Barney Wiget's Blog, page 24
September 10, 2020
Is Meekness Weakness?
The meek live to serve and long to bridle their lust for power. “The ‘politics’ of the Kingdom, says Scott Bessenecker, “has more to do with meekness, submission and dying to self than it does with exercising authority to increase my share in this life (emphasis mine).”
Some outside observers evaluate all these counterintuitive commands about meekness, doing good to our enemies, and forgiving trespassers, as weakness, even masochistic. But anyone who thinks it’s weak to be meek should try being meek for a week! (Say that out loud for full effect.) Ironically it takes a lot of strength to be meek. Not the kind of strength you get in the gym, but the kind you get on your knees––so to speak.
Meekness is not the default position of our broken humanity. Even regenerated humanity doesn’t arrive at meekness involuntarily. You don’t just wake up one morning, make a resolution, and succeed at it. You don’t achieve a broken spirit so much as receive it in post-crucifixion resurrections. The harsh reality is that meekness requires dying. That’s why so few of us pursue it.
This is an excerpt from a book I hope to publish in the near future on the Sermon on the Mount called: What In The World? Some Moral, Social, and Politically Disruptive Implications of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
September 7, 2020
Attitudes We Ought To Be Havin’ (Especially These Days)
Notice these are “BE-attitudes,” that is be this way, which is quite different than saying “do these things.” Okay, that’s a bit of a lexical stretch, but you get my point. In each case he says, “Blessed are those who are…”
These are attitudes. And an attitude isn’t something you do, at least not in the short term. The blessedness he promises isn’t so much in doing a certain thing, but in being a certain way. It’s more about being than doing and more about what God thinks than how we feel.
This is not to say that these Christ-like attitudes don’t inevitably result in Christ-like actions, because they absolutely do. But, as we’ve seen, attempting Christ-likeness from the outside-in quickly turns to a sweaty spirituality, which is unpleasant for both the sweat-er and those among whom he sweats!
These are excerpts from a book I hope to publish in the near future on the Sermon on the Mount called: What In The World? Some Moral, Social, and Politically Disruptive Implications of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
As such, I’d appreciate your feedback on this post and others to come in order to make the final copy publish-worthy.
August 10, 2020
The End is Near, So…
7 The end of all things is near. Therefore be alert and of sober mind so that you may pray. 8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. 9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling. 10 Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms… so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen. 1 Peter 4:7-11
The end is always near. Apparently it’s been near for 2000 years. But you have to admit that it’s nearer than it’s ever been before!
I’m certainly not predicting a date for the end of the world, though it most certainly could be very soon. COVID is ubiquitous, climate change affects the whole planet and 9 countries have a total of nearly 14,000 nuclear warheads!
Watch this for what Peter recommended for those who live near the end…
The Times They Are A Changin’
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Ephesians 5:15-17
I think this is a “Kairos Moment” for followers of Jesus! How we live and what we do now is as important as any time in my lifetime. We have to be “very careful how we live.” The Greek phrase is “walk carefully.” If you’ve ever had a dog, you know what walking carefully in the back yard means!
While so many people kinda live by accident, Paul encourages us to live on purpose, to see our lives as a series of opportunities to bring glory to our Maker and to make the world a better place. We’re on earth “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14) and we have something to contribute while here.
We must now “make the most of every opportunity!
For the rest of this brief message watch the following (including some prophetic words from Bob Dylan in 1963…
July 30, 2020
High Def Revelation
1 How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. 2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 Everyone who has this hope in him purify himself, just as he is pure. 1 John 3:1-3
“see him as he is” … he’s appealing to not just for a hope of a future revelation… but to pursue a deeper revelation now…
to see him as he is… not as we want him to be but as he actually is…
A better revelation of his adoration affects our sanctification…
Failing to pursue deeper revelation now because you’re gonna see him face to face later is like dropping out of grad school because you know someone’s gonna give you an honorary doctorate someday…!
Do you have 7 more minutes? For the rest of the teaching check out this video…
July 23, 2020
James and the Legacy of John Lewis
Welcome back to our series on James. This time I’m going to be a little more topical that expository. I can’t in good conscience sprint past some of the social challenges we’re exposed to these days. It’s not stretch at all to hear James counsel us from across the globe and across the millennia on how Christ followers react to such circumstances.
John Lewis was a great man that served our country with distinction. And I hope a statue of him will replace one of the Confederate ones that have been taken down.
You say, “What does that have to do with James?” Since you asked…
July 22, 2020
Unsalty Salt
“If the salt loses its saltiness it is longer good for anything.”
Technically, salt can’t lose its saltiness. That is, sodium chloride is a very stable compound and can’t be other than it is, but it can be washed away leaving behind a white dust that may look like salt but has none of its qualities. At that point it’s only good for filling potholes. If we lose our ability to promote and preserve what is good in the world, we mustn’t be surprised when we are ignored and “trampled” on like road dust.
If we’re just as greedy, self-indulgent, violent, and arrogant as the dominant culture, we become tasteless and useless––“no longer good for anything.” Not exactly the legacy we were intended to leave! Losing our saltiness means we’ve lost our credibility and deserve to be ignored.
Let’s not let that happen. OK?
This is an excerpt from a book I hope to publish in the near future on the Sermon on the Mount called: What In The World? Some Moral, Social, and Politically Disruptive Implications of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
As such, I’d appreciate your feedback on this post and others to come in order to make the final copy publish-worthy.
July 19, 2020
Real Religion
Real Religion creates a community of mutuality out of every social, ethnic, gender, and economic strata, where everyone is made of the same stuff and have something to offer the other.
We’re told that “as iron sharpens iron so one man sharpens another.” So everyone is made of iron and it’s not like there’s only one “class” of people that do all the sharpening of all the other classes, who exist just to be sharpened. Everyone in every class has something to contribute to the sharpening of everyone else.
Feel free to share these brief musings with someone.
July 14, 2020
On Being Neighborly
“If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers.” James 2:8-9
Don’t just love those in your neighborhood, but your neighbors in every neighborhood, because your neighbors are scattered all over the planet. This isn’t about the proximity of certain people, but the dignity of all people.
From a Franciscan Benediction:
“May God bless you with discomfort at easy answers, half-truths and superficial relationships so that you may live deep within your heart.”
July 8, 2020
City on a Hill
Americans are not God’s chosen people, and America is not the New Israel, or the “city on a hill.” That distinction belongs exclusively to the Body of Christ in every nation. Neither the task nor the label fits any certain national entity. We have a great country and our system of governance is as good as it gets, but it’s the Church worldwide that emits divine light.
Every time in history the Church has tried to sanitize a national identity and raise the Christian flag over a nation, a people group, or a political party it’s always turned out poorly! The late Billy Graham knew this when he said: “It would disturb me if there was a wedding between the religious fundamentalists and the political right. The hard right has no interest in religion except to manipulate it.” Nonetheless the wedding did take place and the children that came of the union have not had been the best influence on our culture.
This is not to say that the political left has any more right to wed the Body of Christ. When it does, it does no less damage to both the state and the Church.
If we’re to be the salt and light that Jesus imagined we must revel only in our marriage to our Heavenly Bridegroom and be faithful to him.
This is an excerpt from a book I hope to publish in the near future on the Sermon on the Mount called: What In The World? Some Moral, Social, and Politically Disruptive Implications of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.
As such, I’d appreciate your feedback on this post and others to come in order to make the final copy publish-worthy.
