Reviewing Book…

I love when I get the opportunity to sit down & read books.  Recently I have decided that no matter what I read I will be writing my thoughts down about what I personally took away from the author.  Now… the first project seemed kind of weird seeing as how I read a book entitled  Impress Faith on Your Kids by Mark Holmen.  In these kinds of books I will try to not only comment what I think about the information (since I can’t comment on being a parent … because I’m not a parent).  Instead, I will try to give some commentary on what I find to be most beneficial from my stand point.  I will write reviews according to my knowledge of God’s Word & whether such books are deemed, by me, a good resource for ministers who are in similar positions as I – not having kids.

The Review:
Mark Holmen’s book Impress Faith on Your Kids is a great resource for many people – whether you be a minister without kids or huge family. Through the book, Mark offers not only practical advice, but gives ideas for certain practices that can be applied within the home. The advice & practices are all supported Biblically & are presented in a way that makes this book great for personal use within an individual family. If you are a minister in search of resources or need a way to present the D6 model to parents of your congregation then this is an ideal read. Mark also includes very personal letters to the readers & discussion questions that would make this book a good resource for a small group of people trying to implement the D6 model into their families.

Impress Faith on Your Kids is written in a very readable way that connects to the minds of people needing the information from a mind that has digested & lived the information first-hand. From identifying what it is to be a ‘great parent’ to the transition D6 requires to the problems Christian parents face, Mark discusses very well what the families in our churches in America can establish to start their journey to being a D6 family.

Why Sin isn’t Equal … Even in God’s Eyes

The other day I posed a question.  During my internship we were required to write down topics for sermons/Bible lessons & pick from a hat.  The topic I received was formed in a question – “Is All Sin Equal?”  I was kind of bummed at such a topic thinking “This answer is too obvious.”  Come to find out, the answer is not nearly as obvious as I originally thought.  The witty evangelical quip that “All sin is equal in the eyes of God” isn’t exactly full truth because, Biblically, in the eyes of God all sins are not always equal.  Stick with me here…
 
First of all, I want you to know my answer to this is 3-fold.  Is all sin equal? Yes – No – Yes.
 
Romans 3:23 will let us know that all have sinned which in turn makes us fall short of the glory of God.  Well, first of all, we need to know this points us back to the very beginning.  First & foremost is why we were created – as the glory of God; our original purpose is to be the glory revealed of & give glory to God.  Unfortunately our father & mother of mankind fell into sin which is why we now fall short because we are all sinners.  Because of this, we are separated from God.  So is all sin equal?  Yes, all sin is equal in that it causes a gulf of separation between us & God.
 
However, we come to scripture that will put a damper in the yes when going through the Bible.  Did you know that all sin is NOT equal in God’s eyes according to severity & judgment?  It’s true.  Real quick, let me discuss some factors that will change the gravity of sin.
-  Blasphemy of the Holy Spirit:  I want to start out with the most obvious of weighted sins.  In Matthew 12:31-32 Jesus explains that anyone who “speaks a word against the Holy Spirit” is found unforgivable.  This alone tells us that not all sins are equal.  We read that there is a sin that is unforgivable growing up in the Christian culture that says anything can be forgiven.  Well … not true when considering this verse & the unforgivable sin.  Jesus even weights the blasphemy of the Spirit over the blasphemy of His own name (Jesus).
- Circumstances of Time/Place:  In 1 Samuel 2:22-24 we see an instance of someone being involved in another person’s sin.  It is a greater sin when someone involves another person.  It would be a weighty sin for me to go out & shoot up a mall full of “innocent” people, but it’s considered “greater” when I involve other people & influence them to go with me & take part in my own sin.
- Who Sins are Against: As already shown with the Matthew 12 passage, it is a greater sin to sin against the Spirit than it is the sin against the Son.  According to Matthew 18, Romans 14 & many other scriptures it is considered a worse sin to to sin against other believers (specifically weaker believers of which you would cause a stumbling block for by sinning against them).
- How Sins are Done: By how sins are done I’m basically saying this …  In what attitude are the sins committed.  Let me give a list for you to read that Biblically makes sins greater.  Are the sins done deliberately, impudently, boastfully, maliciously, willfully, with delight, frequently, or with constant relapse?
- If You Know Better:  Sins are also much greater for the ones who commit them & are supposed to know better.  This is similar to the mature believer sinning against the weak believer.  It causes a stumbling block because we are the ones that’s supposed to help disciple them.  It’s a popular part (at least for me) when Jesus goes off on a rant to the scribes & Pharisees calling them hypocrites & giving them the reasons why.  You know the biggest reason they were the hypocrites?  Because they knew better!  Jesus also mentions to Pilot right before being put on the cross that the ones that handed Him (Jesus) over to Pilot had committed the greater sin.  Well how come?  Because once again, they knew better.
 
I don’t want to just leave it there & give people reasons to start judging others according to their sins being greater or not.  Fact is, there is a difference in sins when it comes to judgment & severity. That is seen all through scripture.  One of my biggest pet peeves of being an evangelical is being surrounded by people who would rather spend hours trying to come up with a witty quip that sounds new & fresh than just simply preaching the Word of God.  Perfect is example is “it’s not a religion, it’s a relationship” when James 1:27 clearly says “true and undefiled religion is…”  It’s not that Christianity is not a religion because it is.  First of all, it is the only true and undefiled religion.  Second, it just happens to be much more than a religion (but still IS a religion).
 
So this is where divisions don’t matter when wondering about the weight of sin – Grace.  Sin does separate us all the same way but is not equal in the eyes of God according to judgment. However, when we talk about the Grace of God, fact is God sent Jesus to pay for all sins no matter the size, direction, or square root of someone’s sin (only sin exempt of this is the unforgivable sin mentioned in Matthew 12).  When considering Grace, all sin is absolutely equal.  Unfortunately we tend to focus on the wrong parts within ourselves.  We even tell ourselves “all sin is equal no matter what” & then go compare sins.  That’s the natural thing to do since there are divisions but take this quote, “We must learn to think of sin clear-headedly, to deal with it in ourselves realistically, & to negate & hate it everywhere whole-heartedly.”
 
So is all sin equal?  Yes, it causes a gulf between us & God.  No, because Biblically there are factors that describe sins with different gravity.  But a huge resounding “YES” to being equal that it is all equally covered under God’s Grace in His sending His Son to make the atonement for all of our sins.  This last “yes” just so happens to be what Romans 3:24 talks about.

What to take from the first disciples…

1.Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; 2.and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets. 3.And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat. 4.When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” 5.Simon answered and said, “Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.” 6.When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; 7.so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. 8.But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” 9.For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken; 10.and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.” 11.When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him. – NASB

I love the way this passage starts out with Simon-Peter, James & John cleaning their nets. See, the fishermen would fish all night rather in day time (explanation in a bit) but since the sun had risen & they had no luck that night, they were “washing their nets.” That means they were actually getting ready to leave & unlike the multitude of people surrounding Jesus, they weren’t actually there to hear our Lord speak! It wasn’t until Jesus needed a place to where he could be seen & a way to get & keep the attention of the people that Simon-Peter was involved which is where Jesus asked to put him out to water so He could teach from there. This is where the story gets better, because had Simon-Peter already been done washing nets & out of the area, he would not have had the opportunity to be told to cast his nets into the deep water, which in itself is a miracle.

A lot of people don’t see it this way, but that was an amazing miracle. First of all, the reason they fish at night is because it’s easier. They don’t have to go into deeper waters because at night the fish would migrate to the shallow water & be a lot easier of a catch. So during the middle of the day & being told to cast out into deep I imagine Simon-Peter probably thought this was quite a crazy idea. In fact, when I read what Simon-Peter said, I kind of interpret it saying “Ha, alright. Yeah I guess I’ll do it. Won’t hurt since I just went the whole night without catching anything so another empty catch won’t hurt my feelings.” Nevertheless, it took some sort of amount of faith to say “Ok, I’ll do it.” It would have probably made other fishermen laugh because they knew by this time, especially in the deep water, the fish were so far down catching fish there would just be a ridiculous idea. But what happened? He caught more than his net could even hold on to. He caught so much that even when he called his fellow fishermen to help in another boat, BOTH boats started sinking because of the catch. This was such an obvious miracle.

Such an obvious miracle these fishermen, who were NOT even there to particularly listen to Christ speak, recognized the deity of our Lord, Simon-Peter falling to his knees asking the Lord to leave them. They were in complete awe of what just happened. Such astonishment took over them as they caught this humongous catch of fish that nothing more mattered. They actually ended up leaving all of their belongings there at the shore & going with Jesus. So with stories like this available, how come we constantly miss the calling on our own lives day-to-day to live as a disciple & to disciple others?

Why don’t we fulfill this in our own lives? I’ve come up with three ideas from this passage that seems, to me, to be the main cause for most people. First, we might have a lack of faith. As I said, I don’t really think Simon-Peter actually put those nets in the water with full confidence that he was going to catch something. It was more of a “If you say so” kind of thing in my mind. Then again, how much faith does it really take to try something on request of our Lord even if we’ve already tried it before. In fact, if we’ve tried it over & over again, we should at least be experienced enough. Peter may have had a bit of lack of faith, but he still, in obedience, put his nets down at the request of Jesus & this paid off with what was an obvious miracle. Which takes me to reason number two on why we don’t fulfill this part of our lives – we keep missing & not paying attention to the obvious miracles around us. As if the validity, absolute truth, & power of the Bible wasn’t enough for us to continue making disciples & making us strive to be better disciples ourselves, what about all of the day-to-day miracles that go on around us? What about something like happened to me the other day when I thought about leaving for work a lot earlier than usual to get a head start. Well I got busy on something at the apartment & ended up still leaving plenty early, but not near as early as I would have. As I’m heading down I-40, there’s a bad wreck involving a car & a flipped semi. I couldn’t help but think “if I had left when I meant to, would I had been part of that wreck?” The mere fact that we wake up every day to enjoy another new day & given another opportunity to live out God’s will should be more than enough miracle for each one of us! So, maybe we don’t want to go anywhere? Maybe we don’t want to interrupt our own lives to try & do this? Or maybe we don’t mind going places, in fact we’re like the crowd we’re eagerly wanting to hear Christ’s word & be told where to go? I’m going to give you a hint real quick… Mark 16:15 tells us to go into all the world preaching the Gospel to every creature. Simple enough, right?

So what can we do to help us out in this. I think we should focus on “letting our nets down for a catch.” That could mean a lot. It could mean that we just need to relax & let loose. As I mentioned with Mark 16:15, there’s a similar passage found in Matthew 28:19-20 where Jesus says “19.‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20.teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” Notice real quick, like I have, that no where in the Bible does it say “where” to go, right? Or at least not specifically. It does say, however, “Go into all the world” in Mark & “of all the nations” in Matthew which is where we need to relax. If you are wondering where you need to preach & be a witness at, I think the Bible pretty much says anywhere, everywhere, at any point in time. There’s no specific place. I mean… if your heart longs for Africa, by all means go. If you have a deep sense to witness to the orient, go! But above everything else, realize this, the Bible says this … “Go”. No matter where we’re at, 2 Timothy 4 says to constantly be ready & to “do the work of the evangelist.” Some people think “well I don’t want to preach revivals” & that’s not at all what it’s saying. Think of it this way, what is the main message an evangelist is constantly preaching? I’ve never really heard an evangelist get into deep theology because they are almost always staying with the best news of all, the Gospel. So let those nets down in the deep water & do the work of an evangelist in word & in life. Or as 2 Timothy 4 says “preach the word in season & out” & also don’t forget that at some points in life you will be the only Bible someone gets to read. The last thing “letting our nets down” might mean is to leave everything as they Peter, James, & John left everything. Notice how none of the crowd surrounding Jesus left everything to follow Him. I think we have two kinds of Christians. Jesus followers, & the followers of Jesus. Jesus followers = the people that are along for the ride wanting to see some cool stuff happen cheering on the cool miracles. Followers of Jesus = people who have left everything not to only follow on foot, but to also follow the life style of Jesus.

No matter which part you take from on “letting your nets down,” it’s summed up by this … ultimately you must surrender. Before we can make disciples of Christ, we first have to BE a disciple of Christ; otherwise we’re just making disciples unto ourselves *warning – not a good idea*. Before we become a disciple of Christ, we first have to realize leaving everything & surrendering completely to Him is vital. I once heard a pastor say in his message that “You can not know God’s purpose for you living until you willfully submit your purpose for living to His purpose for you living.”

Call To Ministry

II Timothy 4:1-5 “1. I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His Kingdom: 2a. Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; 2b. reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. 3. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, 4. and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths. 5a. But you, be sober in all things, 5b. endure hardship, 5c. do the work of an evangelist, 5d. fulfill your ministry.”

The first thing I want to point out is the charge, otherwise known as a command, that is given.  It’s important that this charge was given in the presence of God to Timothy.  Why?  Well because if given in the presence of an eternal God, that leads me to believe that this is an eternal charge.  The charge is specific, too.  To “preach the Word” & constantly be prepared.  Part of this command moves from being a charge to being a challenge where it says to “reprove, rebuke, exhort” & to do this with patience & instruction.  Reprove & rebuke is the negative terms for reproof.  We could give those words a definition here of being “to show disapproval & correct.”  So in being commanded to preach, we are being told to do so in a manner of rebuking, while also exhorting with patience & instruction.  So it’s weird that in this scripture, Paul is telling Timothy to be harsh on the people, but forgive them as God will & counsel them to be better.  With this counsel, we should be urging people to recognize their false doctrines.  This… This takes a lot of patience.

So why are all Christians charged with this?  Because we are running out of time with a lot of non-believers.  Look at what verse 3 says about what time is coming.  This has two sides to it.  People want to listen – People will eventually stop listening.  The disposition of people will take over & they’re worldly wants will be put above their spiritual wants/needs.  This disposition is caused by the people’s desire to be pleased which is alluded to by saying “but wanting to have their ears tickled…” which lets us know that they’re not being pleased by the Word of God, they will find another way to please themselves.  This will cause them to direct themselves in other directions.  Instead of being directed by the disciples of God (us), which is supposed to be the direction of God through His Spirit, Paul is saying the non-believers will direct themselves in their own walk.  If someone isn’t walking with God, they’re walking from him & according to Paul’s letter to Timothy, they have started running from the truth because they like where they’re at.  Well why wouldn’t they like the way they’re going?  They don’t know any other way.  We must be the ones that help them in their direction.

Well how do we direct a non-believer that is following their world?  Careful preparation…  Verse 5 gives us two different things to “be sober” in all things is the first.  This means before we can go out & help anyone in their direction, we have to make sure we’re going in the right direction ourselves.  We have to be blameless & innocent of all charges so that our word will actually mean something to them.  We have to make sure our witness is something that they can look at & actually see from the surface that there is something different.  Otherwise all we’re doing is giving them yet another path that isn’t leading to God.  The second thing verse 5 gives us is to “endure hardships” which is pretty clearly said.  We’re not always going to be on top.  The Bible doesn’t promise us riches of this world.  The Bible has just as much scripture supporting Christians will lead a tough life on this world than they will lead an easy one.  We also can’t think that just because we’re trying to lead a non-believer that we will succeed everytime.  We can only do so much, & that’s what God has called us to do.

So what then is it specifically God has called us to do?  The last two parts of verse 5 to “do the work of an evangelist” & to “fulfill your ministry.”  In that, Paul isn’t making a claim that we are all to be an evangelist.  I know it seems that way, but the way it’s worded makes a world of difference.  It’s “do the work” of one, not become one…  There are many different types of “ministers” as we know them today.  Some are counselors, pastors, preachers, evangelists, missionaries, etc.  We’re just called to do the work of an evangelist.  What’s the work of an evangelist?  Merely to spread the Gospel.  I have never known an evangelist who tries to take over a church or preaches at specific locations.  Every evangelist I know of will be preaching the Gospel wherever he goes & that is the work of an evangelist.  That is what we’re supposed to do.  It doesn’t matter where we’re at or what job we hold, we are still to do the “work” of an evangelist.  I like the last part “fulfill your ministry.”  We have to realize here that ministry simply means “service” & that this is telling us we need to do this work… & in doing this work, we need to be pleased with our service to the Lord.  We have done what He’s asked.  Sometimes we can’t do anymore.  Like I said earlier.  There will be hardships.  Sometimes those hardships will be watching a person we’ve witnessed to many times still reject God.  Even though it’s a tough thing to go through, we’re still to be pleased in our service.  I can be pleased knowing that a non-believer friend of mine has a friend like me to continually show him the compassion & love of Christ, which just happens to be the biggest witness of all.

Closing this one out:  I want to make sure that no one thinks I’m saying everyone is called to pastor a church or travel the world as a missionary.  I don’t think I came off with that being the atmosphere of this quick study.  If I did, that’s not the case.  Being called to ministry or to minister is a call for all of us.  It’s not a call to pick everything up & leave because we read a verse of scripture & didn’t understand it correctly.  All it is, is a notification saying “in everything we do, no matter where we’re at, we should be ministering to people.”  Here’s an idea to go along with that.  In everything you do, no matter where you’re at, you ARE ministering to people (whether it be of good or bad witness).  That being said, what’s the basis of your ministry with conjunction of how you’re living?

God’s Compassion – Felt In The Liver

Being used twelve times, the most common verb used in the Greek New Testament referring to God’s compassion is splanchnizomai.  It’s used in Luke 10:33 with the story of the Good Samaritan & the compassion he had on the wounded man.  The other eleven uses refer to God’s compassion.  In Matthew 18:27 & Luke 15:20 we find two parables of which Jesus used this verb to refer to God’s compassion in saving & forgiving sinners.  All of the other uses of this verb refer to compassion as the major motivation for Jesus’ healing & miracles.  So nine out of the eleven times where this verb is used of God’s compassion, it is referring to the compassion of the Lord Jesus Christ as his motivation for healing

What is the meaning of splanchnizomai when referring to God’s compassion?  The minor form of this word originally alluded to the inner parts of a man (I.e. the heart, liver & so on).  It could be used of the inward parts of a sacrificial animal, but became commonly known as the lower parts of the abdomen, the intestines, & especially the womb.

Some theologians have felt this term was too graphic to use in reference to God’s compassion.  Using the word for “intestines” to refer to God’s Compassion is ideally parallel to us using the word “guts” for courage in modern English jargon; as to say, “He really has a lot of guts.”  However, I think the New Testament writers meant to do exactly this.  They were impressing on the readers the power & force of God’s compassion.  They may have also had a physical feeling associated with compassion.  Sometimes a sharp pain in the abdomen accompanies intense feelings of compassion for those we love.  The decision for such a graphic word served to emphasize to the New Testament Christians that God’s compassion for them was rooted in His deep love for them & His sensitivity to their pain.

Answering The Call…

Last night I was thinking of being called to the ministry & what it means for me as opposed to what it might mean for others.  I started thinking of scripture & the various things that I could see that we are all called to do so I started reading through certain scripture getting more ideas.  Then I started going through the parallel scripture that was marked on the page for more reference.  It quickly occurred to me that we’re all called for the same things.  Everyone of us are called to complete the same tasks as every other person that stands up & says “I’m a Christian.”  I didn’t used to think this, as it’s not the most popular idea that some people are called to minister, some are just called to witness, some might not be “called” at all… but when the Bible gives some sort of call for any Christian, it’s a call that should be considered on our own lives.  How else are we to live if we don’t live by example of Christ & His disciples?

So we come to the first call on the Christians life.  I believe every Christian that acknowledges Christ as their Savior, which should be all of them, is called to ministry.  Not saying everyone is called to be a preacher or pastor a church.  I’m going to take the majority of my message for this call from II Timothy 4:1-5 (NASB).  This is a charge from Timothy to preach the Word of God, to constantly be ready to share this Word, a warning of what will come with people no longer sticking to the doctrine of the Bible, to be sober (innocent) in all things so that we may preach & it be heard.  Not to say you have to pastor a church, but in whatever you do, you must preach  the Gospel along with it.  In Romans 10:14-15, Paul asks the Church how people will call upon the Lord if they don’t believe in Him?  How will they believe in Him if they haven’t heard the Gospel?  How will they hear without a preacher? And how will they preach unless they are sent?

So we look at the meaning of “ministry” from the origin, & that actually means to serve or “in service for” which is interesting, because then that means we are called to serve.  It seems Christianity has become a “serve us” industry as opposed to the other way around.  So how must we serve?  Well, the best answer is selflessly & the scripture to back that up is John 13 when Jesus washed the feet of Peter.  The scripture I want to use is a bit long for this post, but I will look more into it in an expository way when I elaborate on it.  There are several wonderful parts in this scripture.  Verses 6-9 is symbolic of spiritual cleansing & verses 12-17 is a model of Christian humility.  Through this action Jesus taught the lesson of selfless service that was supremely exemplified by His death on the cross.

One of the big reasons I picked the service scripture from John 13 (besides it being a favorite) is because it moves on to my next point on what we are called to do.  We are called to love.  John 13:31-35 is the specific scripture I’m looking at & in verse 34 it calls to love one another a “new commandment.”  After announcing His departure & having insisted His disciples could not come with Him, Jesus began to lay out what He expected of them after His leaving.  Love is to serve as the distinguishing characteristic of discipleship.  The “12 disciples” are not the ones being talked about here.  We are all disciples of Christ so this scripture applies to us as much as anyone & should be our defining characteristic as a Christian.

Compassion is what I’d like to list as the next call on our lives.  I Peter 3:8 says “Now finally, all of you should be like-minded and sympathetic, should love believers, and be compassionate and humble” (HCSB).  It goes on to say that we should not return evil with evil & insult with an insult, but instead give blessings to the ones who curse us.  What a scripture…  That to me sums up a majority of Christ’s witness while He was on this Earth.  Matthew 9:36 “Seeing the people, He felt compassion for them…” Matthew 20:34 “Moved with compassion, Jesus touched their eyes; and immediately they regained their sight and followed Him.”  (NASB)  How many people would “gain sight” & follow Jesus if we were to regularly show the kind of compassion Jesus showed?  The cool thing, He is still showing compassion on us without being physically present.

The next call seems to be one of the most mistaken calls of the Church; it’s the call to worship.  My experiences in leading worship in smaller & bigger elements has led me to study worship.  The Book of Psalms is filled with worshipful scriptures & was in fact written as poems & songs in worship to God.  Psalm 95:6 says “Come, let us worship and bow down…”  That’s one example of worshiping in showing reverence to God for His holiness.  Well what is worship?  Worshiping something is showing how much “worth” it has to you.  In a sense, worship could also be said as “worth-ship.”  In Acts 17:22-25 Paul exclaims to people that they are worshiping in ignorance to “AN UNKNOWN GOD” (as is the inscription on an idol).  Paul goes on to say that God, who made everything, does not dwell in human temples (talking what is man-made) & God is not served by the hands of humans “as though He needs anything.”  All of this gives way to God being eternal & holy & for that reason He is worthy of any & all worship & praise.  Sometimes I wonder how many “unknown gods” that we have in our lives that takes away from seeing God more worthy than what we do.

The last call I want to talk about is the call to be transformed.  Romans 12:2 tells us to not be conformed, but “be transformed by the renewing of your mind…” (NASB) so that we will know what the will of God is.  I find it interesting that the “mind” is specifically said here.  To me it seems that a lot of people, including me, are content with “following their heart” to the point that we fall back on that statement.  It’s Biblical that the heart should not be what we think with.  Well why is that?  That’s because the heart is emotion.  The heart thinks with the world.  However, the mind is where knowledge is contained & is where the Holy Spirit takes affect, thus transforming our mind to the will of God & the Holy Spirit being able to take better effect in our lives.  This kind of transformation can occur only as the Holy Spirit changes our thinking through consistent study & meditation of scripture.  The renewed mind is one saturated with & controlled by the Word of God.

Cherubim/Seraphim

So in the Verge last night, my church’s college/career group, we were talking about Isaiah 6 & Isaiah’s commission to becoming a prophet and take God’s word/plan to a specific people. It’s a great chapter & a wonderful part of scripture for teaching a few different aspects & the only other chapter in Isaiah I would say compares to it is Ch. 40.

Anyway, the question arose about the seraphim & the significance of them having six wings with four of them being used to cover themselves (two covers their face & two covers their feet) while only two of these six wings are being used to fly. I thought it was interesting enough that once my Bible study was done on the specific subject from that part of scripture (which was about leaving the comfort zone), that I started studying it on the side. It’s wonderful & actually goes so much more toward the story than I had originally imagined. So to start out here, I’m going to explain the angelic beings the seraphim & the cherubim. Now what I’m going to write below DOES have a point. Just read through it because it’s not all facts about these angels. It’s actually wrapped up with something I think is pretty important.

Cherubim – These are the angelic beings that we now depict as the “little baby,” but interestingly enough, in their true Biblical sense, they are anything but little, cute babies. In Ezekiel they are shown with the likeness of man, but with the qualities (or faces) of four different creatures. These creatures are a lion, ox, eagle, & man. So the cherubim have four “faces”, they’re not cute little babies, AND these are the known “guardian angels.” In Genesis 3:24 it says after driving out Adam & Eve from the Garden, cherubim were sent with a “flaming sword” as to guard the tree of life. The irony here, Satan himself was a guardian cherub before being cast out (Ezekiel 28). That’s not really much to go toward my thought right now, but I could think of several thought-provoking ideas that would make good discussion. I just like how God casts Satan out, His right hand “man” & top guardian angel of all angels, & when Satan tempts man to sin & succeeds in this temptation… God guards the Garden with very angels that used to serve right beside Satan when he was known as Lucifer. So reading through scripture & seeing the attributes of the cherubim, these beings, these angels, were made to worship & serve God through actual service. The cherubim were created by God to DO work for God. They are the workers that go out & guard & “take care” of things in full service, obedience, and worship toward God’s glory essentially being the “doers” of the angels.

Seraphim – I will probably take everything right out of the scripture I was recently on. There is much more about them but it’s summed up good with Isaiah 6:2. First off, I love the meaning from the Hebrew for the word seraphim. Seraphim, as defined in the Catholic encyclopedia, is “The name, Hebrew masculine plural form, designates a special class of Heavenly attendants of Yahweh’s courts.” This is important… “Yahweh’s courts” … It could have said “God’s courts” but with that we could just think that these angels are residing in Heaven. However, saying Yahweh’s courts puts these angels right in the midst of the throne of God (in the very “room” of God & all of His presence & glory). These angels are being described as having six wings, unlike the cherubim and their four wings. In Isaiah, he describes seeing the seraphim with two of their wings covering their feet and two of their wings covering their face. The reason two wings cover their feet is in recognition to their lowliness compared to God. They know they’re not worthy to stand in His presence, therefore covering their feet a lot like some cultures in the world might bow for a king or a leader putting that leader above them & of lifting him up. The reason two wings cover the face is because they can’t gaze on the glory & holiness of God. That’s pretty simply said. The facts about the four wings being used like that is VITAL to the point of the seraphim. They are using four of their six wings in worship to God. This is the vital part because that emphasizes not only their worship, but the importance of worshiping God.

This is the cool part to me… Cherubim are made to be the “doers” & seraphim are made to merely stand in the presence singing praises to God. All of this is to be done in worshipful reverence of God’s power, glory, & holiness & is to be done obediently. So God has made angels to do separate parts of worship, however, God made man to do ALL parts of worship. The Bible tells us in everything we do, we should do it in worship. We should do all things for the glory of God. I’m not sure Isaiah would have been so willing to go had he not seen the image of the seraphim exalting God in that way. Unfortunately, we don’t have that luxury. I say luxury, but I can’t even think of a better word for it because it’s completely indescribable. The fact remains, though. We were made to exalt God in every thing we do. Unlike the angels having specific reasons, we were made for all reasons.