I don’t blog about politics very often. I know some folks find it fascinating and can get their foundation garments in quite a wad when something is said to denigrate the process (as if it is God-given-to-the-founding-fathers law) or, especially, to marginalize the party of their choice (as if it were heaven-delivered-to-Washington perfect).

So let me say something which will equivocally and roundly offend everyone.

I think it’s a cryin’, stinkin’, squealin’ shame that Americans really only have a choice between one candidate/party which favors legal abortion-on-demand and another candidate/party which favors prolonging a war in a country where we have never had any business being and are not wanted until some undefined “victory” can be declared there, even if it’s a century down the road.

I think it’s a travesty that Americans must choose between an energy policy that is unrealistically eco-friendly and one that unapologetically shoves money into the pockets of energy interests which are robbing us blind and enjoying record profits while doing so.

I think it’s reprehensible that both major parties should select a candidate or running mate who is so wet-behind-the-ears and experience-free that their primary qualifications are youth and gender or race.

I think it’s gutless, spineless, and ignorant for a two-party Congress to blame the other side of the aisle for out-of-control spending and then promise to pay for the resulting debt by cutting taxes … in a grand bi-partisan way, of course.

I think it’s absurd that the two-party system has gravitated toward ridiculous extremes on virtually everything that could be considered an issue to Americans; things that affect the way we live and believe and do business.

I don’t think the answer is voting for cloutless special-interest parties created and perpetuated by political gnomes like Ross Perot or Ralph Nader.

I don’t think the answer is not voting at all, as a sort of resigned, hopeless protest.

I just think we ought to know what and whom we’re voting for, be mature enough to admit that we’re being hoodwinked by a system that does not have our best interests at heart – only a party platform – and to vote with a clear conscience for what each of us believes is the lesser of two evils.

Then pray for the day when reason will prevail and defeat at least the most outlandish of the truly evil propositions put forward in Congress and subject to the pen of the President and the whims of the courts … for the day when our resources will no longer be squandered on pork or excessive military costs or the advantage of power for one party above the other … for the day when we can look at the process with pride and see politics as unusual.

At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.

Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight.

All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.

For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. ~ Matthew 11:25-30

There will be some folks who work today. Policemen, firemen, rescue and medical workers.

And at least three American Red Cross volunteers, looking after the needs of Hurricane Gustav evacuees from the New Orleans area, housed in the Family Life Center at my church.

Keep them all in your prayers, if you will.

They are meek and lowly in heart. And they could use a lighter burden.

Sometimes I think we miss the point of some of Jesus’ stories because the language and the setting and the culture is foreign to us: primitive, agrarian, pedestrian even. Too simple for us, removed from the expressions, land and commerce of two thousand years ago.

So what if we re-examined some of them with what we think of as more elevated language, civilized locale, and sophisticated economy? Would they make more sense to us?

“Again, it will be like an investor going on a journey, who called his fund managers and entrusted his assets to them. To one he gave five billion dollars in cash, to another two billion dollars, and to another one billion, each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey. The man who had received the five billion dollars went at once and put his money to work and gained five more. So also, the one with the two billion dollars gained two more. But the man who had received the one billion went off, dug a hole in the ground and hid his employer’s money.

“After a long time the employer of those fund managers returned and hear their year-end reports that very evening. The one who had received the five billion dollars brought the other five. ‘Boss,’ she said, ‘you entrusted me with five billion dollars. See, I have gained five more.’

“Her employer replied, ‘Outstanding work! Vision worthy of an excellent fund manager! You have been bold with a few investments; I will put you in charge of many assets. I want you to be the keynoter at the annual stockholders’ meeting!’

“The one with the two billion dollars also came. ‘Boss,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two billion dollars; look, I have doubled your investment.’

“His employer replied, ‘Great work! Instincts of an excellent fund manager! You have been courageous with a few investments; I will put you in charge of many assets. I want your report to follow the keynoter!’

“Then the one who had received the one billion came. ‘Boss,’ he said, ‘I knew that you are a stingy guy, expecting returns where you have not invested and collecting dividends in markets where you have not capitalized. So I was fiscally responsible and went out and deposited your billion in the vault. See, here is what belongs to you. Although it’s worth a little less, due to inflation … and the volatility of the markets … and taxes. About half-a-billion, really. And that’s not my fault, you know.’

“His employer replied, ‘You insolent, cowardly doofus! So you knew that I expect returns where I have not invested and collect dividends where I have not capitalized? Well then, you should have at least put my money in a low-rate CD, so that when I returned I would have it back with interest.

“‘Take the billion from him and give it to the one who has the ten billion dollars. For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And fire that worthless fund manager, escort him outside into the darkness, and give him a weepy romance novel to chew on while he’s in the unemployment line.’ ~ Matthew 25:14-30 (KBV*)

Okay, maybe not perfectly word-for-word in line with the original, but I’ve read versions of the Bible that are just as free with their interpretation.

Does it help?

Maybe. It’s very American! But does it carry the original intent of the story?

Matthew’s version of the story is part of a trilogy Jesus relates: Ten wise, ten foolish young ladies. Five talents, two talents, one talent. The sheep who shepherded and the goats who did nothing. – All in a very pointed setting of judgment; and all about planning ahead, watchfulness, faithfulness, courage, willingness to risk, generosity, and an expectation of the day of His return.

The version in Luke 19:11-27 is just what the doctor ordered – chronologically – between Jesus’ visit with Zacchaeus the collaborator/tax agent who had personal integrity, and His triumphal procession into Jerusalem. The parable of the minas is even more brutal in its judgment scene than the story of the talents; the faithless inaction of the one-mina servant seems to tick off the king so much that he orders those who opposed his reign to be slaughtered in front of him. (v. 27)

The purpose of the parable as Dr. Luke states it was not so much economic instruction as eschatological teaching – and that big word “eschatological” just means that Jesus would go away and suddenly return in judgment:

While they were listening to this, he went on to tell them a parable, because he was near Jerusalem and the people thought that the kingdom of God was going to appear at once. ~ v. 11

To get to the bottom of these stories, there are things we need to remember.

First, the kingdom of God is all about sowing seed and reaping a harvest (Matthew 13:1-43). So if we remove the metaphor that the worthless servant uses to describe his “hard” master – reaping where he does not sow – we miss some of the point of it.

Second, the whole purpose of using parables is to conceal from those who have less and reveal to those who have more (Matthew 13:10-17). Have less of what and more of what? The answer Jesus gives seems to be discernment. Those who have a good deal of it – who genuinely want to understand the deep truth about grace that Jesus is trying to communicate to them – will be given more. Those who don’t will be given less discernment of grace, and will read into His stories whatever they want to – or will just shrug Him off as indecipherable.

That key phrase appears, as you have probably already noticed, not only in the cycle of parables in Matthew 13, but also the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and the parable of the minas (Luke 19:11-27): “Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him.”

Puts a whole different light on them, doesn’t it?

Would you like to know what this tells me about Luke’s parable of the minas?

“A Son of noble birth – Son of God, Son of Man – went back to eternity because it was time for His coronation as King – and then to return to the earth. So He called ten of His servants and gave them ten measures of blessing. ‘Put this grace to work,’ He said, ‘until I come back.’

“But in eternity, some of His subjects hated Him and sent a delegation of angels after Him to say, ‘We don’t want this man to be our King.’

“He was made King, however, and returned home. Then He sent for the servants to whom He had given the grace, in order to find out what they had gained with it.

“The first one came and said, ‘Sir, You empowered me to encourage ten others; to give them what You have given me. Now five of them believe and are sharing with ten others – and five of them believe already. Your grace at work in me has redoubled itself.’

“‘Well done, my good servant!’ his Master replied. ‘Because you have been trustworthy in a very small matter, take My grace to ten cities.’

“The second came and said, ‘Sir, You also empowered me and Your grace at work in me has also doubled through five believers – so far!’

“His Master answered, ‘You take My grace to five cities.’

“Then another servant came and said, ‘Sir, here is Your grace; I have kept it laid away in a cloth-bound book. I was afraid of you, because you are a hard man. You take out what you did not put in and reap what you did not sow.’

“His Master replied, ‘I will judge you by your own words, you wicked servant! You knew, did you, that I am a hard man, taking out what I did not put in, and reaping what I did not sow? Why then didn’t you at the very least deposit my grace in cloth-bound books given to others, so that when I came back, I could have collected it with interest?’

“Then He said to those standing by, ‘Take his grace away from him and give it to the one who has ten measures of it.’

“‘Sir,’ they said, ‘he already has ten!’

“He replied, ‘If you want a task done, give it to a busy person. I tell you that to everyone who has, more will be given, but as for the one who has nothing, even what he has will be taken away.’ Then, with His eye still fixed on the wicked servant, He told the bystanders, ‘But those enemies of Mine who did not want Me to be King over them — bring them here for My judgment and let them be obliterated in front of Me.’ ” ~ Luke 19:11-27 (KBV*)

How do you read it?

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_{*Keith Brenton Version}

Because I need to hear this – bluntly – as much as anyone else does.

Jesus, the Christ of God, did not promise we would be blessed when people compliment us, tell us we’re cute, and truthfully say all kinds of nice things about us.^{Matthew 5:11-12}

He did not die on a cross so that we might have wealth, and have it more abundantly.^{John 10:10}

He did not sacrifice Himself so that we might take up a collection and follow our hearts.^{Mark 8:34}

And if you hear people or churches or preachers saying that He did, you can be sure that they’re following someone.

But it’s not the Son of God.

If we cannot show grace to others,
we do not deserve it ourselves.

You may quote me, but you’ll really be quoting Matthew 5:47, 6:12, 7:1-2, 7:12, 22:34-39, Mark 12:28-29, Luke 6:31, 8:37, and pretty much every other verse that describes what Jesus taught and did and lived and died for.

I’m kind of tired of seeing that bumper sticker.

If we really want whirled peas, we’re going to have to:

• Plant the peas
• Water the peas
• Weed the peas
• Pick the peas
• Shell the peas
• Put the peas into a blender
• And turn the blender on.

Just visualizing them ain’t a gonna make ‘er happen.

I can’t remember now whether presidential candidate Ross Perot ever actually uttered those words, or whether mimic Dana Carvey just said them so convincingly “in-character” that we all thought he did.

You know what’s just sad to me?

When people have to close the comments of their blog – or even restrict their readership to those who have signed up and signed in each time – because of the unChristian acts and words and motives of a few.

Some of my casual blog reads have “disappeared” into Privacy World as a result of such selfishness on the part of visitors.

I have been the recipient of a great deal of grace in being able to keep this blog open, and though I have seen flashes of conflict and occasional ungraciousness in the comments on it, for the most part I have seen an extraordinary amount of lovingkindness shown to the different opinion and the one who holds it.

I guess I just wanted to take the opportunity to say thank you to all of you who read and comment here; for the grace you show me and each other and for a generally loving and accepting spirit displayed in your words.

I am grateful to God for each and every one of you.

It’s one of those things preachers say.

Without thinking.

“If you’re here today, and you haven’t obeyed the gospel ….”
“If you’re here today, and need the prayers of the church ….”
“If you’re here today, and you wish you weren’t ….”

Okay, I’ve never actually heard a preacher say the last one – but I’ve heard a hundred or more variations of the first two, even from preachers who are really good and who ought to know what they’re doing.

“If you’re here today”? In the days before recording sermons on cassette and then CD and then MP3 for podcasting, who was a preacher talking to when saying that? The folks who were there, of course. They already knew they were there. And if they weren’t there, they weren’t listening. So why say it?

And it’s always a hanging “if,” even today. If you’re not here today, what do you do? Forget it? Sit there and feel suicidal? Shake it off and try to do better next time?

Well, that’s my advice for preachers: ditch the phrase “If you’re here today.” Trust me. We are.

And if we aren’t, and we’re still listening, it’s because we wanted to be there that day and ordered the cassette or the CD, or downloaded the MP3.

It’s not world-class advice like the stuff at Milton Stanley’s outstanding Transforming Sermons, but maybe it’ll make a couple of you out there re-think the standard closer phrasing a bit.

That is, if you’re here today ….

I wanted y’all to know I just read in an e-mail church bulletin from my church family in Abilene (Highland Church of Christ) a prayer request for:

“Kinney Mabry – son of Gary Mabry, chemistry teacher at AHS – in Kerrville hospital with double pneumonia, as well as being anemic”

… and I’m guessing it’s our favorite preacherman. So I ask you to pray for our brother while he’s ill and away from the keyboard.

I do not like it when people use labels for other people. I understand the usefulness of them in describing a set of characteristics, beliefs, points of view, or praxis. I also understand the abuse of them when people use them against other people.

I’m okay with calling myself a centrist, and am about to explain why and what that means to me.

But, as a general rule, labels divide. Labels allow one to classify a group of individual people and assign to them a set of characteristics or beliefs or practices to which perhaps only some of them adhere.

Labels allow one to be crass and insulting toward a whole group of people and therefore avoid the stigma of being crass and insulting toward just one person.

Labels aren’t always accurate by common definition. What may constitute “conservative” and “liberal” to one person may be wholly different from the way another person defines the terms.

These things are true whether you’re discussing esoteric theories or politics or religion or Christianity.

I suspect I would be described as “liberal” by many of the people in the fellowship of Christianity where I identify myself. I suspect I would be described as “conservative” by a lot of other people who think of themselves as Christians.

So what am I?

I’ve decided I am a centrist.

I seek to be centered on Jesus Christ.

Everything else is peripheral. That’s not to say that everything else is unimportant. But if any facet of “everything else” does not have its roots in Christ, its trunk in Christ, its lifesap and its branches and twigs and leaves and fruit in Christ – it’s fit for nothing more than to be cut down and thrown into the fire (Matthew 3:10).

If any instruction of Christ is being neglected and withering on the vine, it needs to be tended and watered and nurtured and grown.

If your view of a certain doctrine or mine, whether considered liberal or conservative, does not bear good fruit, it cannot be of Christ and it needs to be pruned out.

There were plenty of doctrines in century one that were not of God through Christ and His Spirit, but of man. Of one of them – circumcision required in order to become a Christian – Paul wrote:

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.~ Galatians 5:6

Responding to the teachings that Jesus was either man or God but not both, John wrote:

Who is the liar? It is the man who denies that Jesus is the Christ. Such a man is the antichrist—he denies the Father and the Son. No one who denies the Son has the Father; whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also. ~ 1 John 2:22-23

This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. ~ 1 John 4:2-3

On the subject of taking up labels – even self-applied ones – Paul said:

I appeal to you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another so that there may be no divisions among you and that you may be perfectly united in mind and thought. My brothers, some from Chloe’s household have informed me that there are quarrels among you. What I mean is this: One of you says, “I follow Paul”; another, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Cephas”; still another, “I follow Christ.” Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Were you baptized into[b] the name of Paul? I am thankful that I did not baptize any of you except Crispus and Gaius, so no one can say that you were baptized into my name. (Yes, I also baptized the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t remember if I baptized anyone else.) For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power. For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. ~ 1 Corinthians 1:10-18

Notice what’s important in these citations: Who Jesus is. What He teaches. What He does.

Notice what’s not important: What man teaches about how man sees things.

Notice what’s even less important than Christ: baptism. Yes, even baptism takes a back seat to the gospel. Because if the gospel is preached – if the Story of Jesus is told – then it becomes obvious that baptism is one of the important ways God wants for us to have a new life and become a part of His kingdom. Baptism is rooted, trunked, branched, twigged, leafed and fruited in Christ.

So it cannot be the center of the gospel.

Neither can any of the other essentials of faith. Neither can any of the peripherals of faith. And certainly, neither can any of the matters which are of a faith that is not centered in Christ.

If I teach anything, say anything, write anything, do anything that is not centered in Christ, I beg you to call me on the carpet. It’s not just important to me. It is the single most important aspect of the way I live my life.

I hope to take your correction humbly, positively and penitently if found true and valid. I hope you will permit me the same grace if I feel compelled to challenge the way you view or practice your life in Christ. I believe there is divine wisdom in the fact that God puts us, the lonely, in His family in order to encourage and edify each other.

That is part of faith expressing itself in love. That is the very nature of Jesus, the Christ.

And nothing else counts.

The Bible tells me so.