“Pleasing God: When Praise is a Sacrifice”
“15 Through him [i.e., Jesus] then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name. 16 Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God.” (Hebrews 13:15-16, English Standard Version)
Biblically speaking, pleasing God is not difficult to understand. It’s just hard to do consistently. It involves sacrifice, and I am very possessive. My philosophy of life, far too often, may be summarized as follows: “What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is yours.” Sometimes, I’m afraid that it is even worse than that. Sometimes, my philosophy is: “What’s mine is mine, and what’s yours is also mine.” Taking a more generous approach to life is a sacrifice.
The verses that lead off this post speak of a couple of ways to please God. One is to offer the sacrifice of praise. The other sacrifice is doing good to everyone. Tomorrow, I will be dealing with doing good to everyone. Today, I am focusing on the sacrifice of praise.
What does it mean to praise? It means, among other things, to “. . . acknowledge his [i.e., God’s] name”? The name in the ancient world often stood for someone’s character. This is certainly true in the Old Testament. And remember that the author of Hebrews was soaked in the Old Testament. Old Testament quotes and echoes abound in the book of Hebrews. When I recognize and acknowledge God’s name— who God is—praise becomes a natural result.
Well, maybe it is not always natural. There are times when praise flows freely. There are times when we can’t help but praise God.
But the author of Hebrews speaks of praise as a sacrifice. Let’s speak the truth here. There are indeed times when praising God does not flow so naturally. There are aspects of God’s character that I don’t always like. God seems to be a God who meddles in my life. God wants my priorities to be healthy. God and I do not always agree at this point.
So, I have to be willing to sacrifice my own priorities in order to praise God for who God is. And I don’t like that.
Furthermore, to praise God means that I have to sacrifice my feeling that I deserve good things, that I am somehow a self-made person. I frequently resent making that admission. To acknowledge my need of God and God’s goodness goes against the grain. I want my own goodness, thank you very much! Whether such a thing even exists in isolation from God is another matter entirely . . . or perhaps it is not another matter. Perhaps that is the matter and also what is the matter with me.
The Greek verb for offering this sacrifice is in the present tense. The present tense in New Testament Greek usually suggests something that is ongoing or continuous. As if that weren’t enough, the author of Hebrews makes it very clear by a little phrase which literally means “though all”. Does this mean “through all things” or “through all times”? Yes!
So today, I am going to sacrifice my praise to God. I don’t always like my lot in life. I don’t always like myself and the way I am living. But God is still God, and God is still worthy of my praise.
“S.L.A.P.!”
My vocabulary, like my wardrobe, is looking old and drabby these days. When I look in the mirror, I find someone looking back at me who is also old and drabby. (I need to get a new mirror!)
Clothes are expensive, and it is hard to change your face and body, but vocabulary can be fairly easily updated. So, when my sponsor responded to my daily report today with JKDTNRT (just keep doing the next right thing), I decided on a plan. I would come up with my own acronym to counterbalance his acronym. Immediately, the letters S.L.A.P. came to mind.
(I am tempted at this point to make a really bad pun (is there any other kind?), but . . . , oh well, why not!? Here it is! My sponsor and I have a very acronymious relationship. If I have to explain this bad pun to you, you need to look up the word “acrimonious”. Of course, with puns—as with real jokes—if you have to explain them, they aren’t that good.)
So, S.L.A.P. stands for “Sounds like a plan!” Then I thought to myself, well, before I claim originality, perhaps I should find out if someone has already copyrighted the phrase. The internet is a very sharp tool for puncturing the illusion of originality. My first hit was as follows:
“‘Sounds Like A Plan’ is the most common definition for SLAP on Snapchat, WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok.”
Now, I am barely on Facebook. I recognize the other platforms as being involved with the internet somehow or another. However, despite my disappointment in finding out the S.L.A.P. was already a thing, I was strangely encouraged. After all, I had come up with something on my own that connected with modern ways of communicating.
There are some larger issues here, however. There is nothing wrong with acronyms, I suppose. We all use them at times. Who wants to watch television when you can just turn on the tv? I will admit that, when a student in a formal academic paper writes LOL, I do not laugh either out loud or to myself. In fact, I may deduct a point or two form that student’s score.
However, there may a more serious problem with our lust for acronyms. Is it possible that this tendency toward radical abbreviation is part of our tendency to value speed and ease over accuracy?
Take “my” acronym” for example. S.L.A.P. is nice because it is brief and actually spells a real word. However, what does this acronym say about the quality and nature of what I am saying? What if I’m planning to rob a bank or leave my wife? (I’m not doing either of those two things. I figured that I had better be clear about that before someone called the F.B.I. or my wife.)
S.L.A.G.P. does not spell a real word and doesn’t sound very nice either. However, the question that I need to ask myself early and often is this: Does this sound like a good plan? The truth is that plans can be good, or they can be many other things—bad, impractical, overly ambitious, self-centered, and a host of other not-so-good modifiers. In Jeremiah 29:11, we are told that God has good plans for Israel after their exile. But in Genesis 6:5, the Bible says that people’s hearts planned evil all the time. The same Hebrew word is used for “plans” in both of these Scriptures.
So, before I start slapping around a bunch of acronyms in the name of updating my vocabulary, I had probably better think about the accuracy of my words. Just because a word is clever or rolls off the tongue easily doesn’t make it the right word for the moment.
“Kintsugi: The Art of Repairing Broken Things”
“Psa. 147:3 He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.” (English Standard Version)
At the Hyde Park Art Show last Sunday, I encountered an intriguing word: the Japanese word kintsugi. Kintsugi is the art of using gold to repair broken things. I always thought that repairing broken things was a matter of making do, but apparently it is also one way of making art.
A personal observation: We are probably all more than a little broken. Oh, yes, I know. You have a friend who sends these wonderful, Hallmark-like Christmas newsletters that you secretly hate to receive. Her family is so together! However, maybe you don’t know your friend as well as you think you do. I say it again: We are probably all more than a little broken.
We tend to be a throwaway society. Planned obsolescence and mass production are our gods. But the true God is a God who heals those who are broken. Yes, even given your present brokenness, there is hope. Gather up the fragments of your shattered existence and place them in God’s hands. Who knows what golden beauty God can make of your brokenness?
God only knows.
“Transforming Pain into Beauty”
When I was in my thirties, I had migraines. They were especially frequent during my three years of seminary. Light was a problem, and everybody was yelling.
So, when I went to the Hyde Park Art Festival last Sunday, I was intrigued to chat with a migraine artist. Here is picture of a package of coasters I bought from her:
I haven’t had the courage yet to use these as coasters. Too pretty.
The artist, Priya Rama, has a wonderful slogan for her business: “Transforming Pain into Beauty”. When I had migraines, I never saw the beauty that she apparently does see. I saw squiggles, but they were grey.
However, I suspect that we can all transform pain into beauty in some way or another. Don’t get me wrong. Pain is still pain. But I’ve met people—real people—who found ways to transform pain into beauty.
In the midst of Judah’s exile to Babylon, the prophet Isaiah spoke the following words to a discouraged people who were in desperate pain:
“Is. 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me,
because the LORD has anointed me
to bring good news to the poor;
he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’S favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.
4 They shall build up the ancient ruins;
they shall raise up the former devastations;
they shall repair the ruined cities,
the devastations of many generations.
Is. 61:5 Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks;
foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers;
6 but you shall be called the priests of the LORD;
they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God;
you shall eat the wealth of the nations,
and in their glory you shall boast.
7 Instead of your shame there shall be a double portion;
instead of dishonor they shall rejoice in their lot;
therefore in their land they shall possess a double portion;
they shall have everlasting joy.
Is. 61:8 For I the LORD love justice;
I hate robbery and wrong;
I will faithfully give them their recompense,
and I will make an everlasting covenant with them.
9 Their offspring shall be known among the nations,
and their descendants in the midst of the peoples;
all who see them shall acknowledge them,
that they are an offspring the LORD has blessed.
Is. 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD;
my soul shall exult in my God,
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation;
he has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its sprouts,
and as a garden causes what is sown in it to sprout up,
so the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise
to sprout up before all the nations.” (English Standard Version)
Apparently, God is an ancient practitioner of turning pain into beauty.
Many centuries later, Jesus would use these words (or at least some of them) as the basis of his inaugural sermon in his hometown (Luke 4:14-30). While he did not quote the bit about beauty from ashes (Isaiah 61:3), Jesus did speak a lot about pain. The story goes that he later took our sins, our pains, our guilts on himself at the cross. The cross, which was an ugly instrument of pain and torture, became a beautiful thing in Jesus. For those of us who are following Jesus, however stumblingly, this is the ultimate transformation of pain into beauty.
“The Process is the Miracle”
“Miracle is simply the religious name for event. Every event, even the most natural and usual, becomes a miracle, as soon as the religious view of it can be the dominant. To me all is miracle.” (Friedrich Schleiermacher, On Religion: Speeches to its Cultured Despisers)
(Source: https://quotepark.com/quotes/1723576-friedrich-schleiermacher-miracle-is-simply-the-religious-name-for-event-ev/, accessed 09-01-2022)
For me, process is itself a miracle. Let me explain.
I do believe that sometimes God interrupts the natural course of things and does something extraordinary. However, God has set the universe up as a place where things generally work according to regular (and fairly predictable) processes. Again, I am not saying that God doesn’t or can’t do miracles. I am simply saying that God doesn’t routinely do miracles. If God did that, we wouldn’t call it “miraculous”. We would call it “chaotic”.
In my case, process is the miracle. I am a fairly chaotic person. I am impulsive and sometimes downright lazy. I don’t like of to think my health in terms of diet and exercise. No, I’m not fond of processes at all!
So, when I actually go through a process—consistently and successfully—I call that “a miracle”. And it may well be a miracle. Even God may be amazed when I stick with a process.
Now, I am not opposed to praying for miracles, but maybe you are like me. Perhaps you too need to pray for the miracle of process.
“Hope, Grace, and Power Washing the Driveway”
“1 Pet. 1:13 ¶ Therefore, preparing your minds for action, and being sober-minded, set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.” (English Standard Version)
“The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.” – Barbara Kingsolver
I suppose that most of us feel hopeless at times. There may be a few people who never do, but I am skeptical about them. Perhaps they aren’t paying sufficient attention.
Sometimes the hopeless feelings come from outside us. When we look at the hydra-headed monsters outside of our heads—war, politics, the environment, the economy, the pandemic du jour—there are plenty of things to feel hopeless about. And then there are our families.
But I don’t have to look around me if I want a fresh batch of hopelessness. No, I sometimes feel hopeless when I look within. Last night, for example, I had nightmares. They were not very realistic, but the symbolism was all too real. I woke up feeling hopeless.
What to do when I feel hopeless? Keep on hoping anyway.
“Set your hope!” says Peter. “There is a grace yet to be revealed when Christ returns!” It sounds as if I am supposed to do the setting. That is probably because I do, in fact, need to do the setting. Christ will do the gracing.
. . .
So, I am finishing writing this post late in the day. The three dots just above this sentence indicate the passing of time. I am going to bed more hopeful than I got out of it this morning. I went to a 12-step meeting this morning, did other recovery work, talked with a friend who called me, graded presentations that my students are turning in, and (with a lot of help from my savvy and patient wife) put together our new power washer. I power washed a bit of driveway. It has been a grace-filled day even if Jesus didn’t return.
There are times when power washing the driveway is an expression of hope and grace.
“The Man Who Did One Thing”
This is the last in my series on “one thing.” It involves a man who did a lot of things, and yet, he claimed to do only one thing. Here is part of his story:
“If anyone else thinks he has reason for confidence in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless. 7 But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. 8 Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— 10 that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Straining Toward the Goal
Phil. 3:12 Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. 13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. 16 Only let us hold true to what we have attained.” (English Standard Version)
“One thing I do,” said the Apostle Paul. Actually, Paul had done a lot of things, both good and bad. Indeed, he had just listed a number of things that he had been and done that showed that he was about as Jewish as a person could be. This was important because there were people who were trying to convince the Philippian believers that if they wanted to be Christ-followers, they had to be circumcised and keep the Law of Moses. Paul says a resounding “No!” to this approach to the faith. While Paul might have played that game, he had come to believe that it was a game neither he nor anyone else could win.
But, ironically enough, Paul’s one thing actually involves at least two things. The first part of his two-fold “one thing” was that he had forgotten the past.
The irony deepens. The things that Paul says he has forgotten are things that he has just mentioned. It would seem that Paul’s “forgetory”, like the memory of may people, was awfully selective.
On the other hand, I am not sure that forgetting in Hebrew or Greek is merely concerned with whether or not a person has retained something in his conscious awareness. I suspect that, instead, the words for remembering and forgetting involve focus. Remembering means “to focus on something,” and forgetting means “to choose not to focus on something.” So perhaps Paul wasn’t as inconsistent as he might appear—at least in this case.
So, if Paul was refusing to focus on certain things—even good things—from his past, where was his focus? It was on knowing Christ as well as he could. Paul was well aware that he didn’t know Jesus Christ as well as he wanted to. His understanding of Christ was not perfect. This should comfort the rest of us who feel like beginners at this Christian faith business. Maybe we are all beginners.
Still, knowing Christ deserved his most strenuous and sustained efforts. Paul uses a Greek word (διώκω), which is used for a runner who is straining to finish strong. And the present tense of the verbs suggests an ongoing, continual striving to know Christ better.
Even if Jesus was only a great teacher, prophet, and teller of stories, he would be well worth getting to know better. If he was, as some of us believe, God in the flesh, then we really need to strive to do this one thing: to know Christ better. I suspect that this One Thing will take more than a lifetime, more than several of them. Fortunately, God thought of this, and offers us an eternity to get to know Jesus better.
One of my favorite Promise Keeper’s hymns is called “Knowing You.” I close with its lyrics.
“Verse 1
All I once held dear, built my life upon
All this world reveres and wars to own;
All I once thought gain I have counted loss,
Spent and worthless now compared to this.
Chorus
Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You
There is no greater thing
You’re my all, You’re the best
You’re my joy, my righteousness,
And I love You Lord.
Verse 2
Now my heart’s desire is to know You more,
To be found in You and known as Yours,
To possess by faith what I could not earn
All surpassing gift of righteousness
Chorus
Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You
There is no greater thing
You’re my all, You’re the best
You’re my joy, my righteousness,
And I love You Lord.
Verse 3
Oh to know the power of Your risen life,
And to know You in Your sufferings;
To become like You in Your death, my Lord,
So with You to live and never die.
Chorus
Knowing You, Jesus, knowing You
There is no greater thing
You’re my all, You’re the best
You’re my joy, my righteousness,
And I love You Lord.”
“The Man Who Knew One Thing”
“John 9:25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” (English Standard Version)
In continuing this series of posts (with one exception so far), we come to the man who knew only one thing. It’s a long story, and think that we had better have a gander at the context. Don’t worry: The story my be long, but it is not boring!
“Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
John 9:1 As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. 4 We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming, when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 Having said these things, he spit on the ground and made mud with the saliva. Then he anointed the man’s eyes with the mud 7 and said to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). So he went and washed and came back seeing.
John 9:8 The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar were saying, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” 9 Some said, “It is he.” Others said, “No, but he is like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” 10 So they said to him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” 11 He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud and anointed my eyes and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ So I went and washed and received my sight.” 12 They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
John 9:13 They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. 14 Now it was a Sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. 15 So the Pharisees again asked him how he had received his sight. And he said to them, “He put mud on my eyes, and I washed, and I see.” 16 Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner do such signs?” And there was a division among them. 17 So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him, since he has opened your eyes?” He said, “He is a prophet.”
John 9:18 The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight, until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight 19 and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” 20 His parents answered, “We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. 21 But how he now sees we do not know, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” 22 (His parents said these things because they feared the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone should confess Jesus to be Christ, he was to be put out of the synagogue.) 23 Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
John 9:24 So for the second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, “Give glory to God. We know that this man is a sinner.” 25 He answered, “Whether he is a sinner I do not know. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” 26 They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” 27 He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” 28 And they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. 29 We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” 30 The man answered, “Why, this is an amazing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. 31 We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if anyone is a worshiper of God and does his will, God listens to him. 32 Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a man born blind. 33 If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” 34 They answered him, “You were born in utter sin, and would you teach us?” And they cast him out.
John 9:35 Jesus heard that they had cast him out, and having found him he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” 36 He answered, “And who is he, sir, that I may believe in him?” 37 Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and it is he who is speaking to you.” 38 He said, “Lord, I believe,” and he worshiped him. 39 Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, that those who do not see may see, and those who see may become blind.” 40 Some of the Pharisees near him heard these things, and said to him, “Are we also blind?” 41 Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no guilt; but now that you say, ‘We see,’ your guilt remains.” (English Standard Version)
This (formerly) blind man didn’t know much. At first, he didn’t even know Jesus’ name. Jesus often did miracles and then snuck away. So, it was in this case. Jesus had a nasty habit of healing people on the Sabbath when no work was supposed to be done. In fact, Jesus had a lot of habits that greatly irritated the good folks of his day. Of course, Jesus is still an irritant to many good people.
The formerly blind man didn’t know a lot of doctrine or theory, but he did know one thing: Before, he was blind, but now he could see. This was an empirical truth that even the used-to-be-blind man’s neighbors and his own parents confirmed.
Most of us don’t know nearly as much about anything or anyone as we would like to know. We don’t know nearly as much as we pretend to know. But there are times when knowing one thing is enough. There are those of us who know that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit has/have done something for us that we could not do for ourselves. Just one thing, perhaps, but a very important one.
In my case, God has begun to heal from the ravages of an addiction—an addiction that I tried to overcome for decades without much success. I identify with the factory worker who had a terrible problem with alcohol abuse. He wasn’t all that bright, and the chronic alcoholism had probably fried a lot of his brain cells.
But in desperation he called out to Jesus. Jesus heard and embraced the man in his arms, forgave him, and gradually dried him up. He still wasn’t a genius, and his coworkers often teased him. One day, one of them said to him, “Jim, I heard you got religion.”
“Yep!” said Jim.
“So, do you really believe that Jesus turned water into wine?” his coworker scoffed.
“Well,” said Jim, “I don’t know about that, but I do know this: in my own apartment, I’ve seen Jesus turn beer into furniture.”
If you decide to stick with the one thing you know about God, it is entirely likely that you’ll be okay. Who knows? You might even eventually know more than one thing.
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