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Click here to read Deuteronomy 20 on BibleGateway.com

“Then the officers shall add, “Is anyone afraid or fainthearted? Let him go home so that his fellow soldiers will not become disheartened too” – Deuteronomy 20:9

Visit any high school (or, if you dare, middle school) in the United States and you will see two things – consumption of copious amounts of caffeine, and groups separating themselves from other groups. Academics, Goths, Emo, Drama, Athletes, Student Councilors, Artists, Musicians, and so forth and so on – they all have their own place to hang out, their own assigned dress code, often their own dialects, and their individual group attitudes. Like oil and water, the artists and the jocks cannot and shall not mix – that leads to oily art and no one wants that.

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We call these divisions “cliques,” because it’s catchy and vaguely French, so you know it’s kind of vaguely negative. Most of us could probably look at our high school days and quickly identify one person from all the different cliques, and remember in detail how that person/group made us feel, either included or excluded. It can have an important effect on our lives in such a crucial time of self-identification, not to mention lifelong fashion choices.

CLIQUE CLICHE

Unfortunately, one of the primary complaints that outsiders make of the Church is that it is “cliquey,” that is, it tends to separate itself from the world, or to exclude other people. This is seen as unloving, and to a great extent, unChristian. If people were truly Christian, so goes the argument, then they would truly love all people and not be so judgmental all the time. Generally, the sense is that if the church is so exclusionary, that it must be a bad thing; that is, if the church is representing Jesus, than they should be more willing to accept everyone. So, as Christians, if we want to live our lives and fashion our ministries around the Bible, we have to ask ourselves if excluding other people is Biblical.

As it turns out – it is.

The Bible is full of examples of God and his people excluding others. In several books in the New Testament, including Titus and Corinthians, Paul instructs the churches to warn a “divisive” person or person who is blatantly sinning, and then to disassociate with them. In our chapter today, Moses tells the leaders of Israel that if someone is afraid to fight in a battle, they should be allowed to leave, lest their fear spread to other soldiers. Unity of belief and purpose is essential to the ideals God has established for his people, and high standards are part of that.

A HOLY AND SEPARATE PEOPLE

Notice the emphasis here – the problem is not the person themselves, but the way in which their attitude and/or actions will lead others astray. The assumption is that those “inside” will be loving each other and submitting to each other – that being “inside” is preferably to being “outside” the fellowship of believers because of the love/support/encouragement within. Along with that, comes the responsibility that part of loving each other is to lead each other closer to Christ. If you’re not doing that, then by definition you are not part of the body of Christ. The Bible says that influence has to be excised from the body, lest the infection spread. Sorry, all, but it appears that cliqueyness is part and parcel of serving God.

And yet the comparison to the “popular crowd” excluding people is not quite accurate, despite the repeated accusations. Here’s the difference – in a high school clique, there are people that desperately want to join, and are excluded because of family status, looks, or odor. In Christian clique, there is (or should be) only one requirement – are you striving to love God and others with all your heart and mind and strength? If so, you’re in. The only requirement is a choice you make; it’s actually the opposite of a clique where the choice belongs to others. Joining is entirely in your hands.

The question is – are you in…or out?

Click here to read Ephesians 1 on BibleGateway.com

“Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God…” Ephesians 1:1

Think of an animal that starts with K.  Now think of a continent.

Did you think of Australia?  Why?  Is it because I have eerie powers and I can read your mind?  Possibly, if you’re a weak-minded fool and are susceptible to old Jedi mind tricks.  But for the rest of you, if you were just asked to think of a continent out of the blue, would you automatically think of Australia? Probably not.  But the previous question gets your mind thinking Down Under (since most people think of kangaroos or koalas), and your mind (at least most people’s minds) will keep going down the same path.  That’s how our minds work; we get an initial starting point, and everything that comes after reflects it.

WILL POWER

Have you ever thought about the way Paul opens his letters?  They almost all start with Paul identifying himself, as well as the church/person he is writing to.  But he doesn’t just say, “hey Goobadiah, it’s me Paul.”    In the case of the Ephesians in our chapter today, he opens by saying “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God.”  Notice how Paul sets the initial frame – what he is doing with his life at that moment is not just his decision; it is by the will of God.  Everything that he writes in the letter after that is framed by that knowledge and self-identity.  That is his basis for viewing the world.

If you wrote a letter, would you be comfortable say that what you are doing now is by the will of God?  Are you confident you are where God wants you to be?  Are you “Dave, a plumber by the will of God.” Or “Denise – a lawyer by the will of God.” Or “Francis – changing poopy diapers by the will of God.”   If you saw everything in your life as doing it for God and by His will, how would your attitude or actions change? Do you think that might affect the way you view your job, or education, or ministry?

When you think of yourself, or when people ask you one thing about yourself at those ice-breakers that we all love so much, does your identity in Christ come to your mind first?  If someone were to ask you to write a brief paragraph about you, what is the first thing you would say?  Would it be “parent,” or “doctor,” or “unicycler”?  Or do you know that you are Christ’s first and foremost?

FOR ALL IN TENTS AND PURPOSES

Of course, you may have to do things for a season in order to pay the bills; nobody wants their mac and cheese to get repossessed.  But just because you’re delivering pizzas, you could still say “Bill – teaching Sunday School by the will of God.”  Your vocation doesn’t necessarily sumup who you are;  Paul was a tentmaker in addition to being an apostle after all.  But his identity was in Christ; he didn’t start his letters by saying “Tentmaker Paul.”  His first identity, the initial impression by which he sees the world and others, is through the lens of Jesus

Our first identity, before the job title, before the spouse, before the family name – our very core identity needs to be rooted in Christ.  If (and probably when) most of those other things disappear or fade, we are still His; we still remain who we are, because He remains who He is.  Forever, unchanging, unwavering, unquestionably the same Jesus you met that first time.   No matter what you do, or where you go, or who you’re with, Jesus is still the one by whom and through whom we all have our being.

Even the wallabies.

Click here to read 2 Corinithians 8 on BibleGateway.com

“They exceeded our expectations…bring also to completion this act of grace on your part.” – 2 Cor. 8:5-6

Sometimes the ol’ English language is a little tricky for the Believer.  Words have more than one meaning, or we use more than one word to say the same thing  Which means we have words that can carry a negative connotation in one sense, and so we are hesitant to use it in its proper or positive way.  Confused?

Let’s take the word “guilt” for example.  Most of us would agree that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross atones for our guilt, in the sense that He took the punishment for our sin upon himself.  In that way, we no longer have to “feel guilty” in the sense that God has forgiven us.  On the other hand, guilt can also mean “the feeling that you aren’t doing enough,” and that can be either good or bad.  But because we know we shouldn’t feel “guilt version 1,” we automatically think that “guilt version 2” is also a bad thing.

We even have a term for this: a guilt trip.  This is when somebody makes you feel guilty, even though you haven’t done anything wrong, or because they’re trying to get you to do something for them.  Examples? Alright:

”That’s alright, you don’t have to finish supper.  It only took me six hours to make, and I only lost one finger cutting the pieces down the size you like.  I still have 9 other digits to use for supper tomorrow.”

“Of course I know you’re busy, you don’t have to help me with this project.  I’m sure if I get fired it’ll all work out somehow.”

“That’s ok, you don’t have to come visit me when I’m elderly.  I like being alone at the nursing home, with all the fish tanks to look at.”

THE GUILTER’S GUILD

And so guilt gets a bad name; it’s seen as manipulative, or self-serving, or even dishonest.  We have whole seminars built around getting rid of our guilt feelings.   We may even get mad at our pastors when they try to push us into giving extra to the building fund or missions budget.  How dare they guilt us into serving God?

Yet, maybe we’re looking at this problem in the wrong way.  After all, Paul doesn’t seem to have any trouble guilting people into giving.  Notice how he sticks it to the Corinthians here, by talking about how much the other churches are doing. Let’s run down the list:

– They gave more, even though they’re broke
– They gave more than they could afford
– They actually prayed that God would let them give
– They “gave to the Lord” and also to other believers.

Then Paul basically starts schmoozing – “you’re so good at everything, why not be good at giving too?” It’s like when the coach points out Rodney making all his shots, and tells you that could do that too, if you worked a little harder.

THE MIRROR GATE

The hard part to accept is that we often like to blame leadership for “guilting” us, when in reality they are simply challenging us to do what we should be doing with a cheerful heart.  We blame them for “manipulating,” instead of looking in the mirror and see if perhaps they’re not the ones gaming the system.  We want to be able to do what we want, and not be forced to feel bad about it.

Maybe if we feel guilty, or we get upset at people “guilting” us into giving, maybe instead of blaming them, we need to look at own hearts.  If somebody tells you “you’re not eating enough pizza,” you probably don’t get mad or think they’re guilting you.  You’re excited, because you’re looking to get going on correcting that.  Shouldn’t our attitude be the same when it comes to giving?  If a pastor/missionary challenges us to give, shouldn’t we be as excited to join that ministry as we are to ingest melted cheese? Guilt in that sense can be a good thing, because it can motivate us to pursue a more holy life, in our giving, or thoughts, or actions, even if we don’t liek someone pointing it out.

Maybe others guilting us isn’t the real problem.  Maybe the real problem is we have something to feel guilty about.