citizens. Infants do not have the right to live until they are granted that status as "alive" (which is why our morally bankrupt government allows abortion). The child has no "natural" right to live until the government says it is alive. That is why many state lawmakers in California think they can tell homeschooling parents how to raise their children. They believe they can force parents to send their children to a public school where they will become indoctrinated with the ideas they want them to believe, not the ideas the parents believe.
As long as our government continues to operate under the basis of positive law, they will continue to tread more immoral ground regarding the issues of infant right to life, genetic engineering, etc. As long as they see themselves as the granter of liberty and not the caretaker of inalienable right, they will bear my reproach. I will obey them, because unto Caesar that which is Caesar's. But I will pray for short terms...whoever wins.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Opera and Glory
Someone showed me one of the best videos I have ever seen on YouTube. Here's the link: http://youtube.com/watch?v=DelJrP3P7tA
Here's the synopsis:
The guy comes on stage and is a little nervous. The judges obviously are not expecting much. Then he nails the piece and blows the whole crowd away. British people are crying! That is saying a lot.
I think it is interesting that every single person in the audience recognized two things: beauty and excellence. Something can accidentally be beautiful. It can be beautifully constructed, yet not by the skill of excellence, but just by chance or beginner's luck. A two-year old can paint a beautiful picture, but it comes from accidentally not mixing all the colors together in an attempt to eat them. Real beauty is accentuated by excellence. When a disciplined, skillful painter combines all the colors and textures on a canvas to make a picture, a different sort of beauty emerges. Beauty becomes compounded and intensified by excellence. Like this opera piece, people can all recognize beauty. C.S. Lewis, and many ancient philosophers thought it was morally upright to look on beauty, and be moved by it.
I believe they were correct. If we are not moved by beauty, something is amiss morally inside of us. Now, if we are not crying "Encore Paul! Encore!", I do not think that is a sin. But if we are not moved deeply by beauty (natural, moral, and aesthetics/art) that deadness of heart betrays the numb condition of our moral affections. We are trivial, banal, conceited, and irreligious of God's glory displayed in creation and through mankind's natural talents for creativity. (Just on the flip side, there are many people who would cry at the Opera and still be as ruined morally as those who cannot recognize beauty, this is merely one diagnostic, not the only).
At the root of our hearts, we are not moved by the beauty of the Person of Christ. "He has no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him." We do not applaud for his excellence, we do not stand for his skill, we do not notice the innate beauty of the one who created all capacity for artistic beauty to be a small reflection of his self-possessed majesty. Why? Because our hearts are trivial, banal, conceited, and irreligious of God's glory in the person of Jesus Christ. Many religions notice the beauty of Jesus in his morality and treatment of people, but they do not worship Him. The sacrilege of that mindset is like walking up to the judges of "Britain's Got Talent" after Paul Potts performance and waving a drawing your two-year old made of your pet cat. It is out of place to appreciate the subjective beauty of your child's artwork (however genuinely precious to you), in a place where the objective beauty of music is being applauded. How wrong-headed for us to appreciate the subjective beauty of ourselves over the objective beauty of God's glory in this; the theatre of His existence.
Here's the synopsis:
The guy comes on stage and is a little nervous. The judges obviously are not expecting much. Then he nails the piece and blows the whole crowd away. British people are crying! That is saying a lot.
I think it is interesting that every single person in the audience recognized two things: beauty and excellence. Something can accidentally be beautiful. It can be beautifully constructed, yet not by the skill of excellence, but just by chance or beginner's luck. A two-year old can paint a beautiful picture, but it comes from accidentally not mixing all the colors together in an attempt to eat them. Real beauty is accentuated by excellence. When a disciplined, skillful painter combines all the colors and textures on a canvas to make a picture, a different sort of beauty emerges. Beauty becomes compounded and intensified by excellence. Like this opera piece, people can all recognize beauty. C.S. Lewis, and many ancient philosophers thought it was morally upright to look on beauty, and be moved by it.
I believe they were correct. If we are not moved by beauty, something is amiss morally inside of us. Now, if we are not crying "Encore Paul! Encore!", I do not think that is a sin. But if we are not moved deeply by beauty (natural, moral, and aesthetics/art) that deadness of heart betrays the numb condition of our moral affections. We are trivial, banal, conceited, and irreligious of God's glory displayed in creation and through mankind's natural talents for creativity. (Just on the flip side, there are many people who would cry at the Opera and still be as ruined morally as those who cannot recognize beauty, this is merely one diagnostic, not the only).
At the root of our hearts, we are not moved by the beauty of the Person of Christ. "He has no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him." We do not applaud for his excellence, we do not stand for his skill, we do not notice the innate beauty of the one who created all capacity for artistic beauty to be a small reflection of his self-possessed majesty. Why? Because our hearts are trivial, banal, conceited, and irreligious of God's glory in the person of Jesus Christ. Many religions notice the beauty of Jesus in his morality and treatment of people, but they do not worship Him. The sacrilege of that mindset is like walking up to the judges of "Britain's Got Talent" after Paul Potts performance and waving a drawing your two-year old made of your pet cat. It is out of place to appreciate the subjective beauty of your child's artwork (however genuinely precious to you), in a place where the objective beauty of music is being applauded. How wrong-headed for us to appreciate the subjective beauty of ourselves over the objective beauty of God's glory in this; the theatre of His existence.
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