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Tithing

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

In Deuteronomy 14 God instructs his people on how they are to go about tithing when they come into the land:

22 “You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. 23 And before the LORD your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the LORD your God always. 24 And if the way is too long for you, so that you are not able to carry the tithe, when the LORD your God blesses you, because the place is too far from you, which the LORD your God chooses, to set his name there, 25 then you shall turn it into money and bind up the money in your hand and go to the place that the LORD your God chooses 26 and spend the money for whatever you desire

Matthew 1

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son,

and they shall call his name Immanuel

Throughout the centuries the doctrine of the virgin birth has been one of the key tenets of the Christian faith. And this rightly so. Matthew certainly takes time to explain exactly how the conception and birth of Jesus Christ came to pass, and exactly what the reactions of Joseph and Mary were through the whole unfolding of events. As selective as Matthew and the other gospel writers are in their choice of events to record out of the life of Jesus, every event must be seen as significant to the purpose of their writing.

Freedom

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

For the Christian who sees temporal pleasures as by definition distractions from a life of godliness and therefore sinful, then for them this is in fact the case. And no one should say that he is foolish to avoid such things.

For the Christian who sees temporal pleasures as gifts from God meant to create a joyful spirit of thanksgiving to him, thereby strengthening his fellowship with him, then for them this is in fact the case. And no one should try to burden him with guilt.

For in Christ righteousness is not defined by rules but by what serves to enjoy the gifts of God, both spiritual and physical, in a way that produces a spirit of service to others.

As a Christian music group puts it: “Freedom is sometimes just another perspective away.”

Forgive Us Our Trespasses As We Forgive Those Who Trespass Against Us

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

This may be one of the hardest petitions of the Disciple’s Prayer for me to write on. I like to believe that I am a very forgiving person, but who do I need to forgive? Who has done me wrong? There are always the little selfish things people do that are easily forgiven, but there is really no major offense committed against me that I can even think of to forgive!

It is often useful in defining an idea to think of its opposite.

Psalm 8

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

Listening to the song “Awsome God” on the radio today for the thousandth time my attention was caught by the line

Judgement and wrath you poured out on Sodom; mercy and grace you gave us at the cross. I’m hoping we have not too quickly forgotten that our God is an awsome God.

Indeed, we rightly teach the love and forgiveness of Christ and yet often forget what we were forgiven from. When we lose sight of God’s wrath, his righteous judgement we lose sight of our own sinfulness and its eternal consequences. To think that we are no less sinners than the people who lived in Sodom, for we have all gone our own way and rejected God. Should we not still tremble before his righteousness?

If we do not tremble before God, we will certainly find something else to tremble before (and by its very nature of being something else it will be sin). It is an innate human desire to be overcome by the awsomeness of something greater.

My brother Ben, the philosophically capable coffee blogger, likes to use the illustration of standing on a cliff watching the waves crash into the rocks. It’s raw power–beautiful power–and we love to be overcome by it.

This is a created need. We were made to abide in God. We were made to be overcome by his awsomeness. By sinning and desiring that which is finite, we condemn ourselves to nothingness. We are condemned to a life of mediocrity which does not begin to fulfill.

How we would change our perspective on life if we grasped the greatness of the cross. If we were overcome by the shear weight of the concept of Eternal God, maker of all spirit, and life, and nature, becoming man and conquering death itself.

What an amazing life of godly thrill is given in taking life as a leap, in being overcome by all the life and freedom that is in Christ and not being afraid to step out and watch his power work.

But no, we recieve this gift, this free ticket to a life-long skydive, and we choose to remain in our addiction to mediocridty. We do the cultural things; we “set our goals,” only puffs of dust confined within the narrow constraints of career, car, house, and stuff. They’re not goals, they’re cultural chains.

Why are we afraid? In I John 4:18 John says that there is no fear in love. Ah, love. Yes, we do not love, I should have guessed. It usually comes back to that. We don’t want to be what God is because…it’s not easy. And of course we always want what’s easy, what’s mediocre.

If we truly loved we would not fear to lose, for in love all is already lost. If we live the life of the cross we would know that all that is of this earth is already given up so that we may live the ressurection; an eternal giving of life.

If we lived in this way we would certainly experience the thrill of Christ. We would know what it means to float over 20,000 fathoms of water.

It’s like sky-diving. I went last summer. I jumped out of and airplane two miles above the ground. The trick is, I was strapped to a man who had jumped over 3,000 times.

Hasn’t Christ already taken this leap? Didn’t he give up family and friends on this earth? Wasn’t he tempted in every way as we have been, including the temptation to accumulate wealth and be prosperous on this earth? Did he not give it all up for the prize that was set before him? We are in him, we abide in his love; where is the fear?

You see, we are his prize. From the beginning of creation God’s desire has been to commune with you. He has wanted to overpower you with his awsomeness so that you can only rest transpartently in him.

So now see that the greatest prize is found in the leap. We let go of all that we hold close for comfort or security and give it up for those around us. Not us, but Christ in us. In this way we reicieve what can only be given and never taken; we recieve the gift of eternal giving in the body of Christ. We recieve that true love that only flows through us as we are overpowered by Christ.

We don’t always feel it; we are in this finite flesh. But Jesus beat Satan with Satan’s own weapon. He took that flesh which so easily besets us, and he sacrificed it. He broke it and poured out the blood in him that we go to such lengths to save in ourselves. It doesn’t always feel like a thrill, that’s why it’s called faith.

The waves may look like death, but no, it is the Easter tide! They are waves of mercy, eternal life! So don’t just stand there at the edge of the cliff looking at them, jump!

Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

As stated in the first post of the Disciples’ Prayer, Our Father Who Art in Heaven, the petitions that Jesus taught his disciples were not given so that we can know how to get something from God as much as they were given as the gift of God in themselves. Christ taught his disciples to pray in this manner because each of the statements in the prayer pertains to a crucial element of our relationship to him.

We know that God will provide all of our needs; we know that we are not to worry because our heavenly father knows what we need before we even ask. God provides for the sparrows, not allowing one to fall apart from his knowledge, he clothes the flowers of the field, will he not provide for us also? If we are given these promises and are told to trust in him for the sustenance of our bodies, why are we told to ask?

The Feast of Fasting

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

A popular idea concerning fasting is that one should do it because it gets one’s mind off of the things of this world and helps one to concentrate only on God. While this may be true, this does not seem to be the primary purpose of fasting in scripture.

Musings on the ESV

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

by Paul Szobody

As my father used to retort to me about eating another piece of pie, so I sometimes say to myself about another English translation of the Bible : “You [America !] need another one like you need another hole in your head !” Why another? (After all, I work in Chad where less than a dozen tribes have ANY complete Bibles translated into their tongue !).

Whose Right?

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

In the festivities of the fourth of July my attention was turned to the Declaration of Independence. I have often pondered the reasoning behind the actions of those who signed the document. They refer to truths which are self evident, one of which is that men are “endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

I reflect this statement back onto a trip I took to the White Earth Indian Reservation last month.

Our Paradoxical Nature Part 2

Posted by Nathanael Szobody on

“By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world.”

I John 4:17

Read that last phrase again: “as he is so also are we in this world.” In Christ we have an identity that is him. Not that we are whatever he is, but we are what he is in this world. We are made a holy nation, a people for him; we are living stones built up by him to be a dwelling place for him. The passage on living stones speaks to our calling, but this passage in I John on love speaks of our identity.