The Name God Calls You

 

All parents have instructed their children not to call people names. And I imagine that all parents have had their kids come tell on another kid: “He called me a name!” Although it might not be expressly said, it is implied that we mean not to call someone a negative name. When children call each other things like dumb or weird, it obviously hurts that child’s feelings and makes them think they are disliked or inferior. If that child were to be called cool or awesome, it has a completely different effect. 

 

Sometimes God calls people names. For example, Jesus famously called one of his disciples “The Rock” (Peter) when everyone else called him Simon. That nickname inspired Simon to step up to the plate and lead the apostles and the early church. But I want to focus on another name that God called someone. Although his parents named him Gideon, and the Israelites later nicknamed him Jerubbaal, God called him by another name: “And the angel of the Lord appeared to him and said to him, ‘The Lord is with you, O mighty man of valor (Judges 6:12).’” 

 

Mighty man of valor. What member of the male species would not want to be known by such a moniker? From the beginning of time men have gone to great lengths to demonstrate their valor, usually with the intent of getting a lady to notice. But Gideon doesn’t seem to have been one of those guys. An Alpha Male, Gideon was not. In fact, when the Lord appears to him, Gideon is “beating out wheat in the winepress to hide it from the Midianites (v.8).” Wheat was not threshed in a winepress under ordinary circumstances. The process involved using a winnowing fork to throw the piles of wheat and chaff into the air and allowing the wind to drive away the useless chaff, while the heavier wheat fell to the ground. An enclosed winepress would not allow this process to happen easily. 

 

So why was Gideon threshing wheat in a winepress? The text tells us he was hiding his wheat from the Midians. Israel had been oppressed for seven years, and “whenever the Israelites planted crops, the Midianites and the Amalekites and the people of the East would come up against them (v.3)” to steal their produce. Gideon was hiding because he was afraid, and yet God calls him a mighty man of valor. He doesn’t look like a man of valor; he doesn’t even look like a man! 

 

Gideon was not wearing an NRA hat and waving a Don’t Tread on Me flag in his yard. He was quivering in his cave, hoping the bullies wouldn’t see him and take his lunch money. He was not looking to deliver the nation or lead a revolution. He just wanted to gather his wheat and make it safely back home. 

 

Even after God called him a mighty man of valor Gideon chose to carry out his first assignment under the cover of darkness. Then he wanted a sign from God. Then another one. He doesn’t look mighty, and he is fresh out of valor. But one chapter later this converted coward leads an army of 300 to victory over an army of 135,000. Despite being outnumbered 450 to 1, this mighty man of valor steps up to the plate, just like Simon turning into a Rock. 

 

I’m glad that God calls us names. More importantly, I’m glad He calls us by what He knows we can become, not by what we are right now. 

The Most Expensive Meal

In October of 1971 the Shah of Iran hosted a banquet for sixty kings, queens, and heads of state. The purpose of the event was to celebrate the 2,500^thyear of the Persian Empire, and the price tag for the celebration was an estimated $100 million. It has been suggested that this was perhaps the costliest table ever spread.

I would disagree with that assessment, however. I believe the Lord’s Supper is the costliest table ever spread. No, the ingredients do not surpass the $100 million that the Iranian shah spent; we only spend a few bucks on grape juice and crackers. The Lord’s Supper is the costliest table ever spread because the meal cost Jesus His life. The greatest Man who ever lived had to lay down His life. The only perfect Person in history would have to pour out His life’s blood so that we may have a seat at the table. 

When we gather together to take communion we share in one of the richest rites in history. Our Lord took the bread and cup from the Passover Seder and greatly changed the meaning that had stood for centuries. The bread was called the Affikomen,which means “The Coming One.” It was eaten each year at Passover in anticipation of the coming Messiah, and all who ate it did so in hopes that soon God would send the Rescuer. Jesus told them the bread represented His body. The Coming One had arrived. In other words Jesus was saying, “The Messiah you have been looking for is now before your very eyes. I am He.”

The cup He took was the third cup of the Passover, called the Cup of Redemption, and it followed the Affikomen.This cup was about looking back to the Exodus, when God redeemed Israel out of Egyptian slavery. In Exodus 6:6 God said to Moses, “Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment.’”

Jesus changed the meaning of this cup to the redemption that would be made available through the new covenant cut in His blood. Peter, who was in the Upper Room that night, would later write, “You were not redeemed with corruptible things such as silver and gold, …but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a Lamb without blemish or without spot (I Peter 1:18-19).” 

In other words Jesus was saying, “No longer drink this third cup simply looking back to redemption from Egypt. From now on drink this cup thinking about the redemption of your souls made possible by my shed blood.” 

When we sit down to the Lord’s table we partake of simple ingredients available at any grocery store, but it is a costly meal in that it required the body of Jesus to be broken, and the blood of Jesus to be shed. As often as we eat it, we pause and give thanks to Jesus for the redemption that only He could make possible. 

Pentecost Sunday

Sunday, May 20^th, is Pentecost Sunday. For many Christians, especially Baptists like myself, we tend to shy away from recognizing this special day because of its association with speaking in tongues or other [Charismatic] gifts of the Spirit (I am personally a cessationist, believing some of those gifts were for the Apostolic Era and have since passed away). Regardless of a person’s take on spiritual gifts, Pentecost Sunday should be celebrated by all who profess the name of Jesus.

The word Pentecost means fifty days because it is celebrated fifty days after Resurrection Sunday (technically it is forty-nine days by our calendar, but the Jewish calendar measured days from sundown to sundown). The official name of Pentecost is the Festival of Weeks because it was originally set to be observed seven weeks after the first grain harvest of the year. More importantly, Pentecost is also called The Season of the Giving of the Law, for on Pentecost Jews reflected on Moses receiving the law on Mt. Sinai.

Do you remember what happened when Moses was given the Torah? He descended the mountain only to find the Jews worshipping a golden calf that his brother helped fashion, a glaring object lesson to the fact that they could not keep the very law Moses was holding. As a result, 3,000 idolaters lost their lives that day.

In Acts 2, seven weeks after the Resurrection, Luke notes, “the Day of Pentecost was fully come.” In Greek, Luke was saying that this was the Day of Pentecost, a momentous fulfillment of a day that would never again be the same. The Holy Spirit descended on the assembled believers, and Peter preached a message with a newfound boldness. Do you remember how many were saved that day? 3,000.

(The Apostles began to speak in tongues. This is glossa in Greek, the word from which glossary is derived; it can only refer to known languages. People came from around the world to celebrate the Festival of Weeks, and the Spirit allowed the Apostles to preach in the languages that were represented in Jerusalem that day. Any other conclusion is not fair to the original Greek.)

We celebrate Pentecost Sunday because it is a reminder that we are under grace, not law. No one is good enough to keep the law for salvation, but because God’s Spirit now fills believers, we are saved by amazing grace.      

Call it What it is

We all appreciate honesty. We want our doctor to be honest with us, even if we don’t like the diagnosis. We want our teachers to tell us if we are wrong so that we can improve our method. We want our spouse to tell us something they don’t like before it grows into a bigger problem.

People that appreciate history do not want to see the facts misrepresented. We wouldn’t stand for someone trying to say that Lincoln was the first President, or that we were on the losing side of the World Wars.

Christians should appreciate efforts to protect the integrity of the Bible. We would argue with anyone who said the lie of Ananias and Sapphira was of no consequence, or that the sin of Achan was no big deal. We would object to a claim that Judas Iscariot was a devoted disciple or that Caiaphas was a follower of Jesus.

If we appreciate honesty and factual integrity, especially as it relates to the things of God, then why would we sit idly by when someone preaches a false gospel? You do not have to try hard to find a preacher who claims God’s chief goal is your happiness, or that you are just fine as you are (before salvation), or that material blessings are the proof of your obedience.

Sadly, instead of hearing a host of believers call out these false prophets, we are more likely to hear them call out the ones who call out the false prophets. We should have a burning in our soul when someone perverts the gospel, but instead many are drawn to them because they scratch their itching ears.

If you think calling out heresy is wrong, judgmental, or mean, remember that Peter, Paul, and Jesus Himself called it out. We need to call it what it is so that by it others are not led astray. Paul called out individuals by name because they shipwrecked the faith of other people. He was not out looking for a fight, but Paul would always fight for the purity of the Gospel.

“But shun profane and idle babblings, for they will increase to more ungodliness. And their message will spread like cancer. Hymenaeus and Philetus are of this sort, who have strayed concerning the truth, saying that the resurrection is already past; and they overthrow the faith of some.”

2 Timothy 2:16-18

Pursue Peace

We are getting into deer season here in the Upstate, and I know that has made people happy. I’m not much of a hunter (translation: I have never been hunting), but my huntin’ friends have spent the last several weeks gearing up. Even prior to bow season they have been setting up cameras and checking footage, scouting areas for evidence, doing anything to get a beat on the behavior patterns of their prey.

Peter used a hunting term in his first epistle, telling Christians to, “seek peace and pursue it (1 Peter 3:11).” He was quoting from Psalm 34:14, so the idea was familiar to his audience. The word for pursue was a word understood to be associated with hunters; just as a gamesman pursues his prize, so we are to pursue peace.

It is important, then, that we understand what peace is. It is a synonym of tranquility, a way of living in harmony with other people. We are to actively pursue peace, to hunt harmony. How have you been doing with that?

Two big issues come to my mind. First is the removal of statues and monuments and the renaming of landmarks and streets; the other is professional athletes kneeling down during the national anthem. There are many strong opinions about these issues, and I certainly have my own. We can have conversations about them, but when they turn into arguments and lines get drawn in the sand, we are not pursuing peace. Remember, Jesus said that the peacemakers would be blessed

Pursuing peace doesn’t mean we compromise, it just means we know when to bite our tongue. Proverbs 29:11 says, “A fool vents all his feelings, but a wise man holds them back.” In the long run, seeking peace is a better prize than winning the argument. So let us actively pursue peace like a skilled hunter tracking a ten-point buck. It isn’t something you can mount above the mantle, but it is something I don’t want to live without.  

False Statements in the Bible

Does the Bible contain false statements? Of course it does! It might surprise some of you to hear me say that, but please let me point out four undeniably false quotations found in Scripture.

Ananias and Sapphira each made a false statement in Acts 5; after selling property and making a donation to the church, they withheld a portion and lied about the price. Peter asked, “Did you sell the land for this price?” The wife replied, “Yes, for that price.” That lie was a false statement, and they paid dearly for it.

Job’s “friend” Eliphaz the Temanite also made a false statement in Job 4-5 when he concluded that Job’s suffering was a punishment for some secret sin he would not confess. The truth was that God allowed Job to be tested, and he passed the test.

A third false statement can be found in Isaiah 14:14: “I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will be like the Most High.” That lie was spoken by Lucifer, who thought he could challenge El Elyon, the Most High God. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Finally, the Bible contains this false statement: “There is no God (Psalm 14:1).” While Descartes may agree with such a claim, we need to remember that the above quote is attributed to “the foolish man.”

I hear from critics who like to remind me that the Bible contains false statements; sure it does. It accurately contains false statements made by fools, liars, fair-weather friends, and the devil himself. But the Bible is never inaccurate in what it says. If the Bible says it, you can take it to the bank. There may be critics and scoffers out there trying to make you doubt, but we have faith. When your faith in the Bible may waver, just read it a little more; after all, “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17).”