My Daddy did not have Alzheimer's, but he did end his life with dementia.  What he did and did not remember was mystifying.  One day he asked about Silas, a great-grandchild he never saw past the age of 2, and the next he would ask me to take him to visit his mother, who died when Silas's uncle was not quite a year old and his daddy not even born.  One day he showed me all his important papers so I would know where to find them when he passed, and the next he did not know how to write a check.  Seeing this intelligent man reach the point that he did not even know how to use a toothbrush was devastating.
            But he never forgot the Lord.  With his severe heart disease, some days he could not get out of his chair.  Some days he was exhausted from just putting on a pair of socks.  My mother had to make hard decisions about what he could and could not do, where he could and could not go due to his health.  But any time he felt reasonably able and she told him it was Sunday, he would ask, "Can we go assemble with the saints today?"
            Yes, that is exactly how he said it:  "Can we go assemble with the saints?"  He was so steeped in the Word of God that he talked like the Word of God.  And he never forgot how to do that. 
            I hear a lot of people fussing about the older hymns, especially the somewhat stilted wording.  They make fun of the "King James lingo."  Do you know why those hymns are worded that way?  Because the poets who wrote them were steeped in the Word, and all they had was the King James Version in the 18th and 19th century.  Just like my Daddy, they knew their way inside out and upside down through that Bible.  They could quote more scriptures than most of us read in a whole day.  They made allusions to verses that go completely over our heads because we are so ignorant of the Word we claim to love.  "Ebenezer?!" I heard someone say with a snort one time.  "Who in the world even knows what that means?  Why do we have to sing such archaic songs?"  I would be ashamed for anyone to hear me say such a thing.
            This is not a diatribe against the newer songs.  I like some of them, but not all of them, just as I don't like all of the old ones.  It's about content.  Seems that today when someone lauds a song as one that comes straight from the Bible, most of the time it does—one verse, or even one phrase, repeated a dozen times.  Well, I think, at least it does come from the Bible, and there is a lot to be said for that, even if it can't compare with the quotes and allusions in the older hymns (like "Ebenezer").
            No, what I am saying this morning is that I need to be so steeped in the Word of God that I talk like it.  I should be able to make allusions to verses or even quote them as a normal part of my speech.  I should be able to use "the lingo," just like my Daddy did, without a second thought.  It just came out of him and it should just come that way for me, and you, as well.  Do you really love the Word of God?  Then talk like it.  You might use a newer version, but you can still sound a whole lot different than all the unbelievers out there.  In fact, that's what the Lord expects of you.
 
if any man speaketh, let him speak as the oracles of God… (1Pet 4:11).
 
Dene Ward
 

We had headed out on our trip to Apalachicola in the middle of the week, in late October.  Since Keith retired we have discovered the best times for traveling are any time but the week-end.  Less traffic, fewer tourists vying for the same sights, food, and lodging.  And our own Inn was less expensive midweek, so the gift certificate from our children went further.
            We had decided to take US 98 west along the coast.  As a born and bred Florida girl it seemed a shame that I had never in my life made that trip, winding around on two lane roads bordering the Gulf, watching the waves through and beneath the stilted beach houses, swaying sea oats, and sand dunes.  We prepared ourselves to be relaxed and patient and enjoy the brand new scenery despite miles and miles of bumper to bumper tourist traffic.
            So we headed out early, stopping in Branford, a small town on the Suwannee River with a café featuring an excellent breakfast, including the biggest, fluffiest, tastiest biscuits I had eaten in any café anywhere—the Branford Gathering, if you care to know.  We took our time there, as well, chatting up the waitress about their lunch and evening meals, asking her favorite dish and the best times to eat each of those meals—just in case.
            Then we crossed that fabled river and headed through "Old Florida," not the glitzy Florida of amusement parks, tourist traps, and high end hotels.  This was more like the Florida I grew up in, though decidedly more wooded than central Florida.  The sun flashed metronomically through pencil thin pine forests.  Logging trucks sat rumbling by the side of the road in deep muddy ruts awaiting their load of logs before pulling out on the two lane blacktop.  Pickups passed going the opposite direction, some pulling horse trailers, some boats, and others farm equipment.  Up ahead we would see a green sign telling us we were entering a town—Cabbage Grove, Scanlon, Newport--only to find a convenience store or a gas station, and little else.
            Finally we turned south toward the Gulf, wondering when the traffic would begin.  We wondered that for mile after mile, even after we gained sight of the water.  We kept trundling along at the speed limit, on cruise control, in fact, never once having to hit the brakes for another vehicle.  Somewhere around Carabelle we picked up a car or two ahead of us, but it was probably Eastpoint before we really had any traffic.  As a result we arrived about two hours earlier than we expected, and had absolutely no trouble finding our inn.  We came across the bridge at the mouth of the Apalachicola River and there it stood.
            Apalachicola is a slow, lazy, Southern town.  Diagonal street parking, a lone blinking yellow light, more pedestrians than vehicles and not that many of them.  After finding our room and unpacking, we went for a hike and quickly found the Visitors' Center.  We were the only visitors there.  And that may be the first place we came across the nickname of that area of Florida's Big Bend—the Forgotten Coast.
            You may be thinking, "Forgotten?  Who ever heard of it in the first place?"  As it turns out, Apalachicola was once a very important place.  Between 1840 and 1860 it was the third busiest cotton port on the Gulf, after New Orleans and Mobile.  By 1860 the population was nearly 2000.  And now?  The population in 2010 was still just over 2200.  The railroad no longer runs from Columbus, Georgia, with its tons of cotton, and Apalachicola is suddenly not as important as it used to be.  Shrimpers and oystermen still work the waters, supplying 90% of the oysters consumed in the state.  But without the railroad, the cotton, and the ships offshore waiting for those bales, the town, even the whole coast, never continued growing.  It has become "Forgotten."
            When something is no longer an important part of our lives, we tend to "forget" it.  Not that we really cannot remember it happening, just that we seldom think about it, and certainly never plan our lives around it.  That's what happened to God.  His people "forgot" him.
            God warned them that might happen.  And when the LORD your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the LORD, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. (Deut 6:10-12)
            And sure enough, even that warning did them no good.  But I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior. ​It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought; ​but when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me. (Hos 13:4-6)
            I wonder if we don't need the same warning.  We live in prosperous times.  Most of us are so wealthy we don't even realize it.  "Busyness" has become a status symbol in itself.  And so our extra classes die on the vine because no one attends, the older men who offer their help in study sit alone and waiting for all the ones who never show up, and our children complain because doing a Bible lesson is "boring."  A very few good women take care of every need among the saints while others have their families, or their careers, or their "me time."
            Do we realize how dangerous this is?  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge; because you have rejected knowledge, I reject you from being a priest to me. And since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. (Hos 4:6)  When God is no longer the center of our lives, when pleasing him is no longer our purpose, when knowing more and more about him and his Word so we can serve him even better is considered extraneous, when serving his people is the last thing on our lists and therefore usually undone, we are forgetting God just as those people did so long ago.
            A God whom the Old Testament describes as one whose "lovingkindness endures forever" again and again, eventually ran out of patience with a people who no longer valued him or his law.  Don't think his patience won't run out on us.
 
I will scatter you like chaff driven by the wind from the desert. ​This is your lot, the portion I have measured out to you, declares the LORD, because you have forgotten me…(Jer 13:24-25)
 
Dene Ward

Keith is the rye bread eater in this house.  His favorite loaf comes from a local bakery/deli that bakes from scratch all the bread it uses for sandwiches.  We stop there and buy what is a huge loaf of marble rye by grocery store standards, for about the same price ounce for ounce.  I have never been able to make a loaf he likes better.  The last time I tried he said he had to think real hard about it to even taste the rye flour.  "But it's good," he hastened to add, while kindly not adding "just not rye."  So I found a new recipe that even has step by step pictured instructions.  I think I will give it a go and see if this one comes closer to his favorite.
            While I was thinking about this loaf today, I realized that you can learn a lot from marble rye.  In the first place, you have four layers of alternate light and dark doughs wrapped around each other in a cinnamon roll type layering, yet each layer stays completely separate from the others.  You don't get a half and half beige mix, but a definite light-dark swirl.  Paul, when he discusses the discipline necessary in 1 Corinthians 5, says at one point, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world (1Cor 5:9-10).  Just as Jesus talks about "letting our light shine before men," Paul recognizes the need to be out in this unrighteous world.  How else can we teach?  How else can we influence people for good?  How else can we serve, if nothing else?  Yet Peter tells us that we must [have] your behavior seemly among the Gentiles; that, wherein they speak against you as evil-doers, they may by your good works, which they behold, glorify God in the day of visitation (1Pet 2:12).  We are among them, but not like them.  We, instead, show them the way, just like my dark rye dough wraps itself around my light rye dough, yet the dark does not affect the light.
            This certainly does not mean that we socialize with them for the sake of socializing only.  When Jesus "ate with sinners," he did so to teach.  Are you teaching those sinners, or simply enjoying their company because they are "more fun" to be around than your brethren?  Are they affecting you more than you are affecting them?
            And then we see the good old leaven principle.  All four layers of my dough, both dark and light, are affected by the leaven in the dough.  They all rise exactly the same way, to the same height, with the same texture.  The light does not get fluffier.  The dark does not become denser.  They become exactly the same.  Leaven can work two ways, either for the good or the bad.  Paul and Jesus both talk about leaven as sin (Luke 12:1; 1 Cor 5:6-8).  Yet Jesus also tells a parable of leaven in a loaf, a loaf representing the kingdom and its growth.  Leaven will do its thing.  It will even create itself if you leave it alone long enough.  That's where sourdough comes from.  Be sure the leaven you are using is the leaven of righteousness, you influencing your friends and neighbors for good, and even your brothers and sisters when they need it, not them influencing you for bad.
            Now back to my kneading…

A little leaven leavens the whole lump (Gal 5:9).
 
Dene Ward

Today's post is by guest writer Keith Ward.

Sometimes we focus too much on theology and theory.  Trying to understand the why’s and the methods by which God works can be illuminating. We understand that a man is saved by grace; that he is saved by faith. But some go too far in their assertions of what those mean in relation to the life a Christian must live. Their theories state that one cannot overcome sin on a regular continuing basis.  Their theories begin to usurp the place of plain statements of scripture and often excuse a careless attitude toward God’s demand for holy living. And, make no mistake, it is a demand.
 
Not to dismiss the passages on grace and faith from which the theology proceeds, let us consider some of the “on the other hand” applications made by the same writers inspired by the same Holy Spirit.
 
Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us CLEANSE OURSELVES FROM ALL DEFILEMENT of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.  (2 Cor 7:1)
 
Sort of absolute, “all.”  Perfecting is not "one and done," but is ongoing as is the cleansing—get clean and stay clean.
 
For the grace of God hath appeared, bringing salvation to all men, instructing us, to the intent that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world (Titus 2: 11-12)
 
Grace instructs all to live righteously, godly. Not much wiggle-room for the "We all sin every day" statement we hear so often.
 
Holding faith and a good conscience; which some having thrust from them made shipwreck concerning the faith  (1Tim 1:19)
 
So, one could go a whole day, or longer with a good conscience! In fact, the grace of God can be so powerful in one’s life that he has to “thrust” a good conscience away, shove it aside in order to fall.
 
For this is the will of God, [even] your sanctification, that ye ABSTAIN from fornication (1Thess 4:3) ABSTAIN from every form of evil.  (1Thess 5:22)
 
We understand this means to abstain from evil in every shape it comes in. Again, the Holy Spirit is absolute, but we make excuses, "That is just the way I am," "I am doing the best I can and that is all God requires."
 
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry  (Col 3:5)
 
Kill it. Don’t just reduce it. Kill it. Don’t be satisfied with being better than last week or last year, KILL IT! (Repeat all the excuses above for your comfort in your status quo).
 
Envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these, I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things WILL NOT INHERIT the kingdom of God  (Gal 5:21)
 
Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?  (Rom 6:16)
 
LET NOT SIN THEREFORE REIGN IN YOUR MORTAL BODY, that ye should obey the lusts thereof:  neither present your members unto sin [as] instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive from the dead, and your members [as] instruments of righteousness unto God.  For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under law, but under grace  (Rom 6: 12-14)
 
Grace is the power to choose whom you serve. To sin is to serve sin and to prove oneself not under grace. Sin is the choice to obey oneself instead of living in Grace.
 
But I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected  (1Cor 9:27)
 
If Paul had to work at it this hard, we know that it is not easy. To buffet is to beat like a boxer. No nonsense about that approach. And not much room for "back row Christians."
 
With all the theorizing about grace and faith, that one cannot achieve sinlessness, even for a short time, we discourage others from doing what the Scriptures clearly command. Perhaps we could even say, grace has become a cloak to cover impenitence.
 
To repent means to STOP what one repents of. That is clearly the import of these passages and dozens of others.
 
The sermons I have heard that use these verses usually go on to say that we all know we cannot really do this! Really?! Are they not saying to just keep sinning and praying for forgiveness that grace may abound (Rom 6:1)?
 
If God said it, he gives us the power to do it. Doing it is a daily effort. These verses were written to people who had been Christians for some time. Therefore, Grace does not magically make us okay despite the sin, or cause God to ignore the sin on the basis of Christ. God expects us to overcome our sin.
 
Yes, I struggle; more, perhaps on that later. Overcoming is no easy task and getting old is not a solution or else 75 is still too young. The solution is to effectively use the grace of God to renew our minds and transform ourselves.
 
Since therefore Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has CEASED FROM SIN, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions but for the will of God. For the time that is past suffices for doing what the Gentiles want to do, living in sensuality, passions, drunkenness, orgies, drinking parties, and lawless idolatry. With respect to this they are surprised when you do not join them in the same flood of debauchery, and they malign you  (1Pet 4:1-4).
 
Keith Ward
 
 

During my childhood when we lived near the Gulf Coast about forty miles south of Tampa, we often went to Anna Maria Island to swim.  The beach there was the usual white sand, blue-green water beach, but unusual in that it was nearly empty of tourists.  Every hundred feet or so, low concrete walls divided the beach into sections, with huge rocks piled around them from the edge of low tide to the edge of high tide.  It was like having our own private beach.  A few other local families came as well, but if at all possible, we left one "beach" between us—it was an unspoken rule.  After a day of swimming, floating, playing tag with the waves, and building sand castles, Daddy pulled the grill and the charcoal out of the trunk of the car, and we ate hamburgers as the big orange sun set into the Gulf.
            The sea always seemed alive to me as a child.  For one thing it breathed, or it sounded like it in the night as wave after wave crashed onshore.  If you stood in the shallows where the waves came up to your ankles, as it receded again, you could feel the sand under you shifting, the water pulling it out from beneath your toes, the balls of your feet, even your heels, like a critter trying to escape.  And then there was the sand.  When I got home I could never figure out how it got in all those places, despite tight elastic. 
            There was yet another thing I could never figure out as a child, not being too adept at physics and water mechanics, and that was how you could do absolutely nothing to propel yourself in the ocean water and still wind up far away from where you started.
            I do not recall ever having to worry about jellyfish, red tide, or sharks.  So my favorite thing to do was grab an air mattress and lie on it, well past the breakers, floating up and down, up and down on the swells, nearly falling asleep in the heat and gentle rocking.  But after one particularly scary moment, I learned not to lie there too long without checking my bearings.  My mother's beach towel had been right there, straight in front of my floating hammock, and now, suddenly, it was way back there, a good fifty feet up the beach.  The surf was smooth, the winds calm, and I had not used my arms and legs to push myself in any direction at all, yet there I was, far, far away from my safety zone.  It usually took a good amount of effort to get back where I started.
            And of course that leads us to the usual old warning about drifting.  Drifting happens when you don't realize it.  When your life is in an upheaval, when you undergo trials and temptations, usually you will be on the lookout.  But when things seem calm and routine, your spirituality can get away from you before you realize it.  A good warning still, but one that may have grown too banal and underwhelming.
            So, I wondered, trying to make this warning mean something again, why do we drift?  And that's when I found this:  Therefore I will scatter them like drifting straw to the desert wind. (Jer 13:24)  With just a little research I found out that was referring to the chaff the grain thresher is trying to rid himself of when he tosses the grain up into the breeze.  Really?  Yes; we drift like chaff on the breeze when we become useless to God.
            So then I looked at that Jeremiah passage again.  He may have been talking to Judah, the people of the southern kingdom who had finally become wicked enough for God to destroy, but can I become just as useless?  With some trepidation, I checked the context.
            They had become haughty (v15ff).  They were great, not because God had blessed them, but because of their own hard work, they were sure.  Or else it was because of these exciting new gods they worshipped instead. 
           They had not taken responsibility for the ones God placed in their care (v 20).  Their wealth was not something to share with the needy, but something to wallow in, fulfilling their own desires with no thought for anyone else.  They would even hurt the helpless in order to increase that wealth.
          They no longer recognized their own failings (v 22).  God's prophets were run off, imprisoned and killed for daring to tell them the truth.
           They had become accustomed to evil (v 23).  Used to it.  Inured to the filth all around them.  In another place Jeremiah says they had forgotten how to blush.
           They had removed God from their lives (v 25). 
           Sexual sin ran rampant among them (v 27). 
         If you cannot see our culture in this description, you are in danger of drifting too, because the first symptom may be to no longer recognize the difference between good and evil.  And when we become complacent, satisfied in our own spirituality regardless of the fact that we no longer cringe at foul language, blush at filthy jokes, nor live completely different lives from our neighbors, we might as well join them. 
        But, we are similarly in danger when we think that because we don't behave like them then God owes us for our faithfulness and holy living.   We are lying on exactly the same raft, drifting away from the shore, or, in the metaphor of Jeremiah, just as useless to God as the chaff drifting away in the wind.
            Drifting—maybe it's more dangerous than we ever thought before.
 
The wicked are not so, But they are like chaff which the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the wicked will perish. (Ps 1:4-6)
 
Dene Ward

I recently ran a reminiscence of being so different in high school that a teacher gave me a special poster to celebrate it.  Somehow my parents taught me to be different and not care that I was different.  One reader made the comment on this blog's Facebook page, "We cannot teach our children to be different if we don't learn the lesson first," and now that I think of it, that may have been the key for me.  My parents thought nothing of being different.  If you were a disciple of Christ, that's how you lived.  And so I fell into it quite naturally.  Unfortunately many of my brethren must not have been taught that.
            The recent political campaigns have nearly made me ill.  Seeing Christians spew out unverified rumors, innuendoes, sarcasm, threats, blatant disrespect, and just plain nastiness, all in the name of standing for the truth, appalled me.  I wondered what our first century brethren might have thought about the whole thing.
              Did you know that first century Christians in a world even meaner than ours (though by less and less everyday), often gave themselves away because they did exactly what no one expected them to do?   They were kind to those they disagreed with, including idolaters.  They assisted and served those in need, even those who would later turn them in for being Christians—an illegal activity.  Scorn, ridicule and disdain were not a part of their vocabulary or lifestyle.  They were different because they followed a Savior who was different, one who "when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not, but committed himself to him who judges righteously," 1 Pet 2:23.  THAT is what it means to be different.
            If you have been struggling to conform yourself to that image, maybe it's time for a little more effort.  You may have finally learned to speak kindly, even to the unkind and unfair among us, when it is face to face.  But how are you doing when it is not a "person" but a car you are railing at?  How do you do when it's a faceless voice on the phone?  How does your pen react when some impersonal corporation has treated you unfairly?  How does your keyboard click when you are posting a diatribe against whatever political side you deem evil at the moment?  In all those cases, someone—an actual person--is noticing how you behave, even when you think your identity is hidden.  Think about it for a minute—Facebook posts your name and picture at the top of every one of those angry posts.
            We recently did some painting in the house.  I went to the paint department of the local home improvement store, picked out a color card and handed it to the man to mix my paint.  When the paint went up on the wall, I was sure it was darker than the card I had chosen.  But when I laid that card up against the wall, it completely disappeared—it was exactly the same color.  It blended right in.  Sometimes we are nothing more than a color card at the paint store.
            I am supposed to be different from the average Joe, even the relatively good citizen out there.  I am supposed to act (not react) as a follower of my Lord.  I am supposed to be willing to suffer wrong or even loss to show that difference. 
          If being a Christian does become illegal someday in this country, I should be giving myself away by my kind words, by my willingness to yield rather than argue, and by my acts of compassion even to those who do not deserve it. I am not supposed to be blending in with all the other pagans, disappearing like a color card from the paint store into a wall of humanity who are a perfect match.
 
Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul. Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day of visitation. (1Pet 2:11-12)
 
Dene Ward

I always had themed recitals for my students, including skits and ensemble numbers.  I seldom had to hear parents complaining about boring recitals. 
One year we had one called "Mystery!"  All of the songs and piano pieces had titles like "Spooky Footsteps," "Descent into the Crypt," "Through the Night Mist," and "Dixieland Detectives."  All the students came dressed as a famous detective from TV or fiction.  We had Sherlock Holmes, Dr Kay Scarpetta, Magnum PI, Columbo, and Miss Scarlet from the Clue game, among many others.
            Nathan was home from college that week and he and I worked up a special duet.  First, I put him in his college chorus tuxedo and introduced him as the detective whose theme he and I would be performing—Peter Gunn.  If you don't know the name, Peter Gunn was the first detective created for television rather than being adapted from some other media.  The show starred Craig Stevens and Lola Albright, who played his girlfriend Edie Hart.  It debuted on September 22, 1958 and ran for three seasons.  Even if you have never seen the show (I never saw one until I was grown and saw it on the oldies channel), I bet you have heard the music.  Talk about modern and catchy—this one has it all.  Blue notes, syncopation, quarter note triplets against a steady eighth note beat.  You can't help but move something when you hear it—a toe, a knee, a shoulder or two.  It won an Emmy and two Grammys for Henry Mancini and was performed and recorded by many others.  Nathan and I have played it in a couple of places since then, and it is always an audience pleaser.
            Audience pleasers.  That's a good phrase when you are talking about a concert performance.  That's what a concert is for—pleasing the audience.  That is NOT what worship is about.  Worship is about pleasing God.  I happened to think about that when a song leader I know, a trained musician, by the way, who does an outstanding job of leading, told me that he was criticized for leading "boring songs."
            First of all, who exactly is being bored?  If it's the audience, then maybe they should remember what they are doing—worshipping God not pleasing themselves.  That ought to take care of the "boring" problem right there.
            Second, why is it "boring?"  If it's because they don't have enough Bible knowledge to recognize Biblical references, nor enough depth to their thinking to understand the allusions and feel the goosebumps at some of the most beautiful poetry ever written, then they should be ashamed of themselves.  The Bible may be easy to understand, but it is not a comic book.  Nor is it a See-Jane-Run first grade primer.  The older I get, the more I love the songs that speak the Word of God in lyrics that truly make me think and keep me thinking long after the last chord has rung in the rafters. 
            Neither the song leader, the prayer leader, nor the preacher should have to try so hard to keep our attention if our worship is sincere.  If the only things that keep me interested in either the singing or the sermons and classes is laughter-inducing stories, toe-tapping rhythm, and shoulder-lifting blue notes, I may as well roll in a piano and have Nathan come with me and play a rousing rendition of "Peter Gunn."  I promise you'll like it and won't be bored.  Whether or not you get anything spiritual from it, whether or not you hear any teaching and admonishing, whether or not God is pleased, is another matter altogether.
 
But solid food is for the mature, for those who have their powers of discernment trained by constant practice to distinguish good from evil.  (Heb 5:14).
 
Dene Ward

I imagine you have heard it being said yourself for the past two or three decades.  We are "dumbing down" America.  Because our education system has left the classical learning methods and begun to "teach to the test," because it is interested in having everyone pass, even if it leaves some 32,000,000 American adults still unable to read* (roughly 10%), many of them college graduates, we are no longer the leading country in public education.  In fact, we are way down the list.
            The term "dumbing down" is the deliberate oversimplification of intellectual content for some agenda or other.  It happens in many ways.
            "The term 'dumbing down' was a secret code used by film writers in the 1930s to revise scripts to appeal to viewers of lower intelligence…today's Americans are in serious intellectual trouble…in danger of losing all cultural and political capital because of illogical rationalism, diminished civic education, false idealism, and lowered expectations…Cogent knowledge is replaced with rumor, gossip, half-truths and non-truths."**
            This is not a political page and I do not ever intend it to become one, but this springboard will help us in a spiritual area as well.  In several ways, we have started "dumbing down" God's people. 
            Recently, I posted a quote which suggested that the Scriptures should make us uncomfortable, undermine our complacency, and upend our usual pattern of behavior.  It was meant to be a wakeup call, something we need in an era where no one wants to upset anyone, and certainly not warn them about God's righteous indignation.  And, as I should have expected, someone came in to remind us that God is a loving God and his Word will encourage and comfort us, too.  Of course it will, but that comment completely undermined the effects of a needed message.  A young man once told me that he listened to sermons his entire life that never made him straighten up despite the fact that they were entirely scriptural.  What finally changed him was sermon after sermon by a man who was not afraid to say, "Repent or perish," just like Jesus did.
            This has been a problem with God's people for centuries.  Look at these passages below, all of them spoken to the people of God by the inspired prophet Jeremiah.
            They have contradicted the LORD and insisted, “It won’t happen. Harm won’t come to us; we won’t see sword or famine.” The prophets become only wind, for the LORD’s word is not in them. This will in fact happen to them (Jer 5:12-13).  No matter what Jeremiah told them, they would not listen.  "God won't do that to us."
            Stand in the gate of the house of the LORD and there call out this word: Hear the word of the LORD, all you people of Judah who enter through these gates to worship the LORD. “This is what the LORD of Hosts, the God of Israel, says: Correct your ways and your deeds, and I will allow you to live in this place. Do not trust deceitful words, chanting: This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD (Jer 7:2-4).  They still had the Temple.  How could God ever destroy it and them, his chosen people, they asked in wide-eyed wonder?
            For from the least to the greatest of them, everyone is making profit dishonestly. From prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely. They have treated My people’s brokenness superficially, claiming, “Peace, peace,” when there is no peace (Jer 6:13-14). And I replied, “Oh no, Lord GOD! The prophets are telling them, ‘You won’t see sword or suffer famine. I will certainly give you true peace in this place.’ ” (Jer 14:13).  This is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you. They are making you worthless. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the LORD’s mouth. They keep on saying to those who despise Me, ‘The LORD has said: You will have peace.’ They have said to everyone who follows the stubbornness of his heart, ‘No harm will come to you.’ ”  (Jer 23:16-17).  Just like today, they had people who wanted to focus only on the goodness and mercy of God.  "God is a loving God.  He would not want us to be unhappy."
            What did Jeremiah say about all of that?  Your prophets saw visions for you that were empty and deceptive; they did not reveal your guilt and so restore your fortunes. They saw oracles for you that were empty and misleading (Lam 2:14).  When we focus only on the kindness and mercy of God and forget his promise of punishment to the disobedient, when we do our best to take away the sting of some difficult passages because we "don't like them," or when we undo the warnings of the men of God who preach them, we are no better than the false prophets of old.  We have successfully "dumbed down the church" with a diet of pablum instead of the meat they need to chew, and chew hard on.
            The next time you see or hear a tough message, thank God that someone still has the chutzpah to preach it, and then make yourself a little uncomfortable by heeding it.
 
Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness. Otherwise you too will be cut off. (Rom 11:22).

*Statistics from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
**William Haupt III, "The Dumbing Down of America" in The Center Square.
 
Dene Ward

Read these lyrics and tell me what this hymn is about:

I’m pressing on the upward way,
New heights I’m gaining every day;
Still praying as I’m upward bound,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”
Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s table land,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

My heart has no desire to stay
Where doubts arise and fears dismay;
Though some may dwell where those abound,
My prayer, my aim, is higher ground.
Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s table land,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

I want to live above the world,
Though Satan's darts at me are hurled;
For faith has caught the joyful sound,
The song of saints on higher ground.
Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s table land,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

I want to scale the utmost height
And catch a gleam of glory bright;
But still I’ll pray till Heav’n I’ve found,
“Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”
Lord, lift me up and let me stand,
By faith, on Heaven’s table land,
A higher plane than I have found;
Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

            I bet nearly every one of my readers said, "It's about Heaven."  That's what I thought, for years.  But check out the line in the second verse that says, "Though some may dwell where these abound, my prayer, my aim is higher ground."  Then look at the third verse, "I want to live above the world."  This song is NOT about going to Heaven.   It's about living in this world but with a spiritual mindset on a spiritual plane.  This song is about those somewhat mysterious things Paul calls in Ephesians "the heavenlies" (1:3; 1:20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12).  Some of you may see "heavenly places."  The word "places" is supposed to be understood, but few of us have any idea what this is at all.
            Whatever "the heavenlies" are, or wherever they are, that is where our spiritual blessings originate (1:3).  It is where Christ sits (1:20).  Right there you are saying, "See?  It has to be Heaven."  But keep going.  It is also where we now sit with Christ after having been raised up, not from physical death, but from the death of sin (2:1, cf Rom 6:3,4).  It is also the place from which the spiritual beings look down on us now in the church (3:10) to see the wisdom of God, and it is the place where we daily fight our battles against Satan and his demons (6:12).  It is a place that only the spiritually mature are aware of, and it is the place we long to live ("above the world") so we can keep our minds on God and Christ and the mission we have as their servants, and with their help, win those battles!
            Romans 8 says it like this:  For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the spirit set their minds on the things of the spirit. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the spirit is life and peace (Rom 8:5-6).
            Philippians says it like this:  Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus (Phil 2:5), and …whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honorable, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things (Phil 4:8).
            If you look hard enough, you can find the idea all over the New Testament.  Now go back and read those lyrics again.  We must be spiritual enough not to let this world distract us—trials, sorrows, persecutions, politics, economics, nor any other purely material and temporary thing.  Then we can truly see what this life should be all about.
 
So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God (Col 3:1-3).
 
Dene Ward
 

Today's post is by guest writer Lucas Ward.

The title is the theme of the book of Leviticus. "And the LORD spoke to Aaron, saying . . . You are to distinguish between the holy and the common, and between the unclean and the clean, and you are to teach the people of Israel all the statutes that the LORD has spoken to them by Moses.” (Lev. 10:8, 10-11)  The most basic job of the priests was to learn the difference between the clean and unclean and the holy and common and teach that to the people of Israel. 
            Everything in Leviticus relates in one way or another to this central premise.  The first seven chapters detail the different types of sacrifices: how each is to be performed, which animals may be used, how they are presented to the Lord and exactly where they are to be slaughtered (some animals were presented/killed at the door of the tabernacle, others on the North side of the altar), which parts are to be burnt on the altar and which are to be eaten by the priests and/or the offeror.  The same animal might be offered in different ways depending on the type of sacrifice being made.  Every word of instruction for the sacrifices is about cleanliness and holiness.  Sacrifices to the Lord were not to be treated casually as if all that mattered was the heart of the worshipper. They were not common, but holy. the animals used must be clean animals, but also holy: not spotted or blemished, not halt or lame, not sick.   
            Chapters eight through ten instruct how to consecrate the priests.  The overriding emphasis here is on the holiness of their office and the absolute need to maintain their ceremonial cleanliness.  So holy was the High Priest that he was not allowed to even participate in the funeral of his own father because to handle a dead body would make him unclean. 
            Chapters eleven through 15 enumerate the laws of cleanliness (far more involved than just which animals belonged in which category) and chapters 18-27 contain the laws of holiness.  The holiness laws were different from the regular civil laws contained within the Law of Moses because the explanation of these laws was simply "I Am YHWH!"  Many don't even have punishments for breaking the law just the statement that the law is basic to the character of God.  Chapter eleven contains the famous command "For I am Jehovah your God: sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves" (vs 44) while in chapter 20 God says, "Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy; for I am Jehovah your God." (vs 7) 
           Finally, chapters sixteen and seventeen describe the Day of Atonement.  This day was dedicated to the re-sanctification of Israel each year.  Atonement was made for the nation's sins.  The tabernacle was sanctified again.  This day and its events were emblematic of the effort to remain clean and holy before the Lord.  In like manner, the entire book of Leviticus teaches the people how to remain clean and holy and shows just what an effort that will take. 
            So why did I just waste your time going through all of that?  The priests were to learn all these arcane rules and teach them to the people, so what?  1 Peter 2:9  "But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light".  Just as the priests were to learn to distinguish between the clean and unclean, the holy and common and teach the people, so we, as part of Christ's new kingdom of priests, are to maintain our own holiness and proper standing before the Lord and teach the world about the expectations of God.  When people ask if it really matters to act only in the manner authorized in the New Testament we can say, "Yes!" because the authorized manner is the teaching of the Lord.  Just as in Leviticus, what the Lord teaches is the holy way He wants things to be done and any other way would be unholy, common.  Is maintaining my sexual purity really that important?  Yes, because we are to be holy, not commonly had by all in the world.  Our speech is to be clean, not vulgar, because we are the priests of God and the first responsibility of priests, even before teaching the people, was to maintain their own holiness.  Then, while maintaining our cleanliness before the Lord, we spread across the world His word, showing forth His excellencies. 
 
Psalms 24:3-5  "Who shall ascend into the hill of Jehovah? And who shall stand in his holy place?  He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; Who hath not lifted up his soul unto falsehood, And hath not sworn deceitfully.  He shall receive a blessing from Jehovah, And righteousness from the God of his salvation."
 
Lucas Ward