Leviticus is tough going. Our one-chapter-a-day reading program from the Pentateuch has produced many days when we’ve had to supplement our reading with a Psalm or a story from the gospels. (I’m going through Mark since the other three gospels are already included in our reading plan.) But there are lessons. Here’s one from Leviticus 17 that spurred me into some New Testament cross-referencing.

Leviticus 17 is a tough chapter on blood sacrifice and not eating blood. It starts as if every animal slaughtered must be brought to the Tabernacle. But later, it sounds as if the prohibition is against a “sacrifice” to anyone but God.

They must no longer offer their sacrifices to goat-demons – a kind of religious orgy. (Leviticus 17.7, MSG)

Paul picks up on this theme when talking about eating food offered to idols:

Consider the people of Israel: are not those who eat the sacrifices participants in the altar? What do I imply then? That food offered to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, I imply that what pagans sacrifice they offer to demons and not to God. I do not want you to be participants with demons. (1 Corinthians 10.18 – 20, ESV)

Paul is clearly referring to the same idea that’s in Leviticus 17 but seems to be quoting Deuteronomy:

They sacrificed to demons that were no gods, to gods they had never known, to new gods that had come recently, whom your fathers had never dreaded. (Deuteronomy 32.17, ESV)

All this led me to the very strong finish to the Apostle John’s first letter (not the Gospel of John but 1 John). Here it is, bulleted and simplified for clarity:

We know that…

• Everyone who has been born of God does not keep on sinning, but he who was born of God protects him, and the evil one does not touch him.
• We know that we are from God, and
• The whole world lies in the power of the evil one.
• The Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that…
  • we may know him who is true; and
  • we are in him who is true, in his Son Jesus Christ.
  • He is the true God and eternal life.

Little children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5.18 – 21, ESV)

“Little children, keep yourselves from idols.”

Easier said than done, especially when “The whole world lies in the power of the evil one.” Stay tuned.

I wrote yesterday about the Hoka running shoe: ugly but now widely popular and highly successful. $1.4 billion in sales last year. I compared their reception to some people’s response to Jesus: “Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?”

There’s one more thing striking from the Wall Street Journal article about Hokas: also, like Jesus, Hokas started small and intentionally grew slowly.

“It’s easy when you’re hot like this to let anybody buy what they want to buy, but that’s the fastest way to ruin a brand,” said Matt Powell, a longtime analyst of the sneaker industry. “The short-term gains are the easiest ones to get. It’s the long-term gains that make you a successful brand.” (emphasis mine)

To grow fast, think slow. That’s the business lesson in every box of Hokas. The way to stay hot is to stoke the fire, not to douse it with gasoline. – Ben Cohen, Wall Street Journal, June 22, 2023

“To grow fast, think slow.” That will preach.

And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve (whom he also named apostles) so that they might be with him and he might send them out to preach… (Mark 3.13, 14, ESV)

Jesus chose 12 to be “with him” and then “sent out.”

The 120 people in the Upper Room (see Acts 1.12 – 15) became half the Roman Empire by the year 300. How? By growing slowly. Please see my blog post What Changes the World? The main point of that post is this:

The world has been changed, not by spreading ideas through the masses but by committed Jesus followers, living out the Gospel in the power of the Holy Spirit. – The Ewellogy, May 3, 2022

You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5.13 – 16, ESV)

A few years ago, before my knee replacement surgeries (2018 and 2020), one of June’s nursing school classmates told us about Hokas – the highly cushioned running shoe. They were recommended to her by her orthopaedist. Good enough for me, so I went down and bought my first pair. I’ve been in them ever since.

My current pair of Hokas.

Since I’ve enjoyed mine so much and often get compliments on their appearance, I was shocked by this headline in the Wall Street Journal:

Hokas: The Ugly Shoes Now Worth Billions of Dollars

The article opens this way:

They were big, weird, contrarian and French, and there wasn’t much reason to expect they would become huge in the U.S. In fact, when Hoka’s founders sold the company to Deckers Brands in 2012, their sales were around $3 million that year. Hoka’s sales over the past fiscal year: $1.4 billion. 

These peculiar shoes have become the oversized sneakers of choice for people who are hardcore runners and people who have a hard time walking—athletes, nurses, restaurant waiters, postal workers, TV writers, cool teens and their grandpas. Some wear them because they want to. Others wear them because they have to. Either way, a great many of them develop a fascination and then an obsession with their Hokas, which have conquered the hearts, wallets and feet of American consumers. – Ben Cohen, Wall Street Journal, June 22, 2023

The article goes on to describe their appearance:

Bigger was better. Like so many radical innovations, the idea might sound like common sense today, but it seemed heretical when runners were smitten with minimalist shoes. Hokas were proudly maximalist. They were also pretty ugly. (They have been described by news articles and the brand’s executives as “marshmallow shoes” and “clown shoes,” bloated, engorged, wacky, bulbous, extreme, “kind of hideous,” “why?” and “just…no.”) 

“Kind of hideous.” Really? And they’re from France!? Reminds me of Nathaniel’s reaction to Philip’s invitation to meet Jesus:

Nathanael said to him, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” Philip said to him, “Come and see.” (John 1.46, ESV)

Sometimes, something (or someone) rejected by the “in-crowd” becomes demonstrably superior and much sought after. And when it does…

As they got more popular, Hokas even got less ugly. 

Who believes what we’ve heard and seen? Who would have thought GOD’s saving power would look like this? The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling, a scrubby plant in a parched field. There was nothing attractive about him, nothing to cause us to take a second look. (Isaiah 53.1, 2, MSG)

The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. (Psalm 118.22, ESV, compare 1 Peter 2.7, 8)

There’s another lesson to be learned from Hokas. Stay tuned.

 

I know, I know, I posted a sport-related blog just over a week ago, but some things have to be recorded: on June 28, Domingo German, a mediocre (we thought!) pitcher for the New York Yankees, pitched a perfect game. 27 batters up, 27 batters down. No hits, no runs, no walks, no errors. Only the 24th perfect game in the 154-year history of Major League Baseball, and the first since August 15, 2012. The team celebrated like they’d just won the World Series, and the fans in attendance seemed pretty excited, too, even though they were playing an away game in Oakland!

The top portion of the box score shows the 9 Oakland players each getting exactly 3 at-bats, no hits (H), no walks (BB for base on balls), 9 strikeouts (K). The bottom portion shows the pitcher, German’s, line: 9 innings pitched, 0 hits, 0 runs, 0 earned runs, 0 walks. 9 Strikeouts. Pitch count: 99.

It’s the same story…it doesn’t matter what happened the last time you went out there:

The first pitcher born in the Dominican Republic to pitch a perfect game, German also became the first player in MLB history to reach that feat after allowing 10-plus runs in his previous start… – ESPN Report, June 29, 2023

And the next time he goes out there, it won’t matter that he just pitched a perfect game… Yep. His next start was July 3, and he was pulled in the fifth inning after allowing 3 runs in the first four innings and leaving men on first and third in the fifth. He had thrown 86 pitches, nearly as many as he did in the entire nine innings of his perfect game.

I do have one compelling focus: I forget all of the past as I fasten my heart to the future instead. (Philippians 3.13, TPT)

“I forgot all of the past…” means forgetting failures and successes. And our challenges are more important than a mere baseball game:

And that about wraps it up. God is strong, and he wants you strong. So take everything the Master has set out for you, well-made weapons of the best materials. And put them to use so you will be able to stand up to everything the Devil throws your way. This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. (Ephesians 6.10 – 12, MSG, emphasis mine)

My son Matt with his son, Emerson, took us to the July 1 Rockies baseball game which included a fireworks show after. We didn’t win the game, but I’m pretty sure we won the fireworks!

4th of July: it’s a day to celebrate what my friend Mike Metzger calls a long-forgotten world. He writes in part:

…the Founding Fathers included religion in ordering our new freedom. They sought to establish a republic formed by a golden triangle: Religion is necessary for Virtue which is necessary for Liberty which is necessary for Religion. It’s a never-ending cycle from which we form “a more perfect Union,” as the Preamble of the US Constitution puts it.

And if we don’t form it? Legend says a woman asked Benjamin Franklin a question as he exited Independence Hall after the Constitutional Convention. “Doctor, what have we got? A republic or a monarchy?” Franklin supposedly replied, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Franklin’s qualifier—if you can keep it—suggests July 4^th is part of a long-forgotten world. – Mike Metzger, July 3, 2023

I recommend Mike’s 2-page article in its entirety.

Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God. (Psalm 20.7, ESV)

O LORD, in your strength the king rejoices, and in your salvation how greatly he exults! … For the king trusts in the LORD, and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved. (Psalm 21.1, 7, ESV)

Yesterday I applied Seth Godin’s encouragement to “start now” to ministry. Today, let’s look at a common problem: we’re always comparing ourselves unfavorably to perceived “super-stars” and wondering why God would use us when he has people like them. Even a casual reading of the Bible should convince us of the fallacy of that point of view. Abraham, for example.

I’m thinking about this because someone has just written a long biography on Elisabeth Elliot.

Elisabeth Elliot: a Life by Lucy S. R. Austen

At 624 pages, I won’t read it, but there’s a nice review in Christianity Today by Thomas Kidd.

I was 9 years old when Jim Elliott and four other missionaries were killed in Ecuador in 1956. I read Jim’s widow, Elisabeth’s, books The Dayuma Story and Through Gates of Splendor. Elisabeth’s Dayuma book is apparently out of print, but here’s a recent retelling: Dayuma: Life under Waorani Spears by Ethel Emily Wallis. If you’re unfamiliar with any of this history, I strongly recommend the movie The End of the Spear and/or the documentary Beyond the Gates of Splendor. Both are very well done.

Elisabeth went back to that tribe after her husband was killed and brought them the gospel. It’s all heady stuff: extraordinary dedication, heroism, and self-sacrifice. As I say, I grew up with it. And yet, this new biography presents a balanced view of Elisabeth Elliott. The review’s title?

Elisabeth Elliot Was a Flawed Figure God Used in Extraordinary Ways

Flawed? You bet. Just like the rest of us. For example, Elisabeth left that tribe in part because she and fellow missionary and widow Rachel Saint just couldn’t get along. The main point of today’s blog is captured in Kidd’s review:

At times, the Elliots seem like museum pieces from postwar evangelical culture. Yet God used these callow youths to do extraordinary things in Ecuador. Their exceptional courage and zeal turned them into perhaps the most inspiring missionary exemplars of the 20th century.

Our discomfort with warts-and-all Christian biographies, I suspect, has to do with our over-exalted view of the people God uses in ministry. In Austen’s rendering, the Elliots were just everyday Christian folks, marred by fickleness, cultural arrogance, and outright sin. But she suggests that if God is behind all good that comes out of missions and ministry, then we should not be shocked to discover obvious shortcomings in our heroes of the faith. Maybe they are more like you and me than we imagine. If God can use them, perhaps he can use us too. – Thomas Kidd, emphasis mine

He closes this way:

In the end, Austen portrays Elliot as a complex and flawed person, but one used powerfully by God, especially in the cause of missions. “For Elisabeth Elliot,” Austen concludes, “the foundation of life was trust in the love of God.” This was no pious truism. It was a gritty conviction born out of repeated Job-like experiences of suffering. We may hope that her story will continue inspiring radical discipleship and missionary service, all while fostering confidence that, in Austen’s words, “all things in heaven and earth will finally be made whole.”

The Apostle Paul was flawed too, and he wrote:

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but also to all who have loved His appearing. (2 Timothy 4.7, 8, NKJV)

Speaking of relational ministry, Seth Godin posted a marvelous blog Thursday: The Seduction of Grad School. I recommend it in its entirety. What does Seth’s article on Grad School have to do with relational ministry, you ask? Stay with me…

He starts here:

If you’re good at school, the challenge and offer of law school, med school or a famous business school means you get to do more of what you’re good at. You’re offered a high-status badge, a path to a well-paid job and several years of more school instead of the scary freedom of choice of what happens next. And so, literate and passionate young people talk about their dreams of helping people, running for office, fighting injustice or exploring their passions as entrepreneurs. And grad school is supposed to be the path.

The problem is that these graduate schools aren’t optimized for any of those things. – Seth Godin, June 29, 2023, emphasis mine

Sometimes, ardent followers of Jesus want to help people and make a real difference, and they’re counseled that seminary and becoming a pastor is the way to go. “The seduction of grad school.” But seminary is not “optimized for any of these things.” Dallas Seminary professor Dr. Howard Hendricks used to say, “We teach people answers to questions that no one is asking.”

Seth writes:

If you want to sit with someone and help them, a career as an occupational or physical therapist is certainly more hands-on and direct [than being a doctor]. If you want to make a difference by writing or arguing, three years of law school and a bar exam aren’t the most leveraged ways to do that. And entrepreneurs need to know a lot, but not what they teach in a typical MBA program.

He concludes:

…perhaps it makes sense to start on the work right this minute. Not with a full certification or permit, but simply creating the sort of change you seek to make, in small steps, right now.

I talked with a young man once who thought it would be nice to be on staff with The Navigators. I asked him, “What ministry are you doing now?” He replied, “I’m not doing any ministry now.” I responded, “If you’re not doing any ministry now, why would you be doing ministry after someone stuck a label on you?”

I had the same conversation with a lady last summer. In her 50s, she wanted to be ordained so she could do ministry. I found out she was already helping people (I can’t remember exactly what she was doing). I encouraged her to keep doing what she was doing instead of thinking she had to go to school and be ordained in order to “do ministry.”

Here was Paul’s ministry strategy as told to Timothy:

And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Timothy 2.2, NIV)

Paul -> Timothy -> reliable people (not necessarily talented or highly educated people) -> Others

You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed [ordained!] you that you should go and bear fruit… (John 15.16, NKJV)

I was having lunch with my friend (and blog reader) Barry a few days ago, and he was talking about the importance of relational ministry. He said something like:

We need to know people well enough to encourage them, help them, and spur them to obedient action.

That’s not the exact quote, but he used a variety of words that reminded me of Paul’s specific instruction to the Thessalonian believers (not just their leaders!):

And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. (1 Thessalonians 5.14, ESV)

Let’s break it down:

• Admonish the idle
• Encourage the fainthearted
• Help the weak

I wrote about this in detail about six months ago, but Barry added an important element. I wrote then that we needed wisdom to discern the difference between the idle who need admonishment (a kick in the backside to get them moving!), the fainthearted who need encouragement, and the weak who need help. Barry said you can’t tell the difference unless you know them. Unless you’re in a relationship with them. That will preach.

We weren’t aloof with you. We took you just as you were. We were never patronizing, never condescending, but we cared for you the way a mother cares for her children. We loved you dearly. Not content to just pass on the Message, we wanted to give you our hearts. And we did. (1 Thessalonians 2.7, 8, MSG)

Another strong reminder that hearing without doing is a bad thing. It’s from Mark’s account of the death of John the Baptist:

For John had been saying to Herod, “It is not lawful for you to have your brother’s wife.” Now Herodias was holding a grudge against him and was wanting to put him to death and was not able; for Herod was afraid of John, knowing that he was a righteous and holy man, and he was keeping him safe. And when he heard him, he was very perplexed; but he used to enjoy listening to him. (Mark 6.18 – 20, LSB)

An interesting mix:

• John the Baptist is condemning Herod for his stealing his brother’s wife.
• This new wife wants John dead.
• Herod is afraid of John and recognizes that he is what Herod is not: righteous and holy.
• Herod listened to John and was “perplexed”. Nothing magic about “perplexed.” it’s used at Mary’s reaction to Gabriel’s greeting in Luke 1, Herod’s reaction to reports about Jesus after he beheaded John in Luke 9, the women’s reaction to the open tomb in Luke 24, and the disciples’ reaction to Jesus talking about Judas in John 13. What was Herod perplexed about? I’m sure John was clear.
• Herod “used to enjoy listening to him.” Why? Reminds me of what The Lord told Ezekiel:

But as for you, son of man, the sons of your people who talk about you by the walls and in the doorways of the houses, speak to one another, each to his brother, saying, “Come now and hear what the word is which comes forth from Yahweh.“ They come to you as people come and sit before you as My people and hear your words, but they do not do them, for they do the lustful desires expressed by their mouth, and their heart goes after their greedy gain. Behold, you are to them like a lustful song by one who has a beautiful voice and plays well on an instrument; for they hear your words but they do not do them. (Ezekiel 33.30 – 32, LSB)

“They hear your words, but they do not do them” – twice. Jesus said:

And everyone hearing these words of Mine and not doing them, may be compared to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.” (Matthew 7.26, 27, LSB)

It’s not the hearing that counts. Never has. Here’s another snippet:

And He was passing through from one city and village to another, teaching, and proceeding on His way to Jerusalem. And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow door, for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ And He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; depart from me all you workers of unrighteousness.'” (Luke 13.22 – 27, LSB)

“We ate and drank in your presence” even reminds us of Exodus 24: “They saw God and ate and drank,” and then Aaron made the golden calf as recorded in Exodus 32.

Hearing doesn’t count. Over and over and over…

Applies to me. Even fellowship with God doesn’t count if it’s not followed by action. Paul talks about his response after encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus:

And I said, “What should I do, Lord?” And the Lord said to me, “Rise up and go on into Damascus, and there you will be told of all that has been determined for you to do.” (Acts 22.10, LSB)

A vision is not enough. “What should I do?” is the appropriate response.

Are we acting on what God is telling us to do?

A long Saturday article in the Wall Street Journal caught my attention with this headline:

The Competition for Believers in Africa Is Transforming Christianity and Islam

The article opens with a description of a Pentecostal-type service except…

…the participants weren’t Christians. They were Muslims, practicing an ecstatic style of worship that has developed in response to the challenge posed by Pentecostalism.

If you’re interested, you can read the long article in its entirety. The authors were an interesting mix: one religion reporter and two reporters who cover Africa:

Francis X. Rocca covers the Vatican and global religion for The Wall Street Journal. Nicholas Bariyo is a reporter for The Journal’s Africa bureau. Gbenga Akingbule is The Journal’s Nigeria correspondent.

What struck me was this phrase, which is so Wall Street Journal in its orientation:

Owing to population growth and the intensity of their religiosity, Africans are now one of the more important constituencies of both Islam and Christianity worldwide, and sub-Saharan Africa is one of the world’s most active and contested religious markets. The region was 59% Christian and 30% Muslim in 2020, according to the World Religion Database. “There is a new scramble for Africa,” said Sheikh Ibrahim Lethome of Jamia Mosque in Nairobi, Kenya, drawing an analogy with the colonization of the continent in the late 19th century. “Christianity is growing, Islam is growing, and there is competition.” (emphasis mine)

Leave it to the Journal to see the region as “one of the world’s most active and contested religious markets.”

My first thought is that Jesus is not after “market share,” he wants it all!

Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2.9 -11, ESV)

Then I read Jesus’ commission to the twelve as recorded in Mark 6:

And He summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and was giving them authority over the unclean spirits; and He instructed them that they should take nothing for their journey, except a staff only—no bread, no bag, no money in their belt— but to wear sandals; and He added, “Do not put on two tunics.” And He was saying to them, “Wherever you enter a house, stay there until you leave town. And any place that does not receive you or listen to you, as you go out from there, shake the dust off the soles of your feet for a testimony against them.” And they went out and preached that men should repent. And they were casting out many demons and were anointing with oil many sick people and healing them. Mark 6.7 – 13, LSB)

The twelve go out, preaching, healing, and casting out demons, but there was no guarantee of success: “Any place that does not receive you or listen to you…”

So we live in the in-between where, I suppose, “market share” matters – but not just of “fans,” but “followers.”

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. Do all things without grumbling or disputing, that you may be blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation, among whom you shine as lights in the world, holding fast to the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may be proud that I did not run in vain or labor in vain. (Philippians 2.12 – 16, ESV – the “therefore” immediately after the “Jesus is Lord” section.