Going into the New Year naked!

As written in my last blog I recently had the privilege of following some of the Apostle Paul’s footsteps in Greece and Turkey. What were especially meaningful to me were the occasions our Greek Christian tour guide related the uncommon things we were seeing to what Paul and the ancient Greeks would have known as common. For instance, whether we were in museums or walking through ancient Greek or Turkish cities, we encountered statues of naked people. Why? The culture of the day believed the human form was the measure of all things, both beauty and the divine. The perfect body was the athletic body and athletes competed naked. 

In the first few verses of Hebrews chapter 12, the author (possibly Paul) makes a parallel between athletics and our Christian life. 

“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance 

the race that is set before us…”

The readers of the day would have quickly understood the comparison. We, however, wouldn’t. When we have the backdrop of what is being described it surely gives us an appreciation for what we also are being challenged to do. 

To the Greeks, a cloud was a literary term used for a group of people. In this case, it was those people witnessing the athletes competing in a race. Laying aside every weight, in its literal sense, was referring to the body fat of the athlete or the weights that they trained with on their arms and legs; all of which they were to get rid of when competing. What would potentially ensnare, entangle or cause them to trip were their robes, which they took off, running naked and free from all these encumbrances.

Endurance would be required for the race they were running. The Greek word for “race” is an athletic term meaning “agony” in English. Somehow the words “endurance” and “agony” would more duly fit the marathon race and not the 100-metre!

Panathenaic Stadium in Athens.
Hosted the first modern Olympic Games in 1896.
Reconstructed from the remains of an ancient Greek stadium.
Built entirely by marble.

So this is the picture the author of Hebrews was painting for the readers then, and now for us. The cloud of witnesses are those referred to in the “Hall of Faith” in Hebrews 11. These men and women remained faithful, albeit making imperfect progress, in the race set before them. We are to follow their example and remove unnecessary excesses or weights in our lives, taking off those sins that will end up entangling, encumbering, and ensnaring us, as we endeavour to run the race that has been prepared for each one of us. It means getting rid of everything the world tells us to hang onto – the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life (1 John 2:16). It also means not giving up. After 43 years of running this race, I can assure you it requires endurance. I remember the Lord saying to me quite a few years ago that He wasn’t training me to be a sprinter, but rather, a marathon runner.  

The writer of Hebrews goes on to point the runners of this race to their ultimate goal…

 “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, 

and has sat down at the right hand of the 

throne of God.”

He’s the One who started the race, ran it and finished it. All the while in an attitude of vulnerability, humility, openness – nothing to hide – naked! Perhaps as we end 2014 and head into 2015, we need to stop long enough and ask Holy Spirit to show us what weights, encumbrances – sins - we are still carrying that are keeping us from running our race of faith with fleetness and strength. Then laying them aside… Let’s go into this New Year naked!

"Don't leave home without it" (Part 2)

I recently had the privilege of joining a Christian tour group as we endeavoured, in 10 days, to follow some of the Apostle Paul’s footsteps in Greece and Turkey. This was a belated 50^th Jubilee Birthday trip for me. The tour proved to be both packed full of sights and availed impactful insights into the historical and biblical significance of places like Athens, Corinth, Patmos, Ephesus, Crete, Berea, Thessaloniki, Philippi. An amazing God-incidence was that we happened to be in Berea, Greece when I celebrated my 51^st Birthday. Because of my love for the Word and study of it, I couldn’t imagine being in a more meaningful place on that special day. 

Ancient Ruins at Thessaloniki

Jewish synagogue in Berea

In case your memory isn’t serving you so well, I’ll give you some background on the significance of Berea as found in Acts 17. Paul and Silas were in Thessalonica and after leading many Greeks to the truth of Jesus; some jealous Jews gathered a mob to accuse them of turning the world upside down. However, they couldn’t find Paul and Silas to bring them before the rulers of the city. The two men of God escaped that night and made their way to Berea. There they found in the synagogue Jews who were more open than those in Thessalonica. In fact, “…they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” 

Plaques in Berea commemorating the Bereans

The Bereans were lovers of the truth and definitely didn’t leave home without it. We may think that back in those days it was easier to discover and know the truth, but not so. From our tour we learned that Greece was inundated with philosophies, gods and goddesses, and the worship thereof. In Athens, the common phrase one would use when approaching a friend or stranger was, “What’s news?” According to Acts 17:21, “For all Athenians and the foreigners who were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing.” We could say truth was relative. That’s one of the reasons why Paul’s assignment to preach the truth that Jesus Christ was the only way to the Father was met with such opposition. It wasn’t until people met and acknowledged the Truth that they were set free.

From my observations, our 21^st Century post-modern thinking hasn’t proven to be much different to the philosophies of Paul’s day. In many ways, we’re still asking, “What’s news?” desperately wanting to latch onto the newest and latest craze. This pervasive way of thinking has even seeped into the body of Christ where experience supersedes reason, subjectivity supersedes objectivity, images supersedes words, and outward supersedes inward. When one values experience more than reason then truth becomes relative. In other words, up to the individual. And if it’s up to the individual’s experience to decide what is the truth then this negates the Bible being the source of absolute truth. It becomes up to the individual to define and interpret truth – it can be this one day, and that another day. 

For us not to have an immovable, undeniable source of truth is like throwing us to the lions – we will be devoured! We truly need to go back to the way of the Bereans measuring every new teaching, every new thought against the God-breathed Scripture, as Paul so aptly described it to Timothy. 

Statue of Paul in Berea

When Jesus was brought before Pilate He was asked if He was a king. Jesus replied that Pilate was accurate in his description and that He had indeed come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Jesus goes onto promise that everyone who is of the truth will hear His voice. Perhaps this is a good litmus test for us all. Do we hear Jesus’, the Word’s, voice in what we are listening to, or reading? If we aren’t, then it isn’t the truth. Someone’s voice will end up being stronger – our own, the world’s, the enemy’s, or God’s. In Paul’s description of the Word to Timothy, he was highlighting that God’s voice will only be stronger if we take time to allow His Word to teach, rebuke, correct and train us in righteousness so that we may be thoroughly equipped for every good work (2 Timothy 3:16, 17).

In essence what Paul was saying to Timothy was, “Don’t leave home without it!