Daddy > the dragon ninja

I was catching a little Saturday morning TMNT when a dragon wrapped Master Splinter up in his tail and began thrashing him around, slamming him into the ground and surrounding buildings. My two-year old looked at me and said, "that dragon strong like you, Daddy!" Oh ya, that's the way it should be. The paradigm by which my boys evaluate the strength of a medieval, reptilian, martial warrior is me. Ah... fatherhood.

The Perfect Father

Matthew 19:14 but Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven."

As I search the Scriptures I do not see very many references to God’s fatherhood. They are there, please don’t misunderstand. But when compared to the frequency of references to God’s justice, righteousness, holiness, and others of His “harder” attributes, His fatherhood may appear to be a characteristic of lesser import. Reaching such a conclusion, however, would be to misunderstand the character of God.

Being a father (poor example as I am of God’s fatherhood) has taught me much about the character of my heavenly Father. I do not act as a father. I am a father. When I read a book to my kids I don’t preface it with, “as your father I am connecting with you in a special way through the reading of this book for your education and the strengthening of our relationship.” When I discipline them I don’t cite my parental authority to carry it out. When I get up before dawn to go to work I don’t announce that my motivation to do so is sleeping in the next room. Nor are these are actions a representation of a mere segment of my life. They are actions overflowing from who I now am. I am a father.

So it is with my Father. He need not say it frequently to make true. He demonstrates it throughout His Word and throughout my life. He provides as a father, disciplines as a father, instructs as a father, even when He doesn’t announce it in those terms. God’s attributes are eternal and therefore present in each and every one of His actions and statements. Unlike my imperfect fatherhood, His actions and statements are perfectly consistent according to His fatherly love for me. And so, I need not fear His “harder” attributes because it is my Father who is the Judge, my Father who is righteous, my Father who is holy, and all the while inviting me, His rebellious son, to walk in a father-son relationship with Him.

Even now through the unspeakable blessing of being a father myself He is drawing me closer to Himself – to His fatherly love towards me. The series of posts that will follow are a handful of those lessons that I rarely share out loud because my leak-happy tear-ducts betray how close these thoughts are to my heart. These vignettes are both convicting and humbling as they never fail to remind me just how finite I am and how perfect He is. My prayer is that these words challenge us all to walk ever more closely with the only One truly worthy of the honorable title, “Father.”

Melchizedekian Tithe or a Living Sacrifice

What does Melchizedek teach us about tithe? Those who confine the principle of tithing to the Old Testament do so (usually) by pointing to its Mosaic Law origins. Under grace we are not bound by law, so why would we insist that this one piece of the law is binding now? On the other side, some who believe the principle of tithing is for the church, point to Melchizedek as proof that tithe predates law. If tithe predates law then it is a constant principle, not belonging to one era or one people. But what does the Genesis 14 actually have to say about tithe?

Who was Melchizedek? Whether or not he was preincarnate Christ is irrelevant for our study. (Although, I would like to point out that the definition of his name – “King of Righteousness” – isn’t much help in that debate. My name means “My God.”) Abram saw Melchizedek as either God, or at the very least, a representative of God. So, when tithing to him, Abram was, any way you slice it, tithing to God.

But why? What was Abram’s motive? Tithe was a common cultural practice in the suzerain/vassal society of the land. The vassal tithed as payment for and demonstration of the suzerain’s protection. In rescuing Lot, Abram also rescued the five kings of the five cities, which had been captured along with Lot. In gratitude, the king of Sodom approached Abram, we learn later, to shower him with the goods won in battle. Had Abram accepted his offer it would have been a demonstration of humility by the king of Sodom as vassal, and Abram, suzerain. It is in the middle of this encounter that Melchizedek appears and Abram demonstrates to these four pagan kings who the real Suzerain is. He uses a common expression from their culture to honor his God as the one who “delivered thine enemies into thy hand.” This is why Abram refused the offer. It would have distorted the message he was preaching. He would have communicated, “I serve the Most High who alone can deliver us, but I’ll take your cash too.” No, Abram was no suzerain. He saw himself a vassal, and also demonstrated himself to be a one through his humbled posture. The act was not one of obligation, but gratitude. It was not one of necessity. It was not what the law teaches for Levitical provision. It was not the storehouse tithe of Malachi for temple maintenance. It was a one-time act, not the regular giving a church needs today. It was a ceremony borrowed from pagans to show those same pagans who they should be serving.

The tithe sermon I have heard several times goes something like this: We take “storehouse tithe” from Malachi (which appeals to law), point to Melchizedek to prove its timelessness (which was not storehouse tithe), go to Jesus’ conversation with Pharisees for confirmation (which was actually confrontation), and finally appeal to Paul for regularity (which was actually a one time gift for a specific situation and organized for convenience). God’s Word has a much simpler plan for the church. But I’ll worn you, it’s much more demanding (Romans 12:1-2). But, that’s a whole sermon, not a blog.