Our Walk- His Way

No matter where our journey leads, our walk with God lasts eternity...

This morning, this reflection from the ODB makes me smile. It's similar to what my good friend and pastor Dick Shreckhise recently wrote to me about my recent place of discernment:

"The most important thing is not What,
When, Where, Why kind of questions but Way. How to
live the Way of Jesus wherever you are, whatever you are
doing, whenever you make a decision."

These two thoughts seem to parallel each other beautifully... the Way, the Journey... also captured in the common phrase often quoted of Brethren, that "you will know them by the manner of their living." It doesn't say by where they live, their job, their status, their neighborhood, but their Way. Lord, my prayer this morning is the familiar song, "Show me Your Way, that I may Walk with You... the cry of my heart is to love you more, to live with the touch of Your hand... stronger each day, show me Your ways."

The Way God Commanded

42 The Israelites had done all the work just as the LORD had commanded Moses. 43 Moses inspected the work and saw that they had done it just as the LORD had commanded. So Moses blessed them. -Exodus 39:42-43

This morning I continue reading about how the tabernacle was built so carefully. And as Brad pointed out to me this morning, one of the most common phrases in this section of the Bible is that they did "all the work just as the LORD commanded." They did their work in the Way that He commanded. They followed and the Lord was faithful in going with them and leading them.

The Way not the Law

23"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You give a tenth of your spices—mint, dill and cummin. But you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice, mercy and faithfulness. You should have practiced the latter, without neglecting the former. 24You blind guides! You strain out a gnat but swallow a camel.

25"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean.

27"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men's bones and everything unclean. 28In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.

29"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You build tombs for the prophets and decorate the graves of the righteous. 30And you say, 'If we had lived in the days of our forefathers, we would not have taken part with them in shedding the blood of the prophets.' 31So you testify against yourselves that you are the descendants of those who murdered the prophets. 32Fill up, then, the measure of the sin of your forefathers!

33"You snakes! You brood of vipers! How will you escape being condemned to hell? 34Therefore I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers. Some of them you will kill and crucify; others you will flog in your synagogues and pursue from town to town. 35And so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar. 36I tell you the truth, all this will come upon this generation.

37"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. 38Look, your house is left to you desolate. 39For I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, 'Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.'[a]"

I believe the church in general often falls into this temptation. Having a law is comfortable and easy. We know exactly what to do in every situation. We can make quick blanket judgments... except when we realize that it isn't ours to judge at all.

Jesus is harsh and bold and pain-staking clear here as he tells the Pharisees exactly what He thinks of them. We have forfeited the most important things (justice, mercy, faithfulness) for other laws. I am tempted to go through the New testament and categorizing all that Jesus tells us to do (or not to do) and then go through the guidelines of many churches today and when they tell us to do (or not to do).

Sometimes I fear that the church as an institution has lost sight of what was important to Jesus. What was it that he mentioned that we forget to live out in our lives? What was it that he didn't mention that we continue to harp on Sunday after Sunday... to judge or condemn... not for mercy of justice or faithfulness?

Are we forgetting the most important things? Is our cup full of greed and self-indulgence?

I know I'm going out on a limb here, and I will no doubt be judged for these views (which will indeed prove my point). But, let's think for instance about 2 hot topics in the church: drinking and premarital sex. Quite a few churches preach against both. Yet, show me in the Bible where Jesus condemns either. Now, that's not to say that I don't think there should be warnings or advice not to take part with either activity. After all, there are physical and emotional consequences in both cases, and I personally don't do either.

However, I believe this is a concrete example of where the church has "forgotten the most important things" and focused on cleaning the outside of the cup. In doing so, how many young people have we lost? Look around in your church? Has your preaching about these inconsequential matters left the focus of Jesus' call... and the Way that He calls us to live our lives... focused on the most important things: justice, mercy, and faithfulness.

I strongly feel that we must re-examine ourselves. In what ways have we become like "those" Pharisees?