Immigration...right or wrong?



Israel was clearly instructed to care for-love the sojourner-foreigner-alien. 

Lev 19:34  You shall treat the stranger^***H1616  who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.

Deu 1:16  And I charged your judges at that time, 'Hear the cases between your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother or the alien^H1616 who is with him.

Deu 26:11  And you shall rejoice in all the good that the LORD your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner^H1616 who is among you.

2Ch 2:17  Then Solomon counted all the resident aliens^H1616 who were in the land of Israel, after the census of them that David his father had taken, and there were found 153,600. 2Ch 2:18  Seventy thousand of them he assigned to bear burdens, 80,000 to quarry in the hill country, and 3,600 as overseers to make the people work.

Were there ever conditions for assimilation-immigration?

It was assumed and expected that the foreign person was willing to and did fully assimilate into Israel's moral, legal and spiritual culture. If and when they did, they were not to be forbidden. 

Deu 31:12 Assemble the people, men, women, and little ones, and the sojourner ^H1616 within your towns, that they may hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, and be careful to do all the words of this law,

Exo 12:48  If a stranger^H1616 shall sojourn with you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised i.e. adapt to your law and culture. Then he may come near and keep it; he shall be as a native of the land. But no uncircumcised person shall eat of it.

Exo 12:49 There shall be one law for the native and for the stranger^H1616 who sojourns among you."

Num 9:14  And if a stranger^H1616 sojourns among you and would keep the Passover to the LORD, according to the statute of the Passover and according to its rule, so shall he do. You shall have one statute, both for the sojourner^H1616 and for the native."

Israel was not to simply accept people of other nations randomly and without conditions but only if they assimilated into the spiritual, legal and cultural values given to Israel by God.

God even forbid Israel, *as a nation, of mixing with other nations through marriage. 

Why? Was God a racist? Of course not. His own Son wasn't purely of Jewish descent. 

There were *non-Jews-Gentiles in several places in the genealogy of Christ. The purity of bloodline, genetics or ethnicity is not and has **never been the issue. 

The reason *national intermingling was forbidden is so Israel would not be drawn away from God spiritually as a nation. God did not wish them to be lured away from the one true God. God didn't prohibit genetic mixing but warned of spiritual/moral mixing. This is also why he instructed aliens to be obedient to the same moral laws as Israel.  Ethnic mixing was never God's concern, spiritual dilution was.

Though no nation today is God's nation in the same way as Israel was at that time, do these principles have any application for us today? 

Why conditions? 

God is a jealous God; not because he's needy, but because he's loving i.e. he desires and seeks - is jealous for - our highest good as well as his greatest glory. To love and live for Him is that highest good. To be drawn away from Him is to our harm and His dishonor. 

If God is a certain way and designed us to operate a certain way i.e. to not love Him with all that we are and have and our neighbor as ourselves is to be drawn away from Him and contrary to our original design - as well as dishonoring to God. This would be to our harm as well as to those who draw us away or that we might draw away through unfaithfulness. For these reasons, God commanded Israel -- as well as His Church-people today -- complete spiritual and moral loyalty and faithfulness to Him and to not "partner" with anyone that would draw them away. Caring for the sojourner-foreigner-stranger and partnering - or yoking - with them are not necessarily one and the same thing. We are to love all men but not necessarily partner with all men unless it is a partnering to advance the glory of God regardless of other differences.

Who's right on immigration?

You could say both sides of this debate are right and wrong. 

Promoters of unconditional immigration are off the mark because there were conditions that are important and given for principled reasons. 

Promoters of no immigration are off the mark because God says to love all men and partner with any and all people who wish to honor Him. 

In truth, most (if not all) people who take issue with unconditional immigration are not opposed to all immigration but simply immigration without conditions. 

At the time the last administration's position on immigration incorporated both principles; welcoming immigrants based on conditions/merit. It even mentioned streamlining immigration to make it easier for people who wish to incorporate into society to become a citizen. In short it was not an anti-immigration position as the media often portrayed. 

Most things debated by the "left" and "right" are handled as if there are only two ways to look at things. As fallen humanity, we tend to oversimplify things. In virtually every case, however, there is a third way, God's way - which is yes to immigration but with clear conditions. Without conditions those things in our culture that are God honoring are at risk of being diluted or abandoned further.

Our ways are not His and His are not ours. 

For a discussion on values, culture and racism click here. 

For a discussion on distinguishing between morality and culture click here. 

For a discussion on God's promise of salvation to all people groups click here. 

For a discussion on socialism and capitalism click here. 

For a discussion on the importance of forgiveness in racial matters click here. 

For a discussion on controlled media click here.

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*There are several incidents where Israelites married people from other nations. Moses, David, Solomon, and Boaz would be some examples. The issue was always a matter of them being drawn away from God, not the mixing of races.  

**Anyone who receives Christ has access to God and is loved by him exactly the same, regardless of ethnicity for two reasons. 1. God's acceptance is based on Christ's merit, not ours. 2. All men and women are created in the image of God regardless of their ethnicity. 

***H1616 (Strongs Concordance)

Original: גּיר גּר
Transliteration: gêr gêyr
Phonetic: gare
BDB Definition:

sojourner

a temporary inhabitant, a newcomer lacking inherited rights of foreigners in Israel, though conceded rights

Origin: from H1481
TWOT entry: 330a
Part(s) of speech: Noun Masculine
Strong's Definition: From H1481; properly a guest; by implication a foreigner: - alien, sojourner, stranger.
Total KJV Occurrences: 89
shall be a stranger (1)
Gen 15:13

i am a stranger (2)
Gen 23:4; Psa 119:19 (refs2)

i have been a stranger (1)
Exo 2:22

whether he be a stranger (1)
Exo 12:19

and when a stranger (1)
Exo 12:48

and unto the stranger (3)
Exo 12:49; Num 19:10; Deu 26:13 (refs3)

i have been an alien (1)
Exo 18:3

nor thy stranger (2)
Exo 20:10; Deu 5:14 (refs2)

a stranger (2)
Exo 22:21; Exo 23:9 (refs2)

him for ye were strangers (1)
Exo 22:21

of a stranger (1)
Exo 23:9

ye were strangers (1)
Exo 23:9

and the stranger (6)
Exo 23:12; Num 15:26; Deu 1:16; Deu 16:11; Deu 26:11; Psa 94:6 (refs6)

or a stranger (2)
Lev 16:29; Lev 17:15 (refs2)

or of the strangers (5)
Lev 17:8; Lev 17:10; Lev 17:13; Lev 20:2; Lev 22:18 (refs5)

neither shall any stranger (1)
Lev 17:12

nor any stranger (1)
Lev 18:26

and stranger (1)
Lev 19:10

and if a stranger (3)
Lev 19:33; Num 9:14; Num 15:14 (refs3)

but the stranger (1)
Lev 19:34

him as thyself for ye were strangers (1)
Lev 19:34

and to the stranger (1)
Lev 23:22

him as well the stranger (1)
Lev 24:16

as well for the stranger (1)
Lev 24:22

is mine for ye are strangers (1)
Lev 25:23

him yea though he be a stranger (1)
Lev 25:35

and if a sojourner (1)
Lev 25:47

himself unto the stranger (1)
Lev 25:47

of the stranger's (1)
Lev 25:47

both for the stranger (1)
Num 9:14

and also for the stranger (1)
Num 15:15

as ye are so shall the stranger (1)
Num 15:15

shall be for you and for the stranger (1)
Num 15:16

and for the stranger (3)
Num 15:29; Num 35:15; Jos 20:9 (refs3)

the stranger (9)
Deu 10:18; Deu 16:14; Deu 26:12; Deu 28:43; Job 31:32; Eze 22:29; Eze 47:23; Zec 7:10; Mal 3:5 (refs9)

ye therefore the stranger

What is excellence?

To do things with excellence begins with doing them for God's honor. This is loving God with all our heart first, then with all our soul, mind, and ²strength. This addresses motive (heart) i.e. why we act. It is the 1st thing on the list for good reason.

When our heart -- the why -- is right, this is displayed through our words and actions i.e. to say and do things in such a way that others see that God is worthy of all honor - we value God by our actions. 

We ¹value God first and foremost, -- as well as others -- by what we do. This is to love God with all our ²strength - effort/energy - in addition to loving Him with all our heart, soul, and mind. 

The greater our value of the God of perfect excellence, the more we will be moved to excellent conduct. 

This excellence is honoring God before others as well as being honoring to God and being honored by God. If you've got it, bring it -- give it everything you have...for God's honor. This is the "why" of excellence.

What about the how of excellence? How do we do things with excellence?  

1. Bring everything you have (gifts/skills/resources) to a task. Leave it all on the field, as they say in sports.

2. Exercise those abilities diligently - with discipline i.e. practice - in carrying out that task. Practice does indeed make "perfect." It is stewarding well the gifts God gives us.

3. Do so with a servant's attitude (i.e. humility) recognizing all we are - with our unique talents and abilities - and have is a gift to use to honor the Giver. 

Valuing others.

To value others through excellent effort is to also honor/value God. Likewise, to honor/value God truly results in doing things excellently for others. 

Excellence toward non-believers

A non-believing boss (and others in general) may not agree with you and even dislike your beliefs but if your excellent effort helps them or their company do well and makes them look good, and improves their bottom line, they will appreciate it and value you for it. We see this throughout Joseph's life. 

Gen 39:22  And the keeper of the prison put Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it.

If we bring value to others, whether they are believers or not, we will be valued; not to gain praise from ourselves but to bring praise (value) to those we serve (which often results in our being praised, though this isn't our focus). We do this ultimately and primarily to bring honor and praise to God, i.e. to value God is to honor him with our conduct and words toward others.

The greatest way to honor God in the marketplace is to do things diligently and excellently with the intent of honoring God. Doing things excellently is a form of worship and praise to God, but praise with and through our actions and projects, not just our mouths. We actually worship God when we live/work with excellence. 

To love others is to treat them with value. We do that practically by diligently applying our skills to help others.

The following passages are examples:

Dan 1:4  youths without blemish, of ³good appearance and skillful in all wisdom, endowed with knowledge, understanding learning, and competent to stand in the king's palace, and to teach them the literature and language of the Chaldeans.

Jer 29:7  But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare.

Jer 29:11  For I know the plans I have for you, declares the LORD, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope (it is worth noting this is said to them while they are in exile i.e. their hope wasn't in pleasant circumstances but in their union with God).

Doing things with excellence is a means of sharing the gospel. 

When people discover their beliefs don't fit reality i.e. they don't work --  don't produce excellent results -- this is an opportunity to show the way of Christ does. Our living in such a way that demonstrates Christ's way is superior (not we are superior) helps create dissatisfaction with their beliefs and may cause them to consider the way of Christ.

How do we show this? When his love moves us to produce excellent (and often better) results through our action/efforts and attitude.

Inferior efforts are not expressions of humility 

We often justify inferior efforts so as not to bring attention to ourselves. This has an appearance of humility but is often used as an excuse for less than excellent effort. Accepting shoddy results for the purpose of avoiding praise is false humility. 

Who are the saints? Those God's light shines through the brightest. How do we shine that light? By living excellently in all we say and do i.e. putting our light up on a stand so all can see it, not hiding it under a basket. 

Bring your "A" game for Jesus.  

To whom much is given, much is required.

To further discuss the importance of great effort click here.

For a discussion on when competition is legitimate click here.
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¹we value them only because we first value God. We value God only because he first values/loves us.

²The Bible speaks of loving God with all our heart soul mind and strength. Here I'm addressing strength i.e. effort/action, the last thing listed on how we can love God.

³if our appearance brings praise only to us, it does not honor God. But if it opens up doors and gives us an opportunity to show God's love to others we should make the most of it and use it to do so.

Appearance-attractiveness is valued in our culture so if God has made us attractive in the eyes of the world, use it to bring honor to God. Don't hide the gifts God has given you no matter what they are, but put them to use and on display so others might see them and be drawn to God and give him praise.

I'm referring to grooming, hygiene, and overall presentation. Modesty, of course, is also a part of beauty and a primary guiding principle.

 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven" Matt 5:14-16

Competition… Good or bad?

Is competition helpful or unhelpful? It can be either or both.

Unhelpful competition is rooted completely in performance for the sake of praise and approval of others. In this scenario, my sense of value is tied directly to doing better than the next person. If I do, I feel worth something and if not; I don't. In a word, if I don't win/produce/perform, I am a "loser." I am useless and worthless. My sense of value rises and falls on others' opinions about my performance.

Competition is so much a part of America's psyche and value system (even more so with older generations who didn't get "participation" trophies) that we often are not even aware of it. Just think of how ¹many folks are glued to their TV on the weekends watching a sports event or game of one kind or another. Maybe more than most, Americans love to win and we love a "winner."

Yet, basing our value on beating the competition is the exact opposite of the Gospel. Our true significance or value is based 1st on who we are as image bearers of God and not what we do. Our good standing and approval by God are based on Christ's efforts and performance, not ours. God's acceptance of us has nothing to do with our performance. In fact, our performance, in this instance, is an affront to the work of Christ. It says His efforts were insufficient for God to receive us, so we must "help him out."

And who are we? We are in God's image and if we are in Christ; we are the beloved children of the all-loving, all-powerful, always present, all-wise, and all-glorious Creator, the most valuable person in the universe.

If we are infinitely valued by the infinitely valuable, what does that say about our value? And if God, the infinitely valuable, cherishes us, how much does it matter what others say or think? That would be putting more weight on the opinion of someone who knows and cares nothing about you vs someone who has perfect knowledge about you and knows and cares about you perfectly. If our happiness rises and falls on the approval and praise of others, we should reassess our understanding of God's infinite love for us, i.e. we may not fully "get it" yet.

When is competition helpful?

Should we live productively with excellence? Yes, because God is most valuable -- most high/excellent and most deserving of our best e.g. all heart, soul, mind, and strength. How we conduct ourselves either honors or dishonors God. By living excellently out of a desire to honor him -- because he first honored/loved us -- we put on display God's great worth/honor. We do not compete to gain the praise, love, and approval of others by being "better" than someone else, but because we already are important, valued, loved, and approved by God, stirring in us the desire to honor him in all we say and do.

Competition can be helpful by bringing the best out of us. It pushes us to be the best we can be. It can raise our level of belief/confidence in what image-bearers are capable of. How much more so, those who are driven by the love and praise of God vs the love and praise of men.

We should welcome competition with others who are better than us. If we are secure in the love of Christ, we will.

When someone excels, it demonstrates a higher level of excellence that ²can be achieved in a given activity.  It raises the bar and sets a higher standard, inspiring others and us to do better. It brings the best out of us and gives us an **example and a higher target to aim for.

When we approach competition in this way, it isn't devastating when we lose. -- If it is, this is a clue that our identity and sense of value are too tied to our beating the other person. We may be disappointed we didn't do better, but only because we know we can and didn't. 

How is this different from typical competition? It is not a matter of being better than someone else but of being inspired to be the best "me" we can be.

When competition challenges us to become better, this is good and helpful. We should welcome and even seek this. Seeking to be the best we can be stretches us to use our gifts/skills to their greatest capacity, i.e. becoming the best stewards of what we are entrusted with -- honoring the giver of those skills.

In Chariots of Fire, Eric Liddell had it right when he said: "...to win is to honor Him..."

For more on living with excellence, click here. 

For more on the necessity of great effort, click here. 
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¹Why is watching sports so popular? Not only because we like proving our value by beating the other guy or gal, but we draw our sense of identity from our team being better than the other team. If we don't have the time or are not good enough to play ourselves, we do the next best thing, we cheer for "our team" and feel important when our team wins and feel like a "loser" when they don't. Some folk's identity is so tied up in a sports team that they even get depressed or angry when their team doesn't win. Someone I knew well would go into a deep depression every time their team lost.

²You may have read or recall for years, several attempted to break a sub-4-minute mile. Eventually, Roger Bannister did it. Within weeks, many followed suit, even though attempts to break it before that had been a goal for years. Why? He raised the bar and showed it could be done, helping others to believe they might be able to do it also, inspiring all runners to achieve greater speeds. 

God's love...conditional or unconditional?

What does it mean - and not mean - when were are told God loves us unconditionally? 

* For those who are in Christ, Gods love is totally unconditional. Nothing they do, good or bad, can add to or take away from his infinite never-ending love. 

Rom 5:8  but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Eph 2:5  even when we were dead in our trespasses, (God) made us alive together with Christ—by grace, you have been saved—

Rom 8:35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? (NOTHING!) 39 ... will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

* However the most stringent conditions required to be in harmony with God and partake in his beauty, love, and joy are still fully in effect. 

Mat 5:17  “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.

Mat 5:18  For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 

But they were also perfectly met/satisfied, just not by us. We were not able to meet them. So Jesus met them for us and then assigned/credited his track record of perfect obedience to us as if we lived it. In Christ God now see's us and loves us as if we are perfectly righteous.

*However, once we have received his free offer/gift of righteousness through Christ, our fully taking part in and experiencing this perfectly secured unconditional love is conditional. It is conditioned upon our faith and faithfulness to God. 

We are not talking about securing God's love and acceptance of us (objectively). Christ already accomplished this for us. We are talking about experiencing and participating in this fully secured love. 

There is nothing for us to do to make God's love more certain/secure and us more acceptable i.e nothing we do will add to or take away from that love in and through Christ.

Because of Christ's faithfulness/efforts we are free to pursue God with his perfect love fully set upon us even if we do not pursue him perfectly. Nothing stops God's love; not even our unfaithfulness.

Our being perfectly loved in Christ regardless of our faithfulness frees and empowers us to become perfect in devotion and faithfulness to Christ. 

In summary here are the two contrasting ways we relate to God's love: 

• his love is unconditional -- or rather conditioned upon Christ's efforts 
• our experiencing and fully participating in it is conditional - based on our faith/faithfulness.

This is possibly one of the hardest distinctions to grasp and causes great confusion for many. We mix these up all the time. I did and on occasion have to remind myself of this. 

We must keep these separate while at the same time see how they are vitally connected. The latter -  participating in God's love - is grounded in and flows out of the former - we are perfectly and fully loved in Christ. We must constantly remind ourselves that we are fully accepted and loved no matter what and yet at the same time know that to fully participate in that love, requires our complete trust/obedience. 

Without the former, the latter would not be possible and without the latter, we will never fully participate in the former. In other words, to fully benefit from the former, we must do the latter.

The following verses support the latter i.e. the conditional nature of experiencing/ participating in God's love.  

John 14:21  Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest  myself to him.”...

This verse tells us obedience is:

 *evidence of our love for God, not the cause of it 

"Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me..." 

*it is also the means by which we experience the Fathers love 

"... he who loves me will be loved by my Father...," 

*and Christ's love 

"...and I (Christ) will love him and manifest myself to him.”  

John 14:23  Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

Again  

*evidence of our love 

"...if anyone loves me, he will keep my word..."

*means by which we experience God's love 

"...my Father will love him..." 

*and Christs...

"we will come to him and make our home with him..."

Heb 4:16  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.

Jas 4:8  draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

The following shows how the latter is only possible because of the former. 

Heb 7:19  (for the law made nothing perfect); but on the other hand, a better hope is introduced, through which we draw near to God.

Heb 10:22  let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.

Heb 11:6  And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.

The following verse shows how we can never experience the former by our efforts/obedience to the law.

Heb 10:1  For since the law has but a shadow of the good things to come instead of the true form of these realities, it can never, by the same sacrifices that are continually offered every year, make perfect those who draw near.

The following passage shows how we are free to do the latter because the former has been fully taken care of. 

Romans 8:1-4 ¹There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. ²For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. ³For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, ⁴in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

For a more succinct explanation click here

Don't be weary in doing well

It is true that pursuing God takes energy and focus, which can be emotionally and physically draining over time. 

However, any endeavor worth pursuing can be emotionally and physically depleting as well. 

The key to being sustained in our pursuit of God is more internal (emotional/motivational i.e. in our spirit, if you will) than physical i.e. having the desire to press on, not just the physical stamina. In fact, great desire will push us to exceed what we may think is our physical limitations; the greater that desire the more we exceed those limitations. 

Being weary in doing well and using a lack of motivation as a reason to back off our pursuit of God, is merely an excuse. Not unlike choosing to not do that last set of reps during a workout. "No pain, no gain" applies to the spiritual, not just the physical. We are encouraged to not be weary in well doing for a good reason. 

Perseverance is in fact what exercises and strengthens our faith by constant and increased use. Though we may need to stop and rest on occasion (just as in a work out), it is good to remind ourselves we are also strengthening our faith each time we push ourselves to press on a little harder. 

Faith and hope sustain us

Even though pursuing God can be physically and emotionally draining it is also spiritually (not to mention eternally) rewarding and uplifting. 

Though our outer, physical man is buffeted and encounters numerous "thorns and thistles" in this fallen and broken world and our physical being fades away over time, our inward, spiritual man is renewed moment by moment, day by day each time it is exercised.  

It is important to remind ourselves that our minor momentary struggle is preparing for us a reward far greater in comparison. Not necessarily an immediate reward, but one that never fades and will last forever and ever. 

This is the essence of our hope. And it is this hope we are told to look to, to sustain us. 

2Co 4:16  "So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. 17  For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory (i.e. of immense value) beyond all comparison, 18  as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen (i.e. as we operate in faith and anticipation (hope) of reward). For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal."