BOUGIE BABIES AND BUILDING YOUR TRIBE

blogging Genesis 24

Isaac was his mother’s only child, born in her twilight years.  She had Isaac’s only sibling thrown out of the house because the older kid had laughed at her baby (Genesis 21:9,10).  Abraham and Sarah were wealthy, powerful, and highly respected (Genesis 23:6; 24:1). When Sarah died, Isaac was 37, rich, single, and living at home.   He was a bourgeois mama’s boy.

As soon as the Sarah’s funeral was over, Abraham set about marrying off his man-child.

Abraham called his oldest and most trusted servant and made the man swear a solemn oath to go to Mesopotamia and convince one of Abraham’s nieces or cousins to come back to Canaan and marry Isaac.

 So Abraham said to the oldest servant of his house, who ruled over all that he had, “Please, put your hand under my thigh, and I will make you swear by the Lord, the God of heaven and the God of the earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell; but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac.” (Genesis 24:2-4)    

Putting “your hand under my thigh” is probably a euphemism for putting your hand under my loins, which is a euphemism for . . .  Abraham made his servant swear on his -----umm, man-parts.

Abraham’s manhood, his destiny, his legacy, the success or failure of thousands of miles and over a hundred years fighting, shepherding, and hustling as a nomad all hinged on the next generation.  And the next generation depended on getting a spoiled mama’s boy married to the right woman and

getting them moved into the right neighborhood.

I know.  Sounds really bourgeoise, but Abraham was as “real” as it gets.   He lived across national, ethnic, and socio-economic lines.  His second wife was an Egyptian slave girl.  His third wife was Canaanite.  He made friends and did business with everybody.  Before his first son was born, Abraham had willed all his possessions to a Syrian employee (Genesis 15:2).    But, Abraham thought that his son was too good for a Canaanite wife, and too good for a house in his old neighborhoods in Mesopotamia.

. . . you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites, among whom I dwell but you shall go to my country and to my family, and take a wife for my son Isaac. . . only do not take my son back there (Genesis 24:3, 4, 8).

Abraham wasn’t bourgeois, but he wanted bourgeoise for his son, which is an unflattering way of saying that Abraham wanted Isaac to have a different TRIBE. 

The tribe of Abraham and Isaac wouldn’t be designated solely by ethnicity though biological connections and genealogies would be important to the tribe.  The tribe of Abraham and Isaac wouldn’t be fixed by geography, though the land was a critical part of their identity.  Nor would the tribe be a copy and paste of the dominant cultural influences in the area, albeit Canaanite, African, and Near Eastern societies would contribute mightily to the new tribe’s flavor and flow.  The tribe of Abraham and Isaac would be theological brothers to the Salemites who worshipped the true God under Melchizedek (Genesis 14:18-20), but they wouldn’t join the Salemites.    The tribe of Isaac and Abraham the Hebrew (Genesis 14:13) would be in some ways like all those other people-groups but the sum of the new tribe would be completely different, something new.

Abraham’s life was defined by God’s Word, God’s spoken promise to make of him a great nation.  The tribe of Abraham and Isaac and Isaac’s children would become a new people, a new nation defined by the Word of God which they would come to know as the Law, the Scriptures.

Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live? . . . ⁴⁰ You shall therefore keep His statutes and His commandments which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time (Deuteronomy 4:33, 40).

Israel, the Jews, the chosen people claim as their inheritance the promises of Abraham, promises made by the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob.  Abraham succeeded in building his tribe, his nation through Isaac and Isaac’s son Jacob.    

They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises. To them belong the patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever. Amen (Romans 9:4-5, ESV).

But Abraham’s tribe became something bigger than bourgeoise.  God fulfilled the most powerful clause in the Abrahamic covenant: ¹⁸ In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed (Genesis 22:18).

Through faith in Jesus Christ, Son of God and descendant of Abraham Isaac and Jacob according to the flesh, we non-Hebrews, non-Israelites are made heirs of the promises of Abraham. 

It’s good to be “real.”  You should own your past sins, know how to handle yourself in fight, and maintain a formidable reputation in all circles, even among the heathens. 

Give your children genuine respect and agape love for people across every demographic but train them to be an outsider to the culture of easy sin around them.  Teach your kids the faults and failures in their family and ethnic history, and but don’t define them by those faults and failings.   You can’t usually pick spouses like Abraham did, but you can choose to center your children’s identity in God. 

If you do your life right, your kids will be spoiled (with blessings and security and opportunity you didn’t have).  

If you were successful your children will be a bit more bourgeois; make sure they’re also more firmly grounded in the Word of God. 

If all of us do that, we’ll be fathers and mothers of a great nation. 

 

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves 

Click here to support this ministry with a donation.  Or go to andersontgraves.blogspot.com and click on the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

AN OFFER YOU CAN'T REFUSE (blogging Genesis 17)

Genesis 17.

Despite the drama between the boy’s mom and Abram’s first wife, Abram the Hebrew loved his son, his only child:  Ishmael.  So, in Genesis 17, when God appeared to Abram promising that this time next year he and Sarai would have new names and a new baby boy, Abraham’s initial response was, “Nah.  Nevermind.”

And Abraham said to God, “Oh, that Ishmael might live before You!” (Genesis 17:18)

Abraham tried to laugh off God’s offer. Well, actually it’s more like Abraham fell out laughing AT the idea of turning a 100 year-old man and a 90 year-old woman into new parents.  (Genesis 17: 17).

God didn’t think it was funny.  And, it wasn’t an offer.  It was a covenant.  And this was not a negotiation. 

For all of Abraham’s ha-has, God was so serious that He imposed a special ritual to show how very much He meant business.  “Abraham,” God said, “Take a sharp rock and cut skin off your penis.”

Laughter abruptly cuts off.

“I’m sorry, Lord, what?”

The mark of the non-negotiable covenant held by the descendants of Abraham and Sarah would be circumcision. 

“And,” God said, “the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin,cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.” (Genesis 17:14)

that person shall be

“Cut off.”  Get it?  Circumcision was God’s way of saying, “Remember My covenant or I’ll cut off more that.”

But wait.  There was more. 

 

In Genesis 12:2 God promised Abram that he would be the father of a great nation.  In chapter 17, right after changing his name to Abraham, God said, “I have made you a father of many nations” (Genesis 17: 4). 

Christians and Jews revere Abraham as the father of Isaac, who was the father of Jacob, who was the father of the 12 patriarchs, who were the fathers of the 12 tribes of Israel.  Isaac was the promised child whose line would receive, record, and remember the law and the prophets.

What advantage then has the Jew, or what is the profit of circumcision?  Much in every way! Chiefly because to them were committed the oracles of God. (Romans 3:1-2)

The covenant of the Word of God and of the incarnate, Living Word of God ---- Jesus--- rested with Isaac, but the promises of nation-sized greatness and favor was good for all Abraham’s kids.  And Abraham had lots of kids.

Ishmael, his oldest son, begat 12 tribes of his own, each of which became a nation (Genesis 25: 12-18).    After Sarah died, Abraham remarried and had 6 more sons by Keturah.  One of them founded the Midianites (Genesis 25:1-4).  Isaac’s other son, Esau, founded the Edomite nation (Genesis 36).  True to His word, God, made Abraham and Sarah the patriarchs of multiple nations.

A couple of lessons:

1)      We have the free will to accept or reject God’s offers of grace, but some of those offers are non-negotiable.  There may be certain things in this life that God has decided you ARE going to do ---- or else.  There are some things in this life that God has decided you or I will do and there is no “or else.” 

Jonah didn’t want to preach to the Ninevites.  He was willing to drown to avoid preaching to the Ninevites.  Jonah would rather have died in the desert sun than preach to the Ninevites.  Jonah preached to the doggone Ninevites.

Figure out what the non-negotiable are in your calling from God, and do them because  God isn’t going to let it go. 

2)      Abraham had assumed he would be remembered by one nation through one son.  God preserved Abraham’s name through many sons who fathered many nations. 

On the way to fulfilling your non-negotiable mission, God can do great things for and through you.   AFTER you have run your race and finished your course, God can do even more great things for and through you.   

Instead of waiting for that ONE magnificent thing you’re going to do, do all your things magnificently.   

Don’t just leave a legacy.  Leave legacies. 

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves 

You can help support this ministry with a donation.  Just click on the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, AL 35064

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH JESUS?

The title of the message is: WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH JESUS?

Listen well.

If you can’t get the audio on your device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/

The podcast is on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/anderson-graves-podcast/id918990482

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves  #Awordtothewise 

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH JESUS?

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The title of the message is: WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO WITH JESUS?

Listen well.

If you can’t get the audio on your device, visit the main podcast page at http://revandersongraves.podomatic.com/

The podcast is on iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/anderson-graves-podcast/id918990482

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves  #Awordtothewise 

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

HEY! KICK OVER YOUR OWN TABLES.

Very early in Jesus public ministry, the Lord went to Jerusalem for Passover.  When He came into the Temple and saw how it was being used to sell merchandise and financial services,  He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. (verse 15)

A couple of years later, at His last Passover celebration on what we call Palm Sunday, Jesus did the same thing.  And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” (Mathew 21: 13;  Luke 19: 46)  Mark 11: 12-18 indicates that Jesus might’ve gone back the next day and kicked over some more tables.

At the time, the Promised Land was a series of provinces in the ethnically and religiously diverse Roman empire.   The Jews were the most prominent religious and ethnic group locally, but Judaism was by no means the only nationally recognized religion.  The Roman-appointed Jewish kings, the Herods,  funded expansions to the Jewish temple in Jerusalem, but they also built numerous temples to Roman idols, including a pagan temple in the suburbs of Jerusalem.  And there were other pagan temples and shrines all over ancestral Jewish land.   

This means that Jesus frequently encountered non-Jewish religious rites, but He never publicly called out pagan religious leaders for being hypocrites.

In the markets, Jesus saw vendors selling icons and  food dedicated to idols, but He never whipped their butts while calling them a den of thieves. 

In the Temple, Jesus attacked the sellers and vendors, but He didn’t drive out the Gentile visitors or the sinners coming to inquire about sacrifices.

Jesus regularly passed by pagan temples. But He never went into those places and kicked over the tables. 

He set the same standard for His followers.  When some Samaritans rejected the gospel and the disciples contemplated their destruction, Jesus rebuked----- His  disciples. 

They said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them, just as Elijah did?”

^But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what manner of spirit you are of. ^For the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives but to save them.” And they went to another village.  (Luke 9: 54-56)

Jesus commanded His followers to take the gospel into the highways and hedges, to Judaea, to Samaria, and to the ends of the earth, but Jesus only ever kicked over tables in His own Temple.

The gospel is for the whole world, but internal Christian accountability is only for the church.

Sin is sin no matter what theology you’ve adopted, but the church’s authority to hold sinners accountable is specifically and Biblically limited to the church.

The Apostles of the New Testament cast out demons among the nations.  They healed the sick in uncoverted land.  They debated and disputed the worshippers of false gods, but the apostles never claimed moral authority outside of the church.

They only ever kicked over tables in their own Temple.

In the midst of a Roman empire that culturally and legislatively endorsed and encouraged idolatry, homosexuality, slavery, misogyny, materialism, and the ruthless, violent pursuit of wealth and power, New Testament Christians were commanded If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men (Romans 12: 18); while holding their lifestyles to a standard different from the culture around them. 

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. (Romans 12: 2)

Jesus didn’t call for political rebellion against Rome. 

Jesus answered Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight. (John 18:36)

He did provoke a spiritually revolution in His faith.  

Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. (Jesus, Matthew 10: 34)

Kick over your own tables.

And that’s nothing new.   Even when Old Testament Israel was geopolitically unified under  the Mosaic law religious purity was confined to their borders.  Israel never had permission to invade outside the borders laid out by God through Moses and Joshua.

They could only ever kick over their own tables.

That’s always been the policy, and it still is.

America’s founding documents espouse Christian principles drawn from the Mosaic law.  But the United States is in reality a lot more like ancient Rome than Israel under Moses.  Historically Christianity was the dominant religion, but it is by no means the only or even the ruling faith.  America has culturally and legislatively endorsed and encouraged idolatry, homosexuality, slavery, misogyny, materialism, and the ruthless, violent pursuit of wealth and power.

Let me make it plain.  Republican, Democrat, Tea Party, Libertarian, etc., etc.:  none of them are Christian.  Some of them are Christians.  But none of our political parties is an extension of the church.  No.  No, they're not.  

They set up their tables in churches but only to sell their political merchandise and facilitate the transfer of financial donations.

Citizens who aren't believers are subject to government laws and regulations, and ultimately to the final judgment of God.  But in the meantime, they are not subject to the authority of the church.  As a Christian pastor, I can discuss, talk about, debate with, and speak on the lifestyle of those without; but I have no real authority to demand that they conform to the standards of  Scripture they don't even believe. 

We only get to kick over tables in our own temple. 

Jesus has commanded us to debate, dispute, and evangelize the world; but He has also specifically prohibited us from pursuing the destruction of those who reject Him.

Sometimes we  get so mad at the way people disrespect God’s name and God’s Word!  But God warns us, Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. (Romans 12: 18)

We don’t get to kick over tables in mosques.  We don’t whip weekend worshippers in the strobe light-lit temples of money and pleasure.  We don't get to run their shows. But in the church, we do.

Surrounded by a culture and country that glories in its sin, we the church hold ourselves accountable for living differently.

Regardless of what Rome or Washington says is legal, we look to the Bible to tell us what is right.  Regardless what the philosophers and pundits say is acceptable, we turn to Scripture to see what is holy.

We are citizens of this land.  We are residents in this society.  But we are disciples of Jesus Christ, and that last identity is where we first and finally place our accountability.

It’s more than an artistic decision that the halls of Congress and the Supreme Court are decorated with both Biblical and pagan figures. When we’re called into those places, we, like Paul before Felix, must be ready to give an answer in defense of our hope in Christ.  Christians should fight for morally right laws.  Christians should lobby for legal protection for the faith, but look around at the decor and recognize what isn’t your temple.

In the church we don’t drive away non-Christians or the lost who come in to learn and inquire about the sacrifice for their sins.   

But we also don’t let maximum acceptable sin in America determine minimum acceptable holiness in the church.

Among the people who call themselves followers of Christ, we refuse to yoke ourselves to the culture of unbelievers.

So when the sinful practices of the culture become adopted as the practices of the church, then it might be the right time and place to kick over some tables.

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Subscribe to my personal blog  www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com .

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

Follow me on twitter @AndersonTGraves 

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

You can help support Rev. Graves’ work by visiting his personal blog and clicking the DONATE button on the right-hand sidebar.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to 

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

MOVING THE WALL (The Separation of Church and State)

In 1 Samuel 8, the people of Israel demanded a king.  In doing so, they divided authority and influence in Israel between the priesthood and the kingship, effectively erecting a wall of separation of church and state.  It worked pretty well----- for a while.

In 1 Samuel 9, God chose Saul of the tribe of Benjamin to be the 1^st king of united Israel.  Saul was anointed by Samuel, the great prophet and priest.  In 1 Samuel 10, Saul was filled with the Holy Spirit and confirmed the hand of God on him by prophesying alongside the sons of the prophets.  In chapter 11, Saul showed decisive leadership and a heroic heart by bringing the tribes together to rescue the besieged town of Jabash Gilead.  He even showed a merciful heart by pardoning a hardline group who had initially refused to recognize his right to the throne (1 Samuel 11: 12,13).  By this demonstration of mercy in the midst of military power Saul even won over Samuel, who had been anything but enthusiastic about this whole make-us-a-king thing.

Then Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and renew the kingdom there.” ^ So all the people went to Gilgal, and there they made Saul king before the Lord in Gilgal. There they made sacrifices of peace offerings before the Lord, and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly. (1 Samuel 11: 14-15)

The king was doing good things on his side of the wall, and the church (the priesthood) was doing good things on its side of the wall.  The system was working just fine.

But, then.

When we get to chapter 13, Saul reaches over the wall of separation and takes it upon himself to offer a sacrifice that only the priest could offer.  (Think of it like an unordained state governor deciding to offer communion or a line of presidents dictating Christian theology.)

The state just up and occupied territory that was supposed to belong to the church.  The state moved the wall and pushed the church farther back.

But there was a reaaaally good reason:  it was a matter of national security. 

And Samuel said, “What have you done?”

Saul said, “When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and that you did not come within the days appointed, and that the Philistines gathered together at Michmash, ^then I said, ‘The Philistines will now come down on me at Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to the Lord.’ Therefore I felt compelled, and offered a burnt offering.” (1 Samuel 13: 11-12)

See?  Saul HAD to (he felt “compelled”) take a little more control of the religious establishment because he was losing public support for a military campaign.

Thank goodness, that kind of stuff doesn’t happen in modern America.  [Insert emoticon for sarcasm here.]

In chapter 14, King Saul declared a fast in the middle of battle and then accused the people of sinning when God didn’t immediately answer his prayer for direction in battle (1 Samuel 14: 24, 37, 38). 

So, King Saul, head of state and commander-in-chief, was about to kill his own son Jonathan for eating a spoonful of honey without permission.  And this was despite the facts that (a) Jonathan didn’t know about his father’s stupid order to fast while running around in he desert fighting Philistines; and (b) Jonathan had overrun an entire Philistine base with only his armor-bearer as back-up; and the armor-bearer didn’t even have a sword. (1 Samuel 13: 22; 14: 1-14)

Oh, and if you read chapter 14 carefully (verses 31-33), you’ll see that EVERYBODY broke the fast and Saul knew it.   So, the only reason he was tripping about “sin” was that he was embarrassed and angry that GOD had the audacity to keep him, the freakin’ king of all Israel, waiting on the answer to a prayer.

The state pushed the wall back a little further.

In chapter 15, Saul just flat out disobeyed God.  Why?  Because it was better for the economy.

^Thus says the Lord of hosts: “I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he ambushed him on the way when he came up from Egypt. ^Now go and attack Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them.”

 But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fatlings, the lambs, and all that was good, and were unwilling to utterly destroy them. But everything despised and worthless, that they utterly destroyed.  (1 Samuel 15: 1-3,9)

And then, with a straight face, Saul declared this his DISobedience was actually what God wanted.

Samuel asked Saul, “Why then did you not obey the voice of the Lord? Why did you swoop down on the spoil, and do evil in the sight of the Lord?”

^                        And Saul said to Samuel, “But I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and gone on the mission on which the Lord sent me, and brought back Agag king of Amalek; I have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. (1 Samuel 15: 18-20)

By what possible logic could the king conclude that doing the opposite of what God had said was the same as having obeyed the voice of the Lord?

Saul/ the king/ the state decided that public opinion determines what God REALLY means.  The state/ the culture decided that when the expressed Word of God conflicts with the opinions, economic interests, or national security priorities of the state then they can just change what God’s Word means.

And they push the wall back farther and farther.

What was meant to be a wall of separation between the church and the state inevitably becomes a wall of confinement around the church.

When the state can outline the constraints of speech in the pulpit but the pulpit has no right to speak in state facilities or on matters of the state, then the wall between church and state has become a wall around the church---- a very, very small and continually shrinking wall.

And don’t misunderstand what or who “the state” is.  The state is not just the collective of duly elected and appointed officials.  The state is the nation, the country itself.

Look around and you’ll see that the church is being shut out from the life of the country itself.  And where the church or churches do have great influence, it is often as mere mouthpieces for the political agenda of other “parties.”

Let me make it plain.

T(And oh, the theological acrobats used to try to make the capital gains tax into a crucial heaven-or-hell spiritual issue.)

Whatever.  I’m right. 

November 2011 Mormonism was a cult. January 2012 when Romney was about to win the nomination, suddenly the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was just another Christian denomination of our brothers and sisters.

And.

The progressive, urban (Black) church hasn’t composed an original thought on social issues since Reagan’s 1^st election.  We have parroted the Democratic party platform even when candidates’ positions and personal morality was so absolutely the opposite of what God’s Word says.

We have been so afraid to divide the vote that we wrongly divided the Word of Truth.  And now, we have the audacity to do, say, and endorse the opposite of what God expressly said, and do it all in Jesus’ actual name.  (Yes, I’m talking about homosexualty, but doggone it, I’m talking about a whole lot of other stuff too.)

The American church in all its various branches has become institutionalized behind our tiny wall.  We have developed spiritual Stockholm syndrome, and allied ourselves with the very forces that have pushed Christianity to the fringes of American society.

Wake da’ crap up, church! 

Ya’ll been locked up too long.

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me,

     Because He has anointed Me

     To preach the gospel to the poor;

     He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,

     To proclaim liberty to the captives

     And recovery of sight to the blind,

     To set at liberty those who are oppressed;

To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.” (Luke 4: 18-19)

Stop begging THEM to pull down the wall.  Climb over it. 

Put down the talking points and get back to the Word of God.  Speak truth to power, beginning with the power for which you usually vote.

Or, don’t.

But I guarantee you this because this is the way it’s always been: the state will not stop shrinking the wall, not until they have completely crushed you with it. 

^Then King Saul said to the guards who stood about him, “Turn and kill the priests of the Lord, because their hand also is with David, and because they knew when he fled and did not tell it to me.” But the servants of the king would not lift their hands to strike the priests of the Lord. ^18 And the king said to Doeg, “You turn and kill the priests!” So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck the priests, and killed on that day eighty-five men who wore a linen ephod. ^19 Also Nob, the city of the priests, he struck with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing infants, oxen and donkeys and sheep—with the edge of the sword. (1 Samuel 22: 17-19)

---Rev. Anderson T. Graves II   (email:  atgravestwo2@aol.com )

Anderson T. Graves II is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church (5220 Myron Massey Boulevard) in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Read my blog at www.andersontgraves.blogspot.com  

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

NEITHER CHURCH NOR STATE

I recently preached on the separation of church and state---- the original Biblical separation of church and state.  It happened in 1 Samuel chapter 8.

Up until that point in Israel’s national history their government was a theocracy.  God Himself was their king, and so the priesthood (aka the church) was the central social, moral, spiritual, administrative, and political authority. 

In 1 Samuel 8, the elders (think “delegates”) of the 12 tribes of Israel came to Samuel---the high priest, prophet, Judge, earthly head of the theocracy, and by all accounts an all-around great guy----  and said , “make us a king to judge us like all the [other] nations.” (1 Samuel 8: 5)

Somewhere around 1100-1010 B.C. the ancient Israelites divided authority between the church and the state.

Now, it’s tempting to say “and it was all downhill from there.”  It would be easy to blame the idolatry and cycles of exile that followed on this political decision.  But to be honest, the Israelites hadn’t done that well as a theocracy.

The books of Judges and Ruth testify that even before the erected a wall of separation between their church and their state, the people of Israel had been a pretty inconsistent, ungrateful, idolatrous, and morally slack bunch.

The official designation of “Theocracy” or “Christian Nation” had not made them righteous people.

One problem was that the church of Israel (the priesthood) had not set a consistently righteous example.  By 1 Samuel 8, two of the previous four generations of Judge-priests had been corrupt. 

I mean really, really corrupt. 

The sons of Eli extorted gifts from people who came to offer sacrifices, AND they slept with the women who came to worship (1 Samuel 2: 12-22).   Samuel’s sons, whom he’d named as his successors, turned aside after dishonest gain, took bribes, and perverted justice  (1 Samuel 8: 1-4).

Most of the Judges, priests, and prophets had been righteous men and women of the highest integrity.  But a few--- a notable, not-made-to-be-accountable few--- were enough to give the society reason enough to sideline the church and make the prevailing culture (like all the other nations) the new standard for right and wrong in their country.

For all of our rituals, traditions, history, sacraments, and scripture, the church’s external influence depends primarily on the church’s internal integrity.

In Israel, around 1100 B.C., the priesthood lost its street-cred, and so they lost the nation.

Is any of this sounding familiar?

By the way, after reaching the “enlightened” and “reasoned” decision to separate church and state, Jewish society still didn’t ascend into secular nirvana.

Their first king, Saul, went from being a decisive hero to being an image-obsessed idiot whose unjustifiable personal crusades led the nation into military disaster.  The next king, David, had a heart after God, but the rest of his body was after every woman in the kingdom. 

So what does the original separation of church and state 3,000 years ago teach us now?

1. If the church wants to be taken seriously by society then we have to do more than argue our historic or scriptural entitlement to authority.  We have to actually live with more integrity and internal accountability than skeptics, atheists, homosexuals, pagans, liberals, conservatives, and whichever of the other nations we blame for America’s decline.

2. You can’t legislate righteousness, nor can you de-regulate it.    No matter what the state outlaws or legalizes, the choice to obey or disobey God is in the heart of each individual.

3. (And this is going to upset some of you, but oh well.)  The state  does not decide what is morally right.  And---- the church doesn’t either.

GOD decides what is morally right.

Just cause Rev. So-and-so skims off the offering and talks about his new cars all the time doesn’t mean that’s how God wants people to behave. 
Just cause Mr./Mrs./Governor/ Senator/ President Whomever agrees with it doesn’t mean that it’s what God wants people to do.

4. The Word of God is a greater authority than the state or the church.

It’s time for all of us to move beyond the pointless argument over church or state. It’s been three doggone thousand years now.  This has gotten old.

It’s time for Christians to stop hitting each other over the head with words like conservative, liberal, progressive, traditional, and contemporary.  NONE of those sociopolitical designations define right and wrong.

It’s time to turn off Fox and MSNBC for a few hours, sit down with a Bible between us, accept that these ancient texts are still the inspired Word of God, and let the Bible show us how to live and move and have our being.

Because finding fault with them, He says: “Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— 

not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they did not continue in My covenant, and I disregarded them, says the Lord.

For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

None of them shall teach his neighbor, and none his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them.  (Hebrews 8: -11)

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Rev. Anderson T. Graves II is pastor of Miles Chapel CME Church (5220 Myron Massey Boulevard) in Fairfield, Alabama;  executive director of the Substance Abuse Youth Networking Organization (SAYNO);  and director of rural leadership development for the National Institute for Human Development (NIHD).

Email atgravestwo2@aol.com

Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

You can help support this ministry with a donation to Miles Chapel CME Church.

Support by check or money order may be mailed to  

Miles Chapel CME Church

P O Box 132

Fairfield, Al 35064

YOUR MOVE

Then Moses said to the Lord, “O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

So the Lord said to him, “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?

Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say.” 
 But [Moses] said, “O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else You may send.” 
 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses… (Exodus 4:10-14).

We pray, “Lord send someone to help them.”

The Lord responds , “I did.  I sent you.”

When the day began to wear away, the twelve [disciples] came and said to [Jesus], “Send the multitude away, that they may go into the surrounding towns and country, and lodge and get provisions; for we are in a deserted place here.”

But [Jesus] said to them,  “You give them something to eat.” … (Luke 9:12-13)

We pray, “Lord Jesus, send them somewhere to get some help.  Show up in their lives, or show them how to seek You for what they need.”

The Lord’s replies, “You help them.  Instead of waiting for Me to come to them, you come to Me, and then you go to Them, and you help them.”

Then Jesus went with them. And when He was already not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to Him, saying to Him, “Lord, do not trouble Yourself, for I am not worthy that You should enter under my roof.  Therefore I did not even think myself worthy to come to You. But say the word, and my servant will be healed.   For I also am a man placed under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

When Jesus heard these things, He marveled at him, and turned around and said to the crowd that followed Him,  “I say to you, I have not found such great faith, not even in Israel!” (Luke 7:6-9)

We say, “Lord, You have all power and all authority. Speak to their situation.  Call your angels to bring deliverance from their circumstances.”

The Lord’s answers, “I gave you power when I sent you the Holy Spirit.  I gave you authority to bind and to loose.  I don’t need to call more angels.  I called all of you to go to them and deliver deliverance from their circumstances.”

What if we’re not waiting on a move of God in this nation?

What if God has already moved, and now He’s waiting on a move of us?

---Anderson T. Graves II   is a pastor, writer, community organizer and consultant for education, ministry, and rural leadership development.

Call me at 334-288-0577
Email me at atgravestwo2@aol.com
Friend me at www.facebook.com/rev.a.t.graves

To hear sermons, read devotions, and learn more about the ministry at Hall Memorial CME Church, visit www.hallmemorialcme@blogspotcom.