Divorce Me!

Luke 5:8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

10 And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not;

Within moments Peter fell from extreme self-confidence and pride to humiliation and fear. He would have many such experiences throughout his Christian life. In the context we find the root problem. Peter thought he knew more about his own business, commercial fishing, than Jesus did. Peter was arrogant and surly when Jesus told him to take him fishing. And he was impatient with Jesus.

Walking with Christ is hard on some of us… especially if we are prideful, know-it-alls, overly self-assured, and/or tend to be impatient with others. The fall can be hard and far, but Jesus will be sure to take us there… for our own good, and to make us useful to Him. He must have servants who are willing to do His will not their own will.

The realization of our failure will show us what we fear most… that we don’t measure up and that we aren’t what we believe ourselves to be or pretend to be, and that Jesus plainly sees that truth about us. Those of us who suffer from this arrogance generally do so out of fear. And when we loose face in the presence of Jesus it can be a horrible experience.

Peter’s response was, “Depart from me…” This word depart could be used by a failed husband or wife who is so distraught over their own failure that they cry out to their mate, “divorce me!” It is more than saying I am unworthy, it is saying I can’t stand that you see my shame. But Jesus said, “Fear not…” He knew Peter's agony. Peter had gone from one extreme to another in a matter of minutes. Now Jesus brought him back to a place of balance, a place of humility born from unconditional love. Wow...

A Fold-able Neck

Being a kayaker on the gulf coast of Texas gives me the opportunity to observe Herons and Egrets regularly since they inhabit all our waterways and are hard to miss with their large size, striking appearance, and long legs. They are the coast's most patient and numerous fishermen.

The casual observer might fail to notice a biological marvel of creation that is easily seen: what they can do with their long sleek necks. They can actually fold their necks into an S shape. Just because an animal has a long neck doesn’t mean it is fold-able. Giraffes can’t fold their necks, and neither can geese or deer.

By Alan Vernon

These birds have special vertebrae in their necks which are accompanied by unique muscles and tendons. Their heads are almost all beak — long sharp beak. They use this beak for grabbing and spearing fish. The long neck and special vertebrae allow the bird to get its beak stealthily within rage of a fish before striking with blinding fish spearing speed. Our creator is an amazing engineer.

The Pathway Of Blessedness

Matthew 5:3 poor in spirit

4 mourn

5 meek

6 hunger and thirst after righteousness

7 merciful

8 pure in heart

9 peacemakers

These verses describe what a blessed person looks like. There are six adjectives and two verbs which behave like adjectives. These eight words are the keys to understanding the verses. An adjective is a modifier of a subject or noun, so in these verses Jesus gives the description of the personality of a “blessed” person. These modifiers are not given as goals to attain, but each expresses a characteristic that exists in a blessed person.

These characteristics seem to be sequential, each leading to the other, and descriptive of real Gospel salvation which leads to a state of being which includes these characteristics. In other words, this is a description of the characteristics that to some degree accompany salvation.

Poverty of spirit is the first move toward God, and the closer we come to God the more we mourn over our poverty, which leads to meekness or a lower opinion of oneself, which then causes a person to hunger and thirst after righteousness which they do not possess, righteousness which can only be found in the Gospel. In this Gospel they find righteousness and the mercy of God in Jesus Christ. A person who has received such mercy is now naturally inclined to give mercy. From the giving and receiving of mercy flows a simple purity in the inner recesses of the soul. The power of love is experienced which brings a sort of singularity of understanding and purpose. And because peace with God has been experienced this blessed person is inclined to seek this path of mercy, truth, and peace when there is conflict.

The Wolves Are Coming

Acts 20:29 For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.

31 Therefore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.

Having spent most my ministry trying to help troubled churches I learned that churches are troubled because they have troubled people in their membership, and generally have no processes or norms in place to resolve conflicts. In this troubled mix there is one disconcerting behavior that always puzzles me: the deliberate and aggressive attempt to harm another person. This seems so foreign to the teachings of Christ that I am always surprised the aggressors don't immediately see the glaring inconsistency and stop the harmful behaviors, but experience has taught me they often don't or won't see it.

There are common threads in this dark garment. It can begin with the smallest thing, something that may go unnoticed by everyone involved but this one antagonist, a mild slight or disagreement can fan the flames of their aggression. Most adults have figured out ways to overlook the mild irritations and differences that come with living and working with others. They wave their hands and move on... but not these folks. These things become personal to them even if the event or issue has nothing to do with them. Strangely... some of these folks seem to look for opportunities to be offended.

They may then manufacture all sorts of offenses, and small weaknesses in their assumed opponent's actions or personality will become high crimes to them. This excess seems to be the mechanism they need to justify their own malicious intent and actions. They will use their slanted rendition of these “sins” to create a following of people who seem to have a predilection to involve themselves in these sorts of conflicts. I've even known them to hire private detectives to attempt to dig up “dirt” about some poor object of their contempt.

They then take action intended to bring harm. This is actually the meaning of some usages of the Biblical word "evil". I've seen them do almost everything from attempting to injure a person's standing in the church or on their job, to contacting the IRS with derogatory information to start an investigation. Their persecution seems limited only by their lack of demented creativity. And if the pastor doesn't support their jihad they will often turn their malicious attention upon him or one of his family members.

What can be done to prevent this kind of conflict? Some promote counseling or mediation, and there are some cases that can be helped or remedied by these methods. But there are a striking number of cases that involve aggressors who have personality disorders or other psychological problems which can prevent the success of this kind of intervention. In fact, in some cases, that sort of intervention will only increase the problem. For these cases a church or other organization must have already prepared itself for this type of conflict. They must have already established norms in the congregation and clear methods to derail this sort of action before it goes to far. Paul clearly prepared the church for the “wolves” long before they came to harm the congregation. Reasoned, sound, Biblical preparation for conflict resolution is a Biblical imperative.

Liberty Depends On Labor

2 Thessalonians 3:6 Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye withdraw yourselves from every brother that walketh disorderly, and not after the tradition which he received of us.

In every free society there is a fundamental requirement of responsible behavior on the part of the citizens if they wish to remain free from the oppressive power of tyranny. This verse is based on that principle.

Not every behavior can be controlled or prosecuted by law enforcement. Therefore, liberty is accompanied by freedoms which can ultimately reverse a culture of freedom and lead to tyranny. The contextual behavior leading to the discipline of withdrawal in the verse above is laziness, or the refusal to work. Short of slavery there is no way to force someone to work. A culture of laziness will lead to the destruction of an orderly government and to the tight cuffs of tyranny.

The penalty required in this passage for able-bodied people who refused to work was to isolate them, and, by doing so, take away their access to those privileges which are the fruit of labor. The purpose is to motivate them to self-discipline and personal responsibility.

The United States over 100 years ago set a day aside to celebrate labor. This is a noble thing... and the hard working laborers in our country should be celebrated. But let it also be observed that labor is a basic tenet of Christian culture and churches are required by Christ to foster a culture of labor.