Say what?!

Have you ever read one of those passages in the Gospels where Jesus is explaining something or interacting with someone and he makes some statement that seems to be completely out of no where, or completely unrelated to the topic at hand? Well I had a question posed to me at work this week and the passage in question had one of those lil statements, and after i worked through it and finally understood it; i came to the conclusion that in those situations it is that enigmatic statement that is probably the key to understanding, interpreting, and applying the passage.
So wanna know what i figured out? (don't hold your breath Jim, you already have this one sorted out) The passage in question can be found in Matt 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-22; or Luke 18:18-30. There is one phrase in these passages that seems completely out of place, or at least at the hight of randomness, and it comes right at the beginning of the conversation between Jesus and this really rich, important dude.
"Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone" (Luke 18:19). Well lets see Jesus... umm you are God, and at the very least you seem to be doing some really good things like heal people and take care of people. So yeah, I would probably call you good too. What does that have to do with this whole conversation about entering the kingdom of God?
Come to find out; EVERYTHING! What is the purpose of this story? What is Jesus trying to teach and reveal to us in this interaction? Well how does it end? It ends with the important, wealthy guy walking away upset, Christ saddened, and everyone else confused. But why did the important dude leave upset? Well because he was apparently stinking rich and liked being that way.
Jesus tells our friend, that in order to inherent the kingdom, you need to keep the law. Our friend positively replys he has done this. We all smile sarcastically at the naeivity of our friend... DUDE! no one can pull that off... but Jesus doesn't argue this point with the fella like we all want too. He lets him have that point, and makes one more stipulation. Take everything you have, sell it off, give it all to other people in need, and the come follow me. Ahh yes, the deal breaker...
But why didn't Jesus argue the whole keeping the law point?
Well He was/is God, so he had a perfect understanding of the situation and our boy's heart. He knew just as well as we did that this really important dude didn't keep the law like he said, but what else he knew was that the issue with this guy wasn't keeping the law as much as it was a divided heart.
This guy was trying to do it on his own. Our important friend was setting up his own standard of good (which was no doubt way low) and nailing it every time. Jesus knows this and as soon as He hears the word "good" out of the rich guys mouth, he cuts to the chase. Our boy's standard of good was off. It was a man made standard. The rich guy was all about situations that he could benefit from with as little cost as possible. Jesus simply begins by stripping away this false standard and laying his royal flush of sorts right out on the table.
God demands perfection and radical commitment to His cause. No one can be a part of His kingdom and still run their own kingdom on the side. We all want it Good, but the standard that we have set up for good is soooo much lower than what it should be. This guy is no different. He wanted in, but he wanted in on his terms. God's terms didn't seem good to him. This isnt any different than what He asks of every other person when they are confronted with the exclusivity of Christ.

Whats the app here? Let's answer a few questions and see if that helps us understand.

First: What was our boy looking for? A way in on his terms. R U?

Second: Do you really believe that God is good? Then by definition God's way would always be the best.

Third: Where does all good come from? Well the theological answer is God. So when you begin to think about this whole interaction; if the rich, important dude would have stopped and paid attention to what Christ says at the beginning, (you know the part where no one is good but GOD) then the rest of the conversation would have never happened. The only reason he was rich was because God was so very good he blessed this guy. Our problem is that we as human beings get hung up on the good things we are blessed with and miss out on what is really good, or best!

If we enjoy stuff like this w/o submission to God's authority and rule, imagine what it might be like if we did submit to God's authority! There is a whole new (eternal) world of good that we haven't even touched.

So you gonna keep eating the knock off brand of chips, or are you gonna eat some Lays Wavy Potato chips? Both good, but one is better than the other and we all know it.

(One more note while I am thinking about it. If you live in America, the EU, or any other 1st world nation you are so stinking rich its not even funny. I don't care if you only make 25k a year, compared to the rest of the world you live like a king!)

I dream of...

...Jeannie

...Falling

...being naked in public

...specific revelation?

I will admit to the top 3, but the 4th; not so much. So i had this conversation today... Actually i opened my big mouth when i knew better and got into a long, worthless, waste of oxygen debate on whether or not God still speaks to His children in dreams. I say "still", because the first obvious observation on the discussion is that the Old and New Testament are full of recorded dreams that God used to communicate any number of different things as general as the rise and fall of a nation to specific as "there will be a guy showing up to your house, he has killed Christians in the past, he will not be able to see, you will heal him, he will be a great man of God..." (obvious paraphrase)

So why not now? Why can't we expect God to reveal things to us in dreams now? Obviously the question is not about ability. The fact that He has, and that He is God makes it more than possible. Not that anything is hard for God, but if you had to rank dream weaving on a scale of difficulty for God, I doubt it makes the top 1 billion.

So the question becomes need and purpose, wouldn't you agree? God does nothing simply to do it, all things are in His sovereign control for the purpose of working out His perfect will. The answers to need and purpose will give us the best idea of whether or not it in fact happens.

Lets start with need first...

Does God need to reveal anything to human beings? YES! The biggest being that we are created, our original parents sinned, they represented every last one of us, we all die because of sin, we cannot have a relationship with God because of sin, God had to fix it, He did fix it, we have a way to fellowship with God, it is an exclusive way, and once we begin that path, it is narrow and there are expectations that God has for those He has redeemed, oh and finally in the end God turns out to be the winner and rules forever...
Cool thing is, He reveals all that too us and so much more than we can ever grasp or understand in that thing we call the B I B L E (yes thats the book for me...) The Bible is God's revelation of Himself to man. In that Bible God, through a human author (which is so amazing it makes my head hurt) said this; and i quote... " His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. " And if you aren't sure what he is talking about finishing reading the rest of the chapter... He is talking about truth. Ahhh what is truth? The Bible tells us that too!

So in this revelation that God has so graciously (seriously, He didn't have to reveal a freaking thing to us!) reavealed to us, He makes it clear that what He has revealed should be enough for us lil ol human beings while we live our lives out here on earth. So He did need to reveal himself to us, YES! and HE DID!

Does He still need to? Well i guess that depends. Do you believe that what the Bible says is correct? Yes?

GOOD!

Well then if the Bible claims sufficiency, then its safe to say that's all we need. Here is my problem with saying that God still uses dreams to reveal specific revelation to human beings... That implies that this direct revelation given to you was so important that God had to give it to you and you alone, and that also implies that what He had given you before this (the Bible) wasn't enough by itself. Honestly there is no way to resolve it! Trust me i have thought it through and tried! You can't say that the Bible is completely sufficient and all you need and in that same breath claim that God is revealing things to you directly that are specific to you and your situation and not already revealed to you in the BIBLE! HE HAS NO NEED TO DO SO IF WHAT HE GAVE YOU IN THE FIRST PLACE WAS ALL YOU NEEDED! (sorry im still worked up)

Second issue: Purpose

What would be the purpose in direct revelation apart from scripture? If there is no need, then there is no purpose. I realize that is sort of a straw man argument, but if you really think about it, the only real issue is need. If there is no need, it undermines purpose. God does everything for a reason. If you want to argue that He doesn't; do me a favor and stop reading my blog, you're wasting what little time you have left before eternal judgment. God had a very specific purpose every time He revealed himself directly to a human being. If you go back and read those amazing OT stories of Joseph, Jacob, Abram, Moses, Joshua, Daniel, you can see the need and purpose for why God did what He did. If they had had the Bible in the form we have it today, they wouldn't have needed it, and most of them had a better understanding of what little they did have then we will ever have of the whole thing that we have.

The reason this is such an issue for me is because I LOVE the Word of God!! And I HATE anything that would cast doubt or call into question the Word of the Almighty! It is the most precious possession we have, and as post New Testament believers we are blessed beyond measure with what we have. I can't imagine what Moses, Daniel, David, or Nehemiah would have done to have what we have!

The sad thing is... and we all know it... we waste it. We take it for granted. I am so spiritually rich and yet i act just like the Hilton sisters in all their glory. Spoiled as can be and dumb as a rock...

God forgive me...