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

Prayer Ministry - August Prayer, a Prayer for Education

August – A Prayer for Education

 

Holy God, our Father and Teacher (Isaiah 28:26), we come before You this month to lift up to You those that will soon be returning to school – public school, private school, home school, and Bible school.
 

We ask for perseverance for the students that they may overcome the obstacles in their paths.  Children face many challenges as they go through school.  Some struggle with learning.  Some struggle with social acceptance.  Some struggle with hunger.  Others struggle with knowing humility and placing You first.  All students, however, need You to be with them to lean on for strength and hope when things seem to be getting out of control.  Help them to know that regardless of what they are taught about academics, without learning to know they need You, God, their education has failed them.  Children are not just our future, God.  Children are our now, and need to be prepared to expand Your kingdom.  Children are not just a gift from You (Psalm 127:3), God, they are our present.  They need our instruction now to be ready to do Your work.  We pray for their safety while the children are at school as the earth once again fills with violence, as it has before (Genesis 6:11).
 

We pray for teachers that teach them.  Help them to realize, Father, that not only are they teaching with their lesson plans, but they are also teaching by example with their actions.  Help the teachers to be Christian examples, even when they are not in a Christian environment (1 Corinthians 11:1).  Help them to teach the children that You are God over all and should be the first place to turn in times of trouble (Psalm 9:9).  Give them the courage to provide instruction as well as discipline when situations present themselves.  Not only do children need to be taught that things like gossiping and lying are wrong, they need to be taught why it’s wrong.  We ask for clear direction from Your Word and Your Holy Spirit on lessons that teachers need to teach to their students.  Of all the books from which students will learn, the Bible is the most important one.
 

Father, we pray for parents.  We ask that you give counsel to parents as we raise our children.  As children grow and learn, they experience new things in our world.  Some of the things they learn will confuse them as they see contradictions in what the world teaches and what You teach.  We pray for wisdom for parents to understand the situations in which their children are placed.  Whether it’s academic struggles, relationships with peers, or questions about their culture, children need to know that they can trust their parents to give them Godly advice.  Instead of seeing parents who indulge in the debauchery of the world, let children see parents who revel in the joy of Grace and a relationship with Jesus Christ.  We pray that children see their parents pray.  You’ve given the ultimate responsibility to parents to pass on Your teachings to children (Deuteronomy 6:6-9).  We pray for the commitment of parents to this responsibility, including a commitment to reading Your Word (Joshua 8:35).
 

We ask that You help us all to help the children to grow, like Jesus and Samuel before Him (Luke 2:52, 1 Samuel 2:26), in wisdom and in favor with God and man.  You gave this world to us to enjoy, both for its beauty and for exploration.  Children need to know the world if they’re to live in it, but they need to know You if they’re to understand why they don’t belong in the world (Hebrews 13:14).  We ask for Your gracious blessings on the children as they learn and grow.  We ask You to grant Your patience and guidance for those who instruct them in schools, Bible schools and at home.  Children are always learning, and You’ve given the responsibility to us to teach them about You and Your Word (Psalm 34:11).  We pray that we never get complacent, and never be negligent in our duties.
 

We continually pray in Jesus’ name,

Amen

(The Verses)

Isaiah 28:26 For his God instructs and teaches him properly.

 

Psalm 127:3 Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.

 

Genesis 6:11 Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence.

 

1 Corinthians 11:1 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ.

 

Psalm 9:9 The Lord also will be a stronghold for the oppressed, A stronghold in times of trouble;

 Deuteronomy 6:6-9 These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on our hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

 

Joshua 8:35 There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded which Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel with the women and the little ones and the strangers who were living among them.

 

Luke 2:52 And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.

 

1 Samuel 2:26 Now the boy Samuel was growing in stature and in favor both with the Lord and with men.

 

Hebrews 13:14 For here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come.

Psalm 34:11 Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the Lord