Meddlers and Busybodies.

1 Peter 4:15 (NASB)
Make sure that none of you suffers as a murderer, or thief, or evildoer, or a troublesome meddler...

1 Peter 4:15 (Wuest Expanded Translation)
Let no one of you continue to be suffering [reproach] as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a self-appointed overseer of other men’s matters...

Two points:

1) In the Church, busybodies are the functional equivalent of murderers and thieves. 

2) In an era of mass media and partisan politics, being a "self-appointed overseer of other men's matters" is the most common type of "public Christian."  In other words, this is, to our shame, what non-Christians think that Christians are like. And it is a problem on the Left and on the Right.

And I just did the same thing.

Scripture Haiku. Acts 2:1-42

They had gathered on
The day of wind and fire.
God praised; Christ proclaimed.

Coming short of grace (Hebrews 12:15)

Hebrews 12:15
See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled...  (NASB)

Exercise foresight and be on the watch to look [after one another], to see that no one falls back from and fails to secure God's grace (His unmerited favor and spiritual blessing)... (Amplified)

Looking diligently lest any man fail... (KJV)

"See to it."

"Be on the watch." 

"Looking diligently." 

Obviously coming "short of the grace of God" must be visible.  That is, there are signs that it is happening. And it must be visible before the bitterness happens. 

What are the signs of coming short of or falling back from grace? 

Osama bin Laden and the Bible

Romans 13:1-4 (NASB)

1Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God.

2Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves.

3For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same;

4for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.

It is biblical for the government, the "ruling authorities" to take vengeance against Osama bin Laden. And since it is New Testament, Saint Paul, Biblical, it would also be Christian to expect, and desire, the government to act this way.

We cannot take delight in his death. God does not take delight in the death of anyone, desiring all men to come to repentance. But it is not wrong to expect the government to take vengeance against those who practice evil.

Love, hate, and anger

James 2:18 (NASB95)

18 But someone may well say, "You have faith and I have works; show me your faith without the works, and I will show you my faith by my works."

Expand this for a moment. My works make evident my faith. If I believe that “Jesus is the son of God” my works are going to reflect that belief. Am I doing the works that Jesus did, and greater works than these because He returned to the Father?

This is true, not only in the long arc of my lives, but also in the moment-by-moment reactions and responses to the world around me.

One of the things that regularly get said to new Christians is that love is not just an emotion, it is actions. I may have loving emotions, but I cannot show them without works. Or, in other words, love shows itself to others in loving actions. Love , unlike faith, is also expressed in words. it may be expressed in words like, “I love you.” But it may also be expressed in words of encouragement or words of gratitude. Those words may be without any open emotional content, as may be the actions of love.

So, love, to be love, must be expressed by “word or deed.” But the words or deeds, loving as they are, do not need emotions attached to them in order to be loving. I can believe God, and do the loving deed He asks of me, without any emotion of love, and He will reckon that belief to us as righteousness, I have followed James’s example, showing my faith through my works.

Now, I am going to extend this further. If the only way that I can show my love is through loving words and actions. what about hate, anger, fear, or guilt? I can have those emotions and not show them. And no one may know that I have them. How about if I do show them? Is not anger shown through angry words? Does not hate show itself through hateful actions I may speak my angry words without a trace of anger in them, or in my heart, at that moment. Angry words that get rehearsed in an angry mood and released in a calm one are still angry words.

“Revenge is a dish best served cold,” is a common saying in the world. After the emotion of anger or hate or fear is gone, they can still drive the plotting of revenge.

Therefore, anger, hate, or fear can be shown by their deeds, and by their words. There may emotions attached at the moment the deeds or words happen, or there may not.

Or, flipped around, if there are loving actions without the emotion of love, there are also hateful or angry actions (or words) without the emotions of hate or anger. Others can say of me that I hate someone because I show my hate by my hateful words or deeds.

My works reflect my faith. They reflect what I believe in, either in the long arc of my life or in the moment-by moment reaction or response. But something else is true. I react to the world around me, much like all animals do. But I can reflect on my reaction, the emotions triggered by whatever has happened, and what I have done with those emotions.

I may then respond with loving actions and words, despite what has happened to me. I may even need to apologize. I am forbidden by Jesus to take vengeance, and to hate my enemies. I have the ability to reflect and respond. I have that freedom.

Now, animals can only react to the world around them. Their “faith” is simple and direct. Their “emotional” state is what one sees at any given moment. They do not plan revenge. Nor do they plan loving acts. They simply are.

Animals react. Humans may react. Or we may reflect and respond. To apologize is evidence of being human.

Fear of the Lord, part 2

Psalm 111:10a (NASB 95)
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom...

Luke 12:5 (NASB 95)
"But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!

1 Peter 2:17 (NASB 95)
Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.

1 John 4:16-18 (NASB 95)
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love.


Thoughts:

“Perfect love casts out fear.” But what of the “fear of God?”

As I transfer my fears from the wrong things to Him, to my Lord Jesus, I declare that He is the proper recipient of the fear that I am feeling over something else.

So doing, the fear of something that is not God becomes the “reverential awe” of Him who is God. And only God deserves the fear that is also “reverential awe.”

And as I turn my fears over to Jesus, as I make Him to become the correct object of my fears, He casts them out. His love is perfected in me as I see His love for me. Ultimately, I have no fear of Jesus because I have no fear of punishment. The world may have its fears, its terrors, its worries, and its anxieties but the love that God is perfecting in me will drive it out.

I am yet living and as long as I live I will have fears, but now I know better how to deal with them, Who to give them to, and how to triumph over them. Where before I cowered before them, I now have the choice to triumph.

Fear of the Lord, part 1

Psalm 19:9a (NASB 95)
The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever...

Psalm 111:10a (NASB 95)
The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom...

Ecclesiastes 3:14 (NASB 95)
I know that everything God does will remain forever; there is nothing to add to it and there is nothing to take from it, for God has so worked that men should fear Him.

Luke 12:5 (NASB 95)
"But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!

Ephesians 5:21 (NASB 95)
...And be subject to one another in the fear of Christ.

1 Peter 2:17 (NASB 95)
Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.

1 Peter 5:7 (NASB 95)
...Casting all your anxiety [or “worries”] on Him, because He cares for you.

Thoughts:
Old Testament and New, the fear [also translated as “reverential awe”] of the Lord is praised and encouraged. Fear of men, other nations, and idols was discouraged. Only God deserves the fear that is also “reverential awe.”

If I fear something I am saying that it has power over me. But only God has ultimate power over me. Others may injure me, even kill me, but I am told to fear only Him who has authority to cast men into hell.

But I do fear things other than God. And I find it hard to fear a loving God, who gave up His only Son, so that I could know Him.

What then? What do I do with my fear of the wrong things? I found a clue in 1 Peter 5:7. “Casting all your anxiety on Him.” I do not need to keep my fears. I do not need to have my fears focus on things, on people, on events, on idols, that are not God. I can “cast” them onto Him.

I have for years understood this to mean that I give my fears to the Lord in prayer. I tell Him what I fear, and ask Him to set my free from them. I did this knowing that if I do, I will know the peace that passes understanding.

But I also now see that I have to give those fears to the Lord in the sense of transferring them from the wrong things to Him, to my Lord Jesus. I need to declare my Friend, my Savior, Jesus, the proper recipient of the fear that I am feeling over something else.

So doing, the “fear” of something that is not God becomes the “reverential awe” of Him who is God. This is part, for me, of bringing all things into subjection to Jesus. I see Him as the proper recipient of any fears I may have.