Mark 3

²² And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying, “He is possessed by Beelzebul,” and “by the prince of demons he casts out the demons.” ²³ And he called them to him and said to them in parables, “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. ²⁶ And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand, but is coming to an end. ²⁷ But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. ²⁸ “Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man, and whatever blasphemies they utter, ²⁹ but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin”— ³⁰ for they were saying, “He has an unclean spirit.”

There was once a very elderly Christian lady who lived next door to a very outspoken cynic and critic of Christianity. They lived in a poor part of town where the houses were old and in various states of disrepair. Every morning the little old lady would enrage her neighbor by going out on her front porch, reading her Bible, praying, and thanking God for her many blessing. This did not enrage her neighbor because she would wake him while doing this. In fact, he was always sitting on his front porch drinking coffee when the lady would do this. It enraged him because he thought the entire scene to be absurd. Here, after all, was an old lady with failing health living alone with nobody checking on her in a dilapidated old house. And with all of that going on, she thanked a God that he was sure did not even exist. “If there was a God,” he thought, “she should curse Him and not bless Him. After all, He has left her alone and in poverty.”

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Philemon

⁸ Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, ⁹ yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you—I, Paul, an old man and now a prisoner also for Christ Jesus—¹⁰ I appeal to you for my child, Onesimus, whose father I became in my imprisonment. ¹¹ (Formerly he was useless to you, but now he is indeed useful to you and to me.) ¹² I am sending him back to you, sending my very heart.

“What is the right thing to do?” It is a question that everybody has had to ask themselves and it is a question, collectively, that we ask of nations and institutions and even churches in given situations. “What is the right thing to do?” The question assumes, of course, that there is such a thing as “the right thing to do.” In our day such an assumption is no longer automatic. In our day we are as likely to view actions as “one right thing among other right things” or even in terms of actions being ethically neutral. We are even tempted to believe that there is no “right” or “wrong” by which we can judge actions at all.

For instance, the late John Stott critiqued Abraham Edel in 2010. Edel argued that there was no ultimate right or wrong.

This viewpoint was critically evaluated by the distinguished American moral and social philosopher Abraham Edel (1908-2007), whose first major book was titled Ethical Judgment, and subtitled The Use of Science in Ethics. “Morality is ultimately arbitrary,” he wrote, and went on with a piece of popular doggerel:

It all depends on where you are,

It all depends on when you are,

It all depends on what you feel.

It all depends on how you feel.

It all depends on how you’re raised

It all depends on what is praised,

What’s right today is wrong tomorrow,

Joy in France, in England sorrow.

It all depends on point of view,

Australia or Timbuctoo,

In Rome do as the Romans do.

If tastes just happen to agree

Then you have morality.

But when there are conflicting trends,

It all depends, it all depends.[1]

Maybe we could view that concluding statement as the mantra of this confused age in which we live: “It all depends, it all depends!”

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Job 28

¹ “Surely there is a mine for silver, and a place for gold that they refine. ² Iron is taken out of the earth, and copper is smelted from the ore. ³ Man puts an end to darkness and searches out to the farthest limit the ore in gloom and deep darkness. ⁴ He opens shafts in a valley away from where anyone lives; they are forgotten by travelers; they hang in the air, far away from mankind; they swing to and fro. ⁵ As for the earth, out of it comes bread, but underneath it is turned up as by fire. ⁶ Its stones are the place of sapphires, and it has dust of gold. ⁷ “That path no bird of prey knows, and the falcon’s eye has not seen it. ⁸ The proud beasts have not trodden it; the lion has not passed over it. ⁹ “Man puts his hand to the flinty rock and overturns mountains by the roots. ¹⁰ He cuts out channels in the rocks, and his eye sees every precious thing. ¹¹ He dams up the streams so that they do not trickle, and the thing that is hidden he brings out to light. ¹² “But where shall wisdom be found? And where is the place of understanding? ¹³ Man does not know its worth, and it is not found in the land of the living. ¹⁴ The deep says, ‘It is not in me,’ and the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’ ¹⁵ It cannot be bought for gold, and silver cannot be weighed as its price. ¹⁶ It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir, in precious onyx or sapphire. ¹⁷ Gold and glass cannot equal it, nor can it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold. ¹⁸ No mention shall be made of coral or of crystal; the price of wisdom is above pearls. ¹⁹ The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it, nor can it be valued in pure gold. ²⁰ “From where, then, does wisdom come? And where is the place of understanding? ²¹ It is hidden from the eyes of all living and concealed from the birds of the air. ²² Abaddon and Death say, ‘We have heard a rumor of it with our ears.’ ²³ “God understands the way to it, and he knows its place. ²⁴ For he looks to the ends of the earth and sees everything under the heavens. ²⁵ When he gave to the wind its weight and apportioned the waters by measure, ²⁶ when he made a decree for the rain and a way for the lightning of the thunder, ²⁷ then he saw it and declared it; he established it, and searched it out. ²⁸ And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

One of the most unsettling films I have ever seen is Paul Thomas Anderson’s 2007 movie, “There Will Be Blood,” which is a film adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s 1926-1927 novel, Oil!. The film version is visually and psychologically jarring. It follows the rise of oilman Daniel Plainview from his meager beginnings mining for gold and then digging for oil in the dug-out pits of the western United States deserts to his eventual rise to wealthy oil tycoon to his final descent into madness. There is a fascinating story surrounding Plainview, but Plainview’s character takes center stage.

The opening shot of the film and the closing shot of the film present us with a shocking contrast. The opening shot is a stark panoramic of a bleak desert wilderness which appears to us in the film accompanied by a growing and discordant symphonic accompaniment that itself portends great dread. It is here in this wilderness that poor Daniel Plainview is in a hole beneath the earth mining for gold. The final shot is of a raving, disheveled Plainview sitting in one of the lanes of the bowling alley in his huge mansion beside a man who he has just bludgeoned to death with a bowling pin.

Needless to say, it is not a feel-good movie! But as a depiction of human depravity and, in particular, as a depiction of one central point, it is a genius film. Here is that point: one may grow wealthy by mining and drilling in the belly of the earth and yet miss the greatest treasure of all: wisdom.

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Mark 3

²⁰ Then he went home, and the crowd gathered again, so that they could not even eat. ²¹ And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying, “He is out of his mind.”

³¹ And his mother and his brothers came, and standing outside they sent to him and called him. ³² And a crowd was sitting around him, and they said to him, “Your mother and your brothers are outside, seeking you.” ³³ And he answered them, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” ³⁴ And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! ³⁵ For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.”

I think one of the greatest old Twilight Zone episodes ever to air was entitled “Eye of the Beholder.” Perhaps you will remember this episode. It begins with a woman in a hospital bed. She is referred to throughout the episode as “patient 307.” Her face is completely obscured by the bandages wrapped around her entire head. She talks with a nurse who is attending her and the conversation turns to her face under the bandages and what it will look like when they remove the wrappings.

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Philemon

⁴ I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, ⁵ because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints, ⁶ and I pray that the sharing of your faith may become effective for the full knowledge of every good thing that is in us for the sake of Christ. ⁷ For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.

Fyodor Dostoevsky wrote this about flattery in Crime and Punishment:

It’s the well-known resource – flattery. Nothing in the world is harder than speaking the truth and nothing easier than flattery. If there’s the hundredth part of a false note in speaking the truth, it leads to a discord, and that leads to trouble. But if all, to the last note, is false in flattery, it is just as agreeable, and is heard not without satisfaction. It may be a coarse satisfaction, but still a satisfaction. And however coarse the flattery, at least half will be sure to seem true. That’s so for all stages of development and classes of society. A vestal virgin might be seduced by flattery.[1]

Dostoevsky is correct: flattery is a powerful, powerful thing!

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Job 27

¹ And Job again took up his discourse, and said: ² “As God lives, who has taken away my right, and the Almighty, who has made my soul bitter, ³ as long as my breath is in me, and the spirit of God is in my nostrils, ⁴ my lips will not speak falsehood, and my tongue will not utter deceit. ⁵ Far be it from me to say that you are right; till I die I will not put away my integrity from me. ⁶ I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go; my heart does not reproach me for any of my days. ⁷ “Let my enemy be as the wicked, and let him who rises up against me be as the unrighteous. ⁸ For what is the hope of the godless when God cuts him off, when God takes away his life? ⁹ Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him? ¹⁰ Will he take delight in the Almighty? Will he call upon God at all times? ¹¹ I will teach you concerning the hand of God; what is with the Almighty I will not conceal. ¹² Behold, all of you have seen it yourselves; why then have you become altogether vain? ¹³ “This is the portion of a wicked man with God, and the heritage that oppressors receive from the Almighty: ¹⁴ If his children are multiplied, it is for the sword, and his descendants have not enough bread. ¹⁵ Those who survive him the pestilence buries, and his widows do not weep. ¹⁶ Though he heap up silver like dust, and pile up clothing like clay, ¹⁷ he may pile it up, but the righteous will wear it, and the innocent will divide the silver. ¹⁸ He builds his house like a moth’s, like a booth that a watchman makes. ¹⁹ He goes to bed rich, but will do so no more; he opens his eyes, and his wealth is gone. ²⁰ Terrors overtake him like a flood; in the night a whirlwind carries him off. ²¹ The east wind lifts him up and he is gone; it sweeps him out of his place. ²² It hurls at him without pity; he flees from its power in headlong flight. ²³ It claps its hands at him and hisses at him from its place.

Francis Chan has offered an interesting illustration that pertains to hypocrisy and to integrity.

Recently I saw a bag of potato chips with a bold declaration splashed across the front: “Zero grams of trans fat.” I was glad to know that I wouldn’t be consuming trans fat, which research has shown is detrimental to my health. But then I flipped the bag over and read the ingredients list, which included things like “yellow #6” and other artificial colors, and partially hydrogenated oil (which is trans fat, just a small enough amount that they can legally call it “0 grams”). I thought it was incredibly ironic that these chips were being advertised in a way that makes me think they are not harmful yet were really full of empty calories, weird chemicals, and, ironically, trans fat.

            It struck me that many Christians flash around their “no trans fat” label, trying to convince everyone they are healthy and good. Yet they have no substantive or healthful elements to their faith…Obviously, it’s not what you advertise that counts; it’s what you are really made of.[1]

One might say that the book of Job consists of Job’s “friends” accusing him of being like that bag of potato chips and of Job responding that, in point of fact, what was on the inside was exactly what was advertised on the outside. Job’s friends insisted that he must have had some hidden “trans fats.” Job again and again insisted that he did not.

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Job 25

¹ Then Bildad the Shuhite answered and said: ² “Dominion and fear are with God; he makes peace in his high heaven. ³ Is there any number to his armies? Upon whom does his light not arise? ⁴ How then can man be in the right before God? How can he who is born of woman be pure? ⁵ Behold, even the moon is not bright, and the stars are not pure in his eyes; ⁶ how much less man, who is a maggot, and the son of man, who is a worm!”

Job 26

¹ Then Job answered and said: ² “How you have helped him who has no power! How you have saved the arm that has no strength! ³ How you have counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge! ⁴ With whose help have you uttered words, and whose breath has come out from you? ⁵ The dead tremble under the waters and their inhabitants. ⁶ Sheol is naked before God, and Abaddon has no covering. ⁷ He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing. ⁸ He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them. ⁹ He covers the face of the full moon and spreads over it his cloud. ¹⁰ He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness. ¹¹ The pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at his rebuke. ¹² By his power he stilled the sea; by his understanding he shattered Rahab. ¹³ By his wind the heavens were made fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. ¹⁴ Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”

Erasmus of Rotterdam is still recognized as one of the truly great minds ever to appear on the earth. A prodigious scholar, Erasmus took a degree in theology, though theology was but one of his many pursuits. Furthermore, he was not overly thrilled with taking a degree in theology and claims that he did so only because his friends pushed him in to it. Continue reading →

Philemon

¹ Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus, and Timothy our brother, To Philemon our beloved fellow worker ² and Apphia our sister and Archippus our fellow soldier, and the church in your house: ³ Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

In 1642, Blaise Pascal, at the age of nineteen, started working on building a mechanical calculator, primarily in order to help his father with his business as a tax commissioner. The calculator came to be known as “the pascaline.” This invention was significant for a number of reasons, as Wikipedia explains:

Besides being the first calculating machine made public during its time, the pascaline is also:

• the only operational mechanical calculator in the 17th century.
• the first calculator to have a controlled carry mechanism that allowed for an effective propagation of multiple carries
• the first calculator to be used in an office (his father’s to compute taxes)
• the first calculator commercialized (with around twenty machines built)
• the first calculator to be patented (royal privilege of 1649)
• the first calculator to be described in an encyclopedia (Diderot & d’Alembert, 1751)
• the first calculator sold by a distributor[1]

Jean-Claude Carriere has told the story of how a man he knows discovered one of Pascal’s calculators.

I also knew a superb bookseller in the rue de l’Universite,’ who specialized in scientific books and objects…He lived on the rue du Bac, on the other side of boulevard Saint-Germain. One night he was walking home up the rue de Bac. He crossed the boulevard and, as he was walking along, he noticed a small piece of brass poking out of a rubbish bin. He stopped, lifted the lid, went through the bin and pulled out one of the twelve calculators made by Pascal himself. Absolutely priceless. It now lives in the National Conservatory of Arts and Crafts, the CNAM. Who had thrown it out?[2]

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Mark 3

¹ Again he entered the synagogue, and a man was there with a withered hand. ² And they watched Jesus, to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse him. ³ And he said to the man with the withered hand, “Come here.” ⁴ And he said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. ⁵ And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was restored. ⁶ The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him.

Some time back, our staff read through Eric Metaxas’ very interesting book Miracles as a devotional exercise. He begins his book with a most interesting quotation.

In a 2013 article in The New Yorker about faith and belief, Adam Gopnik wrote the following: “We know that…in the billions of years of the universe’s existence, there is no evidence of a single miraculous intercession (sic) with the laws of nature.”…In the article, Gopnik continues: “We need not imagine that there’s no Heaven; we know that there is none, and we will search for angels forever in vain.

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Job 24

¹ “Why are not times of judgment kept by the Almighty, and why do those who know him never see his days? ² Some move landmarks; they seize flocks and pasture them. ³ They drive away the donkey of the fatherless; they take the widow’s ox for a pledge. ⁴ They thrust the poor off the road; the poor of the earth all hide themselves. ⁵ Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert the poor go out to their toil, seeking game; the wasteland yields food for their children. ⁶ They gather their fodder in the field, and they glean the vineyard of the wicked man. ⁷ They lie all night naked, without clothing, and have no covering in the cold. ⁸ They are wet with the rain of the mountains and cling to the rock for lack of shelter. ⁹ (There are those who snatch the fatherless child from the breast, and they take a pledge against the poor.) ¹⁰ They go about naked, without clothing; hungry, they carry the sheaves; ¹¹ among the olive rows of the wicked they make oil; they tread the winepresses, but suffer thirst. ¹² From out of the city the dying groan, and the soul of the wounded cries for help; yet God charges no one with wrong. ¹³ “There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths. ¹⁴ The murderer rises before it is light, that he may kill the poor and needy, and in the night he is like a thief. ¹⁵ The eye of the adulterer also waits for the twilight, saying, ‘No eye will see me’; and he veils his face. ¹⁶ In the dark they dig through houses; by day they shut themselves up; they do not know the light. ¹⁷ For deep darkness is morning to all of them; for they are friends with the terrors of deep darkness. ¹⁸ “You say, ‘Swift are they on the face of the waters; their portion is cursed in the land; no treader turns toward their vineyards. ¹⁹ Drought and heat snatch away the snow waters; so does Sheol those who have sinned. ²⁰ The womb forgets them; the worm finds them sweet; they are no longer remembered, so wickedness is broken like a tree.’ ²¹ “They wrong the barren, childless woman, and do no good to the widow. ²² Yet God prolongs the life of the mighty by his power; they rise up when they despair of life. ²³ He gives them security, and they are supported, and his eyes are upon their ways. ²⁴ They are exalted a little while, and then are gone; they are brought low and gathered up like all others; they are cut off like the heads of grain. ²⁵ If it is not so, who will prove me a liar and show that there is nothing in what I say?”

On his 2003 American V album, Johnny Cash recorded and made famous his own version of the an old song entitled, “God’s Gonna Cut You Down.” Wikipedia says that the song has sold 672,000 copies as of January of 2016. A unique and stark video of Cash’s rendition of the song aided its popularity. The lyrics speak to the human desire for the wicked to be punished and our sense that ultimately they will be.

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