Beatles 13, Hey Bulldog!

Several devotionals ago (Take Me To The Pet Shop) I discussed the misunderstood lyrics of the Beatles songs “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” and “Dear Prudence” and spun a fancy little tale of deeper meanings – or not as the case may be.  The point was that we needed to know what we were reading and that we were seeking the truth.  This one is a little like that, but not really.

Let’s list four Beatles songs to start with:  “Martha, My Dear”, “Got To Get You Into My Life”, “Julia”, and “Savoy Truffle.”  That’s a pretty weird little collection I just put together.  Certainly never going to make the Greatest Hits, although I really like each and every one of them.  The reason I picked those songs is obvious, of course, but I’m not revealing the secret behind the magic just yet.  Let’s look at them one at a time, shall we? 

“Martha, My Dear” is a Paul McCartney song.  It contains some beautiful music, and more beautiful lyrics.  “Please Remember me Martha my love. Don't forget me Martha my dear” and “Martha my dear you have always been my inspiration Please be good to me Martha my love” to list just a few.  WOW!! Martha must be one lucky girl to have such a beautiful song written about her!!  Who is Martha?  Paul’s sheepdog.

“Got To Get You Into My Life” is another Paul McCartney creation.  It’s not a slow, melodic song like “Martha.”  It’s full of horns and a bold declaration of “Got to get you into my life!”  Among the other things Paul proudly sings are “Ooh, you were meant to be near me.  Ooh, and I want you to hear me.  Say we'll be together every day.” and “Then suddenly I see you.  Did I tell you I need you every single day?”  Those are some pretty strong words of devotion.  Is Paul singing to some girl?  No.  Is he singing to his sheepdog again?  Nope.  Paul’s declaring his love for a certain recreational drug that’s showing up on election ballots these days.  Seems to take a different meaning when you know that’s what he’s dedicating his devotion to.

But enough of Paul, let’s give John some love.  “Julia” is sometimes called John’s response to Paul’s “Blackbird.”  It’s a really, really good song.  John sings to Julia, “Half of what I say is meaningless
But I say it just to reach you, Julia” and “Her hair of floating sky is shimmering, glimmering,
In the sun…So I sing a song of love, Julia.”  Now there’s a love ballad!  Shakespeare couldn’t have written more poignant words of love in Romeo and Juliet.  Of course, by now you’re catching on so you know it’s not a girlfriend.  No, it’s not Paul’s dog…or John’s.  It’s not a drug reference, either.  It’s his mom!!  She was hit and killed in an accident when John was 17.  So he wrote this amazing song for his mom.  Momma’s Boy!  Hehe.

Finally, we get to “Savoy Truffle” written by George “My Favorite Beatle” Harrison.  No dogs or girls or moms or drugs in this one.  It sounds like an inventory of a kid’s trick-or-treat sack.  No exaggeration on that, either.  Literally, the first line is “Creme tangerine and montelimart, a ginger sling with a pineapple heart.”  You want to know why it sounds like a box of chocolates.  Because it is.  George was good friends with Eric Clapton (he played the solos on While My Guitar Gently Weeps) who apparently had quite the sweet tooth.  The song, according to George, was inspired by Eric’s inability to keep out of a box of Mackintosh's Good News chocolates.  So George poked a little fun at his friend by writing a song that was basically the contents page for the box.  Even the title “Savoy Truffle” is one of the chocolates in the box.

By now, as usual, you’re yelling at the devotional about getting to the point already.  SO here it is.  It helps to know the backstory.  Some of you reading this may have loved “Martha, My Dear” or “Julia” since the first time you heard it.  You loved it because it was an amazing love song, and summarized the way you felt about your significant other so perfectly.  It’s Paul’s dog.  It’s John’s mom.  Maybe the song you sang to your wife was some caterwauling, poor rendition of “Got To Get You Into My Life.”  Maybe you played it on the radio when you dropped down on one knee and proposed…because it’s the perfect song with the right emotion and desire that you feel for your would-be bride.  It’s not about a woman.  It’s about Paul’s fascination with wanting more experience with a habit.  “Savoy Truffle” doesn’t really have much meaning that can be taken for more than what it is, but now you know the story of how it came to be.  Now that you know how it came to be, it likely makes more sense when you hear it.  “Oh, ok…yeah…he’s jabbing fun at Eric Clapton with the candy references and little one-liners.”  Much like knowing the truth of what’s said, and really understanding the lyrics that I mentioned in the afore-mentioned “ Pet Shop” devotional, to truly understand something you read, it’s best to know to whom it was written.

For example, take Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.  The four Gospels in the New Testament that tell the story of Jesus Christ and His ministry on Earth.  Why do three of them overlap, and why is John different?  Why does Matthew begin with that snooze-fest of begetting?  Why does Mark read with the pace of a Saturday morning cartoon?  Why does Luke sound like an attorney trying to win a court case?  The answer is the same as the Beatles songs…It’s completely due to whom they were written. 

Matthew starts with all that begetting because Matthew is writing his gospel to the Jews.  The Jews were looking for a King from the line of David.  The Jews wanted their Messiah.  Matthew starts with the heritage of Jesus Christ to show that He was who He said He was.  Matthew uses a lot of Old Testament prophecy to connect the dots from David to the prophets to Jesus.  We start with Matthew 1:1 and read “The record of the genealogy of Jesus the Messiah, the son of David, the son of Abraham:” and immediately hit cruise control.  Our eyes scan the page, blurring through names we can’t pronounce, wondering what begat even means, and pop out of the wormhole in verse 17 reading about 14 generations and 14 more generations and thinking “What was the point of that?!”  To the Jewish reader, that IS the whole point.  The pedigree of Jesus Christ.  That blistering bombardment of begats that begins the book is meant to clearly reveal to the Jewish reader that Jesus IS the heir to David’s throne and IS the Messiah, the Son of God.  The entirety of the book is devoted to proving how Jesus fulfills the many Messianic Prophecies of the Old Testament.

Mark could be a comic book adaptation of the life of Jesus Christ.  It jumps from action scene to action scene like the first five minutes of a television show recapping what happened last week!  Mark starts with an introductory title like the beginning of a police drama:  “The wilderness, near the Jordan River” and we fade into John the Baptist.  He’s wearing crazy clothes, and he’s baptizing people right and left.  Almost immediately we see Jesus walk up, and John’s baptizing Jesus.  John’s arrested to get him out of the plot for now, and the story shifts to Jesus.  When we get to Jesus, it’s miracle after miracle.  We ain’t got time for all that boring begetting business!  We want the action scenes!  The first time Cameron saw Jurassic Park, we were most of the way through the setup of the story when he turned to me and said, “This is boring.  When are the dinosaurs going to flip out and start eating people?”  That’s the Gospel of Mark!!  It was written to the people of Rome!  America and Rome are right there together!  We want action, excitement, and adventure!  They fed Christians to lions, but luckily in America we have CGI.  The Romans didn’t care about genealogy.  They wanted action!  They wanted a God that was powerful and mighty and larger than life!  Mark’s gospel delivers just that.  He skips the focus on prophecy and lineage and jumps straight to the healing.  We’re just over halfway through the first chapter before Jesus has healed Peter’s Mother-In-Law.  Mark stands up on the soapbox and says, “Do you want to know what Jesus did?  I’ll tell you what Jesus did!” Mark uses the word “immediately” 34 times.  In the shortest of the Gospels, Mark describes 27 miracles.  It’s an action-packed Gospel written to a people with a short attention span.  It’s fast-paced, it’s to the point, and it paints Jesus in all His glory in 30 minutes including commercials!  Why?  Because it’s written for Romans.

Next we come to Luke, the doctor.  Logical Luke writing a courtroom drama with all the arguments logically flowing from one to the next.  Luke was a Greek Christian and wrote his book to whom?  A gentile world outside the umbrella of Abraham’s Promise.  Luke builds, block by block, the theology of Jesus Christ.  Luke carefully details Jesus’ humanity and His divinity.  Luke is not writing to a Jewish audience who knows full well the Promise given to Abraham but to to one who needs to be shown the truth of the Messiah.  Luke is not writing to a powerful Roman culture that needs shock and awe to get their attentions.  Luke essentially is writing to everyone else.  When you’re writing to everyone, you need to go slow and not miss any points.  You start on the ground floor, and state your case one floor at a time.  When you reach the top floor, you reveal the truth of Jesus’ resurrection.  Luke is simply telling the world that God is God, and that Jesus is His Son.  Luke explains that we all have sinned, but that God loves us all.  Luke shows that through God’s love, Jesus was sacrificed and has overcome death.  Luke tells the world about Jesus with a patience and deliberateness that shows that he wants to make sure that, in the end, nobody is confused about who Jesus is, and what Jesus has done.

Lastly, there’s John.  John’s like the old Sesame Street game “One of these things is not like the others.  One of these things just doesn't belong…Three of these things belong together.  Three of these things are kind of the same.”  There’s the three synoptic gospels – with Matthew, Mark and Luke being card-carrying members.  Lastly, there’s John.  As I’ve said before, John, like the cheese, stands alone.  So the question is simple:  Why does John, like the cheese, stand alone?  Well we know that Matthew is writing specifically to Jews.  We know that Mark is writing to Romans.  We know that Luke is writing to everyone else.  So who does that leave that John is writing to?  The same people that Matthew, Mark, and Luke were writing to.  The Book of John was the last to be written.  If someone has told a great story three time over, what do you do?  You say, “Yeah, that was good and all, but you didn’t tell the whole story, and you left out ALL THE OTHER STUFF!”  That’s precisely what John did.  He even throws his own disclaimer at the end confirming this very notion.  John 21:25 And there are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they were written in detail, I suppose that even the world itself would not contain the books that would be written.  John’s saying, “I know I didn’t get it all, either, but I tried to get the best parts out there.”  So John’s not synoptic - not because he’s wrong…it’s because John is the original Paul Harvey.

Listen for the Whisper that sounds like your high school English teacher.  Mine would be Mrs. Ginn, but feel free to substitute your own in your head.  This whisper sounds like the teacher that had you read some awful story and then asked you who the target audience was.  It sounds like the teacher that asked you to describe the setting of Ransom of Red Chief.  This Whisper is telling you that the Word of God is infallible and perfect.  This Whisper is also telling you that to help you understand it more fully, sometimes you need to look at your Bible like an 11^th Grade English assignment.  Don’t just read it and memorize parts to be able to pass a simple test.  Put some thought into what you’re reading.  Why does John’s account vary so much from the others?  Why does “Savoy Truffle” sound like a Willy Wonka song?  What is the setting at the church at Corinth when Paul writes his first letter to them?  These are important questions.  Otherwise, you might think you have discovered some profound insight only to realize later that Paul was actually writing about his sheepdog.

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net
http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com

Beatles 12, Goo Goo Ga Joob

"The time has come," the Walrus said, "To talk of many things: Of shoes and ships and sealing-wax, Of cabbages and kings…”  This line was my introduction to the Lewis Carroll poem “The Walrus and the Carpenter.”  That particular section was the introduction to a little educational short that aired either before or after Saturday Morning Wrestling on Channel 5 in Memphis.  Honestly, I don’t remember the specifics on the show, but I remember that line.  The poem was also the inspiration for John Lennon when he wrote “I Am the Walrus.”  I was so young when I first saw it that I hadn’t even heard of “I Am the Walrus” when I first heard “The time has come.”  In most of these devotionals, I’ve given some back story to the referenced song.  Not this time.  I’m not, by any stretch of the imagination going to attempt to explain “I Am the Walrus”.  It’s just weird.  The lyrics make no real sense at all, and the explanations of how the song came about are as random and disconnected as the lyrics themselves.  “I Am the Walrus!  Goo Goo Ga Joob!”  For the record, “goo goo ga job” is, in fact, the correct exclamation here; Not the often misquoted “coo coo ca choo.”  But I digress.  Furthermore, my point is not really related to the song at all.  It’s actually related to the song “Glass Onion” with its line “Here’s another clue for you all: the walrus was Paul.”  I just wanted to reference it so I could name this one “Goo Goo Ga Joob.”

The four words “the walrus was Paul” are also the title of a book by Gary Patterson.  What is the subject of that book?  The book is about the long-standing, wide-spread, and over-analyzed rumor that Paul McCartney died in the late 1960s.  Clues are everywhere if you’re specifically looking for them, and there are no shortage of books and websites that outline them all.  It’s like CSI: The Beatles.  Fans have picked apart album covers.  Fans have listened to records listening for clues.  Fans have played those same records backward looking for more clues.  Fans are putting meaning into symbolism that isn’t even true.  The chief clue based on misinformation is that the walrus is the symbol of death in India.  That’s not true at all.  However, on the Magical Mystery Tour album cover, people point to Paul the Walrus and say they have proof that Paul is dead.  Then in the song Glass Onion, John sings about the walrus and announces that the walrus was Paul.  The trouble is in the detail, though.  The “I Am the Walrus” video clearly shows that John behind the piano is the walrus.  George is a rabbit.  Ringo is a parrot.  Yes, I realize this is getting ridiculous, but stay with me, there’s a point to be made.  Finally, standing in front of them all, playing a left-handed bass guitar is Paul…dressed as a hippo.  The walrus isn’t Paul.  Here’s another clue for you dippos, Paul was the hippo.  John is the walrus, goo goo ga joob.  It appears that the rumors of Paul’s death may have been greatly exaggerated – apologies to Mark Twain.

I find it fascinating…I mean, completely mind-blowing fascinating that in all the years from then to now people still insist that Paul McCartney is dead and was replaced by William Campbell, the winner of a look-alike contest.  That’s a lot of time spent trying to prove a debunked and refuted hoax.  That’s nearly 50 years wasted trying to prove a rumor that’s been proven false time and again.  Even the Beatles themselves have admitted to purposely adding a little fuel to the rumors intentionally.

I know a “they’re dead” rumor that’s been going on longer.  Psalm 74:10 How long, O God, will the adversary revile,  and the enemy spurn Your name forever?  There you have it right there in the book of Psalms.  Psalm 74 is attributed to Asaph and likely written around 587 BC.  The Psalm writer is asking God just how long He’s going to allow the enemy to insult His holy name.  We’re talking over 2,600 years ago.  Oh, but wait.  Let’s tick the clock backward just a few notches more.  Isaiah 52:5 Now therefore, what do I have here,” declares the Lord, “seeing that My people have been taken away without cause?” Again the Lord declares, “Those who rule over them howl, and My name is continually blasphemed all day long.  Did you catch that?  All day long God’s name is blasphemed.  All-day blasphemy!  Those words were written somewhere around 700BC.  More than a hundred years farther back than Psalm 74.  Now let’s see if we can wind the clock backward just a little bit more without busting the springs.  Most experts think Job is the oldest book of the Bible.  Not that it records the oldest events, but that it predates Moses’ writing of the Pentateuch.  Ballpark estimates are in the range of 100 years before the Exodus from Egypt.  That’s going to put Job’s events at nearly 1300BC.  We’re talking over 3,300 years ago, and what’s there in Chapter 22?  In verse 12 Eliphaz is talking about the people that think that God is just SO far away: “You say, ‘What does God know?  Can He judge through the thick darkness?”  Later in verse 17 Eliphaz is talking about wicked men and, “They said to God, ‘Depart from us!’ And ‘What can the Almighty do to them?’”  So over 3,000 years ago, in the span of five verses, we have illustrations of people who think that God is in Heaven and too far away to see or do anything for us, followed by people who actively tell God to go away and question God’s authority over humanity.

Paul’s been being declared dead for nearly 50 years.  God’s been being declared dead and useless for over 3,000!  How do you argue with someone that’s thoroughly convinced that Paul McCartney is dead?  You can’t, really.  You can show them what you perceive to be the truth, but they’ll twist it and tell you that you have your head in the sand and blind to the truth.  If you try to convince someone that’s thoroughly convinced that God is dead that He’s most definitely not dead, they’ll do the exact same things.  Some people just don’t want to be convinced.  They feel smarter than others who blindly accept (what they’ll call) the crutch of religion.  They see no proof that God exists even when (as the Bible says) the proof of His existence surrounds us in Creation.

It all comes down to belief.  You either choose to believe, or you choose to not.  Some choose to not believe then insult those who do believe – but that’s just going to be that way.  Their reasons for not believing are as varied as the meaning behind the lyrics to “I Am the Walrus.”  It’s their choice.  We choose to believe.  They choose to not.  Millions of kids every night firmly believe there is a monster in their closet.  Mom and dad can come in, open the closet door, and move everything in there to demonstrate the empty closet.  In the end, they will have done nothing to sway that little kid’s opinion that there is a monster STILL in that closet.  Atheists can come in and make all manner of accusations and arguments, but in the end, I still choose to believe.  Believers in God can show wonderful examples of God’s love and compassion and ability to provide a wonderful planet in which humanity can live.  In the end, some will continue to reject every bit of it.  They simply choose not to believe.  That saddens me. 

 

It also saddens me that some of those same people will use the history of Christianity against me.  They point to the Crusades and slavery and thousands of years of hate and exclusionism exhibited by those who proclaim to believe in the Love of God the Father and His Son, Christ Jesus.  When they point to that, I can’t argue with it.  Great numbers of people of misused God’s name to justify atrocious behavior throughout history.  It’s the very same attitude and behavior that cried out “Crucify Him” as they put Jesus on trial.  There’s a touch of irony there.  At the other end of the spectrum, there are those that continue to use Grace as a license to live however they want.  They don’t care how many times Paul said, “By no means!”

Listen for the Whisper that sounds like the opening verse of the 19^th Psalm.  “The heavens are telling of the glory of God;  And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.”  It’s the same argument used in Romans 1 to make the same points that I’m making in this devotional.  In verse 20, Paul says, ”For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”  Paul is simply stating that the best argument for God’s existence is the magnificence of Creation itself.  People will either believe that it came from God, or they’ll believe that this is all one big happy accident.  Some will look at the tragedies and ask why a loving God would allow it to happen.  Others will ask them why they are standing there doubting God instead of helping the ones suffering through the tragedies.  The thing is:  Some of those very doubters are the first to a disaster site to help victims.  There’s another bit of irony.  They devote their every breath denying that God exists, trying to convince as many as they can how right that point of view is, and then by their own selfless actions in times of trouble display the very love that God wants us to have for one another.  That makes me smile just a little.  Because, you see, God’s not dead any more than Paul was dead.  Not Paul the apostle, but Paul the hippo.  Goo Goo Ga Joob.

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net

http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com

Beatles 11, Everybody's Got Something To Hide Except For Me and My Monkey

The Beatles Devotionals Part 11.  Only a few more to go, although after this past weekend I had another one to do after some things I learned.  This devotional, however, likely has the longest title of any of my little devotionals.  It shares a name with a Beatles song: “Everybody’s Got Something To Hide Except For Me and My Monkey.”  A strange little song written by John Lennon.  Not that that little sentence doesn’t describe a LOT of John’s songs.  The title of this one, though, is the longest title of any Beatles song. 

John’s side of the story is that he wrote it while Yoko was sitting in on the recording sessions, and everyone around them grew increasingly paranoid.  “Why is she here?”  “What are they up to?”  “It’s never been anyone but the four of us before!”  And the questions went on.  According to John, the song was written because, from his point of view, he and his monkey (presumably Yoko) were the only ones that were out and open and in front of everyone and completely honest.  John’s exact words, “Everybody seemed to be paranoid except for us two, who were in the glow of love. Everything is clear and open when you're in love.”  Depending on where you look, though, there are several other theories out there behind the meaning of the song.  Some say it’s some shot at the Maharishi, and even George Harrison said the song was about John’s heroin addiction…that John’s point was that they all had their secrets, but his monkey – the heroin – was common knowledge.  John’s side of the story came out in an interview with a certain men’s magazine in 1980.  He’d written the song for the White Album in 1968 while in India.  It’s possible he changed his story in the twenty-plus years between writing and explaining.

But I have no reason to doubt John’s side of the story.  Of all the things going on when the Beatles went home for the day, so to speak, the only one that brought his secret with him was John.  Like I covered in the Ballad of John and Yoko devotional, wanting to be together is what husbands and wives are supposed to want to do.  Now was John’s side of the story fully accurate or simply spin he put on it years later?  I can’t say.  When we get to Heaven, maybe you can ask him…wait, what?!  Don’t worry – that devotional’s coming.  It’s not always just about the race, it’s about the finish.  But like I said, that’s another devotional coming soon.

But here’s what I’m willing to bet: that we all have that one thing in our closet.  A temper, a tongue, a prejudice, an addiction, a regret from years ago…something that most people don’t know about us and we’d just as soon keep it that way.  I’m not going to go full-on confessional here, especially considering I’ve already put most of it out there for everyone anyway.  But yeah, even us fun-loving, devotional-writing guys have them.  It’s entirely possible that I’ve lived with one for a LONG time.  Up to and including emailing said person for forgiveness when I first jotted down the outline of topics for this devotional series.  Something I’d said to one of my best friends back in seventh or eighth grade.  It was a spur of the moment, rude, comment made in a stupid attempt to be funny.  And what I said has stuck with ME since the minute I’d said it.  I’d like to say it’s something that stopped then.  But it’s not.  I’d like to say that harsh tones, annoyed eye-rolls, and things said immediately regretted were reserved for those outside my family.  I’d like to say that.  Most of you reading this may be shocked to know that.  Most of you reading this have something just like that that you don’t want known outside of your immediate circle, too.  I had a friend whose mother stopped smoking 15 years ago…or so her family thought.  They found out after the funeral that she was a faithful smoker (at work) until she died.  I could keep on making the list- but you just feel free to add your own secret, and we’ll move on knowing that we’re all on the same set of tracks. 

I’m also willing to step out on a limb and say that there’s a Bible verse that condemns you…convicts you…shames you every time you read it.  Ephesians 4:29 “Let no unwholesome word proceed from your mouth, but only such a word as is good for edification according to the need of the moment, so that it will give grace to those who hear.”  Then there’s James’ finger poking me in the chest for most of James 3.  Honor your father and mother?  (Rodney Dangerfield voice) Yeah, right…have you MET my mother?  Hyuck Hyuck.  Not just the words I say, but the tones in which they're spoken.  And the reputation they build – so even when you don’t intend your words to be pointed or sharp or hurtful, they’re heard that way anyway.  Then you’re left defending hurtful words that weren’t intended to be hurtful.  And whose fault is that?  My own.  And am I working VERY hard to change that?  Yes, I am.  Is it something I’ve wanted to come forward about on some Sunday morning during the invitation song?  Not at all…because I don’t want everyone knowing my business!!  And I’m not saying I’m a bad guy or treat my family horribly.  I’m just saying that there are times I should just learn to shut up.  But you know what?  Everybody’s got something to hide, except for me and my monkey.  And don’t worry…I’m not going to ask you about yours.  It’s hidden, and you know it.  And honestly, it’s not my job to pry it out of you.

It’s my job to get you to look to God for help.  Ask God to remove the thorn from your side.  He said no to Paul’s request, but maybe not yours.  Grovel, beg, fall on your knees – get on your face in the floor and beg for His help to change.  Everybody’s got something to hide except for me and my monkey – but you ain’t hiding it from God.  No, I’m not saying that God is the NSA, and he’s tapping your phone or has your house bugged to eavesdrop on your conversations.  But He hears you.  He sees you.  He cries for you.  He knows you want to change.  He has the power to change you.  He has the want to change you.  But that whole free will thing he gave you.  He wants you to want to change.  Sure, God could treat you like puppy being housebroken.  He could rub your nose in it, whop you good with a rolled up newspaper, and then throw you outside…but mostly He doesn’t have to.  Most of those sorts of hidden things have their own consequences.  Lost jobs.  Damaged or broken relationships.  Violated trust.  Maybe jail.  You name it.  It’s like in the move “Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?” when Delmar gets baptized.  He thinks that everything’s all better and that the Piggly Wiggly he robbed in Yazoo is forgiven as well as his lying about it.  It’s explained to him by dear old Ulysses Everett McGill (who talks about as much as I do) that the baptism was between him and the Lord, but the State of Mississippi is a whole different matter.  Because while God can heal the sins of your secrets, that doesn’t magically make consequences go away.

Listen for the Whisper that sounds like Beatles singing a different song.  “Listen.  Do you want to a secret?  Do you promise not to tell?  Whoa-oa, oh.  Closer.  Let me whisper in your ear (See?  A whisper).  Say those words you long hear.  I’m in love with you!”  God loves you.  It’s not even a secret.  Jesus willingly went to the cross to proclaim that love to every person on earth for all time.  You might have secrets, but the fact that God loves you isn’t one.  You know it.  I know it.  The checker at the grocery store knows it.  So confess your secrets to Him.  Ask Him to help you move past them.  The devil’s the one that likes you to have secrets.  A nice little secret is a nice little sin to try and separate you from God.  Let the Son shine on your dark corners.  Let in the light of truth.  Let the healing of forgiveness begin.  And believe me, it’s VERY difficult phrase to work into normal conversation, but the next time you hear someone say in conversation that everybody has something to hide except for me and my monkey…ask them if they were calling you their monkey.  Because God loves you, and like John said, “Everything is clear and open when you're in love.”  Is there a place for “coming forward” on a Sunday morning at church?  Absolutely.  Prayers.  Support group.  Accountability.  But God can forgive you wherever you are.  1 John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  So what’s stopping you?

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net

http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com

Beatles 10, Help! I Need Somebody

So here we are in the tenth installment of the Beatles devotional series.  Let’s start with a pop quiz!  Who played bass for the Beatles?  And everyone says, “Paul,” and of course, everyone is correct.  Paul definitely played bass – but Paul also played guitar on “Blackbird” and “Yesterday”.  He played piano on a few songs (some argue that he played it poorly).  Paul played Drums on “Back in the USSR”, “Dear Prudence”, and “The Ballad of John and Yoko” (among others) while Ringo was off feeling underused and sorry for himself. Mainly, however, Paul is known for playing what? Bass.  Why?  Because that’s the instrument that he needed to play.  There wasn’t a “Help Wanted” ad that Paul answered, but they needed help all the same.

Not back at the beginning, though.  Way back before the Fab Four was the Final Four, there was a man named Stuart Sutcliffe.  They were primarily playing local clubs with John, Paul, George and Ringo…and Stuart.  Stuart Sutcliffe played bass, and Paul played guitar with John.  And the Fantastic Five got along swimmingly…until Stuart quit, then died shortly thereafter.  Instead of hiring a new bassist, Paul gave up his guitar playing and became the band’s bass player.  The rest, as they say, is history.  Paul played bass because that’s the instrument the Beatles needed him to play.  Paul could, so why shouldn’t he?

 So what instrument do you play?  Sometimes we have to do what’s needed of us.  The list is virtually endless of (figurative) instruments that can be played at church.  Maybe it’s teaching a class.  Maybe it’s NOT teaching a class, until the Stuart Sutcliffe of the Sunday morning 7^th Grade class moves up to teach another class.  Then someone calls you, and you fill in.  Did feel called and go volunteer?  No.  Are you happy to do because it needed to be done?  Absolutely!  Because I can, so why shouldn’t I?

My point is:  Not everything comes to be because you felt called to do it.  When I started writing these devotionals (almost two years ago, now), it was because I felt the calling to do something.  At the time, I didn’t know what…then I figured it out.  Here we all these devotionals later and I’m still doing it.  But it’s not always a situation where you feel compelled to act.  Paul didn’t feel compelled to act when he was travelling down the road to Damascus, did he?  I’d say not.  Well, not compelled to go preach the Gospel, anyway.  Maybe he was compelled to go persecute those crazy Jesus followers.  But sometimes you get asked to fill a need in the church.  And how do you respond to that?  If you can, why shouldn’t you?

Maybe you’re placed in a situation outside of church.  Maybe it doesn’t seem like a “churchy” situation at all.  But do you step up and do the job you’re called to do as a Christian?  Would you do it even nobody ever notices you doing it?  Would you do it if name never got mentioned in the church bulletin or if you did it and nobody ever even knew at all?  Because being honest, there’s a lot of that going around.  Lots of people doing things just so that people can see them doing it.  Jesus addressed that in Matthew 6 when He said that if you helped the needy just to be noticed, that surely you’d gotten their reward in full – when you got noticed.  Somehow we’ve drawn an imaginary line between Christianity “at church” and “out there.” But we’re to be Christians all the time.  So if you can be Jesus to someone needing Him, why shouldn’t you?

Listen for the Whisper that sounds like Paul playing his bass.  Sure we’d all like to be the lead singer, or the guy playing the smokin’ guitar solo.  I’d even love to be Animal from the Muppets bashing away on the drums.  But there always needs to be someone playing bass if you want it to all sound right.  Whether you feel called to play bass, or simply playing it because you needed to when someone asked you to, God always needs bass players.  And while the bass players may not get the same recognition as the others from the crowds at the concerts, God notices them.  Help Wanted! God needs bass players.  Why shouldn’t you?

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net
http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com

Beatles 9, Wild Honey Pie

A few devotionals ago during the Helter Skelter subset I briefly discussed the Beatles self-titled album commonly referred to as “The White Album”.  It was, as I mentioned, a double album with thirty songs, with roughly only 15 that actually should have been recorded.  There are some, in my humble opinion, that are just bad.  I don’t want to step on toes or offend anyone reading, so I won’t list the ones that I think are stinkers.  Ringo said during an interview that it should have been broken up into two albums, “the white and the whiter albums”.  But you’ll not find a more eclectic array of music by one band on any album…unless they’re specifically trying to outdo “The White Album”.

Two of the songs on the album are perfect examples of this variation.  Not only are they drastically different from the likes of “Helter Skelter” and “Revolution” (any of the three versions of “Revolution”) but they’re stylistically completely different from each other.  The interesting bit is that their titles differ by only a single word.  “Honey Pie”, sung by Paul McCartney and backed by the band, sounds like a 1920’s era jaunty, little tune.  With heavy emphasis on Paul’s piano lead, it sounds as though it could be the backdrop for a Vaudeville stage act.  “Wild Honey Pie” is a horse of a different color altogether.  It’s completely a Paul McCartney bit.  With silly guitar playing, a simple drum beat and Paul looped over himself twanging out “Honey Pie….Honey Pie” over and over.  It was a little bit that he worked up while in India, and Pattie Harrison (George’s wife) liked it – and it made the album, ridiculous as it is.  Two songs with a single word difference in the title, and it makes all the difference in the world.  Don’t walk up to the jukebox, drop your dime (or whatever jukeboxes cost these days), and punch the numbers for one expecting the other.

It’s funny how a single little word can call up such drastic differences.  It’s like when someone has something tragic happens and you hear the phrase thrown around (especially by TV and radio personalities) “sending thoughts and prayers your way.”  Do you really send prayers their way?  I thought we pray to God, through the Son, for people?  So shouldn’t we really be sending prayer UP for them…asking God’s blessing or comfort to come their way?  But we don’t…we say that we’re sending prayers their way.  Again, not anything critical that there’s going to be blasphemy charges to answer for because of the semantics on that little phrase…just one of those little things that get my attention when people say it.

There’s another example of a single word with great ramifications that I know of.  The difference between two different two-letter words.  It’s not “Wild Honey Pie” versus simply “Honey Pie” where there’s an extra word added.  It’s actually the difference in translation between the word “in” or “of”.  Our preacher touched on it briefly in class a while back, so I’ll not try to claim that this discovery was mine (he’s also the one that pointed out the James/Jacob translation discrepancy from the “Don’t mess around with Jim” devotional).  But the point is that we look at newer translations as being generally more accurate than older ones.  That is to say specifically, we trust the New International Version or the New American Standard (my translation of choice) to be more accurate than the good old King James version.  But sometimes…just sometimes…King James has it more right.  In particular, Galatians 2:16 has the small little difference of two occurrences of “in” or “of” (Romans 3:21 has the same little twist in translation) that drastically change the meaning of the verse, and possibly what it means for us to be a Christian.  Am I overstating that for dramatic effect?  No…I don’t think I am.

In the NIV Galatians 2:16 reads, ¹⁶ know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.  Meanwhile the New American Standard Bible translates that passage from the original Greek into ¹⁶ nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified.  But if you’ll go get your big family Bible from Grandma, the one with the big list of who married whom and when and the funeral dates and when whoever else was baptized – that is, the one that is most likely a King James Version (the one with the translation completed way back in 1611) and turn to the same Galatians 2:16, and you’ll read, ¹⁶ Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.  Did you notice that difference?  The later translations (even including the NEW King James Version completed in 1982) almost all say, “a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but through faith IN Christ.”  But way back in 1611, that phrase was translated to say that a man isn’t justified by the works of the law but by the faith OF Jesus Christ.  The latter part of the verse also changes emphasis drastically when instead of reading, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ you actually read it as even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ.  It’s not our faith in Christ Jesus alone that justifies us in the sight of God.  The switch in Romans 3 has the same repercussions as the switch in Galatians.  We say that our Faith in Christ Jesus justifies us in the sight of God so that we are found blameless, but that’s not exactly accurate.

Listen for the Whisper that sounds like the adults in Lois Lowry’s book The Giver.  We need to have “Precision of speech”.  Yes our hope and faith and trust and salvation are all found when we put our trust and belief in Jesus Christ.  But the place where our sins were atoned came when Jesus Christ was faithful.  Jesus Christ trusted God where man’s faith falters.  He was tempted, but never sinned.  He had no envy, no hate, or anything else the devil offered to Him.  He was love.  He forgave others as He wanted God to forgive Him.  We say that part of “the Lord’s Prayer” but that’s the one thing we pray that we never really pay attention to.  We’re all keen and hip to that “forgive us” part, but then sorta rush through the “as we forgive others” qualifier.  Jesus didn’t.  Jesus was faithful to the law where we could not be.  Jesus knew that trusting God to the cross would be the sacrifice great enough to cover all mankind.  Paul died for God.  Stephen was stoned for God while saying almost the exact words as Christ while he was being stoned, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them!”  Yet, we don’t put our faith in Paul or Stephen…or Moses or Abraham or Adam or Noah or even Enoch, who was so righteous in God’s eyes, he was taken up without ever seeing death (Genesis 5:24, Hebrews 11:5).  The ONLY one we put our faith in is Jesus Christ – because He was God.  And HE was faithful completely to the Father.  So sure, our faith in Christ is what we do to find our Salvation, but without the faithfulness OF Christ there is no gain simply from our faith.

Our faith falters.  Even the best of us, at times, have doubted.  Is God real?  Is the Bible really “God’s Word”?  All of the standard litany of “if God is real, then why” questions that we’ve all faced.  All of us, at some point, have heard that nagging doubt “what if”.  Our faith is imperfect, just as we are imperfect.  Not only is our faith imperfect, sometimes we can possibly have nearly perfect faith in completely the wrong things.  We trust money, our Government, our own reasoning of problems, sometimes even our earthly churches, and just about everything else that we put our faith in, at its best, still depends on the imperfection of man.  The value of money, even gold, changes day to day.  Our Government is run by people who make mistakes – well-intentioned as they may be.  Our earthly churches are administered by people: preachers, elders, teachers – all humans.  Hopefully our earthly churches seek the counsel of God the Father in their decisions, but still men.  So it’s not simply where we place our trust, and it’s not simply that our trust is in Jesus that saves us.  I mean, it IS that we place our trust in Jesus, but it’s because of who Jesus was that matters.  We can have faith in Paul, or Peter, or Father Abraham years gone by or we can place our faith in Jesus Christ.  But that one little word makes it all as drastically different as “Wild Honey Pie” is from “Honey Pie”.  Jesus’ faith was perfect faith.  He pleaded with God, knowing the pain that would come (both the physical pain of torture and death and the agony of being separated from God), that there might be another way.  But His faith in God never faltered.  And though His body stumbled under the weight of the cross on the road, His faith never faltered under the weight of the cross, if you know what I mean.  A faith IN Christ can be flawed and imperfect – because it depends on me.  But the faith OF Christ…that’s perfect faith.  The faith of Christ is what made His blood pure and made His sacrifice perfect for all mankind.  The faith of Christ is the faith we need to be trying harder and harder every day to achieve.  I’m not saved by my paltry attempts at what I call believing in Jesus…If I believed in Jesus 100%, I’d quit asking so many “why” questions when bad things happen.  Jesus’ faith was perfect faith and when faced when life’s many “unfairnesses” let’s call them (illness, disease,  unfair judgment against others) Jesus turned to God every single time and asked how that situation could be used to glorify God the Father. To me, that’s a MUCH more powerful saving force than my simple utterance of “I believe in Jesus.”  I believe in Jesus because He is the Messiah.  Personally, I’m much more certain of the faith OF Jesus Christ than I am my own faith IN Jesus Christ.  But we try.  And hopefully every day our faith IN Jesus gets a little closer to being like the faith OF Jesus.

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net
http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com

 

Beatles 8, Come Together

When last we chatted, we were discussing how Faith and Works chase each around the mulberry bush like the monkey chases the weasel.  When I mentioned the Abbey Road Medley, I said, “Truly it is one of my favorite “songs” by the Beatles on what is, by far, my favorite Beatles album.”  Maybe this is where I follow the crowd, or maybe this is just one where the popular opinion happens to be one I agree with, but it’s the best-selling Beatles album.  Recorded in 1969 and being the last Beatles album, it’s hard to find the band that hit the scenes singing “I Wanna Hold Your Hand” hidden in the music recorded on Abbey Road.  That’s not to say it’s not easily identifiable as Beatles, but it’s almost a different genre of music.  Like I mentioned last time, it wasn’t the last album to be released.  The last album released is, of course, “Let It Be” released in May of 1970 after the band broke up in April.  The material recorded for “Let It Be” was recorded and supposed to be released before “Abbey Road”, but several factors pushed its release back until after the band had broken up.  Nice history lesson, right?

I went through the details of explaining the timelines for “Abbey Road” and “Let It Be” so that I could point out the fact that the album that many critics hold up as the “best” of the Beatles albums came at the end of their path together.  For one album, it’s like they knew that this was it.  For one album they put everything behind them and focused, not on their problems and differences, but the task at hand.  Even after the release, they took turns in interviews criticizing each other, each other’s roles in the album, and even the quality of some of the work of different band members.  But for that one album…that last album…they put all of that aside and focused on making the best album they could make.  They looked at each other and said, “I have this against you and this against you and this other against you, but I’m going to put all of that in a pile in the corner for now, because we have work to do.”  And the work they did is the best album…the best-selling album…they’d ever recorded.  George Harrison was pulling out masterpieces like “Here Comes the Sun” and “Something” like he was pulling rabbits out of a hat.  John Lennon and Paul McCartney, who had drifted farther and farther apart, took their various works on the medley and blended them together so they flowed seamlessly from one to the next.  And in my opinion, Ringo pulled off some of his best drumming on that album.  One band with one focus - recording one album for one last time.

That’s a lot of ones.  Like the ones in Ephesians 4.  ⁴ There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling; ⁵ one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶ one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all.  I used to read that and think it meant that members of the same church were to get along because of all those ones.  But it’s more than that.  Jesus didn’t pull Peter off to the side and say, “Peter, you’re my rock!  You will be the cornerstone of the Catholic Church!” He didn’t then call John over and say, “John, my bro that I love!  You will be the cornerstone of the Baptist Church!”  He didn’t then call Andrew over and say, “James, son of Alphaeus…you’re only going to be mentioned ten times when they write the New Testament, but you will be the cornerstone of the Church of Christ!”  He didn’t say any of that.  What Jesus actually said in Matthew 16:18 was “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.”  So apparently the gates of Hades will not overpower it, but man’s own need for divisions and separation can seriously weaken it.

I’m not sure why we feel the need to create so much division.  I mean, aside from the standard gender, race or nationality divisions, we divide ourselves over states, cities, school districts, neighborhoods, college athletics, professional sports, even the kind of car we choose to drive sometimes.  That doesn’t even count the afore-mentioned church affiliation…not religious preference.  We all claim to be followers of Jesus Christ, but we like labels.  It’s something I’ve touched on before in my “And In This Corner” devotional.  We not only break down into factions over the sign out front, but also over interpretations of what certain verses mean.  Again, I’m not sure what our obsession is in forming teams, but we do it and then get irate for no discernible reason at people on the “other team.”  We’ve even gotten to the point in this world that people are killing people simply and ONLY because they are fans of a different pro sports team.  People yell obscenities and all sorts of hate and insults at other people simply because of a college mascot license plate holder on their car.  My city is better than your city, my high school team is better than your high school team, and somehow we draw an unconnected conclusion based on those previous two statements to act like we’re better than someone else.  If you really want proof that the devil really is in control of this world, just look around at the way Christians treat each other based on the building where they meet.  Sure, there may be some tradition differences or even things we don’t understand about each other’s beliefs.  But what keeps you out of God’s presence?  Sin.  So as far as I’m concerned, there’s a lot more reasons to keep me out of Heaven than some technicality.  This isn’t a football field where you tiptoe along the sidelines trying to stay in-bounds…regardless of how we try to play it that way.  You’re either in-bounds on the Heavenly field with Grace, or out-of-bounds without it.  I don’t think we’re in-bounds with Grace, but only if we happen to be wearing a jersey with the proper denomination written on the back.

In June of 1858, Abraham Lincoln told a torn nation that a house divided against itself could not stand.  Three years before the start of the Civil War, even before he was President Lincoln, he tried to warn the nation about the dangers of splitting.  During this speech Lincoln said, “I do not expect the Union to be dissolved — I do not expect the house to fall — but I do expect it will cease to be divided.”  His argument was simply that one side would eventually out-argue the other side until one side won the debate, and then division would disappear.  Apparently he was wrong.  The Union dissolved, at least temporarily, and 620,000 American soldiers died.  In World War II, over 400,000 American soldiers died…killed by the enemy.  In the Civil War half again as many American soldiers died as those in World War II.  But these weren’t American soldiers killed by an enemy on foreign soil.  These were Americans killed by fellow Americans…in their own country.  Americans killed Americans over an argument involving States’ Rights and slavery.  Lincoln tried to warn the country, but they didn’t listen. 

So why do we spend so much time trying to convert other Christians?  If they’re reading their Bible, and believing that it’s God’s Holy Word, and that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, then where do we get off trying to decide if Grace covers their jersey color?  Shouldn’t our efforts be more focused on bringing Jesus to people who have no idea what that Holy name means?  Is it because we’re more comfortable bringing our Jesus to people to already have their own Jesus, so we’re not uncomfortable talking about Jesus?  Is it because most of us can try to redefine what “Salvation” really means to someone else without ever leaving our normal, everyday circles.  Is it because we’re really just scared to go to the places where Jesus might not be and share Him with someone?  Is it because we’re really into labels, and we want to be right…so if more people believe what I believe, then I’m more right than I was when they went to that other church down the street?  Honestly, I don’t know.  I’m as guilty as anyone else.  I’ve had those thoughts where you hope that Grace is big enough to cover the ones wearing the jersey of certain other denominations.  What an insult to Jesus Christ’s sacrifice, and Sovereign God Almighty that is His Father and mine!  What an impossibly short-sighted view of Grace and exactly what it means.

Listen for the Whisper of Luke 23:43.  As Jesus was being crucified, there were two thieves there with Him.  One said essentially, “C’mon, man!  If you’re the Christ, get us down from here!”  The other told him that they were getting what they deserved, but that Jesus had done nothing wrong.  Then that thief turned to Jesus and said in verse 42, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!”  I’ll digress a little here to point out a few things before I get to verse 43.  Unlike the Ethiopian eunuch, they didn’t jump down from the cross and jump into the “hey, here’s some water here” and have a baptism.  They didn’t huddle together and say a prayer of salvation.  There wasn’t a christening ceremony.  They didn’t do anything that any denomination today that I’m aware of does in a typical “salvation” tradition.  They hung on crosses and died together.  That thief looked at Jesus in a moment of absolute hopelessness and said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom!”  In verse 43, Jesus looks back at him and says, “Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” 

Doesn’t that just turn some our theology on its head?  Is that to say that baptism isn’t important?  Absolutely not!  If it wasn’t important, then Jesus wouldn’t have done it himself, commanded us to do it, and sent the apostles out into the world to do it.  Is that to say that a prayer asking forgiveness and repentance isn’t important?  Absolutely not!  If we haven’t repented or asked forgiveness then what are we turning away from?  So what’s my point?  My point is that Grace is bigger and better than any one of us realizes!  Is everyone going to get into Heaven?  Most assuredly not!  Jesus Himself tells of the banquet to which many were invited, but not one of those invited would be allowed to feast at His table (Luke 14).  Just before that in Luke 13 when talking about the narrow gate, He explains that there will be people standing there saying things like, “We ate and drank in your presence, and we taught in your streets!”  The culmination happens in Luke 13:27 and 28 with and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from Me, all you evildoers.’  In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out.  There are people that we don’t think are going to Heaven that will be going.  There are people who are certain of themselves that they are going to Heaven…but they will be thrown out. 

So instead of being the house divided like Abraham Lincoln referenced (plagiarizing Jesus from Mark 3:25-27), we need to be a Kingdom united.  Stop labeling ourselves as anything other than “I’m a disciple of Jesus Christ”.  Sure, I may go to this church or that church.  I may believe that this is essential or that is essential.  But here’s what I know…the thing I’m most certain of…that despite all of the Bible evidence that points to belief, repentance, and baptism as the means to Salvation, there’s a thief on a cross that clearly says to me, “Jesus will save whomever He chooses.”  God is the potter, and we are the clay.  We can rejoice together that someone was saved, or we can be grouchy older brothers wondering about why it was that WE hung around doing the good work while they wasted their lives and still got in.  This is Christianity.  It’s Jesus Christ.  This isn’t Alabama/Auburn or Ohio State/Michigan.  We’re all on the same team.  We’re in the same Kingdom.  Grace is SO much bigger than we let it be.  Maybe if we stopped arguing with each so much about which side of the bread is supposed to be buttered, the rest of the world would want a slice of our buttered bread.  Just like Abbey Road.  Step away from the divisions we’ve created and do the work required of us.  What did Jesus come to do?  Luke 19:10 says that He came to “Seek and Save the Lost.”   I used to say about that thief, “Well if Jesus looks someone in the face and tells them they’re saved, ok, but other than that…”  But now I stop years later and look back.  Jesus also went around telling the Pharisees and Jewish leaders that they were hypocrites…so maybe I ought to let Jesus be the One to tell other denominations they’re doing something wrong.  Just a thought…let God do God’s job, let Jesus do Jesus’ job, and let the Holy Spirit do His job.  Then while they’re doing their jobs, maybe what we need to be doing is coming together as a united Kingdom of God and doing our jobs of seeking and saving the lost.  Because maybe if we’re busy with that, we won’t have so much time to put limits and constraints on how big Grace is, and Grace can do its job.

 

~Dwayne

ListenForTheWhisper@comcast.net

http://listenforthewhisper.blogspot.com