I have many thoughts this morning as I read and reread Luke chapter eight...
Jesus charges two people to do two different things in this chapter.
"The man from whom the demons had gone begged that he might be with him, but Jesus sent him away, saying, 'Return to your home, and declare how much God has done for you.' And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him." - Luke 8:38-39 ESV
"And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat." - Mark 5:42-43 ESV
He told the demonized man to talk about what had happened but then he told the parents of the child He healed to keep it a secret. Interesting...
I also was focused in on this idea of a 'moment of truth.'
"And there came a man named Jairus, who was a ruler of the synagogue. And falling at Jesus' feet, he implored him to come to his house, for he had an only daughter, about twelve years of age, and she was dying. As Jesus went, the people pressed around him... While he was still speaking, someone from the ruler's house came and said, 'Your daughter is dead; do not trouble the Teacher any more.' But Jesus on hearing this answered him, 'Do not fear; only believe, and she will be well.' " - Luke 8:41-42, 49-50 ESV
The man came to get Jesus. They were delayed on the way and the situation just seemed to deteriorate further. Jairus' worse fears seem to be coming to pass but Jesus says 'only believe'.
"And when he came to the house, he allowed no one to enter with him, except Peter and John and James, and the father and mother of the child. And all were weeping and mourning for her, but he said, 'Do not weep, for she is not dead but sleeping.' And they laughed at him, knowing that she was dead." - Luke 8:51-53 ESV
Here we see that 'moment of truth'. This is how the event is recorded elsewhere.
"And when he had entered, he said to them, 'Why are you making a commotion and weeping? The child is not dead but sleeping.' And they laughed at him. But he put them all outside and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him and went in where the child was." - Mark 5:39-40 ESV
I struck me that this command to only believe was about to be tested when they got to the house. Jesus wanted the room cleared and that was only going to happen with the cooperation of Jairus. Coming to get Jesus wasn't enough. Jesus was going to request access to the child and there was going to be mocking resistance. The Father was unsure what was going to happen but He gave Jesus access in spite of the laughter.
"Taking her by the hand he said to her, 'Talitha cumi,' which means, 'Little girl, I say to you, arise.' And immediately the girl got up and began walking (for she was twelve years of age), and they were immediately overcome with amazement. And he strictly charged them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat." - Mark 5:41-43 ESV
I think many times our faith isn't this sense that everything is going to work out. No. Perhaps we have some serious doubts but we clear the room and let Jesus in any way. That is our 'only believe' moment of truth. Then God gives us that moment and doesn't want us to tell the story a thousand times to everyone we meet. He wants us to keep these moments in our heart and treasure them. We tell people the Gospel but we keep these private moments as precious treasures.
We can have both a public testimony and a private life with God and it is important that we do have both. One reinforces the other.
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Showing posts with label Privacy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Privacy. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 17, 2018
Wednesday, April 5, 2017
Taking Down The Hedges
Bryant Park in Manhattan has a long interesting history. In 1934 the park was raised four feet above street level and a hedge was installed around the park. It had formerly been an eyesore so it was a celebrated change but when I was growing up the park was a well-known drug den and you took your life in your hands if you went there at night.
In a recent renovation, they took down the hedges and changed many things. The hedges had created the wrong kind of privacy.
I haven't been back recently but from what I understand the neighborhood has changed drastically. It has been attributed in part to the changes in Bryant Park.
Reading this history it made me think of the value of transparency and not placing people or institutions up so high that you can no longer see what is going on from street level.
Jesus was right out there living His life. When he spoke he did it among the people on their level. He was a man who 'had no place to lay His head'. His home was out among the crowds. He didn't have any back rooms.
Privacy is wonderful. I love my privacy but I also realize that I can't live in the shadows. It isn't healthy.
"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." - 1 John 1:5-7 ESV
Yes. Let's walk in the light and design our spaces so that light shines in. It is a healthy prosperous way to live.
--
In a recent renovation, they took down the hedges and changed many things. The hedges had created the wrong kind of privacy.
I haven't been back recently but from what I understand the neighborhood has changed drastically. It has been attributed in part to the changes in Bryant Park.
Reading this history it made me think of the value of transparency and not placing people or institutions up so high that you can no longer see what is going on from street level.
Jesus was right out there living His life. When he spoke he did it among the people on their level. He was a man who 'had no place to lay His head'. His home was out among the crowds. He didn't have any back rooms.
Privacy is wonderful. I love my privacy but I also realize that I can't live in the shadows. It isn't healthy.
"This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin." - 1 John 1:5-7 ESV
Yes. Let's walk in the light and design our spaces so that light shines in. It is a healthy prosperous way to live.
--
Wednesday, February 15, 2017
Access Is Limited
Just sitting here thinking about Valentine's day and access to people. People want to be wanted... but access is limited. It should be limited but it gets limited in funny sometimes unhealthy ways.
Under the law God commanded Israel to keep personal access limited in certain ways. There were laws about sex. There were laws about nudity. There were laws about strangers to the land. Access was controlled.
"Jesus said to him, 'Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.' Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." - John 20:29-31 ESV
I think of the access that I have been given to God and I am truly humbled. I know more about Jesus than I do about most people even though I haven't seen Him face-to-face.
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." - Hebrews 4:15-16 ESV
By becoming a man he gained access to our perspective and He wants us to have access to His life. Amazing.
This morning I'm praying for the people in my circle who are looking for love in the wrong places and giving people access to their lives in hurtful ways. They have real needs and limited options. God help them. Then there are others that are so closed off that no one can get in... not even God.
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." - Matthew 11:28 ESV
Jesus is the One who straightens all of this out. The whore finds love and stops giving themselves away and the prude finds love and opens up in healthy ways. Jesus gives rest. Jesus restores purity. Jesus fixes the access issue.
"A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed." - Song of Songs 4:12 ESV
May we live life with healthy boundaries. Locked off is some ways but open and accessible in others. Let our private and public lives glorify God.
Thank You God. You have sent Your Son to open doors to us that never would have been opened otherwise. It is a great privilege to have access to Your throne. Help us to live with great respect for people's privacy while at the same time inviting them to be involved in the spaces where we meet You. Open doors. Open hearts. Open places so that souls will be saved. Make us creative and sensitive people.
Thank You God.
--
Under the law God commanded Israel to keep personal access limited in certain ways. There were laws about sex. There were laws about nudity. There were laws about strangers to the land. Access was controlled.
"Jesus said to him, 'Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.' Now Jesus did many other signs in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name." - John 20:29-31 ESV
I think of the access that I have been given to God and I am truly humbled. I know more about Jesus than I do about most people even though I haven't seen Him face-to-face.
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." - Hebrews 4:15-16 ESV
By becoming a man he gained access to our perspective and He wants us to have access to His life. Amazing.
This morning I'm praying for the people in my circle who are looking for love in the wrong places and giving people access to their lives in hurtful ways. They have real needs and limited options. God help them. Then there are others that are so closed off that no one can get in... not even God.
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." - Matthew 11:28 ESV
Jesus is the One who straightens all of this out. The whore finds love and stops giving themselves away and the prude finds love and opens up in healthy ways. Jesus gives rest. Jesus restores purity. Jesus fixes the access issue.
"A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed." - Song of Songs 4:12 ESV
May we live life with healthy boundaries. Locked off is some ways but open and accessible in others. Let our private and public lives glorify God.
Thank You God. You have sent Your Son to open doors to us that never would have been opened otherwise. It is a great privilege to have access to Your throne. Help us to live with great respect for people's privacy while at the same time inviting them to be involved in the spaces where we meet You. Open doors. Open hearts. Open places so that souls will be saved. Make us creative and sensitive people.
Thank You God.
--
Monday, April 25, 2016
Enter Through The Doorway
Wow. What an interesting morning. I endeavored to study privacy this morning... the good kind of privacy that allows for a covering and the bad kind that allows for corruption and cover ups.
We live in a time of exposure. Private things are made public all the time. Perhaps we long for the days when this wasn't so. We long for a more innocent time. I know I do. At the same time I know there was great behind the scenes corruption happening in those 'good old days' also. People in power did things and there was little accountability. Abuse of power leads to a need to expose. People want to feel safe and they sacrifice privacy to get that safety but the ones who suffer are the innocent ones who need privacy to grow and should be allowed a season of wonder.
"And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley... And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. Then he said to me, 'Son of man, dig in the wall.' So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. And he said to me, 'Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here.' So I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. Then he said to me, 'Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, 'The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.' " - Ezekiel 8:4, 7-12 ESV
This is a great picture of the mind that lacks faith. There is a hole in the wall. Walls are meant to be sealed as support structures. Doors and gates are where we are supposed to enter buildings but the fallen mind has a hole in it's wall.
"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." - Exodus 20:4-6 ESV
Israel was not to create graven images but there they are in a fallen person's heart. We all have the potential to have this 'chamber of imagery'. It is born of a faithless attitude.
We wonder why leaders can get so corrupt. They just have the power and resources to do (and justify) what the human heart is prone to do if God is not central in the focus of our minds.
"All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." - John 10:8-11 ESV
Jesus is the door. He is the one way we can understand ourselves. Without Him we will all have a secret life built on illusion. That illusion may be mostly dark or it may be mostly light but if there is no door that opens and closes we will dig through the wall and make images. Then exposure will become the next logical step.
"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." - Isaiah 1:18 ESV
Jesus is who we need. He is the door. He is the visible representation of an invisible God. He Is the mystery we all crave. In Him we have privacy and purity. We find a friend when we find Him. We stop sneaking and hiding because we can walk upright before God when we walk with Him.
No matter how moral or well meaning a person is they have the potential to develop a chamber of imagery and make decisions from that chamber. A leader must be someone who walks through the door and not the wall.
--
We live in a time of exposure. Private things are made public all the time. Perhaps we long for the days when this wasn't so. We long for a more innocent time. I know I do. At the same time I know there was great behind the scenes corruption happening in those 'good old days' also. People in power did things and there was little accountability. Abuse of power leads to a need to expose. People want to feel safe and they sacrifice privacy to get that safety but the ones who suffer are the innocent ones who need privacy to grow and should be allowed a season of wonder.
"And behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley... And he brought me to the entrance of the court, and when I looked, behold, there was a hole in the wall. Then he said to me, 'Son of man, dig in the wall.' So I dug in the wall, and behold, there was an entrance. And he said to me, 'Go in, and see the vile abominations that they are committing here.' So I went in and saw. And there, engraved on the wall all around, was every form of creeping things and loathsome beasts, and all the idols of the house of Israel. And before them stood seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel, with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan standing among them. Each had his censer in his hand, and the smoke of the cloud of incense went up. Then he said to me, 'Son of man, have you seen what the elders of the house of Israel are doing in the dark, each in his room of pictures? For they say, 'The LORD does not see us, the LORD has forsaken the land.' " - Ezekiel 8:4, 7-12 ESV
This is a great picture of the mind that lacks faith. There is a hole in the wall. Walls are meant to be sealed as support structures. Doors and gates are where we are supposed to enter buildings but the fallen mind has a hole in it's wall.
"You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." - Exodus 20:4-6 ESV
Israel was not to create graven images but there they are in a fallen person's heart. We all have the potential to have this 'chamber of imagery'. It is born of a faithless attitude.
We wonder why leaders can get so corrupt. They just have the power and resources to do (and justify) what the human heart is prone to do if God is not central in the focus of our minds.
"All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep." - John 10:8-11 ESV
Jesus is the door. He is the one way we can understand ourselves. Without Him we will all have a secret life built on illusion. That illusion may be mostly dark or it may be mostly light but if there is no door that opens and closes we will dig through the wall and make images. Then exposure will become the next logical step.
"Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool." - Isaiah 1:18 ESV
Jesus is who we need. He is the door. He is the visible representation of an invisible God. He Is the mystery we all crave. In Him we have privacy and purity. We find a friend when we find Him. We stop sneaking and hiding because we can walk upright before God when we walk with Him.
No matter how moral or well meaning a person is they have the potential to develop a chamber of imagery and make decisions from that chamber. A leader must be someone who walks through the door and not the wall.
--
Friday, December 11, 2015
The Underground Work Of Grace
I love how God does His work quietly inside us.
"The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high... When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built." - 1 Kings 6:2, 7 ESV
"Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" - Jeremiah 23:29 ESV
"if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." - 1 Peter 2:3-5 ESV
When people pick up the words of God and use them as a hammer everyone in earshot is disturbed by the noise. People feel beat up and get tired of living on a construction site where nothing is ever good enough.
Solomon was a wise king. He had the loud work done in secret.
There are moments when the Holy Spirit uses the word of God to break things up inside me and carve off my ego so that I will be the correct dimensions to slip right into place. But many times those are secret moments and not a spectacle with a crowd of witnesses.
"With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone." - Proverbs 25:15 ESV
The grace of God is a soft answer that does a powerful work inside a person and it does it without pounding them on the outside.
"For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." - 1 Corinthians 1:25 ESV
Foolish men think they must see sparks fly and a cloud of dust in order for something to happen. Usually it is the opposite. God does his spiritual work quietly on the inside through investment on the outside.
--
"The house that King Solomon built for the LORD was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high... When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built." - 1 Kings 6:2, 7 ESV
"Is not my word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?" - Jeremiah 23:29 ESV
"if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good. As you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious, you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ." - 1 Peter 2:3-5 ESV
When people pick up the words of God and use them as a hammer everyone in earshot is disturbed by the noise. People feel beat up and get tired of living on a construction site where nothing is ever good enough.
Solomon was a wise king. He had the loud work done in secret.
There are moments when the Holy Spirit uses the word of God to break things up inside me and carve off my ego so that I will be the correct dimensions to slip right into place. But many times those are secret moments and not a spectacle with a crowd of witnesses.
"With patience a ruler may be persuaded, and a soft tongue will break a bone." - Proverbs 25:15 ESV
The grace of God is a soft answer that does a powerful work inside a person and it does it without pounding them on the outside.
"For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men." - 1 Corinthians 1:25 ESV
Foolish men think they must see sparks fly and a cloud of dust in order for something to happen. Usually it is the opposite. God does his spiritual work quietly on the inside through investment on the outside.
--
Thursday, March 14, 2013
The Decent Order of Grace - Part 4 - Separate Forums
Since we are on the subject of decent order... what about this verse...
"Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church." 1 Cor 14:34-35
Wow. Our modern secular society loves verses like these. Some might say 'Where is the equality?' or 'See, The Bible promotes a male chauvinism that is outdated.' After all shouldn't we disregard a literal interpretation and go with a softer more culturally relevant approach?
But, In truth this verse is a great verse and much can be drawn from it. Yes, We need to understand the culture of the day but like the rest of the scriptures no alteration are necessary.
It is clear Paul is not saying women should be silent and subservient oppressed little slaves who have no voice. Paul previously gives guidelines for men and women and the correct forms of public communication.
"Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head" 1 Cor 11:4-5a
Silent here in the same word used for the translators in 1 Cor 14:28 and it meant to be covered and to speak 'in turn.' It is the same word used here for secret:
"...according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret (Sigao - G4601) since the world began" Rom 16:25b
In those days women sat on one side of the room and men on the other. Apparently the women's side was turning into a free for all during the message where there were outbursts all manner of grandstanding.
If we are pursuing love and have the Gospel as the primary focus there will be an order in the assembly and people will give honor to the speaker so that the message can be heard. We want the visitor to hear the Gospel. We need to hear the teaching.
As for the 'be under obedience, as also saith the law' part some conservative commentaries quote Gen 3:16 for this:
"Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you." Gen 3:16b
But, the book of Genesis is not the law Paul is referring to when he uses this Greek word in other places. Is he referring to Leviticus. Lev 18 forbids men to witness the nakedness of women in different roles. Aunts, daughter-in-Laws, mother-in-laws etc. It says in verse 18 it gives special instructions about sisters and marriage so that sisters will remain covered and be able to have a loving relationship. Jacob and his marriage to sisters is a great example of the trouble that this kind of interaction can cause.
Paul is making reference the the difference between a home life and a public life. It is a man's duty to cover not only his wife and family but to never uncover another woman or see 'the nakedness' of other women. The shame of public exposure should not be present in the Church.
If you have ever been at a public question and answer type gathering and someone asks a question like 'Is it right for a man to refuse to get a job after three years? The person with the hand raised in a woman and the guy sitting next to her is a fellow whose eyes are downcast. When that happens you see the value of this verse. A percentage of the people who heard that question will continue to think that man is a deadbeat whenever they see him.
Or the reverse. The hand is a male hand and the question is, 'Should a man stay married if His wife defrauds him? Poor wife. She has been uncovered, and publicly at that, it was just done in the form of question. So sad. That conversation needed a more private forum.
I don't expose my marriage to the Church. I cover my marriage in the Church and have private discourse between husband and wife while also having hospitality for the Saints. God is a God of peace not confusion. In other words in is not anything goes but order is not kept primarily by prohibition. Peace and the pursuit of love is the forward momentum that keeps people.
Gracious order rids us of multiple personalities and social masks but it encourages an order that provides a covering for people. It creates forums where people have dignity and sense the great worth they have as human beings. That means levels of privacy.
Dirty laundry aired and spread out in the public arena is never edifying. Pastors and leaders can talk in private with people and what would have been mortifying becomes edifying.
"Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church." 1 Cor 14:34-35
Wow. Our modern secular society loves verses like these. Some might say 'Where is the equality?' or 'See, The Bible promotes a male chauvinism that is outdated.' After all shouldn't we disregard a literal interpretation and go with a softer more culturally relevant approach?
But, In truth this verse is a great verse and much can be drawn from it. Yes, We need to understand the culture of the day but like the rest of the scriptures no alteration are necessary.
It is clear Paul is not saying women should be silent and subservient oppressed little slaves who have no voice. Paul previously gives guidelines for men and women and the correct forms of public communication.
"Every man who prays or prophesies with his head covered dishonors his head, but every wife who prays or prophesies with her head uncovered dishonors her head" 1 Cor 11:4-5a
Silent here in the same word used for the translators in 1 Cor 14:28 and it meant to be covered and to speak 'in turn.' It is the same word used here for secret:
"...according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret (Sigao - G4601) since the world began" Rom 16:25b
In those days women sat on one side of the room and men on the other. Apparently the women's side was turning into a free for all during the message where there were outbursts all manner of grandstanding.
If we are pursuing love and have the Gospel as the primary focus there will be an order in the assembly and people will give honor to the speaker so that the message can be heard. We want the visitor to hear the Gospel. We need to hear the teaching.
As for the 'be under obedience, as also saith the law' part some conservative commentaries quote Gen 3:16 for this:
"Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you." Gen 3:16b
But, the book of Genesis is not the law Paul is referring to when he uses this Greek word in other places. Is he referring to Leviticus. Lev 18 forbids men to witness the nakedness of women in different roles. Aunts, daughter-in-Laws, mother-in-laws etc. It says in verse 18 it gives special instructions about sisters and marriage so that sisters will remain covered and be able to have a loving relationship. Jacob and his marriage to sisters is a great example of the trouble that this kind of interaction can cause.
Paul is making reference the the difference between a home life and a public life. It is a man's duty to cover not only his wife and family but to never uncover another woman or see 'the nakedness' of other women. The shame of public exposure should not be present in the Church.
If you have ever been at a public question and answer type gathering and someone asks a question like 'Is it right for a man to refuse to get a job after three years? The person with the hand raised in a woman and the guy sitting next to her is a fellow whose eyes are downcast. When that happens you see the value of this verse. A percentage of the people who heard that question will continue to think that man is a deadbeat whenever they see him.
Or the reverse. The hand is a male hand and the question is, 'Should a man stay married if His wife defrauds him? Poor wife. She has been uncovered, and publicly at that, it was just done in the form of question. So sad. That conversation needed a more private forum.
I don't expose my marriage to the Church. I cover my marriage in the Church and have private discourse between husband and wife while also having hospitality for the Saints. God is a God of peace not confusion. In other words in is not anything goes but order is not kept primarily by prohibition. Peace and the pursuit of love is the forward momentum that keeps people.
Gracious order rids us of multiple personalities and social masks but it encourages an order that provides a covering for people. It creates forums where people have dignity and sense the great worth they have as human beings. That means levels of privacy.
Dirty laundry aired and spread out in the public arena is never edifying. Pastors and leaders can talk in private with people and what would have been mortifying becomes edifying.
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