Our Civil Duty

The issue of Mark 12:13-17 lays out a message that requires thorough reading for both then and now. It is true; for all intents and purposes, this was a test for the Christ. The flattery heaped by the Pharisees and Herodians is thick and does not go unnoticed. But their observations are true. The dilemma they intend to force on Jesus is legitimate on its surface. A response to civil authority is required of any citizen in any country at all times, even as it is today in America.  Regardless of how unjust a “tax” may be or how heavy the burden hoisted on the citizens by its government, there is a necessity to respond either in obedience or revolt and the latter was what the religious leaders hoped Jesus would convey. Note: even though Jesus response in this situation was correct and sends his flatterers away amazed, they accuse him of not paying or at least encouraging people not to pay taxes during his trial in Luke 23:2.

There are several instances in scripture which talk about civil responsibility. If you care to examine them, consult Romans 13:1-7, Col 1:16, 1 Timothy 2:1-6, Titus 3:1-2 and 1 Peter 2:13-17. 

In this season of discontent in the US with a large number of citizens in revolt against huge government spending, big government bureaucracy and waste, are Christians correct and within the guidelines of scripture to protest and defy the actions of the civil authorities? Is there anything immoral about the intent or action of the current Government that compels us to respond or to see what they are doing as an affront to God? Or should we support and comply? Do we stand under the umbrella of our constitution or the authority of scripture? Are those two “documents” in agreement with our rights as citizens or do we abrogate our rights under the authority and teaching of scripture?

Is our Government anti-God or anti-Christian or anti-faith?  I suspect many would argue “yes” without any hesitation or reservation. Others would say there is no requirement of scripture that Government be godly, Christian, or faith driven. It simply is what it is, leaders appointed by God and as long as they are not casting God into his own created darkness, than we have an obligation to obedience. In addition, we do not have an option of divorcing our faith from our civil obligations – we are not a Christian on the one hand and citizens on the other – we are Christian citizens. We cannot divorce our faith from our citizenship any more than we can divorce our faith from our daily life. Christian is who we are, not what we are.

Does that mean we like what our Government is doing; that we agree with what our Government is doing; that we support what our Government is doing? The answer for many of us is “No!” But that does not give us any right – not one under the authority of scripture – to do anything but obey.  As we are taught – anyone can be good when treated fairly and justly. It is when we are punished for doing no wrong that the strength and depth of our faith is tested. And these trials are not just from God, but from the authorities he has put in place over us. 

Does that mean we are in violation of scripture if we protest or let our opinions be made known to our government officials? Perhaps. So then what?

Prayer and Sin

During our recent Sunday morning service, the pastor – as many pastors do – decided to preach on something different from what he had planned. In other words, his series on Job was being interrupted because he felt God leading him to speak about other things.  That’s all well and good and I appreciate a man’s candor about that. Although I suspect that God lead him to do the series on Job, so why God would change his mind in order to change the pastor’s mind is befuddling – nevertheless.

Apparently, what prompted the change was a realization that the pastor had been praying for the wrong things. That in some regard his prayers were self direct and somewhat selfish (anyone identify with that?).  Now it is not unusual for all of us to pray wrongly at times. We think we understand needs and pray accordingly. There are times when we pray from the center of God’s will and sense it deeply. And of course there are times when we pray by simply uttering words with little thought to whom we pray or the content of our prayer.

Now here’s the rub from this whole thing. Multiple times the pastor referred to his misdirected prayers as “sin”.  Perhaps he prayed with a wrong understanding, but to refer to his prayer as sin seems a bit of a stretch. I’ll admit, my reaction to this may be a direct response to the fact that I suspect many times, much of the time, a great percentage of the time, my prayers are not always in synch with God’s will – or even my understanding of God’s will. Now if that’s sin, I’m guilty. However, I think we all pray wrongly at times. We  think we know how to pray when in reality we know how to say pertinent words, but not necessarily principled words. We know how to seek out but are not that good at soaking in. We know how to petition but are not that good at penitents. But is any of that sin?  Perhaps if willful, but who of us enter into prayer with an intent to deceive, mislead or bamboozle God?   If we do, then indeed, SIN is the word. However, I suspect that is seldom, if ever the case. Yes, sin can inhibit prayer, sin can negate prayer, just  as prayer can inhibit sin and prayer can help us overcome sin.

Prayer and sin have a relationship. Nevertheless, we might be cautious about how we relate prayer to sin and sin to prayer.

“You Lie”

It’s unfortunate the Representative from SC, Joe Wilson had to disrupt Obama’s speech with “You lie!”  But then again, listening to the President’s rhetoric has often had me in fits wishing that some one in the chamber would call his misinformation.  “You lie” might have been a bit too much and with the President’s new numbers of 30,000 instead of what they have been saying all along 45,000 people without insurance, it may be that his plan will NOT cover illegal aliens. However, up to that point, the House bill did factor in illegal aliens.

Rep. Wilson will never recover from this I suspect. But kudos to him for saying what millions of Americans watching wanted to say.  My goodness, they didn’t even hand out copies of the speech, simply a laminated “talking points” sheet. So much for transparency and openness.

The Democrats and those on the left will no doubt use this situation to their advantage and ratchet themselves up to push through a bill – any bill. And the American people – at least a significant number of American people - will find themselves wondering what the hell happened. As one commentator said, with the compassion of the IRS, the efficiency of Fannie May and Freddy Mack, and the management skills of the Post Office is it any wonder a large part of America is suspect with regard to the government running a healthcare program.  In addition, if Obama thinks for one minute anyone in government is going to find and eliminate waste and abuse in such programs as Medicare, then I suspect he’s been drinking too much Kool-aid.

Yes, health care needs to be reformed. Yes, I don’t like paying for the uninsured’s visit to the Emergency room any more than any one else. And yes, we need tort reform and the ability to buy insurance across state lines.  What we don’t need is more taxes on small business and a government run program that will undoubtedly lead to more waste and abuse. Nor do we need people who cannot for one minute truly empathize with the plight of most Americans regardless of what Ted Kennedy may or may not have said about his ability to do just that.   And to think for one minute that 980 billion will be the price tag is not only ridiculous, it is absurd.

Now I know that God is in control and nothing surprises him. I even suspect he’s getting a pretty good chuckle out of our wrangling over this whole issue. Nevertheless, we have a social, moral, and spiritual obligation to do what’s right.  Right for the country and right for the people. But to think for one minute we can do the right thing with the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing is naive. The Democrats can’t continue to sleep with the trial lawyers and the Republicans cannot continue to sleep with big insurance companies and ever expect to get anything done. At least anything of substance. It just cannot and will not happen.  It’s all about money and you cannot serve both God and money. Or in this case, special interest groups and the American people.

Finally, did the President lie in his campaign address to the joint session of Congress?  Perhaps not. Was he upfront, giving the whole picture of his plan and his characterization of the “lies and distortion” that he accused his opponents of? Perhaps not.  So if our President will not be straight forward with us then how could we ever expect anyone else in Government to be?

Oh wait, I know, let’s blame President Bush!

Okay, I feel better now.

The Rich Young Man

In the discussion with the Rich Young Man in Mark 10, Jesus made an interesting observation about the young man’s commitment and desire to keep the Law. The observation was this, “You lack one thing…”

What was the one thing the rich young man lacked?  If he had done all that the Law required of him “from (his) youth” then where was the void? What had he missed? Was it sacrifice, commitment, generosity, sincerity or something different?  It may have been all of those things and more. Specifically, it may have been security. The security this young man found in his wealth and the status that wealth garnered. Consequently, what he lacked was the ability or desire to walk away from that security. Nevertheless Jesus was willing to give him that opportunity when he said, “GO, SELL all that you have and GIVE it to the poor…and COME follow me.”  At that point it appears the conversation was over. Jesus had scratched the young man’s veneer of vulnerability to the false security of wealth and challenged him to move beyond that superficial idea. He could not.

All the verbs that Jesus uses to move the man to a true inheritance of eternal life had been a nail in the coffin of his tender soul. He had worked hard for his wealth and had his fist tightly clinched in a desperate move to hold on to it along with his dedication to the Law. But that was not enough. It never is.

Most of us know this story and how it ends. The young man could not do what Jesus asked him to do. It grieved both his heart and Jesus’. The young man walks away knowing – or at least admitting at that time - that he could not “sell all that he (had) and give it to the poor.” It was just too much.

With the economic conditions of our time, many of us are faced with the issue of security. We may scale back our giving to the local church, to missional work, to faith-based ministries and the like.  Because of our acute awareness that today or tomorrow could be our last day of viable income, we tend to give short-handed. That is we give, we just give out of fear even though we may never be asked to give in the same proportion as the rich young ruler and that is, give “all”.

I often look and wonder where ’ve tethered the rope of my security. Is it a bank account, a portfolio, certain possessions, a home?  If called upon, as an expression of trust in God’s security, could I or would I go, sell and give in order to follow? 

In my mind’s eye, I like to think that perhaps somewhere down the road the rich young man decided that what he had was not worth keeping in comparison to what he needed to have. That the “price” of eternal life was worth the “cost” of giving away all that he had. As we know, “all” was the price Jesus paid at the cross. But perhaps the man didn’t and simply died a rich old man - rich but still lacking.

Prayer or Faith – Or Both

I’m a simple man so it takes me a while to sort through my thoughts. Often I have initial reactions, which is usually what I run with, but there are times when I find myself hamstrung by a passage and unable to come to terms with what it means.  Such is the passage in Mark regarding the epileptic boy (Mark 9:14-29, Matt 17:14-19, Luke 9;37-42).

There are several points of interest in this passage:

1. The disciples inability to accomplish the task at hand. Now it is important to remember, that these men had been given authority to cast out demons, heal the sick and even raise the dead. But for whatever reason, this particular situation rendered them impotent.  Matthew explains it is because of their “little faith.” Mark says that Jesus’ explanation it is the lack of prayer (and fasting).   It should be noted that there is little doubt that Matthew was present at the event. Mark, on the other hand, gathering his information from Peter (who was not present) and others, gives a different emphasis. It could be that Jesus said something that included both “little faith” and puny prayers and each account settled on one issue. Either way, prayer without faith is simply words and faith without praying is truly unguided.
2. Jesus’ frustration at the whole situation compels a reaction that is both harsh and somewhat insensitive to everyone present. If his words are directed toward the nine disciples, I can only imagine how they must have cowered and sought to back away from an already failing exercise. If it was directed toward the crowd in general (generation) than there seems to be an implication that there was plenty of blame to go around. But what role Jesus expected the crowd to play in all of this is unclear. The role of the disciples was evident.
3. The father’s statement, “I believe, help my unbelief,” something that only Mark records, might have been words the nine disciples could have echoed. When the father expresses his reason for bringing the boy to Jesus, hoping that Jesus could do something to help them  Jesus turns the situation around. It is not whether Jesus can help the boy, it is whether or not the father has the faith necessary (v. 23). Hence the father’s reply, “I believe. Help my unbelief.” In my estimation, that is the fulcrum of the entire event. Just as the father pointed to his struggling faith, the nine disciples may have believed but failed in their ability to act on that belief and became intimidated by the severity of the boy’s condition.

I often wrestle with my belief system and find myself frustrated with my “unbelief.” There are times when my faith seems vibrant and compelling then there are times when it seems purely analytical. There are times when I can pray effective prayers and other times when it seems my prayer does nothing more than bounce off the walls and echo back in my mind. 

Perhaps if Jesus would have taken the teaching moment and showed the disciples how they could accomplish the task instead of simply doing it himself, there may have been a cohesive message between Mark and Matthew. Perhaps if he would have said “O, faithless disciples….” instead of “generation” I could have seen that even those in the inner circle struggled with their belief system just as I do.  But he didn’t. 

There is no doubt that often times I have “little faith.” I have powerless prayers. Consequently, I’m uncertain whether praying more results in bigger faith or bigger faith issues from praying more. I suspect it is both and, not either or.  As the old gospel hymn explains, “prayer is the key to heaven, but faith unlocks the door.”