Vineyard Church | Weekly Update August 11th, 2024

Murder and distractions… Good night of living I have no idea where this is going to end up. Maybe grab a drink and say a prayer right quick.

Well, I am traveling again, back in the Vancouver/Portland area for a meeting and workshop at the church led by our regional leader. I will be back under the Big Sky tomorrow (or today, as you are receiving this), and I have had a lot pass through my brain over the past several hours. First, distractions… Yesterday morning, I sat frustrated in our morning meetings because there was so much going on that distracted me. The church is close to the airport, so regular flights coming in and out, coupled with the F-15s of the Air Force that take off every few hours flying continental air defense didn’t quite drown out the noise of barking dogs and passing cars that pulled my attention from the meeting.

My starting place was one of self-righteous anger. “How can they expect me to get anything from this with all of this noise?” Armed with this, I resolved to just retreat into the recesses of my imagination and tune out all of the good work we are here to accomplish… Until Jesus decided to join the cacophony of noise with a bit of conviction. In a swift moment of correction, I felt the prompt to explore why I was so quick to retreat out of the meeting, and why I was allowing external distractions to affect my discipline. This helpful nudge invited me to avoid making excuses for the fact that I can control my own attention span. Robbed of the right to be a victim, I started to pay attention and began to think about murder.

Murder. Thou shall not. This is great advice and a noble sentiment but creating a law (Biblical or otherwise) doesn’t seem to have affected the reality that people murder. A few people might be deterred by the threat of prison, capital punishment, or separation from God and therefore won’t or don’t commit murder. But murder is still an occurrence across the world. Addressing the behavior, the outside, doesn’t seem to be a holistic solution.

Murder got me thinking about how we have taken legalism to task over the past several months, and how scripture is rife with examples of how attempts to change the outward never lead to an inner transformation. This past Sunday, I made a reference to the graveyard of partially read self-help books that litter many bookshelves in the American home. What I am seeing in all of this is that there is a well-funded industry that is predicated on helping us find our individual acceptable level of dysfunction.

Fixing the outside allows for a person to travel the road of formation until they reach their acceptable level of dysfunction. Upon this plateau, a settlement can be built that will let us put the rest of the self-help book on the shelf as we settle into the rut of outward redirection. This secular modality for and definition of “health” can also infiltrate the church when spiritual formation is replaced with behavior modification.

9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me. Remain in my love. 10 When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. 11 I have told you these things so that you will be filled with my joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! John 15:9-11 (NLT)

This passage of John’s Gospel speaks to an inner transformation that results from the call to abide, obey, or remain in the Love of the Savior. These words of Jesus demonstrate that it is an inner transformation that will ultimately affect outward behavior. So, in addressing murder, Jesus says this:

21 “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ 22 But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell. Matthew 5:21-22 (NLT)

Thou shall not murder becomes the acceptable level of dysfunction as far as behavior is concerned, but Jesus takes the point further. To be truly transformed, murder isn’t even a concern because the transformed heart addresses anger and offense before it can dehumanize and victimize. A transformed heart works to the place where love replaces anger and allows for the flow of the ministry of reconciliation.

“Don’t murder” seems like a pretty low bar to set as it relates to human behavior because dysfunction occurs long before the murder is committed. For some, clearing a low bar is the goal, and for them, if they manage to not murder anyone, mission accomplished! As followers of Jesus, we are promised an overflowing joy that comes when our bar is set by Jesus. Our metric is much higher than the most acceptable level of dysfunction, and meeting that metric comes through submission to the Spirit of the Living God as we invite Him into our lives and experience inner transformation.