by James Hunt | Nov 8, 2013
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean.” (Matt. 23:25–26, ESV)
The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were perfectly satisfied with proper appearances – regardless of inner reality. By the time of Jesus’ incarnation there was a very strong oral tradition of how to apply God’s Law into the minutiae of everyday Jewish life.
There was God’s perfect Law, of course; however, that was not enough, or so thought the Pharisees. Starting in the post-exilic period and growing through the 400 or so years prior to Jesus’ birth was the development of ideas on how to interpret God’s Law and apply its commands down to the finest details of everyday experience.
The oral traditions became the cushion surrounding the Law. If a person overlooked one of the traditions that was an infraction … but at least the actual Law hadn’t been transgressed. Over time, these oral traditions took on greater importance until, in effect, if you broke them; then it was essentially as taboo as breaking the actual Mosaic Law.
There were oral traditions that regulated how one must properly wash their hands, regulated how long a Sabbath Day’s journey was, and many, many more fine points of extra-biblical instruction imposed upon the masses. Whose job was it to make sure Jewish society followed these oral traditions? It was the self-imposed responsibility of the Pharisees – and their highly respected scholars, the scribes.
The Pharisees, as a whole, were respected members of Jewish society. They were many times the business owners and influencers of the day. Certainly the majority of Jewish society viewed the Pharisees with great respect and treated the scribes with tremendous honor. After all, they were the experts in the Law and how to apply it to real life.
The only big fly in the ointment for the scribes and Pharisees was a Jewish Rabbi named Jesus. While Jesus could be heard softly speaking words of forgiveness and grace to repentant harlots and tax collectors, He reserved His greatest and harshest chastisements for the scribes and Pharisees.
These are the guys who loved to publically display their religious zeal and service – their ceremonial cleanness; yet, it was they whom Jesus denounced as zealous for the wrong things, their service unacceptable and their ceremony offensive. Jesus says to them in the passage above that their cup is really nice and clean on the outside, that is, “You look good and clean to all who see you.” But Jesus says to them that they are really corrupt on the inside.
I am quick to toss my head in disdain at these guys as I read through Matthew’s gospel. After all, I feel as if they are pretty spiritually ridiculous … That is, until I go back and evaluate myself along the same lines of Jesus’ rebuke. Jesus condemns them for being filled with “greed and self-indulgence.” In verse 23 of the same chapter, Jesus tells these same leaders that they should pay special attention to “the weightier matters of the law.” He defines those weightier matters as follows: “justice and mercy and faithfulness.”
Earlier in Matt. 9:13, Jesus tells these same religious leaders that they should “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’”
What does this all mean to me personally? How am I to apply these texts to my own life? Way too often I see in me the same value system of the scribes and Pharisees. I see that I highly prize looking spiritually fit on the outside, yet, many times in my heart of hearts I have greed and an insatiable desire to gain more of this world’s goods and services (self-indulgence).
I find myself evaluating whether or not an opportunity to serve God will benefit me financially or in the area of personal or family advancement. Is this not the same sin-sickness of the scribes and Pharisees? How many folks, myself included, have heard about adoption or fostering and have justified inaction based, in reality, on the above two vices at work in their heart? That certainly used to be my attitude.
I wonder sometimes if I really am interested in seeing justice happen for the powerless. I find myself feeling an emotion of sympathy for the pain of others and equate that with mercy when, in reality, mercy is as mercy DOES. Yet many times I do nothing and feel justified, after all, I am ceremonially clean (Modern Day Church Version: Attend worship, give of my time and resources, life devoted to vocational ministry, etc.). I wonder if sometimes Jesus sighs and shakes His head at my positive self-evaluations.
And then there is Jesus’ allusion to Hosea 6 as recorded in Matt. 9:13, “Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’” OUCH!
Conclusion: When our future plans do not include how we may be used maximally for the display of God’s glory in the advancement of His Kingdom and the display of His mercy then perhaps we are modern-day Pharisees.
by James Hunt | Oct 23, 2013
I was struck recently by a phrase repeated twice in the 10th chapter of Daniel. An otherworldly guest, an angel, visits Daniel. Completely devastated and immobilized by the appearance and glory of this heavenly being, Daniel is in need of strength and reassurance. Thankfully both are given in short order.
What I find particularly interesting is how the angel addresses Daniel. He says, “O Daniel, man greatly loved.” (Vss.11 & 19) The angel certainly has more to say than this curious and tender personal address. However, I am confident that his words were quite comforting to hear. Daniel is literally speechless with shock when the angel appears. From the description of his physical response it seems as if he loses consciousness, is revived, and is then physically trying to avoid eye contact and is mute. Each time the angel speaks to Daniel words of strength and reassurance, “O man greatly loved.”
Have you ever felt struck down by the presence of holiness? Have you ever sensed the overwhelming presence of goodness versus your obvious lack of the same? There have been occasions where I have felt a little bit of the immobilizing sense of horror that Daniel must have felt that day. Sometimes this has happened on the heels of a failure in my life.
Too many times I have been reminded of God’s perfect standard of holiness in contrast with my personal sense of shame. It is on these occasions that I find it especially helpful to receive the same comfort given to Daniel through the voice of the Spirit as recorded in New Covenant Scripture. One passage of comfort – of reassuring grace is found in Eph. 1:6 where it is said that through grace, God “has blessed us in the Beloved.” Amazing, isn’t it, to think that sinful people can be transformed into blessed sons and daughters of God?
It is transformative to realize that despite our failures, we are in union with Jesus – the Beloved of God. In chapter 2:15 we see that union with Christ in the reality of Jesus being our substitute and thus “making peace.” We are at peace with a holy God because we are in the Beloved of God, Jesus Christ. Meditating on these truths gives me strength and reassurance. I belong. I am loved. I am beloved of God. I am a “man greatly loved.”
Earlier this year, in August, our church hosted an adoption fair for older kids in OKDHS care. Attending the event were about 40 children ranging from age 12-18. The reality is that as a child ages his or her chances at being chosen for adoption declines. The reason we hosted an older child adoption fair was to create a venue where these kids would have a better opportunity to find a “forever family”. At last report, five kids were in the process of being placed for adoption as a result of this fair. The reality is, however, most will probably not be adopted. Most will never be wanted. Most know it. Many of these children still hold out a glimmer of hope longing to hear that they are greatly loved. Most won’t ever hear it. Please consider helping us change this reality. For more information on how to get started please contact me at jhunt@councilroad.org.
by James Hunt | Oct 8, 2013
What is the difference in a name? “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold” (Proverbs 22:1, ESV). According to this proverb, a name makes all the difference in someone’s life. What’s in mind here is not so much someone’s actual name, Bob or Sally, rather, someone’s reputation. To illustrate this reality let’s do a quick comparison of names:
- What do you immediately think of when you hear the name “Miley Cyrus”?
- How about “Lottie Moon”?
Based on the reputation of each of the above, we might label the first a train-wreck and the latter a saint. Of course, we could use this exercise pitting all sorts of people against each other. The point is that reputations matter. Reputations sometimes result in labels. Sometimes labels are fair; at other times, labels miss the mark due to the discoloration of the assessors frame of reference, prejudices, or misguided information.
Labeling people according to perceived reputation can sometimes be wrong. Take for instance the self-deprecating labels Gideon had of himself: abandoned, weakest, and youngest. We might label him, fearful, and unimpressive. God, instead, appeared to him and called him a mighty warrior (Judges 6:12). God changed Gideon’s label because He intended to change Gideon’s reputation. God had in mind to use this timid person to conquer the terrorizing enemy – to be the judge that would rescue God’s people. Before the reputation of Gideon became in actuality “Mighty Warrior,” God labeled him as such. Interesting, don’t you think?
Let’s bring this back to our own day and context. What do you think of when you read the following labels?
- OKDHS – Oklahoma Department of Human Services
- Child trafficking victim
- Orphan
What if we asked God to help us to see each entity or person not according to current reputations but rather according to what God intends for each? What if we began to assume that God wanted to change the reputations…the labels of each to represent and put on display His glory?
- OKDHS – What if God wants His people to not stand aloof from OKDHS and cast stones at the obvious faults; rather, what if He asks us to move toward the “system” – the people serving within the system – and ask a simple question, “How may I serve you? How may I make a difference for you and for the kids in state’s care?” Contact me at jhunt@councilroad.org for some ideas.
- Child trafficking victim – Could God actually want you or me to make a difference in the life of a child who has been or is at risk of being trafficked? There are some wonderful ministries to support or serve with at http://orphanjustice.com/the-book/chapter-resources/chapter-2-orphans-and-trafficking/ministry-links/.
- Orphan – Join the movement of God in changing children’s destinies (physically and spiritually) who are labeled “Orphans” and make them become sons and daughters through adoption. Isn’t that what God has done for us in Christ?
Yes, labels matter. Reputations matter. I hope you’ll join us and get the reputation of being one who is a friend of orphans.
by James Hunt | Sep 19, 2013
Orphan Sunday is coming. What this means for the church I serve is that we are well on our way to making plans for celebrating what God is doing around the world, and in our own area, on behalf of orphans.
It is reported that there are approximately 153 million orphans in the world today. A portion of these vulnerable children live in our own country. If we look at the U.S. foster system alone, there are about 500,000 kids in custody. Of that number, there are more than 100,000 foster kids who have a permanency goal of adoption.
These children in the custody of the U.S. foster system are what we may term, “Legal Orphans.” Even if their time spent in the foster system is temporary, they typically have an enduring generational heritage of struggle and lack of adequate care that has been handed down to them by parents and even grandparents. It is not unusual to discover that a child in state’s custody is the biological son or daughter of a parent and even a grandparent who themselves were in the foster system at some point in their adolescence.
I return to where I began this article: Orphan Sunday is coming. For the past few years, many churches have made an effort to help God’s people understand the plight of orphans around the world and to discover the Father’s heart for the marginalized kids in our own context.
Since the Church is to be about the proclamation of the Gospel and the making of disciples is the Body of Christ veering off course by focusing on this social issue? Is there biblical precedent for the public promotion of social ministry such as adoption, fostering and orphan care? What about the Gospel? Does it get lost in the sea of social ministry activity?
This last question I will address first. Does the Gospel fade away or get lost when the Church focuses on social concerns? To this I will say that it is a very real possibility.
We cannot make the mistakes of some of the mainline denominations of the late 18th and early 19th centuries that replaced Gospel proclamation with social action. In essence, many folks redefined the Gospel and lost its message of a literal Christ on a bloody cross, an empty tomb and a triumphal resurrection. We must certainly be vigilant to NOT do that!
As a matter of fact, I believe that social ministry should actually flow from our fundamental belief in the Gospel. God sent His Son to spiritual orphaned and marginalized sinners. He calls us to realize our own rescue in Christ and reach out in an effort to rescue others. Does this not include a targeted effort to the physically orphaned and marginalized of the world?
But what about the first question posed: Is there biblical precedent for the public promotion of social ministry such as adoption, fostering and orphan care? Let’s let Scripture answer this one. I could begin by digging into the well-referred-to James 1:27 which would provide us a clear New Covenant reference to God’s expectation of those in Christ.
After all, the Holy Spirit there defines pure religion partly as that which takes into consideration the concerns and sufferings of the marginalized in society, namely, widows and orphans. But I will refrain digging into this passage at this time and instead focus on another taken from the Old Covenant writings. In particular, I am thinking of the following text: “Wash yourselves; make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from before my eyes; cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression; bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause” (Isaiah 1:16–17, ESV).
Interestingly, the above passage addresses the same basic elements found in James 1:27 – holy living, care for the marginalized. But Isaiah’s call to bring justice to the fatherless is not some novel concept he conjures up to show the Israelites how to honor God; rather, it is a call to repent and return to covenant faithfulness. His message is an attempt to remind God’s people of what is required of them in the Mosaic Law (Ex. 22:22-24; Deut. 24:17).
Read through the major prophets of Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and you will discover that the Israelites had been exceedingly unfaithful to the commands of the Covenant – the Law of God. One theme you will see addressed time and again is this issue of refusing to provide justice for the marginalized (For a powerful example, read Isa. 58). God’s people are indicted and found guilty. God will bring them to judgment, and, one of the reasons He will do so is because they no longer care for the most powerless among them.
I am convinced that God has always intended that His covenant people care for the marginalized: The poor, the foreigner, the widow, and, yes, even the orphan. Perhaps one gets no closer to putting on display the mercies of Abba Father, as well as the compassion of Jesus Christ, then when they serve those with no voice and no power to change their sad situation. May God help us as His New Covenant people to do as Jesus did – move toward the suffering and seek to rescue them spiritually as well as changing their physical reality of suffering.
I’d love to hear from anyone wanting to discuss these matters or who may be looking for ways to make their local church move toward the orphan. Oh, and one more thing, if you know of someone from the Oklahoma City metro area who is trying to finance an adoption please get them in contact with me. There is a Karis Adoption Fund in place to offer financial assistance.
by James Hunt | Sep 10, 2013
I don’t think many would argue against the observation that there is a growing animosity between “we the people” and the powers that be in government. I am not a political hack, nor do I intend to use my voice for political purposes; however, I will address the issue of God and government simply because the Bible does. In particular, I wish to point out two realities we discover in Romans 13:1-7 and then offer suggested application related to one particular issue in our own context.
After making the case for the common malady of all humanity, namely, that all are guilty and condemned equally because of sin, and, after pointing to the solution provided for both Jew and Gentile – a crucified, buried, risen Savior (Rom. 1-11), Paul then offers to believers ways to live out the implications of their new life in Jesus (Rom. 12-16). This practical application section includes instructions on how a Christian should view and relate to the human institution of government.
Two Realities:
1. God is the Authority behind human authorities – even pagan ones.
“Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.” (Rom. 13:1, ESV)
This is a particularly difficult issue for me to wrap my mind around. In this verse, Paul is telling believers to obey a pagan, Roman Emperor, Nero at that time, as well as other pagan authorities. Jew and Gentile alike in the known world of that day were under Roman domination. Paul attributes the choice of Nero to God Himself and commands the First Century Christians to “be subject” to him. I am reminded of Jesus’ answer to Pilate in John 19:10-11 when asked, ”You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” (John 19:10, ESV) Jesus’ reply corresponds to the theological reality found in our passage under discussion. “Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. ” (John 19:11, ESV)
Christians in the USA on the left and the right typically have something to say and a voice of criticism to offer when the person at the top of the Executive Branch is not to their liking; however, if I am reading Rom. 13 correctly, whomever the President is has been chosen by God Himself. Perhaps even more dramatically, I am very confused when I see on the world stage leaders of countries who demonstrate the willingness to harm their own people, such as apparently is the case currently in Syria. I see the reality of the millions of refugees, many of whom are children (http://www.bpnews.net/bpnews.asp?id=40997), and I am left to wonder why God has allowed (picked?) those rulers to be in power. Perhaps some things are not for us to know? What we do know is that God expects Christians to be subject to authorities, even when they are pagans, recognizing that they are agents and ministers of God and thus due our honor and our taxes (see verses 6-7).
2. God puts authorities in place for the good of society in the common kingdoms of mankind.
“Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” (Rom. 13:2–4, ESV)
It is true that the Kingdom of God has broken into this world. John prepared the way for the King by telling people to “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” (Matt. 3:2) Later, Jesus Himself told the 72 when He commissioned them to ministry that part of their message was to include the following, “The kingdom of God has come near you.” (Luke 10:9) But we realize as we look at the suffering and degradation across our globe that the Kingdom of God has not fully taken over. As a matter of fact, we understand that until the kingdoms and governments of this world are completely under the immediate rule of the King of kings then we will see abuses in power and corruption. In the meantime, we certainly long for the day when the victorious declaration of Rev. 11:15 is in fact reality, “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever.”
While we wait longingly for the King to take residence and fix the mess we are in, we are left with the authorities and governments that God has established for the good of societies. Generally speaking, if a person obeys the law they live in peace; however, if a person rebels then they may suffer the just consequence of their actions. Ultimately, again, we must point out in the above passage that it is God we are obeying or disobeying when we obey or disobey the laws of the land in which we reside.
Application:
According to Ben Knockles, founder of Project 111 (http://111project.org/), there are currently 10,600 kids currently in the custody of the Oklahoma Department of Human Services. This means that 10,600 kids have personally experienced God’s hand of rescue in their lives, not necessarily spiritually, but temporally. The adverse experiences (http://www.acestudy.org/) of these children would make one ill. Abuses that have come to them in the home have many times scarred them for life. They are our wounded “innocents.” God – by the grace of His arm of human government – reached into “homes” that were places of abuse and neglect and lifted out these “innocents” and put them in the care of the human institution of government.
Does this mean that our foster system is flawless or these “rescued” kid’s situations are now ideal? Far from it! It simply means that there are those parents who have broken laws related to the care of their children and they have experienced the “sword of punishment” from the government. Most children in state’s care have a goal of being reunited with their biological parents. Many times parents are able to get their act together and get their children back. We celebrate this when it is a healthy situation. Who would not want to see a broken family renewed? There are many other children, however, who have their permanency goal changed from reunification to adoption.
My point? The Church and individual followers of Jesus need to take a more active role in caring for children’s in-state’s care. As we do this, we just may also discover that we become the means by which God rescues a child spiritually just as He has done temporally.