Today’s Scripture Reading (December
30, 2013): Isaiah 56
I think that
the arrogance of the Christian Church is often more of an enemy to Christian
belief than anything that Satan might be trying to do in our culture. I find it
every time I admit that I want to confront a problem that the Church thinks it
has handled. Arrogance is involved every time we say that we know things that
we just can’t know. I believe that God has left us with some puzzles that we,
as Christians, are intended to grow through. The list of things that I can say
that I know absolutely is actually fairly short. I know that God loves me, I
don’t understand why. I know that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and that for
reasons that are beyond my comprehension he decided to leave all of the
comforts of heaven to be born and live on earth like me. I know that I would
not have made that decision, I prove it every day when I choose my own comfort
over that of others. I know that I am a sinner, I have failed. I find no insult
in John Newton’s terminology of “wretch.” That is exactly what I am. And yet, I
also know that Jesus died for me. This, and maybe a few other things, I know.
These things make up the core of my belief. There are other things that I believe,
but they are not central to me. And part of my spiritual health is dependent on
my ability to keep the central things – well, central.
But there
are other things that I admit I believe, but they are just not central to my
salvation, and so I hold onto these things very lightly. And there are some
things that I do not understand, they are puzzles that God seems to have left
for me. And Isaiah 56 presents me with one of those puzzles. God, speaking
through Isaiah, says that he will give within the walls of the Temple of the
God of Israel a memorial and a name that is better than sons and daughters to
the eunuchs that are willing to follow him. But that seems to stand in direct opposition
to the instructions of Moses (and God) in Deuteronomy. In
Deuteronomy 23:1, eunuchs are specifically excluded from temple. And then in
Acts 8 it is the Ethiopian Eunuch that asks Philip why he can’t be baptized
(which would indicate inclusion in the church.) And at the time of Acts 8, the
Christian Church was still very Jewish. To be excluded from the temple would
seem to also indicate exclusion from the church (at this point circumcision was
still required for Christians.) And yet, Philip baptizes him. For me, this is
puzzle.
And it also a warning. It is like a message from God cautioning me that I
do not have everything figured out. I am not even supposed to have everything
figured out. I am not God, and there are some things that I need to leave to
him. Because I am not God, there is no room in my life for arrogance. In fact,
arrogance is a sin that I need to do my best to avoid.
For the church,
passages like this should stand as a warning against peripheral dogmas. There
are many things that should be topics of discussion in the Christian church – subjects
that are open to respectful debate – and even differences in opinion between
believers. But none of these issues are barriers to salvation – because these
are the things that we cannot know.
Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Isaiah
57
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