I grew up listening to country music. The Grand Old Opry was on our radio on Saturday nights. Later, in my teens, I was exposed to R & B. (We had to stay up late and listen to it on our local radio station, however, because it wasn’t played till after 11 P.M., when the older white folks had gone to bed.) Then came Rock & Roll. All three of these musical styles, though had one theme in common: unrequited or spurned love: ”my baby done left me,” “faded love,” etc., etc. Bob wills, Hank Williams, B. B. King, Bill Haley – all moaned similar complaints.
Jesus has a similar complaint. In the book of Revelation He voices it. Revelation 2 and 3 contain seven unusual letters, dictated by the risen glorified Christ to the apostle John and addressed to the “messenger” of each individual church. In each of these He makes some reference to Himself, commends something good, complains about something bad and gives counsel.
The first letter is to the church at Ephesus (2:1-7):
1. To the messenger of the church in Ephesus write: These things says the One who grips the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks in the middle of the seven gold lampstands:
2. I know your works and toil and your endurance and that you are not able to put up with evil persons and you have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not and you have found them liars
3. and you have endurance and you have put up with a lot for the sake of my name and you have not grown weary.
4. But I have this against you that you have forsaken your first love.
5. So then, remember from where you’ve fallen and repent and do again the first works. And if not, I am coming to you and I will remove your lampstand from its place unless you repent.
6. But you do have this: that you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.
7. The one who has an ear, listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches: To the overcomer I will grant to eat from the tree of life which is in the paradise of God.
I want to focus on the complaint in verse 4. This church had forsaken her first love. Just like all those women in all those country and blues songs.
Jesus is complaining like a jilted lover. Now the church at Ephesus was not a new church. If my understanding of New Testament dating is correct, this church had been around for about 40 years. A 40-year love relationship! There just aren’t many like that around. Uni and I have been married for 50 years. We’ve seen many marriages break up and what’s just as bad, we’ve seen many that have just grown cold.
According to verses 2 and 3, the church at Ephesus was externally quite a church. They were a hard working church. They had endurance through all their trials. They were doctrinally sound. They hated and rejected false teaching and bad behavior.
But they’d forsaken their first love. Their “lips were warm but their heart was cold as ice.” Who was their first love? It was Jesus Himself. See Paul’s letter to the Ephesians written over 30 years earlier. “Grace be with all those who love our Lord Jesus Christ with incorruptible love” (6:24).
We’ve known churches like that: busy, programs and activities for all ages; evangelistic; but they seem to be just going through the motions. It seems as if Jesus is missing from it all. They’re like those marriages where the husband and wife just go through the motions but the passion is gone.
We have to ask, is our church like this? Whether or not it appears to be this way, the next questions should be, is my own life like this? Am I just going through the motions? Am I a busy, active Christian, “serving the Lord,” without the passion? Is my Christian activity simply activity?
In verse 5, Jesus gives us a three-step program for restoring that first love:
1. “Remember from where you have fallen.” Recall when you first “fell in love” with Jesus. Just as in a marriage, there are undoubtedly some great memories tucked away somewhere. That knowledge of forgiveness, of acceptance, of freedom that you had.
2. “Repent.” Repentance has been defined as “a change of mind leading to a change of direction.” Recognize that you’re headed in the wrong direction, confess it and ask the Lord for restoration.
3. Repeat. ” . . . do again the first works.” Don’t stop all your “Christian activity” (though it may be necessary to drop much of it). Get back to those “first works,” the time spent in the Word and prayer – not as a duty, but as a desire.
Though verse 5 contains a threat, verse 7 ends it with a promise: a restoration to not only our original relationship, but to a future in paradise itself.
Bill Ball
1/9/2007
Bill's Thoughts on the Bible, Theology and American Culture
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Wednesday, January 3, 2007
SEVENTY YEARS
Every new year I find myself meditating on the 90th Psalm. It’s a Psalm about time – about the brevity of our lives as compared with God’s eternity.
The title, which is part of the original text, tells us that it is “A Prayer of Moses, the Man of God.” The Hebrew word translated prayer is “Tephilah” which has the idea of an intercessory prayer.
I have often wondered just when Moses wrote this prayer. After all, he lived to be 120 years old – 40 years as a prince in Egypt, 40 years as a fugitive murderer and a shepherd in the desert of Sinai and 40 years as the leader of the nation of Israel as they wandered in that same desert. He had plenty of time to write, and a number of sad circumstances which could have moved him to write this rather melancholy bit of poetry. However, the references to the brevity of life seem to fit best within the last period, perhaps in the last few years of his life.
At that time, Moses would have witnessed the deaths of all of his contemporaries. The Bible tells us that the whole generation that left Egypt died in the desert (except for 2 people). How depressing! Somewhere I read that Harry Truman complained that the worst thing about living long was that you have to attend all your friends’ funerals.
But it’s the 10th verse that especially grabbed my thinking this year:
“As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years.”
In Moses’ day, 70 years was a good life span and we haven’t hit that as an average until only recently. And in a few weeks, I’ll hit that number. It’s sobering. Those 10 year increments always seem to hit the hardest, but 70 years! It looks like I’ll make it to my allotted time, maybe even more. The last half of the verse, however, puts it in perspective:
“Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.”
Life is fleeting. Moses saw that. I can see that. Life is short. Moses didn’t even get to enter the promised land, but died before his goal was reached. I haven’t reached all of my goals yet and I doubt if I ever will. As a matter of fact, I’ve learned to give up setting goals. As someone has said, I’ve reached the age where I don’t buy green bananas.
But Moses did pray for some goals and I believe I can honestly say that God has answered these requests in my life:
“Do return, O LORD; how long will it be? And be sorry for Your servants” (verse 13).
-- Let me experience God’s compassion. And I have.
“O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness” (verse 14).
-- Let me be satisfied with God’s love. I am.
“Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us, and the years we have seen evil” (verse 15)
-- Let me have as much joy as trouble. I’ve had more.
“Let Your work appear to Your servants and Your majesty to their children” (verse 16).
-- Let me know what God is doing in my life. I’m still learning this.
“Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and confirm for us the work of our hands; yes, confirm the work of our hands” (verse 17).
-- Let me see a permanence in my work. I’ve seen examples of this.
I thank God that when I look at life from this perspective – nearing the end, I have seen the answers to all these requests.
Thank You, Lord.
Bill Ball
1/3/2007
The title, which is part of the original text, tells us that it is “A Prayer of Moses, the Man of God.” The Hebrew word translated prayer is “Tephilah” which has the idea of an intercessory prayer.
I have often wondered just when Moses wrote this prayer. After all, he lived to be 120 years old – 40 years as a prince in Egypt, 40 years as a fugitive murderer and a shepherd in the desert of Sinai and 40 years as the leader of the nation of Israel as they wandered in that same desert. He had plenty of time to write, and a number of sad circumstances which could have moved him to write this rather melancholy bit of poetry. However, the references to the brevity of life seem to fit best within the last period, perhaps in the last few years of his life.
At that time, Moses would have witnessed the deaths of all of his contemporaries. The Bible tells us that the whole generation that left Egypt died in the desert (except for 2 people). How depressing! Somewhere I read that Harry Truman complained that the worst thing about living long was that you have to attend all your friends’ funerals.
But it’s the 10th verse that especially grabbed my thinking this year:
“As for the days of our life, they contain seventy years,
Or if due to strength, eighty years.”
In Moses’ day, 70 years was a good life span and we haven’t hit that as an average until only recently. And in a few weeks, I’ll hit that number. It’s sobering. Those 10 year increments always seem to hit the hardest, but 70 years! It looks like I’ll make it to my allotted time, maybe even more. The last half of the verse, however, puts it in perspective:
“Yet their pride is but labor and sorrow;
For soon it is gone and we fly away.”
Life is fleeting. Moses saw that. I can see that. Life is short. Moses didn’t even get to enter the promised land, but died before his goal was reached. I haven’t reached all of my goals yet and I doubt if I ever will. As a matter of fact, I’ve learned to give up setting goals. As someone has said, I’ve reached the age where I don’t buy green bananas.
But Moses did pray for some goals and I believe I can honestly say that God has answered these requests in my life:
“Do return, O LORD; how long will it be? And be sorry for Your servants” (verse 13).
-- Let me experience God’s compassion. And I have.
“O satisfy us in the morning with Your lovingkindness” (verse 14).
-- Let me be satisfied with God’s love. I am.
“Make us glad according to the days You have afflicted us, and the years we have seen evil” (verse 15)
-- Let me have as much joy as trouble. I’ve had more.
“Let Your work appear to Your servants and Your majesty to their children” (verse 16).
-- Let me know what God is doing in my life. I’m still learning this.
“Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and confirm for us the work of our hands; yes, confirm the work of our hands” (verse 17).
-- Let me see a permanence in my work. I’ve seen examples of this.
I thank God that when I look at life from this perspective – nearing the end, I have seen the answers to all these requests.
Thank You, Lord.
Bill Ball
1/3/2007
Saturday, December 30, 2006
FEELING THE CALL
I received the following questions by e-mail and decided to include it and my reply (with permission) on my blog.
“I had a quick question for you, though I don't know how ‘quick’ it really is. I am trying to do ‘research’ on a question, and, naturally, didn't know where to start, so I decided I would consult a few pastors I know and trust!”
“My question is more of a scenario (it is not my scenario, but it is applicable): If a woman feels the Lord is calling her to go (be it to missions or something else) and her father says ‘No, that is not the Lord's will for you,’ what does she do? Is it a sin to not follow where she feels the Lord is calling her, or is it a sin to go against what her father believes is the Lord's will? Is there any Biblical basis for this? Is the Old Testament scenario about ‘If a daughter makes a vow before God and her father overhears he can release her from that vow’ applicable still?”
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I believe that there are clear biblical answers to your questions, although there will probably be many who disagree with me. I will try to deal with the relevant Scriptures.
I’m assuming that the woman you are speaking of is old enough to have left home, or though living at home is capable of leaving. I’m also assuming that her father is a believer and is sincere in his convictions.
First, the command, “Children obey your parents” (Ephesians 6:1; Colossians 3:20) is in the context of the home, and does not apply to older children. While we are to honor our father and mother, this does not always include obedience.
Even though the New Testament gives clear instructions about authority, this does not constitute a “chain of command.” Rather we obey, submit, etc., because God has placed authority figures over us. We might say that is part of His method of governing. Romans 13:1-7, though speaking of human government, makes this clear. Peter in 1 Peter 2:13-21 also speaks to this issue. He tells servants to be submissive even to unreasonable masters, and even to the point of suffering, not because they are part of the “chain of command,” but because of our conscience, our witness and the example of Christ.
But there are exceptions. When the apostles were commanded by the religious authorities of their day to stop preaching Christ, they refused to obey (Acts 4:18-20; 5:29).
So the principle is simple (though not always easy): We are to obey God at all times. One aspect of that obedience is submission to human authority as long as that authority does not demand disobedience to God’s clear commands. But when the human authorities demand of us disobedience to God’s clear commands, we are to obey God. This obedience/disobedience may cost us dearly, as the Scriptures and history bear out. Remember Micaiah? Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego? Daniel? The long string of martyrs from the first century till now?
Now I’m not saying this young woman should just “blow-off” her father’s desires. She is to honor him. She needs to find his reasons for saying “it is not God’s will for you.” Perhaps he knows something about her that he feels might cause her to fail. She should seek his wise advice.
Secondly, we don’t need to “feel” a subjective “call” to missions to go. We have the clear commands of Jesus to go. Matthew 28:19, 20, is a command. It doesn’t require feelings. Also see Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46, 47; John 20:21-23; Acts 1:8. These commands are not just for the Apostles and a few “called” 21st century Christians, they are for all of us. Our only problem is determining how and where to go.
Thirdly, Jesus’ call to discipleship demand that we choose Him over all other relationships. These include father and mother as well as others. For example, see Matthew 10:37-39: “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it.“ Jesus even warns that this can lead to family conflict. Verses 34-36: “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.”
Look at the three would-be disciples in Luke 9:57-62. Jesus seems to be demanding of them that they turn their back on their family.
I don’t believe the Old Testament teaching on vows is directly applicable to believers today. The Mosaic Law is part of the covenant God made with Israel, and while it gives us some clear illustrations of God’s regard for vows, we are to obey the Law of Christ. See Matthew 5:33-37. In verse 34, Jesus says, “But I say to you, make no oath at all, …” In verse 37, He says, “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no.’; and anything beyond these is from the evil one.” We should be careful about making vows.
Hope this helps.
Bill Ball
12/30/2006
“I had a quick question for you, though I don't know how ‘quick’ it really is. I am trying to do ‘research’ on a question, and, naturally, didn't know where to start, so I decided I would consult a few pastors I know and trust!”
“My question is more of a scenario (it is not my scenario, but it is applicable): If a woman feels the Lord is calling her to go (be it to missions or something else) and her father says ‘No, that is not the Lord's will for you,’ what does she do? Is it a sin to not follow where she feels the Lord is calling her, or is it a sin to go against what her father believes is the Lord's will? Is there any Biblical basis for this? Is the Old Testament scenario about ‘If a daughter makes a vow before God and her father overhears he can release her from that vow’ applicable still?”
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I believe that there are clear biblical answers to your questions, although there will probably be many who disagree with me. I will try to deal with the relevant Scriptures.
I’m assuming that the woman you are speaking of is old enough to have left home, or though living at home is capable of leaving. I’m also assuming that her father is a believer and is sincere in his convictions.
First, the command, “Children obey your parents” (Ephesians 6:1; Colossians 3:20) is in the context of the home, and does not apply to older children. While we are to honor our father and mother, this does not always include obedience.
Even though the New Testament gives clear instructions about authority, this does not constitute a “chain of command.” Rather we obey, submit, etc., because God has placed authority figures over us. We might say that is part of His method of governing. Romans 13:1-7, though speaking of human government, makes this clear. Peter in 1 Peter 2:13-21 also speaks to this issue. He tells servants to be submissive even to unreasonable masters, and even to the point of suffering, not because they are part of the “chain of command,” but because of our conscience, our witness and the example of Christ.
But there are exceptions. When the apostles were commanded by the religious authorities of their day to stop preaching Christ, they refused to obey (Acts 4:18-20; 5:29).
So the principle is simple (though not always easy): We are to obey God at all times. One aspect of that obedience is submission to human authority as long as that authority does not demand disobedience to God’s clear commands. But when the human authorities demand of us disobedience to God’s clear commands, we are to obey God. This obedience/disobedience may cost us dearly, as the Scriptures and history bear out. Remember Micaiah? Shadrack, Meshach and Abednego? Daniel? The long string of martyrs from the first century till now?
Now I’m not saying this young woman should just “blow-off” her father’s desires. She is to honor him. She needs to find his reasons for saying “it is not God’s will for you.” Perhaps he knows something about her that he feels might cause her to fail. She should seek his wise advice.
Secondly, we don’t need to “feel” a subjective “call” to missions to go. We have the clear commands of Jesus to go. Matthew 28:19, 20, is a command. It doesn’t require feelings. Also see Mark 16:15; Luke 24:46, 47; John 20:21-23; Acts 1:8. These commands are not just for the Apostles and a few “called” 21st century Christians, they are for all of us. Our only problem is determining how and where to go.
Thirdly, Jesus’ call to discipleship demand that we choose Him over all other relationships. These include father and mother as well as others. For example, see Matthew 10:37-39: “He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. He who has found his life shall lose it, and he who has lost his life for My sake shall find it.“ Jesus even warns that this can lead to family conflict. Verses 34-36: “Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I came to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man’s enemies will be the members of his household.”
Look at the three would-be disciples in Luke 9:57-62. Jesus seems to be demanding of them that they turn their back on their family.
I don’t believe the Old Testament teaching on vows is directly applicable to believers today. The Mosaic Law is part of the covenant God made with Israel, and while it gives us some clear illustrations of God’s regard for vows, we are to obey the Law of Christ. See Matthew 5:33-37. In verse 34, Jesus says, “But I say to you, make no oath at all, …” In verse 37, He says, “But let your statement be, ‘Yes, yes’ or ‘No, no.’; and anything beyond these is from the evil one.” We should be careful about making vows.
Hope this helps.
Bill Ball
12/30/2006
Thursday, December 14, 2006
A CHRISTMAS THOUGHT
In the little book THE ORIGIN OF THE UNIVERSE, the author, John D. Barrow, attempts to explain, in words understandable by laymen, how he believes the universe had its beginnings about 15 billion years ago in what is commonly known as the “big bang.” He speaks of an “initial singularity” at the beginning, at which “all the mass in the universe is compressed into a state of infinite density” (pg. 37). A bit further on (pg. 45), he asks a number of questions: “If the universe did begin at a singularity from which matter appeared with infinite density and temperature, then we are confronted with a number of problems in our attempts to push cosmology any further. ‘What’ determines the sort of universe that emerges? If space and time do not exist before that singular beginning, how do we account for the laws of gravitation, or of logic, or mathematics? Did they exist ‘before’ the singularity?” His answer is quite astounding: “If so -- and we seem to grant as much when we apply mathematics and logic to the singularity itself – then we must admit to a rationality larger than the material universe.” Earlier (pg. 27) he says “ … the starting state of the universe must have been very highly ordered, and hence extremely special and perhaps governed by some grand principle of symmetry or economy.”
The apostle John begins his gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (1:1-3). Our English word, “Word,” is a translation of the Greek word “Logos.” Now, logos means much more than our English translation would have us think. John was using one of the most complex and profound theological and philosophical concepts He could find. THE GREEK-ENGLISH LEXICON of Liddell & Scott, takes 2-1/2 pages to define Logos – 5 columns – 3-1/4 inches x 9-1/2 inches each of very fine print.
The word had a broad range of meanings over almost a thousand-year history. Though sometimes it had the meaning of “verbal expression or utterance,” it rarely meant a “single word,” but “usually a phrase.” However, among the various other definitions given, were “proposition,” … “reason, ground” … “reason as a faculty” … “creative reason.” Perhaps “rationality” would not be an incorrect translation.
Logos was also used in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament – ca. 200+ BC) to translate the Hebrew “Dabar” – “word” (Psalm 33:6; ”by the Word of the LORD, the Heavens were made”).
So maybe Mister Barrow is on to something. Perhaps he and John are saying the same thing. If we replace John’s “Word” with Mr. Barrow’s words, we have “In the beginning was the ‘grand principle of symmetry or economy’, ‘the rationality larger than the universe’ and the rationality was with God and the rationality was God.”
I believe Mr. Barrow is “not far from the Kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34).
But we must go farther than scientific hypotheses can take us. John goes on in verse 14 to tell us that the Word not only was the origin and originator of all things, but that the Word entered into and became part of the universe that He had created. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
And that’s what we celebrate at this season of the year.
Bill Ball
12/14/2006
The apostle John begins his gospel, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being” (1:1-3). Our English word, “Word,” is a translation of the Greek word “Logos.” Now, logos means much more than our English translation would have us think. John was using one of the most complex and profound theological and philosophical concepts He could find. THE GREEK-ENGLISH LEXICON of Liddell & Scott, takes 2-1/2 pages to define Logos – 5 columns – 3-1/4 inches x 9-1/2 inches each of very fine print.
The word had a broad range of meanings over almost a thousand-year history. Though sometimes it had the meaning of “verbal expression or utterance,” it rarely meant a “single word,” but “usually a phrase.” However, among the various other definitions given, were “proposition,” … “reason, ground” … “reason as a faculty” … “creative reason.” Perhaps “rationality” would not be an incorrect translation.
Logos was also used in the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament – ca. 200+ BC) to translate the Hebrew “Dabar” – “word” (Psalm 33:6; ”by the Word of the LORD, the Heavens were made”).
So maybe Mister Barrow is on to something. Perhaps he and John are saying the same thing. If we replace John’s “Word” with Mr. Barrow’s words, we have “In the beginning was the ‘grand principle of symmetry or economy’, ‘the rationality larger than the universe’ and the rationality was with God and the rationality was God.”
I believe Mr. Barrow is “not far from the Kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34).
But we must go farther than scientific hypotheses can take us. John goes on in verse 14 to tell us that the Word not only was the origin and originator of all things, but that the Word entered into and became part of the universe that He had created. “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
And that’s what we celebrate at this season of the year.
Bill Ball
12/14/2006
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