Thoughts of a Servant

So I had a post that I wanted to do, but there are so many posts hahaah.  I hadn’t planned on doing a post on this, but it definitely interested me.  I read it in Numbers 21 NIV.  The basic story behind it is that Israel was becoming disobedient towards God (although He had provided food, water, life, etc) and Moses… They were actually complaining that they always have to eat the same thing… Haha- what a minor concern, but we do it now don’t we? So God had Moses put a bronze serpent in the middle of their camp in the desert, and if anyone was bit by a snake– all they would need to do is look at the serpent and they would live.

Kind of interesting right?  I am curious as to why it was a snake / serpent which is a major symbol for the fall of man in the garden…  Its kind of ironic that the people started worshiping this bronze snake after a short period of time– they began burning incense to it…

It is referenced again, but it is mentioned in 2 Kings 18:4

4 He removed the high places, smashed the sacred stones and cut down the Asherah poles. He broke into pieces the bronze snake Moses had made, for up to that time the Israelites had been burning incense to it. (It was calledb Nehushtan.c)

The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996). 2 Ki 18:4.

They called it Nehushtan, which is Hebrew for several meanings: bronze, snake, and unclean thing.  According to HIBD, the bronze serpent had a large symbolic meaning to the people:

Archaeological evidence from Mesopotamian and, more importantly, Canaanite sites reveals that the crawling serpent was a symbol of the fertility of the soil. The serpent was often represented associated with the fertility goddesses, the bull, the dove (life of the heavens), and water.

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003). 239.

But something so much more is behind this symbolic reference. The snake was a representation of their safety and God’s right hand as he remained with them.  It was also a sign that they must obey, but moreso that God was with them– and each time they were bitten by deadly serpents, they would look to this bronze snake and live.  It became a source of life and a representation of healing.

With that said, the bronze snake is mentioned a third and final time in John 3:14

14 Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996). Jn 3:14–15.

So Jesus then turned another symbol upside down!  He became what that serpent was to the people.  He became the redeemer, the symbol of fertility, life, and healing.  He then became the one person that people would look to when they have been, symbolically, bitten by a serpent.  I also believe it trumped the significance of the snake lifted on a tree in the garden that influenced us to know evil.  He was lifted on the cross as that snake was on the post, and in turn flipped yet another strong symbol in the world.

So my cousin asked a question and wanted an intellectual discussion on the subjectivity of morality.  I figured this would be a great chance to read up on some actual contemplative observation of morality.

Um, I think there are different types that you will have to consider when classifying morality rather than just stating that “All Morality” is subjective.  I think that there are three definitive classifications of morality: permissible, obligatory, and supererogatory.

Something that is seen as morally permissible would be subjective to one-self because they would refrain from performing an action because it might incur moral guilt.  Then you have morality that resides within obligation which is subject to the other party because of the fear of failure to fulfill moral obligation would bring moral censure.

The third type, moral supererogatory, can be considered to be subject to a higher power. This type of morality is based off of the concept that these are not duties, but are praiseworthy.  For instance, you save someone’s life– instinctive at heart (not morally driven), but producing good.  Another example would be if I was unable to swim, but saw a child drowning in a river, and tried to save them– then my actions are not within my duty (because I cannot swim) and therefore it is an act of supererogatory morality.

However!  I do not think morality is judged by the outcome of actions.  Consider this analogy:

Are consequences, then, the key for determining the morality of the agent? We think not. Our reasoning is best illustrated as follows. Suppose someone sees a child drowning in a swimming pool and tries to rescue him just because he needs help and because it is right to help. Suppose as well the attempt fails, and the boy drowns. On this theory of what it means to be moral, the would-be rescuer did not act morally, because the child died. Surely that conclusion is unacceptable. Likewise, suppose someone wants to rob a bank, but during the robbery he is apprehended before he gets the money. Because of the attempted robbery, the bank installs a better security system. As a result, everyone who comes to the bank will be safer, and money deposited in the bank will be better protected. On this theory of what it means to be moral when acting, the thief tried to do a harmful act, but because he was unsuccessful, he cannot be considered immoral. In fact, since good came from this incident, one might even say the thief acted morally. Examples like these should convince the reader that what makes an agent moral is not the results of his action.

John S. Feinberg, Paul D. Feinberg and Aldous Huxley, Ethics for a Brave New World (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1996). 21.

So in order to effectively evaluate that an action is morality subject to morality itself, we have to consider a few things: First, they must be acting freely — not under obligation or guilt; and second, what were the motives behind the action?  Own interest, others?

So in a sense, morality is subjective, yes, because morality is based off knowledge of good and bad.  Without knowledge of good or bad there wouldn’t be a standard for morality.  BUT morality has different levels of subjectivity.

OH dude, I think we opened a can of worms. Thanks for challenging the post I put up.  I had been looking for a word to do a word study on.  So I figured this is a good opportunity.

I just finished reading this book, Wild at Heart, and it expressed one of the beauties that I cannot even begin to fathom.  That’s when God’ created Eve.  When He created Eve, he declared her the pinnacle of creation (along with man, but mostly Eve– we were chillin outside the garden peeking in).  So this means that her beauty was unfathomable.

There is also a type of beauty that our MANLY God has.  Beauty being the honor that Jesus displayed.  He also has a beautiful crown (Isa. 28:5).  God also made everything beautiful in its time (Eccles. 3:11).

But check this diagram… It shows the levels of beauty as it relates to Biblical terms.

Like what you said, there is also a level of beauty on the inside where we would find God if we accepted Him into our life.  This is what I seem to fall in love with in women is when you can see this Joy, Love- aka Beauty.  But these types of women seem to have a little of each category above.

He even seems to think that tents are beautiful:

“How beautiful are your tents, O Jacob,
your dwelling places, O Israel!
The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996). Nu 24:5.

I have to agree with you. When we talk in terms of the God vs Devil battle ground on beauty, we have to look at both sides.

I am trying to think like CS Lewis and the Screwtape letters… If he were writing to Wormwood, he might say that he should direct his human to observe beauty as a physical fulfillment and Holy in nothing more than the physical aspect.  By doing so, it hinders the human from thinking beyond themselves as they are only looking at inner fulfillment based on the beauty that is received.

But if we focus on beauty as a servant, a servants heart can be considered beautiful.  And that kind of focus will be an outward pouring of beauty onto someone else.  Which is what Wormwood would not like to do.

Say God were to use a woman to try and win a man’s heart (lets call him her husband)– she could nag him “blah blah blah,” she could condiscend “why don’t you do this for me you turd,” or she could seduce (from within a marriage standpoint)– from the husband’s standpoint, which one would be prefer?  Hmm.

Well in that case, the concept of seduction within a Godly form is a use of beauty in its most physical definition.  But what else appeals to the man?  Of course the beauty that makes him feel like a man because she pours out beauty and she is also the pinnacle of creation, Eve.

One thing I noticed, what is it about eyes… Throughout scripture we see things like:

25 Do not lust in your heart after her beauty
or let her captivate you with her eyes,

Pr 6:25.

How beautiful you are, my darling!
Oh, how beautiful!
Your eyes are doves.
So 1:15.

So Eyes can be “destructive,” but even more powerful than that, they can be empowering and transparent veils to our heart.  Would one venture to say that the eyes are captivating by design?

In my own life, I noticed that I can see the amount of joy someone has and what heavy burdens they have just by seeking in their eyes.  You can see the level of connection / communication that they have with you when they make eye-contact, and its almost like acknowledging that level of respect of another human being.

With that said, wouldn’t you say it is amazing when God said that he saw that it was Good after he established the water, the sky, the light, the ground, the creatures, and even more importantly– he saw good when he created Eve?

What kind of Love is this?

A little over two years ago I wrote a note on facebook– and in that two-year timeframe, which is the equivelant of 1/10th of my life, my mission / life / mind / heart has fully changed.  Isn’t that cool!  Who knew that two years later I would be looking at that post thinking how much I have changed, and also thinking to myself that I should and do have the will of a mustard seed (Matthew 13:31).

But the interesting thing is: only one thing has changed.  I still do computer stuff, I still work my butt off, I still struggle with money, with schooling, etc.  But I love God.  Just loving him has transformed my perspective, my mission, my life.  Everything I do is for Him– everything I have is his.  What a relief it is, I went from saying:

come on now. i need internet. tele vision. phone. i feel like a quaker right now. stupid time warmer cable. for one week. i will be checking from my phone. i guess that song was right. think its by like john mayer . you never really know what you got till its gone . darn them people who turnedparadise into that dog gone parking lot. there is the government or ya

(9/11/2007)

To now being able to say that I am nothing, I am only a servant of a mighty God and that I can achieve nothing without him.  I want to serve abroad, in my neighborhood, anywhere he calls me.  I can live without internet, television, phone, etc.  And unlike John Mayer’s song, I know what I have, because I lost it– and God gave me my purpose.

It never stops. God is so good. I am blessed to be a part of what he is doing in my life. Today has been a great day and I have only been awake for 4 hours. I had breakfast with my friends of two+ years. They have come to Easter service but have never really asked questions about anything serious. But of them has been having a really difficult time with her job and career and schooling and really, life. She came to breakfast this morning, and I guess one of her really good coworkers (who had two kids, a beautiful wife, great job, etc) had recently committed suicide. It is a tragedy to her and people around her, and people are questioning whether he is in Heaven or not.

Continuing on, we were having a nice conversation about dancing (what else is new) until she interrupted with the question, “Where do we go when we die?” which I guess was God’s way of using that gentleman’s death as a tool (while still a tragedy, and I still feel deep grievances for her and the people around her– but He is using it to stir up our hearts causing us to ask the right questions).  And we sat there and talked about salvation (just being a real conversation, no preachy stuff).  And I am just blown away.  Because first of all, you have to realize the context of which this happened…  My friend has always believed that you have your belief, and I have mine, and we’ll leave it at that… But what I love about her is she is always open to discussion on any topic of choice.  So this makes it very easy to share what I believe and listen to what she has to say about her beliefs. We concluded the conversation on a good note, but I can only imagine the transformation that can occur.  This is a progression, nothing is instant– but it is the start of something beautiful.

To top it off, I come on home to find two Jehovah’s witnesses standing outside my door.  I ask them how they are doing, one of their names was Marvin–  I guess they were witnessing to Hispanics because they didn’t really want to talk to me.  I walked inside, but I felt that God wanted me to say something or talk to them.  So I found some water and walked back out to offer it to them…  If they asked a question or initiated some form of welcoming of the water, I knew that God would want me to talk with them.  But unfortunately they respectfully declined the water and waited for me to return inside.  Maybe I was ill-prepared for what they had to say and God was protecting me, or maybe it was not God’s timing on what they needed to hear.  Either way, just being open to God’s will is the key.  And he will work His wonders regardless.

I went to a leadership training the other day, and there was a Bible verse that just killed me.  I believe it was in Colossians 1:5-14…  Its kind of long, but well worth it.

5 the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God’s grace in all its truth. 7 You learned it from Epaphras, our dear fellow servant, who is a faithful minister of Christ on oura behalf, 8 and who also told us of your love in the Spirit.

9 For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. 10 And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, 11 being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully 12 giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified youb to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. 13 For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, 14 in whom we have redemption,c the forgiveness of sins.
The Holy Bible : New International Version, electronic ed. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996).

How Great!  God has stored our treasures up in Heaven, and he has “qualified” us to join in on the inheritance of a life tha is full of endurance, patience, joy, thanks, as he has recued us from the darkness, and forgave us of our sins.

Praise God for another wonderful day.  I am nothing, I am but dust– but He is the Creator, and my Savior.

ADDED: I found a cool passage that analysis the Colossians verse.. check it out:

1:5. Paul thanked God for their faith and love that spring from … hope.
This trilogy of virtue—faith, love, and hope—is a favorite of Paul’s (cf. 1 Cor. 13:13; 1 Thes. 1:3) and Peter’s (1 Peter 1:3, 5, 22). Faith is the soul looking upward to God; love looks outward to others; hope looks forward to the future. Faith rests on the past work of Christ; love works in the present; and hope anticipates the future. Even though “without faith it is impossible to please God” (Heb. 11:6), and “hope does not disappoint us” (Rom. 5:5), nevertheless “the greatest of these is love” (1 Cor. 13:13). The Colossians’ love extended to “all the saints” (Col. 1:4), or all believers, probably not only at Colosse but everywhere (cf. 1 Thes. 1:7-8 for a similar commendation).

John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck and Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-).

I don’t really have a lot of words to go along with this blog post.  I am just saying that this song sums it up pretty well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-FYNY72ylI

I read Esther today, and was simply blown away by the power of God in the situation of the King over there.  Esther had to go against all of the most beautiful women to become queen, she also was a Jew– which would have surely disqualified her from the throne, but the king, once he favored her, didn’t think anything of it.  Then with her being queen was able to save Modecai’s life (later down the road, which was part of God’s plan)!

Modecai was a Jew and he was also in the king’s favor.  His enemy, Haman, was in the kings favor as well, but not nearly as much.  But Haman tried to have Modecai killed on the gallows because he didn’t like that he,  a Jew, was favored over himself– and Haman ended up being hung on the gallows that he built because of Esther, and Modecai / Esther went on to save their people by making a king’s decree + seal to warn the Jews that they are able to defend themselves against any attackers on the 13th day of Adar.

God’s chosen people were able to defend themselves against 75,000 people and in the end, they didn’t take any of their enemies goods.

How amazing a story!!

I just ran across this really cool note today in the Bible Knowledge Commentary of Genesis.  It shows an awesome parallel between Abram’s journey and his descendants journey.  Take a look:

One cannot miss the deliberate parallelism between this sojourn of Abram in Egypt and the later event in the life of the nation in bondage in Egypt. The motifs are remarkably similar: the famine in the land (12:10; 47:13), the descent to Egypt to sojourn (12:10; 47:27), the attempt to kill the males but save the females (12:12; Ex. 1:22), the plagues on Egypt (Gen. 12:17; Ex. 7:14-11:10), the spoiling of Egypt (Gen. 12:16; Ex. 12:35-36), the deliverance (Gen. 12:19; Ex. 15), and the ascent to the Negev (Gen. 13:1; Num. 13:17, 22). The great deliverance out of bondage that Israel experienced was thus already accomplished in her ancestor, and probably was a source of comfort and encouragement to them. God was doing more than promise deliverance for the future nation; it was as if in anticipation He acted out their deliverance in Abram.

John F. Walvoord, Roy B. Zuck and Dallas Theological Seminary, The Bible Knowledge Commentary : An Exposition of the Scriptures (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1983-).

 

 

We all see it, its those people on the side of the roads that have the signs that make us feel like dirt if we don’t read them.  I am not entirely sure what to think sometimes…  If I see these people in the million dollar  neighborhoods of Orange County, you have to wonder…

I also think its kinda sad that our response is, “God Bless You” when we give them our money.  Say we give them a couple bucks and then all of a sudden we have the ability to say God Bless You?to give blessings.  Unfortunately, I am guilty of this today–  I am not saying thats a bad thing, but what about when your saying HI to someone, or maybe to the person serving your coffee.  I don’t think we should gain the right to say it when we give something, we should be able to say it any time we feel blessed or want

I just wanted to share a really cool point I heard in Francis Chan’s service today.  He was talking about when he went to Vegas when he was younger and he thought he would try gambling some money in order to get some money to pay for this speeding ticket that he had received while on his way to speak at a camp in Utah.  He started with 2 dollars and just kept letting it ride.  He kept betting it all and watching it double.  Eventually, he had a 100 bucks sitting on the table, and had to make that decision to fully pay for the ticket by doubling or to back down.  He ended up losing all of the money on the table.

He goes on to show how this relates to our faith.  For instance, if we were to talk to someone in India that was considered an “untouchable” or slums in Africa, or anywhere really– and say, “Drop everything and follow Jesus”… How easy would that be?  They would reply “Okay” in a heart beat.

But if you were to come to my neighborhood in Orange County, and ask, “Drop everything, Follow Jesus– he has a better life for you” They would just look at you like your nuts– “Why? Can you see how much I have?!?!”

Same thing with our early faith.  We are fearless when we are first Christians, talking to everyone and preaching like mad.  But eventually we get more involved with faith, more educated, more knowledgeable.  Then people start respecting the knowledge we have and we become conscious of our messages, and eventually conscientious of our ministry.  We have more to lose when we think we have everything…

But whom would you rather follow when you know that Jesus has something amazing planned for you versus what you can do on your own?