The Wisdom of the Young Ruler

Many people think of the young ruler as an idiot.

In many ways I find him very wise, but ultimately lacking perspective. I don’t know, I do very much understand why he would run away from Christ when asked to give up all he had, it is reminiscent of something of that inside of myself. Maybe I’m the only person that takes seriously what a fantastic claim that Jesus gives when he asks of us to give up everything we have, and follow Him. What a huge decision that is, to be asked to give up everything we trust in for something we cannot be totally sure of. It is hardly the things that could be decided in the moment’s thought of the altar call. That is somewhat undercutting what a great sacrifice this is, I have been thinking and mulling over this proposition for a very long time. Slowly and slowly, the caverns of my heart are opening up as the Holy Spirit comes and airs every room of my heart.

In some ways, the young ruler was the wisest of us all, such a huge decision cannot be made with such lightness. Externally, we may have the greatest ambition, but internally we know nothing of Jesus. To walk away in my eyes was a more righteous action than committing a part of our hearts. Anaias and Sapphira would have profited greater from not giving their share to the apostle than giving short of everything.

Reading from an outsider’s perspective of the calling of the disciples, it is simple to think it obvious to drop the nets to follow Jesus. A book is still somewhat a disconnection from reality, and it is easy to read of faith of other peoples within the Bible. Yet, when the rubber hits the road, when Christ demands of YOU, to give up everything that we hold dear, I find that an entirely different proposition more difficult than reading of other people who had done so before.

There is a disconnection I think we feel from the young ruler, that we are somehow better than him. This decision is without realising how much of a sacrifice, that is, without having experienced poverty in life. For one, I feel like him more often that not torn between what I can see and what I cannot understand.

The sermon at church today was of Simon Peter and his redemption through Christ in the last few verses of the Gospel of John:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.””(This he said to show by what kind of death he was to glorify God.) And after saying this he said to him, “Follow me.”” John 21:18-19 (English Standard Version)

What church history tells us, is that the death that Simon Peter suffered was one of cruxifiction. Origen said of his death, “Peter was crucified at Rome with his head downwards, as he himself had desired to suffer.” As one who would not consider himself worthy to die the same way as Jesus. There is an intense humility in that, that I do not possess at this time.

To be brought continually to that place where we realise we have nothing, we deserve nothing and we are nothing is a place of continual rejoicing for me. To some, it might be reprehensable but to know the insurmountable riches in Christ, and that perhaps that is something of worth. To reach that place in my heart, I need faith, more than I have now. To know that assurance of things hoped for and conviction of things not seen.

I am increasingly becoming sure that if there was just one righteous man on earth like Jesus, then the world would be changed. But in the meantime, we have billions of young rulers too scared to step outside of their comfort zone. I am a young ruler, tempered to what the world proclaims as success, chained to the desires of the heart. More than not, I am scared of what is hidden behind closed doors, than wanting people to see what I do when eyes are not closed.

The Impossiblity of Salvation

In the latter parts of the first chapter of Paul’s letter to the church of Corinth, he writes perhaps one of the profoundest statements I have come across: “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;” (1v.27)

There is something very comforting from that verse which resonates with me so much. I have never professed to be strong, my want for strength is perhaps embodied in the amount of Abercrombie and Fitch t-shirts I own, but I digress. There was a post running on revelife the other day that was titled, “Christianity: A Crutch For The Weak”, I cannot say I had a read of it, but I might when I finish this post. The image of a crutch is one of support for an injury, a leg-up above our present condition as you would have it.

Yet I find it somewhat lacking, my reply when people say that is, Christianity is nothing like a crutch for the weak, it is a revival of the dead. There is a fantastic passage in Ezekiel 37 which talks of the life being born into dead bones. God asks Ezekiel the question, ”“Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord GOD, you know.”” (Ezekiel 37:3). There is something strikingly similar when Jesus begins His ministry and He calls Philip who finds Nathaniel ”Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.”” John 1:46 (English Standard Version)

In both, there is an element of impossibility in the intonation of the words. Where the dead bones were emptied of life, Nazareth as well was emptied of all intelligence as it would seem. When applied to the impossibility of salvation, it becomes something of a miraculous event, not only that a totally new creation is born. But moreover, the weak and not the strong would be rescued from their sins which have caused them to be dead, life out of bones with no intelligence of their own.

Why God would use the weak is explained in the subsequent verses in 1 Corinthians 1, “so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” (1:29) The Greek, καυχάομαι/kauchaomai translated boast, means literally to speak loudly. The fact of the matter is that God does speak loudly, whether through words or His creation. He chooses the weakest, so as His power and glory is amplified greater in all the earth, because a man might die for his fellow brother if he was good, but only a truly altruistic man would die for someone bad.

God chooses the weakest, much along the reasoning that the weak themselves understand how dead in their transgressions they are, and how much in need of God they are. So much so, that only the dead would know how far God has brought them, and how much change has occurred within their heart. Jesus came as a Great Doctor to those who are sick and need healing, not those who are well in their own eyes. To be weak is to acknowledge we need God, and God will surely answer those who ask for him truly.

 

What makes music Christian?

The past few months, I’ve been noticing my musical tastes have been changing. My playlist that I listen to has always been predominant Christian music fullstop. I remember back in the day, well, it’s only 3 years ago, I bought my first album which was “Stay” by Jeremy Camp, and it still is one of my favourite albums, with a good balance between honesty and accessibility.

And still today I buy predominantly Christian music cds. Don’t blame me for being so cheap because people are turned off immediately because things are Christian.

What I’ve been finding that my tastes have changed perhaps with branching further and further away from CCM, to more alternative music. By alternative I mean a lot of things, I remember, the first metal album I picked up, “Dictohomy” by Becoming the Archetype, I admit I only bought it because it had a pretty cool album cover, then I moved onto Underoath, and among other things, to As Cities Burn with a more indie rock. Yet it all still fell within this larger group called “Christian music”.

Then I was set into all things indie, there was something raw about this genre. House of Heroes, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Cocorosie, Death Cab for Cutie Etc.

But lately, I’ve been moving into this kind of electronica/dubstep/drum and bass type of music with no lyrics. I totally blame Dan for this change. He never should have sent me drum and bass mixtapes. He is a horrible influence on my music tastes…=P

To describe it simply, it’s kind of club type music, well, maybe a bit more downbeat, but it’s quite popular within those circles. It is totally different to anything you’ll find on the Christian market, the closest I’ve heard is probably the new And Then There Were None album. I find it good in two ways:

1. I’ve found that the producers are not usually signed onto a record label, so they would make what they want. You can find a lot of artists on soundcloud.com, and alldj.net (?) they release all their music on their own. Consequently, the music they create has a lot more artistic freedom and expression, because they are not constrained. A lot of the time as well, I notice that they can do whatever they want without being constricted in one specific box.
2. Furthermore, they have this total freeing sense in the style of music. Drum and bass can be totally in your face, but at the same time it can be wildly reflective. Whereas in Christian music, i realise now that it’s the same, God’s love, God’s love, Jesus loves you, Jesus love you, peace, peace…blah blah. There is a totally disconnect between the creativity that God brings to the world, and the bland music that get played on the radio stations.

I’ve been finding myself worshipping God way easier with every bass-drop and every bit of freedom that Christian record labels do not allow. In fact, a lot of the Christian radio stations, seem to encroach their artists into one small box that they have to play in and write their lyrics in. It’s increasingly frustrating to me, to hear good artists being totally changed to sell more records. Tedashii is raps a verse in “Go Hard” which goes:

“Went to Asia, had to duck and hide to share my faith/They tell me to water it down when I get back to the States”

There is a disease in the Christian music market, namely the radio record companies that make perfectly good artists like Bethany Dillon, Jeremy Camp, Adie Camp…the list goes on…I’ve even been listening to Chris August recently, I get feel he’s a good artist, but he is tame in his debut EP. This turning into a rant about Christian music, so I’ll stop there.

So, I’ve been listening to all this music and I can worship God much easier, yet there is no indicator of whether it is made to worship God or the Devil. So, as a consequence, I’ve been thinking, is the lyrics all that defines Christian music? I mean the removal of lyrics makes the music meaningless in discernment of whether something is Christian or not. Does this indicate that what is Christian music and not, is mere speculation until confirmation by the original artist, but does that make it Christian still?

Oh, here’s a song, because I can. I <3 dubstep so I uploaded this track, if I could remove Rihanna, I would. The dubstep is glorious though:

http://soundcloud.com/llamalima/rudeboy-by-rihanna-chrispy-dubstep-remix

You can download it too…if you’re desperate! I have some other tracks up, of which none are mine. Full props to the original artist.

What does it mean to be good?

What’s been on my mind is what is good? I’m not going into the philosophy of it all, but I will assume that God is the originator of good and evil. So, I want to talk from a Christian worldview, what is it to be good?

From a concordance check that I went through, a lot of the Bible talks of what is good and bad, especially in the Old Testament, of a set of laws, mostly the Mosaic law, that God gives us as a measure. For example in Deuteronomy after Moses repeats the law to the stubborn Israelites, he concludes:

“Be careful to obey all these words that I command you, that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God.” Deuteronomy 12:28 (English Standard Version)

So, what we can see is that the law was definitive in the Old Testament as to what was supposed to be God. But where in Old Testament the notion of good and evil is veiled and portrayed as only a collection of following laws. In light of the New Testament, we know now that the law sheds the truth that in reality we aren’t perfect and that we are not inherently good at all. Living in a New Testament context, we have the full revelation that Jesus is the good person who did not break any laws, died for us. Then, through his sacrifice on the cross we know that he alone is good, how then shall we live if we are already good in Christ?

With the ceremonial laws dissolved, we still have the civil law of God to follow which gives us the terms which God sets out for us to follow.  what does it mean to be a good person inside the new covenant? My suggestion is that while Jesus fulfils OT law and resolves what it does; ultimately Jesus shows what evil is:

Anything apart from God.

When Adam and Eve sinned, they lost connection with God’s way of life, and subsequently they could no longer live in the Garden of Eden. There was a spiritual disconnection from God. While man cannot fill this void, only Jesus Christ can. Since God is the one who initiates salvation (John 10v.3), then how can we begin to do anything that is pleasing to God in the slightest? It’s like a man trying to build a castle without any stones. He can build his sand castles only so long before the wind blows them away.

One story I found illustrative of my point is in the OT. The context of the passage is a celebration of the Ark of the Covenant is occurring with a good ole party happening in the place:

“And David and all the house of Israel were making merry before the LORD, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.”And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled.”And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.” 2 Samuel 6:5-7 (English Standard Version)

The motives of Uzzah was good in the story, he was trying to stop the ark of the covenant falling to the ground. But ultimately, his hands were unclean and he shouldn’t have stopped the Ark from falling because it wasn’t consistent with God’s holiness. Therefore, God struck him down, clean and simple like that…some might call it harsh, but it was totally just and already outlined in the law.

As Christian we can live one way, but not seek to glorify God as the ultimate ends. It’s too easy to fall back unto pleasing ourselves and therefore manipulating God’s gifts to us. While we still have the will to do stuff, if it isn’t what God has led us down it is utterly meaningless.

Even with Bill Gates and his foundation, though he is doing a great work for the world, his foundation gives a lot of money to good causes, no doubt. He still isn’t doing good in the absolute sense because he isn’t glorifying God. My analogy is like building a village, but there is a huge difference between building a village for the enemy or for the kingdom of God. Without God we are just building kingdoms to be torn down again when Jesus comes back again.

I guess this post was influenced when I said something similar that nothing is good unless done in God. The conversation occured in the comments section of a post somewhere on Xanga, I don’t remember the post. And I got bashed by a few people, I didn’t really try to fight back too much but I hope that all made sense where I’m coming from. I think the post that it was talking about was about atheists doing good works, and I countered that it wasn’t done at all in glory of God to bring him glory at all.

As Christians it is too easy to live lives that are externally good, we can give 10% of our gross income and continue to live our ways in a ‘good’ type of way. We can feed children in Africa, give some groceries to the food bank every Monday, drop a few coins into the offering bag as it goes by and volunteer outside the abortion clinics. While they are all good things, if not done with God’s glory in mind, it will be as filthy rags to God, because we are trying to earn our own salvation.

“And Samuel said,“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,as in obeying the voice of the LORD?Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,and to listen than the fat of rams.” 1 Samuel 15:22 (English Standard Version)