The Joke's On Us

 

February 23, 2024

Good morning,

This morning, as I was reviewing some of my older writing, I came upon “The Joke’s On Us” from 2006, almost twenty years ago. With the proliferation of AI, it is more relevant today than it was then. When creators abdicate the dignity and calling of cocreation, they sell their souls to the Beast.

To think that magazines have been publishing AI – generated articles under fictitious names and see nothing inherently wrong with it – and to think that this is only the beginning. But then again, if we truly are the products of time plus matter plus chance then none of this matters…however, if we are not – then what questions ought we to be asking? O how our pragmatism and utilitarianism is swallowing us and destroying us – within and without the professing church.

A photo you took with your phone is not the photo you took with your phone if your AI photo software manipulates the people in your photo – such as creating smiles where there were no smiles. How much of our souls will we sell?

When we abdicate our calling as creators, and give ourselves and our children and grandchildren over to virtual reality in its many forms – some subtle, some not – are we not worshipping the Beast and inviting that hideous strength into our souls?

When the consumers become the consumed, is not the joke on us?

Much love,

Bob

           

 

The Joke’s On Us

From Creators to Consumers

By: Robert L. Withers

©2006 Robert L. Withers

 

            “Then God said, Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness,” Genesis 1:26a.

 

            Dorothy L. Sayers, in commenting on this passage in The Mind of the Maker, writes, “…had the author of Genesis anything particular in his mind when he wrote [this passage]? It is observable that in the passage leading up to the statement about man, he has given no detailed information about God. Looking at man, he sees in him something essentially divine, but when we turn back to see what he says about the original upon which the “image” of God was modeled, we find only the single assertion, “God created.” The characteristic common to God and man is apparently that: the desire and the ability to make things.”

 

            In her discussion of the metaphor “Creator” Sayers continues, “This particular metaphor has been much less studied than the metaphor of “the Father”…partly because most of us have a very narrow experience of the act of creation. It is true that everybody is a “maker” in the simplest meaning of the term. We spend our lives putting matter together in new patterns and so “creating” forms which were not there before. This is so intimate and universal a function of nature that we scarcely ever think about it.”

 

            A major credit card company currently has an advertising campaign centered around the issue of identity theft. Actors and actresses portray consumers who are victims of stolen credit card information with the advertisement assuring us that if we are customers/consumers of the advertiser that we will be protected from fraudulent credit card charges – we will be protected from identity theft.

 

            Do we see the irony in this advertisement? Has it occurred to us that the people who are mouthing protections against identity theft are the ones who are rapaciously engaged in the practice?

 

            We moan and lament the displacement of manufacturing jobs in the United States. We blame cheap labor and multinational corporations. We struggle to understand how our domestic Big Three automakers have made buying an “American” car more problematic with each passing year.

 

The phrase, “They don’t make them like they used to,” is more seldom used than ever because fewer and fewer of us can remember a time when “they” made whatever “them” is at all.

 

We pay to watch people in Colonial Williamsburg make things. Human creation has become a novelty in the United Sates. Human creation is so rare that it is marketable. As we watch the cobbler or the cooper or the silversmith we wonder, “How does his mind work? Fascinating. I could never do that.”

 

The Apostle Paul writes, “Professing to be wise, they [mankind] became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man…”

 

What is this “glory” that we exchanged? While there are likely many facets to it, because the idea of “image” is rooted in Genesis 1:26 and because Genesis 1:26 is rooted in the Creator, the “glory” speaks to us of our identity in God as co-creators, or creators with a lower case “c.”

 

The downward spiral of humanity that Paul depicts in Romans Chapter One is a descent from a core identity rooted in the Creator-God to a black hole identity which sucks all things into itself and which perceives all things as consumable goods – material, sexual, emotional and spiritual (with a lower case “s”).

 

We may still remark from time-to-time that, “I’m just a number,” but that is not our identity. We don’t really think of ourselves as numbers, for the numbers are but a means to exercise our identities. Our PIN numbers, our Social Security numbers, our valued customer numbers at myriad retailers; they are all a means to an end, a means to pursue the great exchange of image from creators to consumers.

 

How many advertisements do you read, listen to, or watch during the course of a day, a week or a year? How about your children and grandchildren? What is the message of the advertiser? What is the language? How do we listen and respond? Consumer-speak is the lingua franca of our society. As a nation of little potentates the merchants of the world bow before our thrones plying us with their exotic delicacies, from French fries to luxury cars to cruises to a weed-free lawn.

 

Do we stop to consider the royal debt with which medieval kings and queens constantly struggled? But we needn’t worry, for the moneylenders are quick to assure us that they will protect us from identity theft. In fact one credit card firm’s television advertisement goes so far as to indicate that it will protect us against savage Vikings seeking to ravish us with high interest rates. I am sure we all sleep better knowing that Leif Erickson is not a threat.

 

And lest we take our consumerism lightly, let us not forget that the freedom of the world rests upon our narcissism. What other people in the history of the world have been implored by its leaders in response to an enemy attack to go out and spend money to keep the economy moving – we’ll show them!

 

The prophet Ezekiel was taken by the Spirit of God to the Temple in Jerusalem and recorded this witness, “So I went in [the Temple] and saw, and there – every sort of creeping thing, abominable beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel, portrayed all around on the walls.”  Ezekiel’s contemporaries exchanged the image and glory of God for idols. They imported the images and language of idols into the Temple – that which was holy was profaned. We would never do that…would we?

 

We would never introduce the language of consumerism into our churches. We would never measure our commitment to others based on the benefit we derive from the relationship. We would never critique a Sunday morning church experience (I hesitate to use the word “worship”) as we would a performance at the Landmark Theatre.

 

We would never make bestsellers of titles which exalt the consumer Christian and relegate the Creator to a butler-servant. We would never engage in promiscuous spiritually, a spiritually bereft of the Cross of Jesus Christ.

 

We would never substitute the call of Christ to deny ourselves and take up the Cross and follow Him for a Christianity centered on ourselves.

 

We would never lack the courage to look within ourselves, just as Ezekiel looked within the Temple, to see the images on the walls of our hearts and minds, our own personal pantheons – images which declare that we have exchanged the glory of the Creator for that of the consumer.

 

The joke is on us.

Revelation

 Good morning dear friends,

My friend, Dr. David Palmer, has just started a series on Revelation at Kenwood Baptist Church in Cincinnati. I love David's passion for Jesus Christ and his devotion to Scripture. I hope you will consider watching this series and pondering how Jesus is speaking to us in our generation.

Here is a link to the Sunday service, the message begins around minute 30.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhK9ClH6rkA

Here is a link if you want to know a bit more about David.

https://www.gordonconwell.edu/faculty/adjunct/david-palmer/

much love,

Bob

Philippians 4:6 - 9 to Frank (6)

 

Good morning Frank,

Let’s please look at Philippians 4:9.

“The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, do, and the God of peace will be with you.”

What do we see here?

I’m reminded of James 1:22, “But prove yourselves doers of the word, and not merely hearers who delude themselves.” Also of Matthew 7:24 – 27 and of the difference between those who hear and do the Word of Jesus and those who hear the Word of Jesus without responding in obedience.

But of course we have a more fundamental question with Philippians 4:9, and that is, “Just what are these “things” that Paul is writing about?”

What must be the foundation of our answer? Shall it be guesswork? Shall it be hearsay? Shall it be personal experience and knowledge?

Paul writes that if we do the things we have learned and received and heard and seen in him that “the God of peace” will be with us. In verse 7 Paul writes of “the peace of God” and here in verse 9 he writes of “the God of peace.” Verse 6 leads us into the experience of the peace of God of verse 7, and verse 9a leads us into the God of peace of 9b.

In the Upper Room Jesus speaks of giving us His peace (John 14:1, 27; 16:33), but He also speaks of us obeying His commandments (John 14:15, 21, 23; 15:10). How can we obey that which we don’t know? How can we know that of which we are willfully ignorant?

How can we know His Word if we do not read and receive and respond in obedience to His Word by His grace and the Holy Spirit?

How can we know what Paul taught so that we might learn it and receive it if we do not read both what Paul wrote and about what Paul did? How can we hear Paul and see Paul if we do not read Paul’s letters and read about Paul in the Acts of the Apostles? And let us keep in mind that we are reading more than the words of Paul, that we are foremost reading the Word of God (2 Peter 3:14 – 16).

Consider that Peter, who walked with God of very God in Jesus Christ, testifies that Paul is writing Scripture, the very Word of God! (See also 2 Peter 1:16 – 21 and 2 Peter 1:4).

Learning and receiving and hearing and seeing Paul, the Word of God living in and through Paul, when pondering Philippians 4:9, begins at the very least with his letter to the Philippians; in other words, it begins with the immediate context. Then it moves to Acts Chapter 16 and Paul and Silas coming to Philippi.

Beyond this, we embrace the body of Paul’s letters, and beyond that we embrace the entire Bible, for Paul ministered out of the entire body of Scripture, both out of what had been written and out of what was being written – for all is a unity in Christ, the Word of God, the Logos of God, “the Word was God.”

If there is anything close to a “quick start guide” to knowing the peace of God in 4:6 – 9 it is the immediate context of the entire epistle, but this letter is hardly a “quick start” for consider the depth of what precedes 4:6 – 9.

The person who is not willing to journey in obedience through 1:1 – 4:5 is not likely to know the peace of 4:6 – 9. Will we behold the majesty of Jesus Christ, His Incarnation, His death, and His exaltation (2:1 – 11)? Will we count all things as loss in order that we may know Christ Jesus (3:7 – 11)? Do we see ourselves as citizens of heaven (3:20)? Do we have a growing desire to depart and be with Christ (1:23; see also 2 Cor. 5:1 – 10)? Is our love growing in discernment and knowledge (1:9 – 11)? Are we embracing suffering for Jesus Christ (1:29)?

Well, these are just some of the things to ponder as we consider what Paul taught and what we see and hear in Paul – as we consider the import of 4:9.

To know and experience 4:6 – 9 we must begin with 1:1 and work forward, and to do that we must actually read the Word, ponder the Word, receive the Word, and seek God’s grace and the Holy Spirit to engraft the Word within us and transform us into the image of the Firstborn Son (Rom. 8:29).

What a glorious relationship we are called to in our Father, our Lord Jesus, and the Holy Spirit…and with one another!

What a calling to “know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship [koinonia!] of His sufferings” (3:10)!

This is our purpose and destiny in Jesus Christ; with Paul let us forget what is behind and reach forward to what is ahead, pressing onward toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus! (3:13 – 14).

Hallelujah!!!

 

Much love,

Bob

   

Philippians 4:6 - 9 to Frank (5)

 

Good morning Frank,

Thanks for your note yesterday.

One of the many reasons I strongly encourage us to read the Psalms every day is that in the Psalms we encounter all of the vicissitudes of life – from the lowest lows to the highest highs, from being surrounded by friends, to betrayal, to facing overt enemies – and of course our most dangerous enemies are those which live within us.

Above all, as we learn to see Christ in the Psalms, and ourselves in Him, they become a glorious realm in which to live – even when we walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death.

I have a friend who began reading the Psalms every day a few years ago, and after reading Psalm 88 for the first time he called me pretty upset, for there is no resolution in this Psalm. I said to him, “Well, isn’t this what life can be like? We have days or seasons in which all seems to be a dead end.”

As it so happens, in my own reading schedule I read Psalm 88 the same day I read Psalm 118, so I took him to Psalm 118, which is a Psalm of Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. Just as Psalm 22, it has its bleak moments, but then it also has its Resurrection! There is always a resurrection for the sons and daughters of the Living God.

Paul writes to Timothy to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ (2 Tim. 2:1 – 10). When we consider the call of Jesus Christ in Mark 8:31 – 38, we ought not to be surprised that life has its challenges, following Jesus will cost us our lives – but O what a Greater Life He gives to us, a Life that begins today and carries us forward into the eternals. (When you read 2 Corinthians, you will see that suffering is a deep theme, a theme found throughout Scripture).

On my office wall is the following, hand lettered by an artistic friend of mine and gifted to me, “Let us give what we cannot keep, to gain what we cannot lose.” This is from something that Jim Elliot wrote, “He is no fool, who gives what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose.”

Also on my wall is a print of a lion overlooking a lamb on a sacrificial altar – echoes of Revelation Chapter 5. Whether as a pastor, or as an executive, this print has been on my office wall – if someone came into my office when I was serving as a CFO or COO, they would see this print – it represents both the One to whom I belong, and the Way I am called to live.

You mentioned memorization. I think the most important thing in the beginning is to drive the car. There are a few ways to read the Scriptures, but I think in the beginning the best way is to simply read and listen and get to know the lay of the land. Then I’d say that learning to be reflective and devotional and prayerful and to listen comes along with that. So I’ll have a section that I’m reading to read, to refresh my experience, and then a section that I am taking very s-l-o-w in order to listen, to ponder, to pray, to explore. And of course I have the Psalms every day. There is a section of John that I have been reading weekly for years – perhaps it is my nexus in Christ.

The Church Fathers taught that Christ became as we are, so that we might become who He is. I believe this is our inheritance and calling in Him, to be transformed into His image, individually and as His People – for His glory. (2 Cor. 3:17 – 18; Rom. 8:28 – 30; Col. 1:25 – 29; Heb. 2:9 – 13; Eph. 4:11 – 16; John Chapter 17).

This means that we share with Him in His Priesthood, and that means that we are both priest and sacrifice – 1 John 3:16; 1 Peter 2:4 – 10; Rev. 1:6.

Shalom! More later the Lord willing.

 

Bob

Philippians 4:6 - 9 to Frank (4)

 

Dear Frank,

There is a sense in which Philippians 4:8 reminds me of the two central trees in the Garden of Eden.

“Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, ponder these things.”

This certainly is akin to partaking of the Tree of Life, which of course is Jesus Christ. Since we all must eat, if we are not feeding from the Tree of Life we are feeding from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil – or worse. If we are not feeding from the Life of Christ we are feeding from death.

People can mistake Philippians 4:8 for positive thinking, but positive thinking is just as deadly as negative thinking, if not more so. Why? Because those entrapped in negative thinking hopefully know they have a problem and need deliverance, while those drinking the elixir of positive thinking believe they have found the answer to successful living and are doing fine – when they need a Savior, when they need to come to the end of themselves at the Cross, when they need to die and rise again in Jesus Christ (see Romans 6). Our strengths can be more dangerous than our weaknesses for we tend to rely on them and not draw our life from Christ.

How do we know what is true, honorable, right, pure, lovely, and of good repute? How do we recognize excellence and that which is praiseworthy? We can only know these things through Jesus Christ and His Word. The world, including the religious world, is deceptive. The political, academic, artistic, sports, and business worlds are all deceptive – the benchmarks and values of the present age are not to be trusted. Only Jesus Christ and the Scriptures can be fully trusted, only Christ can refine our vision and understanding, only He can renew our minds as we present ourselves as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1 – 2). We are called to live according to the Spirit and not according to the natural or carnal man (Romans Chapter 8).

How can we know that which is truly Beautiful and truly True and truly Good without knowing His Word, the Bible? How can our vision be matured and refined without our eyes being fixed on Jesus and His Word – for He reveals Himself in and through the Bible? (Hebrews 12:2; Colossians 3:1 – 4; 2:1 – 3).

Our calling is to meditate on His Word day and night (Psalm 1) as we teach others to obey all that He has commanded us (Matt. 28:18 – 20). But how can we make disciples if we are not disciples ourselves? How can we teach others what we do not know?

How can I be a husband, a father, a son, a brother, a friend, a neighbor, a coworker, if the Bible, the Word of God, is not my center of gravity in Jesus Christ, if the Scriptures are not forming my soul, in the Holy Spirit, into the image of Jesus Christ?

Why will we not eat of the Tree of Life?

God’s Word is “more desirable than gold, yes, than much fine gold” (Ps. 19:10). The Bible is a treasure house of beauty and light and life and joy – it is where we meet Jesus and commune with Him, it is where we know the koinonia of the Trinity, it is where we discover our lost and restored identity as sons and daughters of the Living God.

And yet…we ignore the Scriptures. We think the Book is nothing but data and information and that we can take it or leave it. Men and women down through the centuries have given their lives to preserve and transmit the Bible, and we can take it or leave it. There are parts of the world today where people risk their lives to distribute Scripture and share its message, and we ignore the Book. Functionally the Bible means nothing to us.

There are men and women who still devote their lives, and the lives of their families, to translating the Bible in difficult cultures and regions – while we refuse to open the Book even as we profess a high view of Scripture.

Why, people don’t even bring their Bibles to church anymore – are they too heavy?

And then we wonder about how our children are living? We wonder about our troubled marriages? We wonder about the collapse of society? If salt has lost its saltiness, what good is it?

Frank, the only way to know the Bible is to read the Bible. The only way to build an Ark for those we love is to know the Word and allow the Word to live within us and through us – for that is being Christ to others.

Do we truly love our spouses and families?

If we say we do, then we will see the proof of that in our devotion to Christ and His Word, the Bible. Anything less and we are deluding ourselves.

More to follow, the Lord willing…

 

Much love,

Bob

 

Philippians 4:6 - 9 to Frank (3)

 

Dear Frank,

Have you noticed that there are two express contingencies in the text of Philippians 4:6 – 9? First we have verse 6, and then we have verse 9. There is also an implied contingency in verse 8. While verse 9 is what I really want to consider, let’s first look at verses 6 and 8.

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”

Simply put, this is a picture of a man or woman in koinonia with God, living in intimacy with Him. The action and attitude of thanksgiving is critical, for thanksgiving entails gratitude and acknowledgment of the goodness of God and the sovereignty to God.

When people speak of wanting to know and do the will of God, they often do not mean what they say because they want to live life on their own terms, not on the terms of the Cross, not on the terms of worship, not on the terms of confessing that Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords.

How do I know this? Because when I point folks to 1 Thessalonians 5:28 they often say, “Yeah…but.”

“In everything give thanks; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” (1 Thess. 5:28).

Thanksgiving is God’s will for us, yet we say “Yeah but I have other things to do. Yeah but I have pressing needs. Yeah but I want Him to give me something big to do.”

I think that Paul might have a difficult time hearing such objections, for after all Paul and Silas sang praises to God after they had been beaten and thrown in jail in Philippi – there were no “Yeah buts” coming from them, but rather worship and praise and thanksgiving. No prison that we may find ourselves in can withstand worship and praise and thanksgiving to Jesus Christ. But let me hasten to add that this is a way of life, this is not a method or a “how to” program – our Father is interested in our way of life in Jesus Christ.

Is thanksgiving our way of life?

“Through Him then, let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that give thanks to His name.” (Hebrews 13:15).

Thanksgiving and praise and worship can indeed be sacrificial; we worship when we don’t feel like it, we worship when we are in difficulties, we worship when we are in a valley of the shadow of death, we worship when darkness covers the land – when it envelops our souls. The core and ground of our being must be loving God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and worshipping Him in Spirit and in truth with thanksgiving and praise.

Indeed, I’m not sure that we really know what thanksgiving and worship are until we know what the Cross is in our own lives, until our souls are pierced with sorrow and distress, until we have come to the end of ourselves.

When we worship God, God is our Refuge and Rock, and when He is our Rock and Refuge His peace guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. In worship we experience koinonia with the Trinity, we are drawn into Him and He comes to us – and we walk together in the cool of the day.

There is no question in my heart and mind that our days must begin with worship, for the early moments of each day set the trajectory for that day. When we awake in the morning our primary purpose for that day is to worship God – all other activities must be subservient to worship, and we declare this fact when we worship Him…this is how we lift-off from each day’s launch pad. This must be our testimony and our way of life!

My dear brother, I have worked as a laborer, a carpenter, in a rock quarry, as CFO of one of the largest closely – held group of companies in a region, and as a COO. And of course I have served as a pastor. I have no idea what it is to work only 40 hours a week. In business, most of my positions had the pressure of generating income for companies, providing employment for men and women and their families.

I write the above to say that throughout my life, no matter my vocation, that worship has developed as the ground of my being in Jesus Christ – it has been a nonnegotiable element of my life in Christ – we do what is important to us, we make time for what is critical to us, there is no excuse not to worship God as a way of life in Christ, no reason why we should not begin our day with worship and continue to worship Him throughout the day, giving thanks to God in Christ.

“Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father.” Colossians 3:17.

You and I have talked of being Christ to our families, of being Christ to the people around us. We cannot be Christ to others if we are not worshipping Him as a way of life, if we are not offering thanksgiving to Him and praising Him and adoring Him and loving Him.

Worship is critical to knowing the peace of God which surpasses understanding.

 

Much love…more later,

 

Bob

Philippians 4:6 - 9 to Frank (2)

 

Dear Frank,

What do you see in Philippians 4:6 – 9?

While there are many facets to this kaleidoscope, which is I imagine inexhaustible, I’ll touch on just a few.

I have a friend who tells me that when people come to him for help in Christ that what they usually seek is a “quick start guide.” That is, they want their problems solved quickly so they can get on with life and pretty much continue what they were doing before the problems arose. I suppose this is human nature, and therein lies part of our true problem – human nature. We want to support our human nature, to sustain ourselves, to make ourselves better. As one misguided popular personality says, we want our “best lives now.”

Well my friend, here is the thing, our loving God has one solution (if we can call it that) for our human nature, the Cross of Jesus Christ – the death of ourselves. Our Father is not interested in fixing something that can’t be fixed, in renovating that which is already dead. (Yes, yes, there is language of renewal and renovation and correction in the Bible, but its context is the new creation in Christ, its context is Jesus Christ as our Foundation).

There is a sense in which we have been crucified with Christ (see Romans 6 and Galatians 2:20; 6:14), and also a sense in which we are being crucified with Christ. In other words, while we have been crucified with Christ once and for all, the outworking of that crucifixion continues in our lives. The reason that all things work together for good for those who love God is that the “good” is our transformation into the image of Jesus Christ – Romans 8:28 – 30. If we don’t “get this” then we don’t get Romans 8:28 – and I’ll say that few professing believers do in fact “get this.” We are too self-centered to see that life is about bringing glory to Jesus Christ, it is not about us.

And so, when folks come to Philippians 4:6 – 9 they often view it as a quick start guide; they want to immediately experience the peace of God which passes all understanding and get on with their lives – not necessarily the lives that Christ has for them, but rather their lives as they have planned, lives centered around themselves as the center of the solar system. (Don’t we all want to be the sun in the solar system? Don’t we tend to view all things as being oriented toward ourselves?)

Is this not akin to the crowds seeking Jesus for the bread and fish? (John 6:26). We ought not to deceive ourselves into thinking that Jesus will dumb down His demands and claims upon us, for the result of His Message to the crowd was, “As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.” (John 6:66). Do we forget that Jesus is God and that He deserves all that we have and all that we are? Do we forget that we have been bought with a price and that we no longer belong to ourselves? (1 Cor. 6:19 – 20).

 

What do we see in Philippians 4:6 – 9?

 

Much love,

 

Bob

Philippians 4:6 - 9 to Frank (1)

For the next few days, the Lord willing, I'm going to share some thoughts with you that I shared with a friend. Frank is not his real name. I hope there is something here for you. Bob 

Dear Frank,

I’ve been pondering our phone conversation and have some follow – up thoughts. In fact, I’ll say that our conversation challenged me in a number of ways that are much broader than our immediate discussion. While I don’t know how much I’ll be able to share with you, I’d like to begin with this note and I hope there is something here for you.

You mentioned the peace of God and how it is eluding you. I think you alluded to Philippians 4:7. Do you mind taking a look at Philippians 4:6 - 9?

What do you see? Please read it carefully, s-l-o-w-l-y.

Please write down what you see in this passage.

How would you share this passage, in your own words, with others?

I'll write some more tomorrow…the Lord willing.

Shalom,

Bob