Of Grace and Law

Thursday, September 8, 2022

The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.  But some people have missed this whole point.  They have turned away from these things and spend their time in meaningless discussions.  They want to be known as teachers of the law of Moses, but they don’t know what they are talking about, even though they speak so confidently.  We know that the law is good when used correctly.  For the law was not intended for people who do what is right.  It is for people who are lawless and rebellious, who are ungodly and sinful, who consider nothing sacred and defile what is holy, who kill their father or mother or commit other murders.  The law is for people who are sexually immoral, or who practice homosexuality, or are slave traders, liars, promise breakers, or who do anything else that contradicts the wholesome teaching that comes from the glorious Good News entrusted to me by our blessed God.  1 Timothy 1:5-11

The current mêlée in the United Methodist Church is the division which centers around sexuality and gender identification.  Somehow Paul’s counsel to Tiimothy is not sacred advice to a young minister anymore.  Rather, it has become an inconvenient truth, dropped from the comfort zone of denominational managers.  When it comes to what drives worldly, culture-pandering leadership to twist what Scripture means, even when that means obtusely ignoring what Scripture has presented clearly, it is, sadly, a weaponized form of teaching false doctrine.  Paul advised Timothy to steer clear of it at all cost.

When dealing with the Pharisees, (supposed) teachers of the Law of God, Jesus tossed aside their pedigrees and prestige in two short sentences:

Blind guides! You strain your water so you won’t accidentally swallow a gnat, but you swallow a camel!  Matthew 23:24

Swallowing the camel of law, and doing it in the name of grace, is what is wrong with the current practice of swatting the traditionalist gnats in the sexuality/gender-identification standoff, fueled by a higher commitment to political correctness and denominational survival, than fidelity to Scripture.

In the name of “grace” progressive thought says all humanity is exempt from law; there is nothing to forgive.  Yet, that kind of thinking lays aside the very substance of grace, as being forgiving that which is unforgivable.  It says perverted sexual practices are not sin…therefore, there is nothing to be forgiven, only embraced.  It belies the very essence of our vows in confirmation, to confess our sinfulness, and reject evil in every form.  Without accepting the grace of God, admitting our sins, and accepting that we deserve death, not a parade, we do not belong to Him, let alone get to presume upon His favor.  And that “camel” of false presumption that God winks at sexual perversion, is swallowed by unthinking (so-called) religious leaders every day.

For You Today

Continue to pray for leaders who are trying their best on both sides of this morass of sexual misunderstanding, especially in the halls of United Methodist leadership.  May God’s will be served.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Paul's Legal Review and De-railed

[1] Images:  via Pixabay.com   Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Cleaning Up the Mess

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Wednesday, February 27, 2019

One day Jesus said to his disciples, “There will always be temptations to sin, but what sorrow awaits the person who does the tempting!  It would be better to be thrown into the sea with a millstone hung around your neck than to cause one of these little ones to fall into sin.  So watch yourselves!  “If another believer sins, rebuke that person; then if there is repentance, forgive.  Even if that person wrongs you seven times a day and each time turns again and asks forgiveness, you must forgive.”  Luke 17:1-4(NLT)

General Conference 2019 is in the books, and now comes the clean-up.  It’s not just sweeping-up debris left in St. Louis’ Dome Conference Center, but the debris of tempers that flared, hearts that broke, spirits that are crushed, and lives that must be lived.  No matter which side you may have been rooting-for, or if you were just observing, shaking your head at it all, votes were cast, one side declared in the majority, and the division in the United Methodist Church will continue.

As does the struggle between darkness and light…everywhere!

Jesus reminded us that temptation to sin is endless…and those who promote such with their words, attitudes, and actions will suffer judgment at the hand of God.  For those who “won” in St. Louis, this is no time to gloat.  Gloating is rubbing salt in the wounds of a rebuked person, and, frankly, losing a contentious battle with 13 million worldwide participants, before a world population watching Christians duke it out in the Dome…well, that’s enough salt for one day.  In fact, it’s enough salt for a lifetime.  It is now time to lay down the banners and placards; the process is over, and readiness to forgive is all that should be on the table.  Jesus said we must be ready to forgive endlessly; 70 x 7 is a really big number!

Just one thing about the winning side – there is no winner when Christians brawl.  It makes little difference who the aggressor was, who carried the day’s vote, or whether the decision made was right, wrong, or inconsequential; the most consequential piece of fallout is that denominational squabbles are not played-out in a vacuum; the world has seen people who purport to be disciples of the Prince of Peace acting like World War II was just a minor disagreement.

I have heard sociologists and psychologists hold that it takes roughly 10 positive words to overcome one negative word.  If that is true, and I strongly suspect it is, the four days of this General Conference will put off any kind of sweeping revival for the cause of Christ by at least two centuries and another dark age.  In the end, I’m certain there is rejoicing in the pit of Hell.

And, with those words still ringing, annoying to the bone, I will quit talking about General Conference, and the Methodist bruhaha.  It’s time to get on to something important.

For You Today

Let’s let Scripture speak a word of healing for today:

Be still in the presence of the Lord,
    and wait patiently for him to act.
Don’t worry about evil people who prosper
    or fret about their wicked schemes.

Stop being angry!
    Turn from your rage!
Do not lose your temper—
    it only leads to harm.
For the wicked will be destroyed,
    but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land.  Psalm 37:7-9(NLT)

This is how to clean up after the storm…even if you helped make it!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   via The United Methodist Church website

More Harm Than Good

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Tuesday, February 26, 2019

But in the following instructions, I cannot praise you.  For it sounds as if more harm than good is done when you meet together.  First, I hear that there are divisions among you when you meet as a church, and to some extent I believe it.  But, of course, there must be divisions among you so that you who have God’s approval will be recognized!  When you meet together, you are not really interested in the Lord’s Supper.  For some of you hurry to eat your own meal without sharing with others.  As a result, some go hungry while others get drunk.  What?  Don’t you have your own homes for eating and drinking?  Or do you really want to disgrace God’s church and shame the poor?  What am I supposed to say?  Do you want me to praise you?  Well, I certainly will not praise you for this!  1 Corinthians 11:17-22 ^(NLT)

Disclaimer

For those of you who are not United Methodist, please forgive me for airing the laundry; this is a watershed time for the children of Wesley, and these morning devotionals are filled with prayer for my tribe.  We will likely return to a more general approach after the final vote on Tuesday.

This title (More Harm Than Good) is an unlikely one for a denomination that has its root in the sweeping Methodist revival across America in the 18-19^th century, which leader, John Wesley, is quoted as saying we must:

Do all the good you can, 
By all the means you can, 
In all the ways you can,

In all the places you can, 

At all the times you can, 

To all the people you can,

As long as ever you can.

But as my tribe meets in St. Louis to decide if we can live together any more, I’m wondering how much damage the fracas will total when all is said and done.

For the past 50 years (ever since the 1968 merger of Methodist and Evangelical United Brethren to form the United Methodist Church) this denomination has been always at the forefront in social justice issues.  The current embroilment is human sexuality, mainly whether the long-standing doctrinal posture that …homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teaching will stand, or if we must change to allow full-inclusiveness for LGBTQ persons, particularly in ordination, i.e., clergy orders.

Admittedly, I have no simple solution, nor do I think there is anything approaching a simple solution to the dilemma that confronts the United Methodist Church.  But there are two concerns that mitigate against a Hallmark Movie ending to this debate under any circumstances:

Unity

Anytime you have two or more groups which hold a significantly-different opinion (i.e. doctrine) about an issue, you have an impasse; that is to say, a brick wall.  Take, for instance, a marriage where the husband is in favor of monogamy, and the wife favors an open marriage, where she is free to date (and sleep with) other men.  Unless one changes his/her mind, there will always be contention and unhappiness, or that which ends the so-called unity, namely divorce.  There are no other possibilities. 

Conscience

In this case, the progressive side of the (so-called) “United” Methodist Church is asking the traditionalist side to affirm that their doctrine of homosexuality, trans-sexuality, bi-sexuality, cis-gender, and anything-goes-uality, regarding gender and orientation is just as valid as heterosexuality.

Regardless of millennia of ecclesiastic thought, debate and accepted Scriptural understanding, stated, written, and practiced, progressives want traditionalists to now change their minds and accept/practice/live with what is heretofore deemed sexual perversion. 

I have no simple answers, but this much is not in question – how can any group ask the other group to violate moral conscience, and still call oneself a Christian?

For You Today

Please join me in praying for my tribe’s delegates, for clarity of the Mind of Christ, as they vote later today…lest we do more harm than good to the Body of Christ.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   via The United Methodist Church website