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Disinterest or Just Disinterested?
I have learned over the years that often people in churches are disinterested in learning what the Bible teaches beyond a certain point. Often, that certain point has a great deal to do with a person’s comfort zone (particularly in the realm of Christian living) and often that certain point has to do with what a person finds to be overall “interesting.” Talk to people about David and Goliath, Joel, Jonah, or Lot’s daughters and people’s attention is grabbed, but challenge people on their sexual ethics or approach to worship and they turn you off. In this case, much like some people’s hearing, interest can be selective.
Interestingly, the word “disinterest” has two different uses. Commonly, we use it as a synonym for the word “uninterested.” If we don’t give a flying leap about a matter, we are not interested. We might say we are uninterested, but very often we simply say that we are disinterested in that particular topic.
Yet, in a more technical sense, while being “uninterested” in a topic means that you don’t find it interesting, being “disinterested” in a topic means that you are unbiased toward a given outcome. In other words, being a “disinterested judge” in a matter is actually a good thing and something toward which we should strive. It means that you are willing to listen to the argument at hand and if the facts of the argument demonstrate an error in your view, you will alter your view accordingly.
What might it be like, were we able to conduct theological debates in disinterested ways? Often, when I have had theological debates with a person, I have laid out all of the Biblical reasoning behind a view and the response of the person would be to say, “Yes, but I prefer to do such and such (whatever that might be).” That response is an “interested” response because a person has gone into the matter with their own preconceptions that they are not willing to change. A disinterested response would be: “Wow, you are right about what the Bible teaches; I guess that my views on the matter do need to change.”
It does not matter as to the topic that is at hand. We may be talking about Creation, the use of Psalmody in worship, the doctrine of Election, Abortion, or the nature of the human will, whether we are comfortable with a notion is irrelevant. The question that must be asked is, “Is this True and Right?” If it is true or right, it does not matter what our preferences may be nor does it matter what we might find comfortable. What matters is if we are aligning our understanding with God’s understanding as He reveals it in the Scriptures. Then, what matters is if we are aligning our practice with God’s revealed Truth. In the words of one contemporary philosopher, “nothing else matters.”
Historically, being disinterest was a mark of good philosophical thought, but it was also a hallmark of the pre-Reformation and the Reformation itself. Here were men like Waldo, Wycliffe, Huss, Zwingli, and Calvin who were disinterested in what Rome was teaching that God used their disinterest to drive them back to the Bible and the early church. Yet, somewhere in the western world we have become comfortable in our preconceptions and are often unwilling to have them challenged.
In the Reformed world, this is essentially the notion of Ecclesia Reformata, Semper Reformanda (sometimes abbreviated simply as Semper Reformanda). If the church is reformed yet always reforming (what the phrase means), then on what basis is the church always reforming? Certainly it must not always be reforming to match the culture or the preferences of those in the church. No, the church is always reforming on the basis of a disinterested approach to theology as found in the Bible and as has always been understood by the True Christian church. Yet, the only way to get to that point of disinterest is to become interested in honoring God, loving what He loves, and obeying what He commands. That will have great consequences in the church. You may even discover that some groups that claim to be churches aren’t really churches at all — at least as defined by the Bible and the “faith that was once and for all time handed down to the saints.” No, there will be upheaval in the church if people truly approached theology and practice with a disinterested demeanor. But, it would also mean reformation in the church and perhaps our God will honor that disinterested reformation with revival.
Destroying Dedun and the Egypt
“Then He led them out with silver and gold,
And no one in His tribes staggered.
Egypt rejoiced when they left
Because terror had fallen on them.”
(Psalm 105:37-38)
Here we find the account of the plundering of Egypt. The Israelites went to their former masters and asked for things of wealth. This was given to them not because the Egyptians were generous, but because the Egyptians feared the power of the God of Israel. The term translated here as “terror” is פחד (pachad), which means to tremble and shake so greatly due to the fear and dread you have. Egypt was living through a nightmare as God brought them low in bringing his people out of Egypt.
There is an interesting clause in the first verse. The psalmist states that none of the tribes “staggered” or “stumbled” as they went out. The term used in that verse is כּשׁל (kashal), which refers to stumbling under a great burden of weight. The simplest reading is that the Israelites were given wealth and they were strong enough to carry it all out of the land. Yet, I think that there is also a note of irony being used here. While in slavery, the Israelites stumbled under the yoke of Egypt. In their deliverance, they no longer stumbled or staggered under Egypt’s yoke. The phrase seems to anticipate the words of our Lord when He says,
“Take up my yoke upon you and learn from me,
For I am gentle and humble of heart
And you will find rest for your souls.
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
(Matthew 11:29-30)
In the case of Jesus’ statement, you will notice that He is not saying that yokes shall be broken and cast aside. He is saying that His yoke is a better yoke to bear than the yoke of the oppressors of our world. Why is Jesus’ yoke easy? It is because Jesus is a benevolent master. Why is His burden light? It is because He frees our souls from such oppressive masters as the world imposes upon us. It is good because the masters that this world will provide have a habit of crushing you under their boot. Jesus, as Master, gives life and life abundantly.
Too often, professing Christians behave as if they are their own masters. That is certainly not the case. Jesus says that the nature of taking on His yoke is that we learn from Him. If you are not learning from Christ, through His Word, you are not a disciple (for a disciple is a student) and you are most certainly not under Christ’s yoke. Further, a student not only learns facts given by his teacher, but they put those facts into application in life. Whenever I have taught students, I have consistently told them that success in the classroom is not about whether you can earn an “A” on an exam. Success is whether you are living out the principles you have been taught even when you lie down to die.
Another question that sometimes gets asked is whether it is proper to take wealth from pagans. Shouldn’t we only accept benevolence from those who share our faith? This was certainly not the case with the Israelites coming out of Egypt. They were happy to pillage the wealth of Egypt and then repurpose it for Holy things as they traveled to the Promised Land. Nehemiah gladly accepted pagan wealth to fund the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus’ parents arguably used the pagan wealth of the Magi to fund their flight to Egypt to protect the Christ child from Herod. Examples abound. If a pagan wishes to give money to a Christian cause, we should welcome it with thanksgiving to God so long as the pagan is not seeking to make us beholden to him.
Why did Egypt rejoice when Israel left? The plagues ended. God removed His people (and thus His influence) from their land. In doing so, God left Egypt devoid of wealth and power, and left them to their wicked idolatry, which eventually destroyed them. Remember, though the presence of God may seem a hard thing if you are trying to justify sin, when God removes His hand of restraint, that sin will consume and destroy a people. This, we are seeing in the western world as we collapse into paganism, idolatry, and the permitting of all sorts of moral evils: homosexuality, pedophilia, adultery, vulgarity, and irrationality. While many of us still pray for revival here in America, it looks like we are on a trajectory for final judgment as a nation. Today, the western world is much more like Egypt than faithful Israel. Dedun was the god of wealth in the Egyptian pantheon…and he seems to be the god that many Americans bow down to today.
Thanksgiving
As Americans, we have many reasons to spend time giving thanks. We have freedoms that we enjoy, both religious and secular. We have an abundance of wealth and resources here — I’ve spent time overseas in a number of places and even the poor in America have far more resources than the poor elsewhere. We need to be grateful for that, though not use that as an excuse to ignore the poor in our midst. Did our Lord not say that we will always have such as these around us? And don’t the Scriptures demand that we care for those who cannot care for themselves?
In most of our cases, this day is a day where we gather with friends and/or family members and celebrate the blessings we have been given around a table laden with food. I think that it is safe to say that the abundance which most Americans enjoy is unsurpassed in this world. So, as I sit here, reflecting this morning before I put our own family’s turkey in the oven, what concerns me the most is that in America, most people will spend the day oblivious to the great spiritual truths for which we ought to be grateful.
Yes, it is true, that in many homes, some sort of a recited “grace” will be offered, asking God to bless our food. Giving God thanks is proper. In many homes as well, there will be a time where people share those things for which they have been grateful — family, jobs, friends, a warm home, and good food. And again, it is right to be thankful for these things. But is there not more?
Of all the Psalms that we have, only one of them is explicitly listed as a “Psalm for Thanksgiving” or as a “Psalm for Giving Thanks” (depending on your translation). That is Psalm 100. Sure, there are many other psalms that speak of giving thanks, do not misunderstand me, but only one whose superscript contains these words.
What is more interesting than that happens to be what the Psalmist gives thanks for. He does not give thanks for friends and family and food and homes — those things for which we normally give thanks — but he ultimately gives thanks for the character and goodness of God and commands that we respond with worship — not just with a prayer around the table…but with worship.
I wonder what it would look like in America if at every Thanksgiving Table, Psalm 100 was at the heart of the prayer of thankfulness — and it was sincerely prayed. I think that the time of worship would overshadow the time of eating. But that is what I think — I’m the preacher, I’m supposed to think like this. But what would it look like if all of us as Christians thought like this? I wonder if God would bless that with revival in our land or in our communities. How interesting it is when Christians speak about desiring revival, yet never act in such a way that would engender revival in their own lives. In most cases, where we were speaking about someone else, what would we call that? Hypocrisy? Maybe? This year, may we not be hypocrites. May we genuinely desire revival and in doing so, may we reorder our lives in such a way as to make the soil of our hearts and family fertile ground for God’s seed to be planted therein.
Repentance and Revival
“And all of Midian and the Amalekites and the Sons of the East gathered together. And they passed over and encamped in the Valley of Jezreel. But the Spirit of Yahweh covered Gideon and he blew the shophar and the Fathers of the Ezrites were called out to him. And messengers were sent to all of Manasseh and they were also called out to him. And messengers were sent through Asher and through Zebulon and through Naphtali and they went up to meet him.”
(Judges 6:33-35)
Prior to the call of Gideon, prior to the tearing down of the pagan altar and image, prior to the sacrifice offered by Gideon on the altar to God, prior to the establishment of right worship, when the Midianites rushed into the land, they met no resistance and everyone fled. Now we see a different picture emerging. And it emerges not because of the boldness of Gideon, but because the Holy Spirit has rushed upon Gideon and God is about to do a wonderful thing. Yet, it is a thing that God does not do so long as the people are committed to their idols. He does not do this lest the idol be given credit for the deliverance.
How we so often wonder, why God is not moving in our land. The answer is that it all stems back to worship. In America, it seems like most anything is considered acceptable as a form of worship to God. How often do we see chaos and unrestrained foolishness masquerading as worship in the assemblies of God’s people. How often even in more sober-minded forums, we see humanism sung from the songbooks and preached from the pulpits. And how often do we see ritualism replacing a commitment of the heart to Christ. And then we wonder, why do we not see God’s hand delivering us from our enemies.
Loved ones, there is an answer to our problem. But that answer begins with repentance — repenting of the humanistic foolishness that we have embraced and getting back to right worship — worship as is described in the scriptures. Worship that is governed by the Word of God not the inventions of men. Then, when we repent of our idolatry, then we may indeed see the hand of God bringing deliverance and revival once again.
Christians on the Sidelines
“Then he released Barabbas to them and scourging Jesus, he delivered him over that he should be crucified.”
(Matthew 27:26)
“But Pilate, wanting to make the crowd satisfied, released Barabbas to them, and delivered Jesus to be scourged in order that he should be crucified.”
(Mark 15:15)
“And Pilate had come to the decision to grant their request, so he released the one whom during the revolt had been thrown into prison for murder, which was whom they requested, and delivered up Jesus to their will.”
(Luke 23:24-25)
“Then Pilate took Jesus and had him scourged.”
(John 19:1)
Many of our English translations will render the beating that Jesus received as a scourging in the Synoptic Gospels and as a flogging in the Gospel of John. This is done to reflect the fact that two different words are being used here for these events. At the same time, the words are synonyms and each one can refer to a whipping, a flogging, or a scourging depending on their context, and, as it was the Roman custom to scourge a person before crucifixion to weaken him, this is the word that it seems sensible to choose.
A scourge is a whip with multiple strands coming forth from the handle and often would have little hooks or pieces of metal and stone woven into the ends for the purpose of tearing out hunks of flesh with each beating. In ancient times, these whips with metal ends were figuratively called “scorpions” respecting the amount of pain that they brought to the recipients of the beating. Indeed, such use adds light to the quote of Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, when he said: “my father disciplined you with whips; I will discipline you with scorpions.”
Notice how Luke focuses the attention on the wish of the Jews. Pilate chooses to grant their request, he releases Barabbas, whom they requested, and he delivers Jesus up to their will. Clearly, he is making sure that it is clear that it is the Jewish authorities and the Jewish mob that is figuratively driving the train in this matter. Pilate and Herod are still guilty, but it is the Jewish authorities that are ultimately behind this wicked, wicked event. And thus Pilate seeks to placate the crowd and send Jesus to be crucified.
All through these devotions we have been speaking about peer pressure, mob mentality, and the wicked politics that happen to be taking place here at the prompting of the enemy. But let me again remind you of how often we fall prey to not doing the right thing due to the fear of men. How often we make a choice based on human standards rather than divine ones. How often we are guilty, like this crowd, of following along and not risking doing what is right and true and just. Can you imagine how different our communities would be were we to do what is right and true, not fearing the pressure of the wicked, and seek justice…always. We would transform the culture. We often pray for revival and transformation in the culture, but beloved, it will not come if we satisfy ourselves sitting on the sidelines.
Praying for the Church (John 17:20)
“Yet, I am not asking for these alone, but also for those who will believe in me through their words.”
(John 17:20)
It is funny how sometimes we take things said to others in the Bible and freely apply them to ourselves irrespective of the context. For example, God spoke these words to the prophet, Jeremiah:
“Even before I formed you in the womb, I knew you;
Even before you had come out of the womb, I had made you holy.
I committed you as a prophet to the nations.”
(Jeremiah 1:5)
Now, while it is certainly true that some of this can be applied to us as we recognize God’s ordination of all things according to his own purposes (Ephesians 1:11) and given God’s omniscience, there is nothing that God does not know, this statement was made specifically to Jeremiah, not universally to all people. In turn, it is not proper to simply claim the text as our own without qualifying these things. There are other texts that we sometimes do the same thing with and similarly go back and forth debating on whether or not something can legitimately be applied to us in our lives. Yet, Jesus graciously removes any confusion from us as to this question—he plainly says that this prayer is not only for the Apostles that he has surrounding him, but it is also for all who will come to faith through the preaching of the Gospel through them. Friends, that is speaking of you and of me—all of us who trust in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and have done so through the revelation of God’s word and the proclamation of the Gospel—he is speaking of us in this prayer! And these final verses, in particular, will reveal our Lord’s heart for his church.
And what are the themes of this final section of his prayer—what petition is on our Lord’s heart first and foremost? He prays for unity amongst believers and love as he has loved. Ouch. How far we have strayed as a church from those two petitions of our Lord. How greatly we allow sin to cause division and we allow our lack of love to cause us to be self-centered and prideful both individually and corporately.
Loved ones, we are making a mess of this in many ways and we need to repent of our sins in this area especially. Yet, simply saying, “I’m sorry” is not enough if we are going to be faithful, we also need to change our ways and work to restore that which has been broken. Now, that being said, am I suggesting that we throw away the truth of the Gospel and just embrace everyone regardless of what they believe and of what they have compromised? No, that is not quite it, for Jesus is speaking of those who will believe in him because of the word of the Apostles—the Scriptures. We cannot throw away the authority and Truth of the Bible and retain any semblance of Christianity. That being said, I believe that the key is to concentrate on living out the sacrificial love that Christ modeled. I think that if we begin to get the love part right, the unity part will follow in a way that honors the Father. Yet, that is still a tall order. For before we can actually love those around us, we have to start loving God more than we love ourselves. When this happens, you are ready to love sacrificially and serve with your whole being—holding nothing back as Jesus held nothing back. A small group of believers, ones willing to do just this, turned the world on its head—what would happen if the church got with the same program? I believe that God would bring genuine revival once again.
We praise Thee, O God!
For the Son of Thy love,
For Jesus Who died,
And is now gone above.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Hallelujah! Amen.
Hallelujah! Thine the glory.
Revive us again.
-William Mackay
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