Pay Me What You Owe Me

Ezekiel the prophet lived during the time of Israel’s exile to Babylon, an exile God brought about to purify and restore Israel to a faithful relationship.  Chapter 20 tells us that the history of Isarel is the story of Israel’s unfaithfulness, idolatry, and disobedience.  It is also the story of God’s faithfulness, outrage, and patience.  God says to Israel through Ezekiel: I will not allow you to ask me anything.  You have made up your minds to be like the heathens around you who worship nature.  But I will not allow it.  Angry as I am, I will rule you with a strong hand.  I will gather you and speak your doom to your face.  I will make you obey my covenant and I will send away those who continue to rebel and sin.  I will act with honor despite your wicked, evil actions, so I will not deal with you as you deserve. 

There is a true mystery in the relationship of our free will and God’s free will.  How is it that God makes space for us to choose against God’s will?  Just from looking around us we see that God does make this space, and the consequences ensue.  At the same time, the freedom to choose against is the freedom to choose for, and I want to encourage each of us today to choose for God and do what we know is right to do that lies immediately before us today and each day.  When you choose to ask God into your life, God takes you very seriously and will do all God can to make you resemble your elder Brother Jesus.  But, of course, you are still choosing whether or not to cooperate with God. 

In this post, I am going to focus on what the Bible tells us is the will of God for each of us with regard to our opponents, our enemies, our adversaries.  

Matthew 5

I haven’t come to abolish the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfill them.  Anyone who breaks the least of the commands and teaches others to do so will be least in the kingdom of heaven, but anyone who practices and teaches these commands will be great in the kingdom of heaven.  You have to be more righteous than the professionally righteous people around in order to enter the kingdom of heaven.

Not only can you not murder someone, you also must not hold another person in contempt because of being angry with that person.  You can’t offer a gift acceptable to God with contempt for another person in your heart.  God will be sure your heart is right, so cooperate as quickly as you can.

Not only must you limit revenge to the harm done you, but you must be generous with those who harm you or want something from you.

Not only must you love your neighbor, but you must love your enemy and pray for those who make your life unpleasant.

Try being more like God, your Father, who sends sunshine and rain to both evil and good people.  Extend your love to all.

Matthew 5:25 (Luke 12:59)

Be well disposed, of a peaceable spirit, wish well toward your opponent, your enemy, your adversary without delay while you are still traveling together on the same road so that your opponent will at no time deliver you into the hands of the judge and the judge turn you over to his officer who will throw you into prison, into confinement, where your every move is watched. Amen.  This is the truth. I tell you, you will never by any means go freely from that jail until you have restored what you owe that opponent to the very last penny. 

I owe a lot of how I understand this passage to George MacDonald, a 19^th century preacher who often focused on holiness.

First:  do today what you know you will have to someday.

George MacDonald, “The Last Farthing,” Unspoken Sermons.  “I think I do know what is meant by 'agree on the way,' and 'the uttermost farthing.' The parable is an appeal to the common sense of those that hear it, in regard to every affair of righteousness. Arrange what claim lies against you; compulsion waits behind it. Do at once what you must do one day. As there is no escape from payment, escape at least the prison that will enforce it. Do not drive Justice to extremities. Duty is imperative; it must be done. It is useless to think to escape the eternal law of things; yield of yourself, nor compel God to compel you.

Second: this parable does not threaten punishment so much as it explains the natural consequences of God’s nature and of human nature.  Our response to it reveals our own hearts.

“To the honest [person] the word is… sweet as most loving promise. He who is of God's mind in things, rejoices to hear the word of the changeless Truth; the voice of the Right fills the heavens and the earth, and makes his soul glad; it is his salvation.

Third: God will judge between us if we will not come to agreement by our own choice.  This satisfies our love of justice even though we ourselves will be judged as we judge others.

"If God were not inexorably just, there would be no stay for the soul of the feeblest lover of right: 'thou art true, O Lord: one day I also shall be true!' 'Thou shalt render the right, cost you what it may,' is a dread sound in the ears of those whose life is a falsehood: what but the last farthing would those who love righteousness more than life pay? It is a joy profound as peace to know that God is determined upon such payment, is determined to have his children clean, clear, pure as very snow; is determined that not only shall they with his help make up for whatever wrong they have done, but at length be incapable, by eternal choice of good, under any temptation, of doing the thing that is not divine, the thing God would not do.”

…

Fourth: therefore, choose to do the right thing now.  And you know what it is.

“I read, then, in this parable, that a man had better make up his mind to be righteous, to be fair, to do what he can to pay what he owes, in any and all the relations of life--all the matters, in a word, wherein one man may demand of another, or complain that he has not received fair play. Arrange your matters with those who have anything against you, while you are yet together and things have not gone too far to be arranged; you will have to do it, and that under less easy circumstances than now. Putting off is of no use. You must. The thing has to be done; there are means of compelling you."

MacDonald includes the following dialogue.  I've put the words of God in bold italics to clarify the parts.

'In this affair, however, I am in the right.'

'If so, very well--for this affair. But I have reason to doubt whether you are capable of judging righteously in your own cause:--do you hate the man?'

'No, I don't hate him.'

'Do you dislike him?'

'I can't say I like him.'

'Do you love him as yourself?'

'Oh, come! come! no one does that!'

'Then no one is to be trusted when he thinks, however firmly, that he is all right, and his neighbour all wrong, in any matter between them.'

'But I don't say I am all right, and he is all wrong; there may be something to urge on his side: what I say is, that I am more in the right than he.'

'This is not fundamentally a question of things: it is a question of condition, of spiritual relation and action, towards your neighbour. If in yourself you were all right towards him, you could do him no wrong. Let it be with the individual dispute as it may, you owe him something that you do not pay him, as certainly as you think he owes you something he will not pay you.'

'He would take immediate advantage of me if I owned that.'

'So much the worse for him. Until you are fair to him, it does not matter to you whether he is unfair to you or not.'

'I beg your pardon--it is just what does matter! I want nothing but my rights. What can matter to me more than my rights?'

'Your duties--your debts. You are all wrong about the thing. It is a very small matter to you whether the man give you your rights or not; it is life or death to you whether or not you give him his. Whether he pay you what you count his debt or no, you will be compelled to pay him all you owe him. If you owe him a pound and he you a million, you must pay him the pound whether he pay you the million or not; there is no business-parallel here. If, owing you love, he gives you hate, you, owing him love, have yet to pay it. A love unpaid you, a justice undone you, a praise withheld from you, a judgment passed on you without judgment, will not absolve you of the debt of a love unpaid, a justice not done, a praise withheld, a false judgment passed: these uttermost farthings--not to speak of such debts as the world itself counts grievous wrongs--you must pay him, whether he pay you or not. We have a good while given us to pay, but a crisis will come--come soon after all--comes always sooner than those expect it who are not ready for it--a crisis when the demand unyielded will be followed by prison.'

Fifth: God can use the consequences of our bad choices to move us toward redemption.

“The same holds with every demand of God: by refusing to pay, the man makes an adversary who will compel him--and that for the man's own sake. If you or your life say, 'I will not,' then [God] will see to it. …

“If the man acknowledge, and would pay if he could but cannot, the universe will be taxed to help him rather than he should continue unable. If the man accepts the will of God, he is the child of the Father, the whole power and wealth of the Father is for him, and the uttermost farthing will easily be paid. If the man denies the debt, or acknowledging does nothing towards paying it, then--at last--the prison! God in the dark can make a man thirst for the light, who never in the light sought but the dark.”

My Experience

I share this with you because my own experience makes clear to me how true this is.  When I identify someone as my enemy, essentially I am saying, “You are not giving me what you owe me.” Often this is true. However, if I do not choose every day to align my will with God’s will as much as I can that day, I am choosing to be imprisoned by my own sense of having been wronged.  I can’t ever get out of that prison by focusing on how right I am.  A friend of mine described this as putting a barrier across the neck of an hourglass.  My state of mind freezes time at the point where my sense of being treated unfairly or unjustly occurs.  Every day my mind rehearses how badly my enemy has treated me.  It comes into all my significant conversations and colors all my relationships with others.  I had a high school friend who cut herself to remind herself of how other people had betrayed her.  She did it on purpose to prevent herself from accidentally forgetting the wrong.  This is a picture of how we treat our souls when we refuse to obey God's will to reconcile with our opponent.

I usually have to start by asking God for justice.  Essentially, I am turning my opponent over to God to judge.  I also, against my own inclination but with my will, start praying for God to bless my enemy.  I hate this part but I do it.  I try and fail to let the person off the hook.  But I’m trying.  I am by sheer act of will removing the barrier in the hourglass so that time can move on from the moment of injury.  So that the cut can heal from the inside out and then scab over.  God honors my efforts, feeble and incomplete though they are.  God loves me in them and lets me know it.  Often I end up blaming God for how things have gone so wrong: "You could have stopped this, you could have done something, I hope you know what you’re doing."

My experience, and I am not lying to you, is that God shows up when I express honest anger toward him.  It is a lot like the book of Job—Job insists that he did not deserve the suffering he received, he blames God for it, and God shows up and is friendly.  I will tell you two stories.  I was complaining out loud to God and added, “And on top of that, you have let me have a hemorrhoid. Don’t you think that’s piling on.” And God said, almost aloud, “Piling on—that’s funny.”  You see, the plural of hemorrhoid is piles. I laughed out loud for about 10 minutes, and something deep inside me eased up the pressure.  Because God showed up when I got really honest about what I was feeling.

The second story came after a huge disappointment, when it looked like I wasn’t ever going to achieve what I dreamed of.  I was in church, with my head bent down on the pew in front of me, crying with rage, really, and asking God why God favored my enemy over me.  God said to me, very clearly, “Look up at me.” I kept my head down.  And I felt as if God placed a finger under my chin, lifted my head, and made me look into God’s eyes.  “What do you see?” God asked.  “Love, nothing but love,” I replied. I cannot get over that experience.  I hope everyone reading this knows what is in God’s eyes for you. 

Finally, as things turn out, God helps me get to a place where my heart is no longer at war with my enemy.  God pinned me down in the car once to tell me that simply saying “You can let that so and so into heaven if you have to, but I don’t want to sit close to him,” was no longer the best I could do, and God, unsurprisingly, was right. I said, “OK, God, please let that so and so into heaven,”

That’s a good place to end.  Dear God, please let our enemies into heaven.  If you can’t get there yet, start here: Dear God, please decide justice between me and my enemy.

How Prison Simplifies Things: Philippians 1:19-26

In 1965, Bob Dylan wrote these lyrics:  “When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose; you’re invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.  How does it feel, how does it feel to be on your own, with no direction home like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone?”  Today we will see that Christians need to embrace the truth that following Jesus is living like a rolling stone, but instead of anxiety, sorrow, and lostness, it means a personal daily dynamic relationship with Almighty God, the Father of Jesus and our Father as well. We know what God is like because we saw his Son Jesus live as a human being in that exact kind of relationship with his Father—Whoever has seen me has seen the Father, Jesus said—and we are holy homes for the Spirit Jesus sends us to strengthen us and lead us into all truth.

Context:

Paul has been thanking God for the Philippians and praying for them with joy.

They have shared in the gospel, the good news, with him

He has confidence in Jesus who began a good work among them and will continue it to completion

He knows they hold him in their hearts

They share in God’s grace with him

He longs for them with the compassion of Christ Jesus

He prays for their love to overflow with knowledge and insight into what is best

He prays that they will be pure and blameless in the day when they meet Christ face to face

He prays they will produce the harvest of righteousness, right living, that comes through Jesus Christ for the glory and praise of God

You all know I am imprisoned, he says, and this has helped spread the gospel because everyone knows I am imprisoned for Christ.  And because of this, most of the other Christians have been made confident in the Lord and dare to speak the word with greater boldness and without fear.  Some are trying to outdo each other and me, proclaiming Christ out of selfish ambition, intending to increase my suffering in prison; but others are acting out of good will, proclaiming Christ out of love for my sake since I can’t do it.  What does it matter whether their motivation is false or true? Christ is proclaimed in every way and I rejoice.

Presently he is in prison—Paul had been in prison on his first visit to Philippi, an earthquake set them free, and the jailer converted with his family,

This is such a great picture of the freeing force of the Gospel; literally, it is an earthquake and a jail, but symbolically, it is Paul’s and Silas’s obedience to God and rejoicing in hard circumstances broke open the whole system of spiritual imprisonment. This experience explains Paul’s confidence about being in prison now—that it will work to spread the Gospel, just as it did before when he was in Philippi.

Presently he sees that some preach the gospel from bad motives—on his first visit Paul cast a spirit out of girl who kept shouting the truth about Paul and Silas. “These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you a way of salvation.”  She followed them, shouting, for many days.  Paul got annoyed, and he ordered her spirit of divination out of her in the name of Jesus Christ.  This got him imprisoned.

But now, he cannot stop those preaching the gospel out of competitive motives, trying to take Paul’s place or make him feel worse in his prison.  And he rejoices that they are preaching the gospel.  Even if the messenger is messed up, the message is still true.

All these are in-references that the Philippian church would get.  After Paul reminds them of being in prison back when he first visited, he points out he is in a literal prison in Rome guarded by centurions; and he says he is in a figurative prison, guarded by two desires:  the desire to be with Jesus and the desire to be with the Philippians. We would term this “being in a bind”—impossible to choose between the options. 

And now for the passage for today: Philippians 1:19-26

And I will continue to rejoice because I know that because you are praying (petitionary prayer, an expression of personal need) and the Spirit of Jesus Christ is supplying me, this imprisonment will turn out for my deliverance.  I eagerly expect and anticipate that I will not be put to shame in any way, but that by my speaking with all boldness, Christ will be shown to be great now as always in my physical body, whether by my life or my death. Truly therefore to me, living is Christ and dying is gain, advantage. Living in this body means work with results, and I do not know which I prefer.  I am a prisoner of these two desires: I want to be unloosed and be with Christ, because that is more useful for me, but I am torn because I know that my staying alive is necessary for you.  Since I am convinced you need me, I know I will remain and continue with all of you for your progress and joy in your fidelity and conviction, so that I may share abundantly in your glorying in Christ Jesus when I come to you again.

Being in prison has simplified Paul’s world down to essentials.  Life, Death, and the Gospel.

I want us to focus on boldness as an answer to the Philippians’ prayers for Paul:  I eagerly expect and anticipate that I will not be put to shame or dishonored in any way, but that by my speaking with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as always in my physical body whether by my life or my death. Truly therefore to me, living is Christ and dying is gain, advantage.

Boldness means:

freedom to speak unreservedly,

openly, frankly

unambiguously

without rhetorical flourishes, plainly.

Boldness means:

free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, assurance.

Paul’s boldness derives from his cheerful conviction that he has nothing to lose.

Nothing to lose can seem pretty low down and desperate, but for Paul, it is really that every outcome is good for someone.  It’s a recognition that he actually cannot lose, regardless of how things turn out.

Christians need to recognize two truths. First, the Kingdom of God comes first in priority.  Second, when that is true, there is no way to lose.

Here’s what Jesus said about putting the Kingdom first:

Count the cost, don’t bite off more than you can chew; if you can’t put God first, don’t bother; Seek first the kingdom of God.  In Romans 14: 17, Paul says that the kingdom of God is righteousness—right living and integrity; peace—harmony and concord with God and with others; and joy—gladness in the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said there are some things you may want to put first but Jesus won’t let you if you want to be in God’s kingdom. The gate is too narrow to squeeze through with all the things you think you need.  Pack lightly.

• Perhaps you have to have a place to call home, to sleep at night:  Jesus says, The Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.
• You want to fulfill your obligations to social expectations: Jesus says, Let the dead bury the dead.
• You put relationships and family first: Jesus says, Hate family for my sake.
• You need a certain level of wealth: Jesus says, sell all you have and give it to the poor.
• You expect sexual fulfillment: Jesus says, some are eunuchs for the kingdom of God.
• You are counting on good deeds, piety: Jesus says, woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, scouring the earth for one convert. 
• You rely on status and/or intelligence: Jesus says, be born again, be like a child. 

The Kingdom of God is for those with nothing to lose—the poor, the beggar in spirit, destitute of wealth, no influence, no power, no position, helpless, needy.

The Kingdom of God is for those who are persecuted, bullied, harassed, pursued, mistreated for living right.

The Kingdom of God is for those who come like children.

The Kingdom of God is for those who do the will of our Father in heaven.

Jesus lived every day by listening to our Father in heaven and doing what the Father told him to do, and that’s the example we are following. One clear part of the will of our Father in heaven is to get more people into the Kingdom of God.

Tell people the gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news. Paul summarized it in 1 Cor. 15:

Christ died for our sins

He was buried

He was raised on the third day

He appeared to disciples and many others

He appeared to me

He will conquer death and we will live again

He rules over everything

Note that Paul has personal experience of this gospel.  We also need to experience it personally.  As George Fox put it, we need to possess what we profess.  Fox wrote about his own prison experience:  “While I was in prison, [other religious groups] prophesied that this year Christ should come and reign for 1000 years.  And they looked upon this reign to be outward: when he was come inwardly in the hearts of his people to reign and rule; where these professors would not receive him.  So they failed in their prophecy and expectation and had not the possession of him.  But Christ is come and doth dwell and reign in the hearts of his people.  Thousands at the door of whose hearts he has been knocking have opened to him and he is come in and doth sup with them and they with him; the heavenly supper with the heavenly and spiritual man.”

Christians need to recognize two truths. One, the Kingdom of God comes first in priority.  Two, when that is true, we have nothing to lose. God knows what we need and will care for us.  When we know we have nothing to lose, we are remarkably free to speak the truth. Whatever happens can be for God’s glory and our joy.  The door of death leads directly to God, and continued life gives additional opportunity to see good results from our work.  With a nod of apology to Bob Dylan, we are NOT on our own, but we are holy rolling stones, pushing everything else aside or leaving it behind so that we can embrace God—the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—welcoming the kind of invisibility that makes God visible, being unknown so that God is known, giving up our secrets, listening every day for our direction home.

As always, credit to Strong’s Concordance for help with the words.  And blessings to Bob Dylan.