The Keener Way

  I know, its been yet another long gap since I've posted. The thing is, I write stuff as inspiration hits me. Sometimes i get lots of ideas, sometimes they trickle slowly. This time around, I've had an idea for a while, but its been simmering on a backburner until I got the angle I needed this morning.  It started when I received a text with a quote by C.S. Lewis from his essay collection, "God in the Dock", which goes, "Christianity, if false, is of no importance, and if true, of infinite importance. The only thing it cannot be is moderately important." This weighed heavily on my mind, as I often feel like I treat Christianity as only moderately important. Indeed, sometimes it feels like the modern church at large is doing this with great unity. As I mulled over this for some weeks, my church started a sermon series in the book of 1 Peter. What particularly stood out was Chapter 1, verses 13-16. "Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober-min...

  Yeah, I know. Its been a hot second since I posted. Life has been a bit intense lately, with not a lot of breathing space. Anyway, it is time to continue the study on Yeshua's Sermon on the Mount, where He teaches His disciples, "this is what it looks like to be one of my disciples. This is the way I want you to live." And we are now in the section of his sermon where He addresses the taking of oaths. Again, you have heard that it was said to the ancients, ‘Do not break your oath, but fulfill your vows to the Lord.’ But I tell you not to swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne; or by the earth, for it is His footstool; or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. Nor should you swear by your head, for you cannot make a single hair white or black. Simply let your ‘Yes’ be ‘Yes,’ and your ‘No,’ ‘No.’ Anything more comes from the evil one. Matthew 5:33-37 BSB  See, the thing is, when someone takes an oath, this kind of insinuates that you can't...

    “What is sin? It is the glory of God not honored . The holiness of God not reverenced . The greatness of God not admired . The power of God not praised . The truth of God not sought . The wisdom of God not esteemed . The beauty of God not treasured . The goodness of God not savored . The faithfulness of God not trusted . The commandments of God not obeyed . The justice of God not respected . The wrath of God not feared . The grace of God not cherished . The presence of God not prized . The person of God not loved . That is sin.” ~John Piper  We live in a broken world. Perhaps more broken than ever, perhaps less broken than ever. There is only one entity who has been alive for the Earth's entire history, and that is our Creator. So only he can judge our current level of broken. But through all of time, man has called things sin which the Lord never forbid, and man has called good things that the Lord explicitly denounced. So I thought I'd do a little script...

  Note: This may not be content for the *cough* too youthful. And some search engines may even hide this content for the keywords repetitively used. But these topics are way too taboo in the modern church. I debated creating substitute words for the article, but the Bible doesn't, so why should I? "You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." ~Matthew 5:27-28 BSB Now, I will say from the start, grace covers a multitude of sins. Else-wise we are ALL condemned. But also, we live in a world where sex and sexual sins have just about become the world's biggest and most devout religion. And the second biggest religion is the other side of the coin, those who go to drastic legalistic measures to try and stay pure. Thus I believe these are important topics to get right, because Yeshua calls his followers to a higher standard than the righteo...

  Welcome back, friend, to my series on the Sermon on the Mount, where we explore Yeshua's instructions on how to live as His disciples. Today, we are looking at the part of the sermon where Yeshua tackles anger and reconciliation. In this passage, Yeshua makes a shift from His "blessed are" to "you have heard". But what He says is more than just hearsay. He is quoting Torah. In this instance, He tells the people that the law of Moses says 'Do not murder' and anybody who murders is now subject to punishment by the law. But Yeshua follows this up with "actually, if you so much as become exasperated or enraged with your brother, you will be subject to judgement. Now, if you call your brother 'Raca' (meaning inferior/worthless/empty-headed) you will be condemned by a jury. Now, if you call someone a moron, you will be liable to a 'Gehenna of fire'. What is a Gehenna of fire? This is referring to the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem,...

  "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For I tell you truly, until heaven and earth pass away, not a single jot, not a stroke of a pen, will disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. So then, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do likewise will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever practices and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." ~Matthew 5:17-20 BSB Not gonna lie, this section of Yeshua's Sermon on the Mount is perhaps one of the most difficult sections to fully grasp. There are so many ways to take this. Here's the thing. Yeshua said: 1. I have come not to abolish, but to fulfill 2. Till heaven and Earth pass away, not one yod (the smallest Hebrew l...

  In continuing with Yeshua's Sermon on the Mount, we're going to spice things up a bit. Rather than looking at one verse, we're going to hit three. Or at least start and see if we get that far. "Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called sons of God." Matthew 5:7-9, BSB In the Roman Empire that ruled during Yeshua's lifetime. mercy was a sign of weakness. Even in the Greek Empire, it was not seen as a virtue. The respected virtues were strength and power, not kindness. Yet Jewish and Christian cultures dared to be counter-culture. They pushed the view that mercy was an attribute of the divine. Indeed, a core attribute. For as the prophet Micah declared, "He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy , and to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8, BSB But here, in Hi...

  Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6 This fourth blessing of Yeshua's Sermon on the Mount draws many similarities to Psalm 42, a song of the sons of Korah, which begins with those long familiar lines, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after you, O God." Psalm 42:1 BSB And it seems pretty straightforward. Be hungry and thirsty for righteousness, and you will be satisfied. But let's explore the word 'righteousness'. Growing up, it always seemed like kind of a vague concept. It comes up frequently enough in scripture to gather the idea that it's about being upright, being morally pure, being good, etcetera. In a general sense, the keeping of the law. Which is a fairly intense undertaking, considering that Yeshua said, "except your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." Obviously, this is something that...

  Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  Matthew 5:3, BSB Divinely favored those who are impoverished to the breath, that belonging to them is the dominion of the sky realm Literal word-by-word Greek to English paraphrase These are the first recorded word's of Jesus' Sermon on the Mount. But what odd words to begin a sermon with! But let's step a couple verses further back and introduce this series, shall we? See, when Yeshua saw the crowds coming, he climbed partway up a mountain. And when He sat down, His disciples came to him and He taught them. This sermon was not evangelical in nature. There was no "believe in me, repent and be baptized" and while there is no doubt the crowd followed Him, the "He taught them" is grammatically attached to His disciples. This sermon was not "this is how you become my disciple". It was a sermon about "you have already become my disciple, you've already repented, already...

  This past week, I've been doing a challenge set by my church's pastor. Each day, choose a random passage of scripture, study it, and try to find an attribute of Adonai's character. In five weekdays, that is five attributes. Its been a fascinating study so far. But it really got interesting when one morning, I decided to study Job 38. A little poke inside me said "no, do Job 42." I looked at Job 42 and thought, "But i don't want to do Job 42. YHWH is rebuking Job's three friends. If I study that, I'm gonna almost have to study the whole book, to really grasp why he was angry with their counsel. That's the way my mind works." But the voice insisted. "Job 42". And I'll be honest, the study was worth it. I only did a very general overview of the whole book, but I came out of it with some enlightened thoughts. Here is a (very) rough and abridged version of the argument between Job and his companions.   Eliphaz (my god is fine g...