40 Days Closer to Christ

What if they decided to hold a concert and every member of the orchestra showed up with their instruments tuned anyway they wanted? I’ve been to a few middle school concerts and I have to tell you that it wouldn’t be good. There must be some standard to which all the instruments are tuned, or else you end up with a cacophony. But not only do the instruments need to be tuned, but they need to be tuned to a Master note.

In my house I have three guitars. (Actually since my kids played rock star with one of them only two are playable, but for illustration purposes lets suppose all three can be played.) If I tune one of them to with a pitch pipe or with an electronic tuner than I am pretty sure that it is conditioned for optimal performance. Now I can go to the second guitar and tune it by the first one. And I can get around to tuning the third one by using the second. Theoretically, all three should be tuned up just right. But if I strum a note on the third one, and check it with the tuner, more than likely it will be a little flat or a little sharp. It is just not quite in tune. No matter how good my ear is, a little variation sneaks in as they get tuned down the line. All three guitars have different tones and pitches but if they are all tuned with the electronic tuner and to the same standard then they sound good together.

It is the same way with us. We can get pretty close to where we should be in our spirituality, in our righteousness, and in our walk with God by sharpening ourselves against each other, but we will always be a little off. We need to go back to the Master to make sure that we are where we need to be. It is Christ alone who is the standard by which we measure ourselves. And it is by Him alone that we will be able to perform as we should. That is why we take forty days leading up to Easter and use it to draw closer to Christ and to reestablish our discipleship.

Forty days is the optimal period to form a new habit, to establish a new practice, and to change the pattern of your life. 40 Days – Closer to Christ is an activity (we won’t use the word program) that can change your life.

Forty is a significant number in the scriptures. When God brings about change, the scriptures often represent a significant event as having a forty day duration. Noah’s world was changed forever in forty days. Moses saw God face to face and in forty days received the word which is still the basis for law and government. The city of Nineveh repented in sackcloth and ashes and turned away God’s wrath in the space of forty days. David became a hero after all Israel cowered under Goliath’s forty day challenge. Elijah lived by faith for forty days after God sustained him with one meal. The disciples were given the mysteries of the kingdom as they were taught by the Lord during an intensive forty day seminar after the resurrection. Jesus prepared with a forty day fast for a ministry which culminated in the salvation of mankind.

We can grow closer to the Savior as we study His life and His appearances throughout scripture. We become the people we should as we strive to lead a life of diligent discipleship. In these forty days we can review and renew the vital things that bring us to the Lord. We can refresh our memories and recall the eternal truths of who God is, who we are, and how we can have a close relationship with Him. 40 Days – Closer to Christ is an opportunity to more fully develop that relationship, so that we may see as we are seen and know as we are known.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Day 28 ~ The Last Adam (1 Corinthians 15:45)


When God created man in the garden he named him Adam which means mankind. All through the Garden experience the word is mankind. It is our story. When Adam is cast out a definite article is placed before his name – he becomes "the Adam" or just one man – it is now his story. He becomes an individual. But all that happens to him in Eden is what happens to mankind. We are inseparably connected to those events as if they are our own. 1 Corinthians 15:22 says "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." The shared fate of the fall is overcome as we will share a resurrection. Christ becomes another Adam for all of us. We will share the resurrection and it will be our own. All of us partake. We are family. We belong together.

When I was in seminary we studied JST Matthew 5:24 "Whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, or Rabcha, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hellfire." Our manuals said that Raca is an untranslatable Hebrew profanity. "Really?" went my teenage mind. How can it be untranslatable? Wonder what the word really means? So I explored. Raca is an Aramaic word which basically means "fool." In the next line of the text also reads "fool" but it is not Raca, it is the Greek word moros. Both words basically mean the same thing. Just that to the Jews, Raca was "the bad word," a public indecency. But they would say the Greek word because it did not carry the shock value of a profanity.

Obviously, Jesus is teaching that the intent of the heart is as important as the choice of words we use. This is good doctrine. But it didn't seem exactly complete to me. An untranslatable Hebrew profanity - so easily rendered "Fool"? And didn't Jesus himself call the Pharisees and Sadducees "Fools"? So I sought out the meaning of Raca. Bruce R. McConkie said it means empty. Prof. Nibley said it means curse you. Other commentaries were equally unsatisfying. I decided to go to those who make a lifetime study of the ancient languages. When I read their translation I believe that I audibly gasped. I knew this word Raca. I was as familiar with its meaning as if I had been a Judean. Raca is not so much an intellectual insult as a social one. It has the connotation of being without God. It means "a worthless person with no legitimate connections to others." It is the word that the devil hurls at us in our moments of weakness. He longs to convince us that we are Raca.

Remember the infamous position of court jester in histories of old? He was the official fool of the palace. He was the pet of the king and lived and served at the pleasure of the Sire. The fool's lot was often to entertain and amuse a cruel streak in the King – usually in degrading and humiliating ways. And if he displeased the king then he could be whipped and no one protested. He could be maimed and crippled in torture and no mother would seek redress. Why, he could even be killed and no family would seek justice or vow revenge for his death. Nobody would reprove or even care. He was just a fool - he was a worthless person, and he had no legal relationship to anyone of any worth. Royalty did not serve as Court Jesters. The children of Kings were sometimes foolish but they did not serve as fools. They were never considered as the ancient term "Raca."

No wonder the Lord hates this word. It is an insult to His children, and an insult to Him. It is a mockery of the divine nature. It denies the realities of Heaven's greatest truths. We alone can make ourselves Raca. We alone can separate ourselves from the love of God.

The devil is a liar from the beginning. To heed the accusation of Raca is to partake of the spirit of darkness and of those who love or make a lie. Raca makes foolish the Plan of our Father in Heaven whose Work and Glory is our immortality and eternal life. Raca makes a mockery of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. This surely was one of the cruel barbs Satan hurled at Christ upon the cross - "why are you suffering like this for these worthless ones? They are not worth the price. They are Raca." But Christ knows our worth. And by the Gift of the Holy Ghost we learn our true worth, we know our identity and to whom we belong. We are family. We belong together.
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