Archives For cross

Love is Absurd

samuel kee —  April 23, 2013 — Leave a comment

strangerAlbert Camus wrote a book in 1942 called The Stranger.  He mainly wanted to show how absurd life was—how the little things in life are such big things.  Through a series of thoughtless events, the main character, Meursault, finds himself awaiting execution for killing a man.  At the end of the book, Meursault is ranting about his fate, unable to comprehend the absurdity of it all.  He looks at his looming execution, which he rightly recognizes as an “ultimate” sort of thing.  To decide whether one lives or dies and to carry out that sentence, is magnificent.  The thing he couldn’t get over was this, that his execution would be performed by a guy “who changed his underwear.”

In other words, it’s absurd to realize that such an ultimate act could be performed by a finite mortal, a bumbling human, a creature who is no better than any other creature—a man who changes his underwear.  Perhaps Meursault preferred his executioner to be someone who was above changing their underwear?  At least then his death would have a bit more dignity.

Meursault totally forgets that just a few months before, he killed a man because the sun was in his eyes and causing him an uncomfortable sweat.  Whether or not to grant life or take life seems to be a profound decision, and should not be left to mere mortals.  Yet every day, every hour, human beings are executing their power over life as only God should be allowed to do.

It’s absurd to think that guys who change their underwear should be allowed to put a pressure cooker in a public square and watch it maim and destroy.  And yet I’ve heard other people voicing their disgust over the authorities, also people who change their underwear, who are executing the same sort of judgment over the lives of the suspects.  Everyone is crying incongruence.

But lurking in the shadows of humanity is another Stranger, whose life embraced human absurdity and incongruence.  This Stranger did not take any lives; he did not blow anything up; and he did not perform any executions.  He did not commit any crimes, kept no record of right or wrong, and did not seek vengeance.  Yet he was a Stranger who changed his underwear, grew tired and hungry, and had an appetite for tears.

He also did the absurd.

He came into this tragic world from a perfectly good world, in order to subject himself to our cruelty.  Our redemption came through his condemnation and our rescue came through his cross.  He did not take life, but gave it away in absurd amounts.  He gave second chances, he opened his heart, and brought restoration.  His reward for all of this was trial, torture, and death.  There is no more absurd character than Jesus, whose love compelled him to face the onslaught of punishment that our sins deserved—bravely, calm, and controlled.

Yes, one sinner who takes the life of another sinner is absurd; but infinitely more absurd is one sinless Person who gives his life for sinners.  Jesus was not one finite person making an ultimate decision, he was one Ultimate Person making the decision to be finite.

Love is more absurd than cruelty.  It’s fairly easy to complain about the absurdity of suffering, but it’s another thing to have the sense to complain about the absurdity of God’s love for us.

© Samuel Kee, 2013

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Where Was God? // Episode 4 // His Death

samuel kee —  February 2, 2013 — Leave a comment

where was God logo episode 4 his deathIn this fourth episode of our series “Where Was God?” we look at the main battle that Jesus was engaged in.  Because he was fighting for us, he could not fight for himself.  Even when it seems like life is hard for us, we have to realize that his work is infinitely harder than our own.  He is a part of the much bigger struggle.  

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Two out of Three People Are Treated Unfairly

samuel kee —  January 21, 2013 — 1 Comment

13188Studies show that God treats two out of three people unfairly.  It’s true and I can prove it.  Before I do, ask yourself if you think you’re being treated unfairly or not.  Then ask yourself if you’d like God to treat you more fairly.

The support for my claim comes from a study of Luke 23 in the Bible.  In verses 39-43, we read about three people, two of which are treated unfairly.  It’s not subtle, either, but a very blatant, unfair treatment. 

 

Person #1 Is Treated Unfairly

The first person who’s treated unfairly is Jesus, God’s own Son.  The second criminal recognizes this.  Jesus has done nothing wrong (Luke 23:41), yet he’s getting the same sentence of condemnation as those who were criminals (40).  The criminals deserved their punishment, but not Jesus.  Yet he was given the same punishment as the two common criminals.  That’s not fair.  In fact, Jesus’ punishment was infinitely worse than that of the criminals’.  Though a saint, Jesus was punished as a sinner.  Second Corinthians 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God.”  God the Father made God the Son to be sin, even though God the Son had never sinned.  The Father punished his Son as if he were a sinner, so that we might be treated as righteous saints.

Or again, “Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him [Jesus]” (Isaiah 53:10).  The Father’s will for Jesus’ life was for it to be crushed, even though he did nothing to deserve it.  Again, “But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”

God treated Jesus unfairly by rewarding his perfect obedience with punishment.  Why did he do this?  “He was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed.”  God punished Jesus so that we could go unpunished.  God punished Jesus so that we could be healed. 

Person #2 Is Treated Unfairly

The second person who was treated unfairly was the second criminal.  In Luke 23:39-43, we learn that there were two criminals who were crucified next to Jesus.  The first mocked Jesus; but the second expressed devotion to Jesus.  He said to Jesus, not even expecting a response, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (42).  The second criminal knew that he didn’t have the slightest chance of getting into Paradise when he died.  If Adam and Eve were kicked out of Paradise for just a single act of disobedience (see Genesis 3), then what chance did this criminal have, who had lived a lifetime of disobedience?  He did not have what it took to enter into Paradise; but, at least he could ask Jesus to remember him when he got there.

In his request, the second criminal reveals his heart’s openness to Jesus.  He recognized that Jesus was a perfect person, having never done anything wrong.  He also recognized that Jesus was a King, for only kings possess kingdoms.  This criminal’s heart was open to Jesus’ rule, if even for these last moments of his life.

Jesus, dying of asphyxiation, did not owe him a response, either.  He barely had enough breath for himself, let alone for some run-of-the-mill thief.  Can you imagine, were you the second criminal, suddenly hearing the raspy voice of Jesus, respond to you and say, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise” (43)?

Today?  Today?  That day was the worst day of the second criminal’s life—it also happened to be his last day!  On what had been the worst day of his life, he would experience the best day of his life?  By the end of that day, a common, dirty criminal would be walking hand-in-hand with Jesus into Paradise.  That’s not fair, either—that’s grace.

God did not treat the second fairly by forgiving his sins and allowing him passage into Paradise.

Person #3 Is Treated Fairly

Finally, by now you’re wondering who it is that God treated fairly.  God did not treat Jesus fairly by punishing him; nor did he treat the second criminal fairly by giving him Paradise.  There is a character, however, in these verses, whom God treats fairly.

God treated the first criminal fairly.  In those days, some criminals were punished by crucifixion, which was the “just reward” for certain crimes.  The first criminal was getting exactly what he deserved, and he knew it.  This criminal had lived a life of sin and was receiving his due punishment. 

Romans 6:23 puts it this way, “For the wages of sin is death.”  The “wage” that a sin earns is death.  At then end of a day of sin-work, our just wage is death (thankfully we don’t get paid bimonthly!).  Human sin, which corrupts the world, needs to be dealt with, in order to maintain order and goodness.  If it’s not dealt with, then the goodness of God’s creation is bankrupt.  Just like we’d never allow someone to steal large sums of money from our bank account without dealing with it, so could God never allow sinners to rob the created order of its perfection.  Our good God must maintain the goodness of his world.   

The first criminal not only gets what he deserves, but also he closes himself off to God’s solution.  He is in the presence of the solution for his sins, and he closes his heart to it.  There’s an organization that I work with who ships boxes of food to starving children all over the world.  They recognize that each day, 18,000 children die from starvation.  Out of these 18,000 kids, 40% of them are from India.  However, none of their shipments of food go to India.  Why?  Because the leaders of India (who are not starving), don’t want the charity.  They tell this organization that they don’t have a problem and that their food is not the kind that they want.  All the while thousands of children die each day in India from lack of food; yet the food is at their doorstep.

The first criminal is in the presence of a feast, yet he closes himself off to it.  He doesn’t want Jesus’ charity; he doesn’t think that there’s a problem.  Yet he’s about to die and be cut off from the source of Life for all eternity.  And if you close your heart off to God now, it will remain that way forever, long after your body passes away. 

You’re soul is hungry, admit it.  Will you close yourself off to Jesus and remain separated from God forever?  Or will you turn to him and trust, allowing his dying love for you to melt your heart.  “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in Paradise!”  Romans 6:23 ends like this, “For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” 

Eternal life is not a “fair” gift, but a free one.  Our lives can never “earn” this gift, but it must be given to us at the cost of Another.  Jesus Christ was unfairly punished in order to pay for our free gift, which is given unfairly to those who make him their King, not to those who close themselves off to him.

Are you sure you want God to treat you fairly?

© Samuel Kee, 2013          

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God Wants You to Love Yourself

samuel kee —  December 12, 2012 — Leave a comment

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAGod wants you to love yourself much more, not less.  The highest form of self-love is love for God.  Those who don’t love God really don’t love themselves—at least not very well.  If you want to give yourself the greatest love possible, then make your love for God great.  If you want to abuse yourself, rob yourself, and hate yourself, then refuse to love God.  The person who loves God the most, loves himself the most.  The same is true of love for others: the highest form of love for others is love for God.  When we truly love God, then we truly have something worthwhile to offer our neighbors.  Those who stop loving God will stop loving others.  And those who do not love others do not love God.

Why?  Simply because God is love (1 John 4:8).

So if you don’t have God then you don’t have love, at least not substantial love.  If you don’t love God, then you don’t have satisfying love for either yourself or others.  God’s love cleans us and clears us.  It cleans us by washing us in the costly blood of Jesus.  The same costly blood clears our record of guilt before our holy Maker.  God’s love gives us what we could never give to ourselves on our own.  Though there are plenty of things that we could give ourselves to show ourselves love, we cannot give ourselves the gifts that God offers.  He offers to get rid of our filthiness and our guiltiness.  His love makes us holy and blameless.

And if you don’t know where to begin, if you’re really struggling to love yourself right now, then turn your eyes to God’s love.  God loves you; and he has an ocean of it waiting for you.  Even when you don’t love you, God loves you.  Look at the way that he loved you: he stripped his Son away from his eternal heart, in order to make room for you on his chest.  Jesus was crushed beneath the weight of our lovelessness, so that you could be lovely again.  When we were at our worst, his love was at its strongest.  Loving yourself begins at the cross, beneath the shower of our Savior’s tears.

© Samuel Kee, 2012

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Unbreakable Bond Video

samuel kee —  November 25, 2012 — Leave a comment
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Psalm 23 Re-Mix

samuel kee —  October 23, 2012 — 2 Comments

We can pray this:

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures.

He leads me beside still waters.

He restores my soul.

He leads me in paths of righteousness

for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley

of the shadow of death,

I will fear no evil,

for you are with me;

your rod and your staff,

they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me

in the presence of my enemies;

you anoint my head with oil;

my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me

all the days of my life,

and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.

Because he went through this:

The Lord was my shepherd; but now I’m bankrupt.

He makes me lie down on a red cross.

He leads me into raging waters.

He vanquished my soul.

He leads me in paths of iniquity

for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk through death itself,

and am horrified of evil,

for you have abandoned me;

your rod and staff,

they crush me.

You prepare a tomb for me

in the presence of my friends;

you anoint my body with myrrh and aloes;

the cup of your wrath overflowed.

Surely sin and judgment followed me

all the days of my life,

so that they might dwell in the house of the Lord

forever.

© Samuel Kee, 2012

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Thoughts on Atonement: Yom Kippur

samuel kee —  September 24, 2012 — 2 Comments

Imagine if someone cheated on you.  Maybe you don’t have to imagine it, since it really happened to you.  The Bible uses adultery as a metaphor to describe our relationship with God (see Hosea or Ezekiel 16, for instance).  The people that he loves have cheated on him.  We’ve all committed spiritual adultery, loving other things more than we love God.  That’s a good definition of sin, by the way.  To sin is to give something or someone else more of your love than you give to God.  He ceases to be your ultimate love.

When this happens, God gets angry, and rightly so.  Wouldn’t you get deservedly angry if someone you loved cheated on you?  You’d have every right to be angry.  How much more should God be angry at us, having cheated on his perfect love?  Our first problem is that we live under the storm cloud of God’s wrath.

But we have another problem: we’re not pure anymore.  Our sins have defiled us and we are filthy.  Cheating on someone makes you feel dirty, because you are.  How can we cleanse our conscience?

On the Day of Atonement, the Jewish high priest would make two major sacrifices for the people (see Leviticus 16).  First, he would sacrifice a goat on the altar in order to atone for the sins of the people.  This was to absorb the wrath of God, taking care of our first problem.  Second, the high priest would lay his hands on the head of another goat and confess the sins of the people, symbolically placing their sins onto it.  Then he would send this goat outside of the city, into the wilderness.  This profound ceremony was to symbolize the transfer of our sins onto the head of a scapegoat so that it might take our sins away from us.  This was how we were cleansed, dealing with our second problem of defilement.

What is atonement?  Atonement is to bring together two people that are at odds with each other.  Again, picture someone who has cheated on his spouse.  To make atonement would be to reconcile them with each other.  In order to do this, you have to deal with the anger of the offended and the defilement of the offender.  You need both goats, in other words.  You need a sacrifice that absorbs the wrath of the offended and a sacrifice that cleanses the conscience of the offender.  Only then can you make atonement; only then can the two people be in a state of “at-onement” with each other.

Absorbing the wrath of the offended is called propitiation.  Taking away the defilement of the offender is called expiation.  We cannot understand Jesus if we do not understand these two terms.

Jesus’ death on the cross accomplished both propitiation and expiation.  Jesus absorbed the full wrath of an infinite God and Jesus took your sins away from you, cleansing your conscience.  Jesus’ death on the cross solved the problem of the offended and of the offender.  He made complete reconciliation or atonement.

This means that there is nothing stopping us from having a relationship with God, nothing.  Nothing was left undone.  God is not angry at us, for Jesus absorbed his wrath.  You do not have to carry your own sin around, for Jesus carried it outside of the city for you and from you.

Have you heard the idea, “I’ll do my best and God will make up for the rest?”  We think that God accepts those who try hard to be good, but when they fail, he will pick up the slack.  I hope you can see that this idea is complete nonsense.  Remember, we’ve committed spiritual adultery.  That is who we are and there’s no way to deal with it through our own efforts.  We are adulterers and God is angry.  Our only solution is the one provided for us by God in Jesus, who absorbs our punishment and takes away our defilement.

Why did God do this?  God made atonement for our sins so that he could have a relationship with us and pour out his love on us.  Even though we failed at making him our ultimate love, he did not fail at giving us his ultimate love.  Our sins do not stop his love.  He has taken care of your most profound problem in life.

© Samuel Kee, 2012

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How Can God Allow Suffering?

samuel kee —  August 1, 2012 — Leave a comment

“The Scream” by Edvard Munch

When it comes to arguments against the Christian faith, the “Problem of Evil” is one of the toughest.  “How can a good God allow suffering?” is another way of putting it.  Basically, the argument says that all four of these statements cannot be true at the same time.  In order for it to work, one or more of them has to be wrong.  Here they are:

  1. God is good.
  2. God is all powerful.
  3. Evil exists.
  4. God exists.

If God (4) and evil (3) both exist, then God could be all powerful (2), but he is not a good God (1); therefore he doesn’t do anything about the evil.  Or, if God (4) and evil (3) both exist, then God could be good (1), but he is not powerful (2) enough to do anything about the evil.  Right away, either God is powerful (2), but not good (1); or, God is good (1), but not powerful (2).  Another option is that God doesn’t exist (4) at all, though evil still exists (3).  A final option is that God (4) exists, but evil (3) does not exist.  Anyone can see that the final option is ludicrous, for we can see evil everywhere.

Did you catch all of that?  Basically, the argument says that not all four of these statements can be true at the same time; one or more of them must be false for the logic to work.  God could exist and be good, but not be powerful enough to stop evil.  Or God could exist and be powerful, but not be loving enough to stop evil.  Or, God might not exist at all.  Or, evil might not exist at all.

As we’re busy trying to figure out how to make sense of the four statements, God has already provided the solution.  God has already given us a way to make sense of all four statements, a way for all four statements logically to fit together.  God is good, God is all powerful, evil exists, and God exists.  Where do all four statements come together?

They come together in Jesus Christ.  Let me show you how Jesus holds all of our statements together, even when we want to pry them apart.  In the Bible, John 19:1-11 brings each of our four statements together, in the person of Jesus.

First, God is good.  Pilate tells us over and over that Jesus is good.  He is not guilty of any crime, nor has he done anything to deserve punishment.  “See, I am bringing him out to you that you may know that I find no guilt in him” (4).  And again, “I find no guilt in him!” (6).  Jesus is not evil, malicious, or self-absorbed.  Jesus is completely good, perfect, and just.

Second, God is all powerful.  We are told that Pilate was terrified of Jesus (7), even though Pilate was the one empowered by the Roman Empire.  Pilate knew that his earthly power was nothing compared to Jesus’ heavenly power.  Also, when Pilate claims to have authority over Jesus, Jesus answers, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above” (11).  In other words, Pilate has derivative authority—it comes from God.  Jesus makes it clear that he (Jesus) has access to ultimate power or authority.

Third, evil exists.  We see this in the way they treat Jesus.  Jesus has to endure suffering and evil.  “Then Pilate took Jesus and flogged him.  And the soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head and arrayed him in a purple robe…and struck him with their hands.” (1, 2, 3).  After all of this torture, they would crucify him (16-37).  Jesus endured more evil than we ever will.

Fourth, God exists.  Jesus’ accusers make it clear what Jesus claimed about himself.  “He has made himself the Son of God” (7).  In other words, Jesus was claiming to be God.  And if Jesus were God, then, obviously, God exists.

Here is God’s marvelous solution to the problem of evil: Jesus Christ on the cross.  Jesus was good, Jesus was all powerful, Jesus endured suffering, and Jesus was God.  In the person of Jesus, we find our answer.  In the person of Jesus, each of our statements consists and coheres.

Our answer does not necessarily get a logical solution, but an Incarnate Solution.  Jesus becomes our remedy, providing for us more than just an answer.  His death provides us with more than cognitive peace, but spiritual peace.  He gives us a solution to evil, itself, a way out of the pain.  The goal of his suffering is to free us from our suffering.  His suffering actually led to life, and so can ours.  God’s goal is not just to help us make sense of evil; rather, God’s goal is to get rid of evil.

When you go through trials in life and want to ask the question, “Where is God when I hurt?” please look to the cross and see Jesus there.  See the goodness and power of God in the person of Jesus, destroying the things that are destroying us, making all things right again.

You need Jesus to make sense of the problem of evil.  Apart from him, there is no satisfying answer.

© Samuel Kee, 2012

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Her Arms

samuel kee —  January 16, 2012 — Leave a comment

How do you live out these doctrines?

She pushed up her sleeve and showed me her bare arm.  Spelled out with a black Sharpie were the words, “It is finished.”  She told me that she had decided to stop cutting herself.  Yet far deeper than the cuts on her arms, was this quotation from Jesus on the cross.

Does it really matter what you believe?  Or can I get away with just believing anything, because everything is pretty much the same.  Does it matter if I get this “faith thing” right?  Or does life get easier when we throw off the restrictive shackles of religious dogma?

One does not need to have watched Inception to understand the power of ideas.  Your ideas become the reality in which you live and react.  Do you believe that you are basically good?  Do you believe that a failed relationship is your fault?  Do you believe that you are unwanted?  That nobody understands?  What is Idea about your life that you are clinging to, that is shaping and directing your every move?  Your Life-Hermeneutic is the glasses through which you see the world, the controlling idea that shapes how you perceive reality.

I don’t want to mention any religions by name, but I can see in my memory frantic followers gathered around a shrine, desperately trying to swish smoke on their bodies, believing that this smoke would “cure” them.  I can also recall speaking to a man from another set of beliefs who tried his hardest to please God; but at the end of the day, he admitted that he did not know if God would keep him or crush him.  Still, I can think of another friend who did not want to believe in God at all, so that he could live however he wanted.  This lack-of-belief belief, allowed him to indulge in sex and drugs whenever he pleased.

Konstantin Stanislavski was a Russian acting teacher in the 1930’s.  His method taught actors to “experience the part” of the characters they played.  The job of the actor or actress was to understand the reality of the character and then respond accordingly.  If you lived in the character’s shoes, then how would you naturally respond?  The actor was to feel his or her own emotional response, truly portraying how he or she would react in the character’s situation.  They were to experience the emotion of the role they played.  In doing this, they merely “acted” out the natural response of being in the character’s shoes.

Before going on stage, the actor must be convinced that the character’s reality is the actor’s reality.  That’s the key to how our beliefs affect our lives.

Let’s go back to the arms of the young woman, on which “It is finished” was written.  While she was cutting herself, she was playing the part of someone who had a great deal of pressure in her life.  Her parents were divorced and she had tremendous pressure to be perfect.  She felt alone and responsible for some of the evil in her life.  While cutting was not the right thing to do, it was the way she had chosen to “experience the part” of her life.

Then she realized that it was not her fault and that she was never alone.  She was told that God loved her and that Jesus bled for her, so that she did not have to.  She learned that God offered not only forgiveness for her sins, but also the power to overcome life’s trials.  She learned of a new “role” to play, that of a Christian.

A “Christian” is someone who has been rescued from darkness and handed over to hope.  A Christian not only has her sins forgiven, but also has been adopted into God’s eternal family.  She has a clean slate, a new present status, and an everlasting dwelling place.  A Christian is someone who has to live with the knowledge that there is a God out there who is deeply in love with her, every gasp of this life, and every millennia of the next.

Thus she began to “experience the part” of this belief, starting with the most fundamental doctrine uttered by Jesus from the cross.  “It is finished” represents the doctrines of propitiation (appeasing the wrath of God with a sacrifice) and atonement (becoming reconciled to God through forgiveness).  But how do you live out these doctrines?  How do you “play the part” of a Christian, in other words?

You write doctrine on your cuts.

Greater than our scars our his.  Deeper than our wounds are his.  His reality springs us from ours.  “It is finished” ends our old life and allows us to be born into a new life.  In this new life, we are loved, wanted, longed-for, searched-for, cared-for, ached-for, traveled-for.

I guess what I’m saying is that we are to play the part of God’s beloved.  That changes everything.

© Samuel Kee, 2011

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Notice of Charges

samuel kee —  October 3, 2011 — Leave a comment

I’m trying to keep the videos as short as possible, which means that I don’t always get to say all that I want to say.  If I had more time, I would speak more personally about how each of us is trying to get a clean conscience.  It’s a never ending battle, as we try to escape from the guilt we feel, from the stuff we’ve done wrong.  This struggle to be free from guilt disguises itself in other ways in our life, too, in all of the ways we try to make ourselves “feel alive.”  We long for life and freedom, thinking that these come from the latest pleasure rather than from our Lord’s passion.  Anyhow, I hope you get a deeper sense for the true freedom that Jesus has given you because of the cross.

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