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Book of Ruth

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

The book of Ruth is one of my favorites, and it’s a little book so you can read it in just a few minutes. There are some things I love and some things that are pretty confusing. Have you ever traded sandals to confirm a legal arrangement, and if some strange woman slept at my feet all night a proposal is not what I would be offering. But we live in very different times so I should not expect that some of those things would or even should make sense to me. Let’s face it the Bible was not written with 21 century customs or ideas in mind it was written with customs and ideas of that time in mind.

There are however some things that make perfect sense. Things like compassion, concern, love, devotion, earning a good name, respect, and morality. I find that quite funny because the story of Ruth is being told during the period of Judges. Now that is funny because the book of Judges is not known for having these attributes. You read the book of Judges and the Israelites are being less that proper towards one another and God.

One of the main things that I find when I read the book of Ruth that is most interesting to me is not the above mentioned things or the fact that Boaz is a kinsmen redeemer (although important) but the way Ruth and the other less than fortunate people are taken care of. What we see is a group of people living in accordance with the way God told them to live. Leviticus 23:22 says in a very paraphrased way “you don’t need all the grain from the field when it is harvest time so leave some for the poor and strangers. Do it because I am your God.”  What we have here is a group of people living God’s way and getting God’s results in the midst of the majority of the nation acting in disobedience. What that says to me is “do not conform to the pattern of this world.”

I’m just going to stop there and let you draw your own conclusions.

Just a thought,

Mike

Karma & Grace

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

I was thinking about karma and grace this morning. With karma you will always get back what you gave. If you do good you will get good if you do bad you will get bad, it is a cycle that cannot be broken. Everything is cumulative and it can take thousands of years to work off just some of your bad karma. It is perhaps the most works based system possible and offers no help for the root cause of your failures in the first place namely a sinful nature. Grace stands in stark contrast to karma. Where karama says you must work towards moksha, God’s grace says I will give you freedom, liberty, and eternal life because you can never be good enough. Grace is not just a “do over” but an all covering and immeasurable gift from the Creator Himself to mankind. Simply put karma is you doing your best it is you working towards being liberated from a life of pain while God’s grace says it is true you can never do enough to earn life with me but I will give it to you because I am good.

Law and Grace

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

When we review the “test” in the Bible, the different encounters people faced (the heroes of faith) we should look not so much at the particular test but what the point of the testing was.

The same could be said of the “law.” Instead of looking at the letter we should look at the spirit of the law and determine what was that law meant to teach or protect against then we can better understand God Himself. In giving the law God was giving pictures of Himself. He was giving insights into who He is.

Jesus fulfills the requirements of the law so we do not have to. We have no need to sacrifice bulls and goats. But we have lessons we can learn from the law. For example we can look at the law against coveting and see that it is not good to covet. Why? We are to seek God first and not worry about what to wear or eat or drink or where to live. We see in the law the command not to, and in Jesus we see the reason. We also see in Jesus the new ability in us to not covet.

Just a thought,

Mike

Powerful Little Conjunction

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

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I am reading through the Pentateuch or Torah or Books of Moses whichever you like for class, and I keep noticing this little word “and.” Specifically I am seeing it at the beginning of Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers. It occurs to me that this powerful little conjunction does more than just connects to words, phrases, or clauses but it connects pictures and ideas as well.

It connects the picture and idea that is being made in Genesis with the picture/idea in Exodus with the picture/idea in Leviticus and so on.

Have you ever watched a TV show that was very well put together? One where the writers decide at the onset what is going to happen and then everything works towards that goal. Every plot twist, cliffhanger, and surprise is designed to bring you to the finale so when you see that one you get a big picture. Each episode on it’s own was great but the whole story is amazing. That is the Pentateuch. So I asked myself if “and” connects these picture/ideas then what is the bigger picture/idea that is being created?

It’s probably better to give you the story of each one first. That way when we see the big picture we can appreciate it a little more.

Genesis – God creates/recreates (Creation, Noah, Babel, Patriarchs), and gives direction and promises.

Exodus – God delivers, makes promises, forgives, God delivers, makes promises, forgives.

Leviticus – God is holy, and He explains and prepares us now for future promise receiving.

Numbers – God is faithful and good even when we are not.

Deuteronomy – Pay attention to what God has done.

So what is the big picture that is being created in the story as a whole? God has created you and is calling you, He has direction and a place for you. He delivers you out of your trials and gives you insight as to what He wants for you. He is holy and mighty, and will prepare you ahead of time for what you will walk into, and even when you are weak He is strong. We need to pay attention to what He has done and what He is doing.

That is the gist of it. Sure there is more but if you want the overall picture that is pretty much it. I really don’t have more to say than that.

Just a thought,

Mike

Was it because there were no graves in Egypt?

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I really like second part of Exodus. I know most people prefer the first part where God sends the plagues and shows His power over Pharaoh and the Egyptian gods but I really like the second part. I enjoy reading about the wilderness experience because it reinforces a very specific point. Three days into the journey the Israelites are complaining about water. Not too long after that about food and so on. It seems that all throughout the wilderness time they are grumbling. But can we really blame them? I mean somewhat I suppose after all they did just see the plagues, the parting of the Red/Reed Sea, water from a stone, and so on. But those are all external things.

You see Exodus starts to solve the Babel problem, but it did not solve the Eden problem. Deliverance without an internal change changes little. They were not a changed people. They had been slaves for 400+ years and you do not go from slavery to freedom without carrying some baggage. It is that old saying “You can take the man out of Egypt but it’s not easy getting Egypt out of the man.” Cliche but true. We can change a circumstance and not change the person. Change has to be an internal thing before anything external can really have an impact. If you are a addicted to heroin and live in a abandoned building you are a addict living in a rough spot. If I give you a million dollars you are still an addict but now you can afford you addiction. Nothing has changed.

The only time I really see God getting upset with them in Exodus is when they decide to worship the golden calf. That is because He had just told them not to do that very thing. We can look at story and be all high and mighty “saying see how much better we are” but if you are a Christian you have the Spirit in you they did not have that. That was not even the point. Exodus is not trying to solve the problem of internal change. Instead it is setting up the scene for when that does happen.

I am going through some things right now, and to be honest it stinks and is quite scary, but I have to make a choice. Will I trust in the God who has brought me out & changed me in on the inside or will I forget what He has done and complain? Sounds like an easy decision but walking that out is another thing all together.

Just a thought,

Mike

Dates, Dates, and more dates.

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

Dates…..Dates…..Dates…..

That is all that is in my brain right now. I am putting together a paper for class and the section I am stuck on is Date of Events. Normally not a big issue but this is for the book of Exodus so it actually is a big deal. A huge deal actually.

But who cares really? I mean these dates, those dates ehhh whatever right? Well for one I care and I think you should too. I mean yes I suppose you can go through life and never once even think about when something in the Bible happened but a lot of people use dates as an excuse to not believe. Honestly they are grasping at straws to say I don’t believe because of dates but it is still what they hold onto.

So a few things. First the Bible is historically accurate because the events took place in history but it is not a recording of history. It records what was going on at the time but that is not the point. The point is God revealing Himself to man and calling a people to Himself. Second the Bible is not a geography book, but it does include locations. Again it talks about where things happen but by and large they are not the intent of the story. Now that being said the Bible has been proven very accurate in finding locations. I think the reason for this being the case is land was part of the conventional promise to Abraham. Third and final the times in the Bible are not very good. What I mean by that is they use completion and parts often. They might say 40 and it was only 32 but 40 is a complete time. So I do not prefer a literal reading of timespans in the Bible. Not to say that some of the times are not correct but I think (and could be wrong) that a lot of the time that “time” and numbers are used it is to represent something. I am not saying that the days in Genesis are or are not a 24 hour day.

So do the dates matter? Yes emphatically yes they do. Can we know with any degree of certainty? Yes! I mean NO! Well maybe I don’t know. It seems that when we decide one thing we change our minds so I don’t know but dates are no reason to throw out the Bible when there is so much we can say. There are good reasons for the dates and I tend to go towards Exodus occurring on the later side (mid 1200) because of Genesis ch 39 and the Merneptah Stele but I could be wrong.

The important thing again is the events in the Bible are real events that actually happened. I do not place my faith on a story but on events that can be traced. If we have to have all the details to believe something then we would believe nothing. Jesus for example was a real person who really lived and really said what He said. Some people have taken to saying He was not real but these are usually (not always) the same people who say the Holocaust never happened and we have people living from that time so what does that tell you.

Just a thought,

Mike

The truth comes out in the end

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I was reading through Genesis 13 this morning and I was thinking about the phrase “the truth always comes out in the end.” Some people say Abraham did not lie he just withheld information. To which I say that tells me a lot about you.

A lie is a lie regardless of the severity or impact. I have issues with lying because I was very good at it. I used to lie about anything and everything. I would lie just to see if I could get someone to believe the story. I am pretty talented storyteller (at least I think so) and can craft a story with enough truth to make it believable. The trick is not to make some insanely crazy story but something that is almost unbelievable. Just a little more than reality. It is like an action movie where the hero jumps just a little further than one actually could. It needs enough truth to be bought.

The problem is a lie is a lie, and lies lead to other problems. When we lie or withhold vital information there are consequences, and they usually create a larger problem. But the other issue with lying is it creates an idea in us that we can take it a little further. It is the snowball that creates an avalanche. I am not implying that every lie leads to a catastrophe but why risk it. Abraham started with a lie about his wife and later sleeps with her servant and I think two events are connected. Abraham liked to stretch it out a little.

There is a way out though. If you have a lie or half truth you have been keeping just get it out before anyone finds out. Be the one to out the truth and then no one holds power over you. Jesus said the “truth will set you free” and while He was talking about knowing you are a slave to sin the principle remains. When truth is let out into the open you become free and the weight is lifted.

Just a thought,

Mike

Perception Determines Reality

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

In just reading the title you might gasp and think that I have turned into a Relativist. Fear not though as I remain an Absolutist. That does not mean I suggest that all things be weighed the same but more on that some other time. Right now I want to talk about to some extent perception determines reality at least how this impacts the church as a whole.

People more than ever seem to be concerned (at least marginally) with social justice and social issues. Bare minimum they at least want to give it lip service because it deserves to at least be spoken of. The plight of this group, or that group. This place or that place. This situation or that situation. I for one think this is great because there are a lot of issues we can and should get behind. The problem with all of this is that Christians (again as a whole) have been perceived as only caring about two issues namely homosexuality and abortion. While we do talk about these things they are far from the only things we discuss but that does not matter because we are perceived as only talking about these issues. Now it is a cheap and lazy attack but effective nevertheless. It is an attack on the church that is proving to be very detrimental to our cause.

Here is what I am talking about; if you feel slighted by someone then whether or not they have actually slighted you is somewhat irrelevant. Now, of course, this is an overgeneralization and does not apply to this audience but for a lot of people, this is true. The facts do not matter nearly as much as the way it is perceived. Now again whether that is right or wrong really does not matter right now. If we look around we see this playing out all the time, and sad to say this is what has happened to the church as a whole. We have been perceived as only caring about two issues and nothing else. To such an extent that we have actually had to take the defense and stand to battle against these two issues as if they were the only ones.

Now as a Christian I know this is not true. I know we as a whole are involved in feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, stopping sex trafficking, and so on. So how do we go about changing the perception? More importantly, do we need to change it? I think the answer to that question is a resounding YES! We not only should but we must change it because the very people who have this perception are the ones we are meant to reach with the love of Christ. I think we should make changing the perception a top priority. We are supposed to be known for our love, sharing, and compassion. So if the perception is we are only against homosexuals (which is wrong) or that we want to control women’s bodies (again wrong) then we need to change that perception. So how do we do that?

I think it is a two-fold approach. First is active shenanigan and hogwash calling. When people say “oh Christians hate gay people” or, “Christians think they can tell a woman what to do with their body, woman hating,” I say we call shenanigans! Be decent about it but ask them why they believe that or where they got that from. I give you permission that it is OK to do. Most people have no idea why they say half the things they say (Christians and non-Christians alike) they just say what they have heard and been told to say so just call them out and ask why. Correct the perception.

If someone said Bob (let’s pretend you are Bob) is a woman-hating jerk, I am pretty sure you would not lay down and just take it. After all they are insulting your name. They are insulting you. Well when people say Christians are homophobic woman hating jerks they are calling you that if you are a Christian so stand up for yourself. We have this idea that being meek and humble means we have to be beat up and not stand for truth, but take another look in the Scriptures and see how Jesus, Peter, and Paul responded when people tried to defame the truth. Yes there are times to take it on the chin but there are also times to stand up. Don’t get into a fight just to fight but don’t just dragged through the mud and think it makes you holy. It is a really hard line and requires a lot of prayer and meditation on the Word.

The second way is to keep doing good. Galatians 6:9 says:

And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.

Just keep at it. Use it as fuel to push through. Someone says Christians only care about X go and do Y. Keep at it and keep moving forward in love.

We have a great cause we are fighting for and it is bigger than any popular issue going through social media today. If they want to accuse us of something it should be that Christians are always loving me and trying to help me. We are in a war for people’s souls so let’s start fighting.

Just a thought,

Mike

Compounding Interest and Faith

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

On one hand, I know it might sound silly and to those who think it does you can just ignore this post and move on to something in the Archives, but I want to be a better Christian. I want to know more and do more for God. Not because I am trying to earn favor or get something from Him but because I love Him and want more of Him. I guess I just want to add to my faith. The question is can I and should I? Should this even be a desire to have?

2 Peter 1:5-7 says it is possible and more so that I should give all diligence to this very task of adding to my faith. That I should actually not just want this but do it. There is a lot in these three verses, and it might just spill into two posts so bear with me because as my daughter used to sing “we’re going on a trip in our favorite rocket ship…”

There are seven things we are told to add to our faith in these three verses. Seven things that are supposed to be compounded upon each other. It is like compounding interest which is awesome when investing and horrid when paying. Compound interest works like this; You put money in and then interest is added to that, but that interest money that is given is now added to the total and you get interest on the whole amount. So for example, you put in $100 with 25% interest (unheard of I know) for four years, you would have somewhere around $244 at the end. Whereas if the interest did not compound you would only have $200 at the end of the year. It is like the whole doubling a penny a day trick where you end up a few million in a month or something like that. Peter is talking about the same thing. Start with your faith and then compound it.

2 Peter 1:5-7 But also for this very reason (see verse 4) giving all diligence add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.

These are the things that are supposed to be compounded on each other. It is not faith, then virtue, then knowledge and so on setting them aside after each use. But they are supposed to go one on top of the other so that as you compound them so we will have knowledge of Jesus and not be shortsighted or unfruitful. So let’s look at the list:

Virtue

Knowledge

Self-Control

Perseverance

Godliness

Brotherly Kindness

Love

I also think it important to mention that this is not a 1-7 list. It is not first Virtue then Knowledge as if when you do one you are done with it. No this is a continual list as in keep adding to these things. Sometimes you are working a little more on Self-Control then Brotherly Kindness. The order is not nearly as important as the act of the adding. So onto to Greek….

Virtue – aretē

Moral excellence as modesty or purity. Think of Virtue as being ethical. If it is right then do that. Regardless of ease do the right thing and take the right path. Virtue is added by doing.

Knowledge – gnōsis

Knowledge here is actually specific to the things of the faith. It is not just any old knowledge. It is not learning more about Starfish (which are pretty cool), but the things the Bible says. This is done by reading and meditating on the Word of God.

Self-Control – egkrateia

Self-Control is funny to define because it is like defining the word “is.” But I shall try. Self-Control is not giving in to your desires. It is realizing that you can say no to the TV, girl/guy, yes to quiet time, and so on. Self-Control is only done when tempted to not have it. You can only have it when you need it.

Perseverance – hypomonē

Perseverance in the Christian faith is a whole lot like exercising. It is that dig deep moment. It is the my legs are shaking but I am going to keep going moment, the I want to quit or let this discouragement in moment but I am going to keep at it. I am going to push forward. If courage is doing it regardless of fear than discouragement is giving into the fear. Perseverance is not giving into the hardship but pushing on towards the goal.

Godliness – eusebeia

Godliness is reverence and respect for God. It is just the realization that you are not God. It is understanding that your ways are not His ways and that He can do as He pleases and that His purposes are good.

Brotherly Kindness – philadelphia

Not this city or movie. This means love. Not agape love because that is slightly different but this is love for your brothers and sisters in Christ. When you see others being persecuted or hurting or needing help it is doing what is needed. It is taking time to serve and love the body.

Love – agapē

Now, this is real God like love. This is 1 Corinthians 13 love. I won’t say too much because a lot has been said, but suffice to say it is giving of yourself.

So there we have it. There are seven things and all of them hard. All require something of us, but all give us something better than what we can be without them. When applied and compounded we get a faith that is strong and we will have fruit.

We managed to get it all in one post. It’s a long post but oh well.

Just a thought,

Mike

I am half a stereotype

/ Mike Farley / Leave a comment

As I sit here in my bright blue shirt that says “Roar”, cargo shorts, shaved head, and awesome goatee I realize that the stereotype is true. Well at least in me. I admit that by most appearances and basic standards I am what should be a youth pastor. The only thing I lack is the awesome at sports and I do not shout in my messages. But then I suppose I fall on the other side where I get super serious and use words like super…

Why then do I doubt? Why do I struggle with unbelief and discouragement? Maybe it is because I do not play the guitar and cannot sing. Maybe if I could do those things I would have more faith that I will get the job. Then again maybe that is why I don’t play and sing. Maybe God knows then I would have faith in myself and not in Him. Maybe just maybe if I could do those things I would rely on my strength and not His ability, goodness, and love.

That is one of the things I love about the interaction in Mark chapter 9 with a desperate father and Jesus. The father knows he has no hope. He has no way of helping his son. He has done everything to make it better. Done everything to fix the problem and he has nothing left. He hears about this Jesus and that even His disciples can heal and cast out demons. So he goes to see Jesus, but Jesus is not there. So the disciples try but nothing happens. Talk about a kick in the faith shorts. He believed enough to go there. He tried and now nothing. I would imagine it was a mix of anger, frustration, and great sadness. I say this because there was arguing going on. The way it reads shows that after the disciples failed to cast out the demon the teachers of the law jumped in to make matters worse. It was a bad day for the father of the boy.

Then Jesus shows up and everything changes. I just want to jump ahead to verse 24 because it’s my blog and I can.

Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!

The father realized he had at least a little belief left. He had just enough faith to say I believe but help my unbelief. That is like saying I know enough to know I don’t know. It is not a lot of belief. But Jesus works with that because he wants to help. He knew he could not save his son but Jesus could. He knew enough to know he needed help.

I love that because often that is where I am. Like right now. I know enough to know I cannot get this on my own because while I fit the stereotype in a few ways in many I fall short. Because if we are basing everything on stereotypes I actually fail in more ways than I fit. So right now I have no choice but to call on the one who calls based on different standards. That while man looks at appearances God looks at the heart. While my heart is not perfect it does long for Him and His will.

So here I stand half a stereotype having no choice but to trust Jesus. This morning I was battling but now I find myself standing with the boys father in victory saying “yes I believe, help me overcome my unbelief!” That is not a battle that is a place of rest.

Just a thought,

Mike