Monthly Archives: May 2009

Circumcision: Set Apart

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Probably one of the most obvious reasons for the existence of circumcision in the Bible is the fact that it creates a clear distinction between circumcised and uncircumcised men. Perhaps a good illustration would be to imagine a group of Hebrew and Egyptian boys skinny-dipping in the Nile. Well, don’t think about it too long. The point shouldn’t take too long to understand.

Yellow duckling with black ducklings

Yellow duckling with black ducklings

If purely for the sake of being different, doesn’t circumcision seem to be a tad drastic? A little overkill? Hundreds of other avenues could have been considered for the sign of the covenant–clothing style and uniforms, hairstyles, tattoos or other body markings, food or linguistical distinction such as accents or language. Of course, all of these dissimilarities were used by God to differentiate the Jews from the other nations, but they were not the quintessential sign. These actions followed the rite of circumcision. Indeed, it would be extreme except that the whole idea of circumcision is to create a permanent, irreversible difference. A Hebrew may choose to eat pork. He might put a tattoo of the Ten Commandments on his chest. He can change any of these behaviors. Yet, he cannot change what happened to him at the most intimate part of his body. To do so would cause disease and infection to set in and eventually, death.

In him you were also circumcised, in the putting off of the sinful nature, not with a circumcision done by the hands of men but with the circumcision done by Christ…            Colossians 2:11 NIV

Although it’s true that as Christians we are not required to perform physical circumcision on the males in the church, it is, however, a requirement that all believers undergo a spiritual operation in which the sins, desires and proclivities of the old, sinful nature must be cut off. This is a painful separation of old habits and thought patterns. It hurts. It’s difficult. But it should be required, encouraged and demonstrated in every believer’s life. Like the circumcision of the body, this circumcision occurs to a part of us which is so intimate that it could never be reversed. After the Holy Spirit has run the edge of His blade against my heart and sliced off those things to which I once held to so fiercely–earthly gain, recognition, success, comfort–then I will irrevocably be different than my unbelieving peers, forever.

Have you experienced this painful process of spiritual circumcision in your life? What did God ask you to give up in order to be different?

Circumcision: Painful Separation

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In Genesis 17, God begins the whole rite of circumcision with Abraham and his descendants. We discussed yesterday that circumcision was a sign of the covenant that God was making with Abraham. Today, we are going to look at another aspect of circumcision that I think to be the most obvious.

Grand Canyon

Grand Canyon

Circumcision is more than just a sign of a pact, it is a painful separation of that which is good in order to gain that which is the best. The foreskin is a small rather insignificant part of the body, yet parting with it proves to be quite a task. God understands this, but He is immovable in His requirement of the Hebrews as we learn in Exodus 4:23-26.

And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me. So he let him go: then she said, A bloody husband thou art, because of the circumcision.

The translation of verse 23 is a bit obscure. My sources tell me that God could have been speaking of Pharaoh’s son or Moses’ son. I tend to believe that God is speaking of Gershom, the firstborn of Moses, because in the next verse, we see how God is prepared to take the life of the boy for Moses’ disobedience. Why would Moses disobey the command of the Lord to Abraham? Because it is PAINFUL! You try and listen to your son scream as you run the blade of the knife on his skin. It’s difficult. What’s more is that it’s tough to follow a God who would demand such a mutilating act. Isn’t God concerned about the physical health and well being of the child? Yes, but obviously He’s more concerned about the status of the covenant with His people.

The foreskin is a good thing. When God created man, He said, “It is good.” That meant all the parts of the man. Albeit the foreskin is good, in comparison to the need for the covenant, it is not worth considering keeping it. Moses learned that he had to trade the good thing for the best thing.

As we walk this Christian road, God will ask us to give up some good things. At this point of life, I do not have a cable or dish TV service. Is TV bad? Not necessarily. I feel like this is something God wants me to be separated from right now. TV is fun and good, but the best thing for me and my family is to have more time for each other and more time for God. As painful as it is, I have to let it go.

What has God asked you to give up in your Christian life that could be considered “good”? Was it easy to explain to other people why you made that decision?

Circumcision: Sign of the Covenant

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Here in the United States, 56.1% of all males born were circumcised in the year 2006. I don’t know who was the 0.1%, but I wouldn’t want to be him. That’s a little over half of the male children born in America. Have you ever wondered why we would choose to cut off that small piece of skin on their most vulnerable part? Let’s start with the first reason:

Sign of the Covenant

Sign of the Covenant

And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations. This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised. And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you. And he that is eight days old shall be circumcised among you, every man child in your generations, he that is born in the house, or bought with money of any stranger, which is not of thy seed. He that is born in thy house, and he that is bought with thy money, must needs be circumcised: and my covenant shall be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. And the uncircumcised man child whose flesh of his foreskin is not circumcised, that soul shall be cut off from his people; he hath broken my covenant.        Genesis 17:9-14 KJV

This operation performed on over half of all the little boys born in the US started with a covenant that God made with Abraham. To the Western mind, this bloody ritual is entirely unnecessary and gruesome; however, the truth is that every great covenant must be cut with blood. Blood is the sign of the covenant made between two or more persons. It is not the covenant itself, yet it is a symbol wherein we know that the covenant has been sealed.

Think about it. God makes a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15. When Abraham asks God how he could know that the covenant was legitimate, God responds by telling him to divide a heifer, a goat and a ram into two pieces. There was blood everywhere. Then, at night God passed between the pieces of the animals sacrificed as a sign of the covenant He had made with the Hebrew. The blood was a symbol of the covenant.

Weddings are wondrous occasions of great joy, but if the newlyweds are virgins, they are in for a rough night. There will probably be blood. this blood is the sign of the covenant, showing to the husband that the promise of virtue is true.

Yes, it is bloody. Yes, it is harsh. But it is essential; that all may know that there is a covenant and it is legitimate and true. There is another covenant of which I wish to allude. The God-man, Jesus the Messiah, died on a roman cross two thousand years ago as a sign of the new covenant cut with His own blood. Little did Abraham know that as he spilt the blood of his son that God would also spill the blood His only Son. And just like the Abrahamic covenant remains, the new covenant in Christ’s blood endures. The blood of Messiah will continue to show the world just how much God loves us all.

Tracking the Undertow

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Wikipedia says that an undertow is “a strong subsurface flow of water returning seaward from the shore resulting usually from wave action.” It is a hidden current running along the sea floor racing toward greater depths. I think there is an undertow here at Tabernacle of Praise.

Sailboat out at sea.

Sailboat out at sea.

The normal current of humanity is to swim to shore. Get to where it is safe. Churches are not exempt from this universal instinct. Anytime a motivated layperson or pastor proposes a unique strategy that requires commitment from everyone to make it work, there will be strong opposing forces. Why? Because the new strategy is new. It’s a risk. It may or may not work. It’s a new idea. We’ve never thought of it before. It’s uncharted waters. We’ve never swam out that far. New. New. NEW!

The race to shore begins immediately. Shore is that happy place where everything is normal, comfortable and predictable. It’s the place where we do “what we’ve always done.” The great ocean is that place which is wild and unfamiliar. It promises nothing but uncertainty.

When the Elder Board and I decided that the five point strategy I presented at the TOP 24th Anniversary in November 2008 was the direction that God wanted us to go, I saw a lot of nervous looks on peoples’ faces. What do you mean, pastor? We’re going to pray, witness, commune, worship and serve our way to growth and success? Absolutely.

But it is easier to stay in the shallow water, to remain near the shore. However, there are many people at Tabernacle of Praise who have decided to take the strategy to heart and give themselves to the work of the ministry. They have shown up for corporate prayer events. They have challenged themselves to share their faith. They have made room in their schedules to meet with believers from the church. They have stepped their passion in worship. They have began to volunteer in different service projects in the community.

There is an undertow at TOP. This current is a group of individuals who are racing out to the depths of the will of God, even if they are under the current of those who are heading for shore. My prayer and hope is that the force of this undertow will sweep unsuspecting believers out to sea.

Are you a part of the undertow? How are you involved in the strategy of TOP?

Good and Bad Problems

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My life is full of problems; perhaps yours is too. Sometimes, I wish that all the problems in my life would just disappear. But on second thought, maybe I shouldn’t be so quick to oust these blessings in disguise.

The dictionary that came with my MacBook says that a problem is “a matter or situation regarded as unwelcome or harmful…” The secondary meaning listed below this explains that a problem is “a thing that is difficult to achieve or accomplish…” When someone utters the word “problem” we all tend to think of the first meaning in my dictionary. However, there is a problem with assuming that every problem is a problem. Well, of the unwelcome or harmful kind, anyway.

Take for instance the fact that I was recently informed by Alltel that my wife and I have already used 300 minutes of the 500 minutes that we have to share on our cell phone plan and our billing cycle isn’t coming any time soon. This is a problem. As we search for a solution to the problem, we can get discouraged and stingy with our minutes. Our prayers can be full of the pains of our recent problems: “Oh, God! Why must we pay more for more minutes when You have promised to never leave us nor forsake us? Where are You in this time of turmoil?” As I thought about it, I started to realize the reason that we’ve used so many minutes. I’ve been receiving more and more phone calls from members at TOP either wishing to be more connected to the church, to schedule counseling or to know the opportunities to serve. Is this a problem? Yes, it is, but it’s a good one. It’s an indicator of the good things that God is doing at Tabernacle of Praise.

On the flip side, there is a danger in the false bravado that says that all problems are good. There are some problems that are not good, and should be dealt with immediately. These are the harmful problems. Some that come to mind for the leader are addictions, time wasters, procrastination and burn out. If you encounter any of these problems, make any and every change to deal with them right away! They will destroy your ability to grow and prosper.

On our way to being good leaders, we pray for many things–revival, a career, education, prosperity, freedom from debt, our own business, the ability to serve on mission trips, new converts in the church. Oftentimes, we do not realize that these wonderful things that we pray for come with problems. It is imperative that we distinguish which ones are good problems and which ones are bad. If we cannot discern the difference, we may give up the fight because of problems that actually show the progress in our lives (like the minutes on my bill), or we might tolerate problems that need to be fixed.

Do you tend to think of problems as good or bad? What are some good problems that you have today?