Grace Before

“I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

-Exodus 20:1

“I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

-Deuteronomy 5:6

Each of these verses precedes the two places in the Old Testament that contain the Ten Commandments. These Ten Commandments are the summation of the Law. All of the Law that Israel was called to obey is contained in these commands, the rest of the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, is an expounding of these commands. Both times before God spells out the demands of his covenant with his people, he says, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” In other words, he is saying, “I redeemed you!” I took you out of slavery. I defeated the Egyptians on your behalf. I heard your cry and I acted. I did something that you did not deserve. I shined my grace on you.

There is a common misconception that the Old Testament is the Testament of Law devoid of grace. Too often, we miss those verses at the beginning of the Ten Commandments. We skip straight to the commands and miss the grace. God is asking his people to obey his commands, to covenant with him upon the basis of his gracious action. He is not telling them to obey without an inclination of how he will act toward them. He has shown his loving kindness to them by redeeming them from slavery in Egypt. God acted first. He redeemed them. Then, he says if you want to live a life of blessing follow my commands. This is important for two reasons. One, it keeps us in harmony with God so that we are close to him. Two, God’s plan for life keeps us in harmony with others and ourselves. Following God’s commands brings us back into harmony with the relationships sin destroyed. We follow his commands and obey him, not because he is a harsh taskmaster, but because God first gave us his grace. He says to us, “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of sin, out of the land of slavery.” “I have redeemed you!” May we follow our God of grace and live out his commands in response to his great loving kindness to us!

And a litte child shall lead them all?

“People were bringing little children to Jesus to have him touch them, but the disciples rebuked them. When Jesus saw this, he was indignant. He said to them, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.” And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.” -Mark 10:13-16

A couple of weeks ago, I watched a video clip online about a group of teenage girls who basically kidnapped and assaulted a fellow student in an attempt to become famous. They lured this girl into a “friend’s” house where one of the girls physically assaulted her. The girl who was attacked suffered a concussion plus other physical and emotional damage. She has since been taken out of her high school to be home schooled. The girls who attacked her videotaped the attack so that they could post it on youtube.com. They hoped to become famous. Instead, they have become infamous. Today on foxnews.com, I read a story about a growing trend among adolescents to send nude pictures of themselves to their boyfriends, girlfriends, and other classmates. These pictures are being forwarded by the students who received them to other students, and some of them are making it on to websites. I read another story on foxnews.com about a British girl who started drinking at 12 years of age and experienced liver failure at 14. This girl is 18 now, but continues to drink. She did not realize that her drinking was out of control. She says, “I didn’t think my drinking was a problem because all my friends were getting wasted every weekend as well. But, now I have no short-term memory and doctors warn me that if I drink anymore I will die.”

I share all these stories not to depress us or shame us, but to keep us aware that the youth of today are under attack. I know that for each of these horror stories about our youth there are plenty of great stories about kids doing the right things and serving God, but we must remain alert to the needs of our youth. Jesus says that he wants the little children to come to him. We must not hinder them. I think we must move beyond that to guiding them towards Christ. We must strive to find new ways to reach this generation for Christ. If we don’t reach this generation for Christ, who will lead the Church in the future?

Arise My Love

As I examine my life, I notice that I tend to go (like most of us) through hills and valleys. Lately, I have been in an valley. My spiritual life has been good. My time with God has been productive. I have felt God's presence and blessing in my life. But at times, I find myself shrinking. I begin to shrink into myself. I stop living out my warrior calling. I become frightened. I lack courage. This leads to becoming unmotivated and lazy. I start simply going through the motions. I stop pushing myself. I quit trying to better myself. But, God in his infinite mercy and grace does not let me lie dormant. He uses circumstances, people, and events to expose my fear. He begins putting me in situations where I have to stand up and be courageous. He calls me out. Arise my love. Awaken. Take up the weapons at your feet. Stand Firm. Fight. Live. Move. Arise my love. The battle is joined before you and your strength is needed. Your wisdom is needed. Your talents are needed. You are needed. Again, I have been wakened from my slumber. I have fears, but my God is bigger than them. I have concerns but he is greater. I have power, not by my doing, but from his loving hand. Arise my love. Wake up o sleeper! Be strong and courageous! Stand Firm! Remember your first love! Arise. Awaken. Fight. Stand.

The Gates of Hell

“we will wear compassion, we will wear it on our chests, and the gates of Hell won’t stand against us, we will wear compassion, we will wear it on our chests, and the gates of Hell won’t stand against us.” -As Cities Burn

“And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my Church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it.” -Matthew 16:18

For a long time, I have understood this passage to mean that no matter how bad the world might become or how bad things may seem; take heart because the gates of Hell will never overcome the Church. Even through the darkest night, the Church would remain. Satan and his army may attack us and rail against us, but we will not be overcome. We will stand firm and remain. Last night, I heard a different take on this idea. A friend of mine was sharing how we often have a wrong few of this verse. We think what I thought, Satan will attack us but we will not be overcome. He went on to say that the verse says the gates of Hades will not overcome us. Gates by nature and definition are defensive structures. Gates are not used for attack. They are used to keep invaders out, not to take an invasion to someone. He said this verse is about the Church being on the offensive. If we are going out to places where there is wrong being done, where injustice is rampant and fight against it, the gates of Hell will not be able to prevail against us. We will have the victory.

The problem in our world today is that the Church has become too defensive, afraid of the gates of Hades, when we are called to be more than conquerors. The Greek term for gate backs this idea up. It is a defensive structure for keeping invaders out. The Jews would have understood Jesus teaching to mean that the Church on the offensive would prevail against the gates of Hell. Hades was not seen as a place from which evil powers emerged to attack humans. It was a place where the gates prevented escape and barred invaders. Jesus is saying his Church will invade the domain of Hell and the gates will not be able to prevail against us. They will not stand against us. I am not advocating we go on the warpath against Satan. I am saying we must be on the offensive to fight social injustice, economic injustice, racial injustice, and moral injustice in our homes, our communities, our country, and our world. We must actively fight against evil and if we do, the gates of Hell will not stand against us.