Perspective: Investing in Iniquity

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Comments are always welcomed.

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Investing in Iniquity

The Lord proclaims:

For three crimes of Israel,

and for four, I won’t hold back the punishment,

because they have sold the innocent for silver,

and those in need for a pair of sandals.

They crush the head of the poor into the dust of the earth,

and push the afflicted out of the way.

Father and son have intercourse with the same young woman,

degrading My holy name.

They stretch out beside every altar

on garments taken in loan;

in the house of their god they drink

wine bought with fines they imposed.

Amos 2:6-8 (CEB)

Failed to see

How destructive we can be

Taking without giving back

'Til the damage can be seen

Can you see?

Can you see?

From "Price to Play" by Staind

Amos was a tree farmer and sheep herder who lived in the small town of Tekoa, a few miles south of the capital city of Judah.  He lived during the dark ages of Israelite history, when the nation had split into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah and when both kingdoms were headed down a destructive path.  Though Amos was too modest to claim the title for himself, he had been called by God to be a prophet.  He had received a series of visions from God, and he had been instructed to travel north to Israel to tell the people the things they needed to hear – things they didn't especially want to hear.¹

Amos was there to speak on behalf of God,

and God wasn't happy.

When Amos arrived in the city of Bethel, he began to speak.  First he issued oracles of judgment against six of the surrounding nations for their brutality.  Then he announced judgment against his own homeland, saying that the people of Judah had rejected the Law of God and had chosen to believe lies.²  These pronouncements of judgment were merely a prelude to the main event, a series of indictments against the Israelites themselves.  These indictments were against those who "crush the head of the poor into the dust of the earth, and push the afflicted out of the way" - the wealthy Israelites who treated the poor among them not as fellow human beings, but as the means or the obstacles to their own ends.

Amos spoke out against those who "sold the innocent for silver."  In those days, "justice" was a commodity to be bought and sold, for the rich bribed judges to rule against the innocent.  As a result, the losers in these cases were forced to either sell their property or go into slavery.

Amos spoke out against the men who sexually exploited women, be they female servants or poor women who were forced into prostitution.

Amos spoke out against those who lay down "on garments taken in loan."  Some predatory creditors would loan poor people money, taking their garments as collateral.  These were the garments that the debtors wore at night, meaning that, if they could not repay their creditors, they would go to bed cold.

Amos spoke out against those who "drink wine bought with fines they imposed."  These fines could refer to either unjust fines levied against the poor or unreasonably high interest rates for loans.³

Amos's message was not well received.⁴

Hundreds of years before Amos brought these indictments against the wealthy of Israel, their ancestors suffered as slaves in another prosperous nation, namely Egypt.  They were subjected to backbreaking labor, and their taskmasters treated them cruelly, sometimes making their work more difficult without decreasing the daily quota.  God heard their cries of despair, and "with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm," God liberated them from slavery and brought judgment against their oppressors.⁵

After leaving Egypt, the Israelites began their long journey through the desert, and, three months later, they arrived at Mt. Sinai, where God made a covenant with them.  The Israelites had been chosen by God to become "a priestly kingdom and a holy nation."⁶  Being chosen by God does not mean special treatment but rather special responsibility.  As a "priestly kingdom," it was the responsibility of the Israelites to show the world what their God is like.⁷  God gave them the Law, a series of instructions and rules that would guide them in their priestly duties,

rules that forbade people to prey on the vulnerable people in their society like widows, orphans, and immigrants,⁸

rules that forbade lenders to charge interest,⁹

rules that obligated lenders to return pawned garments before nightfall so that their debtors don't go to sleep cold,¹⁰

rules that forbade bribery, dishonesty, and partiality in court cases.¹¹

There were also rules that protected women.  Though many of these rules would be considered backward and barbaric by our standards, they were progressive for their time.¹²

Throughout the Law, God repeatedly reminded the Israelites that they were once slaves in a foreign land, that God hears the cries of the downtrodden, and that God does not excuse wrongdoing.  Basically, God said to them, "I did not deliver you from oppression just so that you could could become oppressors yourselves."  According to Rob Bell and Don Golden, the truth that "God always hears the cry of the oppressed" is "central to who God is."  God heard the cry of Abel, the victim of the first murder recorded in the Bible.  God heard the cry of the Israelites in Egypt when they suffered in slavery.  And God heard the cry of the poor in Israel who were trampled under the feet of the rich and powerful in Amos's day.¹³

Amos's warnings are as valid in our day as they were in the eighth century BC.  I am not opposed to the idea that God wants us to enjoy our lives - after all, what kind of parent wouldn't want his or her children to enjoy their lives?  God loves all of God's children, so God doesn't want any of us to enjoy our lives at anybody else's expense.  At a recent church conference, I heard our society compared to a zero-sum game, meaning that, for some to win in our society, others must lose.  It is important that we carefully examine our way of life, on guard against ways that the proverbial deck is stacked against certain people.

Hundreds of years after Amos spoke out against injustice in Israel, there was another prophetic figure who, at times, sounded a lot like the prophets of old.  John was an eccentric man who lived in the woods, wore weird clothes, and ate strange foods, yet many people looked to him for guidance.  Like Amos, he warned the people who came to see him about the judgment to come.  He reminded them that they were not off the hook simply because they were among God's chosen people.  He called them "to bear fruits worthy of repentance," in other words, to live lives that demonstrate a change of mind and heart - lives of generosity, contentment, and integrity.¹⁴

Six years ago, I worked as a software engineer for a company that manufactured video slot machines and video poker machines.  At that time, the company for which I worked did a lot of business in the state of Alabama.  Though slot machines are illegal in Alabama, bingo machines are perfectly legal.  To get around the legal prohibition against slot machines, many gaming companies, including my employer, manufactured bonanza bingo machines that were indistinguishable from slot machines.  One of my major projects involved updating such machines to ensure that they were within legal parameters.

My time in the gaming industry came to an end when my employer bought another gaming company, consolidated offices, and moved all operations out of state.  I was unwilling to relocate, so I was terminated.  Not long after I lost my job, my former employer had a string of bad luck.  First, the company faced some lawsuits involving its acquisition of the other company.  Next, my supervisor, the man who knew everything about the machinery and its programming, left the company for a position at a large corporation.  After that, the company was finally forced to remove its machines from Alabama, thereby losing one of its most lucrative markets.  I imagine there was a lot of "weeping and gnashing of teeth" within the company at that time.  Every now and then, morbid curiosity takes hold of me, and I Google the company's name to see if it has finally gone under.

My time working for the gambling industry was not a proud season in my life, and I counted my termination as an answer to prayer.  I don't think that it is always a sin to gamble, though there are always better uses for one's money.  What I find problematic is the fact that gaming companies benefit from the addiction of compulsive gamblers.  Though all of us, including gamblers, are ultimately responsible for our own choices, it is simply wrong to exploit a person's weaknesses for profit.  I would not say that my former employer's bad luck was necessarily judgment from God for preying on compulsive gamblers, but I do think it offers us an important object lesson.  To build a morally questionable business on legal loopholes is tantamount to building a house on sand.

I once heard a wise friend say that we all need something in which we can invest our lives.  This is a lesson I have taken to heart, and I have come to understand how important it is to choose carefully how we invest our lives.  I urge you, the reader, not to invest your life in iniquity.  As a Christian, I hold on to the hope that God will someday set all things to rights.  On that day, all things that exploit, oppress, and hurt people will come to an end.  All that we've invested in such things will be lost, and there will be "weeping and gnashing of teeth."  May we invest our lives in the things that last.


Notes:

1. Amos 1:1,7:14-15
2. Amos 1:2-2:5
3. The sources I consulted regarding Amos 2:6-8 are as follows:
   
   1. Rashi's commentary on Amos 2
   2. The Wesley Study Bible (NRSV).  2009, Abingdon Press.  p. 1093
   3. Eric Elnes et al.  "Prophetically Incorrect Pt. 1: Selling the Righteous."  Darkwood Brew, 05/26/2013.
4. Amos 7:10-13
5. Exodus 1-14
6. Exodus 19:1-6
7. Rob Bell and Don Golden.  Jesus Wants to Save Christians: A Manifesto for a Church in Exile.  2008, Zondervan.  pp 30-31
8. Exodus 22:21-24
9. Exodus 22:25
10. Exodus 22:26-27
11. Exodus 23:1-3,6-8
12. Rob Bell discusses this at length in chapter 6 of his book What We Talk About When We Talk About God.  2013, HarperOne.
13. Bell and Golden pp. 23,35
14. Luke 3:7-14

The icon of the prophet Amos is on display in the Kizhi Monastery in Russia.

Perspective: Say What?

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Say What?

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.  To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

1 Corinthians 12:4-7 (NRSV)

If I sing but don't have love

I waste my breath with every song

I bring an empty voice, a hollow noise

If I speak with a silver tongue

Convince a crowd but don't have love

I leave a bitter taste with every word I say

From "The Proof of Your Love" by For King & Country

It was around nine o'clock in the morning, on the day of a Jewish festival called Pentecost.  Jesus' Disciples were gathered together in their meeting place.  It was ten days after they watched with amazement as their rabbi and messiah ascended into the sky and disappeared into the clouds.  Suddenly, they heard the sound of a mighty rushing wind which blew through the whole house.  The Spirit of God then appeared as a fire, and a tongue of fire descended on each of them.  Suddenly, full of the Holy Spirit, the Disciples ran out into the streets and began speaking in languages they did not previously know.¹

The phenomenon of one's spontaneously speaking in a language that one did not previously know is sometimes called glossolalia, which literally means "speaking in tongues."²  Nowadays, speaking in tongues is commonly associated with people from Pentecostal churches.  People like myself who do not hail from Pentecostal traditions generally think the practice is rather strange.

In the early 1900s, at the beginning of the modern Pentecostal movement, people debated whether those who spoke in tongues were speaking existing human languages or rather some unknown divine language.  Most Pentecostal theologians of the time agreed that people speaking in tongues were actually speaking human languages.  Furthermore, speaking in tongues was understood to be a call to be in ministry with a specific group of people.  For example, if a person spontaneously started speaking Hindi, even though she had never studied that particular language, then it was understood that God was calling her to become a missionary in India.³

This particular understanding of speaking in tongues is consistent with the story of the arrival of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost.  Jesus had previously told the Disciples that they would soon receive power to take His message of hope throughout the world.  On the day of Pentecost, when the Spirit came to the Disciples, Jewish people from many different nations were in Jerusalem, and each heard one of the Disciples speaking his or her native language.⁴

Nowadays, many who speak in tongues do so, not to be in ministry with people who speak other languages, but rather for their own edification during times of prayer and worship.  For many, to be able to speak in tongues is proof that the Holy Spirit is indeed at work within them.  Of course, some also come to the conclusion that people who cannot speak in tongues are not true Christians as they must not have the Holy Spirit at work within them.⁵

It seems that, in the days of the early church, the Christians in the city of Corinth had some similar misconceptions about speaking in tongues.  St. Paul writes to them to remind them that there are many different kinds of spiritual gifts and that they had been given these spiritual gifts not just for their own benefit, but for the common good.  Paul goes on to write that having one type of spiritual gift does not make a person better than someone else who has a different spiritual gift, for the community of faith is like a human body.  In the same way that different limbs and organs have different purposes, individual believers have different gifts and different functions in the community.  All gifts and functions are necessary for the body to be healthy.⁶

Though all spiritual gifts are important, Paul later argues that, in a community in which everybody speaks the same language, the gift of prophecy is preferable to speaking in tongues.  Though prophecy is typically associated with predicting the future, speaking prophetically is simply telling people what God would want them to hear.  After all, if a person is to speak to a community on behalf of God, then the community needs to be able to understand what the person is saying.  In a single-language community, speaking prophetically benefits everybody, while speaking in tongues only benefits the speaker unless the speech is translated into the language of the community.⁷

According to Paul, speaking in tongues is a sign for unbelievers while speaking prophetically is a sign for believers.  I highly doubt that anyone ever fell in love with Jesus by listening to someone speaking what appears to be nonsense.  In fact, such a sight would probably scare a person off.  The right word, on the other hand, can touch the heart of any person, believer or unbeliever.⁸

A few years ago, I attended a Christmas Eve service at a Spanish-speaking church.  A married couple, both of whom were pastors, delivered the sermon together that evening.  One pastor would speak for a while in English, and then her husband would translate what she had just said into Spanish.  I don't remember much about the content of the sermon that evening, but I remember how beautiful it was to see a congregation of different languages, cultures, and ethnicities gathered together to hear a message that everybody present could understand.

So is there a lesson here for those of us who don't speak in tongues and aren't really quite sure what to think about the subject?

Perhaps a joke would be helpful.

And Jesus said to the theologians, "Who do you say that I am?"

And they replied, "You are the eschatological manifestation of the ground of our being, the actualization of the God-man relationship which is divine, intended truth about every man, the kerygma manifest in conflict at the cutting edge of the humanizing process, the paradigm of human perfection."

And Jesus said, "What?"⁹

I've listened to enough Homebrewed Christianity podcasts to know that those long words actually mean something, but, compared to St. Peter's answer to the same question - "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."¹⁰ - the theologians' answer sounds like so much incomprehensible babble.

Think about a time you listened to a sermon, a lecture, or a message that totally went over your head.  Now think about a time you listened to a message you thought the speaker must have written just for you.  I would suggest that the difference between these two experiences is the difference between listening to someone speak in tongues and listening to someone speak prophetically.  In the first case, you have no idea what the speaker is saying, but, in the second case, you understand all too well what the speaker is saying.  In the same way that hearing someone speak in tongues is unlikely to made a believer out of anyone, hearing complicated theological jargon or other forms of "Christianese" is unlikely to profoundly influence anybody.

Simply put, it is important that we communicate with people in ways they can understand.

A few years ago, the congregation of my church took a spiritual gift survey.  That day, I learned that my spiritual gift is knowledge (with teaching a close second).  I love to read the Bible and other religious books, and I love to listen to sermons and theology podcasts.  I soak up such knowledge like a sponge, and I find great joy in sharing this knowledge with other people through writing, preaching, and leading Sunday school or Bible study.  Sometimes I use big theological words, but I try to make it a point to define and unpack these terms, in the same way I explained glossolalia above.  Christian education is important to me, and I want people to know what such words mean.  The few times I attempted to deliver a children's sermon, I was extremely careful not to talk over anyone's head.

Though people typically read 1 Corinthians 13 by itself, it is worth noting that St. Paul's famous discourse on love is nestled within a discussion on spiritual gifts.  With that in mind, the opening words of this chapter take on an entirely new meaning.

If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.  And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.¹¹

Perhaps we've been gifted with the ability to speak in various languages, naturally or supernaturally, and perhaps we understand many different theological concepts.  If we don't love other people enough to try to communicate with them in ways they can understand, then we are just making noise.  Perhaps we have prophetic insights from God that the whole world needs to hear.  If we do not share these insights with others lovingly, in ways that demonstrate that we are for them and not against them, then our insights are meaningless.

Our spiritual gifts are not solely for our own benefit but for the common good.  These are gifts that have been given to us by God, but they are gifts we are meant to share with others.  It's not all about us, for we are blessed to be a blessing.  Ultimately, our spiritual gifts are provisional: they are given to us so that we can minister to the world in our own context.  Paul writes that, like many things in this world, prophecies, tongues, and knowledge will all come to an end.  Love, on the other hand, is eternal.¹²


Notes:

1. Acts 2:1-4
2. Wikipedia: Glossolalia
3. Professor Chris Green, who admits that he is a somewhat unreliable Pentecostal, explains speaking in tongues in this way on the 04/27/2015 episode of Newsworthy with Norsworthy.
4. Acts 2:5-11
5. Bo Sanders. "Speaking in Tongues Isn't What It Used to Be."  Homebrewed Christianity blog, 07/25/2013.
6. 1 Corinthians 12
7. 1 Corinthians 14:1-19
8. 1 Corinthians 14:20-25
9. Roy B. Zuck (editor).  The Speaker's Quote Book.  2009, Kregal Academic. p. 70  (Michial Farmer read this joke on a recent episode of the Christian Humanist podcast.)
10. Matthew 16:15-16 (NRSV)
11. 1 Corinthians 13:1-2 (NRSV)
12. 1 Corinthians 13:8

The photograph of the flame is public domain.

Perspective: Failure to Communicate

I share these thoughts hoping they are of help to someone else.

Comments are always welcomed.

If you find these thoughts helpful, please share.

Failure to Communicate

See, I am sending you out like sheep into the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Matthew 10:16 (NRSV)

---

Don't brush off Spirit-inspired messages, but examine everything carefully and hang on to what is good.

1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 (CEB)

Ruin my life, the plans I have made

Ruin desires for my own selfish gain

Destroy the idols that have taken Your place

Till its You alone I live for

You alone I live for

From "Ruin Me" by Jeff Johnson

One Sunday, back in December of last year, I was rather perturbed with the pastor of my church.  A day or two later, while I was at another church, I saw something I didn't particularly want to see, and I realized that not all pastors are quite as supportive of their parishioners as my pastor has been.  Though I was still frustrated with her, I remembered all the times she had supported me over the past five and a half years, and I felt the need to send her an email to clear the air and thank her.

Not unlike the email I sent to my pastor, there is, in the Bible, a letter of thanks written by an elder in the early Church to a man who supported the elder's associates, when other people in the Church hadn't been quite so supportive.

In the Gospel, we read that Jesus once sent out seventy evangelists ahead of Him to the various towns He intended to personally visit.  Jesus instructed them to proclaim that the Kingdom of God has come near and to heal the sick as a sign of the fact.  He also told them to rely on the hospitality of the people in the town.¹  Years after Jesus ascended into Heaven, in the days of the early Church, there were traveling evangelists who carried on the tradition of Jesus and the seventy He sent out ahead of Him.  They would travel from town to town, preaching the Gospel, relying on the hospitality of the Christians living in each town.²  Christians had no choice but to stick together and rely on each other's hospitality, as they were considered to be a somewhat undesirable element in the Roman Empire.³

A man named Gaius, who provided food and lodging to a number of these traveling preachers, apparently went above and beyond the call of duty.⁴  One elder in the Church is so impressed by what his friends say about Gaius that he is compelled to write him a letter of encouragement and gratitude for his support.⁵

In the same letter, the elder laments that a church leader named Diotrephes has not been quite as supportive as Gaius.  Not only does he refuse to support the elder's associates, he threatens to excommunicate anyone who might want to support them.⁶  The elder describes Diotrephes as a man "who likes to put himself first."  Basically, he is suggesting that Diotrephes has come into church leadership with his own personal agenda.  In the days of the early Church, as in our own day, there were people who used the Church and the Gospel as the means to their own ends.

Of course, it is also worth noting that the way of life of the traveling evangelists also attracted people with an agenda.  There were many fraudulent preachers who posed as servants of God all the while living off the hospitality of others.⁷  It seems that people have always known that religion is good business.  In another letter to a different recipient, the same elder writes about such false teachers, going so far as to call them "deceivers" and "antichrists."⁸  He goes on to say that people should not even invite them into their houses, since offering them food and lodging would be tantamount to supporting their evil deeds.⁹

Wait a minute!  Isn't Diotrephes doing exactly what the elder instructs people to do regarding false teachers?  Does Diotrephes have his own personal agenda?  Or is it possible that he genuinely believes that the elder and his associates are false prophets and that he wants to protect his community from their influence?  Perhaps - to borrow a phrase from a classic movie – "what we've got here is failure to communicate."  It sounds like the elder and Diotrephes need to sit down with each other and lay all their cards on the table.

So how do we tell the difference between a true servant of God and a fake?

Jesus once told His followers to "be wise as serpents and innocent as doves."  In other words, we must be mindful of the fact that there are evil, self-serving people in the world without allowing this reality to change us.  We must be familiar with their ways without adapting to them.  We must not sink to their level but instead live according to the standard Christ set for us.  We must not give into cynicism by assuming that everybody operates out of selfish motives, and we must not give into paranoia by thinking that everybody is out to get us.

Because so many of the traveling evangelists in the early church turned out to be frauds, a good portion of an early church document known as the Didache details what should be expected of a traveling evangelist and offers rules of thumb for spotting a false teacher.¹⁰  In short, early Christians were encouraged to be hospitable while using common sense.¹¹  Likewise, we should give people the benefit of the doubt until they prove themselves to be unworthy of our trust.

I think that one hallmark of a trustworthy church leader is a posture of service.  I do not know if Jesus is the person who came up with the concept of servant leadership, but He certainly exemplified it in His life and in His teachings.  He was a leader who "came not to be served but to serve."¹²  He taught His disciples that whoever wants to achieve true greatness must become a servant to all,¹³ and He demonstrated this truth by washing His disciples' feet – a task generally reserved for the lowliest of servants.¹⁴

According to John C. Maxwell, "Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flowcharts.  It is about one life influencing another."  If we find ourselves in any place of influence, then we are leaders, whether we like it or not.  True leaders lead by example and not by intimidation or coercion.  True leaders lead not for their own benefit, but for the benefit of those they lead.  Christ taught us that we are only as great as our love for others, so may we learn to put our agendas aside so that we may serve God by serving each other.  May we learn to use whatever leadership we might have, not for our own gain but for the building up of others.


Notes:

1. Luke 10:1-9
2. Tony Jones.  The Teaching of the 12.  2009, Paraclete Press.  p. 107
3. N.T. Wright.  The Early Christian Letters for Everyone.  2011, Westminster John Knox Press.  p. 184
4. Wright, p. 185
5. 3 John 1-8
6. 3 John 9-10
7. Jones, p. 108
8. 2 John 7
9. 2 John 10-11
10. To read what the Didache says regarding traveling evangelists, see chapters 11 and 12.  The full text of the Didache can be found here: http://www.paracletepress.com/didache.html.
11. Jones, p. 108
12. Matthew 20:28
13. Matthew 20:26
14. John 13:1-20

The photograph featured in this perspective is public domain.