Seekers of His Will: Thoughts Regarding the Zimmerman Trial

I'm sure everyone by now knows about the Trayvon Martin, George Zimmerman incident last year as well as the trial that ensued and recently came to a close this week. I found myself during the media coverage of this trial criticizing and condemning the hypocrisy and inconsistencies of what I was witnessing. But lo and behold, every time I went to social media to "righteously-vent" I felt the Lord pressing me to self examine myself with the very sin issues I placed on others: entitlement, hatred, false testimony, fear... At the root of every single one of these I have at one point found myself attached. Now, I believe that by faith in Jesus Christ those ties are severed, but the indwelling imprint of my association with them remains. So instead of letting me post in frustration and confusion under the guise of promoting His kingdom, the Lord led me to self reflection. Here are some things that I feel I've gained from the process thus far:

Be careful that when you speak for the Lord, that you are speaking from the fullness of His heart, not just from a part of His heart that validates your perspective in a given moment or situation.
As His people today, we can't afford to give anything less because by doing so we limit the perception of His interaction with humanity to that of an imaginary friend who thinks just like us and exists to validate our emotional inconsistencies, fleshly inclinations, and self-centeredness. I think the world's seen enough of that already, don't you?

He lives in you, but He also lives outside of this fallen world and is the only One with a viewpoint without blemish.
Compare your vision to His and you may find that you have your ducks in order; you may find that you were on the right track but missed something along the way; you may find that you are completely off. So hold your perceptions loosely, and whatever they may be in your eyes, right or wrong, make it your effort and life mission to seek and share His so that we may see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. This is where unity is birthed, under the mind of One, that is Christ (Philippians 2:2 & Romans 15:5-6).

Some good ways to tell if you are truly speaking for the Lord in a given situation:

• Do your words have hope in them?

• Do your words resemble Christ's character?

• Do your words seem impossible to fulfill without the aid of God's Holy Spirit (are your words super-natural)?

• Do your words advance the kingdom of God?

If you answered yes to all of these, you may be on the right track.

You will find that this method may cause you to lean on the side of silence rather than speech because the very words you would speak that are from God go against your own flesh as well. Is this not what the prophets of the Old Testament suffered? The messenger Isaiah, in the presence of the Lord bursts out in lamentation of his filthy lips (Isaiah 6). Ezekiel, when receiving instruction for his ministry is charged by the Lord to not only speak the word of the Lord, but to first eat it himself (Ezekiel 2-3). Jonah, in rebellion of the Lord knew the will and word of God so well that he ran from being a part of it because the ideals he held from his own perspective were not met (Jonah 4:1-3). If he got his way, the entire city of Nineveh would have been destroyed in judgment. Now I'm not saying that we should keep silent in the face of injustice. I'm saying that it is always better to speak from a place of humility and obedience rather than self-righteousness. I know times are rough for many of us but please do not lose the kingdom perspective, and if you've never had it, now's a better time than ever to get it.

"For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls. You have not yet resisted to bloodshed, striving against sin."

―(Hebrews 12:3-4)

With the Love of Christ,

One that is also completely dependent on the work and power of the Holy Spirit to be obedient to this word,

Ya boi Thaddeus.

I Got You Covered

Or do you not know, brethren (for I speak to those who know the law), that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives? ² For the woman who has a husband is bound by the law to her husband as long as he lives. But if the husband dies, she is released from the law of her husband. ³ So then if, while her husband lives, she marries another man, she will be called an adulteress; but if her husband dies, she is free from that law, so that she is no adulteress, though she has married another man. ⁴ Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God. ⁵ For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. ⁶ But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

― (Romans 7:1-6)

This passage is very good, haha. No really, Saint Paul used a really descriptive metaphor to unpack what really happens to us in the spiritual plane when we surrender to Jesus Christ as Lord and savior. But first, let's look at a word.

Dominion | kyrieuō |
verb

1) to be lord of, to rule, have dominion over

2) of things and forces

      a) to exercise influence upon, to have power over

I show the greek word and the Strong's translation, not just to show off (though I do think it's kinda cool), but to get to the root of what's being said in the passage. When it says "the law has dominion(kyrieuō) over a man as long as he lives" it means that the law is lord of a man, the law rules a man, the law exercises influence upon a man (please excuse "man," the male specific sounding term. I assure you the greek can be translated as an all inclusive gender noun, though if I were a woman reading this I'd wish it wasn't because it's not good news). That's a pretty bleak statement considering how in Romans 3 it basically says that the law is established so that "all the world may become guilty before God" (Romans 3:19).

Well wait a minute, maybe we need to take a second pit stop before looking at this marriage metaphor. Sorry reader, but I do want this to be clear for you as well as for me.

¹⁹ Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. ²⁰ Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. ²¹ But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, ²² even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; ²³ for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

 ― (Romans 3:19-23)

Cool stuff bro.
Yeah, at first glance, it's pretty condemning. Well, it is the law... But peep this definition of the word "says":

Say | legō |
verb

1) to say, to speak

    a) affirm over, maintain

    b) to teach

    c) to exhort, advise, to command, direct

    d) to point out with words, intend, mean, mean to say

    e) to call by name, to call, name

    f) to speak out, speak of, mention

That means when the passage says "whatever the law says(legō), it says to those who are under the law" it's really saying "if you are under the law, then the law affirms over you, teaches you, exhorts, advises... etc." The one that stands out to me most is that the law "calls by name" those who are under it. So if that's the state of the man under the law, then what is the state of the man not under the law? I'm glad I asked, here's the good part. If someone's no longer under the law then that means the law does not speak(legō) to them. It doesn't call them by name, it doesn't command us, direct us, exhort us, it doesn't even teach us. WHOA. Hold up. What does that mean? And if the law doesn't teach us and command us then what does? That very thing that we are to be married to: "the righteousness of God apart from the law," "the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe."

Well... what if this word "legō" just had a broader use in the greek and isn't being used in such a specific way as I claim? That's not even a valid argument because the greek uses two different words for "says" in the same sentence, the second one being more general(laleō). I believe Paul meant legō when he said legō.

                                                *   *   *

Ok, now let's check out that passage in chapter 7. Read it again at the top if you need a refresher. Paul is basically saying:

"Imagine that you're a woman married to a man. The law of marriage is 'til death do us part.' So if you marry someone else while both of you are still alive and married, that's adultery. But, if one of you dies, the other is freed from the law of marriage ('til death do us part') because that law was fulfilled. The living spouse may now marry again freely without judgment of the law."

This is how Christ coming to "fulfill the law" is a valid statement. This is how Christ serves in this exchange. We get the benefit of dying according to the law(fulfilling it's penalty) without actually dying. And now we're free to marry into new rulership, under new dominion(kyrieuō). "Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another."

So now those who identify with the Son of God's death by believing in Him become spiritually dead to the law just like He did, by physically being dead. And the good news that comes out of this is that by identifying with His journey through death, we also identify with His journey back to life through His resurrection. Now, we also get to walk in newness of life (Romans 6:4).

Now let's look at something interesting. Thanks for reading this far, I promise we're almost done.

⁵ For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death. ⁶ But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.

― (Romans 7:5-6)

So if we're not in the flesh (under the law), then let's stop acting like it. A lot of times I live my life like I'm trying to meet a standard or reach some goal of moral purity to be accepted by God, or even to accept myself. That way of thinking, that lifestyle of being under the dominion of the law, arouses sinful passions the passage says. By the very extra effort we put out to meet a standard that we've already been freely given, we fall into temptation more easily. You can take the word's word for it for sure, but what might be even more helpful is to make that personal connection with your own story. When has this been true for you?

Believers, if we live like the law has no power over us, which it doesn't, then we can truly "serve in the newness of the Spirit," not under a fear of rejection, but with the aim of worship. I love how the passage says "For when we were in the flesh." That's past tense, and the truth is no matter how much you feel bound by the law or are even working to be perfect under the law, if you believe in Christ He's already got you covered. Falling short is no longer a present reality. That's how much He loves you.

"evoL: We Got It Backwards" Mixtape

For anyone that follows my blog but missed the release of my mixtape, here it is (yeah, I'm calling it a mixtape. My generation wouldn't know how to categorize it any other way if I didn't). It's a lyrical collection of mine, processing through a lot of faith-based spiritual revelations and lessons. And I want to share it.

Enjoy!