Why I Like Yahweh


Seems like an odd premise for someone who grew up in the Church from the time he was but a zygote attached to a uterine wall, doesn’t it? I’ve never not been a “Christian,” so it seems a given that I would bear some consistent affection for my Lord. More and more, though, I realize why I hang on to this God of mine: because He is present and involved. Sure other gods throughout antiquity were involved but only as it suited them. Greek gods and goddesses were involved and present as it suited their needs and desires, acting as chess master over a board of helpless pawns. The ancient gods of earth, sky and sea were moody, aloof and unpredictable. Most civilizations had their versions of these gods, but they were essentially all the same.

Not Yahweh. His involvement has always been for the good of us, not himself. From before the Creation His bent was towards that which he would create. The act of creating itself is proof of this inclination. God did not in a sense need to create; he chose to create. He knew that love only reaches its fullest measure when it is given and returned. So God created in love a world that could love him back. The book of Revelation contains an astounding passage that seems to point to this pre-creation love and involvement. The passage describes Jesus as “the Lamb who was killed before the world was made” (13:8). From the beginning God’s plan for us were in place, and, in a supernatural way, already accomplished.

The opening phrases of the Genesis poem describe the Spirit hovering over the primeval waters (1:2). Here in the chaos is God present to an infantile world, not simply present, but actively involved from the opening word. In Genesis 3 we find God “was walking in the garden in the cool of the day” (3:8), present in his world, and, seemingly, enjoying that which he created. From the text you are drawn to surmise that this was not God’s first saunter through his garden.

Fast-forward a long time from Genesis to 400 years of forced Israelite labor by the Egyptians. God, at least from an enslaved Israelite perspective, has been noticeably absent and uninvolved (wouldn’t you feel that way if you knew nothing but slavery from birth to death over the course of 15 or so generations?). But he wasn’t (and He isn’t…How’s that for spoon-feeding you?). Thus spaketh the Lord: “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering” (Exodus 3:7). Seeing. Hearing. Concerned. This is not a God who is absent and ambivalent; this is a God who is close enough to see, hear, and act on behalf of the misery of his children. Following the exodus from slavery, after laying a celestial smack-down on Pharaoh and Egypt via the Plagues, God himself guides the people of Israel through the wilderness in a pillar of fire by night and a pillar of cloud by day.

“By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night. Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people” (Exodus 13:21-22). “Neither…left its place in front of the people”—God remains ever-present, active and involved with the people of Israel as a guide and protector.

(Skip ahead a whole bunch, but understand that God is doing His ever-present, active and involved routine throughout the history of Israel. I just don’t have the energy to record a whole bunch of examples.)

Enter Jesus, stage right. He comes as the embodiment of the Creator-God of Genesis, the God of the Exodus, the Pillar of Cloud and Fire. It was not enough for God to in cloud and fire, or a disembodied voice on Sinai; it was not enough for Him to come in visions to the Patriarchs; it was not enough for Him to come disguised as “an angel of the Lord” and wrestle with Jacob. God took on flesh. There is no greater involvement in the history of creation than this: God walks among us (John 1:14). Isn’t this the majesty and mystery of the life of Christ? In this one man is the fullness of the Divine (Colossians 1:19)? After his death and resurrection he sends His Spirit as His continued presence in the world. But this Spirit is not just present to us. He is present in us. God is actively at work inside of us, transforming and resurrecting us from the old life of sin and death, bringing us into new life.

Ever-presence. That is why I like Yahweh.

shalom, matt

This Week's Sign of the Apocalypse...

The Arizona Cardinals are in the Super Bowl. What? Really? Not the Giants? Not...anyone else? Christ's return is imminent. Has to be. 


shalom, matt

Pearls and Pigs, part 2

Dear Body of Christ: Shut up! Love, Matt

Seriously. The Church needs to learn to shut up and listen. It needs to stop speaking pedestrian banalities that have nothing to say about real problems that people face. It needs to stop putting up crappy platitudes on their church signs that only serve to alienate and offend. “Jesus is the answer” may contain a nugget of truth, but if we don’t listen to the “question” then the answer will always be the wrong one. Jesus can only be a solution when we know the problem. And, as I said in part one, we often don’t know the real problem in a person’s life. 

Sure this passage can be used in a number of ways, most of them probably valid. Remember this though: context matters, helping to determine what Jesus’ original meaning might have been. Asking, seeking and knocking falls immediately after Jesus’ discussion of planks, pigs and pearls. With the context in mind it isn’t too far of a stretch to tie this passage in with our discussion of throwing holy things before people who aren’t able to receive them and find nourishment from them. In order to be a healing salve we have to stop pushing our holy agenda onto people unable to receive it. Instead we need to ask them what we can do to help. We listen closely to their needs they share and then help appropriately, not half-hazard with our own agenda in mind. Three of the most beautiful words that we can utter for someone else are “I am here.” To be present to the hurts and needs of another human being brings us closer to living fully the life of Christ. The asking, seeking, and knocking primarily is about our relationship to other people, as opposed to our praying to God (the traditional use of that passage). Remember context. Asking, seeking and knocking is first about our relationship to others, not prayer to God. We gently ask to help and then help them in the way that they ask, not in the way that we want them to. In doing this we put the control back into the hands of God where it belongs. I quote again from The Divine Conspiracy:

We can gently but persistently keep our hopeful expectation before them and at the same time before God. Asking is indeed the great law of the spiritual world through which things are accomplished in cooperation with God and yet in harmony with the freedom and worth of every individual.

The church needs to learn to listen, to speak less and hear more. The writer of Ecclesiastes tells us “The more words the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?” (6:11). Lose the flippant clichés and come alongside those who mourn and hurt and mourn and hurt with them. In this way we become Christ in the flesh for humanity and then the pearls become real treasure to them.

shalom, matt 

Time Waster

For all of you who have ever nuked a Peep in the microwave...


Quality entertainment. The marshmallows, christmas lights and eggs are the best. 

I'll post something of substance in the next couple days.

shalom, matt

New Year's Resolutions, or How I Intend to Keep a Few of These

1. Work on my beastliness by working on my upper body strength using my Iron Gym that I paid too much for and could've got a lot cheaper at WalMart.


2. Work on lowering my cholesterol by riding the stationary bike quietly festooning the back wall of my garage at the moment. 

3. Work on my guitar chops at least once a week. Not asking to be Eddie Van Halen or Stevie Ray Vaughan, but would like to be better than C.C. Deville. I downloaded a video podcast of guitar lessons which should come in handy. 

4. Be a slightly more attentive father, which I'm obviously not doing right now since I'm typing this. 

5. Attempt to have some sort of relationship with the Almighty, including, but not limited to, opening my Bible on occasion, praying for a reason other than desperation and guilt, and attempting to live like a Christian as opposed to a heathen who goes to church.

I'm only making five, because we all know that I can't multi-task very well.

shalom, matt

On Scripture (from Reallivepreacher.com)

I haven't read Gordon Atkinson's blog for awhile, so I took a peek at it this morning and his post on the Bible blew my mind. I love his writing and his view of God, etc. 


shalom, matt

Pearls and Pigs

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in someone else’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from the other person’s eye. Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.

Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ­­__Matthew 7:3-7__

You don’t generally find a lot of people throwing fine jewelry into hog troughs, nor allowing Fido the opportunity to gnaw on your Bible. So that makes these very strange words of Jesus somewhat difficult to wrap our minds around. This passage falls near the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ vision for a world where the Kingdom of god is preeminent in the lives of individual followers. In a word, this is how we live the Kingdom in the everyday. If that is the case indeed then this whole pearls-and-hogs passage has to fit within that framework. The question to ask then is: what is this trying to tell me about the Kingdom life?

I’m a big believer in letting the context and/or placement of a passage help with the interpretation of said passage. The gospel writers were exceedingly strategic and intentional with the arrangement of Jesus’ life and teachings. Writing to specific audiences in antiquity they arranged, summarized, emphasized and edited various details for their specific audiences. For example, Matthew’s use of the phrase “kingdom of heaven” versus “kingdom of God” found in Mark. Mark and John give no mention to the birth of Jesus, while Matthew and Luke give several opening chapters over to the subject. The Sermon on the Mount appears in Matthew alone, with an abbreviated version in Luke, known as the Sermon on the Plain. And on and on the examples go. Here our passage finds itself wedged between Jesus’ admonition to not judge other’s problems before we deal with our own (plank in the eye/speck in the eye) and his appeal for us to “ask, seek and knock.”

We are hopefully all aware that a kingdom life is one that is free from passing unfair, unfounded judgment upon the supposed enormity of someone else’s problems. We know this but don’t practice it as often as Christ would intend. It’s much easier to focus on the “massiveness” of “their” problem (which is probably a “speck”) then on the “minor issue” that we have (which is probably a “plank”). The trouble isn’t just that we are passing judgment on another’s problems without seeing our own. What’s worse is in our arrogance we throw the solution at them when they simply aren’t in a place to hear it. We pass on our judgment of their condition and quickly follow up with the antidote to that condition.

Dallas Willard’s exceptional book The Divine Conspiracy is especially insightful on this subject. I’ll quote liberally from it because he says it better than I can.

The problem with pearls for pigs is not that the pigs are not worthy. It is not worthiness that is in question here at all, but helpfulness. Pigs cannot digest pearls, cannot nourish themselves upon them. Likewise for a dog with a Bible or a crucifix. The dog cannot eat it. The reason these animals will finally “turn and rend you,” when you one day step up to them with another load of Bibles or pearls, is that you at least are edible…. And what a picture this is of our efforts to correct and control others by pouring our good things, often truly precious things, upon them—things that they nevertheless simply cannot ingest and use to nourish themselves. Often we do not even listen to them. We ‘know’ without listening…. The point is not the waste of the ‘pearl’ but that the person given the pearl is not helped (pgs. 228-229).

Remember: we are asking what this has to do with being a follower of Jesus’ way of living. This passage isn’t about them—the swine or the dogs—but about those of us throwing our pearls and holy things to unwilling recipients. We simply aren’t being helpful when we offer these precious things and they aren’t in a position to receive nourishment from them.

Singer/songwriter Don Chaffer penned a song called Long on Diagnosis, Short of Cure. Besides being a ridiculously magnificent song it strikes at the heart of what we do so often: diagnose the problem and offer the wrong cure. We treat them for a head cold while they bleed to death from internal injuries. We half-listen to the problems of others, ready to fire away with our trite, hackneyed clichés: “just trust God to provide”; “just have faith”; “Jesus is the answer”; “let go and let God.” We don’t hear the hurt, the desperation, the angst, anger and bitterness that lay deep behind the words, and, in our ignorance, we offer them the wrong medicine. Do this enough and eventually you will become the target, they will, as Jesus says, “turn and tear you to pieces.”

Part 2 coming soon...

shalom, matt