Isaiah Roman

Lockstep

Yesterday morning, as I was getting ready for church I heard an interesting article on NPR. I don’t normally listen to NPR, but it’s one of my wife’s favorite stations. So, she was listening to the small, under-the-cabinet radio as she was cleaning the kitchen, doing dishes and getting ready to make lunch. What I heard caught my attention. It was a radio article about a man, who for the purposes of the show, was named Tom.

Tom was an elderly man, in his early eighties. He was a veteran of WWII. Tom never got married and lived alone in a two story house in the urban part of a major city. As his neighborhood began to decline, as urban areas have over the years, Tom’s house began to be broken into. It became such a problem that Tom began to look for ways to stop the robbers from breaking into his home. Tom paid the hookers who walked the streets near his house to watch the house and tell him who was coming and going, to keep an eye on his property.

One cold, January day the hookers begged Tom to let them in and give them a warm place to stay. Tom let them in. After all, Tom had retired that year and was living in a large two story house all by himself. At first the deal had it’s benefits. The girls took care of Tom, helped Tom around the house. Some of the girl’s “clients” helped repair the house, fix up some of the things Tom needed done.

Soon, however, some people began moving in that really didn’t belong. First it was a boyfriend, then the girl’s drug dealer, then some of the other girls who really were badly hooked on drugs. As things progressed, Tom found himself isolated in his own house. He was trapped. Tom occupied a small room on the first floor with what was left of his possessions. The upstairs to his house had become a “shooting gallery” for heroin and crack. The plumbing and electrical failed. The roof had holes in it. People flowed in and out of the house and Tom simply hid from it all in his back room.

In 2006 the police, under mandate of the Mayor’s office, came to Tom’s house and arrested him. They removed him from his house and took him to a hospice for care. He was malnourished, and sickly, although – strangely enough – in good mental health. The police then set about the business of removing the filth from Tom’s house. I didn’t hear the last of the article, but I can imagine that the house was condemned, and later leveled to the ground. Perhaps some great philanthropist, or even a city funded effort rebuilt the house for Tom. But what fate the house and Tom suffered after he was removed, I suppose I’ll never really know.

One might ask themselves, why in the world would Tom allow such a thing to happen? How could such a man possibly allow his house, his possessions, his dignity to be so abased? The answer is very, very simple. Tom wanted to handle the problem his own way. Tom had decided that he was smarter than anyone in “the system.” Tom’s sin was the way of Cain, the way of Balaam.

“And in the end of days, it happened that Cain brought an offering to Jehovah from the fruit of the ground. And Abel brought, he also, from the firstlings of his flocks, even from their fat. And Jehovah looked to Abel and to his offering. And He did not look to Cain and to his offering. And Cain glowed greatly with anger, and his face fell.

And Jehovah said to Cain, Why have you angrily glowed, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, is there not exaltation? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is toward you; but you should rule over it.” (Genesis 4:3-7)

So, what was Cain’s sin? To understand what the “way of Cain” is, we must first look at the nature of what it was that Cain and Abel were doing that day.

“And Jehovah God commanded the man, saying, You may freely eat of every tree in the garden;” (Genesis 2:16)

In the garden of Eden God gave Adam and Eve every fruit of every tree in the garden. No mention is made of animals in relationship to food. When God made the clothes for Adam and Eve out of the animal skins, it doesn’t say that God gave them the animals to eat. For that matter, it doesn’t say what God did with the animal flesh at all. However, in the next chapter we see Abel sacrificing the fat of the lamb. Where did Abel learn about animal sacrifice? One might suggest that God taught Adam and Eve about animal sacrifice as a means of payment for their sin. One might even suggest that the very first animal sacrifice was that of the animals God used to make Adam and Eve their first clothes.
Further reinforcement of this appears in Chapter 9 of Genesis, when God makes his covenant with Noah after the flood has subsided, and Noah leaves the ark:
“And your fear and your dread shall be on all the animals of the earth, and on every bird of the heavens, on all that moves on the earth, and on all the fish of the sea. They are given into your hands. Every creeping thing which is alive shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green plant. But you shall not eat flesh in its life, its blood. And surely the blood of your lives I will demand. At the hand of every animal I will demand it, and at the hand of man. I will demand the life of man at the hand of every man’s brother.” (Genesis 9:2-5)

Why would God need to “give” the animals to Noah and his sons, if they had already been meat eaters before? The answer is simple; Adam, Eve, Cain and Abel were vegetarians. Animals were not given to man to eat until after the flood, when Noah had exited the ark. So this then, is why would Abel bring “…the firstlings of his flocks, even their fat…” to sacrifice.

“When a ruler sins and has acted against one of all the commands of Jehovah his God, which not is to be done, through ignorance, and is guilty; or his sin which he has sinned shall be made known to him, then he shall bring his offering, a buck of the goats, a male, a perfect one; and he shall lay his hand on the head of the goat and shall slaughter it in the place where he slaughters the burnt offering, before the face of Jehovah; it is a sin offering.” (Leviticus 4:22-24)

“Whoever sheds man’s blood, his blood shall be shed by man. For He made man in the image of God.” (Genesis 9:6)

“For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is everlasting life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 6:23)

Abel brought the appropriate sacrifice, according to God’s ordained design. The “wages of sin is death” so “he shall bring his offering” so that his sin shall be forgiven. All sin has one price, because all sin causes one result; death. God commands that a life be given for a life. From the very beginning of the existence of sin, through the revelation of the knowledge of good and evil, mankind’s need for sacrifice was established by God. Why? Because the wages of sin is death, and all sin must be paid for to satisfy justice.

Then what was Cain’s sin? Cain brought a grain offering, a freewill offering instead of a sin offering. But, was that his sin? Was the fact that he brought the wrong offering what God was angry at? Let’s examine what the word sin actually means:

“You have heard that it was said to the ancients: “Do not commit murder!” And, Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the Judgment. Ex. 20:13; Deut. 5:17 But I say to you, Everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause shall be liable to the Judgment…”(Matthew 5:21,22a)

A sin is not the act. The act is a crime, the thought process before the act is the sin. It is the motivation and mind-set behind our actions that constitutes sin. What must be understood is that Cain’s sin was much more profound than simply bringing the wrong sacrifice to God.

“There is a way that seems right to a man, but the end of it is the ways of death.”(Proverbs 14:12)

Cain offered the sacrifice he wanted to offer, not the sacrifice that God wanted him to offer. Cain did as he saw fit before the Lord. It was Cain’s attitude towards worship, his attitude towards God that was in question, not the fruit and grain that he brought to offer. Here lies the true measure of our problem. Here is where we find the heart of the issue. Christians today need to be taught that God has one way, one truth. We need to remember that our perceptions of who God is do nothing to describe who God is. God has described himself to us. All we can do, all we must do, is ask him to show us what that description is.

Be assured, God will answer, and will show us who He is. Some might say that He has and this is true, but in what way has He shown himself? Disagreement on this subject abounds. The result of this in the modern world is the plethora of denominations which proclaim to follow the person of Christ, yet call themselves by a different name. One must ask the question. As Christians, if we do not agree with each other, then why are we not in agreement?

“For all things were created in Him, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, the visible and the invisible; whether thrones, or lordships, or rulers, or authorities, all things have been created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and all things consist in Him. And He is the Head of the body, the church, who is the Beginning, the First-born from the dead, that He be preeminent in all things;” (Colossians 1:16-18)
“And let all things be done decently and in order.”(I Corinthians 14:40)

Do we not receive our instructions from one mind? If Christ is the head of the body, the head of the church, then is this not the source of our understanding? If the author of the Bible is living, just as His word describes then has He not provided a way for us to understand His word, His will, His intent?

“And likewise the Spirit also joins in to help our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself pleads our case for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. But the One searching the hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because He intercedes for the saints according to God.” (Romans 8:26,27)

“And may the God of patience and encouragement give to you to mind the same thing among one another according to Christ Jesus, that with one accord and with one mouth you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Romans 15:5,6)

God is ONE God, He is singular. He is a person outside of ourselves. He is not from us, we are from him. And here lies our answer. Cain chose to worship God in the way he saw fit, but God had already chosen the means of how He should be worshiped. So too for us, God choose the way of how we should express our love to him. The Word said “no man comes to the Father” but through the Son; why? Because the Son is the singular description of the way, his words and deeds are the expression of the truth in doctrine and his promise is the same promise that he gave Adam from the very beginning. The Son came to show light on the scriptures, to show the truth of God’s will from the beginning. He came to show that His will had no change from the dawn of time, through the death of time. This is the same promise given to Enoch, Noah, Abram, Jacob, Issac, Moses and every other patriarch of the Church: believe in Me, love Me, worship Me and have life everlasting.

We do not need to agree with one another. We do not need to “lock-step” with each other. We must – absolutely must – lock-step with God. For those who say we can have differences of interpretation of God’s word and still maintain our place within God’s will propose a strange contradiction to the very word they proclaim to interpret.

“Then if there is any comfort in Christ, if any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any tendernesses and compassions, fulfill my joy, that you think the same, having the same love, one in soul, minding the one thing, doing nothing according to party spirit or self-glory, but in humility, esteeming one another to surpass themselves; each not looking at their own things, but each also at the things of others. For let this mind be in you which also was in Christ Jesus,” (Phillipians 2:1-5)

If there is one God, then that one God has one message, one purpose, and one understanding of that message. God has not changed His mind over the years. Perhaps Cain had the excuse of not knowing the never-changing nature of God. Perhaps Cain was spared his sin because he did not fully understand the price for his transgressions. We do not have the same luxury. God has not changed the price for sin, nor the means of payment for that sin. The price was, and is the blood, because blood is life. The price was the blood of an animal, the price of a life and the giving of yourself. The Christ is the sacrifice that pays our price, but we must still give of ourselves. God has not changed the means of salvation. We were, and are saved by grace. The way is and was by faith.
“For by grace you are saved, through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, that not anyone should boast;” (Ephesians 2:8,9)

No measure of sacrifice provides salvation. Salvation is a gift, given of God. All those who were and are saved were, and are saved by grace.

“What then shall we say our father Abraham to have found according to flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he has a boast, but not with God. For what does the Scripture say? “And Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.” Gen. 15:6” (Romans 4:1-3)

Sacrifice is not the means of salvation, but rather the price for sin. Sin is a willful act of thought that denies the relationship of Love with God. We thoughtfully deny God’s love when we fail to recognize the things God has told us concerning how He desires to be loved. God has established a system by which the universe is ordered. The universe operates best within the rules of that system. Break the rules, and risk chaos. God has established a system by which our lives are ordered. Our lives operate best within the rules of that system. Break the rules and risk chaos. But this is not the measure of sin. Sin is when we decide to establish our own rules, make our own system, or simply to deny the rules established by God, and worse for those of us who know and understand that God made these rules with our best interest and benefit in mind.

There is no difference between the “old covenant” and the “new covenant” except the measure of the price which has been paid for our sins. God made a covenant with us so that there would be no more room for excuses. We are the last age of mankind because there is no easier way to know God than the way we have now. There is no easier way to pay atonement for sin than we have now. There is no more room for excuses. We have one sacrifice for all sin. We have the perfect sacrifice of the Living God. We have the perpetuation of the doctrine and knowledge of God because the Spirit of Christ is in us. And, if the Spirit is in us, then “the body indeed is dead because the Spirit is life because of righteousness.” We are given eternal life because “the One having raised the Christ from the dead will also make your mortal bodies live through the indwelling of His Spirit.” It is the “Spirit Himself” that “witnesses with our spirit that we are children of God.” This is the means of continuance in doctrine, the Christ was the signpost that points the way.
Salvation was of the Jews. Why? Because the Jews were the ones who remembered who God is. The Jews maintained the knowledge of the One, True God. God made a covenant with Enoch because Enoch remembered. God made a covenant with Noah because Noah remembered. God made a covenant with Abram so that the world would know and remember through the teachings, writings and lives of the Hebrews. How were the Jews saved? By God’s grace, through their faith in His purpose for them. What was the sacrifice? The payment for sin, because the price for sin is death. Either one pays for that sin with their own life, or one substitutes for their own death with the death of an animal. We are now the adopted, the chosen, the “wild branch” which has been “grafted in.” Why? Because the natural branch withered and produced no fruit. The natural branch worshiped the practice and not the One who’s practice it was. And yet, there was the practice. The practice was required for payment of sin. One does not do away with the practice in an effort to remove themselves from the temptation to worship the practice instead of the Maker. To do so is to commit the sin of Cain. Instead, we must look to our attitudes concerning the practice, not the practice itself. However, some practices are not of God, and were never intended to be of God.

Those practices are the very practices we have established, as Cain established his. How then are we to know which practices come from God, and which do not? By the very Word that we have been given by the very God that gave us those practices from the very beginning of time:

In the same manner (as verses 9-11, 14-17, and 23-25) also the spirit helps-together with our weakness (the spirit within us gives what it receives so as to use regarding our lack of strength, it renders the appropriate assistance in a specific circumstance, it takes hold of the matter of the infirmity that we have so as to provide us with support in each situation)… for we did not know and continue not to know (perceive, see to the end of perceiving and knowing with our minds) the thing that we should pray in accordance with that-which is necessary (in conformity and proportion to/with what is binding, as it ought to be prayed in each situation or circumstance; we don’t know what we should say in order to express and communicate as necessary to God our Father), but contrary to us, the spirit itself (the same spirit that is within us) intercedes on behalf of us (meets and talks with God in our interests) with unutterable groanings (groanings that cannot be spoken by us with the voice/sound of words; the holy spirit-life within us makes sighs in distress which cannot be expressed to us nor can they be expressed by us when we utter sounds with our voice using our physical fleshy organs of speech to speak words in any language), and the One Who is searching the hearts (God is presently and actively tracing or tracking the center or core of our beings) knew and continues to know (perceives, sees to the end of perceiving and knowing with His mind) what the thinking of the spirit is (the end-product of the spirit’s action of thinking, the thoughts produced in/by the mind of the spirit within us; refer to verse 6) because it intercedes in accordance with God (it meets and talks with God in conformity and proportion to/with God’s will and purposes – it does not intercede according to man’s way of thinking, but according to God’s way of thinking) on behalf of holy-people (in the interests of sanctified-people, saints – all of us Christians), and we knew and continue to know (perceive, see to the end of perceiving and knowing with our minds) that… with the people who are loving1 God,

God works-together ([some Greek texts omit the noun “God” in this phrase, however, it should be understood that God is the subject of the verb “works together”] God presently and actively is doing work, producing effects in conjunction with those who love Him with His kind of love; we are co-workers; God is jointly expending energy together with the people loving Him, regarding) everything (all – the object being worked is every single thing that God and those who love Him are working together – this is not referring to anything else that we are not working together) into good (for the purpose of, with a view to, directed to and resulting in that-which is good, a good-thing, that-which issues from God; God is the One Who issues His goodness and He sets the standard for what is good and to be conformed to by those who love Him), emphatically and specifically with the people who are being called (invited people, those given the invitation, the invitees; refer to Romans 1:1, 6 and 7 – God works everything together with those who love Him, called-people, and whatever we work together results in that-which is good)
according to purpose (in accordance, conformity, and proportion to/with God’s proposal, what God purposed beforehand, that-which He put or set before Himself to do in advance of it actually occurring, His plan) – …because the people whom God knew beforehand (all the people collectively, together, not individually, whom He had a truly active and relative knowing of in advance, whom He was personally knowledgeable of prior to time of our existence)…

He also definitely marked out beforehand (in addition God set the boundary regarding us beforehand, He separated off the limited-area, the border, the horizon, the limits relative to us beforehand,  in-advance or ahead-of it actually occurring) to be people formed together with (people who are jointly-formed, co-formed, our whole make-up being fashioned, shaped, caused to share the form in conjunction with) the image of His son (the icon, resemblance, representation of God’s son who is the Lord Jesus Christ; refer to verse 3) the purposed objective being for him to be firstborn among many brothers (the first one born or given-birth-to among a lot of other brothers; the word “firstborn” indicates that there is at least one more born after this first one and it emphasizes birth, being brought-forth; he is God’s firstborn among a lot of others born at a later time than he was born), …and whom God marked-out-definitely-beforehand…- these people He also called (God invited), …and whom He called…-these people He also made-righteous (God justified, set-forth by a judicial act declaring us righteous),…and whom He made-righteous…- these people He also glorified (God gave importance, splendor and renown to us). (http://www.christianbiblelinks.com/WebRomans8.html)

God established the means to honor the Law, provide Justice in the Order of our Love relationship with HIM. How then, are we to understand this? How do we understand what doctrines are of God, are pure and from the Holy Spirit? We must empty ourselves, so that we may be filled with the Spirit so that we may be conformed to the image of Christ, the First-born among we, the re-born of God.

“… who subsisting in the form of God thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, having become in the likeness of men and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, having become obedient until death, even the death of a cross… So, then, my beloved, even as you always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much rather in my absence, cultivate your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is working in you both to will and to work for the sake of His good pleasure.” (Phillipians 2:1-13)

“Now I exhort you, brothers, through the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you all say the same thing, and there be no divisions among you, but you be united in the same mind and in the same judgment. For concerning you, my brothers, it was shown to me by those of Chloe that there are strifes among you. But I say this, that each of you says, I am of Paul (Calvin), and I of Apollos(Luther), and I of Cephas(Peter), and I of Christ. Has Christ been divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized into the name of Paul?
I give thanks to God that I did not baptize one of you, except Crispus and Gaius, that not anyone should say that you were baptized in my name.” (I Corinthians 1:10-15)
“For you are yet fleshly. For where among you is jealousy, and strife, and divisions, are you not fleshly and walk according to man? For when one may say, Truly I am of Paul, and another, I of Apollos; are you not fleshly?

What then is Paul? And what Apollos, but ministers through whom you believed, and to each as the Lord gave? I planted, Apollos watered, but God made to grow. So as neither he planting is anything, nor he watering, but God making to grow. So he planting and he watering are one, and each one will receive his own reward according to his own labor. For we are fellow workers of God, a field of God, and you are a building of God. According to God’s grace given to me, as a wise master builder, I laid a foundation, but another builds on it . But let each one be careful how he builds.

For no one is able to lay any other foundation beside the One having been laid, who is Jesus Christ.” (I Corinthians 3:3-11)

Remember Tom? Tom’s first step was to do things his own way. Tom didn’t move away from the neighborhood. Tom didn’t install a security system, or ask the police for help. Tom didn’t continue to fight for his right to liberty. Tom didn’t ask the girls to straighten up before entering his home. Tom didn’t kick the girls out when they began to bring more evil into his home. Evil is a step by step process. First we start out doing what we believe is right. Then our decisions begin to compound on us and soon, we find ourselves trapped in a small room, on the first floor of our own house, trying desperately to hold on to the few things we have left.

Sooner or later the Mayor is going to come and pull the Tom’s of the world out. What happens to Tom, and the house afterwards, I suppose, depends upon the decisions that Tom made while he was in the house. Tom had no family, except the hookers who abandoned him for drugs. Tom had no friends or supporters, except those “Johns” who were really only interested in what the hookers had to offer. Tom had no authority to appeal to, because he had made himself a criminal by harboring and fostering crime in his very own home. If the Mayor did decide to rebuild Tom’s house, it certainly was an act of grace.

Unfortunately I don’t think that was the case. Tom allowed things to continue to the end. The Mayor had given up on this house, and it’s inhabitants. The house had become a land mark, a bastion of evil from which more evil was spawning throughout the neighborhood, and even throughout the city. Tom was famous. His house was infamous. I’m fairly certain that the Mayor took Tom, leveled the house, and sold the land to someone more deserving.

And to think, this could all have been avoided had Tom simply chosen to put himself in a place where he didn’t need to make this kind of decision. It all could have been avoided if Tom had decided not to do things the way he thought fit, but had rather done things the way they should have been done. How can we avoid the same pitfalls? How can we keep ourselves from falling into this same trap?

First we should never look to ourselves for our own wisdom. Second we have an authority to appeal to that listens and cares. Third, if we find ourselves having already begun walking this road, we need to stop, turn around and go back the way we came. We might have to fix some plumbing, or put on a new coat of paint, but at least we won’t have to worry about the whole house coming down. Above all else, we had better begin to empty ourselves of everything, so that we can be filled with one mind, one purpose, and one thought;

“…that at the name of Jesus “every knee should bow,” of heavenly ones, and earthly ones, and ones under the earth, and “every tongue should confess” that Jesus Christ is “Lord,” to the glory of God the Father. Isa. 45:23”