On Brokenness

Once there was a blind man named Bill.  Bill was a kind person, always helpful, he had a pretty good sense of direction, really, for being a blind person, and he could tell people how to get anywhere.  He was generally of a friendly disposition and he loved children and pets.

His main problem was that he didn’t know he was blind.

He strongly suspected it.  He knew he wasn’t perfect.  He made mistakes.  Heck, everyone does.  But he couldn’t admit that he had a problem that no one else had.  He thought that everyone listened to the television, lost in mystery.  He thought everyone ran into poles on a regular basis when they walked down the street.  He thought that perhaps he was a bit more clumsy than others.  But it wasn’t a big deal.

Of course, everyone who spent time with him knew.  He kept his eyes closed, since they were useless, so at first people just wondered why he kept his eyes closed.  Then they realized the obvious truth, so they figured that he was just a really independently-minded blind man.  They didn’t say anything to him about it.  After all, it wasn’t their business.

All this was fine until one day Bill ran across a child who was lost.  When he would meet an adult who needed directions, he would just tell them verbally in his even, precise tone.  And the adult would get there, no problem. 

This time Bill considered that he should direct the child by hand.  After all, the child needed more protection.  So he took her by the hand and led her down the streets and paths that he knew so well in his mind. 

But he couldn’t see the ditch he ran her into.

And he didn’t see the tree that he ran her into.

He didn’t see the silent dog that bit her on the path.

When she just cried, louder and louder, he comforted her and told her, “Don’t worry, we’ll be home soon.”

When he did take her home, she was so beaten and broken that the child’s mother called the police and had him arrested for child abuse.   When he was told of the charges, he said, “But all I was trying to do is help.”

* * *

I am broken. 

Some of my brokenness is sin, but not all of it.  I have weaknesses, injuries, trauma and mental deficiencies that make me less capable, less of a loving person.  It is not accurate to say "I am a sinner".  Rather, I am broken.  I can't accomplish all that I should.  Or that I feel I should.  I am broken.

So are you. And everyone we know. Which means we need to be patient with each other. We are all broken in different ways, and we don't trust the way other people are broken. 

We could understand if everyone were broken in the same way. But because we are all broken differently, it is even more important to work at understanding.

But it is not enough to know that we are broken.  We must know what our brokenness is, and how our brokenness can hurt others.  There are people all around us who are vulnerable to our weaknesses, and we may not know how we can hurt them, unless we look into it.

We need to know ourselves.  Not just our personalities, not just our types, but we need to know how we are broken and how we can hurt others.  We might be able to be fixed, in some ways.  We may not.  But we have to take care not to be ignorant enough of our brokenness that we hurt others.

Part of loving others is to know how we are broken.

Part of loving others is to give ourselves space so our brokenness doesn’t harm others.

Part of loving others is to take care around people who might be especially vulnerable to our brokenness.

It is not enough to see how my brokenness affects myself, but also others.  I must be aware of those who will be hurt by my brokenness, although I never meant to hurt them.

This week I hurt people.  I was wounded by trauma and I ended up wounding others because of the trauma I experienced.  

I was hurt enough that I shouted at a mentally ill person, who experienced her own trauma.  Later, I apologized.  And she wept, openly, because I admitted my own weakness and response.  That didn't heal her.  But perhaps it healed part of our relationship.  I hope so.

I want to be more aware of how I harm others because of the harm placed upon me.

Father, may my brokenness never cause another to be broken.  Let the cycle stop here.

Long Live the Riff Raff

All the homosexuals and the homeless and the drug dealers and sex workers and meth addicts and convicted child pornographers came to Jesus to listen to him. And the conservative evangelicals and the Bible scholars denounced him, “He is opening the door of the church to the wicked.”

But Jesus told them this story, “Look, if you had a hundred cars and one of them was stolen, wouldn’t you forget about all the other ninety nine and just focus on the one until it was found? You’d call the police, call your neighbors and be generally freaked out—not about the ninety nine, but for the one that was lost. Then, when it is found, you would drive it home proudly and happily. And you’d call your neighbors and the police and say, ‘Praise God! My stolen car was found!” It is this very joy that God has when a single sinner repents and comes back to God, away from his sins. He loves that more than ninety nine church-goers who only ever say the right things.

“Suppose there was a woman with ten coins, worth a thousand dollars each and one of them came up missing. Wouldn’t she take out her flashlight and turn all the furniture upside down until it was found? Then, once it’s found then she calls up her neighbors and say, ‘Yeah, I had lost this expensive coin, but praise God, now I’ve found it.’ Even so does God rejoice over one sinner who turns back to God away from his sin.”

Child pornographers?  Really?
Okay, so we know that Jesus hung out with tax collectors, but do we have to go so far as to say he hung out with drugies and child pornographers? Oh, yes, these are exactly the kind of folks Jesus hung out with. He welcomed those whom the Standard Religious Society (SRS, or, if you please, the church) didn’t want to have anything to do with. These were the ones that the SRS called “sinners”, but many of them really weren’t, or at least no more than anyone else. The tax collectors were folks who worked for the Romans to collect tolls for their roads. While some tax collectors DID cheat the Romans and others (like Zaccheus in Luke 19), but these toll collectors did no such thing. They didn’t make much, but they didn’t collect enough to cheat the Romans. So they had a job, just a job. But because they worked for the Romans they were automatically rejected by the SRS (i.e. the church).

So Jesus, were he here today, he would hang out with those who were “unacceptable” in the church’s eyes today. He would hang out with the homeless who are often excluded from the church simply because they don’t have good enough hygiene. He would hang out with those who belonged to cult groups like Samaritans (or like Mormons today) and explain to them the heart of God’s truth. He would hang out with the homosexuals and drunks who are unsure of their reception, even if they repent. He would hang out with the druggies and tell them about the gospel, welcoming them, eating with them, hoping to bring them—or to keep them—in God.

Who are the Riff-Raff?
Jesus targeted three groups that were set outside of the church. He welcomed the ones who were just not good enough to be in a “proper” church—Samaritans, the lame, the blind, women, the Gentiles. All of these groups were people who could be in right standing with God, but they were set out of the Temple for one reason or another. The church, like the Temple of old, has a pretty strict idea of who belongs to it. No, they don’t set up rules for it, but they set boundaries through their subtle but negative reactions to those who are poor, of different beliefs, or of a different culture. The church today is as cultural as it is spiritual—sometimes it is more culture than Spirit. And those who do not belong to the culture is outcaste.

Another group that Jesus targeted is the sinner. Some of these are professional sinners, such as prostitutes and tax collectors—those whose very profession excluded them from good graces in God’s community. Some are sinners by what they did—adultery, theft, rebellion—and they are painted as such for the rest of their life for one sin. These are like those who are in jail or prison for crimes done. While some churches might accept them, they certainly don’t allow them near their children. Again, the welcome is only partial.

The other group Jesus specifically targeted is the judged. These are people who were judged by God or by people and they have the mark of judgment against them. In Jesus’ day they are the demon possessed or the lepers. Today, they may be sufferers of AIDS or those going through withdrawal from drugs or alcohol or some other addiction. They may be people who have chronic mental illnesses. At first they might be welcome into today’s church, but then they would be rejected because they are “too difficult” or “cause too many disruptions.”

Should the church Welcome the Riff Raff?
Absolutely. If it was good enough for Jesus, then it is good enough for the church. If God sees sinners repenting as more important than a bunch of people who go to church regularly, then maybe we need to stop growing our churches and getting out on the street. Jesus didn’t just sit in the temple, looking for the riff raff to come to him. He didn’t just have a seeker’s service. Rather, he went out and established a party in every village he went to, and shared the gospel at the party. He attracted the riff raff with the kind of gathering they liked, in their area, and then spoke a message that wasn’t easy for them to hear, but it was the truth. Not everyone believed, but it was important. So the church doesn’t just need to welcome the riff raff, they need to go out where they live and give them a party.

Why should we do this? Because these riff raff—even if they’ve been following Jesus for years, they feel that they are second class Christians, or that they have no chance of being right with God at all. They think that their lives are apart from God and there is no acceptance for them. How is this? Because the church has separated themselves from the riff raff. As long as the church will have nothing to do with the riff raff, the riff raff figure that they don’t need God, either.

Yet Jesus focused his ministry on the riff raff. Jesus loves the riff raff. And Jesus’ first church was full of the riff raff—more than the “normal” folks.

How are the Riff Raff saved?
This is the easiest question to ask, but the hardest one to live out. We know that everyone is saved by faith in Jesus, by their devotion to God, their repentance from sin and their reliance on the Holy Spirit. That’s how everyone is saved, without exception, forever and ever, amen.

But the church doesn’t act that way. Rather they act like the homeless are saved by pushing through paperwork to gain homes. They act like the addict is saved by going to some anonymous group and never relapsing. They act like the homosexual is saved by getting married to someone of the opposite sex. They act like the mentally ill person is saved by taking medication. Now, there’s nothing wrong with these things. But they aren’t THE answers for people with these problems.

The only way anyone is saved is through Jesus and reliance on the Holy Spirit. And Jesus and the Spirit will lead the outcast person to the things they need for their lives. Sometimes the answer will be homes, marriage, medication and dishwashers and everything that makes up a middle class life. But for many people, it won’t.

Jesus, in calling the riff raff, chose to be homeless. He chose to be rejected. He chose to be without a family. And many of his followers went the same way. Jesus became homeless to welcome the homeless. He became familyless to welcome the familyless. He became penniless to welcome the penniless. He became rejected to welcome the rejected. And so we cannot insist that the outcast—or even the middle class—to be a part of the church must have homes, families, money and acceptance.

If the Riff Raff aren’t in the church, the church isn’t of Jesus

Great song by Casey Neill, "Riff Raff"

Repentance

The Bible says that if we are to be forgiven of our sin, we must repent of it (Acts 2:38). Jesus says that if we are to be ready for the kingdom of God, we must repent of our sin (Mark 1:15). And if we do not repent of our sin, then we will not enter the kingdom of God, or receive God’s blessings (I Corinthians 6:9-10). But what is repentance? How will we gain God’s blessings over our sin?

What Repentance Is Not

A. Repentance is not simply saying, “I’m sorry.”
While that may be a part of repentance, it is not the whole thing. The one who just says, “I’m sorry” and thinks nothing of returning to their sin is not repentant.

B. Repentance is not simply stopping your sin.
Sometimes one who is truly repentant will return to their sin. At that point they need to repent again, but such a one is accepted by God. Also, there is often more to do in repentance than simply ceasing the sin. A person who murders once may never do it again, but that does not mean they are repentant.

C. Repentance is not simply trying not to sin
Even if a person deeply regrets their sin and does all he or she can to stop it, if that one does not listen to God and does what He says to stop the sin, that person is not repentant.

What Repentance Is

1. Living a life submitted to God
"God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Submit therefore to God.” James 4:6-7

The unrepentant is rebellious against God and opposes his people. The unrepentant ignore God and has no interest in his will or glory. The unrepentant know God’s word, but deny its truthfulness. They have no interest in God.

A person who is truly repentant will do all he or she can to honor God with his or her life. A repentant person recognizes God through Jesus as their greatest authority and a life pleasing to Him as the greatest joy. Such a one will seek out knowledge of God’s will and desire with his or her whole heart to please God by doing that will. A repentant person is willing to do whatever it takes to submit to God and to get sin out of his or her life. Such a one vows to be faithful to God and acts out that vow with all their energy.
Also, Deuteronomy 10:12-13; Micah 6:8; I Peter 5:6; Matthew 11:28-29; Mark 12:38-41.

2. Live a life devoted to loving others.
“Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves.” Philippians 2:3

The unrepentant lives for what he or she can gain for oneself. They don’t take interest in other’s needs. Like a small child, they are rulers of their own realm and others are only actors in the play that revolves around them. The unrepentant is focused on one’s own needs, not on how one’s actions effect others.

The one who is truly repentant serves others with his or her whole heart. The repentant one sees how his or her actions effects others and wishes to do good to others at all times, in all of their actions. They have compassion on other’s needs and will do what they can to show mercy to others. The repentant one will also seek God in order to help others—he or she prays for others and submits to God for the sake of others in need.
Also, Leviticus 19:18;Matthew 7:12; Luke 10:26-37;Romans 13:8-10; Galatians 5:14-23; James 2:8.

3. Hate sin
“Seek good and not evil, that you may live; and thus may the LORD God of hosts be with you, just as you have said! Hate evil, love good, and establish justice in the gate!” Amos 5:14-15
The unrepentant is double-minded. Such a one might want to do what is right, but loves the sin as well. He or she takes such pleasure in the sin that they don’t really want to get rid of it. They assume that their sin is “normal”, while the true life before God is abnormal, unnatural. The unrepentant does not acknowledge that what God says is sin is really sin, but that it really isn’t that bad.

The truly repentant acknowledges that what God declares to be sin is evil and they openly admit it. The repentant sees the sinful practices in his or her life and hate it, is disgusted with it, and does not accept any practice of it, in any way. Such a one regrets the sin he or she does and what it has done to others. Also, Proverbs 8:13; Psalm 97:10 James 1:9

4. Confess your sin.
“When I kept silent about my sin, my body wasted away through my groaning all day long. I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the LORD"; And You forgave the guilt of my sin.” Psalm 32:3,5

The unrepentant one hides his or her sin, trying not to let anyone know he or she does it. They “forget” to ask God for forgiveness and try to forge the sin as soon as possible.

The truly repentant tries to keep their life as open as possible, allowing anyone examine them who wants to. The repentant confesses his or her sins regularly to God and seeks out a brother or sister he or she can trust and confess the sins to that one as well, asking for prayer.
Also, I John 1:9; James 5:16.

5. Reconcile with the one you did wrong.
“Reconcile quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent.” Matthew 5:25-26

The unrepentant avoids those whom they have hurt, trying never to speak to them. The unrepentant avoids mentioning his or her sin, hoping that no one will mention it again.
The truly repentant wants to do what is necessary to make peace and possibly build trust again. They will go to those they have wronged and ask forgiveness and offer to correct the damage done. If the one wronged demands it, the repentant one will do all they can to pay back the damage done and make recompense.
Also, Romans 12:18

6. Replace the evil with good
“He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labor, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need.” Ephesians 4:28
The unrepentant one will continue to do what is evil, without attempting to replace it with something else. Such a one will try to stop the sin in their lives, but never do good in place of it.

The repentant recognize that a habit of evil is impossible to stop unless they replace the evil action with a good action. They will attempt to do the opposite of the evil they had done, and not just try to avoid the evil.

Pray to the Lord to give you strength to repent and so gain the Kingdom of God.

Aspects of Purity

Purity is a necessary, but neglected, part of our spiritual lives. Jesus said that without purity we cannot see God. Without purity, no one can be in God’s presence or even be heard by God. The impure cannot abide in God’s presence, nor will their prayers be heard—except for a prayer requesting purity. The spirit world cannot accept any but the most pure, the most clean things. Any gifts to God must be pure, and this includes our words, our actions, our intentions and our very lives.
Today, purity is no longer considered a benefit. When we think of “purity” we think of chastity belts, frowning aged faces and strict people wearing black hats with a buckle on it. To be pure is to be fundamentalist, to be a disciplinarian, to be judging, and to probably be a hypocrite. Purity in ancient times used to be something desirable, but we have so many negative images associated with purity that even if we love God we probably don’t want to spend much time considering it.
It is time for purity to have a makeover. Not that we need to change what purity means in some Orwellian fashion, but that we need to forcefully steal purity back from the judging and hypocrites. To do this, we must first understand what purity is, what God intended it to be:
1. Pure focus on God
Because most people understand that God is forgiving and merciful, they put their relationship with God on a low gear, low intensity. Although they feel that their relationship with God could be improved in some vague way, they know that God will overlook their faults and just be glad that they think of him at all. However, God is not content with a casual relationship. God wants us to have a mind that is purely on Him and His desires. God doesn’t need casual friends, he has billions of those. God is looking for a faithful spouse, a best friend, a lifelong companion. God asks for people to be completely surrendered to Him and to His ways.
2. Pure actions of holiness
The only time we use “holy” it seems is in the phrase “holier than thou”. Holiness is either considered a divine prerogative or a façade someone puts on to make themselves seem better than they really are. But God told his people to be holy, to be holy as He is holy. This doesn’t mean that God is wanting his people to look down their noses on others who are not holy. Rather, holiness is a gift that we receive from God to be a people that is distinctly divine, not a card to play to stomp on others. Holiness is simply having religious, sexual, relational, and even clothing differences that distinguish us from “normal” society. But holiness isn’t something we just make up—the holiness code is something given to us from God. God commanded his people to not insult each other, to be faithful to our spouses in action and mind, to follow God’s sexual ethics, to keep our promises, to not get drunk, to not worship images, to do our religious actions in private at times. To be pure is to follow God’s code of holiness, even if others do something different.
3. Pure intentions of love
Purity, however, is not just a matter of action and devotion but of intent. To be pure is not just in relation to God and his desires, but to others and their needs as well. To be pure, we need to be more than holy. Purity is also an act of love, an act of caring for those around us. Part of God’s holiness code is to “love your neighbor as yourself.” If, in our holiness, we attack or condemn others then we have forsaken our holiness. Purity is keeping in mind the weaknesses and misunderstandings of those around us, swallowing our revulsion of their impurity and caring for them as best we can.

Three Is One
To be pure is not any one of these three, but the whole. If one loves God with all of his heart and does everything he can to live rightly, but displays anger and disdain to those around him, then he is not pure. If one loves everyone around them and she does so because of her love for God, but she rejects a part of God’s holiness code for herself, then she is not pure. If one decides to live among the Amish, for example, and truly cares for everyone and lives according to their community code as a good way of life, but has little true devotion for God, then he is not pure. Purity is living for God, living according to God’s ways and living in love—all three without exception. Without all three aspects of purity, one will not be welcomed into the presence of God.

Purity of heart
The most difficult part of purity, however, is our minds. We all know that purity is not just a matter of action, but a matter of the heart. Mind you, one’s actions must be pure in order to be pure, but if one’s heart is not pure, then no matter how many pure actions one does, purity is beyond our reach.

The relationship between intent and action is complicated. One can do some actions, especially in public, and not have the intent behind it. But, ultimately, all of our true intentions come out in our actions. And we are so good at deceiving ourselves, often we do not know our true intentions at all, for our actions deceived everyone, even ourselves. So, if we desire to be pure, how can we truly know that we have achieved purity?

There are certain actions that indicate our true intentions, beyond our conscious desires. Here are a few areas we can examine to see our true intention:

• Money
What we do with our money is an often unexamined area of our lives. We think of money to meet our needs, but God’s purity requires us to use our money to build God’s kingdom, for holiness and in care for others. Are we using our money in purity or impurity?

• Eyes
What we do with our eyes is a small action, almost unseen by most people. But what we look at often indicates what we are most interested in, and our interest can show our intention. What do we look at regularly that we may not notice?

• Careless words
When we don’t mean to be saying anything, really, what do we say? Do we express hidden insults or impure desires? Do we indicate our separation of God? What do our careless words show about our true intentions?

• Secret actions
We all have actions that no other human can see. If we think that these hidden actions are insignificant, we might not have a deep relationship with God. Or if our hidden actions are unholy or unloving and we do not repent of them, it is an indication that we are not pure, acceptable before God.

• Sacrifice
Everyone has to make tough choices in our lives. Some things have to be sacrificed in certain contexts in order to accomplish the greater good. What we allow to be sacrificed and what we give our sacrifice for indicates the priorities in our lives. If we are to live before God, then we would never sacrifice our relationship to God, our holiness to live before God or our concern and help of others. What do we sacrifice and what do we retain?

Achieving purity
Purity may seem like an uphill battle. To a certain degree, it is. Purity is not easy, and much in our human nature screams against our participation in the spirit world. This is why our flesh and the Spirit are not in communion, but battle one another. But this does not mean that purity is impossible. Many people have achieved it and God longs to have relationship with people. To obtain purity, we must do five things:

1. Commitment
We must make a lifelong commitment to God. This commitment is often done by being baptized in Jesus or committing oneself to him for one’s whole life. But unless we commit to something, we will never know what it really means or how to accomplish it. The first step to purity is to commit to it. We can pray like this: “Lord Jesus, I commit myself to you and to your ways. I want to be in relationship with God all of my life, without exception.”

2. Longing
Not only do we commit to it, but we must desire it with our whole heart. If we just think that purity is a nice thing that we want to do sometimes, then we will never accomplish it. We must eat, drink, live and sleep purity. We must work on having it be a deep part of our lives.

3. Prayer
We cannot accomplish purity on our own. It is humanly impossible. But God can make us pure before Him through his divine effort. To gain God’s help, we must ask. Pray this: “Father, I want to be pure before you, but I cannot do it on my own. Please help be to be pure through the power of your Spirit. Help me to desire that purity and live in it all the time.”

4. Separation
There are many things that are driving us to be impure. There are things that tempt us to go away from God, to be unholy to be apathetic to others. If something doesn’t effect you, it doesn’t matter. But if something drives you away from God, if someone causes hatred in you, then it is time to separate from that thing or person. Whatever makes us apathetic or lustful or separated from God, we need to have nothing to do with it.

5. Community
There are people who know about purity and can live it out. These people love God, live righteously, but isn’t holier than thou, and they are deeply concerned about others. Hang out with these people, learn how they do what they do and try to be like them. These are the people who can teach purity because they learned it from God and others who are pure. Do you see people who meet the three criteria of purity? Then be with them, in this way you will achieve purity yourself.